... And we're back.

      Like I said, my good days are few and far between.  Today consisted of putting in for bereavement time and being told that making a new drink for our "Staff Creations" menu was a firing offense.  Fun fun fun.  I just think it's fuckin' stoopid to do that.  Not they bereavement thing, the drink thing.  I got the OK from the cafe supervisor and we have a big official "Staff Creations" menu in a large 3-ring binder.  And a price sheet.  It's considered stealing?  Do me a favor!  First of all, it was a small (literally, that was the size of the cup) drink.  I don't "create" a new drink every day.  And we get free coffee to begin with.  Which I don't partake of all that much.  I stick to tea and water.  For another, it's a fucking good drink!  Ass.
      On the brighter side of life, I've finished a mix I promised Jeff for Hannukah.  Not exactly an even trade, I know, but it's something.  It started as a simple mix, evolved into a holiday gift and then grew into a 5 volume extravaganza.  It's all complete, assembled and volumized, titled as well.  There are 3 main discs.  They are each soundtracks to ideas of films.  I gave Jeff an early listen to volume one.  If someone's going to get an advanced copy, it's going to be Jeff.  Well, me, then Jeff.  Anyway.  He liked it.  A lot.  Something about having "excellent focus on constancy and flow".  Of course he also said that I'm "an introspective but to the point of mental claustrophobia".
      The first three volumes are the main event.  After that there are two b-side collections.  Tonight, I will give you the first 3.  Soon, the b sides.  These are permanent links with unlimited bandwidth.  So download whenever you want, as often as you'd like.  This ain't no crappy-ass 7 day event.  Just to let you know.
      And so, I present you with

Dory My Firned
A Soundtrack in Parts

1 - Where a Brooding Hero is Introduced

2 - A Party Takes Place

3 - A Journey of Self Involved Discovery

      To listen, simply rename the .mms to .zip.  Extract and enjoy.   The up coming b sides are entitled 4 - B Sides of Off Kilter Folk and 5 - B Sides of Camp Await.  They are less coherent, but still carefully constructed.  The choices were more random, the placement more deliberate.  When I post them I'll also include a full track list for all the discs.  I apologize, but dics one is about 20 seconds over the 80 minute mark.  I may trim a bit and repost.  Till then, that is all.

Today was (finally) a good day.

       After an incredibly trying week, today was a good day. And I damn well deserved it. It started when I woke up, slowly and comfortably in the arms of my lover, with a terrible rain. A rain that washed away the snow and ice I was supposed to shovel today. Many a w00t was said. I came downstairs to the news that my car was fine, with a new battery, and ready to be picked up. Hoorah!        What could be next? A gift of A History of Violence (which I keep wanting to call A Short History of Violence...)? Finding that the Regal on route 1 is playing Fight Club for the forseable future? How about both. But I wasn't in the mood for Fight Club. Not today. Instead Al and I headed into Princeton and found that Tristram Shandy is playing at the cozy little theatre there, where I last went to and saw Pi. The movie was great, and an extended review will come shortly, but before that we did a PREx run. And look what I got. Now, keep in mind I haven't listened to all of these, nor even heard some of the bands, but it is still quite a good haul.

Stay Awake	Satan's Circus
Who Killed....... The Zutons? by The Zutons	The Way to Salvation by King Missle
All This Useless Beauty by Elvis Costello and the Attractions	Business as Usual by Men at Work
Singles Collection by Spandau Ballet	Orson Welles at the Movies

       Stay Awake is the only album I've had a chance to listen to. It's an interesting mix though; it's A bunch of A*M artists "reinterpreting" old Disney songs. Highlights include "Stay Awake" by Suzanne Vega, "Heigh Ho" by Tom Waits and Sun Ra's version of "Pink Elephants on Parade". It's all very creepy, all a bit off. In a good way. And the two pieces in the liner notes, one by Hal Willner and the other by Leonard Maltin, are both worth a read. The close of my day? Thomas' Sweets: chocolate malt and chocolate mousse ice cream, followed by a listen to Stay Awake and a more hit or miss album, The Gershiwn Project.

A quick update from the outpost

       This will be a fragmented update as my life doesn't have much of a linear flow at the moment.  The biggest thing is that I will be going to ComicCon.  I got a free 3 day pass from work and I think that qualifies me as hot shit.  Don't worry; you the viewer are yourself justified in your envy.  Of both my ComicCon excursion and my proper use of the semicolon.  Bitches.  I 've been working on my schedule and think I may take the con solo.  My tastes differ from most going (not graphic design or game or anime or manga oriented).  I am taking the panel discussion/comic writer/film screening route.  I am more a connoisseur than a fanboy.  If you ask anyone I like or work with (wink) then you'll know that I have not been this excited over an event since the president was chocking on a pretzel.  Ah, good times those were.  

       Moving backwards in time, I recently had a lovely Valentines day.  Al and I went ahead and celebrated it on the 10th, thereby beating the rush.  It was lovely, though there were some rocky instances dealing with trains.  We went to see The Producers.  It was funny.  Most of you know how I feel about Mel Brooks, but this was still good.  Comparisons to the movie don't apply.  What does is the energy it was assembled with.  The book, music, sets and all that.  Very well done.  In my own personal universe this sets the bar for a standard.  That may sound like a backhanded compliment but it's not.  Kudos, Mel.

       I've started a new book.  Well, not exactly new.  It was published in '98 and I bought it a few months ago.,  But I just found it in an old back-pack.  So it's new to me.  Anyway, I started it tonight and came across this entry:

I tied to copy other children but lacked their tough skin.  I was a glove turned inside-out, softness showing.  I was the visceral place between mouth and bowel, the region of digestion and rumination.  No doubt it is my spleen that refuses to locate the seat of reason in the head.  No doubt it is my natural acidity that fears the milkiness of the heart.        This story is a journey through the thinking gut.

And that is just sexy.  The book is called GUT Symmetries.  It plays on both the physical gut, the emotional seat of intuition and the G.U.T. (Grand Unified Theory).  It's romance, poetic prose and quantum physics.  Just a few pages in and my review is "lick this book". 

       In other book news, Trickster Makes This World is coming along beautifully.  I'm loving it, taking notes and readying myself for a series of short stories that have been turning around on the wheel for quite some time. 

      That's about it for now.  I hope to get some writing done this week.  It's been a while since I've been able to give myself time and put things down.  Maybe a portfolio for a newspaper application...

Virals and memes

Well, I see it's been about a month so I guess it's time to post again. It's been interesting and busy, but I'm not sure how much of the last month I want to hash out again so I'm going to keep this pretty light. Quick note, Kate is completely psychotic. I don't mean crazy like "dem crazy dames" or even Tom Cruise crazy. I mean "I don't know what reality is" crazy. If you read this, I just wanted to tell you. If not, it's still a good warning for everyone else. Virals. I've been telling people about some great sites and virals that I've come across recently. Since some are from friends of friends I thought it'd be nice to consolidate them. Someone posted the "Shining" re-edit preview a while back and that got me thinking to other edits. So I hunted them down like dirty animals and collected them here for you.

The Shining - One of the best, if not the best, I've seen. It's spot on and so tight. Not a wasted cut. And the sound choice is superb.

Titanic - I think this is from the same group. Also a good one, though easier material.

Brokeback to the Future - Oh, it's as bad as it sounds. But better...

Sleepless in Seattle - Cut too fast. It could have been sharper if they used longer bits. Funny, though.

Star WOz - A strange mash of Star Wars and Wizard of Oz. It has it's moments.

Lord of the Rink - A LOTR sports cut up for contest. It's cute, but it didn't win.

West Side Story - Now with zombies.

Psycho: A Love Story - This one isn't quite good but I put it here to be thorough. It takes the easy, heavy-handed way through the whole thing. Nice idea, bad follow through.

The Passion of Benny Hill - Chad told me to watch it. Need I say more? And just for him, this link.

Fast Times at Hero High - Actually, this is a really short film. The trailer is all original and one of the funniest things I've seen in fandom ever. Smooth move, Hamilton.

That's it for movies. The rest of this I got from someone else's blog so I can't take credit for finding them. This will take you to an awesome keyboard. I'm not kidding. It will make you wet, nerd or not. It's just... great aesthetics. This last link is to a Wired article about free and innovative games. Strange Attractors is addicting as anything, so be careful. Snood careful. Facade is sickeningly voyerisitic and enthralling. The fact that you can intterupt and say anything at any time is great. No choose your own adventure, this.

That's about it for web stuff. I'll be back soon, probably with some music reviews. Maybe politics. You know that's how I roll, folks.

And for some strange reason I can't indent on LJ anymore...