MyStrands Sat Mar 29 21:52:08 PDT 2008 Sat Mar 29 21:52:08 PDT 2008Sat Mar 29 21:52:08 PDT 2008 I've just got to say, for getting rid of shit, Craigslist rules. I'm purging shit from my life. And it's a good feeling. I'm reducing clutter, and I genuinely feel that makes my life calmer. But it's a great feeling to be getting rid of shit and getting money for it!

]]>2008-03-29 21:52:08.563699 Improv went well last night. And we unvield our new name:
Infinite Improvabilities

We're here on MyStrands, so if you want to keep up on the happenings:
http://www.mystrands.com/improvabilities

]]>2007-10-25 09:41:26.490489 It was an absolutely stunning day here in Corvallis. So I took the bike out for a ride. Went to Alpine for lunch and then back. Burning up irreplaceable fossil fuels for a joy ride. It's living, I'm telling you. No regrets.

I've put 1,500 miles on it since I bought it on July 4th, 2007. It's a 1981 Honda CM400.

]]>2007-10-22 15:22:56.721179 So Anthony and I went to see 3:10 to Yuma. If it was Kid Colt or Jonah Hex in comic book form, Zane Grey or John Wayne, the Western is one of my favorite genres. Even if it's a bit limited, I don't care. All I knew was that we had a new major motion picture Western. Cool.

I'll come clean right off, I'm not big on movies. For instance, I had never been to the new Carmike Cinema in Corvallis, and it's been open years. But Ebert had done a good review of the new 3:10 to Yuma. So I was ready.

The thing is, it just wasn't very good. Ebert describes the relationship between the bad guy they had to take to the train to go to jail, and the desperate rancher who needed the $200 to get the water rights for his ranch--who basically is on a suicide mission as follows: Locked in the hotel room, surrounded by death for one or the other, the two men begin to talk. Without revealing anything of the plot, let me speculate that each senses he has found the first man he has met in years who is his equal in conversation.

What a load of bunk. Frankly, I didn't see what Ebert saw in the relationship. I've come to the conclusion he reads way too much into this stuff. My brother calls him a shrill for the industry. And I agree. We decided to rent the original 3:10 to Yuma, and I found the relationship in the original much more believable.

I simply didn't see the outlaw in the new movie running through a hail of bullets at the end for some down on his luck rancher. My buddies and I in high school used to have a saying when watching an action adventure flick or saaay... the Dukes of Hazzard-- It could happen. It was our tongue in cheek way of saying, sure... the car could launch off the ramp and land just right. It was possible.

But the end of the new 3:10 to Yuma simply was not believable. And it certainly didn't restore the wounded heart of the Western and rescue it from the morass of pointless violence. Excuse me while I hurl. (I've got to stop reading Ebert.) There was plenty of pointless violence. And I'm not sure the Western needed rescuing. It was just time for another big budget Western.

Entertained? Yes.
Disappointed? Yep.

]]>2007-10-16 13:41:06.726033 Hey, my buddy Matt the Electrician is touring the West Coast. Funny, quirky folkpop. Worth seeing!

]]>2007-10-09 13:02:56.496042