witches and wolves

I'm not the type of guy who actively looks for music, at least not very often. Compared to most people, especially in Seattle, my collection is minimal. This is probably because I'm usually around people who listen to great music and I steal from them. Still, my own collection gets stale and once in a while I go out and try to find something that tickles the ears. That's what I did last night.

For a while I've been meaning to explore all the music references in the Phonogram comic books. The premise of the book is that music is a form of magic and is used to cast spells. These stories mostly focus on indie and brit-pop. There a loads of references to bands and songs I don't know. I started with the first issue of the second series. Luckily, each issue has pages of annotations for all the references, like any self-serving music snob masturbatory work should.

I found a couple of things from bands that I have heard before, like this track that Jeremy has played in the car before:


There were a couple of bands mentioned that I had heard of before but had not actually heard:




And there was this pukey-cute one that the whole issue was based on:


Another thing that happened this weekend was a viewing of New Moon. There was a decent Thom Yorke song in that too:


I think I'm Team Jacob.

snoop opera

Today's episode of One Life To Live had a couple of reasons as to why it's the best (daytime) soap opera ever. Passions will always be my favorite but there's no denying that OLTL is better.

Reason #1: Shamelessly lazy writing

All soaps have lazy writing, it's a definitive characteristic. OLTL takes it past the typical repetition and formula. For instance a character introduced in the early nineties was portrayed by an Asian-American actress. The character left the show and came back as a blond with a southern accent. I don't think they even bothered to explain it. How could you? Today's episode touched on another unexplainable occurrence in Llanview.

Quick back story: Years ago Todd's sons are kidnapped and taken to an island. He and Tea go to the island and rescue them, but Todd abandons her there not knowing she is preggers with his baby. Years later, Tea reveals the daughter she had with Todd. So, the daughter should be younger than the sons that were kidnapped, right? Nope, she's in high school, but the oldest son is only 10 years old. The poor girl is a victim of a phenomenon known as Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome. I noticed it when she was introduced a few months ago, but until now I thought I was the only one. Today, the son, Jack, meets his sister, Dani, for the first time. Here's how it went:

Jack: You're my sister?

Dani: Who were you expecting, Taylor Swift?

Jack: But you're, like, old.

Dani: What does that, like, mean?

Jack: I overheard my mom and dad talking, that Tea and my dad had a kid. So I figured you'll be my little sister. I thought you'd be, like, eight or nine.

Dani: Well I'm, like, not.

Jack: That makes no sense.

Dani: Get over it.

That's it! That's all she wrote. The rules of time and space were bent to the will of these people and that's the only explanation we get. I think I like it because they at least mention the paradox, and it's done so quickly and quietly. With all the mundane crap dialogue soaps have, you tune a lot of it out and it would be easy to miss a little wink like that.

Reason #2: Snoop Dogg is from there.

Snoop likes to stop by the show once in a while. With all the time they saved with the lazy writing, they concocted this back story for him where he grew up there and was on a TV show there and is best buds with the police commissioner.

picturesque

This is Cinnamon, circa 2000-2001. This was at the mall and she was giving one of those consumer surveys about underwear. For my trouble I got a few pairs of briefs to try out. A few weeks later a friendly man with a southern accent called me and asked me questions about them (they were decent but pretty inferior to any leading brand), then I got a check in the mail for $5.00. It was pretty cool.

Favorite of 2009 #5

The best part about 2009 has to be living with Jeremy. Let's face it, cohabiting could turn out bad. But in this case, it turned out good. He's kinda awesome. Trying not to sound mushy.

Favorite of 2009 #4

The hometowns off all three of us who live here made the news last year.







I'm sure Fort Worth had more national stories, but this is the one that came to mind.

Favorite of 2009 #3

It's a tie. I'll let you decide.

Obsessed. No, it's not a good movie, but it's trashiness won me over.... watch the first minute, i beg of you. It's the best part.


This IS a very good movie. It looks great. You should probably watch it instead of that other one I liked.

Favorite of 2009 #2

The Poncho Art Auction was a great event to have participated in. I volunteered and helped wrap up pieces that had been sold and almost got to carry a Chihuly onstage. They fed me good food and beer and I met some nice people. People who's contact info I failed to get.

favorite of 2009 #1

The exchange between Layla and Fish over these two clips is one of the most memorable soap scenes I've seen that didn't include magic. Layla realizes that her boyfriend is gay and tries to get him to open up. It's moving, uncomfortable and sad.

#draw365

I recently started using Twitter again. An artist I follow on there suggested I use the #draw365 tag, the purpose of which is to post a new drawing everyday. I've kept up pretty well so far and enjoy seeing other people's drawings every day.a

Here are the first five I've done so far.

food!

Butternut squash and purple potatoes. 'Nuff said.

songs from the album of the day

As presented by film students.

someday her prince will come

While I no longer like to dress up in a costume for my favorite holiday, the same is not true for my lovely niece. I never get to see her and rarely get to talk to her (when I do I can't make out what she's saying...still not sure if that's my fault or hers). But her dad was nice enough to send me a picture of her in her costume. Just a side note: every picture he's sent me of her includes an eating establishment and/or beer. Thank god, I know she's being brought up right. Anyway, doesn't she make an awesome Snow White? It's the role she was born to play!

great pumpkin

There are lots of reasons I love autumn, and one of them is pumpkin flavored things. Pie, beer, soup...yummy! In small doses and only once a year, of course. As Thanksgiving draws near it will most certainly be pie season.

I had a roommate who made a pumpkin pie one year and she wanted to use real pumpkin. She said she didn't want to use any of that canned junk. She emptied the pumpkin out, cut it, roasted it, scraped it, made a puree, etc. The pie was delicious! Only, all pumpkin pie is. See, the thing about the canned junk? It only has one ingredient: pumpkin. No salt, water, preservatives, artificial anything. In the end her pie tasted like one made from a can. I didn't tell her any of this.

I suppose that while the pie tasted the same as any other, it was special. It sticks out in my mind as a unique memory. I remember watching her do it and excited she was about it. And she probably saved a post-Halloween pumpkin from QFC's compost dumpster. Gay as it sounds, the secret ingredient in that pie was love.

So if you want to make a pie filling from scratch and tell people how you slaved over it for bonus points, it's pretty easy and tastes good. Or you could use a can and lie to people about it.

digital transition fail

Switching this junk over has not been easy via Comcast. Jeremy and Matthew have bought what they told them to buy and hooked it up every which way they told them to hook it up (thanks guys), and yet we still can't watch our favorite shows on the big screen. If it wasn't for Megavideo I would never get to see them! On the bright side, I'm sure it won't be long before a solution is found (x-mas!) and there's enough on the channels we do get to keep me occupied this fall.

it's genetic

My free will astrology this week said something about my ancestors so I did a google search of the oldest one I know, my great-great-grandfather Manuel Rodrigues. I found this page that listed a bunch of voters registered in 1898 in my hometown of Antioch, where they found that kidnapped Jaycee Dugard girl. It listed the name, occupation and native country of each person. There were three Rodrigueses, all from Portugal. Manuel was a laborer and Enos (love that name) and Joseph Rodrigues were farmers. I thought "That doesn't sounds like my family." Then I noticed a note at the top of the list:

NOTE: This appears to be a listing of men who registered at the last minute prior to the November election.

Last minute? Now that sounds like my family! I'm surprised they made it in time at all.

the worst

Ashlee Simpson on the new Melrose Place is, in a word, the worst. It's almost disgusting how bad she is. Still, her crazy eyes and alien-like delivery crack me up. She's a total freak.
I also have an idea of what her character is supposed to be: the worst neighbor ever. She's creepy and annoying and no one seems to like her...but there she is.

my first catfight

I'm watching Candleshoe right now. I haven't run across many people who have seen it, but I watched a gazillion times growing up. It's an old Disney movie that stars Jodie Foster as a 14-year-old delinquent, a real bad-ass who's gaurdians (they don't explain them, but they sure aren't her folks) sell her to Rumpole of the Bailey so he can scam a rich old broad, Helen Hayes, out of her fortune or pirate treasure or something. She looks like her long-lost granddaughter. The old lady and Doctor Doolittle have a bunch of foster kids living with them and Jodie does nothing but cause trouble. In this scene she has it out with some of the girls over doing chores or something. It probably has something to do with how much I like seeing chicks fight. But then again, everyone likes seeing chicks fight.

flash forward

I was going to make a joke about how today marks the three-year anniversary of my relationship with Tivo:

But I've been feeling not-so-creative lately and couldn't formulate the right words. So I'll skip it and cut to the chase.

It's been three years since I met Jeremy (and his Tivo). Knowing him has made me a better person and I'm having a more and more difficult time imagining life without him.

I love you, baby. Thanks for everything.

odosketch

This awesome website records the strokes you make as you draw it. You can save it and play it back. It's a lot of fun!

http://sketch.odopod.com/

i made this

I did this one last week, it's watercolor, acrylic, ink and collage.



I also finished this one probably a couple of months ago. It's mostly acrylic with some ink too.