Booyor’s BLOGgh!

That time when my wife makes a really cool costume for the kids:

and my facial hair is sacrificed to the needs of a junior high project:

Meh. It will return tomorrow.

For all of you politicos: I truly have figured out why politicians do that goofy hand-thumb thing. It helps you to accentuate a point without a condescending finger point or an aggressive fist. I employed it in my speech today.

The fashion show went really well. Three journalists from the outside world attended , as well as a whole bunch of students that had a lot of fun. (Check this weekend’s editions of multiple papers for signs of giant, bearded librarians.)

We raised a lot of money (although not nearing last year’s amount…I think because the teacher wasn’t there to donate to) and I continue my conflicted existence: I think Halloween is one of the dumbest holidays (give me a flipping day off if it’s a holiday) and the fact that I want to be a leader on campus in reaching past ourselves. Mission accomplished. Many teachers also want copies of their intros, just like they asked last year, but I had to admit that some I change on the fly, while I’m emceeing. Like the teachers that dressed as the Spice girls. I had originally written on the index card:

They’ll tell you what they want, what they really, really want
a tasty croissant and a trip to Vermont

I looked down at the card and my brain said, “This is stupid!” Thankfully I was able to gain some guidance from Five Iron Frenzy’s So Far So Bad:

I thought I’d write an epiphany, how something good is changing me, but I guess we dodged some passing fad, it looks like it’s so far, so bad. This song is rad. You could ask your dad. He won’t be mad. This song is stupid.

Love those guys. We of the Flesh Eating Monkeys persuasion opened for them back in ‘97, back when ska walked the land and everyone was rocksteady with each other.

And, by the way, the wizard needs food badly.

Slade - I didn’t know that there was a separate campaign mode for co-op in Resistance 2, complete with class-based interactions that morph the objectives based on your different training. Yeah, Thanksgiving intrigues me. (Which, if you are taking notes, is such a holiday that you get two days off.)

Click here for awesome Resistance 2 videos, Slade.

At Faith Church of the Valley you can buy Creative Designs by Teddi Rose at the craft fair this weekend.

Usually I get a breakfast burrito, a strawberry milk, and a water bottle. Instead, here’s what they gave me (minus the book):

Yes. Whole grain. Meh, it’s free.

Later, I painted over a giant chip in my library:

See if you can find it.

My oldest daughter drew this for my dot com to share with you all. She’s doing well despite the croup/strep combo.

I first heard about this from Scott Kurtz, but I’ve also followed up on Scott McCloud and some other artists.

24 Hour Comics Day is where a group of artists/storytellers get together in one location and bust out 24 comics, one per hour. (I wonder if that’s how so many Marmaduke comics get made. Can you imagine if Gary Larson had done this?)

I can predict that they’d get pretty loopy pretty quickly. Here’s my attempt at the comics:

Hour 1

Click for full view

Hour 2

Click for full view

Here you can see the loopiness set in. I crunched 23 comics into one. There’s a ninja dinosaur bowling, taunted by a zombie robot, while being encouraged by a manga Cheshire cat. Yeah, we moved our drummer today. I got kinda tired. Maybe next year I’ll be more prepared, with the Wacom tablet instead of a Sharpie and a piece of printer paper.

Do my longtime readers remember my stealth plane?

Here’s the larger size for printing:
Droids vote poster

Rachel, meet Sauron. Sauron, Rachel. Now come up with a fruit that starts with the same letter as your name. I’ll start. Booyor…Bananas

And yes…still there.

For Jeremy…Two words: Trajan Pro

I decided to do some campaigning of my own:

My daughters and I had so much fun putting these up, we shared the love:

Shhh. Don’t tell them we did it.

New tag.

Brown Squadron, here are some Ruing Resources:
Sauron Poster
Palpatine Poster

Hey…has anyone else seen the keyed parent controls on new Fords?

Holding the mtd J5, a handcrafted prototype, since he had burned out the battery in his blue mtd 535 that he’d been using since 1997.

Aside from doing clinics and concerts, Norm Stockton also teaches some online courses. Check them out here.

It’s all about context. Bass players are the bridge between the rhythm section and the rest of the band: lend pitch to the drum kit. (Since on most Sundays we don’t bust out marimbas. Although this past Sunday we had a whistle and congas.) Bass players who understand how to be that bridge and keep it in context will have their cell phones ring more frequently.

This afternoon I got to hang out with Norm Stockton, who is currently on tour with Lincoln Brewster.

Ponderings from his free clinic:
Groove - an establishment of a motif that is consistent, predictable, reliable, and a movement forward

Groove is important for the whole band and congregation because a bad groove (in this context of groove) is jarring and has potential to break people out of a worship mindset.

We (the bass players) are the ministers of groove. Don’t be groovicidal. Each motif should consider context rhythmically, sonically, and harmonically. All that noodling? Yeah, it’s cool for a sound check or the last two minutes after a show as people are packing up their stuff, but unless you’re playing on a stool in a coffee house, it’s usually more than you need.

Norm knows his stuff, though, about having an entire song be just the bass. His solo version of “Angels we have Heard on High” is amazing. He also played a song similar to one on the Pondering the Sushi album. Norm was able to able to break it down to, “This is what the guitar would be strumming, this part’s for the horn section, and if I played bass, this would be the part…” Keep in mind he played all of the parts on his bass, mixing hits with pops and slaps and general flurries of fingers. (And yet he was able to show the difference between a constant stream of steady slap bass 16th notes and the annoying 12 year-old at Guitar Center.)

Best part? Very laid-back. Very Flagstaff. I would totally be his friend. He opened his clinic with a humble prayer and ended by praying for the hurt and for all of the different ministries represented at the clinic. Very cool stuff.

And who doesn’t dig a bassist who is into katakana T-shirts?

We’ll have to hear from Jeremy and see if he got his photo.

After being mindblown sitting down with Lincoln Brewster

Considering that invertebrates are in a state of open revolt and it has and always will be our firm policy to smash any invertebrate insurgents, this one got off easy.

We had hoped that perhaps the mantis would be lured by a garden. (For some reason it reminds me of Dustin Hoffman.)

The mantis must have spent significant time in Flagstaff to realize not to trust a home-grown herb garden sitting in a windowsill. (Have you seen what those “Elfin knight herbs” could mean in that song?)

My daughter was the keen observer to notice the self-righteous intruder today. (With my artsy wife catching the photos.) I should mention that something crawled on my toes while I slept last night.

While I was safe in my library, my wife and oldest approached the abomination with terms of its surrender. Certain conditions were met: the mantis was taken outside on a piece of cardboard and we would not terminate its existence, as per my wishes in accordance with the Demosthenes Treaty (it was fortunate that I’ve read more Orson Scott Card and not as much Robert Heinlein.)

My oldest had to go get her “watermelon hat” in order to protect herself. When they were carrying it outside, my daughter apprehensively told my wife, “It’s staring at me, Mom.”

Big day for all, including a second lost tooth (through age and not mantis-related causes):

And my wife and I watched Chuck Season 2, Chuck versus the First Date. “Sleeper has awakened” reference. Yay. (And Slade, you’ll appreciate that as Chuck alarm clock turns to from 6:59am to 7:00am, the radio starts playing “Power of Love”.)

“No longer just a name and number.”

Movie trailer promoting my friend who I predict will be the next big action star:

He raised $0.61 in funding from this project.

Director’s commentary:
At 1:01, he is only taking off the slippery covers.
At 5:31 there is a definitive “Does he actually tear it in half or not?” answer.

By the way: 9 hours until my 2 year wait is over. (I guess I have to wait until I get home to play Force Unleashed, though.)