Hey, guess what we did Tuesday night. No, we didn’t sit in the basement and watch Lost. The rest of the world was watching Lost, but we weren’t. Good thing we saw it on the internet Wednesday evening because I would have been upset if I really missed it.
Instead of watching Lost, we went over to Eastern Connecticut State University (EastConn? – do they call it that?) to see Danny Glover and Felix Justice give a performance called “An Evening with Martin & Langston.” I will admit that it was very good.
Here is a pretty decent description I found at GTN:
“An Evening with Martin & Langston” draws audiences inside the worlds of two of the greatest orators of the 20th century: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Langston Hughes. The evening begins with Justice`s critically acclaimed portrayal of Dr. King; through the words of his most memorable speeches, Justice transforms into the legendary civil-rights leader, recreating the power of the man and his message. Justice then introduces “an old friend of mine I think you may have heard of,” and Glover enters the stage to bring to life the words and poetry of Langston Hughes. Accompanied by readings of his work, Glover portrays one of the great American writers in modern history.
Following their respective performances, Justice joins Glover on stage for a question-and-answer session to complete an evening that is memorable, heart-felt and not to be missed. To quote The Los Angeles Times: “The entire program turned out to be all about dreams…”
Danny Glover and Felix Justice At Eastern Connecticut University – #1
Danny Glover and Felix Justice At Eastern Connecticut University – #2
I am going to be very honest here. While the performance was very moving, I didn’t hear it all that well. We kind of sat towards the back and I am hard of hearing at times. My better half apparently heard everything just fine. I am sure she could recite much of it word for word.
I did feel a little guilty just smiling and nodding my head when we discussed the performance later on that evening. It’s not easy to put on that type of charade for as long as I did. I was kind of like, “Yeah, I think so too.” and “Absolutely, that part was great.” Then I would quickly change the subject to something more along the lines of Jiu Jitsu. That usually does the trick.
I hope she doesn’t read this. I am in for a beatdown if she does.
Weirdest thing. I was going through my broken links with the broken link checker plugin I use for Wordpress this evening and I came across a broken link entitled, “Air America.” I was like, “WHHAAAAAT???”
I clicked on the link and was brought to a 404 error page with this text as the first paragraph:
“It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.”
Okay, I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to Air America in about a year, but still, they had some good programs. I enjoyed Rachel Maddow and Ron Reagan.
While I do have some hurt feelings about this closure, I am a bit disappointed in the management. In typical media style, this is how the third paragraph from the bottom was worded:
“So we intend a rapid, orderly closure over the next few days. All current employees will be paid through today, January 21. A severance package will be offered tomorrow to full-time current employees with more than six months of tenure.”
I am wondering if this is how the employees were informed that they no longer had jobs.
Do you think I grew up living under a rock? I must have because I am the biggest loser when it comes to music. When people ask me what I like, I can only thing of something like four bands.
My lady and I merged all our music a few weeks back (now that’s commitment). Together, we have 393 albums. I have probably listened to about 10 of them.
If you remember back, by listening to one of her albums, I was introduced to “Days Of The New.” I have since then fallen in love with them.
Last night, I was cruising the albums and I decided to listen to this guy called Peter Gabriel. Of course I have heard of Peter Gabriel, but I couldn’t tell you the first thing about him more than one day ago. After reading his Wikipedia page and watching about 20 YouTube videos, I am well versed in all things Peter Gabriel.
I am digging this guy. Again, I am well aware of my loserishness.
Hey, guess what guys…I finally read Lord Of The Flies. I know, I think I was suppose to do this back in high school. I wasn’t aware of this, so it didn’t happen.
For my birthday, I received the book. I finished reading it the other night and then decided to watch the movie. That’s how it usually works. Of course, the movie is never as good as the book.
So, here’s my review. Both the movie and the book were just okay. I think the author (William Golding) really had an opportunity to create something much deeper, but perhaps he would have lost his younger audience. Also, there are similarities between The Lord Of The Flies and the show Lost, so I might have expected more.
The book touched on some topics more than the movie did. Also, the movie added a few things that never happened in the book. I’m not sure why, because they weren’t relevant to what was going on.
There were some important events that occurred in the book that just didn’t happen in the movie. I would say the two most important events were the defining of the Lord Of The Flies and how the little mini-civilization degraded so fast. The movie skimmed over the scenes of anything having to do with the pig’s head and how Jack’s group found Ralph and how/why they started to burn the island down. It was disappointing because those were major events.
Overall, I think both the book and the movie left me asking why didn’t this happen and why didn’t that happen, instead of really wondering why something did happen.
You know, I was going to start this post off with a rant about how much local radio really bugs me. Then, I thought better of it. I try not to do too much insulting these days.
What made me want to rant about radio? Was it the years and years of listening to the same five songs on repeat all day long? No. Was it the fact that I have to constantly change the station I am listening to in search for something that comes in better? No. Was it how I listened to cheesy commercials for about twelve minutes out of my twenty minute drive to Glastonbury a few days ago? Bingo.
I swear, they started playing commercials the minute I got on Rt. 2. When I got off Rt. 2, the commercials were still going. There is just no reason for this. I mean, if you want to sprinkle a few in here and there, that’s fine. It’s what you have to do. To run them back to back for a quarter hour, that’s just crazy. No wonder no one has anything nice to say about that whole section of media anymore.
Gee, I guess I did have a rant after all. But it wasn’t bad. I don’t hate radio, I hate the commercials. Especially the idiotic local ones. Like where a car dealer has their kid doing the talking…”My daddy wants to you come down and buy a new Subaru…” I mean, seriously?
I do like John Tesh. He’s my favorite.
Anyway, since I got so frustrated the other day, I thought I should do something about it instead of complaining for the rest of my life. I decided to order two “6ft 3.5mm M/M Stereo Audio Cables” from Amazon. They were a total of $5.86 delivered. Not bad. I got one for me and one for the lady. They arrived a few days later.
I know I talked about my new Droid’s music playing capabilities. What I didn’t know was that both of our cars have nice little auxiliary jacks just waiting to have something plugged into them. How did I miss this for a whole year? She has an iPod and we actually bought a different adapter a while back. All she needed was this cheap little wire.
6ft 3.5mm M/M Stereo Audio Cable
Auxiliary jack in 2008 BMW X5
You should have seen us out in the garage the night we got these new audio cables. We were like little kids on Christmas morning. We had both stereos up nice and loud. So loud, I jumped on one of the hoods and started dancing. Okay, didn’t happen, but it was an enlightening experience realizing the capabilities of what joy this could bring.
I listened to my Droid in my car the next day. It was perfect.
I told you I was going to write about how to upload music to the Droid in my last post. I mean, getting songs over onto this thing is one of the great features, right? By the way, I was laying on the hammock this most perfect afternoon listening to some tunes through the new Droid. I must say, the quality is right where it’s supposed to be. I use real headphones, so my results are probably better then some earpieces out there.
Okay, let’s get to uploading some music files over to the Droid. It’s actually very simple once you figure it out. Here are the steps:
1. Plug the micro USB cord into your Droid.
2. Pull down the “notification menu” and you will see an area that says, “Ongoing – USB connected – Select to copy files to/from your computer.”
3. Select that area by touching it with your finger.
4. You will be presented with the next screen that says, “USB connected – You have connected your phone to your computer via USB. Select “Mount” if you want to copy files between your computer and your phone’s SD card.”
5. Press “Mount”
6. Now, on your computer, open the “Computer” folder.
7. Open the “Removable Disk” folder. In my case, it was drive H:
8. Next, open the “dcim” folder.
9. What I did was to create a new folder called “Music” and copy my songs into that folder. You can arrange them any way you want. The Droid recognized that and I have been listening to music ever since.
Oh yeah, you will obviously need to open up the “Music” app and play around in there. That’s where all your music is. Questions? Comment?
I took a few pictures to help explain the process.
Micro USB plugged into the Motorola Droid
Droid notification menu with USB connected box showing
USB connected box on the Motorola Droid
Opening the removable disk folder on computer
Opening the dcim folder on computer
Creating Music folder and filling up with songs
One last thing. If memory serves correctly, I think I had to “Unmount” before any songs showed up in the Music app. I forget, but I think that’s what happened.
Okay, so last night I figured out how to get some music on my Droid. It’s really easy. If you need help, let me know. Perhaps I will even write a post on how to upload music to the Droid. Who knows. What I do know is that I now have a music player.
This evening (actually just a few minutes ago), I was reading an article about how developers of Droid apps saw an increase in downloads yesterday. One such app that saw a big uptick in downloads is a music player created by Pandora. When I read this, I said, “Hmmm.” I hadn’t really thought much about a music player on a PDA that actually streamed music from the internet. This opens up a whole new world.
I visited Pandora to see what it was all about. Apparently, some geniuses discovered a way to find music that is similar to what you like. Basically, when you visit their homepage, you are asked to type in the name of a song or group that you like. Then, Pandora will find music that is similar to what you typed in and start playing it. I typed in “Days of the New” and was happy to hear “Alice In Chains” and “Stone Temple Pilots.” After that, I heard some Days of the New. Where have I been? How long has this site been out there? It’s pretty awesome.
I haven’t tried to play any music on the Droid from Pandora yet. I downloaded the app and was warned that this service downloads some pretty hefty data, so I should be sure that I am on an unlimited data plan. I know I am, but I am going to give a call over to Verizon tomorrow just to make sure. Can you imagine listening to music that streams from the internet on a cell phone? Now, can you imagine that this music is what you actually like? That’s huge.
I have oftentimes described myself as a Utilitarian. Each time I described myself this way, I can’t say that I remember knowing what that term meant. I always kind of figured it was something like, “must have some sort of utility” or “get all the feel good stuff out of the way and let’s get down to the nitty gritty” or “something basic to fulfill a basic need.” As it turns out, I wasn’t that far off.
Wikipedia describes Utilitarianism as “the moral worth of an action is determined solely by its contribution to overall utility…the greatest good for the greatest number of people…somewhat narrow economic or pragmatic viewpoint.” I would say that I was pretty accurate. This, coupled with that fact that I have an issue with being stuck on the “Physiological” rung of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (I knew that Psych 101 would come in handy) makes for some pretty boring lifestyle.
Moving on…
I have never really appreciated art. I thought it was pretty much a waste of time. I mean, I liked to way some of it looked, but I didn’t get the point. Of course, this was when I was a kid. I’m sure most kids are like that. If you aren’t sure what I mean, go ahead and bring your child to the Met. See what happens.
As I got older, I started enjoying some styles of art, but they had to serve a purpose. Let’s say that a city had a huge mural painted on the side of a building and it looked really great. Now, I can appreciate that. I think the mural would really stand out and put people in a better mood. It would also enhance the look of the city and it may help tourism in the area, if there were multiple murals.
I am probably not alone. Again, I like to think of things in a very basic sense. I like things that function and I think of functionality so much, it’s hard for me to get my head out of that. It’s sort of like dragging a painting into a house that’s being built an asking the carpenter what he thinks of it. He’s probably going to ask you to leave because he is in another zone. Perhaps if that same carpenter went out to a show and had a few drinks, then he would be willing to give you a somewhat honest opinion of what he thinks of the artwork.
I do have my moments though. The problem is that I never know what they are going to arrive.
We decided to visit the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, CT this past Saturday. I think this was a “recommended” trip, if you know what I mean. The sort of trip that is suggested and usually ends up being fun. I kick and scream before these types of outings, only to simmer down once we get there. Then, I usually lead the pack and get all sorts of excited. As excited as I get, I still have a fairly short attention span. I give museums about a half hour, unless they are really neat like the Boston Museum of Science. Then, I can stay as long as it takes to go through all the exhibits. Arts museums…half hour.
I must say, I was surprised by the Wadsworth Museum of Art. It was a pretty nice place. When we first got there, we passed by some typical stuff, but when we visited the Baroque and the Italian Renaissance paintings, I was really impressed. I think the thing that got me was the size of each painting. They were much larger than I though they would be. Also, the color was more vibrant. It was nice to stand so close to such history and really look at what it took to create each piece. Needless to say, I began to feel thankful for being taken out of my normal routine to become a somewhat more cultured individual. I now consider myself an art expert, so if you have any questions…
I am glad I got that off my chest. Now, on to the pictures of pictures.
The Hartford Times building – downtown Hartford – now closed
Alexander Calder’s Stegosaurus in the Burr Mall – downtown Hartford
Fountain near Alexander Calder’s Stegosaurus
The Goodwin Reception Room – Wadsworth Museum of Art
The Goodwin Reception Room – Wadsworth Museum of Art – 2
The Goodwin Reception Room – Wadsworth Museum of Art – 3
Stairways going to the second floor of the Wadsworth Museum of Art
The Atrium at the Wadsworth Museum of Art
Baroque Art in Catholic Europe room description
Baroque art room at Wadsworth Museum of Art
Baroque art room at Wadsworth Museum of Art – 2
Lucrezia as Poetry by Salvator Rosa description
Lucrezia as Poetry by Salvator Rosa
The Annunciation by Giovanni Battista Caracciolo description
The Annunciation by Giovanni Battista Caracciolo
Cabinet description
Cabinet
Dressing table service description
Dressing table service
The English Portrait in the 18th Century description
The English Portrait in the 18th Century
The English Portrait in the 18th Century – 2
The Neoclassic and Romantic Eras description
The Neoclassic and Romantic Eras
The Disenchantment of Bottom description
The Disenchantment of Bottom by Daniel Maclise
Art of the Renaissance description
Art of the Renaissance
Fame Conquering Time description
Fame Conquering Time by Ippolito Scarsella
Noli me Tangere description
Noli me Tangere by Lelio Orsi
Adoration of the Shepherds description
Adoration of the Shepherds by Ludovico Cardi
The Feast of Herod description
The Feast of Herod by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Loose Company description
Loose Company by Jan Sanders van Hemessen
The Finding of Vulcan on the Island of Lemnos description
The Finding of Vulcan on the Island of Lemnos by Piero di Cosimo
How awesome is this? “Where The Wild Things Are” was totally my favorite book back when I was a kid. Sure it was one of those alternative meaning types of books, but it was still good. We are going to have to put this on our movie list.
Have you ever met anyone who was cooler than you are? No, I mean much cooler than you are.
Day in, day out, we meet all types of people. The people we meet are generally what we are used to…people who are in the hardware store, the grocery store…people we see driving around on the roads. They are all generally the same type of person and nothing really to stand back from and admire. Well, every so often we come across someone who is out of our league. If you are a guy, this is the kind of person you make sure your lady isn’t looking at for just a bit too long.
I think Peter Mulvey is cooler than I am and yes, I made sure Laura was still interested in me when he took the stage up at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT on September 27.
Who is Peter Mulvey? Well, his website says he is an “amazing singer/songwriter/guitarist from Milwaukee.” Good enough for me.
Okay, so here’s the story. The other day, Laura strolled over to me and told me that she made dinner reservations at Infinity Hall. I believe I have written about this place before. I asked her why she made the reservations and she replied, “Oh, no reason.” She then told me that we would be heading upstairs to watch a performer after dinner. This was fairly early in the morning and it was raining outside, so it took me by surprise. Even though I was tired and still half asleep, I agreed to accompany her on this little journey. See what I get for constantly telling her I want to go places?
The dinner reservations were for 5:30 and the show started at 7:30. That gave us two hours to check out the new “Bistro” that Infinity Hall has been promoting. It also gave us time to walk around the newly renovated building that houses Infinity Hall. It’s really cool. If you are ever up in the North/West corner of Connecticut, you should stop in to check it out. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel hip just by being there.
We arrived just on time and walked through the front door. One of the things that struck me right away was the color combination of the interior. It looked great. It was earthy and full of greens, maroons and dark yellows. I kept looking at it as we were eating. These guys put a lot of money and time into restoring the original building and it showed. We sat down and had a good dinner and, of course, drank our Guinness.
After dinner, we walked around to check out the building. We had about a half hour, so I thought it would be a good time to take some pictures. If I didn’t, I would be sitting here right now with nothing to upload. Lucky for you, I got some nice shots. It was kind of dark in there, so I am happy that I got what I got.
Out in front of Infinity Hall in Norfolk, CT
Infinity Hall sign
Huge fan above music hall at Infinity Hall
Balcony above music hall at Infinity Hall
Stage area in the music hall at Infinity Hall
After a while, we walked into the music hall and took our seats. A few minutes later, a very talented artist named Brianna Lane appeared on stage. She sang a few songs and got the audience all warmed up for the main act, Peter Mulvey.
Let me tell you why I think Peter Mulvey is cooler than I am. Well, for one, his voice is better than mine. Also, he can play the guitar really well as opposed to me not being able to play at all. He has a stage presence, writes letters to his nieces and nephews, tells stories and…and rode a bicycle with about four other people to Connecticut from Michigan. I mean, c’mon Peter, you’re killin’ me over here. All I am is a guy who works on computers sitting out in the audience. You gotta stop.
Oh well. At least his show was a crowd pleaser. Everybody loved him and I really got a kick out of how he incorporated some of the letters he wrote to his nieces and nephews in his music and album. He is witty and has a way with words. I can only dream of being like that.
Check out Peter Mulvey. Watch the entire video because he sings towards the end.
