Adam Bozarth Enjoys the Internet

Rather than going with the best of 2009’s releases, I went...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:17:06 -0500

Rather than going with the best of 2009’s releases, I went with my favorite music that I discovered during 2009. I come late to a lot of parties. There are is also a bit of overlap from other “best ofs” I’ve seen, but I didn’t want to leave them out just in case someone missed them.

Get the zip!

Why not tell me what you think?

healywu: nicolemarietherese: A book set in a campus radio station at a women’s college where all...

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:13:50 -0500

healywu:

nicolemarietherese:

A book set in a campus radio station at a women’s college where all the DJs are witches…that’s probably going to veer pretty close to chicklit, isn’t it? Miles, can you weigh in as the saddest young literary man I know?

I am not positive, but I don’t think it’s chicklit unless someone gets proposed to, or is working towards their potentially glamorous but currently difficult dream career.

It’s chicklit if the cover is pink. Definitely chicklit if there is also a cartoon lady wearing sunglasses.

Cheshire Cat by Joe McHugh

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:53:00 -0500

Cheshire Cat by Joe McHugh

Sgt. Duckie’s Song

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:58:48 -0500

Sgt. Duckie’s Song

Kirby sings carols Kirby, the family dog, sings Jingle Bells....

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:18:00 -0500

Kirby sings carols

Kirby, the family dog, sings Jingle Bells. Accompanied on the snowman by Cody.

ericboz: Head Elf: Why weren’t you at saying the Pledge of...

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:36:08 -0500

ericboz:

Head Elf: Why weren’t you at saying the Pledge of Allegiance?
Hermey: Just defending gay rights.
Head Elf: Gay Rights…? Now listen, we have gays that cry, talk, walk, blink and run a temperature. We don’t need any marrying gays!
Hermey: But I just thought I’d find a way to - to fit in.
Head Elf: You’ll never fit in! Now you come to say the Pledge of Allegiance, learn how to wiggle your ears, chuckle warmly, go hee-hee and ho-ho, and important stuff like that. A lawyer!! Good grief!

Eric hits it on the head.

Gamin'

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:40:38 -0500

chrisreblogs:

[ASSORTED SPOILERS: (1) If you were involved in the game I started last January or whatever, I am going to blow a lot of the background here. (2) If you don’t know gaming (and probably specifically World of Darkness (original, not the crappy reboot)), a lot of this will make little sense. (3) I, yet again, expose myself as a massive nerd.]

I’ve been rereading China Miéville’s The Scar which is the second book in his New Crobuzon trilogy. It’s clear Mieéville is gamer. (By “gamer” I mean pen and paper roleplayer.) He paints his world with such joy and detail. they are worlds you want to explore and feel like they have so much depth. I’m not a huge fan of how he writes characters (none of them have much warmth) or his plotting (they feel a bit too much like roleplaying campaigns), but his skill at creating a world with such extreme imagination make his books well worth reading.

Anywhozits, it reminded me how much I missing gaming (again, rleplaying) and how sad it makes me that I have learned that I will probably never be able to run a full campaign again. One offs, sure. Maybe a few nights. But a massive, open ended campaign? With a detailed world with character development and all the jazz? No. Not going to happen. (Rewatching Buffy/Angel has also inspired these thoughts in me.)

The fact is that I am surrounded by talented talented people who are a joy to game with but also cram their lives with projects that might actually build their careers/art. No matter how much joy we might get from it, it is hard to make time for sitting in a room for 6 hours at a stretch telling a story to each other with now “audience.” Sad but true.

It is also draining for me to game master. I pour a lot of my soul into it. I get fixated on it and it takes a lot of energy. And I always feel exhausted after a session.

The game I started a tthe start of the year was a good one. I had a lot of fun stuff crafted into it and I was excited. It is weird when you spend so much creative juices and get all excited by the potential and then have it die before ANYONE gets to see it. So I am going to start posting some of the background/plans/story under the heading Endless Library. (I was going to do it in this post… but I realized that it would end up being a few thousand words long.)

You’ve been warned.

Excited to read about the adventures we could have had, but now I think I have to find friends with whom I play RPGs with exclusively and regularly. (like a television show’s schedule)

Might just write another game myself, set a time, then see who can play.

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Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:11:58 -0500

What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? - Boing Boing

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:09:07 -0500

What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? - Boing Boing:

New improv warm-up?

Just watched this at the awesome Riverside Drive...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:07:24 -0500

Just watched this at the awesome Riverside Drive Thanksgiving!

(via codyb)

frankhejl: Planes, Trains & AutomobilesI wanna watch the...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:31:20 -0500

frankhejl:

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

I wanna watch the fuck outta this movie right now.

I have to see it before the week is done.

They don’t make movies like this any more. Could you imagine seeing a road trip movie today that wasn’t about getting laid? Or the big, boorish slob not belching or farting? Or the word “Fuck” being used in a virtuoso performance instead of as dialog filler?

chamberlain: MAGIC TRICK: 1. Put the above song on your...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:21:54 -0500

chamberlain:

MAGIC TRICK:

1. Put the above song on your iPod.

2. Go to a very public place in NYC.

3. Press play.

4. Try to take anything seriously.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, AS YOU ARE NOW DON KNOTTS IN A 1960s DISNEY MOVIE ABOUT A LAWYER WHO IS ALSO A CARTOON DOG.

I turned this on an instantly mugged into a camera! I COULDN’T CONTROL MYSELF!

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Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:33:44 -0500

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Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:28:52 -0500

Aww, cheer up, pal.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:57:45 -0500

Aww, cheer up, pal.

(via codyb)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:32:20 -0500

(via codyb)

Studying Abroad

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:46:46 -0500

I picked up the new documentary on Python and watched it all nearly immediately. I’ve also been rewatching Flying Circus on DVD a lot, and revisited the movies a few months ago. I’m sure I could go on and on about how much I love the series, and the great little moment each episode has. Instead, I wanted to address something that I hadn’t really noticed before until now.

It is part of the appeal that I wasn’t ever able to verbalize before until hearing someone else say it in the documentary. It’s first mentioned by people who had seen John Cleese perform with Cambridge Footlights Club. He stood out from the crowd because he was such a good actor and took everything he said very seriously. His characters always were very believable despite the fact he would speak complete nonsense. And in turn Python’s humor was very crude and silly, but it was dressed up in a very serious package. Think about Cleese conducting official Ministry business as straight-faced and deadpan as possible while flapping his legs and walking on his ankles. Or the Upperclass Twit of the Year being called expertly and efficiently as contestants kicked beggars and insult butlers. I digress.

The documentary continues on to talk about the Python films. Both Life of Brian and Holy Grail are specific period pieces and are shot beautifully as if they were epics. I imagine that if they were shot today, by studios, the authenticity and craft that went into those films would be sacrificed. Why put the time and money into a comedy? But if a studio filmed those movies today, they would be awful and have at least 20 percent more boob.

This idea of authenticity and acting commitment in comedy has, like I mentioned earlier, been somewhere in the back of my mind. I notice details more than the big picture sometimes. I remember as a boy whenever I would watch a movie and they would cut to the news or show a video tape, I would get upset if the broadcast was clearly filmed and not videotaped. Still does bother me. I want things to look correct.

I think that’s why Python ultimately spoke to me. They always seemed to know what they were talking about, speaking with such authority in all the sketches. I remember feeling really giddy at my first few laughs into Holy Grail, as if this drab old movie about King Arthur has woken itself up and started talking to itself or about itself. That’s something I noticed happen in Flying Circus a lot. It seemed as if that was the half-hour you got to look into the fevered subconscious of television. Again, I digress.

The lesson I am trying to take away from this big dose of Python in the past few months is that selling comedy takes work. Hard actor work to make sure that the comedy is served by authenticity. I am not sure why it took me so long to focus on this idea, as it is the thing that bothers me the most about bad comedy.

The tough part, now, is to learn how to do it in a split second.

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Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:36:49 -0500

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Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:47:19 -0500

Adam Bozarth Enjoys the Internet

Rather than going with the best of 2009’s releases, I went...

healywu: nicolemarietherese: A book set in a campus radio station at a women’s college where all...

Cheshire Cat by Joe McHugh

Sgt. Duckie’s Song

Kirby sings carols Kirby, the family dog, sings Jingle Bells....

ericboz: Head Elf: Why weren’t you at saying the Pledge of...

Gamin'

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What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor? - Boing Boing

Just watched this at the awesome Riverside Drive...

frankhejl: Planes, Trains & AutomobilesI wanna watch the...

Top 50 Worst Videogame Voice Acting from Simpleton11 - Video

chamberlain: MAGIC TRICK: 1. Put the above song on your...

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Aww, cheer up, pal.

(via codyb)

Studying Abroad

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