Spontaneous Prose

Pencils Down!

In light of the current writer's strike, I've decided to show my support by not blogging.

(please ignore the fact that I seldom, if ever, blog).

Thank you and goodnight.

Name Your Price

Fans of Radiohead rejoice! Not only is the album being released next week, you can choose how much you want to pay for it. No, really. Go to the band site and pre-order the album. When you check out, you can enter how much you want to pay for it.

Let the revolution begin!

Gold Mettle

My company Yo!Media was recently recognized nationally for its magazine custom publishing work. Woo-hoo!

Observations

We went to the Austin Film Society's premiere for Ethan Hawke's The Hottest State -- while I didn't much like the novel, I loved the movie. Pitch perfect and quite emotional.

Following the flick, we went to the after party and saw her:

 

Sure, it was only one song (we left shortly there after), but we were 8 feet away from her. Tiny girl, big voice.

Tomorrow at Central Market North Lamar from noon to 6 pm, go see Austin to Africa. A friend's friend is performing there, so make sure you mention my name for no response whatsoever.

Casey Affleck will be at a screening here.

That is all.

iWant iCar

Well, not really. Maybe. But apparently, it is now within the realm of possibility that in mere years we may actually see Apple iCars driving down the road!

For the uninitiated, I'm not referring to Apple's iChat Auto-Reply (iCAR) feature. Sheesh! I'm talking about an honest to goodness motor vehicle.

According to an article that appeared just this morning, "Chief Executive Steve Jobs and Volkswagen's chief Martin Winterkorn met several days ago in California and plan to meet for further discussions, said Hans-Gerd Bode, a spokesman for VW."

This means, of course, that soon we'll have smart cars powered by the superior Mac OS, which sounds geeky cool and fairly innocuous. Me, I want to see the iToilet. Or the iDog. Or even the iLawn. All are in dire need of a better GUI and more rewarding user experience.

But I do fear it may go too far: iHouse, iOffice, iCongress... you know where that gets you, don't you?

Still, an iCar?

Yeah, I need one.

Hot Wine Of The Year -- $5.99!

According to Grape Vine Market:

Bodegas Ateca Garnacha de Fuego 2006

"We taste a lot of Garnacha, but this one... this one is different.  The grapes grow 3000 feet above sea level from vines as old and gnarly as they come.  Bodegas Ateca selects only the ripest grape clusters, thus producing a wine of considerable depth and finesse.  The Garnacha de Fuego 2006 Old Vine Garnacha exudes intense aromas of sweet cherries and dark plums and packs a wallop of deep blue plum, black cherry and white pepper followed by roasted spice on the finish.  It's not your run of the mill Spanish red.  Are you ready for the heat?!  An incredible buy at $7.99, on sale for $5.99, it's an out-of-control steal!!"

Go get it!

Free Movie -- Back Against The Wall

From the Austin Film Society:

TFPF Panelist Screening: BACK AGAINST THE WALL
WHEN: Wed Aug 29, 9:30 PM
WHERE: Regal Arbor Cinema at Great Hills (9828 Great Hills Tr.)
COST: FREE

In this "Lynch-like vision of the rotting underbelly of Middle America" (The New York Times), the downfall of a lingerie model is portrayed against the menacing milieu of the men she caters to. Director James Fotopoulos will introduce the film and answer questions after the screening. James is a panelist for the 2007 Texas Filmmakers’ Production Fund, AFS's 11-year-old grant program for Texas filmmakers.

Heeeeeere's Gabriel

Lost

No, we're not lost, but we think we saw some production crews and trailers for Lost on the way home last night... which brought via Google this and this.

It's funny. We've driven by, visited or even walked through many locations from the show. Now we'll have to watch them all over again!

Aloha!

A few observations and experiences from the islands since our trip started:

Johnny Knoxville rides in first class.

We had the shortest layover in LAX in history... 56 seconds, maybe? And in a shout out to homeland security, we boarded our waiting, full connecting flight without being given our boarding passes.

Our luggage arrived on a different flight that arrived 17 minutes after we did.

I would be a giant in Japan.

I would pass for a local here.

Even in paradise, traffic sucks.

There is a terminal threshold for the allowable positive consumtion of Spam the human body can bear.

It's still possible to overpack for a month-long vacation.

Roosters is loud.

Best meal so far: Thai.

Beaches visited so far: Waikiki, Kailua, Lanikai, Sunset, Waimea Bay, Kuilima Cove, Punaluu.