And You May Ask Yourself Where Does That Highway Go?

This weekend I went to see Knoxville's local Talking Heads cover band, Same As It Ever Was. I've been meaning to see them for some time, but only now got around to actually going. They were excellent. They do justice to some amazing music. It was much more danceable than I previously thought of Talking Heads' music being.

Tonight I checked out David Byrne's journal, which I unfortunately don't read nearly enough. He often writes about his experiences on the road, and much of the culture (musical or otherwise) he witness. Sometimes he's very vocal about politics. Either way, it's good reading.

Oddly enough, one of his recent entries describes his travels down south, stopping by Dollywood, and then having dinner in Knoxville at Market Square.

It was kind of eerie to read about one of my favorite performers stopping through my hometown. Like I could have run into him if I'd decided to go out that night.

Anyway, some of his comments about Knoxville and Dollywood are very amusing.
Here's an excerpt:

"At the Holiday Inn in Knoxville, I saw a sign for the historic town center. Thinking it might contain some character and restaurants, we head there in search of dinner. There’s no one on the streets — not metaphorically, but literally not a single soul is out and it’s not even 8 o’clock. Eventually, we reach Market Square where we see people sitting at some outdoor seats. There are few restaurants, so we’re in luck. They serve me wine in a tiny plastic airplane bottle and we share a nice salad and some salmon. We wonder, where is everyone? Do they come to town to work, some of them, and then go home and stay in at night? Or do they go to restaurants and bars in suburban strip malls?"

To Boldly Go...

Today I recorded my lines for episode one of Continuing Mission. My lines for episode one are pretty basic, not much emotional range required. So the recording went smoothly.
The interview I recorded shortly after may be a different story. I've never done a recorded interview, so I'm sure I'll come out sounding like a clueless douchebag. But that's fine as long as my acting for the show is solid.
Of course there's no way to tell that until the episode is completed, which is going to take another week or so, I'm told. But it won't be available for download until December, so you'll have to wait.

I'm not sure when the interview will be put on the site, but I'll keep you posted. We can grimace at my awkward responses together.

Inner Child

A while back I posted about a preschool class's musings on growing old.
Now the children in that class have looked within to explore their own feelings.



Again, this comes courtesy of Boing Boing.

Movie Night 3

Short list this week:


1. Superthunderstingcar -
This is an hilarious sketch from the Peter Cook/Dudley Moore series Not Only...But Also (wiki) which ran intermittently in the late sixties and early seventies. It is a spoof of Thunderbirds and similar marionette shows that ran at the time (think Team America with live actors). Unfortunately it is no longer on YouTube, but I snagged it before it was removed.



2. Voices of a Distant Star (2002) -
An amazing 30-minute anime short about a young girl text messaging a boy while she battles an alien threat in deep space. Why are cell phones still prevalent during a time when interstellar travel is possible? If you need to ask this question then perhaps this movie isn't for you. The text message device is simply in place to explore the relationship between two people divided by a seemingly infinite distance. As Mikako's mission takes her further and further away from Earth, her messages take days, and then years, to reach Noboru. Never mind that he ages years while mere days pass for her. It's a simple and beautiful story.
Even more impressive is the fact that it was made almost entirely by one man, Makoto Shinkai, on his Macintosh computer.



3. The Saddest Music In The World (2003) -
This is still the only movie by Guy Maddin that I've seen (not including some short films), and it is one of my favorite movies of all time. It looks like an old silent movie, and it feels like watching someone's dream.
It's about a beer baroness during the depression in Canada. Depression, or no, alcohol is always in high demand, which has left the baroness relatively unaffected. She decides to host a publicity stunt in the form of a contest to see which country has the saddest music in the world.
It's also about a broken man trying to mend his shattered family, while attempting to win back the love of his life.
And it's about a man's quest to find the essence of sadness while simultaneously refusing to face his own tragic past.
And it's also absolutely hilarious.
Hell, I love any movie that manages to coherently combine a daydreaming nymphomaniac who receives messages from her tapeworm, beer-filled prosthetic legs, and a man who keeps the heart of his son preserved in a bottle of his own tears.
As the main character testifies early on, "Sadness is just happiness turned on its ass!"

To Boldly Go...

I recommend you take a gander at the project going on at this site.

Furthermore, I recommend you take a gander at the cast of said project.

End communication.