stevenology 2.0

The Video Store Had Another Sale!

stevenology — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:07:11 +0000

I think they do it just to get my money!

And just like last time (read about it) we were lunching on the Indian Food buffet next door at Curry Corner. As we waddled out of the restaurant, we noticed the “4 DVDs for $20″ sign. What could we do? We were powerless to resist!

Here’s what we bought:

Young @ Heart – We saw this one before in a theater and really liked it. Old people performing punk music and rock and roll, a heartwarming and fun movie.

Whatever Works – Very funny Woody Allen film starring Larry David. Read my full review here and then go rent it!

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – Haven’t seen this one yet but heard it was good.

Barack Obama – The Man and His Journey – he’s not perfect but I am SO glad he won. So VERY glad. Very very VERY glad.

Have you seen any of these? What did you think? Leave me a comment below.

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Pictures From The Big Boat Bash

stevenology — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:36:57 +0000

Here they are! I’ve posted some pictures from our 2010 Mexican Cruise! We went with friends Larry and Robin, Jared and Ashleigh, and new friends Jeremy and April. A great time was had by all!

We didn’t take pictures of everything but we did take a lot. You can read about the trip here, then be sure to check out the pictures (five pages worth) here on the photo page. Click on the first small photo to see the larger image and then you can either click through them, or use the arrow keys, or watch the slide show. Be sure to look at all five pages too! Have fun and leave me a comment afterwards!!

Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 53

stevenology — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:19:20 +0000

Dear readers, I was going to stop at 52 Terrific Tunes. Really, I was. I swear! It was a year’s worth of Terrific Tunes, and that was already a world of great music and video. Then I saw this new video today on Facebook and it was so impressive and fun that I just had to use it. I’m not even that enthused about the actual song, it’s the video that is cool. The band is OK GO and the song is “This Too Shall Pass”. Watch this video and you will love it too. Then go ahead, try it at home!

Leave me a comment below. Don’t make me get out the paint gun!

View/shop music by OK GO

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 52

stevenology — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:26:31 +0000

That’s right! Fifty-two weeks of Terrific Tunes, a whole year’s worth! That is some awesome awesomeness. If you want to see them all, click here. That will show you the latest 15 or so, then at the bottom of the page there will be a link to “previous entries”. Enjoy!

Meanwhile, back at the blog, today’s tune is from Robbie Robertson (learn more, web site, learn a lot more). He was the talented songwriter and lead guitarist from The Band (learn more) and has since enjoyed a successful solo career, including four or five albums and a variety of film-related music projects. This song is from his first (self-titled) solo album. The song is “Somewhere Down The Crazy River“. The video is a little on the minimal yet sensual side, and I love his talking-singing performance on this track. Check it out and let me know what YOU think.

Leave me a comment below. Don’t let the wind just kind of push you that way.

View/shop music by Robbie Robertson

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I Was On A Boat

stevenology — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:34:42 +0000

That’s where I was. What, you didn’t notice I was gone? Well, I sure was! Last week I was on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. That’s the ship in the picture. Big-ass boat, huh? Yeah, about 3000 or so people and over 1000 crew members. The life of luxury (for a week anyway).

We had three days in three different ports. First was Cabo San Lucas, where we wandered around the city and checked out the sites. Sammy Hagar’s hyped “Cabo Wabo” was nothing that special. We stopped at another place for some chips and guacamole, which tasted pretty good. The margaritas were omnipresent and were all good. The restaurants were hawking 2 for 1 specials (what could we do?) and buckets of beer (we didn’t have any of those).

Lots of souvenir shops, but after all we were in the tourist area. Second day in port was Mazatlan, where we went on an excursion to a town a half hour or so away. We saw a little of the town, watched some local artisans, went to a tortilla factory, and then the main attraction, a tequila factory. We saw the blue agave and it’s “pineapples” and learned how the tequila was made. Of course, we had to sample some! And buy some! Then back to town for a mexican lunch which was muy bueno. Third day in port was Puerto Vallarto. The eight of us took a taxi and wandered around town, shopping and sightseeing. We had a great lunch in town and then the wildest taxi ride ever back to the ship. Roller coasters got nothing on this.

The rest of the days were on the boat, which was huge. How huge, well, longer than the empire state building is tall. With an ice rink, basketball court, multiple theaters, pools, lounges, restaurants, mini-golf, I can’t even begin to describe the size of this thing and what all is on it. Check it out here. Almost all the food was included so we ate a LOT and we ate OFTEN. I’m serious. I gained 5 1/2 pounds in a week. And had a great time doing it. The alcohol was not included but we didn’t let that stop us. ;-p

What else did we do on the boat? Well, for example:

Visited the lounges

Saw live shows in the theater

Watched karaoke

Played in trivia contests

Shopped

Took a spanish classs

Watched a great ice skating show

Played a finish-the-lyric game

Ice skated (Petra anyway)

Gambled in the casino

Watched a 70s celebration

Played name that tune

Watched comedians

Looked at the art

Watch “The Quest” game

Relaxed

Wathed an aerial act

More comedy, trivia, etc etc etc

Room service everyday (included)

And much more

And best of all, we hung out with the six friends that we went with: Larry and Robin, Jared (J-Dogg) and Ashleigh, and Jeremy (Flippy, Beastmaster), and April.

Petra posted some pictures on Facebook here, and I’ll get some posted on my blog when I get a chance. I’ll keep you posted.

Leave me a comment below. See you on the next boat!

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 51

stevenology — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:39:37 +0000

Today’s Terrific Tune is from singer-songwriter Michael Penn (learn more, web site, learn lots more). He’s released five or six great albums of intelligent, tasty pop-rock but is still mostly unknown outside of his early hit “No Myth. But there is much more to him. And being married to Aimee Mann and being Sean Penn’s brother isn’t bad either.

This is a live version of a song from his second album, performed on Jay Leno. It’s called “Long Way Down (Look What The Cat Drug In).” I love the title and the song and wish that someday I could write a song even half this good. Oh well. At least he can write ‘em! Check out the video below and then buy some of his albums.

Leave me a comment below. Don’t wear apathy’s crown!

View/shop music by Michael Penn

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 50

stevenology — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:42:12 +0000

Today’s Terrific Tune is an electro-pop-funk track by LCD Soundsystem (learn more, web site). This “band” is pretty much James Murphy, founder of dance-punk label DFA Records, although on tour he adds a real band. The song is “Daft Punk is Playing at My House“, from the self-titled 2005 album. It gets a mean groove going and then he talk-sings over it in kind of a Talking Heads style. The video is jumpy and visually interesting, check it out.

Leave me a comment. Show me some true faith!

View/shop music by LCD Soundsystem

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 49

stevenology — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:27:23 +0000

Today’s Terrific Tune music video is from a band known for it’s general weirdness and hypnotic songs. Some fans adore them, other people are baffled by their popularity. I’m somewhere in between but they do have a lot of good songs. The band is Radiohead (learn more, web site) and this is the video for “Fake Plastic Trees” from their second album “The Bends“, which was ranked number 110 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and number 2 on Q’s 100 Greatest Albums Ever. It *might* be their best album, but that depends on your mood at the time. This song is a low-key ballad but they can rock out too. And of course the music video is strange as can be, but still cool at the same time. Check it out.

Fake Plastic Trees

radiohead | MySpace Music Videos

Leave me a comment. Don’t be a paranoid android!

View/shop music by Radiohead

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 48

stevenology — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:05:13 +0000

This is another band I really like. But then, I wouldn’t feature them here if I didn’t, right? But I mean really. There’s something about their hypnotically catchy electro-pop beats and coolness along with the delicate vocal that just gets me on almost every song they do. With this band, New Order (learn more, web site), there are so many great and catchy songs that I could have used, but this video is fun and so why not this one? It’s the music video for their song “True Faith“. It’s got shots of the band, of course, but also shots of weird, costumed clown-like characters (and more) in odd yet interesting scenarios. And doing some strange things too! Weirdness for weirdness sake? Maybe, but it’s all timed with the music and big fun to look at. It actually won some video awards too. Check out the video and then leave me a comment.

Leave me a comment. Show me some true faith!

View/shop music by New Order

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 47

stevenology — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:19:15 +0000

When I die, this is one of the songs that I want played at my funeral. “It’s a Dead Man’s Party, who could ask for more”? That’s right, today’s Terrific Tune video is “Dead Man’s Party” by new-wavers Oingo Boingo (learn more, web site), a great band that was led by now-film-composer Danny Elfman. They were first known as the Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo, then Oingo Boingo, then Boingo, and then, well, they were gone. Too soon. I’d love for them to get back together but:

From Wikipedia: In early 2007, Danny Elfman said there would not be a reunion. He has irreversible hearing loss and is worried that playing live would exacerbate it. He stated that some other members of the band may also suffer from the condition.

I still say they could make an album in the studio, no need to play live. But that’s not going to happen either. Sigh. Anyway, this video and song is from their fourth album. That’s not necessarily my favorite album of theirs but this song is one that always satisfies (and usually gets the volume turned up). Check it out!

Leave me a comment while you are still alive!

View/shop music by Oingo Boingo

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A Day In The Life – Take 6

stevenology — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:20:11 +0000

So what the heck is going on in the boring exciting life of stevenology? Long-time readers of this blog will remember that the old site was full of the juicy details of my life. Whew, way too much work! But every once in a while, I just gotta dish. Of course, I’ll cleverly save a recent item or two for a later post. Ha! I gotta keep y’all coming back, don’t I?

Yes, long-time readers have followed Petra’s journey from cancer diagnosis, through surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, reconstruction, and recovery. After a long five years, another milestone was reached Friday when the reconstructive surgeon finally told us not to come back. Ha, maybe that’s not exactly how he put it, but the point is, that phase is finally done. There are options for down the road if Petra wants to pursue them, but the work for now is done. It was bittersweet actually, because Petra really likes this doctor and so do I and, honestly, we will both miss him. And I think he will miss us too, he looked like it. After all, five years of regular appointments and five surgeries will bond you with someone.

And that’s not all…

Yesterday was the grand opening of the new North Natomas Library, within a mile or so from our house, walking distance through the someday park. You can see some pictures here. It’s a beautiful 22,645 square foot library with 120 public access computers, a community meeting room, a quiet room, two group study rooms, a childrens area, a teen room, a computer lab and the Friends of the Library store (where Petra bought this book for only a buck).

And also yesterday, one of our favorite haunts, 524 Mexican Food on Northgate, finally re-opened at their modern new location. So of course we had to have lunch there. Mmmm, really good. And the new place looks great. Hopefully this will be a great move for Dora (the owner). I know we will do our part to help her. Why not go have a meal there? You will like it.

Then today we finally took our humongeous christmas tree out of the house and put it at the curb for pickup. Man that sucker was big. I think between the front yard, the walkway, and the house we picked up about 1,824,742 dry pine needles. Give or take a few. Whew, that’s over for another eleven months at least.

Hope you had a good weekend too.

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I Saw Three Movies. Did You?

stevenology — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:11:23 +0000

Over the extended holiday period, I managed to see three new movies in the theater. That’s a lot for me, although I love going. Here’s what I saw: Sherlock Holmes, Up In The Air, and Youth In Revolt. Did you see any of these? If so, leave me a comment and let me know what you thought. Here’s what I thought:

Sherlock Holmes – Robert Downey Jr is just so charismatic. I love him. The rest of the cast was good but he is the star. This version of the venerable tale is a big budget effort and it shows. But there is still attention to the Holmes character. It’s fast-paced and very entertaining.

Up In The Air – The smartest movie of the three for sure. It’s from the director of the wonderful Juno, and like that film has great dialog and sharp, interesting characters. George Clooney is the lead and does a very good job, but both of the main female characters are very good too. It’s very funny at times and moving at other times. This one is for the brain and the heart.

Youth In Revolt – It’s an indie-feeling teen comedy but a little raunchier and more “out there”. The characters are wild stereotypes and the situations are hilariously outrageous but the main thing is that I was laughing out loud over and over during this film. It’s really funny unless you are easily offended. Even then, you will probably laugh a lot.

In short, I would recommend all three movies. If you’ve seen any of them or even if not, let me know what you think!

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