Posted in General, News on November 16, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
I’m off to chemo tomorrow. I also gotta get a CT, which means I have to drink this chalky stuff every few hours. Then they inject me with iodine and everything gets warm.
(Drip, drip, drip…)
I wouldn’t say I hate the hospital, but…
Well, we all have certain things we have to do. I rather enjoy spending the day with my wife. Despite all the crap, she’s there by my side to smile and pick me up. I’m a lucky guy.
My students are watching a movie so the sub can’t screw anything up.
It’s not so bad.
Good night, Loyal Reader. I’ll let you know how things go…
I am watching a scene in which two main characters have been pantsed by a Meathead. They have no choice but to walk home in their underwear. One wears boxers, the other briefs. When they get home, they fall back into their standard, meaningless, sitcom story. It’s pleasant and innocuous. I laughed aloud more than a few times. I like that it features nerds. I’ve watched it about twenty times. It’s officially my new favorite show.
It’s hard to start a new show. I have a busy DVR. Working something new into the mix is tough. Most sitcoms start bad, bad, bad. They take a while to build steam and for their central characters to gell. These 20 episodes of THE BIG BANG THEORY took a bit to sink in. I watched the first one because it was on before Conan O’Brian. Then I kept catching theme before Conan and viola! I dig it.
(Fuzzy, but true…)
I’m still fuzzy with character names (though I have heard them a thousand times, I’m usually watching while blogging or surfing). I definitely know Sheldon. Jim Parson’s super nerd – he’s ridiculous and over the top, but the character is consistent. You start to believe somebody could act that absurd and walk around without getting his ass kicked.
He does this cool, little sidelong snicker, surprising himself as he laughs, that’s weird and then funny and then viral video funny (see the video at the end of this post).
The writing for the show is outlandish and as sitcom-dumb as most every other sitcom, but a lot of the geek references are right on (never mind how I know, I just know!). Most importantly, each of the supporting cast has grown into their characters as well. They form an endearing pack of dorks.
The normal neighbor, originally there for one of the nerds (all of the nerds) to ogle over, has grown into a fully-fledged character. The Chosen Nerd even spends a season or two (I am watching these things in random blocks and sometimes I am uncertain where I am in the timeline) dating the normal chick. They’re friends now. New love interests have been added to spice things up. Another nice touch is how characters get catty, and petty, and jealous, but then end up best friends with their boyfirend’s new girlfriend and on and on…sitcom drama…
(Nerds in action – from the scene I decribed above)
It’s good stuff.
Sheldon does that laugh thing a number of times in this clip. Grammy winning stuff, Loyal Reader…
Posted in General, Music, Rants on November 14, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
VH1 is running a multi-part series about Metal called, METAL: EVOLUTION. It’s put together by the same filmmaker who did METAL: A HEADBANGER’S JOURNEY (2005), Sam Dunn. The guy’s an anthropologist and he’s chosen rock/metal culture as his forte.
His first film was a nice, concise look at the different types of metal subcultures and how each segment of the genre influenced and created one another, creating more subgenres.
I learned about Saxon and Black Sabbath in the early days. Dunn’s first documentary touches on all sorts of Metal, concluding with the aggressive new metal of the time (Marilyn Manson and Slipknot type stuff, circa 2005).
(Feel the fire! Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaw – High kicking in skin tight spandex!)
This new show seems like a deeper chronicle, going the series route, devoting an hour to each subject. The first episode, Pre-Metal is waiting in my DVR. New episodes debut each Saturday. I highly recommend you join me. You’ll enjoy yourself, Loyal Reader, I promise. A good documentary is one of my favorite things. They are thumbs-up cool!
Anyway, my pop-culture Metal skills will be honed and I’ll be a lean, mean, trivia machine.
Posted in General, Raves on November 14, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
If you don’t know what SKYRIM is, you’re much better off.
For those of you in the know, I just killed my first dragon (well, the soldiers this dude, Jarl, sent with me killed my first dragon – one of my arrows helped, but I don’t think it was the fatal shot). I equipped my first shout (aural death-strikes I emit with my mouth!). Things are looking peachy.
One gripe – I tried to enter the college of magic but can’t cast the proper fear spell (need more magicka) to get in. Damn.
(Hit him with some fire then chop that badboy a new one!)
Aside from the central quest, I murdered a bunch of folks and stole a bunch of goods (the guards can’t stop me!).
Also, I just lost about three hours of my life.
See you in the real world, Loyal Reader. Oh, and if you happen to meet my Skyrim avatar, a mean, little Night-Elf named, Kenny Powers (woot, woot!), don’t trust ’em. He’ll knife you in the back, set your dying body aflame, and then take whatever doesn’t burn up in the fire (gold, baby, gold – jems are nice, too).
Posted in General, News, Raves on November 13, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
I’m 3 down, Loyal Reader. I know you aren’t trippin’, it probably takes you a while to shuffle through unread posts – there’s tons of content right?
Still, this is not an exit. Oh, no. I’m 3 down? I’ll knock out some new blogs and catch up as I can.
Here we go…
(My home away from home)
A lot has been going on. I started the weekend on Thursday night at midnight standing in line for my long-awaited copy of SKYRIM (a Nerd’s Paradise). My gem of a wife accompanied me. She seemed to enjoy the experience.
Then we got home and I played for two hours. So far so awesome.
Friday we wasted the whole day at City of Hope. BORRRING. Alas, it needs to be done.
Yesterday, Michelle and I went to Hollywood to meet some friends for Sushi and then a few more friends and then a performance of the sublime ASSSCAT, a weekly improv sketch show held at the Upright Citizen Brigade Theater. It’s a steal at 10 bucks. If you need a cocktail, don’t bother the roaming waitress who are not there, just take a pull of whatever you brown bagged in. The staff is cool with it. Just throw out your trash at the end of the show, you dirty animal.
(Don’t Think!)
Next, we kicked it with Logickal, Rex Steel, Wizwaldo, Mrs. Aero, my honey, and the coolest postman around. We had a blast and in the end, each of my tall, strong friends helped me carry my new guitar and bass amps.
We loaded up quick then hit home, late, for some DVR action and a good night’s sleep.
Right before blogging this blog, Michelle set up my music room. I tested the amps. All is well. Feast your eyes…
(My girl is magic!)
(Bringin’ da funk!)
I’ll catch up this week (2 missing threads), until then, rock on!
Posted in Music, News, Rants, Raves on November 9, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
Like GWAR, SKINNY PUPPY were part of my love for theatrical, art, horror rock. GWAR were the grimy kings of metal, SKINNY PUPPY held down that industrial angle.
I learned about GWAR right out of high school. SKINNY PUPPY took up about two or three years of my teens. I went on this very teenage, high school, drama, gothy, industrial music kick. I loved the stuff. NINE INCH NAILS ruled (still kind of do). Trent Reznor was my idea of supreme awesomeness.
SKINNY PUPPY were nowhere near as melodic. They didn’t produce too many club bangers. They are kind of like industrial-psycho-monster jazz. Some of their atonal aural scapes and sound collages aren’t really music. I always skipped those (or played them in darkened room or something stupid and teenage). I listened to a few of their albums heavily. Cleanse, Fold and Manipulate, Too Dark Park, and Last Rights were all excellent albums. There are a few of those non-songs, but they just add to the ambiance. SKINNY PUPPY are all about ambiance.
(My favorite SP album)
They perform in costume, but unlike GWAR’s sleazy, outer space, scumdogs, SKINNY PUPPY are way dark.
I went to a show at the Hollywood Palladium in ’92 for their Last Rights tour. I was sixteen. It was my second or third concert ever (My first? RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS at the Greek Theater circa Mother’s Milk). It was scary, Loyal Reader. I was too small for the tumult.
(My second favorite SP album)
Before the show, me and my posse (I rolled with like eight others in a mini-van) gathered front and center and nabbed some prime real estate. As showtime got closer the lights went lower. The music on the PA got weird. They played lots of pre-show metal – Danzig and Ministry and the like, but as the show was about to begin, the band worked in part of their act. Those atonal aural soundscapes weren’t so atonal. They still weren’t music, but the electrified the vibe. The crowd began to swell.
Front and center and short is rough. As soon as the crowd began to lean forward, one huge mob of interlocking legs, stumbling and squeezing the hell out of each other, I basically got squished.
Seconds before they hit the stage the music on the PA cut out. The crowd swelled. The lights went out. The crowd went BONKERS.
More of those aural experiments zapped the air like lightning. Things on stage began to light up. A few TV sets played static then images of the grotesque.
Nivek Ogre (Kevin spelled backwards, folks), SKINNY PUPPY’S front man (they were a trio back then – the lineup has changed over the years), stepped from the darkness in the creepiest, full body monster suit I’ve ever seen. It was awesome.
Alas, I was swept about the arena on a tidal wave of wild gesticulation.
My teenage mind had officially been blown.
(Showtime!)
I stuck with them for a couple of years. The last album I tried was 1996’s The Process. They’ve had some stuff since them, but I fell off. The band suffered overdoses and deaths and have regrouped here and there. Last week I picked up their latest, Handover. The jury is still out. I gotta give it a few more listens. So far so good though. Some of it reminds me of their old stuff. One song sounded like Rob Zombie (which is also currently in out Car’s CD changer).
Perhaps it’s time for a Renaissance? Is that gothic, industrial drone compatible with the adult brain or was it merely a phase? Time will tell.
My wife is new to them. She hasn’t gave me her opinion yet, but I think she likes it. I’d ask her, but she’s taking a nap. The woman DOES NOT STOP. It’s finally caught up to her. I’m glad. She’ll get the sleep that she needs and she looks damn adorable sleeping.
Part of SKINNY PUPPY’s (what a lame name though, huh?) appeal is an undercurrent of madness, of dark, romantic madness that gets teenagers all nutzo. I’m too grown for that emo crap, you know?
So then, Loyal Reader, get out there (however you do it) and buy a new album, then listen to it and pick it apart. Blog about it. It’s fun.
I was bummed to hear that GWAR guitarist, Cory Smoot, died a few days back. I don’t know all that much about the men behind the masks, but the guy was only 34 years old and it’s a shame he passed on. Talk about one of the coolest jobs ever.
After a few google searches, I’ve learned that Smoot wasn’t the original Flattus Maximus(the character he played in GWAR), nor will he be the last. Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus, GWAR’S outspoken frontman (and original member since 1984), plans on continuing the tour in Smoot’s memory. The mask angle gives a band like GWAR the anonymity (and longevity) to swap musicians as needed.
(Super badass!)
GWAR is more known for their live shows than their song writing ability, but they have some pretty great songs. I prefer the old stuff – their fun debut HELL-O (1984), and their crowning achievement in terms of concept and musicality, SCUMDOGS OF THE UNIVERSE (1990). The two lively sets are filled with funny, sleazy rockers. They are in regular rotation on my iPod.
Of all the art-rock, punk rock, thrash bands, I’ve got floating around my hard drive, GWAR probably gets the most play.
In any case, those live shows?
Those live shows RAWK and ROLL, Loyal Reader.
I’ve seen GWAR about six times. I’ve stood apart from the action, marveling at the spectacle and I’ve been in the trenches, up to my eyeballs in sweat and food coloring.n
The best shows – the ones spent in the heat of an undulating, pushing, throbbing sea of bodies, crowd surfers above, a tornado of moshers whirling a few feet of flesh away – are near religious experiences. You thrash and dance and squeeze, while the band sprays you down with hoses (and gnarly squirt guns, and, um, phallic cannons).
(The calm before the blood soaked storm)
In the midst of all that sweat and latex and sugar sweet blood, GWAR actually rock pretty damn hard. Each time I’ve seen them they’ve gotten heavier and heavier. I like Death Metal thrash about as much as the next guy, but punk metal is more my cup of tea. Their old stuff had that vibe. Their new stuff grinds, but some of it buries melody with growling instead of singing. Still, they play their cooler songs every show. Most of them have built-in sketches. The GWAR guys seem to delight in performance art. Their shows aren’t just violent trash – the artistry is sublime.
They used to have a fire dancer (according to Wikipedia she’s since left the band) that did an awesome routine to a killer instrumental.
No matter your tastes in music, if the opportunity to go to a GWAR show presents itself you HAVE to go.
Posted in Movies, Rants, Raves on November 5, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
Welcome to mediocrity…
I saw two impromptu movies this past week, Loyal Reader. Circumstance pushed us into theaters without much forethought. I love this. Last summer, while trying to get over this damn disease crap (as if I’m battling the common cold or something), we spent a lot of time at home. The money we usually pony up for a nice trip somewhere historical, or tropical, or both, went to easy diversions like movies, and eating out, and the occasional thing.
We saw lots of impromptu movies. We even went to see a movie one fine afternoon and then went to another movie at an entirely different theater in the equally fine evening. The lack of order was very cool. I probably enjoyed certain movies more than I ordinarily would have because of it.
Sitting near my best girl, eating popcorn and Junior Mints, unconcerned about time and responsibility, enveloped by the screen – I can’t think on anything sweeter (I truly can’t).
During the school year, things are quite a bit different. We are superBUSY and we don’t get to the movies as often. We plan. Movies actually mean more because we can’t see them all. We rarely take chances and see things that we might deem as subpar for kicks (like we did ALL summer long). It’s less about the experience and more about the quality of the movie.
Anyway, back on Wednesday, my chemo session (usually six hours of intravenous boredom) got cut short thanks to an extremely uncomfortable allergic reaction (I’ll blog about the drama of it someday). Suddenly, my lovely wife and I found ourselves with a few hours (our kid was at a band event) to kill. Naturally, I brought up the Flickster app on my iPad and we made our way to a showing of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3.
Meh.
That’s it.
I’m not mad at the film (unless I really start to think about the films I could have watched in its place – but then, I don’t think anything out there is all that great at the moment anyhow).
It wasn’t bad.
It was…meh.
(An exercise in patience – Junior Mints and popcorn help to pass the time…)
I do dig the way each of the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY sequels slowly (ever so SLOWLY) fills in back story that’s useful to appreciating the film that came before it. I thought part 2 was especially clever, running a story that moved concurrently with part 1’s narrative. I have to give the PA team credit for tweaking conventions and doing things differently than the average cash-grab retread.
Still, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, no matter the chronology, or the occasional glimmer of inventiveness, is…well…still, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. It’s still all about watching NOTHING (hoping for something) for about 80 of the film’s 90 minute run time.
Jumping ahead, the end of PA3, like that of PA1 and PA2, is pretty cool. Like part 2, I like what it does for the other films in the series. It’s interesting (I’m a sucker for demons and the like). Unfortunately, it’s not even a little bit scary. I thought the first and second film did a better job with the creepy factor (utilizing typical household creaks, and groans, punctuated by the occasional massive BOOM for effect). PA3 strives to shock, but the overall impact has withered.
(Note: as a self-proclaimed horror aficionado, it takes a lot to scare me, but I am handicapping my review with the average viewer in mind).
I guess the million dollar question here is would I go out and see PA4?
The sad answer (damn you Hollywood and your filthy, money-making tactics) is ABSOLUTELY!
Despite my many, many quibbles, I’ll definitely turn out for another round. The movies have built up a wonderfully macabre mythology around a simple tale of demonic possession. I want to know what happens next, if only for five to ten minutes of screen time thrills.
So then, go see it, or rent it, but remember, my recommendation comes with a giant MEH tacked to its backside.
Oh, also, the second film we stumbled into, PUSS IN BOOTS, got a small mention in my post EMOTIONAL TWISTER. I can probably come up with more to say, but does the picture really warrant a few hundred words about how average it is. Probably not. If you have a kid in the proper demographic, you could do worse.
The weird thing about the PA3 trailer is that it features a number of scenes not in the actual film…
Right hand Sadness. Left hand Tragic. Right foot Cold. Left foot Magic.
Then you topple to the ground in exhaustion.
Yeah, it’s been that kind of day, Loyal Reader. No school. I missed the monkeys. We’re writing a FREEDOM WRITERS essay. I think I’d have rather spent time correcting tenses and spelling things like ‘Coincidence’ or ‘Asparagus’ for four hours than going to a funeral, but we are people of respect and respect we must.
I don’t want to really get into it. He was an incredible guy. He shouldn’t have died. He had way too much to live for and it’s so sad it breaks my heart every time I think about it. Pounding it out, each keystroke jabs. My hands want to type something happy. It’s not happening. Not today.
Well…
I have to look at it the other way around. I am alive. And my family is alive. And we love our lives as much as we love each other and that is enough forever and always.
After the funeral my wife, and my kid, and I drowned our sorrows with sushi (a beef bowl for me – cancer won’t let me have bacteria filled raw fish) followed by some bookstore time, followed by a movie (PUSS IN BOOTS a harmlessly, hardly funny, cutesy diversion), followed by more bookstore time, then a visit to Best Buy for some new music.
Here are our five new albums…
1. Skinny Puppy – Handover
2. Rob Zombie – Icon
3. The Black Keys – Attack & Release
4. Mastadon – The Hunter
5. Kid Cudi – (I forget the title and am too lazy to go to the internet and check. Same for the other bands – you can google them if you like. Anyway, with Kid Cudi, it’s his new one.)
(I’ll give you my opinions on the albums as they come to me)
Oh, and then my wife made the most awesome pasta bake! Yum!
You know, though it never makes a lick of sense, life can be quite awesome.
Good night, Loyal Reader. Be safe and live right.
This silly movie is…meh. All of the best bits are in the much shorter trailer. Watch it instead. You’ll save 10 bucks and 89 minutes.
Posted in General, News on November 2, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
Hey, Man!
Michelle and I want to upgrade my band room. I need some nice, garage band amps that won’t break the bank.
Can I send you a list and you can tell me what sort of deal I can get, or would you rather help select the right set up – you’ll be jamming at least twice a year also! – Halloween, and I think I’m going to start annual summer barbecue jam. Whatever happens, you gotta be a part of the inaugural class!
What I really need is two guitar amps, maybe two 2X12s? I’d like a bluesy, warm clean and then heavy, crunching, screaming distortion, but if not, I can always find a pedal that complements the clean channel enough that switching back and forth will fit perfectly. I’d like two identical guitar amps so the sound and its variable sounds are enough alike to harmonize and create some beautifully in tune music. I also need a bass amp, maybe a 15″ combo amp, or maybe 2X12s as well. Searching, I’m coming up with about 1,000 bucks worth of stuff – the amps I need are about $350 each and the bass amp is about $250 – 350, the higher end prefered.
(Vintage equipment has a great sound, but lacks the digital tricks of its contemporaries)
I’m gonna keep that ROLAND JC 120 Jazz Chorus. It’s not mine to sell (a cool friend lets me use it for as long as I like), but it’s distortion sucks and it has a weird hiss (when I googled this I learned it was how it was supposed to be. Some people actually want that hiss). In any case, it can be a powerful guitar amp, and a real mean contender with it’s deep, clear, fuzzy clean channel paired with a Metal Zone pedal capable of ripping the roof off your garage. Those 2X12s really rock!
Still, the hiss pisses me off.
I found it’s a pretty good PA. I can buy a mixer / head for it, and then run my ancient delay rack mount (which is 1000% fun) through it to clean up that hiss while giving my brand new $50 High / Low impedance mic the stones to run the show. I can finally hear the vocals clean and clear. The mic setup cranks LOTS of volume. We rocked it with most knobs turned to 4. With different effects that number varies. Sometimes you gotta turn it down even lower to avoid feedback, sometimes a delay effect might pull the sound down so low that you have to turn up to compensate. I was tempted to buy a PA and do it right, but this amp is special (it goes for 1K used on ebay! I’m lucky my buddy is so cool. I must honor him by giving it an important place in our little band (It cannot not be played!).
(Like Batman, I like my gadgets high-tech and fun. Line Six’s digital processors offer all sorts of killer sounds! Spice up a solo with some wah and flange and a slight delay – fun!)
Any way, I want to upgrade those three amps and want to do it soon. Maybe we can visit and shop – when you get off work, we’ll eat and then see some UCB.
Between new toys, good friendship, and watching good comedy, I can’t think of a finer night out.
Oh, by the way, this is going up on my blog as a daily post entitled, The Letter Of Dreams To Come. I like to keep a Day In My Everyday Life vibe ’round here. My Loyal Readers like letters and gossip and digging in the dirt. Though, while editing I’ve come to notice that we are boring and pretty gossip free. We like to make fun of folks sometimes (off camera please), but without that Rex Steel causing beef, you’d almost be germ free.
(Click the pic and get in the know. Listen, learn. Rex will be appearing in my rock – rap – festival-on-fire opus, HYPNOTIC. Spittin’ rhymes, cappin’ on fools, swaggering his way through the crowd, when the guns come out Rex is ready to bust a few of these mutant blood freaks’ headz!)
Okay then, what do you think? E-mail me back so we can get this musical transaction underway. Then we need a plan to break it all in…
Michael Louis Calvillo Must Be Destroyed 