Between the Bars

TFF 2008

2008-08-27T15:02:00.001-07:00

Two-Step by Low

2008-08-26T14:18:00.001-07:00

Two-Step - Low

Why America is Fucked

2008-08-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

America Is F*cked.......(Graphically at least) from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.

Meet the newest addition to the family

2008-08-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

The most anticipated pop culture moment in recent history... World, meet my new motorcycle. Well, those pictures aren't exactly of my motorcycle, but they are of a 1986 Yamaha Virago XV700c pretty much exactly like mine. I don't have a backrest for the rear seat, and I have really loud staggered aftermarket exhaust pipes, but for all intents and purposes this could be my bike. Gaze upon it and tremble!

I think it's too late for that...

2008-08-01T13:38:00.001-07:00

Quake!

2008-07-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

What Happens at the Valley Ho... Gets Posted on my Blog.

2008-07-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

I Want to Work for Diddy - Not really. But I'll do anything for money.

2008-07-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

I Miss Brooklyn

2008-06-29T19:18:00.001-07:00

Cranford Rose Garden Time-lapse at Brooklyn Botanic Garden from Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Vimeo.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead

2008-04-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

When I read the title, I expected this to look a lot worse than it does. Don't ask me how I came across it.

I bet you can't Laugh Without Smiling

2008-03-31T22:01:00.001-07:00

LSD: Trip or Trap? Part 1

2008-03-31T22:00:00.001-07:00

Why'd I Buy a Diesel?

2008-03-31T21:37:00.000-07:00

I paid $4.35/gallon for a tank of biodiesel today in Brentwood, and that's not even the most expensive I've seen it.

Fitna

2008-03-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

The fact that I immediately wonder how long it will be before Geert Wilders is murdered now that this film has become available worldwide speaks volumes about the current situation (as perceived through the media anyway) with radical Islamists. For balance, someone should make a film chronicling the horrors enacted in the name of Christianity/Judaism, complete with corresponding Bible verses, and we can all get together and agree that established, organized, monotheistic religion is possibly the greatest threat to peace, justice, and freedom in our lifetime.

They Say You Don't Hear It Coming

2008-03-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

I just sealed the Netflix envelope to send back the final disc of the final season of The Sopranos. What a show... I'm not interested in doing an evaluation of the last days. I'll have time later to think about it from afar. Having just seen the final, silent fade to black, my overwhelming sense is one of appreciation and gratitude that shows like that exist in my lifetime. Here's to you, Tony and Carmela, Sil, Pauly, Christopher, Adriana, Anthony Jr., Meadow, Junior, Bobby Bacala, Ralphie, Richie, Janice, Jackie Jr., Phil, Johnny Sac, Little Carmine, Pussy, Dr. Malfi, Artie, Pie-Oh-My, and anybody I might have forgotten. It was six good long seasons. Thanks for being there.

'Biblically Correct

2008-03-26T23:20:00.001-07:00

If it didn't involve children, this would just be pathetic. As it stands, it's downright scary that there are people out there brainwashing kids into believing this shit.

And another...

2008-03-26T17:53:00.001-07:00

The shit this girl said during this tirade was unreal... I could explain the situation, but then I'd get sued back to kingdom come.

And another one...

2008-03-26T17:51:00.000-07:00

This one's kind of harsh, but at least Animal Planet's getting some balls.

Making the world a better place

2008-03-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a trailer for the show I just did for Animal Planet.

It's Always Sunny... if you set foot outdoors.

2008-03-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

Rather than do something meaningful with all my free time, I decided to watch the third season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu.

Two more episodes...

2008-03-26T00:56:00.001-07:00

1AM on the West coast and I'm wide awake. I was hoping to start going to bed earlier so I could maybe, just maybe, start to drag my sorry ass out of bed at a decent hour, but so far it ain't happening. I'm in the running for a job in NYC starting the beginning of April, and if I don't start to wind my bio-clock backwards now, I'm in big trouble once I set foot three time zones ahead. Of course, now that I've written those words, the universe will frown on my naked ambition and hand the job off to someone else, despite my lowball, I-work-mostly-on-small-time-reality-TV rate quote.

I spent the day in my plush bathrobe on the couch watching season six of The Sopranos, and getting more and more anxious about the inevitable conclusion. I mean, Christ, it feels like I've spent more time with Tony and Carm and Pauly and Christopher than I have with my own family over the past few years, so forgive me if I'm sad to see them go. Big things are happening, and the writers are on their way to leaving us with very few good guys to root for. Two episodes left, barely two hours of TV, and then that's all I'll ever know of the Soprano family. I know I'm way behind on this, but somehow I've managed to avoid knowing much about the ending for these few months. I know there's a guy in a Members Only jacket and Don't Stop Believin', and a black screen and no closure, but none of that adds up to any narrative solution.

I used to get upset when good books ended, too. I remember vividly running into my living room in Sonora, bawling my eyes out having just finished Cricket in Times Square. Pretty sure I cried at the end of The Last Battle, too, when the kids are all grown up and Aslan finally dies. (At least that's what I assume happens, I haven't read it in probably two decades.)

Meet Karlor

2008-03-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

Check out the video personal ad I put up on Match.com

Easter Sunday?

2008-03-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

I completely forgot about Easter this year. When I was a kid it was one of my favorite holidays. I would usually spend it at my dad's parents' farm where my cousins and I would have an Easter egg hunt. Now the holiday just doesn't seem to apply to me anymore.

My sister, Cara, and her boyfriend, Eddie, came into town on Wednesday for a little R & R, and we had a great visit. On Friday, we spent a little time on Manhattan Beach and then went to dinner at Primitivo in Venice. The day before, I saw my stepdad who I hadn't seen in years. He just moved two hours north of here to Bakersfield to work for Chevron. He and I didn't part on very good terms, and I would never have thought that I'd be 31 and eating lunch with him 2 blocks from my apartment in Santa Monica. There is just so much that was unlikely about that scenario five years ago. Nevertheless, it was good to see him; we didn't fight or dig up any old bones.

I just discovered FriendFeed where you can see all of my "social networking" updates in one place. If it catches on, I can see this being a handy way to keep up with friends without having to constantly check for updates on multiple sites.

Hells Yeah - Grateful Dead, Nineteen Sixty Fine

2008-03-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Found this gem from '69 on the Internet Archive today. University of Oregon, May 31, 1969.

Meet Mike Sipes, State Farm Agent

2008-03-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's my dad. He's a State Farm agent in Graham, Texas, and has been for a long time. He sent me a string of emails today with pictures of his newly-wrapped HHR, and then included a few of his conservative crazytown emails for good measure. Here are the images in all their glory.

First, the new car. The last picture is a mock-up of the roof. Very patriotic:

Now for the politics:

I particularly like the last one, "Summer Patriots." I know I'm convinced that any government-sanctioned military action is de facto immune from dissent, how about you? Thank God (Jahweh, not Allah) for those "better men" than me, keeping my oil cheap at $104/barrel. In case you're wondering how he feels about his liberal, ex-hippie son working out in Hollywood, the answer is "uneasy."

Mountain Goats at the Troubadour, 03/04/08

2008-03-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

"My love is like a dark cloud full of rain/that's always right there up above you." - "See America Right", The Mountain Goats

It's been a long time since I've been as pleasantly surprised by a show as I was by The Mountain Goats last night at the Troubadour. I've never met anyone else in person who likes their music, or even knows who they are, and they seem to occupy a singular niche within the indie-music scene (or at least a niche that doesn't overlap much with the rest of it). I've always been aware that they have a fanbase; I just never really knew who the fanbase consisted of. All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I had little idea what to expect from the show, and also an excuse for going to the show, sadly, alone.

Having little else to do, I got to the show about 15 minutes before the opener, Jeffrey Lewis and the Jitters, was due to go on. I rarely go out of my way to show up for an opening act that I've never heard, but I had recently read in LA Weekly that these guys had just done an entire album of Crass cover songs, so I was actually looking forward to seeing them play. I expected them to be combative and possibly harsh to listen to, considering the Crass cover album, but the music was poppy and melodic. Sort of Kochalka-esque without the clownishness. Jeffrey Lewis is a comic book artist like Kochalka, as well, and a couple of the songs had artwork projected on the wall behind the stage to support the lyrics. I would go see them as a main act if they come around again.

I'm not really one of those people that can do a play-by-play of shows they see, but I can say that The Mountain Goats put on an incredible show last night. Because so many of the songs are so dark and internal, I expected the atmosphere to be overwhelmingly morose and downtempo, but it turned out to be just the opposite. John Darnielle's infectious, joyous energy radiated outward from the stage. The best way I can think to describe it is that his performance plays like he is giving the finger to all of the dark emotions in the songs. Music as catharsis. At times he would step away from the microphone and his unamplified vocals would pass over the heads of the audience, as if by singing loudly enough he could exorcise the demons in the lyrics. For a guy who writes about some pretty rough stuff, he seems to truly love performing, and he puts on a hell of a show. I've rarely seen a more focused or reverent crowd at a show, but I would think Mountain Goats fans are a particularly loyal breed. I know I've become a pretty rabid fan over the last year. We got two separate encore sets to finish up the show, which finished up before midnight. I'm thankful that I got tickets to tonight's show, as well, although I think it'll have a tough time living up to last night's. After seeing them live, I can honestly say that The Mountain Goats have joined the rarefied ranks of bands that I will try to never miss when they're in town.

Dr Steve Brule

2008-03-02T16:23:00.001-08:00

This is what I found when I decided to procrastinate on reading Ulysses.

Update: ~~Looks like they took down the Steve Brule video. I'll try to find it again. So I can laugh.~~ Thanks to Sean, I was pointed in the direction of the official clip on adultswim.com.

Great Lines from Ulysses, Part I

2008-03-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

I'm starting Ulysses for the 4th or 5th time. This time I'm determined to make it through. I picked up a copy of The New Bloomsday from the library to help me make sense of it, and it's working so far.

I also burned through a great book yesterday called Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. I'm convinced that comics are on their way to being taken as seriously as both written literature and film (considering that they combine both of these disciplines), and this book is a great explanation of the principles behind meaning in comics.

Here's a couple of great lines from Ulysses so far:

"History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake." - Stephen Dedalus

"- Metempsychosis?
- Yes, who's he when he's at home?" - Molly Bloom asking her husband, Leopold, the meaning of the word.

Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium Application is live

2008-03-02T14:56:00.001-08:00

I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't make mention of the fact that the application for the 2008 Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium is available for download from the TFF website. The application deadline is April 26, and the program is open to anyone enrolled in an accredited undergrad or graduate program (not necessarily film-oriented) at the time the application is due.

For those of you that don't know, I'm an alum of this program from back in 2000, and I'm now in charge of the whole shebang. Officially, my title is Student Symposium Coordinator.

Beach House - Heart of Chambers

2008-02-29T13:45:00.000-08:00

I love the imeem widescreen player. Looks great in fullscreen view, too. Am I the only one who hates the YouTube default player? Vimeo looks way better, and if you use Greasemonkey (which you should for a multitude of reasons), you can get Better YouTube, which automatically substitutes the Flow player.

Black Moses

2008-02-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

As you can see over there on the right (depending on your timing), I'm listening to Isaac Hayes' Black Moses, which I just downloaded from eMusic. I've been seeing the album for years, and always marveled at the audacity of the title. Did Isaac really think that he was comparable to the man who led the Jews out of Egypt? Isn't "black" Moses debatably redundant, since Moses probably wasn't really a "white" guy? Having never listened to it before, I expected this to be Hayes' Bitches Brew or On the Corner - an idiosyncratic musical statement born out of drugs and the political upheaval of the late '60s and early '70s. Come to think of it, if I were more of a music aficionado than I am, I'd make a list of those records recorded by other artists. Instead, Black Moses is just a really good soul record.

This wasn't really meant to be an album review, just a way to get into what I've been doing lately. I finished my last job a little over a week ago, a show for Animal Planet called Groomer Has It. If it wasn't for a $2700 federal tax bill, I'd be perfectly happy to sit back and enjoy some time off. As it stands, I'll probably start putting out feelers on Monday, since I've heard there are some shows starting up soon. Pick-Up Artist got picked up for another season, and I'm hoping to get a call from them sometime in the next month or so.

I now wear a moustache. Not an ironic moustache, but a serious, hairy upper lip, man-maker moustache. Chicks dig it.

Because of the 'stache I now have to shave more often, so I bought a traditional Merkur safety razor and started wetshaving. I've had a brush and shaving mug for years, but that's only half of the process. Shaving with the safety razor makes me feel a connection with a simpler past. My grandfathers and great-grandfathers would've shaved most of their lives with a razor like this, if not with an actual straight razor. I also always felt ripped-off when I had to go buy cartridges for the new razors, especially since I don't shave enough for it to seem worth it. I'll have my safety razor indefinitely, and the blades cost about .60/each, compared to a few dollars each for cartridges. The shave is better, too. My face feels like a stripper's boobs after I shave. Mostly what it comes down to is a way to add a little much-needed soul into an otherwise painful process.

Happy Leap Year Day!

So here I am testing...

2008-01-16T18:50:00.001-08:00

So here I am testing out my new Jott account. It allows me to post messages directly to blogger from my phone. I am speaking these words that you see on the page into my cell phone right now, so we will see how it works. listen

Powered by Jott

2007: My Year in Pictures (Dictated by what I took pictures of)

2008-01-06T19:10:00.001-08:00

Jan. 1, 2007 - Starting the year off red, black, and fucked up.

Dad finally got to see me work. The Pick-Up Artist, Austin, TX

Me and my beautiful baby at the top of Monarch Pass in Colorado. My Mercedes, Ruby, is behind us with the hood up, spilling coolant all over the icy ground. She hasn't been the same since, but she's still the best car I've ever had.

My Mom after doing her impression of me playing outfield in my T-ball days.

I finally got to meet Karen's BFF, Charlotta. They kissed each other.

I fell in love with the city of Austin, and the micheladas. That's Kortney, Karen's assistant, back there.

Cleavage. It's no wonder I love her.

Eric and Amanda got hitched... and I got to visit Vermont for the first time since I left.

Karen rescued Dignan during the very first episode of Petfinder.

Huntington Beach.

Poochy DeGroot made his debut during Petfinder.

I saw my first cocktus.

Andy worked for me, for once, and he almost quit.

Rescued greyhounds.

Malibu beach house.

Telluride.

I had the Rose Bowl all to myself for a moment.

Thanksgiving snow in Fort Stockton.

Strong Ale Festival in Carlsbad, CA.

James and Heloise came to visit.

Sipes family Christmas.

Poppin' caps in asses at my Dad's farm.

On the water at Lake Amistad.

Dad's lake house.

My niece, Sonora.

The Ultimate Question

2008-01-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

Isn't this the ultimate question? I believe pastaroni's found the very foundation of the Interwebs. Maybe we can all help pastaroni out by going to Yahoo! Answers and letting her know some funny words and cool songs for her AIM buddy info.

It's Hard to Deny when Your name is on the Shirt

2007-12-29T08:52:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's me. For some reason my Mom thought it would be cool to dress me like a female Buster Brown and have professional pictures taken. It's a wonder I'm not a serial killer (or am I?)

This is How We Do

2007-12-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

A Real Texas Christmas from Austin Sipes on Vimeo.

Not The Daily Show, With Some Writer

2007-11-15T15:19:00.001-08:00

No Country for Old Men

2007-11-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Feeling a little slow this morning. After 2 months of working 7 days a week on a woefully underfunded and overtaxed production, waking up at 10 and sitting on the couch feels like it's taking its toll. The underlying anxiety of not having a job is what I dislike most about freelancing. I think there are some opportunities for work soon, but it's hard to know for sure. Admittedly, I'm a spender when I have money, so there's a constant struggle between having the things I want and saving money for when I'm not working.

I went to a sneak preview of No Country for Old Men last night at the Aero Theater right up the street from me. For those of you who don't know, the film takes place in 1980 in and around West and Southwest Texas and centers around a failed drug deal, an escaped psychopath (Javier Bardem), and a local sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones). It's a slow-building, suspenseful film that absolutely nails the dialect and culture of rural West Texas that I grew up in. As someone from the area, the film didn't feel like the work of Hollywood making the locals in their own image, but rather felt like an homage to the culture. Bardem is unbelievably scary and Tommy Lee Jones fits perfectly into the role of an aging small town lawman. Of all the Coen brothers films, this one reminds me most of Blood Simple. Go see it.

Malibu Fires

2007-11-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

Not exactly of the moment, but here's some pretty good pics of the smoke from the Malibu fires that I took from the Venice boardwalk.

I'm Having a Baby!

2007-11-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

Not really, but doesn't it look like it?

Petfinder is finally out of its misery as of this past Thursday, and I'm back in the mix of those who have time to do things besides work. So far I've managed to buy an Xbox 360, shop for some winter clothes, and order DirecTV, which is being installed tomorrow morning. As you can see, I'm doing well on the material pursuits, but not so much on the spiritual ones. I figure if God wants to see me she'll come find me, and I don't really mind if she interrupts while I'm Guitar Hero, as long as I'm not nailing "Raining Blood." Christ, that song is fucking hard.

Apparently, there's a writer's strike happening here in town. I'm not sure how it'll affect me, although it might mean more work, since the networks are ordering more reality TV shows to fill the slots left empty by the scripted fare.

Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007 with Subtitles

2007-08-27T13:47:00.001-07:00

Oh boy...

Hipster Olympics

2007-08-25T21:26:00.001-07:00

I'm in this.
No I'm not.

Eric & Amanda's Nuptials

2007-08-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

My pics from Eric & Amanda's lovely wedding up in Woodstock, VT.

Sonic Youth @ Urban Outfitters

2007-07-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Sonic Youth just played a show for free at the Urban Outfitters about 7 blocks from my apartment. I didn't get there early enough to get inside, but you could see the stage pretty well from outside, where the entire storefront is glass.

Hit Him in the Moob!

2007-07-03T15:01:00.001-07:00

I've been looking through a lot of my old video in preparation for heading to Vermont for Eric's wedding at the end of the month. Here's a classic of drunken idiocy and my cackling laugh.

Apple's so cutting edge

2007-06-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

What the Fuck is Wrong with People

2007-06-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Cooley should focus all that anger on something worth being angry about.

Every day I get closer to forming a citizen's militia to protect us from all the psychos running around. Two news items in two days:

Guy randomly walks up behind homeless man and hits him with a baseball bat.

Man fatally shot on the 710 freeway. Second one this week.

This is the city I live in.

Me & Pops in Austin

2007-06-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

This was wrap night in Austin. Dad finally got to see me work.

Big Pimpin

2007-06-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

This is where I went on Monday.

This is what I went there in. My old Mercedes is in the shop so Enterprise hooked me up with a brand new Chrysler 300G. Jigga what?

So... Anyway

2007-06-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Let's all just pretend that it hasn't been a long time. Ignore it and it'll go away.

I have yet to become less obsessed with The Mountain Goats. I guess I just like words and acoustic guitars... but not the kind that Jewel writes. There's a few new live tracks over at Daytrotter that you should check out if you're into shit like that.

I'm seeking opinions of the Alan Parsons Project. I'd hate to make a huge musical mistake. They seemed pretty fucking dope at 4 o'clock this morning. Huge bass lines, crunchy synths, what's not to like?

Have you seen the new White Stripes video for Icky Thump? That Jack truly is a guitar god, and Meg looks good with a blind eye. It's still one of my least favorite White Stripes videos. I guess they're releasing their new album on limited edition USB. I would so much rather have a bunch of USB drives than CDs lying around the house.

Battles. So sick.

Here's some pics from my last couple of weeks in Austin. Make up your own explanations. Karen's very pretty.

Revenge of the Nerds: Part Me

2007-02-08T12:53:00.000-08:00

NEWS FLASH: Nerds have no sense of humor when it comes to their nerdiness. A few entries ago I poked fun at a Slashdot post by a guy named Gordon Pearce. His post cracked me up because it was so excitable and familiar in tone, yet could only be read as total nonsense to anyone that doesn't exist in the world of collecting old computer hardware. Pretty tame stuff, a mild amusement at best, or so I thought.

Cut to yesterday, when I got 2 comments on the entry and an email from Mr. Pearce himself. In typical flamewar fashion, the two comments wasted no time in calling me an "idiot" and a "sad, sad person," which of course has now shattered my extremely fragile sense of self-worth, sending me into a downward spiral that I may never recover from. Mr. Pearce, on the other hand, has been much more magnanimous, and was mostly worried about the traffic the image caused on his Web server. I wouldn't go so far as to say he was flattered by the post, but he's also smart enough to know that making fun of highly recondite hobbies, particularly ones involving computers, is as easy as, well, using an octal debugger. If you have time and are interested in tapping on the glass of the PDP-fanatic exhibit, check out his website. He seems like a very nice chap, and you can almost hear his British accent when he writes.

As an aside, Mr. Pearce took issue with my usage of the term "esoteric" in the context of a hobby. Being a language nerd, I had to clear up that misconception. It's actually a very appropriate usage. To wit:

es·o·ter·ic /ˌɛsəˈtɛrɪk/
Pronunciation[es-uh-ter-ik]
–adjective
1. understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest; recondite: poetry full of esoteric allusions.
2. belonging to the select few.
3. private; secret; confidential.
4. (of a philosophical doctrine or the like) intended to be revealed only to the initiates of a group: the esoteric doctrines of Pythagoras.

Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time

2007-01-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

So I'm sitting in the control room at Chris Kirkpatrick's house, where we're shooting the Untitled VH1 Orlando Project, and I get this message from Eric:

(12:31:31 PM) Eric Olsen: so much for everyday posts?

Yeah, so much for everyday posts. I guess I should try a little harder. I always use work as an excuse because it just sucks the energy right out of me.

I'll write some more about what's been happening on the show when I don't have executives looking over my shoulder, but I did just see this:

The Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time

Who's the Moosiest Moose We Know?

2007-01-14T05:11:00.000-08:00

They mostly come at night...Mostly.

It's 8:15AM on Sunday, and I'm in Orlando. Right next to Hell...I mean Disney World. I left Los Angeles 7 hours ago on the redeye and touched down at 5:59 AM Eastern. Now I'm trying not to fall asleep, mostly because I'm afraid that the T-Rex outside my window will catch me unawares, but also because I actually have to spend the day working, since tomorrow is our rehearsal day for "Untitled VH1 Orlando Project."

I was supposed to be here yesterday at 6 PM, but I missed the 45-minute check-in cutoff on my morning flight by about 10 minutes, after standing in line for the ticket counter for an hour. Yes, I should've gotten to the airport earlier, but I would've made it in plenty of time if United had any idea how to manage a crowd and expedite the check-in process. I'm a proponent of self-service kiosks, but I'm not sure they're a good idea for the mass of travelers. In 10 years it'll be a moot point, but until all the geezers croak the touch screens are nothing but a roadblock.

Another One Bites the Dust

2007-01-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

Eric's getting hitched. Who'd have thunk it? Congratulations, brother. You and that chick you're with, you know, the one with the red hair? You're perfect for each other.

Of course, you've been graphically married for some time now.

Hey, Joey, did it say "Who Will She Choose?" by any chance?

Dual Booting

2007-01-05T19:16:00.001-08:00

I'm now running both Windows XP and Ubuntu on my laptop. I'm not sure whether there's a point to it yet, but it is fun to fool around with Ubuntu. So far I haven't found much that I can do in Windows that I can't do on Ubuntu.

Today was super windy here on the Westside, and from what I read, it's been that way all over the LA area. Tree limbs and downed palm fronds are everywhere, and it's pretty cold out (for here).

The Day my EPROMs failed on my PDP-11/73 and I had to use the... OCTAL DEBUGGER!!!!

2007-01-04T13:06:00.000-08:00

I was just reading through a comment thread on Slashdot about crazy IT solutions and came across the entry below. This shit cracks me up because it's the most esoteric, boring computer-geek nonsense, but the guy's talking about it like it's charged with emotion and intrigue. I can just imagine sitting next to the dude at a bar, trying to squirm away from this guy joyously telling the hilarious and fascinating tale of how the EPROMs failed on his PDP-11/73. You can almost hear him laughing his ass off at the end, while everyone else sits in deafening silence wondering WTF he's talking about. You can't make this stuff up. (That's the actual guy with his beloved PDP-11/73 in the picture)

I have a PDP-11/73 that I run occasionally (http://pdp11.kicks-ass.net). It's got about 70M of disk space, two 10M removable drives, and two 8" floppies. All of these are (or were) booted by typing the name of the boot device you want at the boot prompt. Now, for those of you who have only ever seen modern PCs, these machines don't necessarily have any kind of BIOS or anything like that. In this case, the boot loaders were held in a pair of EPROMs on an add-in board along with the console serial port and LTC (line time clock that uses a small transformer to provide a mains-derived 50Hz clocked interrupt). One day, one of these EPROMs failed. No boot image. "Oh dear", I said, or something very similar.

Well now, remember I said it had no BIOS? What it *does* have is an octal debugger, similar to DEBUG in MS-DOS, called ODT. This is actually built into the microcode of the CPU; the CPU requires a console serial port to be present to even POST. If it's not there, a little LED lights on the edge of the CPU board and the machine will never come out of halt. So, at worst, all you need to do is hit type in the boot loader code on the terminal, and the machine will boot. Right?

Right. But that's a pain in the gluteus maximus, because it means typing in a load of stuff like

@001000/012700^J
001002/174400^J
001004/012760^J
...

and so on for a few dozen lines. There must be an easier way. What, like burn them into an EPROM? Well yes, but I don't have an EPROM burner. What I *do* have, though, is a VT-510 terminal, which allows you to program key sequences into the function keys. So, what I do now is power up the terminal and the PDP11, press HALT and then RESET on the front panel, hit a key sequence on the terminal, drop back into RUN once the disk seeks (controller is ready) and it's booted.

Yes, I'm buying an EPROM blower off eBay...

U-what?

2007-01-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this from my old Dell Inspiron 8100. This little droid and I have been through a lot together; I bought it back when I was living out in Charlotte, VT for upwards of $2000. That must have been 5 or 6 years ago now, and she's still alive and sputtering along. In fact, for lack of anything better to do, I installed Ubuntu Linux on her and have been having a great time. Although Linux is certainly more esoteric than Windows on first look, it's been working pretty well for the little things like Web browsing, and the installation was easier than any Windows install I've done, hands down. All of my hardware: Netgear external wireless card, USB wireless mouse, CD & DVD drives worked immediately after install. It was beautiful.

Software in a Box

2007-01-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

I'm 99.99% sure that this applies only to my mother, but if you haven't seen one of the few funny sketches that SNL has done in years, watch it before you read on.

Something you may not know about me, mainly because I seem like a prick most of the time, I like to help make people's lives easier. Since I spend inordinate amounts of time on the Interweb on my laptop on my couch, then it only makes sense that I would help them do the same. With that in mind, here's a comprehensive list of the things that keep me in my seat and out of any productive enterprise. Oh, yeah, and they're all free.

Pandora - With so much debt to pay down, I'm going to have to cancel my eMusic subscription. I tend to play my music on shuffle anyway, so Pandora radio helps fill the void. If you seed it with the right songs/artists, you can pretty much replicate any music collection you wish you had.

VLC Player - VLC plays just about any video or audio format you can think of. Beats the hell out of having to have Quicktime and Windows Media Player plus an assload of codecs.

Mozilla Firefox - If you're still using Internet Explorer or some other browser that came with the desktop you bought (I'm looking at you, Mom & Dad), stop right now and go get Firefox. It's better, take my word for it.

Once you've gotten Firefox, there are some indispensable add-ons for it that you should install:
DownThemAll - Allows you to download all the files on a single page at once, and also serves as a download accelerator in the process. I use it mostly for music files, since it keeps me from having to download each song in a compilation individually.

Tab Mix Plus - A really nice addition to the functionality of the Firefox tabs. No downside to this one.

There are other ones that I use, like GreaseMonkey, CoolIris Previews, Download Statusbar
, and del.icio.us Bookmarks, which all add little functionalities to my Firefox.

Del.icio.us - Del.icio.us is a "social bookmarking" site, but I don't really use the social aspect of it. For me, it's just a way to save bookmarks online, rather than on my computer. That way, if I need to reinstall Windows or I buy a new machine, I just go to the address above and all of my bookmarks are there waiting for me. That list of mine might be worth browsing, while you're at it.

Wishlistr - Wishlistr is one of many ways to maintain an online list of things you want. I like its simplicity. Here's my wishlist in case you want to buy me something.

Lifehacker - I visit Lifehacker more than any other website except Gmail and Google Reader (more on that in a moment). Lifehacker is a blog based around making your computer a useful tool, not just a time sink. Of course, as much time as I spend making my computer useful, the argument could be made that I never actually use it. Seriously, if you're a freak for things that work, like I am, then Lifehacker is your new favorite website.

Google Reader - Most of my online reading can be lumped into the category of "blogs," whatever the definition of a blog may be these days. Google Reader is what's called an "RSS reader" that allows you to subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed and aggregates all of the items in one place so you can quickly scan them, rather than jumping from site to site reading the items on each one. Google calls it an "inbox for the Web" which is about as good a description as I could muster. If you read sites like mine or Lifehacker or Boing Boing all the time, then you should get them set up in Google Reader. I blaze through probably 50 or so blogs when I wake up in the morning just with Google Reader and my space bar (Space bar skips to the next item in most Google Web apps.)

Wikipedia - In a few cases, Wikipedia sucks, but usually if you want good information about a specific subject, Wikipedia is a good place to start.

Weather Bonk - Weather Bonk is a great place to get weather info because it integrates a map, forecast, and webcams into one, satisfying page of weather-related information.

Comodo Personal Firewall - I used to use ZoneAlarm, and ZoneAlarm is fine, but Comodo is less naggy and has a few other features that give it a leg up.

ClamWin Antivirus - Antivirus programs are rarely necessary. It's easy to avoid viruses if you don't open attachments in strange emails and don't download illegally cracked software. I've never really needed my antivirus software because of this, but you never know. I hate both Norton and McAfee with a passion. They're the prototypes for bloated, nagging software that slows down your computer and takes over your machine once installed. Steam comes out of my ears every time McAfee pops up a "helpful" notice about installing the latest definitions or renewing my subscription. That said, ClamWin pops up notices when it's updated itself, but they're small and quiet and unobtrusive.

Ccleaner - Ccleaner (Crap Cleaner) helps you clean up all the junk that tends to build up on your PC. I run it about once a month to clean out the cobwebs.

uTorrent - If you want to download music/videos, BitTorrent is the way to go. uTorrent is my current favorite BitTorrent client. In layman's terms, a BitTorrent file (.torrent file type) points to whatever file(s) you want to download on other peoples' computers and allows you to download that file from all of them at once, piecing the file together as it goes and making the download process theoretically faster. At the same time, others are downloading pieces of the file that you have on your machine. It's like a big puzzle where everyone is getting copies of the pieces that they don't already have.

KeePass Password Safe - We're always being told to create secure passwords, but who could possibly remember a long list of truly secure passwords, considering how many different sites require them? With KeePass, you can create truly secure passwords, but you only have to remember one - the one that gets you into KeePass. I've found KeePass indispensable in helping me create unique passwords for all of my online accounts without worrying about forgetting my info.

Sequoia View - Ever want to know where all your hard drive space is? Use Sequoia View.

FoxIt Reader - I hate Adobe Reader because it tries to do so much more than just read PDF files, which is all that it needs to do. FoxIt reads PDFs much better than Adobe and doesn't eat your computer alive while doing it.

Startup Inspector - You'll be amazed at how many programs startup along with Windows, many of which are totally unnecessary. Who really needs Quicktime already loaded in memory just in case you click on a Quicktime movie? I, for one, can wait the extra couple of seconds for it to load when the time comes if it means freeing up resources that make the rest of my computer faster.

Picasa - Picasa is the best photo browser I've used. It makes organizing, viewing, and sharing your photos very simple.

Whew...That's all I've got for right now. There's a bunch of other stuff that I use, but these are the big ones, and I'm sure I've forgotten some of them. I'll probably do a list of websites I use pretty soon as well. Let me know if you end up using any of this stuff and how you like it.

Tony vs. Paul

2007-01-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, YouTube has let me down in the automatically-posting-to-my-blog department, so I'll just fucking do it myself. Goddamn Interweb...

Neighbours

2007-01-03T16:04:00.001-08:00


Compare this short film from 1952, presented by the National Film Board of Canada to the one above. (The one above is, I'm sure, coming soon. I trust YouTube when it says it will.)

The Last Movie I Saw: Children of Men

2007-01-03T00:12:00.000-08:00

Go see Children of Men (trailer). I can't stress this enough. It's political sci-fi at its best, in the same vein as Blade Runner and Brazil. Ostensibly set in the Britain of 2027, in a world where Britain is the only solvent country left, it feels more like 2007, with its emphasis on overpopulation and intercultural strife brought on by rampant immigration. The urban sets are gritty and graffiti-saturated. The air is foul and reeks of smog and sewage. British "Homeland Security" is rounding up immigrants and sending them to live in squalor in massive refugee camps to await deportation. There hasn't been a child born in 19 years anywhere on Earth. I won't keep rambling about the plot, but it's a scary movie, simply because the issues it raises are so current. Where Blade Runner created an ad-saturated world run entirely by giant corporations, imagines a world in chaos from overpopulation, environmental degradation, and urban culture clashes. Indiscriminate urban terrorism is a daily occurence as rebel groups fight for control of the city. The film actually feels like it could be the world 20 years from now, which makes it absolutely terrifying to watch.

You Like Me, You Really Like Me!

2006-12-29T16:52:00.000-08:00

One of my New Year's resolutions was that I would write at least something everyday. I've got a few ideas for screenplays, but they're nothing more than that right now, and if there's one thing Hollywood's full of besides wannabe actors, it's ideas.

Karen and I are watching the Heroes marathon on Tivo after a successfully inebriated New Year's Eve at our friend Wendy's in Hollywood. That's her on the far left of the photo. She lives in a great area right off of the Sunset Strip on Fountain and Crescent Heights. She's a costume designer who I know from a few of the shows I've worked on, but her main gig is on Mad TV. She's won Emmys the last two years for that show and I got my picture taken with 'em. Them things is heavy. The one I'm holding in the picture has dollar bills skewered on its wings. We partied all night and got home safely around 5. It was a good night, but there are a lot of people I would've liked to hug and slap on the ass at midnight.

Looking at pretty pictures is much easier than reading, so I'll leave you with a link to the Flickr photoset from last night, New Year's Eve 2006. Note the timestamps on the photos as you go...

Happy New Year, everybody. I love you all and I miss you. My gift to you, a little motivation from The Mountain Goats: This Year.mp3 - Live at Pitzer College, December 2, 2006

Warm Beer and Cold Women

2006-12-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

I just got offline with Eric, and he's again done me the honor of a name check on his blog. Guess he thought I'd like the video of the Texas high school playoff game that he posted, and he'd be right.

In the spirit of the season, Waits and I thought we'd return the favor. Try this on for size: Waits in classic hobo-diner-poet form, live in Minneapolis, 1975 (from rbally)

I'm thankful for Joanna Newsom

2006-11-23T21:58:00.000-08:00

I'm in Fort Stockton, Texas, visiting my mom for the Thanksgiving holiday. My two younger sisters are here, Cristen with her boyfriend and Cara with herself. My mom's parents were here with us also. My grandmother, getting noticeably less sharp and more socially awkward, has recently been diagnosed with "vascular dementia." The way I understand it, she'll slowly get more and more out of touch with reality until she's completely mentally gone. I also understand that it could take years, so we've still got her around for a while. I'm 30 and I still have all of my grandparents, and I've always known that I'd have to deal with the decline of each one as they got older. I often envy my friends whose grandparents died before they could get to know them and fully understand them as people. Alas, I won't be that lucky. My eyes got wet when I said goodbye to Nanny the first night they were here. It's difficult knowing that she'll never again be the woman I grew up with. And so it goes...

Thanksgiving has been pretty good this year. I don't usually enjoy family get-togethers, fraught as they are with the subtext that comes from the complicated machinations of growing up and time apart. We're not the worst, but we're certainly not the best, either. We sat in a tiny one-bedroom house and ate ham (not me), yams, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, and scalloped potatoes. We watched football. It wasn't that bad. Tomorrow night we drive an hour-and-a-half to Ratliff Stadium in Odessa for the first-round playoff game between Fort Stockton and Andrews high schools. Ratliff is the home stadium for the Odessa Permian Panthers, about which Friday Night Lights was written.

I've fallen in love with Joanna Newsom recently. I had managed to avoid listening to her first album, Milk-Eyed Mender, until just last week, but once I did, I was hooked. Some people find her child-like voice and literate lyrics too precious, but I love the care she gives to her words. What I've heard of her new album, Ys, is pretty astonishing. It's dense both musically and lyrically, so much so that it's almost exhausting, but it's incandescent to listen to the detail in tune and word.

To Play It Safe is Not to Play

2006-11-21T17:28:00.000-08:00

One of the best died yesterday. The world is a lesser place without him.

Productivity is a relative term

2006-11-16T10:53:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of Eric Nazarian, the director of Blue Hour, and you-know-who.

This is Yorick van Waginengen, one of the actors on Blue Hour, and the costume designer, Karen Marting. Yorick and Karen are both amazing, although I think Karen might be less than happy with the picture.

Here's a recent picture of me, just because. I'm on the set of Blue Hour, probably (not) chatting up Alyssa.

For the first time since my last job ended, I woke up before 10AM to go to the DMV to transfer the title for the Mercedes to my name. When dealing with the DMV, I'm always a little wary that they'll find some reason to a)arrest me for not paying some obscure fee or b)find some way to fine me hundreds of dollars that I don't have. This morning, however, there were no lines, all of the employees were still pretty cheerful from their morning coffee, and they only extracted $81 from me. Of course, if I had declared the actual purchase price of the car instead of the low, low price of $800, I have a feeling it might have been significantly more expensive. Now that I've said that, jackbooted thugs will be on my doorstep momentarily. Probably before I even post this. Tell Mom I love her.

I'm going to Texas for Thanksgiving, leaving this weekend or early next week, and I haven't been doing jack shit in the meantime. I sent out my resume to a bunch of folks who might be able to help me get work, but I don't want any work until I get back anyway, so I've just been chillaxin' at home. Those of you who don't live in LA may scoff at my use of the term "chillaxin'", but I assure you it is at the forefront of insider underground linguistics. Only the most connected and informed socialites are using it. So if you want to seem "totally radical" and "boss" to your "homies," by all means use the term early and often.

Back to my point, I've been watching TV and surfing the Web mostly. Sometimes I go for a run down to the pier and back. I'm dead broke, so I never leave the house for fear of having to spend money that I don't have. Besides the regular TV shows (South Park, Heroes, The Office, sometimes House, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Daily Show and Freak Show. I've watched all of the Undeclared series, Giant, Rebel without a Cause, and have gotten halfway through the Sundance Channel documentary series, The Staircase.

The Staircase is an 8-part series documenting the Durham, NC murder case of Kathleen Peterson, who was allegedly found dying at the bottom of her stairs by her husband, Michael. He claims she fell down them, the state claims that he killed her and staged the accident. It's some of the most compelling TV I've seen, because the documentary crew is involved from the very beginning of the case, almost from the point where the blood's still wet on the floor. I'm halfway through and I still have no idea how the thing's going to turn out. The trial has just started, and right now the evidence seems to favor Michael Peterson, but new revelations keep popping up that complicate things. If you're a documentary and/or murder mystery fan, you've got to see The Staircase.

Besides watching the idiot box, I got a wild hair one night to sort through my boxes of junk to find all my old concert tickets and then to try and download as many of them as possible. So far, I've gotten audio versions of my first Dead show, my 2nd and last Dead show, and DVD video of my first and most epic Phish show. I'm still trying to get a couple of other Phish shows, some Elliott Smith, Tom Waits at the Orpheum in Boston, Radiohead in Montreal and Boston, Sigur Ros in Boston and LA, and a Dave Matthews show from 1994 that was one of the best times I've ever had at a show. In the meantime, I've also managed to pick up some nice old live Waits, a 1981 Waits concert video from Montreal television, and a great DVD of Elliott Smith at Bumbershoot in 2000.

Happy Thanksmas

2006-11-11T20:11:00.000-08:00

I'm not usually a big fan of Christmas music, unless it's Low - Christmas, but Sufjan Stevens (It's pronounced Suf-yan, as Alyssa Milano was kind enough to correct me.) is streaming an entire 5-disc boxed set of Christmas songs over at Asthmatic Kitty. You like how I say "over at" as if it were the corner store? Sufjan's been a little overexposed of late, IMHO, but that shouldn't take away from his talent, and what I've heard so far is pretty good. If I could convince my Mom to play this repeatedly instead of John Denver or George Strait, then the holidays might be just a little bit happier.

As I type, Texas is about to lose their game to Kansas State, ruining their hopes of going up against Ohio State for the national title. I guess if they lose to Kansas State, they don't deserve it anyway. It was good to be champs for one year, anyway.

I'm up in your country, resemblin your princes

2006-11-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

This isn't me, but it could be. It's actually Crown Prince Hakkon of Norway. The resemblance is uncanny, from the shiny forehead and strange hairline to the nose and facial hair. I wonder if he needs a body double?

The Biggest Lie

2006-11-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite Elliott Smith songs. In this version, he sings with Rose from The Softies.

The Boys are Back in Town

2006-11-03T12:48:00.000-08:00

I love this Mountain Goats cover of "Boys are Back in Town," mostly for the R. Kelly breakdown that he does. John Darnielle is a genius.

This is the first time I've used EZArchive's new capabilities, and man is that player ugly. I'll probably forgo the embedded player from now on, unless people decide it's handy. Probably easy for Mom to use.

Play it directly above, or download it here

Austin Sipes, 2nd Assistant Director

2006-10-30T22:48:00.000-08:00

When I work like this, I feel non-existent. I become my job title, Austin Sipes, 2nd Assistant Director, and all else burrows like Bot flies into knots in the muscles of my back and shoulders. "All else" includes, but is not limited to: beautiful and troubled Karen seething and crying over me, my family by parts ignoring me and wishing to see their son, my friends moving on without me, my guitar not learning itself, my Tivo growing fuller, my fancy new car needing a tune-up, my bedroom carpet getting dustier, my bedsheets remaining rumpled, my unemployment growing longer and not more lucrative, my laundry slowly filling the hamper, my food slowly turning stale in the refrigerator, my music going unlistened, my belly getting fatter and my lungs getting softer - there's nothing but the cycle of wakeupbrushteethmaybeshowergetdressedgodownstairsgetincarsitintraffic
arriveatworkputonwalkiemakecallsheethandletalenteatcraftservicedrivehome
goupstairsbrushteethgotobedwakeupbrushteethetc. enough that the day isn't just the blank space between last night and tomorrow morning. Calls from friends and (ex)lovers go unanswered for lack of time and energy, progress comes to a standstill on all but that which can progress through this particular job on this particular set. The title to the new Mercedes sits untransferred on my dusty dresser, waiting for me to wait in the limbo of the line at the Santa Monica DMV to make our marriage official. The unemployment office wants to see me on the 1st of November for a "personalized job search." If I don't show up, they may suspend my benefits and then I'm truly fucked. New jobs aren't knocking down my door right now. This is always the slow time of year for the industry. If I weren't in such a financial bind with the car and the potential for expense that it brings, it would be a great time to go see the fam and the friends out East before the holidays and before the ice gets so thick on the ground that they lock the doors to the outside world. I've already missed the flaming, smoky Fall in Vermont, displaced by the hot hazy days in the streets of East LA, Woodland Hills, and Glendale.

Saturday night I watched my roommates dress for Halloween, while I sat covered in engine oil and biodiesel from working on my car. Dani was a (not-too-slutty) Brownie scout, and Erin was a (very slutty) Swedish milkmaid. They left me behind for the gapped-tooth grin of downtown LA, while I sat on the floor, too tired and empty to wash myself clean of the engine oil and biodiesel, laconically running down the Now Playing list on my Tivo.

Happily, I was able to see Joey Bag O' Donuts for a few minutes when I picked him up from the airport that day, and last night he was kind enough to come to my side of town so we could have a few drinks at Father's Office. It's one of the great pleasures to drink good beer with those you love while they have those they love at their side. Joey, you look good, although I choose to think that the dick broom on your face is an ironic commentary on the traditional pilot stereotype.

Don't you love when I write like I'm doing my senior English dissertation? You see, my complex melody is by turns accessible and rarefied, Springsteen segues into Glenn Branca. It plays to the headbangers and to the goatee-strokers. Of course I'm joking, for those of you (likely all of you) who don't appreciate my particularly irritating brand of smug, smirking, brilliantly wry genius. Sometimes I just love to hear myself write - ah, another too easy and clever turn of phrase (and see how the aural motif continues in the paragraph's denoument?). Sometimes, like now, I just make myself nauseous.

I'm at work as I write this, something that I never do. I always choose the intake route over the output, when given a choice. Freecell solitaire and Tetris are just a click away and the time passes the same whether I'm blankly staring at the wall or blathering on about nothing. I know there's a point to *doing* things, but sometimes I can't see it because it all goes together into the bland mirapoix of "before now". Let's face it, the vast majority don't give a shit about Hamlet,
Joe's Garage, or the Sistine Chapel, and these are things worth giving a shit about, unlike any of this collection of letters. I can hear all the easy answers coming now, and you'd be right. It only really matters that I care about what I do, everyone else has their own lives to deal with. I don't have to be Shakespeare, I have to have my own voice, I have to follow my own path, and so on. Yeah, I get that, but the cynicism and fear is so deeply ingrained. I don't remember that not being there.

Octopus Project

2006-10-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

I saw Austin, TX band Octopus Project open up for Mike Watt on D. Boone's birthday this year. You don't see too many bands that feature the theramin, but these guys are awesome.

Spiracle - The Octopus Project

Blue Hour

2006-10-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Since last Saturday I've been working on an ultra-low budget ($60K) feature film called The Blue Hour. Nobody on the film is getting paid except the actors, who get the SAG ultra-low budget rate of $100 (deferred, I believe). Despite the constraints, the film has some great talent and crew, and it's unique enough that it may actually be good. Among the actos are: Alyssa Milano (you might have heard of her), Yorick van Waginengen, Paul Dillon, Clarence Williams III, Rachel Miner, Derrick O'Connor, and Emily Rios, who starred in Quinceanera that won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance this year. Alyssa made me a peanut butter & jelly sandwich the other day, and I immediately texted half the people I know. I still remember the wet t-shirt poster of her I had on my wall when I was a teenager in Midland, Texas. The film has very little dialogue and takes place in an area around the LA River in East LA. Today is our first day off since shooting began, and it's much needed, considering how long our days are.

Also, I made it onto Boing Boing (or at least my Flickr account did)!!! You have to scroll down to the October 12 entries to see my link. It's the one with the crazy looking kid and the bread.

I'm getting a new car this week. It's a 1982 Mercedes-Benz 300CD-T Turbodiesel coupe. It's like the one in the pic, except it's charcoal grey with a tan leather interior. It's already converted to run biodiesel (which simply requires adding a filter to the fuel line because biodiesel actually cleans deposits that regular diesel leaves in your engine) and I'm thinking about getting it modified to also run Straight Vegetable Oil and Waste Vegetable Oil, so I can stop spending so much money on gas and just go to Costco to fill up on soybean oil. Ironically, on my way back from the bank to pick up cash to pay for my new car, I got into a car accident in my Taurus. Good riddance to that POS.

Lastly, this will be the third time I've posted this song to my blog, but it's one of my favorites, and this one's by one of my favorite singers, Cat Power:
Cat Power - Hallelujah (Live Cover)

I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march.
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.

Don't Think Twice

2006-09-25T02:04:00.000-07:00

Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" has always been one of my favorite "lost love" songs. The lyrics just get right down to it in a way that very few writers can manage. The song is a perfect cocktail of regret, remorse, anger, tribute, reassurance, and ambivalence. When it comes to relationships, it seems like anything you might ever want to say Dylan has said in a song somewhere.

It ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It don't matter, anyhow
An' it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If you don't know by now
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
Look out your window and I'll be gone
You're the reason I'm trav'lin' on
Don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
That light I never knowed
An' it ain't no use in turnin' on your light, babe
I'm on the dark side of the road
Still I wish there was somethin' you would do or say
To try and make me change my mind and stay
We never did too much talkin' anyway
So don't think twice, it's all right

It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
Like you never did before
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, gal
I can't hear you any more
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all the way down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don't think twice, it's all right

I'm walkin' down that long, lonesome road, babe
Where I'm bound, I can't tell
But goodbye's too good a word, gal
So I'll just say fare thee well
I ain't sayin' you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don't mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don't think twice, it's all right

Bob Dylan - Don't Think Twice, It's Alright.mp3 from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Photofront

2006-09-22T23:45:00.000-07:00

On another note, I have a bunch of cool vintage ad artwork posted to my Flickr gallery, but also as a gallery on Photofront. I love the way the background adjusts color based on what photo is displayed.

And, Eric, you and Cooley both need to saddle up and start writing some shit again. We're dying out here in TV Land.

Happy Anniversary, South Park

2006-09-22T22:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, I woke up today at 2 in the afternoon. Yes, I went to bed at 3:30 this morning. Yes, my head fucking hurts and my stomache feels like it's lined with rust and lysol. But I'm still here, goddammit, and that's what really matters.

Last night was the 10th anniversary for a little-known animated show called South Park on an obscure network called Comedy Central. It was held at a lot called, appropriately, The Lot, in a soundstage tricked out for the party. It was a Christmas theme since, as some of you may remember, the first episode of South Park was called The Spirit of Christmas. Everything was white, and scenes from the first episode were being projected on a wall outside. On the red carpet there were cardboard cutouts of Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, and a few others. We didn't have to walk the carpet, since it was on the side of the building, but I was able to glance at it as we went in. I wish I had a camera because the layout was just stunning. There were at least 4 bars and 4 separate food tables with excellent catering - burgers, fries, asian, and a few others.

There were about 500 people in attendance, mostly employees of the show and friends of Trey and Matt. I was able to go because my roomate works as a PA in the office. The day before, she came home with a bag full of shirts she had bought for Matt at Fred Segal. He ended up wearing the white linen one she bought him. I got to meet both of the guys briefly towards the end of the night, at which point I was pretty drunk. Matt's totally normal and nice, and Trey is totally socially inept. I think he would truly prefer just sitting at home and working on the next episode. Nevertheless, I got drunk enough to grab Trey's ass on the dance floor and blame it on my roomate. I think he took it well, I don't really remember. Other luminaries in attendance were Les Claypool, John Stamos, Pee Wee Herman, and a few random comedians. Apparently Sarah Silverman was there, but I didn't see her. Electric Six played a short set to get the party started, which brings me to a short rant.

Hollywood parties are a lot of fun because you get to see all these people who you usually only see in the gossip rags or onscreen. Some of them are actually talented and most of them are nice to look at. The problem is, most people that attend these parties are there purely for networking and celeb-ogling. Most of them are totally bland industry types who never listen to any music that isn't played in the background of Will & Grace. Now, Electric Six is not my favorite band in the whole wide world, but they're pretty good at what they do, and many people pay to see them play shows the world over. I actually like their music when I'm in the mood for some good party-rock. When Trey announced that his "favorite band" Electric Six was coming onstage, myself and maybe 5 other people in the party reacted. Most people just kept yapping over their free drinks and mini-hamburgers. The band started playing and there were probably 20 people standing in front watching the show. One of them was a reporter with Down's Syndrome from How's My News?, and he was totally rocking right in front of the stage. One of them was me, and the band sounded fucking awesome. Unfortunately, no one else was paying enough attention to care, and every song ended to a few claps and the murmur of 400 people talking about how Pee Wee Herman was in attendance. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Hollywood is, generally, a very disappointing music town.

Mea Culpa

2006-09-20T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll admit that I'm a putz. As many of you know, I never answer my phone or return messages. I freely admit that this makes me a jerkass. Please don't stop calling and leaving messages, maybe I'll actually pick up. I just don't like talking on the phone very much, and I definitely hate having to constantly be within reach of the outside world. Believe me, it's nothing against you personally (unless you're a douchebag, and deep down inside you know who you are). When I was a kid I would just sit on the back of the bus and read. I never said a word to anybody. It wasn't until high school that I really learned the importance of socializing, and I think that was only so I could try to get into some heavy petting on the top floor of the Schoolhouse. Anyway, accept this as my apology for being a dick and not answering my phone. You are all my friends. Please don't abandon me just because I don't use up your daytime minutes.

Let me walk you home from school

2006-09-20T00:09:00.000-07:00

Lots to write about, when I get up the gumption to do it. Maybe soon, maybe never. In the meantime, here's a studio version of a song that Elliott Smith used to play live. A live version of this is what turned me onto Big Star. It's simply a great young love song.

Thirteen (Big Star cover) from the Basement II Demos

Telluride Breakdown

2006-09-10T21:58:00.000-07:00

In Grand Junction again. This time the car didn't break down on the way, although there's evidence of the former adventure in that there's no air conditioner in her. Thankfully, we didn't need it, since autumn comes early for this part of the country. The stands of aspen that are always beginning to change to yellow when we leave Telluride were changing again this year as we headed East and then South through Lizard Head Pass and the San Juans to Durango and on to Santa Fe last Thursday.

We spent the last several days in Santa Fe experiencing the annual Zozobra Fiesta. It's a big weekend in Santa Fe, where on Thursday they burn an enormous papier-mache effigy of Father Gloom in a field near the downtown square. He stands about 60 feet high, his limbs and mouth move, and he lets out periodic bellows in the time before he is lit on fire. This year it was pouring down buckets of rain leading up to the burning, so they doused Father Gloom with even more gasoline than usual. When they lit him, it took about 2 minutes to burn him to ashes - hardly enough time for the crowd to get into the spirit of chanting "Burn him! Burn him!" at the top of their lungs. My friends and I watched the aftermath of the pyre from the comfort of Maria's Restaurant, where Karen and I shared a vegetarian combination platter (tacos, enchiladas, chile relleno, rice, beans, etc.) and I had a $10 tequila tasting selection that consisted of an anejo Mezcal, a good reposado tequila (Chinaco), and an amazingly whiskey-like El Diamante de Cielo Tequila Anejo. Each one would've been worth the $10 on their own.

The rest of our time in Santa Fe, we wandered the plaza downtown, eating Frito pie and drinking horchata from the stalls set up there for Fiesta ("Que viva la Fiesta!" is the popular exclamation during the celebration.) We watched dancers and musicians in traditional Mexican garb and pressed our noses to the windows of art galleries. At night, we drank at the Hotel St. Francis or sat at the Catamount Bar & Grille to watch the University of Texas Longhorns lose to the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in the second game of the college football season. We stayed with our friend, Filip, my perpetual Telluride counterpart, in a twin bed in his beautiful house along an arroyo near downtown Santa Fe. There is an abandoned hummingbird nest at the top of the chain that holds his front porch swing; it balances there perfectly when you sit in the swing and smoke a cigarette.

Yesterday, he took Karen and I for a hike up the ski runs at the Santa Fe ski basin, and explained to us the history behind the community at Los Alamos. According to him, everyone that enters town is under constant surveillance, and you can't move there without submitting to a background check. Of course, Filip is under pressure about some immigration issues, so he may just be prone to paranoia about some things.

I guess I might as well go ahead and write something about the Film Festival, although it already seems a long time ago. It was a good lineup this year, with no huge blockbuster sneak previews like years past (Walk the Line, Crouching Tiger), but some good stuff nevertheless.

Peter O'Toole has already gotten an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, but he may just pull one off for his performance in Venus. What could have been a creepy story of an old man's lust for a younger girl, instead has you full of wonderful emotion for 2 hours - and it was the very first film we saw there. Definitely in my top 3 of the year.

Then it was Severance, simultaneously a great slasher flick and a great spoof on slasher flicks, it's most closely akin to Evil Dead 2 than to April Fool's Day. Hands-down the most entertaining film at the Fest, if you can stand the blood and screaming.

Inarritu's new film, Babel, was there, and it's his best film yet. It plays with chronology and multiple story lines in the same way Amores Perros and 21 Grams did, and it's just as bleak as those films. I'm always impressed by how easily Inarritu handles the story and the direction, and I always become emotionally involved with the characters, but I'll be glad to see him try something different at some point. It's almost like he's making the same movie with different characters. That said, it's a good film, and the Asian story line in particular stands out.

Two older films were among the best I saw. The quasi-silent Lonesome was accompanied by music from the Alloy Orchestra. I say quasi-silent because it contains 3 scenes of spoken dialogue as a misguided attempt to capitalize on the then-recent advent of the talkie. The movie is impeccable with the exception of the spoken scenes, which are incredibly awkward and, therefore, incredibly entertaining. The other old one was William Wyler's Dodsworth. There's not much to say about it, except that it's a forgotten gem in Wyler's career.

I saw 2 documentaries, one was made for Telluride to accompany a tribute to editor Walter Murch, and the other was called Deep Water. If you're at all interested in the artistic contributions that editors make to film, treat yourself to anything Walter Murch has edited or written... Just IMDB him, at the very least. He spoke to the students in the symposium, and it was absolute genius stuff. Deep Water is about a man named Don Crowhurst who attempted to sail around the world without stopping in 1969. It's an amazing doc, and you're better off knowing as little as possible about the subject beforehand, so I won't say anything more. See it when you get a chance.

Other films I saw: Jindabyne (with Laura Linney, whom I met and who is now dating my girlfriend's ex-boyfriend from Telluride - longer story), Last King of Scotland (Forrest Whittaker as Idi Amin, great soundtrack), Day Night Day Night (almost silent film about a suicide bomber, closely akin to Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc in many ways), Jacques Tati's Playtime in 70mm projection (HolyshitIfyouevergetachancetoseethisfilmin70MMit'samazingHolyshitIsawittwicein2days. Joyful film watching experience), Indigenes (French film about the North African soldiers in WWII. As good a war film as Saving Private Ryan while honoring a group that has been cast aside by history and modern politicians).

That's it for now, I'm out of words. I'll post some pics soon.

The Happy Wanderer

2006-08-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Still gearing up for the full mental and physical sprint that is the Telluride Film Festival. Shit hits the fan tomorrow morning and keeps spraying until Monday afternoon. No, not shit... some sort of marshmallow product maybe, that feels like being pummeled with thousands upon thousands of boobs - It's slightly unpleasant, but you love it anyway.

The real point of this entry is to point out that my friend, Dan, is on a trip around Europe right now, and he's keeping everyone apprised of progress via this MySpace profile. He's a funny fuckin guy and he really likes to drink, so wander over and become his friend.

Armadillo Posture

2006-08-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Back in Telluride again for my annual film festival adventure. I always start out with a lot of nerves for some reason, mostly because of the social atmosphere. Lots of "What have you been up to?" and "Where are you working now?" and those searching eyes trying to extract names from faces that you see once a year. The Festival has always been an exercise in exploring an alternate universe to me. It only comes once a year, and it's so self-contained and removed from anything else I do in my life (i.e. voluntary, earnest, reckless, and ultimately pointless). I realize that makes the rest of my life sound pretty shallow, which it likely is, but all of those things that the Festival is are very good for me, and I invariably come away from it with a renewed sense of the possibilities in the world... then I get back to Santa Monica and start looking for another job in reality television. I force myself to keep doing it, because I know that it gets me out of my habit of wanting to withdraw into myself and go through life in an armadillo posture, without sticking my neck out for anything less than necessary.

I'll keep you posted on events. For now, I'm off to put together packets for the Filmmakers of Tomorrow program.

Stranded in Junction

2006-08-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

I have the A/C compressor of a suicidal 17-year old Colorado girl. According to the story I heard, she took the long dive off the Colorado National Monument a year or so ago after "driving erratically" back and forth on the road along the rim until she finally launched herself over the top and into oblivion. They ruled it a suicide, but aren't we all suicidal if that's the case? Speeding back and forth until we go over the top of whatever cliff we don't see coming at us. With any luck, the air-conditioner compressor from our car ends up in the front end of a POS '99 Taurus, nicknamed "the Oval", owned by a guy with a blog.

Karen and I are on our way to Telluride for the Film Festival. Currently, we're in Grand Junction at her parents' house. Her father, Werner, is watching Survivorman on Discovery, while her mother, Frieda, washes out the sink and bakes the homemade veggie pizza we'll eat for dinner. On our way here, the A/C went out in my car about an hour on the far side of Vegas. For those of you that don't know, it's late August and the desert of Eastern California and Western Nevada is a blazing inferno during the day. We suffered through the desert and the stop-and-go Vegas traffic, sweating gallons in our plush-covered seats, only to break down completely at a gas station in Green River, Utah, 100 miles from Grand Junction. Apparently, the A/C compressor freezing up caused the serpentine belt to snap and my car became a very large paperweight, very quickly. Luckily, Karen has the fancy $76/year AAA Plus membership, so we were able to get a tow all the way from Green River to Grand Junction. I was leery of who our tow truck operator would be at midnight in Green River, but our man turned out to be an interesting, relatively sane character named Richard who kept me good company on the 2 hour drive to Junction.

Needless to say, I spent most of today on my way to a $555 bill to replace the compressor and serpentine belt on the Oval. I'm out. More later.

There's no place like (not being at) home

2006-08-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

After an uneventful 4 days back at home in Santa Monica, I'm off again to my yearly volunteer position in Telluride. Tomorrow morning, Karen and I set off to Grand Junction, where her parents live, and then on to Telluride on the 27th. This year I'm a little more high-powered than in the past, since I'm now fully in charge of the Student Symposium. It's more work, but worth it. If you need to get in touch with me, just call. I've got a fancy new cell phone that I'd love to talk to you on.

PETE FOYTHO'S BIRTHDAY ALSO HAPPENED

2006-08-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday, you old ass bitch.

The Battle for Endor

2006-08-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

I know, I know... Both of you that read this have considered abandoning me completely due to the lack of attention lately. If I know you, you check diligently on a daily basis, hoping I'll throw you one of those bones of wisdom that changes your perspective on life completely, and makes one more day worth living. Listen, I'm not sure I can handle that kind of pressure.

Yesterday, Karen and I took the long drive down the West side of the Sierras, through the desert, over the Tejon Pass, and back into LA. The drive was uneventful, thankfully, since on the way there I had busted a hose in my cooling system and poured antifreeze all the way up the 99 to Shaver Lake. We did stop over at the Boot Barn in Bakersfield, but I couldn't justify the $129 for the black cowhide Justin's, so we came away empty handed.

Back in Santa Monica, Andy's 30th birthday party was last nite at McCabe's right down the street. I stupidly bought 12 shots of Jager for 11 people, thus guaranteeing myself 2 shots and a $70 bar tab. Happy birthday, Andy, you youngster.

Friday afternoon, Karen and I drove 2 hours from Shaver Lake to Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Parks to see the big trees. I'm about to let you in on a secret about Giant Sequoias, so ***SPOILER ALERT***...

You ready? Here goes... They're fucking GIGANTIC TREES. I think the Pixies wrote a song about them, and I swear I saw Ewoks up in the canopy. All of the German and Swedish tourist families just served to enhance the perception of size while they milled around the bases of the trees with their expensive digital cameras and silly languages. One problem with the trees, though. They're so big that you can't really capture their size on camera. The best you can do is have someone stand next to the bottom for some perspective, but then you only get the width, not the height. The General Sherman Tree is literally the largest living thing on our planet, and it just looks like a regular tree on film.

Now that I'm back, I have to get ready to go out to Telluride. I'm supposed to be there a week from today, so I guess I get to extend my vacation a bit longer. When I get back I can start looking for work again.

Speaking of work, my first 1st AD job was a success, I think. I'll qualify that statement by saying that Endurance is a pretty simple job for an AD, since the shoot days are very formulaic, and there's never a chance that anyone's going into overtime on a 12-hour day because you can only shoot with the kids for 10 hours anyway. Everyone that I talked to said that this was the best Endurance experience yet, I think mostly because Shaver Lake was such a great location.

I have a couple of belated birthday shout-outs to give: Eric and Cooley, happy birthdays. I wish I could've been there to sulk and drink alongside.

I just downloaded the entire Smog catalog from eMusic yesterday. I used to have most of it, thanks to Eric, but it got lost in the Great LaCie Crash of '05. I remember going and seeing him in Middlebury with Ethan Covey and Piper at some student union building. It was pouring rain and there were about 4 people there besides us, and his band was the most haggard looking bunch I'd ever seen, everyone looked sad and world-weary and it was fantastic.

Here's one of my favorite Smog tunes:
River Guard.mp3

Everybody, Back to One

2006-07-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

What a week it's been. I just wrapped Biggest Loser 3 on Freitag, and on Dienstag I get a call that I'm gettin bumped up to the Big Leagues, working as a First on Endurance. I thought that I would have some time off before going to Telluride at the end of August. Tommorrow, I drive 5 hours north to Shaver Lake, where we will be shooting for the next 3 weeks. I'm excited because it's my first foray into "Firsting," as it's called, so I've got nobody but myself to look to for answers. I'm the man on set, and everyone else is my responsibility, save the director, producers, and other department heads. It should be fun, and I'll keep you posted on developments.

Medianeras

2006-07-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

Medianeras is the Spanish word for the remnants of rooms left on buildings when rooms or neighboring buildings have fallen apart or been demolished. Wonder if there's a metaphor in there somewhere.

There's no good reason to post anything that's been posted on Pitchfork, since everyone that reads this has already read that, but this video led me to this Neil Hamburger video. I won't spoil the punchline for you, but the joke involves Santa Claus and Paris Hilton. I can't wait to see this guy open for my favorite indie band at my favorite local hipster music venue.

At work I get to spend a lot of time online, avoiding taking the long, hundred-degree walk to set, and I've been sending a lot of links out to my fellows (i.e. Eric, Andy, Dan, etc.), and some of them take what I send them and put it on their own blogs, which I have absolutely no problem with. In fact, I encourage it because I know that said people may be much too busy and morbidly self-effacing to find such gems on their own. I only wish I had managed to post this one first, because it's so fuckin funny.

Two weeks left with the fatties...and the host who makes my life miserable on set. She has the best of intentions, but can you blame her for being sensitive with all that pink in the background?

So... What's Been Going On?

2006-07-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

My friends and I here at work have been noticing recently that we start a lot of conversations with "So..." Being ADs, we're often in the position of interrupting people's current activity or train of thought in order to tell them about something else. The "So..." is sort of a shorthand segue from whatever they might be doing to whatever we want them to pay attention to. It's amazing how much is wrapped up in those two little letters. "Stop thinking/talking about what you're thinking/talking about and listen to something more important coming out of my mouth," is essentially what it is. Don't think it's rude, it's not, just a product of the need to get shit done - and that's what AD work is all about. Getting. Shit. Done. This kind of straightforward focus on accomplishing daily milestones comes pretty naturally to me, but it's certainly at the expense of any sort of creative thinking. I'm constantly forced to care about deadlines and "story beats," as they're called in the world of reality TV, that are either arbitrary or meaningless. The difference between the deadlines and the story beats is that I create the deadlines and the Story Dept. creates the beats. Moreover, this 4 months at the ranch is becoming a huge mental drag. It's no longer really a challenge, and it's no longer a novelty, so it's become just a job. I'm glad to have the work, but it keeps me from being able to pursue other avenues. I'm thinking about coming out East in August, but I don't know if I can find the money to do it. At this point, it looks like I'll have the time, anyway.

Enter the Tritare

2006-07-05T16:18:00.000-07:00

Another 4th of July come and gone. I spent Monday night at Andy's playing a marathon of Super Mario Party with 8 others, and finishing a 5-liter keg of Warsteiner lager in the process. I spent America's 230th birthday working on the call sheet for today and watching the last of the first season of Deadwood. I like that show better than I liked The Sopranos, I think, though I may have to go back and reexamine the Jersey Italians.

I've been reading Seed Magazine lately. Here's an interesting article about a new musical instrument called the Tritare.

While you're at it, watch this spoof on those dumb "You Wouldn't Steal a Car" MPAA ads.

Beer 4 Chx

2006-06-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

My friend Christina just launched her blog. It's about beer. For chicks.

Kraftwerk Vocoder up on eBay

2006-06-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

I really want someone I know to buy this thing.

Sleater-Kinney Going to the Great Gig in the Sky

2006-06-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Bummer...

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/37149/SleaterKinney_Say_Goodbye#37149

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

2006-06-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all the YouTube vids. I discovered the "Blog This Video" button, and when it's a matter of one click, it makes it difficult not to share every single reasonably entertaining vid that I watch. I never really intended this blog to become a link depository. God knows there are enough of those already.

I'm currently listening to Debby Boone singing "You Light Up My Life." I ripped this CD set called "Superstars of Country" from a friend. It's one of those Time-Life comps, and it's full of gems like the aforementioned song, "Smokey Mountain Rain" by Ronnie Milsap, "I Love a Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbit, and "Rub It In" by Billy "Crash" Craddock. Not all of the songs are about rain, some are about nighttime, and some are about failed romantic entanglements. All clever cynicism aside, I'm still a sucker for old country tunes.

I'm in another holding pattern right now. Every day bleeds into the next one, beginning with a long drive North, ending with an equivalent drive South. The work and the responsibilities are getting less daunting, more routine. It's brutally hot and the grass is turning brown at the ranch. I see the same people, walk the same paths, and do the same things every single day, and it's a grind. Compared to showin g up at Propeller and jerking off for 6 hours a day, this is about as pleasant as military school. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my job, but it's not the job for people that want to (God forbid) do anything else with their time.

I thought I had an idea on the long drive home from the ranch of something to write about, but now I can't think of any. I watched a documentary called Grey Gardens last night. It's about a mother and daughter who lived in the Hamptons in the 70s. The mother is Jackie O's aunt or something - her middle name is Bouvier - and the daughter grew up beneath the umbrella of her rich, socialite parents. In the doc, they live together in the decrepit remnants of their mansion with scores of cats, and shout at each other over the details of their former glory. Both are, very obviously, batshit crazy. It's a great movie, and I highly suggest buying the Criterion version.

I also watched Heavenly Creatures, which blew me away with its stylistic freedom. Kate Winslet was destined to stardom for sure.

2006-06-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

Pickles are Ruining my Life

2006-06-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

Indie Clerk Assholes

2006-06-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

Swale, Burlington Art Hop, 09-12-2003

I posted my first YouTube vid, a little thing I shot during the Art Hop back in 2003. Here's Swale doing "Good Medicine."

2006-06-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Maggot Brain 1983

Maggot Brain is probably my favorite guitar instrumental of all time.

2006-06-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Eddie Hazel - Standing on the Verge - Houston 1979

I just downloaded the remastered version of Maggot Brain from eMusic, which got me off on a tear trying to find Eddie Hazel music. Unfortunately, his only solo album is OOP. The dude is absolutely astounding.

Banyan

2006-06-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

I saw Mike Watt's band, Banyan, at a local bar called 14 Below about a month ago. They're fucking amazing. Just found this video on Google.

Dazed and Misused

2006-06-08T22:39:00.000-07:00

As you can probably tell by now, I'm not much of a writer. Not in the high school English class sense, but in the sense that I don't write much. I don't know when my last post was, but I'm sure it was well over a month ago. If you have been waiting by the laptop for me to pen my next earth-shattering revelation, then I sincerely apologize. It was recently pointed out to me by one of my esteemed colleagues that Joey had "lapped" me in the blogging Grand Prix.

Of course, it's not that I've nothing to say, I just can't remember what it is by the time I sit down in front of the old 17" widescreen here.

Let's see, what has been going on with me since we last spoke that you could possibly want to hear? Routine. I'm ashamed to say it, but I don't have much to write about. For the writer in charge of the local obits, that might be a good thing, but for a strapping young adventurer like myself, it doesn't bode well. These 14 hour days and 2 hour commutes have a way of eating up the opportunities to do otherwise.

Currently, I'm watching Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid with Kris Kristofferson as Billy and James Coburn as Pat Garrett. I also went out today and bought the Criterion Collection version of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused.

So there's an entry. I'm too distracted by the movie to write anything else.