Jan 24 2005

Hollywood: Bereft of ideas

I went to the movies this weekend an saw the much-lauded Sideways. The film itself was mildly amusing in a trite NPR-esque way, but what really struck me were the previews. Thankfully there were only three, but as a group they exhibited a stunning lack of originality.

Two of the three were of the “wacky ethnic mismatch comedy” variety. I don’t remember the names of either of them but one featured that guy from “That 70s Show” as the son-in-law of Bernie Mac. The other had Sandra Bullock (sp?) and some black actress I didn’t know as FBI agent partners.

See, the joke is that one person is black and the other is white. Get it?

This leads to all sort of amusing but innocuous ethnic misunderstandings. My theory is that white people go to see these things to assure ourselves that we’re “open-minded,” and black people go to make fun of white people. I guess I should look on the bright side and be thankful that at least we as a culture have moved beyond the 80s version of this plot: the “wacky species mismatch comedy”…you know, like “Turner and Hooch,” and that other movie that’s exactly the same movie but with the loathesome Jim Belushi instead of Tom Hanks.

Oh, yeah… The other preview was just a remake of “The Longest Yard.” Great idea.

I should have gone with my gut instinct and seen the Spongebob movie.

Jan 24 2005

Adopt-a-bear

Forsyth County > Animal Control > Adoption Photos > Animal Detail Report

This animal is under the “dogs” section of the Forsyth County animal shelter website, but there’s no foolin’ me. That’s clearly a baby brown bear.

Jan 21 2005

Winter Arrives

I’m frankly not a fan of the cold weather… and Winston-Salem gets its fair share, being so close to the mountains. But, that being said, once it’s December or January, I’d just as soon have it get cold and miserable and be done with it and it looks like it’s finally happened. Daytime highs have been regularly in the thirties, and occasionally the twenties, for the last three or four days and we’ve even had a dusting of snow.

You know winter has arrived at “The Crackhouse” because I begin wearing my wool union suit pretty much 24/7 and Sheila begins sitting on the heating vents.

sheila vent

Jan 20 2005

What You’ll Wish You’d Known

What You’ll Wish You’d Known

What an amazing high school graduation speech. I wish I’d heard this at my graduation. My high school graduation speech was given by Admiral John Pointexter… yeah, that Admiral John Pointexter: from the Iran/Contra deal. The speech linked above is by millionaire/author/computer guy Paul Graham.

My favorite quote:

“I suspect if you had the sixteen year old Shakespeare or Einstein in school with you, they’d seem impressive, but not totally unlike your other friends.

Which is an uncomfortable thought. If they were just like us, then they had to work very hard to do what they did. And that’s one reason we like to believe in genius. It gives us an excuse for being lazy. If these guys were able to do what they did only because of some magic Shakespeareness or Einsteinness, then it’s not our fault if we can’t do something as good.”

Jan 20 2005

Random sketch

Here’s a drawing I did a while back. I had pretty much forgotten about it, but I was rummaging around in my art supplies cabinet and found some sepia ink I had forgotten about buying. I then remembered this pencil draiwing that I thought might look good with a bit of sepia ink applied.

The brick wall in the background is an homage to a great rock/blues bar in Charlotte N.C. called the Double Door Inn. It’s the kinda place that Eric Clapton used to show up to for a few beers after a show at the enormo-dome, and all kinds of incredible bands had played there–big name legendary acts like Sam & Dave, but also local Charlotte faves from the 90s like Hobex, Jolene, Lodestar, The Extraordinaires, The Belmont Playboys, and my band, Come on Thunderchild….

door
(Click for larger image)