more old stuff!

a couple rarely seen gems from our high school days...

huh?

public education is something i think should be done on the side, yet Leon has to be expected to win. At times. It wasn't the minutes it was people using weapons like sunscreen, class that went on and on because people never look at the present and ice cream with fudge that might catch up to me and make me a little sick. You've got to be prepared, prepared for icebergs and warned for any hotshot taking his percentage. In order to be a ...uh... division after Nixon, you have no business to continue. You do it.
You don't have a significant part of it, you don't know how to sing that song. Yet, here i cried. Political and legal status aside, i get  a gold medal. together we are navigators of a half total population, apparently witnesses to a summer affair, with your help it's OK. Our target audience is talented and challenged - we filed lawsuits against their ideals and lost, yes, lost. You see what i think of Calcutta. Endurance and faith of an aircraft that spent months on a dissertation only to lose it playing baseball. Technically, i think it is nice weather gathering but am still not sure what exactly happened. Connect with truth before the trial itself! In one hand there are rockets here, one girl needs issues. Grandpa graduates and dates, usually resentful types. Many wrinkles because they work for him. Good luck with the rest of the India divers, that's always a plus. Nitpicking by the character actor at a party i did not attend. I could not have been more dry. Look at it, you have got to cut off the boat.

Sandy

Acadia 10/13-14

lawrence eats the gungho

"You're not mistaken, he said the GUNGHO!"
Filmed in the late spring of 1999.

"What was that noise? He wound the window right down and stuck his head out. Someone was sobbing in the carpark, a woman, a girl. She was wailing choking, trying to talk. He pulled his head in and went for the door handle but the moronic thumping of the music stopped dead and a man's voice spoke, light, reasoning, impatient.
      'Look, Donna' it said, 'what can't you just accept it? And make the best of it?'
         'But you don't - you never - I can't - '
She was weeping without shame. They were standing in the dark behind Dexter's car. He heard the man click his tongue and sigh, then the sobbing became muffled. He's put his arms around her, thought Dexter, but he doesn't love her any more. He rolled up the window as quietly as he could, although his urge to go on listening was almost sexual. His heart was beating. The music began again, stamp, stamp, stamp. The girl's grief passed though the metal and glass and became part of Dexter. His cells were sodden with it. He would carry it forever, long after she had recovered from it and gone on to love someone else."

 -from The Children's Bach by Helen Garner (1984)

brooms

A flyer I made for Brooms show on Wednesday. See you there!

crumb on others

"Fame killed her. She couldn’t handle it. It was awful. The last time I saw her alive she had just bought this big fancy redwood mansion somewhere in Marin County. She had this big housewarming party and she invited me and Wilson. So we show up and there are hundreds of people there. And I didn’t even get to talk to her because, guess why? Because she had this circle of people around her that was impenetrable. A circle around her so tight, I could only stand on my toes and wave to her and she waved back and that was it. That was the last time I saw her."
   -R. Crumb on Janis Joplin

What does R. Crumb think about The Beatles? Lyndon Johnson? Mark Twain?
Find out here!

Bol Tending!

Remember watching this on the lunch breaks at Mustang basketball camp? Even when i was 13 i though 'this is probably the most ridiculous thing i will ever see in my life' And now, nearly 20 years later i was right, i have yet to see anything more ridiculous than this video.

Bertie!

summer mix 2012

1. Build It Up - The Byrds
2. Going To The Everglades - Herman Dune
3. Two Towns From Me - Blind Pilot
4. Night Flyer - John Mayall
5. First Day At Work - Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston
6. I Am The Light of This World - Phil Lesh & Friends
7. Cure For Pain - Morphine
8. As You Can See - Micah P. Hinson
9. Down In A Willow Garden - The Kossoy Sisters


Download HERE

G.I. Joe casting (part 2)

I know we are all disappointed the GI Joe sequel got it's summer release pushed back, but here is some more casting ideas if hollywood had let me direct a live action GI Joe movie when i was 10.

   Burt Reynolds would bring some class to the role of Mutt.

 Night Court's Richard Moll has the physicality to play an excellent Destro.

       Kevin Bacon as, the least adventurously named GI Joe, Dial-Tone

      Dennis Quaid can add his boyish charm to the role of Dusty

                              Stallone as Flint

      Annette Bening has sufficient spunk to play Lady Jaye

 In a bit of stunt casting i think Mark Lynn Baker and Bronson Pinchot could play the roles of Xomat and Tomax, the cobra twins.

    Geena Davis as Zartan's sister Zarana.

Part 1 of my casting choices is HERE

Finally they to figure out a way to work this scene into the live action movie as well:

Jim Henson's New York

A few weeks ago I walked around uptown and photographed all the buildings I knew about in New York City connected to Jim Henson in someway or another.

In 1963 Henson and his family first moved to New York from Washington D.C.  They lived in the apartment building at 12 Beekman Place, which is one of the tiny streets east of 1st Ave in midtown.

The first muppet studio was only a few blocks away at 303 E 53rd St, which looks like this now:

It was here the small crew worked on commercials, variety show sketches and experimental pieces like the short film Time Piece.

In 1963 the expanding muppet crew moved uptown to 227 E 67th St, which is now the resuraunt L'Absinthe;

In another 10 years Henson moved the workshop again - just down the street to 201 67th St. Keeping the 227 building as well for business affairs.

In 1978 the workshop moved once again to a townhouse at 117 E 69th St. Unfortunately it was completely covered in scaffolding when I was there - it was just sold recently and looked like it was being renovated. Here is a picture of what it used to look like:

This would be home to the muppets until 2003 when the workshop moved to LA.

Some time around 1983 Jim Henson bought an apartment in The Sherry- Netherland Hotel at 781 5th Ave,  overlooking central park.

Finally from 1980 to 1993 at 833 Lexington Ave the was a muppet themed store called Muppet Stuff. Today it is one of 8,000 Le Pain Quotidiens, though the old fashioned building still looks the same.

"Jim loved being Jim, and he could show it, especially during the later years out here in Los Angeles, with his Missoni sweaters and his flowing hair. Who would figure Jim Henson to be a guy who would rent a yacht? But i took him on a cruise one year and he took me the next celebrating out 25th anniversary together. Jim had a love for aesthetic things, for beautiful things and beautiful women." -Bernie Brillstein, Jim Henson's Manager

"What was that feeling? Why it was the gentle slither of the mantle of soldierly glory sliding off one's shoulders!- and the cooling effect of the oceans of tears drying up!The single-combat warriors war had been removed. They would continue to be honored and men would continue to be awed by their courage; but the day when an astronaut could parade up broadway while traffic policemen wept in the intersections was no more. Never again would an astronaut be perceived as a protector of the people, risking his life to do battle in the heavens. Not even the first american to walk on the moon would ever know the outpouring of a people's most primal emotions that Shepard, Cooper and above all, Glenn had known. The era of America's first single-combat warriors had come, and it had gone, perhaps never to be relived." -Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff

Remember when they brought back the Twilight Zone in the 1980s? One of those episodes, which is not very good, is about a boy who keeps his grandfather alive by telling him one long story. Every night he stops the story at an exciting spot so the grandfather must stay alive to hear what happens the next night. The episode takes place down south somewhere in the early 20th century, it is a great idea though the execution is a little bit dull. I used to tell stories with my grandfather when i was kid. I can not clearly remember but i do not think we would finish each others. I think i would tell one then he would tell one. Except it didn't happen down south deep in the Appalachian mountains but in a driveway in albany ny. Instead of the sounds of horses hooves, cicadas or crackling fires that were in this Twilight Zone, there was only lawn sprinklers and cars backing out of driveways. I cannot remember any of these stories at all, i only vaguely remember most of mine used the name Tom which i was utterly fascinated with when i was a kid. I think if i was thinking of a story and need a sort of generic main character i would always have a clearer vision of what this person would look like if they were named Tom. It just sounds right doesn't it?

making of

There are few things in life more enjoyable to me then watching clips of music producers, hunched over their mixing boards, explaining how a song was put together. I love listening as sections are muted then brought back allowing you to fully appreciate what is really happening in the song. A few of my favorites include this clip of Butch Vig talking about the Nirvana song In Bloom This great clip of Robbie Robertson breaking down Up On Cripple Creek for us. Also has some nice tributes to the late-great Levon Helm towards the end Finally the very classy Sir George Martin discussing one of my all-time favorite Beatles songs A Day in the Life. A long clip, which plays the song in it's entirety at one point, is worth sitting through.

Absolutely Cuckoo

"It's one of his masterpieces. I don't think I had anything to do with it. He said it was written about Julian, my child. He knew i was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian. He was driving over to say hi to Julian. He'd been like an uncle to him. You know, Paul was always good with kids. And he came up with "Hey Jude."

But I've always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it...Yoko's just come into the picture. He's saying "Hey Jude - Hey John" I know I'm sounding like one of those fans who reads into it, but you can hear it as a song to me. The words "go out and get her" - subconsciously he was saying Go ahead, leave me. On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead. The angel in him was saying "bless you." The devil in him didn't like it all because he didn't want to lose his partner."

-John Lennon, 1980

Hey Jude video directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg

The Devil Who Looked For A Job

Long ago, when the economy was healthy the Devil, who had heard people talking about jobs, came up to earth to find out about them for himself. It was not very long before he passed a musician playing the violin. 'I like music', the devil thought, 'i could play the violin for a living.' He walked up to the musician and asked him if it was hard to play the violin. "It is very hard," the musician said. "I have practiced so much my finger tips have worn out in my left hand and my right hand cramped into a permanent clutch. It takes many hours of hard work to get this simple natural sound you hear. The years and years of practice are worth though, as now my talent is recognized and many people ask me to play for them their favorite songs." The devil, who was lazy, did not want to practice all the time and thought his hands were rather lovely and hated the idea of having finger tips that were worn out. He decided playing the violin was not for him. He momentarily considered learning the clarinet but ultimately decided it would be just as hard. He then passed a scientist studying plants and asked him if his job was hard. "Very" the scientist replied. "I have been studying these plants for 10 hours a day, everyday for the last six months. It is important work and i cannot miss even a single day or my research will be lost. It is hard and trying work but many studious research has paid off and i have gotten great opportunities through this job."
'Hmmm' the devil thought 'if i spend 10 hours a day studying plants, i will not be able to watch as many Seinfeld reruns as i do now. Even episodes i have seen many times are still quite hilarious and i would hate miss them. It would be nice to have may efforts pay off after years of work, but nicer to get work immediately, with no effort.'
The devil began to realize he had no discernible skills. 'There is one thing i am good at, I can talk easily to people and make conversation about nothing.' It true that, despite the fact he is the devil, he is very pleasant to talk to. 'If only we lived in a world where talking easily to important people could get you work,' he thought to himself. And then he had a brilliant idea; i am the Devil, i could probably make this happen. Why couldn't i make it so that one would have to go into and office office talk for 20 minutes or so to a person who has the power to hire. That way people who have been persecuted due to things like lack of intelligence or real life skill sets would have the advantage due do there ability to chew the fat. The devil was pleased with this and so he created the job interview. 'What i created is pretty useless,' thought the Devil, 'but i could probably create something that is an even bigger waste of time.' So he took a deep breathe and created the Comparative Literature program at Sarah Lawrence University. Finally, he setup a website that gives people suggestions for 'resume hot words.' He built it using Dreamweaver, which did not take him very long to learn.

When I first encountered the Creature Shop it was a place like no other, all cables and fun-fur and barely controlled chaos, as John Stephenson and his team seemed to be inventing the technology as they went along. Arriving at the front door at any time of day or night you might stumble into a huge and terrifying dragon's head, rearing up at you, from which would pop an artist with needle and thread; or find a group of boffins crowding around a half built creature struggling with controls as they coaxed it into a walk, like anxious parents witnessing a child's first steps. The technology is more powerful now and less unique, as computers dominate the world of film fantasy and the expectations of the audiences grow more critical. Glue, genius and bits of string are no longer enough.
- Anthony Minghella, 1997