My mom always said it’s best to wait and get what you want. Even if buying something else sooner would make you feel better today. And I’m keeping that advice in mind right now. Back in 2007, on somewhat of a whim, I purchased a Line 6 Variax 300 electric guitar. I ordered the guitar from a mail-order vendor, as there are no Variax dealers in my area. Normally, I wouldn’t acquire a guitar in this fashion. But I was intrigued by the Variax’s guitar-modeling electronics, and I really wanted to try one out. Overall, I liked the guitar. I was impressed by the electronics. But over time, I grew tired of playing the instrument. I just wasn’t really happy with the playability of the neck and fretboard. They reminded me of cheap guitars that I played years ago. (Which makes sense, as the 300 was meant to be the entry-level Variax.) I tried replacing the Variax neck with a Telecaster neck but it didn’t really work. And by the time I came to accept that reality, I had already sold the Telecaster body from whence the neck was taken. (It should be noted that I really liked that Telecaster. It was kinda dumb, what I did. But, that’s what guitar-induced mania does to a man. At least, that’s what I tell myself to cope with that dumb decision.) I eventually sold the neck as well, as I had no real reason to keep it. I went back to playing the Variax 300 in its stock form. But still, I was never really happy with it.
I’m sick. Don’t think it’s anything serious. (No, it’s not pneumonia.) But dealing with the usual cold/flu symptoms hasn’t left me with much energy for things lke blogging/podcasting. What I have been doing is playing a lot of Viva Pinata. It’s a video game where you breed pinatas. Sounds silly? Well, it is. But it’s also fun, and it’s a pleasant way to pass the time when my brain is unable to focus on any one thing for extended periods of time. Here’s a TV ad for Viva Pinata:
And here’s a trailer:
That’s some serious hardcore gaming, right there. Nothing says “you just got pwn3d, bitch!” like a bunch of cute stuffed animals, wearing costumes and dancing around. In a garden.
I didn’t watch today’s Super Bowl game. I was, however, able to keep up with most of the action thanks to my recently downsized Twitter account. And during the game’s halftime show, I noticed quite a bit of antagonism towards this year’s featured act. Continuing the post-nipplegate trend of keeping things “safe,” the NFL chose to hire The Who to provide this year’s halftime spectacle. I’ll admit, I had mixed feelings about this decision. I’ve been a fan of The Who for a long time. At one time, I probably would’ve even described them as my favorite band. But, guys. Seriously? Here’s some soon-to-be-removed-from-YouTube clips of the band’s Super Bowl performance:
I made this in response to something that was being discussed awhile back during a live stream of All Things Azeroth. If you don’t get the idea behind Hypnosquirrel, check this.
As promised, the rain has arrived. It began to fall early Tuesday morning and is still coming down as I’m typing this on Wednesday. I ventured out into it to see if there was anything worth documenting. I took some photos and compiled a short video.
In my video, I talk about guitars I own and guitars I used to own. You may even catch a few pictures in there of me with hair. Download the mp4 version for better quality than the YouTube embed. I’m working on these video compression settings to try and make improvements. Still have a lot to learn in that area.
We’re doing something different for the next Sidebars song. This time, we’re collaborating with Colin in the UK. He’s written some lyrics, and we’re going to mold them into a finished song, then record that song. We’ve decided to document the process through a series of video diaries. Here’s the first entry.
I’m sick. Though, I’m recovering. It’s nothing, really. Just a cold. I’m pretty sure I’m over the worst of it. Yeah, I know. There’s been a lot in the news lately about a certain kind of flu. But I’ve got no reason to think I have that. It’s just a bug that’ll pass soon enough. The real unfortunate thing is that I may have passed it on to Jen. I guess that kinda thing happens, though.
I don’t like being sick. Who does, right? The biggest annoyance for me is just the inability to do anything useful. I tend to get depressed when I feel like I’m not getting anything done. I’m not really the kind of person who spends a lot of time just “vegging.” That doesn’t mean that all of my time is task-mastered to the last second. But I like to stay busy. So being sick affords me a rare opportunity to just… do… nothing. And I’ve used this opportunity to get caught up on some DVD viewing. Specifically, I tore through the “Robotech” Legacy Box 6 set. “Robotech” is probably the only franchise in the world to which I would claim true Fan Boy status. I’ve been obsessed with it since I first saw it as a kid. I even started a “Robotech” fanzine in the late 80’s as an attempt to connect with other fans.
The thing about “Robotech” is, it’s a tough franchise to love. The whole thing is pretty much one big mess. And Legacy Box 6 covers what is probably the most confounding and least-popular part of the series. But I still love it. The bad dialog, the plot holes, the inconsistencies. All of it. And I can’t even really tell you why. It could just be that “Robotech’ flipped a switch in my brain at an impressionable age, and that switch was never flipped back. Thing is, I got into A LOT of these kinds of things as a kid. And after “Robotech,” the only other one that’s really stuck with me is “Star Trek” (and to a much lesser extent “Star Wars.”) It may just be the haphazard nature of the series that’s kept me coming back. If it were polished and perfect, maybe I’d feel differently. But it seems like every time I re-watch the episodes, I catch something that I had missed before. And now that I’ve finished Box 6, I’d really like to get hold of Box 7 (there are either eight or nine box sets total).
Anyway, here’s the intro to the show, if you’ve never seen it before:
UPDATE: It’s actually Legacy Box 5 that I was watching. See, told you I’m sick.
This is a video response I made to a YouTube video originally created by Mike (AKA bluelaugh). Here’s the original video:
And here’s my video response:
For more from Mike, check out his blog. He also helped us out with the design of the Hyper Nonsense trolley fund T-shirt. This is my eighteenth podcast for NaPodPoMo 2008.
