Camping

Two happier items:

  1. I got my financial aid! I’ve been approved for just under two grand per quarter, for a total of close to six grand for fall, winter, and spring quarters. Even better, it’s primarily grant money, with the balance being work-study — none of it is in loans! It’ll mean putting in some hours at another part-time job to make up the work-study requirements, but that’s a small price to pay for getting through this year of school loan-free.

  2. As I’ve got the next two and a half days off (it would have been three, but there’s a training session with the local Nikon representative on Thursday afternoon), Prairie and I have decided to run away to go camping at Mt. Ranier. We’ve got a small mountain of camping equipment in the living room ready to load into the car, and will be heading out tomorrow morning, to return Thursday midday sometime so I can go to the training session.

iTunesEv’rybody Wants To Be A Cat (The Aristocrats, 1970)” by English, Liz/Harris, Phil/Ravenscroft, Thurl/Scatman Crothers from the album Classic Disney Vol. 5 (1970, 2:03).

It’s Not Time To Go Yet

Pieces of an e-mail exchange…

Was wondering if you could do me a favor in your spare time (ha-ha)? … What I would like to know is — what are your views on what happens when you die? I really don’t have any firm beliefs…but I really love to hear what other people think.

My response:

The thing is…is that in many ways, I’m not sure what my views are. I know, it sounds like a cop-out, but it’s not (or, at least, it’s not meant to be). Having grown up in a very (if somewhat unconventional and non-sterotypical) Christian household, I suppose I should believe in some form of afterlife, be it Heaven, Hell, or some other nebulous non-corporeal nirvana — and, to a certain extent, I suppose I do (or at least want to, which isn’t at all the same thing). However, for whatever reason, unquestioning faith has never been one of my strong suits, and as there’s not exactly much in the way of evidence of anything post-mortem, there’s a large part of me that’s quite firmly convinced that this is all there is, and once it’s over, it’s over.

Hence, death tends to scare me. Or, rather, not so much death in general, or as a concept, or even when it relates to other people — but my death. I may not always have the greatest life in the world (while it’s been pretty good of late, I’ve certainly had my fair share of down times as well, along with everyone else), but the concept of not existing anymore, not being able to experience the highs as well as the lows, not being able to meet new and old friends, watch the world go by, capture pieces of it in pictures, find new songs to play over and over, and having everything I know of as me simply disappear…it gives me the willies. A little silly, I know (if nothing else, by definition, I wouldn’t be around to experience not being around, so obsessing and worrying over it doesn’t make much sense), but that’s where my brain gets stuck. I want to believe in something more than simply popping in and out of existence, but my stupid cynical brain can’t quite wrap itself around that. So I end up being not really in either one camp or the other, and instead just hoping that by the time I get close to dying myself, I’ll either have come to grips with one or the other, or that I’ll just be so blissfully senile that it won’t matter.

Cheery, huh?

On the bright side, it does explain — to a certain extent — why there’s no way that I could ever be suicidal, no matter how rough things get or how depressed I get. Firstly, there’s always something else coming along that’s usually going to be better than any rough patches I’m dealing with; secondly, there’s so much in the world I haven’t been able to see or experience yet, and I don’t want to miss out on that if I can help it; and thirdly, death is just to absolutely freaky for me to go there voluntarily.

So I don’t know. I kind of wish I could just go one way or the other, but I haven’t managed to do it yet. Most of the time I try not to think about it too much if I can avoid it. As with many things in life that I find unpleasant, I take the Scarlett O’Hara approach to managing unpleasant subjects. I’ll deal with them tomorrow.

Okay, not the best way to go. But…(shrug)…it’s where I am.

Anyone else?

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So Very Predictable

If anyone else in the world were to stand in front of a few hundred thousand people and ask them to throw money at them — and not just a little money, but nothing smaller than a ten, fifties are preferred — they’d probably get very soundly beaten. If you happen to be named George Lucas, though, you can get away with it again and again and again

Also today… a follow-up on something we’ve been telling you to expect for quite while now. 2007, as you may well be aware, is the 30th anniversary of the original Star Wars‘ debut in theaters. You’d have to be stupid not to know that Lucasfilm is going to have big DVD release plans with which to celebrate the anniversary, and we’ve been telling you that was the case for many months now. Indeed, during our last visit to the Ranch for the DVD release of Episode III, producer Rick McCallum confirmed that a box set of all six films was going to happen eventually, and animation director Rob Coleman even let it slip that the puppet Yoda from Episode I had already been replaced with a new CG Yoda to match Episodes II & III for the “future” release. T-Bone over at Star Wars Universe recently speculated about this box set, and we’ve been quietly checking in with our industry sources on it as well. Well, we’ve confirmed it: There IS a big, ultimate, 6-film Star Wars anniversary DVD box set planned for 2007. There will be more changes to the films, and there will be LOTS of new, never-before-seen special features – all the good stuff that was held back by Lucasfilm from the original Trilogy DVD release a few years ago. Think deleted scenes and more. We don’t know if good, genuinely-REMASTERED versions of the original theatrical editions of the films will be included or not (though how you could call the set “ultimate” without them, we don’t know). We don’t expect high-definition versions yet, as those formats are just too new. We don’t have ANY other details for you yet, so please don’t ask. But as you consider whether or not to purchase the “limited edition” DVDs due on 9/12… we thought you should know that more IS absolutely on the way next year. ‘Nuff said for now.

(via Scam City)

iTunesCoin-Operated Boy” by The Dresden Dolls from the album The Dresden Dolls (2004, 4:46).

Battle in Seattle

This could be interesting (more so on the off chance that they actually film on location), if true:

Charlize Theron is attached to star in “Battle in Seattle”, reports Production Weekly. Theron’s boyfriend, Stuart Townsend, wrote the film and will be making his directorial debut.

Set in 1999, during the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, an eclectic group of demonstrators, including environmental activists, doctors, anarchists, attorneys, eco-terrorists and just plain folks, brings the city to a state of near-chaos, and chases the WTO straight out of town.

(via seattleseattle)

iTunesThe Graveyard” by Webley, Jason from the album Counterpoint (2002, 6:38).

Dance Off 2006

On something of a whim, thanks to having an evening when I wasn’t working and nothing was planned, Prairie and I decided to head down to an event I’d just stumbled across earlier in the day: Dance Off 2006.

Dance Off is an annual competition held in the Seattle area for people who want to prove that they have the heart and soul of a dancer, even though they do not have the training of a dancer.

When we made it downtown and started wandering down Post Alley we were a little concerned that we wouldn’t be able to make it in, as the line just kept going, and going, and going…

Lining Up

…however, we figured it was worth taking a chance and grabbed a spot at the end of the line. I wandered off to snap a few shots, and suddenly saw Prairie heading towards me to tell me that I’d just missed my chance to get a ticket! There’d been someone working their way down the line handing them out, but since I wasn’t in line…oops. Ack! Mere moments later, though, I spotted the girl who’d been passing out tickets, and she spotted me. “You! You were taking pictures!” she said, and handed me a ticket. Once again, all was good with the world.

This Is Your Dance Off Ticket

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Conversation

Conversation

90’s rock group Soul Asylum gave a free show at the Pike Place market on Thursday morning, and Prairie and I headed down to see them. While we were waiting for the show to start I took a few random people shots around the gathering crowd. This shot is by far my favorite of the morning (the rest are here).

iTunesComfortably Numb (ATOC Extended Edit)” by Scissor Sisters from the album Comfortably Numb, Pts. 1 & 2 – Single (2003, 5:39).

Don’t Feel Like Dancin’

My co-worker Nick got me hooked on the new single by the Scissor Sisters, ‘Don’t Feel Like Dancin’‘. It’s incredibly infectious, catchy, and fun — feels like what the Bee Gees would be doing if they were making pop music today, and would fit perfectly coming over the soundtrack of a roller rink. So far, I can’t get enough of it (and Prairie’s getting a laugh out of watching me bounce around in my seat while it’s playing).

iTunesI Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ (Radio Edit)” by Scissor Sisters from the album I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ – Single (2006, 4:10).

Queueing Up…

For the past few months, Prairie and I have been the kind of customers that Netflix must pray for. We’ve been busy, and we were getting movies from a queue I put together a long time ago, when I was living on my own and therefore choosing films that I was interested in, not films that we were interested in (and while there’s some overlap, there’s also a lot of disconnect between the two). So, we’d ended up getting movies that we just weren’t interested in, and they’d just sit here in the hopes that some night, they’d sound right.

Of course, the longer they sit, the less of a good deal that $20 a month is.

So, on the verge of just canceling the Netflix account, we decided we’d take a little time to brainstorm a bit and put together a queue that we’d be more likely to enjoy going through. I completely nuked the queue I had built up, we found three basic ideas to start from, and got a new queue set up. We’re pretty sure that the result will carry us through for the next few months rather easily.

Of course, the final result might provoke a few laughs, or at least raised eyebrows. But it’s one that works for us.

iTunesOpening Night” by Bryn Dowling, Meg Gillentine, Ensemble from the album The Producers (Movie) (2005, 1:46).