The prodigal blogger checks in.

Via the Llamabutchers, enjoy this funny video, courtesy of JC Penney:

I have only had one real "doghouse" moment in my 17.5-year-marriage. On the first Mother's Day after the birth of my firstborn, when my wife was hinting about when she might get her present, I answered, "but you're not MY mother..." I learned my lesson, and getting out of the dog house didn't even involve any diamond necklaces.

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At the urging of some friends, I went (with great trepidition) to the store to purchase some...anime.

O.K., O.K., so I've had RoboTech for years. I own Planetes. But the first was something that hooked me years ago, when it was shown locally (WPIX, Channel 11, out of New York), one episode a day, five days a week. I worked a few miles away from our then apartment and was able to get home and watch it while cooking supper. Along with Star Blazers, they were a lot of fun, but...

Primitive. Limited animation, limited story, limited characters.

A friend recommended Planetes, and I picked it up as I was interested in the subject matter: near-future space exploitation (not exploration, actually using space). Characters had pasts, "issues', were gritty, smoked cigarettes, drank and got drunk, bitched and moaned, fell in and out of love, died...Interesting stuff.

Beyond that, it was a confusing morass. What anime was good? What was bad? Which version to buy (each seems to exist in multiple "complete", "remastered", "expanded", "super deluxe", etc.)? How to proceed?

Man, there are so many titles. And if you look at online reviews, proceed with caution. As a "noob", most of the "fanboi" will treat you as pond scum when you inquire.

O.K., back to the jaw dropping. One title that was recommended was Ghost in the Shell. However...confusion abounds, as there is a movie, a sequel, a third movie which is not related to the two movies, but is a sequel to the two seasons of the television show which takes up some of the elements of the manga, expands upon some, parallels others, and...

You see what I mean? Oh, my, aching, head. Several versions of the movie on DVD. Sequels that do and don't relate. Releases of the television series in boxed sets, non-boxed sets, with extras, without extras...

Somebody needs to write a comprehensive guide for noobs.

I went to the store and picked up a two-disc version of Ghost in the Shell as well as a boxed set of the television series (first season). Last night, after a multi-hour Odyssey of the Mind meeting (don't ask, long story), I put the first disc of the movie into the computer and...

The jaw dropped.

I only watched about 15 or so minutes, but what a 15 minutes. Remember that story that William Gibson relates about how he was working on Neuromancer, went to see Bladerunner and staggered out of the movie theatre, realizing that he was seeing echoes of his creation on the screen...Ever hear about how the folks behind Matrix (great first movie, should have stopped there!) pitched their product and one of the pitch items was a showing of Ghost in the Shell (GITS, from now on)? Maybe they should have just skipped making those other two Matrix flicks and done what the folks at Pixar did with movies like Spirited Away (helped to distribute it to a wider audience).

This is a cyberpunk movie, a heck of a lot closer than anything else I've seen for the genre. Obviously inspired by Bladerunner, it does what Bladerunner set out to do several levels better. It is cyberpunk on the screen, a lot "rawer" and closer to the source than anything out of Hollywood.

So I go back to the store today and look for similar stuff. Still a morass of titles and versions, not any clearer where to go next. But I did pick up a novel of the movie and a CD of music (the music is pretty dang astounding on its own).

My jaw has dropped.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:49 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Here's what he looked like a few years ago shortly after he got his electric guitar.

Rock on.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:21 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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...Did anybody feel the need to remake The Andromeda Strain? I'll watch it from end to end later, but the ten or so minutes I saw were...uninspiring...

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General Grievous's ship Invisible Hand...in Legos!

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A pretty nifty short CGI film that shows 2001: A Space Odyssey's Discovery. As the film progresses, you see the EVA pods, the flight deck and other interior details.

In other news...will Russian and the ESA be the first to explore Europa's surface?

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Way back at the dawn of time (1977), Spider and Jeanne Robinson co-wrote (first) a award-winning novella and (then) a series of novels about life in space. The tales centered around a ballet dancer.

We've gotten a little bit closer to making that a reality!

Main site here. Samples of the books here.

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Planetes #01 (Tokyopop, 2003). Planetes #02 (Tokyopop, 2003). Planetes #03 (Tokyopop, 2004). Planetes #04a (Tokyopop, 2004). Planetes #04b (Tokyopop, 2004), Makoto Yukimura.

Combined review can now be found here.

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Expedition: Being An Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV; Wayne Barlowe (Workman Publishing, 1990, ISBN 0-89480-629-7, cover by Wayne Barlowe).

The review is now found here.

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"I'd see a comment like, 'This show is more inteligent than most,' and my first reaction would be, 'This viewer's a genius,' and my second reaction would be, 'Wouldn't a genius spell intelligent correctly?"

(Neil Scovell)

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Jon Lord, of Deep Purple (for most of its history), is the apotheosis of a hard-rock organist. And he's probably the greatest influence on my own Hammond style.

Sure, Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman each had a better classical technique. But Emerson was much more of a Jazzer, and Wakeman was just, well, kind of effete, what with his flourishes and ornamentation. Both fantastically talented, but neither really representative of rock and roll.

Lord, on the other hand, manhandled the Hammond organ. Made it a coequal to Blackmore's overdriven guitar and Ian Gillan's wailing vocals.

Check out this classic video of a riff-based jam, entitled "No, No, No." Lord's solo kicks in at around 3:45 and the song just builds from there:

Enjoy.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:27 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Weird Al:

The hilarious Barats and Bereta (check out their many other fine videos):

And more Ben Folds:

Posted by: JohnL at 08:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I've previously mentioned in passing that Ben Folds is one of my favorite contemporary musicians. His first group was a hard-rocking piano trio (piano-bass-drums) known as the Ben Folds Five.

I first learned about them when I saw them play "Song for the Dumped" on David Letterman. (Hilarious song, at least for guys). Ironically, it was that performance that triggered (or at least coincided with) their decision to break up.

Anyway, check out this amazing 1998 performance of their song "Philosophy," available on this DVD:

Posted by: JohnL at 11:09 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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One of my favorite musical themes of all time, Ennio Morricone's masterful The Ecstasy of Gold from his soundtrack for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

My favorite version is the one performed by Yo Yo Ma on his Yo Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone album.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:20 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I love the "narrowcasting" enabled by the ubiquity of television channels and the internet. But d-i-y videos can be a hit-or-miss proposition. So I'll do a little filtering for y'all. A "value add," if you will.

Hit:

A nicely done reenactment of the Halo 2 trailer using stop-motion Lego animation:

Miss:

A mixture of live action and crude stop motion to tell an original story set in the Halo universe:

If I had a few more hours a day to goof off, I could see the fun in putting something like these together. And now there's a global audience ready to consume whatever is posted for their viewing pleasure. Maybe someday...

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I wonder if the officer giving this speech, LTC Randolph C. White Jr., has read Heinlein's Starship Troopers? This is powerful stuff. Makes me feel somewhat "lesser" for never having served in the armed services. But at the same time thankful for everyone who has. Watch the whole thing.

(Seen almost simultaneously at INDC Journal and Target Centermass).

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Go check out the unplugged video version of Peter Murphy's A Strange Kind of Love, as performed by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails), Jeordie White (of Marilyn Manson and A Perfect Circle), and Murphy himself (Bauhaus and solo).

Via Bill INDC Ardolino.

I had to google Jeordie White to find out he is the bass player for A Perfect Circle. But before Jeordie, APC had quite a striking bassist: Paz Lenchantin. Great player, but check out her especially unique move from around 1:50 to 2:05 in Judith:

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Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a short nature documentary produced, directed, filmed, and edited by yours truly, via the magic of YouTube. Enjoy:

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1 Oh, John. No offense my friend, but that's nastier than watching Pamela Anderson bounce up and down.

Posted by: Kathy at July 21, 2006 09:36 AM (rDWcI)

2 But isn't the little guy cute? Hardly bigger than a half-dollar coin (that's why I scratched his shell at the end of the clip -- for scale). We hand-feed him fish flakes and slices of strawberry. We've never had a reptilian pet before, and this guy has at least as much personality as a bird. He's 1.5 years old and should live for another 100 years or so.

Posted by: JohnL at July 21, 2006 11:18 AM (Hs4rn)

3 He'd be cuter if he was eating fish flakes. Sorry

Posted by: Kathy at July 21, 2006 12:06 PM (rDWcI)

4 very samll but looks very strong.

Posted by: Matan.d.c at July 24, 2006 05:57 AM (pvAUg)

5 That is the coolest. thing. ever. I have always wanted a turtle; what's it like being a turtle owner?

Posted by: Sarah at July 28, 2006 03:12 PM (YL5y0)

6 Sarah - glad you liked it. Being a turtle owner is easy so far. We place him in a separate container once a month and thoroughly clean the gravel bed in his cage (rinse, bleach, neutralizer). We mist him a couple times a day, clean his water dish daily, feed him every day or so (worms every few days, fish flakes and fruits or vegetables in between). He needs a special UV bulb that cost about $30 but otherwise he has been one of the cheapest pets we've ever had. And he has lots of personality, for a reptile.

Posted by: JohnL at July 28, 2006 08:12 PM (aM8Nm)

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YouTube: A lazy blogger's best friend.

Give this Star Wars/Lord of the Rings hybrid a chance... from 2:10 to the end it is a simply brilliant mashup:

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I was first introduced to acid jazz trio Medeski Martin & Wood about 4 years ago when a bass player in my old group who knew that I liked Emerson Lake & Palmer loaned me his Uninvisible CD. John Medeski, the organist, is one of the best (if not *the* best) Hammond organ players working these days. Check out this super trippy video of the song Uninvisible:

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