Omnibus

So, biggest thing going on with us lately is our big event . Shaping up to be a fun day! In other news, caught 3 concerts this weekend - Rebecca Riots at the Freight in Berkeley. Saturday night, caught El Fay at 12 Galaxies, then BARTed over to east bay for Shelley Doty Xtet at Starry Plough in Berkeley. Love seeing friends play, but it always makes me wonder why I'm not up there...
Counting backwards - saw "Indiana Jones" and "Iron Man" again, at Cerrito. Saw a documentary - Surfwise, about a very unique surf-hippie family originating from OC. Bonnie's choice, it was a family she had had some contact with back in her youth. I'm usually a fan of her movie choices, and going to the movies with her.
On the jobfront, nothing exciting. Nuff said. Oh, actually - there was a screenwriting course I took, sponsored by work. I've been working with this group for a while now, our project for this session has been a bit of a 'master class', and we've put together a collaborative screenplay, which is pretty outstanding. We're scheduled to wrap it up in the next couple weeks, and have a staged reading of it in front of workfolk, I'm really looking fwd to that. Also, refining my script to get a reading.
Band front is a bit rocky - one guy is having a kid & is stepping back from Band duties. One guy has blown out his knee and needs surgery. We'll keep working on stuff, but we've got nothing public for at least 3 weeks. Bummer, especially since we moved into a new rehearsal space and were starting some momentum.
[total aside - I'm sitting here watching PBS as I write this, y'know, I love it, but PBS has a lot of commercial-looking segments in-between shows.] Also an aside, I'm reading a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle collection, much more interesting than I would've believed, knowing what I know about Sherlock Holmes. Now that's a franchise which could thrive, with a Hollywood-size injection of medium+ budget. I have my own take on how the Green Hornet franchise could be a big hit, too :>.
So, Ron Paul was in the news - oh, wait, I'm not getting into Politics here. (except the occasional political humour excursion).
Last month I went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. This month, Bonnie got free tix to a Media VIP day at Great America (another theme park in the south bay). I'm realizing I don't like roller coasters anymore. Maybe it's motion sickness, the knocking around. the upside-down-iness. Well, at least I enjoyed the animal park at Six Flags.

Summer incoming

Update on summer movie-going : Indiana Jones seems to be falling behind after its monster opening weekend, I doubt it'll pass Iron Man. Saw "Narnia", which I thought was quite good - nearly as good as the first one, if not as fresh and smoothly-paced. Bonnie tooke me to the midnight screening of "Sex and the City", which I have to say was a disappointment. MINOR SPOILERS : the quality of craft was there as in the series, but the brutal dragging out of the relationships, the too-obvious symbolism of one relationship vs. another, and the too-neat resolution of the forgiveness and men-save-the-day for the women just left a bad taste... Kung Fu Panda was acutally pretty good, one of the strongest DreamWorks efforts ever, and very funny all through. Planning on seeing "The Fall" this weekend, too.
Our neighbor Diane had a summer party this Saturday, to celebrate her getting into UC Berkeley, and getting a job there. Nice group of folks - she kep saying how it was 'worlds colliding' of old friends, and work friends. One friend happened to be a pastry chef at a upper-classy restaurant in Lafayette, he brought an awesome trifle to to the party. Congrats, Diane!
Watched the Australian-indie Heath Ledger movie, "Candy", about... self-destructive drug-adled lifestyle. Art oddly imitating life. I take it back about 'Indiana Jones' or 'Iron Man' being the biggest movie of the year, I think it'll be "Dark Knight"...
Colossal Inertia put on our showcase event last Friday, went great. We added 3 songs from our San Jose set, much tighter, ran through our new PA. Only about 20-25 friends made it out, but it was a good experience for us, and a lot of fun. Still haven't posted clips from the last show on U Tube, but soon. If anyone wants a copy of the full DVD, drop me a line and I can send it out.
The vocal class finished up (5 weeks, they offered an add'l 6th week, but then cancelled the day-of). But I've been applying the lessons learned in my songs, and singing along with other tracks, and I do notice a difference. Less throaty, more able to hit the high notes. Don't have the same power, yet, but I heard it comes with practice.
Screenwriting class is looking promising. Our 'semester' project was a collaborative effort (6 writers), with a hodgepodge of characters from other's scripts, set in an animation company. It's come together in a very satisfying, and rather amazing way so far. They've arranged to have a table read of the complete draft in a few weeks. Exciting to have a writing outlet and a goal, like that.
Plans for the big event are moving full steam ahead. Arranging rentals, catering, last minute stuff.
More later!