Another Amazing Year at DCI
Just got home from another amazing year at the DCI World Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. I’m blown away every year by the level of marching skill and musicianship these kids show. They give up their summer to travel the country performing in the sweltering heat at a level of professional athletes. If you’re looking to support youth in music, check out Drum Corps International (DCI); we joined the Friends of DCI this year and plan to continue our support next year. Though I support all the corps, I tip my hat to Carolina Crown (below) who had a performer injured during the show. He broke his leg near the end of the show, which was heartbreaking to see. But they finished their show, “A Second Chance”, and placed 4th with a score of 95.95. Check out the entire set here.
At Angles for my Birthday, 1995
I moved to Oklahoma City in the summer of 1993, and spent most of my “coming out” years at Angles on 39th Street. Angles was (at the time) the coolest dance club in OKC, with DJ Checkerz (Michael Chechoratti(sp?)) at the helm most nights. Checkerz got most of his music from Oaklawn Records, formerly at Commerce and Oaklawn in Dallas.
While organizing my old stuff recently, I found two Hi Energy and Progressive Top 40 lists from from Oaklawn Records, still in their original envelopes addressed to me. Coincidentally, one of the lists was from April, the month of my birthday. So no doubt I was dancing to these toons at Angles when I turned <ahem> – something something.
Now be honest… how many of you have danced to “Mr Personality” or “Cotton Eyed Joe”?
Here’s the Top 40 Hi Energy list with a few videos of my favs from the time. I’ve included links to the rest that I could find.
- The Bomb – Bucketheads
- Reach Up – Perfecto Allstars
- Lick It – Roula
- Baby, Baby – Corona
- Bedtime Story – Madonna
- Axel F – Clock
- Your Loving Arms – Billie Ray Martin
- Release Me – Industry
- You Can Have It All – Eve Gallagher
- Mr Personality – Gillette
- Can You Feel the Love Tonight – Harajuka
- You Belong to Me – JX
- These Are the Days – Human League
- Here I Go – 2 Unlimited
- Sleeping in My Car – Mobius Loop (I couldn’t find the Mobius Loop version, but here’s a pretty good version by Dancefloor Driverz feat Joana)
- Come Back – London Beat
- Bloke – Republica
- What Hope Have I – Sphinx
- Tonight is the Night – Le Click
- Hot Stuff – DJ Miko
- I’m Ready – Size 9
- Move It to the Rhythm – Technotronic
- I Only Wanna Be With You – Barry White (Dance Mix)
- Nights in White Satin – Sandra
- Always Something There to Remind Me – Tin Tin Out
- Don’t Fear the Reaper – Apollo 440
- Situation – Tom Jones
- We Got Love – One Family
- Don’t Be Proud – Cappella
- Be My Lover – La Bouche
- Keep the Fire Burning – Dan Hartman and Loleatta Hollaway
- Party People – KGB
- Keep on Trying – Twenty 4 Seven
- Love Come Rescue Me – Love Station
- I Wish – Eric Gadd
- Cotton Eyed Joe – Rednex
- Take Me Forever – Data
- You Bring me Joy – Mary J Blige
- Respect – Judy Cheeks
- The First, The Last Eternity – Snap
Here are the originals:
Halloween Came Early This Year
Cedar Springs’ Halloween street party was this past weekend, and friends Jeremy and Tician came down from OKC to join the party. A great time was had by all, even though Ticia lost her cell phone and her ID.
Since all my friends that are waiting with bated breath can now see the photos. See the Street Party pics here, and friend pics here.
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You Gotta Hear This: Passion Pit
I stumbled across “Little Secrets” by Passion Pit today and instantly fell in love with this song. It’s a bit of 80′s fun with just a little Mika mixed in. I can’t but help moving to it.
Here’s a video by Jay Diaz featuring the song.
Top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy Shows of all Time
Prepare your Netflix accounts, the gang over at io9 has posted the top 100 sci fi and fantasy shows of all time. It’s a stroll down memory lane for us dorks… I had a Max Headroom t-shirt myself.
I added several series to my Netflix que, especially shows I never got to watch consistently.
Barbie Swimming Champion
Ok, not much to say here. Just thought this pic was a hoot.
Nothing better than a giant swimming Barbie for an after-holiday pseudo-Monday.
Happy Tuesday!
You Can’t Have It All
If you haven’t heard of Jay Brannan, he starred in the film Short Bus and is a song writer who’s easy on the eyes. He fits the independent artist genre, so support him if you like him. (Warning: there are four-letter words in the video; shocking!)
New Pet Shop Boys – Love Etc
I’ve always like the Pet Shop Boys, but after seeing them in concert in Oct 2006, I’ve been a fan. The latest release from their soon-to-be-released album “Yes” is entitled “Love, Etc”. The video is a romp through the video game world of love. You can find a limited edition version of the album at Amazon.co.uk, which includes a second CD of remixes. I’ve ordered mine.
Halloween on Cedar Springs
Halloween is one of the biggest parties of the year on Cedar Springs in Dallas. We’ve been the last thee years, but haven’t dressed up. The last two years, I kept thinking I should bring my camera and get some shots of all the amazing costumes.
So this year I decided to take my “good camera”, and even decided to dress up like a 40′s journalist to help complete the package. Rich wasn’t sure what to be, and we saw this shower cap with wolf’s ears and the idea of the Big Bad Wolf dressed as Granny grew from that. We ended up at Wal-Mart shopping for a night gown and fuzzy pink slippers. He was pretty comfortable all night, since he got to wear a nightgown and house coat out.
The weather was perfect, though and we met some friends out and had a great time. We even ran into our long lost friends, Bob & Gabe, who we haven’t seen in months.
You can view the entire set here.
The Sultan’s Elephant
The only thing more mesmerizing than this giant puppet is the music. This little girl was created by by the Royal de Luxe theater company for a show called The Sultan’s Elephant. The show has come and gone, but check out the video and the talent that went into creating the show.
Thanks to the Make: blog.
Little Girl Giant Plays in the Park from XINERGY on Vimeo.
Teach the Controversy!
I’m all about teaching alternative theories to evolution, so I bought a T-shirt to prove it. (Hey, if you buy the T-shirt, it makes it so). Wearscience.com has some great designs promoting “Teach the Controversy”, including the aliens-built-the-pyramids, the-devil-planted-fossils-to-trick-us, and the earth-as-center-of-the-universe. They even have a design of the Great A’Tuin for you Discworld fans out there. You can read more about the Teach The Controversy “Intelligent Design” campaign to discredit the crackpot theory of evolution here.
Personally, I believe that if we teach “Intelligent Design” in schools alongside evolution, then we must include theories that aliens created us. See The Flying Spaghetti Monster.
And for you crazies who believe in science, Wearscience also has a series of designs right out of 50′s B-movies. You can also customize your designs; I added “I Believe in Science” to the back of my shirt with a scientist blowing up the moon on the front. Link
The Norwegian Meets the “Reverend”
One of my favorite flickr-ites, “The Norwegian” has posted a great story (along with photo, left) about his experience of a recent visit to the Church of Scientology.
I agree with his opinion of “The Church”, but read it for yourself. He also makes a great suggestion for those seeking enlightenment: Venganza.org. Of course, there are other paths; I’m just saying…
Oh, and check out his photo stream… he’s a great photographer.
Flickr Video: A Good Thing?
In case you haven’t heard, flickr has added video capabilites. Of course there are plenty of nay-sayers, and being a fan of great photography, I can understand how adding video could dilute what makes flickr great. Of course, there are lots of talented artists out there on flickr who can make motion an asset for flickr. I know I’m looking forward to seeing more like “The Blue Samurai”, a collaboration of flickrite ArtWerk and Manel Ortega. I’ve been following ArtWerk’s flickr feed for awhile now, and it’s nice to see another aspect of his talent. Not to mention some groovy sounds by Substatic.
Frozen in Grand Central
I want to be a part of something like this. I’ve followed their exploits after I first heard about them on “This American Life”. Ira Glass interviewed the organizer of a “stunt” where they picked a guy out at random at a bar and threw him a birthday party . They brought gifts, bought drinks, and called him Ted all night. He at first protested and eventually gave in.
After watching the video, check out some of their other uber-cool improv at their site .
Old Time Christmas Radio
If you’re a fan of old time radio, or just wanna get in the mood for Christmas, then check out this selection of free public domain MP3s of radio shows over at OldRadioFun.com. From the classic 1947 “It’s a Wonderful Life” to the more curious “Batman Christmas”, it’ll get you in that nostalgic Christmas spirit.
In another life I worked many graveyard shifts while managing Circle K and used to enjoy early morning broadcasts of “The Shadow” and “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show”.
There’s an even larger collection available at archive.org. Thanks, Boing Boing
The Road Ahead
Thanks to Jeff Pepper over at 2719Hyperion for sharing this clip from the 1958 Disneyland “Magic Highway USA”. You can read more background from his earlier posts here and here. Apparently, we aren’t as advanced as predicted. It would be cool to have my car wash and refuel itself.. I really hate stopping at the gas station.
I Just Like Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Not sure why, but I just like Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I can’t pinpoint a particular performance as an actor that impresses me (although Mysterious Skin was pretty good – and a little disturbing). I just think he’d be very cool to hang out with; like a regular guy.
And just for fun, here’s another one…
SeatQuest Visual Ticket Finder
If you love shows and concerts, this is the best tool for finding tickets. It’s a visual map of the venue with available seats indicated as blue dots. Just find your seat and click buy.
This is the biggest pain I find with “other” ticket sites; I have to find the seating chart which is usually not very clear as to where the seats actually are.
The program is still in beta, but I hope to see it continue to develop. It’ll be my first choice for finding tickets.
The Dragon Queen and The Wanderer
Wanderer of Space, Vargo Statten, 1950 Scion / Planet Stories, Summer 1941, Love Romances
I just finished reading Worlds of Tomorrow – The Amazing Universe of Science Fiction Art by Forrest J Ackerman. I picked it up at Half Price Books a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been trying to learn more about design and art from the 1800′s up through the 50′s, 60′s, and 70′s, especially involving predictions of the future.There are several magazines that were published in 30′s, 40′s and 50′s that featured science fiction shorts by sci fi greats like Isaac Asimov, H.G. Wells, and Robert Heinlein. They had titles like Wonder Stories Quarterly, Amazing Stories, and Startling Stories. The cover art was just as fantastic as the stories within. Worlds of Tomorrow features these covers and includes narrative about the history of the culture and writers that envisioned them.
If your a sci fi fan or a fan of sci fi art; or even if you are just looking for a good laugh, check out this book.
I shared these two because half-naked women were a staple of many of these covers. I just thought it was interesting to see half naked men for a change. I’m just not sure how practical a g-string would be for wandering space, or riding dragons. And how about the name “Dragon Queen”?
Simpson, Michael Simpson
What better for a Friday afternoon than to imagine myself a Simpson? (Not of the OJ flavor, of course).
You, too, can re-imagine yourself at Simpsonizeme.com
Rosetta Project – Download Vintage Children’s Books
I find I’m more and more interested in vintage design, having recently purchased a few vintage books containing some beautiful illustrations (more on that later).
Thanks to Lifehacker and Wendy Boswell for sharing a great archive of vintage children’s books at childrensbooksonline.org. It’s a huge collection of downloadable books, some including audio and multimedia. It’s a volunteer-driven site, so if you appreciate what they’re doing and are so inclined, please donate for their efforts.
It’s nice to see that though the physical books will one day return to dust, they will live on in the cybersphere.
You Won’t See This in the US
This would most likely start a boycott of Guinness in the US.
So of course, I love it!
That’s Good Poulton
Here’s another great drawing from Eric Poulton, the re-imagined Death Star from Star Wars. I guess I just like this style so much I had to share. As I’ve said, it’s so reminiscent of the Myst style of Robyn Miller.
And I love this footnote from Eric’s post:
“[1]As it has not yet been discovered a way for machines to directly generate Force energy, it must be supplied by a powerful Force user. The user conjures the energy inside of a specially designed resonance chamber which amplifies the energy before directing it through a series of lenses to produce a powerful coherent beam of unimaginably destructive energy.”
Eric Poulton’s Re-Imagined Star Wars
Stumbled across a very cool series of drawings by Eric Poulton of Star Wars in the “Steam Punk” style. Now, being neophyte that I am to the Steam Punk style, I had never even heard the term before. But seeing the drawings, I realize I’ve seen it many times, and it apparently is one of my favorites. It reminds me a bit darker twist on the design of the Myst series.
Also check out his additional posts which include a very good Jabba the Hut complete with feathered hat.
Very cool, indeed.
Thanks, Bonnie and Boing Boing.
