The 2011 Ames Straw Poll Photo Tour, Vol. 1

Mixing free food,  free goodies, free entertainment, political activism, large crowds, and candidates desperate for votes makes for a unique experience under any circumstance, but the circus that is the Ames Straw Poll beats anything I’ve ever seen. Wandering through the University of Iowa grounds with my trusty Canon Digital Rebel, I did my best to capture the sights. Here is my experience in chronological order:

 

The bus to Ames we were on was packed with self proclaimed “terrorists” and “hobbits” who had so much fun together it should have been outlawed. Maybe I shouldn’t have written that, the government might get ideas.

Once we were disembarked, we found some of the campaigns had volunteers to greet us at the entrance to the grounds. First up were from the Rick Santorum campaign.

This gal from the Ron Paul volunteers was happy to smile for the camera.

There was a small stage with flood lights that messed with my first attempt to photograph these two gentlemen from the Tim Pawlenty campaign. They didn’t hesitate to move to a better position when asked. Having a big camera confers unusual power, I found out.

This is Jerry Lanser, one of what I call “micro-candidates” running for President. He was handing out business cards and was very frustrated at being barred from the debate. There were more like him who don’t have a prayer, but Mr. Lanser was the only one I was able to talk to.

Michelle Bachmann had a lot of gals walking around to show her colors. Her organization was very impressive.

A couple of volunteers from the Herman Cain campaign. He’s my favorite candidate and doesn’t have much of a chance at the nomination. I have to say his supporters were the mellowest of the bunch there.

You see a lot of advocacy groups at the Straw Poll, but this year it was amazing how much “green” energy groups dominated. While the Iowa Republicans were enthusiastic about it, many of the people attending from out of state weren’t.

Patch.com was there and I had no clue what they were about. Looking at their website, it appears to be a social network with news and views oriented around community hubs.

The Faith Family Freedom Fund had their Values Bus there. You guessed it, they promote family values.

Citizens United Productions were selling DVDs from this tent. Traffic was a little higher later in the day. No doubt it was hard to compete with the freebies being given away.

Another vendor was selling T-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers. Oddly there were no free bumper stickers being given away by candidates or advocacy groups, which is the norm at big political gatherings.

Mike Huckabee was everywhere and I managed to miss him every time. But his people from his PAC were all over the place. He hasn’t lost any of his popularity in Iowa.

The NRA presence was much bigger than in 2007. Even bigger was its popularity, people were swarming the tents. Fortunately for me, I got there early enough to score one of the extremely popular blaze orange NRA hats they were giving to new members. Good thing I mentioned I was a lifetime member or I wouldn’t have gotten the hat.

Another micro-candidate was Fred Karger. Having no clue who he was, I looked up his web site. Karger is extremely far left socially and his only claim to fame is that he’s the only gay Republican running for president. Running on a platform lowering the voting age to 16, legalizing marijuana, federal gay marriage, and amnesty for illegals isn’t going to get you far. I wonder what goes through some of these candidates’ heads.

 

Across from the NRA tents was the Iowa Gun Owners tent. Like the NRA tent it ended up getting huge traffic as the day went on.

The National Association for Gun Rights was there and got decent traffic, but nothing like the NRA. They are a more recent rival to the NRA and formed by people who didn’t think the NRA was right wing enough.

The bulk of the candidates were in back of the coliseum where the actual vote takes place. The busiest tent there was Bachmann’s and I never did get decent photos since I vowed not to stand in any lines. Her bus was parked outside the huge air conditioned tent.

 

Drifting above the massive tent was a balloon. At first I though it had come unmoored but discovered there was another line besides the one with streamers. My 18-55mm IS lens did a good job and I never had to get the big lens out.

I finally found Herman Cain’s tents when I spotted the bus.

Cain never had the huge crowds Bachmann and Santorum had in the same lot, but I saw a lot of supporters from other campaigns avidly watch him speak. I never heard a disparaging word about him and suspect he was the number two choice for many of them. Cain even sang a couple of gospel tunes and was accompanied by Mike Huckabee on base guitar on one of them.

Cain and McCotter both had inflatable rubber rooms for the little kids, which I thought was a nice touch. There were a lot of young families in attendance.

To get in Bachmann’s tent, you had to stand in line and get a paper bracelet taped around your wrist. This did not deter people and I later heard  she had bussed in 6000 supporters. I can’t verify that but it looked like that many. Like mentioned before, she had the best organization on the grounds.

To be continued…

Off to See the Circus

It is that strange time again in politics when the straw poll is held in Ames, Iowa. I’ll be heading to the Twin Cities today to catch a bus down there on Saturday if all goes according to plan. That’s something that could change, but I’m going ahead anyway.

Describing the Ames Straw Poll as a circus is pretty accurate. In 2007, I went there to see it first hand and how the Fairtax pavilion was doing. If you have ever gone to a county or state fair, you have a good idea of what it is like. The only difference is that almost everything is free.

For some reason, I failed to blog about it four years ago in 2007. So here are a few pictures with some hazy memories to accompany them.

Entering the grounds it looks just like a county fair.

Every candidate had their own pavilion. There was live music later at Mitt Romney’s which was a very posh setup.

Mike Huckabee’s wasn’t as elaborate, but got a lot more attention.

Tommy Thompson’s run fizzled shortly after this but the bikers who came out in force for him made an impression while driving there. They were a fun bunch.

Tom Tancredo failed to drum up much excitement. This time around he’s sitting out and sniping at Perry over illegal immigration issues. Perry isn’t as conservative as people believe he is.

John Cox was one of the micro candidates who show up at affairs like this – desperately hoping to gain any kind of traction. Hardly anybody was there.

Ron Paul supporters were ever present and stridently marched around shouting his name to drown out other candidates interviews with reporters or discussions with others. As you can see, there is a heavy hippie influence. Some people were very uptight around Paul’s supporters and you could see they were afraid of them. Not a good impression.

Duncan Hunter had an Elvis impersonator performing. Make your own jokes here.

C-Span made a big deal about having their bus there. I don’t remember getting to see what the fuss was about.

Lance Armstrong’s charity was there. Why? I have no clue.

I have even less of a clue what they were about.

There was no escaping the Ron Paul presence. Nowhere was safe. Nowhere.

Over at the Fairtax pavilion, we had a Ferris wheel giving rides. It was a heavily trafficked pavilion.

One of the less crowded moments in the pavilion. I saw a lot of families in there and the atmosphere was good.

Uncle Sam costumes are always popular at these events.

You see some strange sights at political gatherings.

This is the closest I got to a crowd shot. I was so busy trying to get photos of specific things that I failed to capture just how many people were there. One of these days I should get a wide angle lens.

It was hot down there and misting fans were very popular. A good idea by the Fairtax bunch.

That’s what it looked like in 2007. I wonder what I’ll find tomorrow? At least I’ll have a better camera this time.

Health 8-11-2011

Yesterday was not wonderful. Had to go out and activate the new cellphone, which is annoying in itself. But the real problem was how badly I was shaking. We picked up cheap sandwiches and drinks at Kwik Trip and I could barely hold on to them.

My hands always shake to some degree, but this included the arms as well. Later I overheated while we were sorting family photos to finally put into albums after decades of neglect. Today isn’t as bad, but I am very spacey.

Having to drive five miles to get a password text message to create an online account didn’t help things. That became a race against the secure page expiring on the PC at home. At least that race was won.

Crossword puzzle was easy, Audiosurf very mixed as I faded out quickly – no endurance.

Not a good sign for the trip up to the Cities tomorrow and the bus trip to Ames, Iowa the next day. Only dread one day at a time, like my mother taught me.

Life in the Fast Lane

It has been a very nice improvement going to 7.7M down on the DSL service. No longer do I have to check if my father is online and streaming something when I want to myself. Downloading walkaround pictures of aircraft doesn’t consume vast amounts of time. Best of all, I can click on news videos without worrying about buffering.

In a similar vein, high speed access is coming to many church meetinghouses too. I like the fact that you’ll log in using your LDS account and there will be extensive filtering which is a very good thing. Nice to see a wiki up on the Internet too, this page on filtering should be bookmarked by every Latter-day Saint household. From personal experience, I heavily recommend using OpenDNS to filter things at the router level.

Our meetinghouse already has high speed Internet, but protected access only. This should be a great help to Sunday school teachers, though I hope the temptation to use media too much is avoided. Nothing beats real discourse.

Across the river, the GOP in Wisconsin held the state senate, only losing two seats in the recall efforts. But those could be regained elswhere in next weeks recalls against Democrats. This is all very silly – recalls should be for serious malfeasance only.

Locally, Kapanke was toast due to his screwing up and being corrupt in transferring campaign funds to a business he owned. Doing that once is bad enough, but being caught doing it again is sheer stupidity in an age of quick news dissemination.

Just got a call from a FedEx driver, my Verizon pay as you go cellphone will be here this morning. After multiple difficulties with TracPhone, I gave up on them and have been without a mobile phone this year. One has to love being able to order a cellphone online and have it delivered to your house that has no reception. The irony is splendid.

Of course Verizon’s union workers went on strike as soon as I ordered the thing. I wonder which company I should cause trouble for next…

Health 8-9-2011

My dislike of talking about my health has translated to procrastinating in posting about it here. This is actually about problems on the 6th and 7th.

Saturday wasn’t wonderful, but I made it into the city for a gaming session. By the end of it I was in more pain than usual and got home late. Sleep did not come easily with an excruciating flare up of the abdominal pain I’ve been experiencing.

Sunday wasn’t just an endurance run, but a torture run. By the third hour of church I was in considerable pain again and missed the baptism afterwards because I knew I was fading fast. The drive home was miserable and I went to bed soon after arriving.

Eventually things improved and I have to wonder if the elderly hot dogs I ate on Saturday were the cause of the severe distress. I still am dealing with twinges but they are not nearly as bad as during the weekend. With things up in the air for the week, I’m not considering going to the doctor until next week. If I do, that is.

I keep hoping this will pass.

Addendum

Forgot to write that I’ve been sneezing and dopey since Sunday night. Might be a bug involved since it affected more than the sinuses. Not a great week so far.

Bleach Episode 5: Beat the Invisible Enemy!

Mix a possessed parakeet and ridiculous feats of strength with a vicious monster and you should get your standard fun action episode, right?  But this spotlight on Chad and Rukia turns into something a little more poignant before it ends.

After a quick recap that condenses Rukia’s fight with the Hollow…

I should warn that Bleach suffers from recaps at the beginning of most episodes and eventually became notorious for eating up minutes of time on them. At this point in the series it isn’t a big problem, but be warned. Fortunately, DVD players have fast forward buttons!

Err, back to the episode itself. Rukia is still fighting the Hollow pursuing the parakeet that houses the soul of a little boy, Shibata. Hoping that her Soul Reaper powers have recovered enough turns out to be a mistake. Luckily for her, Ichigo’s overgrown friend, Chad, is around to punch the monster out. Unluckily, he can’t see or hear the Hollow and is punching air more than anything solid.

Meanwhile, Ichigo is racing back to the scene after taking his sister Karin back home. He’s deeply rattled by her crying over the parakeet because she hasn’t done that since their mother died. It is clear the wounds from that death are still very deep. The focus on the Kurosaki family lends surprising depth to what should be just a hack and slash fighting cartoon.

Last episode, Chad showed superhuman strength and an ability to take insane damage when a steel girder fell on him. That was no fluke as he rips out a telephone pole to swat the now flying Hollow!  Just what is he?

The Hollow is just as surprised, exclaiming, “T-this is crazy!” It is an amusing moment in a fight that is darkly comedic before turning very dark indeed.

Moments later, we see a nod to the X-Men as Chad stands in for Colossus throwing a “fastball special” with Rukia subbing for Wolverine. I don’t know if this was a deliberate homage, but it is suspicious given some comments in an upcoming episode.

The heroes don’t fare too well and it takes Ichigo to save the day which is pretty much standard anime fare. The substitute Soul Reaper is acting oddly though. Instead of killing the sadistic Hollow, he angrily interrogates him at sword point demanding to know if he killed the boy’s mother.

The answers given take Bleach into much darker territory than it has explored previously. It also raises questions about the afterlife in this fictional universe and Ichigo shows signs of being a much more complicated young man than we thought. Both brutality and compassion follow, leading to another bittersweet ending.

Thoughts

Watching these older episodes has caused me to notice how young the characters look. Three hundred plus episodes later they look older, which isn’t a bad thing at all. It gives a sense that time does pass and in real life I can’t believe how fast kids grow, especially the teenagers.

One thing Kubo Tite, the creator of Bleach, doesn’t get credit for is how well he weaves themes through the story arcs. While he’s on record saying he makes it all up as he goes, I’m beginning to think he’s dissembling. Too many plot developments have hints or setups dropped in that don’t pay off until much farther down the road.

A strong sense of justice and compassion pervades these early episodes. The characters all have very human moments amidst all the violence and comedy. Consequently, I found myself expecting character development to come whenever a new one popped up.

The theme of Ichigo being good with kids and a natural big brother to them is reinforced in this episode.

Technical

Since this is the first episode on Disc 2 of the first box set, I’ll go into the differences from the first disc. Other than the episodes and title screen, there aren’t any. Even the extras are the same.

The English dub is even more annoying compared to the subtitled Japanese than I’d realized. Chibata, the parakeet, suffers the most from the change in voice actors. I’m also noticing the dialogue changes are bigger than I’d like.

While I’d hoped to be able to review two episodes at a time, it isn’t working out due to how elements of the plot are carried over week to week. Back to one episode at a time.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!

 

 

 

Ichigo’s reaction to finding out that the Hollow was the murderer of the little boy’s mother is more than normal outrage. He’s as sadistic in brutalizing the monster as the former serial killer was to his victims. Knowing what happens in the next few episodes, this parakeet two-parter was really about Ichigo and his family. A lot of clues are being dropped about the tragedy that shaped the teen.

Previously, we’d been shown that Hollows aren’t necessarily truly evil and that slicing their mask will purify them so they can go to Soul Society. Here we find out that isn’t the case for those who were evil in mortality. They are taken violently and painfully through the Gates to the Underworld, or Hell. This idea won’t be revisited until the fourth Bleach movie.

Chibata’s departure to Soul Society is a touching scene, with him behaving like a little child would. Both Chad and Ichigo score big brother points in handling the traumatized boy. Each makes a promise to him that helps him move on, but Ichigo’s is unknowingly a lie. We’ll see Chibata again.

Turn of a Friendly Card

Gambling is alluring to most people and has gotten more popular than ever with high stakes poker shows on cable television and casinos sprouting up all over the place. But the biggest mecca for gambling isn’t Los Vegas. It is Wall Street.

Watching the markets claw their way to positive gains today, I’m struck by how addictive behaviors make their presence felt in even what should be the most sober of locations. There is no good economic news and only vague hopes of another stimulus or some such reassurance from the Fed. Speculation has lost what rationality it had at some point in the past and I’ll leave that to someone to pinpoint.

It eerily reminds me of partying before a disaster hits. Or in this case, during the opening stages of one.

Ah, well. One can’t live life without taking a few chances. I’ve made a few gambles in life that didn’t pay off, though for the most part they weren’t financial ones. My latest to go awry is an attempt to make my pistol accurate.

The Ruger P94 I have had since the late 90’s has never been accurate. At best, I could throw bullets with the same results. But through trial and much error, the problem has been narrowed down to sights that hit at least 6 inches too low.

I’d hoped adding Hogue grips would help. Today I finally got to test the modified pistol out with them. They did help in the horizontal, oddly. But the sights are still horrible. Even making a triangle with the dots only elevated shots to three inches low. Lining up the dots is supposed to be dead on at 7 yards but doing that took me completely off the paper 7 out of 10 shots.

Now I’m debating selling or trading in the gun and getting a different used pistol. With my friend’s Springfield XDM, I wasn’t just on paper on the first try but shot a nice fist sized group about two inches low. So my trigger technique does need work but it isn’t 6” plus bad.

I also broke the plastic head of my small crafting hammer while trying to remove the rear sights during an experiment to see if I could change them out myself. Insult to injury or injury to insult?

So $20 down the drain on the grips. It would be another $130 to get new adjustable sights and pay a gunsmith to put them on. I’m not enthused.

Things Fall Apart

One inescapable reality is that all things break down at some point. Some can be repaired, some can be replaced, some are lost forever, but this is what happens in life.

Yesterday our internet access went down and so did one phone line as we discovered this morning. Good thing we called in since it turned out to be a cabinet problem that affected others too. But repairs took awhile and service wasn’t restored until after 2PM. For which I’m grateful.

Timing wasn’t great since I had been hoping to see how world stock markets reacted to Friday’s downgrade of the U.S.A. by Standard & Poors. Not surprisingly, they didn’t take it well and the Dow Jones was down by over 500 at one point. As I type, a minor rally failed at it is down 500 again which is a loss of 4.4%. Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are being hit harder, both down more than 5%.

People can point politically motivated fingers all they want, but this is debt driven and can’t be fixed. An ineffectual, incompetent, and detached president doesn’t help, but this is the result of decades of financial folly. It can’t be easily fixed. Most likely it can’t be fixed and we’ll have to take our lumps

Such is life and the current generations have had it easy to this point. Many of our ancestors would shake their heads at our mistakes, but most of all at how spoiled we are. Time to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and stop looking to others to solve our problems.

Sad thing is we no longer have true leaders to get us out of this mess.

Updated

Mere moments after posting this, the Dow dived to a 632 point loss or 5.53% down.

Updated Again

London is burning. “Youths” are doing their best to destroy everything they can and beat as many people they can lay hands on. The citizens are defenseless against this and I can’t think of a better argument in favor of the 2nd Amendment.

It isn’t just finances that are falling apart in the world. Order is beginning to as well.

Dust in the Wind

Or more accurately, crop dusting on a hazy Saturday morning.

It was surprising to hear an airplane buzzing the house at very low level this morn. Normally, only the rare C-130 will buzz the place about once a year or so and the local light planes keep higher. So I went outside to check out what the racket was about and was very surprised to see a bright yellow crop dusting plane circling round.

An opportunity for photos, I thought! I rushed back into the house and grabbed the Canon S1IS that is for general use and ran out. Change batteries it said. No spare batteries charged at the moment, of course.

Back in I went and got the big Canon DSLR. Being in a hurry, I didn’t bother to put the big telephoto lens on it. Switched to sport mode as I’m beyond rusty and took a few shots. Results weren’t what I wanted and I knew I had to risk the plane departing to get the 55-250mm lens.

Fortunately for me, more passes were made and I got some better shots.

The spray bars which dispense the chemicals dropped are one of the most intriguing features on these specialty planes.

I assume the thick wings hold the chemical tanks, but can’t say for sure.

The profile reminds me of early racing planes, but with a much higher canopy. That’s needed for winding your way through the weeds.

Amazing how low they fly to spray.

Well that was fun. I never did get to an airshow after getting a decent camera and telephoto lens, so at least I know they work!

All Along the Watchtower

Time again to collect my thoughts for posterity since this blog was started to be a journal.

With the stock markets diving, it appears reality has finally caught up to investors. The new jobs report shows unemployment down slightly to 9.1% but is due to Americans leaving the employment game. Only 58.1% (or 63.9%, I’m running into varying figures) of the employable population are holding a job right now.

The attempt to decouple employment from economic health baffles me. It demonstrates just how out of touch the elites are. Apparently, they have no knowledge of history – if they did they’d be terrified right about now. The first warning sign is usually a populist political movements being born. If those fail to change things or are suppressed, structural failures in a society begin to be evident. That isn’t saying they weren’t already there, but that the masses begin to perceive them. Consider it noticing that the emperor is walking around stark naked.

I think we have entered that stage with “government” replacing “emperor.”

Should be an interesting day watching the stock markets again. 3% a day declines in US and Asian stock indexes have been the pattern the last few days. We’ll see if that changes.

At home, we now have much higher DSL speeds thanks to a change in modems and the new package from Ace. Speed tops out at 6.7M down, which is amazing after being used to 1M. Streaming is a new world, but tests of HD streams have been mixed. Since I don’t have many to compare, my conclusions are limited but it appears to be dependent on the technology used by the streaming services.

720P works just fine off of youTube, but an anime site I tried still stutters. Come to think of it, they don’t label as 720P, maybe they are trying to push 1080P. I should try out Hulu Plus for the free week and see how that works.

Will this skeptic of streaming movie services ever be fully converted? Time will tell.

Best thing about the increased speed is how software updates seem instantaneous now. There is also enough bandwidth to have two people browsing videos and music without stepping on each other’s virtual toes. VOIP is working better so far as well.

A Mormon Defense League? For all the talk of Latter-day Saints being so media savvy, the fact this only just launched demonstrates how questionable that assumption is. This organization is needed given the rampant bigotry and ignorance on display across the country.

I was checking the stats on the blog and noticed a lot of hits were on my Citizen Kane review. What is surprising is how many people have been looking for the No Trespassing sign still shot. Is there a meme out there I’m unaware of?

And by a lot of hits, I mean in double digits.

One of the nice things about having a small blog is seeing the strange intersections of what I post and what people are looking for. Part of it is nostalgia for when the Web was new and I’d surf to find whatever was out there. That feeling of finding the unexpected and different is no longer there for me. Maybe others aren’t as jaded and find something here to entertain or ponder. If so, I hope that feeling of discovery is aided a little by my meanderings.

Watched the new Clash of the Titans the other night. What a hollow experience that was. None of the charm or respect of the old myths in the original was present. The effects were decent and that is the only area in which it was superior. It simply isn’t a good movie.

Finally purchased and downloaded Planescape: Torment to play. It is a game I’d read about for years and had meant to get last year when it showed up at GOG.com. There are some issues of crashing, but I made sure to add the mod to allow quick saves. Sigil is one interesting place and the Planes always make for a good setting.

Hopefully, I can finish this game eventually. I haven’t gamed that much lately since writing has taken up more of my health induced down time. This is a good thing.

Health 8-4-2011

Since early July, a pain in my lower abdomen has been giving me grief. It felt like a muscle strain but never goes away for long. If it gets much worse, I’ll have to have it looked into. I’d rather wait it out.

Didn’t sleep well due to it. Crossword puzzle was way too easy today, so of no use gauging mental acuity. Audio surf wasn’t great, but it was all fast moving  steep downhill tracks today. So once again, not a good way of measuring things.

It is a Thursday. I never did get the hang of Thursdays.

Moody Minnesota

It had slipped my attention that the state of Minnesota was downgraded from AAA to AA+ by Moody’s last month. So it was somewhat surprising to find out that the financial outlook for Minnesota was revised to negative on Monday. This is not a good thing when looking for bonding in the future.

Strange how my state has become something of a predictor for political problems lately. What’s clear is that the public’s love of having divided government doesn’t work so well during a time of economic crisis.  Big governments are slow to react to anything and divided governments are even worse.

So we are seeing that stop gap measures aren’t effective in keeping good credit ratings, which should be a warning sign to the Federal government. There is a very high chance that there will be a downgrade there as well.

I should see how the stock markets are taking things now that the debt ceiling raise was signed by President Obama…

Well, the Dow has plunged below the 12,000 mark and the S&P has shed most of its gains for the year. Not surprising since there is no good economic news to be had. Gold just went higher with South Korea buying more, it is at $1644.50 an ounce. That’s absurdly high and a huge warning sign.

Interesting times.

Chicken Tracks

One thing I’ve noticed about when I get overtired is the tendency toward malapropos when speaking or writing. It is very irritating to realize that the wrong word was used well after the fact. So when I logged in today and saw that I’d titled the last post “Chicken Scratches” I was not amused.

When I wrote that title, in my head was the imagery of what my notes and print writing looks like. Those of us who print too quickly can be accused of putting “chicken tracks” on paper. How “scratches” got in there I do not know.

Now for some more randomness as I willfully go off topic.

While off in the big medium small city, I ran across a gun shop that was unknown to me. Curious to see what they have, one of the first things beheld upon entering is afflicting me with a bad case of the wants. It is a new DPMS Panther Oracle in .308/7.62 caliber. Think of an M-4 but with a much bigger punch.

For some time, I’ve wanted a .308 semi-auto to fill a true multirole capability. Something that can take deer or larger game down but also be something useful if the world decides to end while I wasn’t watching. But most of all, after getting an Enfield SMLE I fell in love with shooting bigger rounds. Which is not what I expected at all.

One thing saving me from getting too covetous of the rifle is the short barrel. I want something longer for hunting purposes, though I concede that my shaky hands probably render the extra range useless. It is also why I need the ability to put a second round downrange ASAP when I miss. Sigh.

Back to reality.

Chicken Scratches

I survived the weekend. therefore I declare a small victory for doing so. It was not a particularly challenging weekend as far as demands go, but I can’t make any claims to having much energy. Today was a high pain index day with my back sounding like Rice Crispies – which is actually a good thing. When it pops like that, it relieves  the pain.

Last night’s gaming session got very silly indeed with my paladin surviving a crocodile attack while he was sleeping. A crocodile named “Crikey.” That would have been a bad way to go. Especially since I’m the tank of the party.

Church was interesting today. A new High Priest Group Leader and new Elders Quorum President were the surprises for the day. So in the past two months most of the auxiliary heads and the Bishopric changed. More to come we were told.

A debt ceiling deal was reached and now we’ll see if it can be passed. I suspect it will. It is all reshuffling the deck chairs anyway.

Time to submit my finances to the county again for review. It is a good excuse to go to town for a print out of my Social Security benefits. Unfortunately, the weather will be miserable again. I’ll take the camera along just in case an interesting picture presents itself. It would be nice to get going on photography again.

My personal goal of writing 300 words per day on the blog has been easily passed, so stage one of getting in the habit of writing has worked out well. I’ve begun rounding up the various tablets, electronic files, and loose notes with ideas for stories that I’ve strewn about over the years. Time to put them into one physical location and transcribe them to bits and bytes.

The Thirteen Days review is going to take a lot longer than expected. Instead of viewing it twice it is going to take at least three to four viewings. Normally I watch once to take notes and a second time to make screen captures. For some reason, the fact the DVD has commentary and a special pop up feature eluded my notice all the years I’ve owned it. Those need reviewing too on this overlooked film.

More soundtrack reviews will probably be posted in the future. One of the more interesting trends in music is that of high quality scores for video games. So those will get some attention since they are off the beaten path.

TRON: Legacy Soundtrack (2010) Digital Format

An exceptional auditory experience blending synthesized and orchestral music, the soundtrack is even more dazzling than the movie. While I’m not a Daft Punk fan, the duo has created something very special here.

Thanks to the Internet, it is easier to acquire music than ever before in all its myriad variations. In turn, that has allowed me to broaden my musical horizons and sample things I would never have otherwise. There are only a few genres I don’t like and techno verges on being one of them. Daft Punk is so big in techno that even I had heard of them. So it was with some trepidation that I approached the samples from the forthcoming movie last winter.

To my surprise, the snippets I listened to were very intriguing and I really liked what I heard. With bonus tracks being offered with the digital version from iTunes, I purchased the album.  After that, I purchased the Amazon exclusive MP3 to complete what was available in the USA. Europe got a deluxe edition which I can’t find or afford so my review is limited to the USA tracks.

So without further adieu, the review of TRON: Legacy Original Motion Picture Soundtrack!

A note on my starring system: It is what I have them marked as in MediaMonkey, the media player and music database program I use. I tend to be harsher with evaluations, so 1 star = can be tolerated, 2 stars = good, 3 = above average, 4 = excellent, and 5 = a true favorite.

The Tracks

Overture is the first track and its slow rising horns and strings set a mournful tone before blending with synth for the fanfare. It is a somber and serious piece, not your typical heroic fare. 3 Stars.

The Grid follows with pulsating percussion and tense strings accompanying Jeff Bridges narration setting up the movie. It builds into heavy synth with a feeling of anticipation to it. 4 Stars.

The Son of Flynn is a moody track dominated by synthesizers that pays some tribute to Wendy Carlos’ score for TRON. It is an odd mix of playful synth that wouldn’t sound out of place on a harpsichord overlaid upon a pensive orchestral base. 5 Stars.

Recognizer builds to ominous tones very quickly. There is a feeling of something big and menacing coming that gives way to a variation of the main motif. It ends with a much darker version of the preceding track. 3 Stars.

Armory brings a change of pace to the soundtrack. Reminiscent of early 80’s electronica of the Tangerine Dream type, it conveys a sense of mystery through its softer tones.

Arena starts with quiet buzzing which leads to an ever escalating and repeating synth keyboard eventually joined by taiko drums. One can easily imagine the entry of a gladiator into an excited coliseum and the crowd erupting. 4 Stars.

Rinzler is a very sinister track that starts ominously. There is a feeling of being hunted, starting with the sensation that somebody is watching you followed by the realization it really is happening. Then comes the horrifying attack and silence.  3 Stars.

The Game Has Changed fuses elements from Arena and Rinzler then brings in the horns from Recognizer. Tension steadily rises and fades like the ebb and flow of an extended battle before ending in a crescendo of noise. 4 Stars.

Outlands begins with the now familiar use of repetitive and tension building strings. Along the way it turns into a Wagnarian journey when the horns kick in for an exciting finish before trailing off suggestively. 3 stars.

Adagio for Tron is mainly orchestral at first before its mournful strings meet mellow keyboards. Here Carlos’ influence is very clear. Halfway, the tone shifts dramatically in a bolder reprise accompanied by dark synths and louder horns. A solo cello assumes center stage to end the piece on a sad note. 3 Star.

Nocturne continues the brooding atmosphere with a mix of slow strings and synths. Introspection and sadness are invoked by the track. 3 Star.

End of Line kicks things into gear after the previous melancholy tracks. Featuring a turn toward techno, it has a strong dance beat that would fit in any club scene. But it also manages to sound incredibly sinister, with a feeling that very bad things are lurking under the surface. Distorted electronic noises contribute greatly to that feeling of unease. It is a stand out track. 5 Stars.

Derezzed was the track that got previewed on the Web and from what I’ve seen is classic Daft Punk. An example of pure techno it is frenetic and has a heavy beat, but with an 8 bit feel to it. Distortion that was present in the previous track is increased dramatically. 3 Stars.

Fall sounds like falling, strangely enough. Fuzzed tones rise like a tea kettle, pause, then start over again. The effect is that of something going very, very wrong. 3 Stars.

Solar Sailor brings another break from the tension while remaining somewhat pensive. Keyboard synth work reminds me of a babbling brook and also the original movie. Something serene and lovely is implied in this relatively peaceful track. 3 Stars.

Rectifier ends the mellow mood decisively when sinister strings build into something martial and strident. An impression of an army appearing over the horizon is conveyed by the horn section. The piece slows and fades out gradually like the army has marched past you. 3 Stars.

Disc Wars is percussive and immediate. It is the first heroic sounding track; strangely full of hope. The 8 bit keyboard returns and adds further urgency until it builds into something grand. Possibly my favorite on the soundtrack. 5 Stars.

C.L.U. features urgent strings again with dark undertones provided by synthesizer. They give way to calculated keyboards before resuming with horns accompanying. The overall effect is the feeling of someone slowly losing their temper until they hit the snapping point. Danger fills the soundstage and it stays that way until the end. 3 Stars.

Arrival conveys a sense of weariness after a long journey. This slower synth piece has a pervasive melancholy about it. 3 Stars.

Flynn Lives reprises the theme from Overture with the addition of whirling beauty to accompany the sadness. This is what the entire score has been building to. 4 Stars.

TRON Legacy (End Titles) is a heavy electronica version of what was first presented in The Grid. This restatement of the main theme simply sounds like an end title. Which it is supposed to, right? 4 Stars.

Finale is the final track of the score. Featuring mournful and elegiac horns that give way to strings, it moves to a more optimistic sound when woodwinds introduce the final crescendo. Seeing light at the end of a dark tunnels is how I would describe this track. 3 Stars.

iTunes Bonus Tracks:

Father and Son is a slow piano reprise of the main theme, with the addition of subdued strings and horns. It is another melancholy piece. 3 Stars.

Outlands, Pt. II is a variation on Outlands, but more urgent and layered in sound. Mysterious and dark by comparison, it begets a sense of dread before an organ makes it funereal. 3 Stars.

Amazon Exclusive Track

Sea of Simulation continues the burbling brook electronica of Solar Sailor. It is slightly more contemplative than that track. 3 Stars.

Thoughts

Daft Punk did an outstanding job in composing Tron: Legacy.  It is a wonderful and masterful blend of synth and orchestral elements that always flows with nary a misstep. I ended up loving it long before I finally saw the movie. The impressions are hopefully the ones from before viewing the film.

Like the movie, this is not a cheerful work. You’ll notice I used the word melancholy to describe multiple tracks and that is the over all mood of the album. But there is a purposeful sound to it that makes it very easy to keep in your music rotation. Make no mistake about it, it is beautiful music.

Not all soundtracks can stand on their own from their associated film, but this one easily does. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes music.

Technical

iTunes included what they call a Digital Booklet (it’s a Acrobat file) with the downloaded album. Scans of the entire CD insert make up the booklet and contain some small interviews.

Daft Punk was inspired by the original TRON as can be seen by their helmets they wear in concert (and movie cameo). Influences on them include Wendy Carlos, Bernard Hermann, and Hans Zimmer. Aspect of all three composers can be heard in the structures of the tracks.

Sound is clean, near CD level and will sound great on any system. iTunes files have come a long way over the years.

I’d like to eventually get the CD because my sound setup does show a difference between lossless and lossy sound files. Most people won’t notice the difference, but the soundstage is much wider on my Boston Acoustics speakers and Sennheiser headphones when playing complex music.

Health 7-29-2011

Not quite into true bronchitis, but the right bronchial is making life difficult. The high humidity is aggravating things and I’m living on cough drops.

Went out to get said cough drops and dropped in on a household I home teach Wednesday. By the time I headed home, I was short of breath. Last night my father and I met with friends at the Caledonia DQ and by the end of that the same thing was happening, but not as bad.

Oh well. At least the crossword puzzles have been going well. Audiosurf is another matter entirely. Mind is working but the body not so much. Too bad the warranty is expired on it.

Bleach Season 1: The Substitute, Ep. 3-4

The famous anime continues to introduce the main characters and shows a sentimental side during the attack on Orihime. Later, Rukia finds a foe she cannot vanquish while adapting to the world of mortals.

Episode 3: The Older Brother’s Wish, the Younger Sister’s Wish

Things pick up with Rukia explaining to Ichigo that there appears to be a mastermind hollow manipulating events from behind the scenes. As she plays detective, a sudden realization sends them on a frantic mission to protect Orihime. Being ghosts, hollows are drawn to those they loved in life and the redhead’s brother proves this correct as he arrives at the girl’s apartment.

The Debt Ceiling Mess

This it going to be a purely my point of view entry under the personal category. This way I have something written to look back on in the future. I’m getting the feeling events are history in the making with a capital H. So time to organize my thoughts for posterity.

The debt ceiling expansion is a political no win scenario for the Republican Party and possibly extremely damaging to President Obama. No matter what is passed it will not address the massive debt the government has accrued.

The Left can jack up taxes all they want and it won’t work. There is a phrase called “capital flight” and we’ll see the wealthy move what is left of their money overseas if this happens. That will not generate revenue or jobs here. No employers equal no jobs and the socialist model of all working for the government is unsustainable. The Twentieth Century proved that repeatedly.

Only harsh spending cuts will do any good at stimulating the economy, but that is impossible given two thirds of the government is under Democratic Party control. The House GOP freshmen have badly miscalculated what their real power is. So even if the Boehner plan is passed it will die in the Senate or be vetoed.

I’ve felt for some time we passed the point of no return vis a vis the national debt and that it is impossible to pay it off. Eventually it won’t be possible to borrow any more money, since Europe and Asia are in trouble too. The only thing allowing this charade of solvency to continue is that there is nowhere else for investors to move to than the dollar and US bonds.

Meanwhile, there is zero leadership being exhibited by Obama. His main concern is with kicking the ceiling issue down the road past November of 2012. Even raising taxes is secondary to getting reelected. Harry Reid is not much better. The Senate Democrats haven’t passed a budget in over 800 days. That’s years!

Many of my fellow Tea Party types want a default. Like the House GOP Caucus, they’ve badly overestimated their power in a split government. I don’t always agree with Charles Krauthammer, but his advice to focus on 2012 and taking the Senate is sage. But most in the Tea Party movement are political neophytes and believe taking a principled stand will win the day. Sorry, our government is far too corrupt for that to work.

The fiscal irresponsibility of decades by the Democrats and Republicans has gotten us here. So has the same irresponsibility of the citizens who have run up the same kind of debt. Right now many citizens are paying the price for their screwing up and it won’t be long until everyone will pay for the federal level screw ups.

I’ve often thought Wall Street and stock markets in general live in a fantasy world with little attachment to reality. The fact traders are just now tumbling to the idea there will be a default is a fascinating case of denial. It is much like both sides of the political aisle thinking the other is bluffing.

Default is coming in the future due to the way politics works. It is a matter of when, not if. It is also a matter of who will take the political blame. It doesn’t matter who is in the right or who was really responsible when the blame game begins for real. With a detached political class out of touch with the common man, frictions are going to grow until combustion happens. Why do I keep thinking about the aftermath of the French Revolution?  It isn’t a comforting reflection.

We are in a genuinely hopeless situation barring something utterly improbable and unpredictable happening. Instead of doing necessary things, we have political theater which is pretty much the norm when collapses happen. Neither the political class or the masses are willing to do what needs to be done.

I think it was Mark Twain who said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” In this case, I think the Great Depression may not be the proper model. It may be more like the fall of an empire with a massive earthquake followed by many severe aftershocks rippling across the globe.

We haven’t hit the really bad parts yet. But it is so very galling seeing what is coming and knowing nobody will stop it. Procrastination goes hand in hand with corruption and this may be the most telegraphed disaster in recorded history. Why do we have to be so Epimethean rather than Promethean? Bet that’s been thought many times since the age of the ancient Greeks.

The sole comforting thought is that humanity has gone through all this many times and survived. The wheel of history keeps turning and people find a way to make it through the darkness. Eventually, light returns.

Newer Is Not Always Better

Over the past two nights, I watched both versions of True Grit starting with the 1969 movie and finishing with the 2010 interpretation. It may be hard to believe, but I’d never seen the original. How that happened, I do not know. There are vague memories of watching Rooster Cogburn as a child, but that’s as close as it gets.

Being a Coen brothers fan and not a John Wayne fan, I fully expected to prefer the newer film. Surprise! The original completely outclasses the new one in almost every area and is only inferior in the cinematography.

Now I understand why John Wayne got an Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn. Cast completely against type, he’s an utterly believable reprobate. In The Quiet Man, I’d seen that the famous star could actually act but I was unprepared for this performance. While Jeff Bridges was good in the part, Wayne’s version feels like a real person. If somebody had told me that I’d find Bridges’ performance inferior before this, I would have laughed in their face.

Glen Campbell gets the better of Matt Damon as the Texas Ranger, La Boeuf. Not quite as surprising as I always thought he was an underrated actor. This is no knock on Damon’s performance, by the way.

Kim Darby narrowly edges Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross. Both actresses were very good, but Darby more successfully channeled the very Protestant girl. Pretty impressive given she was so much older than the character. Both carried their respective movies, but Steinfeld was too pretty for the part. The young actress looks like she will be someone to watch in the future. Time will tell.

Robert Duvall as Lucky Ned Pepper is light years better than Barry Pepper (a Pepper playing a Pepper?  I want to be a Pepper too!). There is something so authentic about his portrayal that I have trouble describing it.

Jeff Corey is simply more memorable than Josh Brolin as Tom Cheney. He just was the better whiner, which is an odd thing to view as a plus. Brolin was enjoyable in the part.

Two major differences in the movies stood out to me other than changes in events.

The first is the pacing.  The older movie moves at a more leisurely pace, especially early on. That gave the feeling of a true journey while the pacing of the modern version rushed things.

Second, the script for the 1969 True Grit was better. The extended verbal clashes between Mattie and well, everyone else, were an absolute delight. Coen brothers weirdness didn’t work as well as it usually does, though I’ll give them credit for being much more restrained than normal.

While the 2010 film is good, the 1969 movie is truly great. I may have to add it to my DVD library.

Cat’s in the Cradle

Cats have often been associated with being muses for writers or at least their regular companions. There is a drawback to this and that is trying to type around a cat who insists on being held. It simply does not work.

Cat extortion usually follows their being put down. Oh, it would be bad if the computer power cables were messed with, wouldn’t it?  You know, those speakers could have an accident, you don’t want that do ya?

Then there is the thing I dread the most: cat surprise.  Cat surprise involves running full tilt into the room and jumping on me without warning or looking to see if there is even a remote chance of a safe landing. Often it results in keyboard abuse as well.

At least I don’t use a mouse. In my early days of home computing, I found out that a moving cord invites temptation, not to mention carpal tunnel syndrome. Trackballs are a wonderful solution as long as you clean the cat hair out of them.

For some inexplicable reason, I fail to find my cats inspirational or anything close to being like muses. Obviously I’m doing something wrong.