Posted in General, News, Rants on December 10, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
I’m waiting on my XBOX 360 to update. It’s damn slow. So slow, I am able to sneak a post in before falling into Skyrim.
(Oh yeah!)
The past twenty-four hours have been emotionally wonderful. Up and down, Loyal Reader. Mostly good though. I got to spend time with my niece and godson and nephew. They make life magic. My niece is two and a half and my nephews are one and a half. They are crazy adorable. Holding one is special. My godson, Matthew, digs buttons. He presses them and marvels at their effects. The window going up and down had him cracking up. I have this little cajun in my pocket – it’s a key ring that makes cajun sounds when you press one of the six buttons. The kid kept hitting the same two or three sayings, cracking up at the funny cajun voice emanating from the tiny speaker in plastic.
Can you believe my XBOX is still updating! It’s been a few. I had to think my way through some of the stuff above us. And still it’s updating. And updating. And updating. This is a perfect chance to paly Skyrim. A free afternoon. After Skyrimming, I’m gonna maybe watch a movie or some TV. We’ll see. It’s going to be a nice afternoon.
Come on XBOX! I’m waiting not so patiently!
How about some more cajun?
My XBOX is still updating. I went looking for the Skyrim picture then the cajun bit and I’m all ready to publish, but still, my XBOX is still updating!!!
Posted in General, News on December 8, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
Literally.
I got me some new blood.
No, I am not a vampire (nor would I choose immortality if given the opportunity), but my platelets were low, so they hooked me up and gave me a fresh supply of the red stuff.
I don’t feel any livelier. Some of the side effects include renewed vigor, but blood infusions have never worked that way for me. I usually don’t feel any difference. In fact, sometimes I get even more tired.
My sweetie pie says I got more color in my face. I didn’t know I was so colorless before. But, then, the other day, my gardener asked if I was anemic, so there you go. I guess I was looking a bit pale. It’s okay. I like this whole, pallid, heroin chic look. If I tousle my hair and make it big, I can furrow my eyebrows and glower like a short, bearded Edward Cullen.
(The blood! The blood!! The blood!!!)
The infusion went smooth, but our visit to the hospital lasted ALL day looong! There are lots of sick folks out there, Loyal Reader. Hospital waiting rooms are overflowing with ’em.
Some interesting vignettes. There was an actual nun. A squat, jolly one with the full-on headpiece and a host of rosaries tied round her robe. It was fun to watch her interact with a 26 month year old named Jackson.
My doctor shook my hand and squeezed the hell out of it. I squeezed back. Neither of us backed down. In the end it was a draw. We finished the handshake with manly resolve and an understanding nod of the chin. My doctor is one cool dude.
Posted in General, Rants on December 7, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
Between sleep and Skyrim (the best), and a crappy subpar comedy (by all means, stay away from 30 MINUTES OR LESS – I refuse to hyperlink it!), I haven’t gotten much done. Sometimes my writing pulls like an albatross around my neck. It’s difficult to get started. I’d rather sleep. Once I get it going, it goes easier, but the beginning isn’t for lazy people. You gotta work. You gotta put in those hours.
It doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day.
Where does the time go? A kid in one of my classes asked me if I noticed how time moves faster now than it did before. I agree, but I didn’t feel that way at his age. At his age I thought time was slow as molasses. A year? Sheesh, that seemed like forever.
(Time, time, time, what has become of me?)
Now, it feels like nothing. One year bleeds into the next so fast it’s as if we are traveling at light speed, hurtling through the universe, burning up, then expiring. It the Great Agony of our existence, Loyal Reader. It’s deep, deep heart stuff.
Posted in Books, News on December 5, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
I love it when I get a new idea. I got one this afternoon. That little light bulb went off and poof! There’s a whole idea just begging to be written out. It’s not fully cooked. I haven’t even told my wife (who is going to ask me about it as soon as she’s done reading this!). But a lot of it is ready and waiting. I even got a fancy name that sums the whole thing up. It’s catchy. And it creates a whole, new world with a few striking words. I can’t spell it out just yet, but I am sure it’s a keeper. I wrote a few paragraphs and it’s feeling good.
(Here I go, here I go, here I go again...)
Sometimes I get so burnt out I can’t even get my brains to hold my eyelids up. Other times, I get so charged, I can’t help but to stare wide-eyed at overflowing capability.
A little suspense then. The Idea will manifest soon. Once I work out a few kinks I’ll spill.
Last night we had a Pajama Jammy Jam. A small gathering of friends came over for some pajama wearing fun. Everything went smoothly. We had a good time. I got to break in my new amps (which I’ve been blabbing about on this here blog for weeks and weeks). Though I had an awesome time, I didn’t have one of those transcendent music moments. We played a few cool jams, but I spent a lot of time just trying to find my groove. It was kind of disappointing, but, well, what can you do? You jam, once, twice, three times a year tops, and you’re bound to be rusty. Next time around, I hope to burn this mutha down.
(Beware my (eventual) power!)
Until then, I need more practice. I need to practice more. There’s nothing worse than the sound of ill-tuned, ill-timed, sloppy guitar playing (just thinking about it has me cringing).
So then, if you check in here daily, or every few days, or however you do, you may have noticed that I’ve missed a few blogging days. Sorry. I have no excuse, Loyal Reader. Chalk it up to laziness. I guess I can blame my new chemo. I switched from one poison to another (I’ll write about it one of these days) and the transition has been a little rough (not to worry, little being the operative word here).
This new chemo has a host of side effects (don’t they all), one of which being flu-like symptoms. I ache some and feel a bit flush and weak and all I want to do is watch TV and sleep and sleep and watch TV. Alas, it’s nothing I can’t tolerate. I’ll manage (and watch some bad movies on cable while on the mend – speaking of which, I caught HATCHET II the other night – other than the opening titles, set to Ministry’s fabulous Just One Fix, it was uber-terrible).
(Chasing that elusive groove…)
I usually don’t rock the bass, but sometimes you gotta take one for the team. I came up with some solid bass lines on a few free form sessions and brought in that back-end on the Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Weezer, Beatles, and U2 covers (to name a few) we attempted (mostly successful – though I must admit, a few songs dissolved into chaotic noise – not that this is a bad thing – sonic discord can be fun).
It’s a shame we are all so busy with real life. Distance makes it impossible (we all live about forty minutes+ from one another), but if we could find a way to practice regularly, we might sound good ALL of the time rather than some of the time. Oh well, we had fun and that’s what it’s all about. It’s not like we’re going to be the next big thing, that opportunity left the building the moment we grew up and started our careers.
That’s life, Loyal Reader. It’s fleeting and fragile.
Which reminds me…
My wife and daughter and I went to see Martin Scorsese’sHUGO. It raised a lump in my throat and got my brain all tripped up on BIG, BIG life themes. It’s more than a sweet, stylish, family movie. It’s a special film, one that deserves a fully dedicated blog post. I promise to write about it some time this week. I’ll get my mind right and try to do it justice in my critique.
Here’s that killer Ministry song (the best part of HATCHET II)…
Posted in General, Music, News, Raves on November 30, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
Did you know that I can use my iPad2 as a complete, fully functional music studio? It’s pretty darn amazing.
This iPad thing is bonkers. The sleek tablet does EVERYTHING. I’ll read about an app, or, even cooler, I’ll think about an app, then go to the app store and search for it and boom-bam-bif! There it is!
All of the internal iPad things – games, a killer reader in iBooks, Garage Band – work as awesome as ever, but the stuff that truly flips me out are the apps that extend beyond the device to power or enable other devices. For instance, I picked up a Line Six Midi Mobilizer 2, a tiny adapter that connects the iPad with any midi-controlled device. I can plug in my midi keyboard (or any midi controller) and use it to play zillions of synth sounds (found in zillions of synthesizer and drum machine apps – many of which are free!). It’s crazy.
(My new studio. Futuro Robot Love. iPad2, I love you.)
I used to have a clunky computer, loaded with music programs, on a clunky stand, tethered to the keyboard. It worked well, but now I have the same functionality with a slick, thin, techno dream machine.
I’m considering an app (which requires an external adapter) that turns the iPad into a smart remote. I could bring the iPad from room to room and control every function on each of our TVs and their corresponding cable boxes. You can program the remote to do all sorts of cool stuff. It’ll remember favorite channels, let you create playlists for easy access to particular shows, and integrate the internet into your TV watching experience.
A cool app I stumbled upon yesterday takes your iTunes library and automatically finds music videos for every song in your collection. I opened The World Has Turned And Left Me Here by WEEZER and ten videos – the original music video, a few live performance clips, and a few You Tube videos – loaded right up. I paused the song and browsed the videos for a while. Very cool.
(Say goodbye to time.)
And then there’s those games. I never thought I’d like them. I have a 360 and a PS3 and get plenty of gaming in. Why would I want to spend more time gaming on my iPad. well, for starters, the games rock. They’re super addictive! Angry Birds rule the roost, but give Jetpack Joyride a try and just see where the time goes.
So, Loyal Reader? What apps fascinate you?
If you don’t have an iPad yet, just give in already. Buy one. Steal one. Do what you have to do, but get yourself one!
Posted in General, Music on November 29, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
So some guys have golf. Some have football. Some go to church. Me? I rock and roll. I don’t have a Sunday afternoon or Monday night hobby. I’d rather rage with an overdriven wall of sound and pogo all night long.
At long last, my man-cave / jam room is complete. We got drums, keys, vocals, two guitars, and a bass, and tons of amplification to shake the block. I’ve built a nice little rock temple.
(Oh yeah!)
I’m breaking it in on Saturday. Got musician friends rollin’ by. It’s gonna get loud, Loyal Reader. I’m gonna get everything out. It’s fixing to be a religious experience. If you’ve ever been transported while playing live music you know what I mean. If not…let’s see…an analogy…it’s kind of like jumping out of a plane and hanging between worlds. You feel it from head to toe. It’s great therapy.
If you don’t jam, but you’ve danced wild and got sooo into it that you kind of went into a trance-like state, then you’re pretty close to feeling me. Jamming can get like that. With the vibrations flowing through the guitar strings, and then into an amplifier, and then out into the wild, charging your body, you fingers, your core, with electric sizzle.
Posted in General on November 28, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
The Thanksgiving break flew by, huh? Sheesh, five days, sandwiched between two weekends, sounds like a good hunk of time, but man, it’s nothing! In three weeks, us teachers get another three weeks off for the holiday season. Three weeks! I know, I know, you working stiffs out there get jealous of us teacher types and our extended vacations, but hey, we’re watching your kids all day, and trying to help grow them up right, and, well, we need the time so we don’t go crazy and mess your children up.
Anyway, I can’t wait.
Three weeks.
What will we do with three weeks?
One of them is lost to Christmas stuff, but the other two are wide open. I plan on sleeping in (every day that I can). And seeing movies. And trying to get some reading done (I am so far behind, my TBR pile is burying me).
(Perfect)
In three weeks, we get three weeks, but for now it’s good to be back in the classroom. I missed my students. They can aggravate the heck out of me, sure, but most of them are polite, and kind, and they give me hope that our future is in good hands. Some of these kids have marvelous attitudes. They smile, and though my classroom is windowless (save for the rectangular piece of safety glass beset into my door), you’d swear the sun was shining.
When people talk about battling this cancer crap, they say the fight is ninety percent mental. I believe it. I’m strong because I’ve always been strong. I’ve always believed in myself (sometimes a little too much). cancer can’t kill me because I won’t let it. I don’t want to die, so I won’t. Simple. Right? But there’s more to it. I have an amazing support system (my wife is in line for sainthood). And I am lucky to have insurance and health care and all that. And then there’s those kids. The little suckers give me so much more than they can ever understand. Their stupid-brilliant wisdom has me rolling with laughter. I can go from feeling like death warmed over to smiling from ear-to-ear in a matter of moments (it happened today). It’s pretty great.
Sometimes I take it all for granted. I get grumpy. I forget how lucky I am. But not for long. If I’m ever cold and standoffish (because I’m sick and in pain, not because I’m trying to be an a-hole – Loyal Reader, understand, we may not know each other all that well, but I never, ever try to be an a-hole – my parents raised me better than that), my students will begin asking what’s wrong, and pushing buttons, and before long I’m taking the bait and cracking up.
Posted in General, Movies, Raves on November 27, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
We all know superheroes without powers are a bit touched. Wealthy playboys, Batman and Ironman, are ego-maniacal head cases with psychotic tendencies. The comic books and movies give us shades of their instability, but mostly gloss over neurosis in favor of some good, old-fashioned good vs. evil action and adventure. So long as they’re taking the bad guys to task, we forgive them their psychosis.
SUPER, James Gunn’s nerds-gone-wild origin story about the Crimson Bolt (Rainn Wilson), his sidekick, Bolty (Ellen Page), and their efforts to take down a wife-stealing, egg-lovin’, drug dealer (played with maximum sleaze by Kevin Bacon), gets that self-made-men in costumes are nutzo. Wilson’s Frank (a nice departure from Wilson’s omnipresent Dwight) is clearly crazy, masking his insecure insanity with a righteous belief in the purity of good, but the movie’s uneasy tone has us unsure whether we should be smiling and cheering him on or cringing and worrying about the uber-violence on-screen (which can’t be good for anybody, self-appointed super heroes included).
Not that any of this is a bad thing. Though SUPER doesn’t know if it’s a comedy or a jet black vigilante piece, I rather liked the off-kilter approach. I like that nothing feels safe (a few scenes had me gasping loudly). I like that the movie wants to have its cake and eat it too. I like that it’s as insane as its wrench wielding lead.
At long last, here’s an original film that kept me on my toes with its unpredictable nature.
(SUPER style!)
Let’s not get into the plot (google as needed), instead, let’s talk about a few things that make SUPER kind of special.
For one, it’s a very well-made indie. Director, James Gunn knows his stuff. He’s been working in genre films forever, cutting his teeth on micro-budget Troma fare (TROMEO & JULIET) before moving on to studio films like DAWN OF THE DEAD (writer) and SLITHER (director). SUPER, with its stylized bursts of color, interesting fades and cuts, and a rousing, animated opening, functions as a nice, little piece of pop art. Big ups to Gunn for getting the balance right. The movie looks great.
While SUPER falters somewhat in the emotional connection department (all of the characters are way out there), I appreciated the presence of True Menace. Once things get going (that is, once the Crimson Bolt is born and begins taking action), ancillary characters are dispatched brutally. The fight scenes are tense and uncomfortable. I appreciated it even more that during these barbaric moments, this True Menace, this percolating danger, this razor’s edge, doesn’t arise from Kevin Bacon and his evil henchmen, but from Wilson’s, cagey, nerdy avenger.
(Taking care of business…)
We can usually find safe harbor in a strong, good, super hero, but when the Crimson Bolt vanquishes evil, he usually does so with a heavy lug wrench (bombs and gadgets come in to play eventually) and the resulting mess isn’t pretty. The clunky hunk of metal, swung with blind, nerd-rage, clumsy and wild and deathly sure, does major damage to evil-doers and the semi-innocent alike (cutting in line gets you a broken skull, buddy). The Crimson Bolt’s willingness to destroy (however petty the crime) is a fearful thing. It keeps us on edge.
Many, many movies would benefit from a healthy dose of this True Menace, don’t you think?
Anyway, Loyal Reader, seek this one out. You’ll dig it.
Posted in General, Movies, Raves on November 25, 2011 by Michael Louis Calvillo
If you trust critics and follow their picks and pans, The new Muppet movie is way, way overrated. At 97% on the Tomatometer, I was expecting a minor masterpiece – something moving along the lines of TOY STORY 3. I expected to be (minorly) wowed.
Lately, children’s films, have a pretty stellar track record. Mostly all the Pixar stuff – TOY STORY, and WALL-E, and RATATOUILLE, and UP, and THE INCREDIBLES (and more that aren’t coming to mind at the moment) – is top notch, taking live action films to task in the warmth department. One of these films (TOY STORY 3) even made me cry (well, almost).
All of these movies (I’ll throw in THE IRON GIANT, so we aren’t only talking Pixar) take you places and generate genuine emotion. Their potential drives me out to pay top dollar on things like THE MUPPETS. If the filmmakers have real heart, and know how to push the right buttons, these things can be very effective entertainment. Never underestimate the power of a well-made family film.
(That’s a lot of Muppets!)
As far as THE MUPPETS go…meh…sorry…no dice.
It’s cute. And a little funny. And completely harmless. But…well…meh.
Maybe my expectations were simply too high (same goes for biases – I’m a Muppet fan from way back).
I must admit, I was enchanted by the opening. Jason Segel, and Amy Adams (both perfectly cast), and Walter, a Muppet living amongst humans (created new for the movie), sing and dance their way through Smalltown, USA, in joyous anticipation of their big trip to Los Angeles (where a dilapidated Muppet Studios so happens to run daily tours).
The setup, where we get to see Gary and Walter grow up together, and learn about Gary and Mary’s ten-year romance, is sugary good fun. I don’t think I stopped smiling for the entire first ten minutes. So far, so magical.
Things go downhill faster than Gonzo being shot from a cannon (which does not happen in the movie – a major misstep for sure). There’s a villain (Chris Cooper…meh), and a getting-the-gang-back-together-and-then-put-on-a-big-show plotline (meh), peppered with amusing musical numbers and goofy, golly-gee-innocent jokes (my wife argues it would have been a better a film had it been more of a musical. Even an opera. I agree). It moves along innocuously introducing a new generation to The Muppets, whistling, smiling, having a good old-time. I think the kids will dig it.
(With Animal on the sticks, picking a fave Muppets is a no brainer…)
Though the film mostly flies, it never soars. Segal and crew were smart to keep the tone light and whimsical. A hip, in-your-face reboot would have been a bad, bad thing. As it is, THE MUPPETS, is still highly watchable. It’s a little anemic and squanders tons of interesting storylines for the safe roadtrip / big show formula (Kermit shines, the rest of the Muppets have very little to do), but, despite missed opportunities, it’s sort of fun, and providing it does well (I predict huge $$$boxoffice$$$), a nice introduction for the inevitable sequels.
(My musical number got cut from the final film. Maybe it’ll show up in the video extras?)
Michael Louis Calvillo Must Be Destroyed 