Vampires Suck! ...and another mini-rant

This movie is horrible.  And I only saw the first minute before turning it off.

I am very happy to say that I did not spend any money on that single minute, as it would have made me epic-level depressed.

In short, the film, and its directors, believe that the reference, even if the reference is simply cut-and-pasted into a scene for the exact effect of someone pointing at the screen, uttering "hey, look!  It's the guys from Jersey Shore!", and laughing out of sheer pointless recognition, is indeed a "joke."  That isn't comedy, that's lazy writing.  A reference needs to make sense in the context of the scene.  I know flash animators that do it better (waaaaay better, actually, than most of Hollywood).

We've known this stuff from the beginning, though, so I have a much more important start to a rant, which will be planted by a question: "Why the hell are these guys still making money?"

What studio, in all of its groundbreaking wisdom, decided to hire these guys over, and over, and over, and over, and over again to film movies that not only aren't funny, but are downright INSULTING to the movie-going public.  If there are people in the theaters laughing hysterically at this stuff, I may have just lost hope for a good chunk of humanity.
  Inserting characters from pop culture for no other purpose than to have them there is not wit, or timing.  Also, lifting comedic scenes or jokes from OTHER MOVIES doesn't count, either.  Heck, that's plagiarism anyway.  These guys should be sued fifty times over for some of this stuff.
  The critics have all said this stuff before, so I really have to circle back to WHY?

  Who are the people that fund these things?  How did this get past any semblance of an editor's crew?  Who in their right mind above the age of 4 thought this crap was funny?  And why in the crook of St. Christopher does it still exist?

Bah.  Humbugh.

In other news, Avatar is coming out again.  Huh.

Rock On,
- Adam

Full time job...sort of

So everyone,

The summer job has drawn to a close.  It was epic.  It was entertaining.  It was...low-paying.

However, it truly was quite awesome.  A fantastic experience and a great showing that I have a firm handle on the content that I got my degrees in.  Maybe I'll go back sometime soon.

But for now, the job hunt continues!

And boy, does it suck.

However, I'm not one to give up easily, so I have made arrangements to teach lessons full time.  And I don't just teach tuba, no sir-ee.  I teach ALL of the Brass instruments, as well as Voice, Percussion, and beginning Piano.  My real specialty still lies in the Low Brass, but I am certified in everything. :)

Now, the next step is to accumulate students.  So far I have...  1.  Hmm.

But at least I've got some awesome business cards!

Spread the word in Tolland County!  Lesson Instructor with affordable rates!

Rock On,

-Adam

Updates!!!

Hello again!

Well, I am all gradgimucated, I have my certifications, diplomas, and all of that useful knowledge...and a job!

But this job is only for the summer, and I am steadily looking for a more long-term endeavor. If you know of any schools in need of a very driven music teacher, let me know! :)

In other news, the composing inspiration is on overdrive, and I have taken over a facebook page for "Xenotra Studios Music." It's easy enough to search the thing, but I'll include the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Xenotra-Studios-Music/117285138298722

On the page is a bunch of postings of my music, some new, some retranscribed from years ago. Check it out!

I hope to post some of the tracks here, too, and over time, turn this into my HQ of internet awesomeness. For now, I'll keep building that "loyal fan base" across the two sites. ;)

Stay frosty!

-Adam

ghosts, thoughts, and another sleepless night

Yar, be writin' this at the wee crack a deh mornin'.  ...Yar.

Here's a little emo gibberish for you all, and a peek inside my head at 2 a.m. this morning. :)

  A million questions, a thousand inquiries, and not one brings comfort to the present state of circumstances.

Instead of tired, I’m wired, sitting stark awake with a throbbing head, while my girl sleeps soundly beside me, exhausted.

I feel stung, strung out over a canyon of impossibility.

Some days I feel that my Art has left me, while others it swells up inside me but is limited by life, bills, and assignments.

I feel like I’ve been sleeping my whole life, and now I am awake.  What did I miss?

How many hours did I waste playing video games when I could have been studying, or refining my art?  How many hours could I have spent learning the science of human motion and the art of the Martial Art, instead of having Mario make that jump?  Why live in an artificial world community if no one wants to talk to you?  Why pay to exist there?

Why don’t we wake up every day and pursue excellence in all that we do?  Why is procrastination a popular sport, accepted, and cool?  Do we actually expect everyone else to learn english if we refuse to learn Spanish?  

A million inquiries and not one brings comfort to the present state of circumstances: I am not the man I want to be.

This is a broken record of broken promises made inside my head, my heart, my soul, and I am no DJ.  It’s time for a remix.  Mix master I am, scaling sound and size, down to fit my eyes, my hands, my time.  Kiss childhood goodbye, burned by dollar signs and the Pull, strong and pure.  PUll me away from the past, my present, toward the future, where my time is my own, my desire can be shared, and my Art can be found.  Where I can express opwnly, artfully, and above all, with maturity.  The boy is dead.  At last, the boy is dead..

Rianomus wanders, a pale strip of moonlight dancing

try prancing

over hills and mountains

playing games with the gaijin

and taunting at the sleeping sun.

Rianomus wanders

cloak billowing, like a dead nation’s flag on on a hill of corpses..

Come silence.  Be my guide, feed me the deafening year.  Surround me, spill over my shadows, under my skin, rattle my bones, fill my lungs, and find my heart.  Here, within my blood, tear down the walls of doubt, shame, and fear.  Come my silence, be my sword and shield.  Temper my skin to stone, so that I may stand against the fires of hell and change.  Turn my muscles to fire, that I may blaze the way for others to only follow, yet wash it all away for a single woman’s touch.  Build me, my silence, calme my mind, speak words and melodies to my sleepless imagination, let me rise your warrior, your instrument, your god.  I am ready.  

Stand and fight, for by the end, You Will Chant My Name.

Well, I’m spent again.  Good therapy.

End log one.  Goodnight.

Stage Fright TOO

So I was reading Eric's stuff and the fact popped into my head about how I was recently on stage, and you should all check it out. I totally forgot about it until someone resposted the video on Facebook. Here's the link if you are curious:http://uconn.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=536167059841&subj=9006199

I'm sad that they only got the latter third, because the first sections worked amazingly well and were a lot of fun. The sketch is called "Bulbous Bouffant" by the Vestibules, introduced to me long ago by none other than my crazy eldest brother (yeah, you guessed it, Eric).

Enjoy!
Adam

Cold and warm chills = fever

I don't think I have ever been this sick before in college. I can barely speak, my head is pounding, and I'm cold all the time. Well, I suppose that's better than last night. Last night I was BOILING. Either way, I am not healthy, and it makes it difficult to concentrate on papers right now. This may be the first time I ever have to miss Wind Ensemble, which, if you don't know, NEVER happens, out of fear of bursting into flames.

Dagnabbit, it even hurts to yawn.

In other news, I started a composition for real, now. The tentative title is "Skirmishes." It promises to be quite a project. The smaller project is a book of Etudes for Bass Tuba, some of which I hope to play for solo convocation credit.

Shaina's doing well except for a stomach bug (yeah, I know, we match), and we moved our Valentine's Day to the weekend so nothing can bother us. :)

Pledging classes are in full swing for the Fraternity and Sorority, and, in case you were wondering, I DO have a little one. :) Crazy, huh?

Hoping everyone is healthy,
Adam

Summer settling in and a new living space.

So it didn't occur to me that I had summer vacation until after returning from Cape Cod with the Brotherhood and Sisterhood. Now that was a fun time. Imagine just three days of drinking (or not drinking), hot tubs, freezing pools, heart to hearts on the beach (and the jetty), and, in my case, serenading the water with a drum cadence on my new djembe. It was a spiritual, sometimes stressful, taking care of drunk people, meaningless cuddle fest-ful time. Strange thing was, I packed for six days of fun...when the trip was only three. I was told this on Day 2. Oh well, I had plenty of spare socks to make up for all the sand and water damage.

I've settled in to a futile attempt each morning to rise at 8AM, sometimes 7AM, but I always just end up going back to sleep. I blame going to bed at 12:30. I know it isn't smart, but I do it anyway. 10:00. Maybe 10:30. The few times I went to bed that early during the school term, I woke up rested, relaxed, and energized. I loved it. So why don't I just do it again?

The majority of my time right now is spent relaxing (hey, after this past semester, I think I've earned it), but my version of relaxing may not match the definition of the rest of America. It's more like procrastinating with a purpose. I'm playing through FF Tactics to the bitter end (like getting all the secrets), so I can put it away and not think What If. I'm also playing through Taiko Drum Master (thank you, brothers), to see if I can unlock anything else. I was very sad to learn that we had already unlocked all the songs. You'd think they'd have more than 31, especially when one of those is "Foster's Medley." :(
Business: I have been trying to accomplish a number of things so far in this break. I'll just run down the list: improving ear training (I barely passed with a D in Harmony IV = not spiffy), reread both Musical Theory books, read/listen ahead for the last semester of Music History, arrange "Hands" by Jewel and "White Shadows" by Coldplay, for the A Capella group, reorganize everything about Service for Tau Beta Sigma, write music for Dan's campaign (one song done!), order merchandise for next UCMB season, and successfully move to my new house in Coventry, CT.

Oh yeah, I've got a house for next school year. No basement, no upstairs, just one of those three-bedroom, huge kitchen, small living room with a giant fireplace permanently closed sitting in the middle of the wall kinda' places. It's very good rent, and I got the big room. :)
And a few words about Dan's campaign. We've been, as a DnD group, exploring my epic campaign, a few side mini-quests with Rob, as well as his epic story campaign, but Dan's is different. See, Rob and I were existing in a world still very much akin to Lord of the Rings. Dan and his imagination, is more toward futuristic western. And, he built it from scratch. It is, in a few words, a welcome shift. Plus, it's loads of fun. I've got guns. Big ones. More on that later, now that my internet is back.

I need to go exercise. Have a nice day.
-Adam

PS: Watch Heroes. Holy cow. Watch. Heroes. Tonight at 9:00.

Sick as a Canis Minor

I am sick. I dislike this thoroughly. I wish I had something more interesting to tell you at this point, but my head hurts, I have a bit of a cough, and a possible sore on my tongue; all of which not as condusive (sp) to playing tuba, or the horn for that matter.

I can say that I am maintaining at least 3.5 of my 4 New Year's Resolutions. The organizing of my room and life is becoming ridiculous, but it might just be necessary. My left hand's nails at least are clipped not by teeth. Flossing, firming up gums, mouthwash, and a sensodyne toothbrush keep the "take better care of teeth" category running full strength. And an ab workout everyday is helping, at least my ego anyway.

Resolutions aside, practicing has been lackluster this week. I didn't practice Monday, Tuesday's shortlived exercise was awful, Wednesday was short but had glimpses of the god-tuba player from last week, especially at the Basketball Game, and yesterday was the best of the week, but still not the level that the week previous was.

Can I just take a moment and rant about my Basketball Team? This is the UConn Men's Team. Now, granted that it is a team comprised of all Sophomores and Freshman, so they are young, I can see why they acted the way they did on Wednesday. But when every shot you make, no matter how cool it looks in your head, does NOT go in, it usually means that you need to return to fundamental basketball. Every shot, every single shot, did not go in, until maybe the second half. It was ugly. The majority of the game was comprised of foul shots, making it longer than any game I have ever attended. If anything, they'll learn from this game...I hope.

Back to practicing. Thanks for reading.
Adam