thanksgiving recap

this was a great thanksgiving. We had something like 22 people at my aunt's house. The kids are getting big and the bulk of the adults are still staunch republicans. I kept my mouth shut about how my uncle and aunt said they would vote for Sarah Palin as PRESIDENT "in a heartbeat".

just let it go man.

We played games and talked about memories. The food was excellent and I felt good for the most part. Except Thursday night. I had perhaps the worst sore throat I have ever had in my life. Its like the last several days worth of illness collected into a tiny spot in the back of my throat and gave me hell most of the night. Daggers.

Now its back to work, interviewing drummers and trying to start a side business to get me out of financial mediocrity.

Dating and being in a band

The parallels to dating and being in a band are so close its scary.

I keep going through waves of emotion from knowing he could have dedicated himself more if he really wanted it, to being on his side because his acting is his real passion, and then back to hating him again. He plays in another band that is actually going on a small tour in January. This is like cheating or something twisted like that.

Then its like fuck it. He doesn't want to be a part of this anymore. Fine.

So is it me? Is it the material? Fuck it either way!

The landscape of new musicians seems too big to conquer. Every person who responds feels like a big mystery we have to uncover, and time must be spent to find out if hes a good fit. Time and energy invested on something that could be better spent elsewhere. I dont want to find a new drummer. I want our old one to be cool.

I am confidentit will be fine, then I am not. Then I am again. Perverse parallels. A band is truly a relationship of sorts and I feel the loss.

I did finish a good song the other day. Its about winter. I like winter imagry.

Here are the lyrics...

I'm throwing in the towel
extend the branches out
its time
when you come around
holding up the stars in the sky

in winter's fading light
winters fading light
I wont let you down this time

the smell of coffee grounds
look at what we found
alright!
that kind of love surrounds
youre smiling at me with your eyes

in winters fading light
winters fading light
I finally move like Im alive

singing only vowels
making sure the owls
are in time
listen to the sound
as the world is covered up in white

in winters fading light
winters fading light
I wont let you down tonight

responses coming in

got a guy from Berklee College of Music who can play like 6 instruments who is very interested.

Craigslist works people. Use it for something in your life and watch what happens.

level headed me

the guys are worried. its definitely a sea change for us. But something I felt was inevitable. I know what makes up my character is found in moments like this and I refuse to accept nothing less than total control of my emotions.

I listened to the EP tonight and felt 2 of these said emotions. One was bittersweet with a tinge of fear for losing an amazing drummer and 2 was holy shit I cannot let this crumble, its fucking good stuff. and our new stuff is even better so there's nothing to do but keep going.

I hope the guys can keep their heads together. We have an EP to finish by the new year and a drummer to prep for shows.

Drummer-less

Well after a year of mostly great things, we've hit a roadblock. Travis our insanely talented and very flaky drummer told us we need to find a new drummer. His life is too hectic to give us his full attention.

No hard feelings but the show must go on. Literally. Here is the new ad I am about to post on craigslist. (and yes the band got started via craiglist so viva technology)

"Subject line: Argh! Now is not the time to lose a drummer!!!

We are a band called Legs Against Arms who have been together about a year. A new EP is in the final stages (months in the working). Brand new website nearly complete. We have played several decent venues around town, including Emo's opening for Oh No, Oh My and Corto Maltese. A review of that show is a quick Google search away.

Anyway, Murphy's Law is a bitch and we are now without a drummer. He was good.

So this is an ad in search of a drummer who knows what he/she is doing.

A drummer who thinks more like a musician instead of just a drummer. someone who understands dynamics, volume control, and structure.

A drummer who can soft rock one second and then furiously indie rock dance party USA the next.

Someone who can practice at least twice a week. We are flexible with schedules but this project is also a priority for us.

Someone who is fun, positive and just a cool person to be around.

We understand you are not our old drummer and expect new energy to change things around a bit. We look forward to what you bring to the table.

http://www.myspace.com/legsagainstarms
www.legsagainstarms.com

We're a bit reluctant to show our myspace because everything else we play sounds nothing like these two songs. These songs are on the outskirts of our style but its all we have until the EP is released yada yada.

But now would be a good time to join us. We have passed our "new band" stage and have solid material and can get shows relatively easily. Who knows what this EP will do for us.

Feel free to pass this on to anyone who might be interested. We'd like to meet someone ASAP and get prepped for shows. Thanks."

This will not stop us.

Death of the Internet

If this is coming down the pipe in a few years we are screwed

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2008/120608_a_death.htm

Imagine if a bunch of corporations came together and forced us to pay a subscription for access to fractions of the web. Rather than have access to everything once you sign on, they have agreements in place so you can only visit a handful of sites. You then pay extra for other sites almost like cable TV. Some sites wont even be available anymore. The internet as you know it would be dead.

Its much more complex than this but apparently the infrastructure to do this in the next several years is already in place. Yikes. Now I'm not a conspiracy theorist but this site is saying there are plenty of mainstream media sources verifying this. Check it out and make your own decision.

I have a hard time imagining this will actually happen but this would really suck if it did.

Nerd Alert - Ico

so im not much of a gamer but I am obsessed with getting to play this game called Ico. Its on the Playstation 2 (which from what I hear is now waaaay outdated) but its heralded as more of a work of art than a video game.

Youre basically this little boy, banished from your village and locked in an enormous castle and you meet a little girl also in the castle. You have to help her escape and protect her from these shadow creatures trying to capture her soul. So the game is you guiding her through this very richly designed world and its full of subtleties like the controller doing things to simulate you holding her hand and an almost complete lack of dialogue and music. The music that is available is supposedly on par with a film soundtrack and apparently it has an incredible ending. Every review says its the most original game they have ever played and it completely changed the face of gaming. Strangely it was a commercial flop but became a cult classic later.

"On the most basic level, the challenge is just to move from point A to point B, overcoming the inanimate obstacles in between. As an experience, though, it's almost impossible to describe.

Ico is short, Ico is quiet, and Ico is in fact nearly incomprehensible. It has an action quotient very close to zero. It has a story, but you see and hear only tiny hints and snatches, spending most of the game on one side of an impenetrable language barrier. So what is there to actually recommend this game, given that I do recommend it almost without reservation? The experience.

The feeling of simply being in the world that Ico creates is one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen in a videogame. The visuals, sound, and original puzzle design come together to make something that is almost, if not quite, completely unlike anything else on the market, and feels wonderful because of it. The sensation is like a very strange dream -- a little frightening, a little beautiful, intriguing throughout -- and its only main problem is the same one all dreams suffer from. It's over a good deal sooner than you might like."

I cant wait. I hope its available in Austin.

whats in store

the next few years are going to be full of history making events.

this is kinda scary:

http://www.reuters.com/article/usDollarRpt/idUSN2041155720081120

I have a very uneasy feeling about a lot of things lately. Is this a sign of age?

Do we grow more and more afraid as we get older. Thereby being reduced to a grampa simpson level of paranoia:

"I don't like the looks of those teenagers"

love it...

one of those days

ugh. what a day. simple mistakes costing clients thousands of dollars.

i want to go to bed.

why is it...

every time I have gas my boss comes into my office. He must think I have real problems.

fate is against me.

people are cool

my coworker (the only one I have) just got more interesting. Shes a bouncy, health conscious marathon running woman married to a video game artist. Thats interesting enough.

BUT

she is writing a childrens book. The title kills me. Ready...

Christmas Puppies of the Sea

lol. I laugh every time I say it. I hope she does well with it so you can say you heard about it here first. or something.

behind

I just realized today that I am behind on everything pop culture related. Movies, music you name it I am terribly out of touch.

I'm the guy who comes up to you and says hey have you heard the new [band name] album?

And I hear "Yeah like 6 months ago."

I don't know what happened. For example I just discovered the Flight of the Conchords and had no clue brilliant shows like that existed. Probably because I don't have HBO.

I do have cable but the more I think about it, the more I get pissed at myself. All I watch is Fox (which i dont need cable for), comedy central (which I can catch most shows online now) and CNN. I'm wasting money each month on something that steals my time. I could pour that into my online business efforts. Stupid.

I've never seen Lost which I hear is hands down some of the most brilliant television ever created. Everyone tells me not to watch it or lose days of my life catching up with it. Come on. Can it really be that good?

Here is what I need to do. Cancel my cable, start buying used books off Amazon and reading every night for at least an hour.

I also need to exercise, eat right and pick up the guitar every now and then outside of practice.

My big focus right now is getting a side business online going. My friend Mike has referred me to some web guys to get me set up as an affiliate for his mega successful online product. I was called today in a 3 way meeting from two guys and they were treating me very professionally and were super helpful about helping me start this thing. They are actually going to alter their whole program to achieve the results I would like to get out of being an affiliate.

They mentioned that they are going to take care of me because I am Mike's good friend. Once again proving that who you know will open doors faster than anything else. I have a great opportunity to take the knowledge I have now and the added boost of special treatment to get something real started.

our endless numbered days

I finally made it into Houston to film the house as well as go to Kevin's birthday party.

The house gets more dilapidated every time I visit. Hurricane Ike trounced the deck and pier. Cats run amok and create smells upstairs that Kevin summed up nicely. "Putrid".

But the weather was perfect as Kevin and I stood on the boathouse porch overlooking the river. Craig dropped by. The moon was bright and the water peacefully reflected it. That's something I will miss a lot. That brisk breeze coming over the water at night. We all mentioned how nice it was. Still, there was a lot of silence.

There is so much to say about it. Its been a very important little piece of property for a lot of people. Its a bit disappointing to know that my level of sentiment is most likely not going to be shared by most people. But that is just me. I get nostalgic over the stupidest little things. Its a weakness as much as a strength.

When I worked at the radio station, I remember the last day I was on air I carefully chose the songs I was going to play (i snuck in one of my acoustic songs too). But I remember thinking as I was sitting in that control booth alone at about 7pm that this is going to be the last time I will probably ever do this kind of thing. I don't really have a strong desire to do it again but the knowledge that I am doing something for the last time always makes me a little sad. So I played my set, finished on Nick Drake's Pink Moon, said goodbye to the 5 people probably listening and went home.

The house in Channelview is an exponential version of that moment. Its like saying goodbye to the first 20 years of my life. Its not the house. Its the fact that the house and that yard are a catalyst for all the memories made there.

Once its gone I am afraid countless moments of my life worth remembering are going to drift back into my subconcious, never to be recalled again. Thats the tragedy. Screw the house. Let it fall. Its time for that. But if there was some other way to fire off my memory to recall things I want to hold onto forever, show it to me. Ill become a lifetime subscriber.

And thats why friends are important. If they shared moments with you they can help you remember too. Craig and Kevin mentioned things last night I probably would have never remembered.

I know we only live in the present, and allowing yourself to be frozen in the past is a sure-fire way to be tossed around and victimized by Change. I am guilty of this sometimes. Everything around me is flying by...people are married, divorced, dying, healing, graduating, all at speeds that scare me. If I don't saddle up and hold on I will surely be left behind.

So I will curtail the waxing nostalgic for that house now. At least outwardly. It would probably get annoying to everyone around me. :)

But the greatest thing I realize out of this...

The fact that we are human and can build connections with people replaces the need for the physical objects that hold on to our memories. Our friends and family can remind us. I dont need the house. I have the people who experienced it with me. And even though we are constantly changing I always have them to help me remember.

best brief onion article in awhile

just plain hilarious

64.1

"In terms of turnout, America voted in record numbers. It looks like 136.6 million Americans will have voted for president this election, based on 88 percent of the country's precincts tallied and projections for absentee ballots, said Michael McDonald of George Mason University. Using his methods, that would give 2008 a 64.1 percent turnout rate.

"That would be the highest turnout rate that we've seen since 1908," which was 65.7 percent, McDonald said early Wednesday.

AAAAAAAAGGGGHHH

THIS IS IT PEOPLE. I HOPE AND PRAY THAT HIS RHETEROIC WAS REAL.

I AM FUCKING THRILLED.

the history books have been written. Obama is president. God shine down on him and send him the wisdom to do what is right.

I went to a giant party of strangers all rooting for him. We screamed. We cheered. I made lude comments about Palin.

there is nothing more to say right now.

that's all you got?

I guess there are no major aces up the sleeves of the GOP.

http://drudgereport.com/

come on Matt, that's the best you can do??

(this is a brief YouTube video showing Obama "flipping the bird" to McCain.)

My concern is the voting systems not being able to handle a record turnout. My voting process took about 15 minutes. Some people are waiting in line for 6 hours.

you tube comes through again

the other day I suddenly remembered a show on nickelodeon called Clarissa Explains It All. I totally wanted to do her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mF0ejW3nK0

the sets are what get me. Is that supposed to be a real tree? there are actually worse shows out there but man it was amazing the budgets these shows back then were allowed to have and still be aired.