Ever been excited about an album release and have your expectations exceeded? It’s rare, but that’s what happened this week when Ben Shive, the newest member of The Square Peg Alliance, released his first solo album, The Ill-Tempered Klavier.

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And the world’s a pretty harlot
When you’re traveling alone
And a fool can see she’s looking
And a fool would take her home

Cause her love is so expensive
And her flattery is cheap
When you’ve gotten what you wanted
And you’re back out on the street
Then you’ll see

So yeah, I’m a fan of Ben Shive’s writing, but I had no idea that he was also a singer until recently. Over the last few years, I’ve seen his name attached to the records of singer/ songwriter/indie-types like the Andrew Peterson, Randall Goodgame, and Eric Peters in roles from producer to writer/arranger to keyboards/pianist. The man’s been busy, that’s for sure.

Shive is a piano player, the kind who brings other players to their knees. It’s been years (far too long) since I touched a piano, but man, Ben Shive can play like I could’ve only dreamed. Most of the album is piano driven, which leads us to my favorite song from the album, Out of Tune. Take a listen:

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I’ve been trying to pin down Shive’s style, and the best I can come up with is singer-songwriter/alternative/retro, or something like that. Whatever he is, it’s a unique and refreshing sound that I can’t get enough of.

Get in on the ground floor with this amazing multi-talented ‘new’ artist by downloading Ben Shive’s album The Ill-Tempered Klavier for the low, low price of $10, available exclusively (for now) at The Rabbit Room.

Spamalot came to town a few weeks ago, so I went with a few friends. We had a lot of fun, and I returned with the following thoughts:

1. $85 is way too much for a ticket in the BACK ROW. I was directly in front of the sound guy, and he got paid to be there.
2. The Victoria Theater in Dayton is a nice facility in a bad neighborhood.
3. Spamalot was a bit derivative for my tastes. The best parts were ones that didn’t come from a Monty Python movie.
4. Esther Stilwell got pipes, son. I’d see it again just for her performance as the Lady of the Lake.
5. Jabs at Broadway musicals can only take a story so far.
6. That said, the song Whatever Happened to My Part (sung by Ms. Stilwell) is well written.
7. Someone named Lancelot turning out to be gay is genuinely funny.
8. The guy playing Lancelot (Patrick Heusinger) is easy on the eyes in a Nordic kind of way, so that helped too.
9. Audience participation shouldn’t be permitted in a professional show.
10. People are too eager to give standing ovations. It was good, but it wasn’t that good.

Well, it finally happened. My last CD player gave up the ghost in late March. Rather than buying a new CD player, I decided to bite the bullet and get an actual iPod. Ladies and gentlemen…it is awesome.

I decided to go with the iPod Nano (4 gig, 3rd generation) because a) it was cheaper and b) I can’t imagine using all four gigabytes, so what do I need with four extra gigs? So far I’ve filled up three, and there are only a few others that I have to upload. Controls are ridiculously intuitive, the iPod is exactly the right size (physically), and she handles like a dream.

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A couple comments/complaints. First, it bugs me that I can’t sync it up with any old media player on my computer; instead I have to use iTunes. For now I’m supplementing iTunes with SharePod, though I’m sure there’s a better option that I haven’t found yet. The reason I’m using SharePod is that iTunes won’t let me transfer my music between my home and work computers. That flat sucks. I get that they don’t want people stealing music, but I purchased this music, and I should be able to do with it what I want.

Another reason I hate iTunes is that I couldn’t log in to download cover art and such unless I gave them my credit card number. Buh? I have no intention of buying anything from you (cough DRM cough), but you want access to my credit card? Not happening.

So I hunkered down and started tracking down and uploading the covers of all the albums I’d uploaded. It was a pain in the neck, but that’s the price you pay for taking a stand. Power to the people and all that. Of course, the job got infinitely easier when I realized I could just use amazon.com‘s images. Still, though, it was an unnecessary step caused by an unreasonable demand.

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Okay, so I lied. As soon as I got done with the album covers, I heard that Peggle was available for download, but only through iTunes. What can I say? My love for Peggle won out. It’s a good supplement (bit of an energy hog, though) to the three games that came preloaded. Very handy to have for the waiting rooms of life.

I was surprised that there was no power cord included in the package. Yes, I know, it charges from the ‘puter, but what about when that isn’t handy? So I spent a couple bucks on a backup charger, which ended up being for the old iPod Nano and was incompatible with mine, so I had to spend a couple more bucks on one that actually did work. And the charger has been helpful several times in the past couple weeks.

Another late purchase was a protective case. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it when I bought the iPod, but it scratches pretty easily. I tried to go the cheap route and get a rubber-ish cover, but ended up getting a Belkin acrylic cover last weekend. It works much better, covers everything (including the screen), and doesn’t get in the way of the click wheel.

So to sum up: iPod good. iTunes bad. Peggle good. DRM really bad, but that’s another post. And now I get to walk around pretending that I’m in a movie and the music is my soundtrack.

. . .

Don’t judge me.

Generally speaking, Ohio sucks for artsy stuff. Every once in a while, though, we get something good. This would be one of those times.

From May 10^th through August 3^rd, The Ohio State University Wexner Center for the Arts will be hosting a major exhibition of Jeff Smith‘s work AND work that influenced Smith. The exhibition kicks off Saturday with an interview with Smith and Scott McCloud.

Oh yes. It is awesome. (Alex, Joe, the rest of y’all, quit drooling all over your keyboards.)

From the press release:

Columbus, OH—Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond, the first museum exhibition of work by the influential, Columbus-based comic book artist and writer—best known for his epic graphic novel Bone—will be on view May 10–August 3, 2008 at the Wexner Center for the Arts.

The exhibition—a partnership between the Wexner Center and The Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library, collaborating for the first time on an exhibition—will include about 80 original drawings: primarily original black-and-white pages from Bone, with a smaller selection of full-color Bone covers and post-Bone work, including original drawings from Smith’s recent Shazam series for DC Comics and from Rasl, a story about a time-traveling art thief. Smith will also be creating an installation on the wall of the lower lobby of the Wexner Center.

The exhibition includes a selection of original comics whose artists Smith cites as direct influences, among them examples from Walt Kelly’s Pogo, Carl Barks’s Uncle Scrooge, Will Eisner’s The Spirit, George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, Charles Schulz’s Peanuts, Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury, and E. C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre.

A related show called Jeff Smith: Before Bone—which features a selection of Smith’s pre-Bone work, including pieces he created for The Ohio State University’s campus newspaper The Lantern—will be on view nearby in Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library.

Bone and Beyond is organized by David Filipi, the Wexner Center’s curator of film and video, and Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library.

“Graphic storytelling is enjoying a level of critical and cultural currency as never before,” Filipi says. “This truly is a golden age for the medium, and we are excited to be presenting the first solo gallery exhibition of one of the great artists of his time. As both a writer and artist, Jeff has created an unparalleled body of work and, with Bone, a work that transcends age and will be read for generations. We’re also thrilled to be collaborating in a significant way with the Cartoon Research Library.”

Notes Caswell, “Bone and Beyond is a celebration of the work of this important artist and writer. Jeff’s achievement with Bone is monumental, and this exhibition offers a look at this artist at the height of his creative power.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue featuring an introduction by Caswell, and essays by Filipi, Sandman creator Neil Gaiman, and cartoonist and scholar Scott McCloud. It will also include an interview with Smith conducted by Filipi and Caswell.

A series of talks and events has been scheduled during the run of this exhibition. Smith will take part in a conversation with Scott McCloud on May 10 at 2 pm in Mershon Auditorium. Exhibition curators Caswell and Filipi will host an informal gallery talk at 12:30 pm on May 14. Eisner Award-winning comic book artist Terry Moore will speak on May 15 at 7 pm in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater, followed by a talk and signing by comic book artist Paul Pope on May 20 at 7 pm, also in the Film/Video Theater. And on June 5, Smith will introduce a Looney Tunes Evening, a selection of his favorite Warner Brothers cartoons. Smith will also be a special guest at the Spring Exhibition Opening on Friday, May 9, 6–9 pm. Additional events will be announced in the coming months.

Admission is free.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to lighten the mood after yesterday’s post, and I realized that only one thing can stand next to Godliness. Cleanliness! Duh!

Some time ago Ed Cunard (who never updates his blog anymore) sent me this picture of a sign he saw in a public restroom. Some public official had the truly inspired idea to take snippets of well-known literature and insert a message, in the author’s style, to encourage people to wash their hands.

I decided that it’s so fracking awesome that I had to find out if there were more. I actually found a few online, but didn’t like the design of them. So I took them and redid them myself. I also took the liberty of doctoring a few passages myself.

Eventually, I covertly put them up on the restroom stall doors at work, right about at readable height, if you know what I mean. They’ve gotten a few chuckles, and I’d like to think they got a few people to wash their hands more often.

Anyway, I’m making these seven signs available for download. The images below are small and of poor quality, but each one links to a much higher quality pdf of the corresponding sign. Have some fun with these. All I ask in return is that you send me a quick picture of the sign after you hang it.

Click the image to download a full-size 8½x11 pdf of the sign.

I don’t generally talk about religion or my personal life here on the blog. In fact, I work pretty hard to keep it light and fluffy. This post will be a break in that policy. If you’re looking for humor or a (hopefully) good film review, I recommend you come back tomorrow. I break this policy because I must speak out about the travesty of justice that was perpetrated yesterday in Fort Worth, Texas at the United Methodist Church (UMC) General Conference (GC).

On April 30, 2008, the UMC voted again to exclude gay people from full inclusion in the church. We are not permitted to serve in positions of ordained leadership. We are told that we are “incompatible with Christian teaching”. We are told that people should refrain from discriminating against us, but in the next breath we are told that a pastor may discriminate against us. In short, our ‘sin’ is too great for the UMC to handle.

There had been hope that we could at least get the UMC to recognize that there is disagreement in the church on these issues, but thanks to some deft maneuvering by Rev. Eddie Fox and Bishop Timothy Whittaker, the proposal that would have allowed for that never even saw open debate, let alone a full vote. Good work, gentlemen!

I’ve been trying to figure out what else to say, but Sue Laurie has posted a marvelous letter that says what I wanted to and more. I’m only excerpting it here, so please click through to read the full text.

We witness in good faith. We are confident in our place, but it is confusing to learn and re-learn that the voters do not care about us as people or as Christians and they do not care that they wound the Church.

They do not care. It is beyond our comprehension. As we hear eloquent speeches based in the gospel of Jesus Christ, we cannot stop ourselves from feeling hope. As we hear gay-bashing speeches or “kinder, gentler” bigotry in coded language, we cannot believe that those weak, hateful positions will prevail.

Then, we lose. We lose the vote. We lose our place as clergy and now as lay people. We lose confidence in our leaders. We are instantly invisible as delegates are invited by the leaders to do some stretching exercises.

When I was in seminary, “friends” advised that things weren’t so bad for gay folks. “Just don’t tell them you are gay.” “You cannot expect change in our lifetime.” I was advised not to push for equality. Find a way to survive without opening yourself for mistreatment.

Then to wash their hands of the mess, they would say, “don’t martyr yourself”.

What is that? All I can do is try to be a faithful disciple. I have benefited from so many who have gone before me. If other people beat me up, that is their sin, not mine.

As I struggle to make sense of the situation, I rest on the little encouraging news that has come out of the GC. The Judicial Council (think Supreme Court) is going from a 6-3 conservative majority to a 2-7 conservative minority. Hopefully that means that the next time a Joey Heath is shown the door, the Judicial Council won’t high-five the pastor who held it open.

Secondly, the vote on several of the measures at this GC was close. Gay marriage went down (surprising no one) with a 66% majority, and a whopping 40% of the delegates apparently think that homophobia is A-OK, but language declaring that pastors “. . . are to faithfully receive all persons who are willing to affirm our vows of membership” was defeated by only 1% and the addition of gays to current equal rights language in the Book of Discipline was defeated by less than 5%. This is encouraging news indeed. Maybe at the next GC in 2012 we’ll be able to make more headway.

But the greatest piece of encouraging news is that this General Conference doesn’t speak for everybody in the United Methodist Church. When I came out in 2007, I was moved beyond measure by the kindness, understanding, and grace shown to me by my friends within my church and, more importantly, my pastor. He was and continues to be a source of support and inspiration.

A final note in a far-too-long post: When this news hit the wire last night, I was busy at my church helping prepare a kids drama program for this Sunday. I missed the news I’d been losing sleep over because I was busy doing the work of the church. There just has to be a sermon in there somewhere.

I’m not sure why I’m writing this blog anymore. Nobody’s really reading it, and Google hates me for some reason, so I’m not getting the hits from there.

I suppose I’ll keep plugging for awhile, but really, what’s the point?

Ah, Spring. The time when the snow melts, the robin returns, the days grow longer, and the grass grows green once again. And right on schedule, emails have been circulating about how to force gas prices down.

For the last couple years, the outcry has come in the form of not buying gas on a specified date; usually May 15^th. Here’s an article from snopes.com detailing the history of this “gas out” protest. The email I’ve received this year is a bit different, but only slightly less silly. The basic gist is that by moving your gasoline purchase from one retailer to another, you will magically force the price down.

As you can see from the links above, both ideas are old, dating back to as far back as 2000. For some reason, people forget that they’ve gotten the same email several times and decide that it’s a neat-o-keen idea to just re:all. And so the cycle continues.

This wouldn’t bother me so much, but I’ve started seeing the email forwarded through from highly (sometimes very highly) paid business people who should know better.

Therefore, I’m posting a slightly modified version of an email that I’ve used in the past to try to explain that the idea a) is stupid, and b) would be ineffective even if you got everybody to cooperate with the protest, which would never happen anyway.

Please feel free to pass it on and link to me from your blog. If you see anything that needs correcting, please leave a comment; otherwise I’ll just assume that I’m super-smart and correct on all counts.

I’d heard that this “gas out” thing was making the rounds again, and here it is! Let’s dispel some of this, shall we?

Not buying gas on May 15^th (or whatever day)will have NO effect on gas prices. I was in the industry in the late 1990s, and when this “gas out” idea first appeared around 1999 (around the time we hit $1.50), store managers like me and corporate officers alike were laughing at you.

The fact is, if you do what this email suggests, you’ll either buy gas on May 14^th or May 16^th. Either way, you’re still buying gas. It makes no difference to the oil companies when you buy gas, it just matters that you do buy gas. “Gas outs” come up every year, and they always have zero effect.

The April 1997 “gas out” is fiction. Local gas prices were somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.09/gallon at the time, the same as they’d been for the previous five years. Nobody was protesting $1.09.

That said, there are things that you can do to cause a (long-term) decrease in gas prices. As with all worthwhile things, they all require a change of lifestyle. (These are listed in order of importance. If you only do one of them, do the first one.)

1. Drive a more fuel-efficient automobile. The person who started this email is right; it does cost $30-$50 to fill up the average car. One of the factors that has driven that average up is the proliferation of SUVs that get 10-15 mpg. Take away the SUVs (usually with nobody in the passenger seat) and other guzzlers, and replace them with cars that are designed to get better mileage, and you will be helping to decrease national usage of gasoline. As long as Americans are driving as many unnecessary guzzlers as we are, gas prices will continue to rise.
2. Carpooling isn’t always feasible (it isn’t for me), but if it is, do it. You’ll cut your gas usage at least in half. This should go without saying, but you should also “trip-pool”. For example, don’t go to the grocery store for a gallon of milk, come home, then make a separate trip to the bank an hour later.
3. During a gas price war, reward the gas station that has the lower price. You do this anyway, but make a conscious decision not to go to the station with a higher gas price because they have better coffee or that cashier that you like to flirt with. (She hates that, by the way.)
4. When prices level out, go with the bigger brand gas station. I know it’s counter-intuitive, but you have to realize what’s happening behind the scenes. The production arms of Marathon/BP/Exxon/etc. sell their gas to the smaller companies and Mom&Pops. When they do, they tack on a mark-up, which the Mom&Pop has to integrate into their price. Once the Mom&Pop raises the price to account for the middle man, the big company that sold them the gas can raise the prices at their stations, and then the cycle starts all over again. By buying from the bigger company when prices are level, you’re keeping the cycle from continuing, thereby keeping the price (relatively) lower.
5. Finally, get over the idea of lowering the price without changing your behavior. It just doesn’t work that way. Duh.

And if you send me one more of these emails with a big re: list, I’m re:ing all of them back, yelling at you for doing it.

Don’t. Test. Me.

Remember [cref 134 the other day] when I linked to xkcd and said how funny he is? Yeah, I thought he was awesome before, but today…

Today he moved to awesome raised to the BILLIONTH DEGREE.

My name is Matt. I’m an ex-Marching Band Kid. And that up there? That’s happened to me.

Recently.

I’ve been meaning to write about the issue of online privacy, but other things keep stopping me from doing it. So in the interest of getting it out there, I’m re-posting a slightly edited comment of mine from August on somebody else’s blog:

I think we’re going to have to redefine the word ‘privacy’ in the very near future. The fact that future employers could do a thirty second Google search for my name and come up with something to be offended by doesn’t mean that they should be allowed to. We’ve drawn those lines in the sand before, and I think we’re going to have to again.

For example, if I were applying for a job, the person doing the hiring could come to my neighborhood, knock on all my neighbors’ doors, and ask questions about my personal life. They could peek in my windows at night to see what I’m watching on television or to see if I walk around in my underwear. They could sort through my mail looking for incriminating correspondence or a political perspective that doesn’t match their own. They could follow me to dinner with friends and listen in on our conversation to see if I have anything negative to say about anybody, or to see how I tip the waitress, or to see if I use a lot of swears.

In each case, they could do these things, but as a society we’ve decided that it’s generally unacceptable. Maybe it’s time that we expanded the definition again.

I worried about this and used a screen name for a long time, but after I was online for a few years, it started to feel like I was hiding something, like I was embarrassed or ashamed of what I was saying or doing. I also felt like I was shortchanging the people I was interacting with online, some of whom I know better than many of my offline friends.

I finally came to the point where I just decided that if an employer (and there are other applications for this) doesn’t want me because he found a three-year-old post on a forum while digging for dirt, he’s probably right that I shouldn’t be working for him.

Randall Munroe of the often-brilliant xkcd.com hit it from another angle when he posted this:

So that about says it, right? I do know some of this is just beating my head against a wall. But darn it, I refuse to censor myself completely because of what someone might think at some undetermined date in the future.

What do you think? Comments are open.