Yesterday I was hoping to work on lyrics for new songs, but I got distracted by putting a profile on voice123.com
I’ll let you know how that works out as soon as I splurge for a microphone.
But I did work on lyrics today. Trying to wrap my brain around particle theory is…baishsdoisfd;i;we;w.
And I started to get really frustrated when “clients” (or dummies as I like to call them) call to get their address changed because they kept wrecking my train of thought. Choo-choo!
If you’re in front of a TV tonight at 7pm check out the “Tentacles” documentary on PBS. And if you miss it, I’ll be recording it, so stop panicking.
Last Monday, after Mutants & Masterminds, Mike showed us the extended cut of The Veil, which I had a cameo in and was also Lovecraftian story consultant. The cut for the 48 hour horror film festival had to be 6 or 7 minutes. Our story was 11 minutes long and now the finished film reflects that. I’m making sure Mike submits it to the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival this year.
It’s not online but you can see stills here: http://www.steampoweredfilms.ca/ShortsFrame.htm
Anyway, yeah – it was great! I wish it was even longer. Very moody and nice to look at. The only bit I think it could do without is the bloody pancakes – but pancakes was part of the film fest package so what can you do?
FUNNY LINK ADDENDUM: “Mom, it’s Secret Wars day, remember?”
Joe lended me (yeah, I said lended) the complete first season of the new Doctor Who (Christopher Eccleson), which I am now going to talk about. I like Doctor Who. My favourite doctor is probably the first one. I don’t know why. It’s probably not rational. I remember watching them very early in the morning when I was…probably late teens. I also remember seeing the lighthouse one with Tom Baker like three times, which given that at the time I’d probably seen about a dozen episodes altogether is weird.
Anyhoo.
Certainly the new series (I haven’t seen any with David Tennant) is pretty good. Not great. Better than what I could do. Very few episodes have really engaged me. The writing is peppered with good ideas but is often sloppy. I could give examples but you probably don’t care. I like Eccleson’s performance well enough. I don’t care for Rose or any of the other regulars. I understand why they made most stories only an hour but I liked the old seasons where the stories were spread out over 5 half hour episodes. I like time travel stories, but unfortunately Doctor Who doesn’t deal very often with the paradoxes that are, to me, the interesting bits of time travel stories. The one where Rose saved her dad was closest to the kind of time travel stories I like, but it was so washed out and off kilter that it didn’t thrill me. Doctor Who can sometimes be like Harry Potter and Star Trek. You are often presented with a puzzle but there is no way you the viewer can figure it all out because the solution is in fantastic technobabble that only the writer is familiar with. I am thinking of the first Captain Jack episode with the nanoids. Sure, you may have made the connection between the little boy and the nanoids (I did juuuuust before they revealed it), but the explanation about the boy talking through speakers was explained with some throwaway make-em-ups at the end of the episode. Sloppy.
However, I am now watching the one where they go back to the present and capture the last slitheen who is mayor of Cardiff–it is probably my favourite episode (close in rank to the one with the ‘last dalek’) to take her back to her planet where she’ll be executed. I haven’t finished it yet so they could still ruin it, but the whole bit with the moral dilemma and the dialogue with the alien and the doctor over dinner in a restaurant is well done and very engaging. I love epic sci fi, but I’m glad the writers took time to explore the characters that was more than “I’m the doctor and I am wise but I’m threatened by anyone that Rose likes” or “I’m Rose and why doesn’t the universe work the way I think it should and also I don’t like responsibility.” I want to see more of the characters sitting down and talking so that when they’re running away from monsters I actually care whether or not they get away. So here’s hoping for more good episodes.
There are 37 patents, filed in Europe and the US, on derivatives of deep sea organisms. …cosmetics on sale derived from microbes that survive in extreme environments found deep below the surface of the ocean…enzymes from the same source are used in industrial processes and research…[they are] testing a bone-healing drug [and] developing artificial blood from the haemoglobin of tubeworms found around deep sea hydrothermal vents.
The abyss can help us, and there are no laws for ensuring that the 14 companies selling or developing these resources are bioprospecting responsibly. “While there are some international regulations controlling pollution, people are basically free to do as they want there.” So keep that in mind.
Apropos of my new blog banner.
ADDENDUM: This is pretty sweet: creationist owners of “Dinosaur Adventure Land” in Florida which purports that dinosaurs were around a few thousand years ago, refuse to get a building permit because it violates their deeply held religious beliefs. As a result, the court is fining them for every day it’s open without the permit. If they fail, the museum could be razed. I support that.
Alright, Joe has leant me his scanner for the time being so I’m back in bidnith.
I went to free comic day as threatened, and I spoke with Diana Greenhalgh who is an inker for a comic book called Victoria’s Secret Service and who lives in White Rock. She was very helpful. I got some tips on paper and other artist tools. So now when I get a new scanner it’s going to have to be bigger.
I also played some Burn Out 3, a street racing video game where your car is pretty much indestructible as long as you hit cars smaller than a bus from behind or the side. It’s pretty wacky but I can see the draw. The kids at Pat’s played it so loud, however, that you couldn’t say anything to the guy next to you without yelling.
And now for your viewing enjoyment, Go-Rilla from the World Wildlife Federation of Justice:
Joe came up with an idea for a WWF character – a duck with the power to cause tremors. His name? Earthquack. I like it.
It’s free comic book day today! I’m going down to Elfsar to see what’s what and talk with some comic book artists who will be there. I need to find out what kind of paper and pens they use.
So The Thickets came close to losing a band member last week, but we will be together for at least this new album. Next week we’re recording a demo for the 6-7 songs we have so far. Then we’ll show them to friends, get feedback, and tweak them for the official recording. I want to have accordian and other whimsical instruments on this album. So if you can play something funky, let me know. We won’t be doing any more shows until further notice. Not sure about the Penny Arcade Expo either but I am hopeful. We just got our royalties checks which we’re going to put into t-shirts and whatnot.
I thought I’d wait for him to put photos up on his blog but I can’t (maybe this will spur him on):
For those who know them but haven’t heard yet – my bestest buddy Chris Woods had a tiny helpless human which they have dubbed Peter (despite my excellent suggestion of Rosco). And I suppose Angie had something to do with it too.
Also, happy Cinco de Mayo.
Getting a new computer is like buying a new house. Yes, your quality of life will improve (one would hope) but not for several weeks while you move and unpack all the boxes of stuff from your old house, not to mention putting all the dishes and books on the shelves in the way you liked them before. Oh, and this perfectly good couch will have to be replaced because it doesn’t go with your new living room. Trying to get this beast up to the point where I could go about my daily routine has ruled the weeknights of Joe and I for the past 3 days. I’m going to have to reset literally scores of passwords, but the worst of it is that I no longer have a working scanner. It’s a good thing I got such a good deal (thanks Joe) on the basics, because here’s what I’ll be buying in the near future:
A bigger scanner
A studeo quality microphone
Some kind of interface for the mic (and possibly other instruments like a keyboard), which may or may not be called a preamp (clearly I have more research to do)
A TV card so that I can convert my VHS tapes to DVD (maybe this could be the same device a mic plugs into?).
If anyone has advice I’m up for it.
I did have the bonus of getting a larger moniter for free. Hooray! So as soon as I get a new scanner I’ll be posting some new The Horribles. I’ve had a few good ideas over the past week, and have been catching up on my Cat and Girl.
I shouldn’t talk about work too much because I’m always on this site clicking my fave blogs to the right (notice that pz myers has been added) but I had a conversation with the woman next to me like this:
Lady to the left: Do you know what animal reproduces without sex?
Me: Uh…the amoeba.
What’s an amoeba?
A tiny single-celled animal. It reproduces by splitting up into two animals. But the two animals are basically clones. There is no variation like there is with animals that reproduce sexually.
Oh. But there is another one.
What is it?
The peacock.
No, that’s not true.
Yes, when the peacock sees its legs, it cries.
(a telephone call interrupts the conversation. The call ends, and this travesty resumes)
Me: You were saying about the peacock?
Lady to the left: Yes, when the peacock sees its legs, it cries. The teardrops fall onto the ground and then the peacock eats them, and it gets pregnant.
Where did you hear that?
I just heard it.
Uh…that may be in a book somewhere but it is not reality.Somebody told me that.
Well somebody was not telling the truth.
This is a person who lives and works in Canada and is older than me and raises children.
My last computer had about 24. That’s a lot of new space to wade around in.
