Entertainment

Yes, I am home now, back in the wonderful state of New Jersey. The weather forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms for a week or so. I miss southern California already. So, in the spirit of something I do every so often here on Aaafter Effect…

Things I Learned This Vacation

• Music, music, music! The Indigo Girls were awesome. I wish I had copied their CDs from people I’ve dated who have owned them. I’ll be adding some of their music to my wish list.
• I’ll also add Shawn Mullins’ music to that list. I had heard two of his songs on XPN a few years ago and used them when making compilation CDs for people, but I like his other music as well.
• Southern California — the beaches, the mountains, the weather, the mountain lions and coyotes — is beautiful.
• I wouldnt want to live in most of downtown Los Angeles.
• My brother, once a hyperactive maniac, is now quite a cool person. Spending time with him and his girlfriend was nice. She’ll be a good influence on him, as well.

That’s all for now, but take a look at my photos from Laguna Beach and Disney if you haven’t yet.

Well, I was quite impressed with Eddie From Ohio tonight. I decided to stay for the late show, even if it meant byuing two CDs, letting Joe’s Pub losing my credit card, and taking an hour and a half to get from the 9th Street PATH station back to Newark. Note: I got a voicemail from Joe’s Pub. They found my card, but they want me to pick it up tomorrow. That will be difficult since I will be en route to California.

Anyway, I’m very glad I went to the concert. Not only was I introduced to great music, but M——’s friends are quite cool. Now, to start packing.

The Daleks, voted TV’s most evil villains in a British poll, will not appear in the BBC’s new Doctor Who television series. Speaking of the new series, Christopher Eccleston will be playing the ninth Doctor and Billie Piper will be playing the Doctor’s new “companion.” I don’t know who these people are, but apparently they have some sort of popularity in England.

World’s Longest Concert Adds Two Notes. John Cage’s piece, ORGAN²/ASLSP (Organ Squared/As Slow As Possible) entered its next stage when two notes (E and E-sharp) were added on July 5. The entire piece will run a total of 639 years. The most curious thing to me is whether the entire piece can be pulled off. Many things can happen between now and the year 2640. Wars, massive climate changes, spontaneous evolution or degeneration of the human race, planetary evacuation, terrestrial or solar magnetic pole reversal, and foreign objects becoming lodged in the organ’s pipes are all possible detriments to the completion of the work.

The Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival looks really good this year. I’m considering going if it doesn’t rain. I am going through concert withdrawal, and I need some live music as soon as possible. I bet Ani Difranco, Jonatha Brooke, and Erin McKeown will be more than willing to satisfy my desire for music. I just got an email from Barb, and maybe I’ll see Barenaked Ladies and Alanis Morissette this summer, too.

Here’s the update I promised, which you may have noticed if you visited this website between 3:30 and 6:00 pm today. I am now in possession of a new vehicle — a 2004 Honda Civic LX.

I received two different CDs in the mail today. Erica sent me a Maroon 5 CD (thank you so much!) and I received Something Happened, the University of Delaware Marching Band CD that has been more than six years in the making. Only 7 of the 26 tracks were recorded while I was around, but this is a project that I originally convinced the directors to pursue, so you can imagine my smile now that it is finally in my hands.

I love getting music in the mail.

ABC is airing a movie based on one of my favorite childhood books, A Wrinkle In Time. I had always thought this series of three books (or four, if you count Many Waters which focused on minor characters) would make a wonderful movie trilogy. A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the third book in the series, is definitely my favorite.

So far, the movie is not much like the book, but that’s alright.

I picked this up for my car:

Now that I’m driving to and from work, I want to listen to my music With this little goodie, I can make MP3 CDs at home and play the tracks in the car in random mode… Even 128 kbps MP3s sound decent on this stereo. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to make negligible the effects of the typical 16 kHz MP3 drop-off that makes low-bitrate MP3s normally unlistenable to me… or maybe it’s because I have the bass pumped up.

No, I’m not going to see the movie, The Passion of the Christ. I will not give into the hype for a movie that by most accounts is dreadful. A newspaper film critic posted an honest review of the film, and was blasted by readers who (one) haven’t seen the film yet and (two) thought that a bad review of the movie reflects commentary on the “real” Christ. The film critic’s response was published/posted in the NY Daily News. What is the purpose of a movie that shows immense, graphic, painful physical suffering? I believe it has something to do with guilt. Read the review. This critic is not the only one who felt this way. There’s no way I can support a movie that is so blatanly anti-Semitic.

As I’m writing this, Mitch and Mickey are performing A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow on the Academy Awards. That’s just awesome. On top of that, it’s being followed by Belleville Rendez-vous. Nice… and the musicians are playing on bicycle parts.

Disney has purchased the Muppets from the Jim Henson Company. Here’s the evil press release.