Strolling In Circles

As some of you may now by now The Rose and I, as a result of my often obsessive contributions to the Jason Mraz message board, were invited by Mraz and his management to attend his recent show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. 50 members of the board and their guests were offered a pair of prime tickets to the show if they could make it to the West Coast on October 10th. After a shockingly short conversation, The Rose and I began making plans months ago for the trans-continental journey. What will follow in the next few days is something of a synopsis of our amazing adventure that turned into much more than just a lengthy concert road trip.

( Part 1: Getting There, Come Hell or High Fever )

I can't get this movie out of my head, and not for any of the reasons I would have expected before seeing it. The Rose and I recently shared our joint fascination with, and fixation on, Neill Blomkamp's summer (sleeper) hit after seeing this poly-sci, pseudo-documentary a few days ago. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's still on the fence about seeing it so I'll simply implore you to do so. For me, the most fascinating aspect of the film is the difference between what the trailers and press convinced me the movie was about in contrast to the content of the film itself. It's a case-study in great marketing that I assert put a large percentage of buts in the seats that would have never been there otherwise, and ended up being better for it.

I'm linking this because it's amazing. Two things I love woven (mostly) seamlessly together by Bill Simmons. Fantastic! In hindsight, my "dream come true" career when I was growing up would have been to be an NBA-playing writer for Rolling Stone. I may comprise the entire target market for this piece, but that's not going to stop me from sharing it.

Long, yes, but worth it dammit.

A 'Band-Aid' for the NBA offseason

Has there ever been another good drama about the dynamics of a rock 'n' roll band? Think about how much time we spend listening to music. Think about how much time we spend wondering about bands and individual artists. Now, think about your favorite movies about fictional bands. Give me your top 10. (I'm waiting.) Give me your top five. (Still waiting.) OK, give me one other good one. You can't...

..You know what? I'm just going to have to prove it to you by dusting off one of my old-school column gimmicks. Let's hand out 50 of my favorite "Almost Famous" quotes and exchanges to the winners and losers of the NBA's 2009 free-agent buying spree.

Part 1
Part 2

After reading this whole thing I'm both even more excited about the coming NBA season and ABSOLUTELY going to watch Almost Famous for the one-thousand-and-first time this weekend.

Today I shared with a co-worker a story about TomTom offering a downloadable "voice skin" for their GPS receivers that will allow Homer Simpson to voice your directions.

My co-worker suggested that he would prefer they enlist Morgan Freeman.

Best idea ever conceptualized here at IBM.

Dear. God. Why?

'Short Circuit' gets 'Robot' touch
Dan Milano to write remake of 1986 comedy

Dimension Films has tapped Dan Milano to script "Short Circuit," the remake of the 1986 pic.
The original was about an armed robot that acquired a personality after a lightning strike, and sought the help of humans to prevent its destruction by its makers in the military.

Milano, who aside from writing and providing voices for the Adult Swim cartoon "Robot Chicken" and co-creating and playing the title character in "Greg the Bunny," figures to bring a subversive edge to the original film scripted by S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock.

David Foster, who produced the original and is back to produce the remake with Ryan E. Heppe and John Hyde, said that Milano first watched the original while he was in high school, and sparked to updating the concept.

"We're bringing Number 5 into the 21st Century and taking advantage of the improvements in robotics that are so massive that robots are now performing heart surgeries in hospitals," Foster said.

The producer said the robot's visual look won't change, even though Foster said Pixar's "Wall-E" is a dead ringer for the original "Short Circuit" protagonist.

"We think of 'Wall-E' as an extended trailer for our film, because it's the same face," Foster said.

This saddens me greatly.

'Navigator' to take flight again
Disney, Mandeville set remake of 1986 sci-fi adventure
By Borys Kit

Disney is readying another launch of sci-fi adventure movie "Flight of the Navigator."

Brad Copeland is writing the remake, which is being produced by Mandeville partners David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.

The 1986 original told the story of a 12-year-old boy who is abducted by an alien spacecraft in 1978 and reappears eight years later, still the same age and with no memory of what happened. NASA scientists discover a connection between the boy and a downed spacecraft and try to exploit the boy, who ultimately escapes with the ship and attempts to reunite with his family.

The movie grossed only $17 million when it was released but was later rediscovered on VHS, becoming a cult hit.

John Hyde, who executive produced the first one, steps into the same role for the new version.

Mandeville's senior vp Albert Page will help oversee development and exec produce. Kristin Burr and Todd Murata are overseeing for Disney.

I full-on stole this from the blog of the Admin. of RKOP who in turn was only re-posting it from Seattle's The Stranger. The piece is riotously hilarious, drenched in awesome and sloppy drunk on fantastical so there is zero shame in the ganking.


The Different Kinds of People That There Are

People Who Care About "Tweet" Being the Verb Form of "Twitter" and Have Opinions About Its Usage

This includes people who think you should say "tweet" when you talk about the activity associated with Twitter and people who think you should just use the word "Twitter." These opinions are equally uninteresting. If you must use the Twitter, or not use the Twitter, just do it (or don't). Let's not bring grammar and logic and giving a shit into this.

People Who Don't Watch TV

Symbolically not doing something for the sake of not doing it is almost never evidence of sophistication. It is evidence of not knowing what you're fucking talking about. Are we really still having this conversation? Television is a part of the cultural landscape at this point—a lot of it is good. A lot of it is bad, some of which is also good. You know, LIKE ALL THINGS MADE BY HUMANS? Obviously it is also a good idea to go outside once in a while. But the presence of a television in your home does not make that decision for you. You make it. Feel free to still go outside at any time.

Old People Who Think Pigeons Are Their Best Friends

Listen, old people. Pigeons do not love you. Much like robots and the British, pigeons do not have the capacity to feel love. They only have the capacity to desire croutons. And when you spread infinity croutons across the grass outside MY house, for the purpose of making pigeons love you (WHICH WILL NEVER HAPPEN), the only result is infinite feces. I now have to walk upon feces-encrusted streets through a feces-encrusted world. Because of you and your delusions of pigeon love. Stop it.

Oh, there's much more

Until Tuesday I hadn't bought 3 CDs at once in about 5 years.

G. Love & Special Sauce - Superhero Brother
Eminem - Relapse
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

I picked up the G. Love album in preparation for the Mraz tour (which they're opening for). "Lemonade" was stuck in my car all summer back in '06 and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Before that I hadn't listened to them much since their debut (which I wore out). The new album is pretty standard fair but it's mostly upbeat so it gets a thumbs up. Nothing extraordinary, but it'll be good to know the tunes at the show in August and it should make for a great sunny day cruising album.

The Eminem album is 100% about doing drugs. That's a pretty common theme for Eminem yes, but in the past he at least had a few other things to talk about. Not this time. I've only gotten through it twice so far so I'm reserving judgment, and a few of the beats are good but I'm not particularly impressed on first blush. He's stuck on this new twangy intonation that he does on nearly all the rhymes on the album and I'm not a fan. I'll continue to be an Eminem supporter, but so far I'm disappointed by what I've heard.

I'm a long time Green Day fan. The only album they've put out that I didn't particularly enjoy was "Nimrod". I enthusiastically put "American Idiot" in my top 2 best rock albums of my generation (I don't actually have a #1 I just hesitate to call anything THE best) and I was pretty scared about what the new album was going to sound like and how dull it was going to seem in comparison to "American Idiot". It turns out I had nothing to worry about. "21st Century Breakdown" doesn't have the quantity of political angst, or the overt storyline of its predecessor, but it's every bit as solid musically and reminds me why I love the band. They construct rock songs like every modern rock act wishes they could, and they do it with lyrics that actually say something. This is my new car CD for the foreseeable future.

I'm thinking about making this a journal again.

We'll see.

1) You Don't Need One: Be honest, nobody cares what you're doing at this very moment and you know it. You're not interesting enough for anyone to wonder what you had for breakfast or what brand of laundry detergent you use. If you want to wear some form of sign that proclaims your importance to the world, feel free, but sending a glorified text message to that effect is self-defeating.

2) It is Not New: I'm talking to you CNN. With the ever-quickening pace of modern technology, it is disingenuous to proclaim a three year old service the cutting edge. The open embrace of Twitter by the media, public and politicians is both depressing and distressing. Mainstream media has entire speeches and reports to misconstrue, they don't need easily misinterpreted 140 character messages to work themselves into a froth over.

3) I'm Really Tired of Hearing About It: I really am. Example: Thirsty plants can Twitter for water with new device

I live in my own little sports world. Surrounded by MLB, NHL and NFL fanatics here at IBM, my island of NBA appreciation is populated by myself, The Rose, my father, grandmother and my buddy Vin. We enjoy the games, discuss the daily goings on in the league and are passionate about the Celtics. As such, the All Star weekend is something I look forward to every year. While the rest of New England (and much of the country) gets psyched up about the Daytona 500, I'm watching All Star Saturday night, the league's circus sideshow and lead-up to Sunday's All Star Game. And this year I find myself nodding my approval at Commissioner Stern and his planning committee. After YEARS of campaigning by fellow NBA fans, All Star Saturday will finally showcase an event near and dear to each and every skinny kid who's ever picked up an indoor/outdoor Spaulding. They're playing H-O-R-S-E.

( Continue Reading My Excited Ramblings )

Click the album cover to head over to 7 Days and read my latest album review. This one was a little more up my alley stylistically and it's a great little indie album from a talented part time musician.

Click the album cover to head over to 7 Days and read my latest album review. Carol Hausner is a great local bluegrass singer who put together a very solid debut solo album.

As the temperature plummets in our little corner of the country my mind turns to any indoor activity that might afford me a bit of escapism from the perpetual gloom of the coming season. It is with that in mind that I offer up my list of upcoming releases I'm looking forward to. I am in no way ashamed of my blatant sheep-ple tendencies. I am the poster-boy for the mainstream blockbuster demographic. If the effects are good and I can effectively eat popcorn to it, I'm there. I go to the movies to be entertained and suspend my disbelief and the following movies have the potential to offer me that opportunity.

It's worth noting that, in furthering the widely accepted belief that Hollywood has completely run out of ideas, all but one (two if you count the B.I.G. biopic) of the listed films is a sequel, remake, or based on previously available source material.

( The List )

I guess all it takes to get me to blog is a 13 hour work night. Who knew? Thank you for your glorious motivation Benjamin Franklin. We here at Strolling in Circles salute you for your forethought and consideration in conceptualizing the now somewhat antiquated but equally whack-a-doo concept of Daylight Saving. Even in the 1780s you somehow knew that my blog would need your help one day.

Tis the season of plunging temperatures and rising necklines, and up here in the frozen north that means we're on the cusp of being forced into poverty by the weather. The Rose and I actually made the regrettable decision to look over our heating bills from last winter (they were just sitting there in my "don't throw this particular stack of papers away" box) and tried to guesstimate what the damage would be this year. The outlook is bleak to be sure but we're hunkering down and hoping for the best. If we end up staying at The Bay all winter and manage to continue to both eat and drive our cars we'll consider it a well earned and well-chilled victory as we've made a pact to avoid upping the thermostat to the luxurious "guest" setting of 63 unless absolutely necessary. The cat requires that at this point I mention that she was only permitted to vote "present" and otherwise opposes the initiative.

The election is upon us and I, like most Americans, just can't frickin' wait for it to be over. I haven't exactly been around for, or conscious of, a ton of presidential races but this one in particular seems to be centered around the "look what a retarded Nazi my opponent is" premise. Maybe they've all been like that or maybe I'm more sensitive to it this time around because I actually find myself with a strong horse in this race but it's exhausting and frequently laughable. Regardless of the result, two entities will have benefited, the American people and Saturday Night Live and as long as those two interest groups are being served, it's been a success. Congress is FINALLY going to have a new scapegoat in the Casa de Blanco and SNL had it's first funny skit(s) in recent memory. The cast of that show is the real change we need. If you're not getting out and voting on Tuesday you should seriously consider seeking professional help. I don't know if there's an apathy treatment program but if the current state of the nation isn't enough to put you on the road to recovery maybe a swift brick to the head is the best corse of action for you.

Click the album cover to head over and read my review of Was Dead from Brattleboro’s King Tuff. If you're into vintage rock, this one is for you.

Want.


Fortunately (and I say fortunately because it's $80 and I don't have $80 jersey money right now) the Olympic store doesn't have any larges left, at least not in the Wade jersey.

Sometimes the news can be fun without being about the map-less among us following their new Garmin GPS into a black hole or celebrities getting arrested. Sometimes it's not even the news itself that's comical, every now and then I make my own fun out of an otherwise innocuous headline.

Case in point, a news article on Yahoo I eagerly clicked on a few moments ago, the title of which read "Australian Authorities Claim 'World's Largest Seizure of Ecstasy'". I did not read "seizure" as the acquisition of property, nor did I interpret "Ecstasy" as referring to illicit drugs. I was fully prepared to give the entire populous of Australia major props for the worlds biggest collective orgasm. Those Aussies really know how to party.

I is dumb.

It's not in my nature to lend a lot of credence to concepts like fate or destiny. I'm not naturally inclined to cast my life into the hands of chance, but there do come certain moments in which I find myself thankful to forces unidentifiable by name. Two such occasions occurred in rapid succession Tuesday evening and left me feeling, for lack of a better term, very lucky. Though for very different reasons.

After an enjoyable but endlessly muggy day together, The Rose and I decided it was high time we took advantage of the private beach access afforded us by our apartment complex. We returned from some errands, changed, and meandered down to the water. After minimal coaxing, I spent a solid hour demonstrating my swimming "skills" which would probably be classified just above "drowning danger" on any aquatic competency assessment. The Rose made me look that much more childlike as she dove and swam, a result of many years of water worship. As we floated in the bay, the first of that day's moments took shape. While The Rose and I may not leave the house every day happy and eager to report to our dream jobs, or have the kind of professional lives we'd both prefer, our personal lives, and more specifically our life together, has already exceeded on every level any preconceived notion of a "couple" I may have had. I took the opportunity to share that thought with The Rose and she agreed that on countless levels we're both very lucky to be where, and with whom, we are.

It was only a few minutes after this enjoyable affirmation that the day's second, and far less emotive moment of luck took place.

Having left the house with minimal kit in preparation for our dip in the lake, I had forgone my usual accoutrement of cell phone, wallet and all but my house key in the interest of not leaving a pile of valuables on the beach. An hour or so later, sufficiently pruny after spending the last few minutes lounging in the shallows watching a man play water frisbee with his golden retriever I stood up and, as I had done multiple times while we swam, felt in the closed pocket of my shorts for the key to our apartment.

Hindsight being what it is, a multitude of alternative safe locations for our one means for re-entrance to our home instantly flashed before me as my fingers searched in vain for the outline of the key. My mind simultaneously refused to believe that the key was gone and that I'd been stupid enough to store it in said pocket in the first place. The Rose, after catching my look of bewilderment, seemed to echo my mind's sentiments and silently broke off for deeper water to begin what we both knew would be a futile search. As I waded in two feet of water, eyes fixed on the sandy lake bed, I could do little but laugh at my ability to tarnish an otherwise fantastic late afternoon.

As I stooped to retrieve every small white rock and deceptively shiny pebble, the feeling of helplessness intensified. Five minutes that felt like an hour passed and as I pondered the means by which I would soon be forced to break into my own apartment, I reluctantly bent once more to grasp what appeared to be a blade of seaweed or waterlogged twig. As my hand emerged, and the sun glinted off the silver object in my hand my mind took a moment to itself to rationalize the fact that my fingers held what looked shockingly like our missing key. Holding my idiot prize aloft for The Rose to see, I spoke the only words I could muster, "No way, I totally found it". Proving once again that triumph over insurmountable odds makes me speak like a twelve year old girl. That fact not withstanding, and as much as I'd like to attribute my find to long dormant metal-detecting mutant powers, or countless summers spent panning for gold in the Yukon, it was sheer luck that our short return trip to the apartment wasn't filled with trepidation and self loathing. Instead we strolled soggily back home, hands clasped, reflecting on how lucky we are.