Company holiday party tonight. Better late than never. It was great.
I had a lot of fun, and great food and a lot of drinks. It was at Carnivale,
a spectacular Latin-themed restaurant in downtown Chicago near the
offce. Hard to believe the dark, dank and cavernous Drink once occupied
the same space. I enjoyed Rasberry Mojitos, Margaritas, Tequila shots,
and a lot of very delicious food. And must say I work with some really
great people, and met some really nice SO's too. To namecheck a few:
Steve, his girl, Amanda, her guy. Brad, his girl, Tesia, Sherwin, Laurie,
Val, Stacey, Scott, his wife, Bob. Michelle, Tim, Wendy, Andrew, Brooke,
Nick, Carol, Challis, Deb, Matt, his wife, Ryan, his wife, Paul, etc.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Great New Music...
Listening right now to the eponymously titled "Hotel Lights", the
project of ex-Ben Folds Five member Darrenn Jessee. Of course
there is a Sparklehorse connection. It was produced by SH
alumnus and steel guitar player extrordinaire Alan Weatherhead.
Absolutely fantastic record of mid-tempo balladry with terrific
melodies and musicianship. Highly recommended. You can
check out some of the record here: hotellights.net
And even more greatness. Sophie Michalitsianos, who has also
been a valued member of the Sparklehorse fold, has a marvelous
new record coming out under the pseudonym Sol Seppy. I've
been lucky lucky lucky to have scored an advance copy of her
debut album, "The Bells of 1 2", and it is tremendous. When you
hear a record like this you can start to appreciate the how
influential Mark Linkous has been to the world of indie music.
Of course it doesn't hurt that she played with him, either.
But she has delivered a tour-de-force, a smoldering slow
fire of sensuality, filtered through the SH like techniques
of distorted vox and nature sounds, music that crackles
and then suddenly becomes lush and orchestral. This is
a great CD, and early contender for the best of 2006 lists.
This will be available as a UK import in March, and I will
be buying a real copy as soon as it drops.
Sol Seppy Site
project of ex-Ben Folds Five member Darrenn Jessee. Of course
there is a Sparklehorse connection. It was produced by SH
alumnus and steel guitar player extrordinaire Alan Weatherhead.
Absolutely fantastic record of mid-tempo balladry with terrific
melodies and musicianship. Highly recommended. You can
check out some of the record here: hotellights.net
And even more greatness. Sophie Michalitsianos, who has also
been a valued member of the Sparklehorse fold, has a marvelous
new record coming out under the pseudonym Sol Seppy. I've
been lucky lucky lucky to have scored an advance copy of her
debut album, "The Bells of 1 2", and it is tremendous. When you
hear a record like this you can start to appreciate the how
influential Mark Linkous has been to the world of indie music.
Of course it doesn't hurt that she played with him, either.
But she has delivered a tour-de-force, a smoldering slow
fire of sensuality, filtered through the SH like techniques
of distorted vox and nature sounds, music that crackles
and then suddenly becomes lush and orchestral. This is
a great CD, and early contender for the best of 2006 lists.
This will be available as a UK import in March, and I will
be buying a real copy as soon as it drops.
Sol Seppy Site
What's All This Then?? A New Post??
In those ubiquitous words of the fledgling programmers, "Hello world".
WOH is back! Look for the news on the CNN crawl in between the
headlines about Devo 2.0 and Richard Hatch...
WOH is back! Look for the news on the CNN crawl in between the
headlines about Devo 2.0 and Richard Hatch...
Monday, August 22, 2005
In Memoriam: Joe Ranft of Pixar (1960-2005)
So, it's been awhile. W.O.H. has barely been on life support, and
I know my legions of readers have been breathlessly waiting for a new
dispatch from blogland.
That said, I wanted to take some time to honor the memory of Joe Ranft
of Pixar Animation Studios, who died in a car accident last Tuesday.
I didn't know Joe, but I was certainly touched by his work. Joe was
the head of Pixar's story department. And at Pixar, story comes first.
I am a huge fan of Pixar's work. I became interested in computer
animation after seeing one of their early short films, and followed
their progress as they evolved from being creators of landmark computer
animation software (Renderman) to a full fledged animation studio,
delivering one memorable film after another.
Joe was one of the their chief storyboard artists. When we watch these
amazing films, we're seeing his visions. We were seeing the worlds
of Buzz and Woody, and Princess Atta and Flick through Joe's eyes.
He also shared co-writing credits on "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life",
as well as "The Lion King" and other Disney films. Not only that,
but Joe voiced some of the most beloved of the Pixar characters,
including Wheezy, the asthmatic penguin of "Toy Story 2", and Heimlich
the caterpillar from "A Bug's Life".
That life could have so cruelly been taken from this amazingly
talented person in his prime, leaving behind a wife and two young
children, is to me, one of those Marge Gunderson "I just don't
understand it" moments. It hurts to think about it. I didn't know
you, Joe, but I am certain that I will miss you. Peace to you,
my brother.
Wheezy
I know my legions of readers have been breathlessly waiting for a new
dispatch from blogland.
That said, I wanted to take some time to honor the memory of Joe Ranft
of Pixar Animation Studios, who died in a car accident last Tuesday.
I didn't know Joe, but I was certainly touched by his work. Joe was
the head of Pixar's story department. And at Pixar, story comes first.
I am a huge fan of Pixar's work. I became interested in computer
animation after seeing one of their early short films, and followed
their progress as they evolved from being creators of landmark computer
animation software (Renderman) to a full fledged animation studio,
delivering one memorable film after another.
Joe was one of the their chief storyboard artists. When we watch these
amazing films, we're seeing his visions. We were seeing the worlds
of Buzz and Woody, and Princess Atta and Flick through Joe's eyes.
He also shared co-writing credits on "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life",
as well as "The Lion King" and other Disney films. Not only that,
but Joe voiced some of the most beloved of the Pixar characters,
including Wheezy, the asthmatic penguin of "Toy Story 2", and Heimlich
the caterpillar from "A Bug's Life".
That life could have so cruelly been taken from this amazingly
talented person in his prime, leaving behind a wife and two young
children, is to me, one of those Marge Gunderson "I just don't
understand it" moments. It hurts to think about it. I didn't know
you, Joe, but I am certain that I will miss you. Peace to you,
my brother.
Wheezy
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
My Kingdom For A Horse...
Finally...
The new Sparklehorse website is up. Yay! I have gone to that site
religiously (i.e., daily) ever since a rudimentary, and then prettier
"Under Construction" page replaced the previous It's A Wonderful
Life based site. No concrete word on a release date for album the
fourth, but it's being coaxed forth right now. Somewhere, on the
acetate-wound reels of a vintage 16-track reel-to-reel or on the
helical platters of a hard disk drive, or (knowing Mark) both,
there is new Sparklehorse music. The new record is being made on
a vintage recording console called a Flickenger, a hand built titan
of analog recording, of dubious build quality but incomparable sound
quality. Linkous has staked his professional life on this behemoth,
and after four years of money spent and untold frustrations, he has
resurrected the monster. Incredible to me that this man would invest
so much of himself into a venture like this, how steadfast he has
remained in his quest to capture the best sounding music possible.
Despite my own frustration over the dearth of new SH music, I think
I better understand why it's been taking so long, and I think we're
going to get yet another masterpiece.
Go there now:
(UPDATE: AUUGGH!! The site is closed again, back to
"Under Construction" status...sorry.)
The new Sparklehorse website is up. Yay! I have gone to that site
religiously (i.e., daily) ever since a rudimentary, and then prettier
"Under Construction" page replaced the previous It's A Wonderful
Life based site. No concrete word on a release date for album the
fourth, but it's being coaxed forth right now. Somewhere, on the
acetate-wound reels of a vintage 16-track reel-to-reel or on the
helical platters of a hard disk drive, or (knowing Mark) both,
there is new Sparklehorse music. The new record is being made on
a vintage recording console called a Flickenger, a hand built titan
of analog recording, of dubious build quality but incomparable sound
quality. Linkous has staked his professional life on this behemoth,
and after four years of money spent and untold frustrations, he has
resurrected the monster. Incredible to me that this man would invest
so much of himself into a venture like this, how steadfast he has
remained in his quest to capture the best sounding music possible.
Despite my own frustration over the dearth of new SH music, I think
I better understand why it's been taking so long, and I think we're
going to get yet another masterpiece.
Go there now:
(UPDATE: AUUGGH!! The site is closed again, back to
"Under Construction" status...sorry.)
Friday, July 15, 2005
Thursday, July 14, 2005
We Now Bring You This Important WOH Update!!
Sorry about the lack of postings lately. It's summer, I was away,
I don't have a lot new to say, and don't really want to expound
upon the status quo here at this point in time. Some of it is
close to home and I don't think this is the place to deal with it.
I will return, I will not burn, as Elvis C. so memorably stated
in Two Little Hitlers.
In the interim, I am very happy to report that I picked up
a copy of A Very Long Engagement on DVD today and hope
to watch it over the weekend. I've been waiting a long time
to see it and I don't think I'll be disappointed. I'll report on it
(probably) once I've seen it. Audrey Tautou....sigh.
I don't have a lot new to say, and don't really want to expound
upon the status quo here at this point in time. Some of it is
close to home and I don't think this is the place to deal with it.
I will return, I will not burn, as Elvis C. so memorably stated
in Two Little Hitlers.
In the interim, I am very happy to report that I picked up
a copy of A Very Long Engagement on DVD today and hope
to watch it over the weekend. I've been waiting a long time
to see it and I don't think I'll be disappointed. I'll report on it
(probably) once I've seen it. Audrey Tautou....sigh.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Which One's Pink?
So it happened. The Pink Floyd reunion at Live 8 actually occurred.
And it was amazing. After all this time, they still sound great. I was
actually suffering through another Cubs loss at Wrigley when it went
down, but through the wonder of the internet I was able to locate
video of the complete performance. I never thought I'd see it, and it
probably won't happen again, but who knows? For now, I'm happy
that it even happened at all. Great job, guys...
And it was amazing. After all this time, they still sound great. I was
actually suffering through another Cubs loss at Wrigley when it went
down, but through the wonder of the internet I was able to locate
video of the complete performance. I never thought I'd see it, and it
probably won't happen again, but who knows? For now, I'm happy
that it even happened at all. Great job, guys...
Happy Birthday, Dog...
Happy Birthday wishes to my brother Michael, who's enjoying a weekend
outing to the Pacific. See you soon you old bastid...
outing to the Pacific. See you soon you old bastid...
Back for a bit...
Well I'm back. Didn't realize I'd been gone for so long. I have to admit
that I haven't been in the mood for posting lately. Summer's here and
it seems a bit absurd to spend it in front of the computer. I'm sure that
you have all been waiting breathlessly for the latest WOH missives,
and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.
that I haven't been in the mood for posting lately. Summer's here and
it seems a bit absurd to spend it in front of the computer. I'm sure that
you have all been waiting breathlessly for the latest WOH missives,
and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.
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