19 Years

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19th Blog BIrthday
And just like like that, this blog is now 19 years old. How the hell did that happen?

I’ll bet you thought this site was a goner over the past few months. But, it’s not. I have been going through a major slog of shit (both actual and mental) and posting here about the random crap that amuses me has taken a backseat. And, it shouldn’t. I should post more to have *something* to focus on other than staring at the walls and feeling depressed, upset, and useless.

The plan, for now, is to soldier on and bring you more mindless content about movies and Blu-rays and books and records and LEGO’s and hikes and jockstraps and stuff.

Onward and upward!

19 Years

Rockin’ the “D”

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Wow. Life and my brain chemistry sure are trying their best to knock me down. But, I am still here. Sorta.

We braved the COVID infected crowds and went to Gatlinburg for the day this past Saturday. It had been well over a year since we had been … and the lure of moonshine and getting the fuck out of the house proved to be too great to resist. We sampled moonshine and hard cider, plus had a disappointing lunch at our favorite place to eat.

Moonshine!
Sweet, sweet ‘shine! (And yeah … I need a beard trim.)

Mysterious Mansion ... Closed!
Besides the disappointing lunch, the worst part of the day was that the Mysterious Mansion didn’t open until 5:00 pm. This picture was taken at 2:00 pm. There were a fuck ton of people on the street and in stores with absolutely NO safety precautions in mind. So, we didn’t want to hang around and kill three hours until they opened. Maybe next time, Mysterious Mansion!

And now there will be 10-14 days of paranoia about whether we both got infected while in Gatlinburg. Was it worth going? I guess time will tell.

Meanwhile …

I am one week away from hitting the big 5-0! On Sunday, my friends threw a fun little surprise party. It was really great to see the selection of friends that showed up. It feels like it’s been ages since I have seen that many people I know in one place at one time. Food. Fun. Fellowship. It was a really nice afternoon.

Surprise Party Cake!
Honestly, it feels like the slide started years ago.

Happy Dance
And, this is what it looks like when you open a box and there are books that you wanted inside. Books make the best presents! Well … books and Blu-rays and records and CD’s. Ha, ha.

#25 Trainspotting from Coattail Publishing
And, what do you do when you are nearing 50? Why, you pre-order an insanely expensive, oversized, limited edition coffee table about the making of one of your favorite films. To be honest, it’s not the book that’s insanely expensive … it’s the shipping from the UK that is. #25 Trainspotting looks like it’s going to be really awesome! The same author and company are working on a book about Taxi Driver which I am fairly certain I will end up ordering as well. Yay, books about movies!

Rockin’ the “D”

Commando

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I have not worn underwear for two weeks (or so). So, I guess jockstraps are out for the time being and freeballin’ is in.

I just know this is the information you were dying for on this sunny and cool early autumn day. Ha, ha.

In News Unrelated to My Underwear Status:
John Kenneth Muir’s Horror Films of the 2000s has finally been announced for release in January of 2022. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited this makes me.

John Kenneth Muir's Horror Films of the 2000s

Commando

Christmas in October!

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The Guest Limited Edition 4K UHD / Blu-ray from Second Sight Films
I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love The Guest. So, when Second Sight Films in the UK announced in August that a fancy, limited edition 4K UHD set, I knew I would be ordering this. Dang. This set looks amazing! And, yeah … I spent too much money on it and I don’t care.

Special Features 

  • Limited Edition of 5,000
  • 4K / Blu-ray dual format release
  • Brand new grade for both formats supervised by Director Adam Wingard
  • UHD presented in Dolby Vision HDR
  • New commentary by Director Adam Wingard and Writer Simon Barrett
  • Archive commentary by Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett
  • The Uninvited Guest: a new interview with Actor Dan Stevens
  • A Perfect Stranger: a new interview with Actor Maika Monroe
  • By Invitation Only: a new interview with Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett
  • Producing The Guest: a new interview with Producers Keith Calder and Jess Wu Calder
  • Light and Fog: a new interview with Director of Photography Robby Baumgartner
  • Lightning Strikes: a new interview with Production Designer Tom Hammock
  • The Sounds of The Guest: a new interview with Composer Steve Moore
  • Deleted / Alternate Scenes, Outtake Gag with optional Director commentary

Limited Edition Contents

  • Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Adam Stothard
  • Various Artists Soundtrack CD
  • 160 page book with new essays by Tim Coleman, Zena Dixon, Craig Ian Mann and Zoë Rose Smith; Script-to-Screen featuring storyboards and script extracts, Behind-the-Scenes photos and Adam Wingard soundtrack notes
  • 6 collectors’ art cards

Exclusive to Second Sight orders

  • 3 art card reproductions of the on-set Halloween Dance posters
Christmas in October!

A Post [Finally Edition]

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Talk about feeling down and out and unfocused. I am in a funk (!) … but somehow managing to make it through. That is until my bank account gets depleted from all my “I am depressed and gonna buy things to cheer me up” purchases.

Meanwhile, here are some recent happenings.

Drugged Up Dog
Chip went in for a full mouth extraction two weeks ago. Yeah. Poor little guy no longer has teeth. This picture was taken when first we got him home. He looks so cute in his all-drugged-up state. He didn’t look so cute a few hours later when he was drooling blood everywhere. The first few days of his recovery were stressful but he bounced back pretty quickly considering his age and the fact they pulled 19 teeth. It really is for the best. His teeth were so bad that his jawbone had started to rot as well. So no more teeth for Chip and (more importantly) no more death breath for us to smell!

Sleepy Toothless Pup
And here’s an adorable picture of a pup and his favorite dad the night of the surgery. They slept like that for quite a while as I giggled my way through Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (a great stress reliever of a movie).

Jon and Carrie!
Jon and Carrie (and their kids) came into the area to visit! They have been in Colorado for quite a few years now. So, it’s always great to get to see them.

Cold Creek Flood Damage
Cold Creek Flood Damage
A little over three weeks ago, the remnants of Hurricane Fred caused catastrophic flooding in the county. The Cruso area and the town of Canton were again hard hit. The pictures above are of Cold Creek Road where my sister lives. Fortunately, her house did not get flooded … but it did damage the bridge onto her property (seen in the top photo). The scary thing about these photos is that this small creek became a monster that destroyed a two-lane road. Yeah. There used to be a road where that new streambed is. Unfortunately, five people were killed in the flooding, and scores of people have lost their homes. This week a major disaster declaration finally came down from the federal government. I am hoping the community can recover quickly. Nature is awesome and totally terrifying.

[title of show]
Finally seen out in the wild is the logo design I did for Asheville Community Theatre’s Graphic Design Project. Yay!

Now … bring on FRIDAY and the WEEKEND!

A Post [Finally Edition]

Gotta Get Back in the Groove … [Redux]

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Sheesh. It’s been over three weeks since my last post.

I know this is directly tied to the wild mood swings I have been dealing with all year. Happy. Sad. Happy. Depressed to the Point of Stepping into Oncoming Traffic. It’s been a fun month.

I did finally get off my lazy ass and get the ceiling in the bathroom painted. Trust me. It REALLY needed it. Now it doesn’t look like a crack den in there.Newly Painted Bathroom Ceiling

The newest addition to my vinyl listening arsenal is an Audio-Technica Disc Stabilizer. An annoying amount of new records have been showing up dished (or bowled as it’s also referred to). So, I got this to ease my worry or ruining my stylus or damaging the grooves on the record.Audio-Technica Disc Stabilizer

And, I am excited to have snagged a Super NES Console Ornament from the local Hallmark store. I was there the first day this ornament was on sale (July 11) and managed to buy the last one. Good thing as it appears to be sold out online now as well. Super NES Console Ornament

A couple of weeks ago, David and I went to see the first big post-COVID shutdown show at the theater. We kinda had to go because we are good friends with the director and know several people who were performing in it. I haven’t been to the theater since I turned my keys in last July and have had nonexistent contact with any of the staff there since then. Combine that with the major slight last month, which meant that I really DID NOT WANT TO GO. I was so wound up about being there that I almost had an anxiety attack at the top of the show. Ugh. And, I ended up talking to and playing nice with the one person I did not want to see after the show. Triple Ugh.

Needless to say, when we got home, I couldn’t stop myself from pouring over the program with my red pen looking for any design problems or errors. What I wasn’t expecting was the sheer number of typos, grammatical issues, and stylistic inconsistencies I found … which means NOBODY proofread the damn thing before it was printed.
Proof Reading is Fundamental
Proof Reading is Fundamental

For the record, it can be hard to go to sleep when you have a dog straddling your torso.
Tough to Sleep

This week sees the wrap-up of Asheville Community Theatre’s Graphic Design Project. I have been plugging away at design ideas for [title of show] and have narrowed it down to three different logo treatments. I am dead curious to see which one will win the race. Hopefully, I will know when we meet up Thursday night to present our designs.

Gotta Get Back in the Groove … [Redux]

Meanwhile

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Several weeks ago, I submitted an entry in Asheville Community Theatre’s Graphic Design Project. They were looking for four graphic designers to do logo treatments for each show of their upcoming 2020-2021 season. The season consists of Clue, Fight Girl Battle World, The Giver, and [title of show]. I found out last week that I was selected as one of the four and had our first meeting this past Tuesday. Exciting! The point person assigned a show to each designer and I ended up with [title of show]. This show and Clue are going to be the hardest to work on as both already have very recognizable logos that get used pretty much anytime these shows are staged. [title of show] also has the added handicap of being stylized by being done in all lowercase letters that are enclosed in brackets.

Anyhoo. I am super excited to be working on this! Hopefully, I can come up with something suitably graphic and slightly different from what’s been done before.

Here’s the group of happy designers after our first meeting …

ACT 2021-2022 Designers

In a sure sign that my brain is totally fucked up, I have spent the last two nights having dreams about buying or losing out on buying the Record Store Day 2021 release of Garbage’s No Gods No Masters that was released on June 12th. It has a variant cover (different coloring) and vinyl color (translucent pink) and was limited to 2,700 units. Needless to say, I took this as a sign and found a copy online this morning, and ordered it. I mean … it’s not like I have this on neon green vinyl and deluxe CD already. Sheesh.

Meanwhile

Stick a Fork in Me

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Life is still … plodding along. But there have been some distractions along the way.

Pool Time!
Yes. I bought a kiddie pool. And, yes. It’s for me. When the temps get hot, you will be able to find me laying drunk in the cool, cool water. I have already warned the neighbors.

Basic Instict 4K Limited Edition
Yes! It’s the limited edition release of StudioCanal’s 4K restoration of Basic Instinct. The timing couldn’t be better since my Lionsgate Blu-ray from 2007 has shit the bed and won’t play past the first promo trailer on the disc. This is seriously one of my favorite movies. It’s so perfectly trashy and awesome.

Bottom Step
Yes. I finally fixed the bottom step (that was rotting to pieces) off the back deck. The price of lumber had been making me delay this task. So, I got crafty and found some old lumber from a picnic table I dismantled a few months ago. Quick work with a hand saw and a few nails means a sturdy new step is now in place! And, yes. I was dumb and didn’t take a “before” picture.

Garbage's Altered Track ListingThe tracklisting on No Gods No Masters, the new Garbage album, is slightly different on the vinyl versus the CD. Aren’t you happy that you now know this useless bit of information?

And now for the “I’m Done” portion of this post …

Slapped in the Face

It’s always great to see your design work lifted and then solely credited to another person. This really made my eye twitch when I saw it last Friday. Granted, the person that is credited did drop new photos into this design, but they in no way should get the sole credit and all the kudos they were getting in the comment section of this post.

I quit working at this theater last summer because I was overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. Nobody there could ever seem to remember I was on staff even though they had no problem piling extra design work on me anytime they needed it. It really sucked. So, I quit. Fast forward a year and they still can’t seem to remember the work I did or the time and energy I put into it … and it still REALLY SUCKS.

Stick a Fork in Me