Who's Coasting?

I’m back from Vegas... I am back from Vegas and just awake again in the middle of the night wondering about all these mysteries. Like who’s happy? Like who’s sad? And who’s just coasting? Who’s coasting on the idea that they think they’re doing the right thing. More and more and more and more I can feel the stitches splitting and lending themselves to the anti. Oh boy, I’m saying. It’s the night and I can almost taste the bad in the air. Hoping tonight’ll be the night I finally explode and husk my stupid cover. Cause who wants to spend life in the nosebleeds? No sir, that ain’t for me, no sir. Why I’m supposed to be a man and I’m supposed to have all of these friends and I’m supposed to make mistakes and I’m supposed be tough and I’m supposed to regret... But I don’t wanna just be those things. I don’t. And I’m sick of all of those stupid decisions we all seem to constantly make like today is the last day of our life and we’re gonna live in fear of that but go ahead and act like nothings wrong. Well something’s wrong. And the man is disappointed with the way it’s all going. He doesn’t wanna have to put up with this constant ‘what if’ and ‘why not’ lifestyle. He just wants to jump and be on the go and be constantly and forever collecting those moments that make life life and make him want to fear death because it’s all too good and short to let slide. But right now, he doesn’t fear the big sleep. No sir, he actually doesn’t consider it a burden or anything. But he doesn’t pretend it’s his last day either... he doesn’t expect the unexpected, he doesn’t improvise like his teachers taught him, he doesn’t move and move and move and move. Most of the time he just sits their in a constant state of buzz buzz buzz. He doesn’t play his whole hand, just enough to get by.

I think I’m gonna stay awake all day and deal with this emotion I’m feeling right now, because if I don’t do something about it then it’s just gonna keep fighting me and forcing me into lamely awkward settings.

You wanna take a jump with me?

The Great Love Mix

While working on a movie set this last week I began to feel a great surge of love... a surprising amount actually. Something shifted in the atmosphere if that makes any sense. So in that spirit I picked out a few tracks to try and capture the essence:

1. D’Yer Mak’er - Led Zeppelin

2. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here - She & Him

3. The Blue - David Gilmour

4. N2U - Big Boy (featuring Khujo Goodie)

5. Soul Love - David Bowie

6. Kingdom Come - Coldplay

7. All I Need - Radiohead

8. Baby It’s You - Smith

9. Sleeping To Dream - Jason Mraz

10. Be Here To Love Me - Norah Jones

11. Give It To You - G. Love & Jack Johnson

12. Imaginary Ordinary - Architecture In Helsinki

13. Hard To Beat - Hard-Fi

14. Chemicals Collide - Cloud Cult

15. It’s What Life Is - Masters Of The Hemisphere

16. Fade Together - Franz Ferdinand

17. Late Night Partner - Ed Harcourt

18. Monsoon - Jack Johnson

19. Do You Love Me Still - The Kooks

Finally Mac Goes Blu!

Apple has at last announced their inclusion of Blu-Ray software on their upcoming iMacs. This is very exciting news since the company has long been claiming a general disposition toward the format. But I have a sneaking suspicion that negative attitude dealt more with economic issues than quality concern... it may have had something to do with the new competition since Apple was hoping to push home video into a strictly digital format. But there are ups and downs either way you look at it... and until digital can actually maintain the picture and sound qualities of more “solid” formats, it can’t expect to be the industry leader.

Here is my source article. That’s about all the info I’ve got at this time. But very exciting news. Yes sir.

Spinners

This single glass orb

in the heart of our city

hums with pure energy

hums out of misery

runs all that we can see

as we hit the spinners

with so much veracity

creating pure energy

that heats up the carbines

that take us out silently

but only in visions

and only as minds do

we match this intensity

creating a cycle

as we hit the spinners

creating pure energy

that hums through our city

in a single glass orb.

On Daddy Dexter Driving Into A New Season

I’m a Dexter fan. Yes sir. Watching his murderous exploits each week tickles me like most shows cannot. I own all three seasons and the soundtrack. I even named my cat after him... So suffice to say, I can’t wait for the fourth season to start. And I have massively high hopes. The guest star this year is John Lithgow!

How awesome is that? But all is not as it seems in Dexter-ville. Oh no.

Each year, just before we are about to be hit with a splendid array of plots, characters, and continuity that’ll make your head spin... we get pummeled with a novel that has nothing to do with one of the greatest characters of our time. This blunt attack on our senses provided by one Mr. Jeff Lindsay.

Mr. Lindsay had a great idea. And he got that idea published: Darkly Dreaming Dexter. This was a lovely novel... compelling and quick witted. And despite the almost “evil twin” like dynamic forced upon us in the last twenty pages or so... it still holds up as a good read.

Then came the good one: Dearly Devoted Dexter. This is the definition of a page turner. Quite clever and filled with surprises. And when I first read it (and the mind boggles knowing what I know now) I thought the novels had a chance of being better than one of my all time favorite shows.

But I was wrong! Oh so wrong! Dexter In The Dark was a boring schlop of a read... utterly unentertaining. It feels more like a “new” Anne Rice novel than a crime thriller (or whatever you’d call it).

However, the follow up gave me hope. Dexter By Design at first seemed to be fun. Not at the same level as the first two... but a massive step up from the third. Then it took a drop. Things started to make less and less sense until the ending which leaves you with nothing to hold onto. Not even the excitement that the next one will be better... because I don’t want another one. I don’t want another poorly written book tainting the good name of Dexter Morgan and all that he stands for. Lindsay’s problem is a classic one... he assumes that Dexter is a smart guy and tells us so repeatedly, but never actually shows it. Nothing that happens in these later books can be traced back to a clever/quick witted mind.

But... I digress. Season One is splendid on Blu-Ray and some of the best television you’ll likely ever see. Season Two is faster and funner (if that’s a word). Season Three is such a brilliant build... Jimmy Smits keeps you guessing all season long until you hit the climax and  a pleasure cloud envelops your whole body with the wicked joy of it all.

And Michael C. Hall is one of the greatest working actors out there (so yes I will see Gamer). His performance in Six Feet Under is absolutely nothing short of brilliant, especially when you hit that one episode in season four. Mm-mm good.

So I’ve seen the first episode of the upcoming (much anticipated) season four of Dexter. And while I think it may have been a slightly less than finished cut, it still maintains that edge we’ve so often come to expect from the show. But the new season comes with its own surprises.

My expectations were for a clean connection to season three as we saw coming out of season one and into two... they are literally only weeks apart. That’s what I anticipated here. But no dice. Rather, we skip out on all of that pregnancy stuff. No big loss. We saw enough of that in Angel. 

Thanks Julie Benz for the good memories. But we also miss some of the Deb investigation. And yes some awesome characters reappear and most relationships are exactly where you’d expect them to be... there’s a strange leap for two specific characters. You’ll know who when you see it. Too bad. I liked the season three subplots. But I guess the writers just didn’t need the specific one in question.

I’m trying pretty hard not to spoil the event for anyone, so I should really stop this article now. Let’s just say, the season four premier packs a real good haymaker. And Dexter just rocks. Been reviewing old seasons on beautiful Blu-Ray. And they look just perfect.

The new season premiers September 27th.

Who Wants To Pay $135,000 For A Blu-Ray Player That Doesn't Do Anything??

Just found out that the company Goldmund is producing a $135,000 “universal” player that doesn’t actually play every format... 

and doesn’t have the capability to play BD-Live? Here’s the source article. Why would anyone buy this 66lbs (note the “bs”) mediocrity? They’ve got that much money to throw away I suppose? Give it to someone who needs it...

The fact is, Blu-Ray players can already play all DVDs, most VHSs have worn out by now and look terrible anyway (not that you can actually play them in it), and HD-DVD is dead and gone. So what is Goldmund trying to prove?

And who the hell would actually buy this crap?

I Still Don't Know How I Feel About Ares

This may seem a strange topic of conversation, but I’m a big fan of space and very interested in all things NASA. So, I wanna talk about the Ares rocket... because it’s surprising to say the least.

First things first, I am very glad that we’re going back to the moon. Finally. And that means we’re going further still, to Mars and beyond. Thank god for that. But the way we’re getting there is odd. And while I’m all for “stepping back to step forward” as my latest short story implies, I just didn’t expect it from NASA.

Look at this:

It’s the Ares. It is how we intend to go to the moon. And it’s not a Shuttle. 

It doesn’t feel like it could someday bus people back and forth between worlds. 

It’s reminiscent of the Apollo. 

I suppose that’s understandable. The successes of the past inform the successes of the future. We cannot help but stand on the shoulders of those who came before us...

But couldn’t we have built a new form of Shuttle that left some extra room for a Lunar Pod? Maybe I just think that’d be cooler from a Sci-Fi perspective. Or maybe there’s more to come and maybe this was the cheapest way to just get us back up there again?

I want to live in 2001: a space odyssey. Hopefully we’ll reach that level of technology some day soon... you think these missions will lead to a new Lunar Colony? I hope so.