It looks like the Stockstock Film Festival came and went this year without me knowing about it. Which is a little sad because some of the stock footage they offer for editing was really good this year.
In case you didn't know the Stockstock Film Festival is a festival based around stock footage. They give potential film editors the same amount of stock footage and a certain amount of time. During this time, all the editors have to make a new film using only the existing footage.
The great thing about the website is that now it is all electronic - you download the stock footage instead of having it mailed to you and people can post their submissions on YouTube when all is said and done. They even have a film page dedicated to all entries.
My contribution to last year's contest was a short ditty called Hey Loser! One of the frustrating things about it was that I never got a chance to see the competition, so I didn't really know the criteria/judge's tastes. This year, I do. And I'm psyched about next year.
Here's this year's winner (it really takes off at the 30 second point - you can see some of the truly incredible footage from this year's contest):
Here's my Hey Loser! video from last year:
Now you can see who is the better editor. But I'm already getting ideas for next year. Just you wait.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Its not me, its you. Believe me, its you.
I have used this blog to complain about stupid, horrible things evil credit card companies have done. After writing these blog entries, I cancel the credit card. Call it a ritual of purification if you will.
This is another one of those blog entries. The culprit this time, the card on the chopping block, is my old Citibank card.
I’ve had this Citibank card since college, you know, back when you could send any credit card company a form stating that your annual income was $0.00 and they would send you a card with a $12,000 credit limit.
What happened after I got the card is typical – I ran it up and spend years paying it off, telling myself that the Simon and Garfunkel box set was totally worth that 20% interest compounded daily. I reached a crisis/breaking point, sold that extra kidney, and got out of debt.
There was a time period shortly before I got married when I got rid of a bunch of old credit cards, but I held on to the ol’ Citibank because I had a recurring payment for my Childreach kid and I just didn’t want to make the call to get them to charge another, better credit card. The hold music there is just so depressing…
Anyway, I have paperless credit card statements, so once a month, I log into the account and see the balance.
I logged in December and saw a balance of 0.00.
I logged in January and saw a balance of 0.00.
I logged in February and saw a balance of 0.00.
I logged in March and saw $51.48 in late fees.
So I call them, and was told there was a charge for $66.00 in December that I never paid. This makes sense, because I make quarterly Childreach payments of $66.00, but what doesn’t make sense is the fact that IT NEVER SHOWED UP ON MY STATEMENT UNTIL THREE MONTHS AFTER IT WAS CHARGED. HOW CAN I PAY FOR SOMETHING IF I'M NOT BILLED FOR IT?
This is the disadvantage of going with paperless bills – when you call the credit card company with a complaint like this, you have no proof. It is just your word against the word of the evil credit card company. And since the person on the other end of the phone is employed by the evil, evil company, your chance of winning the argument is about the same as getting struck by lightning 47 times in a row.
So I told the guy on the phone my issue and asked for him to waive the late fees. He couldn’t do that. I told him, fine, I wanted to pay off that rotten $117.48 balance on my account and close it. He said I could only do that if I was willing to pay a $14.95 processing fee.
“So what I’m hearing is that if someone wants to make a fast payment, you charge them extra.”
“That is our policy.”
“Doesn’t it make more sense to not charge as much since you get the money sooner?”
“That is our policy.”
“Ok, CallCenter Robot. I’m closing the account. You’ve lost my business and you’re already getting a blog entry. Could you transfer me to someone who will at least listen to my complaint and at least attempt to make things better before I tell everyone I know that Citibank is evil?”
To their credit, there was no hold music on the transfer. And my call did not mysteriously drop, like it has before when calling them.
The new person was a customer service person. He looked at my account and told me he knew what my problem was.
It turns out in December they closed my old account and transferred everything over to a new one. I don’t remember asking for or even wanting this, but lo and behold it happened. And they never changed the website so it pointed to the new account. For three months when I logged into my account, it would bring the old, dead account up by default.
Somehow, though it was totally my fault that I didn’t go digging through the incomprehensible Citibank website, looking for the new account I didn’t know existed. And, because it was somehow my fault, there was no way I could get out of the late fees or have the “pay immediately and be done with you once and for all” fee waived.
So I ended the call. I told them I wasn’t happy, that they had lost a customer, that I was going to blog about it like the big whiny goober I am, and that one day when I become a multi-millionaire, maybe, just maybe I would buy out Citibank just for the sheer maniacal pleasure of firing everyone there.
Dare to dream.
This is another one of those blog entries. The culprit this time, the card on the chopping block, is my old Citibank card.
I’ve had this Citibank card since college, you know, back when you could send any credit card company a form stating that your annual income was $0.00 and they would send you a card with a $12,000 credit limit.
What happened after I got the card is typical – I ran it up and spend years paying it off, telling myself that the Simon and Garfunkel box set was totally worth that 20% interest compounded daily. I reached a crisis/breaking point, sold that extra kidney, and got out of debt.
There was a time period shortly before I got married when I got rid of a bunch of old credit cards, but I held on to the ol’ Citibank because I had a recurring payment for my Childreach kid and I just didn’t want to make the call to get them to charge another, better credit card. The hold music there is just so depressing…
Anyway, I have paperless credit card statements, so once a month, I log into the account and see the balance.
I logged in December and saw a balance of 0.00.
I logged in January and saw a balance of 0.00.
I logged in February and saw a balance of 0.00.
I logged in March and saw $51.48 in late fees.
So I call them, and was told there was a charge for $66.00 in December that I never paid. This makes sense, because I make quarterly Childreach payments of $66.00, but what doesn’t make sense is the fact that IT NEVER SHOWED UP ON MY STATEMENT UNTIL THREE MONTHS AFTER IT WAS CHARGED. HOW CAN I PAY FOR SOMETHING IF I'M NOT BILLED FOR IT?
This is the disadvantage of going with paperless bills – when you call the credit card company with a complaint like this, you have no proof. It is just your word against the word of the evil credit card company. And since the person on the other end of the phone is employed by the evil, evil company, your chance of winning the argument is about the same as getting struck by lightning 47 times in a row.
So I told the guy on the phone my issue and asked for him to waive the late fees. He couldn’t do that. I told him, fine, I wanted to pay off that rotten $117.48 balance on my account and close it. He said I could only do that if I was willing to pay a $14.95 processing fee.
“So what I’m hearing is that if someone wants to make a fast payment, you charge them extra.”
“That is our policy.”
“Doesn’t it make more sense to not charge as much since you get the money sooner?”
“That is our policy.”
“Ok, CallCenter Robot. I’m closing the account. You’ve lost my business and you’re already getting a blog entry. Could you transfer me to someone who will at least listen to my complaint and at least attempt to make things better before I tell everyone I know that Citibank is evil?”
To their credit, there was no hold music on the transfer. And my call did not mysteriously drop, like it has before when calling them.
The new person was a customer service person. He looked at my account and told me he knew what my problem was.
It turns out in December they closed my old account and transferred everything over to a new one. I don’t remember asking for or even wanting this, but lo and behold it happened. And they never changed the website so it pointed to the new account. For three months when I logged into my account, it would bring the old, dead account up by default.
Somehow, though it was totally my fault that I didn’t go digging through the incomprehensible Citibank website, looking for the new account I didn’t know existed. And, because it was somehow my fault, there was no way I could get out of the late fees or have the “pay immediately and be done with you once and for all” fee waived.
So I ended the call. I told them I wasn’t happy, that they had lost a customer, that I was going to blog about it like the big whiny goober I am, and that one day when I become a multi-millionaire, maybe, just maybe I would buy out Citibank just for the sheer maniacal pleasure of firing everyone there.
Dare to dream.
Friday, March 16, 2007
I suppose this makes me trapped, trapped in this body...
Your results:
You are Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)
Click here to take the "Which Serenity character are you?" quiz...
You are Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)
| Dependable and trustworthy. You love your significant other and you are a tough cookie when in a conflict.  |
Click here to take the "Which Serenity character are you?" quiz...
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Input vs. Output
It really bothers me some days when I look at the ol' blog and see that all I do is post YouTube clips in it instead of writing my deepest thoughts down for people to pour over and point out the spelling errors.
The fact is that there are about 30 or 40 half-finished blog entries scattered throughout my three computers (one desktop, two laptops). Eventually, these will see the light of day, as soon as I find the time to complete them. (Right now, the killer idea I'm trying to get into words why I hated Pan's Labyrinth but tolerated Tideland even though they are essentially the same movie.)
My wife tells me I am much more of an "input" person than an "output" person. I would like to argue, but she is totally right. I'm working on creating more output, but, especially when the internet is so close, the temptation to just take in all sorts of information is overwhelming. Trying to justify it by making your input your output is as lame as... well, as embedding a YouTube clip in the ol' blog.
Which is a round-about way of saying that I have resolved to start generating more output over the next several months. We'll see how it goes.
In the meantime, one of my favorie radio shows, On The Media, has a way for you to embed segments of their show into your blog. I thought I would give it a try.
P.S. If I were this reporter interviewing Joe Simon, I would have casually mentioned that I thought Jack Kirby invented Captain America. There is nothing like seeing a decades-old grudge flare its ugly head.
The fact is that there are about 30 or 40 half-finished blog entries scattered throughout my three computers (one desktop, two laptops). Eventually, these will see the light of day, as soon as I find the time to complete them. (Right now, the killer idea I'm trying to get into words why I hated Pan's Labyrinth but tolerated Tideland even though they are essentially the same movie.)
My wife tells me I am much more of an "input" person than an "output" person. I would like to argue, but she is totally right. I'm working on creating more output, but, especially when the internet is so close, the temptation to just take in all sorts of information is overwhelming. Trying to justify it by making your input your output is as lame as... well, as embedding a YouTube clip in the ol' blog.
Which is a round-about way of saying that I have resolved to start generating more output over the next several months. We'll see how it goes.
In the meantime, one of my favorie radio shows, On The Media, has a way for you to embed segments of their show into your blog. I thought I would give it a try.
P.S. If I were this reporter interviewing Joe Simon, I would have casually mentioned that I thought Jack Kirby invented Captain America. There is nothing like seeing a decades-old grudge flare its ugly head.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Politics for... you know... kids!
So my Councilman is running for Dallas Mayor. And, like a dutiful, educated citizen, I'm following the issues and keeping track of the voting records.
But that doesn't really mean anything because he has decided to campaign on an issue I had never even heard of until I read about it on his blog. A new herion-like drug called "cheese." My honest-to-goodness reaction was, "Huh? Never heard about this before. If it is such a problem, what is his solution? A larger police force (which will mean increasing the increasingly-stretched-to-the-limit city budget)? A special task force? What? And should it be the governments responsibility to raise a kid or, you know, the kid's parents???"
But, you know, it is a BLOG ENTRY on a politician's web site, so how important can it be anyway?
Right. Totally insignificant in every way.
That's what I thought until today, when he released his first commercial. Then I realized that he is building his campaign around something no one has expressed concern over or taken a vote on.
Yes, taking the stance that kids should be happy and healthy is a no-brainer for a politician. And, yes, his video editor just loves loves loves the Impact font. But should we just sit back and laugh at this video clip? Look at all the time and effort put into it. They even went as far as to subtitle the second half for the deaf, hearing impaired, illiterate, or for people who just like foreigh films.
What ads like this really remind me of was when I was younger and watched 'The 700 Club' special on the evils of rock music. I was not, how do you say, very cool, and depended on shows like 'The 700 Club' to tell me what was popular. Luckily, that show delivered the goods.
It was there that I learned about GWAR and Danzig for the very first time. When the announcer said, "Your kids are listening to this!" and then played a nice little video segment of GWAR disembowling a manequin at a concert, I knew I had to learn more about this wonderful new band.
Sure enough, a well-placed GWAR T-shirt or a masterful quoting of Danzig lyrics got me in with a cooler, more unkempt crowd who taught me the values of sneering, not bathing, and hating the world. And, after my two weeks of coolness, I went back to my fantasy novels and Billy Joel. It was too much for me to handle.
I've digressed...
We were talking about? Ah yes, the political ad.
So when I see ads like this, I think kids "as young as 10 and 11" who are so uncool that they watch political ads for fun, suddenly getting it into their heads that, if I want to reinvent myself in a cooler, more drug addicted asthetic, I can do so faster and cheaper with this cheese product. Thank you, politicians of the world! Thank you!
But that doesn't really mean anything because he has decided to campaign on an issue I had never even heard of until I read about it on his blog. A new herion-like drug called "cheese." My honest-to-goodness reaction was, "Huh? Never heard about this before. If it is such a problem, what is his solution? A larger police force (which will mean increasing the increasingly-stretched-to-the-limit city budget)? A special task force? What? And should it be the governments responsibility to raise a kid or, you know, the kid's parents???"
But, you know, it is a BLOG ENTRY on a politician's web site, so how important can it be anyway?
Right. Totally insignificant in every way.
That's what I thought until today, when he released his first commercial. Then I realized that he is building his campaign around something no one has expressed concern over or taken a vote on.
Yes, taking the stance that kids should be happy and healthy is a no-brainer for a politician. And, yes, his video editor just loves loves loves the Impact font. But should we just sit back and laugh at this video clip? Look at all the time and effort put into it. They even went as far as to subtitle the second half for the deaf, hearing impaired, illiterate, or for people who just like foreigh films.
What ads like this really remind me of was when I was younger and watched 'The 700 Club' special on the evils of rock music. I was not, how do you say, very cool, and depended on shows like 'The 700 Club' to tell me what was popular. Luckily, that show delivered the goods.
It was there that I learned about GWAR and Danzig for the very first time. When the announcer said, "Your kids are listening to this!" and then played a nice little video segment of GWAR disembowling a manequin at a concert, I knew I had to learn more about this wonderful new band.
Sure enough, a well-placed GWAR T-shirt or a masterful quoting of Danzig lyrics got me in with a cooler, more unkempt crowd who taught me the values of sneering, not bathing, and hating the world. And, after my two weeks of coolness, I went back to my fantasy novels and Billy Joel. It was too much for me to handle.
I've digressed...
We were talking about? Ah yes, the political ad.
So when I see ads like this, I think kids "as young as 10 and 11" who are so uncool that they watch political ads for fun, suddenly getting it into their heads that, if I want to reinvent myself in a cooler, more drug addicted asthetic, I can do so faster and cheaper with this cheese product. Thank you, politicians of the world! Thank you!
I just keep flogging that dead horse...
I still insist that Children of Men was the best film of last year, despite the fact that the Academy Awards completely overlooked it.
And here's yet another reason why - the technology and advertisements. In this view of the future, all technological development has been focused only in one area - entertainment. There are screens everywhere, video games are now wired into your wrists, and the content is slicker than anything else imaginable.
Here's a clip of some of the stuff going on in the background in the scenes. See what I mean?
And here's yet another reason why - the technology and advertisements. In this view of the future, all technological development has been focused only in one area - entertainment. There are screens everywhere, video games are now wired into your wrists, and the content is slicker than anything else imaginable.
Here's a clip of some of the stuff going on in the background in the scenes. See what I mean?
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Yet Another Reason Not to Watch TV
Over at Vlog Deathmatch, they are having an air guitar contest between several ladies who do their own video blogs. The result is a collection of home grown videos that are better than the last several things I've seen on television.
Here are the rules.
I am rooting for Veronica Belmont, but the other three videos up there right now are pretty fun to watch, too.
It is amazing how we keep ourselves entertained, no?
Here are the rules.
I am rooting for Veronica Belmont, but the other three videos up there right now are pretty fun to watch, too.
It is amazing how we keep ourselves entertained, no?
Thursday, March 01, 2007
It is funny because it is true.
PVP has a paid-only area of their website. They have posted a preview for it before in an attempt to get people like me to shill out some moolah, but that preview just didn't make me laugh.
This one, however, does.
I swear I had this conversation a thousand times when I was single. Except I was always the guy with the glasses and the tie, not the smart one with the sunglasses.
This one, however, does.
I swear I had this conversation a thousand times when I was single. Except I was always the guy with the glasses and the tie, not the smart one with the sunglasses.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Two things aspiring filmmakers can do to hone up on their skills
I casually follow the entertainment industry, trying to find out how people can eek out a living in an industry that is grossly unprofitable. (Seriously, both George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola have started side businesses to support their film production companies. And if these guys can't make money by only making films, there is no way some visionary with two camcorders and a microphone can lead the good life.)
And if you follow the industry news, you find very quickly that the day-to-day bread-and-butter work is commercial or industrial work. There is very little room for creativity or experimentation. If a filmmaker wants to branch out and do something experiemental or non-mainstream, they have to either do it on their own dime or find someone who will pay for something eye-catching and memorable.
Hence, the music video. I've really become obsessed with some music videos over the years for their no-holds-barred approach to filmmaking. Even if I don't like the song all that much, I can watch the music video repeatedly.
Like this one:
Because of their disposability, the filmmakers can get downright abstract and experimental with the process. Sometimes when I see music videos, I ask myself, "How in the world was this pitched to the financiers?"
Can you imagine a meeting where a filmmaker goes, "Yeah. When I hear your song, I see a single, slow-motion shot of a running man burning," and the music company goes, "Sure, here is $50,000 - make it alive for us!"
Improbable, but, still somehow we wind up with one of my favorite videos:
And there are even stranger ones out there. Can you imagine how this film was pitched?
So that is what I recommend people do to hone their filmmaking skills - make music videos. Because the field is so wide open, and because there are not any real set standards as to what constitutes a "good" one vs. a "bad" one, you can't really go wrong.
If you don't want to do something experimental and strange, you can always draw from the rich visual language of the Hollywood musical. Despite everyone saying the musical genre is dead and gone, I find it turning up in music videos all the time. Like in this one where we get to see one singer play three different vocalists - you can tell them apart because they have different hair color.
And if sensory overload and editing that causes autism in children, epileptic siezures in the sensitive, and ADD in the rest of us, there is always the musical narrative music video. Like this one:
Once again we have a single singer as three different characters - a blonde, a brunette, and a red head. Unlike the previous one, all three apparently fight over some blandly attractive lunkhead. Does anyone else get confused at the bait-and-switch at the end of the video where the brunette is clearly the one who wins the guy, but somehow he winds up with the blonde in a bathroom stall? And who associates romantic conquest with bathrooms these days? As with the rich musical tradition, a willful suspension of disbelief is necessary for enjoyment to begin.
The most fun I've been seeing with music videos recently have been the strange little assemblages of film that people cobble together in their homes. Like this one:
This not only shows the power of good editing, it also offers an insightful commentary on the way media affects people in front of the camera. Frankly, I forgot that Ms. Spears was ever a child star until I saw this footage. Seeing a little girl spout lyrics like this simply reinforce the dangers of exposing children to pop culture.
At this point, I should probably wring my hands and wonder what our culture has come to, with popular pop songs directed towards young teenage girls bastardize a 1940s swing style to include lyrics like "He makes my panties drop," and "He makes my cherry pop." (Of all the ladies I have met who were alive in the 40s, none of them struck me as someone who would talk like this.) Or I should wonder about the affect of videos that show that the best way to have a healthy, caring relationship with a boy is to push his current girlfriend into a Port-a-potty.
Instead, I will offer up the other short film genre that fascinates me: the documentary.
In the couple of documentaries I have attempted to film, the main problem I have found is that no one likes to be on camera. Whip out a camera, and people run away from it.
But if you can establish a good rapport and an air of trust, some great things can happen. Recently, a local paper featured a vintage 70s documentary on Dallas-area carhops. In some ways, it is just as fun and abstract as the music videos. It has intriguing visuals and an interesting narrative.
Here's Part 1:
What I really like about this is how the subjects are so open and honest... and how strange and fun that time was - when people dressed up as marching band members serving people in cars. I'm not really nostalgic for that time and fashion as much as I am notalgic about how comfortable and unguarded about how people are in their thoughts. Like in Part 2, where the one fella talked about a place that specialized in having "fat girls, 10 or 12 of the heaviest girls they could find" carhops - and then they showed it. There was a lot of implicit trust and honesty going on in that film. I don't see that happening very much nowadays.
So there you go. Music videos and documentaries are the key to making yourself a better filmmaker. Go forth and do some strangeness.
And if you follow the industry news, you find very quickly that the day-to-day bread-and-butter work is commercial or industrial work. There is very little room for creativity or experimentation. If a filmmaker wants to branch out and do something experiemental or non-mainstream, they have to either do it on their own dime or find someone who will pay for something eye-catching and memorable.
Hence, the music video. I've really become obsessed with some music videos over the years for their no-holds-barred approach to filmmaking. Even if I don't like the song all that much, I can watch the music video repeatedly.
Like this one:
Because of their disposability, the filmmakers can get downright abstract and experimental with the process. Sometimes when I see music videos, I ask myself, "How in the world was this pitched to the financiers?"
Can you imagine a meeting where a filmmaker goes, "Yeah. When I hear your song, I see a single, slow-motion shot of a running man burning," and the music company goes, "Sure, here is $50,000 - make it alive for us!"
Improbable, but, still somehow we wind up with one of my favorite videos:
And there are even stranger ones out there. Can you imagine how this film was pitched?
So that is what I recommend people do to hone their filmmaking skills - make music videos. Because the field is so wide open, and because there are not any real set standards as to what constitutes a "good" one vs. a "bad" one, you can't really go wrong.
If you don't want to do something experimental and strange, you can always draw from the rich visual language of the Hollywood musical. Despite everyone saying the musical genre is dead and gone, I find it turning up in music videos all the time. Like in this one where we get to see one singer play three different vocalists - you can tell them apart because they have different hair color.
And if sensory overload and editing that causes autism in children, epileptic siezures in the sensitive, and ADD in the rest of us, there is always the musical narrative music video. Like this one:
Once again we have a single singer as three different characters - a blonde, a brunette, and a red head. Unlike the previous one, all three apparently fight over some blandly attractive lunkhead. Does anyone else get confused at the bait-and-switch at the end of the video where the brunette is clearly the one who wins the guy, but somehow he winds up with the blonde in a bathroom stall? And who associates romantic conquest with bathrooms these days? As with the rich musical tradition, a willful suspension of disbelief is necessary for enjoyment to begin.
The most fun I've been seeing with music videos recently have been the strange little assemblages of film that people cobble together in their homes. Like this one:
This not only shows the power of good editing, it also offers an insightful commentary on the way media affects people in front of the camera. Frankly, I forgot that Ms. Spears was ever a child star until I saw this footage. Seeing a little girl spout lyrics like this simply reinforce the dangers of exposing children to pop culture.
At this point, I should probably wring my hands and wonder what our culture has come to, with popular pop songs directed towards young teenage girls bastardize a 1940s swing style to include lyrics like "He makes my panties drop," and "He makes my cherry pop." (Of all the ladies I have met who were alive in the 40s, none of them struck me as someone who would talk like this.) Or I should wonder about the affect of videos that show that the best way to have a healthy, caring relationship with a boy is to push his current girlfriend into a Port-a-potty.
Instead, I will offer up the other short film genre that fascinates me: the documentary.
In the couple of documentaries I have attempted to film, the main problem I have found is that no one likes to be on camera. Whip out a camera, and people run away from it.
But if you can establish a good rapport and an air of trust, some great things can happen. Recently, a local paper featured a vintage 70s documentary on Dallas-area carhops. In some ways, it is just as fun and abstract as the music videos. It has intriguing visuals and an interesting narrative.
Here's Part 1:
What I really like about this is how the subjects are so open and honest... and how strange and fun that time was - when people dressed up as marching band members serving people in cars. I'm not really nostalgic for that time and fashion as much as I am notalgic about how comfortable and unguarded about how people are in their thoughts. Like in Part 2, where the one fella talked about a place that specialized in having "fat girls, 10 or 12 of the heaviest girls they could find" carhops - and then they showed it. There was a lot of implicit trust and honesty going on in that film. I don't see that happening very much nowadays.
So there you go. Music videos and documentaries are the key to making yourself a better filmmaker. Go forth and do some strangeness.
Is there anything good instructional design can't improve?
I got this from the Respectful Insolence blog, who in turn got it from three different blogs.
Behold the power of good instructional design!
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Looks like I'm a funny, funny guy.
Your results:
You are The Joker
Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz...
You are The Joker
| The Clown Prince of Crime. You are a brilliant mastermind but are criminally insane. You love to joke around while accomplishing the task at hand. |
Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz...
Friday, February 09, 2007
What is Consumption? Consumption is a disease that plagues artists.
Here is the last of the educational podcasts. This one was fun to edit because I had all of this random accordion music with nowhere to go, and there were so many conversational beats that seemed to perfectly match some of this orphan music.
This was done in one take with Anita reading from a script and Elmo improvising. Several of us had to physically cover our mouths or leave the room or something to keep from laughing during the recording session.
What a fun time we had. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it again next semester or not, or if we’ll be able to top this, but I’m up for it.
Here is consumption.
This was done in one take with Anita reading from a script and Elmo improvising. Several of us had to physically cover our mouths or leave the room or something to keep from laughing during the recording session.
What a fun time we had. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it again next semester or not, or if we’ll be able to top this, but I’m up for it.
Here is consumption.
Surreal Educational Podcast
This podcast is all me.
Like most self-conscious people, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of my voice. And there are parts of this that make me cringe. I also think it sounds a little over-produced in some places.
Having said all that, I think there are some really good bits in this. I like the entire idea of surrealism being presented like it was a monster truck rally, and the echo effect when I say SIGMUND FREUD is pretty cool.
I want to say that the idea behind this podcast is some sort of meta-commentary about how surrealism started out as this interesting thought experiment in the artistic community and quickly devolved into a lowest common denominator form of entertainment which continues to ripple through our culture, destroying the lines between “high art” and “low art” to the point where visiting a museum and going to a monster truck rally are indistinguishable, BUT the truth of the matter is that I can only do one or two funny voices, and the Truck Rally Announcer voice had to fit in somewhere here.
Having said all that, here is the surrealism podcast!
Like most self-conscious people, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of my voice. And there are parts of this that make me cringe. I also think it sounds a little over-produced in some places.
Having said all that, I think there are some really good bits in this. I like the entire idea of surrealism being presented like it was a monster truck rally, and the echo effect when I say SIGMUND FREUD is pretty cool.
I want to say that the idea behind this podcast is some sort of meta-commentary about how surrealism started out as this interesting thought experiment in the artistic community and quickly devolved into a lowest common denominator form of entertainment which continues to ripple through our culture, destroying the lines between “high art” and “low art” to the point where visiting a museum and going to a monster truck rally are indistinguishable, BUT the truth of the matter is that I can only do one or two funny voices, and the Truck Rally Announcer voice had to fit in somewhere here.
Having said all that, here is the surrealism podcast!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
One of the many, many, many reasons why I think cell phones are more of a nuisance than a benefit
Transcript of phone conversation last night:
Me: Greetings, Ms. Wonderifical!
The Missus: Hi! How was your plane ride?
Me: Not too bad. I think I might have caught something. The kid on the row in front of me had a cold and kept coughing and sneezing without covering his mouth. And all day today my throat has been kind of sore.
TM: You’re fading. I didn’t get anything after, “Not too bad.”
Me: (raising voice) I WAS SAYING THAT MY THROAT IS A LITTLE SORE. IT HURTS TO TALK.
TM: Yeah. Didn’t get that.
Me: (practically screaming) I AM NOT FEELING TOO HOT. IT HURTS TO TALK.
TM: What was that? You’re all crackling and staticy.
Me: (actually screaming) I HATE THIS PHONE. THIS IS THE THIRD CALL TODAY WHERE I’VE HAD TO SCREAM TO BE HEARD. THE PEOPLE IN THE HOTEL KEEP BANGING AGAINST MY WALL. I BET THEY THINK I’M SOME SORT OF PSYCHO LIKE JOHN GOODMAN IN THAT 'BARTON FINK' MOVIE. I JUST GOES INTO AN EMPTY HOTEL ROOM AND SCREAM AND SCREAM FOR HOURS ON END. THE NEXT KNOCK ON MY DOOR WILL NO DOUBT BE THE POLICE.
TM: I’m sorry, honey, but you’re not coming through at all. Do you want me to call back?
Me: WOULDN’T IT BE TRAGIC IF I HAD A HEART CONDITION NO ONE KNEW ABOUT AND ALL THE UNDUE STRESS FROM TALKING ON A CELL PHONE LET TO-
*sharp intake of air*
*silence*
*thudding noise*
TM: Hello? Hello? I think the call dropped.
Me: Greetings, Ms. Wonderifical!
The Missus: Hi! How was your plane ride?
Me: Not too bad. I think I might have caught something. The kid on the row in front of me had a cold and kept coughing and sneezing without covering his mouth. And all day today my throat has been kind of sore.
TM: You’re fading. I didn’t get anything after, “Not too bad.”
Me: (raising voice) I WAS SAYING THAT MY THROAT IS A LITTLE SORE. IT HURTS TO TALK.
TM: Yeah. Didn’t get that.
Me: (practically screaming) I AM NOT FEELING TOO HOT. IT HURTS TO TALK.
TM: What was that? You’re all crackling and staticy.
Me: (actually screaming) I HATE THIS PHONE. THIS IS THE THIRD CALL TODAY WHERE I’VE HAD TO SCREAM TO BE HEARD. THE PEOPLE IN THE HOTEL KEEP BANGING AGAINST MY WALL. I BET THEY THINK I’M SOME SORT OF PSYCHO LIKE JOHN GOODMAN IN THAT 'BARTON FINK' MOVIE. I JUST GOES INTO AN EMPTY HOTEL ROOM AND SCREAM AND SCREAM FOR HOURS ON END. THE NEXT KNOCK ON MY DOOR WILL NO DOUBT BE THE POLICE.
TM: I’m sorry, honey, but you’re not coming through at all. Do you want me to call back?
Me: WOULDN’T IT BE TRAGIC IF I HAD A HEART CONDITION NO ONE KNEW ABOUT AND ALL THE UNDUE STRESS FROM TALKING ON A CELL PHONE LET TO-
*sharp intake of air*
*silence*
*thudding noise*
TM: Hello? Hello? I think the call dropped.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Which Science Fiction Writer are You?
Looks like I have a new author to read up on, because I've never heard of the guy.
 | I am:Hal Clement (Harry C. Stubbs)A quiet and underrated master of "hard science" fiction who, among other things, foresaw integrated circuits back in the 1940s. |
Racism and Regionalism
Everyone hates each other. And there is no one more hated than the people right next to you. It always fascinates me when people act like the world is divided into homogeneous groups (like Southerners, Conservative Christians, or Mac Users) when, in my experience, all of these “homogeneous groups” bicker and constantly threaten to tear themselves apart.
In college, I went to China, and one of the things that continually shocked me was the fact that everyone was so blatantly racist. The people from the Southern provinces hated the people from the Northern provinces. The people from the Northern Provinces hated the people from the Southern provinces. And EVERYONE hated the Japanese.
One of the Chinese nationals even told us how frustrated he was with our group because, after meeting us, he had no idea what a typical American looked like. In our group we had tall and short people, different facial structures, and at least four different types of hair color. It baffled him, because he prided himself on being able to tell you everything about a person based on how they looked. He would point out people on the street, telling our group what province each passerby was, saying things like “That person is Cantonese – he eats dirt and bugs! HAHAHAHA! Dirty, dirty Cantonese!”
And then he would spit.
I chose to find it a cute, almost endearing, idiosyncrasy instead of giving the guy a lecture about how it is what is on the inside that counts, and how you should judge a person not by the appearance, but by the content of character. I do remember this, though, whenever anyone refers to “Asians” as a homogeneous group.
My wife’s former boss is from Queens, and is very dismissive of everything South of the Mason-Dixon line. He is known to call states by the wrong name and follow it up with a, “Virginia, Georgia – what’s the difference?”
To which my wife usually responds, “Queens, Brooklyn - what’s the difference?”
And then she sits back and listens to a 90 minute rant about the difference between the radiant glory that is Queens compared to the festering hellhole that is Brooklyn. Sheesh, New Yorkers are all the same.
When traveling outside of Dallas, it always fascinates me how people think of Texans. (My favorite came from a 80-year-old grandmother of a friend who said to me, “I’ve never met a Texan before… Is it true you kill all your coloreds?” Old people do not have time to mince words, apparently.) Dallas has a relatively low cost of living, so a lot of people new to the country get their starts here. There is a thriving Romanian population and a Laotian population and strong Ethiopian population. This aspect of the city never seems to make it past the city limits.
Dallas isn’t the only city with this problem. I’ve been working in Detroit and found out that Detroit has the largest population of Middle Eastern people outside of the Middle East. Of course, I have not saddled up next to someone and talked about politics with someone, getting a Saudi perspective and comparing it to a Lebanese perspective, but I have had some truly excellent lamb dishes at some Hallal restaurants. And it is always interesting to see Army recruiting billboards written in Farsi.
I remember talking to someone one time about the strange quirk about racism in Dallas, and talking about how most of the bile I have seen seems to be directed towards the Black community and the Hispanic community. People from any other part of the world, tend to get treated nicer. (That’s the entire premise of Borat – people from Eastern Europe are treated very politely in the South, so people like Borat can take advantage of everyone’s good nature to ridicule them.)
“Why do you think that is?” the person asked me.
“The closest idea I can come up with is that we grew up with a certain ethnicity, so they’re like family. And there is no one we feel we can openly hate more than family. Everyone else, we have to treat like a guest.”
So there you go. Be kind to strangers, but hurt the one you love. Sounds like the moral of a South Park episode.
In college, I went to China, and one of the things that continually shocked me was the fact that everyone was so blatantly racist. The people from the Southern provinces hated the people from the Northern provinces. The people from the Northern Provinces hated the people from the Southern provinces. And EVERYONE hated the Japanese.
One of the Chinese nationals even told us how frustrated he was with our group because, after meeting us, he had no idea what a typical American looked like. In our group we had tall and short people, different facial structures, and at least four different types of hair color. It baffled him, because he prided himself on being able to tell you everything about a person based on how they looked. He would point out people on the street, telling our group what province each passerby was, saying things like “That person is Cantonese – he eats dirt and bugs! HAHAHAHA! Dirty, dirty Cantonese!”
And then he would spit.
I chose to find it a cute, almost endearing, idiosyncrasy instead of giving the guy a lecture about how it is what is on the inside that counts, and how you should judge a person not by the appearance, but by the content of character. I do remember this, though, whenever anyone refers to “Asians” as a homogeneous group.
My wife’s former boss is from Queens, and is very dismissive of everything South of the Mason-Dixon line. He is known to call states by the wrong name and follow it up with a, “Virginia, Georgia – what’s the difference?”
To which my wife usually responds, “Queens, Brooklyn - what’s the difference?”
And then she sits back and listens to a 90 minute rant about the difference between the radiant glory that is Queens compared to the festering hellhole that is Brooklyn. Sheesh, New Yorkers are all the same.
When traveling outside of Dallas, it always fascinates me how people think of Texans. (My favorite came from a 80-year-old grandmother of a friend who said to me, “I’ve never met a Texan before… Is it true you kill all your coloreds?” Old people do not have time to mince words, apparently.) Dallas has a relatively low cost of living, so a lot of people new to the country get their starts here. There is a thriving Romanian population and a Laotian population and strong Ethiopian population. This aspect of the city never seems to make it past the city limits.
Dallas isn’t the only city with this problem. I’ve been working in Detroit and found out that Detroit has the largest population of Middle Eastern people outside of the Middle East. Of course, I have not saddled up next to someone and talked about politics with someone, getting a Saudi perspective and comparing it to a Lebanese perspective, but I have had some truly excellent lamb dishes at some Hallal restaurants. And it is always interesting to see Army recruiting billboards written in Farsi.
I remember talking to someone one time about the strange quirk about racism in Dallas, and talking about how most of the bile I have seen seems to be directed towards the Black community and the Hispanic community. People from any other part of the world, tend to get treated nicer. (That’s the entire premise of Borat – people from Eastern Europe are treated very politely in the South, so people like Borat can take advantage of everyone’s good nature to ridicule them.)
“Why do you think that is?” the person asked me.
“The closest idea I can come up with is that we grew up with a certain ethnicity, so they’re like family. And there is no one we feel we can openly hate more than family. Everyone else, we have to treat like a guest.”
So there you go. Be kind to strangers, but hurt the one you love. Sounds like the moral of a South Park episode.
What is the big deal? They think you're a sucker, that is the big deal.
Parental groups are apparently upset about 13-year old Dakota Fanning getting raped in a new movie premiering at Sundance.
To which I respond, “A film about something sexually explicit and taboo? At Sundance? I am shocked - SHOCKED! – to see a film using an unsettling subject for free publicity.”
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but what parental group knows intimate details about a film before it premieres at Sundance? Do the hip, yet ultra-conservative, indie parents troll the internet for scripts from unsigned films? And how many children are there in the Cult of Dakota Fanning? Charlotte’s Web aside, this actress has not made a name for herself in children’s movies, but instead in movies filled with violent and disturbing imagery.
The real story is that this is a non-story. Everything I have heard from people who have actually seen the film is that it is not very good. So how do you sell a stinker of a movie to the public? Invent a controversy about it – get some vague “parental group” to get upset about it, get every media outlet to talk about it and fret about what new low our society has sunk to (despite the fact that it has been done before, several times in fact), and then get enough people to watch it, not to see a cute little prepubescent blonde girl get raped, but to see what the big deal about this movie.
The big deal is that they think they can trick you out of your money. Do the world a favor and prove them all wrong.
To which I respond, “A film about something sexually explicit and taboo? At Sundance? I am shocked - SHOCKED! – to see a film using an unsettling subject for free publicity.”
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but what parental group knows intimate details about a film before it premieres at Sundance? Do the hip, yet ultra-conservative, indie parents troll the internet for scripts from unsigned films? And how many children are there in the Cult of Dakota Fanning? Charlotte’s Web aside, this actress has not made a name for herself in children’s movies, but instead in movies filled with violent and disturbing imagery.
The real story is that this is a non-story. Everything I have heard from people who have actually seen the film is that it is not very good. So how do you sell a stinker of a movie to the public? Invent a controversy about it – get some vague “parental group” to get upset about it, get every media outlet to talk about it and fret about what new low our society has sunk to (despite the fact that it has been done before, several times in fact), and then get enough people to watch it, not to see a cute little prepubescent blonde girl get raped, but to see what the big deal about this movie.
The big deal is that they think they can trick you out of your money. Do the world a favor and prove them all wrong.
Friday, January 26, 2007
New York Comic Convention Finds a New Way to Advertise
I've shaken hands with at least one of these people. And, yes, if interviewed, I would sound just like this.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Sonic Adventures in a Rental Car
I’ve been traveling for work a lot recently, and one of the perks is that I get to try out a new car every week. And, not just a new car, but a new car stereo.
The car stereo is one of the worst things you can subject yourself to. Acoustics inside cars have never been great, and the hum of road noise just makes listening to musical subtleties even harder. I've seen people spend all sorts of money on a car stereo that still sounds crappier than music heard on a $20 pair of headphones.
I am one of those headphone-hugging iPod users, and, in spite of everyone telling me how dangerous it is, I listen to music on my headphones when I drive and forsake the car stereo all together. Those contraptions drive me nuts.
This week, though, I decided to lose some of the ear snobbery and buy some CDs for the rental car. I picked up Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere and the Flaming Lips’ album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. (Brief aside - if I needed proof of how behind-the-times-and-unhip I am musically, this is it. St. Elsewhere was last year’s album and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was from 2002.)
So the first thing I do is pop in St. Elsewhere into the car stereo, all excited at the prospect of new music with a great and interesting, challenging music.
And what do I get?
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
Seriously, I could not understand a word or hear any of the instrumentation aside from the bass. Potential wrecks be damned, I started fiddling with the stereo settings on the highway, trying to mix down the bass so I could hear those lyrics about how cool it is to be crazy and sing falsetto.
And I couldn’t find a way to do it. The stereo only had a Volume knob. No treble/bass knob. No balance knob. Just Volume and Tuner. Road Rage usually comes when someone cuts you off, but this bout of Road Rage was directed toward all the market forces that made this crappy audio experience even conceivable.
So...
The first thing I did when I got to the office was use my laptop to rip the album to my iPod. Listening to it through headphones, I was pleased to know that DJ Danger Mouse is still a superb sound editor, and all the promise of The Grey Album is being fulfilled with each new release. What a good album.
And then I listened to Yoshimi through headphones. There are some albums designed to be heard with every other sound blocked out of existence and this is certainly one of those. The music creates its own world filled with sonic textures and fun little asides. (My favorite - the cheerleader-esque “Whooo”s on the title track right after the line, “She’s a black belt in karate.”)
Ok, everyone in the world who told me it was a great album – you were right and I was an idiot for not picking this up earlier. There are so many fun little things when you listen on headphones – noises jump from ear-to-ear, strange bits of dialogue float through the background, and crowds that can apparently scream on pitch.
It is easy to understand why people can get obsessed with music like this (or bands like this, for that matter). There is a solid texture to the music, and a strong narrative subtext throughout the entire album. (One Amazon.com review for the album suggest that the “Pink Robots” in the title track are cancer cells, and the whole album is about finding out you are dying – with the first track being about taking some sort of medical test and then all of the other songs documenting everything that follows from denial to anger to acceptance.) I’ve been listening to the album solid for about three days now, and it just keeps getting better and better.
Today, I thought I would plug it into the car stereo to see how this subtle, quirky, elegant landscape would sound when spilling out into my rented vehicle.
And do you know how it sounded?
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
The car stereo is one of the worst things you can subject yourself to. Acoustics inside cars have never been great, and the hum of road noise just makes listening to musical subtleties even harder. I've seen people spend all sorts of money on a car stereo that still sounds crappier than music heard on a $20 pair of headphones.
I am one of those headphone-hugging iPod users, and, in spite of everyone telling me how dangerous it is, I listen to music on my headphones when I drive and forsake the car stereo all together. Those contraptions drive me nuts.
This week, though, I decided to lose some of the ear snobbery and buy some CDs for the rental car. I picked up Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere and the Flaming Lips’ album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. (Brief aside - if I needed proof of how behind-the-times-and-unhip I am musically, this is it. St. Elsewhere was last year’s album and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was from 2002.)
So the first thing I do is pop in St. Elsewhere into the car stereo, all excited at the prospect of new music with a great and interesting, challenging music.
And what do I get?
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
Seriously, I could not understand a word or hear any of the instrumentation aside from the bass. Potential wrecks be damned, I started fiddling with the stereo settings on the highway, trying to mix down the bass so I could hear those lyrics about how cool it is to be crazy and sing falsetto.
And I couldn’t find a way to do it. The stereo only had a Volume knob. No treble/bass knob. No balance knob. Just Volume and Tuner. Road Rage usually comes when someone cuts you off, but this bout of Road Rage was directed toward all the market forces that made this crappy audio experience even conceivable.
So...
The first thing I did when I got to the office was use my laptop to rip the album to my iPod. Listening to it through headphones, I was pleased to know that DJ Danger Mouse is still a superb sound editor, and all the promise of The Grey Album is being fulfilled with each new release. What a good album.
And then I listened to Yoshimi through headphones. There are some albums designed to be heard with every other sound blocked out of existence and this is certainly one of those. The music creates its own world filled with sonic textures and fun little asides. (My favorite - the cheerleader-esque “Whooo”s on the title track right after the line, “She’s a black belt in karate.”)
Ok, everyone in the world who told me it was a great album – you were right and I was an idiot for not picking this up earlier. There are so many fun little things when you listen on headphones – noises jump from ear-to-ear, strange bits of dialogue float through the background, and crowds that can apparently scream on pitch.
It is easy to understand why people can get obsessed with music like this (or bands like this, for that matter). There is a solid texture to the music, and a strong narrative subtext throughout the entire album. (One Amazon.com review for the album suggest that the “Pink Robots” in the title track are cancer cells, and the whole album is about finding out you are dying – with the first track being about taking some sort of medical test and then all of the other songs documenting everything that follows from denial to anger to acceptance.) I’ve been listening to the album solid for about three days now, and it just keeps getting better and better.
Today, I thought I would plug it into the car stereo to see how this subtle, quirky, elegant landscape would sound when spilling out into my rented vehicle.
And do you know how it sounded?
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
DOOOOM! DO-DOOOOOM!
Love as a Concept You Can Eat
I was at a Sunday Brunch when, after taking our order, the waitress smiled at us and said, “I’ll be back in a second with some scones and fritters for you.”
Scones.
And.
Fritters.
I can always tell when something is good on a conceptual level because my entire being, my mind, my soul, and my body just lights up in anticipation. Scones and fritters, served in a combination on a Sunday morning spent in a restaurant overlooking the ocean, lend themselves to a certain state of bliss which no doubt would be heavily regulated in certain states.
Fritters in particular have a particular place in my heart, because they have a way to make even the most unappetizing childhood vegetable into something special. My grandmother is more than happy to share with us the time I ate a second helping of squash fritters, and how she got me to eat and enjoy a vegetable I deemed, “Barfaliscious.”
And scones lend the entire package that hint of class. We are not just eating piles of fried dough, here. We are having something vaguely British and hoity toity, yet still tasty. Add raspberry jam to the package and you have yourself a big pile of InstaBilss.
I am someone who works much better on the conceptual level than the real-world level, so it is always a pleasant surprise when something so tangible (edible, even) and so thoughtful combine into a single package.
It made my day.
It made my week.
It even made it into my blog.
You can’t get better than that.
Scones.
And.
Fritters.
I can always tell when something is good on a conceptual level because my entire being, my mind, my soul, and my body just lights up in anticipation. Scones and fritters, served in a combination on a Sunday morning spent in a restaurant overlooking the ocean, lend themselves to a certain state of bliss which no doubt would be heavily regulated in certain states.
Fritters in particular have a particular place in my heart, because they have a way to make even the most unappetizing childhood vegetable into something special. My grandmother is more than happy to share with us the time I ate a second helping of squash fritters, and how she got me to eat and enjoy a vegetable I deemed, “Barfaliscious.”
And scones lend the entire package that hint of class. We are not just eating piles of fried dough, here. We are having something vaguely British and hoity toity, yet still tasty. Add raspberry jam to the package and you have yourself a big pile of InstaBilss.
I am someone who works much better on the conceptual level than the real-world level, so it is always a pleasant surprise when something so tangible (edible, even) and so thoughtful combine into a single package.
It made my day.
It made my week.
It even made it into my blog.
You can’t get better than that.
Strange, Strange Educational Podcast
Here is the latest in the educational podcasts I produced for an art class. How many have we done so far? 8? 9? I can’t remember. I do remember that this is my favorite one for a lot.
We were into our second bottle of wine for the night at the point when this was recorded. And our Man of 1,000 Voices just started improvising and riffing at this point. There were some verbal gaffes, but we just plowed through them. In other words, this was recorded in one take.
I was looking for an excuse to experiment with some new Reggaeton loops, and this podcast provided me with a great opportunity. On a sonic level, I like how well the voice and music work together with the voice in the sonic foreground and the music in the sonic background. All the podcasts were edited with me listening to headphones, but I didn’t try them out on car stereos or CD players until after they were already sent along. Some of them aren’t as dynamic once you pump them through a non-headphone environment.
This one, however, still works. I really like it and will use it as a portfolio piece in case anyone wants me to produce more podcasts for them. It makes my wife cringe every time I say this, but I work cheap.
We were into our second bottle of wine for the night at the point when this was recorded. And our Man of 1,000 Voices just started improvising and riffing at this point. There were some verbal gaffes, but we just plowed through them. In other words, this was recorded in one take.
I was looking for an excuse to experiment with some new Reggaeton loops, and this podcast provided me with a great opportunity. On a sonic level, I like how well the voice and music work together with the voice in the sonic foreground and the music in the sonic background. All the podcasts were edited with me listening to headphones, but I didn’t try them out on car stereos or CD players until after they were already sent along. Some of them aren’t as dynamic once you pump them through a non-headphone environment.
This one, however, still works. I really like it and will use it as a portfolio piece in case anyone wants me to produce more podcasts for them. It makes my wife cringe every time I say this, but I work cheap.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Your Corporate Overlords Have Spoken
I have complained about the wonderful MBNA credit card company being bought out by the evil Bank of America credit card company before. So if that post bored you, this one probably will, too. Except this post is shorter.
I got a letter from Bank of America saying that they’ve suspended the account due to ‘unauthorized access’ – all of our cards won’t work. We’re getting new cards with new account numbers, a new web login and password, and yadda yadda.
So my wife called them and it turns out that my hotel stay on a business trip in Detroit set off some sort of fraud alarm. Because flying to Detriot and staying a hotel for 10 straight days is the first thing credit card theives do, apparently. (Note to all the thieves in the world - if this is your plan, don't do it! That breakfast buffet is totally not worth it.)
The Bank of America folks said they tried to contact us (although both my wife and I do not have any voice mails or emails and certainly don’t remember getting any calls from B of A anytime recently), but, because they didn’t get a response, just went ahead with Plan B – shut down everything and reboot the account.
Here is their kicker – Their advice was from now on to call the Bank of America Fraud Department before we leave town if we want our credit cards to work while we’re on the road!!!
To quote my wife’s email to me on the subject:
>WTF????
Indeed.
I got a letter from Bank of America saying that they’ve suspended the account due to ‘unauthorized access’ – all of our cards won’t work. We’re getting new cards with new account numbers, a new web login and password, and yadda yadda.
So my wife called them and it turns out that my hotel stay on a business trip in Detroit set off some sort of fraud alarm. Because flying to Detriot and staying a hotel for 10 straight days is the first thing credit card theives do, apparently. (Note to all the thieves in the world - if this is your plan, don't do it! That breakfast buffet is totally not worth it.)
The Bank of America folks said they tried to contact us (although both my wife and I do not have any voice mails or emails and certainly don’t remember getting any calls from B of A anytime recently), but, because they didn’t get a response, just went ahead with Plan B – shut down everything and reboot the account.
Here is their kicker – Their advice was from now on to call the Bank of America Fraud Department before we leave town if we want our credit cards to work while we’re on the road!!!
To quote my wife’s email to me on the subject:
>WTF????
Indeed.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
The Godfather Reads Poems
That is the theory, at least.
Here is a nice little poem called, "The Master."
And, yes, it is one more in the educational podcast series.
Here is a nice little poem called, "The Master."
And, yes, it is one more in the educational podcast series.
How much education can you fit into a podcast? How about one blog post?
One of the drawbacks about podcasting is that I haven't found a way to put more than one .mp3 file into a single blog entry. I am three entries behind in sharing the World Famous Photography Podcast with you, and instead of putting all three in one entry, I have to split it out into three. Otherwise the people subscribing to the podcast feed associated to this blog will miss out on two of them.
Yeah... I've probably bored you out of your mind. This will excite you, though:
Cubism!
Yeah... I've probably bored you out of your mind. This will excite you, though:
Cubism!
I have been remiss in sharing all of my internet exploits!
The educational podcast continues!
And look! The students are getting their photos posted on the blog.
I also made it onto the Filmspotting year-end show, and the Filmspotting guys did a great job of giving me billing over Ira Glass. What is up with that?
If you want to hear just my little contribution to the podcast, it is here.
Note: Although I really liked Children of Men, it made my wife sick. The handheld camerawork made her nauseous and the violence was too much. So if you don’t like the movie, there is someone in the household who is on your side.
And look! The students are getting their photos posted on the blog.
I also made it onto the Filmspotting year-end show, and the Filmspotting guys did a great job of giving me billing over Ira Glass. What is up with that?
If you want to hear just my little contribution to the podcast, it is here.
Note: Although I really liked Children of Men, it made my wife sick. The handheld camerawork made her nauseous and the violence was too much. So if you don’t like the movie, there is someone in the household who is on your side.
One more excellent mash up...
This one is good, too.
Strictly my opinion - this is the best thing to happen to John Travolta.... Ever!
Strictly my opinion - this is the best thing to happen to John Travolta.... Ever!
As always, the best is last
The Best of Bootie 2006 website is up!
I’m slow to notice these things, but apparently there is an annual collection of musical mash ups that gets posted on the web.
Oh my, there are so many good songs in the 2006 edition.
But, as is usually the case, the best song in the mix is the last one.
I’m slow to notice these things, but apparently there is an annual collection of musical mash ups that gets posted on the web.
Oh my, there are so many good songs in the 2006 edition.
But, as is usually the case, the best song in the mix is the last one.
Book Idea - My Favorite Waitress
The other day when I wrote a blog entry about Google Reader, I used the phrase "my favorite waitress." I thought it would be great to link to a website devoted to great waitresses of yore, but all I came up with is a bunch of blog entries rhapsodizing about "my favorite waitress" and a book on Amazon about what it is like to be a waitress.
So that made me think. Someone out there (maybe me) needs to collect a series of customer anecdotes about favorite waitresses and set them with pictures of food. Maybe one story per page with one photo opposite it.
And it would sell in Hallmark stores! Why this doesn't exist already is beyond me. If you steal this idea off this blog, please send me a copy of your book, because I would like to read it.
So that made me think. Someone out there (maybe me) needs to collect a series of customer anecdotes about favorite waitresses and set them with pictures of food. Maybe one story per page with one photo opposite it.
And it would sell in Hallmark stores! Why this doesn't exist already is beyond me. If you steal this idea off this blog, please send me a copy of your book, because I would like to read it.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Oh yeah... Which Superhero are you?
Your results:
You are Spider-Man
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
You are Spider-Man
| You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.  |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas!
This is a little video my brother made with his cellphone. They love thier Christmas in Brooklyn.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Holiday Letter 2006
This letter went out in the mail with our Christmas cards to all sorts of people. If you didn't get it, we probably don't have your physical mailing address. We placed it here it is here, on the blog, for you to read. And it has pictures, which the printed version doesn't have.
Merry Christmas!
We hope this letter finds you well, happy, and joyful this holiday season. Each year we spend in this world seems to get better and better.
This past contained quite a bit of news to report. The biggest change is RT’s job situation. When we last wrote a Christmas letter, RT was working for AT&T, which was going through a merger. We do not know how familiar you are with working for a company going through a merger, but this is how it works: You need to present yourself as completely invaluable and profitable to the company (so they don’t decide to downsize you) while at the same time, be completely anonymous and blend in to the background (so they don’t notice you enough to downsize you).
Now, RT does not work well in situations like this because he really likes standing out from the crowd. He goes out there and says, “I can do this and I can do that and I can help out and we can do something amazing.” Unfortunately, what was expected from him was “Do anything except amaze us. Sit down, be quiet and wait for something to happen to you. Repeat this course of action for at least two years.”
Well, the two years didn’t even wind up being six months. RT got a job for a Seattle-based consulting company called The Mosaic Company (www.themosaiccompany.com). So far, things are going quite well. RT is doing constructive things, gaining power, and shaping the world to his particular vision. And by this, we mean he has gone crazy mad doing home repairs that have been put off since before the wedding.
So, as of this writing, there are no floors on the first level of the house. But, by the time you read this (depending on the postal service) there will be hardwoods everywhere. It will be the ultimate playground for children with rubber bouncy balls. We have a large and growing number of friends with kids who should give it a try.
So… what else is going on besides work and home repairs? Not much. Well, what would be about average for us, which seems like a lot whenever we compare notes with other people. Just goes to show what all you can do when you never turn on the TV.
We did not go on a vacation this year unless you count a weekend in Chicago, but considering we both worked during that trip, it can hardly be called a vacation. We did get to sneak off to east Texas for 4th of July to stay with friends and watch birds flit in the trees and go out in a boat on a body of water. That was pretty cool. We didn’t realize until we got there how much we needed to just rest.
CT got to go to dayjob-sponsored conferences in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Boston. The Chicago show was combined with a weekend on the town with RT beforehand, which made the trip much more worthwhile. Conferences, however, are not the same thing as a vacation. At all.
We are still continuing to produce the SALON home concert series, and inaugurated a couple of new homes for that. CT sang at one of them, for the first time in years. She also got to record a new song by composer Mike Capps, “Easter Wings”, who also recorded 2 wonderful piano pieces and another piece for tenor and organ. (Even the greatest composers seem to write for tenor eventually. ) And yes, there are .mp3s of CT singing out there, but you have to email us for them. This is just our sneaky way of saying, “Drop us a line!”
RT continues to put up his shenanigans on his blog http://www.tmtomh.blogspot.com.
We produced a podcast for a high school art class, and RT made a little film about things he learned in a coffee appreciation class. CT gave hour-long workshops at 2 Toastmasters conferences about the voice, drawing from her music studies to help professional speakers. We both ended our officerships in Toastmasters to focus on other things. RT presented a session on podcasting at the Trinity Arts Conference.
The book pile is as big as ever. RT is going through the complete Flannery O’Connor, while also taking in a huge pile of periodicals and comics and podcasts every month. CT got through some marketing books and (via the miracle of audiobooks on iPods) a biography of Will Shakespeare. We are both listening to Seth Godin books via iPod (he writes about marketing). CT also got to take in a collection of Jane Austen’s very early works and fragments, and hopes to get through one of the long novels. It was nice to discover that JA was not at all a good writer when just starting out, but got much better the more she wrote.
We are looking forward to 2007 and all the change it holds. We are going on a family trip to Oregon in May, we may be selling our house, and quite possibly we will finally get that concealed/carry permit that seems to be a citizenship requirement in Texas. On that holiday-inspired note…
We hope you are doing well, and hope for an exciting 2007. The best we have to offer goes out to you this holiday season. We cherish you and are continually grateful for the time we have together.
Merry Christmas!
We hope this letter finds you well, happy, and joyful this holiday season. Each year we spend in this world seems to get better and better.
This past contained quite a bit of news to report. The biggest change is RT’s job situation. When we last wrote a Christmas letter, RT was working for AT&T, which was going through a merger. We do not know how familiar you are with working for a company going through a merger, but this is how it works: You need to present yourself as completely invaluable and profitable to the company (so they don’t decide to downsize you) while at the same time, be completely anonymous and blend in to the background (so they don’t notice you enough to downsize you).
Now, RT does not work well in situations like this because he really likes standing out from the crowd. He goes out there and says, “I can do this and I can do that and I can help out and we can do something amazing.” Unfortunately, what was expected from him was “Do anything except amaze us. Sit down, be quiet and wait for something to happen to you. Repeat this course of action for at least two years.”
Well, the two years didn’t even wind up being six months. RT got a job for a Seattle-based consulting company called The Mosaic Company (www.themosaiccompany.com). So far, things are going quite well. RT is doing constructive things, gaining power, and shaping the world to his particular vision. And by this, we mean he has gone crazy mad doing home repairs that have been put off since before the wedding.
So, as of this writing, there are no floors on the first level of the house. But, by the time you read this (depending on the postal service) there will be hardwoods everywhere. It will be the ultimate playground for children with rubber bouncy balls. We have a large and growing number of friends with kids who should give it a try.
So… what else is going on besides work and home repairs? Not much. Well, what would be about average for us, which seems like a lot whenever we compare notes with other people. Just goes to show what all you can do when you never turn on the TV.
We did not go on a vacation this year unless you count a weekend in Chicago, but considering we both worked during that trip, it can hardly be called a vacation. We did get to sneak off to east Texas for 4th of July to stay with friends and watch birds flit in the trees and go out in a boat on a body of water. That was pretty cool. We didn’t realize until we got there how much we needed to just rest.
CT got to go to dayjob-sponsored conferences in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Boston. The Chicago show was combined with a weekend on the town with RT beforehand, which made the trip much more worthwhile. Conferences, however, are not the same thing as a vacation. At all.
We are still continuing to produce the SALON home concert series, and inaugurated a couple of new homes for that. CT sang at one of them, for the first time in years. She also got to record a new song by composer Mike Capps, “Easter Wings”, who also recorded 2 wonderful piano pieces and another piece for tenor and organ. (Even the greatest composers seem to write for tenor eventually. ) And yes, there are .mp3s of CT singing out there, but you have to email us for them. This is just our sneaky way of saying, “Drop us a line!”
RT continues to put up his shenanigans on his blog http://www.tmtomh.blogspot.com.
We produced a podcast for a high school art class, and RT made a little film about things he learned in a coffee appreciation class. CT gave hour-long workshops at 2 Toastmasters conferences about the voice, drawing from her music studies to help professional speakers. We both ended our officerships in Toastmasters to focus on other things. RT presented a session on podcasting at the Trinity Arts Conference.
The book pile is as big as ever. RT is going through the complete Flannery O’Connor, while also taking in a huge pile of periodicals and comics and podcasts every month. CT got through some marketing books and (via the miracle of audiobooks on iPods) a biography of Will Shakespeare. We are both listening to Seth Godin books via iPod (he writes about marketing). CT also got to take in a collection of Jane Austen’s very early works and fragments, and hopes to get through one of the long novels. It was nice to discover that JA was not at all a good writer when just starting out, but got much better the more she wrote.
We are looking forward to 2007 and all the change it holds. We are going on a family trip to Oregon in May, we may be selling our house, and quite possibly we will finally get that concealed/carry permit that seems to be a citizenship requirement in Texas. On that holiday-inspired note…
We hope you are doing well, and hope for an exciting 2007. The best we have to offer goes out to you this holiday season. We cherish you and are continually grateful for the time we have together.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Nothing Ever Happens to Me...
I was at a Christmas party recently and found myself in the corner – my normal spot when things get too exciting and loud. Soon someone else drifted into the corner to join me. Because this is a party and because no one likes standing in the corner in uncomfortable silence, we started making chit-chat.
I am not so great in large groups of people, but I am fine talking one-on-one with someone. My family is one of the best families ever, and it is always a good source of party anecdotes. I shared interesting and fun experiences about relatives near and far, young and old. And my corner-buddy did likewise, entertaining me with tales of wild uncles and grandparents.
Then we kind of sighed and went, “You know. All these great things happen to people in our families, but not much happens to us. Why do suppose that is?”
So then we dared to share a story, a recent story about something that happened to us, recently.
Here is what I said. Feel free to use it on your next party:
Last time I got on a flight, there was a guy in first class who looked just like Bruce Vilanch. I said, “Hey! You look just like Bruce Vilanch!” and he said, “I get that a lot.”
The End
I am not so great in large groups of people, but I am fine talking one-on-one with someone. My family is one of the best families ever, and it is always a good source of party anecdotes. I shared interesting and fun experiences about relatives near and far, young and old. And my corner-buddy did likewise, entertaining me with tales of wild uncles and grandparents.
Then we kind of sighed and went, “You know. All these great things happen to people in our families, but not much happens to us. Why do suppose that is?”
So then we dared to share a story, a recent story about something that happened to us, recently.
Here is what I said. Feel free to use it on your next party:
Last time I got on a flight, there was a guy in first class who looked just like Bruce Vilanch. I said, “Hey! You look just like Bruce Vilanch!” and he said, “I get that a lot.”
The End
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Hollywood Pitch Fest
“Ok. So there is this guy- An everyman – a Toby McGuire or Heath Ledger type. Just a normal guy. He packs up his wife and kid to go visit his Dad for Christmas. On the way there, his wife tells him she wants a divorce.”
“So it’s a drama.”
“We’re talking Best Picture family drama here. So he gets to his Dad’s house and sees his mom there. And he freaks out. Because his parents got a divorce 25 years ago when he was a kid. It was the single most traumatic experience in his life, and in some ways, he is still trying to get over it. So he’s got his own marriage falling apart while he sees his parents’ marriage miraculously rising from the ashes. So over the Christmas holiday everyone will talk and scream and cry and hug each other.”
“Interesting.”
“And here’s the kicker. We get Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep to play the parents. We don’t make any direct reference to that film where they got a divorce, but we do get…
“Emotional resonance.”
“That’s it. It is like we know them already. Like we know their story.”
“So it is like a sequel.”
“A quasi-sequel, yes.”
“I understand quasi-sequels are the next prequels.”
“Seriously, I have read this script a dozen times over and I promise you… Oscar buzz.”
“Do you think we could call it Kramer meets Kramer?”
“I don’t know. It might be a little too ‘cutesey’ for what I had in mind.”
“That reminds me of this thing I saw on YouTube. They edited in scenes of that guy from Seinfeld with Meryl Streep and made it look like they were getting a divorce. You know, like KRAMER vs. Kramer. Do you think Michael Richards is available for this project? He could play the son.”
“Uhhh… I-“
“You’re right. He might be a bit old for the part. Maybe the wacky uncle? Just to lighten things up a little. I mean, no one wants to see another dysfunctional family yell at each other through a Christmas setting. It is so… so…”
“Serious 1970s cinema?”
“I was thinking ‘cheap independent film cliché,’ but what you said works.”
“Some of the best films made the past decade came from independent cinema.”
“Tell me what you think. That instead of your Toby McGuire everyman son, what if we have a Will Farrell type as the son? Or a Jim Carrey? And instead of everyone sitting around talking about their feelings, what if the son decides he doesn’t want his parents to get back together and starts playing tricks on them to get them to split up again.”
“Like an anti-Parent Trap?”
“Yes. We can have you speeches and your soul-searching and your great actors, but we can have a few funny bits in it, too.”
“I don’t know.”
“People like to laugh. You can’t argue with that.”
“I suppose I can’t.”
“I like what you’ve done here, but if you can rework it a little, lighten it up, and make it funnier, we’ll talk then.”
“So it’s a drama.”
“We’re talking Best Picture family drama here. So he gets to his Dad’s house and sees his mom there. And he freaks out. Because his parents got a divorce 25 years ago when he was a kid. It was the single most traumatic experience in his life, and in some ways, he is still trying to get over it. So he’s got his own marriage falling apart while he sees his parents’ marriage miraculously rising from the ashes. So over the Christmas holiday everyone will talk and scream and cry and hug each other.”
“Interesting.”
“And here’s the kicker. We get Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep to play the parents. We don’t make any direct reference to that film where they got a divorce, but we do get…
“Emotional resonance.”
“That’s it. It is like we know them already. Like we know their story.”
“So it is like a sequel.”
“A quasi-sequel, yes.”
“I understand quasi-sequels are the next prequels.”
“Seriously, I have read this script a dozen times over and I promise you… Oscar buzz.”
“Do you think we could call it Kramer meets Kramer?”
“I don’t know. It might be a little too ‘cutesey’ for what I had in mind.”
“That reminds me of this thing I saw on YouTube. They edited in scenes of that guy from Seinfeld with Meryl Streep and made it look like they were getting a divorce. You know, like KRAMER vs. Kramer. Do you think Michael Richards is available for this project? He could play the son.”
“Uhhh… I-“
“You’re right. He might be a bit old for the part. Maybe the wacky uncle? Just to lighten things up a little. I mean, no one wants to see another dysfunctional family yell at each other through a Christmas setting. It is so… so…”
“Serious 1970s cinema?”
“I was thinking ‘cheap independent film cliché,’ but what you said works.”
“Some of the best films made the past decade came from independent cinema.”
“Tell me what you think. That instead of your Toby McGuire everyman son, what if we have a Will Farrell type as the son? Or a Jim Carrey? And instead of everyone sitting around talking about their feelings, what if the son decides he doesn’t want his parents to get back together and starts playing tricks on them to get them to split up again.”
“Like an anti-Parent Trap?”
“Yes. We can have you speeches and your soul-searching and your great actors, but we can have a few funny bits in it, too.”
“I don’t know.”
“People like to laugh. You can’t argue with that.”
“I suppose I can’t.”
“I like what you’ve done here, but if you can rework it a little, lighten it up, and make it funnier, we’ll talk then.”
Why I Will Never Be In Politics #9,432,177
Here is a great little video of Dallas City Councilman, Leo Chaney, walking out of a bad public meeting, mumbling a nice little insult under his breath.
Ok, I don't say things like this, but I THINK things like this all the time. And I know if I were in a stressful situation, these kind of words would definitely come out.
So I got this from one of the news sites I read, and it has all of this tut-tutting text around the video about how this guy is an elected official and needs to set a standard for public decorum and yadda yadda.
Yep. There is no way for me to achieve this high standard. Part of me is too much of an eight-year old who still laughs at "yo momma" comebacks.
Ok, I don't say things like this, but I THINK things like this all the time. And I know if I were in a stressful situation, these kind of words would definitely come out.
So I got this from one of the news sites I read, and it has all of this tut-tutting text around the video about how this guy is an elected official and needs to set a standard for public decorum and yadda yadda.
Yep. There is no way for me to achieve this high standard. Part of me is too much of an eight-year old who still laughs at "yo momma" comebacks.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
One Man Show
The famous Horton educational podcast continues!
This one has me talking on it. Although Me, the actor, really loved hamming it up and shoving fingers up my nose while talking, Me, the director thought the performance was hammy. To round it out, Me, the editor, just had fun mixing in burps whenever possible.
All in the name of education...
This one has me talking on it. Although Me, the actor, really loved hamming it up and shoving fingers up my nose while talking, Me, the director thought the performance was hammy. To round it out, Me, the editor, just had fun mixing in burps whenever possible.
All in the name of education...
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Yet Another Peek into My Big Ol' Media Input Pile
I love RSS feeds. There are only a few RSS feeds I choose to pass up. Most of the time, when a website offers RSS, it is like your favorite cute waitress offering you a free second cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain with a tiny block of dark chocolate on the side. I mean, how can you pass something like that up?
I use Google Reader to keep up with all of my RSS feeds. And it collects over 100 items from these RSS feeds every hour.
When people are over-saturated or super-saturated with information, there is a compulsion to share. To copy/paste the news item in an email or to slam it into a blog and comment all over it.
Google Reader, in an attempt to keep down unnecessary email FWDs or blog entries, has set it up so that if you click a Share button and it automatically posts to your very own Google Reader blog.
So, if you want to see my Shared News Item list, it is here.
And, of course, it has a RSS feed here.
I use Google Reader to keep up with all of my RSS feeds. And it collects over 100 items from these RSS feeds every hour.
When people are over-saturated or super-saturated with information, there is a compulsion to share. To copy/paste the news item in an email or to slam it into a blog and comment all over it.
Google Reader, in an attempt to keep down unnecessary email FWDs or blog entries, has set it up so that if you click a Share button and it automatically posts to your very own Google Reader blog.
So, if you want to see my Shared News Item list, it is here.
And, of course, it has a RSS feed here.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Apparently, I am the Nemesis of Filmspotting
According to Filmspotting #139 (just at the one hour mark), I am the nemesis of the show. And my attempts at constructing sentences result in run-ons.
I am not quite sure what to do with this new position. My guess is now that I am officially a nemesis, I will finally have the motivation to build that underground lair I've always wanted. And once I have it, I can get a pit and fill it with cyborg crocidiles and other freaks of nature in hopes of luring Adam and Sam into my sinister clutches.
Yes! That is it! I will rely on elaborate traps and schemes - perhaps convincing them that they are invited to a special screening of 'Apocalypse Now Redux REDUX' - The Never Before Seen Longer than Long version - NOW WITH MORE BULL-SLAUGHTERING SYMBOLISM! - and then springing a diabolical-yet-undetermined-trap on them.
Once in my clutches, they will be forced to watch repeated viewings of 'The Lake House,' 'The Wild Bunch,' and 'Sin City: The Extended Edition' until they bicker and banter so much that their incredible podcast chemistry falters and fades. Once that happens, I will reveal my own podcast, MovieWatching or CineSeeing or some elusive noun-gerund combination, where I discuss movies with Mr. Binky, my sock puppet. Every episode we will list off the same Top 5 films, but will present them in a different order each time, so the audience won't catch on to what we are doing. We will rule the podcast-film-reviewing community, Mr. Binky and I. And after that, THE WORLD!
MWU-HA-HA-HA!
Aw, who am I kidding? I'll probably just send them an email, telling them how much I love the show, how much I wish I were as cool as them, and how I don't get out much. Then I'll send them donations in hopes that Sam gives me a cool nickname.
*sigh*
Well played, Filmspotting guys. Foiled again.
I am not quite sure what to do with this new position. My guess is now that I am officially a nemesis, I will finally have the motivation to build that underground lair I've always wanted. And once I have it, I can get a pit and fill it with cyborg crocidiles and other freaks of nature in hopes of luring Adam and Sam into my sinister clutches.
Yes! That is it! I will rely on elaborate traps and schemes - perhaps convincing them that they are invited to a special screening of 'Apocalypse Now Redux REDUX' - The Never Before Seen Longer than Long version - NOW WITH MORE BULL-SLAUGHTERING SYMBOLISM! - and then springing a diabolical-yet-undetermined-trap on them.
Once in my clutches, they will be forced to watch repeated viewings of 'The Lake House,' 'The Wild Bunch,' and 'Sin City: The Extended Edition' until they bicker and banter so much that their incredible podcast chemistry falters and fades. Once that happens, I will reveal my own podcast, MovieWatching or CineSeeing or some elusive noun-gerund combination, where I discuss movies with Mr. Binky, my sock puppet. Every episode we will list off the same Top 5 films, but will present them in a different order each time, so the audience won't catch on to what we are doing. We will rule the podcast-film-reviewing community, Mr. Binky and I. And after that, THE WORLD!
MWU-HA-HA-HA!
Aw, who am I kidding? I'll probably just send them an email, telling them how much I love the show, how much I wish I were as cool as them, and how I don't get out much. Then I'll send them donations in hopes that Sam gives me a cool nickname.
*sigh*
Well played, Filmspotting guys. Foiled again.
Shows how often I read my comments...
Hey!
I just read this in my comments area:
That is totally awesome! Too bad I deleted that email weeks ago because, frankly, it is better to be safe than sorry, and anything that promises to give me a new Dell laptop is too good to be true.
But I'm happy to know where to go when I have a problem. I like the whole idea the Dell trolls the blogs, looking for complaints. That is a great business practice and Marie deserves a raise.
Believe me, if I ever run into a problem again, I will be emailing Marie. (If her text is any indication, she probably is the spitting image of Olivia Newton-John.) Marie, you are truly a wonder.
This made my day.
I just read this in my comments area:
Dear Mr. Turnage,
I just read your blog post dated 11/15/06 and I am sorry for any confusion you may have experienced regarding the strange email. So that I may investigate the matter further, please send the email in question to me at the address below. I look forward to your email. Thank you and have a great day!
Best Regards,
Marie
Dell Customer Advocate
Email: Customer_Advocate@dell.com
That is totally awesome! Too bad I deleted that email weeks ago because, frankly, it is better to be safe than sorry, and anything that promises to give me a new Dell laptop is too good to be true.
But I'm happy to know where to go when I have a problem. I like the whole idea the Dell trolls the blogs, looking for complaints. That is a great business practice and Marie deserves a raise.
Believe me, if I ever run into a problem again, I will be emailing Marie. (If her text is any indication, she probably is the spitting image of Olivia Newton-John.) Marie, you are truly a wonder.
This made my day.
Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me About This?
I'm trying to put together my 2006 CD list of songs I really liked this past year. When, out of the blue, I fall totally in love with Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins.
The first inclination I had, especiallly when I saw the January 2006 release date, was, "WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS?" I asked around to a few hipster friends, and they were all, "Whoa. That is an awesome album. I thought you already knew about it."
So I did some checking around with my normal media feeds. One of her songs was played in the Coverville podcast and NPR featured her in a concert.
Somehow I missed the boat on this one. Oh, well. Thank to several Top 10 Albums of 2006 lists, I was able to find Jenny Lewis, the Watson Twins, and their music.
This music is so good, it is hard for me to believe they are all from L.A.
The first inclination I had, especiallly when I saw the January 2006 release date, was, "WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME ABOUT THIS?" I asked around to a few hipster friends, and they were all, "Whoa. That is an awesome album. I thought you already knew about it."
So I did some checking around with my normal media feeds. One of her songs was played in the Coverville podcast and NPR featured her in a concert.
Somehow I missed the boat on this one. Oh, well. Thank to several Top 10 Albums of 2006 lists, I was able to find Jenny Lewis, the Watson Twins, and their music.
This music is so good, it is hard for me to believe they are all from L.A.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
More Education (in Podcast Form)
The latest educational podcast is up. This is the first one where you can really hear some of my contributions (the scoring, primarily).
Email me privately and I'll tell you a funny story about an early take of the David and Goliath portion of the podcast.
Email me privately and I'll tell you a funny story about an early take of the David and Goliath portion of the podcast.
The Nightmare Before Christmas?
Neatarama posted this great link to a gallery of pictures of children being frightened by Santa.
I really like the Santas in the pictures, and I just think of all the grief they're putting up with for what probably works out to $10 an hour.
This photo is my favorite.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Friday, December 01, 2006
What I Want for Christmas is Bleak and Dreary
The trailer for Children of Men really turned me off of the film. Visually, it looked fine, but the trailer seemed to hammer in the obvious, what with the Clive Owen “women stopped having babies” narration and the climax montage set to cheery pop music. It adhered to a formula mocked by such wonders as the Shining remix trailer.
And if the advertising campaign is so formulaic, it means one of two things – the film is either going to be formulaic or the film is going to be so wildly unusual that the marketing team has gone into overdrive to make it look tepid.
So I wrote off the film as a rental, if that.
But then I heard this month’s Audition podcast, which begins with this introductory speech:
Ok, this may reflect more on me unfavorably, but THAT TEXT sold me more than the trailer ever could.
Christmas comes at a dark and melancholy time in the year. The days are shorter, the air is colder, and, on the surface, it doesn’t seem like a good time to celebrate anything. But just as dark helps define the light, hopelessness can define hope.
I think I’m finally getting into the holiday spirit. I can't wait to read the book.
And if the advertising campaign is so formulaic, it means one of two things – the film is either going to be formulaic or the film is going to be so wildly unusual that the marketing team has gone into overdrive to make it look tepid.
So I wrote off the film as a rental, if that.
But then I heard this month’s Audition podcast, which begins with this introductory speech:
Films that open during the Christmas season are traditionally either upbeat and heartwarming or mindless eye candy. On Christmas Day this year, a film will open in American theaters that has been described as dystopian, terrifying, and bleak. The film is Children of Men, starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine. Set in the year 2027, the story ushers us into a world where no babies have been born for 18 years. Some undetectable has rendered all women on the planet barren. The last generation of humans has become hopeless. Societies are torn by war, terrorism, and savagery, and suicide is a positive possibility for many. Merry Christmas.
Ok, this may reflect more on me unfavorably, but THAT TEXT sold me more than the trailer ever could.
Christmas comes at a dark and melancholy time in the year. The days are shorter, the air is colder, and, on the surface, it doesn’t seem like a good time to celebrate anything. But just as dark helps define the light, hopelessness can define hope.
I think I’m finally getting into the holiday spirit. I can't wait to read the book.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Shhhh! Podcast in progress
The educational podcast I produced is up and running. I received this nice little email from the teacher:
Okay, the day I introduced it, I played “the test” in my classroom, as I was explaining. I could tell the kids wanted to laugh, but they are too cool to do so, so I observed them just looking at each other, like I was totally off my rocker.
With an explaination that I wouldn’t do it again, we listened to Christy’s “Gray or Grey” in class. I explained that I wouldn’t talk with them about the subject matter, but I would answer technical questions.
I’ve been receiving their Lesson 1: Gray or Grey homework photos and they, for the most part, are so cool!!! I think they are enjoying the work. Today I gave them the permission to “do” the next assignment: Impressionism. It’s all so new to them that I don’t have a full impression of what they are thinking, but I will keep you posted.
Rich blessings my friend,
anita
***
And, because I want to share, here is Week 2: Impressionism.
Okay, the day I introduced it, I played “the test” in my classroom, as I was explaining. I could tell the kids wanted to laugh, but they are too cool to do so, so I observed them just looking at each other, like I was totally off my rocker.
With an explaination that I wouldn’t do it again, we listened to Christy’s “Gray or Grey” in class. I explained that I wouldn’t talk with them about the subject matter, but I would answer technical questions.
I’ve been receiving their Lesson 1: Gray or Grey homework photos and they, for the most part, are so cool!!! I think they are enjoying the work. Today I gave them the permission to “do” the next assignment: Impressionism. It’s all so new to them that I don’t have a full impression of what they are thinking, but I will keep you posted.
Rich blessings my friend,
anita
***
And, because I want to share, here is Week 2: Impressionism.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Another Customer Complaint
I recently bought a Dell laptop.
I recently got an email, apparently from Dell, saying that if I take this survey about my laptop, I might win another laptop.
This sounded fishy to me, or, more specifically, phishy.
So I filled out a customer form to Dell, copying and pasting the email into their form with a quick note, "Is this spam? Is this a phishing scam?"
And this was the response:
I would have been glad to assist you in this query, however, let me please inform you that we , at Customer Care only deals with post-sales and logistics issues.
Therefore, I would request you to please contact our Customer care department at
the toll free number 1-800-624-9897 between 7AM to 11 PM CST Monday through
Saturday for this particular issue as they would only be able to verify the
requested information.
***
I would think that, on a corporate level, that any company would love to have internet con artists not sullying their good corporate names and logos. Paypal, eBay, and Cingular all have email addresses for you to FWD emails to if you think they're suspect. Why isn't this an industry standard? And why can't the Dell support guy simply click the hyperlink in the email to see what happens? I'm totally afraid to, but why can't someone behind a Dell corporate firewall do so? And why can't someone in customer support just look at current marketing promotions and see if this is a legitimate one or not?
These are some of the problems with being a large corporation with a strong brand presence. I just don't understand why Dell isn't prepared for this.
I recently got an email, apparently from Dell, saying that if I take this survey about my laptop, I might win another laptop.
This sounded fishy to me, or, more specifically, phishy.
So I filled out a customer form to Dell, copying and pasting the email into their form with a quick note, "Is this spam? Is this a phishing scam?"
And this was the response:
I would have been glad to assist you in this query, however, let me please inform you that we , at Customer Care only deals with post-sales and logistics issues.
Therefore, I would request you to please contact our Customer care department at
the toll free number 1-800-624-9897 between 7AM to 11 PM CST Monday through
Saturday for this particular issue as they would only be able to verify the
requested information.
***
I would think that, on a corporate level, that any company would love to have internet con artists not sullying their good corporate names and logos. Paypal, eBay, and Cingular all have email addresses for you to FWD emails to if you think they're suspect. Why isn't this an industry standard? And why can't the Dell support guy simply click the hyperlink in the email to see what happens? I'm totally afraid to, but why can't someone behind a Dell corporate firewall do so? And why can't someone in customer support just look at current marketing promotions and see if this is a legitimate one or not?
These are some of the problems with being a large corporation with a strong brand presence. I just don't understand why Dell isn't prepared for this.
Monday, November 13, 2006
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