New Yorker Contest #393

I have been having so much trouble with my P.C. lately, and call me superstitious, but the real trouble began when I bought an iPod.

Another New Yorker Caption Contest

I think I'll come up with a better one later, but it's late, and I just went with this.

Beck's Song Reader

I'm about to start Fall semester, and for my project in my Music Production Group, I've ordered Beck's Song Reader, and it just arrived full of sheet music.  I've been working pretty hard since then trying to decide which songs I am going to arrange and record for my class. Here are versions of six songs I've chosen for my project.

My favorite is called 'Title Of This Song,' most people have been doing it too slow.  The best version I could find is by Amy Regan.  She got that R&B thing right.  

I was blown away by Royal Canoe's version of 'We All Wear Cloaks.' (Having trouble linking it normally but the link below should take you there.)

We All Wear Cloaks - Royal Canoe


Next is another exciting challenge called 'Rough On Rats.'  I love this performance of it by the Portland Cello Project.  I see it as a smoky lounge-like song.  Maybe with a hint of Tom Waits.

I also really like this one called 'Why Did You Make Me Care?" by Hey Ocean.  If fact they really nailed it.  I can only hope that mine will be as good as this one.

No one seems to be doing what I want to do with 'I'm Down." This one I think will work best as a hard driving funk piece ala "Youthless." I hope to get some Trip Hop influences in there as well.  The closest I could find was this one by Got A Girl, but it's really not what I'm hoping for. (Once again I had trouble with the link.)

I'm Down - Got A Girl

And this is the one that seems to get 'Don't Act Like Your Heart Isn't Hard." the way I'd like to do it.

Once we get some of theses songs put together next semester, I'll post them here.

Another New Yorker Caption Contest

Sometimes figuring out the caption is little more than a matter of figuring out what the hell is going on in the illustration.

Star Trek Enterprise

It's been a long time since I've been so blown away by a television series as I have been for the series I just finished. Star Trek Enterprise

I mean, you've got to tip your hat to The Next Generation, which really redefined the genre.  There was a lot of good stuff on that series, and I loved Data and all.   But while The Next Generation was a little bit saccharin and sanctimonious, the Enterprise series was nothing short of a hoot!.  It has been an absolute fun ride. And too short at only four seasons. (It challenged Bush/Cheney sensibilities right at the height of that hysteria, and probably made a lot of people uneasy.)  One of my favorite moments is shown in the image below.  It's kind of hard to tell, but he's riding a tether between two starships at warp 5 right out in the open.  I literally let loose with a Yeeeehhhaaaawww!!!!!

I do have one big complaint though, and I know how geeky this is going to sound but I'm going to say it anyway.  In Season 3, nearing the climax of the Xindi crisis in The Expanse, Capt. Archer steals a warp drive from a ship of innocent explorers.  Okay, fine.  The fate of the Human Race depended on it, but what bugged me was that when the crisis was resolved, he did nothing to return the stolen warp drive back to the crew that was now limping home at impulse on a journey that would now take them several years. Returning the warp drive seemed the least they could do, and not doing so reflected especially poorly on the character of Human Beings.