bye bye stageright...stageleft

life is change. get used to it.

sr...sl is gone (tho' the below link still works) -

all current ramblings can be found at www.atomicpop.wordpress.com

peace,
kyle

bye bye blogger.

yup, it's true. i've flown this coop. blogger, it's not you, it's m..., well actually it is you.

to quote prince:

"i dig u better dead!"

to quote siouxsie"

"i hate you i hate you i hate you i hate you...drop dead-you stinking little creep"

ok, so maybe i'm being dramatic, but i gotta say - beta sucks. i've had more formatting challenges since beta went live; not to mention the a plethora of password/sign in issues and lack of a response to my emails. it's annoying as fuck i tell ya!

so, i've moved on over to wordpress. come visit me there won't you?

http://stagerightstageleft.wordpress.com/

(please update your blogrolls/favorites)

i'm not totally in love with wordpress yet, but i like their system so far; it's clean, well organized and seems like just the ticket. it's kinda like a new relationship, i have ton's of hopes and dreams, but we'll just go slow and take it day-by-day. (wordpress is a hot piece of ass tho' - so i'm totally in lust).

plus i kinda like underdogs, and wordpress is an underdog to the behemoth that is blogger.

in the meantime, i'll leave this "beta" version of sr...sl up so that folk's can find me

observation:

mannequin heads can be creepy.

a big part of my job involves being around mannequin heads. now, these are not the type of heads you would see in macy's or sears - these heads are are used for training hairdressers. they come in all forms and types - heads that have full thick hair, thinning hair, kinky curly hair, boy hair (some even have facial hair and kinda look like jesus; just ask cb). they even have names - seriously; the first one below for example is named "erika" (that's how we order them; "give me 10 viola's, 15 amber's, 4 samuel's and 20 erika's).

these heads as a general rule do not freak me out (unlike my boss who seriously hates them). however, when your the only person in the bu idling on a sunday, and your co-workers are fond of using heads as office decoration - it can get a bit freaky when you see a head out of the corner of your eye.

this last picture is one of my favorites. last march, we did a huge hair show in london. at about 5am on the day of the show the various guest artists were arriving for final prep on their models. a friend of mine from germany who was in the show showed up with this 'bag o' heads" - in an ikea bag no less. i just thought it was dead-funny:

the night watchman however, he was seriously creeped out.

-32 - for fuck sake, -32

yup. everyone knows minneapolis is cold. no surprise there. the thing is - are you ready for this? - it's not what it used to be. time was (way back when i was a young guy in a snowsuit) winter would start in earnest sometime in late october and stick around until early april. that's not the way it is anymore... we really don't get winter until early january (4 or 5 cold days maybe in december) and it's gone by the end of february (oh, ya, and i walked 3 miles in the snow up hill both ways without shoes when i was a kid too).

that said, i'm just not fucking prepared for -32. it's just not right. on top of that... take a look at the dew point: -21. do you have any idea how dry -21 is? by way of comparison phoenix is currently +26

i'm ready for spring. way way way ready for spring.

thank buddha it will be +24 by next sunday. but wait, i'll be in sunny des monet on sunday (yay, it's supposed to be +31 in iowa next sunday). oh, and i have +32 to look forward to on the 27th (my birthday, feel free to send prezzies, i love prezzies). +32 is the average for the day (the record high was +64, of course the record low was -21 too, that could suck huge).

i love minneapolis 9-10 months a year - the best weather ever. it's just jan and feb i hate.

god i need to get to some tropical island.

smokin' aces

just home from seeing the uber-violent new film smokin' aces. now, i had absolutely zero expectations from this film, but i gotta say - i enjoyed the ride immensely.

for my more squeamish fans (or those who have trouble with graphic violence - hehehehe) this film is not for the faint of heart. it has about a billion gun shots and more spurting blood than your average friday the 13th film - but at the same time, it actually has a pretty good plot/story and characters you actually grow to believe (well, at least ryan reynolds).

oh, and there is more man-candy/testosterone than you can throw some wood at. i mean seriously - the guys in this movie are smokin' hot. every one of 'em, i've had a thing for for a damn long time.

starting with the adorable ryan reynolds. this boy is gonna make a damn fine daddy someday:

and then there's the title character buddy "aces" isreal; the humpy jeremy piven. even at his most coked-out scussiness, this man is fuckin' hot + he has one of my new all-time favorite lines in a movie (said to one of his not-so-smart thugs): you're looking at me like, like... i just asked you the fucking square root of something.

and then there's ben affleck. ben, ben, ben. i don't care how many bad movies in the past you made - i forgive you. just keep starin' at me with those baby blues:



and while he's certainly no cock-of-the-walk any longer; we have the smolderingly sexy andy garcia. this man could melt me with "hi":

rounding out the lead's - the impeccable ray liotta. does this man have a steely stare or what? it's as if he's got x-ray vision. dead sexy.

with just the smallest of cameo's (and a mullet to match) the ever woofy matthew fox made an appearance:

again with just a bit o' a cameo, the hotness that is peter berg:

i'm tellin' ya folks, this movie was one fun ride. great action scenes, fun plot twists and a fuckin' hot as hell cast.

my dreams are gonna be fun tonight! hehehe

junk mail of the day

got this in my work inbox:

-----Original Message-----From: Jill Deforge [mailto:dud@ramada.it] Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 11:39 AMTo: Aveda EmployeesSubject: Re: VIAoupGRA

Good day,

Viav_gra $1, 80
Ciav_lis $3, 00
Leviv_tra $3, 35

http://www.progenyid!.com ( Important Remove "!" )

--
just know there are a lot of odd things going on, and I dont like it...
Moodys right Sirius is right youve got to get in training for the
third task, straight away. And you make sure you write back to Sirius

what i wanna know, why the random harry potter bit? how exactly does that work?

ms transworld pageant

sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days - work is kickin' my ass with a huge show i'm producing next week in lovely des moines, ia (or as we refer to it des monet, the milan of the upper mid-west) with 7 other shows quickly on the heals of des monet (including the real milan - yea, sucks to be me)....anyway, had to share a quick conversation i had a bit ago with the booking agent for a theater in san francisco i wanted...:

booking agent (b.a.): i would love to help you out but i just booked out that date for the miss trans-world pageant

me: but we would be so much more fun than the miss trans-world pageant!

b.a.: no, i don't think anyone is as much fun as the miss trans-world pageant. in fact, we have a lock on that little market; we also have the pan-asian transsexual pageant coming up.

damn - we got shafted by a bunch of trannies. sucks to be us.

public service message

if you had knee surgery 3 weeks ago, do not, under any circumstance, forget that you just had knee surgery and then proceed to kneel on your knee (therefore placing your full weight on it) while assembling equipment for a show.

HOLY-FUCKING-MOTHER-OF-GOD-SHIT-FUCKER-DAMN-GEORGE BUSH-SON OF A BITCH-SHITSTORM that hurt.

no comment monday

pan's labyrinth

yes, another blogger blogging about pan's labyrinth. deal with it.

i just got home from seeing this movie and all i can say is wow - guillermo del toro is a god. i mean, he has such complete and total vision for the world('s) he's created in this film, from post-civil war spain to the aformentioned labyrinth; it's impossible to not be sucked in and taking on an amazingly haunting, beautiful and delicate journey.

i really do believe this film will be sticking with me for a bit. much more i want to write about it; but i've got to process what i've just watched. however, in a word or two, this movie is why i love movies. i was so completely transported - it blew me away.

there were three movies that came out this past year that really transported me in a way that so rarely happens anymore - the prestique, the fountain and this one.

in anticipation for the oscars, i've been writing up my own thoughts on the best films of the year (i'll be posting those thoughts sometime in the next couple of days). i can add this to that ++++ column.

random bits

ok, this is now the 3rd time i've started this post today; blogger has been pissing me off - it's crashed 3 times. fuckin' blogger.
---
knee update: off crutches (thank god). still got a bit of a limp, but it's getting better everyday. the weird thing about my knee is it feels completely removed from my body. almost like i'm experiencing the knee remotely. it still doesn't do what i want it to do (sitting cross legged for example) but it's getting there. the doc says these feelings will continue on and off for about 6 months or so and i should have reasonably full mobility back within a month.

i'll be happy when that happens.
---
finally, the truth.

from the current issue of gq's interview with sarah silverman:

gq: so hillary clinton for president, then?
ss: i'm more of the barack obama camp.

gq: why obama?
ss: oh, not for any real, intellectual reason. just for the same reason real people make their decisions - i saw him on letterman and i thought he was awesome.

i've often thought that people really tend to just make their political decisions on something as influential as a gut response. there are exceptions of course, (i'm sure alexander over at voenix rising and mike at lolife/ are in the other camp, the one where you weigh all the options and make a truly intellectual decision), but i think most poor slobs like me make it on a base response to something.

nice to see someone admit it in the press though.
---
just a a reminder.

before there was the whole pope shredding thing on snl and the marriage to god and the divorce from god and the other kooky happenings there was:

<>a fucking brilliant debut album that still resonates today.

my fine is...

....$655.60.

see what your fine is here.

ebay whore

ok, i admit it - i have a slight addiction to ebay. it comes and goes of course, but on the whole, i'm a big fan of ebay - i find the ability to rediscover one's childhood (or in this case early late teen-aged years) to be a wonderful diversion to the every day mundaness of life.

just today i won this little treasure, dale bozzio's riot in english:

formerlly the lead singer of missing persons, dale bozzio signed to prince's paisley park label in the late 80's and put out this pure pop fluff of an album in 1988. while i had it on casette and remember liking the album just fine, i can't imagine it's aged well at all.

however, it has a prince song on it (so strong), so ultimatly it was necessary for me to eventually own this again. so ebay to the rescue.

as mentioned, i remember liking it on the whole; it's a very "pop" album, not nearly as experimental as her work with frank zappa or missing persons - but if memory services it was pretty left field for pop music at the time. i've poked around the 'net since i started bidding on this and am kinda surprised how well the album seems to have been reviewed (i dismissed it almost immediatly back in the day - it was just fun fluff, nothing great)... from all music: "the tight-as-a-drum production sounds are right out of trevor horn's notebook" and "bozzio has grown up here, as 'simon simon' rocks with authority, a good album leadoff, as is the song which launches side two, the title track, 'riot in english.'"

all in all i'm pretty jazzed to have won this; and am anxious to give it another listen.

p.s., i'd post the video to 'simon simon' on here, but it's a pretty bad video, very 1988; but if your so inclined, do a search on you tube; it's out there.

willfully stolen....

...from eyeteeth:

by bansky.

brilliant in'it? seriously, check out his other art - the guy's got a great eye.

superfluous prince

no big secret, i loves me some skinny mother fucker with the high voice. yes, it's a bittersweet love - i mean the man's a fuckin' genius, but sometimes he's a lame-ass fuck that is mearly resting on his laurels.

well shit if this didn't remind me how much i love it when the man just simply plays - for the love of the guitar! the above video is from prince's 2004 induction into the rock and roll hall of fame. if you don't know, at the end of the induction ceremony, the recently inducted members do a "jam session" - the video is princes solo during the george harrison tune "while my guitar gently weeps".

i love this.

s.t.c.n.c.b. drag queens

perfect if only for the line: "supertrashycheapandnastycuntybitchy drag queens"

agitation / peace

i'm not always the smartest duck in the pond.... but it's good to have people around (albeit 1,253 miles away) that can push me in a different direction every now and then.

i've been super agitated tonight. i'm not sure why. as the hours passed tonight, i was getting more and more agitated, jumpy, crabby. i have no idea.

certainly, i don't think my knee is helping things. i'm still very mobility-limited. while i've gone into the office the last two days, i haven't really been out and about much. my knee is hurting more, the vicodin is just masking the pain. i'm not sleeping well and i can't get physically comfortable.

earlier, i was on the phone with cb and he pretty much had to talk me off the ledge so to speak. when i get agitated, the nervous energy just multiplies like bunnies and it feeds the demon which only serves to get me more jumpy. cb was fairly adamant that i needed to take some pain pills and lie down, or read, or - here's an idea, listen to music, to calm my center.

music is the my favorite thing in the world, virtually my one constant, but do you think i thought of that? nope. i just sat pacing (as best as a gimp can pace). cb reminded me about a piece of music i own (thanks to him) he knows how i love it, and how it has a calming effect on me.

so i took an hour out of my night, turned off the lights, lit a candle and listened to jonathan elias' the prayer cycle. i'm almost a differen man!

combining such divergent voices as nusrat fateh ali kahn, alanis morissette, ofra haza, linda ronstadt and perry farrell (to name just a few) with the american boy choir (featuring the staggeringly amazing devin provenzano) and the english chamber orchestra and chorus - the work evokes (for me) the combined one-ness of the greater global community.

elias wrote the piece (a choral symphony in 9 movements) just before the turn of the century, and in his words: "...the world we live in is both joyous and cruel. the divide between love and hate has never been as wide as it is on our world today. i pray that we can move forward and that the next generations rise where we have fallen."

i find it interesting that he chose to take music from all over the globe, in combination with voices that are at equally divergent (i count voices singing in 15 different languages) - and yet, what came out was one cohesive sound. it also seems relevant (or at the very least interesting) that 7 years on from the millennial change, the world is even more at odds - and yet, when one listens to music that was created with a true sense of purpose, and are taken on a journey to the far points of the globe, your left feeling more connected to the world around you than when you started.

so here i sit, listening to the piece for the third time tonight, and i'm calmer, more at peace (at least for the moment). yes, landry, i do need to figure out the source of my agitation, but sometimes just getting lost in another world for a bit of time can make all the difference in both the long and short run.

there you have it, prodded a bit by a good friend to just sit down and be in the moment - it's a nice little reminder now and then. especially for the densest duck in the pond.

globe recap.

(when bad dresses happen to mediocre actresses)

ok, so i never said i was going to predict the winners of the golden globes - my picks were just who i wanted to win - it's not my fault if the hollywood forign press got it so wrong so often.

• best picture – drama-the departed. damn if i didn't get this one wrong; i've heard it's good, i just can't get into brad pitt lately.
  
• best picture – musical or comedy-little miss sunshine. dreamgrils won. i hate dreamgirls. well, more coorectly, i hate beyonce. i refuse to support any film with beyonce in it (even if i do love jennifer hudson)
  
• animated film-cars. yes! i got it. there was really no chance that this wasn't going to win.
  
• lead actor – drama-leonardo dicaprio in the departed. i'm really not a fan of leo's either, but was duly impressed with his performance in the departed - shame he didn't win, but i've heard forest was great in the last king of scotland.
  
• lead actor – musical or comdey-chiwetel ejiofor in kinky boots (should win; sacha baron cohen in borat will win). yup, sacha won! no surprise. i still like chiwetel better, but i'm claiming this in my win column.
  
• lead actress – drama-helen mirren – the queen. helen mirren is the fuckin' shit - so deserved.
  
• lead actress – comedy or musical-meryl streep – the devil wears prada. again, brilliant and no question really. and meryl's speech was awesome.
  
• actor in a supporting role- ben affleck in hollywoodland. ugg eddie murphy. ugg dreamgirls. blech.
  
• actress in a supporting role- emily blunt in the devil wears prada. jennifer hudson. jennifer rocks. dreamgirls sucks.
  
• director- martin scorsese for the departed. yes! it's fuckin' about time marty got props. the departed was most excellent.
  
• tv series – musical or comedy- ugly betty (would be happy with entourage as well). yes yes yes yes!!!! so fuckin' deserved.... ugly betty is the best show on tv right now.
  
• actor in a leading role – drama- patrick dempsey in grey’s anatomy (he’s dreamy you know). that dude from house got it - fuckin' great speech. never seen the show.
  
• actor in a leading role – musical or comedy- jason lee in my name is earl. alec baldwin eh? he ain't horrid.
  
• actress in a leading role – drama- ellen pompeo – grey’s anatomy. no comment really, never seen the closer... kyra's always solid.
  
• actress in a leading role – comedy or musical- america ferrera – ugly betty. again - this is fuckin' perfect. america is sublime. way to go
  

------

unreleated; so i went back to work today... only made it about half the day... i was so fuckin' tired, had to come home and take a nap. i'm still on crutches (i totally figured i'd be off them by now, it's been 8 days).

tomorrow is another half day work wise - i have the follow up post-op dr appointment.

wish me well.

song of the heart

so the skinny mother fucker with the high voice won a golden globe award (best original song for the song of the heart) and was running late so he wasn't even there to accept it. sometimes i wonder where the fuck his mind is - the boy seriously lives in his own little purple world. who shows up late for an award ceremony? as a huge fan of the man, i gotta say - it's nice to see him back on the scene, but the song wasn't that strong was it?

oh, and seriously - what the fuck was cameron diaz wearing? i'll try and find a pic...

plum tuckered out

ventured out of the house for the first time today and boy did it tire me out... had lunch with my friend christopher today (tasty burger and fries at the longfellow grill).

still ambling about on crutches (especially for more than just walking from the bed to the couch) but it felt great to finally get out. things i've learned:

• it's difficult (but not impossible) to shave while supporting oneself on crutches.
• putting a sock and a shoe on when you can't fully bend (or extend for that matter) your leg can fuckin' hurt.
• walking through four inches of snow on crutches is fun.
• daytime tv sucks ass (and not in that good ass to mouth sort of way way).
• judi dench is a god.
• brian from cheapblueguitarspan> does not spend enough time entertaining me.

i think it's nap time. i'm a tired boy. but before that - tonight is the golden globes - the second greatest night of tv, so without further adu; my pics (truth be told i've not seen many of the flicks nominated - but i really do love the below performances...):

best picture – drama
-the departed

best picture – musical or comedy
-little miss sunshine

animated film
-cars

lead actor – drama
-leonardo dicaprio in the departed

lead actor – musical or comded
-chiwetel ejiofor in kinky boots (should win; sacha baron cohen in borat will win)

lead actress – drama
-helen mirren – the queen

lead actress – comedy or musical
-meryl streep – the devil wears prada

actor in a supporting role
- ben affleck in hollywoodland

actress in a supporting role
- emily blunt in the devil wears prada

director
- martin scorsese for the departed

tv series – drama
- heroes

tv series – musical or comedy
- ugly betty (would be happy with entourage as well)

actor in a leading role – drama
- patrick dempsey in grey’s anatomy (he’s dreamy you know)

actor in a leading role – musical or comedy
- jason lee in my name is earl

actress in a leading role – drama
- ellen pompeo – grey’s anatomy

actress in a leading role – comedy or musical
- america ferrera – ugly betty