The median song on my iPod.

By song title, alphabetical order: Love's Made a Fool of You, by Buddy Holly (996 of 1993).

What's yours?

Update: Everyone can play, even if you don't have an iPod!

Musicus.

I really miss making music. Ironically, it was a lot easier when I had fewer choices. Now, I have a bona-fide MIDI keyboard with full-size keys, a professional editing suite, a kick-ass sample library or two, and some other stuff I've barely touched. (Not to mention the acoustic guitar, for that matter; I sold the electrics a month ago.)

So what's stopping me? Time, mostly, I guess. But I also find myself paralyzed by knowledge. I know a lot more about music theory than I used to in the days that I just slapped notes and chords together. For instance, I never knew what a "fugue" really was, so anytime I wrote something contrapuntal, I'd call it a "fugue." I also didn't know what you "needed" to do to introduce key changes, so I would just change keys as the whim struck me. And finally, I didn't know how to play the piano. That meant I just wrote stuff on staves and then had the computer play it out loud, and if I didn't like it, I'd make changes.

Now, I rely on Apple Loops in Soundtrack and GarageBand because they sound so much better than anything I could make myself, and they're a lot quicker. But I've lost the soul, and the joy, of composition in the process.

Prisoner of Trebekistan.

A funny video about winning on Jeopardy. MeTube material?

The Cell-Phone.

"The Cell-Phone" will premiere at the D.C. Shorts Festival on Sept. 14, 2006! If you're in the area, please come on by.

Saucification.

Tuesday night I presented a few of my films at the Speakeasy Screening Room, an offshoot of the Speakeasy, a monthly storytelling event which a friend of mine curates. It was pretty successful, albeit sparsely attended.

My favorite part was seeing the work of WIT Films, an offshoot (so many offshoots!) of Washington Improv Theatre. They do the 48 Hour Film Project every year, just like I used to do. In fact, the first time I was involved was as sound man for one of their films (I set out as a team leader for Dead Horse the following year). But I hadn't seen any of their most recent efforts, including one which won the overall prize for D.C. in 2005. Anyway, they blew me (and another filmmaker who was also featured, IMHO) out of the water. Sigh... Still, it's OK to be bested by really nice people--and just because their stuff was better, doesn't mean that mine is bad.

And it was certainly well-received, don't get me wrong. I just wish there had been time for Duck Sauce, but it got bumped.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting in breathless anticipation for the results from DC Shorts, allegedly coming out this weekend. Fingers crossed...

Bush Pilot.

Oh, this is beautiful.

Pogroms in Delaware.

I just don't understand the people who do this sort of thing. It makes me want to weep. (via Medley.)

Two must-reads from today's Opinions in the Post.

Michael Kinsley on stem cell research:

Stem cells used in medical research generally come from fertility clinics, which produce more embryos than they can use... Usually several of [the embryos] are implanted in the hope that one will survive. Or, to put it another way, in the hope that all but one will not survive. And fertility doctors do their ruthless best to make these hopes come true. In short, if embryos are human beings with full human rights, fertility clinics are death camps -- with a side order of cold-blooded eugenics. No one who truly believes in the humanity of embryos could possibly think otherwise.

And E. J. Dionne on Mexico's election:

Another thing: Whichever one of you is ahead at any given point, please don't ask that the counting be stopped abruptly just because you happen to hold the lead. Don't have some high-class lawyer with a name like Jaime A. Panadero III come out and say things like, "I don't believe that the people of Mexico want this national election turned over to lawyers and court contests" -- and then have the very same lawyer direct other lawyers to go to court to stop any further counts.

This is really depressing.

Welcome MeTube!

Since, as a general rule, I only add folks to my blogroll who I know personally (or, in the case of Anti-Linear Brain, sorta know personally), it's very rare that I add new links. But my college chum Patrick (known to regular Spicers mostly by a pseudonym) has finally jumped off the bridge that everyone else jumped off in 2002 or so, and started a blog. So, welcome!

The trick is that it's neither a journal nor "online magazine"; he finds and links to a new YouTube video each day. So far, my favorite is (of course) the Beatles doing the "rude mechanicals" scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Not only because of their entirely believable and deep performance, but because it may contain the most obvious Paul-is-dead clue in the canon.

Fonebone!

I had to link to this Onion Radio News item. It's a must for any MAD magazine fan.

I made my own Mandelbrot Set generator!

Have a wallpaper on me.