Just gonna leave this here:

On a more serious note regarding someone’s idea of manliness, it must be terrifying to live life in such mortal fear of anything considered ‘different’. Seriously.

A few more discs from the big green box, with the requisite inclusion of long-forgotten discs from the early 90s. I never quite know what I’m going to get when I start writing things down about the listening experience – sometimes, It feels like I’m just phoning it in, sometimes I hit on some interesting places I didn’t expect I’d get. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to decide which entries are which:

♦-The Blibbering Humdingers – Free Awkward Hugs: I picked this up as a digital download card from the Band’s table at RavenCon this year, thrilled to see them once again on the bill. The Humdingers are a wizard rock band from North Carolina who tend a bit more towards the pop and folk end than genre godfathers Harry and The Potters, and I’d argue they’re better songwriters. the tunes are mostly humorous and often a bit naughty; historically, they’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of the unresolved sexual tension between Harry and Ginny in the films – this record goes to that well with the infectious “Zip Me Up”, a well-crafted pop tune featuring a nod to the Bangles’ cover of “Hazy Shade of Winter” (immediately endearing it to me). It’s kind of a catch-all record, mixing new stuff with some re-recordings, live performances, and karaoke tracks(!), though it’s the new, original (and not necessarily HP-related) tunes that really do it for me, particularly the D&D epic “Natural 20” (linked in a recent post) and “That Time of the Month”, which runs with the obvious but underused metaphorical link between werewolves and the monthly visit from Aunt Irma.

♦-Soul Asylum – Grave Dancer’s Union: This is another one of those “didn’t realized I owned it” CDs, and quite probably a record club infiltrator. Soul Asylum is one of those cliche 90s bands that became AAA radio staples, especially once they broke out the acoustic guitars. This record had a ton of radio hits, but at the same time, it’s considered a lesser, “sellout/gone soft” record by the group’s fans. While never a huge fan of the band, I can agree with the sentiment, as I favor the more agressive tracks like “Somebody to Shove” and “Keep It Up” over the ballady “Black Gold” and (especially) “Runaway Train”; this band is better with an edge to them. Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the mid-tempo “Without A Trace”, largely due to the lyrical bravery of rhyming “popsicle” with “possible”.

♦-John Mellencamp – The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988: There was a time when I would have directly identified with the sentiment of Mellencamp’s signature hit “Small Town”, though as the years have gone by, I’ve found myself drawn more to urban landscapes and away from the idealized Norman Rockwell portrait of rural small town life so many people romanticize. Of course, Mellencamp doesn’t really romanticize it either, if you just go with the text of most of the tunes on this collection. It’s kind of the Springsteen thing – “Born in the USA” isn’t the celebration of American values a hundred Republican politicians tried to make it (Mellencamp has had similar problems with right wingers using his tunes at events, given his progressive politics); in the same vein, much of Mellencamp’s midwestern aesthetic has a hint of tragedy behind it, even when it is nakedly nostalgic – “Pink Houses”, “Paper and Fire” and even “Jack and Diane” all have a bit of melancholy in there below the surface. The Springsteen connection is apt – Mellencamp kind of inhabits the same space, if displaced a thousand miles or so west of the Jersey shore – much of his earlier output has a kind of a faux E-street vibe to it, down to the sax solo on “Ain’t Even Done With The Night”. In any case, despite the fact that I don’t identify so strongly with the sentiment in my middle age, this is the kind of music that hits me in the right place; I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m an elitist hipster snob that loves this americana music. Acoustic guitars, applachian violins, and that accursed Autoharp from the “Cherry Bomb” video will, on some level, always make me happy.

♦-The Clarks: If pressed, I’d probably call the Clarks the best pure bar band I ever saw play (and I’ve seen a lot of bar bands over the years). Despite being “self titled”, this is actually the band’s second record (as evidenced by the big photo of the number 2 painted on a brick wall on the back cover), and is the one that broke them in their western PA stomping grounds. I picked this one up at the merch table at one of my first encounters with the band when they ventured east into Yuengling territory. There’s a lot to love here: “She Revolves”, a clever tune with a great title, an excellent fuzzed up cover of the Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and “Penny on the Floor”, the breakout hit (according to wikipedia) – for once I’ll agree with the majority sentiment and pick the “hit” as the standout track on the record – a not-entirely healthy meditation on a failed relationship and the strange symbolism the mind creates, driven along by a nicely played mandolin riff. Also of note is the acoustic hidden version of “Caroline”, which will show up two albums downstream as one of the two “girl songs” on Someday Maybe with a much louder arrangement.

Not a hell of a lot going on ’round these parts. Was a mostly rainy, quiet weekend, with the wife and one third of the kids out of town. I spent a good portion of the last 72 hours hauling the other two-thirds to various activities, usually involving their proper education in the arts. This also involved lots of last-minute tracking down of stuff that they probably should have known exactly where it was. That was fun.

In there, I found the time to watch a couple of movies. While the oldest was away at her dance/voice lessons, I took the youngest out to see Chimpanzee, which was beautifully shot, and quite a nice nature film, though I could have done without the Tim Allan narration (as could this reviewer), which didn’t add anything except for cheap jokes to entertain the rubes in our particular screening (this audience, during previews, were completely indifferent to the amazing-looking Pixar film Brave, but cheered and whooped for the trailer for Madagascar 3. I consider this evidence that our society is one in decline.). This sort of gorgeous and groundbreaking imagery deserves better than Tool Time grunts.

Otherwise, we hung around the house, did laundry, and watched a few DVDs. Some may find it noteworthy that I introduced the eldest to Top Gun, which happened to come up in the Netflix queue (added months ago when I was reminded she’d never seen it when she didn’t get a random “Danger Zone” reference). I hadn’t seen it in years, and kind of enjoyed it in a cheesey, nostalgic way. My kid, who knows Tom Cruise almost exclusively as the subject of a Jonathan Coulton song, mostly rolled her eyes at it – all the “iconic” lines seem trite when you’ve grown up seeing them jokingly referenced in other media. Mostly, though, she got angry at the fate of Goose.

When the others returned on Sunday afternoon, after getting damp on a camping trip, things didn’t change all that much beyond group dynamics. It remained a lazy Sunday, with occasional forays into picking ticks off of people, sometimes from rather uncomfortable, intimate places.

To take the taste of that last image out of our minds, there was also a trip to a local FroYo place, and a viewing of the latest episode of Tabletop, featuring one of our family’s favorite go-to board games, Settlers of Catan, which, if you like fun, you should go out and buy (although if you like fun, you probably already have it.).

You know what, It’s been months since I’ve gotten lazy enough to throw up a collection of random musings and links to things I thought were interesting and/or amusing! Let’s do it!

♦ – The bike commute this week was pretty damned scary. My nerves are a bit frazzled after nearly getting hit four or five times in three days, despite lots of flashing lights and my reflective hi-viz yellow cycling jersey.

♦ – Here’s a great illustration from my comicon acquaintance Dan Nokes from 21st Century Sandshark Studios of the Avengers as Teddy Bears, created for this weekend’s Pittsburgh Comicon charity auction:

♦ – Amanda Marcotte is actually pretty much right on with this piece about how conservatism is largely based on selfishness and mean-spiritedness, particularly regarding how young people and students in particular are being hammered in the current and political and economic climate.

♦ – According to this “article”, I am simultaneously sensitive and emotionally vacant. Kind of digging the whole “Dr. Evil” potential, though.

♦ – The Badlees have a new greatest hits collection coming out this weekend, and Bret’s been posting the stories behind each of the tracks on the band’s blog leading up to the release. They’re worth reading.

♦ – If you like fun, you really should be watching Tabletop with Wil Wheaton on Geek and Sundry. This show has already cost me fifty bucks in board game purchases.

♦ – It really sucked this week that I was like five miles from Dulles on Tuesday, yet was stuck in a conference room with no windows during the Shuttle Discovery flyover. Thank goodness for twitter and it’s #SpotTheShuttle hashtag. Our whole meeting was following along.

♦ – Hark, it’s the Game of Thrones Drinking Game!. Hangover is coming. Hodor!

♦ – Joss Whedon is having a pretty good summer. Also – go see The Cabin in the Woods…Just Go, like now. Trust me.

♦ – I really hope that out there somewhere, there’s a roller derby girl jetting under the name “Downtown Abby”.

♦ – For the music fan out there, here’s a non-wizard rock song from the fun and amiable wizard rock combo The Blibbering Humdingers:

Yeah, that’s probably enough links and stuff for now. Hope you found something here amusing.

This really wasn’t the ideal weekend for me to spend at a fan convention. The previous weekend involved a long road trip, that while pleasant and enjoyable, involved a lot of driving…and picking up some sort of viral crud that kept me running at below optimal conditions all week. Also, the previous week was spring break, which meant that the rest of the family wasn’t working on any particular schedule, so I was rising and settling in earlier than everyone else. Also, there was the houseguest, who although welcome and pleasant, by her presence upset the balance of my universe, particularly regarding the behavior of my children (a phenomenon I’ve alluded to before, which remained in force this weekend).

So, I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to embark on the whirlwind of activity that was RavenCon, my home town con.

So, I didn’t really expect to have the kind of fun and enjoyment that I did. Despite the occasional hassles of being the parent of part of the roving pack of con kids, and an hour or so of wooziness due to the heat and crowd in the “Doctor Who” panel, It was a remarkably good time.

I caught a couple of good panels talking about various subjects, from the challenges writers face in creating believeable alien races to a discussion between neuroscientists and costume tinkers about how the human brain is more of a steampunk machine than a digital computer, and another great discussion on the theory of game design. Also, I sat in on a couple of readings – a “rapid-fire” reading from several authors affiliated with Broad Universe, an organization dedicated to promoting female talent in genre writing, including Leona Wisoker, Gail Z. Martin, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, as well as another reading-concert-variety hour with the multi-talented Danny Birt.

As usual, I spent a bit of time in the game room, coming in second in a hand of Munchkin and taking on the role of an enthusiastic newspaper photographer on the surface of a Victorian-pulp Mars in a session of GURPS on Friday night with one of my favorite MIBs, though not as much as usual, because some of my usual gaming friends weren’t there this year, and because there was some great music happening all afternoon on Saturday.

Yes, once again I spent much of my time coasting along the music programming track, camped out in the New River room for a big block of music, featuring Wizard Rock ensemble The Blibbering Humdingers, nerdcore/comedy rapper Devo Spice, the aforementioned Danny Birt, and the amazing paranormal folk singer/songwriter Jonah Knight.

My better half spent a bunch of time doing much the same thing, but ended up working in a couple of jewelry-making workshops with artist Loren Damewood, hand-crafting some beautiful jewelry, including a silver bracelet and earrings. Also, the eldest child spent Saturday morning in a young writer’s workshop conducted by local author and convention buddy Pamela Kinney, which she reports she quite enjoyed.

Otherwise, we hung out with our con friends and acquantances, including visits with the indescribable Lady Ozma, Rob Balder (who writes a little webcomic you might have heard of called erfworld), and the previously acknowledged Jonah Knight (thanks for the beer!), and a bunch of other people who don’t publicize their web sites (like Bert, Mike, Charlene, and Shannon). We also bought a few odds and ends (game stuff, books, CDs, and other various and sundry ornamentation) in the dealers’ room and spent some time admiring costumes (steampunk Vader and the Time Machine were really pretty awesome).

After all that, I went home and mowed the “grass” and did some laundry on Sunday afternoon. That’s about as mundane as you can get after all that geeking out.

So yeah. Convention time. Good time. Also, tiring, but I’ll probably be ready to do it all again next month at Balticon.

This is all the more amusing because the pre-schooler just discovered Friendship is Magic via the Netflix:

Well, I’m back from a spring break road trip. It was novel. I went to a rodeo, and saw guys ride bulls and stuff. It wasn’t my normal Saturday night out, but it was new and different, and something I’d never done before.

It also seems as if I brought some flu-like symptoms back from the trip. This isn’t good; I hope I don’t become Patient Zero for this year’s RavenCon crud. I really am looking forward to that occasion in the coming days – the guest list is truly impressive this year (Hugo and Nebula Winners! Paranormal Folk! Wizard Rock! Cally from Battlestar!), and so many of my friends will be there, and my friends are lots of fun.

I hope I don’t make them all sick.

Four more discs from the most transitional of periods in my life – my late 20s. One foot in childhood, another in adulthood. Sounds I associate with different times, different places, sometimes in surprising combinations. In any case, it’s a draw from the box that’s a little varied, but wouldn’t necessarily be out of place on a turn of the century radio dial, if the program director was a little adventurous.

♦ Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis: This is another one of those “didn’t send the record club card back on time” aquisitions; not something I would have necessarily purchased intentionally. Ozzy is a rock legend, and one of the great personalities of the genre.  His work with Black Sabbath and some of his solo stuff are undeniable classics (I personally love “Shot in the Dark” from The Ultimate Sin), but this record really isn’t. There’s some good stuff here (“See You On The Other Side” is a nice tune),  but the fakey-keyboard strings all over “I Just Want You” are a bit much (even if they were played by Rick Wakeman), and “Perry Mason” is kinda hokey despite the cool guitar riff; actually, all the Zakk Wylde guitar work is pretty great – but that’s to be expected. Hardcore Ozzy fans seem to love this one, though I’m having a hard time really agreeing with them; it just doesn’t hit the right notes for me.

♦ Spin Doctors – Turn it Upside Down: Today, this band is looked at as largely a 90s punchline, with vocalist Chris Barron’s scruffy beard and knit ear flap hat.  Despite selling “only” a million or so copies, this record is considered a flop when compared to the multiplatinum juggernaut that was Pocketful of Kryptonite. With a bit of distance, though, there’s some pretty great work and a lot to like here.  “Big Fat Funky Booty” is a great jam, aside from it’s lyrical hokeyness, and “You Let Your Heart Go Too Fast” is a nice little pop song (and a top 10 hit) that got a lot of radio play and most people forget is on this record. There’s a reason this band clicked when they did; they were a fun, talented group who wrote good hooks and had solid musical chops; plus, in 1994, everybody looked scruffy and had a tendency toward the neo-hippie. Also, this record has “Cleopatra’s Cat” on it, which is expansive, eclectic, and probably my favorite Spin Doctors tune.

♦ Big Back Forty – Bested: I saw this group open for the Badlees in the late 90s in a dingy hotel ballroom on the West Shore, and was duly impressed. I snagged this record from a used CD bin at some point later, and kind of fell in love. The band never really went anywhere (I think this record was pretty much it), but they’ve got that great bar band/alt-country sound that wasn’t in vogue quite long enough for my tastes; I’ll always have a taste for the beer-soaked roadhouse poet thing, especially when it’s backed up by simple, effective instrumentation – bass, drums, vintage Telecasters plugged straight into the overdriven tube amp, and the occasional pedal steel or accordion for flavor. Tunes like “Blood”, “8 Miles Down” and “Bested” stick with you, low-key, yet catchy to the point you find them playing in the back corners of your subconscious days after hearing them. The theoretical band of band I picture myself playing in one of these years sounds more than a little bit like this one.

♦ Pete Palladino – Sweet Siren of the Reconnected: Here’s another one of the Badlees solo project discs, and in a lot of ways, it’s the most familiar-sounding, which isn’t surprising, given that it’s Pete out in front, with the rest of the Badlees backing him – what makes it a solo record is the fact that these are Pete’s tunes, which trend a little more toward pop than the country-folk that typifies Alexander’s output. The Badlees early “signature” sound is here, though, especially on the early tracks – “What A Difference A Year Makes” is the best Badlees song not attributed to them, with all the guitar hooks and vocal interplay one comes to expect (along with a few understated synths one wouldn’t). The rest of the record takes a few interesting side trips outside the box, with mixed results – “Complicated Choreography” is a nice ballady thing that straddles the line between sweet and trite, whereas “Fourth of July” is an effective distorted wall of sound (though I personally like the PJ&R live version from 50:45 Live better), and the title track has drones and, um…bagpipes (shades of Steve Earle’s celtic tendencies, though it doesn’t quite deliver). Still, the songs all work, even if the arrangments don’t – many of them played better to me on Pete’s solo tour (which he was kind enough to bring down south) supporting the record. Being a fan, I’m disposed to finding stuff to like, and in this case, I didn’t have to look very hard at all; there’s a lot here to enjoy.

…in a discussion on the idea of “personal testimony”, via Fred at slacktivist and commenter “Michael Mock”:

If my life were a fairy tale, I’d be the boy who ignored the warnings and stepped off the path – only I wasn’t punished for it; I found that the forest wasn’t so scary once you were in it, and the wolves and boggles were often friendly, and the simple act of exploration was tremendously rewarding. And I lived happily ever after, or as close as anyone ever does.

Just something to think about. Actually, the whole piece linked above is a good read. All of the various “testimonies” linked spoke to me in some way – maybe not directly in all cases, but every one of them resonated.

After America watched (some of us, anyway – I gave up after VCU was eliminated) the 2012 NCAA tournament come to a close on Monday, I only now find a “joke bracket” that I like (to be fair, it appears to have been posted on Sunday).

The 2012 iNternet diCkbAg chAmpionship tournament, featuring such conference powerhouse match-ups as:

• Guy Who Scornfully Shits All Over Anything That Is Popular vs. Guy Who Thinks He Is Super Brave And Hip For Liking Popular Things!
• Woman Who Believes That If She Constantly Updates Her “Oenophile” Blog No One Will Notice That She’s A Sloppy Drunk vs. Guy Who Has Written 28,000 Words On Hundreds Of Identical-Tasting Potato Chips!!
• Woman Who Isn’t Racist But vs. Guy Who Doesn’t Hate Gays He Is Just Saying That’s All!!!
• Guy Who Gets An Erection At The Mention Of The Apple OS vs. Guy Who Says There’s No Reason To Say That PCs Are Inferior Just Because They Crash A Lot And Are Buggy And Don’t Work Very Well!!!!

I’ve met most of these people online over the years. Heck, I probably have been some of these people at one time or another. In any case, I got a bit of a laugh out of it.