Boot to the Head!

Video game characters + comedy group recording = friggin' hilarious

I wish probate really was this fun.

Reason #245860 I Love My Girl

Yummy Sunday Morning Breakfast

Delicious omelette (cracked pepper turkey, jarlsberg cheese, spinach with tomatoes on top) & perfectly toasted wheat bread with margarine.  It was so damn good I had to share.

That is all =)

Today is one of those days I love

Days like this make me happy to live in Charlotte.  Bright blue sky with a fiercely strong sun.  Cool breeze blowing through.  Driving down winding roads, all windows down, listening to fantastic tunes (Venus Hum/Blue Man Group - I Feel Love).

Its my little moment of Zen, bringing calm to a troubled mind.

Re-Cut Trailers

While chatting with a film student friend of mine we discussed how editing and pacing affect stories.  You can find examples of this in many DVD extras (the "Fight Club" collectors edition is packed with them), behind the scenes footage or alternate takes. They go a long way in showing how simple little changes can completely re-arrange a film. 

You can also find great representations of this in re-cut trailers of classic films.  YouTube is littered with them, but here are some solid entries.

 

Mary Poppins

 

A Christmas Story

 

Now turning family/comedy films into horror is easy, but to pull it off in the other direction takes talent.  Here's my favorite clip of that.

 

The Shining

 

There seems to be an entire niche community around re-cutting trailers.  I'm all for folks flexing their creative muscles by taking the known into unknown territory.  Sometimes playing with someone else's work helps spark the creativity in your own.

A little funny for the weekend

YouTube - Akon Calls T-Pain

What happens when the two most vocoded voices in music come together... with some butternut reduction.

Wandering Thoughts

I stare off into the trees watching the wind twist them. Trying to decode the message in the rustling leaves. The clouds taking no notice of the secret knowledge being shared. A pale blue sky washing over everything.

The quiet settles me, soothing a mind too busy, too hurried. These soft moments are easily overlooked. Drowned out by the constant stream of modern reality. Incessant white noise cramming itself into us. No time for quiet in our lives. No time for thoughts turned inward. Unexamined lives making unexamined decisions leading to unremarkable fates. Making the motions isn't pantomime it’s all we have.

A world so uneasy with quiet.  Better to mask it with comfortable clamor because the devil you know… Potential is frightening. Difference unsettling. The herd providing security which so many crave.

Yet dancing on the leaves is the raw energy of possibility. Calling out to those willing to take a calm moment to listen to the silence.

Credit theft without taking the card

I had something very interesting happen to me today.  After work I went with my girl to the mall to pick out clothes for a photo shoot.  The first place we hit was Bebe, where she found a couple of cute things.  When she went to pay using her Mastercard, the transaction was "referred to the merchant".  That's odd?  So I tried mine, since our cards are tied to the same account, to make sure it wasn't the card itself.  Mine was also "referred".  Strange indeed.  I switched cards, purchased the goods and was on my way.

After dinner I thought about giving the CC company a call to see what was up.  I was surprised by what I heard.  Seems my card had been placed on surveillance due to some abnormal charges.  We went through my most recent transactions checking one by one.  Four popped up that were completely wrong (totaling over $3,000) and coming from a Kmart in Las Vegas.   The kicker is that I had the card in my possession.  Someone had gotten a hold of my number, created a "ghost card" then tried to buy stuff.

You always hear those kinds of stories, but it was one hell of a shock to have it happen to me.  I called the Kmart to let them know what had happened.  Tomorrow I'll follow up with their loss prevention people and attempt to track down the culprits.  Armed with the exact transaction amounts and times gives them an edge in matching the tapes.  From there they will take it to the police and the rest is history.

Thankfully I'm not directly damaged by their nefarious deeds.  In this case, the credit card company did me right.  No matter how careful you are these days someone will find a way to steal your shit.