Last night, I watched the series finale of HBO’s life/death masterpiece Six Feet Under. Finished/slept through about as much as usual when I start an episode at 1am/haven’t explicitly digested the meaning of life.
This morning, I was tricked into listening to two hours of Rush Limbaugh’s radio program. Drawn in by The Rolling Stones singing “revoluuuuuution” and an announcer “We want this at the national convention! This should be the theme song!” I thought I had stumbled on the Obama Power Hour.
the star player of today’s game has the last name Boozer: I am with the right team. Not because I drink a lot, but I am certainly a bit of a boozer.
Two things I’ve learned today.
1) Basketball players work realllllllly hard. I’ve downloaded the schedule and there are 84 games between now and march. Truthfully I don’t think I’ll even shit much more than 84 times between now and march.
2)Fantasy sports feed addictions. The only actual responsibility one has is to drag and drop (which I can’t even figure out) and by doing so the NBA informs in a way that is competitive and passive, team/league oriented, and random, or more accurately based entirely around the accomplishments of another person.
Today is a sentimental loss. The only two NBA teams I could name any players with 100% certainty were the Jazz and the Knicks. NBA Jam, 1990, 4, or 5, or 6?, Jazz vs. Knicks. Stockton & Malone vs. Euing and Pat Reilly. Me vs. Eric. Well look who comes out on top now.
I write as a citizen concerned with the life of my roommate who is an avid enjoyer of your products. I cannot claim that I have any partaken in any of your food but his favorite is the 0% fat yogurt.
I ask you to consider my request to put the expiration date of these products in a place more accessable to consumers. Currently the date is printed on the foil covering that must be removed in order to access the yogurt. The problem is that this part is commonly discarded, taking with it the date.
How is one to know when to stop eating the yogurt? There are numerous situations that I can think of that could illustrate this as a serious problem, most of them ending in serious illness.
If you could look into this I would be forever grateful.
I’m going to post a couple of the drafts that have been sitting dormant for a while now in an effort to purge my blog a little bit, and perhaps get me back into the love of writing shit.
Author’s Note: Not everything herein should be taken laterally.
Hollywood isn’t known much for its interactivity.
I always (always-like the 10 or so shows I’ve seen here) find L.A. crowds a bit stuffy (and by stuffy, I mean that my friends and I were actually listening to the music (Assholes at Air)). Ok, So not always, but it had, on occasion, felt like a lot people are there more for the show than the show, or the show more than the SHOW (these are not mutually exclusive, merely exclusive). I’m not innocent. There was this one time when the venue was so inappropriate for rocking out that I sat, in shame, and watched, in envy, while the die hards rejoiced. (This was probably about looking kewl, (I mean my friends were sitting too) but wouldn’t I look foolish bodyrockin’ myself off of a balcony?)
But, to be sure, the LA scene has its share of the see and be scene.
And maybe I feel this way because when I was a 15 year-old, listening to 15 year-old music and dancing like a spastic 15 year-old I didn’t notice that it’s always been that way. And now I am a 21 year-old, listening to 15 year old music, and dancing like a spastic 15 year-old (To every toe I’ve ever stomped, anyone I’ve hit with my flailing elbows, or any short people I’ve wrecked out of the way (woman at Hive’s concert: all three) I sincerely apologize. But not sincerely enough to ever stop. (To woman at Hive’s concert: please have 3).
Anyhow this is about the Girl Talk show I was dragged to last night. Dragged cuz I only have one album of his and find the music far too schizophrenic*. I hear a song I like and then it’s gone and I wanna groove out gd’it.
*I kinda wanted to say post modern but am not sure if it applies. By addressing this it shows that I could be right, and if I am and you know it too, I’ll at least appear informed, kinda, but you will, def) (If you dig all this flip flop reverse talk. thought. kind of maybe feelings and sort of thoughts. prothestically protected, punctuated profalactics performing, well then, check out the NYT’s review for Charlie Kaufman’s new flick Synecdoche, New York. If you’d prefer something a bit more ballsy, check out Antagony & Ecstasy’s review. And If you want my opinion, (and trust me, it is insightful, Kaufman screened the film at my school and spoke afterward, so I know things) Well it’s that:
KAUFMAN: Finally…boobs
KAUFMAN (CON’T): just boobs.
de la ROCHA: Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich…
Back to the fucking concert already. So like I said,
“Dragged cuz I only have one album of his and find the music far too schizophrenic*. I hear a song I like and then it’s gone and I wanna groove out gd’it.”
I didn’t really like/know Girl Talk but Andrew swore that with my high level of ADHD that his music was “designed for people like” me! “You’re the most ADD person I know!” And whatever, he’s the laziest kid I’ve ever met. Kind of.
I was right, mostly and wrong, entirely.
You know when you go to see some band (I’m going to use Benny Benassi as an example) and you know all of their songs, or a few of them, or even if you only know ONE of their songs, the radio single probably, (in this case the sexy music video with tons of jigglies) you’ll def “want to hear it soooo bad!”. And you expect they’ll play it and if they don’t (which is:
likely: if your favorite song is obscure
possible: if it isn’t on the new album
probable: if you miss the concert entirely. i.e. run out of printer ink.
) you “will JUST DIE!” (Benny’s RHCP remix could not shroud his neglection of California Dreamin’ in LA, on a perfect fall’s eve).
Well Girl Talk has this problem in the extremes. 80% of the audience has been listening to 80% of the samples for 80% of their lives. (Before the show I made an invisible wager. “I wanna hear Jessie’s Girl. It’s a no brainer that it will show up, everyone fucking knows that song” It did! I won!) But when the jungle juice showman gets rolling with one of his classics (I assume) and then proceeds to REMIX it, as he did with Hilary’s “FAVORITE jam”, it’s like “What the fuck?! That was my favorite jam.”
Nothing really could be expected from this guy except a monster party, and we were at one, for sure. and didn’t really calm down. The Girl Talk guy even did his best to introduce us to each other, using the star to tune down the idol, “Put away your fucking cameras Los Angeles! Everyone put your fucking cameras in your pockets!” Something like that. (The debate about the “artistry” of The Girl Talk Project is entirely irrelevant. But he has a science minded past which is certainly an fascinating side dish) L.A. livened up about 30 minutes in (when it got louder) and for some disappointingly-less-than-forever time period wewere the show. We were blasted by dip’n'dots visuals, bathed in bath tissue, rained by on giant versions of those bags of air that are (why!?) slowly replacing packing peanuts.
But in the end, the literal end, my suspicions were founded and unexpectedly this felt truly unexpected! Having shimmied, bopped, skanked, thrashed, ground, and broke to every song I’ve ever heard (except “All The Small Things”) I got left waving my hands in the air, eyes closed, listening to 500 kids sing a song that might have been Journey or may have been Foreigner. And maybe, both. But I didn’t know it.
I choke on that pun, but Daft Punk don’t use the letters T(eddy) or B(ear) very often. It could have been Panda, Grizzly, Polar, Brown. Continue reading →
I’ve got to say I’m a bit bonkered. Today started out with a bang. A mildly hungover trip to a Sikh church service, which in case you didn’t know (and you probably don’t otherwise you would have been at service too) is comprised of meditation & an Indian buffet.
Some AC/DC & Project Runway and then some Woody Allen and a semi public shit.
I thought I’d missed the Colts’ game, but it turns out it is currently going on, yet I can’t find it anywhere. Green to the world of professional athletics if the cable box doesn’t have it, I become helpless.
But as is sometimes the case, the internet can produce great gems. One, I found in a video of the Colts’ mascot Blue atop an ATV pulling donughts on the 50 yard line. He proceeds to dropkick the San Diego Chargers mascot…
Note: The San Diego Chargers mascot, called The Bolthead must be the nephew of someone who owns the team as it is impossible he is over 15. I would never purposefully let a family member of mine get drop kicked by a 8 foot horse with a green mohawk, no matter.
Later on in the video Blue climbs a ladder and drops Bolthead through a table.
Author’s Note: I regret that I cannot get you directly to this video but I can get you close. It’s the first video on the page. here
Finally found the game and we’re dying. These commentators are so awesome, and these refs are not.
On a brighter note, I found an article written by fellow Flo Rida Jacob Ludin (11) on what it’s like to be a mascot. I can’t tell if Tennessee’s T-Rac is talking as the raccoon or the actor but his quote is pretty priceless. Also, Atlanta Falcon’s Freddie (Trey Humphreys) owns a party car service with fake fur interiors. here
Checking on Blue’s official profile, I wonder about his narrow mindedness. His favorite songs are “Wild Horses” and “Blue”. Movies: Seabiscuit, Blues Brothers, Indiana Jones (curious, as it’s neither a horse nor color thing) TV: Mr. Ed.
Continuing from strange to bizzarre, this mascot search has popped me onto the blog written by the Butler University mascot, bulldog Butler Blue II. I understand some anthropomorphizing, but this blog is dense, and sincere, and creepy.here
Maybe I’ll blog again. It’s been a while, and perhaps I can step back into the area a bit stronger and a bunch wiser. Last I wrote I was a bit angry it seemed. peeved by the indiscretions of this world, and I’m not apologetic by any means. It is incredibly reassuring that my soul can be bothered by such abnormalities that are posing as “life”. Whatever, life, like education, is what you make of it, and I’ve resized up my cranial sponge and learned how to keep my fingers of the faucet.
I learned this from the kids, not yet 100% aware of their insanities. Still reveling in them. Trying to fit in but not giving a flying fuck.
Today, the most beautiful day of the season, by far. perfect weather, empty house, loud loud tunes. I just noticed a bird nest outside my window. It’s partially hidden by some of the wispy foliage but I can get a fair enough view of it. I don’t know the mating or birth cycle of small chirpers but I certainly hope that it is one I will be lucky enough to follow through on.
A stack of books sits beside me. All of them nessicary, though impossible to digest simultaneously. I try. Sharks and monkeys, Buddha and Bazin, Woody Allen and a sailmanship guide. My life rocks, suckers.
Movies are changing for me, as is music, as is literature, as is love, as is fun, friendship, food, fucking, fungus, farts, figure skating, but as always flan remains a horrid way to spend dessert.
Drinking enough water is very, very, important. I’ve learned.
Today, I hurled my absentee ballot into the mix. It says it requires 1 dollar in postage but I only have a handful of first class stamps, and who the hell knows how much those are worth. I put 4 on there just to be safe. It’s not a waste as I don’t really send letters anyway.
Nothing’s perfect, you just gotta take the best of what’s around. (Rest)
(1) Kaltura.com is an open source video editor where users can upload video clips for a collaborative editing experience. and use an editor in the event that they do not have one. The cool thing about the site is the p2p aspect where editing can become a collaborative process. If two people are editing from different hard drives (as happened to be the case all week with my roommate and I) and they find that it is difficult to show each other changes throughout the day, and it is horribly overdue and one person looses their cell phone and locks their keys in the car halfway across the city, the internet can hold all of the footage and it can get it all done in time.What drew me to this site in the first place is the wiki style editing that the program encourages. Kaltura: Creating Together it says. Film is the collaborative medium, perhaps only second to the theater, using actors, directors, technicians, writers, costumers etc. to make any film possible.
To edit a film is to create both meaning and rhythm and at times these can be at odds with each other.
Take for example a man riding in a horse drawn cart.
If the editor chooses to show the horse running, panting and looking exhausted and then cuts to the man riding in the back, whistling a jaunty tune, this could be a way to illustrate the character facet that this man is oblivious to the discomfort he puts those around him in for his pleasure.
If however the shot is of the man whistling, taking in an afternoon ride through the woods, and then cuts to the horse panting, it simply says that he has been taking a long ride, and how he chooses to react from there will color his character.
Both options could fit inside of the same narrative, but each has meaning embedded within.
With the open source video format it is more difficult for one person to express these types of specific truths as readily, but then, this person should not be using the program entirely open source. They should use the option of inviting only selected editors to the project. Anyone who has ever dealt with the difficult realities of coherent collaboration would understand that for a traditional narrative film, allowing unlimited editors to play with your footage isn’t entirely conducive to the timely whole of the vision.
On the other hand the website offers the opportunity for interesting experimentation with these non traditional methods. For example if the specified group Film Kidz United decides to play on a theme, the resulting exploration could be a neat experience. With members all around the globe riffing on the theme of Deerborn Michigan, a revealing and multifaceted film could be produced.
Kaltura is free to those who use it in a minimal fashion, as there is not an unlimited amount of web space to import raw footage. For a monthly fee, the space increases. The films created are available to be embedded into any blog or personal website, inviting visitors to click on your video and update or add to it. To any web filmmaker without editing software, Kaltura is the ideal tool to use.
(2) The piece of the Kaltura network that I chose to focus on for my powerpoint presentation is one designed more for social purposes.
My slideshow centers on the creation of a video birthday card for my friend Charles using one of Kaltura’s offshoot applications designed for Facebook. The app is called Friend’s Video Card and it allows users to send a customizable birthday greeting to any one of their facebook comrades and just like working in a cubicle, the card is able to be passed from friend to friend, each adding their own signature before it reaches the birthday boy’s desk (top). The options for customization are surprisingly thorough and allow creators to get far more detailed and creative than a typical Halmark.com create-a-card.
Customizable features include:
Video: personalized or pulled from the internet
Photos: ditto
Drawing pad: which can be used alone or to put funny additions to the photographs
Text: of many colors and styles
The biggest downside of this app is that it is relatively difficult to use. In order to add multiple pieces to a card you are creating, the site tosses you around from homepage, to the “invite your friends” page, and back and forth to the actual creation station. In my experience the ideal way to build a card is to treat it like ABC blocks, and regard yourself as having only one block. You can insert what you want but then pass it on, if you try to put your mark all over, the whole tower will crumble.
Stylistically I chose to focus on the character of Charles through photos of him in action. Despite it being a birthday card, grey was the chosen color as the presentation included two videos and a dark background is recommended for video viewing. The powerpoint was supplemented with the oral presentation which gave the context of the card, standing alone, the powerpoint would provide very little information. Here is a copy of the powerpoint, though I believe that slideshare does not host screen shot videos, which made up the majority of the interesting material in this slideshow.
I’ve got to say I’m a bit bonkered. Today started out with a bang. A mildly hungover trip to a 
