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Television & Movies

I am that guy who couldn’t get into Breaking Bad

BLOOD DEATH WAR AND HORROR!While the rest of the internet – or at least it seems that way tonight – declares a satisfactory end to the uncertainty over Heisenberg’s principles (ha!), I’m sitting in a corner over here doing my own thing. Not because I’m a TV hipster, mind, but because I have a confession to make: I tried, repeatedly, to climb aboard the Breaking Bad RV, and I just could not get into it. I read a news article earlier tonight about how flawless the show’s run was, and how we’re in the middle of a new golden age of TV, and… actually, come to think of it, a lot of the stuff that everyone’s been praising in recent years has left me cold or left me by the side of the road too. What’s going on here? … Read more

Categories
Music

Kasatochi season finale!

KasatochiSadly, all good things must come to an end, and in case it hadn’t become obvious in recent weeks, the “one Kasatochi release per week” schedule I was able to keep up through the summer is one of those things. Kasatochi was always a bit of “stealth pre-production” I was carrying out for another project, something you’ll get to see/hear in the fullness of time. This last release of the summer – upon which I bestowed the absolute silliest title I could come up with – is actually a combination of bits and pieces of three other Kasatochi releases that just weren’t coming together as full-length projects in their own right. The first project was intended to be an album of covers of recent songs (as in “within the past 10-or-so years”), the second was a “utility” album of stuff I needed for the aforementioned project, and the third was a “best of” (which may or may not still happen), much of which would’ve been remixed to sound better. To put an exclamation point, or perhaps an interrobang, at the end of the Kasatochi sentence for now, I combined all of the finished tracks for these three projects, and wound up with the last hurrah. For now. … Read more

Categories
Music

Zep meets beeps

KasatochiThe time at my disposal to produce Kasatochi downloads has been on the decline with the beginning of the school year, but I’ve been trying so hard to get this one finalized for such a long time – it was meant to be one of the earliest artist-specific EPs – that I decided to push this ungainly airship across the finish line.

01 – All My Love
02 – Whole Lotta Love
03 – Communication Breakdown
04 – Immigrant Song
05 – No Quarter
06 – Misty Mountain Hop
07 – Kashmir

Go to the dedicated Kasatochi page and download it for free. And enjoy, friends, enjoy.

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...And Little E Makes 3

“Dad, are some people born to be bad?”

I try not to clog my blog with lots of reminders about how amazingly smart my kid is, but we had a discussion today about – basically – free will and determinism. Now, before you worry too much, I think there were also some mentions of Kirby and Nyan Cat in there, but… yeah. That conversation happened. With my five year old. A five year old capable of handling philosophical abstracts that I almost have to stop the car and pull over so I can take a moment to formulate a cogent response.

My answer? Who we are is determined by what we are taught and how we are raised, what happens to us and around us, and how we decide to respond to all of the above. No one is born bad or evil. If more people would respond to what happens to and around them with grace, dignity, fairness and compassion, and an understanding that consequences follow any decision – even good ones – the world might be a better place.

And the thing is… he understands this. Hey, this kid has been raised by me. He has vocabulary.

Then we got back to discussing which of our cats could by Nyan Cat in real life. Let’s see… a cat who flies through the air farting rainbows, with a pop tart around its neck? I think there’s really only one answer.… Read more

Categories
Television & Movies

#FreeBabylon5

Babylon 5J. Michael Straczynski has quitely woken up the Babylon 5 fan base with – wait for it, wait for it – a call to arms to show Warner Bros. that there’s interest in Babylon 5 – remastering the existing material for the future, and perhaps doing something new with it down the road – by using the hashtag #FreeBabylon5 on Twitter and Facebook.

This is an excellent idea on so many fronts.

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Categories
...And Little E Makes 3 Funny Stuff

I can verify that this is indeed what he’s talking about

What are THEY talking about?Little E’s new phrase this weekend was “THAT’S what I’M talking about!” Driving home from school Friday, going to the store yesterday… everything was “THAT’S what I’M talking about!” On Sunday, driving to the store, he said it three times in a row about three different things, and then he paused.

“Dad! I’m talking about A LOT OF STUFF!”

I had no response other than “Well, THAT’S what I’M talking about!”

We then proceeded to try to run groceries out to the car in a freakin’ monsoon downpour that proceeded to turn into a hailstorm right on top of us. Even though we couldn’t see two feet in front of us, we raced to the car, which I unlocked by remote and pretty much shoved him into before he took any more troposherically-launched ice pellets to the head. (Speaking as someone who’s been hit by goofball-sized hail before, I can attest to the fact that it hurts.)

After loading the (already soaked) groceries into the car, and still putting the cart in the corral despite the downpour, I slogged my soaked-to-the-bone ass into the driver’s seat, where I landed with a big wet splat. I guess I wasn’t aware of how scary it had been for the little guy.

“THAT’S what I’M talkin’ about!” I said.

“Dad, that’s not what I was talking about,” he said in a small voice. Poor little guy. The whole “that’s what I’m talking about” gag died then and there.

The good news is that I think I’ve finally dried out.… Read more