I don't have anything to blog about tonight. I've got some choices ahead of me ... Citizen Kane, Wall-E and Monty Python sit in front of me. What I need to do is work on tomorrow's blog, because the concept is there, but the words aren't right.
We'll see what tomorrow brings ...
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Robot Revolution
I still haven't seen Wall-E, but I'm well aware of how much robots kick ass. Except for time-traveling ones - they're always trying to kill us ... what's up with that? I even enjoyed the movie Robots, and that movie's not exactly a classic.
Anyway, I came across this article earlier today and I felt that it might be good to share. It's a really interesting experiment on human interaction with the world around us. Check out the tweenbots blog if you want a little more information than the article provides.
Anyway, I came across this article earlier today and I felt that it might be good to share. It's a really interesting experiment on human interaction with the world around us. Check out the tweenbots blog if you want a little more information than the article provides.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
That's the money you could be saving with ...
Okay, so I've always been interested in advertising campaigns. In advertising, you're trying to take a product, service or maybe even a person and make it (them) accessible and/or attractive to others. The psychology of this and the creativity it would take sound like a lot of fun.
Especially after working at a studio that created music for advertisements, I can be picky about commercials. I sat around for a while today watching television - I don't call it TV because TV is a nickname, and nicknames are for friends, and television is no friend of mine. Anyway, these commercials for insurance companies like Geico, Allstate, et al seem kind of pointless to me.
They all say the same thing: people who switched from ___ to us saved an average of $__. Of course they did. They wouldn't have switched if they weren't going to save money (for the most part). There would be no point because all of these insurance companies are basically the same.
I know their point is that you should check them out and see if you'd save money, but the basis for their argument is kind of shoddy in my opinion.
That, and I didn't have anything more interesting to write here before I leave the house for the night. We can talk later about where the balance point is between churning out content on a deadline and churning out *good* content. At least there's a link to Mr. Show in there ...
Especially after working at a studio that created music for advertisements, I can be picky about commercials. I sat around for a while today watching television - I don't call it TV because TV is a nickname, and nicknames are for friends, and television is no friend of mine. Anyway, these commercials for insurance companies like Geico, Allstate, et al seem kind of pointless to me.
They all say the same thing: people who switched from ___ to us saved an average of $__. Of course they did. They wouldn't have switched if they weren't going to save money (for the most part). There would be no point because all of these insurance companies are basically the same.
I know their point is that you should check them out and see if you'd save money, but the basis for their argument is kind of shoddy in my opinion.
That, and I didn't have anything more interesting to write here before I leave the house for the night. We can talk later about where the balance point is between churning out content on a deadline and churning out *good* content. At least there's a link to Mr. Show in there ...
Friday, April 10, 2009
Death and Taxes
Death and taxes are forever linked by Benjamin Franklins quote. When I typed them as the title of this blog, this editor, as well as the part of my brain I was going to use to write in it, was completely empty. I really wasn't sure where I was going with it. I was kind of thinking of raising questions about how we're taxed - the transparency and forthrightness of the process to be specific.
See, today I left the auto garage after spending about $2,000 on new catalytic converters thinking I would run my car or a few days like they recommended, get my emissions done and then take care of those expired tags. It's ten days in to the month, so they're well expired, but given the fact that the repairs were so expensive and that Davidson county's own county clerk totally butchered my registration change from Rutherford (they switched my expiration to October, resulting in my not getting renewal papers from them) I've had a bit of trouble getting this taken care of.
I didn't get more than two miles away from the shop when a policeman pulled me over. He mentioned to me that my tags were expired, to which I responded with the receipt for my repairs and the short version of the above paragraph hoping that, seeing my intention to change this, he'd just let it go. Letting me go was the right thing to do. You can go all black-and-white on me and refute this, but you know I'm right.
He did not let me go. He gave me a ticket.
I mention all of this because it seems like whenever there's a rash of people getting tickets, the response is something like "They're out raising money." And they're usually right. What government institution isn't cash strapped at all times? However, it's up to taxes raise money. Non-profits raise money. Children raise money for baseball teams. Policemen, very dissimilarly from any of these, protect and serve. The purpose of any monetary penalties they can impose shouldbe solely to deter further violations, right? If they need my money then either taxes need to be adjusted or the government is being inefficient. One of these things should change, or at least they should give me a box of Tagalongs or candy bar with the ticket like a normal fundraiser.
It's not the money that's important, it's the method by which you're taking it from people. Newsflash, officer - you're not Robin Hood. That story is fiction.
Perhaps Benjamin Franklin could have added government inefficiency to that list of certainties.
See, today I left the auto garage after spending about $2,000 on new catalytic converters thinking I would run my car or a few days like they recommended, get my emissions done and then take care of those expired tags. It's ten days in to the month, so they're well expired, but given the fact that the repairs were so expensive and that Davidson county's own county clerk totally butchered my registration change from Rutherford (they switched my expiration to October, resulting in my not getting renewal papers from them) I've had a bit of trouble getting this taken care of.
I didn't get more than two miles away from the shop when a policeman pulled me over. He mentioned to me that my tags were expired, to which I responded with the receipt for my repairs and the short version of the above paragraph hoping that, seeing my intention to change this, he'd just let it go. Letting me go was the right thing to do. You can go all black-and-white on me and refute this, but you know I'm right.
He did not let me go. He gave me a ticket.
I mention all of this because it seems like whenever there's a rash of people getting tickets, the response is something like "They're out raising money." And they're usually right. What government institution isn't cash strapped at all times? However, it's up to taxes raise money. Non-profits raise money. Children raise money for baseball teams. Policemen, very dissimilarly from any of these, protect and serve. The purpose of any monetary penalties they can impose shouldbe solely to deter further violations, right? If they need my money then either taxes need to be adjusted or the government is being inefficient. One of these things should change, or at least they should give me a box of Tagalongs or candy bar with the ticket like a normal fundraiser.
It's not the money that's important, it's the method by which you're taking it from people. Newsflash, officer - you're not Robin Hood. That story is fiction.
Perhaps Benjamin Franklin could have added government inefficiency to that list of certainties.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Measuring Up
I always find it awkward when I'm approached after playing a show by someone telling me how good a drummer I am. So, part of it is definitely that I don't know how to take a compliment, but another part of it is that I'm not sure that I believe them all the time.
There's a part of me that is searching for that point at which I feel like I'm worthy of praise as a drummer, and it doesn't matter to me who else is impressed until I reach that point for myself. As a test for myself, I decided to throw my hat in the ring to be the next drummer of Smashing Pumpkins. It's an opportunity to see how I stack up against other drummers and to see if what I do stands out. I recorded a video of myself playing the song Cherub Rock as part of the audition process and it turned out pretty okay, all things considered.
I wouldn't say I set out to make this blog some official account of what I've been up to, but I'm not sure I have anything else to blog about at the moment.
The Appleseed Cast is at The End tonight and I think it's safe to assume this might be the only chance I have to write something. The Blog Challenge must go on ...
Oh, also ... You might want to check out To Die For by Hell is for Heroes.
Good stuff.
There's a part of me that is searching for that point at which I feel like I'm worthy of praise as a drummer, and it doesn't matter to me who else is impressed until I reach that point for myself. As a test for myself, I decided to throw my hat in the ring to be the next drummer of Smashing Pumpkins. It's an opportunity to see how I stack up against other drummers and to see if what I do stands out. I recorded a video of myself playing the song Cherub Rock as part of the audition process and it turned out pretty okay, all things considered.
I wouldn't say I set out to make this blog some official account of what I've been up to, but I'm not sure I have anything else to blog about at the moment.
The Appleseed Cast is at The End tonight and I think it's safe to assume this might be the only chance I have to write something. The Blog Challenge must go on ...
Oh, also ... You might want to check out To Die For by Hell is for Heroes.
Good stuff.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The Modern Age
Somehow or another, most likely something to do with the patterns of moving air in our atmosphere, today was about 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. This meant that I was able to get out on my road bike after work and cruise around a little bit.
As I was on my way home, I noticed a plane in the air above me and thought to myself - no big deal. No big deal? Yeah, it's only a few thousand tons of metal defying the basic principals of gravity and flying through the air. No big deal.
It struck me that there are a lot of 'no big deal' moments every day. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was riding on one. Bikes are amazing machines ... but so is the human body. Did you know that one gallon of gas contains 31,000 calories (don't ever drink gas ...) and that on those 31,000 calories you can travel only about 20 miles? Consider that a human on a bike traveling an average of 15 miles per hour would travel over 900 miles before they burned 31,000 calories. No big deal.
Well, I wasn't expecting to go all Discovery Channel on you, but there it is.
As I was on my way home, I noticed a plane in the air above me and thought to myself - no big deal. No big deal? Yeah, it's only a few thousand tons of metal defying the basic principals of gravity and flying through the air. No big deal.
It struck me that there are a lot of 'no big deal' moments every day. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was riding on one. Bikes are amazing machines ... but so is the human body. Did you know that one gallon of gas contains 31,000 calories (don't ever drink gas ...) and that on those 31,000 calories you can travel only about 20 miles? Consider that a human on a bike traveling an average of 15 miles per hour would travel over 900 miles before they burned 31,000 calories. No big deal.
Well, I wasn't expecting to go all Discovery Channel on you, but there it is.
What is time, anyway? ...
I know that the time stamp on this post will place it somewhere in the 1-am-on-Wednesday range, but don't let that fool you. I haven't really gone to bed yet, so, technically, Tuesday hasn't ended for me, at least in the productive sense. That's right, I'm calling in to question all you currently know about time and space, and how it relates to your reality.
You know, we only observe daylight savings time based on some old farmer's crappy calendar management anyways ... well, they needed the extra time to make their kids work before/after they went to school. What a crappy reason to have daylight savings time.
As a great writer once said, "Time is an illusion, and lunchtime doubly so."
If you don't know who said that, it's really a shame. Happy birthday, Chirs Wood.
You know, we only observe daylight savings time based on some old farmer's crappy calendar management anyways ... well, they needed the extra time to make their kids work before/after they went to school. What a crappy reason to have daylight savings time.
As a great writer once said, "Time is an illusion, and lunchtime doubly so."
If you don't know who said that, it's really a shame. Happy birthday, Chirs Wood.
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