Month: August 2006

Doreen Kirchner featured at Galeri Baberton

The fairer side of Sudden Ensemble makes with the pretty pictures. (Sorry, wg.) Stolen Time features illustrations done on someone else's dime…when that someone is paying you for something else. We can't get the time back that we've worked for someone else, so sometimes we might as well make it our own. I may have even done such a thing at thisblogismyblog. You never can tell. Doreen Kirchner has illustrated, among other things, The Adventure of Royal Trux comic book.

Visit Galeri Baberton. Don't trip over the drunks. And, yes that's what they are. Use “View Image” on your browser and you'll see. The snoring is making me yearn for bed, and question why I'm not there already.

Note to dk: I like the monkey. My niece is in Guatemala and has witnessed spider monkeys in their natural habitat. As far as I know, none have given her a flower yet.

Dando Returns…

…with a new Lemonheads track. And, it indeed sounds like the Lemonheads. He must be serious. He's got a mySpace page and all the fixins. Well, except for any music, that is. This time around Dando has two of The Descendents backing him up, and J Mascis is on board for a few tracks.

I never knew there was a video for “The Outdoor Type”. Always a big fan of that song. There's more extensive lies to impress a girl in that song than most textbook sitcom episodes. Well, it's really the fessin' up part.

Fear and Loathing Lacking at ESPN

Sadly I am removing the link to the columns of Hunter S. Thompson located at the ESPN web site. Rather than continuing to allow free access to the dear man's words and wit (and sometimes, bile), one must be an ESPN Insider to access the content. However, his final column for ESPN still remains public.

I understand the business of paid subscription web sites, but I don't understand why this particular content, which certainly expands beyond the sports world, is locked up. A fan of the author may not be a sports fan, but when dealing with a talent like Hunter S. Thompson, he could make an article about coupon clipping, pocket lint, or (insert dullest possible thing you can imagine here) a worthy read.

ESPN, you suck.

Oh, and in case you missed it earlier, here's the link to the Hunter S. Thompson entry at Wikipedia.

Mahalo.

Moraites Makes Noyse

The Noyse Magazine has recently featured an interview/q&a with my former and probably future co-conspirator Peter Moraites. What do you do with 67,000+ (and counting) views on YouTube? I don't know either. Maybe Pete does.

Renetto knew what to do with it. Kind of.

And since I'm not going to type another post this evening. I Am Sorry Rat Trap. But I'm not actually sorry about anything, and that's the point. Thanks for being here.

YouTube needs Trackback.

Radio Haze, Anime Phase, Each Passing Day…A Few More Grays

Many thanks to The Swankster for reminding me of how much I enjoyed the heyday of 106.3 WHTG here in the Garden State during the early 90's. I can't really add much more than I mentioned in the comments there, or maybe I can and I'm thinking I'd rather do something else tonight.

Also thanks for posting the Girlfriend video, it's amazing no one has destroyed it with a bad cover in recent years. At least my ears have been blessed by not hearing that hopefully imaginary cover. Girlfriend and Altered Beast are two essential CDs as far as I'm concerned. And I am concerned. (But I am not very concerned about consistency with the use of italics for titles, or what the proper use should be for italicizing titles. I'm making a concerned effort to be concerned…No…I'm not…I'm just full of shit…kind of.)

Since that video and reading an interview with Matthew Sweet talking about manga and anime, I've opened my eyes to that world and basked in the goodness that is Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Cowboy Bebop, and many others. Judging by the comments on YouTube, many others were turned on to anime by Sweet, as well.

Oh yeah, 106.3. The Matt Pinfeld years, those were good. 106.3 today, not so good. Although after commenting at Merry Swankster, I did catch some Dinosaur Jr. on the dial.

I Like My Effigies Filled with Candy.

Me likes Threadless. Me chooses to tell you that $10 shirts are back. I purchased Fiesta Fiasco!.

We've been doing the pinata (the tilde is in my other keyboard) thing for my soon to no longer be preschooler for a few years now. Some people are concerned about injuries. Some are concerned that pinatas (again, the other keyboard) encourage violence against animals. Ok…I don't know if anyone really does. But the thought makes me giggle. And the giggle has stirred up a memory of a Johnny Bravo episode where our lunkheaded hero valiantly attempts to save a pinata (enough already) from its inevitable fate. Of course, it's to impress a girl (an animal activist, naturally, and he thinks it's actually a real animal.

I don't think video games cause real violence either. In any case where video games, music, and movies have been scapegoated. There is typically a psychological profile, domestic environment, or some sort of abuse that is closer to the cause. Needless to say, that doesn't mean people can't find individual video games, music, or movies to be abhorrent (never used that word, thought I'd give it a try, correct me if I'm wrong, ridicule me if I'm ignorant). Sure, that will happen but unless the song, movie, or game is connected to some type of Manchurian Candidate conditioning, then I think we're pretty safe from these artistic endeavors.

Don't tell me video games aren't art. Or tell me that nothing is art.

Beyond Sense and Reason

Why does someone who's got two kids and knows he's got to get up early in the morning still play video games occasionally until 4 am? If I could answer that, would I still be yawning as much as I am today?

I've finally gotten around to the copy of Beyond Good & Evil for PS2 that's been in my posession for some time now. It's a well made game with solid story, good controls, and action at times alternates between stealth, combat, platform, vehicle control, and photography (as a necessary part of gameplay). It was much lauded when it came out, but must not have sold enough to have a sequel. It's a shame.

I recommend picking up a copy if you haven't already. This is not a full blown review (Metacritic can find you some of those), but the mind juices needed a straw stuck in them to get posting again and this is that straw. slurp. slurp.

Further searching on the Internet has turn up an article at jumpbutton from an UbiSoft PR guy explaining why this game didn't sell. If I said it before, I'll say it again, it's quite a shame. Joystiq has posted on this as well.