new blog feature!

Accute eyes may have noticed the new Quicktime play bar over on the right beneath that picture of me. I got the idea from Monica's blog. She does this awesome "song of the week" thing with a little mp3 player embedded right into her blog. I couldn't get the same player working so I had to mess around with, and make up some HTML to enable the same sort of listening experience here. Actually I didn't experiment with her player as much as I could have. I bet it would have worked if I uploaded the songs to the recommended third-party and if I gave them my blog password (which would have done all the work for me, but I was way nervous about doing something like that).

Ok, sorry too much talking. Hit play on the bar over there.

Weeks ago, I decided that the first song definitely had to be "Common People" by His Majesty Bill Shatner. Somewhere along the way the line between laughable camp and straight-up total awsomeness has disintegrated. This song is just sweet. I don't care what you say. So listen to it at work, put your headphones on and crank it up!

I'll change the song every few days.

Here it is down here just in case you're reading an archive and it's now the distant future (what's it like? Do we have warp speed yet?).

me rockin' the shooting range

1910-2008

The wind suddenly picked up outside. It kind of reminds me of the time years and years ago when President Benson died and we had that sudden microburst that uprooted trees.

President Hinckley visited New Zealand when I was there in 1997. He actually opened the massive congregation up for random questions. One guy asked if anything miraculous, like the appearance of angels, took place during a specific revelation given to the church leadership in 1978. He pretty much said it was a strictly spiritual experience consisting of a good feeling. I'm not sure exactly how many miraculous divine things the guy has seen with his own eyes. It could have been quite a few. I'm guessing, however, that most of the time he saw and heard the exact same way we do. It was faith that drove him and it was in faith he succeeded. This certainly doesn't take away from the mantle of prophecy. It's really why his story is so miraculous. Men become great because they spend their lifetimes seeking God, not because God spends mens' lifetimes seeking men.

I don't know exactly what he saw here, but no doubt he's right at home now.

i just don't know what to do with myself

Maria and Rhett are both out of town. What should I do this week?

Btw, I gave Adam, the host of Filmspotting, a ride to the airport yesterday morning. I had a chance to tell him my idea for starting a business where I get everybody I know to give me 50 bucks a month and then they call me whenever they need an errand done during the day. He said it was a brilliant idea, so suck on that everyone who thought it was a dumb idea! Actually to be honest, he said it was a brilliant idea for a film.

You may not believe this, but here is Quentin Tarantino:


Here's a zoom-in. See the chin?


He was just wandering around Park City like a crazy man lookin' for something. I saw him twice. Maria can vouch for me the second time.

i'm hit!

Maria just tagged me.

Here are the instructions:

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. Senior year I asked the student body president to Homecoming dance using the same gigantic Hershey's kiss that a different girl used to answer me the previous year for Prom.

2. Before the internet and before owning The Complete Book of M*A*S*H, I used to write in what I called The M*A*S*H Log to determine what time of the year my favorite episodes would be on.

3. I was reading The Grapes of Wrath right up until I had to take the final in high school. I came really close to finishing. I seriously had only half a page left before the teacher made us put our books away for the test, so I didn't get to that one really creepy scene. You know the one!

4. I've thrown up in class on three separate occasions that I can remember. Once after coming in off the merry-go-round, once with the flu and once after an allergic reaction to the codeine prescribed to me for a broken arm.

5. I have journal entries of me wanting to be a ninja a good 12 or 13 years before ninjas became the bee's knees.

6. Back when my mother and I moved back into the family condo with my other two brothers, I moved into the large master bedroom with one of my brothers, my other brother took a normal bedroom and my mom took the other normal bedroom. When my other two brothers moved out I didn't graciously let my mom have the master bedroom, but actually annexed the other spare room while also staying in the master bedroom.

7. I am the seventh child in my family and was born in 1977 on the 27th of the month at 12:07 p.m. weighing seven pounds and seven ounces. Years later my 77th favorite movie would turn out to be Se7en.

I am tagging:

1. The Jon Madsen Movie Commentary Podcast
2. Blogging Forgotten Realms
3. A Game a Week
4. Locke vs. Demosthenes
5. Peter and Nichole
6. Brad and Chelsea
7. Gluten-Free Girl

So everybody do it, hard! Otherwise I'll plotz!

Also, apologies to Abel, because I still haven't gotten around to his tag and that was like a year ago. I didn't really know what this tagging thing was all about back then.

getting with the times.

My new year's resolution is to pronounce this year as "twenty-oh-eight" rather than "two-thousand-eight."

fff 9 and 10

Last week Maria's mom let me partake in a Christmas Olive Garden gift certificate extravaganza. Just a couple of hours ago Maria made me a yummy pizza bread thingie. I've had them before, but this one was the best.

welcome back everybody

I'm super glad you were able to find me again. In case you're wondering, I had to transfer all my rexbasior.com files from my old server to my new one. Presently I don't know where any of them are. I figured it would be a good time to finally switch over to a blogspot account. The real rough thing, though, is that all my pictures are gone. Even when I can find them on whatever server they're on, I'm pretty sure I'll still need to manually re-upload them to all my entries because the entries are already scripted for the wrong location. I just spent a good chunk of time doing just that for some of the recent stuff. I anticipate it will take a month or so to re-upload all the photos from this last year alone. Before that, I'm not even sure since the photos I used weren't from the computer I publish from right now.

Fortunately, the last couple of days have been semi-warm. It's been so cold lately. It's been too cold to go out. It's been too cold to dine. It's been too cold to think.

I don't shower much.

top 32 songs of 2007!

32. "Less Talk More Rokk" by Freezepop
I guess I can blame my nephews for unlocking this song on Guitar Hero II and then getting it stuck in my head over the summer.

31. "Tarantula" by Smashing Pumpkins
Ok, but without Iha and that other girl, aren't they just another version of ZWAN?

30. "thnks fr th mmrs" by Fallout Boy
Fine. Even though they seem like they represent everything that bugs me, I still tend to like most of their songs.

29. "Shadowplay" by The Killers
This is a Joy Division cover and I've been listening to a whole lotta Joy Division this year because of the big movie (see previous post).

28. "Men's Needs" by The Cribs
This has a pretty dancy indie beat. Plus, the singers switch on the chorus. Keeps us as listeners on our toes.

27. "Bodysnatchers" by Radiohead
I'll be honest. I don't actually remember how this one goes because I forgot to download it when the album was free. I gotta give props to my boys radiohead though.

26. "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie
This wins the award for lamest AND most fun lyrics to sing. Everybody sing: "I'm gonna miss you like a child misses a blanket."

25. "1234" by Feist
The whispery then jubilant dynamic works. Also, Apple demanded that we all heard it a lot.

24. "The Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani
Wasn't this from last year?

23. "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne
Now that she's finally old enough to be out of high school, it's refreshing to finally hear her sing the sort of song she should have sung in high school.

22. "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse
Not super great, but it's different enough to enjoy singing to.

21. "Heinrich Maneuver" by Interpol
Um, all their songs sound similar, but at least it's a sound i like.

20. "Business Time" by Flight of the Conchords
Great comedic songs aren't just funny, but also great and soulful even if they weren't funny.

19. "Brianstorm" by Arctic Monkeys
I bought their album when I couldn't find Arcade Fire. It was pretty much the next thing in the alphabet. Sweet album though.

18. "What Goes Around Comes Around" by Justin Timberlake
You probably liked it too. It's serious stuff.

17. "Gimme More" by Britney Spears
Less serious. She's a trainwreck, but c'mon. It's Britney, bitch.

16. "Iran So Far" by Andy Samberg and Adam Levine
Yeah, I think that Ahmadinejad looks like Jake Gyllenhall too! Funny. Funny. Funny. "I know there are no gays in Iran, but this is New York City, baby!"

15. "Grace Kelly" by Mika
This Queen homage is a pretty good one, but not quite awesome enough for me to go pick up this cd after winning it from the radio station.

14. "Myriad Harbour" by New Pornographers
Here's a real classy band. I'm serious; pay no attention to the title. Saw them live and they can really kick it out. They're like a Canadian supergroup.

13. "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John
Most effective use of whistling since "Patience" by Guns 'n Roses.

12. "Stronger" by Kanye West
This was more of a direct lift from the source material than usual, but it's nice to hear the guy head more electronic. He does it well. It helps me consider crossing genres more.

11. "Intervention" by Arcade Fire
This song is pretty inspiring. It sort of makes me want to stop working in the field, put my plowshare down and just sing in protest.

10. "Statues" by Foo Fighters
Dave on piano? Weird. They're looking and sounding really 70s, which I think is pretty cool. This is a song Wings should have written.

9. "LDN" by Lily Allen
I'm not sure why Amy Winehouse is so much more popular than this bird. This song just brightens me up. It's like white chick reggae.

8. "The Bird and the Worm" by The Used
I really never liked anything by them after their first album until this throat bleeder came along.

7. "Dashboard" by Modest Mouse
They've recently hired Johnny Marr, the guitarist from the Smiths. How cool is that? Anway, this song is way more fun to growl along to than any other one of theirs I've heard in the past.

6. "Bleed It Out" by Linkin Park
Every few years a Linkin Park song comes out that I really like and I'm slightly ashamed. This one has a steady charging rhythm propelled by the continuous switching of rockin' and chant rappin.'

5. "Identity Theft" by Nellie Mckay
My main girl always has a spot on the top 32! She really got more lively on her cd this year, with an even more retro sound.

4. "Hang Me Up to Dry" by Cold War Kids
These cats have a pretty unique perspective on music-making. I may have listened to their cd more than any other this year.

3. "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse
Muse is so freakin' hot right now. I love this one since it's a lot more groovy than rocky. Have you tried "Knights of Cydonia" on Guitar Hero yet? Sweeeeeet.

2. "When Your Mind's Made Up" by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
This was taken from the recording session scene in Once. When everything comes together, it's just one more of several musical highlights from the film. I really wish Control had a similar scene. It also helps that I find it the most beautiful song from the soundtrack.

1. "Rag and Bone" by The White Stripes
Jack and Meg loot an old southern estate, and it royally rocks. Just listen to it. The whole album is actually pretty good, maybe one of their best.

Anyway, that's it. It's never quite as detailed as the top movies. I probably forgot 32 or so songs as well. Lemme know what I missed.