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| Triple event weekend | |
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5.03.2008
9:23 PM | Link |
 This has been a jam-packed weekend so far, and tons of fun! Friday night there was a bachelor dinner in honor of Jonathan's wedding (coming up in a couple weeks!), so all of gathered for a long meal at the Clay Pit with plenty of drinking, story telling, and lots of laughter. After dinner we decided to walk to the Cloak Room, which is one of Jonathan's secret late-night haunts. Most of us had never been there before, and it was cool to discover this tiny, dark bar that's famous for being filled with Texas legislators (since it's right at the foot of the Capitol). It was a really fun evening!Today I got up early to get my weekend chores done so I could head out to enjoy Free Comic Book Day! Matt decided he wanted to check it out also, so we went to Capstone Comics (a really nice place that I'll definitely revisit) and ran into George and his grandson Devin, which was nice since I love seeing kids getting excited about free comics. The store really went all out for the event with raffle drawings, guests artists signing things, and even guys in authentic Star Wars costumes! Next, after an hour or so of rest, the Greatest American Heroes drove to Temple to play a benefit for the American Cancer Society. We played in a high school football stadium, right on the 50-yard line, and although we were missing Chris on guitar and had a guest bassist, we had a great time and seemed to be well received. It was so refreshing to play outside in the beautiful weather, and then have an awesome meal together at a 50s themed diner. Now I'm finally home, a little sunburnt, and a lot tired, but I've enjoyed every minute of this crazy weekend! I'm definitely going to kick back tomorrow!  View photos: Jonathan's Bachelor Dinner View photos: Comics & Heroes
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| Amazing weekend, amazing athletes | |
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4.16.2008
7:24 AM | Link |
 This past weekend was fun-filled and fantastic! It began with playing a Casa del Swanko gig at North by Northwest, which was completely packed because the weather was so nice. Lots of people we knew came out to see us, including some folks from work and my pal Melinda. On Saturday night, I went to see Master Panckake's showing of E.T. at the new Alamo Ritz with Matt & Kumiko! This was my first time to visit the new downtown Alamo, and also my first time to see Master Pancake (although I was a loyal Mister Sinus fan!). The movie was hilarious, so I'm sure I'll be back for their future shows! Finally, on Sunday I got to watch Chris & Carlos ride to the finish line of their MS150 bike adventure. This is a huge two-day ride from Houston to Austin (180 miles), and they made it easily! It was nice to have lunch with Eliza, Matt & Kumiko (plus I got to help with Baby Emiliano), and the atmosphere at the finish line (in front of the Texas History Museum) was full of energy - it was a blast! Congratulations to Chris & Carlos! View photos: MS150 Finish Line
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| Having fun morning till night | |
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3.30.2008
10:48 AM | Link |
 Yesterday was jam-packed with fun - I was out of the house from 8:30 AM to 11:00 PM! I'm pretty sleepy and lazy today, but the memories were so worth it! There was a huge wedding shower for Jonathan & Anne Marie held at a ranch in Round Top, which is a little country town halfway between Austin and Houston. We started with some great chip and dip and sausage (and plenty of wine), listening to a really cool musical duo who played everything from tub bass to bowed saw! I had so much fun spending the day talking with so many of my pals, which was wonderful since lately I haven't been able to spend much quality time with them. I had a great time taking photos of Emiliano and Miles, both unbearably cute and hilarious as only babies can be. Later we ate an awesome lunch of chicken, potato salad, incredible corn bread and salad, later followed by pie and ice cream, and then relaxed in rocking chairs singing along with the band. The whole event was a peaceful, fun celebration, and I'm so glad I could be there! After the party, Jonathan and I had to drive back full-speed to make it to a Casa del Swanko gig at North by Northwest, and even though we were beat we played a nice show, and the crowd was really generous with their tips, too. It was one of those days were it just felt good to be tired, since the experiences will last forever! View photos: Jonathan & Anne Marie's Wedding Shower
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| Bowling night | |
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3.12.2008
7:21 PM | Link |
 Last Sunday my pals Matt & Kumiko and I decided to go bowling at Main Event, and it was a really fun evening. I hadn't been bowling in years, but it just seemed like something fun to do, although it was quite a bit different then playing my Nintendo Wii! Matt and I seem to have about the same skill, but Kumiko is a total ace - she scored 150 easily, I pulled in 105 (which is kind of rare for me), and Matt scored 100. Our second game doesn't really count, because we were trying to bowl as fast as possible since our time was running out - in fact, we went so fast that I ended up pulling a muscle that's still healing (I'm such an old man!). After the bowling we played glow golf, and I'm happy to say that I won (but then again, I've played that course a few times now)! It was a nice change from sitting at home on a Sunday, so enjoy a few photos!In other pals news, Jonathan asked me to be in his upcoming wedding, and I'm really happy - maybe those cigars I got him for his birthday paid off! And today I had a surprise present in the mail - my pal Shelly in Portland sent me a 1984 vintage set of Golden Trivia Cards, Disney Edition! I don't know where he discovered them, but they are really cool - it's like you have to go back in time to answer the questions correctly, especially about the parks, since Epcot is such a different place now! As always, I'm thankful to be remembered by such cool friends! View photos: Bowling at Main Event
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| Tons of birthday fun | |
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2.03.2008
8:05 AM | Link |
 I've really had a great birthday this year, with plenty of surprise gifts and fun with friends! My pal Melinda bought me dinner (plus a birthday cake), and then gave me a cool Star Wars LEGO set, as well as a fantastic Mickey Mouse figurine with small snowglobes that re-creates a scene from the 1932 Disney short Mickey's Nightmare! I found the original short on my Disney Treasures DVDs so we were able to watch it right away, too (it's nice to have all those Disney DVDs in my library!). (By the way, this image is the original movie poster, and I just realized that the figurine is an exact replica of this illustration!) On Friday, Chris & Eliza hosted a little combined birthday get-together (it was Eliza's birthday recently, too), and along with a "Happy Birthday Old People" cake, there were more presents! Tom gave me a huge bottle of Grey Goose vodka, Shawn & Bernadette gave me some vintage Disney comic books, and Matt & Kumiko gave me one of the new Indiana Jones LEGO sets (I have some fun building ahead of me!). Chris & Barron went together to get me Guitar Hero for the Wii, and I had a blast playing it yesterday (the wireless guitar controller is so nice)! I'm so amazed at how incredible all of my friends are, and how lucky I am to have them. It definitely makes it easier to be a child trapped in an old man's body! It's been a busy weekend, so I haven't had time to take photos of my awesome presents, but don't worry, you can be sure I'll get around to snapping some pictures eventually!
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| Fun with cedar | |
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1.14.2008
10:13 PM | Link | The joyous Austin cedar allergy season is definitely here, and on Sunday it hit me like a ton of bricks! My nose was running like a faucet, so I practically had all my trash cans filled with Kleenex by noon! Thanks to my trusty Benedryl (Claritin does nothing for me), I got some relief in the afternoon, just in time for a quick visit from Matt & Kumiko and their friends Yosuke & Aya, visiting from Japan. Yosuke is a big Disney fan (they visit Tokyo Disneyland about five times a year and have even been to Hong Kong Disneyland!), so Kumiko wanted to be sure they saw my home full of Disney collectibles. I had fun showing them around, and I loved Yosuke's true fan reactions to my stuff (I heard lots of Kore hoshii, or "I want this")! After they left, the Benedryl knocked me out for four hours, after which I just curled up with a box of Kleenex and watched episode after episode of The Muppet Show, which was fun even though my nose was raw. Miraculously, today I feel just fine and I've barely even had the sniffles today! |
| Pals in love | |
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12.07.2007
9:22 PM | Link |
 With all the holiday stuff going on and babies popping out everywhere, I'm late in mentioning other big news about my pals! Jonathan and Anne Marie are engaged! Jonathan broke the news to the gang at our last Greatest American Heroes gig, and we're all super happy for them. Anne Marie is definitely a cool gal, always dancing at our band gigs, and she was certainly a fearless actress in my Christmas video (thanks to director Ernesto's creative genius!). No news on a wedding date, but you can be sure it will be a major event of 2008!Labels: pals |
| Here comes Emiliano! | |
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12.06.2007
6:29 PM | Link |
 Last night my pals Chris & Eliza had a surprise delivery! Baby Emiliano decided it was time get out of that tummy, so he was born a few days early. Amazingly, Eliza was just at my place cooking pizza for my video screening only about 12 hours earlier! Since the birth was originally scheduled for Friday, all of Chris & Eliza's relatives were coming during the week, including Eliza's sister Laura, who flew in from New York last night. Since Chris & Eliza were a little busy at the time, I picked up Laura at the airport (which turned out to be around 12:45 AM due to flight delays), and then we went straight to the hospital. I was totally stunned at seeing a four-hour old baby, weighing around 6.5 pounds! Normally I'm kind of scared of babies under about two years old, but Eliza really wanted me to hold him (since I'm Uncle Mikey now), and once I got used to it, it was so sweet (check out nervous, excited Mikey). I couldn't believe I was feeling little feet wiggling around and watching him yawn, when just the night before he was all cramped up in Eliza's belly! It was a magical night, and I'm so glad I could be a small part of it (plus I got to scoop the web with a couple iPhone photos)! Congratulations to Chris & Eliza! Welcome to the world, Emiliano! Just wait until you see Disneyland!Labels: pals |
| Laughter for Christmas | |
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12.05.2007
9:43 PM | Link |
 Yesterday was the official world premiere of my Christmas video for 2007! It was a really fun evening with all my pals, and everyone really enjoyed watching it! This year's video was a totally new experience, since I shot all new footage (rather than using clips from the past year) and decided to turn the whole thing into a kind of variety show. So, this year's project included a reality game show, two fake movie trailers, a horror movie (written and directed by my pal Ernesto), a documentary, a silent movie, and two music videos (and the whole thing clocks in at 1.5 hours)! I loved watching everyone laughing and enjoying themselves - hearing that laughter is an amazing moment that keeps me making these videos each year! View photos: Christmas Screening 2007
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| Test preparation can be fun | |
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9:31 PM | Link |
 Besides studying and test taking, I had a blast in Los Angeles last weekend! Dae was an incredible host as always, and it was great to see my pal Ernesto again for the first time since he moved from Austin. We had a huge lunch at the famous Canter's Deli, then saw a musical based on Burt Bacharach's famous tunes, and later went back to Dae's to watch my annual Christmas video project. Dae cooked up a bunch of appetizers, and we all had so much fun watching the DVD. I was really glad that Ernesto enjoyed the way I edited his horror film project, and it was cool to be able to watch it with my LA pals in person! After that, Dae's band had a gig to play, so Ernesto and I got to see the Highball Five for the first time! It was a great show (they even let me sit in on a tune!), and the band sounds awesome! Our pal Jerry was also there, so we got to talk about the amazing work he's doing, which is always incredible to me. The next day after the test, we immediately duplicated last year's post-test fun by going to the same bar for a few beers, then we walked around in Santa Monica and had a nice dinner. Taking a tough test is definitely a lot easier when you get to spend time with such cool friends! View photos: Highball Five Gig
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| Ittekimasu! | |
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11.30.2007
7:35 AM | Link | Tomorrow I'm leaving for Los Angeles to take the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Level 3 on Sunday! I feel like I'm a little more prepared than when I took Level 4 last year, so I'm looking forward to the experience (but I'm not looking forward to waiting until March for the results!). I'm glad that I've stuck with it and studied all year, and it's great to know that my pals are cheering me on, too. My pal Kumiko sent me a Japanese e-card, and my pal Melinda went all-out and surprised me with a "good luck kit" full of snacks and Christmas goodies! I'm going to enjoy the trip, especially seeing Dae and Ernesto again, and when I come back I'll be in full relax mode! |
| Balloons, butternut, benkyou | |
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11.24.2007
7:33 AM | Link |
 I'm really enjoying this Thanksgiving holiday! My pal Tom came over with breakfast to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with me, and I thought the new balloons were cool, although Shrek seriously had a "pull my finger" pose, and Scooby Doo's nose was deflated. Hello Kitty looked great, though, and I always like seeing Pikachu, since he makes a great balloon! In the afternoon my pals who were still in town met at Chris & Eliza's for their annual Thanksgiving feast, which was especially incredible since she's going to give birth in just a few weeks! The food was awesome, and I was touched that Eliza made her yummy butternut squash soup just because she knows I look forward to her Thanksgiving soups. Yesterday I stayed at home all day to study Japanese (since the JLPT is barely over a week away!), and I met my goal for the day of re-taking both the Level 4 test from 2006 and Level 3 test from 2004. I can score really high on the Level 4 test now, which proves to me that somehow I have improved since last year, which is usually hard for me to see since each day of studying is a challenge. I took breaks by watching Jpop DVDs and a little anime, reading some comics, and doing a few other things around the house. It's been relaxing and fun for the past couple days, and now I have two more days of weekend to enjoy! View photos: Thanksgiving 2007
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| Ernesto says goodbye to Austin | |
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11.08.2007
7:51 AM | Link |
 I'm about a month late, but I finally have the chance to write about my pal Ernesto's last few fun days in Austin before his big move to Los Angeles to help out his family. Our last Greatest American Heroes gig with Ernesto seemed pretty crazy, since we played for a gathering of several hundred Lutheran women (mostly on the old side)! When were setting up, we were sure they had no idea they had hired a TV theme song band, but when we started playing, they turned out to be the best audience we ever had – no kidding! Those Lutheran ladies just loved our stuff, and they really got into the show and even bought tons of CDs! Next there was a going-away party for Ernesto, which was a combination celebration for the publication of Tom's book, Taxi to Tashkent. Besides Tom's fun live readings, there were lots of toasts for Ernesto (with crazy gifts), making it another fun party at Jonathan's house. Finally, we had our usual Sunday guys night together, and Matt made Day Jobs, the drink that was actually created for our swing band at the Caucus Club back in the old days. They tasted a lot better when we were younger and could handle more booze, but it was still some nostalgic fun. All of us really miss Ernesto now, but I'm glad that I'll get to see him whenever I head to Los Angeles to visit Dae (and Mickey Mouse)! View photos: Ernesto's Goodbye
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| Gigs with Ernesto | |
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10.02.2007
6:58 AM | Link |
 Both of my bands played gigs this past weekend, and both of them were the last public shows we'll play with Ernesto, who's moving to Los Angeles in less than two weeks. Ernesto wants to be with his family because of his mom's health, which is totally understandable and admirable, but all of his pals here in Austin are so sad to see him go! On Friday, the Greatest American Heroes played out usual show at the Carousel Lounge, and there was a nice crowd with lots of our friends there, plus plenty of cute girls filling the dance floor. I think we all did our best to make it a great show (I came up with some new fills on a few songs), and it was so much fun! The next day on Saturday the Ernesto Marquez Sextet played at the Treehouse Italian Grill, just barely dodging the rain. We had to start a little late because of the weather, but somehow there was still a nice crowd eating outdoors and we all played well (and Bernadette was back to join us on a few tunes). Now all that's left is one private party gig, and of course we'll be throwing a big going away party (combined with a book signing for Tom's book). I know I'll miss Ernesto a lot, especially on Sunday TV nights, but I also know that there's no way we'll lose touch. Since I try to get to LA a couple times a year to visit Dae, it will be cool to have Ernesto there, too! I think that's one of the wonderful things about close friendships as an adult - realizing that friendship is so important that there's no way we could ever let it go.
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| Published pal | |
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9.19.2007
12:50 PM | Link |
 My pal Tom, who spent a couple years in Uzbekistan with the Peace Corps, started writing a book about his experiences there soon after he came back to the US. He really put an amazing effort into crafting a well-written narrative, and spent an insane amount of time editing it over and over again, even hiring outside editors for advice. All of his efforts have paid off, and now I'm happy to announce that Tom's first book, Taxi to Tashkent, has been published and is available on Amazon.com! It's so exciting to be able to actually see the book up for sale, along with the cool cover that Chris designed for Tom. If you search around on the web, you can find it available from other booksellers and even available electronically. I'll be getting a copy from Tom soon, and I'm looking forward to reading it! This is a really cool accomplishment, and I always enjoy bragging about my pals!
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| Two kinds of Disney classics | |
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8.29.2007
7:32 AM | Link |
 Last week I enjoyed two different kinds of Disney movies, and became a big fan of both of them all over again! My pal Matt and I went to see Tron on the big screen at the Paramount Theater, which was projected in spectacular 70MM (the first time in Austin). I've been a Tron fan since I saw it opening day with Mom back in 1982, but Matt could barely remember the storyline, so it was great seeing his reactions to all the funny techno-speak, as well as the entire audience's appreciation of the amazing visuals. We decided to watch the DVD documentary afterwards, and I was amazed again at the work involved to make the film!On Sunday night, Jonathan and Matt came over for the usual TV watching, but surprisingly Jonathan asked if we could watch Lady and the Tramp! Of course, I would never turn down the chance to host a Disney screening, and I had a great time introducing the film with a bunch of background and trivia (and even a discussion of the animation process), and I think it enhanced the guy's enjoyment of the movie! We even stopped a few times to admire a Claude Coats background or some Frank Thomas genius character animation. I really enjoyed it, and I hope we might take a look at some other Disney classics sometime (which is definitely easy when you have all the animated features in your DVD library!). |
| Mikey's pals news | |
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8.25.2007
7:18 AM | Link |
 It's time for a brief news update on WEBmikey's pals (even though some of this news is getting old)! In our top story, Bernadette gave birth to baby Miles, and she and Shawn are doing great and swimming in diapers, I'm sure! I'm looking forward to taking my first photos of the little guy when I meet him sometime. Next up, the High Ball Five (my pal Dae's new band in Los Angeles) has released some fantastic music on their website, proving Dae hasn't forgotten how to play guitar since the Day Jobs days! Definitely give them a listen. Finally, Chris is the first of my crowd to own an iPhone, and I'm insanely jealous. It works great, looks great, and I'm definitely buying one in November!Labels: pals |
| Remote Ryan | |
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8.22.2007
6:56 AM | Link |
 Last week my pal Ryan, who also works with me, moved to Arizona, so Chris, Barron and I took him to lunch to send him off. All four of us met when we worked together at Works.com, but even though that was years ago and we've all been at new companies, we stayed good friends, which is one of the amazing things that can happen with the internet! We had lunch at Third Base since Ryan likes sports bars, and we gave him some gift cards and other goodies, so it was a fun time. Now Ryan is already in Arizona, and he's still going to be working with me online, which is pretty cool! I'll definitely miss him in the office, but we'll still be typing to each other all the time. View photos: Ryan's Good Bye Lunch
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| Party weekends | |
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8.10.2007
6:37 AM | Link |
 In addition to all the old photos I've been migrating, I have some new photos, too! My pals threw a couple of parties recently, and I was there to capture the action. First, Jonathan & Anne Marie returned from a four-week trip to Europe, so they showed everyone their great photos and movies, accompanied by great food and Jonathan's top-notch drink-mixing. The next weekend, Chris & Eliza had a pool party BBQ to officially announce the name of their baby-on-the-way, and they even picked the middle name by popular vote! The official name is Emiliano Gabriel, so now we can stop calling him Optimus Prime. It was great to get together with everyone and think about how all of our friendships are the same, even though we keep on changing (especially with three pregnant gals in attendance)! View photos: Europe Party View photos: Baby Naming BBQ
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| Ernesto's historic solo | |
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7.25.2007
7:07 PM | Link |
 The Elephant Room is widely regarded as the best, most "pure" jazz club in Austin, and I've spent many evenings there with my pals, enjoying the fantastic tunes played by incredible musicians (usually on Monday open jam nights, when the music gets better and better the later you stay!). Even though all of my musician friends love jazz, and we even play it in public, we've always been too scared to step up on the Elephant Room stage. Everyone there is just so good that we just don't have the guts, so instead we just order another drink and watch what musicians can do when they practice eight hours a day! But this weekend, history was made! My pal Ernesto was invited to sit in with Paul Klemperer (his sax teacher, an incredible horn player), and he took him up on the offer! Matt, Jonathan and I cheered Ernesto on as he blew a magnificent solo on Saint Thomas (which coincidentally we had just played the night before in the Ernesto Marquez Sextet), and it was a sight to see. Ernesto is one hard-working musician, and he deserves the props. Way to go, Ernie! View photos: Ernesto at the Elephant Room
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| The Day Jobs: more memories | |
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7.24.2007
8:39 PM | Link |
 I'm continuing to move old photos to Flickr, and now it's become kind of an obsession, since I know I will have a nice feeling of accomplishment when it's finished! Since I'm starting with photos taken in 2000, there are plenty of shots from the last few gigs of my old swing band, The Day Jobs. It's been a blast seeing these old photos again! One of these gigs was way out in the boonies (complete with flatbed trailer), and the other was on the Flagship Texas, a cool boat on Lake Travis that people rent for parties. I've also been converting my old video clips to YouTube, so I figured now would be a good time to upload some Day Jobs video! This is a performance of Mopac Bounce (an original by our guitarist Dae) from Austin Music Network, which we appeared on live. It was pretty exciting at the time! The quality of this clip is definitely lousy - I can remember that Barron helped me rip it from VHS so many years ago, and we had to make it a little postage stamp sized video in order to get decent sound. Still, it's better than nothing, so enjoy the memories! View photos: Gig in the Boonies View photos: Flagship Texas Gig Watch video: The Day Jobs / Mopac Bounce
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| Honor Among Thieves revisited | |
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7.21.2007
10:12 AM | Link |
 Having my pal Matt back in town got me thinking about my early days in Austin, which prompted me to start moving all of my old Kodak Gallery (which used to be Ofoto back when I used it) photos over to Flickr. I decided to start with my oldest albums, and I'm trying to preserve the way they were on Ofoto, so I'm including all the pictures (even though some are so bad I would never upload them today!) with my original captions. Since I'm starting with my oldest photos first (back from 2000), the first batches have to do with my pal Tom's movie masterpiece, Honor Among Thieves! The making of this 90 minute feature (way back before I ever dreamed of video editing myself) and the huge premiere party event is legendary in the history of my Austin pals! The first short set of photos is the final night of editing, where I watched Tom finish the movie on his slow PC until about 4:00 in the morning, and the second huge set is the premiere party itself, which was held in a rented art gallery downtown. I also recently converted the funny trailer for the movie into an official WEBmikey Clip for YouTube, so you can enjoy an extremely low quality (sorry, VCRs and QuickTime were pretty crappy seven years ago!) taste of the film. I remember I was so excited about the movie being finished, that I even showed it to my fellow Works.com employees at lunch one day! Memory Lane sure is a fun place to visit - I'll be uploading hundreds more ancient photos in the days to come! View photos: Editing with Tom View photos: Honor Among Thieves Premiere Watch video: Honor Among Thieves Trailer
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| Okaeri, Matto-san! | |
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7.18.2007
8:14 PM | Link |
 It's finally time to start blogging again! I took a little WEBmikey break since I was busy having fun with my pal Matt, who has just moved back after seven years of living in Japan! Matt stayed with me for a few days, and I had a blast catching up with him and introducing him to my favorite cartoons that he hadn't seen before. We've been shopping together and eating plenty of good food that he's been missing (mostly giant American sandwiches!). He also got to sing a few tunes with the Ernesto Marquez Sextet, and even went to Bernadette's baby shower where he hit it off with all of his new and old friends. Matt's been getting his life in order really quickly, and now he already has an interim apartment, an iMac, a cell phone, and a car! It's so nice to have another one of my close friends back in Austin, and I'm also looking forward to October when Matt's wife Kumiko joins him here! I can't wait to have another Japanese teacher, and all of my pals are looking forward to welcoming her. I didn't take any photos last week, so here's a picture of Matt just before he moved away seven years ago (which reminds me I really want to move all my old Kodak Gallery albums over to Flickr!).
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| Galveston weekend | |
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6.14.2007
5:57 PM | Link |
 Every now and then my pal Tom and I take a little road trip together, and last weekend we headed to Galveston. The drive was pretty easy and fun, too. We decided it was Andrew Lloyd Webber weekend, so we listened to Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Evita, and Jesus Christ Superstar all the way (and there was plenty of bad singing going on, that's for sure!). We stopped in Houston first to enjoy the Menil Collection, which is a great museum of modern art with lots of incredibly famous stuff (I really enjoyed all the Magritte pieces). We also checked out the Rothko Chapel, which I've wanted to see for a long time. Later we checked into Galveston's not-so-fabulous Beachcomber Inn, but it was nice and close to the beach, so were able to walk almost everywhere. We ate at Shrimp & Stuff and had some nice gulf shrimp (and stuff), then we did a lot of beach walking before having a few evening drinks. The next day we walked around the downtown area (the Strand), and got to see some huge cruise ships in port. All in all, it was a relaxing trip and a really nice weekend! View photos: Galveston Road Trip
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| R-L-R-R-L-R-L-L | |
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6.01.2007
6:37 AM | Link |
 I've just started teaching drum lessons to my friend Eliza, and so far it's been a cool experience! Eliza is a vice-principal, so she decided she wanted to learn to play drums as a summer project during her time off from work. I've never taught before, so I was a little nervous starting out - not only because it was my first time, but since Eliza has spent her whole career as an educator, I felt funny trying to teach a teacher! Our second lesson was last night, and it's going really well. I dug up my old drum books that I used back when I was taking lessons (sometime around 1981, based on penciled notes in the books!), and I'm basing the lessons on what I remember being taught at the beginning. My drum teacher was named Richard Thompson, and I met him because he also taught the son of my school choir teacher. He was a great teacher, and taught me some important concepts that I still think about every time I play a gig. He also introduced me to jazz, and learning about that music and its drumming style has really influenced the way I play. Of course, I wasn't the best as practicing on my own, and he gave me lots of speeches about it, but I was able to get by on some kind of innate rhythm I have. I took lessons with him about two years, and then he moved to New York to teach at a prestigious school, if I remember correctly. Anyway, it's been great using the old books again and beginning to teach Eliza, since I have to practice a little to be sure I can play the exercises as well! I'm amazed that one of the books is still in print, A Funky Primer for the Rock Drummer, which is jam-packed with cool beats that I refer to (in my mind) constantly. Another nice benefit of teaching is that Chris is cooking me some fantastic meals as payment, which is an awesome break from the microwave for me!
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| Jazz weekend | |
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5.06.2007
12:32 PM | Link |
 Besides being a great weekend for geeking out with free comics and Spider-Man, this was also a weekend with two fun gigs for the Ernesto Marquez Sextet! On Friday night we played at North by Northwest, which is a nice brewery/restaurant with a large outdoor patio venue, and we had a nice crowd of people enjoying the food and our tunes. We played a three-hour show, which meant we could be a "real" jazz band and take all the solos we wanted, since we had plenty of time. Lots of friends showed up to see us, too! On Saturday night we played our first show at Tree House Italian Grill, which is a wonderful restaurant with a huge outdoor eating area surrounding a massive tree. Fred, the guy who runs the restaurant, made us feel like stars - he fed us a fantastic meal, bought us a bottle of wine, and even piped our music into the restaurant so folks eating inside could enjoy us, too. It was a great experience, and it must have went well, since we have three more gigs booked there in the near future! Check out the official band website for details, and enjoy a few photos from last night (with thanks to Shawn for the action shots). View photos: Ernesto Marquez Sextet
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| A suite ballgame | |
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4.29.2007
2:43 PM | Link |
 A week ago my pals Ryan and Robert and some other guys at work entered a whiffle-ball home run derby contest, and they were the champions! Their prize was tickets to a Round Rock Express baseball game in a private suite, complete with free food and beer. Robert was nice enough to let me use his extra ticket, so last night I got to enjoy the game with the guys. The Express lost 8-4 to the Albuquerque Isotopes (what a name!), but the whole experience was a blast! The suite had cool leather couches, satellite TV, a huge window wall between home and first base, plus our own regular seats just outside the window (kind of like a balcony). We were served twelve hamburgers and twelve hot dogs for the group, plus a ton of chips, and of course, an entire refrigerator full of cans of beer. In about five hours, the entire group of about 10 people drank over 100 beers (I only had four)! It was a ton of fun hanging out with everyone, enjoying the nice evening weather, and watching the game - thanks, guys!
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| Less computers, less books | |
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4.10.2007
8:13 AM | Link |
My recent efforts to simplify and reorganize are going well! I've gone from five computers down to two, selling my iMac to George, my iBook to Barron, and my PC to Ernesto. They all seem happy with their purchases, I'm happy with a little cash, and I'm really happy with the extra space in my loft! My next big job was making room in the toy room (for more toys, of course) by moving my bookcases into the loft. I've been selling (practically giving away) bags of books to Half Price Books, but I finally had to get down to it and move everything. This weekend I unloaded all three bookcases, moved them into the loft (with help from Jonathan), and I just got them reloaded today. I'm totally amazed at how much more shelf space I have after reorganizing the books! I still have a million more projects of this type I want to do, but it feels great to really be getting started! Labels: pals |
| A dreamy weekend | |
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2.19.2007
6:01 PM | Link |
 Last weekend was full of fun happenings. Besides seeing two movies with friends, on Saturday night I got together with Chris for a gaming session. We played lots of Wii, but I also brought over my PS2 for some Guitar Hero and Taiko Drum Master! I hadn't played Taiko in ages, so that was especially fun. On Sunday morning I got up early and met Ernesto for bagels, and then we gave our annual support to our pal Tom who always runs the Austin Marathon. He was taking a slower pace this year, but he still looked great and full of energy at Mile 16. Tom is one of my few friends who's a few years older than me, so it's pretty cool that he keeps cranking out the marathons! After all that hard work watching runners, I took a three-hour nap in the middle of the day, which was especially great since I had a dream in Japanese! This has happened a few times before, and it's always amazing to me. Of course, in my dream I can say whatever I want without hesitation (this time I was actually doing a Jpop interview of sorts), and it's a great feeling. Maybe I have much deeper language skills hiding in my brain waiting to be released! View photos: Marathon
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| Birthday bash | |
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2.04.2007
3:23 PM | Link |
 Last night my "birthday week" came to a big finale, thanks to a special celebration with my pals! Things got off to a great start with some fun gifts, and then we all went to Maiko Sushi Lounge downtown for some swanky sushi and other Japanese-fusion delights. The meal was totally incredible - we tried so many different things, and everything was delicious! My main dish was the hot rock, which is a fun "cook it yourself" meal of fantastic beef, which you sear on a sizzling stone. We all shared a couple bottles of Momokawa sake, which was my first time to try unfiltered sake, and now it's a new favorite! After dinner I had a big birthday cigar (thanks to Jonathan), and then we headed out for karaoke! As always, we had an incredibly crazy time in our private karaoke room, enjoying more drinks and keeping the songs rolling. I had mixed together a special medley (which I brought on CD) of my favorite anime and tokusatsu shows to sing in Japanese, and I totally enjoyed being a crazy geek for everyone! (There are lots of photos of my amazing performance - I normally would never upload so many pictures of myself, but I can't stop laughing at them!) After leaving the karaoke place around 2:00 AM, Ernesto and Jonathan took me to get some late night tacos, which really hit the spot after exhausting ourselves with singing. It was a really fun evening, and I'm so grateful to all of my friends (who treated me all week with emails, gifts, dinners and wishes) for making my big birthday so special! View photos: Mikey's Birthday 2007
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| Perfect presents | |
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12.12.2006
10:12 PM | Link |
 I've received some really amazing Christmas gifts from my pals this year! This weekend I gave everyone this year's video project (which was a big success, judging by the laughter!), and they went together to buy me a fantastic new gig bag (for my drum kit hardware), since my old one was a serious pain. The new one is totally amazing and has wheels on it, so it's going to be so convenient! Then tonight, my pal Melinda and I exchanged gifts, and she gave me a beautiful Snow White figurine (part of the Disney Traditions series by Jim Shore)! It has a great folk-art style to it, and looks wonderful with my other Snow White sculptures. She also gave me a little LEGO set to add to my growing collection, too! Christmas is so much fun! Be sure to take a look at my latest Flickr photos, since I just got up-to-date with my latest toys, PEZ, and collectibles. View photos: Disney Collectibles View photos: PEZtastic View photos: Toys on Stage
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| Soup and pudding | |
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11.24.2006
9:31 PM | Link |
 Yesterday was another incredible Thanksgiving dinner at Chris & Eliza's, who always work so hard to cook an incredible feast for our happy group of pals. This year we were joined by Baby Sofia (along with parents Kristin & Carlos, of course), who is growing up so fast, and I had a great time crawling on the floor to get some fun pictures of her. The meal was fantastic, with two special bookends - Eliza made a delicious butternut squash soup (because I am always raving about her past soups) to get things started, and Bernadette made some excellent banana pudding, which is one of my favorite desserts! It was nice to get stuffed and sit around listening to music, or watching Baby Einstein via Chris' new 40-inch LCD HDTV. The whole day made me happy and thankful to have such great friends, and gave me the energy I'll need to finish my Christmas video project! View photos: Thanksgiving 2006
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| Threadgill's night | |
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10.04.2006
10:06 PM | Link |
 Last weekend my pal Francis and his band, which also features my pal Chris (both Chris & Francis are also in the Greatest American Heroes, since all of my friends mix together in our various music projects!), played a show at the outdoor stage at Threadgill's downtown. For part of the show they were the band for Maryann Price, who was really crazy and entertaining, and they also had a pretty amazing ancient sax player who was incredible to hear. It was a fun show, and it was nice to sit outside in the evening breeze and drink with Ernesto & Jonathan and everyone else - it was a nice relaxing night with friends! As usual, I enjoyed taking some photos and playing around with different simulated film speeds. I really like a few of them, so enjoy the set! View photos: Music at Threadgill's
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| Fluffer-whatter? | |
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9.21.2006
12:56 PM | Link |
 The other day my pal (and office-mate) Ryan mentioned that when he was a kid he used to love to eat Fluffernutters. Of course, I didn't know what in the world he was talking about! He told me about this stuff called Marshmallow Fluff that's only available in certain states, and that a Fluffernutter is just a Peanut Butter and Fluff sandwich. We decided to look for it online, and found lots of places that sell it, so we bought a few jars! We got it this week, so Ryan has been playing Fluff chef all week and making Fluffernutters for breakfast. I have to say, they are really delicious! The key is getting a lot of Fluff on the bread - you need twice as much Fluff as peanut butter, or the peanut flavor will over power the marshmallow. I think the whole thing is pretty cool, since it's all new to me, and Ryan's enjoying the taste of his childhood! View photos: Fluffernutter
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| Baseball adventure | |
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9.18.2006
9:17 PM | Link |
 Yesterday Barron and I drove to Arlington to see the Angels/Rangers baseball game - it was kind of a rainy day, but it was still a blast! It was fun to remember the game we saw in Houston and compare the two - we both liked the park in Arlington better, since it felt more like being outside. We had special passes to get into the Cuervo Club, so we had a beer there and checked out the view that the swanky folks get to enjoy. But speaking of view, we had incredible seats behind third base - we couldn't believe how close we were to the players (you could even hear the umpires)! We had some great baseball food while we enjoyed the game - hot dogs (of course), peanuts, beer, plus bratwurst and fries for Barron and nachos and ice cream for me! The Angels lost (bummer), but I don't mind, because we saw some great plays, including some nice home runs (complete with fireworks). The drive home was kind of intense for me since there was a lot of rain, but Barron and I just chatted our way through it (and even learned some Japanese together). It was a great Sunday, and I slept like a log when I got home! View photos: Angels at Rangers
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| A usual Sunday | |
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8.13.2006
3:42 PM | Link |
Almost every Sunday night some of my pals will come over just to relax and eat. It's always a fun time, and we've been doing it for years now! Last weekend we took a few photos - nothing exciting, but I thought I would put some up anyway, so enjoy some tasty sausage with us. View photos: Sausage Nite
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| Okonomiyaki party | |
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8.07.2006
12:59 PM | Link |
 This weekend my pals Barron & Mariko had an okonomiyaki party, and it was fantastic! They invited Chris & Eliza and Ryan & Jennifer, so it was nice for all of us to get together again. Barron & Mariko have several Japanese friends, too, so I was really excited to practice speaking Japanese! It was great to meet everyone, and the food was really delicious, and I had so much fun playing with all the kids! Along with Barron's sons Bay and Koa, there were lots of other kids running around (all with some Japanese ability), and it was cool to talk with them, toss balloons back and forth, and play with all of the toys around the house. The oldest girl was Rino, Barron's friend's 7-year-old niece, visiting from Hiroshima. She was kind of shy at first, but I kept asking her questions in Japanese ("What's your favorite color? Do you like cats?"), and she finally became my friend and starting talking a lot! Bay has DDR Mario Mix for GameCube, and Rino-chan and I played as a team - she was the right arrow, and I was the other three arrows. Later we were playing with toy dinosaurs and she made up some hilarious dialogue (I was laughing so hard!). The little dinosaur was giving the big dinosaur a rubber snake, and says "Mother, I would like to give you this snake for your birthday", and the big dinosaur says "Idiot! It's not my birthday! My birthday is in September!" (It was so cool to hear this in Japanese and be able to understand it!) It really made me appreciate how kids play and how amazing imagination is. I was playing too much to take very many photos, but here are a few anyway! View photos: Okonomiyaki party
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| Late birthday report | |
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7.16.2006
7:19 PM | Link |
 I'm late in mentioning it, but I had a great time a couple of weekends ago celebrating my pal Tom's birthday! By coincidence, the day he chose to celebrate fell on the same day as some other fun events. First, Chris & Eliza had a little pool party to celebrate the "grand reopening" of their pool after tons of dollars of repair work, so we all got to swim and have some great food together. Then that evening, my pal Francis and his band (featuring Chris) had their second gig at the Saxon Pub, so we went out to see the show, which sounded really great (since the sound guy there is so good). After the show, a few of us went to Kerbey Lane for a late snack, which was a nice end to a day of hanging out together. To continue the party, we took Tom to the Alamo Drafthouse the next day to see the Hindi rip-off of Superman (including effects shots stolen from the US movie!) in Foleyvision (which means all of the music, sound-effects, and dialogue are live). Tom had a nice birthday weekend! View photos
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| More fun with Dae | |
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5.29.2006
8:07 PM | Link |
 My pal Dae went back home to Los Angeles today, after spending an incredibly full four days here in Austin! Besides all the fun things I mentioned briefly before, we also wandered around the Zilker Botanical Garden, saw a movie, enjoyed the incredible Combo Mahalo at Flipnotics, invented "One-Hand One-Base Drunken Wiffle Ball" at Kirk's BBQ, and wrapped things up with a nice evening of Scrabble at Spider House. Dae got to relive tons of his favorite Austin memories, as well as eat all of his favorite foods. I'm glad I could pay him back for all of the Disneyland trips he's endured with me! View photos: Dae's visit
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| Double the fun | |
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5.22.2006
8:38 PM | Link |
 Saturday was definitely party day, since I had two to attend, and the last one ended up being a true marathon! Eliza's graduation party was really nice, with excellent lunch food and great conversation with friends. Carlos & Kristin hosted the fun occasion, and baby Sofia was an angel as usual! It was fun to see both Chris & Eliza's parents, too, since I hadn't seen them since their wedding. After that party, I took a quick nap, then headed out to Ernesto's birthday pub crawl, which included the Draught House, Billy's, Ginny's Little Longhorn, Lala's, and Common Interest, where we tried to get on the stage for karaoke, but we didn't get there until too late. But we didn't let that stop us - we just headed over to Austin Karaoke and got a room at about 2:30 (along with some tacos and more beer), and it was 5:00 AM before we knew it! Everyone had an awesome time, and I even got to butcher a Morning Musume song. Most importantly, Ernesto had a blast! View photos: Eliza's graduation party View photos: Ernesto's birthday pub crawl
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| Skating and bouncing | |
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5.14.2006
1:58 PM | Link |
 Saturday was full of fun! The day started with Disney on Ice, which my pal Melinda and I had been looking forward to for quite a while. I was able to get the tickets really early and get front row, and we had a great time at the show. The plot was really creative - the Incredibles family is spending a day at the Magic Kingdom, and Syndrome shows up and kidnaps Mickey & Minnie! There are lots of attractions reenacted on ice, including the Haunted Mansion (which was the best) and Pirates of the Caribbean (it was hilarious to see Mickey & Minnie behind bars in the famous "dog with keys" scene, but so sad!). The whole show was really cool, with only one exception - all the kids under twelve got Incredibles bracelets with light-up buttons, and we didn't get them (even when I asked). Meanies!Later that evening, my pal Bernadette had her 30th birthday party, which was celebrated with karaoke, DDR, and a giant moon walk (bounce house, or whatever you want to call it)! It was a lot of fun bouncing (and exhausting), and I got to play a lot of DDR as the designated demonstrator. The highlight of the evening was after midnight when lots of the girls put on formal dresses and did some bouncing! It was too dark for good photos, but I have some great night-shot video (which will someday be a slow-motion masterpiece). View photos: Bernadette's birthday
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| No beer festival | |
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5.09.2006
9:55 PM | Link |
 Another fun thing I did this weekend was checking out Satsuki Matsuri, which is a little May festival put together by JASGA (the Japan-America Society of Greater Austin). I don't know much about the organization, but I've wanted to go to one of their events for a while, so I asked Barron, who's been a bachelor with Koa while Mariko and Bay are in Japan. We had a good time, but it was mostly because Koa was lots of fun. The festival had too many people crowded into small areas, so it was tough to really see anything. There were some vendors with snacks and other food, and then some dance and martial arts demonstrations. We ate some snacks and ice cream, but how can they call it a festival without beer? The best part was just spending time with Barron and Koa - Koa was really friendly and let me carry him a little bit, too, and he totally perked up when I sang some of the Japanese kids songs I know! It was really neat to see the Zilker Botanical Gardens again, too - I hadn't been there in years! View photos: Satsuki Matsuri
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| Artistic acheivements | |
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4.13.2006
8:59 PM | Link |
  Two of my pals had some amazing "firsts" this week! Last Saturday, my pal Francis had his first gig of his new solo music project (featuring the songs on his No Less Days CD). They played at Borders, which was a nice environment, since it was easy to enjoy the band, talk with old friends (Conrad was there with his awesome kids), and browse Kanji books at the same time! My pal Chris is in the band also, so it was really nice to see my friends put on a great show!A few days later in Japan, my pal Matt opened his first gallery exhibit of his super-cool photography! The theme of the show is Life on a Japanese Train (read Matt's description of the theme), and he did a fantastic job of covering all kinds of ages and walks of life in these images. I'm so happy that he's taken his photography talent to the next level, and I'm sure it's just the beginning. View photos: Francis' gig View photos: Matt's exhibit
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| Mikey's Hollywood | |
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3.07.2006
11:35 PM | Link |
 Another year, another Academy Awards bash! This seemed like a particularly big party, since there were several newcomers this time, which made everything even more fun. Based on the nominated movies this year, I thought I would be coming in last place, but somehow I actually came in first (with 16 correct picks), for the first time in nine years! Since I'm the host, I just took one fun prize (a ninja rubber duckie) and stepped down, which put Jonathan in first (as usual), Ian (live from New York) in second, and Ernesto and Ann Marie tied for third. Chris took the last place prize, but he was one of the big hits this year, since Chris and Shawn both came dressed as Brokeback Mountain cowboys (without knowing the other guy was doing the same thing!). This was also the first time I got to meet Sofia, Kristin & Carlos' new baby girl, and she was amazingly quiet during all our party craziness! View photos: Academy Awards 2006
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| Bunny party | |
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3.04.2006
4:39 PM | Link |
  Last night all my pals and I had a fun double celebration for Chris & Jonathan, who both had birthdays recently! We started with dinner at Cosmic Cafe - Chris is vegetarian, so he picked the restaurant. It was a fun place with very cool decor and a nice waiters, and I had a little pizza that was pretty good (I just can't get too excited about veggie food). After dinner we went to Jonathan's for drinks, where we had margaritas followed by scotch followed by cigars (outside by Jonathan's cool fire pit). I gave both birthday boys some nice booze, and I also gave Jonathan his extra special present from Matt & Kumiko in Japan! Jonathan collects crazy hats, so they sent him a Nova Usagi hat, and it was a big hit. This is definitely a party weekend, since my annual Academy Awards party is tomorrow night! View photos: Jonathan & Chris Birthday
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| Some run, some fall | |
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2.21.2006
8:43 PM | Link |
 This weekend some friends of mine ran the Freescale Austin Marathon, so a few of my pals and I got together to cheer them on! Eliza, Bernadette, Shawn, and Erin all ran the half-marathon, and my pal Tom ran the full marathon (he's a total veteran now). We didn't see Tom in the crowd of runners, but we did catch all the half-marathon heroes, and I got to take their picture at the finish line! It was totally freezing, and we were shivering our butts off (along with all the other spectators, of course). While Ernesto and I were walking to a good spot, I stepped on a patch of ice! My feet went right out in front of me like I had stepped on a banana peel in a cartoon, and I landed solidly on my butt. Since there were people everywhere, within seconds there was a paramedic asking me if I could move my toes! I survived just fine, but now I have some really sore ribs and a black and blue pinky. It was worth it, though - it's always fun to get together with my pals and watch the runners. Congratulations, everyone!Labels: pals |
| Party number four | |
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2.04.2006
6:07 PM | Link |
 Wow, what a week of birthday fun! I was lucky enough to have four (count 'em!) birthday celebrations: first there was dinner with my pal Melinda and the surprise cake, and then my pal Jonathan took me out on my actual birthday (Monday) for an extravagant Ruth's Chris steak dinner, followed by cigars and never-ending drinks at the Elephant Room, resulting in a mere hour and a half of sleep before work the next day (but it was worth it)! Then my pals Chris, Barron and Ryan took me to lunch and gave me a fun Nintendo DS game, and finally, everyone took me to Mikado last night for a great dinner, followed by karaoke! We found a cool Korean-run place called Austin Karaoke that had private rooms (just like in Japan), so we all went insane and sang (or screamed) at the top of our lungs until almost 2:00 AM! It was really am incredible time, and made for a spectacular finale to my birthday week! I'm so happy to have such great friends around me to grow old with - they're simply irreplaceable. There's really not a thing wrong with turning thirty-nine when you're as lucky as I feel! View photos: Birthday karaoke
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| Fun with friends | |
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1.07.2006
11:24 PM | Link |
 This has been a great week for getting out of the house more (keeping my resolution already!) and seeing old friends. My pal Ian is in town from New York City, and I met him and some other friends at the Elephant Room for some late night drinks and great Latin jazz (I was really impressed with the drummer's work on the classic Wave). It was fun to talk with Ian and other pals of the Day Jobs days. I had never really chatted with Austin-renowned dancer Laura before, but I was pretty shocked to find out she's an Adult Swim fan (an Aqua Teen Hunger Force geek in disguise!). Yesterday I had friends over to see my pal Shelly since he's going back to Portland, and it was cool having the old Works crowd together, eating pizza and playing DDR. Then last night I had a post-opera drink with Tom, so I've just been living it up lately - definitely a good start to the year!I've posted a Flickr set of some photos of my favorite Christmas gift to my dad (and I'm happy that it was his favorite gift, too!) - a really nice model of the AWACS plane from the Corgi Aviation Archive. Mom's kitchen isn't as nice as my "studio" setup for macro shots at home, but these turned out pretty well anyway! View photos: AWACS model
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| Say hello to '06 | |
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1.01.2006
6:36 PM | Link |
 Happy new year, everyone! I had a blast last night at my Greatest American Heroes gig - it was one of the best ever! The crowd was a little slow getting there, but as midnight approached the whole place was totally packed and the dance floor was full. My favorite thing about playing music is watching a good crowd, and last night there were plenty of crazy folks to watch. (In fact, the band received it's first "flashing", so I guess we've made it now. Of course, I was hidden behind the horns so I missed the display!) Tons of friends showed up, including our pal Shelly, who is visiting from Portland, and tons of other folks. The countdown to midnight was fun, and then we played Auld Lang Syne and rocked on until about 1:15 or so, and the crowd kept dancing, too. I was totally exhausted this morning, so it was a great day to play Nintendo DS, watch Looney Tunes, and eat Cheerios from the box, just before taking a long nap on the couch. View photos: New Year's Eve
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| Movie madness | |
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12.12.2005
11:34 PM | Link |
 This weekend I had some pals over for what's become a new Christmas tradition for me - the "screening" of my end-of-the-year video project! During the year I shoot lots of goofy video and take thousands of photos, and then I try to edit everything in some strange way. It's a lot of fun, and this year I went crazy and tried to make an actual movie with characters and a plot and everything. Of course, our demonic nemesis Baby Chaos had a starring role, and everyone laughed and had a great time, which was the perfect Christmas gift for me! I tried to take some pictures, but since I was running around getting drinks for folks, my shots were pretty bad. Thankfully, my pal Barron was there as official photographer, so enjoy the pics! View photos: Christmas screening (by Barron)
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| A party of pie | |
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11.29.2005
11:31 PM | Link |
 My pal Jonathan always has a "pie party" to kick off the holiday season in style, where everyone shows up with a bottle and a pie and no one goes home hungry. This year it was tons of fun - there was lots of good pie, pizza, Jonathan's excellent margaritas, and two fires going (indoor and outdoor) to keep us toasty. My usual gang was there, and we had a good time catching up with Jonathan's other pals that we always see at get-togethers like this one. Of course, there was a little music jam and some fun with Jonathan's funny hat collection, too! View photos: Pie party
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| It's all in the basting | |
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11.25.2005
7:39 PM | Link |
 Another wonderful Thanksgiving has come and gone, but the holiday weekend remains! Yesterday I had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner with my pals at Chris & Eliza's house - Eliza always cooks up a fantastic feast. Here's this year's "basting shot", which has become a tradition - I take this photo every year. Someday I will be able to publish a book of Eliza's basting skill! It was nice to have Tom back at Thanksgiving, since he missed the last two years (he also made me breakfast, which is a nice bonus). After having lots of wine and stuffing ourselves (oh yeah, there was pie and ice cream, too!), we watched some old video I brought of past Thanksgivings, and then watched a pretty good movie on DVD. It was a nice relaxing time with lots of laughs, and now I'm in full-swing Christmas anticipation! View photos: Thanksgiving
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| Shake your antennae | |
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10.31.2005
6:45 PM | Link |
 Wow, this weekend was really packed full of fun stuff to mention here! I guess we'll start on Thursday when I got a mysterious UPS package. A long time ago I signed up on Pipe Show Online, just because it looked kind of interesting, and because of that, they sent me a box of tobacco samples - about 30 different 1.5 ounce pouches! That's at least worth a couple bucks a piece, so that's a really hefty "free sample"! I'll never smoke it all, but I'll have fun trying out a new kind with each bowl (I smoke my pipe about twice a week in the Fall and Winter, but hardly at all the rest of the year.)Next up is Greatest American Heroes news, starting with our annual Halloween gig at the Carousel Lounge. It was pretty fun this year, especially since we had matching TV-head costumes! They were pretty comfortable as far as costumes go, and we actually kept them on for both sets. It was kind of fun shaking the antennae around - it made me feel like I had long hair or something! On Saturday morning, the Heroes went to Figment Studios to record four tracks for our singer Dana's new solo album. The recording session was one of the best I've ever experienced - the studio was awesome and we really had fun. The engineer really understood how I like my drums to sound, too! I can't wait to hear the CD in a month or so. View photos: TV-headsOn Saturday night there was a baby shower for my pals Kristin & Carlos, since their little girl Sofia is just about ready to get out of Kristin's tummy by any means possible! Just like every party at Chris & Eliza's, it was a really fun time with tons of friends (and lots of other faces!). And yes, one of the gifts was the "sausage-maker" (the thing that turns dirty diapers into little sausage-like links), so now I can say that bizarre device has made an appearance at every single baby shower I've attended. View photos: Sofia's baby shower
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| Halloween happens | |
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10.25.2005
9:38 PM | Link |
 Last weekend I went to a really cool Halloween party at Mark & Melissa's house (I met Mark at Chris' bachelor party) - it was pretty amazing! They totally went all out decorating their house, starting with a graveyard in the front yard, and continuing into every room of the house. Almost every wall was covered in garbage bags to keep it dark and scary, and there were black lights and a smoke machine, too. They even had some ghouls on strings that were motorized to fly over everyone's heads! Upstairs was a disgusting dismembered corpse with lots of blood - no room was left untouched! There were lots of cool couples costumes, like a bee with her bee-keeper, and the Pope with a pregnant nun, and my gang looked pretty funny, too (Jonathan was the Turban Cowboy, Chris & Eliza were tourists, and I was something like a "hell clown"). The pictures don't do justice to the decorations, since they looked so cool in the dark and black lights, but enjoy taking a peek at the madness anyway! View photos: Halloween partySpeaking of Halloween, the Greatest American Heroes will be playing our usual Halloween show at the Carousel Lounge this Friday (October 28th)! Chris did an awesome illustration on our website for this special event, so be sure to check it out! |
| Parents and pals | |
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10.02.2005
4:25 PM | Link |
 Today I have a couple of photo sets for you! First, I finally posted some pictures of my parents that I took during their recent visit. I love the shots taken at Main Event, especially watching Mom & Dad play air hockey! Last night I went to Shawn's birthday party, so you can check out the fun goings-on from that event, too. I got to play DDR Ultramix (the Xbox version) for the first time! It was a blast watching everyone try it out and learn how to play. It was a fun party - I got to talk to lots of folks that I've only chatted with quickly before, so it was really cool! View photos: Parents in Austin View photos: Shawn's birthday partyHere's a little WEBmikey fame - someone noticed my PEZ collection photos on Flickr, and they used some of them (plus my little PEZ essay) in a web magazine called Practically Creative. It's always fun to be noticed! Just in case you notice my posting schedule is a little off, |