04.08.08

Twister Twist

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:06 pm by David Shere

I recently obtained the score to the movie “Twister”. Many films release the music they use in the film separately as two different CDs: one is the “soundtrack” and includes the pop/rock music, and the other is the “score” and includes the orchestral/symphonic music. “Twister” is one such movie, and other notable examples are “The Crow”, “Speed”, and “Transformers”. Mark Mancina composed this incredible music, which at times sounds like a cross between the tense music in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and the upbeat giddiness of the music we hear in the “Beef… it’s what’s for dinner” commercials.

I was a huge fan of this movie, and at one point cited it as my favorite ever. I grew up in tornado alley, and had great fear of as a young child, then fascination with as a teenager, tornadoes and thunderstorms. Seeing them re-created in what then seemed like perfect picture and sound was exhilarating. The music, therefore, has always triggered these memories, and as I sat down to listen to this CD for the first time, I really did get chills. The music flows. It moves. It pushes you forward.

While all the music is great, the one piece that I really wanted was the music at the end of the scene at Aunt Meg’s. I’m talking about the first scene with Aunt Meg, where we find out that she slaughters her own cows and that an F5 is “The Finger of God”. It’s a great orchestral retooling of Van Halen’s song on the soundtrack, “Humans Being”. It starts as Aunt Meg is kissing everyone goodbye and the camera swoops over the Wakita water tower. It then continues as we fly along with the caravan through the Oklahoma countryside. When they go off-road, the music seamlessly transitions to the Van Halen song.

I was disappointed to discover it was left off the CD. I checked and checked again. It’s not there. I can only speculate that the song was recorded later in final editing or whatever, and wasn’t done in time to get on the CD.

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11.16.07

Van Halen M&Ms

Posted in Uncategorized at 3:12 pm by David Shere

If you’re a fan of Van Halen, you probably know about the M&Ms. The story is that Eddie Van Halen had a list of requirements that each venue had to meet when Van Halen played there. Buried in the back of the contract somewhere was a requirement that there be a bowl of M&Ms in the dressing room before the show with all of the brown ones removed. It’s not an urban legend. As Snopes puts it, “…it served a practical purpose: to provide an easy way of determining whether the technical specifications of the contract had been thoroughly read (and complied with).”

I wonder if anyone ever played with him a bit, and did this: Put a bowl of two M&Ms in the dressing room, neither of them brown. Quite technically, this complies with the contract. It’s still a bowl with M&Ms (two counts as “M&Ms” just as well as millions) with the brown ones removed.

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06.02.07

Protest pictures

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:12 pm by David Shere

A while back, some militant group in some middle eastern country was protesting something. Among other things, they were burning tires. I was reading the story online and came across this picture of three of the protesters, jumping in the air:

The two in the middle appear to be jumping out of (or through) the plume of jet black tire smoke, but they don’t look upset. It looks more like they are celebrating an NBA title than protesting an injustice. I played it up a little and thought it looked like it could be a metal band’s album cover. So I stole some logos from the web and spruced up the photo to produce this:

Don’t ask me why I chose Slipknot as the metal band. I’m not even really familiar with their music. Anyway today I came across this next photo. The news story provides this caption: May 30: A supporter of Jakarta Gov. Sutiyoso climbs a construction rebar to shout up at Australian embassy staff during a demonstration in front of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.

This guy doesn’t look particularly upset, either. He looks more like he’s in the back row of a downtown rock concert and he climbed the rebar for a better view! I think I’ll make this one into an album cover for Rage Against the Machine. What should the album title be?

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05.15.07

A prescription for everything

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:29 pm by David Shere

It seems that regardless of the reason for going to the doctor, every doctor will give you a prescription. The problem you’re having can always be solved with a drug. Even if you’re just there for an annual checkup, you mention some small problem you have, and you get a prescription for it. It may be something that you’ve had a for a while, and it’s not even really bothering you that much. It’s okay. Here’s some drugs for it.

Being a doctor has to be harder than “problem A gets drug A,” and “problem B gets drug B”.

I have nothing against prescription drugs. It’s just that sometimes it’s nice when a doctor gives you a home remedy you can try or a lifestyle change you can make in order to solve your problem. Simply saying, “If you do nothing, this will go away on its own,” would be nice too, if it applies. You may have to really pry this answer out of your doctor, if they’ll admit it at all.

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05.13.07

Wings over Wayne 2007

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:46 am by David Shere

I just got back from Wings Over Wayne at Seymour-Johnson AFB and what a show! I shot more video and pictures which I’ll be uploading to raptor.

It was GREAT to see the Blue Angels! I was at Beaufort three weeks ago when Blue Angel #6, Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis, lost his life in a crash. I feel very lucky to have been able to make it to their next show. When I got to my seat I took off my hat and started to cry (I’m not ashamed to say) as I looked at all six Blue Angels F18s lined up, ready for another show. Words just can’t describe it quite well enough. It was strength, power, and resiliency. It was representative of our country’s resolve — a display of courage and remeberence and honor. It said, “The show must go on!” Today it did. It was amazing to witness.

Great to see the F22 fly — again — after seeing it at Langley 2 weeks ago. I thought it would be the same pilot, but I guess it wasn’t. At Langley I took video of the demo — this time at SJ I just watched and took it all in. It was almost as fun to see the people’s reactions as it was to see the plane itself… and the VAPOR!!

The Globemaster C17 — what an amazing aircraft. Most shows seem to only let you see this one on the ground, at SJ it’s in the air! It feels good to celebrate the “less sexy” aircraft as they are just as vital to our armed forces. Now that I’ve seen this one I think there are only two more things still on my “must see” list — the B2 on the ground, and the B1B in the air!

Heh… I walked around FOREVER trying to find the Navy recruiting tent — they were giving away some nice freebies!! By the time I finally found it, they were out. Phooey.

The show was so huge there was no way to see everything in one day. Much more static displays than Langley.

I was able, after arriving at the base at 9:30, to get a second-row seat. I walked past many many people and chairs on the way to the front, and found a spot the perfect size for one chair. That wasn’t rude, was it?Hmm… what else can I say. It didn’t rain!!! YAYAY!Y!Y!Y!Y!!!! It rained on the drive there and the drive back, but not during the show. The Blue Angels autographs may have been cut short by an approaching thunderstorm, but other than that, nothing. I knew if I brought an umbrella AND a heavy duty poncho AND a change of socks, it would decide not to rain.

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05.10.07

Is ST8 in YOUR music store?

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:48 pm by David Shere

I was in Target a few weeks ago and I asked where I could find Star Trek movies. I have all except 8 and I just need to pick it up somewhere. They said, “It’s over in the drama section”. The DRAMA section? My hopes were not high, and sure enough, no Star Trek movies at all at Target.

So this past Saturday, while I was out, I thought, “I’ll head over to Media Play. They have to have it there.” I drive the 25 minutes to Media Play. It’s CLOSED, as in out of business. The sign on the door was for the local wrecking company.

“Okay, try the mall.” I get to the mall and look at the directory. There’s no music store at all at the mall. Lots of clothing, jewelry, and accessories stores, and a food court. No music store. Strike Two.

“Best Buy! They’ve got to have it.” I get to Best Buy, and they have I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIV, and X. No VIII. Plenty of copies of all six Star Wars movies, but of course, that doesn’t count. Strike 3.

There was a Target next door. I figured it was worth a shot. Nope. They have all six Star Wars movies, and no Star Trek.

And the NASCAR race was rained out too.

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The struggling tree

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:46 pm by David Shere

I have a tree in my front yard that I’m trying to save. When we bought the house it had many vines growing up and down the sides, and they were choking it. Last year the leaves were very small and frail, and had many holes in them. So last year I pulled out most of the vines. Some of them were poison ivy and I got some nasty rashes. Lesson learned. This year I pulled out some of the remaining vines, including some poison ivy, and I was very careful to wear gloves and not touch the leaves. I’ve been watering the crap out of this tree, which is about four to five feet higher than the house. Because the ground was soft I was able to pull some of the vines out of the ground, root and all. So hopefully they’re mostly gone for good. I also pruned one branch that was totally dead and was blocking another branch’s growth. This tree is actually about five smaller trees that make up one big one. The tree is doing much better this year, with greener, thicker leaves and branches. They still have some holes but it’s not as bad as last year. Here’s a leaf: