Signifying nothing

Snow! , originally uploaded by Theorris . Woo hoo! The first snow of the season! This morning, however, is clear as the proverbial bell. A typical Utah blue bird powder day: if we were in January.

Rather than waiting for today to write my email to TgP folks, I decided to take it on late last night. I'm rather pleased with my tone in the following letter. I sound like someone straight out of 1875: Dear Mr. [X], I had the great fortune of attending this night's concert of the Arcade Fire and LCD Sound System at Thanksgiving Point (September 26, 2007). The show was very good and you should be commended for programming these two extraordinary bands. My evening was spoiled, however, by the overly zealous security that proclaimed my Nikon D40x camera as "too professional" to be allowed into the venue. This surprised me, as my friends who had compact cameras (which the Nikon D40x is not) were allowed into the show. Many of these cameras were of higher resolution than mine. While they were allowed into the show, I, in the mean time, had to hike back to the car and secure my camera, thus missing the majority of the LCD Sound System's set. I might note, that I ...

The D40 rejected from yet another concert , originally uploaded by Theorris . So the Justice League plus Derek and ever beautiful Melinda (sorry no proper nicknames yet) ventured south of the border (aka Utah County in what can only be an Salt Lake City thing) to go see the oddly situated Arcade Fire and LCD Sound System at, god protect me, Thanksgiving Point (TgP), located at the north end of the happiness that is happy valley Utah where everyone is numbed by 1) prozac and 2) religious bigotry and intolerance. After a fucking long wait where the zealous TgP renta-cops engaged in cavity searches for contraband like coffee and--horror or horrors--alcohol, I was told, yet again, that my camera was "too professional." I could have argued about all the great free fucking advertising their pastiche venue would receive by my posting pictures on the Internet, but all I managed was "so it is a problem that I take pictures of my friends enjoying the concert?" Ah th...

Overheard on a college campus near you from one fresh-faced college freshman to another: "These pills make me feel comfortable."

So what do you make of this, my droogies: 'Postmodernism Disrobed' by Richard Dawkins, Nature - RichardDawkins.net ?

Neighborhood night calm Cutting off calls, one two three A plumber with pipes

So this past weekend, as astute readers might have noticed, I was a the Monolith Music Festival held at the ever-beautiful Red Rocks amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. Aside from being denied taking decent pictures, I had quite the time. I have decided, therefore to hand out my own awards in various categories to the bands who I had the honor to witness. I was considering boring you all with a narrative of the trip, but that just seems a bit too self-indulgent. I will, therefore, leave it with appropriate awards and commentary. Most fun == Matt & Kim These kids knew how to rock. Kim had cranked the drums and enjoyed every minute of their set. A smile never left her face. Matt was the most amusing yet competent musician I've seen in awhile. Favorite line: "What the fuck is that?" said while looking at the giant red rock reef in hovering over his upper-deck stage. "I'm from New England and we don't have anything like that!" Most surly == Bria...

Red Rocks , originally uploaded by Theorris . My camera was not allowed in the festival given that it was too large. Funny how I saw other non-media folks carrying even large cameras around. Totally assenine. All the pictures I could take inside the venue were of the lowrez phone camera kind. They are over at flickr. I feel like writing the Monolith organizers a nice tasty letter for their stupid policies. Friend Hopabout's acceptably-sized camera is 10 megapixel and takes great images. Mine, while it also takes great images, is 6.8 megapixel. I dare anyone there to explain to me why one camera is ok and another is not given both can take images that could be sold. Catlinlap has full resolution pictures he took with his acceptable camera as well.

"The difference between me and you is that I have lunch." or what you find when you are looking through your old pictures , originally uploaded by Theorris .

I voted , originally uploaded by Theorris . And yes, I ticked off the Becker box. Given that mayor was the only choice to make I was in-and-out in less than 5 minutes. I was stunned to see how few people had voted (according to the unsigned names in the voter roster that I could see.)

Don't make me come over there , originally uploaded by Theorris . Ok, I've used strong arm tactics here on Signifying nothing , I do confess, but come on: there is no better candidate for SLC mayor than Ralph Becker. All my SLC posse should consider his positions and, consequently, vote for him. I will not threaten anyone else with ass-kicking, however, and I apologize for my sophomoric humor. You should vote for Ralph because he is the candidate of choice.

Garden Update: Eggplant , originally uploaded by Theorris . My eggplants have three fruit. I'm hoping they'll make it by the time the heavy frost comes.

1) I'll kick your ass if you don't. Enough said.

I've been having terrible nightmares lately. I can provide no specific details due to the phenomenon of dream-forgetting, but mostly they involve my camera, its loss, and eventual destruction. How odd.

Over at the WFMU blog they posted a mashup of "Jan Penechaan Ho" from the Bollywood movie Gumnaam and a Les Claypool ditty. I decided to try my hand at a mashup with Blur 's "Crazy Beat!" Damon Albarn , of course sings he vocals for Mohammed Rafi , in my version. This substitution is perfectly acceptable in Bollywood convention since playback singers such as Rafi were rather common. Think of it as early mashup. As for the video as a whole, initially, my eye was caught by the whacked out dancing of the actress in gold in "Jan Penechaan Ho" and how much it reminded me of Elaine's dancing on Seinfeld. Remember that? Go visit Blur and Albarn's website and buy lots of their music. Go buy Gumnaam while you're at it. Pick up some Rafi tunes too. I consider this post an unofficial advertisement and a statement of admiration for their creative work, and make no claims to it other than mixing it all around in a hopefully entertaining fas...