Non-quasi-classical soundtrack awesomeness

I recently created a playlist with that name, and it contains, among other things, the version of "Hey Jude" played at the beginning of The Royal Tenenbaums. Can I just say that that song makes me really happy? Especially the part with the trumpet when they start singing the nah nah nah's.

If only I'd stayed one more day...

So, I'm finally back from my scientific conference/vacation, and though I'm glad to be back in the city (and blogging again), I really should have stayed in Seattle one more day. The weather is better, there is food at my parents house (there isn't any in my apartment), and most of all, if I had stayed, I could have met Steve Wiebe.

That's right folks - I could have met the star of "King of Kong." Now, I know that some of you have seen this film, so you will know how big of a deal this could have been. You see, as those with whom I saw the movie are painfully aware, he lives very close to where I grew up, and in fact teaches in the school district where I went to school. I was headed out to Seattle the next day, and after a bit of detective work, found an email and sent him a note requesting a meeting to shake his hand and have him sign a Donkey Kong figurine (which I got in my early teens as a game tester for Nintendo). A week went by and yesterday I received a very nice reply stating that he had just got to my email and that if I were going to be in town on Wednesday (today), he would love to meet with me. Man! If only! Well, I guess it was never meant to be, but it just goes to show that he really is as nice of a guy as he is portrayed in the movie. So, if you haven't seen this movie yet, let me join the others in strongly encouraging you to go and see it. Seriously.

You're gonna want to ride this bus

Hello folks! Greetings from the AIDS Vaccine meeting! I just wanted to fire off a little post between talks to tell you one of the coolest things that I have learned (and don't worry, it has nothing to do with the conference).

So, I've been riding the bus in to Seattle from my parents house, and not only is it much more comfortable than the NYC buses, but it is much more technologically savvy. That's because the bus that I ride has Wi-Fi. Pretty cool, eh? I'm guessing it's some kind of satellite connection, but I really don't know. Perhaps tomorrow on the way to the conference I'll post from the bus. Well, that's about it for now. Back to the long, boring talks...

We'll miss you, Max

So, on a more serious note, the editorial staff here at the Scrumpestuous O.P. regret to announce the passing of one of Jazz's giants, Max Roach. I cannot tell you how many hours of enjoyment I have received from the drummer's recordings, especially his work with trumpeter Clifford Brown.

You can read more about Max here.

Yes, I'm that guy.

A few years back, I remember seeing the headline in The Onion that went a little something like this, "Person actually buys Photoshop." Well, today I became that person.

You see, in the scientific world, it is common practice to get together in large groups and drink beer. Now, any large group of people can do this, so the scientists have decided that they will set themselves apart and share their research while they slowly get sloshed. I guess it makes sense - scientific research is dull*. Being a young graduate student, I will have to prepare many of these posters over the next several years, and by mandate of the higher-ups they all must created using Adobe InDesign. I guess the rest of the story becomes obvious, and today I picked up a copy of CS3. Well, there you have it - proof that someone actually bought Photoshop.

*In all fairness, not all poster sessions involve beer - only about half of them. Scientific research, however, is almost always dull.

Things I don't miss

I love a good rivalry but this is pathetic.

This I have no sympathy for at all.

Stats

This morning, I checked my site stats, for laughs, you know. Now, I never planned for this blog to be anything special or highly read, so I keep my expectations low and am usually very pleased. But yesterday, I experienced the Briggie Bump. Is that some sort of new dance craze? If only! No, unfortunately, it's something a little more self-explanatory. Here's what the bump looks like:


That's right folks, 30 visitors! Easily my best day ever. Unfortunately, this crazy ride into stardom has to end sometime, and I think my last post helped a lot in that regard. No complaints, though. You only get 15 minutes, right?

Too much free time, I think

For your enjoyment, here are a few Simpsons self portraits I made the other day:

This one's the real me

Then I decided to do some playing. Who knows where this one came from.

Ever wonder what I'd be like with hair?

Me, if my jazz career had panned out.

Me, if I decided to become a blues man.

Dave, plus 20 years.

So, I had a lot of free time. Sue me.

Daft Punk

Ridiculous. Wow. Wow + infinity. Here's my report on the Daft Punk Concert.

Of course Brigham was there. Read his post here.

The Rapture. Moving on...

Daft Punk has arrived.

Look at the pretty colors! I thought that a lot that night.

The sheer whiteness of the pyramid really impressed me.

As did it's blueness.

Matrix Punk?

Trapper Keeper Punk

Hyperspeed Punk

That's a neck, in case you were wondering.

The encore, with it's glowing red suits, helmets, and pyramid were truly a sight to behold. If only I were smart like Brigham and had taken a picture of the screen, the picture above would be much cooler.

So, now for the video. Just a note, the sound is pretty bad on some of these. My little camera just can't handle the amount of bass that was flying at us. These are just short clips. Of course, if you want to see something more complete, you can always go to YouTube.











OK folks, the videos above are only a small (and a bit lame) sampling of what I have, but since blogger has been giving me problems, and I want to get this finished, I'm going to end this. Perhaps I'll add my videos to YouTube and make them the topic of another post.

Daft Punk - Pre-blog

I'm exhausted. I have to say that I was not prepared adequately for the Daft Punk concert that I just went to. I promise that I'll get my act in gear this weekend and post the good photos and videos I took (and perhaps a few of the bad ones). In the few seconds I spent looking at some of them, I really had to tell myself, "It was real, Dave. You were there." Wow.

Wha!?

How come I've never noticed this before?

Luckily, I got to work OK

What a crazy night last night. Returning home from a 12th Street Guitar Hero Fanciers' Association reunion, a few drops of rain made me decide to take the subway home rather than walking like I normally do. I had no idea that those few drops of rain were about to usher in one of the coolest thunder storms I've ever experienced. The rate at which flashes were coming through my window could have made the paparazzi jealous. OK, bad comparison, but there was a flash of lightening every few seconds, most of which seemed to flash like strobe lights (multiple streaks of lightening?). Well, I finally got back to sleep, only to notice on the news in the morning that pretty much every subway line was massively delayed. This is one of those times that I'm grateful for living a few blocks from the lab. What I find most bizarre is that while walking to work, there was a patch of sidewalk close to the FDR that was covered in sand and driftwood (?). Though I can't adequately explain that, I do think that the storm had something to do with Barry Bonds' latest achievement.

Oh, why do I even bother

I really need to stop trying to get people to go to jazz clubs with me. It's mostly a joke, but the horse is now dead, and I just end up feeling like Screech. That's too high a price to pay.

The Last Brag

OK folks, tonight I had the great pleasure of listening to The Brawner Brothers at my apartment complex. So who are they? Well, the flyer advertised them as B.B. King's backup band, which I think might have been a bit of creative advertising. What I learned when I got there was that the Brawner Bros. are a soul/funk/blues group based here in the city. So, I didn't get quite what I was expecting, but what I got was pretty good. OK, enough talk, on to the pictures.
Here's just a little idea of what the setup was like. Pretty small, out on the river.
Here's the band. I'm kicking myself now for not having sat closer.
If I had to be one guy in the band, I'd be the bass player. He looks like he has a lot of fun. Also note the lady with the bluesy hat. I bet she has stories to tell!

So, if you were to ask me what group the Brawner Brothers reminds me of (not that you were), I would have to say Tower of Power. I saw Tower of Power in Salt Lake a few years ago with old friends Janelle and Cynthia at the SLC Jazz Fest. Ahh... those were the days.

Anyway, I'm getting a feeling that I'm not really helping you figure out what this music is like, so I'll try something that we've never done here at the OP, and that's video. Enjoy!


Sorry about the bald headed guy. If I'd only have sat closer... Wasn't that guitar solo awesome? It was way better than my movie taking skills, at any rate. Now, check out my personal favorite song of the night, "Compared to What":



Pretty good, don't you think?

Movies I know very little about

Wikipedia states that Ingmar Bergman was "one of the great masters of modern cinema." I wouldn't know. Having never seen one of his films, his death, while sad, had little effect in making me think about his work. It did however put me into what I like to call my Criterion Collection mood. When I'm in this mood I generally think of myself as a kind of connoisseur of fine film, when the truth of the matter is that most of the movies I see contain booger jokes (or giant robots peeing on things). So no, I've never seen Wild Strawberries and I've never seen The 400 Blows, but quite frankly, that doesn't worry me. I'm not all that interested in them right now. There are a few movies that I've been told are "good" that I've been dying to see but haven't yet (listed from least to most interest).

• Black Orpheus
• On the Waterfront
• Dr. Zhivago
• Rope
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Strangers on a Train
• Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (because Miles Davis did the soundtrack)
  
• Shadow of a Doubt
• Paper Moon
• Citizen Kane
• Metropolis

I think that the reason why I want to see most of these is because they are total mysteries to me. If anyone is interested in checking one or more of these out, feel free to let me know.

My suggestion: get a Nalgene

I guess they do purify it for you (story).

Cool news and a few changes

Ok folks, before you read this post, I highly encourage you to check this one out. Now that you've done that I'd invite you to take part in my little poll. You can find it placed under the recently added links list (back after an extremely long absence). So it's not much of a poll, really, but more of an attempt at trying out blogger's new polling feature. Give it a shot, it shouldn't take long.

Taco del Mar... where all the Sith Lords eat

So, last when when I was at home, my kid sister and I went for Super Burritos at our local Taco del Mar. Mmmm... if you ever have the chance you should try it. On our way out, my sister noticed that someone standing in line behind us was wearing this shirt:

And guess what? I was wearing that very same shirt. I'm guessing the burritos have a high midi-chlorian count. Good thing he didn't see me, though. That would've been embarrassing.

Did I mention how good these burritos are? Check it out:
They don't give you many chips, but you really don't need them. You see that thing below the chips? That's a quarter. It's there to give you a sense of how massively awesome this burrito is. Both are shiny, but only one is tasty.
I added this photo in case the quarter didn't convince you how awesome the Super Burrito is.

Rocks the 80s - musings

After work, Kim and Genevieve stopped by to help me test out the new edition of Guitar Hero. Here's my first impressions.

• The first two sets of songs a a bit boring, even on hard.
• There aren't as many characters (not a big deal, really).
• The levels pretty much look the same, but now have 80s flair.
• Stonehenge is unfortunately missing.
  
• There aren't any unlockable songs.
• The songs do get much better as they get harder.
• You have to be able to do hammer-ons and pull-offs to do Seventeen by Winger on hard (my opinion, anyway).
• Play With Me by Extreme is pretty damn hard. I haven't beaten it yet.

This is what Kim had to say: "Dave is pretty much awesome."

Thanks, Kim.

And now Genevieve: "Dave is a god among men."

Wow, ladies, I think that's enough. You're embarrassing me.

Also, I guess Guitar Hero III now has a subtitle, Legends of Rock.

A less than inspired post

So, as some of you may know, I recently returned from a trip to Seattle. The excuse for the visit was the wedding of one of my former roommates, but the real reason was to see my family (sorry Casey!). So, after all the festivities were over, my Dad, Nephew and I headed to Washington Park Arboretum for a little bit of kayaking.
Up ahead in the red kayak is my Dad, and my 14-year-old nephew is in the blue kayak. I have to apologize for the pitiful quality of these pictures. I didn't want to risk getting my camera wet, so I used my phone. Oh, I'm in the yellow kayak, by the way. You're going to see a lot of that in the photos.
As you can see here, lily pads help to form little "roads" in the lake close to the shore. Of course, you can also be like my nephew...

... and go "offroading." What a dork.
Actually, from the looks of things, I'm the bigger dork.
Here's a more open view of the lake. Maybe you noticed the bridge in the right of the photo. It's one of the two bridges that crosses the lake into Seattle.
You can actually go under the bridge, which is kind of a weird experience when you realize that very heavy cars are zooming a couple of feet over your head at freeway speed. Yay engineering!
This bridge doesn't feel so strange to go under.
In the distance, Husky Stadium at UW.
When we go out, we usually see a lot of turtles, but not that day. All we saw were flocks and flocks of ducks. They're almost impossible to hit with a kayak.