Glove Makes the World Go Around

My friend Jennifer Gooch, who is a MFA student at Carnegie Mellon has created a website called onecoldhand.com that seeks to reunite lost gloves found in the Pittsbutrgh area. She has been getting mad attention from some major news sources.

Here's a link to the AP article about her endeavor:

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- It's like an online dating service for long lost gloves. No, that's not a typo.

A Texas native who experienced her first snowflakes in Pittsburgh last year was miffed by the lost gloves she spotted all over the city last winter. Whom did they belong to? Wouldn't they want them back? Why were people just walking past them?

So Jennifer Gooch, who is pursuing her master of fine arts degree at Carnegie Mellon University, started onecoldhand.com in an effort to reunite dropped gloves with their mates -- and in the process spread some goodwill.

Universal Soldier

I'll admit it. I am a big fan of musicals. I was raised on Singin' in the Rain, My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, Wizard of Oz, and all of the other great musicals. I have never understood some people's dislike (in some cases revulsion) to movie musicals. The argument is usually that they are unrealistic, the plot is too thin, ridiculous and unbelievable, the characterization is weak, etc., etc. Of course these are the same people who love slapstick comedies and sci-fi actioners, two genres both entrenched in their own brand of unrealistic conventions, but that's another story (Note: I love these genres too, I'm just saying).

As a big musical fan, Beatles buff, and a fan of the director Julie Taymoor, I have been very excited about the new musical Across the Universe. I saw it over a month ago, but I'm only now getting around to completing my review. Although I totally loved it, the reviews have been decidedly mixed, it's at 54% fresh (read: good) at Rotten Tomatoes. Some of the negative reviews are spot on: that it is ham-fisted and overly naive (true), that it depicts a cliche-ridden, overly nostalgic and overly-simplified view of the 60s (also true), and that it is full of embarrassing cameos (half-true). What these critics hardly ever mention is the sheer inventiveness of the musical numbers, the excellent acting and singing, the amazing visual effects, the great score and performances of Beatle standards, and the film's palpable exuberance towards its subject matter.

One of my biggest complaints about some critics is the inability for many of them to temper their reviews based on the material. Criticizing a musical because the plot is thin, or the characterization is weak is like complaining about the lack of special effects in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Each film genre has its own inherent strengths and weaknesses, and although we should expect high quality from every film and also expect films to push the envelope of their respective genres, it is kind presumptuous to expect one kind of film to deliver a complete experience that is beyond the constraints of its genre in every single aspect.

While ACTU almost wallows in some of the hoarier musical conventions (boy meets girls-loses girl, big sing-a-long production number as deus ex machina, etc.), it fills the screen with some of the most beautiful and inventive images I've seen in a long time. The bizarre production number featuring "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" remade as a plaintive broken-hearted lesbian soliloquy set amongst a choreographed football practice is worth the price of admission alone. There are some numbers that take these very well-known songs in such unexpected ways, that I sat through much of the movie with a big, goofy smile on my face in anticipation of what was going to happen next.

In the end, if you're a fan of musicals and/or the Beatles, you'll probably enjoy this one. If not, then don't go.

En-"list"-ed

My friend Jennifer Gooch (who's becoming quite the cause célebré as an artist and a songwriter) posted a list of words on her blog pertaining to themes and ideas in her art work. It's kinda like Eno’s Oblique Strategies inverted.
After reading her list I made one of my own for songwriting. I was slightly surprised at the results. My list reads like the personality traits of the child of Neitzsche and Faulkner - a Southern Gothic Ubermensch?

Here’s my list:
1. regret
2. family
3. memory
4. death
5. renewal
6. tokens
7. brotherhood/sisterhood (in the sense of bonding together against or for a common cause)
8. names
9. outsiders
10. metamorphosis
11. language
12. body parts
13. declarations
14. science
15. abuse
16. sexuality
17. small town life
18. escapism
19. story
20. lying
21. defiance
22. (inability to) travel
23. secrets
24. war

Rock Lottery

This past weekend I participated in an annual event called Rock Lottery which celebrated its 10th anniversary with a two-night event. I’m not going to go into details about the event rules since you can read about that here. Suffice it is to say that RL is an exhausting but very rewarding process, that takes a few days from which to recover.

This year was a little different in that there was the possibility that a band could be drummerless. I was in that band. Also, I was in a band with arguably the most experimental musicians on the roster. I would like to say that I had a really great time and that working with the people with whom I was assigned introduced me to ideas and working methods that I had never tried. My bandmate Sarah Alexander especially had some really cool improvisational techniques that really opened my eyes to new ways of working. Although I listen to a lot of experimental kinds of music, my own music is folk based and rooted firmly in traditional American and British songwriting structures.

As a band, we intentionally avoided going for the comedy or outrageous stage show angle and really tried concentrating on making interesting sounds. I will agree that our performance could have had more polish, but overall I was happy with the direction and ideas. All of my bandmates agreed that we could have used a few more hours practice (and some sleep). The reaction of the crowd was definitely mixed. Some saw us as a mild disappointment while others were supportive of our more experimental approach, while there were others who didn’t like us at all. The best compliment I had was from my friend and Rock Lottery 9 alum, Ian Johnson, who said the band sounded like what the Replacements or another 80s Minneapolis band would have sounded like if they were from a parallel universe and played experimental music. We were definitely the strangest band that night in terms of the kinds of music we were playing, which veered from rhythmic and textural experimentations, electronic dance, Velvety post-punk stuff, to powerpop.

Ultimately I think we played in the best spirit of the Rock Lottery, and I’m happy with many of the things we did. I also had a really great time working with Cory, Sarah, George, and Rob, and hope to have the opportunity to play with them again some day.

Goodbye, Syd.

I had to put my 15 year-old cat to sleep today. He had cancer. He was diagnosed about two years ago, but was doing ok. Over the last few months his tumor had gotten really large. I had already decided not to do chemo, so I was prepared for the worst. He had stopped eating the last few days, and he moved very little. I decided to take him in to the vet today. I got to say, "Goodbye," to him.

He was a great cat. He was very affectionate and even natured. He loved people. He was a gentle soul. He was also polydactyl; he had extra toes. His front paws looked like he was wearing little gray boxing gloves. Syd was a smart cat. He would come when his name was called. He understood other commands, too. He was very clever. He would pull my hand out from under my pillow with his paw as I slept. He would then drag my hand over to his head to be rubbed.

He loved to get in the shower right after I used it. He would wait until I left the room and then jump in the tub. He loved to drink water from the tub. He didn't drink water in the normal way that cats do. He would dip his paw in the water and make a little paw-cup with his thumb.
I miss him very much.

Heavy Pet-ing

This is an animation featured on youtube. Even though millions of people will see this, I had to post it because it is so damn charming. A student named Julia Pott at Kingston University made this as her final project. The short film consists of animation of cartoon animals synched with audio interviews of various people talking about there first crushes.

Civic Duty

I'm not a car person. Never have been. I never understood the love for an automobile. I just recently bought a '97 Honda Civic. I can't say that I love it, but I do enjoy it more than I have ever enjoyed a car before. I had to get it because I just got a teaching position in a town 33 miles away, and my wife and I can no longer carpool to the university. Plus, the gas for driving the Jeep everyday was killing me.

This is why I enjoy my "new" car - it's economical, kinda bland looking, no frills, yet enjoyable to drive. I like to think I now own the automotive equivalent of myself. Kinda weird and egotistical, like the old tv show "My Mother the Car" as an ego driven masturbatory fantasy.

Still, I really miss riding my scooter everyday, and hope to one day have a job in Denton that allows me to take 2 wheels instead of 4 everyday to work. Either that, or I'll live in a city with real public transportation.

Psych!

So I stumbled across a BBC2 radio special on the history of psychedelic music. Some of the interviews are really cool, especially with Joe Boyd and Mike Heron. However, some of the interviews are lifted directly from the tv documentary Rock and Roll: An Unruly History.

Unfortunately, the narrator adopts a kind of jaded a holier-than-thou attitude and thinks it is necessary to make dismissive jokes demonstrating how naive and ridiculous everyone involved in the 60s counterculture now looks. If you can get past the self-conscious narration, the series is pretty good.

For the Record

In honor of my friend Matt, I am going to try and post the LPs I have been purchasing of late.

From Half-Price in Dallas 9/10
Robyn Hitchcock - Invisible Hitchcock
Pentangle - Cruel Sister
Brinsley Schwartz - Nervous on the Road
Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead

Ebay
Incredible String Band - Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking

From Recycled over the past month
Willie Nelson - Phases and Stages
Rolling Stones - Through the Past Darkly
Mike Heron - Smiling Men w/Bad Reputations
Pentangle - Solomon's Seal

From Forever Young
Incredible String Band - 5000 Layers of the Onion
Kinks - Lola vs. Powerman...
Incredible String Band - Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (accidentally scratched and immediately replaced - see above)

Waterloo and Cheapo in Austin
Neutral Milk Hotel - Aeroplane Over the Sea
Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash
Palace - Days in the Wake


I have also raided the $.25 bin at Recycled and grabbed a bunch of stuff from Fleetwood Mac to the Clash. I'm also building up my Dylan and Pink Floyd catalogs.

Up Rotoscope

Here's a nice little rotoscoping animation set to music of the wonderful band, Neutral Milk Hotel. I spend a good deal of time scoping youtube for interesting animation. I really need to focus.

The Vinyl Solution

I have never been a huge collector of stuff. I usually own just what I need. I tend to have a lot of books because I'm an information junkie plus I just finished writing a thesis, so my shelves right now are brimming over. However, I'm usually not the kind of person who fetishizes the object and surrounds himself with knick-knacks and curios as a kind of expression of identity or as a shield against the world (excuse my over-simplified psycho-babble). As a matter of fact, I'm known for purging my belongings every few years when I get the feeling that I have amassed too many material goods. However, recently I have started collecting vinyl records at a rate that threatens both my physical living space and my budget. I attribute this need partially to the huge changes I have recently experienced in my life which have rendered the near future as a gigantic question mark.

I have spent the last near-decade working as a clerk selling used lps and books at an amazing independent bookstore. A small portion of our clientèle consists of vinyl fetishists who are so annoying, weird, and compulsive, that any interest I had in lps was quashed by these strange men who spend insane amounts of money on music that nobody else in their right mind would ever buy in a format that is antiquated and obsolete. "Yes, yes!" I cry. I am aware of the archival stability of records, and I am certainly no stranger to acquiring music that could rightly be called, if not obscure, then at least not top 40. However, my need to purge every few years, coupled with my distaste for the collector mentality, has rendered my collection of lps to an amount that never exceeds more than two small 1' ft. square boxes. I am a huge music fan, and I do work at a great music store, so I always have plenty of music on hand. It is simply that I don't feel the need to hold on to things forever.

During the last few years, I have become a big proponent of digital music, my hard drive is filled with around 80 gigs of music at any given time, because it allowed me to acquire a huge library of music, without the material build-up. However, I have recently found myself unsatisfied with this as my sole means of musical acquisition in that the music itself seems temporary and ephemeral. I really like the thing-ness of an album.

I think that this is only half the equation. I think that my recent graduation with an MA, and my uncertain future have driven me to turn to material goods as a kind of security blanket. I have had mini-occurrences like this before, where I balanced instability in my life with material things, only to purge later on. However, I think that this time I might hold on to these albums a little while longer. I feel a real kind of sea change coming regarding both material goods and music. I don't know what it is, but I feel that there is something deeper and conservatory about keeping these records. I'll let you know when I find out what it all means.
I promise to post more in the future.

Avoir les Robots

Last year my wife and I went to Paris where I was doing some research for a project with my mentor professor. Of all the amazing things we saw, this image was probably one of my most favorite things I saw the whole time there. It was wheat-pasted on a wall outside of the hotel where we stayed in the 6th Arrondissement about 3 blocks from Notre Dame. I almost forgot about it, but was looking for another image and stumbled across it. The thing I love most about the image is the fact that it is a robot with bucked teeth. This means that if this were a "real" robot, then somebody intentionally designed an anthropomorphized robot with a condition most people consider a physical defect. Second, it means that somebody decided to give a robot a set of teeth in the first place!

Holy Belief System!

The fine folks over at adherents.com have a page dedicated to the religious affiliations of hundreds of superheroes and supervillans. Every geek worth his slightly flabby salt knows Kitty Pryde is Jewish, but I must admit that I did not know that Green Arrow was a practicing Buddhist!

Centaur-fold

I really need to post more often. I am trying to finish my Master's Thesis and blah, blah, blah.

Here's a lovely Centaur t-shirt I give to you as a peace offering for my being absent for so long. Go here for more geeky, mythological, fantasy t-shirt needs.