Pennsic Classes

Ok, here's the fast post on classes.

So I am teaching dirty songs and drinking songs at Pennsic. The first year I did it, I made 50 copies of the one class I was teaching, and taught it twice. I freaked out a bit about actually getting maybe 15 or so people in the first class, but then they would tell friends and I'd get the other 20 or so for the second. I figured I was going to take a bath on the photocopying, but what the hell, I tried. Bawdy songs are not well appreciated in my kingdom.

So imagine my suprise when almost 40 people showed up. I ran out to make more photocopies and managed to make enough for the second class which was bigger.

So this year, I taught two classes...a beginners and an advanced. I made 50 copies of each songbook figuring I could make more for the second time I taught the beginners class (I was slated to do 2 beg. and 1 adv.)

Well, I show up for my first class and there are about 9 people there to begin. My heart sunk..."This does not bode well" I thought. Then a few more trickled in, then a few more...all of a sudden, there was a deluge of people clamouring for copies!!! I felt much better then, and after a wonderful class, I told people to be sure to come back tomorrow for the advanced class.

So low and behold, when I showed up for the next class, the Excedingly Bawdy class, things got interesting...

more to follow

(and Miss BT, you're almost there...a viking we will go...)

Sorry Gang...

I was asked to come and be a lighting designer and operator for a new company.

Well, when I say new, I mean to me. An old friend and boss suggested me to this guy, and I think it's worked out pretty good. I did lighting for the Johnny Max Band (I'll post the link later...he was awesome) and for some Beatles tribute band, ABBA Gold and Honeymoon Suite!!! Yes, the original. Johnny D loved the lighting, and it was all cheese in my mind...I just bumped the lights around in time to the music. Apparently, being able to do so is a rare skill.

So anyways, after being at this job for 20 hours a day, I've been away from everything. Fortunately, it's a short term thing and I go back to regular as of tomorrow.

I'm going to sleep now.

And Miss BT, you can be a Viking in the next post.

Je ma Tired

I'm wiped tonight...

Kids up all night...worked all day...had to think AND work...logic and safety thinking today.

I'm also working like stink all weekend, so it's going to be very interesting.

Also, I finally got my winamp working again. Which means I can listen to Radio KoL again. Which means I can listen to ADH AGAIN!!! YAY!!!

I am an absolute slave to ADeadHeart. I've never actually been able to talk to her live (as in not in chat), but I am in thrall. She is a fantastic DJ, sexy as hell voice, especially when she sings, and a very cool person. I am absolutely in Platonic Love. For those of you who don't know KoL, follow the link. Learn it. Live it.

ADH is worth listening to anytime I can.

Listen for yourself and you be the judge.

Next post, Pennsic Classes....

Evil

You Are 72% Evil

You are very evil. And you're too evil to care. Those who love you probably also fear you. A lot.

How Evil Are You?

Ok, couldn't resist this one...and it's true...I am 3/4 evil...L

Vegemite

Ok, before I get into the next Pennsic post, I figured I'd take time to talk about Vegemite (tm).

It is brown, foul smelling sludge. I'm given to understand it's the crap left at the bottom of the beer barrels after brewing.

Some whackjob Aussie decided (on a drunken dare, I'm assuming) to eat some of it.

It's salty, yeasty and generally quite digusting looking.

I like it.

It's good on toast, english muffins and apparently bananas. I haven't tried mixing some in to bread or muffins I'm making, but it should provide extra yeasty flavour. I don't know if it's active yeast, but it will be an interesting experiment.

It is also, apparently, nature's best hangove cure. The Aussie boys swear by it, and I believe Sir Gregory recommended it to me for same said thing. I don't often drink, but it will be interesting to try.

My only problem will be finding it when I run out...

Movie Review

Ok...as I said, I went to see Cars and Superman Returns.

Cars...what can I say? Fantastic movie...Great for the kids, good jokes for adults, music fabulous, animation wonderful, good cast, great story and hell, it's racing.

I felt that this is a must see and must own. Pixar can't seem to screw things up enough to fail. I don't recall a single movie of theirs I didn't like. (and I should, because my kid will watch each one of the HUNDREDS of times...the last favourite was Toy Story 2...) I recommend this movie to race fans, children, adults and anyone in between. Feel good movie.






On the other hand, we had Superman Returns.

This movie, although I loved it, is an acquired taste.

You have to be a Superman fan to get this movie's subtle jokes and touches. I really liked the way that they used the special effects that were started in Smallville. It's a nice way to keep continuity in the continuum. I also thought the main character had Christopher Reeves' Clark Kent manerisms down so well you sometimes forgot it was a new actor. He looked great as Superman, and wonderful as Clark. I wasn't too keen on Lois at the start, but she did ok.

Now Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor.

Wow.

He always plays a great psycho, but this was inspired casting. I was more than impressed.




The only downfall for me was Parker Posey. She just drives me nuts, I dislike her as an actress and am annoyed just seeing her onscreen. Nothing about her performance, I just don't like looking at her.

My wife fell asleep (as is her want in movies) and missed huge chunks, but wasn't impressed in general. Again, you have to be a hardcore fan to really enjoy this. They made a very good choice in simply continuing the story, instead of re-inventing it...as much as I love seeing what people do when they tell the story anew, (Spiderman, Batman, Hulk, Fantastic Four to name a few) I hate having to sit through the first movie. I dislike first movies of a comic book because they have no choice...they have to do the creation story. As an avid reader of comics in my youth, I already know how they got their powers. Updated for the new millenium, I understand...I just don't like losing half the movie to the power generation story. The second movie is generally better...more action, more story. However, as the Superman myth is so firmly established in our society, it doesn't need to be told again.

I almost forgot. The absolute best part of the whole movie was...the music. I was not only impressed, but absolutely giddy about the fact they DID NOT CHANGE THE THEME MUSIC!!! Superman and related themes from the movies, written by John Williams, is one of the most powerful and recognisable themes ever written...that, Indiana Jones and Star Wars being the most known. (Hmm...same composer, go figure.)


As I say, great movie if you're a hardcore, die hard fan. Ok movie if you like Superman. Poor movie if you don't really know anything about Superman to begin with.

Take what you want out of that.

I Lied

Hey gang...

My friends Tempus made me a web page for my Bawdy Songs Class, so I'm blogging about that for a second...

The addy is www.theweebsite.com/bawdysongs

I think this is so cool...L

All my song books are available there, and I will be updating them as well as news and such...

Wassail Tempus!!!

Drive In

Ok, last night I went to pretty much to only remaining Drive In movie theatre in southern Ontario. Might even be THE only one in Ontario, but I can't prove that.

We saw Cars and Superman Returns...I'll get to that in a minute.

Weird things about drive ins...or this one anyways.

1. Cash Only
2. where you sit is not necessarily in your car
3. it seems popular still, why aren't there more?
4. they discourage "hopping"...why?

1. Cash Only - Who the hell is CASH ONLY in this society anymore? I managed (barely) to scrape together enough cash by scrounging in my car to pay the entrance. I never carry cash, or at least very little. I burn through 4 or 5 Interac cards a year.

2. Last night, I saw people in lawn chairs (guilty of that on occasion, but last night was COLD), people on the hood of the car, people on the roof of their van and 8 or 9 people who brought a trailer with couches (or sofas for the non-Canadian linguist). MInd you, I thought that was brilliant, and much more comfy, but strange none the less.

3. Even when I have gone on a wednesday or thursday, the place is always hopping, if not packed. When you think about it, $8 for a movie is a pretty good price now, and $8 for two is unheard of. Pretty good bang for your buck. I guess more people want super THX surround systems with big padded seats and a clearer screen...but it's just fun to go...unless you have 3 whiny kids who climb all over your car, but still fun.

4. Hopping is leaving one movie screen for another.I try to avoid it, but I do see the necessity. The people who decide which two (or three, I've seen that too) movies are shown together. These guys have their head up their asses. The first time I went to see Cars it was on with Pirates of the Carribean 2. I though freakin' A, this will rock...finally 2 movies I want to see together...However, the moron's put Cars SECOND! So the movie didn't start until almost 1am. What kid is able to stay up that long? Well, the 4 year old almost made it to the end...and I was proud of him. This time, Cars was playing with Invincible (never heard of it) and Superman was playing with Beer-something, the new Broken Lizard movie. Don't get me wrong, I want to see that one because I LOVE the BL guys. However, it's not really a movie I can see with my kids. The solution, and I apparently inspired people, was to turn the car around and park next to the fence and watch the movie on the other screen, then turn it back around to watch the one you want.

I love drive ins. I never went to them as a kid, so it's not nostalgia. I just like smuggling in food, setting up the lawn chairs, getting the kids settled in the back of the station wagon and having a nice time.

Try it, if you can...well worth it.

Next post...either Movie reviews or the continuation of the Pennsic story...depends on my mood...