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| ... A Toast...to a new world of Candy and Monsters... | ||
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11.14.2003 | |
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Oh yeah I'm posting again. #3 today! Well, it's not gonna be MAARS, I guess. Damn, I thought that was cool.I was just checking out the CDs I have in my office today - I've brought these in over about 2 weeks, and I was clearly in varying moods throughout that time: Infectious Grooves - Sarsippius' Ark (groovy funk/metal) Deep Purple - Abandon (old-school blues hard rock) The Dregs - Unsung Heroes (instrumental jazz/country/world music fusion) The Bomboras - Head Shrinkin' Fun! (California creepy surf rock) Chroma Key - You Go Now (killer organic/industrial/electronica/psychedelia. This rules) Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (refer to earlier post) Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation (ultimate early 90s jammin' metal) Suicidal Tendencies - Lights... Camera... Revolution (late 80s skate metal) Attention Deficit - Attention Deficit (free-form instrumental jazz fusion - composed live on tape) Rush - 2112, Farewell to Kings (genius prog rock) Rage Against the Machine - Renegades The Ventures - Walk, Don't Run (regular Beach surf rock) Robin Williams - A Night at the Met (head banging' fun! Not.) Prong - Rude Awakening (you've just been burned... by the controller!) Transatlantic - SMPTe (Beatles-inspired catchy prog rock) Alan Parsons Project - Tales of Mystery & Imagination (Edgar Allan Poe put to Pink Floyd-esque music) Halloween Hootenanny - spooky song compilation by Rob Zombie En Vogue - Funky Divas The Ghastly Ones - A Haunting We Will Go-Go (more creepy surf rock) Dream Theater - Train of Thought (prog metal - heavier than prog rock, and usually more complex) I was either really pissed off this week, or totally schizophrenic. Posted by sarcophage @ 2:22:00 PM Add or check out a |
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Guitar. Last night I played guitar standing up for the first time in (I think) almost 1 1/2 years. The difference between playing standing up and playing sitting down (which I had been doing) is ENORMOUS! I had to twist my wrist so much more than usual that it HURT, and it still hurts right now. Not a good sign.I think I'm going to have to start stretching before I play guitar. Granted, my usual approach to playing guitar is to "play as many notes as quickly as possible," so this might actually make sense - but I was actually playing a 3-chord blues song! What's up! Watch out for (what I'm hoping will be called) the Mid-Atlantic Art Rock Society (MAARS) coming up. A few friends are starting up a non-profit group to get some more bands here in the area - might even get some gigs for some good friends! (www.spasticink.com) Roger, over n' out. Posted by sarcophage @ 1:45:00 PM Add or check out a |
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blah blah blog. It's FRIDAY! YEssssss! I'm already excited about doing absolutely nothing tomorrow. Oh, I'm sure I'll do something, but I know it won't have anything to do with Financial Services, Team Approach, phone routing configurations, or Customer Service. Thank the maker, as C-3PO would say.I'd like to do the Office Space vacation - get a million dollars, 'sit on my ass all day... and do... nothing.' Of course, there's Lawrence's cousin who's broke and don't do shit. I wish I could find a great pair of pants. (symbolism being used here. Take note.) Posted by sarcophage @ 1:41:00 PM Add or check out a |
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11.11.2003 | |
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More complaints. Ok not really. I read some of my blog today - I realized I'm essentially using it as a symposium for stuff I'm not particularly happy with right now.If I wanted to, I could go into long dialectics about my job, my career, the painful contact in my left eye, the general uneasy feeling I have right now, or the fact that I'm trying valiantly to keep going through my life while ignoring the complexities and hassle that abound. Notice I didn't say I wouldn't list them. I'm very glad that Reuben has found a great pair of pants - honestly! Fashion be damned - keep wearing those things 'til they wear out! I'm also really happy that Aaron is getting an iMac - he needs a freakin' computer. Glad that Dave is getting to see his parents - I can tell he's excited to see them (and get his stuff), and I hope it's fun, and I hope I can meet them too. I'm glad Monika is going to get to see one of her old high school friends who lives in DC and is gay (hey, why are so many of our friends gay?). I'm glad that Kim and Matt are now married (I am!), and I'm glad that I didn't have to say "I hope so and so is doing well." We were in NYC last weekend, and had a blast - it was certainly an adventure... we met some great people, did some fun stuff, and mostly just hung around and it was great. Now I'm back at work... ho hum. Posted by sarcophage @ 2:20:00 PM Add or check out a |
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11.10.2003 | |
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Numero dos. Miles Davis was an unbelievable genius. I'm listening to his "Sketches of Spain" album donewith his mid-late period writing partner, Gil Evans. I love spanish (note: not latin) music, and I think this one, along with L. Subramaniam's Spanish Wave, are the Gospel of spanish jazz. Posted by sarcophage @ 12:26:00 PM Add or check out a |
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this one is short. I realized how long that other silly post about the Matrix was. Goal today is to write a short blog. By the way, the Matrix was pretty bad. Huge letdown, showed that sci-fi is still cannibalizing Star Wars and Asimov. Bummer.I saw an article about how this one has not had the stellar opening that Reloaded had (although half of Reloaded's 2nd-biggest-ever opening is still fantastic), and I realized I had forgotten that I'd seen it almost a week ago. Can't wait for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers at my parents' house, drinking hot cider in the chilly Thanksgiving twilight. Goal met. Posted by sarcophage @ 12:21:00 PM Add or check out a |
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11.05.2003 | |
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Everything that has a beginning has a $9.75 ticket price. The Matrix: Revolutions opens today. (is that comma part of the title? Or is it just "The Matrix Revolutions" ?)We are GOING TO SEE IT. Tonight. 7:40pm. Bethesda. Yeah, buddy. I have some reservations about the revolutions, but I think I will force myself to enjoy it. Why? Because I HATED HATED HATED the prior film, Matrix Reloaded. Maybe it was only 2 "hated"s, but it definitely wasn't what I had expected. I felt the first film had established a perfectly good "world" to exist in, and I felt Reloaded abolished that world and opened up a new one - one that wasn't quite as cool as the first. I suppose there's a Matrix analogy to this - The Matrix is "The Matrix" and Reloaded is the "real world." Yuck. As much as life sucks in the Matrix for the average person, there's no SKY in the "real world"? Everybody is trapped inside those little pods? That sucks! Having seen Reloaded a few more times, I've started to enjoy it quite a bit more. I've gotten over my snobbish "that fight scene looks fake" attitude - OF COURSE IT LOOKS FAKE... IT IS FAKE! I've gotten over my problems with some of the silly dialogue, and the bizarre (but not actually boring) pacing in Reloaded. I've gotten over the fact that very little of these two sequels will actually take place IN the Matrix. It's ground already treaded - we're moving on to what should be bigger and better things. I already know that Revolutions will certainly ask more questions than it will answer, and I was pissed at first, but I realized - THAT'S the kind of movie I like! Ask Dave about our marathon twice-in-one-night viewing of Mulholland Drive, a movie I still haven't totally figured out, but that keeps creeping back into my head. It's fascinating. I don't anticipate Revolutions to have quite the same effect (Mulholland Drive is an expertly made film by an expert, however avant-garde filmmaker: David Lynch), but I relish its intention to leave some of its answers open-ended. I don't know exactly what questions will not be answered - and I will probably be frustrated if some questions in particular are not, but I'll live with it. Movies always set up a world, with "rules" that have to be followed within the movie itself. This is just like the Matrix, actually. The humans and agents can bend the rules (jumping really high, insane accuracy with guns, ultra kung fu), but they can never actually break those rules. (Yes, except for Neo) A great film will set up its own rules, and never break them - it will stay within its pre-set constraints until the end. That way there are no "WHAT THE HELL?!" moments from the audience. That is Bad. A poor film (generally those with a poorly thought-out "twist" ending, or a film where there's a last-minute surprise thrown in near the end, usually to make the movie longer) will set up a set of rules, and then break them whenever convenient. Usually this happens when the filmmaker is devoid of ideas, or a screenplay gets so watered down from constant revision by multiple writers that original concepts are lost. I'm bringing this up because I do still feel that while Reloaded didn't measure up to the original Matrix, it stayed still within its own set of rules - but it expanded its world to tell a more full story. Seems ok to me. We'll find out tonight, won't we? Posted by sarcophage @ 12:22:00 PM Add or check out a |
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11.04.2003 | |
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Responsibility sucks. I have a job. In that job, I have lots and lots of responsibilities, not the least of which is dealing with "customers" (really, fellow employees) who are lately angry with my office. Unfortunately, they are angry with a department which my staff and I have nothing to do with. In fact, we've actually been helping that staff out lately, because they are overwhelmed.The crappy part about this is that we're stuck in the terribly undesirable position of having to explain the current situation (essentially, why we're "behind") and say sorry, but also explain that there's nothing more we can do at this time. Our staff resources are at the highest level they've been budgeted for, and they can't change. Not to mention that just bringing in more people doesn't work - you have to train them, get them comfortable, get everyone ELSE comfortable with them, and then they can be effective. That takes about 6 weeks. No good. Work sucks some days. I digress, however - I meant to be bitching about having to be on conference calls all damn day long, and not being able to get my financial corrections work done during the day. I'm doing audits of our system and having to make many minute adjustments for the close of our fiscal month. I HATE doing this. And when I can't get it done in a day, it sits for another day - so I have to look at it THAT day. I'm going to have to bring this home. Great. This is why violent video games are good for the soul. Still, it's better to be doing work that sucks at home than doing work that sucks at work. At least at home I can wear shorts and have a beer. Hm, good idea. Posted by sarcophage @ 12:52:00 PM Add or check out a |
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