Overqualified

Its been almost a month since I was fired from my job. Meanwhile, two employed white guys sat outside a theater in Seattle for 184 days so they could be the firsrt ones in line for "Attack of the Clones"...

Is there a way to express just how badly I want to pound those geeks?

Rockin’ out with Marlee Matlin

Ever since the kid showed up we have watched television with the close captioning turned on. At night while we're trying to wind him down and get him to sleep, it allows us to turn the volume down without missing anything, and there is research out there that says that having the captioning on does a small part in helping children learn to read.

It was annoying at first to have the words on the screen; but you get used to it, and eventually you sort of forget that it's there.

     But sometimes it gives you a little surprise.

Most movies that have been bleeped for television forget to fix the close captioning. This can lead to some funny moments, especially when you're watching a movie where everyone is always saying "Forget you, sucka!"

     The edited for television version of Fast Times at Ridgemont High? – Hilarious
     Watching with the real script showing at the bottom? – Gnarly

Another thing to keep in mind is that most closed captioning is taken straight from the original script - many times before the actual filming takes place. As a result, a lot of the time you’ll end up seeing lines the actors don't say, or hearing how they change them along the way.

I suppose it’s kinda geeky to get excited about seeing the directors cut of a re-run, though…

       “Dammit Roger Lodge, this is not your personal war!”

What’s that old Primus lyric?

               "Funny thing about weekends When you're unemployed. They don't quite mean so much…”

Anyways…

Last night while watching Smallville, during the two scenes of telekinesis-boy doing his victims in, the music in the background was from two new Warner Brothers recording artists who I had never heard of (and may never hear again). But the lyrics being listed in the captions?

      ‘The Cradle Will Rock” by Van Halen.

Maybe I’m just old school, but the killing scene I read was much better than the one I heard.

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted...

Last night I discovered that something is wrong with my PS2. This also means that something is wrong with my DVD player. Suddenly without my regular distractions at hand, I had to find something to do.

     So I made

          music ….?

What started out as me moving some things out of the way so I could get to an obscured bookcase to look for something to read turned into the creating of a Frankenstein contraption that included a drum machine, synthesizer, various effects processors, and a 4 track tape recorder all wired together through my guitar amplifier.

I haven’t created anything beyond just doodling around with jazz chords on my acoustic in literally ages (I was trying to figure it out exactly - a year may have gone by since I’ve done this sort of thing…), so half of the excitement was just putting the thing together.

I had a great time creating some very simple grooves, the kind of things that probably would work best played as background music for generic walking sequences in a horror film.

It was fun to play, but only so much fun to listen to (a repetitive 2 minute groove played for 8 minutes straight? .. I’m no Dorfmeister, but it was hard not to get carried away).

     Just for the record, I’m a really bad keyboard player.

While I love my little 4 track, it may be time to investigate some sort of cheapo digital recorder. Once I was done making music with the Frankenstein soundtrack machine, I had to go back into my evil laboratory to create the Frankenstein soundtrack listening to machine. Sure I could have mixed the thing down to a stereo cassette copy, but it would have taken far too long to find all the cables I would have needed for that. Besides, I knew the songs weren’t that good, so all the extra effort didn’t seem worth it.

               Still, it would have been nice to have something to share.

Must… resist… chipmunk music

In other bad news, I think I like a song by Nelly Furtado. I am not 100% sure that it's her singing, but the outlook doesn't seem good.

What’s next, absently humming an N’Sync song that I heard on …the …radio?

I did not just say that.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue

What an intensely strange and bad couple of days it’s been. At times it’s all seemed almost surreal, like the world around me stopped and shut off without warning...

     Oh wait, that did happen…

Amidst all sorts of work pressures, including the fact that I’m about to lose my job, I have this monster project that’s been dogging me for almost two years. It’s the sort of thing you should just expect to be fraught with frustrating problems, and it’s not really let me down yet.

And all of this happened before the entire city experienced a blackout .

We all hear stories about what happens when you don’t save your work, so I won’t bore you with one more.

     Needless to say, there is no joy in Mudville.

While things have been restored to working order, there’s still a lot of aftereffects to be had. For one, the water supply is still being considered "iffy."

Signs all over the office: Non Potable Water - Do Not Drink.

Which translates to the biggest tragedy thus far, in my opinion..

          NO

          Coffee