Here's a lovely article from The New Yorker circa 1970, about Duke Ellington.
I love the Duke.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Raisin Toast.
About a million years ago, I wrote a blogoir (blogged memoir) about starting a theater in the wilds of central Maine. Well, here's another perspective on it--hat tip to Mike for finding it.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
"Boomer" is also the dog from Independence Day.
Damn, damn, damn.
DAMN!
(Translation: why am I getting addicted to Battlestar Galactica three years too late?)
Bought the first season on DVD with leftover birthday gift cards. As if I wasn't wasting enough time watching Heroes and Lost!
It just goes to show, those iTunes promotions make a difference. Wouldn't have even begun paying attention otherwise, since we don't have Sci-Fi.
Fortunately, though, Universal HD seems to be showing this season's episodes on Saturday nights. And I don't have a social life anyway, so...
DAMN!
(Translation: why am I getting addicted to Battlestar Galactica three years too late?)
Bought the first season on DVD with leftover birthday gift cards. As if I wasn't wasting enough time watching Heroes and Lost!
It just goes to show, those iTunes promotions make a difference. Wouldn't have even begun paying attention otherwise, since we don't have Sci-Fi.
Fortunately, though, Universal HD seems to be showing this season's episodes on Saturday nights. And I don't have a social life anyway, so...
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Ruh roh, Raddam!
The debate over whether 24 is a Republican show continues with the following comment:
The right wing’s analogy that 24 proves the need for torture and reinforces that terrorist cells are in our midst is refuted completely by Scooby Doo who never had to torture to get the truth out of bad people, found that the people who wanted to scare everyone were always authority figures who would benefit financially from fear and are better than Jack Bauer because they could solve the misdeeds in a half an hour that Jack Bauer takes a season to do.
There! A complete refutation of their argument by fighting their imaginary characters with other ones. The solution to Iraq is the get the Mystery Machine over to Iraq as soon as possible. The war will be over in half an hour with hilarious highjinks along the way.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Shame on the wall.
My son went on a field trip to the White House on Tuesday. He had a good time.
He also came home with an 8x10 photo of the President and First Lady. And I'm spending each day hoping against hope that he doesn't do his usual thing and ask that we hang it up in his room.
I only really became an adult, politically speaking, during Clinton's presidency, but I'd like to think I could stand having him hang up Reagan or Bush I's picture, were one of them the current President. But this Bush....
He also came home with an 8x10 photo of the President and First Lady. And I'm spending each day hoping against hope that he doesn't do his usual thing and ask that we hang it up in his room.
I only really became an adult, politically speaking, during Clinton's presidency, but I'd like to think I could stand having him hang up Reagan or Bush I's picture, were one of them the current President. But this Bush....
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Molly Ivins has died.
She was the author of Bushwhacked, Shrub, and countless columns critical of the President.
And it's probably callous to joke about it, but I have to ask... have they checked her for polonium-210?
She was the author of Bushwhacked, Shrub, and countless columns critical of the President.
And it's probably callous to joke about it, but I have to ask... have they checked her for polonium-210?
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Dahlia Lithwick:
In order to win extradition for [Dutch citizen and alleged terrorist Wesam al-]Delaema to face trial in the United States, prosecutors had to make a raft of promises to the Dutch authorities that would be insulting to American perceptions of the rule of law, were they not so completely well-earned over the past few years. The defendant will be tried in criminal court, not by a military tribunal. He will not face the death penalty, even though under our law his crimes could warrant it. He will serve his sentence—possibly a life one—in a jail in the Netherlands, not here. And, perhaps most astonishing of all, the United States had to agree that Dutch courts will be able to review and possibly modify the terms of the American court's sentence once Delaema is returned to the Netherlands. The American judgment, then, is not necessarily final. And all this because, according to Delaema's attorney, the U.S. government no longer can be trusted to treat its prisoners humanely. Clearly, the Dutch authorities agree.
Giving Notice!
Hot on the heels of my HD revelations comes this letter from D.C. Shorts:
This is what I'll be submitting under this year... NOW I JUST NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE.
Discovery HD and DC Shorts are proud to introduce a very special HD (high definition) FILM COMPETITION. A special showcase of short films created, edited, and produced in HD will be screened using the latest HD projection equipment. We select films from every genre -- with a special focus on films suitable for broadcast on the Discovery HD network. After the screening, filmmakers have the opportunity to speak to the audience in a moderated discussion. A single winner chosen by audience voting and a special panel of judges, which include HD filmmakers and acquisitions staff from the Discovery HD network. The winning film will be optioned by the network for possible broadcast to millions of households across the country.
This is what I'll be submitting under this year... NOW I JUST NEED TO MAKE A MOVIE.
Monday, January 29, 2007
And now...
... to put my money where my mouth is, here's an example of a movie file that might work with Apple TV, according to Apple's tech specs. (5 and a half seconds, 750K.) For now, you won't be able to watch it unless you have QuickTime 7, though. But when your Apple TV arrives, why not drag the file into iTunes and see if it syncs?
On Macworld 2007.
For me, far cooler than the iPhone were the details about the Apple TV box, specifically the revelation that it will support 720p HD content. Now, this isn't a big deal from the iTunes Store perspective, which only sells standard definition content--so far. But for an independent filmmaker, suddenly, bam! there's a new distribution channel that can go directly to a viewer's TV with all the ease of use of iTunes.
You see, there's nothing stopping me from releasing a high-definition movie on the Internet right now. But most people would watch it on their computers, and that's only if their computers were powerful enough (most aren't as of this writing). But if Apple TV takes off, there will be a significant number of people who can download hi-def content off the 'Net and watch it on their television--directly, no computer middleman, just drag the movie to iTunes and let the Apple TV sync itself.
(Is it possible to do that now with a Windows Media Center-type PC? I don't know. I haven't done the research.)
In any case, I'm super-excited at the possibilities. Could it be that by the time the HD-DVD and Blu-ray wars have played out, HD on DVD will be irrelevant? As a consumer, I still prefer solid discs, since they're less likely to be lost in a hard drive crash (and the DRM is easier to defeat). But as an artist, I say: bring it on.
You see, there's nothing stopping me from releasing a high-definition movie on the Internet right now. But most people would watch it on their computers, and that's only if their computers were powerful enough (most aren't as of this writing). But if Apple TV takes off, there will be a significant number of people who can download hi-def content off the 'Net and watch it on their television--directly, no computer middleman, just drag the movie to iTunes and let the Apple TV sync itself.
(Is it possible to do that now with a Windows Media Center-type PC? I don't know. I haven't done the research.)
In any case, I'm super-excited at the possibilities. Could it be that by the time the HD-DVD and Blu-ray wars have played out, HD on DVD will be irrelevant? As a consumer, I still prefer solid discs, since they're less likely to be lost in a hard drive crash (and the DRM is easier to defeat). But as an artist, I say: bring it on.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Conservatism and Me.
According to Andrew Sullivan, I'm a conservative!
That is, I don't hold anything to be absolutely true regardless of evidence, and I go through the world with an empirical outlook. Funny, that doesn't describe "conservatism" to me at all. Could it be that "conservatism" is merely "whatever Andrew Sullivan agrees with at any given moment"?
No, that's probably unfair. It's more likely that, as a self-described liberal, I have a different outlook on conservatism. After all, for most of my political life, the primary conservative focus has been what Sullivan describes as "fundamentalism," which he defines as pretty much what you would expect, a belief that one has cornered the market on Truth, damn all evidence to the contrary. How else to explain the insane anti-Clinton juggernaut of the 90s, the desire to suppress the teaching of evolution, the rationalization of torture? (The last two, at least, I should note that Sullivan has strongly condemned; I don't know his thoughts on the first.)
Still, even if I feel that Sullivan's conservatism isn't really conservative, as I know it, that doesn't matter; the ideas should be judged as ideas rather than examining how well they fit into a certain box. Although I haven't quite finished the book, I think the ideas thus far are well worth debate.
That's not true with regards to a conservative thriller novel I just finished, Empire by Orson Scott Card, about a modern United States civil war. And here, I am going to show my angry liberal tendencies in full-blast.
Never mind that it's the right wing that has legalized torture and tried to claim that habeus corpus doesn't exist in the Constitution. Never mind that it's President Bush's political rhetoric which has claimed that a vote for Democrats is a vote for terrorists. Never mind the ridiculous number of laws that have been broken by this administration in the pursuit of "terrorists." No, in Card's world, it's the Left that disregards the Constitution and launches a civil war. Thanks, Orson.
He's a good writer and the yarn pulls you along. And it's not as though there aren't sympathetic liberal characters in his narrative. But there are no, repeat no, unsympathetic conservatives; the right-wingers are all sweetness and light, even as his characters compare Al Gore to the Unabomber (yes, really!). But there are plenty of insane lefties to be found in Empire's pages.
And the revulsion at the "liberal media"! Give me a frapping break, Mr. Card! Have you read the Washington Post op-ed page lately? Have you noticed that all the major news outlets are corporate? Yet, again and again, we're told that everyone but Fox is slanted to the progressive. (And lest you feel that I'm inferring Card's views from those of his characters, much of this comes from his Afterword, non-narrative and in his own voice.)
To Card's credit, his ending is much more subtle than this review might lead you to believe; I found it satisfying and plausible. But the notion that there is a Leftist Establishment, just waiting in the wings to overturn the United States' constitutional democracy, is utterly ridiculous--even more so now after the 2006 election (which, to be fair, did happen after Empire's publication).
After all, to paraphrase Digby, it's true that there are wackos on both the left and right. But it's only the right-wing wackos that actually make money at it. When's the last time you saw a best-selling book by Ward Churchill? And say what you will about Michael Moore, he's not encouraging people to take "head shots" at federal agents.
That is, I don't hold anything to be absolutely true regardless of evidence, and I go through the world with an empirical outlook. Funny, that doesn't describe "conservatism" to me at all. Could it be that "conservatism" is merely "whatever Andrew Sullivan agrees with at any given moment"?
No, that's probably unfair. It's more likely that, as a self-described liberal, I have a different outlook on conservatism. After all, for most of my political life, the primary conservative focus has been what Sullivan describes as "fundamentalism," which he defines as pretty much what you would expect, a belief that one has cornered the market on Truth, damn all evidence to the contrary. How else to explain the insane anti-Clinton juggernaut of the 90s, the desire to suppress the teaching of evolution, the rationalization of torture? (The last two, at least, I should note that Sullivan has strongly condemned; I don't know his thoughts on the first.)
Still, even if I feel that Sullivan's conservatism isn't really conservative, as I know it, that doesn't matter; the ideas should be judged as ideas rather than examining how well they fit into a certain box. Although I haven't quite finished the book, I think the ideas thus far are well worth debate.
That's not true with regards to a conservative thriller novel I just finished, Empire by Orson Scott Card, about a modern United States civil war. And here, I am going to show my angry liberal tendencies in full-blast.
Never mind that it's the right wing that has legalized torture and tried to claim that habeus corpus doesn't exist in the Constitution. Never mind that it's President Bush's political rhetoric which has claimed that a vote for Democrats is a vote for terrorists. Never mind the ridiculous number of laws that have been broken by this administration in the pursuit of "terrorists." No, in Card's world, it's the Left that disregards the Constitution and launches a civil war. Thanks, Orson.
He's a good writer and the yarn pulls you along. And it's not as though there aren't sympathetic liberal characters in his narrative. But there are no, repeat no, unsympathetic conservatives; the right-wingers are all sweetness and light, even as his characters compare Al Gore to the Unabomber (yes, really!). But there are plenty of insane lefties to be found in Empire's pages.
And the revulsion at the "liberal media"! Give me a frapping break, Mr. Card! Have you read the Washington Post op-ed page lately? Have you noticed that all the major news outlets are corporate? Yet, again and again, we're told that everyone but Fox is slanted to the progressive. (And lest you feel that I'm inferring Card's views from those of his characters, much of this comes from his Afterword, non-narrative and in his own voice.)
To Card's credit, his ending is much more subtle than this review might lead you to believe; I found it satisfying and plausible. But the notion that there is a Leftist Establishment, just waiting in the wings to overturn the United States' constitutional democracy, is utterly ridiculous--even more so now after the 2006 election (which, to be fair, did happen after Empire's publication).
After all, to paraphrase Digby, it's true that there are wackos on both the left and right. But it's only the right-wing wackos that actually make money at it. When's the last time you saw a best-selling book by Ward Churchill? And say what you will about Michael Moore, he's not encouraging people to take "head shots" at federal agents.
Friday, January 26, 2007
More Frilled Shark Madness!
A couple more interesting things about frilled sharks:
- The New York Times' take on the capture (thanks, Dad), and
- A brief view of the shark in its natural habitat from NOAA--hit the 320x240 link for best results.
"In My Language."
If a woman who is severely autistic, so much so that she cannot even communicate in a traditional sense, can create a work of such beauty, power, and clarity nevertheless, what right do I have to worry when my son zones out for a few minutes at a time? He's gonna be okay...
Watch the whole thing.
(Via Andrew Sullivan.)
Watch the whole thing.
(Via Andrew Sullivan.)
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Frilled Shark.
This is the stuff of nightmares--an ancient shark, barely evolved from the prehistoric era. Almost never seen alive, but these videographers managed to snare some footage.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Books 2006.
I'll be changing the Rooster Spice template in a couple of days, and though I doubt it'll be anything Sooper Exciting, it will mean that my Books Read in 2006 list will change to Books Read in 2007. So, look at the list now if it interests you.
What are my impressions of said list?
Well, first of all, I read 45 books this year, assuming I accounted it correctly. This leads me to believe that when President Bush said he had read 60 books by August, he was lying. What a surprise! Look, let's put this another way. I'm known as a fast reader. Most people would call me unemployed (they would be wrong, but that's what they'd call me). And I managed to read 45 books in the entire year. Meanwhile, the President says he read sixty books in eight months? When does he find time to do his job?
The surprise of the year was probably World War Z by Max Brooks, an entertaining yet surprisingly serious examination of what would happen if, well, zombies happened, told as an oral history. Several major characters are, shall we say, loosely based on major political figures of our time, including a certain medical doctor from New England, who comes off as one of the most sympathetic people in the book.
Nonfiction-wise, two must-reads were Fiasco by Thomas Ricks and The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley. You owe it to yourself to pick them up.
My wife would want me to also mention The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, a novel set in a near-future where autism can be cured before birth; the protagonist is a member of the last generation of autists. It's beautifully written and hits very close to home for our family.
Terry Pratchett is an old favorite, of course, and I continue to hotly anticipate Kage Baker's Company novels.
I should also mention the countless children's books I read at bedtime. Maybe that's how the President got to sixty.
What are my impressions of said list?
Well, first of all, I read 45 books this year, assuming I accounted it correctly. This leads me to believe that when President Bush said he had read 60 books by August, he was lying. What a surprise! Look, let's put this another way. I'm known as a fast reader. Most people would call me unemployed (they would be wrong, but that's what they'd call me). And I managed to read 45 books in the entire year. Meanwhile, the President says he read sixty books in eight months? When does he find time to do his job?
The surprise of the year was probably World War Z by Max Brooks, an entertaining yet surprisingly serious examination of what would happen if, well, zombies happened, told as an oral history. Several major characters are, shall we say, loosely based on major political figures of our time, including a certain medical doctor from New England, who comes off as one of the most sympathetic people in the book.
Nonfiction-wise, two must-reads were Fiasco by Thomas Ricks and The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley. You owe it to yourself to pick them up.
My wife would want me to also mention The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, a novel set in a near-future where autism can be cured before birth; the protagonist is a member of the last generation of autists. It's beautifully written and hits very close to home for our family.
Terry Pratchett is an old favorite, of course, and I continue to hotly anticipate Kage Baker's Company novels.
I should also mention the countless children's books I read at bedtime. Maybe that's how the President got to sixty.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Achenblog on the Surge:
As you know, I soar like a mighty raptor above the partisan fray, so please judge my modest thoughts here as nothing more or less than objective fact and incontrovertible truth. It's clear that the president is going to do what he wants to do even if that means, in essence, an executive annulment of the recent election, and a back of the hand to Baker-Hamilton, the Dems, the moderate GOPers, the Joint Chiefs, and the many brigades of retired generals who think this thing has been an epic fiasco. There was a retired general last night on the radio program "The World" who spoke for many, I'm guessing, when he said that when you're in a hole the best thing to do is stop digging.I pretty much agree with him. And with Digby.
Mom will kill me for this.
I turn 35 today.
In honor of this, here is a true story I blogged about 3 years ago and which I still find amusing.
Sorry, Mom, but maybe if you had never Googled me...
In honor of this, here is a true story I blogged about 3 years ago and which I still find amusing.
Sorry, Mom, but maybe if you had never Googled me...
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
iLust.
Heeaaarghhh...
(Okay, it's no surprise that I'm drooling over a widescreen iPod. What does surprise me is that K is salivating too... but I should have known, given that she's a certified PDA nut. And the iPhone is, basically, a phone, Palm, BlackBerry, and iPod rolled into one. Oh, and it runs OS X, too. I wonder how long it'll take the iPodLinux folks to crack it?)
(Okay, it's no surprise that I'm drooling over a widescreen iPod. What does surprise me is that K is salivating too... but I should have known, given that she's a certified PDA nut. And the iPhone is, basically, a phone, Palm, BlackBerry, and iPod rolled into one. Oh, and it runs OS X, too. I wonder how long it'll take the iPodLinux folks to crack it?)
Monday, January 08, 2007
Department of Duh.
I bought a compilation of songs by the Who yesterday.
It took me a full day to realize that "Mama's Got A Squeezebox" is not, in fact, about an accordian.
It took me a full day to realize that "Mama's Got A Squeezebox" is not, in fact, about an accordian.
No Bet in the Field!
Thanks to a generous grant from my wife, I'll be traveling to Boulder City, Nevada--a dangerous 25 miles from Las Vegas--to participate in the Dam Short Film Festival. I'm flying in the night of Friday, February 9 and back on Sunday the 11th. And I AM NOT TOUCHING A SLOT MACHINE OR CRAPS TABLE.
Fun fact: the director of Dam Short is Lee Lanier, who co-created Day Off The Dead, an award-winning short film made in Animation:Master, my software of choice.
Not so fun fact: last time I was in Vegas (1999), I lost nearly three paychecks at the casinos. (Note to self: never take a trip to Vegas when your wife is pregnant, even if it's for a job.)
At the very least, I know I won't lose any paychecks this time. (Don't tell anyone it's because I don't get any paychecks anymore.)
I'm hoping another member of the Soap Opera team will be there, so he can do all the gambling for me.
Fun fact: the director of Dam Short is Lee Lanier, who co-created Day Off The Dead, an award-winning short film made in Animation:Master, my software of choice.
Not so fun fact: last time I was in Vegas (1999), I lost nearly three paychecks at the casinos. (Note to self: never take a trip to Vegas when your wife is pregnant, even if it's for a job.)
At the very least, I know I won't lose any paychecks this time. (Don't tell anyone it's because I don't get any paychecks anymore.)
I'm hoping another member of the Soap Opera team will be there, so he can do all the gambling for me.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Hoo-rah.
Welcome to 2007. Do you live near Boulder City, NV? Come to the Dam Short Film Festival and see Soap Opera! It appears to be closing out the Animation screening on Saturday February 10. More details to follow, maybe.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Rocks right now...
- Redline, a racing game from Ambrosia Software (Mac only, bitches!)
- Inform 7, a complete rewrite of the language used to write Z-code (i.e. Infocom-esque text adventure) games. Now in natural language. I can't emphasize how cool this is, even if I never do anything about it.
- The Nutcracker Suite performed by the Brian Setzer Orchestra.
And that's it, apparently. I need more rockin' in my life.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
And yet I still don't have my own entry.
If Mike's name-drop is to be believed, I am one degree of separation from John Hodgman, and therefore only two degrees from two other Jons. Freaky.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Ask New Orleans.
I've already written about our practice of wrapping Christmas lights around newspaper, and writing messages thereon to be read the next year.
This year I opened up a string which we had last used on Jan. 1, 2005, right after the Asian tsunami. I had written "Any natural disasters of note?"
Sigh.
This year I opened up a string which we had last used on Jan. 1, 2005, right after the Asian tsunami. I had written "Any natural disasters of note?"
Sigh.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Hm...
Clearly when I said "liveblogging," I meant "two posts in one and that's it." But nonetheless, I'm writing this from the new iMac. I haven't really had a chance to do any speed comparisons, processor-wise, but I will say this: transferring videos to an iPod is a hell of a lot faster under USB 2.0. That is all.
Installation Liveblogging!
11:58 A.M.: Well, the new iMac arrived this morning. I'm not using it--I'm currently on my PowerBook, watching it transfer files from the old iMac. (Yes, we now have three Macs and a half of a Linux box. So sue us. We still only have one television.)
Favorite moment so far: watching K fruitlessly try to figure out where to put the Apple Remote. There's a magnet on the side of the Mac which holds it, but she was placing it on the front of the box and watching it drop several times.
Least favorite moment: watching the Transfer Assistant tell me that my old computer had about 4.9 million gigabytes of data in my home folder. Now there may be hard drives out there that hold that much, I don't know; but I'm pretty sure that my circa 2003 iMac only has an 80 gig drive. This would be, I'm pretty sure, a catalog problem with the old hard drive that I've been trying to fix for years.
So it's only transferring the Applications folder. I'll have to transfer the rest over manually. I'm not too excited about that, but what are you gonna do?
Updates throughout the day.
1:25 PM: I think I need to get a new Wacom tablet driver. After the apps and so on were transferred, a dialog box popped up that said "Tablet driver not operating because you aborted." So I hit OK... and it came back. So I hit OK... and it came back. This continued until I had finished the setup assistant and booted into Mac OS, when I ran the program to remove the tablet software entirely.
Now I'm manually transferring the files from my old home folder to the new one. Yawn...
Favorite moment so far: watching K fruitlessly try to figure out where to put the Apple Remote. There's a magnet on the side of the Mac which holds it, but she was placing it on the front of the box and watching it drop several times.
Least favorite moment: watching the Transfer Assistant tell me that my old computer had about 4.9 million gigabytes of data in my home folder. Now there may be hard drives out there that hold that much, I don't know; but I'm pretty sure that my circa 2003 iMac only has an 80 gig drive. This would be, I'm pretty sure, a catalog problem with the old hard drive that I've been trying to fix for years.
So it's only transferring the Applications folder. I'll have to transfer the rest over manually. I'm not too excited about that, but what are you gonna do?
Updates throughout the day.
1:25 PM: I think I need to get a new Wacom tablet driver. After the apps and so on were transferred, a dialog box popped up that said "Tablet driver not operating because you aborted." So I hit OK... and it came back. So I hit OK... and it came back. This continued until I had finished the setup assistant and booted into Mac OS, when I ran the program to remove the tablet software entirely.
Now I'm manually transferring the files from my old home folder to the new one. Yawn...
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Code Monkey like remixes.
So there's a Code Monkey remix contest goin' on, and being the huge Jonathan Coulton fan that I am, I just had to enter. So get your dancing shoes on and rave to this:
Code Monkey (Zach Brewster-Geisz remix) (4.3 MB, 3:54)
If you don't know the original song, you should listen to it and buy a copy here. Come on, it's only a buck.
Code Monkey (Zach Brewster-Geisz remix) (4.3 MB, 3:54)
If you don't know the original song, you should listen to it and buy a copy here. Come on, it's only a buck.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
What Kind of Dawg?
Hip-hop-happenings at the Gonnas myspace page. Just uploaded a new mix of our canine hit, "What Kind of Dog Do You Wanna Be?" There's also a new mix of Whoa up which I posted Thursday. Please listen and dance and enjoy!
Monday, December 04, 2006
Hello, I'm a Mac.
Well, this weekend--and I hasten to point out, at K's insistence--we bit the bullet and ordered a new Mac. We had told ourselves that we wouldn't until our savings account hit [undisclosed] dollars. Turns out we missed that goal by about eighty bucks. Ah well. K is a federal employee, which earned us a small discount, so we decided to splurge on the 20-inch iMac with a 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo (standard: 2.16 GHz) and 256MB on the ATI graphics card (standard: 128). We stuck with 1GB of RAM since I can add a chip on my own if need be, and we also stuck with a 250 GB hard drive because... well, I don't have a good reason for that. I remember hearing the advice "Always get twice what you think you'll need" back when 20 MB was considered a HUGE hard drive. I've never managed to follow it, though.
We're moving on from a 17-inch iMac G4, 800MHz, with 1 MB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX (32 MB), so needless to say, this will be a step up. It was long past time, to be honest. The power button broke off last year, so we have to turn it on by touching the bare contact in the back of the machine (we have it scheduled to turn itself on in the mornings), and the (admittedly SuperSlow) SuperDrive no longer writes properly, and reads only spottily. And in the past few weeks, the USB bus has been acting up... clearly this cookie won't be fetching a high price on eBay. (We may, actually, be giving it to D; we haven't decided yet.)
Meanwhile, I won't be putting my PowerBook G4 out to pasture just yet. ProTools isn't yet available as a Universal Binary, and I haven't upgraded Final Cut Express or Soundtrack yet. I'm thinking next spring, when Leopard comes out, maybe. But I cannot WAIT to see how fast Animation:Master runs.
And for me, the big question becomes: do I partition the hard drive so that I can run Linux as well? You see, the GIMP doesn't support pressure-sensitive drawing tablets under Mac OS X, but it does under Windows or x86 Linux. And all I have is a Mac OS 9 version of Photoshop, so that's not an option (Classic doesn't exist under Intel). I sure as shootin' ain't gonna buy Windows, but Debian Linux is very attractive...
So now, the waiting (read: obsessive tracking) game.
We're moving on from a 17-inch iMac G4, 800MHz, with 1 MB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX (32 MB), so needless to say, this will be a step up. It was long past time, to be honest. The power button broke off last year, so we have to turn it on by touching the bare contact in the back of the machine (we have it scheduled to turn itself on in the mornings), and the (admittedly SuperSlow) SuperDrive no longer writes properly, and reads only spottily. And in the past few weeks, the USB bus has been acting up... clearly this cookie won't be fetching a high price on eBay. (We may, actually, be giving it to D; we haven't decided yet.)
Meanwhile, I won't be putting my PowerBook G4 out to pasture just yet. ProTools isn't yet available as a Universal Binary, and I haven't upgraded Final Cut Express or Soundtrack yet. I'm thinking next spring, when Leopard comes out, maybe. But I cannot WAIT to see how fast Animation:Master runs.
And for me, the big question becomes: do I partition the hard drive so that I can run Linux as well? You see, the GIMP doesn't support pressure-sensitive drawing tablets under Mac OS X, but it does under Windows or x86 Linux. And all I have is a Mac OS 9 version of Photoshop, so that's not an option (Classic doesn't exist under Intel). I sure as shootin' ain't gonna buy Windows, but Debian Linux is very attractive...
So now, the waiting (read: obsessive tracking) game.
A test.
Here is an excerpt from George Will's column for today:
Today there are many fewer Iraqis than there were three years ago. This is not just, or even primarily, because so many Iraqis, especially from the mobile middle class, have fled the country, taking with them the human capital -- skills, attitudes, mores -- requisite for a successful society. Rather, many -- and more every day -- of those who remain in Iraq no longer think of themselves as Iraqis. It is too dangerous to identify with the nation.Can you think of another reason, possibly even the primary one, why there are now fewer Iraqis than there were three years ago?
Friday, December 01, 2006
Tell me there's no global warming.
This has been a bizarre week here in the greater D.C. area. It's been spring, except without leaves on the trees. For instance, I'm writing from my front porch stoop, while my kids play with the neighbors at a nearby playground. All of us without jackets. On December first!
The whole week has been like that, and in fact today is colder than most, with severe (albeit non-chilling) gusts of wind foretelling the end of the Indian summer, probably tomorrow (although it was supposed to end today, so who knows). I realize, of course, that much of the Midwest is blanketed under snow, and we'll be deluged with rain sometime after nightfall, but nevertheless, it's sure nice to enjoy this brief reprieve from the inevitable descent of winter.
The whole week has been like that, and in fact today is colder than most, with severe (albeit non-chilling) gusts of wind foretelling the end of the Indian summer, probably tomorrow (although it was supposed to end today, so who knows). I realize, of course, that much of the Midwest is blanketed under snow, and we'll be deluged with rain sometime after nightfall, but nevertheless, it's sure nice to enjoy this brief reprieve from the inevitable descent of winter.
Monday, November 27, 2006
What are we gonna do now, Brain?
The Gonnas continue in their plan to take over the world. Latest step: The Gonnas' MySpace page. A slightly smaller selection than the late, lamented Gonnas Radio, but infinitely better quality and convenience. Plus, you don't have to listen forever to get to the "studio" recordings.
The dirty secret: one of the listeners mentioned that the compression on the radio made Rex sound like he was singing underwater. Guess what: he always sounds that way.
The dirty secret: one of the listeners mentioned that the compression on the radio made Rex sound like he was singing underwater. Guess what: he always sounds that way.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
The Bouncing Pictures Meme.
Here's something fun for you to try (probably better on an small-image-heavy site, like a forum or something). Copy the following text:
Now paste it in your address bar, and watch the pictures dance...
edit: Yeah, it doesn't work here. Try it elsewhere.
javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i<DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++}setInterval('A()',5 ); void(0) Now paste it in your address bar, and watch the pictures dance...
edit: Yeah, it doesn't work here. Try it elsewhere.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
More music.
The theme for this month's KVR song contest is "Eat Me"... create a piece about food.
So here it comes:
Pasta (Stay-at-Home Dad's Lament) 1.9 MB
I kinda like it.
So here it comes:
Pasta (Stay-at-Home Dad's Lament) 1.9 MB
I kinda like it.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Letter from a putz weakling.
I know I shouldn't write this, because it'll eventually show up in the Google, but becoming Board President of the local nursery school may be the worst decision I've made since college (and the famous "study for LSATs, or streak in the quad?" fiasco).
It's not that the job is hard, or that I don't understand what it entails. Basically, it's far past time that I realized that, organizationally speaking, I'm a follower, not a leader.
I have consistently let things slide that I know must be done, and forgotten other things. I haven't been in good communication with my co-board members. Hell, I haven't even followed up on my own housekeeping tasks, which is required for all members of the school, let alone those in leadership positions!
Also, though it may well be that I'd have found an excuse anyway, I suspect that at least part of the reason that I haven't done much animation lately is the stress of this Presidency. Not that I've been doing much about it lately--as the previous paragraph proves--but the simple fact that it's there, sitting in the back of my mind, paralyzing me. It's like a story I heard about an airline pilot who, after years of perfect service, was rewarded with less flight time and a desk job. He started doing barrell rolls in the plane. They took the admin stuff away, and he was perfectly happy flying again.
My predecessor graciously offered to help with advice and so forth should I need it. But I have a feeling she didn't mean she would help me overcome my own neuroses, so what help would I ask her? No one can fix this but me, but I'm so beyond help, what do I do?
It's not that the job is hard, or that I don't understand what it entails. Basically, it's far past time that I realized that, organizationally speaking, I'm a follower, not a leader.
I have consistently let things slide that I know must be done, and forgotten other things. I haven't been in good communication with my co-board members. Hell, I haven't even followed up on my own housekeeping tasks, which is required for all members of the school, let alone those in leadership positions!
Also, though it may well be that I'd have found an excuse anyway, I suspect that at least part of the reason that I haven't done much animation lately is the stress of this Presidency. Not that I've been doing much about it lately--as the previous paragraph proves--but the simple fact that it's there, sitting in the back of my mind, paralyzing me. It's like a story I heard about an airline pilot who, after years of perfect service, was rewarded with less flight time and a desk job. He started doing barrell rolls in the plane. They took the admin stuff away, and he was perfectly happy flying again.
My predecessor graciously offered to help with advice and so forth should I need it. But I have a feeling she didn't mean she would help me overcome my own neuroses, so what help would I ask her? No one can fix this but me, but I'm so beyond help, what do I do?
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Wikipedia made a funny!
From The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything (emphasis added):
Another possibility [that Marvin knows the answer] to the Ultimate Question is presented in the third book, Life, the Universe and Everything. Often complaining about having a "brain the size of a planet", (this would presumably be necessary to work out the Question, as the Earth was created for this purpose according to the series, and is also, approximately, the size of a planet)...
Monday, November 13, 2006
Nooz.
The Big Bad Swim won Best Feature at Annapolis. So at least I was associated with a winner.
(Best I could hope for, really, with the competition I had. I tend to do well at new festivals. Established ones, not so much.)
(Best I could hope for, really, with the competition I had. I tend to do well at new festivals. Established ones, not so much.)
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Bleargh.
Rather like a Philadelphia cheese steak, I do not travel well.
The good news, though, is that yesterday's screenings happened. Impressively, the kid-friendly screening at NYC Shorts was sold out. I figured they'd be lucky to get ten people, but I guess parents in New York pay attention to odd cultural events, unlike (gross generalization warning) parents in D.C. The Cell-Phone was very well received, and I got the lion's share of the questions afterward, though in fairness that's probably because my short was second-to-last.
The major standout of the evening--er, afternoon--was "The Danish Poet," a beautiful, hand-drawn animation that was both funny and profound. It featured the voice talent of Liv Ullmann, so it was a wee bit out of my league, obviously. But it earned my vote for best of the night.
(I see from the Wikipedia entry that Ullmann directed an adaptation of Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter, a novel which actually plays a major role in "The Danish Poet"'s plot. So I guess they had an "in.")
(Did I punctuate that correctly? "The Danish Poet"'s. "The Danish Poet's." Argh, I dunno.)
After the screening, I wished a fond farewell to Mike (we bowed, in the Japanese fashion) and hoofed/subwayed it to Penn Station, where I actually arrived in time, if I had hurried a bit, to catch a train an hour earlier. I elected to relax a bit instead. I arrived at the New Carrollton train station at 6:20, with plenty of time to make a 7:30 screening in Annapolis. So off we went.
As I've mentioned, "Soap Opera" was opening for The Big Bad Swim, a feature. I suspected that being a short opener is kinda like being the red-headed stepchild of the evening, and my introduction bore this theory out (and remember, kids, "Brewster-Geisz" rhymes with "Rooster Spice"):
I passed out a few business cards (Microsoft Word specials I had printed out Friday morning) and then we headed home. In a perfect world, I'd be flying to Chicago today... but we don't live in a perfect world. I blame the Democrats.
The good news, though, is that yesterday's screenings happened. Impressively, the kid-friendly screening at NYC Shorts was sold out. I figured they'd be lucky to get ten people, but I guess parents in New York pay attention to odd cultural events, unlike (gross generalization warning) parents in D.C. The Cell-Phone was very well received, and I got the lion's share of the questions afterward, though in fairness that's probably because my short was second-to-last.
The major standout of the evening--er, afternoon--was "The Danish Poet," a beautiful, hand-drawn animation that was both funny and profound. It featured the voice talent of Liv Ullmann, so it was a wee bit out of my league, obviously. But it earned my vote for best of the night.
(I see from the Wikipedia entry that Ullmann directed an adaptation of Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter, a novel which actually plays a major role in "The Danish Poet"'s plot. So I guess they had an "in.")
(Did I punctuate that correctly? "The Danish Poet"'s. "The Danish Poet's." Argh, I dunno.)
After the screening, I wished a fond farewell to Mike (we bowed, in the Japanese fashion) and hoofed/subwayed it to Penn Station, where I actually arrived in time, if I had hurried a bit, to catch a train an hour earlier. I elected to relax a bit instead. I arrived at the New Carrollton train station at 6:20, with plenty of time to make a 7:30 screening in Annapolis. So off we went.
As I've mentioned, "Soap Opera" was opening for The Big Bad Swim, a feature. I suspected that being a short opener is kinda like being the red-headed stepchild of the evening, and my introduction bore this theory out (and remember, kids, "Brewster-Geisz" rhymes with "Rooster Spice"):
Presenter: ... and also, the director of "Soap Opera," Zachary Brewster.... um, I'm not sure how to pronounce it...After that it could only get better, although the only questions I was asked were the usual: "How long did it take to produce?" and "How much did it cost?" I didn't begrudge this; The Big Bad Swim was a fantastic film which deserved the lion's share of the attention. In fact there was an odd connection which I think I've mentioned before: when I went to CTFF in October-ish with "The Cell-Phone," I met the film's producer, who like me grew up in Westport, Connecticut. At the time, though, Annapolis hadn't released its schedule, so I had no idea another film of mine would be opening for hers.
Me: (from my seat) Geisz.
Presenter: Um, Zachary Brewster-Geese? Is he here?
Me: (walking down the aisle) Geisz.
Presenter: Oh, yes--this is Zachary Brewster-Geezy.
Me, the other director, and half the audience: GEISZ!
I passed out a few business cards (Microsoft Word specials I had printed out Friday morning) and then we headed home. In a perfect world, I'd be flying to Chicago today... but we don't live in a perfect world. I blame the Democrats.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
I've made it anywhere!
Here I am, writing from an apartment in Brooklyn, on New York City public wi-fi no less, and although I was up 'til 2 A.M. (between the screening, Q&A, after-party, and taking the A-train--yes, really!--to get to Mike's place) I still woke up at 8 in the morning, since that is, after all, late for me.
The screening was quite gratifying, as they always are, and the other films on the bill were all top-notch. Unfortunately, because I've spent the past week caring for a sick kid, and because I was up so late, I don't, um, actually remember anything about the movies... The people were great, though. Mike and I wound up chatting with a filmmaker who's setting up a small animation program at Duke.
The only major bummer is that two good friends won't be able to make it to today's screening, as I had hoped; the other Mike is called for a film shoot today, and Bill, well... I kinda told him it was Sunday, not Saturday, and plans were made. If only he and Andrea had no social life, like K and me. (Or alternatively, if only I weren't such an idiot.)
The screening was quite gratifying, as they always are, and the other films on the bill were all top-notch. Unfortunately, because I've spent the past week caring for a sick kid, and because I was up so late, I don't, um, actually remember anything about the movies... The people were great, though. Mike and I wound up chatting with a filmmaker who's setting up a small animation program at Duke.
The only major bummer is that two good friends won't be able to make it to today's screening, as I had hoped; the other Mike is called for a film shoot today, and Bill, well... I kinda told him it was Sunday, not Saturday, and plans were made. If only he and Andrea had no social life, like K and me. (Or alternatively, if only I weren't such an idiot.)
Friday, November 10, 2006
Three days, three cities, three films, five (!) screenings!
Are ya looking for a reason to travel this weekend? Here's your itinerary!
Friday at 8:30 and Saturday at noon: The Cell-Phone shows at NYC Shorts. I'll be at both screenings, then I'll be heading south in time for...
Saturday at 7:30: Catch Soap Opera at the Annapolis Film Festival (and stick around for The Big Bad Swim). I may not make it to see my own film (depends on Amtrak) but I'll be there for the Q&A.
Saturday at 7:40 and Sunday at 8:00: Chicagoland folks are invited to see <ESC> at the Lake Forest Film Festival. I'm surprised and honored that it was selected to be part of the Festival Finale.
There will be a special prize to anyone who can prove that they attended every screening! You heard it here first.
Friday at 8:30 and Saturday at noon: The Cell-Phone shows at NYC Shorts. I'll be at both screenings, then I'll be heading south in time for...
Saturday at 7:30: Catch Soap Opera at the Annapolis Film Festival (and stick around for The Big Bad Swim). I may not make it to see my own film (depends on Amtrak) but I'll be there for the Q&A.
Saturday at 7:40 and Sunday at 8:00: Chicagoland folks are invited to see <ESC> at the Lake Forest Film Festival. I'm surprised and honored that it was selected to be part of the Festival Finale.
There will be a special prize to anyone who can prove that they attended every screening! You heard it here first.
Crappity crap.
Gonnas Radio must die.
All the streaming sources I've tried crap out after a certain amount of time. I can't figure out why, but I'm guessing it's just not going to happen. Well, at least I know my Slug's limits.
All the streaming sources I've tried crap out after a certain amount of time. I can't figure out why, but I'm guessing it's just not going to happen. Well, at least I know my Slug's limits.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Gonnas 64.
By popular demand (well, okay, by one demand), Gonnas Radio is now streaming at 64kbps, 22050 Hz. Please plan your weekend accordingly.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Good? Bad? Indifferent?
Go here, click Listen, and let me know what you think. Or, alternatively, paste this into your favorite media player:
Thanks to Godfrey for helping me beta-test. More to come...
Edit: Dang it. For some reason icecast/icegenerator are dropping my streams after a time. If you can't hear anything that's why. And now, to bed.
http://gonnas.kicks-ass.org/streamThanks to Godfrey for helping me beta-test. More to come...
Edit: Dang it. For some reason icecast/icegenerator are dropping my streams after a time. If you can't hear anything that's why. And now, to bed.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Adventures in punk.
And now, for something completely different.
This Friday, the Gonnas reunited for a rehearsal. All four band members were there for the first time in nearly two years: Rex, lead singer; Tony, bass; Wendel, drums; and yours truly, guitar. Even though our own opinion of ourselves is only slightly higher than most people's opinion of the Shaggs, nonetheless, a friend of a friend who happens to be a record producer/agent loves our sound and wants to book us at a club like the Black Cat to see how we fare in front of an audience, and if he likes us there he'll put us in a studio and book us at more places. (We're all frustrated actors. Honestly, we're better at performing than playing music.)
So we're rockin' out Friday night. The guy is on the phone with Rex's new wife (our contact person, essentially). (Did I mention that Rex got married? Isn't that supposed to break bands up instead of bringing them back together?) And he says, two bands have cancelled on December 13--7:30 and 9:30 slots for an 11:30 headliner. I've booked you for the 9:30. Oh, and by the way, the headliner is the Cramps.
"THE FUCKIN' CRAMPS?" Wendel and I shout. Rex and Tony don't know why this is so cool. In case you don't, dear readers (though I know at least one of you does), in punk-rock terms, opening for the Cramps is like opening for U2. I'm only familiar with a couple of their songs, to be honest, but their reputation is huge.
Needless to say this injects a bit of energy into the rehearsal process, what with the occasional "We're opening for the fuckin' Cramps!" thrown into random songs. Rex is a little worried, as he has a lunch meeting in New York City that day about his novel, but we shout him down with cries of "THE CRAMPS!" I mean, even if it weren't the Cramps, the Black Cat is a legendary D.C. club in its own right; but the fact that we'll hear Human Fly live (I guess we'll have to take it off our covers list) is icing on the cake. We're so excited we schedule another rehearsal for the next day, since Rex now lives in the Catskills and can't come to DC every weekend.
The next day, I pick up Tony and Rex and we head down to Wendel's place in Virginia. Rex says, "Guys, I have some bad news and some good news. Which do you want first?"
We ask for the bad news.
"Well, the reason those two spots opened up in front of the Cramps... there was a miscommunication. It's not because the original bands backed out. It's because the Cramps bring their own opening bands. So that spot isn't open after all."
Pause, while the air goes out of the day. Crushing defeat.
"... Well," says Tony at last, "what's the good news?"
"Um...," says Rex, "well, I won't miss my lunch appointment in New York..."
This Friday, the Gonnas reunited for a rehearsal. All four band members were there for the first time in nearly two years: Rex, lead singer; Tony, bass; Wendel, drums; and yours truly, guitar. Even though our own opinion of ourselves is only slightly higher than most people's opinion of the Shaggs, nonetheless, a friend of a friend who happens to be a record producer/agent loves our sound and wants to book us at a club like the Black Cat to see how we fare in front of an audience, and if he likes us there he'll put us in a studio and book us at more places. (We're all frustrated actors. Honestly, we're better at performing than playing music.)
So we're rockin' out Friday night. The guy is on the phone with Rex's new wife (our contact person, essentially). (Did I mention that Rex got married? Isn't that supposed to break bands up instead of bringing them back together?) And he says, two bands have cancelled on December 13--7:30 and 9:30 slots for an 11:30 headliner. I've booked you for the 9:30. Oh, and by the way, the headliner is the Cramps.
"THE FUCKIN' CRAMPS?" Wendel and I shout. Rex and Tony don't know why this is so cool. In case you don't, dear readers (though I know at least one of you does), in punk-rock terms, opening for the Cramps is like opening for U2. I'm only familiar with a couple of their songs, to be honest, but their reputation is huge.
Needless to say this injects a bit of energy into the rehearsal process, what with the occasional "We're opening for the fuckin' Cramps!" thrown into random songs. Rex is a little worried, as he has a lunch meeting in New York City that day about his novel, but we shout him down with cries of "THE CRAMPS!" I mean, even if it weren't the Cramps, the Black Cat is a legendary D.C. club in its own right; but the fact that we'll hear Human Fly live (I guess we'll have to take it off our covers list) is icing on the cake. We're so excited we schedule another rehearsal for the next day, since Rex now lives in the Catskills and can't come to DC every weekend.
The next day, I pick up Tony and Rex and we head down to Wendel's place in Virginia. Rex says, "Guys, I have some bad news and some good news. Which do you want first?"
We ask for the bad news.
"Well, the reason those two spots opened up in front of the Cramps... there was a miscommunication. It's not because the original bands backed out. It's because the Cramps bring their own opening bands. So that spot isn't open after all."
Pause, while the air goes out of the day. Crushing defeat.
"... Well," says Tony at last, "what's the good news?"
"Um...," says Rex, "well, I won't miss my lunch appointment in New York..."
Dayum.
If my experience at the polls is any indicator, the Republicans are gonna be smashed today.
I live in a heavily Democratic district, and I always vote at the same time: just after 9 A.M., when I drop my daughter off at nursery school (the school and my polling place are in the same building). Usually, there are fewer than ten people ahead of me and I'm out of there within fifteen minutes.
Not so today. The place was packed. And it wasn't because of voting machine glitches; things were moving quickly, but people just kept on coming. It made me proud.
Now if there was actually a paper record of our votes, that would be even better.
In any case, vote. Especially if you're planning to vote Democratic. Remember, we only win if we're beyond the margin of theft.
Edit: That last sentence is a bit too "vote for my team 'cause the other team sucks!" for my tastes. So let me put it this way. I don't care if you're a Republican, Democrat, or other. But it is your duty as an American to bring divided government back to Washington. That's the only way to limit the constitutional damage that George W. Bush has wrought and will continue to wring. VOTE.
I live in a heavily Democratic district, and I always vote at the same time: just after 9 A.M., when I drop my daughter off at nursery school (the school and my polling place are in the same building). Usually, there are fewer than ten people ahead of me and I'm out of there within fifteen minutes.
Not so today. The place was packed. And it wasn't because of voting machine glitches; things were moving quickly, but people just kept on coming. It made me proud.
Now if there was actually a paper record of our votes, that would be even better.
In any case, vote. Especially if you're planning to vote Democratic. Remember, we only win if we're beyond the margin of theft.
Edit: That last sentence is a bit too "vote for my team 'cause the other team sucks!" for my tastes. So let me put it this way. I don't care if you're a Republican, Democrat, or other. But it is your duty as an American to bring divided government back to Washington. That's the only way to limit the constitutional damage that George W. Bush has wrought and will continue to wring. VOTE.
Today's the day.
VOTE.
Can I mention just how annoying it is that PG County schools are closed on Election Day?
One of my most vivid memories is the big, curtained voting machines taking up half the gym at my elementary school. But because we worship the God of Safety here in the '00s, my son and daughter will never have that memory.
I wonder if that is a potential disenfranchisement issue. How many parents, I wonder, will miss voting because they need to stay home to take care of their kids? I suppose not too many--they'll just take them along, like I do. (And D would be staying home today anyway--he has some sort of bronchial thing goin' on.)
Monday, November 06, 2006
More sluggishness.
I can now Ask For My Slug By Name on the local subnet. Quite cool. I cannot, however, ask for other machines by name while on the slug. (I suppose I could just edit my /etc/hosts file, but what would be the fun in that?)
I've moved the tiny bit of BitTorrenting that I do onto the slug, so Azureus doesn't take up all the processor time on the iMac. And--just to see if I could do it--I compiled IceCast, Litestream, and MuSE to turn the slug into an Internet radio station. Haven't tested it yet though, as there aren't any mp3s on the slug just yet.
Still to do: recompile the kernel to allow HFS+ disk support. And if you believe that...
I've moved the tiny bit of BitTorrenting that I do onto the slug, so Azureus doesn't take up all the processor time on the iMac. And--just to see if I could do it--I compiled IceCast, Litestream, and MuSE to turn the slug into an Internet radio station. Haven't tested it yet though, as there aren't any mp3s on the slug just yet.
Still to do: recompile the kernel to allow HFS+ disk support. And if you believe that...
A paragraph!
Here's an article in the Annapolis Capital about the upcoming Annapolis Film Festival. See if you can guess where I am in the picture.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
In other hardware news...
My slug is now running at a screamin' fast 263.78 BogoMIPS. And K bought a new Palm.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Who killed the Zire?
I broke K's PDA. She asked me to crack it open to replace the battery. Unfortunately, in doing so I must have fouled up the connection to the IR receiver, because her wireless keyboard no longer worked. So I cracked it open again today. And the IR receiver snapped right off the motherboard.
Ugggggghhhh.
She's getting a new Palm tomorrow... this was definitely NOT a purchase we were looking to make this month.
On the other hand, I guess I have another toy on which to try to install Linux.
Ugggggghhhh.
She's getting a new Palm tomorrow... this was definitely NOT a purchase we were looking to make this month.
On the other hand, I guess I have another toy on which to try to install Linux.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Slug Power!
Godfrey asks:
First order of business was to change my default shell to bash (as opposed to the built-in busybox). Then I installed the native development tools, and now I'm installing--or attempting to install, anyway--mDNSResponder, so my Macs will recognize the Slug via Rendezvous/Bonjour. (In other words I'll be able to ssh to slugpower.local rather than some IP address.)
I am a bit teed off about one thing: according to the Slug Wiki, most modern slugs come "pre-overclocked"; that is, running at the native 266 mHz. Yet mine appears to be one of the older ones: it's running at half-speed, 133 mHz. Grrr. I really wasn't looking forward to cracking open the case.
Excellent! How big of a hard drive did you stick onto it?Well, I bought a 300 GB drive the other day. My original idea was to use that one for backups for both Macs and then use another partition for the Slug. However, after further research, I nixed that idea... backup is too important to relegate to a toy, and I'm not sure the slug would even work with HFS+ partitions. So yesterday I went to Staples and bought a 40 GB, self-powered USB 2.0 drive (for the princely sum of $30 after rebate), and unslung to that.
First order of business was to change my default shell to bash (as opposed to the built-in busybox). Then I installed the native development tools, and now I'm installing--or attempting to install, anyway--mDNSResponder, so my Macs will recognize the Slug via Rendezvous/Bonjour. (In other words I'll be able to ssh to slugpower.local rather than some IP address.)
I am a bit teed off about one thing: according to the Slug Wiki, most modern slugs come "pre-overclocked"; that is, running at the native 266 mHz. Yet mine appears to be one of the older ones: it's running at half-speed, 133 mHz. Grrr. I really wasn't looking forward to cracking open the case.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
And here I am...
I'm writing this in eLinks on my Slug!
(I tried to leave this as a comment, but it's difficult to do word verification on a text-only, non-sound-capable computer. Ah, it's like 1983!)
(I tried to leave this as a comment, but it's difficult to do word verification on a text-only, non-sound-capable computer. Ah, it's like 1983!)
Monumental!
Because "The Google" sends people who search for my name here, rather than www.zacharybrewstergeisz.com, I've added a handy-dandy reminder below the title. I know you're all excited to see that.
Edit: Hmm... as of this moment, I'm mistaken. It didn't used to be that way, though. I wonder what changed?
Edit: Hmm... as of this moment, I'm mistaken. It didn't used to be that way, though. I wonder what changed?
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Hypothetically speaking...
So, if an opportunity for a record contract came your way, but it meant embarking on a life of touring, would you take it?
Monday, October 30, 2006
Ha, ha!
I just got RoboPolled! What a hoot! See if you can guess if you're supposed to answer "yes" or "no" to the final question:
(I wanted to link to the web site the robo-pollers promoted, but I can't remember it now. There's got to be a lesson there somewhere.)
Edit: For the record, I do support embryonic stem-cell research; but that's not what they asked.
Do you support medical research on unborn babies?Whose platform is that in? They may as well have said "Do you support killing puppies for science?" I said "yes," just to foul up their results.
(I wanted to link to the web site the robo-pollers promoted, but I can't remember it now. There's got to be a lesson there somewhere.)
Edit: For the record, I do support embryonic stem-cell research; but that's not what they asked.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Hot, steamy electioneering.
Medley says pretty much what I've been thinking about the Virginia Senate race, but better than I could, and with the authority of being a Virginia voter. However, the added wrinkle of criticizing passages from Webb's novels because of their sex scenes is just ridiculous.
Here in Maryland's fifth district, I'll be casting a protest write-in vote against Steny Hoyer. He's the minority whip for the House, and has no chance of losing; but I'm somewhat disappointed in his pro-corporate stance on many of the issues; the bankruptcy bill for one. But I won't be voting for the Republican either, because I don't think the Republicans deserve any votes this year.
Ehrlich vs. O'Malley? I don't really know, but Ehrlich seems to be pivoting to the center strictly to win votes, and the evidence is pretty clear that he had career state workers fired for no reason other than party affiliation.
And Maryland Senate is a no-brainer; Ben Cardin over Michael Steele. I don't know much about Cardin (I supported Mfume in the primary), but a Democratic Senate would be a major bulwark and a major rejection of Bushism.
It's kinda nice to have two competitive state-wide races this year.
Here in Maryland's fifth district, I'll be casting a protest write-in vote against Steny Hoyer. He's the minority whip for the House, and has no chance of losing; but I'm somewhat disappointed in his pro-corporate stance on many of the issues; the bankruptcy bill for one. But I won't be voting for the Republican either, because I don't think the Republicans deserve any votes this year.
Ehrlich vs. O'Malley? I don't really know, but Ehrlich seems to be pivoting to the center strictly to win votes, and the evidence is pretty clear that he had career state workers fired for no reason other than party affiliation.
And Maryland Senate is a no-brainer; Ben Cardin over Michael Steele. I don't know much about Cardin (I supported Mfume in the primary), but a Democratic Senate would be a major bulwark and a major rejection of Bushism.
It's kinda nice to have two competitive state-wide races this year.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Rationalization.
Godfrey sez:
After some research, I found the Linux of which he spoke. It does indeed look keen. But a web-server is out of the question, since Comcast blocks the HTTP ports, AFAIK. So whatever I created would be just for the local internets, and who wants to make a web page that only you & the wife & the kids can see? A cool sandbox, sure, but heck, I can run a local web-server directly in Mac OS X, since it has Apache built in (and just needs a couple switches thrown to enable PHP).
So, nice idea, nice toy, but I thought I couldn't justify it. Until...
Like a bolt from the blue, it hit me last night: I could run a Subversion server on it! Subversion (or SVN) is a version-control system (like CVS), used mostly in software development so multiple developers can work on the same project without stepping on each others' toes. However, it's also been adopted by Animation:Master for use when multiple animators/modelers/etc. are working on the same project. Because it saves revisions, it's the perfect backup system even if you're the only person working on a project. So I'd do my work, backup to SVN, and never worry about a corrupted file or dead HD again!
And of course, if I ever decide to do another big collaboration, I can open the appropriate ports on the ol' router, and bang, we gots us a world-wide server, with no need to leave any computers on 24/7! Yowza!
And that doesn't even include the simple fact that K & I need a way to backup all our 'puters, which is what the NSLU2 was actually, y'know, designed for.
Now if I had only had this revelation when there was actually money in our checking account.
Well, you could buy a Linksys NSLU2 (ca. $80) and a USB hard drive, and put Linux on that... There are a couple of flavors of Linux available for the Slug, including Debian. (I'd suggest cracking open the case and pulling off the resistor which cuts its clock speed in half.) It's not blindingly fast, it doesn't have huge amounts of memory, but it's got enough juice to run Apache and PHP.To which I say: interesting!
After some research, I found the Linux of which he spoke. It does indeed look keen. But a web-server is out of the question, since Comcast blocks the HTTP ports, AFAIK. So whatever I created would be just for the local internets, and who wants to make a web page that only you & the wife & the kids can see? A cool sandbox, sure, but heck, I can run a local web-server directly in Mac OS X, since it has Apache built in (and just needs a couple switches thrown to enable PHP).
So, nice idea, nice toy, but I thought I couldn't justify it. Until...
Like a bolt from the blue, it hit me last night: I could run a Subversion server on it! Subversion (or SVN) is a version-control system (like CVS), used mostly in software development so multiple developers can work on the same project without stepping on each others' toes. However, it's also been adopted by Animation:Master for use when multiple animators/modelers/etc. are working on the same project. Because it saves revisions, it's the perfect backup system even if you're the only person working on a project. So I'd do my work, backup to SVN, and never worry about a corrupted file or dead HD again!
And of course, if I ever decide to do another big collaboration, I can open the appropriate ports on the ol' router, and bang, we gots us a world-wide server, with no need to leave any computers on 24/7! Yowza!
And that doesn't even include the simple fact that K & I need a way to backup all our 'puters, which is what the NSLU2 was actually, y'know, designed for.
Now if I had only had this revelation when there was actually money in our checking account.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Watch this space.
The Gonnas may be reuniting for a paid gig sometime soon. Details to follow as soon as I know them.
Watch this space.
The Gonnas may be reuniting for a paid gig sometime soon. Details to follow as soon as I know them.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Unleash the inner tinkerer!
Darn it. I'm so down on my computers right now, I almost want to wipe the hard drives clean and install Linux on 'em. Almost.
Failing that, I would love to buy a super-cheap x86 laptop so I could install Linux on it and tinker. There's just something about command-line tools that I love. I don't know why. Maybe it's because they're so fast.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to set one up as a cheap-ass server and learn PHP? Or poke around in free software until I could figure out how to make ffmpeg create the new-style H264 low-complexity codec that allows 640x480 video on iPods? Or, heck, write a novel on LyX for NaNoWriMo...
This is what a geek does. Earlier generations might have opened up a VW Beetle. My generation opens up operating systems.
Just how cheap could I get a laptop these days?
Failing that, I would love to buy a super-cheap x86 laptop so I could install Linux on it and tinker. There's just something about command-line tools that I love. I don't know why. Maybe it's because they're so fast.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to set one up as a cheap-ass server and learn PHP? Or poke around in free software until I could figure out how to make ffmpeg create the new-style H264 low-complexity codec that allows 640x480 video on iPods? Or, heck, write a novel on LyX for NaNoWriMo...
This is what a geek does. Earlier generations might have opened up a VW Beetle. My generation opens up operating systems.
Just how cheap could I get a laptop these days?
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
So you can plan your day.
The schedule for NYC Shorts has been posted, and The Cell-Phone will show at 12 noon on Saturday November 11, as part of a "kids block." Sigh.
And although it's not online yet, I've found out that Annapolis will screen Soap Opera at 7:30 P.M. that same Saturday, as the curtain raiser for a feature called The Big Bad Swim. Coincidentally enough, I met the producer at CTFF--like me, she is a Westport, Connecticut native.
And although it's not online yet, I've found out that Annapolis will screen Soap Opera at 7:30 P.M. that same Saturday, as the curtain raiser for a feature called The Big Bad Swim. Coincidentally enough, I met the producer at CTFF--like me, she is a Westport, Connecticut native.
Monday, October 16, 2006
Ah, to be triplets!
The weekend of November 10th is going to be busy. First, I heard from NYC Shorts that they'll be showing The Cell-Phone. Then, I heard from Annapolis, who will screen Soap Opera. Now, I've heard from the Lake Forest Film Festival, just outside of Chicago, who have programmed <ESC>!
So, to recap: three different films, three different festivals, one week-end. Yow. If I had a company, I could send representatives. But it's just me!
Well, no, that's not true, of course not. <ESC> was a solo piece. Cell-Phone was a collaboration (with Mike, Jeff, and others) towards the end. Soap Opera was a full collaboration with Jeff. So, let's see... Mike is two feet away from NYC Shorts. I'm right next to Annapolis. Maybe I could convince Jeff to drive from Indiana to Chicago? Except, wait, he didn't work on <ESC>, so why would he go? Maybe he could come to Annapolis and I could go to Chicago? No, that doesn't make sense! Besides, I want to go to NYC! Give me time, I'll figure it out...
So, to recap: three different films, three different festivals, one week-end. Yow. If I had a company, I could send representatives. But it's just me!
Well, no, that's not true, of course not. <ESC> was a solo piece. Cell-Phone was a collaboration (with Mike, Jeff, and others) towards the end. Soap Opera was a full collaboration with Jeff. So, let's see... Mike is two feet away from NYC Shorts. I'm right next to Annapolis. Maybe I could convince Jeff to drive from Indiana to Chicago? Except, wait, he didn't work on <ESC>, so why would he go? Maybe he could come to Annapolis and I could go to Chicago? No, that doesn't make sense! Besides, I want to go to NYC! Give me time, I'll figure it out...
Another monthly song.
Something a little different:
Too Much Acid in the Inertial Dampers, 2:00, 1.8 MB.
As always, it's for the KVR monthly song contest. Topic: no voices.
I expect you'll all hate it.
Too Much Acid in the Inertial Dampers, 2:00, 1.8 MB.
As always, it's for the KVR monthly song contest. Topic: no voices.
I expect you'll all hate it.
Friday, October 13, 2006
CTFF.
So, the inaugural Connecticut Film Festival. In brief, the screening was so-so but the Sunday brunch was great.
Screening: there were about four people there who had no connection with any of the shorts in the program. The rest of us were filmmakers and entourage. The projector was all messed up; it was way too bright, and the aspect ratio was incorrect, so all of the films were stretched widescreen when they were supposed to be 4:3. After a while, you got used to it and wondered why the real people in the theater were so thin.
There was an ad-hoc Q&A afterward, at which I stunned everyone with my huge production budget ($29.95 for a royalty-free recording of Also Sprach Zarathustra).
I was in a foul mood for various reasons on which I won't elaborate, so I called an old friend who lives in Queens and asked if I could crash on his couch overnight. Graciously, he agreed. I had a nice dinner and a nicer conversation with him and his wife. I even got to meet his daughter for the first time ever--what a cutie pie!
The next morning, I was inclined to just go home, but after all, I had come up there to network and make myself known, not just see my movie. So I trucked out for a 10:00 brunch in Westport, feeling sorry for myself, and once I was there I met up with a couple other filmmakers and had a decent hamburger. Then was the awards ceremony. The shorts award went to someone else. I wasn't surprised. Another filmmaker at my table won the feature film award, which was cool. Then they announced the Connecticut Filmmaker award, and it went to some movie called "The Cell-Phone," by Zach Br--wait, what?
Well, technically I guess I'm a Connecticut filmmaker, in that I grew up there. But I haven't lived there since 1990. Don't tell anyone. Certainly was a hell of a surprise, though!
So, once the engraving is done, I'll have a nice glass sculpture to place next to my IPIFF Eagle. Makes me wish I had a fireplace, so I could put them on my mantel.
Screening: there were about four people there who had no connection with any of the shorts in the program. The rest of us were filmmakers and entourage. The projector was all messed up; it was way too bright, and the aspect ratio was incorrect, so all of the films were stretched widescreen when they were supposed to be 4:3. After a while, you got used to it and wondered why the real people in the theater were so thin.
There was an ad-hoc Q&A afterward, at which I stunned everyone with my huge production budget ($29.95 for a royalty-free recording of Also Sprach Zarathustra).
I was in a foul mood for various reasons on which I won't elaborate, so I called an old friend who lives in Queens and asked if I could crash on his couch overnight. Graciously, he agreed. I had a nice dinner and a nicer conversation with him and his wife. I even got to meet his daughter for the first time ever--what a cutie pie!
The next morning, I was inclined to just go home, but after all, I had come up there to network and make myself known, not just see my movie. So I trucked out for a 10:00 brunch in Westport, feeling sorry for myself, and once I was there I met up with a couple other filmmakers and had a decent hamburger. Then was the awards ceremony. The shorts award went to someone else. I wasn't surprised. Another filmmaker at my table won the feature film award, which was cool. Then they announced the Connecticut Filmmaker award, and it went to some movie called "The Cell-Phone," by Zach Br--wait, what?
Well, technically I guess I'm a Connecticut filmmaker, in that I grew up there. But I haven't lived there since 1990. Don't tell anyone. Certainly was a hell of a surprise, though!
So, once the engraving is done, I'll have a nice glass sculpture to place next to my IPIFF Eagle. Makes me wish I had a fireplace, so I could put them on my mantel.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Juxtaposition.
"Yes, Jack, why would we stay?"
"... Since that time, the American people have reelected George W. Bush..."
"... Since that time, the American people have reelected George W. Bush..."
Saturday, October 07, 2006
On the road.
I'm sitting in a café in New Milford, Connecticut, waiting nervously for my screening to roll around. I arrived much earlier than I expected--2 P.M., two full hours early. The Bank Street Cinema is showing, in addition to the festival, such luminous films as Jackass Number Two.
Oddly enough, the people at the table immediately adjacent to me are talking about an annoying cell-phone driver. It's all I can do to not turn around and say, "Someone should make a movie about that."
One major disappointment so far. Many more to come, no doubt.
Oddly enough, the people at the table immediately adjacent to me are talking about an annoying cell-phone driver. It's all I can do to not turn around and say, "Someone should make a movie about that."
One major disappointment so far. Many more to come, no doubt.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
And away we go.
Tomorrow I head off to Connecticut.
This is actually something of a big deal. I've never attended a non-local film festival. I had hopes of going to North Carolina and Cleveland last year, but the schedule never worked out. So here I am, driving past my home town to New Milford for a Saturday, 4:00 P.M. screening, with no idea what to expect.
D.C. Shorts has a filmmaker-friendly reputation--not that they pay for your travel or anything (no one does) but they treat you well once you get here. Plenty of networking opportunities, plenty of swag... it's fun and exhausting at the same time, and the quality of films is superb.
However, CTFF is brand-new and I have no idea what to expect. Will there be Q&As? Will I have free tickets? Will anyone from the festival even be at the screening? I do know that the screenings happen in multiple venues around Connecticut, so it doesn't seem as though there'll be a lot of unity or camaraderie. Maybe I'll be wrong, though.
I've already seen one of the films sharing the screening, Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot, which was a selection at Sundance, so I guess I'm in good company.
There's some sort of reception that evening in New Milford which I'll go to and be my usual wallflowery self, and then there's an awards brunch Sunday morning where I won't win anything. Then it's back into the rental car, and home.
All this is in aid of a new policy formulated by K and me: whenever I have a screening, if at all possible, I should go. After all, I want to make a career of this, if by "career" I mean "thing that earns me esteem but no money whatsoever." (There is NO money in short films.) I've told my kids that I'm going on a "business trip," because it sounds better than "a throwing-money-away" trip. And I keep on trying to tell myself that it's all worth it: the entry fees, the travel costs and time, the LightScribe DVDs, the thrill of acceptance and the agony of rejection. I know I should be happy, indeed reveling, in the simple fact that people actually enjoy my films. Still, it's hard to not wonder: is it worth it?
This is actually something of a big deal. I've never attended a non-local film festival. I had hopes of going to North Carolina and Cleveland last year, but the schedule never worked out. So here I am, driving past my home town to New Milford for a Saturday, 4:00 P.M. screening, with no idea what to expect.
D.C. Shorts has a filmmaker-friendly reputation--not that they pay for your travel or anything (no one does) but they treat you well once you get here. Plenty of networking opportunities, plenty of swag... it's fun and exhausting at the same time, and the quality of films is superb.
However, CTFF is brand-new and I have no idea what to expect. Will there be Q&As? Will I have free tickets? Will anyone from the festival even be at the screening? I do know that the screenings happen in multiple venues around Connecticut, so it doesn't seem as though there'll be a lot of unity or camaraderie. Maybe I'll be wrong, though.
I've already seen one of the films sharing the screening, Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot, which was a selection at Sundance, so I guess I'm in good company.
There's some sort of reception that evening in New Milford which I'll go to and be my usual wallflowery self, and then there's an awards brunch Sunday morning where I won't win anything. Then it's back into the rental car, and home.
All this is in aid of a new policy formulated by K and me: whenever I have a screening, if at all possible, I should go. After all, I want to make a career of this, if by "career" I mean "thing that earns me esteem but no money whatsoever." (There is NO money in short films.) I've told my kids that I'm going on a "business trip," because it sounds better than "a throwing-money-away" trip. And I keep on trying to tell myself that it's all worth it: the entry fees, the travel costs and time, the LightScribe DVDs, the thrill of acceptance and the agony of rejection. I know I should be happy, indeed reveling, in the simple fact that people actually enjoy my films. Still, it's hard to not wonder: is it worth it?
Monday, October 02, 2006
Official!
The Cell-Phone will play as part of NYC Shorts.
Also, here's a little article in New England Film about the upcoming Connecticut screening.
Side note, commenters! I know too many Mikes. Please make your pseudonyms more specific. That is all.
Also, here's a little article in New England Film about the upcoming Connecticut screening.
Side note, commenters! I know too many Mikes. Please make your pseudonyms more specific. That is all.
Hmmm...
I'm not sure yet, but The Cell-Phone may appear as part of NYC Shorts. I got two rejection letters for <ESC> and Soap Opera, and a letter that said "Congratulations again on being accepted to NYC Shorts!" but no actual acceptance letter which mentioned Cell-Phone. So does this mean it's been accepted, or that the second letter was accidental? Watch this space for details.
Friday, September 29, 2006
We are the frog.
We now live in a country where indefinite detention and torture are legal. I can't process this! I can't think about it; I can't believe it's happening. When did this water start to boil?
Monday, September 25, 2006
Indignation.
I wrote a song for the KVR monthly song contest, and here it is: Undisclosed Location
The topic was to write a song about/inspired by/in the style of your home. I wrote about Fortress Washington.
I don't like my singing, but I'm pretty pleased with the arrangement and the lyrics, which can be found here.
Comments and crits are welcome.
The topic was to write a song about/inspired by/in the style of your home. I wrote about Fortress Washington.
I don't like my singing, but I'm pretty pleased with the arrangement and the lyrics, which can be found here.
Comments and crits are welcome.
Friday, September 22, 2006
The future, NOW.
Remember everyone's vision of the future, with the cleaning robots that would pick up a speck of dust the second it was dropped and leave your house sparkling clean with no effort at all? Remember how it was supposed to arrive by 1967?
So we were a few years off! But the future is now at our house, thanks to iRobot's Roomba Discovery vacuum, which beeped its way into our hearts yesterday after a three-hour charge. I fully expect flying cars to debut sometime in 2007.
After watching it toddle around the living room this morning, I can understand why people name them, MIDIfy them, and use them to play Frogger. K was already talking about painting eyes on it, and I must admit I have a healthy respect for a company that publishes an SDK for a vacuum cleaner.
But, of course, the number one question: does it work? I'll let Secretary Rumfseld answer that:
So we were a few years off! But the future is now at our house, thanks to iRobot's Roomba Discovery vacuum, which beeped its way into our hearts yesterday after a three-hour charge. I fully expect flying cars to debut sometime in 2007.
After watching it toddle around the living room this morning, I can understand why people name them, MIDIfy them, and use them to play Frogger. K was already talking about painting eyes on it, and I must admit I have a healthy respect for a company that publishes an SDK for a vacuum cleaner.
But, of course, the number one question: does it work? I'll let Secretary Rumfseld answer that:
Can you get rid of your old vacuum entirely? Heavens, no. Is it smart enough to avoid stray threads on old throw rugs? Gracious, never. Is it nonetheless easier than our semi-broken and noisy Dirt Devil? My goodness, yes.
The sad truth.
YouTube sucks. No, not the content, not at all. And maybe it doesn't suck so hard on better computers than the one on which I currently write. But the fact is, on my machines, the rate of dropped frames is worse than a bad print of a Buster Keaton film. It's like watching someone do the robot--badly.
On the other hand, if it weren't for YouTube, I never would have found out what the hell Filliam H. Muffman meant. So there you go.
On the other hand, if it weren't for YouTube, I never would have found out what the hell Filliam H. Muffman meant. So there you go.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Oh, by the way.
I would be remiss if I didn't plug this book, written by the aforementioned Professor Josh. Now, that's something of which I can be envious.
Monopoly!
Yesterday I drove down to Chestertown, MD and Washington College to see my ole friend (or is that olé friend? oleo friend?) Mike perform his monologue Monopoly!, about Microsoft, Parker Brothers, and Nicola Tesla, inventor of the DEATH RAY (true!). I knew the monologue would be brilliant--almost anything Mike does is brilliant--but it was nice to experience it First Hand, nonetheless.
Mike does a kind of storytelling that weaves his own life in with Larger Concepts. His break-out work, 21 Dog Years, was mostly his own life; Monolpoly was mostly Larger Concepts. This is a good thing. Frankly, I suspect that as he's gotten more successful, his life has gotten less interesting and less suited to storytelling, or at least the kind of storytelling he's done. The danger is that, eventually, he may create the kind of inside-baseball show about "touring the country doing monologues" that I find insufferable, kind of like when film school students make movies about film school students, or animators make movies about animators. So far, he seems to have avoided that, although one section of Monopoly, where he tells the story of the show's opening (yes, he talks about the show you're watching during the actual show!), comes dangerously close, and is easily the least compelling part of the evening. He can get away with it because he's so darn entertaining, but nevertheless... Then again, maybe I just found it less interesting because I've done theater before and know the ins and outs and... well, it's just like any other job, really.
After the show, Mike, his wife and director Jean-Michele, Josh, the professor who had invited him to perform, and I went out to a local restaurant/bar to eat and chat. I suspect we all (even Josh, who knew Mike and JM from New York) just wanted a quiet evening of Catching Up; I know I did. However, it was not in the cards, as many of the folks who were at the show were also having a drink or two, and wound up mobbing Mike (in a pleasant way). A couple times, JM looked at me meaningfully, as if to say "See what it's like being a Pluto to this Sun?" (In fairness, she didn't actually say this and I don't know if she'd even describe it that way as a joke. JM, after all, is Mike's collaborator, director, and great love. They're more like Pluto and Charon, continually orbiting each other, one slightly better-known but both essential.) Anyway, for this reason JM and I talked a lot more than Mike and I, which was fine, except that I was inarticulate and befuddled as I often am when confronted with a beautiful woman I don't know very well. (The only reason I can talk to K is that we've been married for twelve years. Otherwise, I'd be all "Who is this tall gorgeous Swede and why is she laughing at my jokes?!")
Eventually, I left and I drove home, arriving at about midnight. I may have been hallucinating from exhaustion on the way home, unless I really did run over a deer with Father Guido Sarducci's face.
One more thing. Longtime readers may remember that as this blog started, I would occasionally get debilitating fits of envy about Mike's success--horrible, embarassing, and selfish acts which nonetheless I just couldn't help. I fully expected another one to happen after the show yesterday, but it didn't. Why? There could be many reasons--maybe because Mike doesn't blog about his actual life anymore; maybe I've finally come to terms with my own strengths and weaknesses as an artist; maybe I'm actually growing up--horrors! But the possibility I find most interesting--and one I may develop a film around--is that now that I've had some modest success of my own, I've realized that people might be envious of me, just as I was once envious of Mike. It's strangely reassuring--and yet just as selfish as it was before, innit?
Mike does a kind of storytelling that weaves his own life in with Larger Concepts. His break-out work, 21 Dog Years, was mostly his own life; Monolpoly was mostly Larger Concepts. This is a good thing. Frankly, I suspect that as he's gotten more successful, his life has gotten less interesting and less suited to storytelling, or at least the kind of storytelling he's done. The danger is that, eventually, he may create the kind of inside-baseball show about "touring the country doing monologues" that I find insufferable, kind of like when film school students make movies about film school students, or animators make movies about animators. So far, he seems to have avoided that, although one section of Monopoly, where he tells the story of the show's opening (yes, he talks about the show you're watching during the actual show!), comes dangerously close, and is easily the least compelling part of the evening. He can get away with it because he's so darn entertaining, but nevertheless... Then again, maybe I just found it less interesting because I've done theater before and know the ins and outs and... well, it's just like any other job, really.
After the show, Mike, his wife and director Jean-Michele, Josh, the professor who had invited him to perform, and I went out to a local restaurant/bar to eat and chat. I suspect we all (even Josh, who knew Mike and JM from New York) just wanted a quiet evening of Catching Up; I know I did. However, it was not in the cards, as many of the folks who were at the show were also having a drink or two, and wound up mobbing Mike (in a pleasant way). A couple times, JM looked at me meaningfully, as if to say "See what it's like being a Pluto to this Sun?" (In fairness, she didn't actually say this and I don't know if she'd even describe it that way as a joke. JM, after all, is Mike's collaborator, director, and great love. They're more like Pluto and Charon, continually orbiting each other, one slightly better-known but both essential.) Anyway, for this reason JM and I talked a lot more than Mike and I, which was fine, except that I was inarticulate and befuddled as I often am when confronted with a beautiful woman I don't know very well. (The only reason I can talk to K is that we've been married for twelve years. Otherwise, I'd be all "Who is this tall gorgeous Swede and why is she laughing at my jokes?!")
Eventually, I left and I drove home, arriving at about midnight. I may have been hallucinating from exhaustion on the way home, unless I really did run over a deer with Father Guido Sarducci's face.
One more thing. Longtime readers may remember that as this blog started, I would occasionally get debilitating fits of envy about Mike's success--horrible, embarassing, and selfish acts which nonetheless I just couldn't help. I fully expected another one to happen after the show yesterday, but it didn't. Why? There could be many reasons--maybe because Mike doesn't blog about his actual life anymore; maybe I've finally come to terms with my own strengths and weaknesses as an artist; maybe I'm actually growing up--horrors! But the possibility I find most interesting--and one I may develop a film around--is that now that I've had some modest success of my own, I've realized that people might be envious of me, just as I was once envious of Mike. It's strangely reassuring--and yet just as selfish as it was before, innit?
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
The forgotten terrorist.
A while ago I lamented that no one seemed to remember Oklahoma City anymore. Well, as David Niewert points out, the OK bomb is practically a national holiday compared to what happened a year ago today.
Maybe the perp is hanging with Osama somewhere.
Maybe the perp is hanging with Osama somewhere.
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