Chateau Ajasont

Dunno if Mom'll check here before she comes over with Dad for the big lunch at 1, but wanted to wish all the Moms out there (you know who you are!) a great day. Moms are the best, no matter what. They say things you want to hear and then need to hear and they listen when they have no idea what you're on about. Moms encourage when needed and try to discourage when they can but are there to help you through it when you come back and say "I should have listened to you" without saying "I told you so". I'm married to a damn fine Mom, too, and she's great for putting up with me the way she does. I love her beyond all reason.

Not that anyone of you needs any encouragement to say nice things, let alone a Hallmark holiday, but take the opportunity today to let her know:

Mom, you rule! Thanks for everything!

See you for lunch.

Since I didn't do a Quarterly review at the end of March (and no one missed it but me) this will have to fill in for a year-to-date sort of thing, and it's by far NOT complete.

Winter was cruel enough in that I put too much weight on, and I blamed it on the bum knee from November. That wasn't it, though, and I just didn't exercise enough, nor did I exercise enough self-control when choosing to snack instead of not snacking. January and February were consumed with writing a budget for the business for the first time, then March was the trip to Indianapolis and a couple days off that I actually took off and didn't do a goddamn thing. The Well was finished as much as it will be for the foreseeable future and got some small notice among my peers who create comix. It actually represented my first attempt at writing a 6K word short story and despite its obvious shortcomings was an accomplishment that I'm very proud of. The audio version taught me a lot and informed the next step in my continuing endeavor to be somewhat creative.

April turned into a wash with several work-related issues taking over and of course taxes being due. However I did get back out on the track and start walking and running if a little irregularly until mid-month and now some of the weight I gained is coming off. Slowly, but it's coming off and that makes me happy. I've also begun studying writing in a way I never thought I'd try, but it seems to be effective. I'm not comfortable enough to share it yet, but I've written a couple of short things that seem to be pretty okay, mostly just for me.

May has been another whirlwind with work-related stuff (this time trainings and thinking for the future of the business with the cost of food projected to shoot through the roof), and that's got to be the biggest challenge of all right now. Can't cut services and have to improve them without spending any more than we already do, but money's going to go out the door when buying in the food needed for the services. Sigh. That's why they pay me to be a manager. Add in that I've got a sore knee again, too, and that's another level of frustration that slows me down, but it won't stop me.

The most exciting creative news is that I've finished a rough mix of the first installment of a new series of radio-styled things. I've got a great voice besides my own to add to the excitement, and I'm really glad it's coming along. I've got two scripts in various stages, and the stories for a dozen more written and in need of revision for radio.

So, it's all good, in case you were wondering. I owe several folks emails, still!, and I'll get to them. I've got a vacation coming up at the end of the month and I won't be doing much for work during that time in favor of the personal creative stuff. Hope to have some Sky Inside Me to share around the first of July.

More to come, gang. More to come.

Okay, Congress is saying that there needs to be a second round of 'economic stimulation' because the tax rebates just weren't enough.

Well, that's right, they weren't enough because we have to pay tax on them for this year in our returns next year. (Unless I have that wrong. If I do, I apologize, but it's not really a factor in what I'm saying next, so there.)

If the wonks in D.C. want to stimulate the economy and offset just a little of the rising costs of commodities that are actually IMPORTANT to the well-being of the United States, get Hillary and McCain off the damn gas tax relief and turn around and tell the states that the government will cover 75% - 80% of local sales taxes and stop taxing foodstuffs in grocery stores.

I realize not every state has a sales tax, and some don't even have a personal property tax, so they're already set in this regard. But if you want REAL stimulation in states where there's already a pinch on money, you can sell this by saying:

"Stretch your dollar further at the grocery store and stop eating all the time at the fast food chain. You can spend more time with your family, your children, your spouse by eating together a meal you create together. You can lose a little weight by actually eating food and not things that are processed into unrecognizable mush and then 'flavored' to resemble what it used to be in the first place. Come on, America, let's return to a time when we actually liked each other and wanted to be together. Gather over food!"

Maybe it wouldn't work that way, but it could. It could be sold so many ways that would encourage Americans to eat better, lose weight and regain social skills lost to the internet and cell phones. Wouldn't that be good? Wouldn't that be good for everyone? The farmers who will produce more, the clerks that will have jobs (maybe even good jobs) in an industry maligned by the majority of the populace and can't work at Enron any more, the Food TV stars and cookbook writers who could actually have to produce recipes that were tasty and easy to make would all profit. If we eat right, exercise more, actually communicate and it's all because of food, we might be able to think straight long enough to remember that Jimmy Carter was trying to warn us about getting off foreign oil THIRTY years ago!

Then again, who'd listen? We'd have to take the buds out of our ears and learn to read a newspaper.

I spent some of last night a portion of this morning remixing and adding and editing and remixing again a sound sample of one horse galloping across a grass field.

Now I have a stampede.

What I should remember is that a little reverb goes a long way.

But I'm having too much fun getting this off the ground and playing with it all the way. Lots more to come, just didn't have time to post much here. Be good to each other and try to stay warm if you're in the midwestern US. It's damn cold this morning.

25

Thanks, Copy J, for posting this.

Ah, hello. I see it's been a while.

I've gotten a demo version of one episode (starting close to the middle and working out from there) of the new project, The Sky Inside Me.

Taking what I learned from The Well, I'm recording smarter, working with Creative Commons-licensed sounds from the web, and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. I'm very pleased with what's happening so far, it's just slow. Honestly, this is a better form (the shorter 'song'-style, is what I'm calling it) for me to work in. I don't have to have more than five or six pages of script, I can record a pass or two in an evening and then spend a weekend as I have time laying in and mixing sounds. It's more fun, and quite satisfying when it's done. Fits in with what I'd hoped to accomplish with Knight's Tour by now. (KT isn't dead by the way, just resting. I wasn't ready for that one and got ahead of myself. Go figure!)

Thanks to everyone who commented on The Well. I'm really proud of it, and if you liked that at all, this one'll be a lot better. I'm going to launch when I've got six episodes in the can so I can work ahead a bit. Maybe release in 'books' or 'seasons' in chunks of six episodes that'll fit nicely on a CD.

Plan is for three CDs total.

I owe my friend Kirsten an email, and several others. I am not hibernating, only distracted.

More later, less soon.

Because I know you ALL were wondering which movies these quotes were from, I will share the answers and remind you of what the rules were:

Here's the rules:

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Fill in the film title once it's guessed.
5. NO GOOGLING / using IMDb search functions.

***SOLVED!***1 - “Nonsense, I have not yet begun to defile myself.”
Travis Sweeten correctly identified Doc Holliday from TOMBSTONE, here.

2 - “Once you get past the legs its not too bad.” --- Viggo Mortensen in HIDALGO.

***SOLVED!***3 - “Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level?”
Jens Altmann (or black13 to us on the LJ) named Belloc from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK saying this to Indy, and noted Indy's response: "Try the local sewer."

4 - “He ate the light” --- one of the many great lines from JAWS

5 - “I want you to take him from his hotel, drug him, put him in the front of a car, and run a truck into it at 50 mph.” --- George Clooney talking about how he deals with bad guys in SYRIANA.

6 - “I just wanted you to know: I'm not missing you yet.” Ralph Fienes to Kirsten Scott Thomas upon their breakup in THE ENGLISH PATIENT.

***SOLVED!***7 - “Look, it's not in my nature to be mysterious. But I can't talk about it and I can't talk about why.”
Travis Sweeten again, got this one as being Rusty from OCEAN'S TWELVE. Nice one. My favorite line from that film.

***SOLVED!***8 - “I also do not advise you to fill out and file a WS2475 form with our legal department on the second floor. I would not expect someone to get back to you to resolve the matter quickly. I'd like to help, but there's nothing I can do.”

Everyone's favorite superhero, Mr. Incredible, in his civilian identity was spotted by Jens Altmann first, so he gets the credit for THE INCREDIBLES.

9 - “We will not walk in fear, one of another.” --- you know who Edward R. Murrow was, don't you?, because you saw GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK three or four times. Didn't you?

10 - “I know better than to argue romance with a French woman.” --- from the great storytelling film BIG FISH.

11 - “That wasn't very sporting, using real bullets.” --- Do I need to tell you that this was from NORTH BY NORTHWEST? Do I really?

12 - “Now listen to me you benighted muckers. We're going to teach you soldiering. The world's noblest profession. When we're done with you, you'll be able to slaughter your enemies like civilized men.” --- Okay, this one was obscure, being an inspired speech from Sean Connery in THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING.

13 - “You could get killed walking your doggie!” --- Al Pacino chewing the scenery in HEAT.

14 - “Fundamentally, people are suckers for the truth. And the truth is on your side, Bubba.” --- Donald Sutherland as 'X' in JFK.

15 - “You attract attention, you're going to get people killed who didn't need to be.” --- a murderous Tom Cruise in COLLATERAL to Jamie Foxx.

All right there it is, the tension's over. Travis and Jens both get written up as characters in Wait for the Light. Congrats, guys! Thanks for playing!

> I intended to start right away hacking down my LJ tags, but got distracted with household chores.

> Yeah, right.

> But while I was putting away clean clothes, something Seth said somewhere recently was brought home: if everything is precious, then nothing is. (I have it stuck in my head that it's an Oprah reference, but I don't remember...) I looked in my office at home and I have HUNDREDS OF POUNDS of theoretical 'research material' that I have not touched in a dozen years. With the advent of the internets, I should be able to find most of what I'm looking for if I'm in a researching mode pretty quickly. And if I can't find it, then I didn't really need it, and I should have written it down. In my office at work are files that I 'might need some day' taking up space I could use for things that are stacked up and need to be sorted.

> What does this mean? It means there will begin a process of lightening my load at home and at work in terms of what I 'need' going forward. This will force me to write down salient points that stick out to me WHEN I SEE THEM rather than filing it away for that theoretical and nebulous 'later'.

> What's the difference between collecting and hoarding? I don't know for sure, but I suspect that collecting is more related to 'valuing' that just 'owning'. I need to become pickier, more discerning. That's going to be the most difficult aspect of this thing. I see value in everything, and I can see exactly how I could use it, but then I run out of time. I can see far down the road in seven different directions, and that's my compulsion: working too far ahead in too many directions. I guess what I'm going for is FOCUS.

> Sorting is an art, too, and something best done with honesty and cruelty with limited* options for piles.

> Later never comes. I have to write that down. Who said that?

> I'll let you know how it goes.







*By 'limited' I mean no more than four options: Use It Now; Toss It; Think About It**; Donate It
**Think About It must be limited to one week or less. Preferably less.

Neil Gaiman:

"You have to make someone rounded enough that the reader would half-expect the police officer in question to wish on a star."

***Last time I asked why waiting for the trade wasn't more popular. I've answered myself with one word:

Patience.

Americans are NOT a patient people which is why so many are pressuring Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race. Most want to see Obama vs. McCain, and that's fine if that's the eventual race. But a little patience may prove to be valuable and might reveal something we didn't know or was effectively hidden from us. We talk in movie theaters because we can't wait for the next thing to happen. We overshare because we're excited to be talking about something that matters to us.

I've said here before that we need to slow down, and I'm a big "C'mon! Let's go-go-go-go!" person sometimes, especially when I'm frustrated about something. I don't like it when things bog down. I want it done NOW.

Patience, grasshopper. Something to remember.

***It's early, it's cold, it's April. This is unusual in my recent experience, but a little patience and some time to remember reminds me that Kansas used to be like this twenty-five, thirty years ago. I need it to warm up a little so I can walk in the mornings. It's been TOO cold and I've had three sinus infections since November, so I need it be in the high 30s or low 40s with minimal wind, please.

***"I shouldn't have to..." is a phrase that hangs me up sometimes. If "I shouldn't have to..." and then need to, where am I? What has been accomplished? Who has been effectively taught so that "I shouldn't have to..."?

I haven't done my job if I have to say "I shouldn't have to..."

***I need to spend some time right now cleaning up my LJ tags over there --->. They're messy and not really what I want them to be.

***I'm thinking about starting a new blog for The Sky Inside Me, but I don't know.

***Speaking of which, I think I'm going for that project now. I'm feeling good about it, and I promised it for Winter 2008, so I'd only be a season behind if I make it happen now and launch on or about June 1 with a weekly podcast.

***Matt Wagner is writing Madame Xanadu. I have a copy of Doorway to Nightmare #1 because it came out at the right time for me to intrigued by the cover by Mike Kaluta. I'm looking forward to this series for the easy reasons that DC does the occult very well (anyone else remember the Deadman run from Adventure Comics in the 80s with art by Aparo and Garcia-Lopez? Well, you SHOULD) and that Wagner is one of the best writers in the business. Don't believe me? Check out his current Grendel: Behold the Devil and tell me otherwise.

***AND, the Grendel books feature letters pages.

That's enough for now. Thanks for stopping by. If you're so inclined to comment, let me know you came through and maybe post a picture so we can see who you are. Here's a recent one of me:

***The Movie Meme Contest is going to end this weekend, on Sunday. Take another whack at it if you like. I'll reveal the answers on Monday. There can be more than one winner...

***Why isn't waiting for the trade more popular? Creators like Warren Ellis, Matt Fraction, Antony Johnston and Jason Aaron are doing excellent books on a monthly schedule (well, Ellis' FELL and DESOLATION JONES have been irregularly monthly) and writing for the ultimate collections of those monthlies to great effect. I know that Ellis, Fraction and Johnston all do 'extra' material in the monthlies that aren't included in the trades, but I don't know about Aaron's SCALPED, as I don't even look at it as a monthly book. Since it's from Vertigo I suspect it's not got any extras, but then there aren't any extras in either of the trades, either. I hope that we can see a trend of smaller, more fully-realized books like FELL or CASANOVA that have a reasonable price tag ($1.99 in both cases) but have enough content that it feels like a 22 page 'regular' book. Then the trade has some even more interesting extras. That's the DVD-style treatment, I guess, that wins the day for me. If you only buy one version, you get something extra, but if you buy both, you get everything and that's a win-win situation for me. I'd buy ten or twelve books a month at a buck ninety-nine if they were quality enough, and then the trades if there was even more.

***Extras are something nice, but I still miss letters pages in monthly comics. Once upon a time one could go to the news stand or the mailbox (does anyone still SUBSCRIBE to comics?) and if you'd written a thoughtful letter of comment, there was a chance you could see your name and hometown printed in a Marvel or DC comic. Letters pages were awesome when they were edited properly, but were lost in cost cutbacks in the 90s. Too bad.

***All the static of this political season is just that. When are we going to see one of the three candidates actually take the leadership role? I've come 'round to the Obama camp thanks to Travis' support of him, and I hope he gets the opportunity to be the leader that I think he can be. The United States desperately needs someone to show us the way that's been lost in the last eight years. We must become ONE country, not seven.

***Warren Ellis used to espouse an idea that comics could be approached the same way as pop music singles, and that comics could be composed in a 'rhythmic' way, like a song. Old Time Radio (OTR) shows were thirty minutes long and the equivalent of modern 22 page comics. The technology to create podcasts has simplified and become ubiquitous. Microfictions and short stories are appealing to the shorter attention spans of the internet denizens. All this is rolling around in my mind as I think about what to do with what little talents I have, and then Phil Hester tells me about Quiet, Please and hooks me with a comparison to it of the Twilight Zone. (If you're a fan of OTR at all, you have got to listen to "The Thing on the Fourble Board".) Which came twenty years LATER. Now I've got IDEAS...

***Which is why I was considering changing gears to work on The Sky Inside Me. Last night was a good night for looking at how to do that, and Thursday will be a test run to see if I can make it work the way I want it to.

More to come, but probably not today.

Created by OnePlusYou

Fortunately I have practice holding my breath from watching Kansas Basketball. You may've heard something about my team last night.

A lot of firsts for the team this year, a lot of history conquered or redefined. What a great year to be a Jayhawk.

Back in October, I showed you this:



After visiting the Planetcon this weekend and appearing at Astro Kitty Comics a couple of weeks ago, I am reconsidering the order of projects. Even though I just dumped a draft of Wait for the Light, this other project's path has been revealed to me thanks to a conversation with Phil Hester and re-enforced by a later one with Shawn Geabhart out in the parking lot of the con. I think this one would be better to do NOW, rather than later, and wouldn't take much to launch. I don't know.

I get too excited, get too far ahead of myself, but I'm going to spend this week looking into switching gears and pursuing this one. Words of support one way or the other are appreciated.

Thanks for hanging with me.

Poker last night with Ande, Steve and the boys for the first time in over a year. However, like last time, I came home ahead.

Steve gave me some very valuable critique on The Well, and the drive back from North KC was plenty of time to think. This morning I read the nearly 2000 words I'd finished and trashed them. Restarting from scratch is called Schambergerization*, but Rob was successful in coming back stronger each time he started over so I hope that'll work here, as I did that with The Well, too.

There's been a lot of support from a lot of folks so far for me wanting to work in this format. I think I'm on to something and hope that I can get some more feedback from some folks I talked to last year at Planetcon when I give them The Well today.








*Which is, of course, TM and © Rob Schamberger.

If you're familiar with me at all, you know that I follow men's college basketball pretty closely when it comes to the Kansas Jayhawks. All year long they've been really up and down and have only lost three games. This Saturday they go up against the North Carolina Tarheels and their coach Roy Williams, who was coach for fifteen years at KU until he bolted five years ago for his alma mater North Carolina. At the time, it hurt because he'd said, not three days before that on national TV having just lost in the championship game "I don't give a shit about North Carolina." Time has helped, that and the fact that our team has been very good in the intervening years if not successful in the end of the year tournament.

So this game on Saturday, aside from all the historical implications of the four #1 seeds (out of 64 to start with two weeks earlier) there's a good game coming, and I'm calling it now, right here: KU will win by three points and face UCLA on Monday night for national championship. Our guys, the team, REALLY wants to win and they faced a team last Sunday that REALLY wanted to win, too. We simply outlasted them. This week, it'll be up-and-down running full-blast basketball, and I will be ensconced in front of my TV, with popcorn and soda and shouting my encouragement and support. Even if it doesn't go the way I predicted, I will enjoy every minute of it.

***
So, This was a good idea even if it was an April Fool's gag.

***
Barack Obama talks about his beliefs:

Q: York County was recently in the news for a lawsuit involving the teaching of intelligent design. What's your attitude regarding the teaching of evolution in public schools?

A: "I'm a Christian, and I believe in parents being able to provide children with religious instruction without interference from the state.

But I also believe our schools are there to teach worldly knowledge and science. I believe in evolution, and I believe there's a difference between science and faith. That doesn't make faith any less important than science.

The more I hear about Obama, the more I like. I'm finally coming 'round, but if he doesn't win the nomination, I'm comfortable with Mrs. Clinton in that position. Both, I think, are or would be capable leaders; intelligent, well-spoken and good at heart. Both have the best interests of the nation in mind. That's important, but I think Obama would be a better leader, if Clinton might be a better president. I've heard a theory that the current administration won't allow either to take office in January, but I think that's just conspiracy talk and not necessarily worth considering at the moment. Still, that it's out there is scary enough, I guess.

***
Debauchette is a very, very good writer and worth your time to read. You may not appreciate the content, but she's got skills I wish I had.

***
Check it: Message from Management #1.

Message from Management #2.

***
You should be reading Wasteland by Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten. HBO-styled sci-fi comics.

***
Watch movies. Love in the Time of Cholera is beautifully shot, and wonderfully acted. A Good Year is something you'll appreciate if you know what it means to fall in love. American Gangster is an intriguing British film. No, really, it's very British in its approach to the storytelling. Atonement is the new English Patient, and it very much deserves that title.

***
I keep forgetting to buy the new Editors record, the newest Interpol record and some other various assorted music. Somebody nudge me, willya?

***
I love superhero comics from my childhood, particularly the Origins series from Marvel (the original four books, not those grossly updated Grandson pieces of drek) and the comparable volume from DC, of which there was only one that I know. I even love superhero comics from the 80s and into the early 90s from Marvel and DC. But the best superheroes of the last fifteen years aren't the regular spandex crowd, are they? No, they're Kurt Busiek's Astro City, Supreme Power by J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank and then Alias by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos. What these books have in common is a respect for the concept of hero as well as superhero. Even the nonhumans have more humanity than the average Marvel or DC hero. Friendly recommendation to check these books out along with Phil Hester's The Wretch.

If you're more in the mood for superspies ala Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, then you have to try Matt Fraction's Casanova. It's my favorite book right now, but might be challenged by Jason Aaron's Scalped if I can score a copy of volume two this weekend at Planetcon. For straight up challenging comics you know you're supposed to be reading Warren Ellis' creator-owned work, don't you? If you don't then I can't help you.

***
That's all I've got tonight. More over the weekend. Maybe. Kind of nice to be slowed down to regular high-speed of every day life wihtout any deadlines hanging over my head. At least for right now. Back to writing Wait for the Light.

UPDATED 3/30/08 at 738 pm CDT with winning names!

Back on February 24th, black13 posted a movie meme that I thought was a lot of fun. Here's my version. If you can identify three or more of the films below, I'll write you in to my new project, Wait for the Light, and you can hear your name all over the internet before June first this year.

Here's the rules:

1. Pick 15 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Fill in the film title once it's guessed.
5. NO GOOGLING / using IMDb search functions.

***SOLVED!***1 - “Nonsense, I have not yet begun to defile myself.”
Travis Sweeten correctly identified Doc Holliday from TOMBSTONE, here.

2 - “Once you get past the legs its not too bad.”

***SOLVED!***3 - “Where shall I find a new adversary so close to my own level?”
Jens Altmann (or black13 to us on the LJ) named Belloc from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK saying this to Indy, and noted Indy's response: "Try the local sewer."

4 - “He ate the light”

5 - “I want you to take him from his hotel, drug him, put him in the front of a car, and run a truck into it at 50 mph.”

6 - “I just wanted you to know: I'm not missing you yet.”

***SOLVED!***7 - “Look, it's not in my nature to be mysterious. But I can't talk about it and I can't talk about why.”
Travis Sweeten again, got this one as being Rusty from OCEAN'S TWELVE. Nice one. My favorite line from that film.

***SOLVED!***8 - “I also do not advise you to fill out and file a WS2475 form with our legal department on the second floor. I would not expect someone to get back to you to resolve the matter quickly. I'd like to help, but there's nothing I can do.”

Everyone's favorite superhero, Mr. Incredible, in his civilian identity was spotted by Jens Altmann first, so he gets the credit for THE INCREDIBLES.

9 - “We will not walk in fear, one of another.”

10 - “I know better than to argue romance with a French woman.”

11 - “That wasn't very sporting, using real bullets.”

12 - “Now listen to me you benighted muckers. We're going to teach you soldiering. The world's noblest profession. When we're done with you, you'll be able to slaughter your enemies like civilized men.”

13 - “You could get killed walking your doggie!”

14 - “Fundamentally, people are suckers for the truth. And the truth is on your side, Bubba.”

15 - “You attract attention, you're going to get people killed who didn't need to be.”

Hey, if you made it out yesterday to see any of the fine guys that showed up at Astrokitty, we're all grateful. I had a really nice time even though I was there just a short bit, but I seeing Dale and Travis and Joel was really, really cool. (Travis took pictures, and there was someone there from the UDK also taking pictures so there must be some coverage elsewhere.

There were drinks with Ande and Jai afterwards, and it was a great time all around. The reception for The Well was nice as was the interest from others in wanting to draw some of the other things I'm working on. Dale, Joel, I'll email you over the weekend, and maybe we can badger Travis into drawing the thing, too.

So it was a great event, and made me feel more welcomed and interested in being productive than I have in a while. More to come!

"A character walks into the kitchen at the end of the day. He finds something on the kitchen table that is not supposed to be there." —From The Pocket Muse (Writer's Digest Books) by Monica Wood.

I like this prompt. Two ideas straight into my head from this. Will share when I've got something to share.

For archival purposes, all four links in one place:

Part One

Part One mp3: http://homepage.mac.com/jasonarnett/.Public/01%20Track%2001.mp3

Part Two

Part Two mp3: http://homepage.mac.com/jasonarnett/.Public/02%20Track%2002.mp3

Part Three

Part Three mp3: http://homepage.mac.com/jasonarnett/.Public/03%20Track%2003.mp3

Part Four

Part Four mp3: http://homepage.mac.com/jasonarnett/.Public/04%20Track%2004.mp3

The first link in each pair above takes you to the original LiveJournal entry, the second straight to the file itself. The link below will take you to the download site, where you can actually download the files to your computer and eventually burn them to disc if you like. Just click on the title of each track there to pull it down. The "Download" button just plays the file.

Click Here to visit the download site: http://homepage.mac.com/jasonarnett/FileSharing7.html

Thanks for looking in, and watch for the next project: Wait for the Light.

Click to make the image larger. I'll be there, if only to agitate Travis a bit and to show off The Well. Come out if you can, please.

So we lost Director Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley) this week. And sci-fi/specfic writer Arthur Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey, Nine Billion Names of God). And comic book and pin-up artist Dave Stevens (The Rocketeer, Bettie Page revivalist).

And more time.

Barack Obama's had his privacy invaded, as has Hillary Clinton, by contract trainees in the State Department.

Did we gain anything?

The price of oil's gone up. We can anticipate food prices going up accordingly if everything continues. Bear Stearns was bailed out on the taxpayer's dime (and you can be sure there's more of that to come).

Did we gain anything? Any insight into why these things are happening? Could it have anything to do with --- no, never mind. That's a tired horse.

What we got this week was a brilliant speech from Obama on racism. I am deliberately not linking to any of this because it should all be part of the conversation now. You can do what I did and hunt it down, if you don't already know about any of it.

I guess I'm a little cranky. I was sick and out of commission for most of the week and there's lots of stuff that happened to me as well, but I found time. That's got to be a theme going forward for the year: finding the time. It's there, I know it, I just have to manage it a little better.