A Wolf In The Shadows

Movies

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:58:26 GMT

swan_tower has gotten me thinking about movies. Not just my pending reviews, not just modern things that I can take or leave... but real classic movies. Movies that hang with you, either by their wit, their words, or their message. Movies that even though they may be "dated", even though the topics aren't as applicable, even though they may not "look" as good still tell a story, entertain, or just pull you away for a few hours that you keep them around.

I'm a bit of a media nut, just in case anyone didn't know that! And I occassionaly get asked about what my "favorite movie of all time" is... I have found that question almost impossible to answer. My moods change what I really want to see, what I feel like being distracted with. If I want my brain to shut off for a time, or if I want to engage it. Do want to be reminded of my past (sometimes good, sometimes bad) or think about the future. There are generally too many variables for me to really answer that question. However, what the time has come to do is this: A list of some of my favorite movies ever! Mind you, these aren't necessarily what I consider the "greatest" movies ever, infact many of them are just "not good", but they can still be a favorite. You will find very quickly that my tastes cover many different areas, from many different decades. But really, I just want to share:

Top spot has to get special privilage, and little push. This would be the one movie that would come closest to being my "favorite movie fo all time":

Casablanca

(the remander of this list has no particular order)

The Usual Suspects
Cool Hand Luke
The Dirty Dozen
Swordfish
Lucky # Slevin
Moulin Rouge
ID4
Ghostbusters
The Rock
Ocean's 11
Aliens
Men in Black
Snatch/Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Starship Troopers
Chasing Amy
The Maltese Falcon
Sleepy Hollow
Maverick
Hackers
Ronin
Last Man Standing
Enemy at the Gates
Pitch Black
Lethal Weapon
Die Hard
Dark City
The Replacements
Sunset Blvd.
The Mummy
Saving Private Ryan
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Gone in 60 Seconds
Quills

The list could probably go on and on... but that is what I have off the top of my head. What about you?

District 9

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:15:41 GMT

All right all. It has been waaaayyyy too long since I have taken advantage of the interwebz to spread my media geekdom. I have a series of reviews that I will be posting up about various TV shows and movies. But, as I just had to sit through it last night, I decided I would post up my District 9 review now, and maybe save people some money and some of their brain cells.

Granted, not everyone feels the way I do about this, many people enjoyed this crap... but here it is:

District 9… or: How Many Movies Can We Cram Together?

Okay, I know that I am in a minority in not liking this movie. In fact, I am rather amazed at the fact that this movie is receiving such critical acclaim. Even more amazing is the fact that so many Sci-Fi fans are actually enjoying it.

Going in, I had no expectations, as I hadn’t really determined what District 9 was going to really be (the growing trend of minimal advertising to peak curiosity is in full effect here). Sure, the obvious apartheid metaphors are there. And the more recent trailer even gives hints of some action sequences to it. Okay, fine... but what is District 9 all about? Is it another Hollywood mirror, trying to show us the flaws in how we deal with “others”? Is it a political commentary? Is it a statement about the dangers of allowing corporations and private security to be involved in large humanitarian issues? Is it a movie about the “human experience”? Is it a movie about overcoming our differences to work together? Is it an action flick with extraordinary weapons?

Apparently Peter Jackson and Neill Blomkamp couldn’t decide either…

That’s not to say that it is all bad. The filming is beautiful, the alien technology showcase is very fun, and even some of the combat sequences are pretty driving. The effects are high class, very clean and crisps, but not so much that it distracts. And I think this movie may be in the running for the most exploding humans ever. Gore is present but not necessarily overdone; it stays as subtle as it can for peoples’ heads exploding and bits being ripped off. The queasier of you may not do well with the medical “experimentation” scenes, or the initial transformation scenes that involved teeth and fingernails falling off. I remember that there were a few moments that I chuckled at something, but the entire thing has washed over me like alien urine that I don’t remember any of them specifically. That’s really about all the good I have to say for it, it looks good.

As to the rest of it, well that comes down to the story being so horrible:

There are so many potential stories in District 9, it should work. Sadly, rather than choosing one or two good motifs to work with, the film makers decide that more is better, and piece them all in rather poorly.

This Frankenstein’s Monster of a movie starts off slowly, introducing the background information in the form of documentary clips. Interviews with employees of the uber-corporation MNU, sociologists, and civilians in the Johannesburg area fill in the details that 20 years ago a ship showed up hovering over the city. It did not move, it did not threaten, in was just there. After a few months of waiting the humans get a bit jumpy and decide to cut through the hull of the ship and see what is inside. They find millions of aliens apparently malnourished and without guidance, milling about aimlessly. Time passes, the aliens are shuttled off the ship (still mysteriously hovering, except for one piece that falls from it and is never found again), and placed in District 9. Time passes again, humans become angered at the situation (why? I guess that was all the socio-commentary we are going to get) and riots, protests, etc happen. Uber-Corp MNU is placed in charge of moving the millions of aliens from District 9 within the city to District 10 some 200km away.

Enter the focal point of the movie, Wikus van der Merwe, an obviously bumbling idiot with the social skills of a junior high student. Within minutes of meeting the main character, the audience is shown that he seems to be able to piss off everyone he comes in contact with either through arrogance, ignorance, or just his pure social ineptitude. We are given to believe that he has been placed in charge of the forced evictions just because he married the daughter of the CEO, and he proves that he has no qualifications for this work.

The forced evictions are shown in a way to draw pity to the aliens. Highlighting their poor living conditions, the degradation they face from those apparently there to help them, and the presence of other factions within and without that have taken advantage of them. But it isn’t done in any way that actually makes one relate to or pity the aliens. The audience is given reason to believe that aliens and humans can communicate, as several scenes of conversations occur, but the ability to actually comprehend is left lacking. Aliens are baited with cat food (don’t ask me), tricked into signing release forms, and generally man-handled and ignored. The majority of the aliens are displayed as nearly mindless feral beings. Attacking at random, eating junk tires, stupidly trading away alien technology, and continuing to mill about doing whatever they are told. At one point a trio of aliens is seen digging through a garbage pile to find alien technology. One of them picks up something and says that he/she/it found some. The item is knocked to the ground by our named alien, Christopher Johnson, who replies that the item wasn’t alien, but human tech. CJ’s son then shows up with an actual piece of alien technology, and they rush back to their backroom chemistry set to finish whatever it is that they are working on. The aliens can’t even recognize their own technology? Why does this one alien seem to have a better grasp on what is going on? How many other aliens are able to function in this way? None of these questions are answered. Instead we are whisked away to watch Wikus continue to make a fool of himself.

While bumbling his way through a series of evictions, it is shown that the aliens have a tendency to horde weapons both human and alien in nature. The aliens are shown to comprehend what is going on, but only to a point. Most of the scenes are done ala COPS where every episode deals with a drunken redneck or “ghetto thug” yelling at the cops for no reason, denying that they did anything wrong, and then either attempting to run away or attack for no apparent reason. The officers are shown to be either patronizing or condescending, and all in all, no real value is seen, and no explanations are given. In the process of this bad COPS take-off with aliens, Wikus finds an odd container with alien markings on it (the same container that CJ had just finished). He proceeds to tell the camera man that he has no idea what it is, but is sure that it’s fine… and then sprays himself with the liquid inside. A liquid which the CJ had been gathering over the last 20 years and processing with the help of his son and one other alien for no immediately apparent reason.

Now the movie decides to give all indications that this is going to become a virus/plague movie. Wikus is shown bumbling about town, coughing, sneezing, and “bleeding” black liquid in vehicles, his office, public cafeterias, and his home. Occasionally “time since exposure” clocks show up at the bottom of the screen. When he is finally taken to a hospital (still with the mysterious container in his coat pocket, again for no apparent reason), it is revealed that his arm has become an alien claw underneath bandages due to an injury received during the evictions. Doctors freak out and he is sent to MNU’s research facility to spend the next twenty minutes of the movie being tortured and ignored as a human, and finally being experimented on in a way reminiscent of bad 50’s Sci-fi movies. There is not a single example of proper scientific procedure or control. At no point is any explanation given, other than the fact that his DNA is shifting. So obviously, the bad-bad corporation is going to use him to operate alien weapons (that apparently don’t work for humans). A five minute scene then displays the destructive power of alien weaponry on pig carcasses and aliens (why use a live alien to test a weapon on when you can see the destructive ability on the carcasses and the brick wall behind them? I don’t know…).

Now the brilliant scientists, experts in DNA manipulation, alien technology, and I’m sure various other fields decide that the next logical step is to cut Wikus up while he is still alive and harvest his organs… huh, what? One must assume that these scientists must have attempted to use severed limbs to activate the weapons before. Anyone with half a scientific mind would question why they wouldn’t keep him in isolation and watch the transformation so that they can better understand what is happening. Anyone with half a brain would have to wonder why all these people are in contact with someone undergoing these transformations, someone that is having their DNA manipulated by an unknown source, someone with pustules, bleeding wounds, and other fluids leaking from their body, without a single contagion protocol in place. But I guess not, because we are just going to cut him up.

Needless to say, Wikus suddenly channels every bad prison movie ever made and escapes as they are about to take a saw to his chest. He manages to evade armed guards and private commandos and escape the building and wander around town for a while, where it is determined that MNU has released the story that he is contagious and a danger to the population. After a few continued bumbling scenes of Wikus being back to a normal moron (just with a big claw hand that no one seems to notice even though it is barely covered under his coat), he decides to hide in District 9, “where no one would think to look for him”. Huh? The District 9 that is filled with cameras and sensors? The District 9 that has a constant military presence? The District 9 that MNU is still in moving aliens? Yeah… Good idea.

Wikus finds his way back to Christopher Johnson, who suddenly decides to attempt to bring the audience up to speed by telling us that the fluid was a fuel that he had been harvesting over the last 20 years, so that he can use it to power up the shuttle that is hidden under his shack, fly to the mother ship, power it up, and fly home. And that CJ is capable of “fixing” Wikus and making him human again. Wait… wait… what? Okay, I’ll assume that CJ is being used to represent the leadership/science caste of the aliens. He’s smarter than the rest of them, they seem to listen to him and do as he says. Okay, I’m fine with that. There is an unknown and unmentioned way to manipulate DNA on the mother ship, the mother ship that apparently hasn’t been stripped down by the government/MNU scientists yet… fine. The shuttle that fell from the ship… which no one seemed to be able to find is buried under his shack and is the command module for the entire mother ship… um, okay. It would take them 20 years to collect enough fluid to make another power cell… sure. Oh wait… If he is a leader, why did he only work with one alien and his son to find all of this junk? You have a million aliens in a confined space filled with various alien junk, seems to me this should have taken a day or two and you could have been out of here. Or even better yet, why didn’t you just fix the ship when you were still on it!?!? These answers… not so much given and thought of, because instead we are going to gather a bunch of weapons from the Nigerian gang that is in District 9 that has been abusing and mistreating the aliens for the last few decades… Aliens that are shown as being strong enough and fast enough to slaughter humans without much of a thought… right… and go storm the fortified MNU compound

Our bumbling “hero” proves just how “white and nerdy” he is by getting himself beaten up by the Nigerians, his money taken, etc. Only to narrowly escape death by grabbing an alien weapon and fighting his way past dozens of armed guards who seem incapable of just shooting him in the head as he keeps stopping to have conversations with the boss who has decided that he wants to eat his new arm to take his power.

Cut to MNU, where suddenly CJ and Wikus are armed with numerous alien weapons and go blasting their way through the building back to the science lab (which looks more like a meat processing plant than a lab for some odd reason). Guards and Commandos channel their inner storm troopers and die as they go through doorways and empty clips of ammo at these two, never hitting anything even when CJ has dropped his weapon and is standing fully exposed in the middle of the room looking at a corpse of an alien that has been experimented on. CJ then suddenly decides to channel his alien MacGyver and combine a bunch of stripped down alien weapons to make a big bomb, and blow their way out of the building after finding the power cell in a box on a table.

If I hadn’t already been done with this movie by this point, just wait it gets worse!

CJ and Wikus steal an MNU assault truck and drive back to District 9 with all the commandos and security forces in hot pursuit. The same District 9 that is covered in sensors and cameras, the same District 9 that has large automated missile turrets throughout it… but yeah, they make it back to the shack with the shuttle hidden under it. Somehow they have time to have a conversation in which CJ tells Wikus that it will take him three years to fix him now, since he has decided to fly home first and get help to rescue his people, then he’ll come back and fix Wikus. Beyond all logic Wikus decides that this is unacceptable and since they had a deal he’ll just do it himself… He knocks out CJ and decides to fly the alien shuttle back to the mother ship himself. Presumably so that he can then repair the alien ship, use the alien technology he has never seen before and manipulate his own DNA to fix himself… ugh…

Because Wikus is such a moron, remember those missile turrets I mentioned before? Oh yeah, they shoot him down in about ten seconds after he abandons CJ with the commandos and magically learned to fly. Insert more random violence as the Nigerians attack the Commandos to get Wikus back for themselves, managing to pretty well neutralize the commando team who spends most of their time yelling for back-up and killing a seemingly endless supply of poorly trained but heavily armed Nigerians left and right… huh? Wikus is hauled back to the boss who gloats for a while as CJ’s son decides these morons he is stuck in a movie with aren’t capable of doing anything themselves, and remotely powers up a large mechasuit that is conveniently in the Nigerian compound, and begins killing everyone, allowing Wikus to escape… oh wait, I mean allowing Wikus to strap himself into this alien mech, apparently disabling the very impressive remote operation and targeting functions and run away, leaving CJ in the hands of the Commandos.

Since we have to have redemption in our movie… because really, we’ve had every other over-used motif so far, why stop here. Wikus suddenly realizes that he’s a dochebag and goes back, cutting swathes through the commandos and handing CJ a large chunk of metal to hide behind as they start running towards the downed shuttle. Random violence continues with no explanation why the very impressive magnetic shield that had been used early to catch bullets and shoot them back at the Nigerians is suddenly not working (or even why Wikus can use this suit!) as Wikus gets shot, a lot. Eventually Wikus realizes that he has no idea what he is doing and has basically destroyed this impressive weapon system and tells CJ to go on without him, as he attempts to make a last stand using the large missile pods attached to the mech. Wikus gets shot some more and the alien mech decides that it has had enough of this movie as well, and ejects Wikus and collapses. CJ has managed to get to the shuttle and remotely activate the apparently no longer damaged mother ship… huh? Which then begins flying to the downed shuttle and activating a tractor beam to pull the shuttle up… Cause, they couldn’t have done that before…

Rather than allow Wikus to get shot in the head, which I personally would have enjoyed, random aliens suddenly show up and decide to kill the last of the commandos themselves… thanks guys. CJ and his son sit haplessly in the shuttle as it is slllooooooowwwwllllyy tractored to the mother ship, now suddenly not being fired upon by the missile turrets, where it links up and the whole ship takes off.

Since we can’t leave bad enough alone, we are then gifted with more documentary style scenes where some of Wikus’ former co-workers express their wish that they had been able to help him, another reveals that they broke into the MNU research computers and discovered and exposed what had been going on (and is now in prison), and Wikus’ wife (who earlier in the movie told him to basically go “fuck off” because her father told him that Wikus had been having sex with aliens) suddenly collects everything Wikus has ever touched and sits about staring at, including a metal flower that “magically” showed up on her front door, because Wikus likes to make gifts himself. The movie ends with an alien making a flower out of junk in the middle of District 9.

[END SPOILERS]

Ouch. Again, I can’t fathom why this is getting good reviews. Sure it isn’t all bad, as I talked about earlier… but really? Come on. I think if this had been an independent film (which it was originally, this is just the big budget version of it) I might have dealt with it better. I may have expected a poor plot, sub-par acting, and plot holes big enough to fly that mother ship through. But Peter Jackson decided to tack his name on it, trailers decided to hint at some great socio-commentary, and reviewers started raving about how this was the greatest movie they had ever seen… I’m wondering if maybe they were exposed to some alien fuel cells or something.

I guess really it comes down to what you are looking for in a movie. If you are able to just sit there, shut-up, and run with what they are force feeding you, then you may enjoy it. If you have any degree of independent thought though… well, have fun suspending your disbelief long enough to actually take anything away from this movie other than the desire to have your money back.

Memorial FilmHaus Extravaganza!

Fri, 22 May 2009 04:09:04 GMT

Das FilmHaus will once again be open this Friday night, May 22nd for Media, Games, and of course, Shots with Lothair!

Come on out, bring something to drink, something to munch on, or just yourself (though the bar is getting a little sparse... hint, hint, nudge, nudge).

Doors will open about 8:30pm, and we'll go until people tell me to shut up and go to bed.

I will not schedule media beforehand this time, so as to allow the group to make their choices known. Quality War movies are available for those in that mind, or prehaps "classic college slacker" is more up your alley? If you have something you want to share, just let me know.

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:35:30 GMT

Well… it has been a while since Lothair has posted much of anything up here…

Hell, it’s been a while since I’ve said much of anything to anyone, and I know that has bothered many.

It seems that I am stuck in the middle of something I can’t fully explain, a swirling vortex of nostalgia, regret, and dreams all mixing together and driving me to the edge.

My personal health, my family members’ health, the state of the economy, my ability to pay/not pay bills, the fact that my so many of my friends and now my father have lost their jobs, continued stress and difficulty with school, and a general malaise and lack of motivation… all of this has been piling up over the last few weeks, and I am having a hard time finding any way to release any of it…

I don’t think I can deal with any more faces from the past… I don’t want to be continually reminded of what I was and who I was and what people expect of me… I’m not that guy anymore… I don’t think I want to be. Of course, I’m not sure “who” I am now… I’m just me, and am struggling to be that and be happy with that fact, the same as anyone else… but that seems to not be enough for many people.

I don't want to bear any more burdens, just because it is what I do... why should I have to carry them, just because I had in the past. I can't carry my own right now, and I am too stubborn to allow others to carry them for me... but still people come to me to help them carry theirs... with nothing in return, just because that was how it used to be. I'm not turning my back on helping others... I don't think I could if I really wanted to... but I can't keep doing for everyone without doing for myself... but I don't really know how. Every time I try to learn to be selfish, to seek for myself, it seems that the Fates find it time to pull my strings and slap me around for a while.

It seems that time and again I am being forced into roles that I used to play. Having certain ways of being expected of me… I have endeavored to not be like that, I have endeavored to strengthen myself, to change… without change there is only stagnation and death…

The failings of my body, which have been expected for some time now, are coming on a bit faster than I really anticipated… repeated issues with my blood pressure and heart, difficulties keeping my blood sugar stable, which is resulting in a weight gain that I am very unhappy about, increased issues with my joints, and getting very little sleep at all are just making my ability to deal with mental, emotional, and spiritual issues all the more difficult.

Being around people without feeling a part of them, being presented with many things that I have had, or wanted to have and still being denied them, and being slapped down and debased by my failings have all increased my inability to deal effectively.

I’m not looking for advice, I’m not looking for pity, hell, I’m not even looking for empathy… these things are as they are, they are there for me to deal with, and the Goddess does not give more than we can handle.

I am finding more and more that I have a very different way of looking at time than many people. I have nostalgia, don’t get me wrong, I tell stories and spin yarns, I remember the way things were, I think about people from the past, and I sometimes long to return to them… but I don’t seek them out, I don’t look back. I think much of this comes from how I was raised. Moving every six month to a year growing up, never staying the same place, or in the same school except for the military academies resulted in my developing a defensive mechanism that gone is gone, past is past, and friends come and go, and when they are gone you don’t get to have them back. That was just the way of things, this has continued into my adult life. Every time I have moved, I have walked away clean, and not looked back. Friends and lovers from places I have lived and lives I have had are just memories, I don’t look them back up, and many times I actively avoid them. A few exceptions have hung around, of hunted me down… but generally I don’t look back. I have brought this up to many people and they see it as very odd. They think it unusual or even rude of me to not keep contact with people I am no longer around, that I no longer have any real contact with, and have real connection to. Maybe that makes me cold, maybe it is just a way to not get too attached, to not hurt when there is loss. I have at times, especially when I was younger, envied people that have grown up in the same town their entire lives. They have people that “know” them, that have been around them their entire lives, that they will always be able to connect to in some way, no matter how they change… or maybe I just envy those with siblings even more because of some of that same thing… Of course many people that have had these things think the reverse, and envy me for being able to be new everywhere I go, for not having to live up to, for having to constantly face the past… The grass is always greener I guess.

No real point to any of this, just trying to sort it in my own head. Out drinking with faces from the past, and being very alone with that. I have lived in Indiana for longer than I have ever lived anywhere else, I think maybe that is starting to get to me. I think a part of me is getting the wanderlust, wanting to pick up and go, to find the woods and walk, to see where I go next. I think a part of me needs that… but another part just wants to be in one place and have everything quit changing… to be static and permanent. To not leave, to not have those I care about leave, to have relationships established and last… but that is not the way of things. I wouldn’t really want that… trapping time in a bottle does no good for anyone.

Alright… enough rambling for one night. The wizard, the wolf, and the raven are all tired… I am tired. I guess that really sums up everything.

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:45:03 GMT

Growl, growl, snarl, snarl... yargh....

That is all...

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:37:51 GMT

What's that you say, spring break is starting in Bloomington? Great. I hope everyone enjoys their time off...

but remember when you get back:

Did you spend too much money trying to smuggle Absinthe back into the country?
Didn't find anyone that appreciated you period Victorian bathing suit in Panama City?
Spent all your time trying to stay out of the sun in L.A.?
Got hassled by Airport security due to all the metal in your wardrobe?
Wanted to stab your eardrums out from the same top 40 music at every club you went to?

Then Chapel Perilous will welcome you home:

Chapel Perilous
Monday March 23rd
Jake's
419 N. Walnut Street, Bloomington IN

Doors open at 9pm, $4 cover

As always bringing you the best in Dark Alternative Dance Music by the best regional DJs.

Welcome Home

Watchmen

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:51:27 GMT

Ah, the time fast approaches for all of us geeks to join together for another outing of media wonder...

Unfortunately, it appears as though there are eight million different gathers scheduled for this particular bit of wonder.

Midnight Showings Tonight in Bloomington
Evening Showings Friday in Bloomington (as the IMAX seats are already all sold out up in Indy)
Evening Showings Saturday at IMAX in Indy
Evening Showings Saturday in Bloomington

hrrm... Don't know if I should continue striving to organize a roadtrip to IMAX or not...
Prehaps I will attempt to Highjack someone's Friday or Saturday event and host a pre-party at my place (well within walking distance to the Eastside theatre, beats parking hassles)... Of course a number of people that I would have wanted to gather together for Watchmen extravaganza will be out doing Bellydance stuff on Friday night...

hrrmm...

Maybe I'll just let everyone fend for themselves on this one...

Costumes, Costumes everywhere...

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:23:54 GMT

So, once again, I have far too many costume ideas and not nearly enough time or money to do them all...

For the upcoming Chapel Perilous: Heroes and Villains, I believe I have my options down to:

1. Dr. Strange

2. Evil Spock from Mirror, Mirror:

3. Hans Gruber from Die Hard:

4. A Silent Movie Villain (possibly with sepia tone make-up):

5. Gandalf

And a variety of other ideas, though most being limited due to time constraints/funds (Repo, Blue Furred Beast, and Juggernaut).

Thoughts, opinions, other ideas?

Heroes and Villains

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:21:42 GMT

Chapel Perilous Proudly Presents: Heroes and Villains

Tuesday Night March 3rd, 2009
Only at Jake's (419 N. Walnut Street)

Doors open at 9pm, $4 cover, 21+ only

Comics... TV... Movies... Bring out your inner Hero or Villain

Chapel on a...

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:32:48 GMT

Tuesday... what? yes, that's right kiddies, Chapel Perilous will be on TUESDAY March 3rd, as there were some difficulties with the club booking.

So, in an effort to alleviate the difference of days, we will bring you a very special Chapel: Heroes and Villains.

More Info to Come.

Chapel Perilous

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 06:48:36 GMT

Chapel Perilous Bloomington
Chapel Perilous
Monday - February 2nd 2009
9:00pm - 2:00am

Join us on the dance floor for another deliciously dark night of dance, courtesy of Chapel Perilous.

This month it's an Indy Invasion, as DJs Karoline and Coppertop make the trek to B-town to spin goth, industrial, IDM, EBM, post-punk and dark dance favorites all night long.

Jake's Nightclub
419 North Walnut
Bloomington, IN
21+, drink specials all night long

We welcome everyone back to another Chapel Perilous. Our great and wonderful friends from Indy are returning and will make sure that you get all the dancing you could want!

I will be openning the night up at 9pm and spinning a long set to get everyone warmed up for Coppertop and Caroline.

See you there!

A Special Night at das Filmhaus!

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:43:01 GMT

That's right boys and girls, das Filmhaus brings you another evening of wonder and stimulation!

For one night only (well, probably more than one night, but damn it this is promotion!) das Filmhaus will be screening Musical Madness:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

and

Repo! The Genetic Opera (in blu-ray fantasticness)

Friday Night January 23rd
Doors open at 7pm

Dr. Horrible will start around 8pm with our feature presentation of Repo! going on later in the evening.

Bring some drinks and your desire to be entertained and allow Lothair and das Filmhaus to satisfy your visual and auditory needs!

Das Filmhaus is:

3078 E Covenanter Drive
Bloomington, IN 47401

Chapel

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:43:08 GMT

Some people have started to poke me recently about when the next Chapel will be. Apparently they need their fix, and Matt and I are always happy to help in that regard.

Because of the craziness that is often the first month back in town for people we decided to give everyone a little bit more time to settle in, so there will be a Chapel, it will be on Feburary 2nd (Monday Night). More details on the way.

N.S.T.I.W.

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:32:12 GMT

So... Everyone knows how much I love Bloomington... really, I do... really... yeah... no... If it wasn't for a handful of really great people that I have down here, I would probably plot to destroy the entire area...

And many people that don't live here might think I am exaggerating about some of the things I complain about... well, here is an example that proves my generalities get backed up from time to time:

So no shit, there I was at Kroger. Seems a simple enough thing. Run in out of the subartic temperatures, get some food, go home, go back to class. I have a pattern in Kroger, I am in and out in no time if I don't have to look for something that I don't normally buy...

So there I am swinging over to get some Milk after picking up some Hot Dogs (everyone's favorite drunk food around here it seems!) and I notice that 1/2 gallon milk is on sale. So much on sale that buying two half-gallon milks is $2 cheaper then just buying 1 one-gallon milk. Seems simple right? No issue there, an obvious choice.

As I put the 2 half-gallon milks in my cart and prepare to move on, an individual of the liberal, tree-hugging, patcholli-smelling, lack of shaving, hippie variety starts giving me the evil eye. Mind you, I think a level of liberal is a good thing... and hell, I'm an Environmental Science major, so it isn't that I have a problem with that... but things being what they are, it being Friday, me being tired I look over at her and ask: "May I help you?"

The reply, and I couldn't make this up:

"You can help the earth buy putting those back. I can't believe that you would destroy our planet to save yourself a few dollars. It's obvious that you don't care with as many poor creatures as you killed just to wear all of that leather, but your wasteful garbage will kill even more. Stupid capitalist."

*blink, blink* Lothair stops, Lothair cocks his head in that canine way of saying, "I'm sorry WHAT?!?!?"

Mind you, I understand that some people don't eat meat. I understand that some people don't approve of using leather. I understand that landfills are a problem. But I don't do well with being called a Capitalist (I'm more of a Socialist) and I certainly take issue to being lectured by some girl that appears to have forgotten basic society accepted hygiene in order to prove a point.

I opted rather to walk away then to discuss my differing opinions with her... cause it would suck for someone to have to clean all that blood out of the dairy aisle... and Kara is at work so she might not be able to bail me out of jail for beating a hippie with a half-gallon of milk.

so, yeah... Bloomington... I hate this place sometimes.

Mutiny!

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:13:59 GMT

Lothair is heading back up to Indy to spin at Mutiny on Wednesday night.

I go on around 11:30pm.

Mutiny!
The Casba in Broadripple
6319 N. Guilford
Indianapolis, IN

No Cover
Doors open at 10pm

Chirstmas Thoughts

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:23:49 GMT

For those of you that know, this is a common tradition for me... One of the few that I really have around the Christmas season. Christmas isn't something that I do much for, just another day for me now. But it wasn't always. I remember being deployed over Christmas of '99. I remember how it suddenly mattered that I "couldn't" do the things I had always ignored. I remember how it felt to recieve little gifts from people I had never met before that were sent through the USO to us. And I remember those that will never come home from their tours.

Every year I ask one thing of people. To take some time, just a moment and give thanks to the soldiers all over the world. I don't want this for me, I don't want this for you, this is for them, those that serve because they choose to. This year I bring you two little reminders, two poems that no matter how many times I hear them I can't help buy choke up and remember...

I wish you all the best of holidays, however it is that you celebrate them. Be glad that you can.

A Soldier's Christmas, by Michael Marks

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight;
The sparkling lights in the tree, I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem.
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eye when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood; his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are you doing?” I asked without fear
“Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts,
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said, “It’s really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night”

“It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ‘Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘Nam
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red white and blue… an American flag.

“I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home,
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat,
I can carry the weight of killing another
Or lay down my life with my sisters and brothers
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To insure for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just tell us you love us, and never forget
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone;
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust.
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”

MUST SEE THIS!!!

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:18:05 GMT

Alright, those of you that know me know that there are certain things that I love in movies.

1. Zombies
2. WWII
3. Random Violence
4. Black Comedies
5. Foreign Directors that know there stuff

So... well... it seems that someone has read my mind... and I get these things, not some of them... no, ALL of them.

That's right, Violent Funny Foreign Nazi Zombies

No, I'm not joking... think Shaun of the Dead in Norway with Nazi Zombies and a Chainsaw

Happy, happy Lothair...

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:34:51 GMT

It is finally done...

It's only 4:30am, but you know... it's done...

Stupid group projects...

Anyway, my thanks to those of you that assisted with my web design attempts. I actually might spend some more time poking at web page design, it was kinda fun...

The site goes off to peer-review tomorrow at 1pm, but I really don't think I am going to change anything else until after that. We'll see what people think of it on Friday. If anyone is interested in reading about Predator-Prey interactions (and no, it isn't THAT techincal) you can feel free:

http://mypage.iu.edu/~jbiederm/L473/project.html

Comments and criticisms are always welcome...

Now I'm going to try and get a couple of hours of sleep.

Procrasti... what was I doing?

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:04:12 GMT

Ah well... a nice rest from website stuff... I guess back to work now:

When Lothair gets bored at the Computer, he plays with Photoshop...

And Belkar joins the Wednesday Company:

School Stuff

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:18:48 GMT

So my final research project for L473 is web-based... yeah, I know, Lothair on the web for things other than wasting time? Shocker isn't it!?!?

Anyway, I have to present, what would normally be a pretty simple research paper in a web format... I'm not sure why... okay, that's not true, I understand the need for researchers to share their inforrmation view "new media" and whatnot... it is just kind of annoying...

So, after fighting with IT here in Bloomington, I think I finally have all the permissions set up and a rough frame made... since this is my first website ever... yeah, EVER. I am not expecting much out of "ooohhh and awe" factor... I am just hoping for a simple, easy to use website.

If people could go to this link:

http://mypage.iu.edu/~jbiederm/L473/project.html

and check it out, that would be great. Things I am looking for:

1. to make sure it works!
2. Suggestions on formating and style issues
3. Critiques of content (once it is up... you will notice that this is technically a group project... funny how I only have the information I gathered and am making the site, so needless to say this is taking a while!)

Also, if anyone has experience with this type of thing, there are a few things that I need help with. I'm sure I could figure it out on my own, but sometimes it is just easier to ask:

1. ~~Linking within the same page. i.e., "back to top" links~~
2. Embedding audio files to the page. I don't want something that plays on a loop or plays when you open the page, but I have a small MP3 of a digital recording of the wolves up at Wolf Park that I got some time ago that I really want to have on there.
3. Optional: floating side menu. Right now it is stationary, I don't know if it would be more effective to have it move with you as you scroll down... I don't even know what that is called...

So there we go all my assembled geeks, I leave the rest to you.

Chapel Perilous

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:42:24 GMT

Don't forget,

Tonight is time to Return to Chapel Perilous

Chapel Perilous
Monday - November 17th 2008
9:00pm - 2:00am

21+, $3 (cheap!)

Soundtrack by:
DJ Ravenwolf
DJ Sarah Vain
Aleph

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:41:52 GMT

well... It has been a while since I have gotten to that level of drunk at a party. My thanks to the host, my old friends that wanted to hang out, our wonderful musicians, and the new friends made last night...

Now the Lothair is going to find some water and try and get his stomach to quit complaining about everything.

Interesting Meme

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:07:16 GMT

If you saw me in the back of a police car, what would you think I was there for?

Answer me, then post this in your own journal (or, you know, don’t) to see how many different crimes you get accused of committing.

Veteran's Day

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:54:11 GMT

Since it seems to be a constantly forgotten day by many, especially when the University doesn't recognize it (don't get me started on that rant!), I wanted to remind everyone that they have a job to do today:

1. Salute a soldier
2. Thank our Troops
3. Congratulate a Captain
4. Kiss a Colonel
5. vacation a vet... hrmm, okay need to work on the V...

Say thanks to those that have risked of themselves for you, and remember those that have not been able to see their families again.

Ugh

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:57:05 GMT

so... when breaking dishes in your kitchen, it is imperative to get all the little broken shards cleaned up... and not in your food...

grrr...

Without going into the details of my current issues, suffice to say I hurt rather badly but am content to know that no massive damage has occured. I ended up spending all day pretty well laying about, and got some food into my system that actually stayed there tonight. Unfortunately, I did not get into class or work today... blargh. I'm off to try and get some sleep so I can actually get something accomplished tomorrow, especially since I have two tests on Wednesday that I am ill prepared for.