new year's vacation

we spent new year's eve and a few other days over in santa barbara, and it was a fun time. but, it's also nice to be home, sleep in your own bed, and get back into the rhythm of life.

but, i also wanted to share a few photos with you from my trip. this first is from nye, were we rang in the new year at a bar called old kings road. this was the door to the ladies' room.



the sinks in the mens' room also were out of order, but i guess we could duece if needed.

the second photo i took because of word choice. it was outside of the restaurant we had breakfast at on the first. is "your" the proper word?



here is a link to a definition of your.

so, i've been trying to rework the sentence so it seems better, at least to me.

the original:
we appreciate your not smoking here.

my first attempt:
we appreciate you not smoking here.

my complete rework:
thank you for not smoking here.

the end is near for el olio wolof

new years bring new opportunities. they can also bring on the end of good things. such is the case this upcoming week as we see the end of one of my favorite bands, el olio wolof. we knew it was coming, and it's not like it's a new announcement, but there last show ever is upon us.

next saturday in merced will be great, that i am sure of. there will be great music as most, if not all, of el olio's members reunite like voltron and they perform their entire catalog of music.

to purchase tickets, click over here. even if you don't want to buy tickets, click over anyway and read the great retrospective on the band. seriously.

new years eve

looking for something to do in fresno on new years eve? something other than just hanging out at a bar? well, the treasury has something you might like.



our good friend woody is one of the dj's at this event, so say hi to him.

monday haiku 12/27

christmas has gone by
but friends are still around us
so enjoy them now

sfw

this post is safe for work

true grit review

tonight, we went and saw true grit. and, i've got more to say then in my last review, mainly because i was blown away by black swan, and true grit...well, didn't have the same effect.

overall, i enjoyed the movie. i think the actors all do a fine job, and i liked matt damon's quirkiness. and, some of the bit characters, the background people were really intriguing to me. the movie is also beautifully shot, although the snow seemed very cgi to me, and it bugged me.

two things surprised me: 1. josh brolin is in the movie a lot less than i expected. i haven't seen the original, so i didn't know how big or little that role is. the billing and commercials made me think it was a bigger role than it was. this isn't a bad or good thing, just and observation.
2. for being a coen brothers film, this was a pretty straight take. yes, there are a few strange bits, but overall it was pretty much a normal movie. i'm fine with them breaking their mold, but i guess i just expected something more dark or bizarre from them.

again, overall i think the movie was good and you should see it. you could probably wait for video if you're inclined.

black swan review

my take on black swan: wow. amazing movie. extremely well made. beautiful art.

dubstep christmas

another funny video from england. this one is done by some comedians, goldie lookie chain.

8 bit safe sex ad

pretty funny little safe sex psa done by a anti-teen pregnancy group in leicestershire, england.

obama's failure

there are people out there, democrats, that are saying this presidency is a failure. that president obama, as he works with the republicans is a failure because he's not sticking to his guns. if there is a failure, it is our failure.

greedy democrats have wanted to shove it down the republican throats, to run up the score. since he hasn't, we're pissed. but you know what? that's not how it's supposed to work. the parties are supposed to work with each other, while checking each other's power as well. our government shouldn't work with a motto of, "we're in power so we're going to do whatever the eff we want."

i don't care if we feel that the other side did it when they controlled the house & senate. that doesn't mean that's how we should have been working.

now, i also don't think that the president or the democrats should give up on all of their ideals or plans and just give the republicans whatever they want. and, i also think that if the republicans are going to just drag their feet on everything we need to do a better job exposing that, letting the public at large know that nothing is happening because people being unwilling to work together to make a better america.

anderson cooper disproves birther rhetoric

thanks, anderson.



what scares me is that this guy is a congressman texas state representative who is either willfully ignorant or just a blatant liar.

rademacher show review

so, i only managed to make it to one of the thanksgiving shows down at tokyo garden, and it was the last one. the show was supposed to be brother luke & the comrades, archaeology, and rademacher. the funny thing is, archaeology was nowhere to be found. it's as if they didn't even know they were supposed to be in fresno and not their native portland, because they posted something online about being done with rehearsal and heading to a show to watch & listen.

so, i headed out to the show, and only made it for the last song or two of brother luke. that's okay, i wasn't really going to see his set, not that i have anything against that group. there was a decent crowd for a show at tokyo, and it did seem like some out of town folks had managed to incorporate the show in their visit home plans.

rademacher is playing again as a five piece, and they are really starting to click again. i saw them in this set up a few weeks back in visalia, but this time the sound was much better. and by that, i mean there was no feedback. and you could hear the keyboards. they're currently playing a set list that's mostly from stunts, which is good, but i was surprised when mike mentioned during the show that it came out in 2006 (i think it actually was released in 2007). holy crap, time flies. as i enjoyed the music, i pondered where the years had gone. and why good bands like rademacher, the sleepover disaster and el olio wolof toil away without getting big enough to really get noticed and "make it." and perhaps now, with this line up, rademacher can grab someone's ear because they sound really good. it's a very focused sound, a well oiled machine. honestly, they sound as good as they ever did, and hopefully they'll be able to keep it up.

thanksgiving greatness @ tokyo garden

Looking for something to do over the thanksgiving holidays? Why not check out some great local, live music @ tokyo garden. All shows are scheduled to start at 9:30PM and all the shows cost $5.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24th

UNDERCURRENT BENEFIT!!!

College Kids (Acoustic)
High Winds (Solo)
Brian Kenney Fresno

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26th

Aesop Fables
SOMOS 1
Destructo Bunny

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27th

Brother Luke + The Comrades
Archaeology
Rademacher

monday haiku

clear skies in the 'no
tons of great rain this weekend
i slept through the hail

slow down poster

i'd like to blame my lack of posting on my computer being in the shop, which it is, but that's not really why. i'm just lazy.

national unfriend day

why can't we unfriend?



for those that don't know, jimmy kimmel has declared nov. 17 national unfriend day on facebook. he's encouraging people to ditch or unfriend people that aren't really our friends. i'm in. now, i'm not going to get rid of everyone, but have realized there are people that i'm "friends" with that i've never met, have no desire to meet, and am not even always sure how we became friends. so, i'll be weeding them out.

i'm also going to slim down my twitter roster. there are some people's tweets & posts i just don't care to read.

monday haiku

it's light in the morn
now, helps me wake up and go
too bad it's for work

if you got some magic

last friday we went down to visalia to see rademacher & the dodos at howie and sons pizza. i decided to shoot a little video of rad rad rad. enjoy the salad bar shot.



btw, i thought both rademacher and the dodos were fabulous. however, the sound guy sucked crap. really, there was feedback on almost every rademacher song, you couldn't hear the keyboards at all. and, it didn't get any better during the dodos. they didn't have as many feedback issues, but they were still there.

man up

i'm not sure if california did this, but it's funny.

colbert says man up

monday haiku

giants win it all
party in san francisco
grizzlies play super