Posting with punctuality

Wow, I'm getting pretty bad with updating this on a regular basis. Sorry all. My typical "swing" of things has been slightly interrupted with the change of my class schedule and the adding of extracurricular activities to my plate.

Firstly, my 4-7am radio show on KRUI 89.7fm (in Iowa City) is going splendidly. My second show is tonight and the first show got a surprising amount of listeners. In the event that you are ever up from 4-7am on a Sunday, you should listen to my show (it's called the "AfterParty") at kruiradio.org/listen.

Secondly, I've got a podcast to accompany the radio show, for those who don't listen to radio stations at such ungodly hours. The first one is hosted on ZShare (http://www.zshare.net/audio/546611797fbe0d62/). Download it at your leisure and listen to it where you choose. BTW, the podcast mostly comprises techno and the like, so if you don't like it, you may not wish to waste your time. Just sayin'.

Thirdly, I can't remember a time when I didn't give any less of a damn about the SuperBowl then tomorrow's SuperBowl XLIII. As a guy who's pretty interested in sports, including the NFL, I really don't care who wins tomorrow. I would prefer the Cardinals, since they have an Iowa connection and they are the underdogs, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll probably watch for the commercials.

Lastly, I realized today how much money I've been spending since being back to Iowa City. Damn. It's a pretty penny. I think I'm going to restrict myself to minimal necessary spending for the next week or two. It sounds easy right now, but time will tell. Updates to come.

much respect,

josh

ps: I've received an unprecedented amount of encouragement and support for my new KRUI radio show. As such, "thank yous" are in order. Big thanks to Bella, Courtney, Jacob, Joshua, Alex, Tim & Jan, Erica Barnes, Nathan Gould, all of the live show listeners, and all of the podcast listeners. This has been a pain in the ass to produce over the first few weeks, but even just the encouragement from any one of you at any one time makes it all worthwhile :)

 

What will happen when...

...Apple runs out of "predatory cat" names for its operating systems?

Back to school...

Despite the slightly bitter (it's better than it was a week ago) temperature, it feels admittedly good to be back in the swing of things. I started off the semester with the first installment of a basic acting class. It seems pretty elementary (never would have guessed that from the name), but it's fun. 

We attempted to play a series of theatre games. The one that sticks out to me was a game where we were to yell out a two digit number ("38!"). The next person in the circle was to yell out the reverse of that number ("83!"). The next person after that was to take the first digit of the second number and yell a new number ("87!"). Needless to say, this confused the class. It went orderly for the first minute or so, before descending into a cacophonous castrophony of college students screaming out random numbers. It was a good start, I guess.

Mr. Obama's about to take office now (FINALLY). Huzzah.

much respect,

josh

Will.I.Am via Hologram, The Reckoning.

I was watching MTV a few days ago when this commercial aired. Now I'm no fan of Will.i.am or the Black-Eyed Peas, but I found this promo hilarious. As you may remember, I riffed on Will.i.am's holographic appearance on CNN's election night coverage. I guess the thing about this ad that struck me as so excellent was just how blatantly Will.i.am pokes fun at himself, something too few celebrities actually do anymore.

In other news, I've recently been added to the KRUI 89.7 fm roster of DJs for the spring semester of '09. For those of you who don't know, KRUI is the student-run radio station of the University of Iowa and specializes in playing some of the best alternative music in the state. Check them out and listen in. My show will be from 4-7am on Sundays. To be known as "The After Party," I'll specialize in playing the best electro/techno/club tracks for some of you night-owls out there. I know this isn't a convenient time for most, so I'll try and offer an abbreviated form of my radio set for download (much like a podcast) quite soon. A website for my show (and likely, the podcasts) is in the works.

much respect,

josh

Being a critic.

Having had the opportunity to take care of some leisure reading on vacation, I've just finished How To Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young. The book, a memoir, chronicles Young's stint as a writer for Vanity Fair while learning to adapt in America (Young is British) in the mid-90's.

While Young is far from a truly gifted writer, he's a damn funny one. The majority of the memoir focuses on Young's riffing on his own failures as a writer, all the while doing so with out dipping into self-loathing, a feat not easily accomplished. Additionally, I challenge anyone not to have an even more cynical view of the pretentious nature of celebrity society after reading this. Young pulls no punches in naming names (except for a few instances when he legally must) and revealing the true ugliness New York's social elite. To put it frankly, Young is the most unassuming smart-ass ever to write at Vanity Fair, which is what makes this book so great. I can't recommend this highly enough to anyone who is interested in journalism or filmmaking; Young's career has led him to dabble in both to incredibly funny effect.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young = A. A funny and brutal look at celebrity culture mixed with the irreverent attitude of Young.

Additionally, I've had the opportunity to play Quantum of Solace for the Wii, thanks to our neighbors who lent us the game. While the level design is poor, the AI is far from intelligent, and the game riddled with glitches (that's putting it nicely), I can't help but be addicted.

Activision, who recently acquired the rights to make the James Bond video games from EA Games, simply didn't do the game justice in the way they needed to in order to win over the die-hard fans of both the movie series and the games. Like several Bond games before it, QoS tries to be Goldeneye in terms of gameplay style and just can't hold a candle to it (Activision even tried to mimic the menus of N64's Goldeneye. Desperate much?). As for staying true to the story of the films (both Quantum and Casino Royale), don't get me started.

Negative aspects of the game aside, Activision has made an action-packed and blisteringly exciting game. As dumb as they may be, you'll have a blast picking off the endless hordes of enemies that swarm you in each and every level. The game does a decent job of combining first- and third-person gameplay, allowing you a great deal of flexibility in combat.

QoS is far from a great game, but if you have a Wii (having the Zapper peripheral doesn't hurt either), the game is worth a rental. Beatable in around eight hours, QoS provides a mindless little break from life, even if you just blow up your friends in multiplayer.

Quantum of Solace (Wii)= C. Stupid AI, but fun if you just want to blow some stuff up. Rent or borrow, don't buy.

much respect,
josh

PS: I'm trying out a new look for the blag. I might tweak it, but I figured it cleaned up the look of things. Whaddaya think? Keep it or lose it?

Updates...

I had the fantastic opportunity to have dinner with professional wakeboarder Keith Lyman tonight, who is a friend of my father and stepmother. Keith is a really awesome down-to-earth guy who just happens to do bad-ass things for a living. If you are at all into film/video production or wakeboarding, check out his site. It's got some really cool stuff.

You might notice that I've added a link box to the side of the page. In it there's a link to my buddy Thomas's blog. Thomas and I met each other through a video production class last year. Thomas is a truly gifted (and funny) writer. Additionally there are links to XKCD (my favorite webcomic) and, of course, to Keith Lyman's site. I'll likely add links in the near future, too.

Lastly, I'm considering a change in the look of the site. I'm not sure how I will change it or even if I will change it, but it's a thought. If you have a comment or question on this, by all means leave one!

much respect,
josh

Life is rough.

(Composed on 1/6/2009)

I figured that this was the perfect windy/wavy day to take a break from fishing and take in some sunshine while fixing/updating a few things with my laptop. Speaking of laptops, it's damn hard to read a laptop screen outside on a sunny day, so this entry is having its first draft on notebook paper (Note: although this was a nice idea for writing outside, it's DAMN hard to decipher my doctoresque handwriting).

Vacation in the Florida Keys is a welcome diversion from the less-than-great aspects of the world. I've not heard a thing about the stock markets, conflicts in the Mideast, or Rod Blagojevich. If you ever get the chance to see the Keys, take it. You'll be glad. (I turned on the TV shortly after composing this to be greeted with news of down-turning stocks, a ground war in Gaza, and Roland Burris's attempt to be seated in the US Senate. So much for blissful ignorance).

A few days back, I had the privilege of having lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall place called "Keys Fisheries," on Marathon Key. It's the type of place that you would never (ever) find if someone didn't tell you of its existence. The ambiance of the place is reminiscent of a diner, except for the fact that it is outdoors and next to a marina (that makes sense right?). Also being a restaurant of the Keys, they have excellent (and fresh) seafood.

The thing I enjoyed most about the establishment, however, is the way they call out their orders. When your order is taken, they ask you an obscure question (the question du jour in the case of my father and I was "what's in your junk drawer?"). The answer is used in place of a number as a means of notifying the customer when their order is up. It's a relatively small thing, but nonetheless amusing to hear waitresses yelling out random objects ("PIECE OF SURFBOARD! BOAT KEYS! COINS!!!") at various intervals. I really wanted "condoms" as our object (how mature, right?) but my father chose "duct tape." Probably a good idea in retrospect.

much respect,
josh

Happy New Year and predictions for '09...

Happy 2009 and all that. Let's get to business, 2009 is going to be a damn good (or at least interesting) year. As such, I'm in a predicting sort of mood. Here are my thoughts...

-(minor things first) Oklahoma is going to SMASH Florida for the BCS Championship.

-(unfortunately) Amy Winehouse won't see 2010. Drugs are bad.

-Either the new "Star Trek" movie, "Watchmen," or "Harry Potter" will bomb, in terms of reviews. I would venture to say that each of these movies will make upwards of $40 million in their opening week of showing, regardless of reviews.

-Barack is going to have a good, but far from phenomenal, first year as President. (this one might be a little too obvious)

-Proposition 8 (in California) will get overturned. Regardless of where the California Supreme Court stands on the political sides of the issue, it's next to impossible to say that Prop. 8 was fairly, or even constitutionally, passed.

-(here's the longshot... maybe) The University of Iowa will undergo another major scandal (this time not involving a crime of a sexual nature) that will all but force UI President Sally Mason to resign.

-I'm gonna get paid.

Leave your predictions as comments!!

much respect,
josh