Shoes and Singing Babes

Aren't they pretty? Wonderfully adjustable. Comfy. They Breathe and I can get off the bike and walk comfortably.

Oh, and Neko Case in WMV glory promoting her new album. The songs sound very, very good. Looking forward to it.

This is Just To Say

That Michael Buble makes me want to shove shrimp skewers in my ears.

That is all.

My apologies to William Carlos Williams. And Wendy O. Williams. And Robin Williams.

I'm Not Sayin'

That this is the most brilliant video ever made. I'm not even saying it's new. Just one of my favorites. Possibly because I could have made it. It is also my plan to one day execute these moves at someone's wedding. So, please, if you plan on getting married any time soon and inviting me, keep that in mind.

OK Go - A Million Ways Video. WMV 100 WMV 300 QT 100 QT 300

So come on. Who wants to join?

Calling All Geeks

I'm looking for some geeks to give me a hand. It's an idea for a business website and would use any combination of CSS/RSS/Ajax/DHTML and I know nothing about all of them. I have one geek giving me ideas, but I thought I'd contact other geeks.

Drop me a line if you have any clue what I'm talking about, or if you want to hear the idea and give me your ideas on how I could do it.

I'll pay you in mix CDs.

Best. Headline. Ever.

"Here comes Santa Claus again
With the liquor and drugs
And the flesh machine
He’s gonna do another strip tease.
Hey man, where’d ya get that lotion?
I’ve been hurting since I’ve bought the gimmick
About something called love
Yeah, something called love.
Well, that’s like hypnotizing chickens.
Well, I’m just a modern guy
Of course, I’ve had it in the ear before.
I have a lust for life"

T.J. Hooker Will Hook You Up

I get a lot of strange email. At first I thought this was spam (which technically it is), but I realized that they must know that it would appeal to me in some strange way. Not that I'd join. But, man, I hope his Esperanto movie is in the club.

Quote of the day: "I've always liked William Shatner as an actor, but I think I like him even more as a film critic."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Josh Silberstein
Fullturn Media
Phone: (917)804-5728
E-Mail: jsilberstein@fullturnmedia.com

Friday, December 16, 2005


William Shatner Launches DVD Club


Brooklyn, NY
William Shatner's new DVD club casts him in the one role he's not had during his storied 50-year acting career: film critic. The recently launched Official William Shatner DVD Club (www.ShatnerDvdClub.com), a DVD-of-the-month club, showcases the best sci-fi movies that didn't come to a theater near you. Shatner explains, "Determining what movies get broad distribution and studio marketing support is a complicated process, and unfortunately the caliber of the film isn't the only consideration. I've chosen a select group of memorable and entertaining sci-fi movies that never got the exposure they deserved, and made them available to fans everywhere at a great price."

While many of the films distributed by the William Shatner DVD Club have names that the casual fan may not recognize, those few fans who have seen these movies agree that they are underground hits. For example, in IMDB (the popular movie feedback website owned by Amazon.com), the following three recent movies received the same rating: Vanilla Sky, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and Ginger Snaps. Terminator 3 grossed $418mm at the box office. Vanilla Sky topped over $200mm during an impressive theater run. And Ginger Snaps? Ginger Snaps (a North American production) grossed a whopping 146,125 Spanish Pesatas in a brief European engagement before becoming an afterthought in a crowded sci-fi market. And most American movie fans missed out on one of the best sci-fi films of the last five years.

Ginger Snaps was the first movie William Shatner included in the club, but it is not the only great movie with an unfamiliar name available to members. Close Your Eyes, a sci-fi thriller, won three awards at the Paris Film Festival in 2004, and took home top honors from the Swedish Fantastic Film Festival in 2002. Richard Roeper (of Ebert & Roeper) raves about Close Your Eyes, ""One of the best thrillers I've seen probably since The Ring." Immortal (Ad Vitam), a film which was never released in U.S. movie theaters, has been called "jaw dropping, highly detailed, and smoothly executed" (Movie-vault.com) and "strangely and almost hypnotically engaging" (Moviepie.com). More information about the movies included in the club is available on the official website (www.ShatnerDvdClub.com).

One of the benefits of featuring less well known content is that the movies are available at very reasonable prices. In fact, subscribers to the William Shatner DVD Club will own a new film every month for about the cost of a rental. At the very reasonable price of less than $4 per DVD (including shipping) William Shatner hopes to make his club available to all sci-fi fans. Right now, the William Shatner DVD Club is offering anyone with an e-mail address a free Ginger Snaps DVD. To take advantage of this offer, go to www.ShatnerDvdClub.com.

Adam Schwartz, one of the very first people to join the club, had this to say, "I had never heard of Ginger Snaps but it was a great movie. And they gave me a bonus disc with it, so I actually got two movies for free. I've always liked William Shatner as an actor, but I think I like him even more as a film critic."

All I Want for Christmas

Okay, it's not really for Christmas. I plan on buying something this spring. But I need to shop, right? And I need to compare and find what's right for me.

Of course I'm talking about a bike. And, despite some of the links below, I'm buying from an LBS.

anyway, here's my first choice. The Specialized Tri-Cross Sport. (The comp is more than I need.) It's sexy, fast, durable and just balls out cool. Here's the centerfold version. It will do everything I need. I can zip around on pavement like a demon and get my average speed higher. I'll be able to participate in longer rides and, not only that, I'll feel a hell of a lot cooler than I feel on my Giant MTB (Giant is the maker, not a descriptor). Don't get me wrong, I love my current bike. But my needs are changing rapidly.

Now, of course, I have to look at options. Yes the Tri-Cross feels the best, makes me happiest and what not. But what if there's something else out there that's better. So, my bottom must meet other saddles.

In no particular order:

The Bianchi Volpe. It'll do the job. And I'm changing my mind about steel. The Tri-Cross' aluminum frame is stiff and will feel great going at a good clip. But I'm a tad worried about how it'll perform on rougher surfaces. Steel feels pretty good going through muddy conditions . . . But it's also a little ugly. And it may not be what I want. But that may change by March. Besides, Gert's favorite road team is Liquigas (if you are European it's pronounced Leaky Gas), for obvious reasons. They're a Bianchi team. Not that it matters.

Trek XO-1. It's a nice bike. I like the wheel set. This would probably be number 2 on the list. What's it got going against it? Honestly? I don't want to seem like I'm out riding just because Lance was riding. And if I'm riding a Trek, even if it's not a road bike, well . . . you know. It doesn't have much going against it, except that it stretches the upper limit of my budget.

The LeMond Propad. Again, this is a nice bike. And another steel frame option. So, see the Bianchi for most considerations. This one's a slippery bastard. It's fast and it feels good. But, in the end, it rates down for some reason. It doesn't feel like it fits, I guess. Ito feels a bit utilitarian for the price. For that amount I wanted something lighter, I guess.

Finally, the strangest option. The custom build. My favorite bike shop has a guy who will do whatever I want to a Surly Cross Check. (Ignore the components on that list, it's just an example.) Steel again. And I could make it single speed (not that I would) or go all the way up to a triple. Components are limited to what he can get, my budget and my ideas. I can trick it out or keep it basic. They describe this frame as the Jeep of the cycling world. It's surprisingly light and pretty damn durable. Several racers in STL ride Surly frames and each bike is totally unique. There's something appealing about that. Plus, the only thing I worry about with the Specialized is the carbon forks. When carbon breaks, it breaks. Steel has a little more give. I'm well known for doing stupid things. Or, there was a case this summer where I was avoiding hitting another cyclist who skidded and fell that I had to go off the pavement and down a foot and a half lower at about 17 mph. I was airborne for a second and I hit the ground HARD. How I didn't go flying off the bike, I don't know. It certainly wasn't skill. With very no experience with carbon anything outside of dioxide, how would they have taken that impact? Plus, wouldn't it be perfect for me to ride something wit "Surly" emblazened on it?

Okay, so the forks are all I'm worried about with the Specialized. I dream about that damn bike. But, hey, no matter what I'll be dropping some good cash on a bike so I have to do my homework. Even if I'm pretty sure of the end result.

Oh, my other consideration is no matter what I get I have to get a second rear wheel and cassette so I can switch it out on the trainer.

Sorry. I'll wipe up the drool.

Poll: Most Effective Movie Music

Okay kids. Time for class participation. I'm curious what everyone thinks is the most effective piece of music used in film might be. Meaning: A song that was not written specifically for a movie--either popular or classical.

My top 3:

3. "Singing in the Rain" - A Clockwork Orange

2. Barber's Adagio - Most famously in Platoon. But I think it carries further emotional resonance in The Elephant Man. In Platoon you feel bad. In The Elephant Man, you weep. Plus, the entire (and haunting) soundtrack to Schindler's List owes everything to this piece of music (and traditional Jewish music, but you get my drift).

1. Also Sprach Zarathustra - 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In fact, I'd be willing to argue that Also Sprach Zarathustra might be the most recognizable use of music in film in history.

Honorable mention: "Stuck in the Middle With You" in Reservoir Dogs.

Things that Used to Be Good (But Now Suck) and other Random Thoughts

• Terry Gilliam
• Wim Wenders
• Paul McCartney
• HBO
• A lot of holiday music

Things I Never Really Liked

• U2
• Battlestar Gallactica
• Michael Bay
• Teen Pop
• Celebrity gossip, unless it's funny
• The Rolling Stones
• 80s music, unless it's ironic
• The dulcimer
• Ryan Adams
• Bryan Adams
• Adam Sandler
• Sand

Things that Make Me Smile

• Taking Joe Henry's music from Jesus's Son and reading a random blog outloud with it. My wife discovered that with properly placed pauses, you can create your own episode of This American Life.
• Let's face it, Joe Henry's entire catalogue today.
• The kids, natch.

Things that Shouldn't Exist

• Kevin Federline
• E!
• Any further editions of Survivor. They smell, we get it.
• Platypuseseseses. I don't even know how to spell them.
• The em dash. Seriously, why do we need more than one?
• Puffins. Personally, I feel penguins are just fine.
• Radio programming directors
• Other drivers
• Tiny, tiny women driving giant vehicles with which they need a booster seat to drive

It's Dead

Help! My iPod died. Kaput. No response. What do I do? It's less than six months old. It was bought through Amazon, I think, not Apple.

I . . . Can't . . . Live . . . Without . . . It.

UPDATE: I reset it. I don't know if it's working yet. Maybe it got stuck? I'm on my knees begging the great Jobs in the sky that it works . . .

UPDATE 2: It seems to be working. Okay. Breathe. Breathe.

UPDATE 3: You don't care, do you?

UPDATE 4: I don't think we should see each other anymore. If you can't empathize with me over my problems then I don't think we're compatible.

UPDATE 5: An iPod is important. Just go.

UPDATE 6: It's not me. It's you.

Years Falling Like Grains of Sand

You never met my mother. You couldn’t have, because she died before you had the chance. In fact, she died ten years ago. Today. Exactly.

My mother was a kind woman. Possibly the kindest you could meet. She had unimaginable patience, even for the most insufferable people. She opened her heart to all who needed help and would have given her last crust of bread to someone who she deemed needed it more than her.

She was my best friend.

She was the neighborhood mom. None of my friends called her “Mrs. O’Brien.” She was just “Mom.” Her patience and compassion spilled out to all of my friends, she made them feel welcome, and at home, even when she had made it clear to me that she didn’t want me hanging around certain individuals. In her mind, the only reason they might behave in ways that she felt were inappropriate was that they weren’t given the love and patience at home that they deserved. So, she gave them her love and patience. And, except for a few occasions that resulted in complete shunning by my group of friends for upsetting my mom, they responded in kind.

My mom was also a Mom. And I mean that as the highest compliment possible. She was always there for us growing up. When my dad died, she had seven kids she was still trying to get out of the roost. My oldest brother was married, but I had two brothers in college, sisters in various states of school or getting their own apartments and my brother and I who had just started junior high and kindergarten. It would have been a stressful time for any parent. However, her spouse had just died.

She never made us feel like we were missing anything. I scarcely remember a day when she wasn’t there. She always found a way to make ends meet and to make sure we had everything we ever needed. And, sometimes wanted. Had I known then what I know now, I never would have begged for an Atari 2600. But she found a way for us to have one.

She was always there. Always ready for us to cry. Always willing to take the abuse that we would heap upon our mothers at certain ages because we felt we were smarter or better than them. Now, of course, I realize who was the better person. Now, of course, I realize why she took that abuse and didn’t just wash her hands of whatever stupid situation I was blowing up into an “Incident.”

She was a supremely compassionate person. She took everything because she knew that we were suffering, in our own teen ways. Only she was wise enough to know that our suffering would end.

She, of course, knew of suffering. She was a child of the depression. She was a widow. She was raising a gaggle of children on her own. She rarely allowed a sickness to get her down. Even when she contracted pneumonia, she wouldn’t allow it to get the better of her.

However, when she came home and told me that she had cancer, in my heart I knew that this might be the one thing that would finally get the better of her. Pancreatic cancer has a dismal survival rate. And no matter how loved a person may be, even love cannot save you from the ravages of this disease.

I was numb. I was angry. But we worked through all of the treatments. Chemo therapy. Radiation. Surgery.

When the great surgery, which was to buy us maybe five more years with her, failed I took a hockey stick and just destroyed a portion of my basement out of anger and frustration. Fear.

She had a good summer, despite her illness and the decimating properties of her treatments. She still gardened, much to my embarrassment. She was able to visit her friends and family in the Chicago area. She went swimming in a lake, even though she was so thin and frail at that point that the life jacket was bobbing above her ears.

But in November things started going bad. She spent some time in the hospital, but came home a few days before Thanksgiving. I remember sitting and watching The Beatles Anthology on television with my brother as my frail, little mother slept on the couch.

Thanksgiving morning I was woken up by my brother. We had to get mom to the hospital. An ambulance was coming. She had been suffering all night long. Quietly, because she hadn’t wanted to bother us while we slept.

As she was being placed in the ambulance she called out to me to make sure I had my insulin. Even when she needed to be taken care of, she never stopped caring.

That was the last time she was at home. Within a week or so, she was gone.

I was there the night she died. But I left the room. I couldn’t bear the thought of being there as her presence left the room.

I lost my mother and my most trusted confidante in the same moment. It was devastating.

To this day, a decade on, I still turn around and think she’s behind me. There are times I almost pick up the phone to call her to tell her something. That I’m getting married. That I’m going to be a dad. That my daughter’s going to be on TV. That the girls want to come over and play.

It’s tough. The girls ask about Grandma Rita and Gert at times seems truly upset about lost opportunities. She assures me that she talks to Grandma Rita in her dreams. And, you know, with this kid I believe her.

Still, there are times, and this is not manly to admit (of course), when I miss her so much that it hurts. Times when the desire to pick up that phone is so strong, that it’s overwhelming.

My wife talked about a book she read with Gert the other night. That book is somewhat of a family joke because Daddy cries whenever he reads it. The girls will trot it out sometimes to wreck their old man. They sit and listen and pat my cheek as I get choked up.

It’s a simple story about a woman who loves her son. When he sleeps, she crawls into his room and picks hum up and sings a little song. In the end, the mother is old and sick:

The son went to his mother.
He picked her up and rocked her
back and forth, back and forth,
back and fort.
And he sang this song:
I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
my Mommy you’ll be.

Love you mom. I miss you.

Here are some songs that I think you would like. I hope you can hear them.

Jeff Tweedy - Please Tell My Brother
Joe Brown - I'll See You in My Dreams

It's Starting!

Um. When I wrote this about attack squirrels, I was kidding.

However, apparently I'm a prophet of doom.

Hide your nuts, it's going to be a hard winter.

It’s Over

Something is wrong and I can’t put my finger on it. It feels as though the universe is misaligned, something is askew and the Gods are showering me with a strange miasma. I no longer laugh. I no longer cry.

For example, this morning Gertrude decided three bites into her oatmeal that she no longer wanted it for breakfast. Why? Because it was too sweet. I began to scold her about wasting food and she interrupted me.

“Listen, man,” she said, “I had TWO cookies last night and my body just can’t handle any more sugar!”

That should have been funny. But it wasn’t. Why? Why wasn’t it?

Because in my head, I had the ELO song “Telephone Line” running over and over and over. The over-wrought lyrics. Symphonic sounds. Beatle-esque platitudes mixed with Moody Blues moodiness. It just kept going. (Here, the wonderful Wondermints wow you with their interpretation.)

But, oh, it got worse. “Livin’ Thing” got stuck in my head and I was filled with a need to get up and pump my left hip as I shook my hands.

I began to sweat and the kids looked at me.

“Daddy, are you okay,” Matilda asked.

“No. I . . . I need to feed my voice through a modulator while I sing. And I need my rock and roll to sound like it has been filtered through Erich Kunzel’s wheat germ. I need space-age neo-classical disco progressive rock and no one can stop me!”

Out of the Blue. Yes. “Mr. Blue Sky”. “Sweet Talking Woman”. “Turn to Stone”. Yes. “Across the Border”. No. No, that one sounds like Brian Wilson’s nauseated tones over a toilet.

What I need is a song that slowly builds to a giant crescendo and then crashes down in a sad denouement as we all cry at the loss in the song.

Oh yes. Electric Light Orchestra you are my guilty pleasure. I cannot stop today. I am Jeff Lynne’s bitch today. I need my music shined to a military polish. No improv, no room to wiggle. I need finely tuned, orchestrated music that fits neatly into its boxes. Synthesized strings! I need synthesized strings! Lasers! I need lasers!

Oh yes. I feel my hair growing into a Faux-Fro. And I have a sudden urge to wear suspenders and a white t-shirt while I boogie. I need help.

UPDATE: Nice work guys. We knocked the ELO video off the site. I'm proud of you all. Now, here's something to take your mind off of the saddness at the loss.