TWIB Notes

Some notes from around the league. Err.. of Nate.

GIRL POWER
This is my newest guitar pupil. Look at Polly rocking out! Polly took guitar lessons when she was 10 years old so her guitar is 3/4 size. And hasn't really touched it since then. I started teaching her a month or so ago. She's getting better. And we changed her strings. Which were 10 years old. Those strings were older than all of my nieces and nephews. Speaking of...

CAT SCRATCH FEVER
This is my niece Caroline. Pretty cool cheerleading outfit right? Wonder what sort of cool uncle got her that? Sidenote: They play Ted Nugent's song "Cat Scratch Fever" at Panthers' games. Because they are panthers. Still, I feel like it is the first time I have heard that song since being a child growing up in the 70's.

YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME, MONETARILY
Jason Garrett, the Cowboys' offensive coordinator, was given a raise by Jerry Jones, the Cowboys' owner. He now makes 3M a year. What is interesting about this is not only is he the highest paid assistant coach in the land. He also makes more than the head coach, Wade Phillips. I thought this would be remedied by a new contract for Wade. But it hasn't happened yet. This was a month ago. How awkward is that?

IDOL WATCH '08
Since there is not much new on the airwaves these days what with the WGA strike, I have been watching American Idol. Ok, that's a load of b.s. I would have watched it anyway. They are really amping up the whole this contest is a life changing experience for people with sob stories galore. "Singing on American Idol will bring my dad home from Iraq!" "This is my version of 'Funkytown' to let my sister with cancer, I am thinking about her." It's ruthless. And tasteless. But it makes for good trashy television. Still, I'd rather we just cut straight to the awesome and pitiful performances. I've said it before, I'll say it again--Ryan Seacrest earns his $ on that show. He has to keep a straight face talking with the crazies and show genuine compassion to the cry babies. He does it all. And he's able to keep his smarm factor down which was off the charts in season 1 and 2.

SUPER JACKED FOR SUPER TUESDAY
I'm pretty excited for Super Tuesday to roll around on Feb. 5th here in the NYC. Because it's the first time it really mattered. Get to make a real difference on who might run for the Dem nom. You want to know which way I'm voting? Here's a hint: I'm going with the young man.

PICTCHAS
Because I pride myself on being a good uncle, I did some research the other day. I netflixed "High School Musical". For youse not in the know, kids everywhere are crazy about HSM and Hannah Montana. They are really batshit crazy about this stuff. I got my niece Kayla this Wii game where you can sing all the songs from HSM. I wanted to do some duets with her but I didn't really know the words. Well, later I made a mix of the songs and then I watched the movie. Now, I'm ready!

But you know what? The movie's not half bad. The one thing is disturbing is they have this brother/sister team and their relationship is a little weird I think. They sing a song that the main love interests sing too. Until I saw the movie, I didn't realize they were brother/sister. Ummm... creepy. Still, it's a good song.

In other movie news, I think they are going too far with the "Computers Are Cool" notion. And just general technology. It's one thing to have a sci-fi movie. It's another to have current technology and spin a thriller from it, ridiculously. Enter ONE MISSED CALL. This movie is the evolution ripoff of The Ring. You'll remember in the Ring, people watch a video tape of some weird scattered grainy images. 24 hours later, they die. Then there was that movie where if people visited some website, 24 hours later they'd die. Well, now, apparently someone leaves a voicemail on your phone and it's your death. You're listening to a recording of how you die. And then ho hum. 24 hours later you die.

Come on people, it needs to have sort of thread of reality if you're making it out to be a modern day picture. What sort of voodoo is being done so someone can travel back in time with a recording of someone's death? I don't buy it.

Still, maybe this is more exciting than in the vast number of movies where you need some sort of exposition to take place, ,or plot development, and it takes place in front of a computer, normally Google.

APT
I start painting this weekend for the living room. New Year's resolution here we come!

Huck Slim Tonight!!!!

To the handful of readers here and the hundreds of people that google the giant fish picture I posted two years ago(also, as suspected people have come to this site now hoping to view cat porn-for shame!): Tonight, Huckleberry Slim has a gig at Sidewalk Cafe. Come and check it out!

Sidewalk Cafe
94 Ave A(& 6th St)
10 PM
FREE!!!!

Take the 6 to Astor Place or the F/V to 2nd Ave(1st Ave side) and walk over and up! Hope to see you there!

-Nate

Songs From The Vault

I've finally gotten around to hooking things up in my new little music office in my room. It's nice to have a little bit of space to work on things. And soon I'm going to have a new computer to have even more screen space to work on things! This is not exciting to most people I know, but anyone who's worked on something like Final Cut Pro knows how many windows you have to have open at once to work on crap. Well, it's the same in Pro Tools. Right now, I'm looking at everything on my little 15" Powerbook. But soon, I'll have a giant iMac to deal with and life will be sweet.

Anyway... so when I first starting recording songs, I didn't have a computer and I was distrustful of recording on a computer. So both facts together stopped me from buying such a thing then. And maybe I'm a Luddite? Who knows? All I know is 7 years later, who has egg on his face? This guy(points to self).

So now I have Pro Tools and a shiny MBox 2. But back in the day, I rocked a Roland digital 8 track. And I still have tons of zipdisks full of songs from then. I just counted them, I have 22. And each one will hold around 10 songs or so on average. So that's like 200 songs to root through. Yeesh.

But it will be nice to finally have everything on ye olde computer and in mp3 form. So as I wander my way through everything I'll post some things here from time to time. And if you are interested in checking out some old Shelktunes, drop me a line and maybe I'll make a special tasty mix cd for you!

Okay, back to the salt mines. But here is a song I wrote 10,000 years ago. I think in reality 2002. It's called, "If It's Just Me". Kind of crappy recording quality but it's charming, right?

Time Traveller From The Cat Future

Yesterday, I felt like Kyle Chandler but not as the coach of a h.s. football team, but from his first gig. That of the man who receives a newspaper the day before so he is able to know the future. (And of course change events for the better.)

Except I am only able to change the future of cats. Because instead of the local paper, I received Cat Fancy. And it's from March.

Now, I'm not certain how often Cat Fancy is published. But unless it's bi-monthly doesn't that seem a little extreme to be putting out your March issue in mid-January?


Isn't there all sorts of cat news that might be coming around the bend that they missed because of their absurdly early deadline for their issues? What if a cure for feline AIDS is discovered(as March it hasn't folks)? Or cats learn the ability to talk? Or a certain cat is shown to be really great at poker?

All I know is I need to stop this certain evil dictator cat who is causing trouble in the Third World. I'll let you know how it turns out. In March.

Two Apples

Today, I got on the V train at 2nd Ave and I sat in one of the three seaters near the doors. On the third seat next to me were two apples. They weren't rotten. They weren't half eaten. They were just two apples minding their own business.

For the entire 20 minute subway ride nobody dared to disturb those apples. Even though the train was packed.

When there's a newspaper or some sort of trash on a seat, people just brush it to the floor. But what was it about these two apples that made people respectful? I guess people thought they were waiting for somebody. Or maybe at a certain point, they'd reach their stop and get off.

Cat Porn

I hestitate to think what sort of readers will be forwarded to this site from this post, but considering that people have already ended up on this blog for searching for elephant sex, I think we won't be far off the mark.

Anyway, my twin and his wife like to get my cats things for Christmas. And this year, they decided to be silly and get them(us) a subscription to Cat Fancy. Well, the first issue came this week. And having never set eyes on this magazine before, it's interesting. Because it is cat porn. There are sooooo many glamour shots of cats it's crazy. They are full page, action, reclining, single, two cats, group shots, and get this---a centerfold! I kid you not. I will post some pics this w/e when I get a chance to scan some in.

And then just like Playboy, there's actually some interesting articles. Kathrine was making fun of it and then was like, hmmm... this is actually pretty interesting. I'm not saying I want to continue to get Cat Fancy. But I'm saying there are some good articles. Ahhhh no one believes me.

There is also a classified section in the back and there's this insane ad for this cats that are a mix of a cat and like a BIG cat. Like a lurking through the African savannah big cat. So this combo cat has the head of a house cat and the body of like a lynx. Then they have a picture of a little girl playing with the cat and it's bigger than her. It's frightening. As I said, I will post pics soon!

It makes you wonder what other sorts of weird hybrids are out there. (Hence my picture of the liger.)

Disturbing Fact Gleaned From Wiki Research

The father of Wade Phillips, head coach of my beloved Dallas Cowboys, was nicknamed "Bum". Apparently, his sister couldn't pronounce "brother" growing up and it came out sounding like "bum". Regardless, it is disturbing that a son of a man named "Bum" is our coach.

I'm not too disturbed because I am certain very soon that Jason Garrett will ascened to head coach. But was not pleased to read this in any event.

The List: Resolutions, A Baker's Dozen

In order to make myself honest, I'm going to pen my resolutions on ye olde bloggy. Here's what I got for 2008:

1) Make a reel. I finally have enough stuff to warrant a reel. I've got the tv mini-series(Windy Acres), the Onion stuff, the ESPN stuff, some shorts(Farminals, Mohels and other Channel 102's, Meditation on Mini-Golf, etc), some random tv stuff including Jeff Foxworthy's Roast on Comedy Central, and Damage Control. These last two things I think will be good for a montage as my parts are minor. I play a secret service guy and a guy with a hazmat suit on. And then there are the commercials. So.. it is time.

2) Get a legit agent.

3) Check out pilot season, 2009.

4) Finish redecorating apartment. I'm almost done really. I mean, maybe figure out the walls. But bedroom is almost ffinished, and after I get my bonus I'm going to buy a new couch and paint the living room. With any luck, I'll have the scratch to get a new armchair too. The biggest challenge is figuring out how to hide and compartment my musical gadgets.

5) Take a real vacation in 2008.

6) Dovetailing on that, go skiing. I haven't taken a real vacation in like 2 or 3 years. And not out of the country since 2003 I think? And I haven't been skiing in over 8 years. It is time.

7) Begin actual savings to buy an apartment.

8) Develop fan base for Huck Slim; Book some bigger venues like Rodeo Bar and Knitting Factory. Record proper album(maybe at least 10 songs?) I definitely have enough new songs.

9) Buy new clothes(I have to force myself to buy clothes. Trying to start a habit to be better dressed.) including another suit. I remember filming one of the Onion pieces and Huskey was wearing this snazzy new suit(perhaps sponsored by his legion of Sonic ads?) from Burberry. And I thought, I need to step it up! I'm in my shabby suit-for-all-occasions-wedding-funeral-bah mitzvah that I've had for like ten years. Plus watching an incessant number of Project Runway and Tim Gunn's Guide To Style has been made more self-conscious about ye olde wardrobe. I went last fall(2006) and scored a Michael Kors suit with my fashion stylist Polly. Need to make it a yearly thing. It is time.

10) Write a show to perform at UCB. It's been a couple of years since the ill-fated Inquisitors. Time to try again. I have some ideas... got to get to work on it.

11) Have a party at my place. I had a celebrity party there ten thousand years ago and it was a ton of fun. Once I get everything done with the painting and such, I need to have another one.

12) Re-join ye olde gym. Time to get back on the horse.

13) Treat my blog better. Facelifts for both this site and huck slim.

So there you go. It's pretty ambitious, right? But I like to make a lot of goals, some that are "reach" goals and some that are easy, and some are that are normal. That way by the end of the year, if I accomplish half of them, I'll feel like a success. I mean let's look at them. #1, 4-7, 9, 11-12? They are all pretty easy. Number 2 is a toughie. Number 3 gets a lot easier if number 2 is conquered as well as 1 and 10. And number 10 just requires some getting off my duff and doing it. And I've already started working on number 13. See? Not so hard. This resolution stuff is a piece of cake.