Rise Industries

Today I signed on to be an Executive Producer for Coudal Partners’ upcoming short film, 72°. Take a look at their project diary site and their previous short film: Copy Goes Here.

I just won the Retroblast motivational poster contest with my Zork inspired poster. Ahh, I am a happy man today.

d o m e s i n l o s a n g e l e s m o n d a y s

The Dome Village in Los Angeles is being dismantled this week, one of the unfortunate results of the rise in property values in downtown. For those who don’t know of its existence, it is a small community of spherical fiberglass domes used to provide housing for the homeless away from Skid Row. It was built in 1993 to provide affordable transitional housing, and is visible right off the side of the 110 Freeway. With the construction of the new Staples Center nearby a few years ago, and the current plan underway to build a massive mixed use commercial/residential complex in that area, the rent the owners of the Dome Village (also called Justiceville) were paying jumped 700%. As an experiment in creating a community that could positively affect the lives of people living on the street in LA, the village was a resounding success – it even produced a cricket team (yeah, cricket!) that went on a brief tour of England to play. Its a crime that no city organization has stepped in to save this project, and these people’s homes, and that the jump in real-estate values will simply destroy this vision of community. Development in LA has been a major force in pushing the homeless from place to place in downtown, and has yet to help provide any form of solution to the massive problem of homelessness in the city. Its sad to see a successful project like Dome City vanish, putting people back on the street, and putting an end to one of the more creative solutions to housing the urban poor.

Also, read about it in the LA Times

The other big domes in LA, the Griffith Observatory, are set to re-open this week after four years of extensive renovation. Perched atop the foothills of Los Feliz, Griffith affords tremendous views of the city spread out at its feet at night, and is one of the most beautiful places in Los Angeles. I last went up there the day it closed for repairs, and we will dispatch a team to check out its reopening, just as soon as we can get up there.

DO THEY EVER WRITE ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN MUSIC, AND WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK IS IT ANYWAY?

The other day, I noticed that the band The Books are not at all from Malaysia. Even though this is true, I told my friend Mike (who gave me a CD of theirs) that they are fantastic. Turns out this is true. All I have for you right now is a review of the album I got. I actually think its quite a bit better then the reviewer does.

Libra September 23 – October 23

The alignment of the stars and the planets can only mean one thing this week: You’re looking at a very simplistic, two-dimensional model of our solar system.

via America’s Finest News Source

I took several days off this past week, for birthday related activities, and ended up mostly cleaning and reorganizing my studio. Yesterday, I got fed up with this, and spent a few hours making a mix CD that I have wanted to make for months. I will most likely create a podcast version of it for download this weekend. Then you all can listen. So. I put a track by Wendy Carlos on it, because I knew of her work on A Clockwork Orange. I had not, however, realized she was so interesting or that she was involved in a couple of my other favorite films – The Shining, and Tron. She was one of the earliest users of the Moog synthesizer, and used it to create her first album in 1968. I also had not realized that she was a man earlier in life, taking the name Wendy after a sex change.
Now, I have to go to the record store and track down as much of her stuff as possible. I recommend you go find at least some. Or wait for my podcast, so you can hear Timesteps.

mmmmm, useless information is goooood.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 102 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

POWER BALLAD

Woke up to the sound of pouring rain
The wind would whisper and I’d think of you
And all the tears you cried, that called my name
And when you needed me I came through

I paint a picture of the days gone by
When love went blind and you would make me see
I’d stare a lifetime into your eyes
So that I knew you were there for me
Time after time you were there for me

Remember yesterday – walking hand in hand
Love letters in the sand – I remember you
Through the sleepless nights and every endless day
I’d wanna hear you say – I remember you

-Skid Row

Lets go Rollerskating!

m u s i c a l t u e s d a y s
On Saturday Jeremy was on a crazy itunes shopping spree of bad 80’s metal bands, Skid Row, Def Leppard, Warrant, Winger… Which sparked a joke about a hypothetical performance of dueling Hair Metal bands vs. Riot Grrrl bands. I searched off and on the rest of the day between Sleater Kinney, Excuse 17, Team Dresch, Heaven’s to Betsy, Le Tigre, Julie Ruin, Bratmobile, Joan Jett … and I kept wondering – who recorded the original version of “Cherry Bomb”? I finally came up with The Runaways – “the first all-female band to make a substantial impression on the public by playing loud, straight-up, guitar-driven rock & roll,” whose original members consisted of Joan Jett, Micki Steele (later of The Bangles) and Sandy West. Later versions of the group added others including Lita Ford. They began in 1975 and the perfect combination of “Jett’s punk and glam rock influences clashed with West and Ford’s love of straight-up hard rock and heavy metal” led to their demise in 1979. If this is where it all started, it is the essential band for our duel.
(quotes from itunes bio)

Retired S1Ws Recalled To Active Duty

“I got a letter from the P.E. the other day,” said James Bomb, 46, also a former S1W. “I opened it, and read it, and said they were suckers. They want me for their army or whatever? Picture me giving a damn—I said ‘Never.'”

“Then again, I could use the money,” Bomb added.