LONELYPOND PRESENTS

Having realized that in my heart beats the rhythm of Disco Banditry, I’m going to furlough Flagamuffin to focus on the Wild and Wooly Adventures of larf — currently wearing an eXtreme scarf + fighting an upgraded ram on the slopes of The Icy Peak) in Kingdom of Loathing. KOL is a blast to play, full of fun, sharpness, references that make me both laugh + think and not nearly as boring as trying to be a proper holy paladin in World of Warcraft (thanks ever so for the pep talks, Beau ; / ) Apparently, the KOL PTBs are trying to convince “some folks” they rock so they asked for shout outs on their Twitfeed–and they caught me on my shout out night (you could too; @ me)

All I demand as tribute is the right to buy something with a weretaco printed on it.

Lastfming (once I take my computer off mute); first song Esperanza Spalding’s Perazela, I don’t think I’m alert/awake enough for scatting so let’s try again. Ah, now Sigur Ros’s Vaka…so if I’m suddenly sounding Icelandic you’ll know why.

Pulled out the rough draft of what I shall be referring to as “THE MYSTERY.” As aforementioned, I was disappointed that I haven’t been able to work on it at all. But having ditched the actual paying freelancing gig to work on the projects I’ve been neglecting for phone tag, I am going to start reworking it — first step reading it and deciding which of the multiple narrators to save/alter. It was inspired by my Chet Gecko/Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew phase as well as the nieces and nephews so for those of you hoping for The In The Bleak December sequel, we’re not there yet. But I think you’ll still enjoy this one once I’ve improved it a little.

I always hand write the first draft — this time in medium sized cardboard covered Moleskin notebooks (7 total) that fit handily by the side of the bed. Then I use typing it into the computer as a way to clarify and distill the initial inspiration. This one may be due for another hand written take; I’ll know more once I read it.

I will be taking a break for my Chinese New Year art meditation in a couple of weeks. My acupuncturist has copied for me some commentary on the Ox Herding pictures, classics of Zen Buddhism but is encouraging me to find better art than the small printed version online. I’m hoping to do a couple of animations as well as returning to more traditional art forms as well (last year my first Toon Boom test was a Year of The Rat animation — Studio Express didn’t work; FlipBoom did and we fell in love.)

Had my standard audition nightmare about the upcoming “Taming Of The Shrew” (they usually happen about six months before the actual auditions). This time, I was underprepared, couldn’t find scripts in the strange high school type office while the unfamiliar auditorium was full of actors, some of them professionals, I think. Some years, the nightmare is I’m prepared and nobody shows up. Underprepared makes sense after my sabbatical year from theatre. Moliere will help with that, although I think “The Miser” might be a difficult warm up as I’ve never done French farce before. But I have done an excellent “The Importance of Being Earnest” so I’m going to try to channel that.

Want to relax and have nothing on the schedule this weekend. Broke so lots of cooking in with maybe a little Mexican takeout and perhaps a visit to Starbucks for tea on the way to or from a two dollar movie (I haven’t watched anything on the big screen since High School Musical 3 opened and that’s too long.) Will also be playing World Of Warcraft with the little brother and trying to get a group together for dungeon questing — anybody playing in Arthas and nearing Level 40?

I’ve sicced the little brother on The Girl Who Leaped Through Time quest. He’s my other anime resource and has a NetFlix account so check back in February or so for a review. Mel has loaned my SteamBoy for my next bite of anime.

Bonus Big Bang Theory last night. Sheldon and Penny and the online role playing game — priceless stuff when Penny breaks into to Sheldon’s bedroom and Leonard catches her on the way out.

Looking forward to Nick’s Kisses and Misses new eps this weekend. I’m thinking Gibby gets to kiss somebody interesting; Gayle doesn’t see how Freddie and Sam could possibly work. Caught part of iGo Japan again — still some great stuff at the end and Freddie’s mom is comedy gold.

And thank you to whoever runs The N’s programming and has a wicked sense of humor for putting Radio Free Roscoe on all next week from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. That’s my prime sleep time. Stay tuned to see if insomnia or RFR wins.

Have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. One of my favorite songs (New Radicals “Someday We’ll Know” will be playing us out.

Oh and the FT’s been a bit dull over the holidays, although I have been enjoying The Economist’s year end issues. And when Entertainment Weekly offered me a year for $10, I caved. Gayle apparently likes when I read out highlights and the Hit List guy is funny.

NB: Interesting thing about The Economist’s one page summary of things going on in the World in 2009. The only movie or TV show to make an appearance on it is Star Trek XI. Right up there with the Oscars, The Venice Biennale and Asterix’s 50th birthday.

(From the original blog verbatim but with a paragraph break - get some blogging software withoutabox and yes, I’m in a mood — hi):

Have missed you all — quick roundup — some sadness, Pongo the cat had a stroke and died last week so things have been a little rough around here…still haven’t recovered my FlipBoom mojo. Had the annual meeting and agreed that yes, we want to keep doing movies. Pushing via the Blogverse for Disney to broadcast High School Musical 3 over the holidays and cheer Flash up. Want to rip the wrap on Kung Fu Panda sometime soon. Playing World of Warcraft with the little brother and enjoying it — I miss playing games with family and friends. Thanksgiving was great for that.

Had a good time at DreamWrights last night; good to see Diane, excellent performance by the gentleman playing the grown up Tiny Tim. Have decided people should write better children’s plays — or just better plays, Madeline L’Engle always said she just wrote good books, not specifically children books — so that the often times very good acting you can find at community theatres can be helped by good lines and great characters. Another quest to add to the to do list — I have the outline of a tall tale play — who doesn’t love the Wild Wild West — well, yes, anyone with an ounce of compassion and an awareness of history, but tall tales can be fun and wacky and…well, this is going to turn into a doctoral level thesis on how everyone’s childhood is a morass of things that can’t be tolerated today but that’s just because I’m annoyed about the whole day without gays things…if I take a day off, the only person I hurt is myself…Marches on Washington I can get behind, but you really should be careful about language choices. Leadership doesn’t come from anything that can be interpreted as the act of a sullen and immature person. Leadership comes from seizing the seat that you deserve as much as the person next to you, and then, letting them sit in it because their packages are heavier than yours. Anyway, forgive the rant and do your best work on Dec. 10th, gay or straight. That’s how you change the world.

The Warcraft neophyte reports in: Well, this time I met up with brother Beau, survived(athough I did just start over with a new character, clear the slate, it’s often a morale booster), gained levels, glowed a little and did all those fun things I remember from D+D…and yes, I come from that kind of family and I was usually the DM…just another storytelling manifestation. Anyway, I’m exploring WOW as a family thing — my nephews adore it, being orcs, crushing things, etc. Both their parents play, but on a different server. Thanksgiving, we played long distance MarioKart on the Wii and when you added in the speakerphone on my cell, it was a little like being in the same room…

This, I guess, is the year I explore alternate strategies for keeping in touch with family. Meeting at the King Of Prussia mall works, but doesn’t happen often enough. None of us are really phone people — we’re more pull out Settlers of Cataan, Blokus or Scrabble — or if it’s a nice day, take the football outside or go play on swings. So phone calls don’t really cut it; you have to share an activity. So I’m trying out WOW…

Fun inexpensive family game suggestions: Flux — a great card game — and from the Games 100 list, Go Nuts. Found that one in a game store two weeks ago, tried it out with friends and had a blast. Same night we played the new Risk, which was an interesting way to make the old Risk less of a time eater. Enjoyable. But what I am really enjoying right now is “de blob” for my iPod — the last level’s impossible, but the rolling gameplay rocks and it’s nice to bounce through town making citizens colorful and happy.

O.K., for further me + WOW + little brother/sister/nephew/brother-in-law updates, you’ll have to head here; this blog ranges enough. And I’m always on the lookout for new family friendly games; let me know if you find one.

Today, my character only died twice, raised several levels, hacked a whole lot of kobolds to pieces and actually FINISHED 4 quests…it helped that I finally met my little brother there — ok, not so little, 6′1” and bearded. I did start over…decided to not be a night elf druid and switched to a human paladin, the better to hit things and heal. Very reminiscent of D+D questing but not quite the vividness of the imagination, although very richly detailed. Fun to watch Beau’s character jump around like a maniac frog to try to get my attention. He only had to call three times before I figured out the mighty apple mouse is absolutely no good for Warcraft…so I had to figure out how to use the Wacom tablet for the better hacking of goblins. Still need bags of gold, but a much better experience…have mace, will travel, I guess. My character’s at an inn in Goldshire and I think Beau went off to play with one of his 70+ level characters…so the trial continues.