Merry Christmas

December Song

The Men Who Stare at 92" Screens

I've been seeing "top films of the decade" lists already, which reminds me how many movies from the last five years that I have not seen. While I look forward to catching up, this will have to wait until my viewing equipment catches up. I feel like I'm in the dark ages since I don't have a high definition display. Five years ago I never would have thought that technology and prices would have come this far this fast, but it has happened. 1080p projector prices have dropped like a rock this last several months, so maybe an upgrade is not too far away. The good thing about digital technology, like with computers-the longer you wait, the better and cheaper the equipment.

Once Upon a Time

Take a look at this. I didn't start following popular music until 1984ish, at the age of 11. Young kids are susceptible to liking whatever happens to be on the radio, and so it probably is not a surprise that my favorite period of music is the mid-1980s. I think though I can make a good case that this music actually was very good for the most part, and has aged quite well. The charts were dominated by Madonna, Prince, Cindy Lauper, Wham!, Huey Lewis, Springsteen, and Phil Collins. I liked all of those at the time. Ok, much of Phil Collins is unlistenable now. And I am really sick of Springsteen, whose enduring popularity has been driven by baby boomers. Cindy Lauper would have been more popular than she was, but she didn't hit until age 30, and she didn't go out of her way to sell out. Huey Lewis had some dopey songs, but the Ghostbusters theme could not have been pilfered without him. Wham! is one of the stupidest names ever concocted for a music act, but George Michael was the true King of Pop, thanks in part to a spectacular voice.
The second British invasion was at the heart of this era. In one chart from May of 1985 8 of the top ten were by acts of British origin. This dominance occurred even with huge bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode not charting in the top ten until much later.
1986 saw the emergence of Bon Jovi and the so-called hair metal, which would plague radio for the next five years, until its demise thanks to the fleeting popularity of grunge. Which brings me back to my first sentence. I knew that pop music had taken a turn for the worst in the late 1980s, but I didn't remember it being that bad! That list is plain embarrassing! And really, pop music never recovered.

shoo, shoo

Quite frankly I don't have much sympathy for the woman in this story. When you are dealing with wild animals, you don't try to "shoo" them away by confronting them, and you especially don't do so when it is a mother with her babies. What really perturbs me is that the raccoons are being blamed for this "attack." The woman should have stayed in her house, opened a window, and banged on a pot until the noise drove the animals away. If that didn't work, then call animal control. And if that didn't work, then the old crow could just stay in her house and stare at the wall and wait for the raccoons to leave. What an idiot that sheriff is too, adding his hunting knowledge to the affair. After all, anyone who shoots animals with a gun is an expert on wild animals.

The Master of Prognostication

According to Conan O'Brien-
In the year 3000, after Radio Shack changes its name to "The Shack," and Pizza Hut changes its name to "The Hut," The Olive Garden will change its name to "The Horrible Restaurant."

Happier Days

See a piece of history whose existence has heretofore escaped me. The history major in me is astonished by this footage.

Novel Thoughts

It's always nice to read an article that confirms my sanity, or at least confirms my insanity in an insane world. Ebert's latest blog entry accomplishes just that. I was further amused by the picture of the girl, named Susie, pictured in front of a wall of books. Clicking on the picture failed to enlarge it enough to make more than a few book titles legible. I have this fascination with looking at what is on another person's bookshelves. I checked out her blog too, and noticed that the Erasmus quote that started Ebert's blog was actually posted by her back in February, along with the picture. Also worth noting is her May 18th post, where she waxes enthusiastically about the previous night's Nine Inch Nails concert.

House P.I.

The only network show (non-reality) that remains on my viewing schedule is House. And even it is on thin ice. Last season was horrible. The 13 storyline just never seemed to end, and Kutner's exit from the show seemed like an arbitrary invention when Kal Penn decided to go to Washington. It was a shocker reminiscent of Lt. Colonel Henry Blake's departure from M*A*S*H. Kutner's character was one of the few that I liked other than Wilson and House. The whole romance with Cuddy seemed like a desperate subplot by writers who ran out of ideas two seasons ago.

The first episode of the new season was refreshing if only because House wasn't surrounded by the same cast of characters. But that is only one episode. We've seen these individual episodes before, only to have House return to the same tired formula.

Rumor is that one of the major characters is being kicked off the show in November. And again it is one of the better characters on the show, only this time it was not the actor's decision.

If I was writing the show I would kill House M.D. In its place would be House P.I. Ok, stop laughing. It makes perfect sense. House's powers of observation would make him a great detective. We already know that House and Wilson are Holmes and Watson in another form. So why not just go back to the source and turn House into a master detective? Mark my words, it would work!

Face Value

Here's a story about Ticketmaster's new paperless ticket system. It actually works, and I used it when I was able to acquire tickets for the recent Nine Inch Nails show when Ticketmaster made some last minute "tickets" available a few hours before the Friday night Chicago show last month. It's a little weird to take out your credit card at the actual venue. The person who took my card was just standing at the gate with a swipe machine in his hand. The article also mentions resale possibilities, but Trent did not allow that on the Nine Inch Nails tickets. Since you have to provide your credit card at the venue, after which you walk right in, there is no possibility of handing off tickets to someone else. The few people that I heard about "scalping" were only providing one ticket, and the actual scalper had to walk in with the scalpee. Not very convenient for the scalper, in other words.

Sardines Aren't That Bad

The explosion of new housing options at UI since the early 90s has always been perplexing. Part of the answer is the increase in enrollment, which has gone from 36,081 in 1991 to 41,918 in 2008. Why the increase? It isn't like the campus needed more students. Consider that the groups that have increased the most are the grad and international students, which are both sources of higher tuition. This additional tuition money was needed to make up for the decline in state funding, I suppose.

The Return of Det. Munch?

It sounds like there is going to be an Arrested Development film. I'm going to go celebrate and eat a banana.

Infamous

Quickly, while it's rotten to the core-All About Steve currently has no positive (fresh) ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. I don't know if a mainstream release has ever been entirely shutout, so this might be one for the record books. Not that I believe it will stay this way. Even if no critics actually like it, I believe at least a couple attention seeking critics will fabricate positive opinions.

Please Please Me

I am looking forward to the upcoming release of the remastered Beatles albums, particularly the mono versions. That being said, I'll hold off on any purchases until the finicky reviewers have weighed in. Those finicky opinions have kept me from fully enjoying Beatles music, with the knowledge that the music sounds better on the original vinyl, allegedly, than on the 1987 CD releases. In addition my samplings of the mono versus the stereo version of The White Album have resulted in the conclusion that the mono versions are better, so that mono box set looks mighty appealing. It would look more appealing if the price were cheaper, and if it were actually available. The mono box set sold out several days before the release date, thanks to a limited edition status. The rumor is that this "limited edition" is actually not so limited, as the current sell out is due to a lag in production, rather than a hard limit that would make the set an instant collector's item. All this is moot if it turns out that these remastered CDs don't sound any better than their first incarnation.

Lost in Tolono

The whole Extreme Home Makeover hubbub has been more entertaining for the reactions than for the actual event. People were outraged when a family in Philo (village not far from Champaign) was selected over candidates in the Bloomington area, especially since donations were sought in Bloomington before the winning candidate was known. The construction company that would be doing the work was based out of Bloomington, and people were told that the job would be within 50 miles of Bloomington. Philo is 60 miles away, and the logical urban center for such a project would be Champaign.

In related, and much more compelling news, the homeowners' dog ran away a few days ago. It had been staying in nearby Tolono during the construction of the new home. Not your regular everyday dog, the 170 pound English mastiff chewed through its leash and broke through a fence. Missing for four days, the dog was finally located on Wednesday. One thing is for sure-if they didn't plan adequately in the construction of the house and grounds for this monster of a dog...

Save Ferris

The recent death of John Hughes stirred thoughts in my head about his best movies. Ferris Beuller's Day Off stands out, but not just based on the quality of the movie. To say that this cast of actors has led a curious life would be a bit of an understatement.

Ferris was released in 1986, but Matthew Broderick received notoriety from an incident that took place the following year. While vacationing in Northern Ireland Broderick was involved in a head-on collision in which two women in the other car were killed. Speculation was that Broderick was driving on the wrong side of the road, though Broderick claims to remember nothing due to the serious injuries that he himself sustained.

Jennifer Grey, who happened to be a passenger in Broderick's car, escaped serious injury. She didn't escape Hollywood. With Ferris, Dirty Dancing, and Wind on her resume, Grey had a very good run for someone who was not a classic beauty. Despite relatively steady work, Grey evidently felt that her career needed a boost in the 1990s. That attempted boost backfired when the initial surgery was botched and a second procedure resulted in a face that barely resembled the Jennifer Grey that was so familiar to Generation X audiences. Whether or not Grey's career would have been any different (I doubt it), we'll never know.

Charlie Sheen. Really, do I need to go into any detail here?

Jeffrey Jones was "arrested for possession of child pornography and employing a 14-year-old boy to pose for pornographic photographs." All of a sudden Charlie Sheen's transgressions don't look so bad.

Ben Stein is one of the more famous intelligent design advocates, and has even invoked the Holocaust as a byproduct of the theory of evolution.

Kristy Swanson was barely in the movie, but is still worth a mention for her appearance in Skating with Celebrities, which allegedly resulted in an affair with her skating partner while his wife was eight months pregnant. It was denied, but the inevitable divorce took place, followed by his marriage to Swanson.

Viva la Biblioteca

I have always wanted my own library. This obsession first started during childhood, thanks to all of those tv shows and movies showing the rich guy in his mansion, always with a room devoted to books floor to ceiling. Why they would have a library is a question I never really considered. Was it because they loved to read? Or was it more of a status symbol? Biltmore has a library. That library consists of books that I could not imagine wanting to read, even at the turn of the nineteenth century. A lot of the books appeared to contain vast quantities of facts and figures, data that someone at sometime thought was important. I'm starting to sound like Andy Rooney.

We have a room downstairs that has served as a guest bedroom/computer room. The room is larger than our guest bedroom, so it really needed a purpose/something to fill it. Enter the library idea, inspired by Christy's friend Beverly's recent addition. We didn't want anything too elaborate (codeword for expensive!), so I drew up some simple plans with the idea of using cheap pre-primed wood. The room has a large window but remains rather dark during the day, so extra money spent on hardwood would probably go unnoticed anyway. We had to wait several months, but we finally found someone to build it.



The left side needed a shorter depth due to a closet door, so I decided that the first column of shelves could accommodate media, while the rest of the shelving would be traditional book shelves. On the right side you will notice cabinet doors. That cabinet is hiding the two breaker boxes. The cabinet will also serve as a hiding place for the cabling/wiring connected to my computer, which is actually housed in another room. The corner computer desk is nothing fancy, but it is just about perfect from a size standpoint.

So maybe it isn't grand enough to call the room a library, but it will hold a lot of books. I still need to do touch-ups/paint, which is why the shelves are ignominiously bare.

Permanent Vacation

Whatever happened to John Hughes? As Richard Crenna would say, "it's over Johnny." Hughes might be dead, but when did his career die? Some people might think of the Home Alone movies as Hughes' last works, but he was still somewhat prolific as a writer for another ten years, often under the nom de plume Edmond Dantès. The 90s output (15 screenplays) was mostly mediocre at best, but Hughes will forever be remembered as the voice of the disaffected youth of generation X. Nevermind that Hughes was a baby boomer. Nor that he also wrote many kid movies and also dabbled in more serious fare.
It won't be reported this way, in size or in scope, but an argument could be made that John Hughes affected more people than Michael Jackson.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles were two of the best in that frequently derided decade of the 80s. And, while often forgotten, Uncle Buck was the best Macaulay Culkin movie by far. Which reminds me, whatever happened to Gaby Hoffmann?

Has John Hughes Left the Building?

Fear the Pear

Ok, so the title doesn't rhyme. Blame the English language. Anyway, consider this post due warning: do not plant a Bradford Pear tree in your yard. These trees are extremely brittle, and will often lose limbs if not the entire tree during storms. Someone planted a few of these trees in our subdivision in 2000-2001. We had two in our front yard. The big one fell over a few weeks ago, thanks to a big gust of wind. Our smaller tree did not have as much weight to support in the branch structure, so it survived with nary a branch lost. Another storm yesterday morning took out one of my neighbors trees right at the ground. All the other trees of that size in our neighborhood suffered no damage, so the type of tree must be to blame. After moving here I read about this tree's nefarious reputation. But I was hesitant to have the trees cut down, especially since they looked great. Now we are left with an empty spot in our yard, and have to start over with a new tree this fall.

Popularity Breeds Contempt

I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with my Facebook page, but in the meantime I'm going to try to be a little more regular, ok, a lot more regular, with the blog postings. I have a long list of things to write about, some of which might interest you, some might not, but until this becomes a paying position, I'm not about to start writing to satisfy the hoi polloi.

No Paper Trail

Well, we were planning on going to one of the last NIN shows at the end of the month, but I just never seem to have any luck with these smaller venue shows. A first pre-sale attempt failed because I wasn't on the ticket buying page two hours before the start time. The New York sales going on an hour before crashed the web site, and the site remained nearly impossible to access through the sales time for the Chicago show. Ok, that was fine, because a public sale was still going to happen July 31, when most of the tickets would be sold. And scalpers would be kept to a minimum, since a paperless ticket system meant that the ticket buyer had to provide his credit card at the show with no opportunity of passing off tickets. Sounds good, right? Well, the problem was that there was another pre-sale on July 24th. Only one day notice was given. Normally I check the website everyday, but I didn't check it the day before. I did check at about 8 p.m. on the 24th. The tickets had gone on sale at 5 p.m. All gone, of course, and reportedly most people who tried to buy tickets were successful, and some even got tickets for two nights. Later I found out that no tickets were held for the public sale, so that was it. I was wondering why I didn't at least received an email about it, and it turns out that the email went to a secondary email address, even though my main email address is listed on the site. I just checked ebay, and while there are a few tickets being sold (again, the seller has to walk in with the person who wins the tickets), it is not that many when you consider that several shows in three different cities are listed. So maybe the professional scalpers were stopped. And Trent won't be touring again anytime soon, if ever, so it doesn't help me any.