Remi's Bloglet - Monday 28 April 2003

We got home safely and relatively un-frazzled, if not a little late in the evening. Had a good time seeing folks (although it was weird and discombobulating having croquet on Sunday, it was still a wonderful time). Caught up with a bunch of folks, ate some food, had some spirits. All around excellent. _
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01:55:14 AM, Monday 28 April 2003

Uhm, Liz and I on campus, we'll be between here and the coffeeshop looking for folks. We'll head off to Dave's house around 7:30. _
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06:15:29 PM, Friday 25 April 2003

Uhm, slight change of Croquet plans. Liz's car is on the fritz, but we really, really need to get out of Athens this weekend. So we're flying. And staying in a Hotel. It's going to rule. We're arriving sometime on Friday afternoon, we'll be wandering around downtown all afternoon and probably hanging out at Dave Bohannon's for the evening (I guess you could e-mail him or Mike Goodrum for directions). The Ramshead and 49 West are also good bets. Anyway, if you really need to find us, we're staying at the Annapolis Sheraton near the mall, the number is 410-266-3131, ask for Elizabeth Sudduth. Woo! _
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11:25:30 PM, Thursday 24 April 2003

Well, it turns out that I was suspected of using a weighted die at an earlier tournament, and that's what all the weirdness at the HeroClix tournament on Saturday (the 'accused of cheating' thing I mentioned a few entries down)was about. Luckily I managed to confront a couple of people about it, and we seem to have come to an understanding that I was not aware of the die's nature. I've agreed to use a set that I'll keep at the store if people will stop giving me shit about it. It's not a perfect solution (it feels like being punished for something that I'm not particularly guilty of), but it should clear the air and allow me to have a good time in the future. _
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04:33:17 PM, Wednesday 23 April 2003

I hate doing this, but Mirabai, if you see this, could you get on AIM? _
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04:48:34 AM, Sunday 20 April 2003

I was going to talk about being accused of cheating at a HeroClix tournament, but instead I'll talk about how the set went on Thursday. The overall impression from this end? It went okay. I've been more comfortable on stage, and I've had better sets musically. It had it moments, though. Song-by-Song

INTRO- Just a little instrumental start to our show. Starts alright, but I totally miss the D chord in the chorus the second time around and it just stops. We introduce ourselves as The Pine Brothers. I have no pictures, but Dave is well over six feet tall, and broad of shoulder and relatively athletic in build. I am none of these things. See? Subtle physical humor.

Little Green Sponge- We've been playing this song forever and ever, we rocked it.

I Hate Sex-Dave drops sticks, and during the talking verse about the 1000 lb girl I used to love, I insert 'drummer' for 'girl. The verse where Cookie Monster takes a bite out of my head goes over well, and we go straight into the next song . . .

Sleep- Kicking it hard, dave misses the break down, but we continue on. Then I break a string during the following verse. I tell Dave to keep the audience entertained while I try to restring the guitar, and he makes some jokes, but quickly runs out of material. I point out that I'm bending over in front of a room full of people and he can't bring himself to make a butt joke. I'm going slowly, and can't find an extra D string. Luckily, Steve from Television Buzz lends me his Fender.

Sugar On My Tongue- The Fender is a much nicer guitar, but it feels & sounds funny and out-of-tune to me. This song goes well, but I'm stressing at this point. I tune up between this song and Blink Tag.

Blink Tag- This song went really, really well. It had a new chorus, which we muffed at first, but managed to get it later. Jeff from Community Chaos liked this song.

Dumb Bastard- Inter-song banter about Dave and my differing political views and how this song demonstrates the healing and unifying power of music goes over very well. The audience seemed to get the vibe of the song, which is basically calling people who do stupid things dumb bastards.

Emo Song-Dave's song goes well, I flub the guitar bits thanks to the unfamiliar feel of the Fender.

Mad World- Sounds good, I flub several lyrics. I need more low-register songs.

Peppermint Schnapps- I slow down the second chorus too much, and the song almost comes to a complete stop. We bounce back, kick ass, flub the 'daddy' stop, and kick the last chorus hardcore.

Indie Rock Bottom-Play it competently, hipsters seem to dig it. Run offstage.

Overall people seemed to have a good time. I sang pretty well and managed to have a minimum of serious gaffs. I think it was obvious to everyone present that we were having a tough time keeping it together, and Dave and I were having communication problems. The next show will go much better. _
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03:52:40 PM, Saturday 19 April 2003

Outside of 5th graders and fans of fantasy novels, does the 'long book = good book' equation exist? _
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07:41:36 PM, Friday 18 April 2003

We got listed in the ABC section of the Flagpole this week scroll down to Thursday and look for Pine-Nut. Yes, the bands write the descriptions. _
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06:11:31 PM, Thursday 17 April 2003

THE GREAT SASUKE WILL CRUSH YOUR PUNY FILLIBUSTER! Japanese wrestler elected to local assembly seat. No, he won't remove his mask. _
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12:48:12 AM, Wednesday 16 April 2003

I know what time it is! It's time to evangelize Mark Leyner (the badly-formatted stuff on the right). _
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12:19:20 AM, Wednesday 16 April 2003

Wpp Jpp! _
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11:51:16 PM, Tuesday 15 April 2003

My band, pine~nut will be playing the Caledonia on Thursday. To commemorate, here's the poster I made for our first-ever club show _
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10:20:30 PM, Monday 14 April 2003

Finally downloaded the tracks off travismorrison.com, and Sixteen Types of People is okay. At least it's listenable and has a relatively catchy chorus. Checkers and Chess is a whole different beast. It takes the laconic tone of Sixteen Types and puts it to the most godawful techno/glitch/weeble-weeble/crap music I've ever had the displeasure of hearing. I'm hoping these tracks are just him getting bad songs out of his system, or maybe he's no good at demoing. I dunno. Either way, it doesn't bode well. It lends creedence to my suspicion that The Plan was one of those bands where the whole was far, far greater than its parts.

Look at me, complaining about free music. Wheee! _
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07:24:50 PM, Monday 14 April 2003

Call me an asshole, but the looting of a museum has upset me more than anything else about this war. _
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09:43:42 PM, Saturday 12 April 2003

I had totally missed that MC Frontalot has a protest song! _
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12:01:54 AM, Thursday 10 April 2003

I hope that not having worked in graphic design for two and a half years will not negatively impact my ability to get the job. After reading that sentence . . . well, I wouldn't hire me. _
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03:36:25 PM, Wednesday 9 April 2003

Cloud Ecosystems. Cool. _
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11:34:45 PM, Tuesday 8 April 2003

The Dismemberment Plan's pro-war lead singer Travis Morrison has a website now. I guess that means he's really taking the step into solo-act status, in the wake of the Plan's breakup. It has his arguments for war (the sort of reductionist logic that's been repeated a million times before) and his ideas about Iraqi Oil for Iraqis (which is more enlightening, and, I think, an important consideration now that the war is on). He also has 2 songs up, but I can't comment on them because I'm on my slow-ass 56k modem. _
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07:57:39 PM, Monday 7 April 2003

Last week I went to Miami for a friend's funeral. I hadn't seen her in years, but she was the sort of person whose kindness and joy sticks with you. The kind of person worth honoring, no matter the distance or time passed. I'll miss you, Amy, and I'm sorry that I missed so much. _
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11:33:06 PM, Friday 4 April 2003

I'm going down to Miami for a few days, I'll be back on Sunday or so. _
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06:06:08 PM, Tuesday 25 March 2003

A wonderful antiwar statement made through an Achewood guest strip by James Kochalka. _
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08:41:01 AM, Monday 24 March 2003

Dude! We have Optimus Prime on our side, how can we lose!?!?

[via occasional fish] _
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11:29:26 PM, Sunday 23 March 2003

Hm, I have the desire to cartoon again. Alas, Idle Peace seems to have been another failed attempt. I guess I need to script stories in ten pages or less . . . _
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04:32:52 PM, Friday 21 March 2003

Yeah, there are definitely people in Athens I don't care for. ugh. _
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12:52:31 AM, Monday 17 March 2003

Cool! My Go and German boardgame playing, Ko Fight Club drawing, computer-geeking, pal in Austin, TX Russ has a blog! Welcome to blogging, russ! _
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05:26:17 PM, Sunday 16 March 2003

Sometimes, this is how I feel. _
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06:53:45 PM, Saturday 15 March 2003

Tycho Brahe of Penny Arcade reports that some government loon has equated file sharing with terrorism. His invective encapsulates and surpasses anything I could put forth. _
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06:17:11 PM, Saturday 15 March 2003

I received The Avalanches Since I Left You from Julia yesterday and have been listening to it pretty much straight through since then. It's not as accessible as Max Tundra's Mastered By Guy at the Exchange, but it has some great cutup pop hooks. I think Frontier Psychologist (is that a Ricky Martin sample?) is my favorite track, but I don't really feel like I have a good enough grip on the album as a whole to make that sort of judgement yet.

In other news, I wish I had had the money to buy 69 Love Songs when it came out, instead of having to pick it up piecemeal now. _
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05:36:35 PM, Friday 14 March 2003

As Tim pointed out, I screwed up the link to the Islander Guidebook. Here's the right one. _
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03:26:56 PM, Friday 14 March 2003

Well, we got the Islander Guide out (click the link for PDFey goodness!). If this piques your interest, but you don't have the desire at the moment to play, you can join the game later by taking control of an NPC island. We've also set up a yahoo group, which anyone interested in the game should join, and where updates and changes to the rules will be posted and discussed. _
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08:10:41 AM, Friday 14 March 2003

I really want to see Willard, and this cover & video of Crispin Glover doing Michael Jackson's 'Ben', makes me want to see it even more. Twisted hilarity. _
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09:25:54 PM, Thursday 13 March 2003

Tired of downloading remixed video game tunes? Get real old skool with Super Madrigal Brothers! _
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11:41:23 PM, Wednesday 12 March 2003

The Beast is done. To bed, to bed. _
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03:47:06 AM, Saturday 8 March 2003

Damn, if only I were still doing Too Fat, all the domains are open for purchase again. Where do people buy their domains, anyway? And what should I expect to pay? _
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10:05:35 PM, Friday 7 March 2003

Okay, folks planning on doing Islands should get me something by this Sunday at the latest. Just a due-date for first drafts. If you've answered the six basic island questions in any detail and sent it to me, you don't have to send me any more by Sunday. _
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01:13:36 AM, Thursday 6 March 2003

Has anyone else been watching Reign: The Conqueror? It's a really bizarre mixture of anime cliche's, Aeon Flux anatomy, and Ancient Greece. It captures the oversexed intrigue and violence of Ancient Greece, keeps most of the names (Aristotle appeared in the episode I saw tonight), and ignores picky things like architecture and clothing fashion. I want to see more before I make any final judgments, but overall I like. _
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12:45:14 AM, Thursday 6 March 2003

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