O'Guinnicus.com

Tonight was the second show of NOAC. Mike, Dan and I have been working long hours to get the new oashows.org up and running. It's been a tedious process, but also a very informative one. I've learned a lot about the limits and capabilities of CSS design and implementation. If only I could learn the gentle art of self-editing.

Yesterday I had expressed to Dan my dissatisfaction with NOAC so far. It just seems like I'm not getting to interact with people as much as I had the last time, that the people I was dealing with (Dan and Mike notwithstanding) aren't the people I'd like to be interacting with, and that the majority of my time has been spent locked away in a cold padded cell. I guess I had just started to wonder why exactly I had signed on to work in a stressful environment for two weeks during my summer.

But during the load in for the opening show, I started to realize why I came. There was an indescribable, intangeable, yet oddly palpable pulse and energy to the crowd. As the audience filled the seats, I got this weird tingle up my spine and I remembered why it was that I had come here in the first place. This organization is more than a social club, it is a way of life and a state of being. Because it has challenged me to be better than what I am and part of something bigger than who I was, it has become a part of who I am and what I have yet to be.

Tomorrow Mike will most likely finish up the bulk of the ColdFusion scheme. Dan will add the little flourishes to the site that make it uniquely OA Shows. I will wrap up a script that I did not want, nor did I have the talent to write and send a press release to the media. I know that a week ago I wouldn't have seen the value in these seemingly meaningless motions which we have gone through daily for the better part of a week, but today I realize that it is the sum of the parts of these actions which will make the work that we do here a success for our friends and something to look back on one day with pride.

Posted by Jameson at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today starts the first official day that Mike, Dan and I are working on the 2006 National Order of the Arrow Conference staff at Michigan State University. After arriving last night, we've spent the day so far in a local Beaner's coffee shop. Apparently there around 15 of them in the city. They're like the poor man's Starbucks of Michigan.

By the end of the week, we plan to have started an entirely fresh brand for the OA Shows group. Dan's working on an excellent new logo while Mike creates the structure for an enhanced website. I still haven't defined my own role, but I'm guessing that it's to serve as some kind of creative liason or the personal face for our Communications Operations subgroup. Time will tell.

Posted by Jameson at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was reading Scott's blog entry about UGO's pick of the top 11 U2 songs of all time. Of course, the correct answer is that none of them are good after '97. Anyway. I decided to thumb through some of their other Top 11 lists, and I came up with a list of my own: The Top 6 Stupidest Lists UGO Has Made. Without further ado:

1. The Top 11 Songs of the 80s.: At first, I thought this list might be worth something. Songs 11 through 9 were songs that weren't obvious, so it looked like the list could deviate from the norm. Nope. The next 8 read like a VH1 playlist: One Night In Bangkok (it comes from a musical called Chess, ok?!); Come On, Eileen; Land Down Under; Thriller (?!); Hungry Like The Wolf; Safety Dance (?!); Don't You Forget About Me; and Take On Me.

   No Smiths at all? Come on.

2. The Top 11 Songs of the '90s: At this point, making a top 11 of the '90s is like making a top 11 of U2 songs: not a whole lot from which to draw, and what is good, nobody has heard of. Notable entries include Barbie Girl, Build a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might be Giants, and... ugh... Smells Like Teen Spirit. To quote High Fidelity, "Oh, that's not obvious enough [UGO]. How about the Beatles? Or fucking... fucking Beethoven? Side one, Track one of the Fifth Symphony... How can someone with no interest in music [write a list of the top 11 songs of anything]?" (bracketed items were added for relevance). Interestingly enough, Radiohead's Paranoid Android snagged a spot, but that's a cop out. Yeah, it was good, but what about The Tourist or Let Down?
3. The Top 11 Scariest Songs: Part II: Because one wasn't enough. This stupid list includes Lover I Don't Have to Love, which, as we all remember, is a great song to get down to and is also the only good Bright Eyes song. UGO shouldn't make girls think that this song is scary; that's totally going to ruin the ambiance. Also included is Johnny Cash's cover of Hurt, which was less scary than it was depressing.
4. Top 11 Scariest Songs: Part I: Included on this list is Thriller and Radiohead's Paperbag Writer. First the latter, then the former. Radiohead's Paperbag Writer was creepy, but not nearly as creepy as Creep (a song about obsession), Climbing Up The Walls (a song inspired by Thom Yorke's stint working in a mental hospital), or Talk Show Host ("I'll be waiting/ with a gun and a pack of sandwiches"). It's not that it was a bad choice, it's just that there are better choices. Unlike Thriller. That was a bad choice. I'm about as scared of Thriller as I am of a Nerf ball.
5. The Top 11 Breakup Songs: Once again, way obvious. I Will Survive, Ace of Base's The Sign... well, obvious and bad. The number one choice was a shocker, however, and I do support it. Hence the low rating on the Stupid Scale. It's Ben Folds Five's Evaporated. Good song, and way less obvious and stupid than Song For The Dumped.
6. Top 11 U2 Songs: What a useless list. Why not list the Top 11 Abba Songs or the Top 11 Robert Palmer Songs? Stupid.

Posted by Jameson at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Does anyone else remember Dr. Slice? It was a Pepsi product. I found myself really wanting a Dr. Slice today.

Posted by Jameson at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Madeline Peyroux::Between The Bars::Careless Love
Thom Yorke::Black Swan::The Eraser
Stars::Reunion::Set Yourself On Fire
Byata, Prodigal Sunn, Timbo King, Vast Aire::Slow Blues::Wu-Tang Meets Indie Culture
Belle & Sebastian::To Be Myself Completely::The Life Pursuit

Posted by Jameson at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Check out the trailer for Greg's new movie here. I produced and did some other things. It's good times and hopefully a winner.

Posted by Jameson at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amidst the maelstrom of mixed reviews of the first solo Thom Yorke album, I decided to go ahead and purchase it today. On the extreme left, we have Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone was smitten with the project, but for the wrong reasons. That's not too terribly shocking for Rolling Stone, a publication that prides (sic) itself on the spin that it puts on everything. Their sickly-sweet review made The Eraser out to be something akin to a Jesus Christ (yes, that Jesus) solo effort.

On the extreme right, we have the misanthropic Pitchfork Media, who years back gave a perfect 10 to Radiohead's Kid A and something close to it on two of their other projects. All other artists would from then on be compared to Radiohead and none would live up to the scattershot standards of the Pitchfork reviewers. Not to be pigeonholed, Pitchfork tossed Yorke's effort a paltry 6.6. Not long ago Pitchfork doled out a 6.4 to Nelly Furtado. Call me crazy, but any day of the week that Thom and Nelly are in the same point spread, the reviewers are on crack. And as we all know, crack is whack.

I'd like to, at this point, refer to Something Awful's guide on "How to Fake It: Part II" (April, 2006), specifically this section, which claims that making grand declarations is just part of faking knowledge of music:

Wrong: “Matchbox 20 was better than the Beatles.”
While it may be tempting to make grandiose claims just to court controversy, you’d only be shooting yourself in the foot. A declaration like this just invites questions like “by what standard?” and “are you an idiot?” Remember that controversy isn’t the goal. The goal is simply to impress upon those around you that you are a person with Big Ideas.

Right: “At his best, Robyn Hitchcock was every bit as good as Bob Dylan.”
While not as risky or controversial as the previous one, a declaration like this is plenty bold. You are basically saying “yes, I am in the position to include or exclude artists from the critical canon at my whim.” Canonizing random artists is a perfect way to establish authority, even if the person to whom you’re talking has never even heard of the artist in question.

By now you're probably wondering what I think of the album. Or maybe you're not. Who cares? It's my blog, so you can suffer through my opinion. I personally think it's a great collection of songs. I would call it 'awesome,' although 'excellent' would be stretching it. The opening, titular track is striking. Lyrically, this song, much like the rest of the album, is strong. There are remnants of Radiohead projects past, however. Black Swan, for instance, could not be any closer to I Might Be Wrong if it tried. It's a good track, but we've already been here, Thom. Conversely, Atoms For Peace is reminiscent of the Deftones' Teenager, one of the lesser known tracks from White Pony.

In any case, The Eraser is a solid effort bolstered by Nigel Godrich, who produced everything from the Bends forward, and Johnny Greenwood. I'd probably give it an 8.0 out of 10 if I had a ten point rating scale, which apparently, I do.

Posted by Jameson at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We took our first trip to way-east Pennsylvania yesterday when we visited Valley Forge. The visitors' center was truly amazing (they used the Mrs. Eaves font family, the same I use on the index pages of the site and on jamesonoguinn.com, extensively... I love that font), and the tour guide that we had was probably the most knowledgeable person that I've ever met on all matters Revolutionary. And he had a cool hat.

It was really cool to see such a well-kept site. There were no battles fought at Valley Forge, but it was refreshing to see a National Park and historic site that dealt with the hardships of encampment and the downtime experienced before a battle.

The park also contained the George Washington Chapel, a beautiful Methodist church with extremely intricate carvings. It was odd that I was moved to see the homage paid to Illinois' own Count Casimir Pulaski and the beautiful sites provided by the states whose militias were encamped there. The memorials and chapels were all incredible monuments to the sacrifices made by such simple men in such extraordinary circumstances.

Today we made our first of three trips to Philidelphia. We spent the morning at Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles. It was cool, our tour guide was great, but I wasn't nearly as excited as Nick was. It was like he had finally made his pilgrimage to Mecca or something. I guess it wouldn't be Mecca since we're not Muslims, but whatever.

Afterward we looked around for a place to get some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Megan the tour guide had told us about a place on Second and South streets, but as it turned out, we could only find one of the streets and got pissed off too soon to find the other. Instead we ate at a little pizza place that left a lot to be desired. Tomorrow we'll take Scott's advice and head to South Philly for the real deal. Luckily he'll be there to show us where it is.

We later headed over to Carpenters' Hall, where Congress first met. Next we headed to Franklin Court to see where Ben Franklin's house used to be. In its place stands a steel frame of a house and viewing ports where you can see parts of the foundation. Also in the court were a poorly-maintained National Park Service museum, Ben Franklin's post office, a room he had rented, and his grandson's newspaper.

Franklin's legacy is overwhelming in Philadelphia. It's amazing that when walking around the city, you see more space dedicated to Franklin than Washington or Adams. I guess that's what happens when you're a major city's favorite son.

But in short, I've decided that I love this city. I love it so much, in fact, that I've decided that I'm going to start looking into Temple University's Law School. I started my search by Facebook stalking my Eagles tour guide today. I would really like to live in the city and practice law here. The area is just amazing. You walk around and can just feel the history around you; you feel like a part of something bigger than yourself. It's really something to behold.

Anyway, enough of the Philadelphia tourism plug.

Posted by Jameson at 8:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This poster I saw in the elevator at our hotel reminded me of Team America.

Posted by Jameson at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tomorrow the fam and I are going to Philadelphia for 8 days. As far as I'm concerned, there's no better place to spend the 4th. I'll have my computer, so I'll be sure to update. Mostly for Sarah. She's the only one that reads this anyway.

Posted by Jameson at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last couple days have been a little hectic. From buying a pellet gun for Greg's remake of Cells to finishing my first Foxfire Agency project to mixing and dispensing of some fake blood, it's been a little crazy. Last night was the first time that I had ever really been around people who were acting in a movie, and I have to tell you, it was a bit weird. I guess it's odd for me to see people get worked up for something that isn't real.

Cells should drop in a month or so; I'm looking forward to it. Major props to Greg, Sarah, Adam, and James for their skills, and a big thanks to Nikki for use of the apartment.

Posted by Jameson at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I went into work today (FYE at St. Claire Sq, for those of you who don't know) and put in my two weeks. And with that ends my month-long tenure at my first job with a corporately owned company since Target in 2002. Here are some classic things that happened while working there that I probably won't forget for at least another two or three weeks:

• This lady, obviously on a Schedule II drug of some sort, comes in. She asks one of the guys to go grab her a DVD. While he's on the other side of the store, she's asking him to grab more and more DVDs, albeit under her breath. He never heard her. When her thirst for horrible rap DVDs was finally quenched, she paid with money that was procured from her bra, euphorically laughing and nearly falling over. She didn't even use the traditional "through-the-neck-of-the-shirt" approach, opting instead for the "under-the-shirt-from-the-bottom" style. Points were awarded for originality.
• Some kid comes in, buys a Panic! At the Disco CD. About half an hour later, a lady comes in to exchange a Panic! CD. The exchange is put through without my knowledge. Five minutes after she leaves, the kid returns, nearly in tears, to tell me that someone has pilfered his purchase. I tell him tough cookies and send him on my way. The manager on duty asks what he was looking for, I tell him, and he informs me that the old lady that had just left had returned his Panic! CD (he could tell because of the purchase date and the fact that it was from my register). Long story short, that lady snagged his CD and returned it for cash. Sure the kid deserved to have something mildly bad happen to him for buying horrible music, but that's just wrong. The moral? Old ladies, not teenagers, are what make this country suck sometimes.
• I get written up twice. In one day. I've never been written up at a job once, let alone twice in one day.

Posted by Jameson at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)