This is about 1/3 of what we picked today @ Bryant’s Blueberries in New Salisbury, IN. More info: http://bryantsblueberries.com

Scott Schroeder is a talented (and National Addy Award Winning) designer at my ad agency. He’s also a big classic horror nerd, and apparently has passed those genes down to his kid, Holden. You see, first-grader Holden has written his first script this year and his old man has given the green-light to the project. Scott and Holden have embarked on making sets and doing pre-production for the stop-motion film in their garage.

The plot synopsis is a such (from Scott):

It’s the your typical feel good tale about the young son of a mad scientist, who unwittingly gets into one of his fathers expierements and transforms himself into a flesh eating skeleton/boy/monster.

The working title? THE KING OF DEATH.

Yeah, that’s all Holden there.

The name of Holden’s dog? ROBOT ONE-EYE.

No, I am not joking.

This is going to… be… AWESOME.

You can keep up with THE KING OF DEATH on the official KING OF DEATH blog, http://plan43.blogspot.com/.

There are two people that I regard as having helped me to understand my cultural identity – to understand what it means to be an American, to be a Southern boy, to live in a country made of free people. One is Jack Kerouac and the other (and likely the most important) is Hunter S. Thompson.

His writing conveys a wild, insatiable interest and keen bead on his subjects – be they the Kentucky Derby, race relations in Louisville, the wild flipside of the American Dream, or politics. He taught me that all writing is journalism, and journalism is much more than writing. His madcap dispatches blend furious imagination with a seam of truth that runs so deep as to ground the whole escapade like a seasick man clutching a ships railing. Some of his work is a tough read, no doubt, but it’s all worth it for those moments of pristine clarity that ring out like gunshots through his work.

Gonzo, a movie about Hunter S. Thompson is soon to be released in theaters. Trailer below:

A couple of choice quotes “after the jump”…
(more…)

I’ve always wanted a website wherein I could make my own mixtapes and share them with friends. Didn’t know how the songs would get there, but I imagined an unlimited archive of songs. Why hasn’t iTunes made this a feature? Think about it – like a mixtape? Buy it! Helps the artists and maybe the creator of the mix gets a little credit or something.

In the meantime… there is Muxtape. Create an account, upload some MP3s and organize them into a mix. They can be played in the browser through a remarkably simple, clean interface. Like a good tool, Muxtape doesn’t do anything extra – it just does what it says it will, and nothing more.

Luckily, I already had a proto-mixtape I had worked on a little while back, entitled “Workingmans Blues” – inspired by my blasting of Uncle Tupelo’s Graveyard Shift upon my last day of work at my previous employer. It’s perfect for that Friday afternoon, or perhaps that last day of work. Enjoy:

http://mynameiswilson.muxtape.com

(Thanks be to Jackson…)

Chip Hunt getting some strokes in before tonight’s Power Creative golf league.

Update: Golf League was cancelled because there was some rain on the edge of the radar – but Chip and I, along with Bill the photog played the front 9 at Charlie Vettiner. I shot a 44 (par was 34). Not bad for a guy who has only shot under 100 once or twice. Felt good – drives were mostly straight. Sank a 10+ foot putt for par on the Par 5 9th.

Yes, Kelly and I are selling our home. We’ve listed our house with Sharon Toms (the realtor who helped to sell Danielle’s house) and this morning it showed up in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Here’s the skinny:

MLS #1204212Listing Price: $134,900.00
Rooms: 3 beds, 2 bath, full basement
Square Footage: 1,218
Greater Louisville Area Realtor Listing: 3107 Hikes Lane, Louisville, KY 40220.

You interested? Let me know – I know the seller.

ESPN SportCenter highlights from May 6, 1998.  The Cubs’ 21-year-old pitching phenom Kerry Wood strikes out 20 in one of the most dominant pitching performances of all time – and against the winningest Houston Astros team ever. Check out the break on the slider he throws around 1:30 – it broke so hard it crosses the plate and ends up behind the hitter! That year, he pitched 167 innings and struck out 233 – almost 1.5 an inning. His elbow would later revolt.

Remember Political Compass? I do. Waaaay back in ’03, some friends of mine and I took the test and gauged our political compasses. Having recently been fingered as a Mike Gravel supporter by GlassBooth, I figured I’d get my compass read again, and here’s how it went:

2008 Economic Left/Right: -3.50
2008 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.59

2003 Economic Left/Right: -3.50
2003 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.00

So, I’m a little tiny bit more authoritarian, but overall unchanged in those five formative years.  This was all foretold, by the way – I was told by a co-worker a few years ago this would happen as I grew older. (Me: I’m a pretty liberal Democrat. Her: Oh, you’ll grow out of that.) Does the AARP make you change your voter registration or something?

Back to my Political Compass reading: I’m in pretty good company there, just a bit less Left and a bit less Libertarian than his Holiness the Dalai Lama and polar opposites from Margaret Thatcher and Adolf Hitler. Now, as far as my “Mike Gravel” reading from GlassBooth is concerned, the Political Compass has him near the same Libertarian level as me, but he’s much more to the Right than I am.  My real Political Compass soulmate? Ralph Nader. (Who was only 4% shy of a GlassBooth match). Interesting reading: Political Compass’ readings on the 2008 US Presidential Primaries.

I suspect my real leftist leanings that throw me into the same bucket as Nader are that I think gays, children, the elderly and the infirm have a right to be happy inasmuch as my white, male, upper(?)-middle-class self does. Next thing ya know I’ll be on a kibbutz smashing beets into biofuel with a red scarf around my neck as my strapping wife tows a cartful of bounty off into the sunset.

Er… wait. Well, anyway, it’s not much of a surprise to me – I think my leanings (in whichever direction) solidified sometime around my mid-20s and I’m glad to see they haven’t changed to much from where my 25 year-old (my age in 2003) self saw them.  Refined, maybe, but not a major shift.

Thanks to M@ Rasnake for digging up my 2003 email with my Political Compass stats in it.  I’m afraid to say my email pre-2003 has vanished like so many Nader-as-president dreams.

Yesterday was the 2008 Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon, a 13.1-mile road running race. (As well as mine and Kelly’s 6th wedding anniversary). Kelly got me to train and run the miniMarathon last year, and it would appear that running has stuck with me – and I’m faster this year than the last! The miniMarathon follows the “Triple Crown of Running,” which consists of a 5k (3.1mi), 10k (6.2mi) and a 10 mile race, and makes a great training schedule. Below are my 2007 and 2008 race times for all four races:

So, on the whole, roughly 2% faster than last year. I didn’t crack the 25 minute 5k yet, like I’ve wanted to, but the year is still young – and I’ve dramatically improved my times at that distance. The Rodes time improved slightly, but the Papa Johns time went south just a touch. I wonder why that is? Could have just been something that day. The one thing I find interesting is that both of my miniMarathon paces are faster than my two Papa John’s times, with the two races having almost the same course. I think the faster pace time on the mini as compared to the Papa John’s and the only marginal yearly speed increase (despite me thinking that I trained better and felt better during the 2008 races) in speed this year are due to the same thing – the miniMarathon is the object of my training, and… I wanted it more last year! It’s amazing what a little inspiration can do for you.

Meanwhile, I’ve started cycling with Kelly and I’m looking forward to doing the E. P. Tom Sawyer sprint triathlon (800m swim, 14 mile bike and 5k run). It’s a fun race, despite the fact that I was really slow last year (see my results here, 15th out of 16 in the 25-29 age group).

I am happy to say that as many meetings over websites that I’ve attended in the past 10 years or so, none of them have ever been this bad. Though some have come close.