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Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
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12:13 am - Only one thing taste like bacon...
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...and that's BACON!
This evening, I went to a bacon tasting. I can die happy.
And based on the amount of sodium I just ingested, I probably will.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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9:30 am - Tractors. Just.. Tractors
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Last night I played a really dreadful gig. The Lansing Concert Band Big Band played our annual tent gig for the Lions' Club in Williamston. Usually, a fun evening. Last night, just the other side of the fence?
A Tractor Pull. No, really. From before we got there until after we left, enormous very loud tractors. Try playing "Moonlight Serenade" over that.
They weren't even musical tractors, like the one I posted two or three entries ago.
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, June 19th, 2009
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4:53 pm - Erdös Numbers
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Having never even HEARD of an Erdös number before today's xkcd, I am pleased to report that I have an Erdös number of no more than 7.
Update: If you count this video and community theater productions, (A HUGE stretch, I am aware) then I have a Bacon number of 2. This would mean that I have an Erdös-Bacon Number of 9.
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| Saturday, June 6th, 2009
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3:15 pm - National Zoo Pictures
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Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo. As I indicate in the comments, "The Blurry Ducklings" would be a great name for a band. So would "Otter Parade".
Zoo Pictures
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9:36 am - Concerto for blues band and tractor...
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I'll post cute animal pictures from the National Zoo soon, but first this:
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
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9:37 am - Bawlmer Part 2 - A Film Geek is Sad
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The second night of our trip to DC, we went to the Senator theater in Baltimore. The Senator is a 30s vintage, art deco movie theater. It has one screen, seats 800, and has beautiful WPA murals in the lobby. They serve real butter on the popcorn.
Needless to say, it's in serious financial straits, which is why I wanted to go one last time.
However, my experience there gave me some insight into WHY they may be in serious financial straits.
The film was "Yellow Submarine". They had a HUGE poster draped over the front of the theater for the movie. However, as it turns out, they did not actually have a film print of the movie itself. According to the volunteer (!) working the concession stand, "Oh we searched on the internet, and we couldn't find the distributor, so that means it's public domain."
No. No it does not. The only thing farther from the public domain than the Beatles is Disney.
So they screened... wait for it... a DVD. On the GINORMOUS screen of this beautiful old movie theater, they projected a 420 line standard def DVD. It looked awful. If the whole point of saving a theater like the Senator is to remind folks of what the movie going experience SHOULD be, you do NOT show DVDs.
If you can't find a print of the movie you want to show, you show some other movie. Apparently, the rights to Yellow Submarine are somewhat tangled, and it's difficult to get prints. Fine. Pick something else.
The lobby was also full of tables; the theater is trying to raise cash by selling various memorabilia, t-shirts, etc. They are also selling 35 mm trailers at 20 bucks a pop, which makes no sense, as the things are pretty much given away by the studios, and nobody has a 35 mm projector to show them. What makes even less sense is that they are also selling individual reels of 35mm movies for $30 each. Who would pay $30 for 1/6 of a movie that they can't even show?
Not to mention that selling 35mm movies is illegal, as they are technically still property of the studio that owns them. eBay will insta-cancel listings for 35mm prints.
It's very sad. I want the Senator to survive, but what's the point if they aren't going to show film?
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, May 31st, 2009
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8:18 pm - Our Bawlmer Trip.
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I've been meaning to post about our trip last weekend to Bawlmer (Baltimore, for you non-residents). I figure I'll do it in small drips.
The first night we went and saw a really interesting play called "Souvenir". Go catch it if you get a chance. It's a semi-fictionalized account of an actual society matron in the 30s and 40s who was absolutely convinced she had a brilliant singing voice. But didn't.
Her records and recitals were exceedingly popular, but only for the train wreck factor. (Think Johnathan and Darlene Edwards) But the play also raises a good point. Those of us who do perform music on a regular basis have to wonder: is that me? Am I fooling myself?
The lead character was absolutely dedicated to her art. The music in her head was flawless, and the tragedy was that not only couldn't she realize it, she didn't know that she couldn't.
In fact, moving beyond music... all of us have wondered at one time, "What if I'm not as good as I think I am?" Or worse.. haven't.
Judy Kaye was brilliant in the lead. Highly recommended.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
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12:44 am - Statistics question
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I know someone on here knows statistics. Help me out:
Say I draw 38 balls randomly from an infinite supply.
There are 18 possible colors of balls.
What are the odds that among the 38 balls I have drawn, I have a minimum of one each of 6 particular colors?
In other words, if we number the colors 1-18, what is the likelihood that I have at least one of colors 1-6?
And what color is the white bear?
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, May 9th, 2009
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7:11 pm - Oh won't you tell us 'bout those rabbits, George?
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I am diggin' this song. There's no official video, but here's a youtube link just for the music:
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
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7:21 am - Easter Bunny!
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...it's what's for dinner.
So Leigh and I, who are not a bit religious, celebrated Easter by making a nice rabbit stew recipe that a friend of ours created. It takes all day and uses every dish in the house, but man are the results tasty.
And the irony was delicious too.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, April 5th, 2009
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10:19 pm - For music dorks only..
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| Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
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11:30 pm - A cover I'd like to see...
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I want to see the B-52's doing "Head Like a Hole"
Hear the voices in your head as you read. Think upbeat, and in a major key.
Fred Schnieder:
"Head Like A Hole!"
"Dark as your soul!"
"I'd Rather Die!"
"Than give YOU control"
Women:
"Bow down before the one you serve!"
"You're going to get what you deserve!"
OK, now you think of one.
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, March 26th, 2009
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5:03 pm - I am brain dead
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I teach at a community college, so our spring break is timed to match the local public school system. This makes sense, as we have a lot of high school kids taking classes, and a lot of non traditional students who have kids in school.
However, it means that we have eleven weeks before break, and 4 after. I'm running on fumes, here, people, and there's still a week to go.
On the other hand, for the first time since I've been in Lansing, a band I've actually heard of, is playing a non-arena venue here. Specifically, Freezepop.
The bad news is, it's a Tuesday night. I've got a CLASS on Tuesday nights. The good news is, it's during my oh-so-late spring break. So I guess everything works out after all.
In other news, this is cute:
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Sunday, March 1st, 2009
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11:56 pm - Just you wait...
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I haven't made a post for a bit, so here's a quick update. Currently, we're doing "My Fair Lady" at school, so I'm out late every night for rehearsals. The principals are all quite good, and the pit is good as well. The big downside is that this is a loooong show, so combined with my hour commute, I'm staggering in quite late.
We're still playing Rock Band quite a bit, and I've actually discovered a new band I quite like based on their inclusion as a downloadable song. How geeky is that? For your consideration:
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Friday, February 6th, 2009
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4:27 pm - As long as I'm posting...
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Hey ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dejablack!
It's been a year since this post, how are we doing? At last check we were within 10 songs of each other.
Current Stats:
How Many Songs Total: 11,717
How Many Hours Or Days Of Music: 36.7 days
Most Recently Played: Suite de Caballos de Vapor: Danza del Hombre : Carlos Chavez
Most Played: Missa Noe Noe: Kyrie And Gloria : Jacob Arcadelt (Due to using it on a quiz)
Most Recently Added: Frases: Andrea Echeverri
Sort By Song Title
First Song: "A-Punk" : Vampire Weekend
Last Song: 99 Luftballons : Nina*
Sort By Time
Shortest Song: "It's Been Emotional (film dialog)" : Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels*
(Shortest song that is actually a song: "Who's Knocking on the Wall?" : TMBG)*
Longest Song: Don Quixote, Op. 35 : Richard Strauss*
Sort By Album
First Album: ABBA-esque : Erasure*
Last Album: 9 Sacred Choral Works : Tchaikovsky
First song that comes up on Shuffle: Gallows Pole : Led Zeppelin
Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death: - 55
Life: - 166
Love: - 354
Hate: – 16 (10 of which are "Pretty Hate Machine")
You: - 669
Sex: – 50 (half of which are divided between The Sex Pistols, and "Essex", by Allison Moyet)
* These are the only things that HAVEN'T changed
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4:20 pm - Sci Fi Marathon
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Somewhat belated, but I want to point out a few interesting films I saw at the Sci-Fi marathon a few weeks back.
"The Mouse on The Moon" - Sequel to "The Mouse That Roared." No Peter Sellers this time, but still a charming little movie. Highly recommended if you're not in the mood for something heavy.
"The World, The Flesh, and The Devil" - I Am Legend, but with no zombies, just Harry Bellafonte, a white woman, and a white man, as the only three people left in the world after a plague of some sort. The fascinating thing about this movie is that it was made in 1963, and shows serious racial tensions, even with only three people in the world.
"Through a Scanner Darkly" - Must remember to watch this one sometime after having been awake for LESS than 35 hours.
I also wish to point out that BOTH Ricardo Montalban films on the program were booked well before we knew he was going to die that week.
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(comment on this)
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| Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
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1:50 am - Game Night!
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Huzzah! I haven't played a cool board game in a while, and now I've played two!
Thanks to byronczimmer and principia_coh, and their excellent game selection skills, drdingbat, theatricaltoy and I got to play two very cool games.
"Guns and Cash" involves pointing large foam guns at one another and shouting "Banzai!" It's a beer-and-pretzel game par excellence. At the other end of the spectrum, "Agricola" is very deep, and I'd buy it if I could think of three other people in Lansing we could actually play it with.
Incidentally, I should do an "end-of-year" post at some point. But I probably won't. So here's the short version:
Still have job teaching music at a community college.
Still live in Lansing.
Still very very happily married.
Currently in Baltimore/DC area to celebrate holidays with friends and family.
Will shortly be returning to Lansing to music direct a production of "Tick Tick Boom." (oh, and return to job)
Looking forward to another wonderful year with L, the CWRU Sci-Fi Marathon, and a president who can pronounce the word "nuclear."
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, December 21st, 2008
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8:12 pm - Clean Coal
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| Thursday, December 4th, 2008
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10:22 pm - Two recently photographed dumb signs
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| Thursday, November 27th, 2008
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2:41 pm - Best parade float ever!
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