no longer in the mood

Unfortunately, my Family Guy/In the Mood video on YouTube was removed because Fox claimed it was infringing copyright. I'm sure their well-paid lawyers are aware of the 'parody' clause in the fair-use doctrine, and I doubt they also represent Ray Stevens and Joe Garland... but it's just a silly video, so I don't really care. If it makes Fox feel any better, I lost my original video in the recent hard drive failure.

It's fairly simple to reproduce it yourself though, and to avoid all claims of copyright infringement, do it this way:

1. Purchase/rent any of several Family Guy DVDs, or watch it on Fox, Sunday nights at 9:00 p.m., and turn down the volume. Whatever you do, don't simply tape/DVR it to watch later, lest we have another Betamax case on our hands!
   
2. Find a copy of "In the Mood" by Henhouse Five Plus Too, i.e. Ray Stevens. Your best bet here is to buy the soundtrack for the 1998 (poorly-titled) movie Pecker. It's not dirty, trust me.
   
3. Get your boombox ready and start "In the Mood" just as the Family Guy intro starts. For the love of all things holy, don't invite any of your friends over to see it, because that might be construed as a "public performance"!
   
4. Sleep easy knowing that the great-great-great-grandchildren of Sonny Bono (may he rest in peace) will still be raking in royalties from "I Got You Babe" in the year 2085.

what's goin' on, Ruuuudy

I was in the process of backing up my laptop's audio files to my PC when the hard drive started clanging. I recognized this sound because a similar thing happened to my iMac four years ago. Only this time, I didn't have the benefit of it being intermittent and allowing me to pull off some data before it completely died; instead, it clanged constantly and I had to just shut off the laptop. I let it sit for a while and turned it back on, and it was still clanging, so I shut it off immediately. It was dead.

Was there anything important on that hard drive? Well of course there was. Is it a matter of life and death? Meh, let's cross our fingers that the answer is no. It's hard to recall what all I had on there, and I may not know until a year from now, when I need to make the 2008 version of projects X, Y, and Z. I know there were some iTunes tracks I had downloaded recently, plus some piano stuff I'd recorded, Pump Boys pictures, not to mention my super-secret-encrypted journal.

I've sent the disk to DriveSavers to see if anything can be recovered and how much it will cost, at which point I can weigh my options. I'm guessing it won't be worth it though. In the meantime, I bought a larger, faster hard drive, which is slated to arrive tomorrow. This will be my first fresh install since 2004. It's kinda weird that, from September '03 when I bought the laptop to December '04, I probably reformatted and started fresh at least 3 times for various reasons, yet haven't had to for 3 years since then. I guess I was due.

Once I get the new drive in and set up, I'm doing nightly backups to my external hard drive from now on. Unfortunately, such things often aren't that simple, and it will probably mean a half hour less sleep each night as I'm screwing around with the backup software, but considering the number and variety of projects I do (graphic design, web design, audio, super-secret-encrypted journal), it'll be worth it.

In other news, I leave for Vegas in two days!

24 '94

If you've watched the show 24 and remember the year 1994, you must watch this video clip. Now.

i'm slightly more famous

My Family Guy/In The Mood post has been mentioned in the online-edition Cleveland Plain Dealer Blog 5 feature, "a roundup of opinion and information from local blogs." Read here.

hiatus HIATUS!

Another show done. I had just a few weeks off after Joseph in early August before I fell into Pump Boys, and immediately after that closed, I began rehearsing for Millie. All three shows were fun and very much worth my time for different reasons. Joseph gave me the opportunity to be on stage and sing again, this time with some movement thrown in. It was nice to be on that side of things again and make new friends. Speaking of making friends, that led to Pump Boys, during the early stages of which I installed Bryan 3.0. And Millie was just a fun score to play and paid twice as much as music directing Pump Boys did, so... there's that. Plus again, meeting new people, making connections, in general putting my talents to use and having a good time. It feels great to be appreciated. I was asked to come back next year if I'm available.

But for now, I'm going on a theatre hiatus. I desperately need my evenings and weekends back. Last week I had no less than three freelance graphic design projects going at once, because it just happened that all three clients needed things at the same time. Generally, when I've been doing graphic design for eight hours I don't feel like coming home to... do yet more graphic design. Nonetheless, freelance work is nice because it gives me a little more variety and artistic freedom than I get at work, and hence most of what is in my portfolio is drawn from this experience. I managed to juggle everything and wrap it up this weekend, and there is always a very gratifying feeling every time I finish a large project.

It's hard to believe this week is Thanksgiving already (the most wonderful time of the year). It seems like not too long ago I switched the blog over to the orange theme and it was still above 60 degrees on a regular basis. Hmm wait, that wasn't too long ago.

Two weeks from now I'll be on vacation in Vegas with Stu and Laurie. We're all using credit card reward points for the flight and are staying with Stu's parents, who live in North Las Vegas. Tonight I plan on snuggling up with a nice cup of French press coffee and checking the AAA TourBook for ideas on what to do. We'll have a minivan for the week, and are trekking over to the LA area for Knott's Berry Farm (a Cedar Fair amusement park).

The weekend after that, I'm playing for my cousin's wedding out of town, then Christmas will be upon us in all its spectacle and glory. Then it will be 2008, and I can only hope that I will grow as much in the next year as I did in this one.

on this day in history

It is currently 8:40 a.m.,* and according to an old pocket calendar (yes, I keep them, so sue me), at this time in 2004 I went to see my general practicioner about a lump on my neck.

I am soooo far removed from that right now. Life rocks.

*I'm not posting from work; I'm taking a vacation day because Magnificat has a performance for the elementary schools at 10. And after the week I've had, I'm gonna need this afternoon to catch up.

in the family guy mood

Here's the story. I go over to Stu & Lauie's for the Fox Sunday night shows, but back before the DVR days if we missed a week, I would tape them and transfer them to DVD for later viewing. Apple's iDVD software automatically created a menu screen with the first video as a button, and in this case it was the first 30 seconds of an episode of Family Guy. I needed some music for the menu, so on a whim I chose an mp3 of chickens singing (b'gawking) "In the Mood," a Ray Stevens novelty recording.

That's when I noticed that many parts of the song -- in a Wizard of Oz/Dark Side of the Moon fashion -- lined up with the Family Guy intro. I've created a YouTube video showing this remarkable coincidence. I didn't do any speed modification of the video or audio; I simply put the two together as-is.

And, that's why the chicks dig me.

the best part of trying to wake up

This morning, happiness is Pumpkin Spice coffee, heavy on the cream. I also sprinkled the grounds with a little "pumpkin pie spice" (McCormick's blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice), which I thought might be overkill, but it was actually very good.

Pumpkin Spice is one of the seasonal varieties of Cleveland's own Phoenix Coffee. You Elyrians can buy a half pound bag at Jim's Coffeehouse, which, by the way, is now open Sunday afternoons as well. I'm really glad to see that place taking off.

This blog post's title alludes to the show for which I'm currently playing, Thoroughly Modern Millie, at Magnificat High School. I mean, it doesn't allude to the show itself, just the fact that I have several freelance graphics projects going on at the moment and don't really have as much time for pesky things like sleep. Who's idea was it to design humans to spend 1/3 of their 24 hours lying dormant anyway?

On the plus side, it turns out I'm going to be paid a little more for Millie than originally planned. This is a very good gig, and I've been asked to do it again next year if I'm available.

Until then, I hope to be on theatre hiatus for a bit. I have to start focusing on the whole career thing again, which I haven't had much time for the past few months.

However, doing both this and Pump Boys (especially the latter) were very crucial pieces in the puzzle of Bryan 3.0. It still bugs me that I can't really talk about "Bryan 3.0" here, but as I've said before, it involves work-related things that I don't want posted in public.

The short version is, I have a little different perspective on my life now, thanks to the events of the last few months, and I have been in a generally happy mood for some time. Inquiring minds can always e-mail me for details. :)

more unusual road signs

Beware of Falling Cows!

Meanwhile, in Washington state, Cow falls from sky, barely misses couple

pasketti again

Late notice here, but I will once again be providing background music for the spaghetti dinner fundraiser at St. Paul UCC in Elyria, tonight from 5:00-7:00. Dinner includes a large plate of spaghetti with meatballs, salad, bread, dessert, and beverage. Food is served from 5-7:30, and tickets cost $6 for adults or $3 for children 12 & under. Tickets are available at the door, and carry-out containers are also provided. The profits go to the church's general fund (as do my tips, although I don't really advertise that fact).

And I take requests. I've even had people bring in sheet music for me to play... which is always interesting. Thankfully, all those years of neglecting to practice between piano lessons has made me an excellent sight-reader!

coolest shirt ever

And when I say 'coolest' I mean nerdiest. Increase your geek quotient by 50 points with the Wi-fi t-shirt! I have to say, this seriously is tempting...