Animation, Art, and Other Shiny Things
Today is my 22nd Father’s Day and what a ride it’s turned out to be thusfar. Quite honestly I’m half surprised the kids still even talk to me let alone agree with me on that rare occasion. Perhaps Mark Twain’s words actually bear some truth on the matter; “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” I’d submit that the reverse holds the most truth in the overall scheme of life in general. Obvious, you say. Well… Yes, but this is my blog, so bite me… Read more of this post
An anniversary of sorts just passed. One of those no-card-made-for-it-and-never-will-be anniversaries; Stanton was born June 3, 2001 – 9 years ago.
Granted, Stanton is a toon I created in EverQuest, but I’ve played him pretty steadily those nine years and he’s still my primary character. He’s remained in the same guild as well. While that may engender an array of opinions in the world of MMORPGs, in the real world, not so much… Read more of this post
In all too many ways digression is a standard part of my life anymore. The act of seeing the tangent and following it off into odd little alleyways is considered a given since not doing so would create a near intolerable urge. Something like meeting Mr Rogers when your balls begin to itch. Decorum warns against the sack grab but reality notes that you won’t be able to speak an intelligible word until you do. (Now, actual reality in this situation is that Mr Rogers won’t care any more now that he’s passed on, but if he hadn’t and you squirmed enough in your conversation he would quickly ask, in his soft and gentle way, if you had to use the restroom.) Read more of this post
Well, it’s been 8 months along and our favorite eatery next-door, Aventura, is going strong.
For the most part, construction has completed on our part of Greenwood avenue. Of great interest in our household was the addition of a crosswalk across the east side of the Greenwood/Holman Rd intersection. This alone has given Aunt B no end of delight and she’s regaled us with not only the progress of its construction but the wonder of its use. Miz Liz and I are certain that she had the crosswalk signals timed to the second during its first week of use. But I digress…
As noted, we were quite worried about a new restaurant trying its oven mitts at a questionable location, during major construction, and in a questionable economic environment just as folks had been cutting back on the little luxuries like eating out.
Well I am very happy to report that Aventuras is going strong and we are still observing our Saturday Night Thing (SNT). My parents continue to join us weekly and often Miz Liz or The Z (occasionally accompanied by The War Goddess) attend now and again. For Mom’s birthday, my lil sis, the unsinkable Lala made her way down from the hinterlands dragging her entire kit-and-caboodle as well.
Anymore, Heron (the owner) can almost anticipate our order and Rudy the bar-man always stops by and says hello. It has become almost as comfortable as our own kitchen table. (if we had one, that is…) Slowly art has crept onto the walls, new employees are added or rotate in to spell Heron’s kids, and the occasional bit of music is heard.
The opening of the bar was rather tough for me though. Had I still been a swimmer I probably would’ve had a reserved stool at the bar, but alas, other than taking Heron’s tour the week before it opened, I’ve not laid a foot in there. On the positive side, it has given Heron some much-needed revenue and traffic and with the competition of a pub next door and an established Chinese restaurant a half block away that is paramount.
As mentioned in my first post, however, it’s the food that’s keeping Aventura alive. We’ve had the pleasure of being guinea pigs for new items coming to the menu. Like the established menu, his dishes are simple for the most part, but well-tested in a family restaurant in Mexico. What many folks forget about true Mexican food is that it includes quite a bit of seafood. They have several dishes from the sea that are most excellent.
Before this turns into a total love-fest I must note the hit-and-miss adventures of the music. At the grand opening Heron brought in a traditional guitarist who serenaded us wonderfully. A few months back, however, he had a trio that did American standards. (Over the Rainbow and the like) They looked like a family; Dad on drums, Mom singing, kid on keyboards. The kid was good actually – could lay down jazz riffs well – but Dad overpowered, and Mom… Well, the Mom could’ve sang Klingon Opera, and may have been a student of it. “Strangling cats” would be applicable as well. They lasted 4 weekends, which I imagine was the extent of their contract. We stopped in during their first performance and had a Flan. Barely made it through one set and it got rather tough to keep the smile in place. It hurt…
To add insult to injury (in my and Aunt B’s opinion) Heron delved into the depths of evil and has began weekly Karaoke to compete with the Chinese restaurant who offers it nightly. Good business move, true enough. This ups the ante to “Throttling rather large felines”. We have not darkened the door during these likely horrific occasions – even for a flan…
It does appear, though, that traditional Mexican music and dance will continue to make appearances at Aventura. (Thanks to all that is Good) We weren’t able to make it to see the dancing girls (yes, I said traditional dance, no poles involved) weekend afore last, but will keep trying when they show.
Anyways, it’s wonderful to see a small, local business run by very nice folks, that puts excellent food out is making it and getting a great reputation while doing it as evidenced here and here, for only 2 examples.
A new Mexican restaurant opened up next door about a month ago called Adventura. Situated in a small storefront next to the neighborhood delimart. It replaced an Indian eatery that went out of business about a year and a half ago when the economy’s slide hit full-stride.
We were pretty surprised that anyone would try to start a business in this economic climate, let alone a restaurant. Food service is one of the sectors that has been especially hard hit as folks are pinching their pennies and going-out is becoming a rare entry on the budgetary menu.
If this wasn’t Sisyphean enough, our street is being torn up to widen it and put in sidewalks.
Trenches have been dug, steel plates laid over the holes, heavy machinery is crammed into business parking lots, caution tape flutters everywhere. Up and down the road signs are up noting “Businesses open during construction” which roughly translates into “It’s a pain in the ass to get to, and if you dare, good luck on parking”. In an ironic aside there is an electronic reader-board asking drivers to “consider other routes” approximately 2 blocks after you’ve already committed to said route.
But I digress…
The little eatery, quite obviously family owned and operated, opened at a bad time economically and neighborhoodally. Hand-drawn signs in the window announce the specials and a carefully stickered sandwich-board stands as close to the torn-up street as it can. A stack of folded flyers on the counter of the next-door delimart trumpets a free dessert when you bring it in. Freshly painted in creme and dusty yellows, bright, shiny gold chickens line the top of the three-quarter wall between the prep area and the seating area. Flower sconces are showing up above the booths in ones and twos every week and we’re told that artwork will begin appearing as well. The owner, Heron, is a small man, thin and balding, a fringe of hair gray and slightly wild. This, along with his painfully polite and overly helpful demeanor strongly reminds me of the waiter in Fawlty Towers.
We went there the first weekend it was open and, for the entire meal we were the only customers in the place. Since then, we’ve made it a Saturday night “thing” and the last few times we’ve had the pleasure of seeing other folks there too.
Originally, our Saturday Night Thing was an excuse for a cheap date night out while supporting a local small business, but the last few times my parents have come along and it looks like they’ll be a regular part of the SNT.
The food is really what’s making this an ongoing Thing. For the most part it’s a pretty standard Mexican restaurant menu; burritos, enchiladas, chalupas, maybe medudo now and again. A wide, varied, and solid menu. They aren’t reinventing the wheel. What they are doing, though, is doing it really well. When the rice and refried beans catch my attention they gotta be doing something right. The rice is nice and light and well spiced and you have 2 other beanie choices besides the ol’ refried standby. The Chili Relleno comes highly recommended.
We’ll see how it goes…
Somehow, in the throes of idea-festering I even made a list of potential posts. Fortunately, I had the good sense to create a list of things I should not post about as well. Not sure I’ll be able to stay completely away from the sticky thickets of some topics but this will not be an opinion blog or exist to argue a POV. That wanders well away from the point.
In any event, in the coming weeks I’m hoping to update on some of the past subjects already posted (it has been over 2 years after all), and do some pondering on EQ and VGAP, our artwork, the cat, the new Mexican restaurant next door, a new program I’m using, cross-posting and expanding a couple posts I wrote on music for the Library’s blog, you get the idea. Bloody everything…
We’ll see how it works out, this love-hate relationship between me and the pen. Hopefully the crafting will become slightly less painful and the output slightly more pleasing over time. We’ll see…
Of everything though, I am sure that this place needed a frog on a pogo stick today.
The pressure has finally gotten to me, the head can’t hold any more. I have to start writing again. Simple replies to other’s posts and the mental gymnastics that go with just aren’t enough.
I go through this every few years where I have to dump thoughts and observations out of the brain pan and into the fire. Over the last few cycles (for want of a better term) it’s been driblets and snippets of larger ideas. As a result it just wasn’t very satisfying to the critical writer that lives in my head.
I don’t know exactly how this will work this time through the forest of my ideas, thoughts, and observations, I’m not terribly good as a blogger per se. Fortunately I don’t really care alot for obtaining a ‘following’ and I think I can get past any worry over consistant posting. (IE daily, mon/wed/fri, etc)
Having recently dragged myself out of the dark ages and into Facebook and Twitter, and experiencing the overload that they present my ludditine sensibilities I’ve decided that perhaps blogging may be that missing link between the BBS/phpBB days and whatever comes next for me. Let’s see, shall we?
In the coming days I’ll be poking, prodding, rearranging, and possibly even changing the name of the blog. I just don’t know yet. The only thing for certain is that some things will get posted because I don’t have any choice. I have to write just to get it out of my head.
Anyways…. Onward into the fog…
(My original post is at shelftalk.spl.org)
Bombay Dub Orchestra – Take a fully orchestrated Bollywood soundtrack, chop it up, chill it down and this is what you get. A 2-disc set, the second disc is remixes of disc 1. A very well done mix of base genres.
Mocean Worker is worth mentioning again. And again. A New York club DJ, Adam Dorn combines swing and jazz samples in a pure funk sauce. Portions of his stuff have been used in Lincoln car commercials. Cinco de Mowo is one of his best. You will not want to get between me and a record store when he releases a new album…
I hesitate to lump Enigma and Delerium together, but if you ever decide to have one of those “lost weekends” these two bands are the ready soundtrack for it. Delerium is generally a bit more ambient and can lean pretty far into trance, whereas Enigma is a bit more funky and likes to toss in a Gregorian Chant now and again and who doesn’t enjoy a good Gregorian Chant?
The Brit band Massive Attack pretty much defined the term “trip hop”, a neo-soul dub sound. Their Mezzanine album put them on the map here in the US. Having gone through a half dozen or so evolutions since their debut in the late 80’s there is some speculation as to whether they’ll be able to release a new album (due later this year) in full rather than a smattering of singles.
Orbital is a pair of British brothers that were big drivers of the acid house and ambient trance scene in the early 90’s. Mean beats, heavy synth, and a bit of Middle Eastern influence marks this band. Though they broke up in 2004 (rumors abound, however) they were pretty prolific, releasing 13 albums.
It’s impossible to even think about electronica without the duo Crystal Method coming to mind. CM makes it clear what “big beat” electronica is all about and beats you bigly with it. While many equate the band’s name with certain illegal, and downright scary, substances, the actual reference is to a girl. (Scarier by far, in my opinion…) Both guys had a crush on the same girl, Crystal coincidently, and after bemoaning the fact to a producer they were working with the producer blurted out the money quote “Ah, the Crystal method…” Take any of their albums and you might as well superglue your CD player’s door closed as it will be all you ever need. If you absolutely must make a choice try Legion of Boom or Vegas.
Finally, if you just want to stick a digital digit into the mix and sample some samplers a couple compilation albums that are well worth a listen are the Hackers soundtrack volume 1 and 2 – Stereo MC’s, Underworld, Carl Cox, Orbital, Moby, and Empiron are on these albums. ‘nuff said…
Back in 1919, when the world was in black and white (I’ve always wondered how they knew the sky was blue and the grass was green but every time I ask a Librarian about it they get a funny look, mumble something, and wander away. But I digress…) Leon Theremin was working for the Russian government on proximity sensors. Now Russia was quite a large country with an awful lot of proximity to sense and Leon, both a physicist and a cellist, found that he could turn some of that sensed proximity into sound. Enter the Theremin, the only known instrument that you do not touch to play. (How one knows that they are playing it rather than someone in the first row is beyond me, but again, I digress…)
Early on Leon’s odd little box was primarily used in movie soundtracks (Forbidden Planet, notably) and began integrating into popular music in the 50’s. For a fascinating look at the main-streaming of electronics into music and the bleeding-edge composers that led it take a listen and look at OHM+. While very interesting intellectually, the vast majority of the OHM+ collection has about as much musicality as Sputnik.
Throughout the 60’s, for those of us that are unsure if we remember it, integration of electronics into the current instruments and the creation of sound processors and synthesizers exploded. (And that exact sound effect was finally possible without lots of mess, fuss, and the probability of personal harm.)
While many would say that The Beach Boys Good Vibrations was the first usage of the Theremin in popular music, it was actually used earlier in 1966 on their song “I just wasn’t made for these times”. I think it needs have an asterisk next to it, however, as they used an ‘electro-Theremin’ in both cases; basically a keyboarded version. I consider Led Zeppelin’s “Whole lotta love” the first use as they used a ‘real’ one. Neener neener.
Many old-schoolers like me, though, got our daily dose of electronic tunage from the likes of Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream. As electronic music developed and psychedelia gave way to progressive rock and dance, artists like Jean Michel Jarre (yeah, Maurice Jarre’s kid) began to refine ‘dream electronica’ and Alan Parsons took what he learned as engineer for Pink Floyd and The Beatles to create several well-crafted pop albums.
By the mid-70’s European electronica was starting to impact American music driven largely by the German band Kraftwerk. Dubbed ‘Krautrock’, the highly electricized dance beats found plenty of play in the clubs (okokok, Discos. There, I said it. Discos played it, a lot. Don’t ask me how I know, I just know. ) and fueled much of the growth of the burgeoning underground dance scene.
With the advances in computer hardware and software, electronica, as its own genre, really took flight in the 80’s and 90’s, and with more people able to create it, more sub-genres were created. Trance, industrial, goa, house, acid, progressive, drum and bass, as well as successful mixtures of electronica with jazz, swing, soul, classical, and metal. Electronic remixing and sampling of music became easily possible and artists such as Paul Oakenfold and Mocean Worker have taken that in some interesting directions.
(My original post is at shelftalk.spl.org)
As promised in part 1 of our journey into the dank recesses of the library’s metal-clad hallways, here are a few examples of what SPL has available to feed your head-banging habit.
Army of Anyone : Take the lead vocalist from Filter, add the guitars from Stone Temple Pilots and a stellar studio drummer (who cut his chops with Devo) and you’ve got a great album. Unfortunately it’s the only disc they ever made… “Father Figure” is probably the best track. No relation to George Michael’s song of the same name. In fact, AoA’s version regularly kicks that versions butt and takes its lunch money.
Finger Eleven : They have a couple albums out and are considered alternative metal. “Paralyzer” on the “Them vs You vs Me” album put them on the map. “Paralyzer” pulls its main riff out of Led Zeppelin’s “Trampled Under Foot” and actually pulls it off. Keep an ear out; we’ll be hearing more from these guys.
Puddle of Mudd : Think Nickelback without all the self flagellation and a better sense of humor. “She Hates Me” from the Come Clean album hit the charts, but my fave is “Psycho” on the Famous disc. Questioning one’s own sanity is always entertaining.
Chevelle : Formed by 3 brothers and named after their Dad’s favorite car. Nice boys, that. Later along, one of the brothers was replaced by a brother-in-law. Talk about playing with fire… Sounds a bit like Tool except Chevelle doesn’t wander off into the theatrics and self-absorbed long jams.
Breaking Benjamin : Named for an incident where the lead singer (yes, Benjamin) accidentally broke the microphone during an open-mic show. Alt metal in the same vein as Chevelle. “The Diary of Jane” off the Phobia disc got some airplay – rightly so.
Seether : First saw them in a music video for “Remedy”. Excellent post-grunge metal and the best album covers of the lot by far. I’d buy them on LP just to have the album covers full sized. Bonus track on the Disclaimer II disc is “Broken” featuring Amy Lee from Evanescence.
Three Days Grace : If you’re throwing a heavy metal pity party then this is the band to crank. Their second album, One-X, is wonderfully depressing and angry. Myself, I prefer the lighter ‘peevishly irritated’ tone of the self-titled first album.
Saliva : Awful name but completely and seriously heavy ‘kick-you-in-the-nards’ metal. These Memphis boys decided they were going to be rock stars and they meant it. “Cinco Diablo” is their newest release and is excellent, but any of their discs are worth listening to. Several times. In a row. Really, really loud.
This only lightly scratches the surface and more is left out than can be included here, but it’s a place to start.
Rock on, dudes and dudettes!
(WARNING!: If you are looking for music to play at the weekly Bridge get-together or if the worst epithet you can think of is “darn” then you may not want to listen to ANY of this music. If, however, you want to learn new words… Suffice it to say there are advisory stickers on just about all of these albums.)
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