Love in link form

October 30, 2006


It’s not often I get excited about who (or is that whom? I can never remember) links to me. But today, as I followed a trackback, I did.

Why?

Because I’ve been added to the blogroll for American Copywriter, my absolute favorite adverblog. You should go there immediately, thank them for giving me a little more notoriety, and frequent their usually spot on and hilarious posts about the minutia of this career I’ve latched onto.

Here’s their blurb (on the right, scroll down to find it):

Black Marks on Wood Pulp
A nice place to pause and refresh your appreciation for the craft of stringing words together and Indiana Pacer updates.

Yay! Thanks AC! Next up, a podcast shout out?

Tags: Advertising and Marketing, Blogging, Meta, Random Links |

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My civic duty

October 30, 2006


Some people find it simply enthralling. Others wouldn’t wish it upon a serial murderer.

Jury duty. I’ve gotten out of it before. This time, I’m not so lucky. Thursday I report for jury duty. Has anyone been through this before?

I have two preconceived notions of jury duty, both complete opposites of each other. The first is from Law and Order, where juries are sequestered and poured over and eventually selected based on a series of incredibly revealing questions and assumed biases. I imagine going in on Thursday and being asked my entire family history, my prejudices and associations and other forms of personal definitions.

Then, I will be selected and will serve on a jury for weeks, shut off from the rest of the world, with a newspaper that is missing pieces of cut out information in order to shield me from any outside influence. I will sit and argue for or against the accused for hours – days! – and will leave the room utterly drained, completely exhausted and ready to release or condemn a fellow human being for a crime they may or may not have committed.

My other view is one of sheer boredom. I could be selected for duty, forced to sit in a somewhat uncomfortable chair, barely able to stay awake or keep any sort of interest in the minor-league crimes we are forced to hear, and leave a few hours later, my day wasted and my patience thinned.

My guess is that it will be somewhere in the middle. Quite possibly, I will end up with a hot court case; the one interesting trial that will captivate my attention and force me to make crucial decisions. This is actually kind of exciting, if you look at it from a “seeing justice/injustice from the inside out” sort of way. I’ve never been part of a trial – not a witness, a jury member, or a member of either side. Now I can see the court system in real life – in full Technicolor and everything.

All of my judicial branch knowledge comes from television. So I’m fully prepared for McCoy to burst into the room, ready to take on all comers as the lead prosecution. I’m ready for a parade of bit actors to be selected as lawyer for the defense, ready to stick it to the system in any way possible on their way to larger parts in television movies and situation comedies.

I guess this is my civic duty, right? It’s a new experience, that’s for sure, but I can’t help but dread the sheer boredom I fear will enclose the entire courtroom upon the judge’s first drop of the gavel.

Do you think I can bring a magazine?

Tags: Politics, Vilhauer |

4 Comments

On shuffling the Cards

October 28, 2006


The Cardinals have just won the World Series. Regardless of how bad the press seems to think they were, and how many Detroit fans want to say they don’t deserve it, they’ve won. It comes down to this: no one else could beat them. Their regular season record meant nothing. The Cardinals were the best team this postseason, and they’ve got the World Series trophy to prove it.

I admit, it’s kind of weird. I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. That’s my team – my old team, actually; the first professional sports team I ever felt attached to. I could have been celebrating a World Series win today. Instead, I’m watching it from afar.

Before everything – before the Michael Jordan-era Bulls and the Miami Dolphins, and way before the Twins and Pacers, I was a Cardinals fan. My grandparents, who lived south of Cincinnati, took me to Reds games, often when the Cardinals were playing. So at the age of four, I saw Ozzie Smith. I saw Willie McGee. I didn’t comprehend a single thing that was going on, but I was there. And I always remembered that. I connected to them. They were my team.

The Cardinals were an easily identifiable franchise with a deep history and one of the top stars in the game – Ozzie Smith. He did back flips, and his name was “The Wizard,” and those two things made it impossible for me to like anyone else. I stuck by them for a long time.

I fostered a hatred for the Minnesota Twins for a long time after 1987, the year they bumped the Cardinals out of the World Series. I was too young to remember the 1982 Series win, so I figured they’d never win. It was my first sports heartbreak.

My teams have won championships before. In fact, I was spoiled by the Chicago Bulls for three years. But as time went on, the Cardinals became an afterthought, and through the strike years of baseball, they became a negligent part of my life.

So it’s weird that this year – the year I stopped sitting on the fence and embraced the Minnesota Twins after years of restraint and common sense – would be the Cardinals’ year. They were my first team. And now they’ve won a championship. It’s like losing track of a good grade school friend. You find yourself hearing about them from time to time through your parents’ friends, and then you discover that they have signed to a huge movie deal, becoming wealthy beyond anything you could have imagined in grade school.

You know that, if you were still close friends, you’d be right there with him. You’d be shaking his hand and celebrating his good fortune, and you would be set up for life yourself, because you’d been such a great friend. Such a confidant. He couldn’t imagine doing it with you. But instead, you can only watch from afar, thinking about what it would be like to be celebrating.

Sure, I’m happy for them. But I can’t celebrate for them. I lost that right when I made the choice to be a Twins fan.

Congratulations, St. Louis.

Tags: Baseball, Minnesota Twins, Sports |

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Steinbeck on Random — 10.27.06

October 27, 2006


Guess what’s back?!

Steinbeck! I’ve missed you!

(Actually, I haven’t ‘missed’ my iPod. I just haven’t remembered to do Steinbeck on Random since, well, August.)

Yay!

1. Radiohead – “Idioteque (live)”
I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings

This song, which starts off with a frenetic electronic riff, gets more and more hectic as it goes on. It leads to crescendo with a wonderful breakdown, one that is simply amazing when heard live. Every person in the crowd is singing along, apparently, and it makes a live Radiohead show seem a lot cooler than it probably is.

Sorry, to all of the superfans out there, but I just don’t see Thom Yorke rocking it out enough to be interesting, though I’d love to go see the band if they ever came near Sioux Falls for less than $7000 a ticket.

Here’s the weird thing: I can understand the words to this song. I think that’s a Radiohead first.

2. Bruce Springsteen – “Lucky Town”
The Essential Bruce Springsteen

I don’t give this song enough credit, usually, but it’s a good 90’s-era Bruce classic. This was the title song from one of his two 1992 releases (Human Touch being the other one) and the beginning of his “maybe I’m a little washed up” period, a timeframe that ended with The Rising.

Still, I like “Lucky Town.” It’s everything that John Cougar Mellencamp tried to be, except ten years later and a thousand times cooler. Street cred goes a long way, I’d say.

3. Pixies – “Wave of Mutilation (live)”
Death to Pixies 1987-1991

My love affair with Pixies has an interesting beginning. I, being a student of mid to late 90’s college and indie rock, missed out on the Pixies revolution. I was a fan of Frank Black before I was a fan of him as the Pixies’ singer, Black Francis.

My discovery, then, was backwards in several ways. I went from the solo act to the full band – Frank Black to Pixies. I became a bigger fan after Fight Club (as many probably did after hearing the perfect ending song, “Where Is My Mind”). I bought my first Pixies cd only after becoming familiar with their tribute album, featuring The Get Up Kids and Braid.

So, you see, I came into it completely backwards. But I still like them, regardless of how “OG” I am about it.

4. Elliott Smith – “Son of Sam”
Figure 8

Whenever I think I’ve started to forget about how good Elliott Smith was, I hear one of his great songs – “Son of Sam,” for instance, and I remember.

This exact thing happened over the weekend, when this came onto the radio. Kerrie and I have the same reaction every time – a sudden silent attention, followed by one of us saying, in some form or another, “boy, I miss Elliott Smith.”

5. Faith No More – “Digging the Grave”
King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime

I was in high school when this came out. Both Eric and I were at the peak of our “Faith No More phase,” and Eric found a promotional copy at KAUR. He played it during his radio show, and we both geeked out about it for weeks, or at least until the album came out.

Overall, King for a Day is the weakest Mike Patton-era Faith No More cd I ever owned. But it’s got some of the best songs, this one included. No one sounds more deranged, yet so serious and soulful, and pulls it off quite as well.

6. Bob Dylan – “Subterranean Homesick Blues”
The Essential Bob Dylan

This song spawned maybe the first hit music video. It’s also one of my favorites, a tight, syllable-bouncing trip through paranoia, governmental worry, hard and soft drugs, crooked law enforcement, and everything else that helped make Dylan’s songs both revered and reviled, depending on the group. Of course, that’s my personal take on the lyrics. For all I know, he was writing and singing about some movie he just saw, or about the guys down the block who owned the nice house and had great parties.

Somehow, I think I’m closer to the point.

7. Atmosphere – “Panic Attack (live)”
Live on MPR 10-03-2005

These songs, recorded live from The Current on Minnesota Public Radio, sound great. But they don’t sound live – they could very well be the exact same recording from the original cd. That’s the bad thing about having a crystal clear recording – it all sounds too good to be live.

I have a different live Atmosphere bootleg that sounds a million times different – it’s raw and it’s sloppy, but it’s a great representation of a live show. This, while impressive, isn’t anything I’d get excited for if I hadn’t come across it for free. The same thing applies to Jose Gonzales’ The Current recording – too clean to sound live.

End complaining. I like this song.

8. Beck – “The New Pollution”
Odelay

Ah. Beck. My favorite musical act that I never listened to.

For a long time, I meant to get into Beck. I even implored my friend Doug to burn some of his songs for me – a greatest hits cd much like the one he created for Ween, a cd that launched my life into the perilous zone that Ween fans occupy. But, I never received that cd. And it was years later that I finally got a hold of some Beck.

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but Beck is good. Even his really popular stuff – it’s smooth and hilarious and it rocks with a classical sauce. I always knew this. I considered myself a Beck fan. It’s just that I never bothered to go out and actually listen to him.

Doug (the same one I mentioned above) listed Beck Hanson as one of his influential authors. I can’t do anything but agree. Unfortunately, it took me too long to understand his brilliance. Because, you know, I was oblivious.

9. Less Than Jake – “Happyman”
Losing Streak

This entire anthem served as an anthem for my freshman year of college at Southwest State University in Marshal, Minnesota.

I worked at a bowling alley there: Marshall Bowl. Once, one of the machines wasn’t spitting the bowling balls back out to the bowlers. It was league night, and they needed their balls spit out, or something. So I sat in back, by the broken machine, and manually pushed the bowling balls through. For three hours.

While I was doing that, I sang this entire cd to myself. Three times. It’s my fondest memory of that damned bowling alley.

10. Mason Jennings – “New York City”
Century Spring

Who can start their songs with the words, “New York City, you’re so pretty” and still be taken seriously? Mason Jennings can, apparently, because this song stuck in my head and clung to me like no other from his repertoire.

I think it’s the sudden chorus break, with some of my favorite lyrics on love: “I wrote our initials in the sidewalk cement/Tattooed your name across my arm for all to see/I wanna sing about it, sing about it, sing about it/I’ve got your back from now on baby, you can count on me.”

Tags: Music, Steinbeck on Random |

3 Comments

My life as film

October 26, 2006


How would your life look, dramatized? What if someone took all of your words and actions and experiences and threw them together into a two-hour biopic? Who would play you?

I thought about this today as I saw a tongue-in-cheek suggestion from one loyal reader to a screenwriting friend about turning my blog into a movie. Ridiculous, yes. But if it ever were going to happen, what would it be like? We discussed this a little at work a few months ago. Somehow, I was pegged with Bill Paxton. Not bad. Not great.

Of course, that’s the underlying theme in my life. Nothing that’s going to make the papers, or glue a film audience to their seats – either good or bad.

What makes a personal history interesting is the unpredictability of it. Biographies of famous musicians are only interesting if there is a complete breakdown at multiple points. Same with an author, actor, politician, etc. Hardships need to fill up 50% of the story. You can’t sell a history that goes from good to better and stays there. The necessary downfall of personal depression is required for an interesting sell.

Johnny Cash was unpredictable, did a lot of drugs, and pulled himself out of nowhere on his own, regardless of who stood in his way. His story is one of love, of hardship, of overcoming barriers. Same with Ray Charles. Truman Capote was an inherently interesting person, and his struggles and clashes made for interesting watching. They didn’t go into his background pre- and post-In Cold Blood. Because it was probably a life of privilege, of safety and “sure things.”

The greatest lives are all tempered with extreme highs and extreme lows. Those are the stories that we want to hear. Personally, I wouldn’t ask for a life of extreme highs and extreme lows. I’d rather live comfortably, experiencing slight highs and very few lows. I enjoy stability. Comfort. Predictability.

I think I speak for most of us when I say my life is not eventful enough to adapt into film. But really, whose life is that adaptable? Even the most famous hardships have been altered to become more interesting. Characters are merged; experiences moved around – nothing is exactly what it seems.

But that’s fine. I’ll take it. I enjoy living a life that has dropped into place at all the right times.

Who would play you?

Tags: Movies, Vilhauer |

1 Comment

Tired and restless

October 25, 2006


Fall is winding down and the restless nature of winter is creeping up on us. I have eleven Pocket Penguin books that I want to finish, but I can’t bring myself to sit down in one place for long enough to do it. Still, I have work to do outside but I’m not willing to expend the energy needed for that either.

I’m stuck between accepting the season for what it is – the beginning of the nesting period, when we bundle ourselves up and say goodbye to the outdoors, even though it’s still slightly warm and somewhat pleasant – and fighting the summer’s end, a losing battle that has passed months ago.

So I don’t have the energy to do anything, but I have too much energy to sit still. How frustrating is “fall fever?” Why can’t we settle for one or the other and wait for next year?

Tags: Random |

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Quality assurance is job #1

October 24, 2006


I’ve spoken – many times, actually – on the value I place on a good customer experience. I’ve railed on about Radio Shack and their somewhat misleading sales practices, and I’ve confronted the demons of subscription land, only to be brought back with a few well-timed and well-intentioned gifts.

When it comes to consumer matters, I usually just complain about things. I don’t show the positive side. But today I will. Today, I present to you – the blog reading public – a short statement of true customer service. You know – the kind that is rarely found today.

And it came from the most unsuspecting of sources: a used car salesman.

As was mentioned a few months back, our loyal Ford Contour decided to give up the ghost. We figured the repair cost in fixing a cracked head on a car worth less than $1000 was not worth investing in. Instead, we used this opportunity to purchase a “dream car” of sorts – Kerrie’s first Subaru Outback.

We searched for Subaru Outbacks online and in the paper. Kerrie’s mother suggested Diede’s Used Cars in Canistota, a town 30 minutes outside of town. She had purchased a Subaru of her own from the owner, Don, and had a great experience. This helped quell any fears I had going into our used car purchase. I don’t usually trust sales people, at least not until I’ve done business with them before, and I wasn’t quickly changing my mind about car salespeople, so the vote of confidence was helpful.

Don agreed to take the Contour off of our hands for a hefty trade-in price (much more than we could have hoped for) and sold us the Subaru for a good amount. I suspect he could feel our trepidation. He told us that if we had any problems with the car, to call him and let him know.

With a majority of the used car dealers in Sioux Falls, the car is your problem as soon as you drive off the lot. With Diede’s, we were still being protected, negating the “buyer beware” aspect of used car shopping. We were at ease. We felt as if we had just dealt with a respectable business and an accommodating owner.

The true test, however, came a few months later. We took the Subaru in for an oil change. The head gaskets needed to be replaced. To the tune of $750.

Kerrie called Don at Diede’s. Don remembered the agreement he had made when we bought the car: if there are any problems, just call. This wasn’t in writing. This wasn’t a store policy. This was just one man’s word.

Three months after purchasing this car, we had a major repair; something that we were sure was ready to be done when we bought the car. Don, in a way, agreed. He offered to either pay for half of the repair or to have his mechanic do the repair at a discounted cost. We took him up on his offer to pay half. He did. He came through. We sent him a copy of the bill, and he sent a check to cover half of it.

As consumers, when we compare a big-time company with a locally owned “mom and pop” shop, we’re often led astray by slightly lower prices and flashier facilities. But these features are commonly used at the expense of true customer service. Don at Diede’s didn’t have to help us out. But he stood behind his word – a concept that has been long forgotten in these days of legally binding contracts and carefully worded exceptions.

Quality customer service is still alive. Just ask Don at Diede’s Used Cars in Canistota, SD. He’ll show you first hand.

Tags: Random |

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