Here is a picture of me holding up several Youngblood comic books.
This information is incredibly boring unless I tell the slightly less-boring story of how I got them.
Surely you sometimes delve into the incredibly humorous My Religious Blog. Well -- Matsby, the guy who does it, hosted a cold cereal party this last Saturday. If you check the link in the previous sentence you'll see that one of the prizes at this party was this Youngblood collection that I'm now holding in the above picture. I only knew about the little get-together because I follow the guy on Twitter. Doing nothing else, I dragged Joe and his new iPhone (which told us how to get there (see the previous post for the harsh reality of this fact)) over there and won some free Rob Liefeld comics (even though Matsby said that Liefeld is an atrocious artist).
The point is, I got free stuff by going to a party thrown by a guy I don't really know at all and it was only slightly weird since the other people there were pretty much his married friends.
After that, I got onto Twitter, and whined about how I lost it. Lo and behold, the company that I won the hat from actually heard my whines and messaged me that they wanted to send me ANOTHER podgineer hat. How nuts is that? They must have done a Twitter search for their own handle names and came across me complaining.
Anyway, the moral is: get on Twitter and follow me!
I've always said that one day robots will rule the earth, and it's not JUST because my whole life I've engorged myself on movies with that same premise. Recently I Googled myself and came across this:
My name popped up on this site BEFORE it popped up for this blog that you're reading right now. This particular site seems to be a place where people send mp3s to their phones as ringtones. Strangely, VERY STRANGELY, "beeMP3" is offering the DVD commentary of Pretty in Pink that Maria, Monica and I did a couple of years ago. Yeah, that's right. IF YOU WANT, your ringtone could be the three of us talking about Pretty in Freaking Pink for 45 minutes.
I guarantee that no human being bothered to find this mp3 online somewhere, converted it into a ringtone and then made an accessible web link to it. Wanna know who did? Robots.
Yeah, not robots that look like The Terminator or R2-D2 or anything, but robots without bodies -- spritual robots in a sense. In a less dramatic sense, programs. They're gonna rule the earth just like in all those sci-fi movies. And they're not even waiting to strike. It's not a matter of when they achieve consciousness. They're not going to take us over. We're simply going to give everything to them.
A couple of days ago I was talking to Stephanie about what she did that day. She said that she was feeling lazy, so she watched tv and Return to Me was on. This made her happy because if it wasn't on tv, she wouldn't have watched it. She enjoyed it, but actually said to me that she wouldn't go out and rent it.
Have you noticed this phenomenon? Here's an even more extreme one and it's all about me. Every time the movie X-Men is on FX, I always start watching it. It's not like I wouldn't go rent it... because I OWN it and NEVER watch the version I own -- the version that's clearer, that I can fast-forward and has no commercials.
I have two explanations for this phenomenon.
1) I enjoy watching broadcasts rather than personal viewings because there's a thrill in knowing that many other people are having the same experience at the same time. It's community pride and cultural consciousness. This also explains why I prefer to listen to the radio in my car instead of cds (and because my cd player's been broken for the past six years).
2) Human beings have been conditioned to enjoy being told what to do.
I believed in explanation 1 for a very long time, but it didn't quite seem so believable. Now I'm thinking the sad truth is actually number 2. Steph couldn't get enjoyment out of choosing Return to Me from the thousands of movies she could have watched. Tv had to tell her to watch it. And me... I'm far far worse.
Actually, "worse" is a pretty negative word. I never actually said this was a bad thing. In fact, The Robocalypse will be totally sweet. I can't wait. Seriously, this is totally my thing.
Jon Madsen Jon Madsen Jon Madsen Jon Madsen Jon Madsen Jon Madsen Jon Madsen is awesome. I only said all that because I'm still mad that the Google robots aren't finding this blog when someone searches for "Jon Madsen." Maybe it'll help slightly.
This was three years in the making. Actually, we played basketball one afternoon with some video cameras, waited three years and then put it together into a movie where we make constant fun of ourselves.
If you've got nothing to blog about today, we wouldn't be offended if you embedded it on your blog. Joe would love it especially. It's his birthday, after all.
This past weekend and most of the week was the semiannual (biannual? Which is the one that's every two years?) Madsen Family Whatever. This year we decided on Disneyland and had my normal brother Andy organize it. Actually he's pretty normal except that he's unnaturally obsessed with Disneyland.
I rode down with Mom and the stepdad to Vegas where the family set up Winter Quarters for one night. My sister lives in Vegas in a brand new beautiful house that she and her husband just finished moving into at 4:00 that same morning. Here's a shot off the loft balcony where I slept. Yeah, long time exposure. Turned out pretty cool.
My mom and dad's theoretical 50th anniversary would have happened this past weekend so we got Mom a big cake. She actually ate that whole thing.
Here is a picture of some of my family on the walk to Disneyland from our hotel (seen in the background; resembles a riverboat). It sorta looks like we're crossing the plains.
We went over to the park at like 7:30 am in order to have that tiny window of time to ride the rides at our leisure before half of the country's population (and many Japanese people) show up. Our first choice? Splash Mountain.
There were so few people there that early that we had the opportunity to ride it again immediately. I and some of my nieces and nephews took that opportunity. In order for some of my smallish nephews to ride, they made me take the "fatty" seat in the back. Then the ride operator was totally like, hang on to your hat! I was like, I just rode this and my hat did fine. Whatev. Turns out the back seat makes your hat fly off, because that's what happened to me. My cool "podgineer" hat? Gone. Hey! I thought it was cool anyway.
Here's a picture that I took of the picture I was too cheap to buy of my nieces, nephews and I just before my hat fell off.
Here is a Kodak "picture spot." Kodak was awfully nice to point out what signs I ought to be taking pictures of.
We rode Big Thunder Mountain several times, because it was only shut down half the time. Most of the rest of my family rode it at night, which I hear is a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, I only rode it twice; both times in the middle of the day.
I'm always on the lookout for places of business with names that look like they'd be in a Simpsons episode.
Speaking of Simpsons, whenever someone says "Matterhorn," I automatically think "Murderhorn."
Here is another picture opportunity sponsored by Kodak. My camera actually is a Kodak. I wonder if camera owners of different brands are as welcome at these "picture spots." I was hoping to find more, but I really only saw two picture spots the whole time.
Here's probably the most hilarious video you'll see all day. It's of Space Mountain (which was seriously closed 75% of the time for some dumb reason and I only got to ride it the once). If you've ever been on it, you might be able to see the appeal in the video. If you never have, you'll wonder why it's the most popular ride at Disneyland. Its appeal is that it actually strips away the sense of sight. That's why it's got the longest wait. Could the same sensation be achieved on Big Thunder Mountain or Matterhorn if the eyes were closed? I dunno. I wouldn't willingly do it. I need to be compelled to have that kind of fun. Perhaps the music helps.
So on the second day, we met for dinner outside the park, but 15 minutes before that happened I ran to Space Mountain (through the Disney Parade!) real quick to get a fastpass there. I barely made it in time to discover they had already booked Space Mountain for the rest of the day! Sheesh. Just close your eyes on some other ride, people.
I ended both days in the magic kingdom by riding Haunted Mansion (while most of the rest of the fam were on Big Thunder Mountain). The second time I was totally alone. Love that ride. It got me so pumped for Halloween.
I didn't take my camera to California Adventure because by that time I was almost out of battery. California Screamin' would have been awesome to take video of, though. Soarin' is plenty fun, but it doesn't hold a candle to The Tower of Terror, which was probably my favorite new thing that I did on the whole trip. Word of advice though: when you go to California Adventure, do the Toy Story ride first. You get to shoot stuff at targets and it's 3-D and you get to keep score with the person next to you and everyone else if you want. The ride doesn't offer fastpasses, so if you go late, it's like an hour wait. Oh! Also the rapids ride is wicked fun with a surprisingly short wait. Maybe because it was a frigid 70 degrees out while we were there. Seriously. Vegas and L.A. were wicked cool over the past week.
So after all that, on the way home I hiked Angel's Landing in Zion's with my other brother. We're sort of the odd couple. We shared the hotel room the whole time. I'm sloppy and lazy while he's meticulous. I think he's more extreme. I mean, the guy makes his hotel bed for cryin' out loud.
Here's the warning sign in front of Angel's Landing.
People who've hiked Angel's Landing know the thrill. The thrill is you could die. They've got chains staked into the rock to hold onto as you ascend. It gets pretty steep and there's like a 500 foot drop on both sides of the trail. We talked to the Zion's shuttle driver and asked how many people die on the thing. He said a couple a year, but it's always because they went off the trail and not the hazards of the trail itself.
Here I am showing how bald I can be sometimes and also how far up we are. That's the Mississippi river up at the top of the photo.
Here's a picture of my brother in his usual pose of, "Here, take a picture of me!"
Here is my brother approaching summit.
Here is a picture of my brother taking a beautiful picture.
Here's an awesome picture. Also, my brother's in it.
Here's a squirrel I met. Our Zion's shuttle driver told us not to feed the squirrels because it brings out aggression in them. I named this squirrel "Tub Gluttonous."
Here I am. I hadn't been in too many pictures so far, really so... here I am. Since I'd lost my hat, my brother lent me one of his Eurotrash dew rags, which I'm sporting.
Here's me again, but showing my Klingon Che Guevara t-shirt. My beard, glasses, hair and rag make me look similar. Like some kind of leftist revolutionary.
We didn't notice how cool these switchbacks looked until on the way down. On the way up, they just sucked.
Yep, so that was the big Madsen trip! Honestly, it was funner than I thought it would be. I actually really enjoyed Disneyland. Possibly even more than Magic Mountain.
I'm just about to leave on my family trip to Disneylalnd. Figured I'd better write something just in case my Matterhorn bobsled flies off the track or I go completely nuts while dealing with so much family at once. Btw, suggestions for a fun Disneyland experience? Please text me. I hear that Captain EO doesn't play there anymore. I'm not sure what else to even do there.
Speaking optimistically, I've hit it pretty lucky over the past week (with the exception of failing to successfully call-out a would-be employer about not paying me). For one thing, I actually managed a tax return. This was awfully nice of the U.S. government considering that back in April I actually came to the conclusion that I actually owed. I found it particularly weird (and enraging!) at the time since I didn't really earn anything last year. So not only did I get a check, but in a separate letter I got a statement saying there was a mistake in my tax return and the result was a refund (with the option to complain). I made fun of all those people who thought everything would automatically change for the better once Obama got into office. I guess the joke's on me!
In a related luck story I lost my wallet yesterday. On the bright side I figured it would solve all my financial problems. On the negative side -- well, the exact opposite. Fortunately I found it in the last place I looked which was on the passenger side of my car in the space between the seat and door. Why it was on that side, and why it didn't fall out when my passengers from Wednesday got out of the car, I'll never know. That reminds me, I could use a new wallet. The plastic picture holders in there are really wearing out.
Also I lucked out the other day while walking home from the mall with Cousin Jen. We went a little too northy in our initial approach, so the obvious solution was to cut through West High. Fun, but scary. I immediately went back to my high school self -- constantly worried about getting in trouble. I don't know what they'd even do to us. I suppose they could call the cops on us for trespassing, but like they'd bother, right? They'd probably just put us in high school jail for an hour or so. I was so hoping they'd ask what class we were supposed to be in. That'd be so sweet and would make me feel oh so good.
I've tried mentioning on Facebook, but I'll mention it here: I need blue nail polish. It's related to this year's 14th of July celebration -- which should be stupendous this year! We need a few more celebrations for that evening. Since the 14th of July is primarily dictated by the people, I'm open to suggestions. Since the day falls on Bastille Day we may have a Perrier drinking contest (but obviously we'll change the labels to read "Freedom Water").
I don't drink blood to survive, but my sleeping habits are now almost totally vampiric. It's gonna be a long summer.
So happily I notice that Star Trek took third place in box office receipts this week. That's pretty good I think for being out for, what, three weeks now? It even finished ahead of Angels and Demons which opened last week. Looks like this year's Trek movie will be this year's Ironman -- a summer movie that was supposed to do pretty well, but became even more of a surprise hit.
I've been a pretty big Star Trek fan for most of my life. I don't consider myself a Trekkie, but I am a pretty big fan. It's not that I'm not a huge nerd or anything, I just find that Trekkies dwell on Star Trek a little more exclusively than I do. For me there are like 50 other shows that I can't get enough of. I guess I lack the devotion of a true Star Trek acolyte. I must admit, though -- as a fan it's a little sad for me to start sharing what was once an exclusive club with the whole frickin' world now.
On the bright side, welcome World! Now that you saw the movie and loved it, prepare you now to immerse yourself in some pretty sweet old Trek for a wonderful compliment to your movie experience!
I know EXACTLY what you're saying to your computer screen right now:
"But Jon!... I saw the new movie and liked it, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go back and watch the old show! The new movie is GOOD, and the old stuff is BAD! I know this because I've seen a few seconds of the old show and I KNOW based on that miniscule exposure EXACTLY what the old show is and how much I LOATHE it!"
Fine. ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE WRONG! Allow yourself to believe you know the facts you don't have.
(Also, if you watch all this stuff I say to watch and you still have the same opinion, you're still actually wrong. I'm sorry, but that's just how it works)
Alright, everyone with open minds who isn't allergic to fun! Watch the following. Trek ho!
The Original Series:
1. "The Menagerie - Part I" and "The Menagerie - Part II" Here's betting that you didn't know that Captain Pike from the new movie actually was an original Star Trek character and that he actually was the captain of the Enterprise before Kirk. True! Remember how at the end of the movie he was in a wheelchair? That's an homage to this two-part episode (of course his wheelchair was actually far closer to the machine they rigged that soldier guy up to in Metallica's video for "One"). Of course Kirk only took over after they made the one Star Trek episode and NBC wanted to have a more action-oriented captain rather than the more philosophical Pike. That first episode "The Cage" was re-edited into a new story called "The Menagerie" (I'm sure it cut a few costs). I love this episode. We see the differences in character of the two captains through how they face their adversity. It also asks questions regarding perception and reality. Personally, I think the episode really ends on a downer with regards to the human spirit, but you can tell me what you think about that. Oh! and that green chick from the movie? She's in this one! Well... as a slave girl, not the Starfleet Academy floozy.
You can watch this episode (and most others) on YouTube!
2. "Balance of Terror" For some reason, this is the one important episode that YouTube isn't officially hosting. It's probably the one episode that influenced the movie more than any other. It's this one where we meet the dreaded Romulans in the flesh for the first time. They look like Spock. Loyalties are questioned and a thrilling space battle (which seems more like a submarine battle) ensues -- which pits two very different ships with different strengths against each other. It's sort of like Nightcrawler and Cyclops duking it out. Personally I like the Romulans in this episode more than the Romulans in the movie. They're a bit more honorable and sophisticated. Perhaps those miners from the movie were actually Romulan white trash.
3. "The Conscience of the King" If I remember correctly, this is my good friend J.R.'s favorite original episode. About a year ago, he was just like you -- he had never seen one Star Trek episode. This one is sort of unique in that the story itself doesn't even need to be a Star Trek story or science fiction at all. It's a simple moral/ethical tale that I find riveting. It's probably closer to Greek tragedy than sci-fi.
4. "The Galileo Seven" Didn't you love Spock and his cold logic in the movie? Here's one where he's so logical people want to kill him. I'd like to think if I were marooned with Spock he'd be pretty useful. Unfortunately, utility isn't always that fun to live with.
5. "The Return of the Archons" Here's my personal favorite. I admit it's not actually the best episode ever, but it's totally mine and I've detailed my reasons here.
6. "Space Seed" This may be the most famous original series episode because it spawned the most famous Star Trek movie: Wrath of Khan (at least until the new movie came along). Ricardo Montalban es muy macho, mas macho than Kirk even. We'll talk about it more when we talk about his movie.
7. "City On the Edge of Forever" Here's another ridiculously famous one and it's about time travel -- just like in the new movie! Actually, the time travel part is pretty silly, but it's a good set-up for what happens. The new movie makes casual mention of changing destinies, but this episode calls the whole act into question. Sure we all want war to stop, but would you kill an innocent beautiful Joan Collins to make that happen?
8. "Amok Time" Kirk and Spock are like best friends forever except when the Vulcan mating cycle makes Spock go all wacky. When Kirk and Spock fight in this one, the music is like world famous.
This one is great because we finally get to meet Spock's parents -- Sarek and Winona Ryder, I mean Amanda. Wow, what a messed up little kid he must've been! I'm glad the movie took a look at this. I wonder about how much of our parents we really are. I wonder if some combinations are more explosive than others.
"Spock's Brain" actually is the super-cheesy stereotypical Star Trek that you think you know. Strange alien women steal Spock's brain. It's freaking hilarious.
11. "All Our Yesterdays" This one isn't super incredible, but it gives further backstory into the Vulcans and that's always a good thing for me. I think Vulcans are great and interesting and wonderful. Remember in the movie how they said that Vulcans' emotions are deeper than humans -- even though Vulcans tend to not show it?
12. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan This movie is a direct sequel to the "Space Seed" episode. The new movie is a blatant RIP-OFF of this movie. It's got a vengeance-obsessed villain from another time, weird bugs that wrap around victims' cerebral cortexes, a new technology that can destroy planets, an inexperienced crew going into battle against another ship, the famous Kobayashi Maru battle simulation and much of the dialogue is copied directly from Wrath of Khan to the new movie. This concept isn't new. They tried doing the same thing with Star Trek: Nemesis back in 2002. It didn't work (perhaps they didn't copy Wrath of Khan enough). Nevertheless, Star Trek II is one of my favoritest movies ever. It's a great movie -- not just a great Star Trek movie. I try to watch it on my birthday every year. Dealing with getting old is one of its major themes. So is personal sacrifice. There's a part that's quite emotional. Trust me. "Of all the souls I've encountered in my travels, his was the most... human."
13. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home This is actually a straight-up comedy. It works because by now, we know the characters so well that they can be given the room to be light. This movie also informs us to be kind to animals and the environment, because if we're not an alien probe will come and kill us.
14. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Freakin' awesome. Those Klingons really get Shakespeare.
The Next Generation
15. "Conspiracy" This episode is actually a lot more like a made for TV sci-fi movie found on the USA Network. Peoples' heads explode. It's pretty sweet, but not as thinky-oriented as most Star Trek episodes. It DOES, however have mind-controlling bugs like in the new movie (and of course, Star Trek II).
16. "Yesterday's Enterprise" I'm not putting too many TNG episodes on this list because it's a different crew than the new movie and I'm also really tired. This episode, though, was a huge influence on the new movie. A ship from a different time flies through a hole in space and changes the course of history. Sound familiar? The whole look of the show changed for this episode. It's a bit like an actiony version of "City On the Edge of Forever."
If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll know that I split my face open playing racketball. It's healing and it doesn't hurt, so don't worry. It does look cool, though. I only wish the event itself looked as cool. I actually whacked myself with the racket. I probably looked like the biggest spaz dork ever.
Yeah, this has been a long time coming. Not only has it been a couple of week since my last post, but it' also been AN ENTIRE WEEK since the new Depeche Mode cd came out -- and I haven't peeped or even tweeted to the world. Every time a new DM appears I make it known to the world. Well, It's sort of a tradition that started in 2001 with Exciter. That was just an email to J.R. and J.B. When Playing the Angel came along, it was my final official website post before I switched to exclusive blog entries. I guess their next cd will be reviewed by me on Twitter only.
So, do you think they're trying to emulate the mass-appeal jump of Music for the Masses in their title Sounds of the Universe? Just a thought. Let's go over the tracks:
1. "In Chains" I think Scott told me this is just about his favorite DM song in the past ten years. After a very long buzzing intro, the album starts off wicked subtly. It's not like Depeche Mode are known for intensity, but usually the opening track is the loudest. This track sounds like a closing track. Good thing I freaking love DM closing tracks. Sounds a little "Higher Love"-ish (last track from Songs of Faith and Devotion) or "Insight"-ish (the last from Ultra). The themes of obsessive love and helplessness are very prevalent here. "... I crumble when you are around/ Stutter, mumble, a pitiful sound/ Stagger, stumble, shackled and bound/ In chains." It's also great that Dave is really going for some high notes. In the 80s he really only had three notes.
2. "Hole to Feed" The first thing I notice is the Atari sounds that go along with the tribal bass beat at the beginning. The second thing I notice is the sincere sinister growl in the personality of Dave's voice. No wonder, because this is one of the songs Dave wrote for the album. Like Playing the Angel Martin allowed Dave some writing credit (along with who I'm pretty sure is the rest of the touring band -- Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott (hey, do you think these guys are sick of not getting credited as actual Depeche Mode band members?)) in the form of three songs. This is good Dave effort. I have a feeling that the creative juice Dave is bringing may actually be the future of the band. Martin's in the twilight. This song for example has some very varied complimentary layers.
3. "Wrong" Here's the single. I actually have a feeling that down the road this will be one of my favorite DM songs. It's weirdly practically rap, but so so fun to rhyme along to. A fascinating tune to let off some steam to.
4. "Fragile Tension" The Atari sounds begin this one too. I heard that Martin actually went on eBay and purchased a bunch of vintage oldschool keyboards in preparation for this album. It's kind of sweet. that the band went through the 90s and most of the 00s sort of evolving past the 80s. Now enough time has passed that it's cool to go back, which is even better. Strangely the liner notes claim that this song has live drums provided by Christian Eigner. I can't really tell.
5. "Little Soul" This song seems like it's being played at the organ at Disneyland's Haunted House. Well... it does a little. It's cooler than that. It's pretty relatable. It's a little bit quiet-scary. One of those "nobody understands me, but I'll show them" kind of things, but not angsty. It's more... subtle -- which I've said a million times already, but that's simply what I love about the band.
6. "In Sympathy" Some of the sounds and patterns sound a lot like old stuff. I'm thinking "A Broken Frame" era a little. I don't like saying that, since that album isn't considered very good. I think what I'm saying is this sounds like pre-industrial influenced DM -- but good. The layers add up to something very danceable... not that I dance or anything, but I tend to get drawn toward dancey music.
7. "Peace" Wow, the intro to "Peace" (before the singing) sounds soooo ooooold! There's something to love about that! Scott told me he abhors the song, but it's growing on him. I can relate. The chorus chant "Peeeeeace wiiiiiilll cooooome to meeeee" is sort of annoying. The verse singing grit by Dave I think is supposed to be a high contrast to the smooth "peace" of the chorus. Strangely I heard they picked this song as their second single. For the past bunch of albums I haven't agreed on their single picks.
8. "Come Back" Here's our next Dave song. As of this listening, I think this is my least favorite. Just sort of drones and thuds a bit.
9. "Spacewalker" Requisite lame instrumental. I soooort of like this one more than past instrumentals. Can't explain why. Maybe I'm more used to them now. Still, this sucker can't touch "Pimpf" or "Mephisto."
10. "Perfect" Atari! Atari! Atari! For the second time, the lyrics mention "the universe," but like last time, it's more about the individual in the face of the vast universe. Lots of DM themes involve weird dualities like religion and sin or love and lust. I think a major theme of this whole cd is universality versus individuality. There's sort of an "I Shot the Sheriff" homage in the middle there.
11. "Miles Away/The Truth Is" Here's our final Dave contribution. I actually love love this song. Maybe I'm wrong. I just think Dave got just the right amount of bluesy twang. Maybe I should have saved that "Dave is the future of DM" comment for this song. Then again, I very well may be the only person who likes this song.
12. "Jezebel" Here's the requisite Martin Biblical contribution. Sounds a whole lot like "Comatose" and "Breathe" from Exciter (two pretty low points for that album)
13. "Corrupt" I like the sound of this one, but I think lyrically, it's not nearly up to snuff to be a closing song. "In Chains" would've been a far better choice. I think Martin got sort of lazy. When I heard the lyrics "You'll be crying out my name/ When you need someone to blame" my first thought was that it was a Dave, not a Martin. I figured Martin would find a better way to make a double entendre out of the opening phrase. The second half of it presents it way too overtly so no double meanings can be had. Still I like the guitars in this song. Would have been a better closer to side one though. There is a hidden song about eight minutes into the track. It's actually a pretty cool "Wrong" instrumental that sounds like it could go into the Watchmen trailer.
So all in all, it's not the best Depeche Mode, but it's NEW. That's what really matters. I think I may really warm up to it. I was a lot more excited when I first heard Playing the Angel but then soured on it over time. The opposite happened with Exciter so maybe things will go in that vein. Still, I'm glad the guys are smart enough to change things up a bit (even if non-fans probably can't hear any difference at all).
After much diagnosis, the conclusion has been reached that when approaching the threshold of my comfort zone, rather than persevering I tend to retreat.
That's not necessarily bad. I heard that when Peter Jackson started on the Lord of the Rings movies he used a computer program called (I think) MASSIVE for the war sequences. This program allowed them to create hundreds of computerized characters and then rather than animate them individually, just tell them to fight each other and they'd film the result. Legend has it that the first time they tried it they told the program to fight in the most efficient and logical way possible. Upon getting the instructions, all the computer characters put down their weapons and ran in opposite directions.
Of course there are problems. One is the lack of euphoria that occurs when accomplishing something unexpected.
Now it's your lucky day. I've resolved to attain the endorphins that come with tackling the discomfort. In the next few weeks or months or whatever, if you dare me to do something -- there's a good chance I'll do it.
One problematic thing about this crazy economy is cheap labor. It's especially noticable when Fox 13 airs their commercial promoting some help service specifically for these troubled times called 1-800-START-OVER (yeah, a couple of extra phone digits there -- bizarre). Anyway, whoever they got to proofread the commercial did not major in orthography.
Next up -- the recently made fan trailer for New Moon. What's up with not throwin' in the easy apostrophe? Is it because apostrophes show up so often when they're not needed? The thing could have been 20 times more believable if the apost was in there.
I get emails from LDS Living. Don't mock me! I'm LDS and I'm living. So yeah there's this game company I guess called Backyardmaniafun.com. Here's part of their advertisement in the LDS Living email today.
Did you have any idea that the beanbag throwing target game was called that?
It's my wonderful, beautiful mother's birthday today. No foolin'.
For most of my life I've assumed that I never had any of her genes, but lately I've started to notice a bit of my mom in me. Thank goodness. Best girl ever. Happy birthday Mom!
Many of you have been kind enough to ask how well Podcamp went. I say kind enough rather than cruel enough because it actually did go quite well -- then again how were you to know that? Somehow the five-minute idea that Mike Place gave me was somehow extended out to a half-hour. I made quite a few contacts, which will make my volunteer job a lot tougher. Here's to socialized productivity!
The biggest eye-opener of Podcast, however was the juggernauty presence of Twitter. Just about every single person I talked to asked me my Twitter information. By the end of the day I finally said "Check Twitter in the next few days and look up 'rexbasior' because that will undoubtedly be my Twitter name."
It's not like I've been resisting Twitter up to this point. I'm not that guy. I really love Facebook already and haven't OD'd. I understand that many devote too much of their lives to these social interweb things, but there's really no reason to protest the concepts outright.
I'm now on Twitter for anyone interested. I admit I still don't understand it, but they made it fun right from the beginning. They started with a list of "interesting" people I may want to "follow," which means I guess that I see their status updates as they happen. The suggested list included quite a range of personalites: Penn Jillette (I wonder if his kid Moxy Crimefighter is on Twitter?), Dave Matthews, Soulja Boy, Has Cheeseburger. From the big list I decided to follow Jack Dorsey (Twitter founder), Levar Burton and Spencer Pratt. Since last night, through Facebook and emails I've added Depeche Mode, Jim Gaffigan and Weird Al Yankovic.
Here is my very first Twitter entry:
just started twitter. i guess i'm "tweeting." is that it? caw! caw! wipporwil wipporwil look up here look up here! hey you guys!
Check me out. I'm rexbasior. I'll probably add a button or something soon. We'll see if it's worth liking.
So back to Podcamp. Toward the end of the day I found myself more relaxed and actually participated. The result was my winning a hat. A baseball hat. Longtime friends and astute readers of my internet presence know that I don't actually wear caps like this. I won it, though and it is kind of a cool hat and it's says "Podgineer" which is pretty geeky; so I think I'll wear it after all.
I do look really weird in it though. Ever see that old X-men cartoon episode where Wolverine infiltrates the Friends of Humanity by posing as a normal human being? He whips a baseball cap on and he looks totally abnormal. I'm not saying I look like Wolverine or anything, but I do have Wolverine hair and burns and stuff.
Oh, yeah. It's the last day of March and I'm finally revealing my March mustache.
Found a piece of interesting technology on my blogosphere prowl. Thanks (M)ary. There's this site called xtranormal and what it does is animate your text for you. So here's my first little animation. The character below isn't really me. He's just a confused, hilarious soul.
This is weird. I really am presenting at PodcampSLC -- I guess today at 11:50.
I'm telling you now, so you won't come. You won't come anyway, it costs 20 bucks to get in. I'm pretty nervous. I think I have about five minutes worth of total B.S.ing that I need to extend out two a half hour. I want to go the full half hour because if I open it up to questions it will give me several chances to look even stupider.
I need to talk on "The Future of Podcasting." Yikes. I'm no prophet. I'm not even a professor. I gotta get up and say that the Pinpoint SLC model we use is where independent podcasting is heading. I need to say that last sentence for 30 MINUTES.
This week I bought three sets of concert tickets and am considering buying four. Lots of times when I splurge I splurge in sets. (ps.. I'm a tool) After watching Fever Pitch (the Colin Firth one written by Nick Hornby, NOT the Jimmy Fallon one) late last night, I realized that all four musical acts are actually British.
I've been constantly pulled to the motherland. One day I'll get there. It'll happen. I'm not much of a beans on toast guy, but I bet there are tons of good Chinese places there. Even while watching the movie I thought of how fun it would be to wander real English streets with soccer hooligans.
Back when I went to Israel ten years ago, I found myself hanging out with some of the European students. One Brit there wore his Doc Martens constantly (even at the beach) and had a giant Union Jack beach towel. Sorta punk, but definitely allegiant to the Queen.
One day he was dissing pretty hard on the United States at a steady stream and great volume. One of us was finally like, "Hey, take it easy. You're the guys who lost the revolution!" Then, I remember this well, he looked right at all us Yanks and said (with EXTREME sarcasm): "Oh? Is that when we let you have your own country?"
We all chuckled. No hard feelings. We won the war, but I've always felt that the British won the music. They gave us a country but since then there have been several very successful British invasions in music. In my opinion, they've dominated.
Anyway, let's talk about the shows I'm going to.
Lily Allen -- April 8, 2009 8:00 pm -- In the Venue Buy tickets!
Lately I've had a real good time saying her name "Riry Arren."
If you're reading this, you know I've had a healthy obsession with her for the past few weeks. I first took notice of her on Saturday Night Live. I'm pretty sure she performed "LDN" and "Smile" from her first cd.
Notice how different she sounded back then. She was a little more reggae, a little more Nellie McKay-ish. Here's the complete new song of hers that everyone has been telling me lately how much they love.
What the heck. Here's her cover of the Britney Spears song "Womanizer."
The Ting Tings -- April 9, 2009 9:00 pm -- The Urban Lounge Buy tickets!
Maria has been very adamant lately about how much I'll enjoy this show. They're sorta electronic I think, but they mix the beats and the loops live on stage. That means there is an element of improvisation and "live-ness" that may be missing from the average electronic show. My buddy Scott is a bouncer at the Urban Lounge. He seems pretty excited that the Lounge got the show. In his opinion The Ting Tings are very well liked by pretty girls, so maybe that will get some of my guy friends to come along (and some of my chick friends too probably). I don't know much about this band. Based on the clip below, they're sorta electro-loopy-cheerleaderish. Lemme tell ya though. Ten minutes after you watch the clip, it'll still be pounding through your head in a good way.
Franz Ferdinand -- April 21, 2009 6:30 pm -- The Great Saltair Buy tickets!
Haven't gotten the tickets yet, but I'm pretty sure I will.
I bought the original Franz Ferdinand album when it came out and didn't think much of it for the first six months or so I had it. Eventually, it really really grew on me and I realized it may be in my top ten favorite albums. Everybody knows "Take Me Out," but most of the songs on there are way better (including the super-gay "Michael" and the weirdly groovy "'40"). I saw these guys at Saltair in pre-promotion for their underrated second album. Good. Times. Before the show I was able to meet the lead singer at an X96 meet and greet. We talked music a bit. He was extremely gracious and nice and genuine. That always makes the music sound better.
Here's their new song. I love the toward the camera intense walk. I'm gonna film myself doing an intense toward the camera walk someday.
Depeche Mode -- August 25, 2009 8:00 pm -- The E-Center Buy tickets!
My first Depeche Mode show was in 1994 on the second leg of the Songs of Faith and Devotion Tour. Just about my favorite live show ever. I learned years later that the lead singer was in the middle of his romance with heroin and everyone in the band hated each other at that time. Never would have guessed. I've seen DM three times since then and Dave Gahan's solo tour once. If they do a show, I go. It's tradition I doubt I'll ever part with. Who knows how many shows that will be. This very well may be the last one. Of course they've milked me plenty for the past 20 years, what's another 20?
Depeche Mode shows are incredibly entertaining despite what they are on paper. The nature of the music means that much of the music isn't performed live on instruments. They've added A LOT more instrumentation lately, but unless I'm misinformed they still have a backing tape that plays the entire duration of the show. Nevertheless the show and spectacle of it all is brilliant and needs to be seen. I love just going to the E-Center every three years or so to see some of "my people."
Here's the new one. The album isn't out yet. I think it comes out April 21st or something.
Thanks to my good friend Jake for getting me what I asked for. I think I like the cd even better than I thought I would. Wonderful stuff. Check out the current song of the moment and see if you feel the same way.
In the meantime, disorder persists -- or at least it's directed right at me.
My new Canon camcorder continues to thwart me. Canon continues to thwart me. Weeks ago I went through all the time and expense of shipping it off to Irvine, California to fix it and they sent it back with a note saying they fixed one of the problems I complained about (they didn't even mention the other one). Okay, now here's the best part: the problem they claimed to have fixed wasn't even fixed. On top of all that, I just realized that a girl left me for Irvine several years ago.
I attempted to talk out their customer service guy last week in hopes of simply getting a new camera for the inconvenience. He informed me that the warranty only covers items being fixed and not replaced. If the engineers determine that an item can't be fixed, then the warranty is void. In my lamest way possible, I explained my fear that Canon could simply void all warranties if they wanted to since they were the ones determining what could be fixed and what couldn't. Obviously, the guy didn't have a response worthy of easing my annoyance. He even said that the camera could be shipped several times before the engineers decided the unit needed replacing and replacement options for me wouldn't be available until then.
I tried to be a little bit mean, but when I hung up the phone I realized that I can't be that way, at least not effectively. I mean to say that I'm all super-nice and rainbows and sausages or whatever. In actuality, I'm actually quite a negative and essentially mean person. Thing is, when I get emotional, I get useless and embarrassing. Rather than being a focused laser of cruelty I become a big dumb bag of incomprehensibility.
So I sent the camera back today with a stern (but ultimately non-menacing) note. What will happen?
Also, I accidentally ordered something on-line last night. I was just shopping around for shiz, and I thought I'd see how much stuff was with all the "free gifts and offers." The order deviously went through before the price confirmation screen. The free gifts and offers ensured that the cost wasn't doubled, but actually quadrupled at least. Super-embarrassing and mega-lame of them to do this to me when I was already so annoyed with the world already. I got the confirmation email immediately, but the phone customer service told me I couldn't cancel the order until it went through the system. Once it was shipped, however, I'd be stuck (or at least stucker). Despite the obviousness of their being aware of the order already, I played by the rules and caught it in time.
Is it any wonder I hate leaving my house? They're all out to get me. Perhaps I should lose the internet, though.
Sorry it's taken so long to report on the movie. Maybe I figured I'd been talking about it too much.
Anyway, to sum up, I really really liked it. Usually, I hate it when a movie follows the book too closely. This, however, is an exception. It was SO close that a huge amount of admiration must be thrown at the makers.
Still, at the same time, taking so few chances GUARANTEES that the book is better than the movie. And for the most part reading the trade paperback of Watchmen is still the way to go.
There were a few tiny things that the movie went the extra mile in.
Probably the most original thing to come out of the movie was the opening credit sequence. Even though it didn't provide the essential backstory it probably needed to, it set the perfect tone for the re-written history that takes place in the story. Some highlights to this highlight: the reveal that The Comedian assassinated JFK, Silhouette kissing the nurse on V-J Day, Dollar Bill shot-up and stuck in the revolving door.
Also, Zack Snyder seems to be getting a surprising amount of credit for his re-tooling of the ending. I must say, that probably do like the new ending better. I think it wraps the story up more nicely to turn the action back around on Dr. Manhattan rather than introducing a completely new element. I am starting to see some flaws in it though. Maybe Alan Moore needed the alien component in there because all the other countries on Earth continued to war around even when they had the fear of Manhattan when he was a pawn of the United States.
I didn't like how they actually called themselves "Watchmen." In the book, the costumed masks never had an official organization called "Watchmen." In my opinion, the reason Moore called the series that is because the superheroes themselves didn't understand that they were acting as unnecessary watchmen. The PEOPLE understood that, which explains the graffiti "WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?"
Strangely, the other best parts of the movie are the ones that probably should have been excised for time -- like the extended soliloquy of Jon on Mars about his origin (which was absolutely beautiful). I also appreciate that they included the prison sequence of Rorschach. I think it would have been very easy for Snyder to simply have Rorschach evade prison and move the plotline forward early.
I heard the studio wanted to also cut the funeral sequence of The Comedian. Hey, I'm not even going to blame the studio heads for that. It makes sense to do so. I'm really glad they didn't because the guy who played The Comedian was the highlight of the entire film for me. In my opinion, he's EXACTLY how I envisioned the character and the flashback sequences during the funeral scene were awesome.
Love to the guy who played Rorschach as well. Silk Spectre and Ozymandias? Not so much.
So yep. Totally liked it. Here's The Cinematic Experience Review:
Here's an image of me taken at our IMAX screening. Yeah, I dressed as Rorschach, although I probably should have dressed as a naked, blue Dr. Manhattan.
So the numbers are coming in about the movie and I sorta hoped for better. What is mostly mind-blowing is the discrepancy in the numbers between Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.
I don't usually associate with Metacritic. Maybe it always grades down. 15 points may not be much of a difference, but when J.R. told me a couple of days ago that the reviews were pretty rough going in the reports were 75 on Rotten Tomatoes and 30 on Metacritic. 30.
That's not too hard to believe considering that Metacritic highlighted the review of esteemed Anthony Lane of The New Yorker. I didn't read the review in its entirety (fear of spoilers -- and yeah, I know I read the graphic novel three times -- I still haven't seen the screen interpretation of said graphic novel), but here's how it ends:
I'm not even sure where to start with this. It's not like Watchmen was ever a comic strip. It was, I suppose, a comic book -- but even the highest educated snob in the nation ought to know that 90% of comic books aren't actually comedy. Not that I should compare Watchmen to Shakespeare or anything, but can you really justify hating Hamlet if you say "Where did the comedy go?" as the play finishes?
Perhaps getting in the right frame of mind helps. Joe disliked the book. The first thing he said to me was "there was not one redeeming character in the whole thing." For the most part I agree, but where he found annoyance, I found pleasure. Perhaps I'm morose, melancholy and morbid; but I've always gotten a bigger kick out of the antagonism in the arts and entertainment I subject myself to. I take more out of peoples' failures than successes. Maybe that's why The Old Testament is so wicked fun. Negative conditioning works better for me.
So a few years ago I read a story where the superheroes are failures. I can see why anyone would have a hard time enjoying that. The trick of course, is to distinguish what the message is. Is the message that superheroes are dead and therefore heroism is dead and the world is stuck in relentless entropy? It may be easy to think. In my own warped way I find stories such as these incredibly optimistic. The world may very well have no one to depend on, so that's where we come in. The world very well may have ended 30 minutes ago. Is it time to give up now? For most people -- for most heroes -- it would be. Watchmen spells it out. But is it right? Nope. The answer isn't given, but the question is asked... and answered rhetorically.
So sorry Anthony Lane. I love comedies and I love happy endings, but they have little value without tragedy.
My hope for the movie has picked up a little. Since I grabbed the Metacritic image several hours ago the critical praise has shot up to like 54. This week marks my first association with Metacritic and I'm not sure I'll continue. Among the new critics coming in is of course is Roger Ebert's high praise. The guy tends to go all over the place though -- especially with superhero movies. One reason I like reading his stuff is because he personalizes his experience a lot more than most.
Also, Maxim finally broke the three-time streak of people I gave my copy of Watchmen to who hated it.
So now it's a party. About 20 of my friends are going and my birthday celebration that started last week, comes to a close in about 40 hours. Even Joe is excited. This can only mean one thing: I'll hate the movie.
David Edelstein from New York Magazine makes a much better point.
Way too many people complain when movies diverge from the source material. I have the opposite complaint. If there's no difference between book and movie, what's the point of the movie? Where's the new life? Are we creating or are we Xeroxing? Anyway, good point David.
*sigh* I'll be doing the same thing when Ender's Game finally comes out. In the meantime...
