Well, sadly my official birthday has passed, but it was a great day.

Great news: Jamie and I passed Black Sabbath’s War Pigs on hard (on a kind of embarrassing technicality: she took over on my bass drum and vocals). What an electrifying birthday accomplishment!

And I got this electric blanket. Don’t I look warm?

I passed The New Pornographers’ Electric Version on the drums on hard (on Rock Band).

Next up: War Pigs! I will make it through. I must.

Hump, a short film made by Jeff, Derek, Bradley and myself, has been accepted to the Omaha Film Festival. It’s screening Thursday, February 21 at 6 pm and Saturday, February 23 at 5 pm at Westwood Cinema (Screen 4) as part of the Nebraska Shorts section (I guess if you averaged our home states/towns, it might end up around Nebraska).

Come if you can, and if you’re from out of town and I know you and like you, you’ve got a place to stay.

Quick run-down on weekend cultural activities:

Dan McCarthy, Spring Gun and Thunder Power!!! at Slowdown was awesome. The sound is really great in there and as a result, the bands all sounded great, especially TP (photo below). Kacynna’s voice was amazing on those crisp speakers.

Saw Billy the Kid at Film Streams and really liked it, also enjoyed the Q & A afterwards. I felt nostalgic for 466 nights and Q & As and felt like I should’ve been sitting on the floor in the front taking photos. That would’ve been weird though. I decided that I would make a list of all the guests we had so that I could remember them in my old age or tell my grandkids. I always plan to do this with concerts too (for the same reasons). I will add both of these lists to my non-New Years resolution list. But yeah, the movie was a funny, interesting, moving portrait of this kid, Billy. It’s surprising that the director, Jennifer Venditti, was able to establish trust and a sense of rapport with him in only 5 days (she went back and shot 3 more days. If you don’t feel like doing the math, that’s 8 shooting days)…although after watching the film and getting a better sense of Billy, it’s not all that surprising – though it is a testament to her personality as well. I have a lot more I could say about this film (and maybe will), but for now (since this is a quick recap and it’s 2:14 am) I will just say: go see it if you can.

It is also the kind of movie that makes me really want to go out and make a film. It had a very DIY aesthetic and was shot with basically just two people as the crew on the Panasonic DVX camera and has a verité style. I wish the camera had been more steady, but in the end it didn’t matter because Billy as a character and the subject matter as a whole was so strong. It really is an example of story, character and heart triumphing over any matter of production value or gloss.

Recently got back from seeing Baby Walrus at The Waiting Room. It seemed like a shorter set than usual, but it was still fun and they sounded great. I really like the record, but it’s even better live. I still have What Plastic Box in my head. Here’s the end of it live:

I would like to go to The Waiting Room tomorrow night to see Orenda Fink, Jake Bellows, Joe Knapp, Stefanie Drootin, Dan McCarthy and more, but probably won’t because I haven’t planned anything for class on Monday and that would be another late night and I have get sleep for my long work day on Monday. I’m just not as hardcore as I once was, I guess. I’m getting old.

And last, but not least, I am in the process of re-watching Me And You And Everyone We Know. It’s been too long since I’ve seen it last, and it’s been fun and inspiring to watch it despite the fact that I keep falling asleep…which has nothing to do with the movie itself and everything to do with the fact that I start it at around 3 am after taking Tylenol PM (a recent bad habit I am aiming to break). I’m hoping to make it through another 20 minutes tonight. Later.

This was in the same issue of The Reader. I’m happy to see Thunder Power!!! mentioned as, “one of the more sophisticated and exciting bands to come out of Omaha.” Yeah!

I’ll be at this show tomorrow.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m directing a music video for them. I’m in the editing stage and should be done in a few weeks. They just got out of recording at ARC, Mike Mogis’ recording studio here in Omaha and the stuff I’ve heard sounds great. I can’t wait for the album release.

The Reader, an Omaha weekly, published an article I wrote on parkour in Omaha (see scanned images below…notice the top left of the cover).

You can click on the photos to get a closer look (and actually read the article).

Or you can read it online here.

I’m working on my next one for the paper now…

Out of frustration with the AMPAS and its exclusion among doc Oscar nominees, the doc community (rallying behind filmmaker AJ Schnack it seems) have created their own awards and shortlist for those awards. Pretty cool idea, and a way to promote some great films that don’t get enough support/recognition/viewers. Check out more info here. The films that I have seen on this list are pretty great, and I plan on seeing the rest of these that I haven’t already seen.

I’m going to see Billy the Kid (photo below) directed by Jennifer Venditti this Saturday at Film Streams. She’s doing a Q & A after the screening.

This is awesome. Please check out this blog entry about a pirated copy of Arrested Development she picked up in Hong Kong. Pretty hilarious.

The 24 watching crew and I have finished our marathon. Jack had us at “damn it” in that first episode of Season 1 in summer and we’ve stayed by his satchel-carrying, tight jeans-wearing side through to the finale of Season 6 tonight. It’s been a long and bumpy (and sometimes nauseous) ride and now we’ve made it to the end (so far). I feel a sense of accomplishment even if it means that I’m one step closer to defending the Patriot Act.

I was holding my breath until the last minute, when I promptly exhaled and muttered the title statement above. The stalled Season 7 better bring some excitement. I have hopes that they will inject (metaphorically and literally) some thrills, especially with the addition of Janeane Garofalo and Cherry Jones to the cast, as well as the prospect of the return of a dearly beloved character who shall remain nameless. All I’m saying is that a) they have to make up for that lackluster ending and b) I’m waiting for a seemingly inconceivable plot twist of Lazarus proportions, I’m waiting for that Chicago Cubs coffee mug to be sitting on a desk in CTU. Now if the Producers would only end this Writers Strike…