second-best

:|

Some bastards are playing dirty and have taken the lead through nefarious methods. Thus I ask you to watch my vid again! We will win this popularity contest goddammit.



Also I want to see your halloween costumes.

This cat still comes over despite me offering no food. She just wants to cuddle. Supercute, but SOMETIMES I HAVE TO GET OFF MY COMPUTER CHAIR.



FAT CATS MAKE THIS DIFFICULT

Dear sirs and madams: our Windows 7 music video is in a new contest where the most views win. So please.. watch it again! :D

Okay, I know he will make it through because there is a season 3 and now a season 4, but HOLY FUCK THIS SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME. I am 8 episodes into season 2, and seriously I kind of want to die because of all the tension. AGH. AGH. AGH. fdskjlaakjfsad. Plus this stupid disc doesn't have a "next on" thing so I have NO IDEA what is going on in the next episode, but seriously I don't want to continue watching because it's fucking me up, also I don't want to stop watching. UGH



Might I also add it really is something for Michael C. Hall to make me completely forget about his Six Feet Under character. I mean he is 100% Dexter. I have watched 8 episodes in the last 2 days.

also: sup halloween icon

Also, Valve makes some fantastic trailers for their games (See Team Fortress 2)



Warning: lots of graphic violence against zombies, and there is also a clown zombie.

Here's a song co-written by Leeni and I. We created it for the Microsoft 72 Hour Film Challenge. We recorded a bunch of stuff but unfortunately we had some technical issues and didn't have nearly enough time to edit.. but Leeni was fantastic enough to piece it together.

Okay, I just had a dream where I went to Safeway because the manager begged me to cover a single shift because their dairy manager couldn't work that day. Despite not having worked there for 4 months, I suited up and headed to the store.. only to see the dairy manager. He was confused by my presence, but was also okay with maybe leaving a little early now that I was there. He also mentioned that I was late, as the dairy shift had changed to 4am-noon since I had left. Feeling a bit confused, I found the store manager who also denied having contacted me. After some sorting, we determined that I must have dreamt being asked to come and fill a shift and my dreams were ultra-vivid that week. This being a dream, no one found it to be that weird and I quietly made my way out of the store after picking up the new ad because it was ad change day.

To summarize, I dreamt that Dream Shane dreamt about being called in to my old work. The rabbit hole is DEEP, my friends.

THESE WERE OUR SEATS FOR THE SEATTLE SYMPHONY SHOW WITH BEN FOLDS. HOLY FUCK



Also we were all apparently Ben Folds.

So I have now seen Ben Folds Five, Ben Folds and a Piano, Ben Folds with a backing band, Ben Folds with THE backing band (his "permanent" lineup), and now Ben Folds with the Seattle Symphony. So, uh, I'm pretty awesome. Just sayin'.

I have Live From Perth and it's not my fav.. but by going to this show, I realize it's because you just can't experience orchestra in mp3 format. Who knew how much it would help being able to hear all the instruments rather than just a big wall of noise. This helped especially for the louder songs like "Narcolepsy" and "Steven's Last Night in Town" which I wasn't impressed with on the DVD but sound awesome when you are RIGHT IN THE FRONT ROW.

He did a new song too, which I think might be the first time I've heard him play a new song in concert.. he tends to stick with his recorded stuff with the occasional cover and made-up song. The new song was called "Picture Window" from his upcoming project with Nick Hornby.

It was funny.. there were some in the symphony who were having an awesome time, and then others who were just kinda up there because they're getting paid to do it. Ben also sung a few parts of songs away from the piano since the symphony was handling it.. it was kinda weird!

Setlist:



The predictable encore becomes even more predictable when the entire symphony waits on stage for you. But then he did a second "for reals" encore with just him on piano, doing "Army," an impromptu Seattle song, and "Rockin' the Suburbs." He ended the night by having all of Benaroya Hall yelling "FUCK" over and over. Fantastic.

A few friends and I entered a 72 Hour Film Fest this weekend. It was Windows 7 themed. This film was "Family/Kids/Pets" (that's a genre?) and then we had a character/line/prop we had to use. Turned out pretty funny. I edited this!

I have been super exhausted the past two days and then wide awake right around 1am. What's the deal, body? Please let me know what's up, as I tend to do my stuff during the daytime and then sleep in the nighttime. Thanks in advance.

Due to some small print my health insurance has still not been activated. Insurance companies.. good lord. I'll elaborate later, but what a nightmare. Good thing I'm completely healthy - I just have to hold off swine flu until I'm insured again.

Speaking of bodies I am taking active steps to feeling better about my own.. so that's good. It's really tough for me because I love me some instant gratification and bodies don't work that way. So I am impressed with my persistence so far.

This last week I got my google voice AND google wave invite, so now I am totally awesome. I have yet to set up either one.

The Daily Show is fucking amazing. Like, seriously.

I sound designed the latest show at Balagan, Zastrozzi: Master of Discipline. Pretty proud of it. Check it out if you can.

My job is friggin' awesome.

I auditioned for a Gus Van Sant movie last week.

I'm still stuck in anti-social mode and prefer staying inside my house to going anywhere..

I found out my kitty is a she, and she will be moving out next month! :[ Sad but also at least now I know when I can start the hair-removal process.

Okay that's enough. BACK TO BED!

Come on!

I find it very difficult to be content with the present, as I'm sure many people do. The strong feeling that what the future holds is more important than what the present currently is. Stop and smell the roses, the grass is always greener.. there are quite a few cliches talking about this very situation. The hard part is recognizing the routine and stepping outside of it. I often sleepwalk for hours before realizing I was far away daydreaming during every interaction that day. Oh, habits! I loathe thee!

So satisfaction is a very difficult thing for me to achieve, or realize, or even define. I've been told I should have designated "break times" where I don't think about the 20 projects I'm involved in, and just play a video game, or go biking, or listen to music, or whatever. But it's so hard. When I'm on the computer, I multitask. My Firefox typically has 11 tabs open with things I want to read, projects I want to accomplish, and general to-do stuff. Offline, there are a million projects I COULD be doing and that bogs down any enjoyment I might have for my current activity. I have to be okay with not doing these things, and I have to take time where I'm not thinking about them. I'm.. still working on that one. Trying to find my triggers, see what puts me into standby mode as routine takes over and my personality goes to sleep. They're tough to catch.

Currently on my plate for this month is Live Theatre Week, finished the Kick-Off Fair, all other work stuff, sound design for balagan, sound design for theater schmeater, a staged reading later in october, begin rehearsal for a play that opens in december, beta society stuff (we have a show on public access now!), maybe a short film with brandon, a short film with wonder, the DEVS series planning, I hope that's it.. so now that I've written out the insane amount of activities I have available to me, I should not feel the need to look for other things that need to be done.


Right?



Here's a picture from the ferry.

From Ferry is pretty

hahahah what the hell

Not much to say lately. This summer has seen a huge drop in friends who had a fairly consistent presence in my life; it feels very much like a transitional period. Not many texts.. barely any calls at all. People come and go but right now my confidante list is at record lows. It'll rise again someday, but in the meantime it makes my life pretty uninteresting.

Some bug or BUGS went to TOWN on my left foot either last night or during the day today. It was itchin' like crazy and when I took off my socks There were little bits in like 7 or 8 places :O Oddly enough, while grocery shopping on Saturday I picked up this anti-itch gel on clearance. "Hey, being itchy is annoying! I should get this 'cuz it's cheap!" Thank you, God of Anti-Irritation, for guiding me that day. Seriously though it's creepy. Maybe I have swine flu??? Is this the first sign? Did I have one foot out of the covers last night? Was there a creepy bug just hanging out in my sock all day? I may never know the answer. Or maybe I'm allergic to something in ONE SOCK. Probably swine flu. Farewell friends. No one touch my stuff when I'm gone.

This video is amazing. I was enthralled.



One man brings a giant "Public Option Now" sign and proudly walks it straight through the Washington, DC Teabagging protest. It's so tense, it seems like it could be from a Hollywood movie. For 5 minutes the camera never cuts; you hear the jeers, you see the violence in the movement of the others; I'm just glad he had a police escort - even then, I wasn't sure how he was going to make it through. Wow.

Natasha Richardson, Bea Arthur, Dom Deluise, David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Walter Kronkite, John Hughes, Les Paul, Ted Kennedy,DJ AM, and now Patrick Swayze.. why do celebrity deaths always happen in fourteens? :[

I've managed to stay out of most health care debates because you're either talking to someone who is on the same page as you or you're talking to someone who is not looking to having their mind changed. Not to mention the talking points have been brought up by many people who are not only smarter than me but good debaters. What more could I bring to the table?

Big change is scary. It has to be. There are no perfectly right answers; we're not arguing over facts. Such a complex issue cannot be argued in black and white terms, yet here we are - the polarizing effect of the last decade or so has forced us to "take a side" in order to counter those who refuse to stand closer to center. Fear has ignited one side; frustration the other.

We can't have public forums because apparently this issue is too dangerous to even discuss - democrats are liars, republicans are idiots, and the insurance companies and lobbyists are happy to stand back and let the plebeians destroy each other. Provided they're uninsured of course.

I recently listened to a This American Life podcast regarding a special subcommittee meeting into the fine print of insurance policies.

Rescission happens when an insurance company cancels a client's policy because they believe the client lied when they applied for the policy -- the client pretended that they were healthier than they really were, the client concealed a serious and expensive illness, or the client simply made a mistake and omitted something about his or her health that the insurance company wanted to know.

Schakowsky was referring to Robin Batin, a 59-year-old woman who was a registered nurse for 30 years. In June 2008, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer and needed a double mastectomy immediately. In the subcommittee hearing, she testified that her insurance company refused to pay for her surgery.

"The Friday before I was to have my double mastectomy, Blue Cross and Blue Shield called me by telephone and told me my chart was red-flagged," said Batin.

Schakowsky explained what the insurance company found, "There was something on her chart earlier about a dermatitis that they took to mean pre-cancerous, and even though the dermatologist called and said 'please, this is acne, do not deny her the breast cancer treatment,' they said no.

"It took months for her to finally get the surgery that she needed, by which time the tumor had doubled," said Schakowsky.

At the hearing, representatives of the insurance companies who testified were asked by a subcommittee member, "Doesn't it bother you that people are going to die because you insist on reviewing a policy that somebody took out in good faith and forgot to tell you that they were being treated for acne -- doesn't that bother you?"

"Yes sir it does," said one of the heads of three insurance companies in attendance at the hearing. "And we regret the necessity that that has to occur even a single time."

Later the CEOs were asked "Would you commit today that your company will never rescind another policy unless there was intentional fraudulent misinformation?"

All three said no.

President Obama said it best today when he said "I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business.. I just want to hold them accountable."

Yet even in what is probably the highest level of public forum, there are those who feel that it's unfair the guy with the microphone gets to speak without anyone giving an immediate counterpoint. It's sad when the loudest political protest of the 2000's has been from people who agree that health care reform is needed but do not agree with the proposed solution. Give 'em credit - they don't make shitty songs or make online petitions when they want to see change. They just march right up and tell you what they don't want.

It's obvious reform is needed. I think most peoploe agree with that. And many questionable pieces of the bill will certainly get ironed out in time; not to mention hey, things can be changed and modified if we find it's not working. We just have to get going. We can't subcommittee and dilute this to death - it's too important, and important things are worth taking risks for.

I am sorry this is long, but rather than argue with people on facebook I decided I'd just write my thoughts down and leave it at that. I leave you with my favorite part of today's speech.

You see, our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, and the vulnerable can be exploited. And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when any efforts to help people in need are attacked as un-American; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter — that at that point we don’t merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves.

Also, Ellen's going to be on American Idol! Crazy! What a wild world we live in!