some days you got it. some days you…

Rochester got about four inches of snow last night (which suddenly made me thing of the album “six inches of snow” and now bad reggae is stuck in my head thanks to that) and I got my butt kicked in class. It was a great way for Sifu to send home the fact that I don’t currently have a strong enough root/impart enough intention into my techniques; all of which I needed to be reminded of (plus after the last few classes I might have been getting a little too big for my britches). Still I would have prefer a less ego-deflating lesson. Either that or I just need to work on getting rid of my ego.

Ok, I just checked the insta poll. I’m psyched that I had 9 people respond so far (which confirms that the audience of my page is at least as big UPN’s)! Of course 33% or 3 people didn’t know that I’ve been postings MP3’s. Folks, no offense but it’s right above the survey. Not to hard to find. Check out the current Shonen Knife goodness!

Tina is back from the Olympics and meeting Steve Young! Thankfully Chuck was with her at the time and kept her in line. ;-)

Finally, my blog goal for the evening is to try to get comments up and running tonight. So perhaps by tomorrow I’ll have a way for folks to respond.

they’re ba-ack…

Today we spotted Mariah in the nest box and a collective sigh of relief went up from kodak.com. Each year we always start to hold our breath about this time hoping that the Peregrine Falcons will make it back safely for another year of Birdcam. This year they’ve taken their sweet time making it back (especially considering the site dedicated to them is going live on Monday). We still have yet to spot Cabot-Sirocco (the male), but hopefully he isn’t far behind Mariah. She’s spent most of the day off most of the cameras perched atop Camera 1:

This also means two things: 1. I won’t be going out to the nest box again. I have no desire to have one of these birds attack my head (they are very territorial and will go after any nest intruders). 2. We won’t have to go with our back up plan. If the falcons had not returned we were going to place Tony in a Chicken Costume up in the nest. I still think that would have generated more traffic to the site. Oh well, there is always next year.

In other news, the last two days have been super self affirming. Unfortunately, the CFI I’ve mentioned in past posts is going to slip its delivery date. That’s not good, but there isn’t much that we can do about it. Otherwise work is great (especially now that the falcons are back). Outside of the big k.com, things are rockin’ as well. Last night was another good martial arts class. I finally feel as if I’m coming into my own when it comes to sparring. It is the second night in a row I’ve been complimented on my creativity. Now I need to work on breaking out on better angles when pushed/pressured. Things on the plays are also going well. We’ve got a venue, performance dates and hopefully *knocks on wood* a tech director. Plus I really feel like I’ve improved as a director. And, even with all that, I had time yesterday to veg and play PS2 for a bit (Baldur’s Gate = mindless fun…. yea!)!

Finally, there’s some new stuff on ze blog. I’ve added a rockin’ Insta Poll. So you’re expected to fill it out. Yeah, I’m talking you! Plus, there’s a new MP3 packed with 100% engrish goodness. Give it a risten!

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monday, monday

I don’t get spam e-mailers. I work up this morning to find all of my accounts bombarded by credit-check, get rich quick, and sex site e-mails. The funny part is not a single one of these e-mail’s subject lines suggested their contents. There wasn’t even a half hearted attempt like: subj: Matt, here’s the information you requested…. Instead it was stuff like the following from “Crissy”: subj: I’ve changed my address. May be it’s me, but I don’t get the thought process behind this. Like I’m supposed to think:

oh look, my friend Crissy has decided to move without telling me. Wait a minute… I don’t have a friend Crissy. But she’s decided to move and is sending me the information. *opens e-mail* Oh, my new friend Crissy (and she must be my friend because she sent a nude picture of herself) hasn’t moved in the real world. But she’s got a new website! That I can visit! For only $19.95 a minute! That’s both a relief and a deal. Now where is my wallet…

Do these people get any bites from these random e-mails? Have you ever bought something from one of these?

The Gorillaz concert Saturday night in Toronto was fascinating and at the same time utterly unfulfilling. The band performed behind a translucent curtain that had a multimedia slide projection show on it. Above them hung a huge screen that had a video show projected on it. The show was short (lasting only an hour or so) and devoid of any of the typically concert interaction cues (thanks to having the band behind a curtain). There was no single point of focus and one couldn’t tell what was happening on stage. The band had almost no interaction with the audience (thanks to the screen). In fact, it took the crowd about two minutes to realize that they left the stage (probably one of the reasons there was no encore… a concert first for me). As for the videos, my hope was we were going to get videos of the cartoon versions of the Gorillaz playing the concert. Nope. Instead we got loops and patterns. No attempt was made to relate them to the show. Which was too bad., and a major missed opportunity. I’m still very happy that I went to see the show. I just wished it had been another weekend because I had to miss some fun goings on here in Rochester.

In other news, I’m scheduling a hair cut this week and I’m going to do something radical. I’m not completely sure what yet. But I think this will be part 2 of the makeover (only about a month and a half late). Oh, and a new MP3 will go up tomorrow. Any preference? I have a couple choices… wacky or more serious or just bad?

btw, Jenny I just tried the colorgenics and have to put in the vote that it’s a bunch of hooie. Mine made no sense (not even in those vauge fortune telling terms). I think I could get better results from Ms Cleo.

brain a leetle foggy

I went to a wine tasting last night. Very good, with the exception that tasting wine leads to getting tipsey. And I got a little tipsey. Ok a lot tipsey. So after about the third wine I don’t think I was the best judge of quality. Julia’s parents once shared a valuable piece of advice with me: if you do a winery tour, stop buying after the second stop as everything tastes good by then. I think they learned that lesson the hard way. Speaking of Julia, we had a long IM conversation last night (she had to suffer through my less than stellar typing due to my inebriation).

Back on the wine tasting, I met some new people and had a couple interesting conversations. They were all part of “The Young Friends of the MAG” (Memorial Art Gallery… where the boozin’ was held) group.

It looks like I’m not the only one who had a night of drunken fun.

Ok, I’m being a me too type and trying the Friday Five. Here’s mine for this week:

1. Hey, baby, what’s your sign? Do you think it fits you pretty well? Virgo and no. I’m a perfectionist and can be a little anal but that’s where the similarities end.

2. What’s the worst birthday gift you’ve ever received? That’s a tough one. I honestly don’t know. I’m always psyched when I get gifts. Oh wait, for years my family thought I liked Star Trek a lot more than I ever did. So I would get Star Trek gifts (typically books my mother found on the reduced rack) and usually try to explain that I didn’t want them to no avail.

3. What’s the best birthday gift you’ve ever received? Again I’m not sure. I really liked the presents that I got this year from everyone

4. What’s the best way you’ve celebrated your birthday thus far? Probably this year’s. Anytime I get to spend time with friends and they give me presents is cause for celebration.

5. What are your plans for this weekend? Goin’ to Toronto to see the Gorillaz. Plus I may have a date on Sunday night. Woo Hoo. Did you feel hell freeze over?

GRRRRRRR!

AAAARRGGUHHHHH! BLOGGER just lost my five paragraph post! GRRRR!

I don’t have enough time to re-key it, so you now get the short version in bullet form (it’s probably better this way anyway):

• I (and everyone at kodak.com) seems to be in a BLAH mood. Not quite a depression (that would take too much effort). Jenny seems to be experiencing the same thing. I’m also fighting a cold.
• I hope both the cold and the BLAH lift by the weekend as I’m going to Toronto on Saturday to see the gorillaz in concert.
• Last night was a good martial arts class. Pat killed my legs: today I have two half dollar sized bits of muscle pain halfway up my outer thigh nerve lines (making walking and climbing stairs ohh so much fun) thanks to his super accurate Thai kicks. There was also lots of sparring last night. Both Pat and Aaron did very well and I was pretty satisfied with myself (it helps having people to try and stay better than). I’m also started getting tutored on breakfalls by an Aiki Ju Jitsuist. I spent a chunk of time after class being pitched across the room.
• I blew Aaron’s cover by announcing he missed class on Monday. Next time let me know ahead of time when you’re going out to raise hell without Jenny knowing, ok? I’ll be happy to tell her you were in class *wink* *wink*. (I like the “I had to write a paper excuse” you gave her… great save!)
• Finally, I’ve been thinking a lot as of late about the amount of self censoring I’ve been doing on the blog. I’m not sure if it’s a mood or I simply care too much about what all my readers (the five of you) think. Who knows… A lot of thoughts and little things haven’t made it to the blog. Oh well…

Ok. Before this gets lost, lemme post!

Bits and pieces of my life for this morning

I saw The Royal Tenenbaums last night. What a terrific movie! A little stylistically reminiscent of Amélie. Gene Hackman is phenomenal in the film and really deserved an Oscar nod for it (don’t get me started on the Oscars… grr). It’s a little tough to find now, but catch this if you can.

Martial arts on Monday was great (even though some slackers were not there)! It was my third time boxing (now that I have the gloves) and I’m still getting used to it. I spent most of the time letting Pat hit me in order to condition my body to react to a punch. It also reinforced my decision that I just don’t like being hit. But Coach came up to me after class and complimented me on my movement (really Sifu deserves the compliment, it took five years of his hard work to get me that mobile). That felt really good. Then Kung Fu was great as well. We sparred for most of the night and I threw every move that I had and made a few up on the fly. :-) I got a couple compliments on that. And that positive reinforcement rocks!

mmm mixed nuts are good!

And finally I bring you vintage porn from inside the inside of Kodak Tower. I took this picture of a old photo on one of the support poles on Monday while fixing the birdcams. Mmmm… old school skin. Enjoy….

geeking out

I have to say that right now is a great time to be a comic book fan. We’re in the midst of a creative renaissance where writing and art are quickly coming into balance. Lemme explain… I became addicted to paper crack in high school. At that time, the early 90s, all that mattered was the art: Artists dominated the industry (and tended to have monster egos). I even harbored dreams of getting into the biz (which lead to a great story and the worst interview of my life… I’ll share that story some day).

By the time I got into college comics started to loose their appeal. There were three main reasons:

1. Alan Moore’s Watchmen started the process of ruining comics for me. On first read the art, provided by Dave Gibbons, wasn’t up the to “level” that I was used to (in retrospect I think it’s one of the best illustrated books ever). But the story blew my mind. It deconstructed every storytelling device I was used to and steamrolled all the industry stereotypes I knew. Watchmen was the first legitimate piece of graphic literature I read. (side note: To this day think that it’s sustentative enough to use in a high school or college English class. If you don’t think comics can transcend into literature, this is a must read). This discovery led me to the realization that:
2. The majority of comic books were soap operas for boys (and poorly written ones at that). After Watchmen I realized that 99% of the famous artists who were writing books couldn’t script their way out of a paper bag (most of the writers couldn’t either). Comics might have been beautiful on the surface but few had any substance. I also was starting to get a little skeezed out by the portrayal of women in the books. Finally,
3. My habit was bankrupting me. I was a po college student and could no longer afford a $40 a month habit.

So I stopped collecting (except for the odd one here or there). During my “down time” the industry went through a revolution. The bottom dropped out of the collecting for profit side of the industry (the weirdoes who think they can make millions on a polybagged, variant cover, signed issue #1). And the writing was getting staler and staler (the same plots and gimmicks rehashed time and time again).

But change was starting too. DC (home of Batman, Superman and others) began publishing alternative titles like The Sandman that explored new storytelling territory. New publishing technologies (like the internet and affordable low run printing) have allowed smaller companies and individuals to publish outside of the major Labels (Marvel and DC). That in turn has caused the larger companies to embrace indy creators and in turn improve their material. Suddenly writing was as, if not more important than art. All of that has led to a real strain on my budget as books are now worth buying again. Which leads me to this weekend. I made my weekly crack run to the comic store around the corner from me and made a discovery:

I bought Blue Monday: The Lovecats by Chynna Clugston-Major (published by Oni Press) on a whim. Chynna’s work, with its smooth anime style, caught my eye when featured in a Mavel book a few months ago. That, plus a Cure inspired title, was enough to make flip through the book in the shop. By the third page I was sold! The series take place in a small town high school in what seems to be the late 80/early 90’s. Chynna, who also writes the book, really captures the high school experience: fluid visuals, the right mix of angst and excitement, great dialog and the integration of music of the time (the Cure, the Kinks, Social Distortion are amoung the bands whose music factors heavily into the story). Plus, nary a person in spandex to be seen.

I know most folks reading this blog are not into comics, but if you’ve ever wanted to see what the medium is capable when you don’t have heros/gods/metabeings beating the crap outta each other check out this book.

in other news

New MP3 to your left. Last week’s, A Letter Elise (Unplugged), is still available as a link.

I’m making another trek to the top of Kodak Tower today to work on Birdcam. Thankfully I don’t think I’ll have to go outside (as its cold and snowy). The work out inventorying kodak.com continues. Hopefully we’ll make the deadline.

Rehearsals went just about as well as I could expect last night. I’ll be leaving work early today to negotiate for the playing space. So by tonight we should have a theatre. Then the real work starts. T minus a months and a half.

Finally, I don’t know about you, but this kinda scares me. Every day I see more in more value is the teaching of philosophy and ethics in college. There really needs to be more open debate on things like artificial wombs.

one outta two’s not bad

Last night, Don (my theatre co-conspirator) and I took in our second play of the weekend. Beth Henley’s Crimes of the Heart was staged by Wild Wimmin ETCetera Theatre Company, a local community group focused on women’s theatre (what ever the hell that means). Ugg… it could best described as an “after school special” play. Three southern sisters overcome their troubles and grow stronger. Of course each has a life problem worthy of a “very special” Lifetime movie (whose titles would start “Not without my *insert noun here*). Plus the Southern accents threw most of the cast. Lot of flubbed lines.

Now that we’ve just about set a date for the plays that I’m working on I’m starting to get concerned about their quality. Especially since I’m directing them. I just want to make sure that we’re offering the best product possible (better than what I saw last night). I’m pretty sure that we can, but I wish we were further along. We have a rehearsal tonight so I’ll have a better idea about the condition of things after that.

Actually, I’d sorta have to agree with this one (out of all the choices). I always dug Indy…

Which Action Star Are You? Find out @ She’s Crafty

ohh, about that new look…

For those of you who remember way back when I put out a call late last year for potential new looks for me. As promised I carefully reviewed all of them and then reinvented myself. So without further adu, for those of you who don’t live in Rochester, here is the stunning tranformation:

Now I’m sure you’re thinking the same thing everyone in Rochester has been:

what’s different?

Well first of all the glasses. Second of all the pose, the places the pictures were taken, the clothes, and… umm… *sigh* not much else. So what happened you ask. I was really planning on changing my hair. But when the hairdresser said she thought I looked good with long bangs I lost my nerve. Actually the hair does look much better. And since the cut Jenny had a talk with my hairdresser (who also does her hair) and I’ve been told that the next time I go in things will be different. I’ll keep you all updated.

in other news…

I finally saw something good at Geva, our local pro theatre. They are performing Richard Dresser’s Below the Belt, a great absurdist look at Corporate Life. The acting, blocking, sets and presentation were great. The play is good, though I think the second act is kinda weak and the end is a cop-out.

What I don’t understand is why Geva is charging $25 for the show. The tickets are way to expensive for a project that is supposed to get younger types interested in attending the theatre. You can get rush tickets to their mainstage productions for far less. The neXtstage (were we saw the production) is supposed to be the “hip, young, edgy” theatre. That being said the plays they choose are tame (and typically boring) and the average age of the audience was 50 at best. They don’t seem to have the guts or the wherewithal to stage any stuff by famous playwrights whose work they wouldn’t put up on their main stage due to content. Sigh… ok, I covet their resources and facilities. We (being the Exact) could just do a better job with running it (or at least in my twisted mind I think we could).