Here's my example of the Hulu exact time embedder that enables blog embeds of the best parts of movies.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
hulu provides dr. horrible... for now
Sometimes things just come together just for me, it seems. When that happens I'd be remiss if I didn't pass said things along, even if it's totally not worth it to you. As stated before, I am so not remiss.
Neil Patrick Harris is now one of the funniest people on the planet thanks to How I Met Your Mother. So joining up with Joss Whedon during the writer's strike was the perfect fit. The combination yielded Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which has its problems, but on the whole is totally delightful. It follows Dr. Horrible (NPH), a meek supervillain as he attempts to join the ranks of the Evil League of Evil and chronicles his actions in his video blog. Along the way he falls for a girl and clashes with Captain Hammer, the obnoxious conceited superhero. Captain Hammer is played by Whedon's golden boy, Nathan Fillion, who is awesome as Captain Mal in Firefly (a series that was liked by everyone fortunate enough to see it).
Oh, and the whole thing is a musical too.
Apparently over at drhorrible.com the plan was to only release it for a week and then charge for it on iTunes, but I guess Hulu is picking it up for another limited time. I'll bet everyone who paid six bucks for it on iTunes is pretty pissed right now.
While I'm speaking about Hulu, have you checked out their embed options? Totally cool. You can specify exactly what section of the video you want to show and Hulu adjusts the embed code to show just that. I didn't do it to the code below, but it's good to know that I can
Anyway, I think Act II is the best, but you can't just watch Act II without Act I. Here are all three in order. They're long, so if you decide to watch these you may need to keep this window open all day and catch a little at a time. There are tiny little ads at the front too.
Neil Patrick Harris is now one of the funniest people on the planet thanks to How I Met Your Mother. So joining up with Joss Whedon during the writer's strike was the perfect fit. The combination yielded Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which has its problems, but on the whole is totally delightful. It follows Dr. Horrible (NPH), a meek supervillain as he attempts to join the ranks of the Evil League of Evil and chronicles his actions in his video blog. Along the way he falls for a girl and clashes with Captain Hammer, the obnoxious conceited superhero. Captain Hammer is played by Whedon's golden boy, Nathan Fillion, who is awesome as Captain Mal in Firefly (a series that was liked by everyone fortunate enough to see it).
Oh, and the whole thing is a musical too.
Apparently over at drhorrible.com the plan was to only release it for a week and then charge for it on iTunes, but I guess Hulu is picking it up for another limited time. I'll bet everyone who paid six bucks for it on iTunes is pretty pissed right now.
While I'm speaking about Hulu, have you checked out their embed options? Totally cool. You can specify exactly what section of the video you want to show and Hulu adjusts the embed code to show just that. I didn't do it to the code below, but it's good to know that I can
Anyway, I think Act II is the best, but you can't just watch Act II without Act I. Here are all three in order. They're long, so if you decide to watch these you may need to keep this window open all day and catch a little at a time. There are tiny little ads at the front too.
Monday, July 28, 2008
song of the moment archive volume ii
'Hi! Since the first song of the moment archive is getting full and taking a while to load all the songs, I've started a new archive. Be sure to visit the first archive as well.
"The Cutter" by Echo and the Bunnymen
I've been doing a whole lotta editing lately.
"Not Fair" by Lily Allen
Here's one from Lily Allen's new one. Don't listen too hard (it's sorta filthy). Just enjoy the awesome Brit-twang of it all.
"'39" by Queen
Brian May was influenced by all those old folk songs of people departing in sailing ships and stuff like that. He claims this song isn't about an ocean voyage, but a space voyage where the time dilation would mean that everyone would be too old for the guy by the time he got back. So it's a space-age folk song with an acoustic guitar instead of a theramin. How cool is that? Brian May is one of the coolest guys ever. I think he cryogenically froze his own hair back in the '70s.
"60 Miles an Hour" by New Order
I don't really have any Christmas music, so this'll have to do. This song has been in my head all day. It's off New Order's cd from, I think, 2001. It was one of the last cds in my car stereo before the cd player broke. I remember listening to it during the 2002 Olympics when I had to drive up and down Ogden Canyon because I was staying with Rhett's parents at the time. The cd was actually pretty mediocre but this particular track is seriously one of New Order's best. Since they were so old when they made it, it will probably never be as popular as "Blue Monday."
"Ribcage Mambo" by Frenchy
Here's a weird Halloween song. I found it on a Rob Zombie and friends compilation called "Halloween Hootenanny." I think I was in Denver at the time. I was there for a Cure concert and I stopped in some record store to pick this up. So this song is a weird mambo number about seduction and manipulation. I really like all the body part imagery.
"I Scare Myself" by Thomas Dolby
This Halloween song is a bit different, because it's not really a Halloween song, I guess. It's by Thomas Dolby, who was famous in the 80s for "She Blinded Me With Science." He had lots of other good stuff too! Anyway, this song has this sort of loungy jazzy feel that I think really fits Halloween. It's more of a subtler side. It also is more about retreating into self-psychology, which is another forgotten theme that Halloween often brings out.
"The Mercy Seat" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
This song isn't gonna make this year's Halloween cd. It's a bit long and may actually be not that Halloweeny, but I still like it. I think it's about a guy on death row putting stock in his life and trying to determine whether or not he deserves his fate. Johnny Cash did a great cover of it just before he died.
"Four Sticks" by Led Zeppelin
A wicked long time ago I played this song on the jukebox at Brick Oven. I had just heard that John Bonham had a really hard part with the drum part and couldn't do it until he held two sticks in each hand. He nailed it with four sticks and that's why the song is called what it's called. Of course it is pretty weird that the drum part was that elaborate before the song even had a title, but oh well.
"Nobody Takes Me Seriously" by Split Enz
Here's a Tim Finn-penned song that he actually didn't play at his show. It's a song that I've considered a theme song of sorts. I think that's the problem with me telling jokes all the time. I'm rarely taken seriously. This song is great though, because it's self deprecating depressing and it's also full of crazy whimsy.
"The Day Before You Came" by ABBA
Found it! I thought I lost this song. Here's a really weird song by ABBA. I think this was their last single that they released. It was like '83 or so. I know it because this Brit band I used to like called Blancmange covered it. Anyway, it's a really weird song. It's got a really weird tone to it. The song is meant to be mundane-sounding, but it's sort of implied that the singer's life didn't have much meaning until some future event. The next day she meets the character mentioned in the title, and I suppose the tone of her life drastically changes. Of course we don't know if her life was improved or hindered. The way she's "remembering" what life was like could be envious because life was simpler or maybe she has pity on her former self because life had no meaning before. Ever since I first heard it I've always wondered.
"The Cutter" by Echo and the Bunnymen
I've been doing a whole lotta editing lately.
"Not Fair" by Lily Allen
Here's one from Lily Allen's new one. Don't listen too hard (it's sorta filthy). Just enjoy the awesome Brit-twang of it all.
"'39" by Queen
Brian May was influenced by all those old folk songs of people departing in sailing ships and stuff like that. He claims this song isn't about an ocean voyage, but a space voyage where the time dilation would mean that everyone would be too old for the guy by the time he got back. So it's a space-age folk song with an acoustic guitar instead of a theramin. How cool is that? Brian May is one of the coolest guys ever. I think he cryogenically froze his own hair back in the '70s.
"60 Miles an Hour" by New Order
I don't really have any Christmas music, so this'll have to do. This song has been in my head all day. It's off New Order's cd from, I think, 2001. It was one of the last cds in my car stereo before the cd player broke. I remember listening to it during the 2002 Olympics when I had to drive up and down Ogden Canyon because I was staying with Rhett's parents at the time. The cd was actually pretty mediocre but this particular track is seriously one of New Order's best. Since they were so old when they made it, it will probably never be as popular as "Blue Monday."
"Ribcage Mambo" by Frenchy
Here's a weird Halloween song. I found it on a Rob Zombie and friends compilation called "Halloween Hootenanny." I think I was in Denver at the time. I was there for a Cure concert and I stopped in some record store to pick this up. So this song is a weird mambo number about seduction and manipulation. I really like all the body part imagery.
"I Scare Myself" by Thomas Dolby
This Halloween song is a bit different, because it's not really a Halloween song, I guess. It's by Thomas Dolby, who was famous in the 80s for "She Blinded Me With Science." He had lots of other good stuff too! Anyway, this song has this sort of loungy jazzy feel that I think really fits Halloween. It's more of a subtler side. It also is more about retreating into self-psychology, which is another forgotten theme that Halloween often brings out.
"The Mercy Seat" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
This song isn't gonna make this year's Halloween cd. It's a bit long and may actually be not that Halloweeny, but I still like it. I think it's about a guy on death row putting stock in his life and trying to determine whether or not he deserves his fate. Johnny Cash did a great cover of it just before he died.
"Four Sticks" by Led Zeppelin
A wicked long time ago I played this song on the jukebox at Brick Oven. I had just heard that John Bonham had a really hard part with the drum part and couldn't do it until he held two sticks in each hand. He nailed it with four sticks and that's why the song is called what it's called. Of course it is pretty weird that the drum part was that elaborate before the song even had a title, but oh well.
"Nobody Takes Me Seriously" by Split Enz
Here's a Tim Finn-penned song that he actually didn't play at his show. It's a song that I've considered a theme song of sorts. I think that's the problem with me telling jokes all the time. I'm rarely taken seriously. This song is great though, because it's self deprecating depressing and it's also full of crazy whimsy.
"The Day Before You Came" by ABBA
Found it! I thought I lost this song. Here's a really weird song by ABBA. I think this was their last single that they released. It was like '83 or so. I know it because this Brit band I used to like called Blancmange covered it. Anyway, it's a really weird song. It's got a really weird tone to it. The song is meant to be mundane-sounding, but it's sort of implied that the singer's life didn't have much meaning until some future event. The next day she meets the character mentioned in the title, and I suppose the tone of her life drastically changes. Of course we don't know if her life was improved or hindered. The way she's "remembering" what life was like could be envious because life was simpler or maybe she has pity on her former self because life had no meaning before. Ever since I first heard it I've always wondered.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
lightning in a digital bottle
Yeah, I took my camera into the storm in the middle of the night last night. I guess after taking about 100 photos over the course of an hour, I was bound to get lucky once.
300! (and related...)
Post 300! This is Sparta!
Please don't bother to go back over all the posts and count (as if I could even dream of such a devoted and scary readership). I'm also counting some draft pages that I never published or deleted. If you counted the live posts it would probably be about 287 or so.
So anyway, I do have something to talk about that does have to do with 300 (and I was also asked to talk about this). The guy who directed 300 is also the guy who is directing the upcoming Watchmen movie set for March of next year. Just in case you were late getting into The Dark Knight last weekend, here's the trailer:
Of the people I know who have seen the trailer, there are two very distinct camps. The first camp says it looks awesome and the other camp says it looks weird and silly. I've noticed the distinctive factor between the two opinions is whether or not the person has read the Watchmen graphic novel. Those unfamiliar with the source material are pretty much unanimous in thinking that this whole thing looks pretty silly. The rest of us are seriously drooling.
This isn't just another superhero movie. Remember how Woodrow Wilson said that World War I would be the "war to end all wars?" Well, he was wrong in that instance, but Watchmen will be the superhero movie to end all superhero movies. I'm not saying because it's so good or so big or whatever. It's just that the concept of the whole thing pulls the rug out from the entire superhero concept. Those protesters in the trailer? They're rioting against their own superheroes. Watchmen was published in (I think) 1986 and since then we've seen influence of some of its concepts. The 1989 Batman was the first superhero movie that dared suggest that the hero was just as psychotic as the villain. I haven't seen Hancock yet, but there's a good example of an imperfect superhero. Even when The Incredibles came out I said that it was a perfect combination of Watchmen and The Fantastic Four (even more so than the FF movie.
Anyway the point is, the cheesy throwback costumes in the trailer are supposed to look goofy. The "superheroes" in question are dorky, imperfect and quite mentally imbalanced.
Anyway, we've drawn Zack Snyder for the direction. He's had it in for me ever since I kinda ran over his dog. Well, replace "kinda" with the word "repeatedly" and the word "dog" with "son." He did an adequate job filming the video to an above average Morrissey song ("Tomorrow"). He also made a pretty scary remake of Dawn of the Dead (although he took the whole consumerism parody out for some dumb reason (but he made up for it with some out-of-this world creepy end credits)). Still, this Watchmen thing could potentially be pretty bad since I didn't like 300 -- his other foray into filmed graphic novels -- all that much. I don't think I can blame Snyder, now that I think about it. The 300 graphic novel wasn't really all that great and Snyder made it exactly like the book.
Snyder is a lot like the graphic novel filming version of Chris Columbus -- the guy who directed the first couple of Harry Potter movies. Columbus is often criticized for applying the book template to the movie and not making enough creative decisions for the translation to film (ironically while incurring the wrath of potterphiles who felt the translation wasn't exact enough). I've said several times before that I don't feel book-to-movie translations should be word-for-word (or picture-for-picture in terms of graphic novels). Watchmen, however, would just about be the only exact translation that would make me giddy with delight.
On the other hand, there is a reason why Terry Gilliam of Monty Python and Time Bandits fame decided to never film it back in the '80s. He claimed the concept is unfilmable. Technology has improved and we can get the landmark images from the source material to the screen, but the finished verbatim work would easily hit six hours. As zealous as Snyder is in keeping the adaptation faithful, lots of plot would get the axe. Watchmen is a graphic novel in the purest sense. It begins, it introduces the characters, it takes them on a journey and it ENDS. It's a story in itself. It's not an episodic set of superhero events and it certainly has no sequel, but the journey is a dense one.
I'm confident in Snyder -- even if Alan Moore, the anarchist bearded freako who actually wrote the Watchmen graphic novel, isn't. Moore also wrote V For Vendetta, but you wouldn't know even if you are a credit-watcher like I am. Moore, quite the literary elitist, has disowned the movie versions of his stories and characters. If I wrote like he did, I'd probably do the same.
Now, sadly, Snyder and Moore have become enemies of sorts. Moore seems absolutely sick of the Hollywoodization of his work, so he's not instantly dissatisfied. I read somewhere this past week (I just looked a minute ago and can't find the source, but it swears anyway, so maybe I shouldn't) that Snyder said something to the effect of "The worst that can happen is that Alan Moore pops the DVD in a few years from now and mutters something to the effect of 'this isn't that bad.'" Apparently Moore got word of that statement and said something like, "There is now &*^$ing way that movie is getting anywhere near my DVD player."
That was extreme of him to say, but the statement he made that scares me the most is what he said in Entertainment Weekly when asked about the upcoming movie:
Please don't bother to go back over all the posts and count (as if I could even dream of such a devoted and scary readership). I'm also counting some draft pages that I never published or deleted. If you counted the live posts it would probably be about 287 or so.
So anyway, I do have something to talk about that does have to do with 300 (and I was also asked to talk about this). The guy who directed 300 is also the guy who is directing the upcoming Watchmen movie set for March of next year. Just in case you were late getting into The Dark Knight last weekend, here's the trailer:
Of the people I know who have seen the trailer, there are two very distinct camps. The first camp says it looks awesome and the other camp says it looks weird and silly. I've noticed the distinctive factor between the two opinions is whether or not the person has read the Watchmen graphic novel. Those unfamiliar with the source material are pretty much unanimous in thinking that this whole thing looks pretty silly. The rest of us are seriously drooling.
This isn't just another superhero movie. Remember how Woodrow Wilson said that World War I would be the "war to end all wars?" Well, he was wrong in that instance, but Watchmen will be the superhero movie to end all superhero movies. I'm not saying because it's so good or so big or whatever. It's just that the concept of the whole thing pulls the rug out from the entire superhero concept. Those protesters in the trailer? They're rioting against their own superheroes. Watchmen was published in (I think) 1986 and since then we've seen influence of some of its concepts. The 1989 Batman was the first superhero movie that dared suggest that the hero was just as psychotic as the villain. I haven't seen Hancock yet, but there's a good example of an imperfect superhero. Even when The Incredibles came out I said that it was a perfect combination of Watchmen and The Fantastic Four (even more so than the FF movie.
Anyway the point is, the cheesy throwback costumes in the trailer are supposed to look goofy. The "superheroes" in question are dorky, imperfect and quite mentally imbalanced.
Anyway, we've drawn Zack Snyder for the direction. He's had it in for me ever since I kinda ran over his dog. Well, replace "kinda" with the word "repeatedly" and the word "dog" with "son." He did an adequate job filming the video to an above average Morrissey song ("Tomorrow"). He also made a pretty scary remake of Dawn of the Dead (although he took the whole consumerism parody out for some dumb reason (but he made up for it with some out-of-this world creepy end credits)). Still, this Watchmen thing could potentially be pretty bad since I didn't like 300 -- his other foray into filmed graphic novels -- all that much. I don't think I can blame Snyder, now that I think about it. The 300 graphic novel wasn't really all that great and Snyder made it exactly like the book.Snyder is a lot like the graphic novel filming version of Chris Columbus -- the guy who directed the first couple of Harry Potter movies. Columbus is often criticized for applying the book template to the movie and not making enough creative decisions for the translation to film (ironically while incurring the wrath of potterphiles who felt the translation wasn't exact enough). I've said several times before that I don't feel book-to-movie translations should be word-for-word (or picture-for-picture in terms of graphic novels). Watchmen, however, would just about be the only exact translation that would make me giddy with delight.
On the other hand, there is a reason why Terry Gilliam of Monty Python and Time Bandits fame decided to never film it back in the '80s. He claimed the concept is unfilmable. Technology has improved and we can get the landmark images from the source material to the screen, but the finished verbatim work would easily hit six hours. As zealous as Snyder is in keeping the adaptation faithful, lots of plot would get the axe. Watchmen is a graphic novel in the purest sense. It begins, it introduces the characters, it takes them on a journey and it ENDS. It's a story in itself. It's not an episodic set of superhero events and it certainly has no sequel, but the journey is a dense one.
I'm confident in Snyder -- even if Alan Moore, the anarchist bearded freako who actually wrote the Watchmen graphic novel, isn't. Moore also wrote V For Vendetta, but you wouldn't know even if you are a credit-watcher like I am. Moore, quite the literary elitist, has disowned the movie versions of his stories and characters. If I wrote like he did, I'd probably do the same.Now, sadly, Snyder and Moore have become enemies of sorts. Moore seems absolutely sick of the Hollywoodization of his work, so he's not instantly dissatisfied. I read somewhere this past week (I just looked a minute ago and can't find the source, but it swears anyway, so maybe I shouldn't) that Snyder said something to the effect of "The worst that can happen is that Alan Moore pops the DVD in a few years from now and mutters something to the effect of 'this isn't that bad.'" Apparently Moore got word of that statement and said something like, "There is now &*^$ing way that movie is getting anywhere near my DVD player."
That was extreme of him to say, but the statement he made that scares me the most is what he said in Entertainment Weekly when asked about the upcoming movie:
There are things that we did with Watchmen that could only work in a comic, and were indeed designed to show off things that other media can't.Drat. I am a believer in comic books. I probably shouldn't expect anything other than derivative work.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
let's seriously talk about the dark knight
By the time you read this, you've probably already seen The Dark Knight. Maybe you've seen it a couple of times. Perhaps this post is old news, but we'll put it up anyway.
Not many of you listen to the awesome Star Trek podcast that J.R. and I do every couple of weeks. This last podcast, however, we devoted a good third of the recording to just talking about The Dark Knight. I think it's a fun listen. Download that podcast right here. The Batman talk is the final half hour (roughly an hour in).
If you're too lazy to do that, just click on the Quicktime bar below which starts right at the Batman talk. You could go ahead and play it and then open up a new Firefox window and continue your other web surfing.
EDIT: You may notice that the convenient Quicktime bar doesn't necessarily appear in Google Reader (or perhaps not in whatever feed system you use). Don't worry. If you click on the entry, the listening bar will still appear in the blog.
I suppose I should also mention this year's Nerdtacular experience, which is where I saw the movie in the first place. It was fun. Thanks for the free movie Scott! Check out his awesome stuff and listen to his podcast at Myextralife.com.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
july xiv, mmviii in pictures
Check out this Facebook album to see many more pictures of this event!
I think this was the run that messed up the pool. Notice the water draining out the left side.
Kristi and Stephanie. One of them came for the slip n' slide. One of them came for the chocolate milk drinking contest.
Pete and I are doing synchronized drinking here. I was worried that I'd be the only one in the chocolate milk drinking contest and I'd have to drink three gallons by myself. Fortunately, with the enthusiasm of the crowd, the pressure was off and I only drank three cups. Alex and Joe tied at a modest five cups.
Their win was not without casualties. Alex and Joe threw-up violently over the course of a good 12-hour period.
For some reason this photo wouldn't upload on Facebook. It's a pretty good overview of the playing field.
Thanks to Pete and whoever else had the camera for all the photos.
Here's video of the "burning of the chaff." For the record, since I stated it before the video started, I only burned a burned cd of Metallica, Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots. Everyone was like, dude, don't you want to keep that? Well, it was all I could find short notice. I was running around all day looking for a stupid slip n' slide and then i had to mow the lawn. No excuse I know, but I just ran out of time by the time I had to have something to burn. Everybody was also asking me if it had to be something negative and I was like whatever. Notice that one of the words that describe the 14th of July is "burning" not "burning for spite." As long as it's flammable or melty, it's an option to burn for the day. Oh yeah, and I also burned last year's Lagoon season pass coupon book.
Thanks to Margie for videoing that.
I think this was the run that messed up the pool. Notice the water draining out the left side.
Kristi and Stephanie. One of them came for the slip n' slide. One of them came for the chocolate milk drinking contest.
Pete and I are doing synchronized drinking here. I was worried that I'd be the only one in the chocolate milk drinking contest and I'd have to drink three gallons by myself. Fortunately, with the enthusiasm of the crowd, the pressure was off and I only drank three cups. Alex and Joe tied at a modest five cups.
Their win was not without casualties. Alex and Joe threw-up violently over the course of a good 12-hour period.
For some reason this photo wouldn't upload on Facebook. It's a pretty good overview of the playing field.Thanks to Pete and whoever else had the camera for all the photos.
Here's video of the "burning of the chaff." For the record, since I stated it before the video started, I only burned a burned cd of Metallica, Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots. Everyone was like, dude, don't you want to keep that? Well, it was all I could find short notice. I was running around all day looking for a stupid slip n' slide and then i had to mow the lawn. No excuse I know, but I just ran out of time by the time I had to have something to burn. Everybody was also asking me if it had to be something negative and I was like whatever. Notice that one of the words that describe the 14th of July is "burning" not "burning for spite." As long as it's flammable or melty, it's an option to burn for the day. Oh yeah, and I also burned last year's Lagoon season pass coupon book.
Thanks to Margie for videoing that.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
july xiv, mmviii
Did you know that the July 14th holiday still isn't recognized by our "pretty, great state?" As a result, over 93% of this state's employers do not give their employees the holiday off.
Hopefully our July 14th celebrations this year will help change that. This year's 14th should be better, bigger, bulgier, butter and better than any other 14th thus far celebrated. I invite you personally to come and personally revel in all that the 14th of July represents. Through your celebrations you can support what the founders of the 14th of July stood for: freedom, perseverance, loyalty, agility, burning, holidayness, buoyancy, religious persecution, truth soundingness and awesomeness.
The celebrations will begin at my house. A schedule follows:
6:55pm -- slip 'n slide (if it still exists and I can find it) and consumption of Joe's leftover lemonade.
7:40pm -- chocolate milk drinking contest
8:30pm -- "the burning of the chaff"; bring something you want burned!
10:00pm -- march on the capitol to attain official 14th holidayness.
Please, remember to not dress warmly! You'll probably actually want to dress wetly. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Also, in the comments section for this post, please tell me what words you would use to describe what July 14th represents to you.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
best blog ever this year!
Today a podcast blog that I frequent solicited me to vote for it at the Blogger's Choice Awards. Instead of voting for it I figured I'd go ahead and do a little soliciting myself. I figured perhaps maybe, maybe it'll help with itunes subscriptions or something.
Anyway, I nominated three of my blogs for awards. As usual, you need to register to vote for this stuff, but if you do, it'll make me feel special. Here are the voting links:
Vote for Blogging Forgotten Realms!
Best Geek Blog
Best Blog About Stuff
Best Hobby Blog
Best Pop Culture Blog
Vote for the Jon Madsen Movie Commentary Podcast!
Best Podcast
Best Entertainment Blog
Best Pop Culture Blog
Vote for J.R. Watches Star Trek For the First Time!
Best Podcast
Best Blog About Stuff
Best Geek Blog
Best Pop Culture Blog
While you're on the site, feel free to nominate the flagship blog, jonmadsen.blogspot.com, for something!
Anyway, I nominated three of my blogs for awards. As usual, you need to register to vote for this stuff, but if you do, it'll make me feel special. Here are the voting links:
Vote for Blogging Forgotten Realms!
Best Geek Blog
Best Blog About Stuff
Best Hobby Blog
Best Pop Culture Blog
Vote for the Jon Madsen Movie Commentary Podcast!
Best Podcast
Best Entertainment Blog
Best Pop Culture Blog
Vote for J.R. Watches Star Trek For the First Time!
Best Podcast
Best Blog About Stuff
Best Geek Blog
Best Pop Culture Blog
While you're on the site, feel free to nominate the flagship blog, jonmadsen.blogspot.com, for something!
Monday, July 07, 2008
reading. books this time. with words.
You may have noticed that I've put a dazzling shelfari up in the right-side column. I figured I had to do it since I read so many books at the same time. I use the term loosely. I always have a book that I am "reading" but I start far more books than I finish. Maybe I should just finish a bunch of books without starting them to even things out.
Anyway, the books on the shelfari are some books that I am currently reading. Maybe now that I've made them them public I'll finally get them done.
Shadow of the Giant, for example is a book I borrowed from the good Peter Nash two years ago and have actually only read one page of it. As I type this, I know the pressure's on to actually accomplish the actual reading part of the transaction.
I started Interview With the Vampire about seven years ago I think. I'm pretty sure I have less than 100 pages left. It's strange that as much as I love vampires and New Orleans, I'd have such a hard time getting through this one.
You may think The Neverending Story is an odd choice. I suppose it is too. About a year ago I heard on this podcast from this guy Obsidian (he's the guy who drew that fantasy portrait of Maria and me) that The Neverending Story is actually one of the best books he's ever read. I asked around and I don't know anybody else who has actually read it. Also, the movie has a special place in my heart because we watched it at the first mixed-gender birthday party I ever went to.
Out of a Silent Planet is a C.S. Lewis book that my brother swears by. Before he wrote his allegorical Narnia stuff he did this sort of science fictiony stuff. I can tell already that this will be a difficult read.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader: I better finish before the movie comes out. If you happen to pick it up, be sure to read the part about Eustace overcoming his sad case of dragonment.
I could finish the Peanuts book in a few minutes, but it's delightful enough that I'm sort of putting it off. The Schulz biography is fascinating, but hard for me because, well, I already said it was a biography, right?
Making pretty good time with the Phil Jackson book. Unfortunately now that basketball season is long gone, I'm afraid the desire to read it will wane hard too.
I didn't even mention all the Ayn Rand I'm supposed to read. Plus I have this other book where I actually promised the author, in person, that I'd read it and put a rating on Amazon. Whoops. I got those too. I'll outsource.
Hmm. I walked away for a few hours and am now back at my computer and am just realizing that I forgot to post this. As long as I'm still talking I may as well provide this link to my Goodreads profile. Goodreads is so hot right now.
Anyway, the books on the shelfari are some books that I am currently reading. Maybe now that I've made them them public I'll finally get them done.
Shadow of the Giant, for example is a book I borrowed from the good Peter Nash two years ago and have actually only read one page of it. As I type this, I know the pressure's on to actually accomplish the actual reading part of the transaction.
I started Interview With the Vampire about seven years ago I think. I'm pretty sure I have less than 100 pages left. It's strange that as much as I love vampires and New Orleans, I'd have such a hard time getting through this one.
You may think The Neverending Story is an odd choice. I suppose it is too. About a year ago I heard on this podcast from this guy Obsidian (he's the guy who drew that fantasy portrait of Maria and me) that The Neverending Story is actually one of the best books he's ever read. I asked around and I don't know anybody else who has actually read it. Also, the movie has a special place in my heart because we watched it at the first mixed-gender birthday party I ever went to.
Out of a Silent Planet is a C.S. Lewis book that my brother swears by. Before he wrote his allegorical Narnia stuff he did this sort of science fictiony stuff. I can tell already that this will be a difficult read.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader: I better finish before the movie comes out. If you happen to pick it up, be sure to read the part about Eustace overcoming his sad case of dragonment.
I could finish the Peanuts book in a few minutes, but it's delightful enough that I'm sort of putting it off. The Schulz biography is fascinating, but hard for me because, well, I already said it was a biography, right?
Making pretty good time with the Phil Jackson book. Unfortunately now that basketball season is long gone, I'm afraid the desire to read it will wane hard too.
I didn't even mention all the Ayn Rand I'm supposed to read. Plus I have this other book where I actually promised the author, in person, that I'd read it and put a rating on Amazon. Whoops. I got those too. I'll outsource.
Hmm. I walked away for a few hours and am now back at my computer and am just realizing that I forgot to post this. As long as I'm still talking I may as well provide this link to my Goodreads profile. Goodreads is so hot right now.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
obligatory smiley weekend time
It's been a while so instead of writing (thinking), I'll just put a few weekend pics up.
Joe's band played again for Justin's birthday party. They've come a long way since this 70s-era Joy Division shot was taken.
Okay, fine. The photo was actually taken Friday night. It does look a bit Joy Divisiony in its desolation though, don't you think?
Here's another video we took.
Saturday I went to the Arts Festival. Even though it was incredibly hot, I did my best to (very briefly) visit every booth. I found my way to the library part where they were displaying post-its of six-word autobiographies. I filled one out too. I can't remember it. I was in a pretty bad mood by that time, so it was pretty angsty teeny. In the post-it building they were having live readings from some local authors. Nothing makes me want to be a writer more than hearing live readings of mediocre writing.
That night a few of us went off to Morgan to see the "best worst movie ever made." Troll 2 dragged at times, but was funner than the movie I saw last night. It takes place in the town of Nilbog (filmed in Morgan) during a major goblin infestation (analyze the name of the city).
It was an all-star event. They even had fan-flavored short films. I considered buying a poster, but knew I was just getting swept away in b-cinema bliss.
More stuff happened recently. I just didn't have pictures of any of it.
Joe's band played again for Justin's birthday party. They've come a long way since this 70s-era Joy Division shot was taken.
Okay, fine. The photo was actually taken Friday night. It does look a bit Joy Divisiony in its desolation though, don't you think?
Here's another video we took.
Saturday I went to the Arts Festival. Even though it was incredibly hot, I did my best to (very briefly) visit every booth. I found my way to the library part where they were displaying post-its of six-word autobiographies. I filled one out too. I can't remember it. I was in a pretty bad mood by that time, so it was pretty angsty teeny. In the post-it building they were having live readings from some local authors. Nothing makes me want to be a writer more than hearing live readings of mediocre writing.
That night a few of us went off to Morgan to see the "best worst movie ever made." Troll 2 dragged at times, but was funner than the movie I saw last night. It takes place in the town of Nilbog (filmed in Morgan) during a major goblin infestation (analyze the name of the city).
It was an all-star event. They even had fan-flavored short films. I considered buying a poster, but knew I was just getting swept away in b-cinema bliss.
More stuff happened recently. I just didn't have pictures of any of it.
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