Name That Kitty

Wow, I haven't posted anything here since Christmas, though I've been rather prolific over on my bass blog. So the Sunday after Christmas, Anne and I drove back from her parents' house, leaving Stella with them for the week so we could have some grown up time. We spent it doing massive organizing of our stuff which we never would have time for when there's a curious toddler running around. When we got back, this cat was sleeping on our porch. There have been a bunch of strays around our neighborhood and this one seemed the friendliest, even letting Stella pet him. So we left some food out for him and the next few days he would follow us around our complex like a puppy. We decided at the very least we would take him in long enough to get him fixed and then try to find a good home for him, but within minutes of being in our house, he actually used the litterbox we got for him leading us to believe that he was an abandoned house cat. He's incredibly loving and in just the couple of days that we've been letting him in he's become very comfortable and less whiny. He's also really good with Stella who wants to manhandle him every which way. He's swatted her twice but used amazing restraint doing so. He's got some serious claws that could do some real damage but he only gave her the tiniest little ding to get her to back off, and that was only after she pulled his tail. So depending on Anne's allergies, we are probably going to keep him. All he needs is a name and I am open to suggestions.

After You Open Your Sockings...

...go kill some zombies!

Merry Christmas!

I'm outta here. Have a very merry Christmas or whatever other holiday you might be celebrating this week!

Bass Stuff and Other Updates

Christmas is getting closer and in 2 days we make the drive south to my inlaws' house. I'm hoping I can fit a bass in the car so I can get some practice in while I'm there. I usually bring a book to read while enjoying the down time of being away from home, but I've been working hard on playing at least a little bit every day and I don't want to fall too far out of practice. My brother in law has a 5 string (I think it's a Peavy or an Ibanez) which he might bring with him for me to practice on if I can't bring my Fender, and I can return the favor by showing him a few tricks, maybe get him on the daily regimen of chromatic scales. This weekend I bought something that I haven't used since grade school... a music stand. My dad got me a great book of Jaco Pastorius tabs and I decided to start with Continuum. It sounds a little bit strange on a fretted bass, but that's what I've got to work with. Here's somebody playing it nicely on a fretless acoustic to give you an idea of where I'm trying to get to with this one. Posting has been rather light here because I just don't care enough about what's going on politically to do much beyond leaving a snarky comment or two on other political blogs. While I'm still really happy that John McSame and Tits Cheney were soundly rejected, the expected letdowns that I get from every democrat have already begun and Obama isn't even president yet. The team for change sure looks like a lot of the same old people. They're a lot better than the current gang, but they're still the lesser of the same old two evils. And the idea of having a hardcore social conservative evangelical preacher, even if a little less hardcore than the really scary wingnutty social conservatives, doing some prayer thing at the inauguration rubs me the wrong way. Yeah, I get the whole inclusion thing, reaching across the aisle and whatnot, but I do think in a world where acts of terror are being committed in the name of theocratic religious extremism, our own homegrown theocratic religious extremists ought to at least not be given the kind of legitimacy that speaking at such a historic event would give. I wouldn't necessarily call what I'm feeling buyer's remorse. It's more like just another reason to continue being the cynical bastard I am about politics. The masses who woke up enough to vote for Obama will be back to sleep in no time. Lesser evil breeds complacence and leads to the greater evil. Don't think the scary people who we saw in all those videos of the Sarah Palin hate rallies are going to be getting complacent. They're going to be even scarier in time for the midterm elections. And the cycle of bullshit continues and we the people are the ones who get the shortest end of all of it. And that's why I get a whole lot more out of playing those four fat strings than I do thinking about any of that ugly stuff, which is why I've got far more activity happening on my bass blog. It's not just for bass enthusiasts, but anyone who likes music. Screw politics. Let's rock!

Another New Blog

I know that I don't have a great track record when it comes to keeping new blogs that I start. Remember my video blog? It's been a really long time since I updated that thing. Or how about my silly super-villain persona? I was no Sylar, and the inspiration for that one dried up pretty quickly. And how about the year and a half I took off from this blog? Or my few weeks blogging reposting stuff from here at Open Salon? Yeah, you get the picture. But yesterday I went and did it again. I started a new blog. It's called Bass Nation and as you can see it's not even hosted on my own domain. This time it's going to be something I'm going to stick with. What's different about this blog? Well for one, it's a subject that I am currently obsessed with, playing bass. Yeah, I know, I've been obsessed with politics and look at my posting frequency on that subject since the election. But there's another difference. I might actually make some money from this new one. I've tried making money from blogging before. Google Adsense dropped my ass days before they were going to send me a check, something that I've found to be a rather common practice with them. I did Pay Per Post for a while but I felt like a cheap hooker writing posts about stuff that I couldn't care less about. I did actually make a few hundie with that, but I feel that it compromised my blogging integrity. Then I heard about Today.com. They pay a whopping buck per post, plus more if I can build serious traffic. They run the google ads so I don't have to worry about getting dropped. All I have to worry about is posting daily and trying to get some traffic and maybe running some of my own ads on there. I'm not saying that I'm giving this blog up. I've had it for 6 years which is like a geological era in internet terms. But I'm super burnt on politics since the election, and I'm far more interested in my instrument. So please stop by the new place and say hello, but don't stop coming here because I'll try to post at least once a week.

How To Make ANYTHING Funny

Just add some Yackety Sax! Bush getting shoes thrown at him: already funny. Bush getting shoes thrown at him with him to the tune of Yackety Sax: Absolutely fucking hilarious!

Best Christmas Special Ever

Sure, you've got the classics like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph and Charlie Brown, but do any of those have scenes entirely in the Wookie language or song and dance routines with Bea Arthur? They sure don't! But this one does. Sometime between the original Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, there was the Star Wars Christmas Special, a true testament to late 70's TV kitch. George Lucas would rather it disappear completely, but like a true Jedi, it will never really die. I realize that most people aren't going to watch a 2 hour video on my blog, but if you click through to the google video page you can download a copy and watch at your leisure. Merry Christmas and May The Force Be With You.