Moblog New Year's Countdown! [ via Joi Ito ]
We're going to have an open moblog for people to post pictures to on New Year's Eve to welcome 2003. It is "open" but please use common sense when sending stuff. The URL is http://www.bloggers.jp/. (Chuck sez: Hmm, but it might also be here.) The email address to send stuff to is misoka@bloggers.jp. The site and the email address will be running between GMT 2002/12/31 0:00-23:59.

Send jpeg images as attachments with the title of the item as the subject. The template will resize the height to 120 pixels. 120x120 is probably the best size. Pass it on. ;-)

"Misoka" comes from "Omisoka" which means New Year's Eve in Japanese

WORKING. PARTYING. HIBERNATING. COCOONING.
Yeah yeah, I know this has been a blog-free zone. Coming soon: Pictures of assorted club-hopping (Bondage a-GoGo, Chino Latino, Saloon, etc.) and festivities, perhaps an Xmas booty list, and of course I'm working on my top albums and films of 2002. In other news, I'm thinking of taking a break from classes so I can work on Blogumentary and other projects, and you know, just read and have a life. That's as close as I'll get to a 2003 New Year's Resolution. That, and to throw all my crack pipes and guns in the river and never look back.

LISTENING: The Polyphonic Spree (LIVE)
READING: Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America(tm) and RES
WATCHING: Badly Drawn Boy and The Streets videos
LICKING: goopy whipped cream from hot chocolates and mint mochas
SCRATCHING MY HEAD OVER: Pitchfork Media's Top 50 Albums of 2002
CHECKING MY MAILBOX FOR: Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) 2-disc DVD set from Canada

CHRISTMAS: NOT OVER TILL IT'S OVER
Whew. The lady and I spent Xmas eve at my aunt's first, which saw gratuitous fawning over such precious curios as a fiber-optic angel that played out-of-tune loudly distorted songs and countless delicate this-and-thats. "Nooooo. (Gasp) (Meaningful Look) What is this?! Would you look at that. Where does she shop? Did you see this?" And so on. At 1am we began Xmas eve proper with just my mom and brother, which was much more calm and fun. Full booty list forthcoming, but just let me say it includes Dremel tools and Paul McCartney. My mom now has a digital camera to go with her bitchin' iMac. We didn't go to bed until 5am, and then up again for the other family's Xmas dinner out on the farm.

I love going out to the farm. There's farm-logic to everything, mostly concerning the preparation, consumption and cleaning up of food. And that's comforting. During dinner a beautiful red cardinal bashed into a window over and over. I should point out that in this window was a Yule log, one of those holiday traditions that seems fictional (like roasting chestnuts) until you see it for yourself. Yule log: a log with red candles sticking out of it, in this case. Was it the red candles that upset the cardinal so? Or his own reflection? Granny says it's nothing new - he's been banging into that window since last February. Holy Jesus. A true Sisyphus among cardinals. It actually looked quite robust and healthy (physically, anyway) — perhaps all this bashing only makes it stronger. The cardinal's female companion just sat on a nearby branch looking annoyed. There's a message for humans here, I just know it. ("Open the goddamn window"?)

After dinner we took a quick jaunt around the field on the 4-wheeler. Now I'm not the sporting type, I'm barely even the driving type, but dang I sure love zipping around on a 4-wheeler. If I didn't have a lovely passenger on board I'd have tried to spin out in the snow, although that's when I'd get my leg pinned under it and regret having ever uncorked my testosterone. One more thing: Missing from the festivities was L's total babe cousin, who also happens to be a Secret Service Agent. Seems she just brought back some pheasants after going on a hunting trip with Dick Cheney in the Dakotas. Granted, she wasn't actually hunting with Dick Cheney but rather sussing out the area and keeping guard, but at some point the Cheney hunting party gave her some pheasant. Okay - who are Dick Cheney's hunting buddies, and why would anyone let this man shoot a firearm? Next stop for superbabe Secret Service Agent: keeping an eye out over Bush at his 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch in Texas.

After a quiet Christmas night of gifts and Bailey's with my honey, it's time to do a bit of work. I hope you all had a smashing Christmas. Literally.

Play with my face! [ via All Around the Web ]

VOLTRON NEWS: IT'S FROM THE FUTURE
Here's my final project for After Effects class. I'm still working on it, and these are a little too dark, but I can't hold it back any longer. Behold, be afraid, and be merry. It's Christmas for gosh sakes.

Voltron News (medium, 7 MB)
Voltron News (big, 12 MB)

HAR MAR AND THE TOWERS
What a sad, neglected space this is during the holidaze. Here's what I've been meaning to write about, all too briefly:

The Har Mar Superstar Xmas show . As Har Mar himself says between his graduation gear and his underwear, "Give it up for me, I'm fuckin' awesome." You probably know that he's been banned from playing the MN State Fair and was arrested in Oklahoma - thrown in jail with just his skivvies. I used to reject this fat little man with the high school moustache as mere novelty. But he fulfills the dream of every freak eating lunch alone at school — to be hot and sexy and popular. That wouldn't be enough on it's own. He needs the tools: hot funky saucy grooves and a Steve Wonder cover. Let the nasty move you.

The Two Towers. For all its faults - things get a bit compicated and muddled - I really loved it. In fact I got choked up frequently. Let the spirit move you. Which I think is something Joseph Campbell says. I was thinking a lot about Joseph Campbell after this movie. Why am I so affected by this story, these characters and their hardships and triumphs? How have they tapped into the eternal human mojo? I think it definitely ties into the Power of Myth. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings - have we really chosen this as our religion?

SEND A SNOWFLAKE
I find this activity very soothing and relaxing.

MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!
I have to admit I'm a sucker for Christmas silly songs. Here are a few to jiggle your belly at unhealthy and/or arousing speeds.

Merry Fucking Christmas by Mr. Garrison of South Park. Hilarious!!!

I Am Santa by Bob Rivers, parody of Black Sabbath's Ironman

Christmas at Ground Zero snippet from Weird Al. Umm, that's a pre-9/11 ground zero, back in the good ol' atom bomb days!

Here's a goofy Christmas station, featuring old faves like Bob and Doug McKenzie + more

BUSH GIVES FINGER TO POOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE WORLD
Once again, Bush's religious views taint our public policy and our country has mud on its face and blood on its hands. Bush blocked $34 million in aid to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), and now that agency is asking Bush to reconsider. The United States is the only country ever to deny funding to UNFPA for non-budgetary reasons. Why? Because of false claims that the Fund supports coercive abortion in China. The decision was taken despite recommendations made by a State Department fact-finding team to release the funds. UNFPA estimates that this 12.5 per cent resource shortfall would result in 2 million unwanted pregnancies per year, nearly 800,000 abortions, 4,700 maternal deaths and 77,000 infant and child deaths.
More info from UNFPA | Do Something About It

I'm saddened and angered that our country has to communicate and negotiate with the entire world via our retarded Uncle Bush. How embarassing. How tragic.

CLINTON ON REPUBLICANS' HYPOCRITICAL REACTION TO TRENT LOTT:
"He just embarrassed them by saying in Washington what they do on the back roads every day." [ From a cool NY post article on how the blogosphere broke the Trent Lott story. Which I found on this blog highlighted by Space Waitress. Whew! Blog props can be longwinded, but it's the right thing to do. ]

CYBER GUV'MINT
Bush signed an e-government bill requiring courts to publish their decisions online and establishing an Office of Electronic Government, among other things. It's Lieberman's bill and there are privacy requirements built in, thanks to the help of Center for Democracy and Technology. Former Vice President Al Gore, speaking from the comfort of his Tennessee residence, said "Oh sure. Sure. Bush is all 'Look at me, I'm Mister Cyberpresident. (Gesturing wildly) I love the Internet, blah blah blah.' Yeah? Well how 'bout I unplug the f*cker? That's right. The entire Internet is plugged in right here under my desk. You think I wanna be President? No way. I'm more powerful than you can possibly imagine, right here, with this plug." The plug appeared power Mr. Gore's 486 desktop computer and a small stained coffee maker.

"MRS. POINDEXTER? IT'S TIME YOU KNEW THE TRUTH ABOUT JOHN AND ME."
Now here's unofficial cyber guv'mint by the crypotgraphy community - Cryptome.org posts all sorts of government documents and other items of interest. For example, they've archived the San Francisco Weekly's article inviting you to call John and Linda Poindexter at +1 301 424 6613 to discuss his Total Information Awareness program. Also handy documents such as Britains dossier on Iraq/s weapons of mass destruction (PDF) and lots of satellite photographs of your favorite hangouts, like Camp David.

Meanwhile, I wonder what Trent Lott is doing today...

I'M SUPER INTO PORN MUSIC
Taking a cue from Layne of BlogPlus fame, one of my regular reads, I'm posting my MP3 list. Mostly because it's almost 6AM and I need a break from working, and I thought this would be an easy blog entry. I ended up having to learn more about Excel than I bargained for. I didn't even know I had a track called "Seka's Fantasies (Funkgasm)". It's a pretty odd snapshot of my music tastes, being mostly weird stuff I've downloaded or (ahem) borrowed from the record industry, I mean from my friends. For backup purposes only. It's for national security. I'm on mission from God. It's a gova-mint pro-gram (insert assorted hip-hop gestures).

WELCOME TO CHRISTMASING WITH CHUCK
Wait, first I need to complain. Having collected over 4,700 comments and emails on why people blog (plus or minus a few degrees of ten) it turns out people basically want to bitch. And sometimes be funny. That's it. Yeah, I'm making a documentary about that. So here's me bitching - get ready! I work on web sites for some national TV shows. As it turns out I'm working on a couple at once, both with seasons starting in January. This means I am handcuffed to a cruel, unstoppable freight train of web production all of the day and all of the night. Sure, I'm lucky to have a job, but right now it's bloody hell. I got drunk Friday nite as quickly as possible to become tingly and forgetful, which was nice except for the hangover. I may or may not check monster.com frequently. So, I'm left with little time for say... this blog, current events, peeing, or the jolly Christian-American holiday of Merry Yulesmas. Oh, or my newscast from the future project - but more on that later this week after it's "done."

Hi! Welcome back to your regularly scheduled blog entry. Today, we'll be looking at Chuck's Christmas List. Yes! You've been waiting, FAXing vague threats and signing me up for sperm donations. So you can stop all that now, at least most of it. Sunday eve we went to our landlord's holiday open house. We were reluctant, because you know, they're old. Not really, but like 50s. It turned out to be cool though. Our landlord is totally lefty and a little arty, so there was some groovy intellectual banter going on by the punch bowl. One woman used to do wiretapping for Humphrey before that was illegal, and recommended a book to us called Metal Men about these powerful men that buy and sell unfathomable volumes of oil and metals of the earth. All in all, it was lovely and I thought I would want to be in with this crowd if I was their age. Or even if I'm not. Feisty and smarter and wiser. I think that runs in my family so I'm sure I'll be all of those things. Anyway, I think the party got us a little more in the holiday spirit. Lori baked some yummy candy cane cookies and we listened to swingin' Christmas tunes. And now, I must get back to work so I can sleeeeeeeeep.

WE WILL BLOG FROM THE TREETOPS
This is an incredible use of blogging: "A group of techie activists equips tree-sitters in Northern California's Headwaters Forest with laptops and wireless gear in hopes that protestors' in-tree blogs will draw attention to old-growth logging." (via Wired news) Uhh, here's a woman who uses her breasts and poetry to combat logging. {RealVideo) I'm for it. Definitely for it.

CALLING ALL BLOGGERS!
Before I scroll off the bottom of the "Bloggers of Note" -- once again I'm looking for your story, dear blogger. Why do you blog? What compels you to share your life with the rest of the world, or at least a handful of people? And... do you know of anyone with a particularly unusual or compelling blog, like the treetop protester or The Homeless Guy? Share. Share with me, dear blogger. Because I'm doing this documentary about blogs see, and I need your help to make the dream blossom into a butterfly and explode into so many magical snowflakes, only to melt and congeal into a slippery ball that reflects our souls, a sphere of our past, present and future... the blogosphere.

FUZZY THINGS TO RUB ON YOUR FACE

Help Hitler catch Michael Jackson's baby from, of all places, Steve Perry's Blog. Several City Pages staffers have blogs now. That Matos guy has one, too. Let's not forget Mary Lahammer.

Here's Your Guide to Spotting the North American Rock Critic.

South Park album covers including White Stripes and Belle & Sebastian.

There's a new Bjork video shot in creepy nightvision by Spike Jonze (via Fimoculous)

MP3 of Swedish guitar maniac Yngwie J. Malmsteen going ballistic during an argument with a passenger on a jet to Tokyo (via Incoming Signals)

I'm anxious to see Adaptation and now yet another Charlie Kaufman movie in the works, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind:

"It's about this guy who finds out that his girlfriend of two years has had this surgical procedure which has erased him from her memory. So he's freaked out and trying to live with it and he can't, so he decides to have the same procedure. Most of the movie takes place in his brain as she's being erased, and you see their whole relationship, moment-by-moment, backwards from this sort of bad end to the better beginning. ...in the middle of the process, he changes his mind and decides to save her. So he takes her out of the memories she belongs in, and puts her in memories she doesn’t belong in, to try and hide her." I found this through Chloë Sevigny's web site. Happy 28th birthday Chloë, you devil-angel you.

GEORGIA LEGISLATION REFERS TO ABORTION AS 'EXECUTION'
"Georgia legislators will introduce a bill early next month that refers to abortion as an 'execution'' and will require any mother seeking an abortion to go to court to obtain a death warrant." [ Full Article ] Wow. I suppose they think racial segregation is pretty spiffy, too. Now Georgia, is this what Jesus would want? Not my Jesus. Oh, I should mention that my Jesus is played by Sebastian Bach, former singer of pretty 80's faux-metal band Skid Row.

In other news, WHAT THE HELL IS DICK CHENEY BUILDING? [ all courtesy of a top-secret email list with lots of smart people ]

KU KLUX KID. THE BOY WHO LOVED DUCKS. SUPERCYCLE U.S.S.R.
Watch the trailers now over at City Council Productions. Make sure you're wearing a diaper because these forkers are comic geniuses. And dang their stuff looks good. And the songs. Whew. I hate them i hate them! Err, please give me a job! You are GODS!

CHOLLIE'S FIRST MUSIC VIDEO: I WILL NOT BE DESTROYED
Hey forkers! My film action is back in the hot seat, so strap on your seat belts and whatever else you got cuz this mother is going in full-on auto-reverse to the brink of anonymity. (What???) Our first stop is the Frances Gumm show I shot in the 7th St Entry Saturday nite. It's pretty crappy footage, seeing as how I haven't shot anything in awhile and I had a bit of the Jagermeister in my veins. But it rocked and I couldn't wait to edit something together. "I Will Not Be Destroyed" is one of the great Minneapolis punk rock anthems as far as I'm concerned, and although it's more of a personal victory number (a punk rock "Keep Yourself Alive"?) I went political on the mother. A big "fork you" to George W. and his no-good jock cronies. Here's what I whipped up. (the actual video will probably be nothing like this, btw)

I Will Not Be Destroyed (6 MB Quicktime)

NEXT STOPS I was quite thrilled to scope out old-school loungy locations for a new top secret television show, culminating in a Sunday afternoon meeting at Casey's strip bar in St. Paul. Oh, to be a blue-collar mullethead with a fistful of dollars and gut full of Miller Lite. The dimly-lit red burlap walls, the grimey nude paintings, the ratty burlesque curtains, "Space Cowboy" on the juke - oh, and the strippers, all two of them. The only thing missing was Tom Waits in a corner somewhere. Note to self: Have alternate bittersweet life here someday. And more: The Komedy Koven has been commissioned to do a little thing for a thing (something about some stuff for the guy and the thing), I'm meeting with Matt Ehling re: being D.P. for Blogumentary this week, and I'm going to whip up a newscast from the future for my final class project, *hopefully* involving a little green screen action. Assuming I don't first drop dead from my so-called real job. At least I made a dent in my Xmas shopping today. Live puppies for everyone!

STOP FIDGETING, VISIT NOW She's cute as a button and sassy as a grapefruit, introspective as a... as a... a crazy white girl with a keyboard. She's Kelly, and for some reason she keeps coming back to my blog, so mad props to her. Make that happy props. While you're at it, go check out Matt's Esoteric Rabbit Films blog. The trials and tribulations of a student filmmaker down under who is damned determined to make a film called The Cow Hunters of the South Seas. Your dream is now. The children are our future. We have the technology. We're gonna blow up the moon.

5 MINUTES OF FAME NOW IN PROGRESS here. My damn Real plugins don't work in any browser I have, but I did manage to catch "The Man Who Couldn't Breathe" at 9:20 which was a juried selection. Looks like I have 2 more flicks after the 1am hour tonight. Chris Strouth sez "The revolution will not be webcast. Chances are, you won't even notice it." Beginning to think he's right...

LOVE JUICE PICKLES. DAMN.
My latest After Effects class assignment: make a pickle commercial. Pickle design and co-conspiracy by DJ Aldric. Mad FX skillz by yours truly.

Love Juice Pickles (2.8 MB Quicktime)

MINNESOTA-PRODUCED DETECTIVE FICTION MAKES IT INTO SUNDANCE
I was briefly involved with the web site for Detective Fiction, expertly produced by my sometimes coworker Paul Johnson. Apparently this is the first indie film to hit Sundance, I guess not counting the Brothers Coen. This film is the brainchild of writer/director/star Patrick Coyle, a heckuva nice guy who originally produced this as a play before selling and eventually reacquiring the film rights. It also stars MAD TV star (and Brave New Workshop alum) Mo Collins. It's a good script and was exquisitely shot by friend-to-indies D.P. Greg Winter from Wilson-Griak studio. Congrats to all the fine folks involved. Here's the slightly-too-long trailer.

BEHOLD THE ARCH, AND NOT MUCH ELSE
I have returned from a wedding in St. Louis. (Sounds like a bad first line from a novel, no?) It was brownish gray and crappy, just like Minneapolis without snow but a bit warmer. Most of our time was spent on Lori's brother's wedding and related activities in the suburbs (again, equivalently crappy to Minneapolis). Lori's kindly Norwegian dad drove us to the impressive Gateway Arch, built by Eero Saarinen who also designed my beloved TWA Terminal not to mention some awesome mod chairs. We also spent a few moments (read: beers) in Old Town St. Charles, where Lewis & Clark and Corps of Discovery set upon their journey through the American West. What a band of merry gents, save Sacagawea. Why, that could have been us. Except L&C probably weren't formally dressed in a limo with 2 cases of Bud Light. Outta control man, outta control.

ON THE WEB, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM By the way, apparently I have something featured in the 5 minutes of fame 24-hour webcast, courtesy of the Walker and mnartists.org. Check it out between 9AM Dec 5 and 9AM Dec 6. Oh... and I'm excited to join the documentary community D-Word, started by filmmaker Doug Block who did a documentary smart people say I must see as I embark on Blogumentary: Home Page.