But still, I can take some honor and pride in this:
Monthly Archives: January 2010
Yummy Scrambled Eggs
I’ve been meaning to post this for months now and never got around to it: Gordon Ramsey sharing how to make the perfect scrambled eggs. I’ve got to say, even without adding the fresh cream at the end of the process, this technique definitely works to make really good and really yummy scrambled eggs.
Bon Appétit!
My Favorite Albums of 2009
Dark Side of the Moon by The Flaming Lips & Stardeath and the White Dwarfs
I am a big Pink Floyd fan and a big Flaming Lips fan and so within minutes of finding out about this project, I had downloaded the album and, for the first time in a long time, simply sat and closed my eyes and listened to the album in its entirety.
If you like either band, you will want to buy this (unless you are so hide-bound and pedestrian in your love of Pink Floyd that you will get all bitchy when the music isn’t note for note the same as the original). The production values are stunning: everything is crisp and even the distortion has a clarity and precision that few bands can match. Every time I listen I find something new, a lick or a riff or a sound that I hadn’t noticed before, which, of course, means that this cover version has found the spirit of the original even as it carves out its own sonic space within the work.
Really, get this album.
The Little Death by The Little Death
Yes, Moby plays bass in this band, but this is no vanity/side project and if you aren’t a fan of Moby’s regular music, you should take the time to give The Little Death a listen. In fact, you can listen to the entire album right here. The music here is boozy, soulful, hard-rocking, and has tons of attitude; music that would beat up most alt-pop bands, down a bottle of whiskey, smoke a pack of cigarettes, and then head off into the night with a stranger. The lead singer, Laura Dawn, is the star of this project, though the rest of the band supports her with tight but aggressive music arrangements.
This is music for grown-ups who like their love bittersweet and their joy laced with pain.
Zombie Watch! Unwatchable!
Saturday night after spending a big chunk of the day doing some podcast production, I decided to go through my Netflix Instant Streaming Queue and check out some of the unknown zombie movies that I had lined up.
They were unknown for a reason. So here were some zombies movies I turned off after a short time because they were simply awful.
"Platoon of the Dead" (John Bowker)
Shot on video, a bunch of very, very non-military bad actors pretending they are in the Army, using plastic guns, spouting incredibly bad dialogue . . . one step up from a a bunch of college kids deciding to make a zombie movie. Actually, strike that. One step down from a bunch of college kids deciding to make a zombie movie.
"Zombie Wars" (David A. Prior)
Another movie shot on video, better weaponry than Platoon of the Dead but the dialogue was just as bad and the women who were supposedly raised by zombies as food somehow showed up clean and well shaven and able to learn language. Some decent zombie performances in terms of movement styles, though the make-up was a bit too garish and bright. I lasted about 15 minutes, but since I didn’t care about a single person, and since the dialogue was dumb, I turned it off and deleted it from my Netflix Instant Queue.
"My Dead Girlfriend" (Brett Kelly)
Ouch. This is painful. I can’t even make it to the part where the girlfriend dies and is brought back. Wow – this is the least interesting packing-up-to-move-into-my-professor-boyfriend’s-apartment scene ever! Buh-bye!
"Undead Or Alive" (Glasgow Phillips)
I actually tried watching this several weeks ago with Erin. Money was obviously spent on this movie and it was an actual bone fide real movie with actual actors and quality film production. Too bad people wasted their time on such a crappy script. The humor was not humorous and after about 10 minutes it became obvious that there was a very good reason nobody recalls Chris Kattan’s breakout performance . . . because it wasn’t there.
Five Years
For just over five years, I’ve been writing and posting thoughts on the internet. For a short time I used Salon.com’s blogging software, then turned to Blogspot.com, and relatively soon after that, I decided to by my own domain and use WordPress to run this site. Since starting this blog I have posted 680 entries, moved web hosting servers once, lived in three different states (not counting my 2 months in New Mexico), been in two different graduate programs, have gone through two iPods, one IBM Thinkpad R31, one Emachine tower, one iMac and am currently writing this on my 2.5 year old Macbook Pro, which is running my third OS X operating system. I’ve completed several short stories, ten short plays, been published in one academic journal, presented at two academic conferences, and started one novel. I’ve done sound design for seven plays. I’ve probably gained something like fifteen pounds and am disturbingly close to forty. I am producing one podcast and may soon be producing a second podcast. I have quit smoking, developed a taste for expensive single malt scotch, become a fan of The National, The Mountain Goats, Bat for Lashes, Tim Minchin, and Sarah Haskins. I’ve seen the rebirth of Doctor Who as a program and two regenerations of the character and have read probably something close to 240 books.
So . . . in honor of five years, the always inimitable David Bowie:
Sometimes we all need a reminder
Small Habits
As I’ve discovered through my series of writing challenges, I have a better chance of success in starting a new habit if I keep my expectations low and concentrate on making the action a regular part of my life rather than getting a lot of that thing done at any one time. So I’m extending this strategy to a few other areas of my life.
Exercise
For the next 30 days I’m going to be doing pushups 3 times a week and using my step machine for at least 20 minutes every day. 30 days is not that long a time to do anything and finding 30 minutes to exercise is possible no matter what my days are like.
Reading
If you have been following this site for the past year you’ll see that I read quite a bit, averaging about 4 books per month. What you will also notice is that nearly all those books are fiction. For a while now I’ve been meaning to start reading more non-fiction for a variety of reasons. For the next 30 days all I need to do is read 10 pages of non-fiction each day.
Writing
Even though I’m still not quite done with my applications and have an essay that I need to do some edits to for book publication, I’ve started another 300 words for 30 days challenge.
With all of these, I am always able to go past the minimums I’ve set for myself. The challenge lies in reaching the minimum goal for each and every day. Another interesting thing to note is that when I was doing my writing challenges I was also doing pushups on a more regular basis than since I stopped writing daily. I think that maybe having multiple daily tasks can reinforce each other and help build a routine that helps give some kind of shape and pattern to the days. Also, keeping a visual record that shows each task being marked off as complete is a huge help to me and one that I definitely will continue to use as a psychological trick to keep me on track.
If you find any of these ideas helpful, please let me know. I’d love to hear how they work or don’t work or how you might adapt them for different kinds of activities.