revealed!

You were all wrong.


The hint picture was a tribble with a halo and photoshopped vampire teeth. Knowledgeable people know that tribbles are a creature from Star Trek, so really smart people would have known that I would be a vampire Captain Kirk and Maria (going with the halo/vampire teeth theme) would be a vampire angel.

The vampire angel was an idea of mine from a few years ago. I'll be honest. The vampire Captain Kirk is the first of its kind. Vampire Captain Kirk -- can you imagine how unstoppable he would be? He would be... oh man. Hopefully they bring Vampire Captain Kirk into the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie.

halloween 2007 cd preview

We're really cutting it close this year. I don't know why, but getting the Halloween cd out seems to get harder and harder every year. It's always a lot of fun, but before we did the amount of research we do now, it only took an afternoon. That was back in the era of mixtapes, though.

Despite having another child, J.R. did a great job mixing in some serious Christopher Walken spoken word into most of the tracks. The lengths this guy goes through for the sake of Halloween is seriously... scary.

I'm not quite sure if this will work since we're dealing with .m4as or something, but here goes. Here are some of the songs we featured on this year's compilation. Click on them and you should be able to listen. If not, download them and then get some kind of file converter to see to your needs. If your computer has Quicktime, I think that works just fine.

2. Scarecrow by Beck
4. Reptile by The Church
5. Strange Brew by Cream
6. Witch Queen of New Orleans by Redbone
10. Out of Limits by The Markettes
16. Rainbow in the Dark by Dio
18. Exit Music (for a Film) by Radiohead

I'd like to think that somehow, mix cds celebrating Halloween will make the world a better place someday.

Happy Halloween.

how 'bout another halloween post?

Here's a little hint of what Maria and I are going to be for Halloween. Any guesses (excluding everyone I know who's already seen the costumes)?

a blow to the halloween schedule

Is it a conspiracy that they released Guitar Hero III only three days before Halloween? It's cruel. Delicious, magnificent cruel; but still cruel.

A more oldskool form of cruel is the fact that they released the game for the Wii, but are not selling stand-alone guitars for two-player games. The guy at the video game store said he wasn't sure what Red Octane's deal is, but he isn't aware of any future plans to release a separate guitar. As a result, my hand was forced and I did the awesomest, stupidest thing yet this week. I bought a separate copy of the game for Playstation 2.

Anyway, here's a shot of Dre and me rocking out at the same time and in two different rooms and on two different televisions!

amended halloween fun

Years and years ago I posted some Fox Trot comics on my old web site. I remember considering asking Bill Amend for permission to do so. Reading some of his strips, autobiographical information in his books and his web site; I concluded that he's a really cool guy and would probably give me permission with no questions asked. I still chickened out though. What if he didn't and I'd be stuck without a post that day? Once again, I'm chickening out on the permission. Maybe it's mostly because just about any other person (including Amend, I reckon) would consider such a thing way to minor to even bother.

Anyway, I couldn't resist. This is an awesome one and, as usual, very timely.

raven

Ok, so it's not like I wrote this or anything, but J.R. and I will be using it for this year's Halloween cd. We have audio of it, so I needed to have a printed copy in front of me to figure out where certain audio would go in the playlist. Since I don't have a word processing program on the mac that I'm used to, I decided to edit the list her in the blogger interface. Looks like I accidentally published it about an hour ago. So if you somehow managed to come across it during that time, that's what the deal is. Instead of taking it down, I may as well leave it up for the season. Why not?

The parts bolded are only bolded because we may use those parts on the cd. Foreshadowing! Or maybe spoilers!

Oh, and I suppose you don't need to be a genius to know that it was Edgar Allan Poe who wrote this originally.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

scratching on the outside of the casket

I love Halloween so dang hard.

Unfortunately, for the past two years I've found it to be excruciatingly exhausting. We hit the climax of all Halloweendom two years ago. May as well read old archives of the sheer spectacle of it all. Would you believe I'm actually too lazy to provide the link right now? I'd rather just keep typing words instead of code. Check out the archives of October and November 2005 over on the column to the right to read about Halloweens past.

Anyway, the point is I'm stressed out. I'm running out of time to fully enjoy the holiday. We're here on the last weekend and I've hardly accomplished any of my Halloween duties. Here's the list:
1) finish the Jon Madsen/J.R. Fillmore Halloween 2007 Halloween cd (almost done)
2) hit up Frightmares at Lagoon
3) hit up Nightmare on 13th
4) buy nine packages of candy
5) see several scary movies
6) do a movie commentary on a scary movie (probably Lost Boys)
7) since it's the middle of the night right now, number seven is devoted to the unknown Halloween activity that slips my mind
8) and oh yeah of course, make another horror movie
9) read a few appropriate novels
10) actually PICK A HALLOWEEN COSTUME

Every year Kaila and I go to a haunted house. Starting last year, Maria has joined us for obvious reasons. We still need to make time for that.

I actually meant to do a commentary on The Lost Boys ever since the middle of summer. I was totally going to preface the whole thing with "I know this may seem like a Halloween movie, but I consider it a really great scary summer movie, 'cuz that's what it is." Yeah, I was going to do that LONG before Halloween and now I've procrastinated enough to quite possibly not finish IN TIME for Halloween.

My video camera went on the fritz in Hawaii, so I probably couldn't make a scary movie even if I had anything in my head. I fear that I'll only have one horror film under my belt by the end of my life.

I'm reading the teen vampire infatuation-fest Twilight right now. Kind of sad that in Halloweens past I've started Dracula, Frankenstein and even nearly finished Interview With the Vampire, but Twilight might be the first of all those I actually finish.

Have you seen it? Watch it on youtube right here. As long as we're talking about media events, may as well listen to the Abel Hour Halloween broadcast from last year featuring Scott Johnson from Myextralife. Strangely this particular Abel Hour is still online.

Anyway, I really have picked out a costume, but it's not quite as original as some of my past endeavors. I'm not saying what it is yet, but at least I'm not a girl. I asked my friend Kristi what she's going as and she said a slut, which was very surprising. She's not that kind of girl. When I questioned her choice she simply said, "It's all the costume store had left." Funny. True, though.

Pretty much all I have done is watch J.R.'s October pick of the month -- Lady in White. I think both of us agree that a better, scarier movie would have been far more apropos for October.

The point is, I get the same sort of holiday stress this season as many people do during the Christmas season and now it's down to the wire and I won't accomplish or really enjoy any of it.

Speaking of, I think it's a really good thing that Halloween now is now probably the second-most popular holiday in this country. It's the last bastion standing in the way of the Christmas season extending back into July.

And therefore, we need a Halloween grace period. I need it to go all the way to November. Since the Mexican Day of the Dead is the day after Halloween and The Simpsons Halloween Special always comes after Halloween, I think we have some pretty favorable precedents. Halloween should go to Thanksgiving.

If I get nothing done this year, maybe I'll try something different. Maybe on Halloween night I'll simply stay inside and play Silent Hill or something. That's gotta be pretty effective.

obligatory pictures from hawaii

Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Hawaii!
Seriously, there were so many freaking chickens on Kauai. We heard a story that it came about because the island's biggest promoter of cockfighting crashed his chicken truck and all the birds escaped and overcame the island over time.

There's a lighthouse behind us that we were able to view the first day. It was past hours to actually go visit it when we took this photo, so we resolved to return the next day. We never got back.

A cute flower outside where we stayed on Kauai. Oh, and that's Kaila and Monica next to Maria.

Hawaiian fog

Driving videoHere's a taro paddock

This is like a sort of geyser that's pushed up the reef from the pressure of the waves

This boat was named after my mom

greetings from hawaii!

For some reason I'm peeing eight or nine times a day here. Also, while I've been gone my car stereo has been stolen.

But I'm having a FABULOUS time!

aloha until the next aloha

Alrighty, I'm off to Hawaii -- more specifically Kauai (see printed out mapquest picture)!
Here are some illegal Foxtrot scans about Hawaii.

myoozingz

Maria's beating me at blogging this week. That's a total first.

Anyhoo, we've been together for a year. She's not lying. It's just totally breezed by. If you read my blog, you undoubtedly read hers so this would be old news to you.

We celebrated by going to this place called The Melting Pot this last Tuesday. You go in there and you dip stuff into boiling cheese. I decided I wanted the Swiss combo, but before we ordered we asked the server what he thought of it and he said that it's the one dish that people ask to be taken back the most often. Surprisingly, Maria said we still ought to get it and I think I know why. It wasn't because she was setting up an ambush where she could blame me for not liking it. It wasn't. It actually was because she knows I like it when she tries new things and if she didn't like it, she knew it would be a good excuse to come back later and try something else.

Maria gave me Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii that night. I just got her flowers, which you can totally see at her blog (as well as her (better) account of what happened that night). They're really nice flowers and all but after the Swiss thing and the video game, it's totally obvious that I totally made out with far more loot than she did (as usual). Actually, it would have been nice if the server talked us out of the Swiss thing. I totally adore Swiss cheese, but I have no doubt that a less crazy flavor would have been more enjoyable. Yeah, if you go to The Melting Pot, take our words for it and stay away from the Swiss.

We love the movie Hot Rod. There's an homage scene to Footloose that is completely hilarious. There's also the best "falling down a hill" scene yet put on film (and these are back-to-back too). So we were with friends tonight and we wanted to get everyone together to see it, but are realizing we may not even be able to until halfway through next month. It's almost depressing because we're having so much fun with stuff that we have no time to do semi-menial fun stuff like just hitting up the dollar movie. In the next few weeks a bunch of us are heading to Hawai'i. Yeah, Mom, I know I haven't told you yet, but I didn't want to tell you until right before I left so that you wouldn't fret about it for more than a few weeks. After that we're going to Las Vegas to hit up the BYU game (but really just to go to Vegas). Plus, October will be filled with scary movies, haunted houses and Lagoon on the weekends. When am I supposed to watch Hot Rod? Sometimes I miss having fewer friends so that I had to just go see movies I wanted to see (alone).

I was checking out Wikipedia earlier to really find out what the title of the book A Wind in the Door means. By doing so, I discovered that Madeleine L'Engle died like a couple of weeks ago! How tragic. To commemorate her death, I put the TV movie A Wrinkle in Time on my girlfriend's roommate's Netflix queue. Apparently L'Engle said of the movie "I have glimpsed it... I expected it to be bad, and it is" shortly before she died. I still don't know what "a wind in the door" means.

Speaking of quotation marks, have you checked out http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com?

I laughed out loud earlier this week at a random Simpsons quote from forever ago that just popped into my head. It's when Apu says something about Homer to the effect of, "Never have I seen someone take such liberal use of the 'leave a penny, take a penny' rule." The reason I laughed out loud is because there are two ways to "get" the joke. The first is how absurd it is that Apu would complain about something so minor. The second, and I think more funny possibility is that Apu actually has a right to complain and Homer is taking so much advantage of the penny tray to the degree that he stakes the Qwik-E-Mart out and "cleans it out" every hour or so.

In the evenings, Maria and I have been watching my DVDs of two awesome shows: Firefly (mentioned previously) and 30 Rock. I swear, a bad episode of those shows was never made and that's just joyous.

I got a swell temporary tattoo from the gumball machines at Wal-Mart. I got it to get myself pumped for the stake softball tournament Saturday morning that we only got to play two games of. It's the sweetest temporary tattoo I've ever gotten. The last two that came out of those machines were El Caminos.

Maria gets mad at me whenever I say a guy looks attractive, because she doesn't like me even joking around aboutthat kind of stuff even though I don't think I do it that bad. So I'm sorry when I say I think I look really good in that cheesy dragon tat picture.

life goals accomplished: one

eprozac

I just got off the phone with the chiropractic office I've been shrugging off for a month. Instead of just telling them to go away I just said I was really busy. Now I'm at work sorting through different printed cds. Some printed off too red with too little green. I need figure out which ones are passable. I'm colorblind. I haven't seen Rise of the Silver Surfer yet and I predicted that it would be THE movie sequel event of the summer. Maria's been super busy at work. It's getting cold. Last night I found out that my favorite living band that I've never seen live, The White Stripes, have cancelled their upcoming show due to Meg White's acute anxiety. I should have gone to the Muse show to make up for it, but their show was a couple of hours before I found out about the Stripes' shrugging me off.

My life is really really fantastic. But at this very moment I could use some cheering up.

While you're at it, send a positive line to Meg White. She might need it more than I do.

coping through insensitivity

Since it is September 11th I probably should say something. I got nothin' really. I guess Osama bin Laden sent out another tape a few days ago urging Americans to convert to Islam. He probably also said that such behavior would lead to less Al-Qaeda attacks. At least I think he mentioned something like that. Lately my unfamiliarity with the news has only been matched by my illiteracy in actually looking such stuff up.

Anyway, when I heard about the new tape last week, I thought it could be the basis of a wonderfully hilarious video of my own where I would put on a fake beard (similar to the one that Osama may be wearing in his video), put a towel on my head and proclaim that I had converted to Islam. I'd then give a tour of my house that would be filled with Camel cigarettes and posters of the WWF wrestler The Iron Sheik and simple phrases like "Islam is so hot right now." The camera would follow me outside where I'd reveal my full address and leave detailed instructions to fly planes into all my neighbors' homes but not into mine. Then the camera would reveal the tarp on top of the house which says in big letters "OLLUH RULEZ!" Maybe I'd spell it right or not do that part at all. Misspelling the name of God could be considered blasphemous not only to all Muslims, but also to all monotheistic religions since, from what I understand, the name "Allah" isn't so much a name as it is the word for God in Arabic. So maybe I'd switch the tarp to "BIN LADEN ROCKS HARD!" Going back to the controversial phrase, we go all John Lennon on this and say "BIN LADEN IS BIGGER THAN ALLAH!" Whoa. If he got blamed for that phrase, it could start up all sorts of stuff.

Anyway, the point is the video clip would be the kind of viral youtube stuff that gets mega-popular and would certainly be seen by the bearded guy. Then, when my house isn't attacked by terrorists, bin Laden would totally lose some serious cred.

Happy September 11th. Hang in there World.

Check out my other teeny tiny September 11th entry from last year right here.

daffy laffy taffy 2

Observe this Laffy Taffy joke on the right. Notice the question and notice the answer. Got it?

Now, read the following tiny news blurb found here.

Does anybody know Shara from Oklahoma? If you do, please please forward this along to her.

Thanks.

cred... hard

Last entry when I said I was buying Firefly the next day... I was serious. I bought it the next day. I don't mess around. I've decided that if there's one thing I'm sort of good at, it's being a geek. I think I've got the cred. You may have noticed that I've established a few more self-links to back myself up.

I've already mentioned "the jon madsen movie commentary podcast." I won't rehash old news, but soon I will be uploading possibly our best work yet -- our commentary on the movie Footloose that was recorded with three Merrill sisters, two roommates and two neighbors.

"blogging forgotten realms" is a new experiment that pushes the boundaries of geekitude. I got the idea from a couple of other longstanding side links of mine -- "Blogging Ultima," and to a lesser extent, "Blogging the Bible ." With this new blog, I'll be playing through the entire SSI Goldbox series of RPG computer games which include (but isn't limited to) Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds. I've already established some new geek contact with this one.

"a game a week" is, for now a transcript of a small segment I do for Scott Johnson's "Final Score" podcast. Perhaps in the future I'll make it into it's own little podcast. It's a couple of minutes talking about an old retro video game that I try out that week. Scott is famous for his "Extra Life Radio" podcast and webcomic "My Extra Life."

BTW, Firefly is even better than I remember. Totally come and watch it with me! Even Rhett says it's good.

Unfortunately, I must mention real quick that I've also been accumulating even more white trash cred recently. Last weekend the lawn mower ran out of gas after my mowing only 40% of the job finished. I got out the edger and finished the lawn with that. That little move alongside bathing in my backyard with the hose, seriously up my WTC. It's a good way to balance my geek cred maybe.

And oh yeah, here's one more Simpsons avatar friend poster. See if you can spot Cinnamon.

birthday copy paste happy fun time

Rhett's birthday was yesterday and my mind's been so soggy lately that I wasn't able to continue writing our future adventures I began right here.

Instead I'll share a couple of bits of correspondence between us.

Rhett's interest in popular and new wave 80s music has, thanks to me, increased since we've known each other. Yesterday Rhett asked me to comment on and rate six fairly random 80s songs, which I am copying and pasting below:

1. "The Promise" by When in Rome
i used to love this song a lot more. it was a little bit more meaningful before it was on napoleon dynamite and became somewhat campy. but i totally loved the dreamy chorus the first 500 times i heard it. it's good emo imo.
7 thumbs up

2. "Suedehead" by Morrisey
my favorite morrissey song and i probably like this song more than any other smiths song as well. it begins with a sort of sweeping guitar refrain that puts it in a nice place between ballad and rock. the lyrics are priceless. "why do you come here when you know it makes things hard for me?/ why do you come?/ i'm so sorry." then it gets really hilarious when he sings: "you had to sneak into my room just to read my diary/ it was just to see just to see/ all the things i'd written about you/ oh, so many illustrations/ oh but i'm so very sickened." anyway, i hated morrissey when i first heard him, but it's one of those things that you like way more once you're used to it.
10 thumbs up

3. "Uncertain Smile" by The The
i don't know very much about this band, but i do know this song and it's pretty good. i know they outsourced the piano work and it's pretty groovy listenable jazz piano. i think there's an extended version that really showcases the piano. the chorus is very easy to sing along to. i've sung "i've got you under my skin where the rain can't get in..." to myself many many times. the other song by this band i really like is actually called "infected." i was excited when we got guitar hero, but that "infected" is bad religion's.
9 thumbs up

4. "A Forest" by The Cure
when i saw the cure a couple of years ago, this was their final encore. it's made the halloween cd before. the cure were a lot more simple back then, but probably more haunting. the bassline that runs through the song is very very basic, but it evokes perfectly the feeling of running through a forest at night. ammon told me that someone once asked robert smith what the metaphorical meaning of the forest was and he said, "nothing, it's just a forest!" the song is about pursuing a chick that you can never get to, so that makes sense.
8 thumbs up

5. "The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen
this one is way better after seeing donnie darko. the movie opens with this song. for some reason having visuals go with it really helps it out. the 80s weren't known too well for guitar work, and i can easily understand that. this song, though, has some really awesome guitar. it isn't obvious. it isn't awesome guitar as in, "wow, they're really wailing!" it's more like subtly keying out a certain mood. that opening guitar phrase "ba na na na... tinana...na na..." acts more like a personality than an instrument. you should know these guys because they cover the doors' "people are strange" on the lost boys.
9 thumbs up

6. "Age of Consent" by New Order
new order does no wrong. ever. this is a pretty unique one though. they have bigger sounding songs, but this is a pretty good showcase of how well they were able to program the music. kind of a slow build on top of what sounds to be stream-of-consciousness singing. they did a lot of these little high tempo light excercises. i think this one was in the movie marie antoinette. i think it was the good part. new order were a "normal" band in that they had guitar, bass and drums with a heavy augmentation of synths and computers. another difference, however, is how important the bass guitar was. i think peter hook was notorious for not really knowing how to play bass, so he pretty much played it like a guitar -- high and with a pick. anyway, i also love the title of this one.
9 thumbs up

Later yesterday when I actually talked to the guy I asked him why those six songs. He told me that someone asked the Boston Sports Guy what songs did the best job at defining the 80s, or something like that, and he responded with those six. Here's a link to Rhett's blog. A short time after he reads this he should have a link to the Sports Guy (I'm really amazed he doesn't have a link to him as I type this).

The other email Rhett sent me had to do with an Eric Snider article about free theater screenings of the tv show Firefly, which is a great show. I think I'll buy it tomorrow. Anyway, included in the column, was a some kind of treatise by a sort of super-geek. I guess it's become quite a rallying cry amongst the internet nerds. Here it is right here (here):

What a geek believes According to Rick Emerson
I believe that Han shot first.
I believe that Ally Sheedy was hotter before Molly Ringwald cleaned her up.
I believe in miniatures, models, claymation, and not revealing the shark until you absolutely have to.
I believe that George Lucas, for better or for worse, changed the way we see the world, each other, and ourselves.
And I believe that we will someday reach those stars that he himself made visible.
I believe that George Lucas is also a narrow-minded, money-grubbing pig-headed slave to the now, who ought to be locked away from his own creations, lest he do them further harm.
I believe that Jean-Luc Picard is the better Starship Captain, but I also believe that James Tiberius Kirk is infinitely cooler.
I believe that a child standing in line to buy a book at midnight is fantastic; I believe that reading makes you smart — it’s schools that make you dumb.
I believe that any episode of Futurama is better than any program featuring a precocious teenager who’s wise beyond their years.
I also believe Buffy the Vampire Slayer to be the sole exception that proves this rule.
I believe that comic books are an art form, and will someday be recognized as such.
I believe that good shows die too young; and crap shows last too long.
I believe that Eddie Izzard is the funniest man alive, and I don’t care whether you’ve ever heard of him or not — it’s still true.
I believe that a girl who likes movies about zombies is hotter than whoever is on the cover of Maxim this month.
I believe that Belloch ate that fly,
I swear to God that I heard Luke call Leia “Carrie,”
and I believe that Samwise Gamgee never quite got the credit he really deserved.
I believe in magic, I believe in dreams, I believe in the power of music, movies, and the untold worlds inside an everyday library card. And I do not believe that geeks will inherit the earth; I believe that we already have.

Rhett says he knows about 80% of what this guy is talking about and wanted to give me a crack at decifering the whole thing. So here goes.

Actually, before I decifer this, I'll just say that I'm pretty sure that half of the items on the list aren't specific to a movie or comic book, but are just broad statements and should be taken as such. I think the guy did a horrible job of mixing up the specifics and the generalizations, thus making it seem that the generalizations were inside jokes when they actually aren't. Anyway, I counted up 18 statements. Let's look over them.

1. "Han shot first"
In the original Star Wars, Greedo the bounty hunter has Han Solo at gunpoint at a cantina table. Han talks to him and then slyly shoots him underneath the table without Greedo realizing it. When George Lucas remade the Star Wars movies in 1997, he changed the scene so that Greedo actually fired at Han, but somehow strangely missed from like two feet away and THEN Han took the shot that killed Greedo. The theory is that Lucas didn't want Han to shoot first because he's really a good guy. Most geeks will tell you that they like Han badass, not cool. Plus the scene looks completely ridiculous in the changed version. Oh boy, I hope all 18 aren't this long.

2. "Ally Sheedy was hotter before Molly Ringwald cleaned her up"
In the movie The Breakfast Club (which I just happened to catch again at the Tower midnight show on Saturday), Ally Sheedy plays a sort of proto goth chick. At the very end of the movie Molly Ringwald, the prom queen, dolls her up to look more preppy. She supposedly succeeds and Ally gets some action from Emilio Estevez. The music that plays during this scene is cute, but geeks tend to love goth chicks not cheerleaders. Plus, it really takes away from one of the movies' themes which is about the importance of actually standing up for who you really are.

3. "Minitures, models, claymation and not revealing the shark"
This is laced with quite a bit of irony. I believe that he's talking about the superior benefits of "real-world" special effects that are actually physically there rather than the adding of CGI later. Strangely, geeks don't love CGI, although geeks are no strangers to computers. No doubt it's geeks that actually DO the CGI work that all other geeks complain about. The part about the shark has to do with the movie Jaws (yeah, pretty good guess, I know). When Steven Spielberg made that movie the mechanical shark kept malfunctioning and/or most of the footage they got with the shark looked absolutely unpresentable. So he was forced to use very few actual shark shots. Most people feel that this strategy actually made the movie far more riveting than if we were to see a lot of the shark the whole time. There is one shot long into the movie where we really catch the first glimpse of the shark and it comes out of nowhere. It's breathtaking. Strangely, Jaws blazed the trail that Star Wars would follow the next year, setting the stage for the mindless Summer effects-driven blockbusters that this particular geek is so fond of dissing.

4-6. "George Lucas has changed the way we see the world (for better or worse), we will someday reach the stars, Lucas ought to be locked away from his own creations"
These three are pretty much a long-winded way of saying "the first three Star Wars movies were absolutely amazing and the three that came after that horrendously suck." Something has to be said about Lucas changing the way we see the world, though. Even if you've never seen a Star Wars movie, chances are George Lucas has still affected you. For example, have you ever seen a Pixar film? Pixar was started as part of Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic and Steve Jobs bought it in 1986. Here's another example. Did the Soviets nuke us at the height of the Cold War? No, they were too freaked out by Reagan's "Star Wars" bluff about orbiting satellites defending the United States with lasers. Sound crazy? No way. Not after seeing Jedi five times in the cinema. Still speaking of Lucas, the fact that the geeks who deified him for his works are the same geeks who will likely crucify him for his works is probably going to be the subject of many graduate theses over the next 50 years. It is strange for a group of people to demand the divorce of the artist from the art. Of course we geeks do have a very legitimate point on this one. Sometimes the artist really is just plain dead wrong.

7. "Picard, better captain; Kirk, cooler"
I like the way he put this. Since the first day of the internet, geeks have debated which Star Trek captain is better: Kirk from the original series, or Picard from The Next Generation. I've always said Kirk; but most people I know say Picard, which is totally silly. I guess I've always had "cool" as the primary criteria. Picard never really made a bad decision. He was like Iceman. Actually, that's why I don't like him as much. I find the character boring and unrealistic. Picard needed to make more mistakes, be more alpha male and maybe have a few more girlfriends to really compete with Kirk.

8. "Child standing in line at midnight, schools make you dumb"
No doubt he's talking about all the midnight release parties of the Harry Potter books. I'm betting that the whole "schools make you dumb" thing is just his opinion and he's not quoting from some classic geek source... unless it's the video for Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall."

9. "Futurama better than any program with a precocious teenager who is wise beyond years"
This phrase speaks for itself, although I'm not sure why he made this specific comparison. Maybe it's because Futurama's protagonist, Fry, isn't a teen-ager, but actually acts like one.

10. "Buffy is the exception"
This one is self-explanitory, but I will go out on a limb with my geek cred and say that I think the movie is way better than the tv show.

11. "Comic books are an art form"
Self-explanitory. Many are appalled at this statement, but not NEARLY as many as a few short years ago. It is kind of obvious if you think about it. Literature and visual arts are considered two of the highest forms of art already anyway. Sure, sure most comic books are just comic books. But trust me, there are sublime pieces of work out there that quite possibly fit into whatever narrow definition you squeeze art into. You just haven't found it yet.

12. "Good shows die young. Crap shows last too long"
This is general and could probably be taken that way. It may specifically be in reference to the show Firefly which sort of probably sparked this whole hoo-ha. Firefly was actually cancelled before it finished its first season despite the anguished cries of its small, yet devoted following. At the same time, Stargate SG-1 was on for something like 11 years and most sci-fi geeks find this show kind of sci-fi white trash.

13. "Eddie Izzard is the funniest man alive"
I don't know much about Eddie Izzard, but imho, he's nothing to write about really. He was one of the recurring characters in the Ocean's 11 movies, he's somewhat of a comedian and I know he's in this new show on FX with Minnie Driver about a couple of con artists; but other than that, I'm not too familiar. I'm pretty sure he's just a part of the geek creed's author's personal taste and doesn't really belong in part of a geek passion diatribe.

14. "Zombie girls are hotter than Maxim girls"
True, but a little of both is alright too.

15. "Belloch ate that fly"
There is a scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where it appears that a fly goes right into the mouth of the actor who plays Belloq. The actor doesn't respond to presence of the fly in his mouth at all. There is a debate about whether he really did eat the fly or if it was some kind of accidental illusion in the filming process. Geeks feel he really ate it since the rest of the movie is so freaking cool anyway.

16. "Luke called Leia 'Carrie'"
In Star Wars after Luke blows up the Death Star and gets out of his X-Wing Fighter while a Princess Leia-led crowd comes running toward him, he lets out an exhuberant yell which sounds suspiciously like "Carrie!" Princess Leia was played by Carrie Fisher and many people feel that Mark Hamill, who played Luke, broke character during that take.

17. "Samwise never quite got the credit he really deserved"
This, of course, is dealing with the character played by Sean Astin intThe Lord of the Rings movies. The author is probably saying this because most of the other important people in the movie went of to Elf-land while he stayed home (wait! did he? oh no. oh well, I am so over those movies and books. we all really overdosed on them). Anyway, he also may be speaking of how Sam really was the only ring-bearer who had the constant focus and never wavered from the goal of destroying the ring... unlike that whining pansy Frodo.

18. "Magic, dreams, music, movies, library cards. Geeks have already inherited the Earth."
Unfortunately geeks have inherited the Earth. But I kind of liked things better when there weren't so many of us.

daffy laffy taffy

Is it just me or are Laffy Taffy jokes getting way too literal?

Here's the first of today's jokes: "How many vampires does it take to put in a light bulb?" I thought for sure that the answer would be something along the lines of "Two. One to put the light bulb in place and one to hold the protective welder's glass so they don't melt." The answer was simply "None. Vampires like the dark."

The second joke went "What is the best way to keep water from running?" Instead of something like "Cut off its legs," the answer was actually "Don't pay the water bill."

These aren't jokes. They're simply common sense.

These are official Laffy Taffy joke numbers 5 and 6 (strawberry).

the fours of july

July has come and gone and I haven't done a good job of chronicling this pretty decent summer. We all know that July holds a crucial spot as the middle summer month as well as the source of the holy triumvirate of holidays: the 4th of July, the 14th of July and the 24th of July.

Before I get into the fours of July, now may be a good time to post some old nightswimming pics from the June full moon. Apparently nightswimming on the first official full moon of summer is a holiday now. Well, now you know. Spread it!


I don't have any pictures of the 4th of July. They wouldn't let me take my camera into the theater. Maria and I saw Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers and Ratatouille.

Die Hard was adequate. Seems like most people I've talked to have loved it, but I didn't get quite the same thrill out of it I think. The problem may have been that the 21st century villain they got was way too bland. What would it take to bring Alan Rickman back, huh? I mean besides actually resurrecting his character.
I quite liked Transformers in the moment, but the more I think about it, the more I'm annoyed with it. It spent tons of precious time introducing ultra-lame unnecessary characters like the hot hacker chick and the dorks in the secret government agency. Even the main love interest wasn't worth much. My biggest complaint, though, is the lameness of the robots themselves. Yeah, I know they looked cool (they really did), but these things are supposed to be far superior to us. Why did they talk and act like animal actors? They were just robots. They weren't characters in the least bit. For my money, go rent the 1986 Transformers: The Movie (and listen to my commentary of it found right here and here).

Of course my favorite part of both movies was when one of the characters was like, "There's only one hacker on Earth who can save us now..."and then it cuts to some super nerd who lives with his mom. This same scene happened in BOTH movies. The joke may have been funny like 15 years ago, but it was embarrassing to see it within a 24-hour period.

Ratatouille was yawningly brilliant. It was really really good, but I already knew it would be. I'll only say that the alien abduction short at the beginning had both me and Maria crying because we were laughing so hard. We actually had to stifle our laugher, though, because the theater was filled with tired mothers and strollers. Funniest thing I've seen this year and we were the only ones in the sold-out theater laughing.

The 14th was a real groovy time. I feel the 14th is rapidly gaining acceptance. We listened to a lot of Spanish brass band and told a lot of Chuck Norris lore. Still my favorite Chuck Norris story is that he was born in a log cabin he built with his own hands. As promised, here are some photos:

Most of the action was spent on our hardly-seen heli-pad

Here's the view of the slip 'n slide from the heli-pad. Also, Jonny and Ashlie came by! Notice they brought Cafe Rio. Cafe Rio was extremely popular this 14th of JulyIf you can read that warning sign, it's incredibly funny.I got this welt from my bout of fun.

Here's a vid of Dre mastering the plastic with a cartwheel:



I didn't have my camera on the 24th, but as from what I remember Maria and I went to a parade and then ate ourselves silly.

so i know this girl named stephanie

... and I misplaced her email that had her Simpsons avatar in it. But I found it today and so here's the fuller family pic:


See if you can find the new girl.

simpsons summer boogie!

So the Simpsons movie comes out this weekend. The other day I had a waking nightmare that I went to the theater and accidentally bought tickets tothe Catherine Zeta-Jones/Aaron Eckhart charmer No Reservations, instead. *Shudder*

Anyway, here's a grand group photo of much of the whole gang. See if you can find Me, Maria, Rhett, Dre, Regan, Laura, Kaila, Joe and Scott.

the pure-blood muggle song

I finally finished the fifth Harry Potter book a few hours ago. It was later than I had hoped. I wanted to get it done before the movie came out and now I only have 22 hours to read the sixth book before the new book comes out. Then I can spend the next day reading that one. I still wouldn't do it because I'm a fan. I'm just really really scared that I'll hear too many spoilers before I actually get there.

For those of you who haven't read the fifth book, the big event happens on page 806.

As I've already mentioned, I'm getting back into the whole Harry Potter thing to pretty much get down with the rest of the crowd. I am (possibly unnecessarily) critical of the whole thing. My HP grudge could possibly come from several sources. I've always found the universe of HP strangely lopsided. Magic exists in overflowing abundance, but without a sort of actual religious direction, it seems kind of chaotic. Also, magic loses its charm when used so very much. These people cast spells to have things to sit on. Talk about lazy! They're all one step away from becoming a part of the magical Matrix. Most of the characters seem pretty caricature-y more than anything. At least Voldemort is naturally sinister, but just about every other antagonist that comes along has the villainous subtlety of Elmer Fudd. I'm hoping that for the sixth book Fudge, Lucius, Draco, Draco's thugs and whatever other minor villains who pop up will at least carry enough depth to them to actually be taken seriously as a people before Rowling paints the villain tag on them. And personally, if Harry Potter actually went to my school, I probably wouldn't hang out with him. He just doesn't seem like a very fun kid to hang out with.

Anyway, and I'm serious when I say this, I think the biggest reason I have a grudge against Harry Potter is because his name is a combination of Harry Morgan and Sherman Potter. M*A*S*H fans know that Harry Morgan played Col. Sherman Potter at the start of the fourth season. Not only was Col. Potter just about my least favorite character in the series, but his appearance marked a crucial turning point in the show; spurning its brilliant humor from the first three seasons. Strangely, M*A*S*H carried on for seven more years, winning tons of awards and becoming the most-watched show at the height of its mediocrity. Anyway, Harry Potter directly reminds me of that whole sitch. Ever since I was a kid I totally dug the whole fantasy setting, mythical creatures and a tiny dash of the occult. Then along comes this watered down version of the dark arts and the masses jump on board. It's just like all those weak seasons of M*A*S*H.

As long as we're talking about names, what's up with the name "Hogwarts" anyway? Would you like to go to school with such a name? I'm not just nitpicking for the fun of it, actually. I'm just wondering if anybody knows where that name came from. I find the name very interesting based on a sequence of dialogue found in the movie Labyrinth. David Bowie calls the troll named Hoggle "Hedgewart" and then Jennifer Connelly corrects him by saying that his name is "Hogwart" (also incorrect). Could this be where J.K. Rowling got the name?

So I just have to say it first, before anybody gets their hands on the new book. I think that the Durselys are going to save the day in the end. Like, seriously, Harry is going to be battling Voldemort and the Dursleys are going to storm into the room and knock You-Know-Who over with the back of the door. It's either that or Draco will realize suddenly that it's not too late for him to not be a total D.B. and he and Harry will cross their wand streams sending Voldemort back through some weird dimensional door.

hopefully i'll see you all again someday

I'm just about to attempt to transfer to another server. I'm not sure if it will work or not. I'm pretty nervous. If things don't work out, I might switch my blog over to the blogspot URL of jonmadsen.blogspot.com. Of course if things don't work, then there's no way anybody would be able to read this to find out where they're supposed to be reading it at. Arrggh! Anyway, it's been nice knowing you all.

is the world ready for... brokenwaterman?

Remember how last week I mentioned that my water broke when I was taking a shower? Well, I mean the hot water heater in my house started leaking and needed to be shut off. And then a couple of days later I went to a restaurant and the sink tap came off in my hand. So, yeah, yesterday I couldn't quite get the hot water in the sink at work turned off, so I had the maintanence guy check it out and the handle came off in HIS hand. I'm preparing to wreak havoc on the world. I'm gonna break all water, everywhere. Not since the days of Noah will Earth see so many problems with water works.

saturday the 14th strikes back strikes back

I keep forgetting to tell everybody that in the hustle and bustle of the 4th of July and the 24th of July, to not forget about the 14th of July. The 14th of July is the day we celebrate the independence of the street we live on. To celebrate there will be an outdoor party of sorts at my house. It's bring your own fast food and/or pizza. We're gonna have a running water hose (and possibly slip 'n slide on the curvy lawn), Guitar Hero, maybe some Bang, uh... iPod music maybe, free non-alcholic non-carbonated non-sugar drinks... Anyway, just come. I'm guessing around 4 or 5ish. Call or email for directions.

i wanna pop pt. 2 (temple of doom)

So the first 2007 episode of The World Series of Pop Culture was on last night. For those of you who don't remember deep into my past, please read here and here and here.

I'm sorry to say that, like many sequels, I felt slightly humiliated afterwards. I had a much harder time with a few of the questions. Of course pop culture contains too broad of a spectrum. Being an expert in pop culture is like being an expert in science. In our society, we have metaphysicists, rocket scientists, chemists, astronomers, psychiatrists, podiatrists, etc; but we don't have too many people with the title "expert in science." Even the greatest pop culture affecianadoes get a perfume commercial curveball thrown at them every once in a while.

I could tell that, however, I'm losing much of my prowess. I may need to pass the torch to the younger people I watched the show with. Maria, Rhett and Dre patiently watched the show with me; faithfully abiding by my rule that they couldn't answer the questions until I first informed them that I had an answer myself. The first two teams in the competition were named "Fat Guys in Little Coats" and "Motherboy." Dre immediately got the Arrested Development reference of Motherboy, which was shamefully lost on the rest of us. Bad sign for me, but I am proud of Dre.

Anyway, the first category in the game was something about 2006 celebrity squabbles. Immediately I knew this was off to a bad start since I'm not much of a subscriber of current celebrity gossip in the world of pop culture. I only missed one question this round. It had to do with one of the Grey's Anatomy stars in the recent feud I constantly hear about, but don't much care for. The answer was T.R. Knight. I don't know who that is. Unfortunately, the "Fat Guys" contestant knew the answer. I proudly answered "Nas" to the question regarding Jay-Z's big beef, while the Motherboy contestant didn't know. I love that old song "If I Ruled the World." Don't you? The following answers both I and the contestants answered correctly:

Rosie O'Donnell
Ryan Seacrest
Lindsay Lohan
Kanye West

Round 2: Scary Movies. A movie synopsis was given and the contestants had to name the movie being described. The contestants and I answered all six questions correctly:

The Ring
Child's Play
Amityville Horror (both Maria and Rhett had confident different guesses, but I pulled this one out of nowhere without ever actually seeing it because the "1979" was one of the clues and I knew Poltergeist was an 80s flick)
The Fly
28 Days Later
Jacob's Ladder

This round then went to the speed round. It required that one contestant had to name a movie nominated for the "Best Animated Film" Academy Award. The next contestant then had to name another one and so on until someone draws a blank or incorrectly answers. This one was sort of harder to gauge because if I were in their shoes I know that kind of pressure would really get to me. I successfully wrote down the following before the round came to an end:

Finding Nemo
Cars
Monsters Inc.
Shrek
The Incredibles
Ice Age

If I actually did get the opportunity to be a part of the show, the speed round would kill me.

Round 3: Jingle All the Way. This round had to do with commercial jingles. I missed TWO on this round. Horrible. Commercials shouldn't have anything to do with this competition anyway. One question had to do with some kind of perfume. The contestant, Rhett and I all guessed "White Diamonds," but the answer was "Anjelie" or something. The other question I missed had to do with Darius Rucker appearing in a Burger King ad. This is what separates me from a professional pop culture guru. I don't care for Darius Rucker or Burger King, so there's no way to know the answer that question. A more professional pop culture expert would still study that which he loathes. Correct answers for this round all around:

Big Red
Mounds
Justin Timberlake (I guess he lent his voice to McDonald's. It was just a guess)
Nair

This round also had a lightning round -- an easier one. The object was to name as many characters from the pilot episode of Lost as possible. I aced this by naming all of these before the contestants:

Jack
Sawyer
Kate
Walt
Michael
Boone
Shannon
Sayid
Locke
Jin
Sun
Charlie
Claire

One contestant said "Hurley" before I had a chance to write him down. Maria also correctly got "Rose." The only one nobody got was I think the name of the U.S. marshall who died a couple of episodes later.

Round 4: something to do with insanity. This round featured lyrics from songs that have a loose connection with mental illness and the contestants were required to name the song. I missed "Maniac" by Michael Sembello. I was and am quite ashamed. For some reason the opening lyrics to the song got me thinking of "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. The Fat Guy missed that one as well, but the Motherboy contestant answered correctly. Other correct answers from this round:

"Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley
"I Wanna Be Sedated" by The Ramones
"Basketcase" by Green Day

Motherboy won the game in that round, which made me happy. Fat Guys in Little Suits were pretty goobery and had a stupid never-very-funny joke name. Motherboy made pop culturists at least look a little cool.

The episode we watched had one more game, this time between a team called "White Russians" and a team called "Remo Leen Teen Teen." The Remo team, I think, was three siblings. Looking over my notes I realize I actually only missed one question this whole game, but I'm pretty sure Remo Leen Teen Teen didn't even miss one. The question I missed was in the first round which had to do with Quentin Tarantino movies. It had to do with some actor who played somebody in True Romance (which isn't entirely a Tarantino movie). Anway, I guessed Eric Stoltz, but the correct answer was apparently Brad Pitt. Here are the correct answers for this particular first round. Can you come up with the questions? C'mon, let's make it fun. Remember the category is "Quentin Tarantino Movies."

his ear
Royale with cheese
a samurai sword
Black Mamba
Tim Roth (I amazingly pulled this name out of my head despite never actually seeing Reservoir Dogs (but I did read the screenplay))

Round 2: pop hits of the 80s. Here are the correct answers to some of the 80s lyrics mentioned:

"Love is a Battlefield"
"When Doves Cry"
"Every Little Thing She Does is Magic"
"Rock the Casbah"

Round 3: physical challenge. An actor and year were given and the contestants had to identify the movie in which the actor had to undergo some kind of crazy physical change to suit their character. Here are the correct movies. See if you can identify the actor or actress in each question that had to shape up, make up or fatten up for each film.

Terminator 2
Frida
American History X
Full Metal Jacket
Best in Show (this particular one involved orthodontic devices)

Remo Leen Teen Teen seems like quite a group to beat. I will be watching them with great interest (and not just because one of them looks like Apache Chief from Superfriends).

I'm sad to not be doing this, but I'm holding out for next year.

i break things

Over the weekend our hot water heater started leaking and as a result our cooler started pumping in mildew air. The hot water needed to be shut off, but our shower is one of those single knob thingies connected straight to the water heater. As a result I can't even take a cold shower if I wanted to. Landlord Roger says he couldn't get a plumber to come under warranty until tomorrow morning. I'll bet money that he only just called a plumber after I called him and left a message wondering what the status of getting a plumber this morning like he said he would on Friday.

This past Saturday I broke new ground in white trashiness by bathing in my backyard with a hose.

Today, I came into work to discover that my Motion project I tried to save over the weekend failed to do so. So I decided to export it into a Quicktime movie once more. After an hour of the computer working on it, the display said it still had three hours to complete the task. I asked my friend at work Steve how long it takes to export a one-minute Motion project. "It depends," he said. I asked if it usually takes four hours. "Never," he said. I then asked him why it was behaving the way it was. "Because you broke it I guess," he said. "That's what you do. You break things."

He was being sarcastic, but had a point. I've always wanted to be the one to make things better. It'd be nice to be someone who could naturally fix things. Instead I have the super power of being able to break things automatically. I suppose I can't be a superhero with this power. I can really only be a villain.

So a few of us went to lunch at the Smokehouse restaurant. I was surprised to find that they had sinks right in the dining area, so we all washed our hands. When I turned on the hot water, the handle came off in my hand.

xxx - kelly wilkinson

an old friend from forever ago turned 30 today. he was in third grade with me. i remember it was funny that he was born 07/07/77. anyway, just something i remember. haven't spoken to him since i was 8.

for those of you sick of reading

Many people know that I started a genuine podcast a while ago. Check out the new link on the right side of the page! Like blogs, there will be a time that everyone on Earth will have a podcast, so I figured I may as well get a jump on things.

My particular podcast is strangely informative, addicting and easy to use. Right now it's tentatively known as "The Jon Madsen Movie Commentary Podcast" (although I'm considering changing the title to "The Vomitary"). As you can guess, for each podcast episode, I (and possibly a couple of guests) watch a movie while commenting on it. That means that in order to authentically enjoy my podcast, you should watch the movie dvd while you listen to me comment about the movie on mp3.

So here's the deal. I'm starting a blog to correspond with the podcast which can be found at www.jonsmoviecommentary.blogspot.com. For those of you who subscribe to RSS feeds, you can go to the podcast feed right here. If any of you use iTunes, go here. You can subscribe and the podcast will automatically download right to your computer. So get on it! Also, go ahead and click here to vote for me on Podcast Alley. Podcast Alley is a sort of podcast directory. The more votes the JMMCP gets, the more likely people will check it out. So vote away!

Btw, I've already completed several completed episodes, so feel free to head straight here and catch up.

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