Saturday, October 28, 2006

The Golden Couple...

On September 15, 1956, my grandparents were married. This year, to commemorate their 50 years together, we held a big party. I was given the task of making a video from the thousands of pictures my mom and her sisters had gotten. This is the first of the ones I made. I realize that you don't know these people but perhaps you'll enjoy it even so.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

"Eat shit and die!" - OR - Ted Nugent is an asshole...

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!

Last night I had the great fortune of working the light board at the Ted Nugent lecture. (please note the sarcasm...) First a little history: Ted Nugent is a rock star from Michigan who made a big name for himself in the 70's & 80's. Now he's an extremely right-wing activist and hunting enthusiast.

Ok, first the good stuff... Mr. Nugent (from here referred to as ASS) is very into wild-life and hunting. He sees himself as a conservationist and celebrates the hunting ritual as a means of getting closer to nature. He's also dramatically opposed to drug use and dependency in all it's forms.

I am not, to everyone's surprise, an avid hunter. However, I see absolutely nothing wrong with hunting and I recognize that it is a necessary thing. For example, without hunting we'd have an extremely large deer herd and nature would have to devise it's own way to check their numbers. I come from a family of hunters and while I never really had an interest in joining in, I'm not in the least against it so long as it's done fairly and responsibly. I also think there's something to be said for communing with nature and celebrating the fruits of her bounty. What I do have a problem with is the pro-hunting contingent latching on to the pro-gun thing and feeling the need to seek the right to carry any gun they wish. Why on Earth does a person need an automatic anything? Certainly not for hunting. Where's the sport in automatic? Also, why does a sportsman feel the need to seek the right to carry a hidden handgun? In my opinion, if all handguns were illegal, a lot of problems could be dealt with. Handguns are simply not needed. Many republicans argue that a concealed-carry law protects everyone because, "who knows who has a gun..." I think it's a bunch of bull-shit and I don't see why a sportsman should seek protection for all guns. A responsible sportsPERSON (sorry ladies) should be in support of responsible gun laws.

ANYWAY, ASS was an ass. He started his talk by talking about drugs which was fine. They ruin lives, they ruin communities, etc. However, that segued into the evenings theme of VAST GENERALIZATION. According to ASS, the difference between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives are early-risers and look forward to a hard day's work whereas liberals would rather sleep in and avoid work. Liberals also apparently have an east coast accent and like to search for excuses rather than to face a problem. Homeless people are drug-users and drunks - never give them money just point them (or kick them) toward the nearest help wanted sign. People opposed to war are not patriots. People in support of responsible gun control are pussies.

Other tidbits:
ASS regaled the audience with a story of shooting a cat he found on his front porch. He was a bit sad that he hadn't given the carcass to a Korean restaurant, "If you've been to a Korean restaurant you've eaten cat. And the French eat horse."

After thinking someone was video-taping him, ASS demanded that security (there were about 694 security guards), "get him!" So, he stared at a particular section of the audience and noticed the solitary black person in the audience. "Oh, I'm happy to see I'm not the only black guy here tonight. Welcome, son." (ASS is white) Then, he told the guy that if he made a video of him, "I'll gut ya!"

Nobody had made a video and when this was pointed out, ASS went crazy on an analogy comparing his image to apples and, as the owner of his orchard, he had to protect his apples... The guy asking for an apology was told to "Fuck off"

Another guy went a little nuts pointing out ASS's Vietnam draft dodging. He was told to, "Eat shit and die!"

There was more talk of shit and cats and guns and liberals and patriotism and general bull-shit but I thankfully can't remember it all.

This whole event made me think about the liberal speakers I've seen. Very rarely have I seen a liberal speaker use vast generalizations and stereotypes the way ASS did. Also, I've never seen a liberal speaker reduce his or her particular argument to the breath-taking mind-vomit that ASS did. It seems that to please an audience of republicans one must celebrate strong-headedness and bemoan intelligence. What's happened?

To sum up, Ted Nugent likes to hunt and I support that but he is an incredible asshole. The end.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Take 2!

Here's a trailer for "Sixty-Six" which I worked on a bit while living in London. Hopefully this one'll be better than the first one I did...