As a mailman, I have to wear a uniform every day. Not exactly the height of fashion, but it seems to serve it's purpose as far as letting people know just who I am and what I do. Well, most people...
I was delivering a part of town that I hadn't been to in at least 5 years. I was carrying part of someone else's route in addition to my own route this particular day. It was a residential area, so it has one of those cluster boxes for every 10 or so houses. I pulled up to the box driving my rather conspicuously marked postal vehicle, and got out wearing my rather blatantly marked uniform. I then proceeded to spend 4 or 5 minutes delivering mail at the box. Seems dull and drab so far, right?
The entire time this was going on, right across the street sat an older woman. Her garage door was open, it was a nice sunny day, and I just figured she was watching the world go by and enjoying life. As I finished locking up the box and walking around the truck to get back in and drive off to the next one, she walked halfway down her drive and got my attention. She looked at me, and in all seriousness, asked, "Are you the mailman?"
I stopped dead in my tracks. I can be a little forgetful at times, so, just to be sure, I looked down and, lo and behold, I had indeed remembered to put my uniform on that day...both shirt AND pants...so as I looked back up at her, with numerous responses running thru my head, I went with what seemed the safest (i.e., least offensive), which was, "I sure hope so!" There was a bit of a hesitation on her part, which I took as my cue to get in the truck and drive off to the next box. I figured if that was how the conversation began, it wasn't going to get any better...
One of the things I DIDN'T say to her was, "No lady, I'm the fu%@#n' Easter Bunny!"
Blog Post Soundtrack; Cheech & Chong, Pearl Jam, Zeke, Bow Wow Wow, Iron Maiden
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Dave McKean & Steve
Another of the artists that I admire for sheer talent and vision is Dave McKean. He's one of those people who sees things a little differently than the average human, and is then able to translate what he sees into several different mediums, so the rest of us can get some glimpse of his perspective. I find his work fascinating, and have for about 20 years now.
The only time I ever met him was a brief encounter at a comic book convention in New York City back in 1990. He had a room to himself filled with many of his works on display, and his beautiful graphic novel, Batman: Arkhan Asylum, done with writer Grant Morrison had been published not long prior to the show. I was all of 18, and was just starting to branch out with my artistic tastes, and hadn't really gotten to know his work yet. I'd bought the Batman book because I was already a fan of Morrison's writing from Animal Man and Doom Patrol, but I hadn't had a chance to read it yet.
Being in that cramped room with far too many other people, I was only able to get McKean to sign my copy, without any chance for discussion, other than a quick "Cheers" from Dave and exchanged smiles. I was, however, able to look at many of the pieces on display, and I do remember realizing right away there was something very different about this work, and that I was pretty sure that while I didn't completely understand it, I really liked it. (As a quick aside, I was finally able to get Morrison to sign my copy of that book 18 years later...but that's a story for another day...)
One of the main reasons why I signed up on Twitter was because I'd seen that McKean was on it. I knew people like Neil Gaiman (a frequent McKean collaborator) and Stephen Fry were on there, but when I saw that McKean was there as well, I think that's what pushed me over the edge of deciding and made me join. I enjoy seeing what artistic types have to randomly say here and there. Dave recently described himself on Twitter to someone as "I illustrate books, cd covers, advertising, design and direct films, write and draw comics, paint and draw for exhibition."
Well, as it turns out, because McKean doesn't have the 1.5 million followers that Gaiman has (not sure how or why, but...), I've been able to have a few "conversations" with him on Twitter. 20 years after "meeting" him (I really don't count it...), I'm finally able to actually have a few words here and there with him. He tends to post about what movie he watched the nite before, and seeing as how his perspective is thankfully askew from what most of society perceives as quality entertainment, he's not watching the latest drivel from Hollywood.
Now, my friend Steve, I've known for almost 20 years at this point. We met working at a Barnes & Noble in Long Island, and still talk regularly. I see him whenever I go back to NY, as he lives a mile from my parents. Granted, by the time I get back this year, it'll have been two and a half years, but still...
Steve has interesting taste in film. He'll watch ANYTHING. Doesn't matter who made it, when, what budget, cast, whatever. If it's been filmed, chances are, he's seen it. He does this so that he can stumble across the occasional nugget of gold, which is usually buried deep within a very large pile of manure. He owns some of the worst films ever made, simply because they were cheap, and because sometimes you can find a goodie in the bargain bin. He also, however, owns many of the original films that Mystery Science Theater 3000 made an entire career out of making fun of. Just so you know.
Anyway, Steve and Dave seem to have similar tastes in what's good in film, and Steve is also a fan of McKean's art, so I started e-mailing Steve Dave's Twitter film reviews. Steve is too busy watching crappy movies to have time for something like Twitter, so I seem to serve as a go-between here. Well, Steve, in New York, would comment back to me, in Las Vegas, what he thought of the film Dave, in England, had just watched, and I would then tweet it on to Dave. Much to my surprise, seeing as how Dave has over 11,500 followers as of this writing, I started getting responses. I've even gotten Dave to read Steve's journal entries concerning film, particularly his "Best Of 2009" entry (http://dbborroughs.livejournal.com/2855827.html).
Recently Steve watched a film called Hitler - ein Film aus Deutschland (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076147/), which he realized reminded him of McKean's films in some ways. I passed this on to Dave, who then read some of the reviews on IMDB, and got back to me with this; ""A test of physical and mental endurance". Hmmm, not sure what to make of that comparison..." Seeing as how that could be taken as less than complimentary, I told Dave I'd get further clarification from Steve. Steve, now firmly convinced I'm trying to get him in trouble, sent me an e-mail that I'd promised both I'd blog so Dave could read it. It's taken me about a week to find the time to actually sit at the computer and write a blog entry (I tend to work a lot of hours, and then watching the New York Rangers lose while eating dinner kills most of what's left of the evening). So here's what Steve had to say as far as explaining why a film like that made him think of McKean's films;
"I meant it more as the melding of theatrical and film techniques to create a work that breaks the bounds of what a film should be. Not that his films were a mental or physical endurence test....you like to get me into trouble don't you. I mean you have the various characters in McKean's films using masks and other theatrical conventions that are kind of anti-film. If you look at McKean's films pre-affordable-visual-effects-programs, it seems he used some similar techniques to get the effects that you can now do with a push of a button. McKean transcends the so-called limits of one "medium" to create something that is more. When you watch a McKean film, as when you watch "Hitler", one has a sense that one is watching someone who refuses to play by the rules and creates the art that the filmmaker wants, instead of the art that is expected...."
I figured it was something along those lines, as I know that both Steve and I have nothing but the highest respect for Dave's artistic talents. Steve's follow up to that far-too-long-for-Twitter response was "I dare you to try and compress the previous email to 140 characters"! Hence the impetus for the blog entry...
Update; it's now 5:15PM still on the 25th, and I got a tweet back from Dave a couple hours ago which read: "Thanks, I read it. Amazing how many people I met in NY 1990 I'm still running into. Turns out Chip Kidd was one of them as well." See, only with something like Twitter can there be this kind of interaction with people who understandably don't have e-mail addresses publicly available. I just appreciate the fact that Dave takes the time to read my blog and Steve's journal, and comments back. And in re-reading this entry, I realize that I was a little harsh on Steve and his film tastes. He does watch a ton of crap, but he's searching for the good stuff, which he then can really appreciate when he does find it. While I do goof on him for what he has, I really do greatly respect his artistic tastes. He's been the one to get me into many wonderful artists in all mediums, due to taking the time to wade thru the ocean of shit that is out there. I wouldn't be a fan of Eddie Izzard if not for Steve telling me about him before Dress To Kill had even come out. He tried to drag me to see him in NY at the time, but for whatever stupid reason, I didn't go. Then, when Eddie was touring with Circle, and I was now a full fledged fan, I was going to go to a show in NYC in April 2000...until I moved out to Las Vegas in February 2000. I still have the unused ticket. There's more to this story, but I'll save that for another day too...
And Steve says; "I said compress it to 140 characters not expand it to 140 paragraphs...."
Blog Post Soundtrack; Black Sabbath, Bad Radio, Public Enemy, The Simpsons, Yawning Man, Faith No More, Metallica (several songs from that show in upstate New York in 1994 that I was at that I'd blogged about previously), Brant Bjork, Booker T. & The MG's, The White Stripes (several songs from their shows in Blackpool in January 2004), the first few songs of Tool's stunning Aenima album, Fu Manchu, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam (covering Driven To Tears by The Police), Queens Of The Stone Age
The only time I ever met him was a brief encounter at a comic book convention in New York City back in 1990. He had a room to himself filled with many of his works on display, and his beautiful graphic novel, Batman: Arkhan Asylum, done with writer Grant Morrison had been published not long prior to the show. I was all of 18, and was just starting to branch out with my artistic tastes, and hadn't really gotten to know his work yet. I'd bought the Batman book because I was already a fan of Morrison's writing from Animal Man and Doom Patrol, but I hadn't had a chance to read it yet.
Being in that cramped room with far too many other people, I was only able to get McKean to sign my copy, without any chance for discussion, other than a quick "Cheers" from Dave and exchanged smiles. I was, however, able to look at many of the pieces on display, and I do remember realizing right away there was something very different about this work, and that I was pretty sure that while I didn't completely understand it, I really liked it. (As a quick aside, I was finally able to get Morrison to sign my copy of that book 18 years later...but that's a story for another day...)
One of the main reasons why I signed up on Twitter was because I'd seen that McKean was on it. I knew people like Neil Gaiman (a frequent McKean collaborator) and Stephen Fry were on there, but when I saw that McKean was there as well, I think that's what pushed me over the edge of deciding and made me join. I enjoy seeing what artistic types have to randomly say here and there. Dave recently described himself on Twitter to someone as "I illustrate books, cd covers, advertising, design and direct films, write and draw comics, paint and draw for exhibition."
Well, as it turns out, because McKean doesn't have the 1.5 million followers that Gaiman has (not sure how or why, but...), I've been able to have a few "conversations" with him on Twitter. 20 years after "meeting" him (I really don't count it...), I'm finally able to actually have a few words here and there with him. He tends to post about what movie he watched the nite before, and seeing as how his perspective is thankfully askew from what most of society perceives as quality entertainment, he's not watching the latest drivel from Hollywood.
Now, my friend Steve, I've known for almost 20 years at this point. We met working at a Barnes & Noble in Long Island, and still talk regularly. I see him whenever I go back to NY, as he lives a mile from my parents. Granted, by the time I get back this year, it'll have been two and a half years, but still...
Steve has interesting taste in film. He'll watch ANYTHING. Doesn't matter who made it, when, what budget, cast, whatever. If it's been filmed, chances are, he's seen it. He does this so that he can stumble across the occasional nugget of gold, which is usually buried deep within a very large pile of manure. He owns some of the worst films ever made, simply because they were cheap, and because sometimes you can find a goodie in the bargain bin. He also, however, owns many of the original films that Mystery Science Theater 3000 made an entire career out of making fun of. Just so you know.
Anyway, Steve and Dave seem to have similar tastes in what's good in film, and Steve is also a fan of McKean's art, so I started e-mailing Steve Dave's Twitter film reviews. Steve is too busy watching crappy movies to have time for something like Twitter, so I seem to serve as a go-between here. Well, Steve, in New York, would comment back to me, in Las Vegas, what he thought of the film Dave, in England, had just watched, and I would then tweet it on to Dave. Much to my surprise, seeing as how Dave has over 11,500 followers as of this writing, I started getting responses. I've even gotten Dave to read Steve's journal entries concerning film, particularly his "Best Of 2009" entry (http://dbborroughs.livejournal.com/2855827.html).
Recently Steve watched a film called Hitler - ein Film aus Deutschland (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076147/), which he realized reminded him of McKean's films in some ways. I passed this on to Dave, who then read some of the reviews on IMDB, and got back to me with this; ""A test of physical and mental endurance". Hmmm, not sure what to make of that comparison..." Seeing as how that could be taken as less than complimentary, I told Dave I'd get further clarification from Steve. Steve, now firmly convinced I'm trying to get him in trouble, sent me an e-mail that I'd promised both I'd blog so Dave could read it. It's taken me about a week to find the time to actually sit at the computer and write a blog entry (I tend to work a lot of hours, and then watching the New York Rangers lose while eating dinner kills most of what's left of the evening). So here's what Steve had to say as far as explaining why a film like that made him think of McKean's films;
"I meant it more as the melding of theatrical and film techniques to create a work that breaks the bounds of what a film should be. Not that his films were a mental or physical endurence test....you like to get me into trouble don't you. I mean you have the various characters in McKean's films using masks and other theatrical conventions that are kind of anti-film. If you look at McKean's films pre-affordable-visual-effects-programs, it seems he used some similar techniques to get the effects that you can now do with a push of a button. McKean transcends the so-called limits of one "medium" to create something that is more. When you watch a McKean film, as when you watch "Hitler", one has a sense that one is watching someone who refuses to play by the rules and creates the art that the filmmaker wants, instead of the art that is expected...."
I figured it was something along those lines, as I know that both Steve and I have nothing but the highest respect for Dave's artistic talents. Steve's follow up to that far-too-long-for-Twitter response was "I dare you to try and compress the previous email to 140 characters"! Hence the impetus for the blog entry...
Update; it's now 5:15PM still on the 25th, and I got a tweet back from Dave a couple hours ago which read: "Thanks, I read it. Amazing how many people I met in NY 1990 I'm still running into. Turns out Chip Kidd was one of them as well." See, only with something like Twitter can there be this kind of interaction with people who understandably don't have e-mail addresses publicly available. I just appreciate the fact that Dave takes the time to read my blog and Steve's journal, and comments back. And in re-reading this entry, I realize that I was a little harsh on Steve and his film tastes. He does watch a ton of crap, but he's searching for the good stuff, which he then can really appreciate when he does find it. While I do goof on him for what he has, I really do greatly respect his artistic tastes. He's been the one to get me into many wonderful artists in all mediums, due to taking the time to wade thru the ocean of shit that is out there. I wouldn't be a fan of Eddie Izzard if not for Steve telling me about him before Dress To Kill had even come out. He tried to drag me to see him in NY at the time, but for whatever stupid reason, I didn't go. Then, when Eddie was touring with Circle, and I was now a full fledged fan, I was going to go to a show in NYC in April 2000...until I moved out to Las Vegas in February 2000. I still have the unused ticket. There's more to this story, but I'll save that for another day too...
And Steve says; "I said compress it to 140 characters not expand it to 140 paragraphs...."
Blog Post Soundtrack; Black Sabbath, Bad Radio, Public Enemy, The Simpsons, Yawning Man, Faith No More, Metallica (several songs from that show in upstate New York in 1994 that I was at that I'd blogged about previously), Brant Bjork, Booker T. & The MG's, The White Stripes (several songs from their shows in Blackpool in January 2004), the first few songs of Tool's stunning Aenima album, Fu Manchu, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam (covering Driven To Tears by The Police), Queens Of The Stone Age
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Old Friends
Just got off the phone with a guy I've known since, well, maybe even as early as first grade. I haven't talked to him in probably something like 2 years. We went thru grammar school together, and seeing as how he only lived about a mile away, I spent parts of many an evening at his house. All thru high school and even up until my late 20's, I would be over his house about once a week. Even after he'd been married and moved away to upstate NY, I would still be at the house he grew up in, because his parents were always there, along with his 2 younger brothers. I ate more meals there then my own home some months.
How does so much time go by so quickly? How do people manage to drift so far apart? I mean, I understand it, people get lives, wives, husbands, kids, families, etc., but still, how do things get so far gone that years can go by between conversations? This was the first time I'd talked to him since his father had died. I'm normally not exactly what one would refer to as a sentimental person, but towards the end of the conversation, I mentioned this to him, and we both sort of stopped and thought about it. We'd been having a silly, goofy chat like nothing had changed since we were kids, but the fact is, things have. I'm not sure this whole growing up thing is really all it's cracked up to be.
Blog Post Soundtrack; a portion of Brant Bjork's Saved By Magic album
How does so much time go by so quickly? How do people manage to drift so far apart? I mean, I understand it, people get lives, wives, husbands, kids, families, etc., but still, how do things get so far gone that years can go by between conversations? This was the first time I'd talked to him since his father had died. I'm normally not exactly what one would refer to as a sentimental person, but towards the end of the conversation, I mentioned this to him, and we both sort of stopped and thought about it. We'd been having a silly, goofy chat like nothing had changed since we were kids, but the fact is, things have. I'm not sure this whole growing up thing is really all it's cracked up to be.
Blog Post Soundtrack; a portion of Brant Bjork's Saved By Magic album
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Smiley Sam, Ross Noble, And Twitter
I find myself taking full advantage of Twitter as a place to put down all those wacky random thoughts I have as the day goes on. Some of them have had many occasions to be repeated over the years, and I'm finally having a place to put them. Having an iPhone with me at all times makes it easier to save these little "gems", and I use that word wrongly, for posterity. No longer will these nuggets of insanity be blurted out and instantly lost in the ether, now they can be saved so historians can analyze them to see just how insane I really was. Por ejemplo, one of my favorites over the years has been, "Why do they call it common sense when it's so UNcommon?" Working for the Post Office, I usually have several occasions on a daily basis to utter this, either aloud or internally. Now, thru the magic of the iPhone and Twitter, I just posted it the other day. Wasn't long after that an artist whose work I've enjoyed over the years, Jill Thompson, retweeted my post, as she must have found it amusing. Always nice to have that sort of validation from someone whose talents you admire. Seeing as how she has illustrated works from the likes of Neil Gaiman (Sandman) and Grant Morrison (The Invisibles), as well as dozens of others over the years, yeah, it made my New Year's Eve pretty nice. Thanks Jill!
Fast not-too-far-forward to New Year's Day, and comedian Ross Noble, who I had mostly known for years from Just A Minute until recently, was encouraging people to make interesting pictures with his Smiley Sam The Smiling Ham (the explanation would take too long...read about it on his Twitter page http://twitter.com/realrossnoble --I'd give you an actual link, but for some reason I can't seem to do that on Blogger, and I've been trying for the last 10 minutes to figure it out; it just won't let me do it, despite following their instructions). So I printed out a pic of Sam, cut out the face, and taped it to the head of a really cool hand made clown my Mom had given me for X-Mas. She makes these herself, and they get sold in the gift shop of the local hospital she volunteers at. For some reason, the orange one hadn't moved (all the others come and go pretty quick), so I had mentioned to her she should send it to me for X-Mas (she still lives in New York, while I'm coming up on 10 years out here in Las Vegas). The funny thing is, even though she makes these herself, she's a little creeped out by them. I think it's terrific, and it sits proudly on an entertainment center/bookshelf here in my home office. She knew I really liked it based on the fact that it sits next to a picture I took of deceased race car driver Greg Moore and his still alive father Ric, that both had signed for me many years ago. I even presented both with their own copies of the photo, just because I thought it was a nice shot of the close pair.
After taping Smiley Sam's ham-face to the clown's head, I snapped a picture of it (again, using the iPhone; damn thing does everything...), and sent it to Ross via Twitter. This is another thing I enjoy about Twitter. People I admire that I normally would have no other means of ever having any contact with are suddenly reasonably accessible. Ross lives in the UK, but spends a large amount of time travelling the Eastern Hemishpere, be it the rest of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and so on. He's got various travel programs available, as well as tour documentaries on his stand-up comedy DVD's (of which I have a few now, thanks to Steve!).
Maybe an hour after tweeting the picture, I see a post from Ross that says, "This Is no question the most scary thing I have ever seen." That was followed by a link, which I clicked, seeing as how I was curious as to what could have a mind as brillantly unstable as his running scared. The link caught me completely by surprise, as it led to this;
http://img129.yfrog.com/i/rxs.jpg/
Needless to say, seeing that it was my own picture that had scared him made me laugh quite hard. I was quite pleased that I'd apparently made an impression on him. Not really sure how my Mom is going to react when she reads this, though...
When Ross does shows, at the intermission, people often leave objects on the stage, so that when he comes back on, he just starts commenting on whatever interests him. His shows are filled more with off the cuff stream of consciousness than actual material, which is his true genius. The man is just funny, with nothing prepared. He HAS very funny material, it just gets relegated behind the tangents he goes off on, which are also extremely funny, and that's why he's so good on Just A Minute. So, if he ever does any shows in the United States (and I'm not sure if scaring him like this will help...), I'm bringing the clown with me to leave on stage in the interval. Not sure if I should re-tape Smiley Sam's face on or not...
Thanks Ross, and thanks/sorry Mom! (BTW, as of this writing, Ross' posting of my pic has had nearly 4,000 hits, in less than 24 hours...lotta weirdos out there...)
Update; it's now about 5:45 AM on Sun the 3rd of Jan, and it seems Ross is still enjoying Smiley Sam The Clown Ham. A comedian friend of his, Jason Manford, was apparently distressed about gaining some weight. Ross, in an effort to make him feel better, started tweeting him pics of Smiley Sam, including mine...
twitter.com/realrossnoble @Jason_Manford how about this http://yfrog.com/3gbd3cj
Twitter is so much fun...
Blog Post Soundtrack; Allman Brothers, The New York Dolls, The Doors, The Smiths, Fear Factory, Faith No More, Fu Manchu, Orange 9MM, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Son House, Corrosion Of Conformity, Prong, a track from Mel Brooks' 1968 movie The Producers, Les Claypool Frog Brigade, Clutch, Public Image Ltd.
Fast not-too-far-forward to New Year's Day, and comedian Ross Noble, who I had mostly known for years from Just A Minute until recently, was encouraging people to make interesting pictures with his Smiley Sam The Smiling Ham (the explanation would take too long...read about it on his Twitter page http://twitter.com/realrossnoble --I'd give you an actual link, but for some reason I can't seem to do that on Blogger, and I've been trying for the last 10 minutes to figure it out; it just won't let me do it, despite following their instructions). So I printed out a pic of Sam, cut out the face, and taped it to the head of a really cool hand made clown my Mom had given me for X-Mas. She makes these herself, and they get sold in the gift shop of the local hospital she volunteers at. For some reason, the orange one hadn't moved (all the others come and go pretty quick), so I had mentioned to her she should send it to me for X-Mas (she still lives in New York, while I'm coming up on 10 years out here in Las Vegas). The funny thing is, even though she makes these herself, she's a little creeped out by them. I think it's terrific, and it sits proudly on an entertainment center/bookshelf here in my home office. She knew I really liked it based on the fact that it sits next to a picture I took of deceased race car driver Greg Moore and his still alive father Ric, that both had signed for me many years ago. I even presented both with their own copies of the photo, just because I thought it was a nice shot of the close pair.
After taping Smiley Sam's ham-face to the clown's head, I snapped a picture of it (again, using the iPhone; damn thing does everything...), and sent it to Ross via Twitter. This is another thing I enjoy about Twitter. People I admire that I normally would have no other means of ever having any contact with are suddenly reasonably accessible. Ross lives in the UK, but spends a large amount of time travelling the Eastern Hemishpere, be it the rest of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and so on. He's got various travel programs available, as well as tour documentaries on his stand-up comedy DVD's (of which I have a few now, thanks to Steve!).
Maybe an hour after tweeting the picture, I see a post from Ross that says, "This Is no question the most scary thing I have ever seen." That was followed by a link, which I clicked, seeing as how I was curious as to what could have a mind as brillantly unstable as his running scared. The link caught me completely by surprise, as it led to this;
http://img129.yfrog.com/i/rxs.jpg/
Needless to say, seeing that it was my own picture that had scared him made me laugh quite hard. I was quite pleased that I'd apparently made an impression on him. Not really sure how my Mom is going to react when she reads this, though...
When Ross does shows, at the intermission, people often leave objects on the stage, so that when he comes back on, he just starts commenting on whatever interests him. His shows are filled more with off the cuff stream of consciousness than actual material, which is his true genius. The man is just funny, with nothing prepared. He HAS very funny material, it just gets relegated behind the tangents he goes off on, which are also extremely funny, and that's why he's so good on Just A Minute. So, if he ever does any shows in the United States (and I'm not sure if scaring him like this will help...), I'm bringing the clown with me to leave on stage in the interval. Not sure if I should re-tape Smiley Sam's face on or not...
Thanks Ross, and thanks/sorry Mom! (BTW, as of this writing, Ross' posting of my pic has had nearly 4,000 hits, in less than 24 hours...lotta weirdos out there...)
Update; it's now about 5:45 AM on Sun the 3rd of Jan, and it seems Ross is still enjoying Smiley Sam The Clown Ham. A comedian friend of his, Jason Manford, was apparently distressed about gaining some weight. Ross, in an effort to make him feel better, started tweeting him pics of Smiley Sam, including mine...
twitter.com/realrossnoble @Jason_Manford how about this http://yfrog.com/3gbd3cj
Twitter is so much fun...
Blog Post Soundtrack; Allman Brothers, The New York Dolls, The Doors, The Smiths, Fear Factory, Faith No More, Fu Manchu, Orange 9MM, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Son House, Corrosion Of Conformity, Prong, a track from Mel Brooks' 1968 movie The Producers, Les Claypool Frog Brigade, Clutch, Public Image Ltd.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Action-Figureophobia
The movie Arachnophobia was on some channel the other nite, stopped and watched a couple minutes between periods of some hockey game I was watching. While not anything I'm ever going to own on DVD, I do remember liking it. I had gone to see it in the theaters with some friends, which reminded me of the following story.
There was quite the marketing push for this film in the summer of 1990. A quick check of IMDB reveals it came out almost exactly on my 19th birthday. For weeks we kept seeing commercials for this 'comedy' film about a bunch of spiders and the people who were freaked out by them. Seeing as how it starred Jeff Daniels, who I like as an actor (except for Dumb & Dumber; how could he stoop so low?), it seemed like something good to go see.
Either late the nite before the official opening, or one-nite-only a week before the actual opening weekend, there was a sneak preview showing of the film. This is important only from the standpoint of up until the actual release weekend of the film, it was constantly being billed as a comedy. The commercials were edited in a way as to make this look alomst like a goofy 50's horror flick, with that edge of silliness to it that would make the horror aspect seem quaint.
Upon actually seeing the film, in a very dark theater, turns out the comedy aspect was extremely minimal compared to the creepy-crawly horror aspect. I'm not afraid of spiders, but I don't particularly enjoy them either. My friend who had driven us to the movie that nite, however, apparently had an extreme dislike of the creepy little guys, so much so that he was a little tense upon exiting the theater.
We had all enjoyed the movie, we just felt that we might have enjoyed it more had it been properly billed as the horror-first film that it really was. As we get into the car, with me in the seat directly behind the driver, I happen to look down and see a little G.I. Joe type action figure on the floor, and the brain spots an opportunity for comedy. Well, comedy for me, anyway...
While conversation continues about the film as we prepare to drive off, I carefully position the arms and legs of the figure so as to be as outstretched as possible, roughly resembling the size of the angry oversized spiders of the film we'd just seen. Just as my friend is about to start the car, I subtly placed the figure on his shoulder right at the nape of his neck, so that some of it was actually touching his skin. As for his reaction, let's just say it's a good thing I didn't do this while we were moving along on the road. Upon further reflection, it's possible the car might have jerked LESS violently had we actually been moving...
Oddly enough, immediately after the official Friday opening nite, the marketing campaign was switched to emphasize the fact that this was more of a straight-up horror flick. I like to think my little escapde in the parking lot had something to do with this.
Blog Post Soundtrack; The White Stripes, Metallica, Brant Bjork, Prong, Faith No More, Deftones, Rage Against The Machine (love that they got the X-Mas #1 in the UK, BTW)
There was quite the marketing push for this film in the summer of 1990. A quick check of IMDB reveals it came out almost exactly on my 19th birthday. For weeks we kept seeing commercials for this 'comedy' film about a bunch of spiders and the people who were freaked out by them. Seeing as how it starred Jeff Daniels, who I like as an actor (except for Dumb & Dumber; how could he stoop so low?), it seemed like something good to go see.
Either late the nite before the official opening, or one-nite-only a week before the actual opening weekend, there was a sneak preview showing of the film. This is important only from the standpoint of up until the actual release weekend of the film, it was constantly being billed as a comedy. The commercials were edited in a way as to make this look alomst like a goofy 50's horror flick, with that edge of silliness to it that would make the horror aspect seem quaint.
Upon actually seeing the film, in a very dark theater, turns out the comedy aspect was extremely minimal compared to the creepy-crawly horror aspect. I'm not afraid of spiders, but I don't particularly enjoy them either. My friend who had driven us to the movie that nite, however, apparently had an extreme dislike of the creepy little guys, so much so that he was a little tense upon exiting the theater.
We had all enjoyed the movie, we just felt that we might have enjoyed it more had it been properly billed as the horror-first film that it really was. As we get into the car, with me in the seat directly behind the driver, I happen to look down and see a little G.I. Joe type action figure on the floor, and the brain spots an opportunity for comedy. Well, comedy for me, anyway...
While conversation continues about the film as we prepare to drive off, I carefully position the arms and legs of the figure so as to be as outstretched as possible, roughly resembling the size of the angry oversized spiders of the film we'd just seen. Just as my friend is about to start the car, I subtly placed the figure on his shoulder right at the nape of his neck, so that some of it was actually touching his skin. As for his reaction, let's just say it's a good thing I didn't do this while we were moving along on the road. Upon further reflection, it's possible the car might have jerked LESS violently had we actually been moving...
Oddly enough, immediately after the official Friday opening nite, the marketing campaign was switched to emphasize the fact that this was more of a straight-up horror flick. I like to think my little escapde in the parking lot had something to do with this.
Blog Post Soundtrack; The White Stripes, Metallica, Brant Bjork, Prong, Faith No More, Deftones, Rage Against The Machine (love that they got the X-Mas #1 in the UK, BTW)
Monday, December 14, 2009
More Death At The Post Office
So for a number of years out here, my job was to fill in for five specific carriers on their rotating days off. Each carrier had one day off a week (in addition to Sunday), so I would wind up doing a different route every day, within that group of five. One of the carriers, at the time I was doing this, was pushing 70, but we've always joked about him being a million years old. We frequently ask him about his days in the Pony Express, and he shoots back that when he started, they rode dinosaurs! Every once in a while during the mornings in the office, if he happens to stroll down the aisle where my case is, I'll shout "Dead Man Walking", or yell out "Lazarus!". Gotta have some fun.
This man is very popular on his route, so much so that when I would be out there, old ladies would come up to me and ask, "What happened to that nice old man who used to do this route?" Remember, the carriers are only off one day a week other than Sunday. These ladies had just seen the guy yesterday. "Used to do this route?" I finally got so sick of this ridiculous query, that one day, without picking my head up from the box I was putting mail in, I told a woman who had asked me that, "Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, he died". As I continued to casually put mail into the box, I could see out of the corner of my eye the look of shock take over her face, and her jaw drop down to about her waistline. I honestly can't remember if I let her off the hook and told her it was just his day off, or if I let her just think the worst, knowing full well she'd see him again the next day.
So the carrier came back the following day, and did his route as usual. When I saw him the next morning, he yells, "You been tellin' people on my route I'm dead?!?" "Yup". "Oh, okay".
These same women would also tell me, because I wasn't getting there at the times they were used to from him, "You must be new". An attitude of you-don't-know-what-you're-doing was dripping off every word. I'd been doing this job for 6 or 7 years at the time, so it kind of offended me, so when they would tell me I was new, I'd tell them, "No, I'm 31 years old!". They seemed to stop with the smarmy comments after that...
The funny thing is, every fall, he would take 6 weeks off to go back to the Illinois area on vacation. I never had to say a word to anyone on his route after the first week. They just started taking up a collection for his next of kin.
As I write this, the man is about two months from his 76th birthday, still carrying his route five times a week. We make fun of him because we all can only hope to be half as spry and full of energy as him. His sense of humor is also bigger than the fire that would be started were we to give him a birthday cake with the number of candles that we claim his age is.
Blog Post Soundtrack; The latter portion of The Roots Come Alive!
This man is very popular on his route, so much so that when I would be out there, old ladies would come up to me and ask, "What happened to that nice old man who used to do this route?" Remember, the carriers are only off one day a week other than Sunday. These ladies had just seen the guy yesterday. "Used to do this route?" I finally got so sick of this ridiculous query, that one day, without picking my head up from the box I was putting mail in, I told a woman who had asked me that, "Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, he died". As I continued to casually put mail into the box, I could see out of the corner of my eye the look of shock take over her face, and her jaw drop down to about her waistline. I honestly can't remember if I let her off the hook and told her it was just his day off, or if I let her just think the worst, knowing full well she'd see him again the next day.
So the carrier came back the following day, and did his route as usual. When I saw him the next morning, he yells, "You been tellin' people on my route I'm dead?!?" "Yup". "Oh, okay".
These same women would also tell me, because I wasn't getting there at the times they were used to from him, "You must be new". An attitude of you-don't-know-what-you're-doing was dripping off every word. I'd been doing this job for 6 or 7 years at the time, so it kind of offended me, so when they would tell me I was new, I'd tell them, "No, I'm 31 years old!". They seemed to stop with the smarmy comments after that...
The funny thing is, every fall, he would take 6 weeks off to go back to the Illinois area on vacation. I never had to say a word to anyone on his route after the first week. They just started taking up a collection for his next of kin.
As I write this, the man is about two months from his 76th birthday, still carrying his route five times a week. We make fun of him because we all can only hope to be half as spry and full of energy as him. His sense of humor is also bigger than the fire that would be started were we to give him a birthday cake with the number of candles that we claim his age is.
Blog Post Soundtrack; The latter portion of The Roots Come Alive!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Brant Bjork
Got my color vinyl copy of the 10th Anniversary re-issue of Brant Bjork's first solo effort, Jalamanta, in the mail today. Quick history lesson, Brant was the drummer for most of the all-too-brief career of the amazingly stunning stoner rock band, Kyuss. He, along with Josh Homme, was also the main songwriter of Kyuss. Josh went on to found Queens Of The Stone Age after the amicable demise of Kyuss, and went on to huge success in the music industry. Brant has been a little more low profile, but has put out better music, IMHO. I do love the first 2 or 3 QOTSA albums, especially the self-titled debut, but they've drifted kinda aimlessly into some weird experimental thing that I'm not so crazy about with the more recent albums.
Brant, on the other hand, has continued to put out albums, either on his own, or in collaboration with other bands and friends, that have been consistently fantastic. He drummed for Fu Manchu when they were putting out the best music of their still ongoing (and great) career, he was drumming with Nick Oliveri (another former Kyuss member) in his amazing Mondo Generator project, and has managed to put out over a half-dozen solo albums. And, while all of it has been terrific stuff, Jalamanta is the one album by Brant that is truly stunning in it's musical achievements. The places it takes the listener are third-eye opening, as Bill Hicks would say. I've never smoked, but listening to much of the stoner rock genre, along with the comedy/preachings/teachings of George Carlin and Bill Hicks, I'm pretty sure I've picked up a great deal of what I would've gotten out of that anyway.
Blog Post Soundtrack; Brant Bjork's Jalamanta album
Brant, on the other hand, has continued to put out albums, either on his own, or in collaboration with other bands and friends, that have been consistently fantastic. He drummed for Fu Manchu when they were putting out the best music of their still ongoing (and great) career, he was drumming with Nick Oliveri (another former Kyuss member) in his amazing Mondo Generator project, and has managed to put out over a half-dozen solo albums. And, while all of it has been terrific stuff, Jalamanta is the one album by Brant that is truly stunning in it's musical achievements. The places it takes the listener are third-eye opening, as Bill Hicks would say. I've never smoked, but listening to much of the stoner rock genre, along with the comedy/preachings/teachings of George Carlin and Bill Hicks, I'm pretty sure I've picked up a great deal of what I would've gotten out of that anyway.
Blog Post Soundtrack; Brant Bjork's Jalamanta album
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