Posts tagged 5

5 Things I love

Once again, taking inspiration from Promise Tangeman, here are 5 things I love:

Pulp covers
They’re weird, they’re sleazy, and they suggest all kinds of sordid stories with just one picture. I’ve never actually read a pulp - and my guess is that I’d be disappointed if I did, so for now, I’ll just stick with the covers.

Videocopilot.net
There are a lot of sites out there dedicated to After Effects tutorials, but the most stylish and entertaining of them all has to be Andrew Kramer’s Video Copilot. It and Matt Fraction’s advice to “%$#@ around as much as possible” have helped me more than anything with the software. Of course the problems with tutorials is that there’s a temptation to rip them off completely (which I’ve done a couple of times…), but Kramer always encourages people to take what he teaches and build on it.

Siege - Marvel Comics 4 issue limited series
I not a huge fan of all the event storytelling taking place at Marvel these days - but man, Siege has knocked it out of the park so far. Bendis is writing an action packed story that gets my childhood favorites, The Avengers, back together and it’s being drawn by Olivier Coipel - one of the best artist working in the biz today. Only two issues in and I’m already in love.

Love, Power, Peace - James Brown Live at the Olympia, Paris , 1971
I saw the aforementioned Matt Fraction recommend this album twice so I finally checked it out. From now on, live is the only way to listen to James Brown to my mind.

iPod Nano
I got my iPod stolen a month or so ago. I replaced it with a 16 gig Nano. That’s quite a bit less storage than I had before, but that’s actually turned out to be a good thing. It’s made me invest myself a lot more into what music I put on the thing - and it’s much smaller footprint has me carrying it everywhere. It’s really kind of invigorated my music-listening. It also has a video camera that I’ve never used and a pedometer which I assume tells you how many child molesters are in your area.

There you go. Five things I love.

5 things i love

Partly inspired by and partly in response to this post by the very talented Promise Tangeman, here are five things I love:

1. Casanova by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba, and Fabio Moon - I’ve read comic books since I was a very little boy, but Casanova had an effect on me that very few books ever have. I felt like it was written specifically for me. Casanova Quinn is a reality-hopping super spy with father issues. I don’t know why that particular concept rang my bell the way it did, as I’ve only ever been moderately interested in the spy genre and don’t have any significant daddy issues that I’m aware of. Fraction’s writing seems very sincere. That probably sounds like a strange way to describe writing about a spy, but it all just seems very self-aware and doesn’t talk down to the reader. And the artwork provided by Brazilian twins Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba is among the best on the stands.

2. Our new king-sized bed- A couple of weeks ago Sara and I bought a king-sized bed. I’ve never owned anything bigger than a full. I can’t believe the difference it’s made in our sleeping. I love being close to Sara and doing all the bed-related things that married couples do, but when it comes time to sleep, I need my space apparently - especially now that we’ve started sharing our bed with Penny lane.

3. The Avett Brothers in conert- It was serendipity that lead me to pick up my first Avett Brother’s album in CD Central that Saturday morning four years ago. They quickly became my favorite band in the world. Since then I’ve seen them 5 times (with another showing coming up next month at the Palace in Louisville). Their shows are marked by unreal amounts of energy and an undeniable likability - and I’ve never introduced them to anybody that didn’t immediately love them.

4. Anthony Bourdain- The first book I read after my divorce was Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. It probably helped to launch my three year post-marriage journey of self-indulgence. Bourdain seemed a suitable patron-saint of eating what I wanted, drinking too much, and making bad decisions. While I like to consider myself somewhat more reformed and restrained these days I still appreciate and try to emulate Bourdain’s lust for life. Sara and I are going to hear him speak later this month. A friend of mine is trying to get me into a small reception to meet him after his talk. If I get the chance I’ll thank him for coaching me through my divorce recovery.

5. After Effects- I am an old dog and this is my new trick. As Crossroads tries to beef up it’s video capabilities we’re realizing it’s always important to have the right tool for the right job. I’ve been using After Effects for a couple of months now. So far it’s equal parts fun and frustrating. It’s amazing the things this sotware can do, but, like anything new, has a significant learning curve. I look forward to being able to look back in a couple of years and think, “Ha! Remember when I didn’t know how to do that effect?” Until then…