• Undisputed III: Redemption - This movie has the best non-Asian fight choreography that can be arranged today. The story is sometimes not right but OMG the fighting is amazing, and Marko Zorar (the villain) will be a big star someday soon.
• Rampage - When an Uwe Boll movie gets 3 of 5 stars at Fantastic Fest then something is going on, because most genre fans hate Uwe just for being Uwe.  I couldn’t fit this into my schedule last year, but I’ll be seeing it now.
• Alice in Wonderland -The build-up and culmination of a particular Mad Hatter scene aside, this was a good movie with some discussion-able themes.  Although, releasing it in 3D was pointless.
• The Wolfman - There were a few CGI moments that spoiled this movie, but the homage to classic monster films almost worked.
• The Man with No Name Trilogy [Blu-ray]- This is spaghetti western at its finest.  Yes, it sucks that I just recently had to buy TGTB&TU but it’s great to get the Fistful pair added to my collection.
• Bad Boys - Classic Michael Bay movie just before he became his own cliche.
• Barton Fink/Miller’s Crossing/Raising Arizona - I usually don’t comment on these redundant-release bundle sets, but you gotta admit that is one compelling triple feature.
• Life (with Oprah) or Life (with David Attenborough) - Since (most) Americans won’t watch a BBC documentary, they re-edited this UK release with Oprah on the voice-over. This is the same team that did Planet Earth, so you know it’s amazing, but which should I choose?!?
• Live Nude Comedy - I’m not gonna buy this, but Shannon Elizabeth doing sikmpy stretches before Andy Dick does stand-up intrigues me.

Come see me there. This site will now be filled with automated feeds from all the sites listed above.

As an adult, I now realize there was more nuance than I noticed as a child. My mother almost always had a side job, sometimes teaching guitar or piano in our house, or substitute teaching at our school. Recently I realized that it was my father who nearly wore out the orange plastic 8-track of Johnny Cash’s Orange Blossom Special in the old red pickup we drove out in the country where I was raised. So, I know my dad always loved music as much as my mother, just that he devoted all his time to his job, house and garden, making sure his family was fed and sheltered.

When he retired several years ago, Dad bought a bass and started learning how to play. Then he took singing lessons so he could play and sing. These days on weekends you are likely to find my parents at a campground playing and singing together with like-minded musicians in the Ozark Mountains. My mother is the one who plays multiple instruments and sings the best, but it is my father with his engineering-trained focus who impresses me the most. In a few short years he has become a masterful bass player, acquiring various styles of high quality instruments on eBay, and his deep voice is a moving addition to the circles in which he plays.

When Fresh Air played this episode on Friday about fathers, featuring an interview with Jimmie Dale Gilmore about his traditional country album dedicated to his late father, and one with Wayne and Darrell Scott about son Darrell’s release of his father Wayne’s original songs, I could only imagine my father enjoying the heck out of the music and the stories. Since I don’t know enough about basses to pick out a good one on eBay (besides the fact that my father always just buys what he wants anyway), I offer him this small gift of a post on my blog with these two audio pieces from Fresh Air that I know he’ll love.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore: In Song, A Eulogy For Dad:

Wayne And Darrell Scott: Father-Son Country

(1) Next year on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 I will produce and host a live show in Austin to support a local non-profit (to be determined). In the style of This American Life, it will feature mostly “true story” spoken pieces about big life changes, and I hope to add live musical accompaniment and a short film (or two).

(2) At this show I will read a piece from the book I’m writing. No spoilers now, but I hope to publish an excerpt three or four times between now and the big day.

I can’t do this without my friends, so everyone who is willing to support me, please, send me a note and we’ll start planning. I know I need all kind of help since I haven’t been involved in a stage show in nearly 20 years, so if you have experience there I really need your help (particularly with lights, sound, direction, design, etc.), but any help at all would be appreciated. At the very least, plan on being in Austin on April 29th, 2010 for the show. Details about where and what time will be forthcoming, but expect it to be near downtown Austin around 7pm.

If you have a written piece of any kind (prose/poetry, fiction/non-fiction), or would like to write something, and aren’t afraid of public speaking, I will begin taking written submissions (or even just ideas) immediately. I want something with a good balance of humor and gravitas about an event that changes lives, preferably involving Austin in some way. For style ideas, read the section titled “Make sure your story is universal” from the Get on This American Life article, and the interview with Ira Glass titled Get On The Show.

If you have a band/musician or know a band/musician that would be willing to write an original song or two, and play background music during the show, let me know. I expect to hold band auditions in a couple months.

If you have an idea for a short film (animated films are welcome too) send me a pitch.

John Green says “…a lot of life is doing things that don’t suck with people that don’t suck…” You, my friend, don’t suck so I can’t wait to see what you’ll contribute to this project.

Thanks in advance for your support! I am equally terrified and excited.

Playing with Processing

via Backporch Beer » Playing with Processing.

I begin to realize that I have never completed anything big in my life, mainly due to my lack of focus — too many interesting things to do at once. I know that I can finish something awesome and I have a list of potential activities. I would like you to help me pick that activity. Between now and my 40th birthday party (April 29, 2010) I will complete that task based on you input. Please, leave comments and suggestions. I will decide on March 29th, 2008 and update this page (and the Facebook event page) with my progress.

Being me, I’ve made a chart breaking down each task with three ratings: artistic/analytical/mechanical. (Ratings are 1-5 with 5 representing the most effort.)

This is the list of activities I will choose from:

• Learn Processing : 5/5/1 – Processing is a programming language applied to visual media mostly for art, but I think there will be a day that it will have commercial applications. I would like to create an installation quality presentation, and have it appear in a gallery. http://is.gd/kgTA

• Learn Accordion and/or Ukulele : 5/2/4 – I’ve started the beginning process of learning these instruments then I hit a wall (separate rhythms on each hand – accordion; tuned my baritone uke to standard – too lazy to restring).

• Write a novel/screenplay : 5/4/1 – I’ve got a dozen ideas for original novels, and half-dozen for “based-on” screenplays. (And if Brian Walters can write three novels that were published on Amazon…)

• Develop an iPod/iPhone game : 4/5/1 – I don’t know Objective C yet, and I’m not a very good artist, but I’m sure I can come up with a creative, progressively challenging game.

• Construct a DIY Bargain Studio : 1/3/5 – I’ve got about a dozen plans for building inexpensive camera/lighting rigs that would support my movie creation jones. http://is.gd/kh5N

• Learn R : 2/5/1 – Data analysis and metadata creation/design is a longtime love of mine. R is the new/applied SQL and could be a powerful career boost. – http://is.gd/UeB

• Learn Mashup (Music) Creation : 3/4/1 – I have a fairly broad (but simple) base of music theory including rhythm as of late. The mashup meme is old, but the style will probably live forever. http://is.gd/130K

• Create Independent Web 2.0 Site : 2/5/1 – I have a few ideas for expanding on the existing concepts of social computing, and with my knowledge in automation through programming I think I could do this well.

• Become a Vlog Personality : 3/3/2 – My obsession and inspiration of the Vlog Brothers and 5AG drives me to attempt my own YouTube channel. Do I have the charisma? Could I find a unique voice? Is my skin thick enough to survive flaming?

• Create Facebook Application(s) : 2/4/1 – I’ve already created two independent applications that I could rewrite for Facebook, and I believe FB will survive the social web flood. This also has the potential to change my career.

Ok…I’m ready for your input…try to be nice, though.

This is not a list of your favorite 15 albums, now or ever. It is about albums that changed who you are and how you live.

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. They might not be what you listen to now, but these are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.

When you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you’re it!

Preface: Sometimes in my musical life I was ahead of my time, sometimes I was behind…sometimes way behind. I’ll order this list chronologically from my perspective. There are items on this list might cause heartburn for people, especially my college radio buddies. I apologize in advance.

01. Cast “Jesus Christ Superstar” – I’m not sure if my mother checked this out of the library, or if she bought it, but I remember the double-album in the brown cover. I remember sitting on the floor hearing the needle in the grooves injecting the room with this musical interpretation of the bible stories that I knew since I knew any stories. This was the my first lesson in the dramatic and it planted the seeds of being open to alternate interpretations — questioning what is accepted. It took hold of me and never let me go. (The mid-90s Athens-based revisit was awesome, too.) http://is.gd/kjHK

02. Petra “More Power to You” – I was raised in a charismatic Christian household and was told that rock music was the work of Satan. The church took the youth group to Petra’s “More Power To You” concert and I was caught in the undertow of rock-n-roll. After the concert — full-on with smoke, fancy lights, screaming guitars…just like real rock-n-roll — the parents held a meeting and prayed over the possibility that exposing us to Petra was a bad idea. http://is.gd/kjjS

03. Sweet Comfort Band “Hold on Tight” – (See #02.) These two albums together made me directly question what the church had taught me, that the guitars and drums themselves were the tools of a power trying to corrupt me and keep me from heaven. Not long after discovering these albums you would find me, late at night, under the covers, with my ear pressed against the top of my clock radio, the volume as low as I could stand it, but the music came through powerfully. The Police, Michael Jackson, Prince, Duran Duran…much of the 80s happened for me in secret.

04. Doug E Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew with Slick Rick “The Show” b/w “La Di Da Di” (12”) – (This was the first piece of vinyl that I purchased with my own money.) I knew about rap before but it was this album that convinced me rap wasn’t a fad, and I would be part of the swelling fans that would bring it out of novelty. Hip hop culture was here to stay, and had a fresh start with the mouth as a percussion instrument. It was also the beginning of a lyrical style thick with specific references to, and samples of, other music which fueled curiosity to find many other types of music (Funk, Soul, …cartoon theme songs.) http://is.gd/kjJt http://is.gd/kjJM

05. SST Compilation…I think – Actually I can’t exactly place what album I’m thinking about. It may have been “The Blasting Concept” since I’m pretty sure Black Flag and Husker Du were on it. I remember it was on vinyl with a mostly black cover, and it was the first music that convinced me melodies and harmonies didn’t have to be prominent, that important music could be dirty, dark, noisy and loud. Overnight my choices in music almost doubled.

06. The Smiths “Louder Than Bombs” – Please, Strahan, don’t tell any embarrassing stories about when I’ve displayed ignorance. Let’s summarize and say that I assumed what The Smiths were about before I ever heard a note. When I eventually gave The Smiths a chance (because I wanted to get a girl’s attention) Morrissey put me in touch with my own personal oddity. Somewhere through the mopey balladeer selling stories about poetry, love, misery, crime and violence I realized all of those extremes could exist together. Life was full of contradictions, so was I, and so were the songs of The Smiths. My high school senior year I used songs from this band as my pieces for prose and poetry in Forensic Competitions. http://is.gd/kk9h

07. Various Albums from K Records – This is where I’m first going to piss off a lot of KLPIers. Working college radio at the turn of the decade (1990) meant tons of free albums from independent labels. Being around so many hard core music lovers, I started to realize that my tastes in music were not fringe at all. I don’t think during my time at KLPI that I heard one song from K Records that I liked. I would invent an analogy to describe how unproduced and raw their recordings were to my ears, but those singles existed as their own analogy. Somewhere I have an album (Baby Flamehead?) I stole from the station with this inscription from Will Cullen Hart: “…I know that you’d rather wipe your ass with some of the records I’ve recommended…” Yes, Will, but you’re not the only apple in that pie. I have deep love for all of you. What I learned at KLPI was to stop judging people by what they listened to because I met some great people who played some really bad records.

08. Public Enemy “Fear of a Black Planet” – Political music can be aggressive, and rap lyrics don’t have to be vapid. For awhile after this I couldn’t listen to rap that wasn’t meaningful, and I generally still hold that feeling now.

09. The Communards “The Communards” – Since my senior year of high school I had been spending most of my public drinking time in gay bars around Shreveport. I wasn’t questioning my sexuality, just my role in society’s oppression of “sexual deviance”. Between Jimmy Sommerville and a Stonewall commemorative t-shirt I felt I was part of a turning point that was important. I wore that t-shirt as I listened to love songs written by an openly gay man for the gay community. I decided to be an active part of acceptance.

10. Those Who Dig “Those Who Dig” (or Twang Twang Shock-A-Boom “Me So Twangy”) – I always knew I would end up in Austin and in 1992 I moved here. Around 1994-1995 my commitment was cemented when I found myself smack dab in the middle of an actual emerging music scene. A few groups of U.T. students were finding a happy, almost childlike, love of songwriting and I got to sit in the middle and soak it all in. It reinvigorated my desire to seek wonder, which I had lost somewhere in high school. This thirst for wonder opened my spirit, and was the catylyst to seek an induced alternate view of the world, though I wouldn’t recognize the connection until much later. http://is.gd/kjFj

11. The Beatles “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” – My familiarity with the Beatles first incarnation was deeply ingrained by repeated exposure from a young age, but I had never looked carefully at their second incarnation. A friend came to visit me in Austin for a long weekend and we decided to take a trip together that lasted early into the morning and left us exhausted. Somewhere in the middle of that trip he put on this album and it was the fourth track when I heard (sweet, loving) Paul McCartney say “…I used to be cruel to my woman, I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved…” and something clicked. The album was deeper than I had ever heard before. The lyrics were strikingly less like the children’s songs I had imagined them to be, and the tracks were layered so impossibly thick. After this album I spent a lot more time listening for depth in music that I had previously taken for granted. http://is.gd/kjOr

12. XTC – “English Settlement” – This falls on a line that may break the rules put forth initially, but I’ll chance it. I enjoyed “Skylarking” but wasn’t an ardent XTC fan. When I bought this CD, looking for tracks I remembered from my KLPI days, in a second hand store in Austin — a sadly missed Technophilia, one of the first and best http://is.gd/kjOU — I wasn’t aware of the protracted journey I was starting. I have since bought every album by XTC and have had the same “favorite band” for longer then any other by a factor of 5x. Andy Partridge is a genius and my fears that his creativity would suffer under the weight of Virgin’s mismanagement were relieved upon the release of “Apple Venus Volume 1”. Sadly, XTC appear to be done for good now…but they’re still my favorite band. http://is.gd/kjPH

13. Neutral Milk Hotel “In The Aeroplane over The Sea” – This will be another hotspot. During my brief time at KLPI I associated with several musicians who have since come into their own right. Many nights were spent at Fun-o-Mat with various members of Elephant 6 doing all kinds of strange experimental things. At the time I didn’t get it — I was just glad that it scared away the straights — but I really liked the people so I was supportive and kept my opinions to myself. Long after that I connected with the pop of AiS, but it was seeing Jeff performing at the Electric Lounge during SXSW when I realized I missed something big. I bought this album the next day and have treasured it. That’s not the life changing part, though. Through An eFOAF (electronic Friend of a Friend) I read an article about Jeff’s seclusion. The writer had probed into Jeff’s private life, hassling friends and family to try and talk to Jeff about the power of his music and all that this album meant to his cult following. His published article, suggesting that Jeff was selfish in his hermitage, was offensive and angered me. I wrote a letter to the writer, explaining my belief that critical analysis of any work says more about the consumer than it does about the creator. I don’t think Jeff made Aeroplane to give form to other people’s angst, but it was an easy fit for the kind of heavy baggage that uneasy people carry around. A recurring theme in my life is the separation of art from artist. While giving due credit for the act of creating, it is important to know that the work is not the artist, and to clearly identify what we own in our interpretation versus what the artist is trying/willing to give us. The fervor over Aeroplane brought these beliefs closer to my person, giving me an opportunity to refine and approve them further. Leave the musicians the f alone and just enjoy the music. (This is another reason I love my town of residence. For the most part, fame is not an attractor in Austin so people who possess it can find solitude here.) http://is.gd/kjXi

14. Easy Star All-Stars “Dub Side of the Moon” – My upbringing in Shreveport (with 98 Rocks!), and my friendship with a throng of Pink Floyd fans, couldn’t convince me to like one of the most worshiped albums of all times. I did love the synchronicity of Dark Side of the Rainbow (http://is.gd/kjRq) and I’ve always preferred covers to original tracks, for some undiscovered reason. I listened deeply to Dub Side several times and it eventually lead me back to the original which I have come to love, also. It was a long journey back to my white trash roots through a reggae beat but the trip was worthwhile. http://is.gd/kjSG

15. Kelly Clarkson “Thankful” – Of the many struggles to find my identity my most recent realization is, deep down inside me, lives a fourteen year old girl. I initially listened to this album because Clarkson won my heart on American Idol — a show I haven’t been able to watch since — and I came to <3 it because it so powerfully plumbs what I imagine are the true depths of teen girl angst. After this it was Avril Lavigne, then (thanks to the confession of Alamo Drafthouse Sing-Along host Henri Mazza) I came out as a Justin Timberlake fan. I fully recognize that most of what I like in these is slick production. Maybe the artists should share equal credit with Clive Davis, The Matrix and Timbaland. Dr. Dre gets his due, after all.

Addendum 1. Danielson: A Family Movie – I found Sufjan Stevens through this movie. It isn’t an album but it was a life-changing musical experience. As Petra and Sweet Comfort Band led me away from religious music, this film and Sufjan led me back to a middle ground that recognizes the influence of Christianity over my life and a stance to not be ashamed of. “Seven Swans” is regularly on my iPod or playing in the house.

Addendum 2. Five-Eight “Live” – Like anyone who is going to write one of these I have had a deep personal relationship with music all of my life. I moved to Austin partly so I could attend SXSW searching for new music, but I had not really connected with the “live music” aspect of it all. I was only looking for direction on what albums to purchase. While attending my first SXSW as a resident Austinite I was led by friends to a bar with the stage set into the curve of a small cliff wall. There, Mike Mantione stepped around the microphone on the stage edge to face the audience with his voice propelled naturally from the surrounding stone as he belted the first words to “Weirdo”. I was awash in goosebumps and I was musically born again in the waters of live performance. It changed my outlook on music to cherish “the show” as much as I do a recording.

I miss Summer.

p.s. This explains why no one asks me to be their editor.

p.p.s. I really am going to post pictures and videos from Brazil. I promise. It’s just that I keep finding things I should have posted before now.

Gardening has taken up most of my free time as I get more obsessed by the year.  Everything has done pretty darn good.  Many peas were shelled and eaten and the season is on its way out.  We have lettuce coming out our ears as it’s starting to bolt – salads have been lunch and dinner 4 days out of the week along with bunches of oregano, chives and basil.  Green beans are producing.  Still waiting on toms, eggplants, squash, carrots, beets, and bell peppers, which, BTW, I finally succeeded in growing for the first time ever.  My pride and joy right now

Hard to see, but there are about 7 fruits on there.  I keep thinking I’ll wake up one morning and the plant will be decimated, the bugs finally having their way with it.

Cheers and keep on keepin’ on.

…and after all was said and done we were treated to a full horizon double rainbow.

I have more Central Pennsylvania posting coming up, but I came across this video of our cat, Dani, drinking from the water fountain. Always makes me go “Awww…”

Mom is of course thrilled to have us here. Of course, there’s one person (er, animal) who wishes we’d never left.

Cute, yes?

Gotta love that purr!

We already have a 5 animal zoo, so we really need someone to take this handsome sweet gal off our hands. I have paid, up-front, for a full year of standard vet service including all neccesary vaccinations and a hysterectomy (spay). That is nearly $400 is bills and I will discount this cost to you for the low low price of $40 — an almost 90% discount!