Wednesday Filler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBmM79YadYM&feature=player_embedded
Thanks, Mark!

Off the Shelf

New Eels album, End Times

Cover art by Adrian Tomine

Wednesday Filler

The new Elvis Costello album featuring art by Tony Millionaire.

Wednesday Filler

Modest Mouse - King Rat

Dedicated to Rich...

Web of Love

Thanks, Kara!

Tiny dancer...

WTF?

Brian and the Beast

I have finally completed the music video I've been working on for Jason and the Beast.  The song is "Street Preacher" and you can check it out below.  Your comments are greatly appreciated and feel free to pass the video along to your friends (help spread the gospel of the Beast).

The Beast Man Cometh

Work continues on the video for "Jason and the Beast."  It's taxing and frustrating, but also a lot of fun.  Here's a sneak peak at the arduous work:

Reflections of the Early 21st Century

In 2002, a little pop-punk band named Moth dropped a single that was pretty catchy. I enjoyed it a lot and was fairly interested in them. After much consideration (ie laziness), I never pursued this interest. The band subsequently fell of the radio radar. I feel partially to blame. A cross of Green Day and (fill in the blank with any early aught corporate punk band) and you have Moth. Here's a video for their first single, which may also be their only video/single.

For my Karibe

To my cuddlebug.

A different kind of Callahan...

Thanks, Mark.

Everybody dance now...

It's the early afternoon on Sunday and the weekend has already been pretty hectic. Friday I had lunch with Thomas Crone at Mangia Italia and he let me borrow David Lynch's Zen inspired book - sort of like a phrase of the day motivational, creativity spurning Daily Affirmation. Karu and I went to the Rx Bandits show at 2¢ Plain. It's been a while since I've seen the Bandits live and I was very excited for this show - if only the show had lived up to the hype. The crowd was filled with Bros, Dudes, and Hoochies - how disappointing. The room was thick with smoke and high-fives, Kara was disappointed and angry, & I found myself more infatuated with the Cards-Cubs replay than the actual show. 2¢ Plain gets two thumbs down. The reason the bands you want to see no longer come (or never came) to St. Louis is because is there is no decent place for them to play. Deal with it - St. Louis is the arm pit of the already downtrodden Midwest.

On Saturday, Dan, Rich, and I went to see "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." I didn't mind the movie, it wasn't the greatest or worst Star Wars film, but that's not saying much. Afterwards the three of us ventured over to Johnny Mac's and picked up our new roller hockey jerseys - they are sweet. I'll hopefully have a few photos to post here soon. Today will be our first game fully decked out in our sweet, new attire.

Here's a little video I came across on YouTube - I don't buy it: the girl looks like a model or fledgling actress and the announcer even states that it's the day before April 1st. Add it up!

*My sister has pointed out that the announcer stated that it was the day before Valentine's, not April Fool's. This is, of course, because it was April Fool's Day and he was playing a trick on us all.

Good Tunes

Kudos to Ebner for turning me onto the Flight of the Conchords.

Political Dance Tune

Thanks, Kara!

I like Piebald

This group had some good tunes and always put on a good show.

Let's All Go to the Lobby!

The success of marquee comic movies like "Spider-Man," "Batman Begins," and "X-Men" has paved the way for other, less notable adaptations.  "Sin City" and "Iron Man" are two of the most noteworthy, as each has ignited interest in characters other than the flagship heroes.  Box office success also allows production companies to look at smaller press titles in hopes of cashing in while riding on the coattails of Marvel and DC movies.  The latest such endeavor is "Wanted," an adaptation of a limited-series by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones from Top Cow.  "Wanted" is an action packed, visually stimulating thrill-ride.  Aided by the skilled Russian eye of Timur Bekmambetov, "Wanted" takes the audience inside a secret guild of assassins who kill one so 1000s can live.  There are many sequences of imagery and action that resonate with a palpable comic book flair.  This is a definite must see and quite a lot of fun.

Wizard World Chicago is less than a week away and I couldn't be more excited.  It'll be fun to gather with friends, comics, and the Windy City for a few days of reading, relaxation, and spending!  My focus this year will primarily be on trade paperbacks, but I hope to find a few choice Silver Age comics well.  I'm geeking out for some four-color fun.

My friend, Jeff, recently posted a music review and I have been inspired name drop some discs I too have given a whirl .  K-Dub and I splurged on half.com and picked up a few fine CDs.  We picked up M. Ward's "Post War," Calamine's self titled EP, Taken By Trees "Open Field," and Sea Wolf's "Leaves in the River."  I've had the chance to listen to both M. Ward and Taken by Trees and have been pleased with the purchases.  I hope to spin the other two this weekend.  I also recently picked up the original soundtrack to the film, "The Fountain."  Sweeping arrangements and emotional strings highlight the disc.  The film has slowly been positioning itself as my favorite movie, which is something of a development since I have never had a fave, just a select few I like alot.

From the family tree of old school hip hop

Friday night Karu and I went out to eat at the Fountain on Locust. This is a fairly new restaurant in the (hopefully) revitalized Locust Loft District. As K-Dub puts it, the food is similar in style to European offerings and they also offer really awesome ice cream. Get down there if you have a chance. Afterward we drove 3 seconds (it was raining!) to the Bluebird. There we caught Jason and the Beast perform and I also captured his concert on camera in hopes of using the footage in a music video very soon. Jason hopes to drop an EP in the next couple of months and wants the video to be included on the disc. It would be really sweet to have that happen. We'll be getting together soon to discuss concepts. At the very same show, we saw Robb Steele dazzle the crowd. One member of this trio is Marty Hick, who is the brother of my father's sister's husband. If you need a flow chart just email me. Marty is about 10 years older than I am, but since he's younger than my aunts and uncles he was always this hip cool kid to me when I was younger. This sentiment holds true to this day. If you have a chance to see his group perform, don't miss out. At first sight, you'd think it's just some Beastie Boys rip-off, but their sound is more akin to Run-DMC and Jurassic 5.

On Saturday, Kara and I went a benefit walk organized by her friend Angie's family in honor of Angie's uncle who passed away from complications brought on by Huntington's Disease. They had a huge crowd, their largest turn out yet, and tons of support. In the coming years I hope Kara and I are able to do more than just walking for an hour or so to lend our own support.

Later in the day I had yet another in a long line of intern interviews. The field is wide but needs to be carved down to 5, yet maybe as few as 2, students to help out over the summer. This is an awkward part of my job, especially since I am only about a year removed from school myself. It'll get better the more I do it. I hope.

After the interview I jetted over to Webster University to serve as a judge in the Webster University Student Film Festival. The material was made up of videos and films from students from the last couple of semesters. This was quite a bit of fun. There were some really good films as well as films that weren't so great but made by kids who show great potential. The screening of the films is this coming Saturday at the Winnie Moore Auditorium.

We spent the rest of the evening with a few friends watching some short films and a new mumblecore movie entitled "Yeast." It was a really fun night, but I hate that our house is in total disarray. I know Kara was not too thrilled to have folks over into our dust bowl.

Sunday consisted of Kara and her dad working on the bedroom while I worked with Dax on his shaving video. We are getting close to completion, but the deadline is quickly approaching. I love deadlines. Later in the day Karu and I set off in search of an Iron Man shirt but came up empty. Is this film not being marketed? Kara did find one at a Hot Topic, but it was not to my liking. So the film is not being marketed properly. I ended the weekend by finally watching "Elizabeth." A netflix rental, it took me over a month to get to the film but it was well worth the wait. The costumes and sets are magnificent and Cate Blanchett shows that she has some serious acting chops, it's a shame that she is just now getting justly rewarded for her prowess.

A quick dip back to the home front: our central air is currently being installed and may be finished up within a week. We are closing in quickly on finishing our bedroom. The closet has been (professionally) installed and all of the wiring is nearly finished. One good day of drywall work could potentially wrap things up. My dad may come down and we might just finish that TV room this year. How nice would it be to complete three projects simultaneously? All that leaves is our other bedrooms, the basement, and putting together a decent yard.

Let's All Go to the Lobby!

Some sweet, sweet activity has been taking place since I last blogged.  I went to see "21" on Friday.  It was okay, standard fare for a poker/gambling flick.  I think there are a few movies coming out soon that center around Las Vegas, but it seems the Vegas buzz is starting to wear off.  "21" features Kevin Spacey.  This guy is weird.  He was huge after "Seven" and "American Beauty," but started cranking out duds like this film, "Superman Returns," and "Fred Claus."  Just about always fun to watch, though, and his good far out weighs the bad.

On Thursday, Kara and I went to ciné16 at the Missouri History Museum.  This was our first experience with ciné16 since the Mad Art days, nearly three years ago.  It's nice to see it back on the map, and hopefully it keeps going strong.  Kara and I were near regulars at Mad Art, but the program changed hands, changed locations, and lost most of its loyal following.  The nights theme was films from around the world.

Before grocery shopping tonight, Kara and I stopped by The Record Exchange for a little indulgence in guilty pleasures.  I've been wanting to purchase audio cassette tapes for my car.  It is a 1989 Buick Park Avenue.  It doesn't have a CD player, I don't listen much to commercial radio, and NPR is getting really depressing as our world continues its downward spiral.  The tapes I picked up were Ella Fitzgerald, Al Hirt, the Beatles, and Miles Davis.  I also picked a Talking Heads tape off of eBay last week.  There are a few other jazz tapes I'm interested in picking up, as well as maybe "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, but that will be the extent of this nostalgic trip, as cassettes are somewhat costly for their dated appeal.

Things have been really picking up at work as submissions continue to pour in to the office.  It's a lot of fun opening the envelopes up and looking at the packaging people send their films in.  Sometimes it can be really eye catching, other times it's the equivalent of a student's work in his junior year video class.  I'll be bringing some shorts home to start in insurmountable, Mark Bielikesque (~Herculean) task of putting together the short subjects program for the St. Louis International Film Festival.  Wish me luck!

Psst...He's the king!

To Your Ears

My friend, Jeff, is experimenting with some digital sounds and you should take a listen...

(click the picture)