I have created another blog to give updates on my writing efforts. You can find it here.

September 30, 2005

Rock me, Joseph Alberto Santiago

I've been on a tremendous Pixies kick the last couple of weeks. I've passed several delightful hours inside Bossanova and Trompe le Monde in particular, but have spent plenty of time careering back and forth across the entirety of their oeuvre with impunity as well. If you put all their records together you don't even get five hours of music total but, with the exception of brief excursions into Radiohead, I've listened to nothing else over the last two weeks; I must have listened to each record at least four of five times in whole, plus just putting the player on shuffle more than once and letting it percolate for a while. It's music that just fascinates me to no end.

They play within so many different styles, from roaring punk-thrash-whatever ("Tame") to shimmering pop ("Havalina") to surf rock ("Cecilia Ann"). It's a melange that I don't think anyone else this side of Nirvana has managed to duplicate with as much panache. Another similarity to Nirvana lies in the tortured voice of Black Francis. Like Cobain, he ranges from tender sweetness to manic incoherency. What is Frank saying, exactly? Even with a lyric sheet in front of me, I can't really understand that one line in "Wave of Mutilation"--it sounds like "I've kissed mermaids, plucked me an emu." According to the lyrics I looked at on the Internet (which, come on, it's the Internet), the end of that line is "rode the El NiƱo". OK. If you say so. At least the rest of the song is--can I use the word "legible" to refer to the spoken word? You know what I mean. Still, either way that's more than you can say for "Territorial Pissings" so Pixies get the nod over Nirvana in that particular instance.

It's fun listening to Kim Deal sing, too. She sounds like she's ten years old. That's what makes "Cannonball" such a fun song (yes, I know it's by the Breeders. Hush). I think my favorite part of the Pixies' music, though, is the drumming. It's just so simple and unobtrusive; it's like if Charlie Watts played in a punk band. I'm an unrepentant air drummer, so I really get into it. I was sitting at my desk yesterday tapping away to "Trompe le Monde" when a co-worker happened by and grinned and gave me some good-natured snark. I just nodded, then kept on doing my thing. I'm willing to suffer for my art.

I first learned about the Pixies in college when I was hosting a show (such as it was) on WMRE (such as it was). Trompe le Monde was a recent release and in the Heavy Rotation bin. I used to love playing "Letter To Memphis" or "Subbacultcha" or "U-Mass" (hoping in the latter case that Frank's incoherence would render the explicit anatomical references murky enough to keep me from getting fired. Then again, considering the state of WMRE's management and listenership in those days, you'd have had to do a lot worse than playing a song like "U-Mass" to have anyone notice it and get fired for it. That's a whole 'nother story, though. I might have to see if I can get Ben to tag-team with me on some WMRE musings sometime. Remind us to tell you about Allen Ginsberg and Mr. Bungle). As a result, Trompe le Monde has always been my favorite Pixies record. Years later, my brother made me a three tape Pixies/Breeders/Frank Black manastrocophy, and I was fully exposed to the rest of their catalog at last. In the last few months I've managed to collect the Pixies library (except for the two "best of" compilations) on mp3, which has been feeding my occasional jones since.

I haven't tried introducing my daughter to the Pixies yet. Her tastes run more towards anything with a dance beat, rather than straight-up rock and roll. Techno, bubblegum pop, even '60's soul--if you can wiggle to it, she's diggin' it (as an aside, you should hear her say "Soulfinger"--I can't even spell it the way she says it. "Sodafeegah" comes close, I guess). The Pixies would probably be a little raucous for her at this stage. She's not even five yet, though. There'll be plenty of time to educate her on the finer things in life as she gets older.

That's it for now. I may take the time at a later date to expound on other of my musical obsessions. Iron Maiden, Seventy Sevens, and--most bizarrely, perhaps--marching bands come immediately to mind as future topics. I might have to post more about air drumming, too. Some good stories there. For now, though, I will continue my journey into autumn with the Pixies and leave you with the (mostly coherent) words of Black Francis.

Cease to resist
Giving my goodbye
Drive my car into the ocean
You think I'm dead
But I sail away
On a wave of mutilation

September 28, 2005

Off To A Slow Start

Good morning.

I got to the office today, got onto the elevator, and pushed the button for my floor. The door closed, but the elevator didn't move. I pushed the button again. Again, nothing. Rinse and repeat. I couldn't figure out what was going on, until I realized that I was pushing the button for the first floor, over and over again. I need a nap.

September 27, 2005

Vinman

Says here, Vinny Testaverde is set to rejoin the New York Jets. That's really funny. Back when the Jets stunk it up so badly in Week 1, my friend Welchy the Jets fan was excoriating Chad Pennington and I suggested the Jets bring back Vinny. Now look what's happened. Pennington is out for the year, and where do the Jets turn? To the Vinman. I tell ya, I'm in the wrong career field.

Invasion 1.01, "Pilot"

My recap/review of Episode One of Invasion has been posted at TTNMC. Check it out!

September 26, 2005

Moving Day

This entry was originally posted on my old blog.

I have decided to move my blog from LiveJournal to Blogspot. You can find my new blog here. (Note when mirroring entry: I have not included that link, since it would bring you to the site you're currently looking at. Seemed a bit redundant to me.) Please click, read, and continue commenting. Thank you for your patronage. Have a nice day.

There goes the neighborhood...

Well, well, so this is Blogspot. Nice to be here. I used to have a blog over at LiveJournal, but lately I have seen a few folks who have put their thoughts on the web here at Blogspot and thought it was darn snazzy, so I decided to switch my allegiance.

I don't do much. My life isn't going to be fodder for blogging all that often, but perhaps I can come up with some thoughts to put out here for consumption from time to time. If I don't, I'm sure Ben will get on my case and let me know.

I occasionally post articles on the web at TTNMC, which is a TV/movie news website. Right now I have a recap of the first episode of Invasion in the queue to be published. Hopefully it will be up soon, and I'll be continuing to recap that show. Once 24 premieres in January I'll be trying to keep that one recapped as well. As I post new articles there, I'll put an announcement here so everyone can click frantically over and read it. You should check out the other articles on the site, too. There are some pretty good writers over there.

I guess that's it for now. Survivor is about to come on OLN, so I need to go watch. If you want to know more about me, check out the old LiveJournal, then come back here to see if anything is going on worth talking about. Probably won't be, but you never know. Hope to see you soon.

September 24, 2005

What a week!

This entry was originally posted on my old blog.

Gr, dudes.

I just got off the phone with Darlene. She's working tonight, managing third shift up in Fayettenam. She'll be down here to visit in a couple of weeks. I need to see her again. It's only been two weeks since we last got to spend time together, but it feels like it's been a lot longer than that. Part of the reason for that, though, is that work has been crazy lately. It's been month-end, and I've been helping out on some stuff that I don't generally do. It's nice to know how to perform a few extra tasks. It makes me more valuable as an employee, and I think my boss is starting to get a good feeling about my abilities and my reliability. Always a plus!

Today was a pretty good day outside the office as well. Work continues on the balcony and woodwork at the ranch, so that's all good. Walter came over for a Cave Nighttm, but it didn't last very long. We were settling nicely into Season 5, Disc 2 of Angel when his sweetie called. She had just gotten home from a Florida trip, so of course he dropped me like the other shoe as soon as he could and went home to hear all about her adventures in Orlando. I can't begrudge him the time, though; I know what it's like to be away from the one you love. Besides, she passed along greetings to me when she called, so she can't be all that bad. Just kidding, Lynn. Hope you had a good trip. Oh, and the Braves won tonight, "B-Mac" Brian McCann getting the game-winner in the 8th. Chop chop, I say.

Not much else going on right now. It's gonna be a nice, lazy weekend. I figured out that this will be the first weekend in the last eight that I've been able to really sleep in on Saturday. The last seven weekends have either seen my daughter visiting, Darlene visiting, or me going to visit her, and those have all included early starts on Saturday. I'm sleeping in tomorrow, then I have four hours of taped TV shows from this week to watch (which doesn't include Battlestar Galactica, dammit. I forgot to tape that tonight. Have to watch for the rebroadcast). Anyway, I'll get caught up on my shows and write a review of invasion for ttnmc, then it's nothing but football till I go to bed Sunday night (hunker down just one more time). Aw yeh. Gonna be a good weekend.

I'm going to bed. Good night.

September 22, 2005

Happy Birthday To Me

This entry was originally posted on my old blog.

The Bible tells us, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten." Today is my 36th birthday, so if you look at it that way, I'm past the halfway point. I hope I get more years than that. I feel like I've wasted so many of my first 36 years; I'd like to be able to make up for it as I get older.

It's been pretty much exactly a year since my last post. This seemed like an appropriate time to begin posting again--hopefully, more regularly this time. A lot has happened in the last year. I could go on and on for pages about it all, but as Inigo Montoya once said, "No, there is too much. Let me sum up." I've gotten used to a new car, I have a new job that continues to get better as time goes by, my daughter has begun pre-K, I'm finally getting a new balcony back at the ranch, and--most exciting of all--I appear to be falling madly in love with a most remarkable woman. It has defintely been a year of change and emotion in my life. I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

At the very least, here's hoping the next year brings more regular journal entries for you all to read; growth, scholarship, and joy for my daughter; and the end to a long period of loneliness and, maybe, the finding of contentment for myself, and that's all I need. Journal entries, a happy daughter, and contentment. And a World Series title for the Braves. And that's all I need, too. Contentment, a World Series title for the Braves, and respect for Michael Vick. And the chair.