Abandon Hope Of Short Entries

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A Question:
Really?

(Follow along using your LJ friendspage with the feed I set up?)

Current Mood: Uff-Da.
Current Music: Lesley Gore - "What Am I Going To Do With You?"

The Breeders @ Pop's In Sauget, Illinois; 05/10/08
1. Tipp City
2. Huffer
3. Bang On
4. Shocker In Gloomtown
5. Divine Hammer
6. Night Of Joy
7. No Aloha
8. Pacer
9. We're Gonna Rise
10. It's The Love
11. Walk It Off
12. New Year
13. Cannonball
14. I Just Wanna Get Along
15. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
16. Iris
17. Safari
18. German Studies
19. Empty Glasses

20. Overglazed
21. Fortunately Gone
22. Here No More
23. Saints

Coupla Amps songs in there as usual (but no TKD6K songs this time), as well as a pretty good smattering from all four (five, if you count PACER!...well, except TITLE TK, I guess, with only one song represented) albums?

POD - 3
LAST SPLASH - 6
PACER - 3
TITLE TK - 1
MOUNTAIN BATTLES - 8
HEAD TO TOE - 1
SAFARI - 1

I had been hoping they'd play "Saints" the whole show long then it was like Kuh-KRACK-uh! at the very end. I've tried to make "Summer is ready when you are" my aliteral slogan for this (and every) year.

UPDATE: Pretty certain song #4 was, in fact, "Shocker In Gloomtown" by Guided By Voices, and I've updated the list and album count above, accordingly.

Current Mood: Ready? Maybe.
Current Music: The Breeders - "Saints"

Squid-Ball.com
The new online home of the Squids is officially up and running and beautiful (endless thanks to Janternet for that one). Squids old and new, and non-Squids alike should feel free to peruse, enjoy, comment, and whatever else, there. Some sections of the site are still in development, but overall it is functional (for

markw's sake: it puts the FUN back in FUNCTIONAL, Hyuck!). Articles and Biographies and Statistics and Philosophies and the like are forthcoming!

Also, add this to yer LJ friends if you want new Squid-Ball posts to show up on your Friends page. Which you do.

Come see and/or hang with the Squids sometime/someplace! All are welcome/encouraged.

Current Mood: Glorsgs
Current Music: Run-D.M.C. - "Radio Station"

Hayden @ The Pageant In St. Louis, Missouri; 04/12/08
1. Home By Saturday
2. More Than Alive
3. The Van Song
4. Woody
5. Dynamite Walls
6. Trees Lounge
7. Lonely Security Guard
8. Bass Song
9. My Wife
10. Carried Away

Also, his new album was for sale even though it isn't released in the US 'til like April 29th. BONUS

Hilarious: Hayden came out and was like "hello" and some idiots nearby me were like "hunh, and WHO are you?" I hope they felt pretty dumb later when Feist was like "I used to go see Hayden when I was 17 years old and sit cross-legged on the ground looking up at him and I had a huge crush!" et cetera. THEY PROBABLY DIDN'T, THOUGH

Current Mood: URGENCY
Current Music: Hayden - "The Van Song"

Squid-B-Q!?
Who doesn't love a party during the day?

This Saturday (April 5th) from 11:00AM - 3:00PM (or so). All are invited. We're gonna play some softball first (see what Squidball is all about this year), then it's an all out barbecue/party/scrimmage/catch-fest/whatever. At Heman Park. Click Here for a quick idea of where exactly we'll be (blue = parking, red = playing fields...parking lot access from Olive).

If we can't secure the pavilion/grills there, we'll just go back to my house (like a one-minute-drive from there) after a little softballin' to barbecue it up and play some more catch or whatever, ya know?

If you want somethin' special, bring it yerself. I'll provide burgers/beer/dogs/cole slaw/potato salad/chips for as long as they last, absolutely free (donations always accepted/appreciated).

Tell whoever. Bring yer mitt. All welcome. 62°F and sunny. Saturday afternoon! SQUID-B-Q!

Current Mood: Swilfty
Current Music: The Delfonics - "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)"

Life Imitates...An Episode Of MR. BEAN?
This morning could only have been more ridiculous (and loud) if Boots Randolph had been in my house playing "Yakety Sax" over and over again. To prove just how comfortable I am with what an idiot I can be, I'm totally not even making this entry friends-only.

I sleep in a loft bed, which upon first getting it meant that, when my alarm went off, I'd be up and at 'em. Nobody wants to climb a ladder to go back to bed for five minutes, or at least I don't. HOWEVER, of course my brain found a way to be lazy, and a very dangerous one: hit the snooze, and go into the living room to lay down on the couch 'til I hear the alarm going off again (I set it plenty loud enough to hear from the other room). It's not QUITE as loud from there, and I've been known to sleep through it, at least for awhile, before.

SO, to counteract this, at some point I started making a stop in the kitchen in order to put some water on for tea. The living room is between the kitchen and the bedroom, so at some point within the 8 minutes or thereabouts that would follow, wherein I'd be sleeping on the couch, either the tea-whistle or the alarm radio, or some combination of the two in a cacophonous rage, would awaken me with some ease.

This morning, for the first time ever, I not only slept through the alarm, but the tea-whistle, too. For a good several minutes. However long it took for all of the water in the teakettle to boil off completely. When I'd earlier picked up the teakettle to make sure there was water inside of it, I noted that it was particularly heavy with water, in fact.

Before I knew what was up, an alarm was sounding. Having only recently had installed a Brinks home security system, and having been inclined to teach myself the ins and outs thereof recently, I went immediately to it. I couldn't figure out what was wrong--I'd turned off the alarm (which I set while I sleep, and for which there is a motion detector that picks up any activity in the living room, but not the hallway to my room or the kitchen) on my way into the kitchen initially. I entered my code, and went through all of the procedures that have worked hundreds of times before already, to turn it off. Nothing worked. I saw that I was actually turning the system ON when I'd enter my code. So, I'd enter it again and again, and it just got turned on and off. On and off. But the alarm never stopped.

After entering my code a handful of times, I realized the alarm was not coming from the Brinks speaker, but from nearer the kitchen. The smoke alarm? But I hadn't smelled/seen any smoke...and my house is cozy enough that I feel as though I would have.

I guess the reaction of the heat with the metal kettle, untempered by the water within, was enough to emit some kinda fumes, fumes capable of setting off the smoke alarm. I quickly grabbed it down and managed to silence it. At this point I realized the teakettle was completely empty, blackened from the stovetop and the corresponding heat. I set about scrubbing some of the blackness off, rinsing out the kettle, and so forth. It took a good several minutes to do this AND re-set the kettle so that I actually had some hot water for my tea. Once I'd set the kettle back up to boil me some new water, and knowing fully that at this point I was awakened enough to not feel as though I should sleep further, I proceeded back into my bedroom to get ready for my day while waiting for the water to come to a boil.

I stepped into the front room/living room area and immediately heard another deafening alarm; this one even worse than the first. Of course, in my earlier panic to turn off the the smoke alarm, I had abandoned the Brinks console precisely after turning the alarm back ON, rather than off. So, one trigger of the motion sensor and it was all bells and whistles again. I managed to cancel out the alarm swiftly and with ease, all the while wondering just what the hell my new roommate thought of all the gall-durn'd siren-oriented commotion going on downstairs--if anything--and considering myself lucky that she didn't come down demanding to know why the heck I was apparently trying to interrupt her rest with any opportunity: Tea-whistle, alarm clock radio, smoke alarm, house alarm.

In conclusion: I think I need more sleep. Seriously, Mr. Bean had mornings less ridiculous than this. Idea for a quick short?

Current Mood: Plarbv
Current Music: The Diamonds - "Little Darlin'"

Writey MacGruder
Look (or don't?), I'm some kind of published writer? And I got to go to an awesome concert, too!

Current Mood: GETTIN' OUT!
Current Music: Bunnygrunt - "Me & My Vampire Friends"

"Boo"
See those glasses in the userpic accompanying this entry? You know the ones. They're featured in just about every picture taken of me in the past seven years or something. They've defined my face for a gall-durn'd generation. I've had them for a solid quarter of my life. Many/most of you never knew me without them. I had them replaced twice, first when Nick Zammas stole them (he later denied it but I do know better!), the most recent time in 2003 or so, when one of Jessica Seratti's friends mysteriously made off with them during one of her little get-togethers (I was wearing contacts those two days and left the glasses in the bathroom at our old apartment both times--who steals someone's glasses from their apartment? Honestly? Just a testament to how awesome they were, though). They're the ones where, when I called FramesDirect.com to ask them what was wrong with my order, in response to a message they left on my machine, the lady on the other end said "Oh, you know what, we had called to tell you that design was no longer in stock, but we actually found ONE LAST PAIR of this design in our warehouse." They're the ones that strangers would compliment me on because they were so sweet.

Take a good long look at that picture, or any of the danged pictures here that feature me wearing glasses (but not costume- or sunglasses), because you will probably never see them again! My eyeglasses jynt BROKE THEM and apparently IRREPARABLY SO. Guys I am so crestfallen about this, that I have contacted Converse (who made the glasses) directly. The people who broke 'em offered me any frames they've got in-house free of charge. If I could find this model online somewhere (pretty sure they're long gone), I would order them there and make them pay for them. Argh I have not been this confusedly angry in awhile.

So yeah they were Converse All-Star glasses, and their glasses have all these funny names. Those in particular were called "Boo" and their color was "black tobacco." If anyone knows how I might go about getting another pair, I'd be grateful. FramesDirect suggested I go to Wal-Mart or CostCo as that's where all of their discontinued frames go, but that's probably a little bit "needle in a haystack," don't you think?

I realize people change glasses all the time, but man, I was pretty much expecting to go to my grave with those bad boys. I just don't know what to do/think anymore!

RIP I guess, dudes. You can see the stars on them better in this picture (courtesy of Archive.org and FramesDirect.com):

Current Mood: Kill Me.
Current Music: Waylon Jennings - "I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself"

Harnish Eats: A Pictorial Essay

Yeah dudes last night I witnessed this--my first eating contest (starring Matt from Bunnygrunt!). Pictured (L-R) are: Matt Harnish pumping himself up to eat (sitting), Matt Harnish pumping himself up to eat (standing), and Matt Harnish, after eating. I think he came in last place but it was mondo fun to watch/be there. I think the contest took about 3 minutes to end. Hammerstone's is kind of a cool place, plus Karen Ried (also of Bunnygrunt!?) bartends there.

Also I posted a bunch of stuff to Flickr for the first time, so now that you've all added me as a friend, you can check'm out (WARNING: They are not in chronological order. I will be more mindful to upload pictures to Flickr in chronological, or some kind of sensible, order, in the future).

Current Mood: Hongry
Current Music: Xavier Cugat - "Chino Soy"

A Healthy Kind Of Sick
Here is an allegory for my life, recently and otherwise:

Kevin and I (on our own) won 2nd place Stella Blues trivia last night--a $20 gift certificate.

Putting it into my pocket gave me perhaps the nastiest papercut of my life!

Current Mood: Band-Aided
Current Music: Edith Piaf - "L'Accordéoniste"

Temp Check!
It is currently 67°F ("Feels Like 67°F") outside here. By midnight tonight, less than 12 hours from now, it is supposed to be 22°F ("Feels Like 4°F"). By this standard, the perceived temperature is supposed to drop over sixty degrees Fahrenheit before the day is through!

My friend at work has a thermometer/clock thing and whenever it is super-hot or super-cold inside, we cry TEMP CHECK! and he checks the temperature and reports it. Earlier today it was 84.4°F in here. It has been super-hot like this every day for weeks. Of course they choose today, when it's supposed to get down to a theoretical 4°F later on, to do something about it and...turn on the A/C?

Well, it is 67°F outside, I guess. That won't last long, though!

Current Mood: Medium
Current Music: The Pretenders - "Thumbelina"

Brought To You By: AmerenUE
Here's a thing that I don't think I could possibly ever be made to understand.

I was at the NHL hockey game last week and there is this thing called a "power play" in hockey apparently. I don't know what that is, but that's not the thing I can never understand. Heck, I half expect Donruss or Ron or some dude who cares a dang about hockey to set me straight on that in the comments section below. THE THING I DON'T UNDERSTAND AND PROBABLY NEVER COULD: This "power play" segment of the game is sponsored by AmerenUE.

Now I know some of you are not in or from St. Louis or Missouri or Central Illinois and perhaps you've never even been here or heard about this place. So let me explain: AmerenUE is the local provider of electric power to the regions mentioned above. Yes, it's the electric company.

Setting aside for just a second the usual gripes (all of which are gripes with which I mostly agree) about product placement and sponsorship and advertising in and for every little aspect of everything, especially at major sporting events, why does the electric company need to sponsor anything? Why on EARTH is the electric company advertising their product as a contributor to some aspect of an NHL game? I understand, the word "power" is part of "power play." Very clever, you got the power company to advertise on something that had to do with power. Kudos, St. Louis franchise NHL advertising execs! I couldn't really believe my eyes (or by proxy, my brain) when I saw this, though. What choice have we got on power companies? The answer is NONE. So why the advertisement at the hockey game? Senseless!

I'm willing to cope with the notion that I might be a little bit crazy, and I'd remain sufficiently without frazzle by the suggestion from any party that I was. However, I maintain that I am not so crazy as to believe that a company with a veritable monopoly on a mostly-mandatory service doesn't have better things to do with its money (which it garners, of course, at the hands of everyone that pays an electrical bill, which at my last count was some 1.1 million people in the St. Louis area) than sponsor aspects of a professional hockey game. Does anyone remember early December 2006? How about mid-July 2006? Yes, those were the times when FEMA had to be called in to the St. Louis area because so many people were without power that our city was declared to be in a state of national emergency. I saw power company trucks from as far away as Omaha, Nebraska with my own eyes, driving around the St. Louis area helping. So, we had to call in power companies from other areas, and FEMA itself, that's fine, and it was a state of genuine emergency, during part of which I myself was without power (and therefore heat, in the middle of a snowstorm). Is it so unreasonable to assume that whatever money is spent advertising at Blues games could have been better spent on, you know, the prescribed duties of the power company (which, again, are paid for by the very people who needed their help, and in some cases went without it for weeks, back during those emergency times)?

I rack my brain trying to determine the last time I was so befuddled at something.

Current Mood: WHUT!?
Current Music: Ween - "The Golden Eel"

Keep, That, Dream Alive (Said) Keep That Dream Alive! (Say What?)
Man dudes I walked from Kiener Plaza to Powell Symphony Hall yesterday! It was awesome!

Current Mood: COOLED
Current Music: Bob Dylan - "You're No Good"

"What's GIGOLT?"
Look what I snagged on GigoIt (pending pickup)! Awesome. Apparently it hasn't been used in 20 years but worked last time it was used. Might still work, and figured it was worth a try for a hot 35mm SLR!

Current Mood: Floof'd!
Current Music: Jale - "Ali"

Every Little Piece!
I just watched the movie Pete's Dragon. When I checked it out of the library I did so at the same time I checked out A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and the librarian muttered something about "an interesting juxtaposition," hah hah. Seriously any given librarian scanning out my videos probably has no idea what to think, but that was perhaps the single most stark contrast between two titles I've yet managed.

Anyway I hadn't seen PD in probably a solid 15+ years. Only in watching it did I realize that I must have watched it a TON as a kid, some of the scenes were very much still fresh in my mind, I knew how the movie was going to start (the first shot), and most other scenes I recalled very vividly. I was surprised that all those songs I recognized were all from the same movie! I mean I knew like "Every Little Piece" and "Candle On The Water" were from it, but I found myself recognizing (not to the point of sing-along-ability, or even the point of "I could have told you what that was earlier this afternoon," but still recognizing) basically 100% of the songs.

It is one incredible movie! In this case, it was also a TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE, wahoo! The character of Dr. Terminus has one of the best wardrobes in movie history.

Current Mood: Wistful!
Current Music: Helen Reddy - "Candle On The Water"

Why, Do I, Stay Up, 'Til Three?
Holy jeez, stayin' up 'til almost 6:30AM...that was a first in a WHILE! Especially since I was in my own house alone the whole night! I did get some reorganization-type stuff done, which was pretty much the point. And uploaded some YouTube videos too! Today: more of the same!

I was going to rake leaves, but snow happened. Ouch! It's still mega-chores-day, though...I might put off cleaning out the car (since I don't have a space heater for the garage).

Current Music: The Amps - "Pacer"

'TIS THE SEASON!

April 30th, 2003 - Of Course!

Current Mood: Guh guh guh guh
Current Music: Mustardfish - "Silent Night"

Squidvia XRII
Tell yer friends & families & whomever else! IT IS COMING SOON!

The 7th Annual Xmas Round II Celebration!

It's not so much a concert this year--it's actually a Trivia Night charity fundraiser! Also, for the first time since XRII's inception, booze is not only allowed, but encouraged! BYOB or partake of one of the Schlafly Hefeweizen kegs that'll be present.

I could use a lot of help with this thing, so if anyone's feeling particularly charitable, or wants particularly to do a lot of snail-mailing on someone else's behalf in the coming handful of days, let me know.

BL'OOF

Current Mood: Pfooof!
Current Music: Sebadoh - "Forced Love"

"From Where Haileth Thou?"
You guys mighta known by now that I am big into genealogy, and yes it is probably a byproduct of having been raised Mormon and/or close to lots of family (or perhaps just having lots of family). I finally remembered to ask my Mom (and Dad, by proxy--he was sitting in the room with her as we spoke over the phone) point-blank what the various percentages of heritage were that make up myself. The results were not surprising, and coincided almost exactly with what I pretty much guessed (like, I asked her "am I this?" and the answer was "yes...wait...yes, that's right"). WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, DUDES! This is more or less exactly my cultural blueprint:

25% - Norwegian
25% - German
12.5% - Finnish
12.5% - Belgian (Wallonie)
12.5% - Welsh
12.5% - English

Dang dudes that's an awful lotta Northern Europe, ya know? Most of my ancestors were still over there until sometime in the (early) 20th century.

What are you? I want to know! In fact to increase the potential response, and since everyone knows they're just so darned fun, I'm going to make a poll:

Poll #1099956 From Where Haileth Thou?
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What is your ancestral make-up, in 255 characters or less? (Feel free to comment further in the...uhh...comments.)

View Answers

By the way the icon I used for this entry is one I made awhile back, mostly because all of the flags involved are red, white, and blue and somehow related to my heritage/life! I guess I could incorporate the Finnish and English flags and still not really have to add any more colors, but you only get 100×100 pixels, don't you know. Interestingly, the Belgian and German flags are comprised of the same colors as one another (black, red, yellow). The Welsh flag, however, deviates insofar as it is white, green, and red, and has a DRAGON(and not just some stripes/lines/crosses) on it! Flags with dragons are mighty awesome!

Current Music: "Team America: World Police" Soundtrack

Netflarx, Revisited
So today was the do-or-die, cancel-or-continue day for Netflix. I was about to go through with the cancellation, but luckily Netflix was so die-hard about keeping me on as a customer (wouldn't you be?) that even when I clicked a button that said "Yes, continue with my cancellation" (after checking a "check this box to agree with Netflix's terms of service" box, no less), they said "but wait, maybe you just want to downgrade?"

FINE, Netflarx, FINE. I will just downgrade. So, I'm still subscribing, but only for the $4.99/month level, where I can have 2 DVDs a month, one at a time. I figure it'll be a good, cheap way to keep the account active for some later point of my life where I decide I need a higher subscription level, and it'll be a good way to snag the odd video that I can't actually find at the library.

Anyway, I was instructed to offer this gobbledygook link to anyone wishing to be my NETFLARX friend! Click it and join my Netflarx "community" or whatever.

Current Mood: Spaghetti'd
Current Music: Netflarx

Songs I Wish I Wrote #1
Hayden's "Hollywood Ending" from Elk-Lake Serenade

Dudes this song is just so tight. You only get one verse at first, then it's a bunch of happy pathogenic da-da-da singing, then suddenly a sweet TRUMPET SOLO WAHOO! Also: when did Hayden start writing upbeat tunes like this? Not that it's a bad thing, and yes, I realize this album was released three and a half years ago, even though it remains Hayden's most recent studio LP effort, and yes, I realize that he preceded it with a variety of similarly-upbeat songs on this and other albums. Obviously there are sad undertones in the sorta lazy shuffle of the song's rhythm section, and of course Hayden's trademark gravelly drawl which has never lent itself to a Broadway role in West Side Story or anything, but which is, of course, beautiful in another way entirely. Man, Hayden is seriously like Canada's national songwriting treasure--with apologies to Neil Young, Paul Anka, Geddy Lee, and Burton Cummings. Don't forget to listen hard to the lyrics on this one, their twist is loads of fun (helped in no small part by that vocable chorus and liberal happy trumpeting), even if the sense of longing transmitted therein is also along the lines of the typical "winter-music" (as my old roommate Coire thought Hayden to be) that Hayden has, more or less, become known for (that is, if he's become known for anything at all). The imagery created by the lyrics is, as always with Hayden, spot on--here in that falsely-nostalgic way!

Listen and DISCUSS!

Also since polls are just fun (come on, aren't they?) and I really don't know the answer to this question (so I leave it up to you people who actually have to/want to read this journal):

Poll #1095536
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Should I Make This A Regular "Column" On This Piece? By "Regular," Of Course, I Mean "Whenever I Think Of Something I Consider To Be Noteworthy In This Vein, Which Could Easily Be Never Again," And By "Piece," I Mean "Journal."

View Answers

Yeah it's coo' I guess, or at least innocuous enough that you may as well.
4 (66.7%)

Naw it's sorta weak, and I'd probably skip most entries of this ilk. Plus, you think it's kind of an interesting/worthwhile idea now, but soon you'll just be thinking "what was I thinking?"
0 (0.0%)

Who cares? Where's that pizza, again?
2 (33.3%)

Current Music: Hayden - "Hollywood Ending"

'Til November 26th
CRAP DUDES! Netflix (or as I like to call it, NETFLARX) sucked me in with their free trial offer period with a $20 gift certificate to some fancy online popcorn store. I just love popcorn dudes!

Honestly I will probably cancel it at the end of the trial period. Not only do I rock the library as hard as ever, and have a TON of stuff that I actually own to still watch, but ALSO my friend was recently promoted to like "official video collection buyer for SLPL" (I'm green with envy), and he told me to send over any suggestions/recommendations for stuff they should add to their collection (which I have done liberally, perhaps even to a fault, over the course of the past week or so since he told me to).

Someday, I might be a full-time Netflarx subscriber (especially once their collection grows beyond Bend It Like Beckham. What, you didn't get that joke? Oh, that's because you didn't watch the Netflarx video linked-to above. Oops, you're retarded! Now go watch it, and consequently understand the joke, for what that's worth). Heck, maybe this trial period will turn me into a full-time subscriber sooner than I think. Right now, though, the GRATIS nature of the library (not to mention, the excuse to go to not one, but three different libraries, each part of a completely different library system but each within 10 minutes of driving from one another) is just too appealing/convenient/awesome/familiar.

According to the plans offered on the website, I get a better one with the library (a virtually limitless number of DVDs at a time, for zero dollars per month, not to mention some stuff, such as locally/regionally-oriented/made films, stuff-not-available-on-DVD-yet-if-ever, and more that Netflix doesn't carry). I'd qualify that with "except for all the driving," but most or all of said driving is easy enough to work in on an "on the way to elsewhere" basis (and seriously, two of the libraries of which I speak are literally 2-3 minute drives from my house, and the other is maybe a 7-10 minute drive TOPS, so even if it's not on the way, it's worth a quick go). I WILL qualify it with "except for all the late fees and not-unlimited time periods for which I can have any given movie checked out," but I will qualify that further with "how long does it really take to watch a movie anyway?" and "some/most movies CAN be renewed many, many times" and "even with the relatively extensive late fees I rack up, I'm paying nowhere near even, say, an eighth of the monthly cost of that 'most popular' Netflix plan."

Current Mood: Bleary-Eyed
Current Music: Ween - "The Stallion, Pt. 1"

Maybe America Is Not As Messed Up As People Think It Is?

Courtesy of MayorSlay.com.

Current Mood: Pizza'd
Current Music: Weezer - "Only In Dreams"

My Glarsh An Embedded Video!

Current Mood: Garfz
Current Music: Gene Ween - "It's Gonna Be (Alright)"

Garage-Be-Gone
Man I totally solved that garage-door-opener problem on my own. And I was worried I'd have to enlist the help of a "professional"!

If I do say so myself, I am getting pretty awesome at fixing stuff around the house. Toilets are a breeze, anymore. This isn't the first time I've had to maintain the garage door. The dryer is a cake-walk. I fixed that pesky "if you turn on the bathroom sink water to a certain point, it shuts itself off" issue months ago. If anyone ever needs help or advice on stuff like this (plumbing, home mechanics, et c.) don't be afraid to call (but also don't expect a certainty of successful response on my part). If I don't know it off-hand, I also have a ton of home improvement books that might (though I haven't yet had to call them into play).

Next project: re-wire the house to implement three-prong plugs rather than the two-prongers currently in abundance here (this is where said books will come in very handy).

Current Music: Vic Mizzy - "The Addams Family Theme"

HalloHoodwink'd
Tonight I went to Dot LeGrand's house, since that is what I do every year on Halloween (usually at the end of trick-or-treating, but on account of Doctor's orders I didn't go trick-or-treating this year). I arrived at 9:15PM, had brought some movies I've worked on/made to show her, and even wore my burger-hat, but when I got there, all of the lights (including the porch light) were off, and no signs of life were present indoors. How truly disheartening! In years past (well, at least one for sure) when she wasn't there, she at least left us bags o' candy and an apology note. This year: nothing. I had gotten about 50 yards back the way I came when I decided, I should leave my OWN note! So I turned around, wrote a brief "I'm crestfallen!" note, and stuck it to the doorknob. Seriously, where the heck is Dot, dudes?

Of course I realized at some point that I have probably had contact with Dot more recently even than I've had any with Lauren. Where the heck is Lauren, dudes?

I thought about going to Greg and Beth Warner's house since I was so far west already, but I figured, if I went that much farther and they weren't home or some crap, 'twould have been lame! So I went to Target and Wal-Mart instead, and bought some Halloween OREOS. One time I ate a whole sleeve of Oreos at Matt Ressler's house.

This Halloween sorta sucked! Intended costume didn't come in the mail on time (finally arrived by the way). Didn't Trick-or-Treat. Didn't hang with Dot. The question is, was it really even Halloween if none of those things happened?

Current Music: Darkwing Duck NES Game Music

Ween @ The Pageant in St. Louis, Missouri; 10/22/07

The Golden Eel
Baby Bitch
Spinal Meningitis
Bananas & Blow
Learnin' To Love
Waving My Dick In The Wind
Take Me Away
Nan
Voodoo Lady
Your Party
My Own Bare Hands
Happy Colored Marbles
Buckingham Green
Zoloft
Roses Are Free
She's Your Baby
Piss Up A Rope
Don't Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy)
Touch My Tooter
Object
I'll Be Your Jonny On The Spot
The Goin' Gets Tough From The Getgo
Pandy Fackler
Dr. Rock
Stroker Ace
You Fucked Up
Someday

Ocean Man
Never Squeal

Fiesta

30 songs! Keith accompanied. Ween is good for what ails ya (or at least good for what ails me...quite so).

Current Mood: Genuflection
Current Music: Ween - "Fiesta"

Swedish Fishiness
UPDATE! I called Ikea this morning and was on hold for like 25 minutes. I resigned myself to phone queue graveyarddom, hung up, called back, and had my call picked up within 5 minutes (of course). They said that I should have received an "error" E-Mail since my credit card information was never taken. I didn't--just got the "confirmation" E-Mail saying I'd get a call within 48 hours or something (this was shortly after the purchase).

Anyway, the representative on the line assured me nothing would be shipped unless I gave my credit card information to someone, at some point. I never did, so PHEW! Then a few minutes ago I got another E-Mail saying "call this number and give 'em yer credit card information within 48 hours to get this thing!" but of course the shipping (which was finally listed) was almost $300 when the bed itself is $249...that's with the special carrier they use (the old way). Maybe I'll just find out if the UPS deal is in effect or what.

Here's a laugh: on the site they say "we will choose the shipping method that will get the product to you in the best condition possible." If I'm paying $300 as opposed to like $25, it better be delivered to me with a life-size golden giraffe.

I still hold out hope for St. Louis Centre becoming an Ikea. What better way...[you can complete that sentence yourself].

Current Music: Pratt & McClain - "Happy Days"

Ikean't Figure This Out
Has anyone out there ever made an online order with Ikea?

I ask because I went to the website attempting to find out about this new shipping policy with UPS (which apparently allows you to get what you want [in my case this bed I've had my eye on for some time and may finally be able to afford like tomorrow] delivered for, you know, less than double the cost of the item itself, which is how you used to have to do it). There is an alarming dearth of information on shipping rates at ikea-usa.com or whatever. The information they DO provide is unclear at best and appears only to apply to states whose names begin with letters A-D.

So I figured hey, I'll do what anyone would do if they wanted to figure out the shipping: just try to place an order! Surely they will show the total amount to be charged to my credit card or whatever, including shipping, before I hit that final "yes, Yes, YES, I would like to buy this for the price indicated, that is my final answer Regis, check out NOW!" button.

Well GUESS AGAIN! In fact, I did not even enter any billing information other than my address before I got a "Thanks for buying this thing from Ikea!" message (which included the obligatory "you'll get an E-Mail receipt soon" type stuff--said receipt has yet to arrive, but should prove interesting). Allow me to repeat the main point of what I just tried to convey: I HAD NOT EVEN ENTERED ANY BILLING INFORMATION BUT MY ORDER "WENT THROUGH." What do they expect, just to deliver it to my door, charge any mystery amount they want for shipping, and stick me with a C.O.D. bill when they arrive? Tight then, I can get that $249 bed (it was $199 just weeks ago, of course) for like $500 or $600 or $10,000 (for all I know), what a steal. I truly cannot comprehend how a company so well-established (in so many countries, and on so many continents, even) can have such a confusing (dare I say downright crappy) online presence.

I tried calling the customer service hotline but of course their offices closed like 40 minutes ago. DURRP! Well add that to my "list of things to do before work" tomorrow, right there with "make sure paycheck direct-deposited correctly so I can fill my running-on-fumes-empty gas tank up" and "fill my running-on-fumes-empty gas tank up."

Oh, what a surprise, the website reads thus: "If you ever have questions before, during or following your order call 1-800-434-IKEA 7 days a week / 8AM-midnight EST Mon-Sat, 9AM-midnight EST Sun to speak with an IKEA Customer Service Agent." According to that, someone oughta be there to talk to me for the next three hours, not totally gone for the past hour.

Current Mood: Hot 'N' Flustered at IKEA
Current Music: Brendan Benson - "The Pledge"

Two By Four
Did you guys know that a standard 2×4 actually measures more like (almost exactly) 1½×3½? What a gyp!

Actually it's kind of a godsend for some improvements I'm making to a shelf. Also: I wish I'd known this a week ago; if I had, the shelf improvements woulda been done by now probably. OOFSH

Current Mood: BRUSH
Current Music: The Munsters Theme Song

Pancho Villa
Yeah dudes I filled this thing out and was gonna post it as a MySpace bulletin (as that's how I initially found it) but then I remembered, I should only use MySpace bulletins for important stuff. ALSO, more people will probably read it here, honestly. AND, MySpace sucks. AND, this way I can change it if I want to! Mostly I didn't want it to just go to waste cuz I made a concerted (yuk yuk) effort to list out all of the "venues" to which I've ever been.

( Concerts Survey? )

Current Mood: Yase

FutureShows!
My Gourd dudes, seldom has a payday been so highly anticipated for purposes other than an ability to pay the bills! Tonight is Crozh's birthday party at the Dave Coulier stand-up show; Bunnygrunt's 400th show is Saturday night and I'm playing a few of their songs, as are other people--I've skipped outta the TMBG show for this; Tuesday is Megadeth with Dan (I already have tickets for the two events named that will require them, though); of course there's Ween show and a Kevin Nealon show on the horizon, I need to get the DVD sets of Degrassi (yes, all of it) in anticipation of our forthcoming Degrassi club, and I'm going to visit Grandma in early October and then to Chicago the following weekend. HOOOH that's EXPENSES baby!

Man it has been 20 months (practically) since I last gave a real post! Not yet, though. Soon my friends SOON! You shall know all about my "new" job and whatever else (lots) that's happened in the past year and a half PLUS.

Hopefully Donruss is going to sorta co-captain the Squids softball team in the present/future which is pretty awesome, we are still working out the kinks of that and positions people should play, et c. The Squids has come to encompass so much more than just softball (and what it encompassed prior to softball, of course) in the last 20 months by the way, my gosh dudes who ever knew the Squids would branch out so bigtime? WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE SQUIDS!?

Soon I promise!?

Current Music: Bunnygrunt - "Macho Beagle"

Arch High School Reunion Show 2007 (07/29/07)

Gin Blossoms:
-Alison Road
-??
-Found Out About You
-??Long Time Gone??
-'Til I Hear It From You
-Hey Jealousy
-Follow You Down

Stray Cats:
-Rumble In Brighton
-Runaway Boys
-Gene & Eddie
-Blast Off
-Stray Cat Strut
-She's Sexy + 17
-(Instrumental)
-Fishnet Stockings
-Rock This Town

Pretenders:
-Bad Boys Get Spanked
-Stop Your Sobbing
-Popstar
-Night In My Veins
-My City Was Gone
-Complex Person
-I'll Stand By You
-Back On The Chain Gang
-Fools Must Die
-Precious
-Brass In Pocket

ZZ Top:
-Got Me Under Pressure
-Waitin' For The Bus
-??My Head Is In Mississippi??
-I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide
-Black Fly
-Cheap Sunglasses
-Pearl Necklace
-Heard It On The X
-??Brown Sugar??
-Rough Boy
-Blue Jean Blues
-Foxy Lady (Hendrix)
-Gimme All Your Lovin'
-Sharp-Dressed Man
-Legs
-Tube Snake Boogie
-La Grange
-Tush

Heck of a show, or even a lineup, for $10.65 + fees.

Current Music: ZZ Top - "Got Me Under Pressure"

KMAD
Last night we went to the Mad Art Radio Hour, it's thing they brought back by popular demand--a '30s/'40s/'50s-style radio show with a live audience and live voice actors, performing mini audio plays; sound effects people with extensive tables full of noisemaking bric-a-brac (NO prerecorded sounds, they made them all right there with various props), a live band, announcer, et cetera. Local businesses sponsor it, and they break between some of the dramatic readings to sing/perform commercials for these businesses.

We went to one back in November or something and it was one of the most entertaining things I'd ever done in town. If you're into being entertained, or into the history of entertainment itself, and you're in St. Louis, you should try to make it out. I think they have a matinee at 2PM today, and then the regular show at 8PM as well, which is going to be put on KDHX 88.1FM (I'm not sure if it'll be live or not). I wanted to get the CD of the November performance but it was a kinda-steep $10 and I'm strapped a bit right now!

We also went to Don Beasley and this girl Jessica Russo's art show at Fort Gondo after that was over, and it was pretty sweet. Fort Gondo shows are really cheap apparently (like $150 if you want a show up for a month?). Don and I made a verbal agreement that I'd buy all of his pieces for four dollars (I was willing to go up to four and twenty-five but he didn't drive a very hard bargain!). Natalie of The McGees was there and later Peat Henry showed up, my gawrsh. Today I'm getting a bunch of junk having to do with my car fixed, and later there's softball practice, an all-movie-question Trivia Night (let me know if you want to go, cuz I need a team), and BEYOND! I also need to finish that Kolchak movie cuz I was too tired to finish it last night.

And yes, I still plan on updating this journal someday soon to outline events of my life occurring between mid-January 2006 and the present!

Current Music: It's the Mad Art (Mad Art) Mad Art (Mad Art) Radio Radio Radio Show

Skizsh
Yesterday I found out that some Squidballer sings the national anthem at major sporting events around town; apparently she sang for the Blues like 22 games last season or something!? We were trying to find out if there was some hilarious footage of it online but all I found was some kind of profile of her as a voice actor for hire. Man I should talk to her about that, I have wanted to get into the voice acting game forever. To say nothing of how badly I've wanted to get into the national-anthem-singing game...

Hey does anybody want to be an on-call actor or actress for Pancake Productions in this weekend's 48 Hour Film Project?

Lousy Week Numero Uno!
Guys it has been a rough week and a half or so. My computer went haywire, followed shortly by my iPod (so the iPod trouble is undiagnosable on account of the computer's inability to properly function). I've eaten out six of the past seven nights, which is good for neither paunch nor pocketbook (to say nothing of my apparent physical inability to bring myself to work out). I got a speeding ticket. Our softball game was rained out. A Sharpie came uncapped in the pocket of my favorite pair of pants, causing nasty stainage to the pants and the bathroom counter (one cleanable, one not). Things are coming apart at the seams! I woke up on Thursday thinking it was Saturday. There were things that happened last week and weekend that are so unspeakable and embarrassing that I don't even want to address them here (or anywhere, at all, ever again). I try not to exaggerate but I think this might have been the lousiest 2-week period of my adult life! And my birthday was in there somewhere even!?

I don't recall ever feeling so much like I wanted to just hibernate through the next two years.

Current Music: Jesse Lawder - "Blue Skies"

DreamJournal 05/05/07
Last night I dreamed that I was on the Baltimore Homicide Squad, but our office was in this crappy cellar or old-ass subway station or something instead of the normal room. Baltimore was a hilly town, and kinda rural in the parts on my way to work, and I drove on this tiny yellow Asian-made motorcycle that was good at climbing hills. Lt. Girardello needed to promote someone to Sergeant and he asked Meldrick Lewis if he wanted the job but Meldrick didn't. Then he asked me, and Beau Felton (who was apparently promoted earlier) and Kay Howard were trying to convince me to take it. It would have required working much longer hours and crap, ultimately I refused and the offered the position to John Munch. At some point I was being nice to Munch cuz we were buds but then in a moment of dramatic frustration I revealed that Meldrick and I had both been offered the position before Munch took it, he was kinda like "damn."

Later on Lise Johnson (looking nothing like Lise Johnson of course) and some unidentifiable friend of hers came to visit, I couldn't really tell if they were visiting Baltimore or St. Louis but I was still on the Baltimore Homicide squad I think? Anyway Lise and her friend got locked in our cellar-headquarters one night or something and I couldn't find them but went back there and was like crap you dudes got locked in! By that time I think I had been promoted after all (or I remember thinking I had cuz now I had the keys to the office-cellar), but I don't remember any other detectives in that part of the dream.

Current Mood: Ding Ding Ding
Current Music: Link Wray - "The Swag"

Newmmate
Anybody know anybody lookin' fer a place to live in the St. Louis area?

Current Music: The Kinks - "Young Conservatives"

You-Tubing!
Guys I have finally decided to buckle down and get a YouTube account! However, "pancakemaster" is already taken as a username. NO BIGGIE I tried to get "pancakeproductions," ALSO TAKEN. Here is the deal:

PancakeMaster has not logged into YouTube in 7 months.
PancakeProductions has not logged into YouTube in 2 months.

Sure I could choose some other name, but my spectrum of names registered for online resources is already so large that it's annoying to have to keep track. I'm willing to bet that if I could get a hold of one of them (especially PancakeMaster; I mean seven months?), he/they would let me have the account maybe? In any case it is worth a shot. The only way I know to contact them, though, is through the "Send Message" function of YouTube, which--you guessed it--requires you to have an account. I don't know if these messages go to E-Mail or like some YouTube messaging service or what; I assume they might at least get an E-Mail notification...

SO MY FRIENDS WHO ARE YOU-TUBERS: Would one of you please contact this 30-year-old Australian and request that he/she turn his/her account over to me? If we don't hear back from him/her within a week or two maybe we can try the dude(s/dudette[s]?) at PancakeProductions...

COMMENT HERE AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN/WILL HELP and feel free to proceed on the matter if you're the first to comment. THANKS EVERYONE!

Current Music: Corbeta Corbata - "Only Words"

WHO IS ETHAN!?
So I am hosting/emceeing this Trivia Night that I also wrote, this weekend in Washington, Missouri. It should be tight.

The dudes who are making the movie for which the trivia night is a benefit (Zak, Dustin, Lucian) posted something on TriviaNights.net about the Trivia Night, as anyone in St. Louis would be smart to do. In the listing there, it is recommended you E-Mail Ethan [at] iDesignFilms [period] com to get more information or to register a table. For the past several days since that post went up, I have been wondering who this "Ethan" is, cuz as far as I knew, these are the dudes with iDesign, and Zak's the only other dude who would have anything to do with this, and none of them go by "Ethan."

So much so to the extent that yesterday I saw Kevin in the library and he, having intentions to attend said Trivia Night, was asking me how to go about registering, whether he pays me directly or what. Obviously I'm not taking money or organizing the thing, I'm just hosting it. So, I tell him all about the ambiguous "Ethan" about whose identity I'm unsure, but tell him that Ethan is the guy to E-Mail, even though I'm not exactly sure who that is.

I think during this encounter I even said something like "Yeah I don't even know who Ethan is, but I guess he's with iDesign; he's the guy to E-Mail."

Then tonight, at Lemmons Trivia, I asked Keith if he knew who Ethan was with iDesign Films, and he didn't. FAST FORWARD to just like five minutes ago, when I was IMing with Zak, trying to find out things like how many teams were registered so far. It occurred to me to ask him who Ethan was, since if anyone knew, he would, and of course his reply:

"Ethan is the name of the movie we're working on."

DURRRP I definitely auditioned for (what I hoped would be) the lead role in this movie, and was a big fan of the script after reading it...somehow the two just didn't quite meet in my brain.

I coined the term "Dragnet-theme" as a verb (or even noun, or adjective) to commemorate this idiocy. You can all feel free to use it, as in "Man, I sure Dragnet-themed that up," or "That sure was a Dragnet-themed thing to do," or "What a Dragnet-theme I have been lately."

Then when people ask "Dragnet-what now?" I can reply:

Dum, Da DUM-DUM!

Current Music: DRAGNET-THEME'D

Washington, Missouri
Guys! I WROTE and am HOSTING a Trivia Night this coming weekend. It is a BIT of a haul away for most of you (out in Washington, Missouri at St. Francis Borgia Regional High School) but should be sweet. Ten rounds of ten questions; Cash prizes for the top 3 placing teams; 8-10 people per table, $120/table (or $15 per person if you wanna go alone); starts at 7:00PM (6:30PM doors), and beer, snacks, and soda are INCLUDED with your admission price. Plus I promise the questions aren't all skeezy and shit, there are some traditional categories and some not-so-traditional categories. Be BITCHIN' to see any of y'all there. Lemme know if you need any other information or E-mail ethan [at] iDesignFilms [period] com to register. It's a benefit for a movie being made by some buds of mine, jawsome.

Current Music: Some "Altered Beast" Theme Remix?

Are You Embarrassed?
Poll #931149 Embarrassing Videos
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

If you had all of the following movies rented from Blockbuster/Netflix/Hollywood Video/the Library/wherever--heck, for that matter, if ya OWNED 'em, about which one would you be most embarrassed? That is, which one would you be most likely to try to hide from others in general?

View Answers

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322259/ (2 FAST 2 FURIOUS)
6 (42.9%)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356634/ (GARFIELD)
5 (35.7%)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052427/ (TOM THUMB)
1 (7.1%)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384806/ (THE AMITYVILLE HORROR [2005])
0 (0.0%)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160127/ (CHARLIE'S ANGELS)
2 (14.3%)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149261/ (DEEP BLUE SEA)
0 (0.0%)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251736/ (HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES)
0 (0.0%)

Current Mood: Wantin' Ta KNOW!
Current Music: Mecca Normal - "Water Cuts My Hands"

RIP Bartholomew "Bart" Gordon Severson
Dang dude, you will be missed:

Just last night my Mom and I were discussing whether it was time to put the ol' boy down...looks like he made that decision easy. He was over 100 in dog years, by my calculation. heck he was alive for three different US Presidents! Two of them having been two-termers, that's pretty good for a dog.

Check out the obituary I wrote for Bart at the home of Pancake Productions' Online Short Films (February 19th, 2007 entry).

Current Music: Cake - "Opera Singer"

6th Annual Xmas Round II Musical Bonanza Blowout Spectacular - NOW with MYSTERIOUS ART SHOW!

Howdy one and all, it's nearly time for the sixth annual Xmas Round II Musical Bonanza Blowout Spectacular. This year it is accompanied by a visual art show as well, featuring some pretty awesome local artists! It promises to be the HUGEst Xmas Round II celebration yet. We've got some excellent (excellent) acts coming in from out of town (Chicago), like HERC which is comprised partly of the Lord of the Yum-Yum and the reading group Three Bald Men (WARNING: The Three Bald Men, not all of whom suffer from baldness or are even men in the first place, are not all guaranteed to attend--it may be one or two "Bald Men" only). Local favorite (of mine and many others) Jesse Irwin will be making his Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center debut (it's about the only place in town he hasn't yet played). Other rarely-to-never-appearing acts and random fun occurrences are practically guaranteed. Get gussied up in yer maroon and blue and skip dinner in favor of the circus peanuts and off-brand Slim Jims, cuz they'll be in no short supply (those are XRII colors and XRII cuisine for those not in the know). It's what XRII is all about--another chance for the giving and receiving of gifts!

(Feel free to pass this message on as much as possible, or see more on the St. Louis Events of Pancake Productions for additional information.)

Current Mood: Sandpaper'd
Current Music: Billy Joel - "Ain't No Crime"

Daxmas Time Is Here Again
For those that don't know, Sloppy Pop sensation Googolplexia (my solo project, with MustardRon's help) had this bit of clever music (if I do say so myself) on a super-sweet local compilation of rockin' Christmas tunes two years ago. It was called A Very Bert Dax Christmas and was the third annual compilation of its kind.

======FAST FORWARD TO THIS YEAR======

Obviously A Very Bert Dax Christmas is still very much a part of the elite St. Louis rock and roll cultural landscape. Volume Five was slated for release this year, and a release it indeed saw. The official release shows are this coming Friday and Saturday but the CD is already available (most notably from myself for a paltry five dollars; one full dollar less than the pre-tax price charged you for the same product at Vintage Vinyl, which is, to my knowledge, the only record store carrying it).

This notice is particularly for goons like

insides and

songbill, who neglected last time not only to save themselves over a dollar, but also to support their dogg

jabberwocky (that's right, I just linked to my own journal). If you want this CD, all ya gotta do is slip me the five-spot and it is YOURS! Five dollars, people. There are 11 tracks of (mostly) solid gold on this thing, and all from your favorite local rockers. Only too naturally, it is also JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

I will NOT be selling the CDs this Friday, at the release show, which Mustardfish is HEADLINING. Or at least, if you want it from me (which you do), we'll have to go out to my car or something, all secret-like so as to circumnavigate the merchandise stand there at the show.

The equally awesome A Very Bert Dax Christmas, Volume Three is still in rich supply as well, and yours for the similarly great ("great" as in "spectacular" and decidedly NOT as in "large") going price of $5.

If you want a low-quality, unmastered, and very small sort of taste as to that which comprises Volume Five, you ought to download selection #2 at the page consisting of miscellaneous tracks recorded by humble St. Louis artists Mustardfish.

I intend fully to keep these discs in the car wherever I go, so feel free to approach and request one. If you live in places far and wide, feel free to request a copy be shipped, accommodations can most certainly be made.

FIVE DOLLARS! That is all.

Current Mood: Ear-Thuddy
Current Music: Thump Thump Thud

Picture TIME?!
I posted this on

oldphotoaffair (a pretty sweet LJ community for those that enjoy old pictures of people they don't know) just now, but thought I'd share with the ol' Friends page, too:

My Dad is the tallest one, standing in the back center. This was taken in approximately 1965.

Also check out:

Kinda low quality, I know. It shows the adults from the first photograph above (my Grandparents) nearly 40 years later (in 2003)!

And since it's apparently picture-time, everyone check out BART!

Also this new favorite from back in May:

THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS PICTURE-TIME!

Current Mood: YESSSS!
Current Music: Joséphine Baker - "Breezing Along With The Breeze"

Movie POST'D
Well guys, I have finally done it. Pour Chaque «Non» has completed its glorious festival run and is now available for your perusal whenever you want.

For those that were not awesome enough to see it in theatres or other public venues, I'm sorry you aren't more awesome, but at least now you can alleviate that ever-so-slightly by seeing the movie in a super-small internet compressed version on your computer monitor. Ever-so-slightly, I said.

In case you didn't hear that, Pour Chaque «Non» is now online. You can watch my short French car movie of sorts on the web, with ultimate ease.

It runs a little over 12 minutes and the file is about 45MB. You'll need Quicktime to run 'er.

That's all dudes, enjoy and gimme all the feedback ya want (should be good for a LAUGH!). Next step: making VHS copies for those to whom they were promised (in case you didn't know, that's basically anyone who appears in the credits; if you want one LEMME KNOW), and updating the website to further reflect some changes coming soon(er than later I hope).

Current Mood: Jawsome
Current Music: Too Rock & Roll For You

Yearly Promise
I know I say it (almost) every year, but Xmas Round II 2007 is going to blow all previous XRIIs out of the water by like tenfold. WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!

Current Mood: Helgh!
Current Music: Yeah!

Great Sound, Great Picture...I Am Thrilled By It!
Is anyone interested in accompanying a road trip to the Dallas, TX area for Thanxgiving? Obviously meals are included; you'd pay part of gas costs, plenty of game-playing, geocache-finding, deal-shopping, and prob'ly even movie-watching are also bound to find themselves in abundance. I'm thinkin' I'll leave Tuesday night or Wednesday morning the week of Thanxgiving to goph'r.

Current Mood: Tyee'.
Current Music: Midnight Special DVDs Infomercial

Vote?!
I don't reckon I use my journal much...well, at all. But particularly to alert my friends to this or that cause. However, this one's of a more personal nature I guess, plus I'm really disgusted by the alternative that may come to pass if I don't get the word out a little more.

Awhile back my friend Todd made a movie called The Lost. It was submitted to the Third Screen Film Festival and later was bigtime in the running to win their annual competition. There's also this other movie, which is THE LOST's only real contender at present, which is basically just some idiot jabberjawin' in front of his webcam. He says dumb things, he rambles, he thinks he's funny and is absolutely not, and his voice is annoying.

Anyway, to help prevent the shudder in the space-time continuum that must surely result if that guy wins the competition, you can and should go here to view the films in competition. If you don't care about this, or wouldn't have voted anyway, just take like ten or fewer seconds, go here instead (you can also watch THE LOST there if you so choose), and vote directly for it. I don't wanna tell people how to vote, but even more than that, I don't want some idiot's movie that he made with a webcam in the course of half an hour (which translated to some of the most excruciating 8 minutes of my life) to beat out something that friends of mine spent lots of time and effort on, and which actually has a smidgen of aesthetic appeal.

OH! You can also text message "thelost" to the phone number 66937. Don't put those quotes in the text, just the text between 'em.

...And that's all for today.

Current Music: Harry Belafonte - "Island In The Sun"