therobots.org - Personal

Elk River Camping

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:40:02 -0400

Here are some pictures from a recent camping / float trip on the Elk River in Noel, MO. Despite the last minute change of locations because of flooding in Missouri and the heavy rains during the night, it was a pretty good time. I suppose this will probably be the last time I go camping this year as its starting to look more and more like fall every day.

-ick!

Creepiness

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:36:16 -0400

Jimmy

-ick!

We Had the Best Time At Your Party

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:57:16 -0400

Last Sunday I got to see one of my favorite bands Ween play an outdoor concert at the Crossroads venue outside of Grinder's. This was the first full show I've seen them play in about 3 or 4 years as I missed them the last time they came through Lawrence. I had seen a couple short festival sets so it's not like their live material was completely foreign to me and a lot of their songs they have been playing for years anyhow. This wasn't the best show I've ever seen them put on but it was still a good time. The show ended a bit abruptly, I am used to their standard two encores but they only played one this time. Their last song morphed into the introduction from the new album "La Cucharacha" at which point Gene Ween left the stage and the rest of the band was left to try and figure out at what point they should finish the song. Rumor has it that they played for another two hours in a small warehouse behind the stage but it must have been a closed door event or something because I don't

Films Watched 2008 Part 2

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:25:27 -0400

AFI Top 100
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)	7	Epic film about the repercussions of intolerance by D.W. Griffith. This film follows four plotlines; religious rivalry in ancient Babylon, the condemnation of Jesus, the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, and the modern day morality police's destruction of a young couple. This film is groundbreaking in terms of production, content, and film techniques but the winding plots can make this one a bit hard to get through. It's considered a classic and Griffith's masterpiece but at the time of its release was mostly a failure.
Duck Soup (1933)	9	Classic Marx Brothers' film about dictator Rufus T. Firefly and his declaration of war with neighboring country Sylvania. It takes a lot to make me laugh and this film got me rolling. My favorite line was when Chico was on trial and Groucho tells him "I say we give him ten years at Leavenworth or eleven years at Twelveworth." The mirror gag and battle scenes make this one great. It's basically everything you love about Bugs Bunny only on film.
On the Waterfront (1954)	9	Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint star in this film about an ex-boxer's turmoil with standing up to his corrupt union bosses. This film is amazing visually in it's sad and dreary black and white but the acting is what makes this one a necessary viewing.

Films Watched 2008 Part 1

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:19:01 -0400

AFI Top 100
Frankenstein (1931)	9	THE classic horror film
All About Eve (1950)	9	Bette Davis is fantastic as an aging starlet of the stage. A young Marilyn Monroe makes a short appearance.
An American in Paris (1951)	5	Gene Kelly as a painter in Paris. This film was just an excuse for song and dance.
Giant (1956)	7	Long film set in Texas spanning across many decades. This is James Dean's last role.
Ben-Hur (1959)	8	The chariot race is unbelievable. That's all you need to know to make this worth viewing.
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)	7	A bi-racial engagement takes center stage in this one with Sidney Portier.
Nashville (1975)	8	Kansas City-native Robert Altman's drama about the Nashville country music scene during election time. Lots of characters to keep track of which I love.
Network (1976)	9	One of the best films you've never heard of. The setting is a TV network looking for ratings. Won 3 of 5 nominations for Best Acting.
Unforgiven (1992)	7	Clint Eastwood directed western starring himself and Morgan Freeman.

Juno

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:06:55 -0500

I watched the movie Juno yesterday. I liked it but felt pretty strongly that it shouldn't win best film or anything (it didn't). Anyway, there is a scene where Jason Bateman's character is showing Juno his music collection and music equipment. He drops the bomb that he opened for the Melvins back in 1993 and that this was pretty much the high point of music. Later you see him play "Doll Parts" on guitar with her. Schwoo, I really hate moments like this in movies even when they are something I can so closely relate to. Yeah, I used to listen to The Melvins and Nirvana and even Hole but I get this sinking awkward feeling seeing it on screen, like I'm embarassed for that person or there is just something blatantly wrong with it as though it lacks conviction or something. Maybe I just didn't really believe Jason Bateman as this guy or maybe it's because I just think I know better. I get the feeling that this guy is me, or at least what Hollywood is trying to relate me to. Then the scene came on where he pops in The Carpenter's soundtrack with Sonic Youth's cover of "Superstar" and he relays to Juno that this is quite possibly one of the best covers ever done... and this most certainly was ME. I've specifically had this exact conversation on multiple occasions before. And now I figure out what is wrong... it's not the acting necessarily or bad writing even, it's that it gets so bad when a movie has to dumb down music knowledge to reach the average joe. This film might have been better off just leaving out all the music explanations (even though I did appreciate the "Superstar" reference). The book High Fidelity seemed to do a pretty good job of this, sometimes it just takes being elitist and poking fun at yourself for being the way that you are. BTW- whoever was in charge of putting all the Kimya Dawson and Moldy Peaches as the soundtrack for Juno, kudos to you, you could not have been more right on.

Video Power

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 08:48:31 -0500

Does anybody remember the early 90s show Video Power? I was at work today and was talking about video game theme music with a co-worker and suddenly remembered this gem of a show that I watched religiously as an 11-year old. The premise was pretty simple, make a game show with kids playing video games, we'll throw in a crazy host named Johnny Arcade, and at the and at the end we'll have the winner run through a maze of video games. This labyrinth was what kept me watching. The winning kid got a chance to run through walls and walls of all the hottest video games attaching them to velcro pads on their special suit and helmet. At the end, they'd slide through a tunnel and if they happened to uncover a special prize (I think it was a game that had a gold star under it or something), they would win a big grand prize like a Neo Geo or some other (at the time) elite gaming system. At left, is a picture of the slide.

Films Watched 2007 Part 3

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:13:27 -0500

Alright, here's the final list of films that I watched in 2007. I'm trying something different this time and adding my rating along with it (1-10 with 10 being my opinion of a great film). I'm not a fan of the Netflix 5 star system because it just doesn't seem to offer enough precision and I always have films that are a toss up between one star and another star. Here are my two other lists from this year, 2007 list 1 and 2007 list 2. I've added ratings for those as well. I watched roughly 175 films in 2007, a new personal record and one that I don't hope to break again anytime soon.

AFI Top 100

The Gold Rush (1925) 10

City Lights (1931) 9

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) 8

Swing Time (1936) 9

Bringing Up Baby (1938) 3

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) 8

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) 8

Sunset Boulevard (1950) 9

A Place in the Sun (1951) 7

Singin' in the Rain (1952) 6

The Searchers (1956) 6

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) 6

Doctor Zhivago (1965) 6

In the Heat of the Night (1967) 9

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) 8

Amadeus (1984) 10

Films Watched 2007 Part 2

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:09:17 -0400

I've been pretty busy watching movies this year. Here's all the stuff I've watched since July. Here's a list of the stuff before that. I'd recommend most of these (with the exception of the comic book movie and a couple dumb comedies and horror films. Several of the AFI films were awfully tough to sit through as well. Since I first wrote this entry, I've updated my ratings of them (1-10).

AFI 100 Years... 100 Movies

The General (1927) 9

Sunrise (1927) 7

The Jazz Singer (1927) 6

All Quiet On the Western Front (1930) 7

A Night at the Opera (1935) 9

Stagecoach (1939) 7

The Maltese Falcon (1941) 5

Double Indemnity (1944) 8

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) 8

The Third Man (1949) 8

From Here to Eternity (1953) 9

Shane (1953) 5

The Bridge On the River Kwai (1957) 8

12 Angry Men (1957) 9

Some Like It Hot (1959) 9

The Apartment (1960) 10

My Fair Lady (1964) 7

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 8

Midnight Cowboy (1969) 10

M*A*S*H (1970) 9

Patton (1970) 9

The Last Picture Show (1971) 10

Cabaret (1972) 8

Platoon (1986) 9

Goodfellas (1990) 9

4 Months Later

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:39:06 -0400

4 months later and my passport finally arrives. It was supposed to take 10-12 weeks. Now where should I go?

-ick!

Poradova

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:21:15 -0400

Check out my friend Sarah's band Poradova. She also has some audio samples up on her myspace page.

-ick!

Best Album of 2006

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 20:08:17 -0400

Three months late for 2006 but I've finally completed my annual Top Albums list. 2006 was a bit of an off year for music overall but I really enjoyed most of these albums. My finds of the year made number six and seven on the list. In the Pines are a folk / country string band from Kansas City. I attended their CD release party and was pretty well blown away. Ten Kens I found through MySpace and I love their debut CD. Good job guys. Feel free to comment on this list as I always enjoy hearing what others are listening to...

*****Top 100 Albums of 2006*****

1)	Beirut	The Gulag Orkestar
2)	Islands	Return to the Sea
3)	Joanna Newsom	Ys
4)	Belle & Sebastian	The Life Pursuit
5)	Man Man	Six Demon Bag
6)	In the Pines	In the Pines
7)	Ten Kens	Ten Kens
8)	Hot Chip	The Warning
9)	Yeah Yeah Yeah's	Show Your Bones
10)	Peter Bjorn and John	Writer's Block

Dream Photos

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 09:43:03 -0500

If I took a nice photo in a dream, is there any way to upload it to my computer? I woke up this morning convinced that this could be done, somehow ignoring the fact that I didn't bring an actual hardware camera out of my dream when I woke up.

-ick!

Prison Wine

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:11:50 -0500

This last week was pretty fun. I finally escaped the doldrums of winter and made it out to several fun events around the city. I don't have too much to say about the last several months, just know that lots of movies were watched, many books were read, and the number of mostly-completed crosswords littering my house is innumerable.

Tuesday, I saw old favorites Of Montreal play at The Granada in Lawrence. They'd just played in Larryville a year before and I'd attended that much more sparcely attended show. Their popularity seems to have expanded exponentially in one year and I can't figure out why. You'd think after ten years and almost as many full-length albums that the masses would have recognized their great talent for writing great pop songs. Maybe it's the recent Outback Steakhouse commercials that feature the reworking of "Wraith Pinned to the Mist" that are bringing out all the kids. At any rate, the show was pretty good but not quite as good as last year's performance (which still rates in my top 5 of all time), even with the new video backdrop and stage props. A Japanese sextet called Elekibass opened for them. They fit right in with their bubblegum pop over thick Japanese accents. I left thinking that I probably won't see anything like this ever again.

Pumpkin and Gravy

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 11:32:55 -0500

I've had a really good last month or so. The weather hasn't been too bad. There have been a handful of decent local rock shows around the city. Halloween is always a blast and this November also marked a very surprising and momentous midterm election. Top this off with my trivia team's domination over the last few month and things are looking on the up.

I stayed at the recordBar late after a big first place trivia win one week and watched up-and-coming Detroit indie rockers Thunderbirds Are Now!. TAN! showed up early and competed against fellow bar patrons in skills of the mind. They held their own and I think they had a pretty good time. About two years ago, I was quite impressed with them as an unknown opener touring with Enon (who produced their new album). Once again, they didn't disappoint . I was also a big fan of the local opening band. I didn't catch their name but I'm sure I'll see them again somewhere around town. They were a bit of a Yeah Yeah Yeah's ripoff - but who gets tired of that. The female lead singer was just as much a spaz as Karen O.