Offspring had a good day yesterday, pt. 1

Frodo's been helping out with an elementary school robotics camp that Arnold's attending. That's really all I can say because I haven't witnessed any of it, and what they've talked about has been beyond my ken. Sorry, guys, just nothing for me to talk about.

Samwise, on the other hand, has been really pushing himself with his guitar lately, learning gobs and gobs of songs. He seemed pretty stoked yesterday for me to hear what he'd worked on -- Precious Death's "You Can't Break Me." He's not done with this by any means, but was still excited to show it to me. I was excited because I've been trying to get him to pay attention to Precious Death for at least 5 years. Give it a listen (sorry for camera work, was really just going for audio, but it was okay enough to go with this format, I thought)
(if you want to hear the original -- and see the lyrics -- click here)

Now we just need someone to provide the vocals. Maybe Frodo can do his Christian Bale Batman for the verses.

The Story Board

The thing I mentioned with Arnold the other day is pretty much over, and the family (he in particular) are working on recovering from that, and I am drained mentally and physically, I'm clinging to consciousness here at work the last few days. For example, right now, if I leaned back in my desk chair, I could be asleep in 30 seconds. Which is making the whole writing thing pretty hard -- I'm trying to be good, I just know if I let off on the daily writing thing, it'll take months, if not a year, to reestablish that. So I got about 100 words yesterday, 300 or so today. No where near my minimum requirements, but...

Anyway, by gum, I'm trying to get something new posted by the end of this week.

Trying.

Here's something that both entertained and inspired me, sorta the point of this post. Geek & Sundry, one of the new Youtube channel things (and the one I watch the most of, all due respect and fealty to The Nerdist notwithstanding) started a new thing yesterday, a monthly google+ hangout conversation hosted by Patrick Rothfuss about writing called The Story Board. Now, that's enough for me, I'm watching. But this first episode featured Jim Butcher as one of the guests talking about Urban Fantasy. Squee! Good stuff. You must check it out.

XMas Programs/Recitals/Etc.

(I apologize in advance for the spacing on this post, depending what your screen resolution, and window size, this could look pretty ugly)

I find myself at the end of a busy week of children's Christmas programs, wherein parents, grandparents and resentful siblings were able to see the culmination of hours, days, and weeks (and sometimes entire minutes) of preparation on the parts of many, only to watch those who we get to see and hear too much of at home.

We started the week with Samwise and a group of guitar classmates performing during a veritable (and interminable) cavalcade of acoustic performances from the secondary students at his school. Samwise was, for reasons beyond my ken, enrolled in the beginning guitar class and so was playing with people who've been playing for 3 months. They had a lot of fun doing a "funny" little song they wrote. Results varied beyond them. 14 hours after that, the audience members that hadn't fled were released, relatively unharmed.

The next night, Arnold and the Princess got to strut their stuff in the elementary classes program. As you can see from this picture of the Princess I took right before showtime, we had seats in the a good distance away from the stage, and more clearly, I need a better camera. It was a very ambitious program of singing, dancing and recorder playing. I won't say that very few of the kids had talents commensurate with the ambition of the music teacher, but, um... it was cute.






And hey, did I mention, there were recorders? Yup, 90 4^th and 5^th graders played "Frosty the Snowman" on recorders. Several of which had the same key. (if you use your imagination, you can see a pink recorder in her hands there...see above paragraph).






I thought they did a really good job integrating all the grades into the program, and shuffled it up enough that even the shortest of attention spans weren't pushed too far past the breaking point. Someday, I would like someone to explain exactly how this position
represents a partridge in a pear tree, though.






Today, Arnold's music academy put on a recital--we had a flautist, a guitar player, a clarinet wrangler and several pianists perform a song each for us. I was quite impressed with the range of ages and abilities shown, and despite the nerves, they all did a great job. I was, naturally, very impressed with Arnold's playing, this was better than any time I've heard him practice. Thankfully, it was a small crowd, so I was able to shoot a video.

Veritable Webster's Definition of "Awwwwww...."

Top This, Guys

Skywriting? Antiquated (and probably will get Al Gore after you)
Using the JumboTron during a pro sporting event? Cliche.
That Boise Junior College Guy celebrating the Fiesta Bowl win by proposing to that cheerleader? Bush League.

This is the new (fleeting) gold standard:


Awwwwww......

Odds 'n Ends

• The pre-Thanksgiving TSA-induced uproar has died down, but the injustices that caused it continue. You can see Wil Wheaton's entirely justified reaction to his pat down on his twitter feed on Tuesday. Being a bit more composed, but still outraged, yesterday he The very definition of a must read.


• I, like many of you, suffered through Rebecca Black's "Friday" (see how nice I am to not link to it?). But there are great ways to cope with it--like Conan's video "Thursday", or Stephen Colbert's great cover of it on Fallon's show. But this essay, just might take the cake, where Jeffrey Tucker reads way too much into the song and tries to turn it into a Libertarian allegory (I agree with the politics/philosophy, just think it's a bad read of the lyrics/video).


• I'm sure you've seen this as it's showing up everywhere I look (or maybe I just spend too much time in the wrong places on the Net), but in case you haven't, hit play here. Last night, I almost broke my laptop watching this--it was on my lap (is that maybe where they got the name for them?) and I laughed so hard I almost launched it across the room.
  
  When Harry Met Sally 2 with Billy Crystal & Helen Mirren from Billy Crystal


• I put up a video from Lovett a few weeks back, and his album came out recently--one of the most eclectic collections of music I have--and pretty much all good. Grab a free track here:
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

Sure, it's Cold, but the Dude's Got a Point

catchy tune, too

Some Music to Kick Off the Weekend

Not since Run DMC's "You be Illin'" or LL's "I'm Bad" have I felt that a rap song has looked deep into my soul and displayed it for the world the way this has:

Eye of the Storm

what? not a book review? I know, I know, sorry. Other posts have been eaten by sloth or time lately...but anyhow

This is an awesome music video (decent song, too, I need to pay more attention to it than the video next couple of times I watch) that once upon a time would've been shown on a cable network devoted to the media...a magic time, known as the 80's


more about the musician and the making of the video, check out this post at The Nerdist.

And, yeah, I know, it's a cheap shot to talk about MTV not showing videos anymore, but given the fact that they're talking about airing new episodes of Beavis & Butthead, can't help feeling nostalgic for the good ol' days. (am seriously torn on the appropriate reaction to that piece of news, actually)

Possibly the Most Disillusioning Blogpost Ever

I can't remember who on my Twitter feed posted this link, so I can't give credit where it's due, but this post is well worth the read and listen. What is it, you ask, rather than clicking the link blindly.

It's a list of 15 songs you probably didn't realize were covers--one of these I knew was a cover. One. And I really like/love most of these songs.

I know that Rob Fleming and the rest of the crew at Championship Vinyl would be ashamed of me. I am.

Regardless, this post is quite educational and entertaining (and a leeetle scary)

Current Musical Obsessions (1) - Mumford and Sons

taking a break from blathering about books for a bit, I figured I'd shake things up a bit and talk about music a little bit this week. But as I sit down to talk about Mumford and Sons, I realize I have to idea what to say. This is what music is supposed to be about, catchy tunes, lovely instrumentation, heartfelt lyrics--it's fun stuff, it's quality music, it's...ugh. Listen to it, and like me, I bet you'll be hooked.

Embedding a few things from an acoustical set they have on their youtube page rather than the videos of the studio versions from the cd Sigh No More.

There's "The Cave"


The thoughtful "White Blank Page" (the title alone speaks to me)


and the one you may have actually heard before, "Little Lion Man" (song is musical crack...you'll listen over and over and over)

Writing Quote of the Day - Nov 30

What better way to end this little series than with something from my old writing professor...I'd have typed this one out, but why bother, when there's this handy-dandy video already made?

From Lance Olsen's novel Burnt:

So Have You Seen this Fan-Made Hunger Games Clip?

I don't know if you've seen this yet, but if you've read The Hunger Games you really, really should--it almost perfectly captures one of the best scenes in the book. If you haven't read it, and are considering it (and you really should), stay away from the clip 'cuz it'll ruin one of the best scenes in the book.

Other than the fact they got Rue's ethnicity wrong...can't think of a problem with this. I'd gladly fork over $10 to buy a ticket to this group's version of the whole book.

Watching this made me realize one major problem with making a movie of book: How does Hollywood expect to do this flick and get a PG-13?

Having "The Talk" with your Kids (not *that* one)

I admit it, and it brings me great shame to do so...I messed up with my older two (despite my good intentions), and am trying to do better with my younger two, but it's so hard when their older brothers have it so messed up...

Parents, don't make the same mistakes I did... talk to them about Star Wars from an early age.



somehow this post feels like it should end with this:

I have truly never felt like voting more than after watching this

...granted, not voting the way moveon.org and The Worst Thing to Happen to House clearly want me to, but hey, I'll definitely be at the polls

Better Luck Next Year

In honor of our 14th anniversary I was going to try to compile some advice, some pearls of wisdom to share for the younger men in my audience.

Alas, it all came out like Sawyer's English lesson for Jin.

I'll try to start earlier on it next year, maybe I'll come up with something worth passing along

This Must Be that New Math I've Been Hearing About...

Frodo's Pre-Algebra teacher showed this to his class today.

Technology in the classroom, ladies and gentleman.

Friday Frivolity - Smells Like Rockin Robin

H/T to Weird Al's twitter feed:

The Dancer

In Case I Don't Get Something Else Written Up for Today...

Here's a short film/long commercial for your viewing pleasure. Way to go Mr. Bateman.

Argh...

I'd determined that I was going to post something every day this month (or at least try) and already I'm falling behind. I had something in mind for today and one for tomorrow...and I'm not going to get them done. But I have a good reason. Well, a reason.

See, a couple of weeks ago, my trusty new laptop's hard drive went kablooey. I got it back at the end of last week and spent most of the last few days getting it back into fighting shape. When I went to get these posts together, I realized I forgot a software piece or two that I need for this...and honestly, I'm not up for finding/downloading/configuring them at the moment. I'll try again tomorrow (and, of course, by the time I get around to actually needing the aforementioned software, I'll have come up with other posts entirely making this whole thing moot).

So instead of actual content, I'll shut up and post this cute little song by Jewel.