Dudes,
How did I neglect this for so long? I guess I was busy relaxing.
Aside from that, Vietnam is way cool, just in case you didn't know.
Have you traveled Asia?
Just Japan, which I loved very much. I am going back with my family sometime after my kid is old enough to remember it. A few years.
I'd love to go back sooner. Or elsewhere in Asia.
Today I awoke at 7, popped on Big Star to start my day. Can you think of a better one-two punch than Mod Lang/Back of a Car to get oneself into a summertime friday headspace?
Mmmmmmm...no. I can't think of one. That is about as good as I would expect to do.
Followed this up with Developer on the train ride to work. I feel like this record was somewhat overlooked compared to other SKWM albums... Is this true or did it in fact get the level of attention of, say, Firewater?
Well, Firewater sold a lot better than any of the other records. But Matador spent many dollars on it. Not Bettie Serveert money, but a fair amount of real money nonetheless.
I don't know what would have happened if they had spent that kind of dough on Developer, but it wouldn't have been that great an idea.
A friend of mine -- you know him, Polish guy, plays bass both well and barefoot, avid gardener -- once labeled Developer as 'distilled Firewater' which I think is both an accurate and clever description. Do you agree?
I think Developer is probably a tough record to get into in some ways, as much as I like it.
I didn't read the Rocket's review of Developer (in Seattle), but the picture was of a little guy all alone out on the sea in a leaky boat, or something like that. Maybe he was up on top of a tree instead. Anyway, I liked it, and that's kind of how that record seems, in my mind's eye.
I do think there's also an energetic nervousness and awkwardness to the stuff up thru Firewater that isn't really on the other records, which are more assured and fluid (if also cranky) .
I prefer the later material, but it's more to my taste today. Can easily see how other people would disagree.
see you on the 13th.
Very good. I need to go to Au Pied de Cochon while we are there, probably after the show.
1. Did you see Inland Empire? If so, what did you make of it? Where does it rank? I would put it above Lost Highway, below Mulholland Drive.
This was the movie I most wanted to see in a theater in the last four years. Didn't happen. Can't bring myself to rent it. Maybe it will reappear.
Love both LH and MD, MD a bit more--it's an unequivocal masterpiece.
2. Have you finished all three seasons of Deadwood yet? How fucking awesome is Deadwood?
Seasons 1 and 2 were basically made for me like a suit.
I used to be obsessed with the Wild West when I was a kid, read all these books etc.
Living in MT, it was history the remnants of which I had seen with my own eyes, compelling in a way that other things could never be.
I loved the first two seasons of Deadwood--they seem pitch-perfect to me. My dad complained about the language--more b/c it's historically inaccurate than b/c it's harsh--but it has to be harsh by modern standards to work.
The third season seems like an obvious dropoff. More fractured, more gothic and almost cartoonish or soapoperatic at times.
I'm through the first four episodes, but I'm not chomping at the bit to watch them, the way I was the first two years of it.
3. Can you explain your switch from English/drama to electrical engineering? Seems like quite a turnaround.
I love acting, and I'm good at it. Watching plays, it's OK, but I never go. I really just love acting.
Studying drama is NOT about acting so much as doing a bunch of bullshit plus a little acting and then hoping you get some commercials or a part in a soap opera. NO THANKS. Whoever said it's a glorified service profession was right about most of it.
English, fun to read and write about reading.
But when I went back, I had a strong desire to learn something I didn't already know, and I was deeply curious about engineering as it pertained to sound and audio in particular.
And I wanted to see if I could develop an engineer's mindset, as opposed to the artistic mindset I had always had.
I could, and I did it! So nice.
I think almost anyone can do this turnabout (more of an add-on, really), if they wish to do it. You just have to want to do it, knock out the work sequentially and with consistency, and be more afraid of failing than you are of learning new things. I really didn't want to fail.