PS Blog

Speed May Have Been A Factor

  • by Drew

A couple days ago there was a fatal accident a couple miles from our house. A young woman went off the road, flipped her car and was “partially” ejected from the car. No seat belt so no seat belt cutter necessary, and multiple speed “may have been a factor” quotes from the powers that be. Yes, officer, I agree that she “might have been speeding” when she rounded the curve, rolled her car and ended up upside down in a swamp.

The dissembling is what bothers me. See, we all know she was driving like a bat out of hell. It’s really hard to flip a sedan if you’re not driving at a decent rate of speed. And the curvy part of the road where she crashed… yeah, it’s like a 30mph zone. So yeah, speed was most definitely a factor. Conjecture about cell phone use or intoxication might require careful speech, but really? Speed. Uh… duh! But, of course, everyone is afraid of the almighty libel suit. Who wants to take a chance that the survivors won’t start the good old litigation machine, right?

Booze

Charlie

  • by Drew

The nickname we have for the doctor who kind of went nutbag with my diagnosis over a year ago is in somewhat questionable taste, but it sure does make me and the old lady laugh and laugh. Really, I look back with something akin to gratitude, because while he his doctoring skills are way off in the crappy part of left field where he must spend a lot of his time searching for some bedside manner, his overreaction (for lack of a better word) did put me on somewhat of the straight and narrow. So… thanks for that.

I still wish I had my old doctor, but the ridiculous games the various health management organizations play (those same games that have all but destroyed private practice among decent physicians under the age of 50) chased him away. My new doctor is great. I have seen him a couple of times in the last year and he really doesn’t disappoint. But <blank> <blank> Charlie (again, the nickname is sort of in bad taste) really soured me on the medical profession. So much so that I was almost ready to but a couple medical texts and see if I could find an ekg machine for sale. You know, really embrace my personal medical health and say “screw you” to the establishment.

I mean, I still say “screw you” to the establishment, but I do so with a documented primary care physician. So… that’s a proper, adult decision, right?

Booze

Media Wall

  • by Drew

For a minute there I thought my little flat screen was fried, the one in front of my elliptical, and the daily grueling exercise regimen that keeps me off crazy-ass medication was about to get significantly more tedious. I was saved by a little old school CRT from the kitchen that has barely been watched since number 3 was born. I got the little flat screen working but I kind of prefer the old school TV for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is shear volume. Over the grind of the elliptical in mega-resistance mode coupled with the fan that keeps me from sweating a river that could drown the kittens, the added decibels helps.

But it all reminded me of a plan a couple months ago that I’m glad fell through. I’m not one for floor stand mounts and funky home theater contrivances, but on a whim I bought a clearance  wall mount for smallish flat screens a while ago. I had just installed the LED monster in our living room, so I have an idea how much these things cost, so the clearance one was a worthwhile gamble. It was my plan to get my little exercise flat screen off the glorified plant stand and onto the wall so I could move my machine forward a foot or so and free some extra footage for the home studio. Alas, my little flat screen was not compatible with the inexpensive wall mount. Then I saw a Black Friday deal on a smallish flat screen that would definitely fit the mount for something like a hundred bucks. But I just didn’t have it in me to risk a tramplin’ at the Kingston Best Buy at 4am with a bottle of Vinho Verde and Mom’s incredible stuffing still metabolizing in my gullet.

Ah well. Anyone need a low profile mount for a 20-24″ flat screen? I’ll give you a good deal. <wink>

Life

Dig the pics Skateboard Heroes fans!

  • by Drew

Holy freeform progressive lenses, Batman! Have you seen the new Friends of Skateboard Heroes (F.O.S.H.) page? We finally got around to loading up the awesome sketches collected at the New york Comic Con a few months ago. Sure, it’s been a bit of a wait, but we were busy setting y’all up with new comic pages. But now, as we draw to the conclusion of the Issue 1 Antecedental story, we have another sketch or two on the backburner. So, we’ve got to work through the backlog. Only fair, right?

Life

The Mechanical Cover

  • by Drew

The astute music-file/recording artist/duplication provider may actually find the title of this post amusing because it combines some musical terminology that may not be familiar to the general public. See, when you cover a published song on a distributed recording, you have to pay royalties to the songwriter(s) and publisher(s) of the source material. It’s called a mechanical royalty and is based on the number of units you produce. Interestingly enough, you can actually perform any covers you want live (as long as they are not recorded or broadcast) without any sort of royalty payment ot the intellectual property owner. So… we can blame that little lapse for the mind numbing number of times I’ve had to hear Piano Man while trying to enjoy a nice meal in a mid range restaurant with my bets girl.

Anyway, the thought that inspired this post was my love of album or CD covers that use mechanical or industrial objects. Sometimes it is just an object. Sometimes it it is a collage or constructed image using metals and spools and pulleys and things. I just love that kind of stuff. Shiny, rusty, greasy metal. So cool.

Examples? They may date me. Or maybe not. My tastes are pretty fixed.

Check out these awesome covers from Jawbox, The Orb, and Cop Shoot Cop.

  

 

PS Blog

Save The Toys!!!

  • by Drew

Hey, did I mention the awesome free Skateboard Heroes mini-comic we handed out at the annual Toys For Tots Extravaganza hosted by Alterniverse in Salt Point. It was totally radical and is totally free to download at www.SkateboardHeroes.com.

Do it!

Noise

Death of the Turntable

  • by Drew

Back when I did radio, we had all this mobile dj equipment for parties and such. We had the coffin covered in carpet, housing two turntables (and a microphone!) and a portable CD player by the mid 90s. Nowadays they’ve got CD scratchers and mixing apps for the iPhone. I mean, on the one hand, it’s cool to be able mix between tracks with an iPod and rock the house mp3 style. But really, it’s gotten way too hard to witness a classic scratch artist working the vinyl. Sure, there are purists out there still keeping it real, but the wedding scene, man, it’s technology all the way. What happened to mullets and tuxedo t-shirts? I’m so old.

Noise

Talking Guitar

  • by Drew

I was talking guitar with the Mom of one of my oldest son’s friends last night at the school’s holiday concert. I was explaining that while the size of my guitar collection is impressive, I don’t have any standout show pieces of significant value. I have a few cheap instruments to beat on and a good number of very serviceable performer’s instruments. I never picked up a crazy high priced instrument because my guitars were taken out to clubs and bars and where they get knocked over, spilled on and stolen.

But I do love my Dearmonds. I’ve surely written about them before. They were Korean and later Indonesian-made guitars based on classic Guild models. Fender set up the line after acquiring Guild in the 90s. They already owned the Dearmond brand of classic American electronics, so they combined the two and created a line of imports that outsold their higher priced American counterparts.

One of my favorites is an M72, which is based on the Guild Bluebird. The Bluesbird had that classic Les Paul look. Like a carved top Gibson Les Paul Studio or Standard rather than the slab body junior style. It’s such a sweet player, but man, is it heavy!

Life

Ms. Potts and Miss Lane

  • by Drew

It was hard saying goodbye to Maggie. She was a good cat with a hell of a lot of personality. At least when she got sick, the end came quick and she left us peacefully. And now it looks like she’ll be the subject of my next comic project, in line with Skateboard Heroes style, but a bit more off the wall.

But I’m not here to talk about my old friend. I’m here to talk about the new friends that will be joining our family soon. Actually, it’s the naming of these little critters that really is my subject. The kids all fell in love with these little sisters at the adoption agency, so there really was no choice in the matter. Of course, the adoption process is pretty wackadoo, but it involves getting the kitties spayed, which is an absolute requirement on all sides.

But naming the two balls of fluff is hard. And when the names have to be approved by three kids and two adults, all with strong creative opinions… it’s tough.

We tried brainstorming and word association. You start out okay with names like Tallalulah and Butch, but pretty soon you’ve got kids shouting out muffin fluffy cheddar custom swing sets richmond va honey cookie…

We discussed “Real” names (my personal preference). The problem, though, after naming three kids, you’ve exhausted a large proportion of the good “people” names that two adults can agree on… let alone three kids.

And then there is the consideration that the two cat names have to sound reasonable together. You can’t have Charles and Lickety Split or something. It sounds like a jockey and a race horse. Or like you really respect one of them and think the other is a damaged dink.

But we have managed to settle on two names that everyone likes and even the three year old can pronounce. (My new German Cinema directors concept was shot down on this basis… as well as the fact that we’d really need 4 cats to properly represent the movement.)

Maybe I’ll let you know what we picked somday…

Noise

Boss Levels

  • by Drew

I was recently watching a documentary on Indie Video Game development. they covered 3 different games and their creators. It was entertaining and pretty well made, I thought. But it got me thinking about the upcoming holidays and my kids. Yes, we have a console and they have handheld devices. But as we approach the time for salivation over gifts, none have brought up video games.

Instead they are asking for clay and legos and in one case, Dr. Who paraphernalia. I can totally live with that.

Last year, the then-9 year old’s big gift was a trumpet. Replacing the school rental. Super awesome, right? How cool is it that while still in single digits, my kid went for an instrument over… anything else?

And next year it will be the same with my middle guy. He’ll be in the music program and we’ll be shopping for… who knows what? Pearl flutes? Student violins? Trombones?

Ah, the holidays. Marvelous and musical!

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