pageTitle*EQUALS*Agh! The internet burns! itemTitle*EQUALS*Media roundup.... itemDate*EQUALS*Wednesday, March 01, 2006 itemTxt*EQUALS*

Suffice to say, I haven't been posting because my life is really up and down right now, and I'm trying not to obsess on it. With that in mind, here's some shit I think deserves a litle linky love:

WFMU is doing their annual fundraiser this week. Which means, next Tue evening is the traditional Yo La Tengo live fundraiser. By pledging, you can choose any song in the world you want them to cover, and they'll gamely do their best. It is hands down one of my favorite things in the world to listen to. Here's the info page.

Our great NY pals Kickstart got interviewed by the BBC a while ago and there's an mp3 on their site. Fun.

Also, FMU posted an mp3 of something I used to play on my old radio show all the time. It's the 'Langley Schools Music Project' covering 'Space Oddity'. I've always found it oddly charming and wished I had been in that high school gym.

And finally, today on metafilter somebody did a nice post about Doris Wishman. Somebody responding posted this quote from her:

"Let me tell you something. All movies are exploitation movies."

Brilliant. RIP, Doris.

itemAuthor*EQUALS*Morgan itemNick*EQUALS*Morgan authEmail*EQUALS*lumpenprole@yahoo.com authURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com itemDateTime*EQUALS*5:45 PM itemUID*EQUALS*114125312047336233 itemArchive*EQUALS*2006_02_26_past.html itemCommentCount*EQUALS*0 itemCommentURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com/morgan/2006/03/media-roundup.html itemCommentLink*EQUALS*Post a Comment &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& itemTitle*EQUALS*Memories of a book that never was. itemDate*EQUALS*Wednesday, December 21, 2005 itemTxt*EQUALS*

So, we're in New Hampshire at my mom's house. It's great, the dogs are great, the folks are great, the food's great. I miss my cats and my computer and my guitar, but I'm cool with that. I'm thinking about stuff, of course, because it takes about 6 black russians to stop me from thinking.

My folks left out a book I gave them when I finished it, and I picked it up again. It's the great A Year at the Movies. Kevin Murphy, a former writer for MST3K, spends a year going to the movies every single day, and writes about it. It's a great book, and I love to read it. I'm also totally jealous.

Anybody who knew me back in oh, I'm gonna say 95 or so, knew about my grand plan to write a road book about drive-ins. See, I was going to write this great book where I took about six months and rode my motorcycle to all the remaining drive-ins in the country and took photographs and saw movies, and wrote about it. This did not happen for a number of reasons, which I will get to in a minute.

When I first got a copy (a present from my dad) my first response was "Hey, why didn't I do that?" Well, I had my own version of it in my drive in book, and I even shopped it around to a couple low level publishers I met. It didn't happen for several reasons and just for fun, and work out my jealousy, I'd like to contrast it with why Kevin Murphy's book was made.

1. I HAD NO MONEY

I couldn't take six months off to ride around to drive-ins. I couldn't take a week off to go to the beach. I was frigging broke. Even if I could have taken the time off, I couldn't afford to stay in motels and feed myself. I would have had to live on rice and sleep in national parks. My humorous account of pining for a lost pleasure would have turned into some retarded cross of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and "La Boheme." I would slowly go insane without protein as I froze to death in my tent.

Of course, my big plans involved living on an advance from my publisher, which is what Kevin Murphy did. Unless he just lived off of MST3K money, I don't know. Of course, I'd have to convince a publisher to give me and advance, which leads me to reason number two.

2. I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN ANYTHING LONGER THAN THIS BLOG POST

A slight exaggeration, but true where it counts. Kevin Murphy wrote a successful television show for that ran for like, ten million years. My poetry has been published in a couple college magazines, but past that, I'm not a writer. I'm not sure what idiot courage led me to believe this was not going to be an obstacle, but that's what I thought. I'm a relatively amusing guy in person, and I just figured shit would happen that I could take down, and I'd work out the grammar later.

Well, of course, writing is a skill. Sure, talent in storytelling helps, but you have to do it to be good at it. I don't do it. I'm much better at fucking off. Kevin Murphy did it a lot. A whole lot. It shows. And let's be honest. What kind of a publisher would give me a pile of money after I said "Well, I just figured I'd work the writing part out later"? A publisher soon to go broke, that's what kind. A publisher buys into things that will make them money. Things by people who never did anything before rarely get completed, much less make money. I was trying to sell it on the basis of it being a great idea. Which leads me to point 3.

3. GOING TO DRIVE-INS ON A MOTORCYCLE IS A STUPID IDEA

Okay, a drive-in is made to go to in a car. A car. I have gone to drive-ins on my motorcycle, but that was with friends who drove, and they brought lawn chairs, and we generally had a full on picnic experience. Going by myself is a stupid, stupid idea. I thought it was iconoclastic and planned on bringing some kind of camping chair with me. Of course, we all know those camping chairs suck, and it probably would have been a miserable experience. And let's just forget about rain, okay? Because I sure did.

Kevin Murphy only came even vaguely close to this level of obstinate stupidity once in his book. He decided to live for a week on food sold at concession counters in theaters. He didn't make it the full week, but I'm pretty sure he went a greater percentage of his concept than I would have gone on mine. And let's face it, my idea was stupider. Really.

4. WHO THE HELL WAS GOING TO BUY THIS BOOK

This probably goes back to one of the other reasons I wasn't getting much interest from what publishers I managed to corner. Nobody has been going to the drive-in for a long, long time. Why the hell did I think people were going to read about the drive in? I mean, Americans don't read! And the don't go to the drive-in! Ipso facto, the percentage of Americans who want to read about going to the drive-in has to be down around the percentage of people who voted for Nader twice. And the fact that I fit both of those categories doth not a best-seller make.

Kevin Murphy did the whole gamut of movie theater experiences, but mostly he went to multiplexes. That's what most Americans do, if they see movies at all. Plus, he had that whole "I'm doing something you do to an extent you would never do" thing going for him. My idea was "I'm doing something you don't do, in a way you would never do if you did, and expecting you identify." Not a real crowd pleaser. Here endeth the list.

Okay, Kevin Murphy wrote a better book than I ever would. Though mine would have poignant photographs, but that's a minor difference. And, to be fair, he has a chapter drive-ins on route 66 that's great. As he points out in his chapter, between the time he planned the trip and the time he went on it, about half the drive-ins closed. This was a plan to document a doomed experience that was becoming doomed so fast, I probably wouldn't have been able to document it. It never would have happened the way I wanted it to.

But I like to imagine it would have been great. And my consolation prize is this: within a week of marrying the love of my life, we were at one of the last remaining drive-ins in America in Skowhegan, Maine, having a blast. That's the kind of memory that makes your losses perfectly acceptable.

itemAuthor*EQUALS*Morgan itemNick*EQUALS*Morgan authEmail*EQUALS*lumpenprole@yahoo.com authURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com itemDateTime*EQUALS*2:24 AM itemUID*EQUALS*113515008100331688 itemArchive*EQUALS*2005_12_18_past.html itemCommentCount*EQUALS*1 itemCommentURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com/morgan/2005/12/memories-of-book-that-never-was.html itemCommentLink*EQUALS*Post a Comment &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& itemTitle*EQUALS*Coffee is an occupational hazard here. itemDate*EQUALS*Wednesday, December 14, 2005 itemTxt*EQUALS*

I drank so much coffee today my head exploded into fragments.

One fragment described a high angle, low velocity arc that scraped the troposphere. When it returned to earth, it lodged in the skull of a man in China. It made itself at home there and now my thorax is occasionally under the impression that it is a pirate DVD seller from the town of Wu Xan. Which is just ridiculous.

Another fragment embedded itself in one of those featureless gray boxes you see at intersections all the time. Rather than being a phone junction box, it turned out this box was a router for the Echelon 3 spy and listening system set up by the shadowy agency that lurks behind the CIA, NSA, and FCC. Instead of damage, it caused a complicated cross routing that has caused three sleeper agents to activate, turn rogue, and get the girl in the end.

A third fragment passed completely out of the gravity well of the earth. Thanks to a double banked gravity slingshot of Mars and Jupiter, it has approached a creepily high velocity and is now catching up, albeit slowly, to the voyager probe. It is entirely possible that aliens, coming upon the fragment chasing the probe, would think that the dominant culture of the earth changed radically after sending the probe and launched a ballistic object to destroy it. Perhaps in some attempt to hide our collective lights under a bushel. I fully expect this to result in the destruction of the earth by a superpowerful race that is simply looking for something important, like a child shaking out a sock drawer looking for a hidden birthday present.

So, it's important to monitor your coffee intake is what I'm saying.

Also, I ranted to Sheri the other night about Sharper Image. Mostly about how they didn't represent technology of any interest and just packaged airplane catalog crap in silver to attract the magpie eye of the young over paid type. I stand by that. And yet, I actually want this animated robot chimp head more than any other useless toy I've seen lately.

Perhaps Sharper Image could make a living out of marketing toys that are not just super cool, but a little scary and disturbing. The beauty of that gift page is also that if you buy one, that's fine. But if you buy a second it's markedly discounted. As if one animated robot chimp head wasn't enough. I guess the demographic they are pointed at is willing to buy a second creepy gift if it's marked down. I firmly believe that two of these pointed at each other with a furby in the middle would summon some dark power from the void. And I wish I could prove it.

Here's hoping your holiday is filled with creepy monkey heads.

itemAuthor*EQUALS*Morgan itemNick*EQUALS*Morgan authEmail*EQUALS*lumpenprole@yahoo.com authURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com itemDateTime*EQUALS*11:24 PM itemUID*EQUALS*113462073806971801 itemArchive*EQUALS*2005_12_11_past.html itemCommentCount*EQUALS*2 itemCommentURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com/morgan/2005/12/coffee-is-occupational-hazard-here.html itemCommentLink*EQUALS*Post a Comment &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& itemTitle*EQUALS*Tripping the To Phan. itemDate*EQUALS*Friday, November 25, 2005 itemTxt*EQUALS*

Hope everybody had a good Tday. In strict defiance of protocol, Sheri and I went out for Chinese. Hand shaved noodles make me freakishly happy. We're doing the 'Sat after Tday meal' that involves all the same ingredients, but at a substantial discount since noone else is shopping for them anymore. I love bargain holidays.

However, if you're still hungry after your gluttony, maybe you should run down to the Chubby Vegan for that guilt free pig out. How many ounces?

You just better hope you don't get one of those waiters who are nauseated by food. What a bummer.

Also, I wrote a new picture viewer for this blog. Sad Krusty will demonstrate.

Loaves and Kisses....

itemAuthor*EQUALS*Morgan itemNick*EQUALS*Morgan authEmail*EQUALS*lumpenprole@yahoo.com authURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com itemDateTime*EQUALS*10:31 PM itemUID*EQUALS*113297589351186857 itemArchive*EQUALS*2005_11_20_past.html itemCommentCount*EQUALS*0 itemCommentURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com/morgan/2005/11/tripping-to-phan.html itemCommentLink*EQUALS*Post a Comment &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& itemTitle*EQUALS*Turn around bright eyes. itemDate*EQUALS*Wednesday, November 16, 2005 itemTxt*EQUALS*

I...
Want...
To...
Be...
In...
This..
Band..

SO BADLY!!!!

Total Eclipse of the Heart
(big download, but oh so worth it)

itemAuthor*EQUALS*Morgan itemNick*EQUALS*Morgan authEmail*EQUALS*lumpenprole@yahoo.com authURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com itemDateTime*EQUALS*6:45 PM itemUID*EQUALS*113218478790154623 itemArchive*EQUALS*2005_11_13_past.html itemCommentCount*EQUALS*1 itemCommentURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com/morgan/2005/11/turn-around-bright-eyes.html itemCommentLink*EQUALS*Post a Comment &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& itemTitle*EQUALS*Those leafy bastards! itemDate*EQUALS* itemTxt*EQUALS*

Do you hate trees? Sure. Of course you do. Who doesn't? They're so green and smug and that pitch gets everywhere, and don't get me started on the holier-than-thou attitude of birches. In fact When I think about it I get so mad I want to set myself on fire and run into the forest and roll around screaming "HAHAHAHA!"

....Sorry.

So, if you need an outlet for that tree-hatin' playa in you, Daniel Young, a British digital artist has the very thing. "Lumberjacked!", a game you play against a tree (or plant). He's rigged a sensor system that turns plant movement into gameplay. Very thoughtfully, the site mentions that "The Tree Gaming Controller Unit makes it possible for trees of any age to play computer games." Wow. If you're so lonely that you're already talking to your ficus, this might be the thing that makes you feel like you're engaging in some kind of relationship you weird freak.

And listen, I'm feeling a little guilty about that tree rant. I love trees. So do me a favor and head over to www.saveourenvironment.org and ask congress to stop fucking our shit up, eh? It might not be doing anything, but I always feel a bit better for it.

itemAuthor*EQUALS*Morgan itemNick*EQUALS*Morgan authEmail*EQUALS*lumpenprole@yahoo.com authURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com itemDateTime*EQUALS*4:41 PM itemUID*EQUALS*113217776014014902 itemArchive*EQUALS*2005_11_13_past.html itemCommentCount*EQUALS*0 itemCommentURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com/morgan/2005/11/those-leafy-bastards.html itemCommentLink*EQUALS*Post a Comment &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& itemTitle*EQUALS*Tentacular frenzy! itemDate*EQUALS*Sunday, November 13, 2005 itemTxt*EQUALS*

So Sheri was googling freinds and family the other day and noticed that my results had changed. Fourth down is a link (here it is, no need to look) to a movie that I'm apparently going to be in. Of course my stardom was inevitable, but you're wondering how it came about I'm sure. You're probably thinking it was the result of hard work, putting myself out there, enduring endless rejection, beating down doors, doing time in crappy productions, eating crow, honing my craft, and generally keeping my eyes on the prize. Nope, just sitting around one afternoon after having finished up work early and Kayobi called up, said she was doing makeup for some short film and I was the only one around to get their face covered in goo.

No, it's not a bukkake film. It's some lovecraftian thing, and apparently I'm playing an 'old one.' This neccesitates a face made of tentacles. Or covered in tentacles. Or something. Anyway, if you've ever wondered what a plaster cast of my face looks like wonder no further!

That of course brings me to the subject of the new xbox game "Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth." I've been playing it for about a week and there's a lot to talk about with it. Foremost, is the addition of a feature that's really common to pen and paper rpg's based on the cthulhu mythos, but new to video games. Sanity loss. Your character (and it's first person) can lose their sanity just by seeing things that humans aren't meant to see. Another innovation ties into this, there's no HUD. You don't have a health bar or a 'sanity bar.' Instead, you have to judge health and sanity by the way you act and the way you see things. In other words you have to make sure what you're seeing is real and you're not just insane. It's kind of like real life in that way.

The game itself has some shooting involved, but it's more of a puzzle game than a first person shooter. Which also makes the sanity thing kind of ironic. I've certainly felt like I was having a 'Massive Sanity Failure' when I was playing a puzzle game, but I've never had the game agree with me before. Anyway, great game, cracktastic.

Also, before I go, even if you don't know the song it's parodying, you'll love this new video from the Bing Bong Brothers.

itemAuthor*EQUALS*Morgan itemNick*EQUALS*Morgan authEmail*EQUALS*lumpenprole@yahoo.com authURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com itemDateTime*EQUALS*5:07 PM itemUID*EQUALS*113191965966010824 itemArchive*EQUALS*2005_11_13_past.html itemCommentCount*EQUALS*0 itemCommentURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com/morgan/2005/11/tentacular-frenzy.html itemCommentLink*EQUALS*Post a Comment &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& itemTitle*EQUALS*Bits and Pieces. itemDate*EQUALS*Tuesday, November 08, 2005 itemTxt*EQUALS*

So the amazing and talented Catherine has posted a little bit of her as yet unpaid comic work at http://furry-cheese.gypsykat.com/. Yeah, she borrowed the domain name from us, and yeah we don't care because she's so cool. So, she used our domain name, but links to us and now I'm linking to her. I think we're going to go blind and grow hair on our palms.

Greeter, of which there are only thumbnails on the site, is a piece written by our new pal Johnzo, (seen grinning at his amazing wife here.)and from some drunken bits he's let slip, sounds totally fucking amazing. Mind you, I'm trying not to pump him for info because I want to attack it unsullied by future knowledge.

Had that great experience of having read something of Johnzo's when we met them. It's the Lovecraft take on the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin myth and can be found, appreciated and loved here. Apparently, somebody did an audio version of it here.Minus 10 self-promotion points to Johnzo for not mentioning this to us.

Seattle continues to be a fount of coolness and odd experiences. Sure, there's parks and arts and carny people and bands and all that. But I have to say that one of the great discoveries of this move has been that the burger place three blocks away carries root beer shakes! It's like my entire childhood shooken up and dispensed in shake form. And before you ask, yes, I'm gaining a little weight.

itemAuthor*EQUALS*Morgan itemNick*EQUALS*Morgan authEmail*EQUALS*lumpenprole@yahoo.com authURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com itemDateTime*EQUALS*11:07 PM itemUID*EQUALS*113151005348653289 itemArchive*EQUALS*2005_11_06_past.html itemCommentCount*EQUALS*2 itemCommentURL*EQUALS*http://www.furrycheese.com/morgan/2005/11/bits-and-pieces.html itemCommentLink*EQUALS*Post a Comment &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&