Category Archives: Uncategorized

[  Mood: Distorted ]
[  Currently: Listening to In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, by Neutral Milk Hotel ]
Just using the title "Sister Christian" put that classic Night Ranger gem into your heads, didn’t it?

If you aren’t familiar with the tune, I suggest finding a copy of Midnight Madness, bust out some light beer (your choice) and the barbecue, and have a time warp in your backyard this summer. Crank it loud enough and some neighbors might stop by to join you and share stories from 1983.

If you’re feeling lazy and introverted, rent Boogie Nights and enjoy one of Alfred Molina’s finest performances. Hell, the whole movie’s great IMO, but the climactic scene comes together with the aid of that great ’80s power ballad.

Why am I stuck on the song? What makes it so damned catchy? What put it in my head, anyway? These are questions that, in a roundabout way, lead me to another question: Why is the album I’m listening to now (another relic from a different bygone decade–the ’90s this time) just as ingrained in my synapses as that hit from Blades, Keagy, et al?

Stylistically they couldn’t be farther apart. One, a straightforward pop/rock amalgam that can still be heard on finer "classic rock" stations nationwide. The other you’ll be lucky to hear a snippet from on the most diverse college radio station in the most liberal town.

Musically, they have nothing discernible in common. "Sister Christian" is a simple song clocking in at five minutes, two seconds, with a bizarre chorus line that no one I’ve known (save Wikipedia, apparently) could decipher the real meaning of (and not for lack of trying, usually while drunk).

"In The Aeroplane Over The Sea," is close to 40 minutes of at times perfectly odd pop, other times almost jarring musical cacophony that, taken as a whole album experience (indeed, the songs run one into the next a la Pink Floyd’s "Dark Side of the Moon"–and the similarities end there), is sonically blissful and filled with emotion in raw form.

Both are what I think my friend Tracey would call essentially good pop. They both have hooks your brain will imbibe and resuscitate when you least expect it. Tey get into your head and become either a cloying annoyance or joyous fun when they arrive.

You’ve probably heard the former, so go out and sample the latter. Share your opinions here.

Next time, I’ll stray closer to the SF in my entry. Maybe CJ7 will be out by then…

[  Mood: Amused ]
Stuff I’m lovin’ at the moment:

CBS, for running the Showtime series Dexter, which my wife and I caught the second episode of Sunday night. On the strength of that edited for network t.v. episode alone, we ran down to Best Buy to snatch up season one of the show on dvd (it’s $19.99 on sale this week-’til 03/01). Check it out if you have the chance. Intense, with splashes of dark humor, not unlike The Shield, but at the same time very unlike The Shield.

30 Rock, which has replaced The Office as my top comedy choice. I had previously only caught a few episodes here and there between bouts of videogame playing. I curse myself for not catching more of the goodness as the show hit its stride in the 2nd season, but that’s what dvds are for! Now I’m able to begin with season one and move through the episodes as they were aired. Woohoo!

Portal from Valve is my latest Xbox 360 game acquisition, and I’m fascinated by it. When I first saw the trailer for it last year I was uninterested–probably because I was playing Bioshock while waiting impatiently for Halo 3. It’s wonderful what sale prices at Target can do.

Good shtuffs!

[  Mood: Distorted ]
[  Currently: Working Did I mention I love my job? There’s a reason I didn’t… ]
I noticed today that there’s a counter for the number of visitors who’ve viewed the blogs here (I’m sharp to pick up on these things), and mine shows over 900 views.

900? On a blog that (as I write this) is just 15 days old? With (now) three entries?

I’d kid myself that I’m popular, but I’m pretty certain that ain’t it.

Are there that many bored lurkers out there? Or are the blog gods (many and varied, long may they rule) watching me?

(Don’t go away! Stay, have a cookie. Sign up and post something. We don’t bite…everyone.)

[  Mood: Hypnotized ]
[  Currently: Listening to the clock tick its way to beer-thirty… ]

To think that a decade ago I was able to operate without the use of a computer in any way (not counting point-of-sale machines). Now I get nervous if I haven’t checked my email in two days.

The rapidity with which messages (‘letters’) can be tossed back and forth on Facebook or MySpace looks to make long missives between friends a thing of the past. Bulletins and comments are the new form of communication.

I’ve thought for the majority of my life that no published writer would bother writing a story, let alone an entire book by pen and paper, given the ease and opportunity the keyboard provides. It just seemed obvious that typing would be the preferred way to write (but as Dharma notes: "It’s not writing. It’s typing").

Finding out very recently that Clive Barker continues to write every story, every book, longhand has changed my perspective on the computer and my desire to be at it every waking hour I’m not at work. I feel like the liberty to write how I want to has been afforded me again. Odd, seeing how it was my own misconceptions which stifled that liberty in the first place.

Now, back to writing…

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Watching the trailer for CJ7 ]
Since the last line of the credits rolled up at the end of Kung Fu Hustle, I’ve been waiting for THIS movie.

Well, not "this movie" in those exact terms, but "the next Stephen Chow" movie.

If you’ve seen the hilarious and amazing story that Kung Fu Hustle brought to the screen, or had the opportunity to catch Shaolin Soccer, you understand how I feel.

Stephen Chow’s films (the two I’ve seen) are full of grace, wonder, joy, empathy, and innocence. To see he’s now reached into the realm of science fiction for his next film fills me with great hope.

I have something more than just Iron Man to look forward to this year.

[  Mood: Happy ]
[  Currently: Working  ]
Happy to be blessed with a blog, sad to be working, and the brain ain’t kicking out the jams for you all to read.

Yet.

Watch this space…