Friday, December 23, 2005

Christmastime is here again

Another year, another trip home for the holidays. Unfortunately, this year I'm flying in on Christmas Eve, but hopefully we'll still make the evening service at our church. I might be meeting up with Phil at some point while I'm home, but that's kind of up in the air until Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I'm looking forward to seeing all the friends and family in the area, but there's going to be a lot of running around to do. I hope I can keep my energy up. Merry Christmas everyone, and happy New Year.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Of apes and men

Man, I love Vern's writing style. He's always good for a laugh. I doubt I'll go see Brokeback Mountain, though. It might be worth a rental.

I saw King Kong Sunday. That was a very strange movie. I thought it would be a great adventure flick, and I really admire Peter Jackson, but at one point a character even says "This isn't an adventure, is it?", and gets a reply of "No." Or maybe a head shake, I'm not sure. But they're right, this movie aspires to be something more than an adventure, and ends up a little bit creepy.

I picked up the new Frighteners dvd, which came with a free ticket to King Kong, and I still really enjoy that movie. I saw it in theaters when it came out, and as I recall it was actually pushed back because there was a mass murder in Tasmania just before it was supposed to be released, where some guy killed around twenty people in an afternoon. Jackson's a New Zealander, but they're close enough to Australia (kind of like Canada is to America) that it would be a pretty sensitive time. I was over there in Melbourne about a year later, and I don't remember ever hearing a peep about the incident, unlike, say, Columbine.

Anyway, Jackson has always liked scaring his audience, and King Kong is no exception, but in addition to an adventure movie and a horror flick, he also wants it to be a love story. And I just didn't buy it. I don't care how good of an actress Naomi Watts is, I don't care to see her fall in love with a giant ape. These long takes of them staring into each other's eyes just made me want to laugh. If you're going to see this one, make sure you don't expect a non-stop thrill ride, and it might help to have someone with you to share the joke.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Work and plans

I haven't felt like writing much lately. I finally got all my video editing programs installed, which I'd been putting off in order to hear back from the companies that I'd be able to re-register them first, and I'm still waiting to hear from one of them. Now that they're on the PC, I have to deal with the fact that I have a project to finish by mid-January.

I recovered all my writing, and some of my pictures, but none of my business records. I'll have to recreate them for tax season, which is just around the corner, unless Ramzi can give me the gift of file recovery. I'm mailing him my hard drives. On the other hand, the day job is going well, and I have a week off to travel to Indiana for the holidays.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, it's not all bad news. I got to return the keyboard/mouse combo since there was nothing wrong with my old mouse and a friend gave me a wireless keyboard that wasn't being used. That's $40 back in my pocket. I got my dvd burner and scanner in the mail today, and both are plugged in and running. I'm just about back up to speed. I even found a cd with three of the songs I recorded on it, including the one original. That's a relief.

I'm going to Houston tomorrow for Thanksgiving with Phil's family. We went last year, too, and it was good. I have to work Friday, though, so it'll be a lot of driving. I hope everyone stays safe on the roads.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

There's a hole in my hard drive.

Back up your files

In a word, ugh.

So I just spent the last ten days dealing with the fact that my computer blew up on Thursay, the 10th. I should have seen it coming, since it had been making a weird noise for several weeks, but it still kind of knocked me sideways. First, the monitor went blank, then there was a loud pop. Suddenly, all you could hear was the case fans, then those died too. After that, I switched the power off in back of the PC. I figured the power supply had blown, and I was right, but that wasn't all.

Elements lost in the meltdown:

motherboard
2 internal hard drives
power supply
scanner (USB)
keyboard
video card
USB card
firewire card (not entirely fried, but spotty)

Elements that survived:

CPU
RAM
printer
mic (USB)
external hard drive (USB)
sound card
monitor
modem
speakers
floppy drive (I got a new one anyway)
mouse (ditto, since it came with the keyboard)
camera cradle (USB)

As you can see, it could have been worse. On the other hand, since I had to replace the motherboard I went ahead and got the latest model, meaning I also had to upgrade my CPU and RAM, which aren't cheap. So far it's cost me about $680 to get back up to speed.

The worst part is, if I can't recover one of the hard drives, I'll have lost all the digital photos I've taken since September 2004, including the murals I shot over the summer. And all the songs I'd recorded. Not to mention all my business records and a couple of things I've written that were saved on a floppy disk that won't read for some reason. Sigh.

Monday, October 31, 2005

Blood on Halloween

I gave blood today for the third time in my life. A local radio station was promoting its Tenth Annual Hemogoblin Halloween blood drive (clever that), and I stopped in after work since it was pretty much right down the road from my place.

The first time I gave blood was not a pleasant experience. It was when I was working in Dallas, and every year they brought the big bus to our parking lot and many people took the chance for a decent afternoon break from work. After the extensive screening process, I settled into the chair and they inserted the needle. I didn't really know what to expect, but I realized my reaction was less than optimal when I started getting light-headed. I had never been squeamish around my own blood, having seen it often enough as a teenager with almost daily nosebleeds. I told the nurse I was a little dizzy, and she said I was almost done. Once they pulled the needle out, either they didn't tell me to stop squeezing the ball to make the blood flow or I was too out of it to hear them. Either way, I ended up with a huge bruise on my forearm that took about a month to clear up, turning from dark purple to greenish yellow before fading away. Later that afternoon, I tried taking the stairs a little too quickly, having already forgotten the warnings, and nearly passed out standing upright.

It was a couple of years before I gave blood again, shortly before I was laid off. It might have even been October. I felt like I should give it another try, seeing as how my dad had been giving at least a couple of times a year for most of his life. I have O-negative blood, which I'm told is always in high demand because anybody can receive it, and I figured I just had a rotten first experience. This time, we tried the other arm, and happily I had no bruise or dizziness. Same thing today, and it only took me five minutes to fill the pint bag. I think I should start going back more often, now that I'm signed up in Austin. The biggest reason I hadn't done it since I'd moved down here was the agency I used in Dallas is nowhere to be found. But it's a good cause, and I got a free T-shirt and some cookies. What more could I ask for?

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Hat trick

I saw three movies today, back to back to back. I haven't done that in a while.

First, I had The Hot Spot from Netflix, starring Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, and Jennifer Connelly. It's based on a book called Hell Hath No Fury, was directed by Dennis Hopper, and this is an overlooked gem. Don Johnson plays edgy, brooding, and violent, and pulls it off with gusto. Virginia Madsen hams it up with an over-the-top accent, but she just oozes sex appeal from the first time she appears. I have to admit, I find Jennifer Connelly's eyebrows strangely fascinating, and she was in her Career Opportunities phase (read: age) when this came out, so the movie's got that going for it. This one's got a nice twist ending that you almost never see, but it seems so obvious you can't imagine it any other way (unless you like Hollywood horseshit).

Next up, I went and saw Doom in the theater. I was a little worried this one wouldn't live up to the source material, but I enjoyed the hell out of this flick (so to speak). It's no Aliens, but it's miles better than any other video game movie I've ever seen. I'm looking at you, Resident Evil. The look and feel of the sets is perfectly matched (although I did wonder why they only rarely turned on the lights when they entered a pitch black room), and all the monsters look just like they did in the game, with the effects upgraded for the big screen of course. Plus, there's a twist in the last half hour that is at once completely true to the game (the movie's actually based on Doom 3), and still unexpected. I was quite pleased with the execution of this adaptation.

Lastly, I had another movie through Netflix called Finder's Fee. My dad recommended this one, and he was right. This is a surprisingly good movie you've almost certainly never heard of. The standouts are James Earl Jones, Ryan Reynolds, and Matthew Lillard, but the whole thing holds together great under Jeff Probst's (!) direction. This has been my day of twist endings, because this movie has one too, but this one feels a little more tacked on (or at least unexplained) than The Hot Spot's. It all takes place in one apartment, but it never feels claustrophobic, and they never used the same shot that I noticed. The acting is the main attraction here, especially if you're into small group dynamics and surprise.

That about sum's up my day, other than rejoicing in my new phone that actually works and is fun to use. I can even watch clips from the Daily Show on it. How cool is that?

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Looking back

I've been in a nostalgic mood lately, which reached its logical conclusion tonight, when I went rifling through some old writings, drawings, and other papers I've collected over the years. When I was in middle school, one of my teachers had us write a letter to our future selves, to be delivered by him ten years later. I had just moved to Texas when my mother received mine, and I remember the confusion when she asked me about that strange piece of mail over the phone. She recognized my writing on the envelope, but why would I mail it to my old address? I don't think I remembered what it was at the time, but I had her send it on to me, and it was something of a shock to open it and get that little window into my young mind. By 23, I had written, I expected to have a car (check), a college degree (check), a house (nope), and be a pilot (wrong again-I gave that up senior year of high school, when I decided to focus on writing).

As I've gotten older, I've become a lot more reflective, especially in the last two or three years. Not so much long term, but in that I try to always examine my own reactions and motivations. If I get angry at something, I stop and think about why. If I say something and regret it, I try to remember what I was thinking at the time. It's occurred to me that this kind of behavior could be paralyzing if taken too far, but hopefully I'll never reach that point.

Maybe I'm overcompensating, but I took a course on hang gliding last Saturday at a local school through UT's informal classes. When I was in New Zealand, I did both sky diving and white water rafting. Eventually I'll get to bungie jumping, and not far north of Austin there's a zip line operation through the Texas treetops I plan to try out soon. I can't claim to be eXtreme, but I do enjoy trying new things, even (maybe especially) if they're dangerous.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Latest entertainments

I went and saw Tim Burton's Corpse Bride last week, pretty interesting flick. It's apparently loosely based on a Russian folk tale, but I would have to agree with some of the reviews that characterized it as "thin". Nobody but Burton would have ever made this movie, but I wonder how it might have turned out in the hands of, say, Pixar. The craftsmanship in the models was very impressive, but the acting didn't seem to be big enough, at least for the main characters, to match the performances the animators managed to achieve. The Nightmare Before Christmas was better all around.

Last night, I picked up a DVD of the Black Keys performing live in Sydney, Australia. I had to find something they put out, and I picked the DVD because 1) it was cheap, maybe less than one of their albums, 2) it may have been seeing them on stage that got me so excited about their music, and 3) I tend not to listen to blues on the radio or even CD, and I'm not sure why.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Fun at the dentist's office

I had my root canal yesterday morning. It wasn't bad. It only took about fifteen or twenty minutes after the numbing was complete and they really got to work. It wasn't painful, but I wouldn't want to do it again, either. There was something very disconcerting about how I could tell what they were doing by the movements and sounds without feeling anything. I took three ibuprofen after I got to work, and had a fat lip for a couple of hours, but it went away. I'll be going back many times before all the work is done, unfortunately, but at least this potentially painful problem has been dealt with.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Live strong

Saw Sheryl Crow play a free concert at Auditorium Shores tonight for the Lance Armstrong celebration. It was good, but not really as exciting as her set at ACL Fest last year. There were lots of kids onstage and dancing around.

It sounds like Lance has decided not to go for an eighth win. He says his new struggle will be to cure cancer. Good luck, man.

Monday, September 26, 2005


ACL Music Festival 2005 Posted by Picasa

Dear God, it was hot

Went to ACL Fest yesterday, and for the first time we almost left mid-afternoon because we weren't having any fun. I found out today, the high temperature recorded yesterday was 108 degrees. It was so hot I started feeling a little nauseous, and I had to sit in the cooler SBC tent for about 40 minutes with one of those little spray fans to cool off. The last four or five hours was a much better time, as the sun went down and the music heated up.

Around 5:30pm, there was a dust cloud beginning to rise from all the people criss-crossing the park and the fact that we haven't seen any rain to speak of in the last month or so. All the grass was dead, where there was any at all, and the dirt was very fine. Apparently this was a problem all three days but I hadn't heard about it, so when people started donning surgical masks it was a bit of a surprise. Some people were just wearing bandannas over their faces, but one guy we saw actually had a box of masks he was handing out, if you can believe it.

The big surprise for me this year was the Black Keys, who put on a scorching blues rock set. This was one of the greatest live performances I've ever witnessed. They're from Akron, OH, up near Cleveland I think, and they blew me away. Two guys, singer-guitarist and drummer.

Next year, I'm thinking about getting a three-day pass so I can leave and come back, which you can't do with a one-day pass. Then, if they predicted this kind of heat, I could wait until late afternoon each day to go out, or go early, leave for the hottest part of the afternoon, then come back in the evening.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

My week of music

Completely unexpectedly, I found myself with a ticket to the taping of Austin City Limits last night, courtesy of Phil. We got in line around 5:30pm for the 8:00pm taping of Franz Ferdinand. These guys totally rocked. People were stomping their feet and dancing, and the guys on stage were so into it. At one point the lead singer jumped on the bass drum while he was playing guitar. After they left the stage, there was about a half hour intermission, then What Made Milwaukee Famous played. Phil and I have both seen them several times and it was getting late, so we only stayed for the first three songs. I think they've got a shot at the big time.

I'm going to ACL Fest today, which will mark the fourth day in a row I've been out seeing music. I love Austin.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Known city

Just got back from Red's Scoot Inn, over in the now-familiar East Austin, where I got to see two really cool bands for $5 on the open air patio and was still home by 11:30pm. The Texas Sapphires are a bluegrass band that got the feet stompin', and Chili Cold Blood are a rockabilly trio with emphasis on the rock. Not only that, but I went inside just in time to hear a perfect cover of "On the Borderwalk" played by a few old-timers to a full house. I heard they were playing Neil Young covers before that. Awesome.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Blinking in the headlights

I went to see a retired general named Paul Van Riper speak last week. He led the "enemy" in a war simulation conducted in 2002 to test the military's new theories about information awareness in achieving victory in war. He beat the "good" team pretty spectacularly by using their expectations against them. I remember reading about this in the papers when it happened. Then, the orders came down from above that the game was being reset so that the "good" team could win and the Pentagon could announce the success of its new theories and apply them to Iraq. If this sounds like a load of crap to you, welcome to the neocons' America.

There's a chapter on Van Riper in the book Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell. It's about "rapid cognition", and the ability we all seem to have to make snap judgments that are as accurate as reasoned positions in some circumstances. Some people appear to be better at this than others, but it's Gladwell's position that this can be used to improve behavior as long as there are constraints applied that are designed to mitigate unconscious prejudices that color our responses. It's a fascinating book, and very well-written.

But one of the most interesting things about it is the author's tackling of the limits of rapid cognition. Instead of brushing them aside, or trying to reduce their significance, he really delves into the evidence that our snap judgments are often wrong when they are made unconstrained, so to speak. Since he's advocating more use of them in the decision-making processes we engage in as a society, this carries a real risk of undermining his argument. I have to applaud him for being intellectually honest and not shirking his duty to the audience.

By the way, I collared the general after his speech to ask him if he saw any coordination between the political and military arms in the U.S. government's response to Islamist militarism, to which he responded "No, not at all." This is hugely discouraging, coming from someone in such a position to know the facts of the situation.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Tooth and consequences

I found out earlier this week that I have an abscessed tooth, which is going to require a root canal to save it. Alternatively, I can wait a few years while the tooth turns black and then falls out. The dentist asked me if I remembered any blow to the mouth or other event that might have killed the tooth, saying it may have been five or more years ago that it happened. Nothing comes to mind.

In addition to that, I also have a few tiny cavities forming on my molars. He took a bunch of digital pictures and brought them up on his laptop to see for myself. Sure enough, they're tiny but distinct. He said I can treat them now and get small fillings that are pretty much invisible, or wait while they grow and eventually have a mouth that looked like his, at which point he opened up and gave me a good look. Every visible molar in his mouth looked completely metallic. It also turns out he was a fighter as a young man, and his perfect front teeth are all false replacements for the ones that got knocked out. No wonder he got interested in dentistry.

I hadn't been to the dentist in about 18 months, because I didn't have insurance for about a year, and then I had to wait for my new job's insurance to kick in. I kept up the same routine I'd followed since moving away from home, brushing my teeth every day and never flossing. My last dentist told me repeatedly I should floss, but every time I went in for a cleaning he and his assistants always told me I was doing a good job keeping them clean. If they look great, and I'm keeping them clean, why change?

This new dentist actually took the time to explain to me about gum disease and a bunch of other stuff that my old dentist never had. Now granted, this meant we didn't have time for my cleaning, which is why I was there in the first place (I go back for that this Tuesday), but still, this is the kind of individual attention so obviously lacking in most of the health care industry these days. And if I didn't have insurance, maybe I'd be angry with him for coming up with all these expenses that could save me future costs in both pain and money. But his mouth cost him $20,000. He told me to think of the stuff I need to have done now as an investment in my retirement, and I think he's right.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005


Pickin' and grinnin'. Posted by Picasa

More visiting

My buddy Lyndon, on the right in the picture above, is planning on coming down to Austin the beginning of October. He's one of the best people for running a cookout that I've ever encountered. I'll have to make sure to have some meat on hand worthy of his skills.

Meanwhile, I continue to win kudos for my own chops at making desserts. I prepared a Jello dessert on Sunday from a box that my mom brought with her a couple weeks ago and took it in to work yesterday. I must say, it was delicious.

Hopefully, we'll get to play some guitar while he's down here. It's been a long time since we actually sat down and played some tunes.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Visiting

Just wrapped up a visit with the folks for the holiday weekend. It was good seeing them, and we got to see a lot of the town. We didn't make it out to Lockhart, though, maybe next time.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Moving on

I wrapped up the mural project today with a couple more hours in East Austin. I hadn't realized it until recently, but there are no Dairy Queens in North or Central Austin. I'd seen some in South Austin, and when I came across one on the east side today I stopped for a Blizzard. I hadn't had one in months, maybe even a year or more. I used to have one a week when I lived just down the road from a Dairy Queen in DFW.

I left a little too late this afternoon, so the sun was too low in the sky for optimal pictures, but since I only came across two sites today it wasn't a big deal. The worst part was that the sun was in my eyes when I was driving. I'll have to get to work on the website soon, but I'll probably put it off until after the folks come down for a visit this week.

Gettin' into the groove

Last week, samba; last night, salsa. We went to Copa's downtown, and there was quite a crowd. There was a short lesson before hand, which didn't cover all that much, but it was only $5 and got you in without a cover, so it was worth it. I can't say I got it down on my first night, but I did all right. I need to learn how to lead better apparently, since J said that's what makes it a lot easier for the woman, and she was having more trouble reading me than the others she danced with.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

New activities

Just got back from my second Round Rock Express baseball game. I've had free tickets from work both times, but this was a lot more fun than the first game I went to, when they were playing an exhibition game agains the Houston Astros. That time I didn't get inside the stadium until the 7th inning, while this time I got to my seat by the time they started the Pledge of Allegiance.

Dell Diamond is a really nice stadium, but it certainly feels small. We came close to getting beaned by no less than 4 foul balls in about ten minutes near the end. Tonight was also better because the Express won, instead of getting creamed by about ten runs.

The soreness I avoided after dancing last week caught up to me after capoeira and roller skating Tuesday night. I hadn't been on skates in years, and it took a couple of hours for me to get comfortable on them again. For some reason, it's always two days after I overexert myself that I get sore, rather than the next day. Anyways, I've been limping around today, but I know the exercise is good for me and I hope I keep it up.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Getting closer

Did another two and a half hours of driving around East Austin this afternoon, photographing murals and learning the area. I think I've got one more day's worth to do before I call it a wrap. Then, I'll have to design a website, shrink the photos, and buy a domain name to post them at.

It's an open question whether I'll continue the project in the future for South Austin, or any other part, but there are quite a few murals very close to where I live that I'll likely shoot just to have them.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Dancing the night away

Last night, I ate some superb Middle Eastern/Indian food at Ararat, then went dancing at a relatively new Brazilian club called Casa Brasil. Both are really close to where I live, and I'd never been to either.

I've never been much of a dancer. I had the common experience of stiff backed, back-and-forth, slow dancing in middle and high school, which mixed with headbanging as grunge gained popularity in the early '90's, and morphed into the white guy shuffle in college. I never cared much for it unless I was at least slightly tipsy, since that gave me the courage to ask women to dance or just sidle up next to them and hope for the best.

But last night was very fun. A young lady invited me to meet her there for the weekly live Brazilian band playing on the back patio, and we learned to samba, although she already had some experience. We started off simply watching other dancers, then got some amusing instruction from an older gentleman who kept interrupting us to improve our form. He couldn't take the hint once we got the hang of it, so we retreated to the back of the dance floor for a while.

I knew dancing could be pretty strenuous exercise from past experience, so I expected to be sore today, but so far so good. Unlike the time in Dallas, when I could barely walk the day after some drunken dancing at a bar, accompanied by my buddy L. You know you're out of shape when....

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Arrgh

You know, sometimes I'm pretty impulsive. For instance, when starting this blog I just pulled a name out of the air and used it. Later, it occurred to me to see if lostinaustin.com was available, and what do you know - someone was already using it (although I just checked it, and it must have changed hands in the last few months). If I had bothered to check beforehand, I could have chosen something I knew was available as a domain name and picked it up.

Well, I've been working on this mural project for something like three months now, and it just occurred to me that I might not be the first one to think of this. Sure enough, it's been done (or at least something pretty similar). A photographer named B.J. Smiley Goins started documenting the murals of Austin years ago, and even published a book. Sigh.

I'm not saying this has been a waste of time by any means, but as a writer I've had the same experience in the past. You have an idea, someone beats you to it, then it's old news, or worse, superfluous. Actually, my original idea for the murals was somewhat different. I was interested in how they were used as advertising by local businesses, sort of advertising as public art. There still may be something to that, but regardless, I've gotten to know the city so much better by doing this that it was worthwhile for that experience alone.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Good movie

I saw a really good movie this week called Primer, about two inventors who wear ties to work in one of them's garage. They're engineers trying to come up with something to sell that excites them, and end up with more than they bargained for.

This movie was shot in Dallas in the summer of 2001, while I was living in the area. Ironically, that summer I was driving down to Austin most weekends to film my short film Covet.

Primer's a really good example of great storytelling making a small film bigger than it has any right to be. It actually kept me up at night, screwing with my head, which almost never happens anymore. I highly recommend it for a rental.

Monday, August 08, 2005

I lost my shirt in Las Vegas

Although, I didn't look for it all that hard either. It was the shirt I bought on South Padre Island a couple years ago. The decals were starting to fall off and crumble. Oh well.

I left the tables about $40 in the black. Roulette can be really fun.

I got way too drunk at the pool, baking in the sun and doing jello shots, Saturday afternoon. However, this means I slept through the $130/plate dinner for the bachelor, so I'll call it a wash.

This experience was pretty much the polar opposite of my last trip to Vegas. I don't know yet which I enjoyed more, but this past weekend was a blast. Too bad getting home proved so difficult. As one of my compatriots put it, this trip never seemed to end.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Vegas, baby!

I'll be leaving tomorrow for another go at Las Vegas, this time as part of a bachelor party for a coworker. If you'd like to read about my first stay there, see here, here, and here. This weekend is sure to be a hell of a lot different from those three days in February 2004. For one thing, on my previous trip I was traveling alone, whereas this time I'm flying out with half a dozen guys I know.

There's a series of skits Ben Affleck did on one episode of Saturday Night Live spoofing the ads for Las Vegas with the tagline, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." That was some of the funniest stuff I've seen on that show.

Wish me luck.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

New stove

We finally got our new stove yesterday, after months of waiting. The guys who brought it in took one look at our old stove and laughed. It dated to probably at least 30 years ago. It was obvious that square of kitchen floor hadn't seen the light of day in many moons.

Our new stove doesn't have a pilot light like the old one did, which is a plus. When you turn the burners on, there's a clicking sound for a few seconds, then voila, flame. I've never used this type of stove before, so I hope it's as good as it looks. It even has a light you can turn on and off inside.

I know, nothing to get too excited over, but compared to what we had to work with, this is very good news.

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Stupid courage

I recently picked up a copy of The Princess Bride on DVD, and I was watching it with William Goldman's commentary earlier. I've read both of his books on screenwriting in Hollywood, and in the second one he wrote about the making of the film. He repeats some of his observations, making me wonder if doing the commentary inspired the book or the other way around. Anyway, one thing he said on the commentary stuck out for me, when Inigo Montoya finally gets his revenge on Count Rugen at the end, for killing his father. Referring to the twenty years Inigo has spent learning to be a swordsman and tracking the Count down, Goldman calls it a "stupid quest" and says "Nothing moves me as much on Earth as stupid courage."

For a moment, I considered the alternatives open to Inigo. He could have simply grieved for his father, learned a trade, started a family, and told his kids the story of the evil man who killed their grandfather. Or he could have grown bitter, turned evil himself, and continued the cycle of the strong preying on the weak (even in the story, he starts out as a criminal and drunkard).

The difference, I think, is that people want to write stories in which characters like Inigo are the heroes, and people like to hear those kinds of stories. Their courage may be stupid, but we recognize it as human, and even if we never have to display it ourselves, we hope it's there inside us if we ever need it.

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Cat problems

Our male cat has acquired a bad habit of chewing on paper things left lying around the place. In the past, these have included the dvd sleeves that my Netflix movies come in and the corners of my Entertainment Weeklys. However, when I walked out into the living room this morning, I saw one of the envelopes containing bills that I had left on the kitchen table last night on the floor. The other two were missing. I hunted around and found them scattered in various places, all chewed to various degrees. I guess I'm going to have to stop leaving that kind of thing out at night. I can't imagine the contents are too damaged, but it still sucks.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

More exploring

I did a few more hours worth of photographing murals today in East Austin. I'm getting diminishing returns the farther north I go, but I'm still seeing a few here and there. I got a couple shots at Sam's Bar-B-Que restaurant, and later I swung back by to try the food. I asked for the mutton, I believe the first time I've tried it, and it was alright but not my cup of tea. I prefer brisket, so I told them I'd be back to try that. I recognized the woman from one of the short documentaries aired one night Phil and I went to "East Austin Stories". Sure enough, she confirmed that was her, and told me a scene from The Life of David Gale was filmed there as well.

I'm continually surprised by what I find over there, and today was no different. There's a retirement community that looks plopped down out of the sky, clearly aimed at upper class seniors, which is just huge, a little neighborhood all to itself. In fact, the east side is commonly thought of as being the low-rent part of town, but let me tell you, there are some rich people living over there, and it's all the more striking when you see little enclaves of beautiful houses and brand new condos next door to the poorer one-story houses.

A few weeks ago, I saw graffiti that said something like "Go back to California", and the word "gentrify" has appeared once or twice. It's a very real problem when so many low-income families are concentrated in that part of town, where they have access to so many of the city's amenities and services close at hand. They obviously don't want to give those things up, and why should they?

Random encounter

This past Tuesday, I met my first former reality show contestant at a happy hour after work. After we left the first bar, we met up with her and her very cute friend later at Fado, an Irish bar downtown for food, song, and dancing. Yes, she did a little Riverdance for us, and my colleagues even got out on the dance floor for a little improvised half-irish jig, half-hip hop get-down. Meanwhile, I kept the beat by clapping and stomping with the band and laughing harder than I have in some time. It was so much fun.

It was interesting hearing some of the behind-the-scenes details, since I already knew a bit about that kind of filming from my own experience and reading up on the industry. For instance, the field is whittled down to four finalists in the first two weeks of filming. And when it comes to getting people talking, alcohol is a producer's best friend. No surprise there.

Monday, July 18, 2005

The future of cinema

I went and saw Wedding Crashers after work today, after glowing recommendations from multiple people. It was good, but my immediate thought when it was over was that this movie was made to be seen with an audience. I don't think it would go over quite as well in the living room. Don't get me wrong, I laughed as much as everybody else in the theater (and everybody was laughing), but there's been a lot in the press about how this movie is special, and if it's true that it is special, then it's because we don't see a whole lot of non-event movies designed for the theater audience experience anymore.

I've had more than one conversation about the future of movies in the digital age in the past couple weeks, so I've been thinking about it lately. What with the advent of simultaneous theater/home video/television release on the horizon, the way we decide what movies we go out to see may be changing in the near future. Right now, we see the movies we don't want to wait for on DVD. When there's no waiting, what would entice you out to brave the crowds?

I tend to make an effort to see in theaters movies that have impressive visuals, simply because it's a big screen, so the visuals are clearer and (hopefully) more impressive. That motivation is fading as home theaters become more impressive and cheaper. My next TV will be a big plasma that will serve as a big screen for my DVD watching. I already have a great sound system. Will I still want to see War of the Worlds in a crowded googolplex when the picture's just as impressive at home?

I pointed out to one person that there will always be dating, which means there will always be people looking for some way to spend a night out. Theaters aren't going away. (Well, maybe some of them are, since they overbuilt so much in the last decade.) But Wedding Crashers is the kind of movie that will attract moviegoers to the crowd experience, where you laugh harder or gasp louder because everyone else is doing it too.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Fun with fruit

OK, I'm not usually one to bag on terrible song lyrics, having written a few myself, but every once in a while I can't help it. Right now, the stupidest lyrics on the radio, which get stuck in my head until I want to put a drill to my temple, are from Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl". Until I looked them up to be sure what I was hearing, they sounded even dumber than they are, but they're still dumb enough.

I defy anyone hearing this song for the first time not to go "Huh?" when, towards the end of the song, it turns into a commercial for a certain type of fruit. That's right, the words to the part in question are:

Let me hear you say this shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
(This shit is bananas)
(B-A-N-A-N-A-S)

Again
This shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
(This shit is bananas)
(B-A-N-A-N-A-S)

The radio version censors out the profanity, so it sounds like she's singing "Eat bananas", then spelling it out as shown above. Hurray for the English language. Somebody call Dave Barry.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Drying out

We got a little more rain today, which is good, since the property manager sent a form letter letting us know if the trees die we get fined. Trees dying from the heat/drought - that's something I never had to worry about in Indiana.

I cross Town Lake at the dam on the west side every day coming home from work, and the water level varies but it doesn't look terribly low, so there must be rain somewhere upriver. Still, we could use more in the city limits so I don't have to lug a bucketful of water outside to douse the trees.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Keeping cool

As I write this, we’re getting the first rain we’ve seen in about a month, along with quite a bit of lightning (including a strike that knocked out my power for half a second, requiring me to start this post over-grrr). When I got out of my air-conditioned car this afternoon after work, the blast of hot air that hit my face really was like opening an oven. In this kind of weather, nothing beats a cold dessert!

I made a recent favorite of mine last night to take into work today. I got the recipe out of a company cookbook from the last place I worked and made a few tweaks that really turned it into a home run. Here it is:

Buster Bar Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients: 1/4 cup melted butter; 1 bag of regular oreo cookies; 1/2 gallon of vanilla ice cream; 1 can of fudge topping; 1 8-oz. container of cool whip; 1-2 cups of honey roasted peanuts.

Directions:

  1. Set the cool whip out long enough to thaw completely. If you’re using a rectangular box of ice cream, leave it in the freezer until you’re ready to use it-otherwise, leave it out long enough to be soft but not soupy.
  2. Crush 2/3rds of the oreos into very small pieces and crumbs, but set aside 1/3 of them for garnish, then pour the crushed ones in a large bowl. Melt the butter and add it to the oreos, mixing well into a kind of crust. Mash the mixture into a 9” x 13” baking pan.
  3. Using a spoon, scoop all of the fudge topping into a skillet (I made the one last night using caffe mocha flavor, which turned out excellent). Set the burner on the lowest setting and melt the fudge, but turn it off if it starts to bubble.
  4. If you’re using a box of ice cream, open up the box and peel it off the ice cream. Then, with a long knife, slice the ice cream into three, 1”-thick layer pieces. Lay two of these on the oreo crust in the pan, the third will require more slicing in order to fit. If you’re scooping the ice cream, just make sure the entire oreo crust is covered-this will require about a half-gallon’s worth.
  5. Gently pour the fudge out of the skillet on top of the ice cream. (If you scooped your ice cream and it is melted, the fudge will run between the scoops and form a second crust when frozen.)
  6. Sprinkle as many peanuts as you prefer over the top.
  7. Add the cool whip on top of the peanuts.
  8. Crush the remaining 1/3 of the oreos as chunky or fine as you like and sprinkle them on top of the cool whip.
  9. Put tin foil over the pan and freeze for at least 3 hours.
  10. Cut with a knife and serve.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005


Even grain silos are bigger in Texas. Posted by Picasa

Fun weekend

Wow, what a weekend. I drove up to Dallas Saturday morning to see friends and hang out for the Fourth, and a good time was had by all. We got into the whisky Sunday night and played a four- or five-hour game of Truth or Dare that was really just Dare, about which I will say no more. I actually got a little sun at the pool that afternoon, too, which is too rare lately.

Saw War of the Worlds Saturday night. I liked how faithful to the book it was, even in the ending, and the effects were as impressive as you'd expect. It's a testament to his acting ability that it was easy to forget Tom Cruise's recent downward spiral and get emotionally invested in his character. This has been a great summer for movie fans so far.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Music to my ears

Just got back from Sista Otis at El Mercado on South 1st St. Her playing can best be described as "rousing". I was quite taken with her right from the beginning, when all she was doing was strumming one chord really fast and talking to the crowd. Somehow she managed to make it feel urgent, like something really exciting was going on.

And that woman sang and played loud. For a sit down restaurant, they turned the amps way up. She sounded great and had a really sunny disposition. It was a pleasure to meet her after her set, thanks to Radio Mike. I never get over what a great town for live music this is.

Sunday, June 26, 2005


Texas State Capitol. Posted by Hello

Discovering your own backyard

I spent another 4 hours today driving around East Austin taking photos of murals, and a few others I couldn't resist, like the one below of the city skyline. There's all kinds of stuff on the east side you never hear about. Last week, I came across the power plant and Town Lake access, today I saw the city bus facility, the Austin Police headquarters, the French Legation museum, the Texas State Cemetery, and Huston-Tillotson University. As you'll see in the pics, there are some serious hills over there, and some of the older houses I came across actually appeared to have slid off their foundations.

I took a turn and suddenly found myself on a gravel road leading to the scenic over look where I took the pictures above and below this post. There's nothing there but trees, grass, and sadly, broken beer bottles and garbage. It's at least a couple acres of undeveloped land, great for sitting in the sun, or as a man and woman I saw today were doing, napping in the shade on a blanket.

Austin Skyline. Posted by Hello

Friday, June 24, 2005

On the up and up

I got my car back from the shop today. It looks perfect, and they even detailed the inside. I've had two massages in the last two days, so my shoulder and neck aren't bothering me like they have been. The STAPLE! DVD release party is on for next Friday, July 1st, at Austin Books.

I'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

A job well done

The STAPLE! DVDs are done. They officially go on sale July 1st. Gary dropped off a few copies for me and the crew yesterday. They look good.

There will be a DVD release party in the very near future if anyone wants to come hang out, talk about/buy comics and pick up a cool DVD on making it in indie comics. Watch this space for details.

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Big project

I got out in the heat today, probably mid- to high-90's, for about three hours. A couple of months ago, I came up with the idea of documenting Austin's many murals by driving around and photographing them. Then, I would post the photographs on a website, including their locations so other interested Austinites could find any they liked.

Well, I underestimated the size of this project. In that three-hour session today, I took about 40 pictures at eleven different sites, and only covered the area of East Austin from Town Lake to Cesar Chavez, i.e., 1st Street. This is likely to take all summer, if I want to come close to getting all of them.

Interestingly, many of the murals were on school grounds or city pool buildings. Also, the Twin Towers burning was a common theme, meaning they were painted in just the last few years. I'm sure some of them are painted over repeatedly every few years, and some of them had been defaced, but others likely have been around for a long time.

I'm also considering trying to get a grad student studying art to provide some perspective on them to put on the site. Maybe I could post for this on Craigslist.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Good vibes are flowing (with beer)

Okay, good news today. The woman's insurance is not only paying for the repairs, but also for the rental car while the work is being done, which means I don't need the Hertz coupons after all. They wouldn't let me use the one for a free upgrade, so I'm stuck in a Ford Focus. Bleh.

We met at Opal Divine's Freehouse Pub on 6th Street for a coworkers' happy hour this afternoon. Lots of good conversation and laughter, always fun. Name this lyric/quote: "Getting to know your associate employee contemporaries."

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Premonitions and more bad driving

Don't you hate it when you get a feeling bad news is on the way, and you're proven right? I got a few coupons for Hertz car rentals a couple months ago, and for some reason I didn't throw them away like usual. I just had a feeling they might come in handy before their expiration date. The last time my car was in the shop, I paid full price for the rental I used, for about two weeks if I remember correctly.

Sure enough, I got sideswiped today coming home from work. No one was hurt, but my driver's side door won't open, and I may be looking at a $500 deductible because of this woman in a minivan. (I guess she'd never been in an accident before. She kept asking if we should call the police. I said, "Not unless you want to sue me." Her response: "No, you could probably sue me, it was my fault." She was right. She swerved into my lane to get around a stopped car turning left in front of her, but she didn't see me on her right.) At least I should be reimbursed if they do charge me, since she has insurance. Sigh.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

This one may ruffle some feathers

We have now entered the age of "embryo politics". In the last week or two, the story of embryo adoption has spread in the media, and for those of us trying to get our heads around it, the possibilities and pitfalls in reproductive medicine today are dizzying indeed. A pair of articles in Slate (one linked above, the other here), reveal the complexities of the issue with several provocative quotes. It may help the discussion to break them into points.
  1. Both sides see embryos as human life only when it suits their purposes. The pro-life camp considers human life to begin at conception, whether in the womb or in the lab, and the loss of an embryo to stem cell research or discarding due to failure to pay storage costs is a loss to humanity-except for all of the embryos that are lost on a daily basis without ever implanting for natural reasons and end up in the toilet. These are written off and forgotten, if ever thought about at all-even the adopted ones that don't take, say, if four are implanted and only one develops. IVF clinics and state governments, on the other hand, see embryos as property of the parents, tissue that is owned and under the control of those whose DNA they were created with. They can donate the tissue to research or throw it away, or give it to someone else-but they can't sell it. To quote the author of one of the articles, Liza Mundy,
    Though the fertility industry likes to promote the idea that they are multicelled clumps of tissue, it accepts that it would be morally unacceptable to pay money for an embryo, just as it's morally unacceptable to pay for a baby.
    This is to equate the buying and selling of human embryos with slavery, and nobody wants that.
  2. A woman who heads an embryo adoption clinic and switched sides on abortion after finding herself infertile is described in Mundy's article as coming to believe every aborted baby is one she could have adopted. But there are plenty of babies in the world that need to be adopted already, so why not pick one of them? The answer, I think, is because it's more expensive than adopting an embryo, and there are bureaucratic hurdles to jump through that don't yet exist in the fertility industry. Science has made it more convenient, and that's what people like. Also, the article points out pregnancy is now considered by many women to be a right that one can be "cheated out of", as opposed to a potentially life-threatening burden to be carried.
  3. By mixing up embryos from different donors, it's possible to give birth to twins (or more) with unrelated genetic lines. This mixing is apparently common practice, although it's not clear from the article how many such multiple pregnancies are carried to term. I wonder what the future holds for them when, say, one is white and one is black, each facing discrimination the other will never know.
  4. In the other article, William Saletan lays out the battleground the pro-life movement faces regarding in vitro fertilization. He quotes a pro-lifer referring to an embryo as a "child", and others talking about restricting the number of embryos that can be created at one time for IVF procedures. There have already been bills in several states introduced to that effect, and requiring counseling like that for abortion is apparently on the agenda as well. Since there's currently almost no regulation of the industry, this is likely to see major resistance.
  5. As articulated by Saletan, the pro-life position appears to be moving farther and farther away from its conservative roots. Instead of limiting government, they now want the government to determine the fate of your embryos if they disagree with your choice. "Pro-lifers don't think anyone, including a parent, has the right to doom an embryo to death," he writes, later quoting a Republican Congressman from New Jersey saying
    Parents of human embryos are custodians of those young ones. They are not owners of human property, and the public policy we craft should ensure that the best interests of newly created human life is protected … The cryogenically frozen male and female embryos that the genetic parents may feel are no longer needed for implanting in the genetic mother are of infinite value to an adoptive mother who may be sterile or otherwise unable to have a baby.
Infinite value? The problem I have with these kinds of statements, and the attitudes of pro-lifers in general, are that they reject the idea of cost/benefit analysis when it comes to pre-birth human life, something not even the Bible does. Even if you accept the idea that human life begins at conception, to promote the idea that a clump of 4-8 cells that may or may not develop into a baby after thousands of dollars, 9 months, and the risks and effects of pregnancy on a woman's body is inherently equally as valuable as a cure for cancer or any other disease is foreign to my way of thinking. To believe that an embryo deserves the same rights and protections under the Constitution as a living, breathing, tax-paying citizen, is preposterous. An embryo is potential, unrealized.

What's going to happen when it becomes medically possible for a fetus to be transferred to another woman's womb, or an artificial womb? Will the pro-life movement be clamoring to adopt the fetuses that are scheduled to be aborted? Will the government pass laws requiring it? What kind of nightmare would that be? The cost to society and to humanity of going down this path seems to me to outweigh the benefits by many times.

On the subject of abortion, I believe that any woman who decides to have an abortion for reasons other than rape, incest, or risk to her health has made the wrong choice - but it should be her choice to make. Neither I nor the hundreds of men running the government will ever know what it's like to be faced with that decision. I think the phrase "safe, legal, and rare" does a good job of conveying my attitude, the more rare the better. That means I support the morning after pill, which prevents embryos from attaching to the uterus and prevents abortion from becoming a possibility in the first place.

I'll conclude this long post with one last thought: I don't believe stem cell technology will solve all our problems, or that genetic engineering should be used to tailor babies, or a number of other things that have been suggested by technophiles and futurists. But I do believe it has the potential for great advances in making sick people better, and that makes it valuable and worthy of pursuit. I'm clearly not alone, and the progress being made in other parts of the world is progress the U.S. will be missing out on the longer our current government leaders resist the idea that science is a tool, not an enemy.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005


Look sharp. Posted by Hello

Saturday, May 28, 2005

This is the end...

Wow, it's been a while. I'm putting the finishing touches on the STAPLE! project this weekend to hand off Monday for pressing. It's been quite an involved process, but valuable experience in the industry. Look for the DVD to go on sale by the end of June, if not sooner.

This coming week being my first real free time without commitments in months, I hope to do some writing and get back to watching movies on a daily basis. More to come.

Friday, May 20, 2005

End of an Era

Well, the Star Wars saga is finally complete, and it went out with a bang. Lucas did indeed wrap up most everything, and I can't wait to see them all in order and get the whole emotional arc of the Anakin Skywalker character. I really felt (and I know I'm not alone) that I didn't want Anakin to fall, even though it was inevitable and necessary to give us Darth Vader, one of the greatest villains in sci-fi. This movie had a feel that was instantly recognizable as different from Episodes 1 and 2, more deliberate and implacable in its progression. I'm still digesting it, and I plan to see it again this weekend. What a great birthday present these movies have been for me.

By the way, if you want a very tiring 36 hours, get up for work at 7am, work until 5pm, drive three hours to Dallas to see the movie at midnight, get out of the movie and drive three hours home, get an hour and a half of sleep, then get up and work another nine hours. Around 2pm the next day, I was having real trouble keeping my eyes open, despite several cups of coffee and multiple Dr. Peppers. Then I got a second wind and went to bed at my normal time. Go figure.

Friday, May 13, 2005

Personal

I recently posted a personal ad on Craigslist to try to meet some new women around Austin (try to guess which one's mine!). I haven't been out on many dates lately, and I'm about to have a lot more free time on my hands when I wrap up my first feature-length project in a week or so.

I'm not sure why, but I was pleased to get quite a few responses in less than a day. I've posted a couple times before, and gotten 3 responses and 0 responses, respectively. Phil suggested it might be like callers for his radio show. Sometimes he gets nobody calling in, sometimes several-it just depends on who's paying attention. I guess there's probably always new readership, so even repeat posters will get responses over time. I'd like to think it's not only the same people looking every day, since that would mean it doesn't work and we're all wasting our time.

Anyway, I wrote back to everyone who wrote me (do unto others), and sent them a link to this blog if they wanted to know more about me...and I haven't heard back from any of them since. I can only assume they read my last post about "no job, no insurance" and wrote me off. Otherwise, it might mean I need a new profile picture, but since I think that's a good picture of me (taken by Phil at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2004), I'd at least like to think I'm not that unattractive-although it might be the facial hair and cigarrillo, since I hear women run from both of those.

Let me assure you, ladies, I once again have a good job, and insurance, and I still have my own side business as well, so I'm doing all right. But I'm keeping the facial hair. Still interested? Write me here.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Proms and problems

Tonight I went to the KVRX prom, thrown by UT's student radio station. I've met quite a few people there through Phil, so I recognized half a dozen or so faces. This wasn't a real prom obviously, but it had all the trappings: dancing, spiked punch, photos, dresses. It also had free beer, a live band, and a few kids tripping on acid, which made it a bit different from either of the proms I attended.

It started raining about halfway through, but not too hard, so the band finished their set before Phil and I packed up the video equipment we were using to project Pump Up the Volume on the wall of Irongate Studios, in whose parking lot the prom was held.

Did I mentioned it rained a little bit? Less than a mile from home, Phil tried to make a turn too fast on the wet road and hit the curb hard (he wasn't drinking-he's a teetotaler). It didn't blow out the tire, but when we stopped at a tire place right around the corner, I thought I could hear a hissing sound and the hubcap was broken, so it's definitely shot. We left the car there to see what the damage is Monday, when they open. I just hope the axle isn't bent, or else he's out some money, since his insurance won't cover it.

While he was waiting for me to walk back to the apartment, get my car, and come back for the equipment in his trunk, there was a wreck at the stoplight closest to our place. As I drove by, the cops hadn't yet arrived, but the two cars had spun into position to block both directions on that side of the intersection. Rough night.

I told Phil I knew exactly how he felt, having cut my finger a few months back, when I was still looking for work. No job, no insurance, and it's going to cost you a bunch of money you don't want to spend. That's life for you. Always throwing curve balls.

Monday, May 02, 2005


Spring is here again. Posted by Hello

Friday, April 29, 2005

Production and consumption

I've had the experience lately of going to most of the blogs I read regularly and being disappointed that nobody was updating. I thought to myself, "Well, I guess I'm not updating either." When you're blogging, you get the experience of being both an audience and a producer. I'm assuming few if any bloggers only post and never read other blogs.

Artists and entertainers (Are any types of entertainers not artists? Any nominations?) regularly get feedback and the knowledge that their work is being consumed and evaluated, whether that be positive or negative, by people they do not now and will probably never know. It comes with the job. But I wonder, is this a new experience for thousands (or millions) of people?

I'm sure there's a lot of overlap between creative people who've put themselves out there before the internet and those who are now blogging, but I wonder how many people are creating a public persona for themselves for the first time outside of their circle of friends, work, and family? When someone on the other side of the planet sends you an email or posts a comment on your blog to share an experience, correct a mistake you've made, or expand on an idea, your world gets smaller and more connected. It can also be a spur to keep you going.

Every time bloggers sit down at their computers, they have the opportunity to either consume or produce. Unlike watching television, with blogging it's a lot harder to complain there's nothing on when you've got the power at your fingertips to create your own show.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Support our troops

In the April 15th issue of Entertainment Weekly, there was an interview with Jane Fonda about coming out of retirement for a new movie and releasing a new book that covers, among other things, her experience in Vietnam. With the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon coming up on the 30th, now's as good a time as any to consider the role Americans have in considering war.

It's become something of a cliche for those against the war in Iraq to say they simultaneously support our troops. In fact, one of the more egregious instances of this was when Natalie Maines made her remark to a foreign crowd, "we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas", and one of her fellow Dixie Chicks stepped up to the mic to say they still supported the troops. I don't doubt her sincerity, but it comes off as an afterthought, a CYA maneuver.

The reason I don't doubt her sincerity, and don't reject the very idea, as some of those on the right wing do, is because there is a very real distinction between supporting the war and supporting the troops. The troops don't get to choose who, when, or where they fight - the politicians do.

What does it mean to support soldiers being ordered to perform a job you disagree with? It means trying to prevent them from being ordered to perform that job. I don't mean to imply that all troops in Iraq believe it is wrong for them to be over there, or even wrong to fight Iraqis (although there have certainly been many anecdotal cases of this reported in the press), but that given the choice between fighting and not fighting, they would choose not to fight - most everyone would, soldier or no.

Fonda claims this is why she went to Vietnam. According to the interview, she says Nixon was considering bombing the dikes, which hold back seasonal flooding, an act that would have killed 200,000 people. "[A]ccording to the Pentagon Papers, they'd already looked at the possibility", she claims. By bringing back evidence of this plan, she hoped to prevent it by generating enough bad publicity using her fame. Of course, it didn't quite turn out that way, but it's worth noting that, according to the article, "[Most historians say the U.S. never intentionally bombed the dikes.]"

My personal opinion on the war in Iraq is that it's too early to tell what the long term results of the invasion will be. There have been good signs recently from the elections and stirrings of democracy in the region, but even more recently the violence has been picking up again, and we've seen democratic movements crushed in the past. I tepidly supported the war after Colin Powell's presentation to the U.N. of evidence, since debunked, that Iraq was actively pursuing WMD, but all the other signs pointed to the success of the pressure being applied by the international community on Saddam Hussein's regime. Remember, he destroyed the missiles found in violation of distance restrictions by the U.N. teams investigating the country in the months before the war.

But the Bush administration made the decision to send our troops into battle, and they went, most of them serving honorably, too many sacrificing their lives. I support them by opposing any more wars planned by Bush that may put them in danger, and hoping for their safe return home, as soon as possible.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Talking Social Security

I started editing my first full-length feature this week, and I've got a month to do it in, along with working full time, so I don't have as much time to write as I like for the near future. Still, I can't resist quoting Vern's take on the "conversation" over Social Security private accounts, which you can check out in its entirety here.
BUSH: I propose that we change RED traffic lights to BLUE!

DEMOCRATS: That's ridiculous, blue is too close to green, people would get confused. And why do we need to change it anyway? You're not making any sense at all.


BUSH: There you go again, criticizing my plan without offering an alternative.

DEMOCRATS: The alternative is to NOT change red to blue. Keep it red.

BUSH: That's not an alternative. That's what it already is, red.

DEMOCRATS: We don't want to change it to blue, there is no reason to.

BUSH: No reason? Innocent Americans are killed in traffic accidents every day! They should be changed to blue! Also I propose that we won't wear any pants!

DEMOCRATS: Not w-- you said not wear pants? I don't--

BUSH: Once again, the democrats are criticizing my not wearing any pants plan without offering an alternative.

DEMOCRATS: But... the alternative is... wearing pants.

BUSH: That's not an alternative. An alternative is like, we'll wear shorts, or we'll wear clownpants or something. I already said no pants.

DEMOCRATS: I don't... are you-- I mean I guess we could pull them down part way or something.
While this is laugh out loud funny, I'd just like to note that Bush says he wants private accounts to avoid raising taxes in the distant future, whenever Social Security "runs out". Meanwhile, his plan would cost something like $2 trillion to implement. Where's he going to find that money without raising taxes now? Borrow it all? That is the option that is not on the table, which America is letting him know by opposing him on this issue by a large margin.

Monday, April 11, 2005


Gorch Fock with jumping jacks. Posted by Hello

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Goings on

I went to the final Dynamite Boy show last night, where they were joined by Cruiserweight. It's the first (and last) time I've seen Dynamite Boy play, and now that I've seen them I wish I'd come out to more of their shows before they broke up. They played the kind of punk pop I've really come to enjoy over the last few years, especially live. Stella, Cruiserweight's lead singer, joined them for a couple tunes, and she dances the robot with the best of them (although I can't say I'm sure that's not her normal dancing).

We've had a few people inquire about renting Phil's room for the summer, since he's going to be gone for three months, but no takers so far. I'm kind of curious to see what kind of roommate I'll end up with, if any. Hopefully someone who likes to hang out once in a while, doesn't stay up too late, and likes movies.

I saw a free advance screening of Sahara Thursday night, and was truly impressed. The acting was spot on, the story was convincing and fun, with a believable menace, and the best thing was how they took the secondary characters seriously. For a while there, every adventure movie had a stupid sidekick who cracked jokes, screwed things up, and had to be saved in the end by our hero. That's becoming less common, for good reason, as we've seen a lot more ensemble-type movies in the last five years or so. Steve Zahn's character in Sahara is not just a buddy, he's a fellow ex-soldier who served with Matthew McConaughey's Dirk Pitt, and he's a capable hero in his own right. In fact, a thought that occurred to me while watching the movie was that if it wasn't for Dirk Pitt, he could easily be the star of the movie.

The reason you don't see that very often, according to books I've read anyway, is the insecurity of stars, who almost always want to play characters that are a) noble, b) the best at everything their characters do, and c) the most likable role in the movie. If the sidekick threatens b) or c), the stars get nervous, and it's true that could sometimes pose a problem for audiences, who might get confused over who to identify with, but I think that's a pretty small problem. The ones it really poses a problem to are writers, who are looking for any way to create tension and drama. If neither the hero or his buddy is an idiot, that's one area they can't use. I'm happy to say Sahara, which I should note is based on a book by Clive Cussler, managed it well.

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Show me the scenery

So I saw Sin City yesterday, after an hour and a half of trying to get to a theater that was showing it less than an hour after my arrival, which proved to be a tall order when they had the upper deck of I-35 shut down and an accident on the lower deck.

I've gotta say, I was disappointed by the movie. There were good parts, and most of the characters were very well-drawn, but I think it suffered from being too loyal to the comics-and I say that as someone who hasn't read them, so I'm not nitpicking the differences here. I think it fails simply as a movie. I like film noir, I like comic books, I like violent movies, and I'm a twenty-something male, so this movie was aimed straight at me, but I couldn't help but feel it fell short.

I think Vern hit the nail on the head in his review, when he wrote "Dick Tracy is to Sin City as Nick Nolte is to Nick Nolte's mugshot." No matter how impressive the effects, I rarely bought the world that all those computers constructed, and it felt like a cartoon from beginning to end. Regardless of whether that was the intention, it didn't work for me.

Elijah Wood plays one hell of a creepy villain, though, and Bruce Willis has still got that stoic honor beneath the tough-skinned wiseass quality that he's been riding since Die Hard. Keep it up, fellas.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Use what you've got

I saw the Flametrick Subs play Beerland last night with Nate and his older brother Matt, who I also knew in high school. That band rocked the house. Joining them were the Satan's Cheerleaders, a group of women who dress in leather cheerleading outfits with "666" sewn on the front and fishnet stockings. They're somewhat similar to the Poon Girls, only the Poon Girls wear obscenely short shorts and button-down shirts tied up like a bra to show their midriffs.

They're all cute and harmless, although I did see a brand on one of the Cheerleaders' shoulder in addition to all the tattoos, but the Poon Girls get the edge for actually dancing with the crowd and having their own little performance between bands, whereas the Cheerleaders stood on stage with the band and just danced behind them. Not to diminish the effort they put into it. They had three women rotating into the two positions, one on break while the other two danced, for more than an hour and a half, and it was full body dancing.

The bassist for the Subs only has one hand, which he uses to pick an upright bass while running the stub of his left arm up and down the neck. He was good, too (I especially liked that the singer credited him as rocking "single-handedly"). At work the other day, we were talking about dogs and I told a story my dad once told me about when he was growing up on the farm. There was a dog (I don't remember if it was his or a friend's) that lost its hind legs, probably to a piece of farm equipment. After that, it learned to walk on its front legs only, with its rear end pointing up in the air.

You hear stories about people with disabilities who overcome them pretty regularly, especially on TV, like the drummer for Def Leppard who lost an arm and continues to play, or of course Lance Armstrong. This serves a purpose, in encouraging people who are born disabled or suffer tragedies to not give up on their interests and dreams. People (and animals) find a way to keep on making it, and life overcomes. That's a story worth telling again and again.

Sunday, March 27, 2005


Hail, hail. Posted by Hello

Stormy weather

A strong storm blew through Austin a couple nights ago, complete with hail and tornadoes to the east, although thankfully, we only saw the hail here at the apartment. That was bad enough, as it shattered the window over our kitchen sink and came on with such a roar we were afraid our cars were being dented. It subsided in about half an hour to a little sprinkling of rain, and that was it. Today, it's cold but beautiful.

I was living in Bedford when the tornado tore through downtown Fort Worth a few years ago and almost brought down a skyscraper or two. It's pretty rare that tornadoes hit downtowns, but it does happen occasionally. With the continuing deterioration of the atmosphere and global warming, violent storms will likely become more common and more deadly in the next century. Scientists say it's only a matter of time before a hurricane hits New Orleans, which lies below sea level, and that may well be the end of that city.

Needless to say, the Bush administration has at various times chosen to a) pretend the problem doesn't exist, b) do nothing to try to mitigate the problem, and c) try to prevent others from taking steps to mitigate the problem.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Choosing endings

Everybody's talking about Terri Schiavo. I don't feel qualified to argue about whether or not her husband should be allowed to remove her feeding tube. Like so many issues, science is changing what we know about the subject on a fairly regular basis, and in the meantime we're left to make decisions with the information we have. She may have some brain function, she may not. If she does, we don't know the nature of it.

The most thought-provoking idea I've heard this week on the subject is that living wills can be justifiably ignored, due to the fact that a person in a vegetative or unresponsive state may think differently (if capable of thought) after an accident than he or she did when the will was signed. This isn't exactly germane in this case, since there was no living will. But to what extent do our past decisions govern our future? How much should we allow them to?

If I decided today to sign a living will and ten years down the road I was injured and subject to its terms, what if I changed my mind and couldn't let anyone know? My past decision would have an influence (not the only one) on my future. In the same way, when a singer signs a recording contract or people get married, they are making binding decisions that will affect their future lives. The difference is in the ability to break those contracts. When a marriage ends, there is pain but also opportunity to recover.

In Terri Schiavo's case, we'll never know what she wants, if she still has the capacity to want anything at all. If she had, as Tom DeLay put it, "specifically written instructions in her hand, with her signature", we still wouldn't know what she wants now that she's faced with her current existence. All we can do is put our trust in others to do what they think is right, and show them enough of ourselves for them to make that judgment for us. Just another reason to choose carefully who you share this existence with.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Catching my breath

Whew. What an exhilarating ride. South by Southwest is quite an event. I did some filming, saw some music, hung out with Maggie Walters and a friend named Mark at the Crowne Plaza's top-floor bar, taped Roky Erickson, Caroline Wonderland, Michelle Shocked and others at Threadgills, and generally just had a blast. I even managed to get Maggie's preliminary dvd done. Plus, I got through my first week of work at the new job unscathed. I'm ready for some quiet time. A little bit, anyway.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Keeping busy

Still here, and still very busy. I attended a panel on venture capitalists and angel investors at the South by Southwest Interactive show. I was hoping they'd be giving out bags of free goodies at the tradeshow, but alas, there was none. They did have some pretty fancy video game terminals though, and they were conducting two-camera interviews inside a plastic box, with speakers so people outside could hear what was being said. I didn't recognize the woman being interviewed.

I'm trying to knock out Maggie Walters Local Live appearance so I can hand her a copy at her show tomorrow night, but I don't know if I'll make it. Every time I hear her name on the radio I smile. As my roommate Phil often says, "You're going to be famous."

Thursday, March 10, 2005


Ducks are just wrong. Posted by Hello

Content filters are the new networks

Slate's got a new article rounding up what blogs are talking about every day. That's one thing I expect to see more of shortly. With the explosion of material from nearly every quarter showing up in the blogosphere, there's definitely a need for filters of one kind or another. Blogrings based on location are another example.

It reminds me of stuff I read about independent film in the last five years. Now that the price of entry is so low for decent digital video equipment, the number of people making their own low- or no-budget movies and shorts means it's that much more difficult to find the good stuff. Sites like Triggerstreet.com and Heavy.com jumped in to take that role.

Anyway, one of the things Slate linked to as a common topic yesterday is homosexual duck necrophilia. First, yuck. But I just had to put up the above picture. I don't know if it adds anything to the conversation, but there it is. Discuss.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Opportunity

So I'm taking a new job soon. It looks pretty cool, doing some of the same stuff I did in Dallas, so I'm reasonably certain I'll be good at it. It's informal dress, a friendly staff, and I'm told no micro-managing. We get a free massage every other week. The jobs that are hardest to get are the easiest ones to take.

Work is such a major part of most Americans' lives. It's one of the reasons we've been so successful economically for so long, but I can't help but think we would be capable of living lives just as full and just as well off with a 35-hour work week, or even a 30-hour work week. It would probably mean a net increase in standard of living across the board, and maybe people wouldn't have so many heart attacks.

What would we do with all that extra time?, I hear some ask. Friends, family, learning, blogging, working a second job, the list is endless. Whatever we want (although more TV would not be on my list). That's what I wish for: the choice.

Sunday, March 06, 2005


Phil approaches the tacoritos with caution. Posted by Hello

Workin' hard, hardly workin'

I've been mad busy the last few days preparing for and shooting the Staple! event here in town. Comics creators from all over the country showed up for signings, two panel discussions, and individual interviews during the event. Radio Mike was helping out, along with my roommate Phil, who got several compliments for his excellent running of the soundboard. Watch the Staple! website for clips in the next few weeks.

Some of the guests included Shannon Wheeler, Rafael Navarro (who seemed like the happiest, most affable guy I've ever met), and Scott Kurtz, who along with Lea Hernandez really had them rolling during the web comics panel. When it's this much fun, it hardly seems like work.

I was so worn out after we finally unloaded most of the equipment and got home that I abandoned plans to attend the afterparty, and since we had each only had a turkey sandwich in the past 11 hours, we made a favorite Mexican dish called tacoritos and chowed down, then went to bed early. You've got to be careful how much of that Mexican food you eat in one sitting, though, because it will wake you up. Oof.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Road Rules

I was getting on I-35 yesterday just north of Ben White. There's a stop light right before the on-ramp with a left-turn-only lane, and two lanes that go straight. There's some construction you have to get through to reach that point, but it's clear from some ways off that the left turn lane does not give you the option to go straight.

A white pickup truck came up past me in the left lane, while I was waiting in the correct lane to go through the intersection and then get on I-35. You can literally see when the guy realizes he needs to get over because he's not turning left - he suddenly slows down a hundred yards before the light. This is a common sight, and in fact I did it once myself at this very light. Nobody's perfect, and he could expect to be let in if he put his right turn signal on and waited. But no.

This guy speeds up again, puts his signal on, and continues to drive all the way up to the light. This struck me as total asshole behavior. He expected to be let in at the front of the line, and as anybody who's been through elementary school knows, cutting in at the front of the line is worse than cutting into the middle. Those people at the front have probably been waiting at this particular light longer than the ones in the middle, since not everybody gets through in one light change, and they could be forgiven for having less tolerance for cutters. I can imagine a road rage incident coming out of this kind of thing, when the white pickup then guns it once the light turns green to get ahead of the lane to his right.

Traffic in general feels more dangerous here in Texas than anywhere else I've lived, partly due to the poor road design, but jeez. Show some common courtesy. People do appreciate it, and it doesn't cost you anything.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Notes from the Road - Reflections

So ends the final chapter of my travel journal. Looking back on it a year later, I wouldn't have done it any differently. I got a lot of great material out of it, I had a great time, I got to see many places I'd never seen, and visit with many people I rarely see. It was worth every penny. I highly recommend everyone do something like this if they possibly can. Get out there and see more of the world we live in! We only have so much time to do it.

Notes from the Road - Day 31

2/29/04 10:30pm Bedford, TX

As I write this, the Academy Awards are on TV, another event watched by millions of people that echoes the Super Bowl, which just about kicked off my journey. The time between them is bridged in my mind by one of the most memorable experiences I expect to have in my life.

This morning I managed to be on time for breakfast at 8:00am, and it was a delicious, traditional New Mexico breakfast of spicy sausage, eggs, and salsa, with coffee and orange juice. Scott, Steve, and Linda joined Ruth and Carl in sending me off on my last day on the road. This particular road is one I’ve taken before, and one I’m sure I’ll see again soon. (Author’s note: Three weeks later, my parents and I drove it to attend Steve and Linda’s wedding.)

I started off heading east on highway 60, but when I got to highway 41 I decided to use it to reach I-40 faster. The speed limits on those two-lane roads are actually comparable to the interstate, but I still feel like I make better time on the interstate. We’d seen a little snow in Mountainair overnight, and it looked like the rest of eastern New Mexico had as well. Most of the way to Texas, there was a thin layer of white on the ground broken frequently by juniper and saltbush. The wind was blowing steady and strong, and followed me all the way home. In New Mexico, this meant currents of snow blew across the highway, sometimes in a thin stream, sometimes for the length of a football field, but never more than a dusting that was quickly whirled and dissipated by the speeding tires of the hundreds of semis going both directions. I saw one jack-knifed in the median.

Shortly after crossing the border into Texas, the temperature started to rise, the snow disappeared, and it became a beautiful day. The sun was shining and the clouds hung randomly in the sky like pieces of white cotton candy pinned to a blue background. I went through Amarillo again, the only city I saw twice, but didn’t even slow down. It seemed like a more developed place than it had the first time, but I guess I just didn’t notice. I’ll have to see Palo Duro Canyon another time, but at least it’s not far away. (Author’s note: My parents and I stopped and saw it on our way back from the wedding three weeks later. It was quite impressive. We saw a flock of wild turkeys and some deer on the canyon floor.)

The car’s outdoor thermometer was reading in the lower 60’s, but even with the wind it was warm enough to crack my window for some fresh air. At least twice today, that meant smelling a dead skunk not far away. I crossed one almost completely dry creek bed, harboring only a few inches of muddy red water that looked for all the world like the blood of the earth oozing out of a shallow gash. Instead of snow, I started to see motes of dust blowing over the road, only higher and harder, with more depth and obscurity. I thought once I was about to encounter a dust storm, but I passed through it in just a few seconds.

Eventually, just like yesterday, the clouds rolled in to hide the sunset at my back. It’s a straight shot down highway 287 from Amarillo to Fort Worth with nothing but fields of pale grasses on both sides as far as the eye can see, punctuated by the occasional small town or group of cows grazing together, white, black, and brown. I stopped in Chillicothe to look for the historical marker indicated by the familiar brown sign on the side of the road, but couldn’t find any sign of it. The town itself looks like a wreck from the highway, all abandoned buildings leaning at odd angles, windowless, with the wood turning a dull grey, but once you turn down one of the side roads there are some nice houses, a modern school, and a baseball field.

I pulled into the apartment complex about 7:40pm local time, making it about a 9½ hour drive, one of my longer days without a break to examine the surroundings anywhere, but it’s time to wrap this one up, label the pictures and file it away in memory for many happy returns. I hope I’ve learned a few things along the way, but one thing I suspected from previous travels overseas proved just as true here in the continental U.S.: people everywhere are more alike than they are different. They are almost uniformly honest, decent, and generous, even travelers in a strange place, far from friends and family. They have respect for the people they’re sharing their home territory with and each other, but they’re not afraid to take a risk when the circumstances make the rewards worth it. I didn’t witness a single act of violence in the past month, whether I was staying in a posh casino or a seedy red light district, but I did witness and receive many acts of kindness. I attribute this to the inherent morality exhibited by all but a few, regardless of race, color, or creed. It’s easy to make new friends anywhere if you’re not afraid. I’m going to endeavor to do this at every opportunity in the future, and I encourage everyone else to do the same. The world is a big place, and sometimes we need all the help we can get. If we move forward together, we have a greater chance of making our dreams come true.

P.S. In case you’re interested, here are a few numbers:

Total miles driven: 7,061

Total rolls of film: 20

Total pictures that came out: 500

Total money spent: $3,111.32