@VTKountry - State of The Blogging

Looks like it's been nearly two months since I've written a legitimate blog post - one that wasn't a self- promoting repost from Obe Lincoln or a cop-out video post. No wonder my numbers are dwindling. That or maybe the blogosphere is just slipping into obsolescence with the rise of microblogging. I've done the twitter. I do the twitter. But I'm still not really grasping what it is that people love about it. Which is fine. I don't really "get" acrylics either. Why wouldn't you just use oils. But, whatever. Different strokes for different folks. Microblogging probably doesn't really appeal to me because I'm a rambler at heart and 140 characters is just not long enough for me. I understand how sometimes things require only brief mention and not a full blog post. For instance, today I was flipping through this month's Esquire magazine, which I get courtesy of my father's yearly Christmas subscription gift, and I noticed that a full page ad for viagra was opposite an article entitled "The Golden Age of American Meat". Kinda funny. A chuckle. A giggle. Maybe worthy of a brief mention to my efriends, but at 247 characters, it's nearly double the maximum character limit of a twitter tweet. Yet, it also might not be worthy of a whole blog post. If this were a three times daily blog it might fit, but for a 6.5 posts per month blog, it's less fitting. I think microblogging makes sense when it's part of a larger whole, like the facebook status update, or if it's a tool for people to get updates about the progress of a wildfire or something; but twitter on its own - for random webtainment or webformation - just doesn't do much for me. Or maybe I just need to get a cellphone and experience it that way. Maybe it's a side phenomenon of the texting world from which I've abstained. For now, it's back to old-school blogging for me. And it's about time for rusty old VTK. What'll it be, VTKountry? Sports? Politics? A mid-season LOST review? A frank discussion about how much Jimmy Fallon's new show sucks? How about some documentary recommendations? Alright, I'll be back in a bit with some doc recs. Stand by for my next bleet...


[UPDATE: I just microblogged about this blog about microblogging. But you already knew that. You've always known it. Eternal recurrence of the same?]

The Ball, Dropped

Eight days since my last post = shameful. What kind of mickey mouse operation am I running here at VTK? My apologies to all 5 of my remaining readers for dropping the ball. I have a good excuse for not posting during 1/2 of that span - I was in Michigan, ie on my dad's dinosaur machine. After several frozen screens, crashes, mini memory dumps, spyware and cookie cleaning sessions, etc, I asked him exactly how old it was and he said about 10 years. (*pulling non-existent hair out*) I told him that it's unconscionable to be working on a machine that far past its life span and that he needed to buy a mac laptop. C'mon. I think all non-technical people and all people over the age of 60 (is that redundant?) should have to buy macs. That should be a law. But the point is that I wasn't going to attempt to do anything other than a 60 second check of my email on that piece of dung. So posting was out of the question.

Long time VTK readers know what a visit to Michigan means: Costingo! Newer readers can familiarize yourselves here and here. With myself, lil bro, and MAC on site, Costingo was on again. Unfortunately, the absence of lc and the undesirable scheduling made for a somewhat muddled affair. I suppose it was folly to think that we could recreate the phenomenon that was Costingo.06, but we had to try, right? Due to an adults cocktail party on Friday night, a kids High School Musical 2 party on Saturday night, and a scheduled departure of lil bro and MAC on Sunday afternoon, Costingo.07 got slotted for 11:30 AM on Sunday morning. And I have to tell you, I think I speak for everyone when I say that Costingo is more of a 4:30 PM on Saturday affair. The late afternoon ramping up for Saturday night highballs gave way to the late morning hair of the dog Sunday bloody marys and coffee/bailey's. The afternoon of getting jacked up for the big event gave way to the harried morning hungover preparations and artificial excitement. You can see how the vibe might be affected. But it's still Costingo, so it kicked ass, naturally. The kids and the neighbors showed up in their assorted hodge podge outfits and, as was the case last year, everyone was a bit confused and uncertain as to what exactly was going on. Costumed bingo dance party with a cupcake frosting competition? what? But eventually lc's dance mix kicked in and we were off. The chicken cup craft session got everyone more confused/excited, a rousing game of bingo included a hungover UJ leaning back in his chair and breaking an expensive stained glass window, and tacos and hotdogs set off the bailey's heavy coffee nicely. Also, no one cried. So Costingo was a success.

Speaking of my ongoing blogging anxiety, I just realized that a google search of "Costingo" yields 3 links to VTK in the first 3 results. So I guess, welcome to VTK, everyone who is old enough to google "Costingo". Eat your vegetables, listen to your parents, do be happy, and disregard everything you read from/about your step-uncle here at VTK. It's all nonsense. And stay in school. And be nice to your siblings and cousins. And don't swear. And a special shout out to the newest costingita, baby C. She's probably not reading this yet, but she's so cute and well behaved that she gets a shout out anyways.

Rounding out the trip to MI was a flight delay for the NYC contingent which led to them staying an extra day. An extra day in which we watched a bunch of movies: Breach (sucked), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (cute/boring), The Interpreter (best of the bunch), and Bourne Ultimatum (good for what it is - 90 minutes of punching/crashing/smashing tension).

Rounding out the post, I'm listening to the "new" Modest Mouse right now, and I have to give it the thumbs up. Better than their last album, with which I was a little disappointed. It starts a little eh with the first few songs, but brings it around with the next few, and finishes up strong. I'm especially intrigued by track 11, Steam Engenius, which seems to be a bit of a mash-up of Third Uncle by Brian Eno and Learning to Fly by Pink Floyd. with a some Isaac and Johnny Marr thrown in. I'm not saying it's a ripoff, just recognizing influences. All in all, I'd say that the addition of Marr to the Mouse was a success.

Top Ten High School Movies of All Time

I was watching American Graffiti last night and I was wondering where it would fit in to my Top Ten High School Movies list. Fuge over at the Duffless Foundation just did a tribute to the 20 year anniversary of the drop of Appetite for Destruction, calling it the best album of his lifetime, which prompted me to request the Top 10 albums of his lifetime list(and the Top 10 of his music conscious lifetime 10 yrs old give or take). I made my own lists in the comments, which reminded me how tough these lists are. Unless you cop out and include an honorable mention list, you are dissing from several to dozens of qualified candidates depending on the list content. My albums list had 25 teams tied for 11th which I had to leave off. I have fewer tied for 11th on the High School Movies list, but there are several worthy candidates that got bumped. So here goes:

10. Wildcats
9. Just One of the Guys
8. Pretty in Pink
7. Pump Up The Volume
6. Dazed and Confused
5. Three O'Clock High
4. Fast Times At Ridgemont High
3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
2. American Graffiti
1. Breakfast Club

(Also, fuck Blogger and fuck YouTube. I spent about two hours picking clips and funny remakes done on each of these and they totally hosed me when I went to publish the post. So I redid it and they hosed me again. Is there a limit on how many embedded videos you can have on one post?)

Pete Postlethwaite Sunday

I'm after watching In The Name Of The Father and Brassed Off back to back. You might say I've been getting my Postlethwaite on. Pete Postlethwaite, that is. A fine actor and possibly the best brow/nose/cheekbone combination in the history of film. Also a master of the dignified resistance role. My opinion of the British government is not particularly high at the moment (not that it ever was high). ITNOTF will fire up even the most diluted of Irish genes. I actually first saw it when it came out in 93/4 in a theater in Cork, which was by far the most intense movie theater experience of my life. People were shouting "Fuck the Brits!" and the like and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. Like ITNOTF, Brassed Off details a true story injustice doled out by Her Majesty's Empire, in which Pete Postlethwaite plays the heart and soul dignified voice of the wronged with a debilitating respiratory illness and a troubled relationship with his tempestuous son. Other than The Usual Suspects, I can't recall seeing too much of Postlethwaite's work, but I always enjoy him.