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So there won't be all that much activity. Actually, there probably won't be all that much activity until the holidays are over. Hope that everyone has a good and safe Thanksgiving.
Tivo grabbed Death Race 2000 for me while I was at work. I've never seen this particular magnificent piece of, well, dreck before, so I thought I'd leave it on while I was doing some work around the house.
For those who aren't familiar with the "plot" of the movie, the country has gone completely to pieces, and the fascist president of the United Provinces of America holds an annual cross country race in which the contestants run over people for points. All in all, a completely forgetable turkey, only notable for just how bad it is.
But, there's this little gem buried right in the middle of it. It seems there's a rebel faction trying to overthrow the president's reign, and their approach is to kill of the drivers so there can be no race. After one driver is killed in a rather Wile E. Coyote scheme, the president comes on the tube to annouce:
There has been a lot of talk about American rebels. We have positive proof that it was none other than the treacherous French, who have been sabotaging our great race just as they and their stinking European allies have undermined and destroyed our great national economy. It is no coincidence, my dear children, that the word sabotage was invented by the French.
The film continues to go on and on, blaming all the troubles both in the race and in the country on the pesky French. And that's from a Z flick made in 1975. Looks like yet more evidence that this whole "France bad" riff is hardly a new thing.
I was driving home from studying with Anthony tonight and I heard a commercial on WHFS for a special on CBS Michael Jackson tomorrow night. WTF? Who is the severely challenged idiot who gave a green light to this ratings crater? Even if Mikey hadn't had his little, um, rampant pedophilia problem, this would have been a big ol' empty spot in the TV schedule. Michael Jackson was great -- even brilliant -- once, but he's just about been worthless for a decade or so (aside from a burgeoning freak show attraction). Who cares what he has to say or what he does about, well, anything anymore? Other than him saying "I did it" in front of a judge, MJ would do the world a favor if he just limped away to a real Neverland and bothered us all no more.
-- Update --
Seems that CBS has already pulled the plug on this monstrosity. That still doesn't explain how this ever got on the air nor why they are still running commercials for a special that isn't going to be shown.
I just got a promotion at my day job. That should be a good thing, right? Unfortunately, this particular promotion comes with more responsibility and more headaches (and, no doubt, yet more drains on my available time) but doesn't come with additional pay or other kinds of incentives.
I had some time off today, so I thought I'd go and catch the new Matrix film. I've heard nothing but bad things about it. Still, I figured that it probably had really big special effects, and they would probably be, umm, better on the big screen. So, off to a matinee showing I went.
The movie spent a good bit of time making homages to the original. The opening fight scene (Trinity, Morpheus and another guy go to the Merovingian's place) closely resembles the fight scene in the original Matrix where Neo and Trinity go into the office building to rescue Morpheus from the agents. And, that same fight scene has Trinity doing the same praying mantis suspended-in-midair kick from the original one. The final fight between Neo and Agent Smith (oh, come on, like any of these are spoiliers) makes several references to training between the Neo and Morpheus from the original Matrix.
And, speaking of the Merovingian's place, what was up with the costuming? I haven't seen that much kink since, well, I don't think I've ever seen that much. Needless to say, someone has a serious fetish thing going on when it came to the costumes...
But the fetishes didn't stop there. It seems that there's a big thing for big guns and lots of explosions (but this particular thing is hardly limited to a Matrix movie). But the big fight scene (again, is this actually a spoiler for anyone?) featured humans fighting with what seemed to be machine guns and what was more or less bazookas. That's the best that humans can come up with over the several centuries that have passed? And the EMP can only be in a ship? No mini-EMP grenades? No big EMPs to guard the home? WTF?
There seemed to be an effort to up the "philosophical" angle to this film. The first film had something along the lines of philosophy (although it was nothing that couldn't be gleaned from a fifteen minutes in any second year metaphysics course). This one seemed more focused on existentialism, but even then it was rather cursory. And what philosophy there was in this flick was delivered in a pretentious, pontificating fashion that sucked the life out of any possible thought there might have been.
The ending. This is how they choose to end this series? Of all the possible ways they could have ended it, it was this way? Even the brothers Wachowski (who wrote and directed this opus) knew the ending was bad -- they even named one of the characters the Deus Ex Machina.
I have to give credit to one of the actors, though. Ian Bliss played the character of Bane, and he was the one from Reloaded that was infected by the Agent Smith virus. He had to mimic the style of Hugo Weaving in a believable way, and he did. Every moment he was on the screen called to mind Weaving's Smith.
Watch time :44
I caught the Oteil Burbridge show tonight with his backing band, the Peacemakers. I had really never heard the band before; I had caught Oteil playing on a Victor Wooten DVD once upon a time.
They put on a rather good show. It had a heavy jazz feel to it, as well as a good funky groove (not that those two idioms are incompatible...). If I had to classify it, I would probably say it was "funky bohemian Southern jazz." The band really had a high level of energy. They were really tight and together. Everything had a great groove, and the crowd really got into the show.
Having said that, the crowd was something like twenty, thirty people. That had to be a let down for the band. I can understand; I've played my butt off for empty rooms before -- it just goes with the territory -- but that doesn't mean it's a lot of fun. My hat's off to the Peacemakers for keeping their energy up anyway -- particularly after having driven 9 hours from Connecticut.
The Peacemakers featured Oteil on bass (of course), Paul Henson on vocals, Mark Kymball on guitar, Jason Crosby on keys and Chris Fryar on drums. Paul had a really good voice for the kind of music they were playing.
While I was there, I picked up their latest CD Family Secret while I was there. I had thought about ordering it from Amazon (which is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly since I resell for them from time to time), and I found a copy of the disc in a Border's the other day. But I decided to buy the CD at the show. I figure that way the artist gets most of the money.
Today was one of those days that, in a word, sucked. I did the 6am to 2pm shift again, but this time, the next guy didn't show up. So a 6am-2pm shift turned into 6am to 11pm. And today was a really pretty day (or so I'm told).
But, on the upside, I did a lot of work on the website. The schedule page is coming together rather nicely.
Sorry there's no more; I'm a bit ragged out right now.
I'm sitting here, about to get off of work, and I'm completely exhausted. For the last seventeen hours, I've done very little more than type, eat a little food here and there and read incessantly.
What I don't really get is why that makes me so tired. It's not like I spent the day picking peppers or roofing a house. If I did that, I'd be bone tired, but I would have gotten some exercise in the process. This way, I'm tired, but that's about it. It's probably a big reason why most of the computer people that I know are either overweight or heading in that direction. I know that I've put on way more weight than I would like, and most of that is because I spend far too much time typing.
It's kind of like driving for hours. I'm going to be heading home soon. When I get there, I'm going to be wasted tired, and all that I will have done is driven my car for six, seven hours. Will I have gotten any exercise worth speaking of during that time? Nope. Will I have eaten bad food and drank a bunch of soda? Almost certainly.
And between my day job and this music gig, I'm not having as much time as I would like for working out. Guess I'll have to cut back on the day job....
Tonight, we played as an opener (of sorts) for a wedding reception. There was a main band in the room for dancing; we were in the lobby as more or less atmospheric music for cocktails.
The evening started off a little bit off-kilter. Due to various miscommunications, we were a bit on the late side of starting. Once we got going, though, things were pretty good. In my opinion, we carried out the songs a little longer than we should have, and there was one tune that was just a bloody train wreck from start to finish. Still, most of the audience seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a good time.
I had never been to a Persian wedding before. Since I wasn't an invited guest, I suppose that I still have not, but it was an interesting experience from my perspective. Everyone seemed to be having fun, the bride was beautiful and the groom handsome and there was lots of music, food and dancing. Compared to the drudgefests/wakes that were some weddings I have recently attended, this seemed to be quite the improvement.
I finished reading Bernie Goldberg's Arrogance today. It's a nice little read, but I have the same compliant with this book that I had from his prior one. It's full of snappy lines, and I'm even sympathetic to some of his points, but there's next to no documentation to back up what he says. No footnotes, no endnotes, no references, no sources, nada.
Here's an example
The antigun people don't like anything about guns. Guns do not give them peace of mind. Just the opposite. And the vast majority of mainstream media people--certainly those who work in the biggest, most important newrooms in the country--fall into this antigun category. To a lot of them, guns are destructive and evil. Period. In fact, they think there are no credible arguments on the other side, just the irrational rants of all those crazy "gun nuts."
Arrogance, (pp187-188, 1st edition)
It's a great quote. Too bad he doesn't give any sources, makes overly broad generalizations and does much the same as the people he critizes.
The issue of bias is a tough one. I happen to think that there is a bias in the media. One that cuts many different ways and you have to pay attention to what is being said as well as backstopping anything that might sound a little suspicious with a little judicious research. So, when I listen to NPR, I expect a tilt to the left. And a bend to the right should I happen to catch any Rush Limbaugh. I read as much as I can, preferrably written by people who may not agree with me, but all of which make me think. I figure that should set me up to be able to judge for myself as to what's going on.
Rich rang me up today, wanting to know if I would be available for a gig on Friday next. I like to play out -- particularly when I get paid for it -- but not this time.
I'm going down to visit my folks for Thanksgiving. It's about a six, seven hour drive one way. Coming back for a show (and, for the rate that was quoted) just wasn't worth it this time around. If I had been going to Richmond, if there was a lot more money on the table or if I would be sitting in with some really hot musician, then maybe it would be different.
But I think I'd rather spend the time with my family. I don't get to spend as much time with them as I would like to (the distance and all), so I do try to see them as much as I can.
There's nothing quite like sitting in a warm room, listening to a Romanian man drone on about arcane technical details. I'm a techie; I actually like this sort of stuff, and I'm catching my head drop time and time again. Of course, being out until 2am or so and up at 6:45 probably isn't helping all that much. Good thing I can sort of sleep with my eyes open. If only I could get my head to stay in the same place and not snore, and things would work out just fine.
I had a blonde moment this morning as well. I walked out of my place and left my wallet at home, so no lunch today (which is probably not such a bad thing, given that I am trying to lose weight). There are a room full of people in the room with me, but I don't know them, so I'm loathe to even try to bum some cash off of any of them. In any case, that'll learn me to leave my cash at home...
is a good thing. Fresh from Belgium is even better. That's probably the best thing about this morning so far.
I dropped by Flip's show tonight after rehearsal just to chat. I'm still in the process of building this website, and I wanted his permission to link to his site.
Just as a tangent, the etiquette of linking is a strange thing on the web. When do you ask someone for permission, as opposed to just doing it? I try to ask as many people as I can, on the theory it just seems like the right thing to do. Having said that, I didn’t ask Ampeg or (any of those type of people) for permission. I doubt they’d respond in any fashion – they probably get throngs of people daily adding them to their site as a link. Responding to permission requests would quickly be a full time job.
Anyway, back to Flip. Dana (Flip's wife) came into town as well. She’s a great lady that I don’t know as well as I would like. Case in point: I knuckled under and got her a gift certificate for Christmas this year.
Why knuckled under? It seems to me that giving someone a gift certificate is tantamount to saying “I don’t know you well enough to even guess at what you might like.” That’s not always the case, but sometimes does feel that way.
Still, hopefully Dana can use it to pick up something that she likes (since I pretty much already exhausted the available supply of Cirque Du Soleil DVDs). It was nice seeing Dana and talking with her. Flip also hung out afterwards with some other comics. I have no idea who they were, but it was a good time.
So, I have a question for anyone who might want to step up and answer it. Why is there no equivalent of the Internet Move DataBase for music? I think it would just about be better than sliced bread to be able to enter a CD, find out all the people who worked on it and then lookup any other projects that, say, the keyboard player did because he had such good feel. Or anything else the recording engineer worked on just because you liked the way he did the mix and you just might want to hire him for your own project. Now wouldn't that be a good thing?
Went to the flicks after I got off of work. I had read good things about Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World (hereafter referred to as M&C), so I thought I'd check that out, maybe it would be a good way to while away a few hours. And, as usual, I ended up spending more money on the tub o’ Coke and small popcorn with light butter flavored grease than I did on the actual tickets.
's a good film. Two pretty harrowing battles at sea (anyone who goes through this film and still thinks that the time of the tall ships was all romance, glory, sunshine and light probably should get someone to write them a nice, big reality check), wonderful sets and production values, great scenery and ocean shots, and some surprisingly good acting. Not from Russell Crowe (as if I needed to say that). He's gruff, he's monotone in his approach and he somehow managed to need his own security during the filming – or, at least, that’s what the credits said.
No, the good acting was in some kid (Max Pirkis, according to the trusty IMDB). The one who earned the nickname “Lefty” (if you’ve seen the film, you know exactly who I’m talking about). He was completely believable, which was no small task considering his role at the end (I’m trying to be nice and not include spoilers…).
Another standout was the ship's surgeon, Paul Bettany. He worked with Crowe before in A Beautiful Mind, and he was also in the completely forgettable A Knight’s Tale. Bettany did a great job, showing subtlety in his work and maintaining credibility in some, um, questionable circumstances. That he had Crowe as his foil only helped his case.
For the musical selection, the cello was featured prominently throughout the film. I love the sound of a cello – it’s a great register, similar to some of the register on a bass. With Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach and Mozart, it’s hard to go wrong.
So, M&C’s a good little flick. Not earth shattering, not something that I’m going to think about for weeks on end (other than wondering what shots were filmed on the ocean and what shots were filming in a tank).
Watch time, 1:42.
So I picked up Sarah McLachlan's new album Afterglow on Wednesday. And I'm just now getting around to listen to it. Yes, it's been a busy few days, and having to pull a 6am to 2pm shift at work on a Saturday morning isn't helping anything. I do so love monitoring a production system.
But, back to the actual point of this posting. I had read a few other reviews of this album, and they had given it less than glorious marks. My own take on it is that she has made a safe, album, several good songs, nothing too risky. She seems to be growing more towards the mellow side, which would make sense, since she's getting older (aren't we all), not to mention being a mother now.
Instrumentation-wise, this album's gotten away from some of the more free ranging guitar work that was somewhat prominent in Surfacing . I think that's a good thing. Her voice held it's own against the loud, feedbacking guitar, but she's better suited towards a piano backdrop, with the guitar as spice, not as the main course.
Some of the better tracks:
Some of the not so good tracks:
Some friends and I went to catch Flip Orley's show tonight at the DC Improv. It was a good show. He only had four people under this time. I would have thought that would have bode ill for the show, but he made it work. Got to give credit for that.
One of the things that I rather like about Flip's show is that they are never the same twice, since he never has the same people hypnotized twice. Even if he does the exact same bit, they will respond in a different fashion each time. No repetition, so it never grows stale. I’ve seen a number of other comic, and it’s somewhat disappointing when they recycle the same material. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why they might do that – it’s hard coming up with new stuff all the time (I can sympathize with writer’s block).
Flip and I got to know each other something like five years ago. For a while, he would end his shows by saying “I have a website, and it sucks.” So I approached him after a show one night about helping him with his site (which, ironically, is amusing, considering that my day job is more about working with back end computer systems rather than the front end stuff like HTML). To be honest, I don’t know just how much I was or was not able to help him with his site, but we both got to know each other over the years.
Flip’s a great guy, too. Sure, he’s funny (goes with the territory of being a comic, I suppose), but he’s a genuine kind of guy. Very straightforward, not a hint of duplicity.
Anyway, I usually make it a point to catch at least one of his shows every time he comes into town. It’s always good for a laugh, and when is having a laugh ever a bad idea?
As a side note, I gave Flip the Live at the Quick DVD. He had never heard of Bela Fleck before. One of the things that I truly love to do is introduce people to new music (and have new music introduced to me). There are mountains of music out in the world, and most of it is dreck. So when someone that I respect tells me about some music they really like, I usually make it a point to check it out.
This was one of the better shows that JoS has had for a while. We had a better crowd than many of the recent ones have been. That always helps. SLim was kind enough to sit in with us for a few songs as well.
I decided that I was going to have a good show despite anything anything else that might happen. And I did. I ended up doing more singing than I usually do. My back was killing me after the show, though. I think it was because we had a really small stage (good thing I'm not claustrophobic), and I had to stand in the same spot for three hours or so. Not the best of circumstances.
I picked up the Rush in Rio DVD a few weekends ago when I was down in Richmond visiting with my family. Things have been rather busy lately, so I only recently finished watching the whole thing. A few comments on it (in no particular order):
As a side note, I feel like I'm on a first name basis with these guys, since I’ve been listening to them since I was about three or so.
I went to the ear doc today. That's one of those things that I rather dread, right up there with a dentist visit. I've been putting off going back to the ear doc for some time. See, I have tinnitus. For those who might not know what this is, think about it this way: Ever been to a concert and your ears ring when you come out? Well, the ringing in my ears doesn't stop. Ever. It's not the best of experiences, but this one is largely self-inflicted (10 years of DJing...).
Today, I got a full spectrum hearing test and some impressions made (for custom earplugs -- I don't want things to get any worse than they already are). The bad news is that I lost about 10dB@2kHz in my left ear and about 5dB@3kHz in my right ear. The good news is that I am still way above "normal" across the board. All in all, that's a good thing, right?
I was just working on adding to my bio, when I started to think of some of the people that I have encountered while playing music. In my experience, musicians have a bad reputation -- being a diva, making unreasonable requests, one ego-maniac and glory-hog after another. Unfortunately, I've ran into a number of people that seem bound and determined to keep the reputation alive. But what just struck me as I was typing is that I have been rather lucky as of late.
Most of the people that I have met through music have been really quality people. Nice people, the kind that you want to help out and that would help you out in return. I really have been blessed in this regard. I know that playing music with, well, jerks, tends to suck the joy of what should be an otherwise peachy experience.
The other weekend, I was at Bassists In Front. Which, by the way, was a great time. A dozen or so bass players hanging out, making music. They even talked me into getting up and playing for a bit. Anyway, after we all played individually, we did a jam session with about four bassists at a time. And it struck me: bass players are almost uniformly willing to share, to reach out to other musicians. In my experience, much moreso than other kinds of musicians. Maybe it's something about being primarily a supporting musician, maybe it's something completely unrelated, I don't know. Just my observation.
