Yes, I’ve been away. 2010 has not been the kindest year. Not to say that good things haven’t happened. I started culinary school, we moved into a house, and… I think those were the big points. My wife will kill me if I missed anything major (aside from our anniversary, which happens every year. That’s why they call them “anniversaries”). The major events of our lives took place in the last quarter of the year, when … Read More
Out of sheer curiosity, we watched the American version of Top Gear (“Blind Drift”). It was charmless, humorless, and blandly delivered by the hosts. Two of the three hosts have no personality (the third spoke like a New Yorker, which counts for personality, I guess). It was like watching a generic documentary except boring. It misses the passion, charm, and personal investment of the original British version. America, stop remaking and start making, you low-standard, uncreative … Read More
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a friend I used to march with in the Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps: I wanted to ask you to think about it another way — instead of black and white index and middle finger, what about a shared fulcrum? I have students in San Jose who have had a lot of Santa Clara Vanguard-based instruction on technique (one of my kids even marched in the A … Read More
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I hate electronics in drum corps and drumline. Tonight I attended the DCI Quarterfinals broadcast in the theaters. As has been the trend of the past few years, synthesizers were utilized by several corps. Unfortunately, I don’t see this problem (yes, I view it as a problem) going away any time soon, which saddens me. And not only because drum and bugle corps should consist of percussion … Read More
I like Murray Gusseck. I don’t know the guy personally, only his work and reputation. I think he’s brought some interesting concepts to the world of drumline and I like some of the pieces he’s written for battery. I may not always agree with what he teaches, but I respect him and what he’s doing. So make no mistake: what I’m about to write is in no way intended to insult him or make him look … Read More
When I was a kid I wanted to be, amongst the usual secret-agent-policeman-superhero-president vocations, a comics creator and a composer. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a comics creator and a drummer in a rock band (that would lead to a solo career). As a young adult, I wanted to be a comics creator, a drummer, and a composer. Right now, I’m mostly a drummer – an instructor and teacher, to be exact … Read More
I had gotten together with some friends the other night to do a short rehearsal for an upcoming gig. I was playing drum set for several songs, one being a song I already knew but had previously played bass on instead. Intellectually, I knew how to play the song on drum set, but I had yet to acquire the feel my friend – the song’s writer and bandleader – wanted for the end of the song. … Read More
I don’t get to play drum set much these days, though I really want to. That’s the problem with living in a condo: can’t be loud (tell that to some of my neighbors, though). But when I do, I try to take advantage of the situation by playing the drum set-related things I don’t always get to play. I have a double bass pedal. I became interested in double bass because of drummers like Tim Alexander … Read More
So. I just flipped through my first comic using Marvel’s iPhone comic reader app. I haven’t read a mainstream comic in a long time, favoring more independent stuff and manga (that’s another story). I have to say, it’s very good looking. The comics are clear and easy enough to read. Navigation is pretty straightforward and easy. There are a bunch of settings you can use to customize your reading experience. But I don’t know if I … Read More
I recently had trouble with my contacts and calendar entries in Entourage: they disappeared. No backups on the PC side were current, so they were basically not useable. A sync from the iPhone meant the loss of all contacts on the iPhone. This lead to a full restore and the attempt to find a way to export the iPhone contacts (fail). After taking the risk and doing a post-restore sync, everything returned to normal. I just … Read More
On March 27, 2010, the Northern California Band Association (NCBA) held championships at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, CA. And I was pissed for much of the day. I always let my drumlines know that, at least for me, drumline isn’t just about drumming. It’s about class and responsibility, amongst other things. If a drumline has no class, if they act like rude, obnoxious idiots, I pretty much refuse to watch them. This falls in line … Read More
So, 4-24-2010 is on the horizon, and the month that was March took a lot out of me, schedule-wise. Being indoor percussion competition season in the NCBA, and Easter being this weekend, our entire season was condensed into a compact month, and I was half-asleep for most of that month as a result. Payday has been sitting on my drafting table for that month, relatively untouched. I took to sleeping in, to be quite honest, in … Read More
I apologize for the absence. I have a lot to blog about, but things have been pretty hectic lately, schedule-wise. Not an excuse, just a reason. See, it’s indoor percussion competition season for me, and late February and all of March has been full of late rehearsals and busy, tiring weekends. West Campus, my only competitive school this year, has been putting together a very unique show (ever seen a drumline eat someone before?), and each … Read More
There’s this disaster in Haiti that’s making the news. They had a devastating earthquake that will take a lot of time, effort, and money to recover from. So why should we care about a late-night brouhaha on NBC? Why should we care about Jay Leno, villain’s sidesick, and Conan O’Brien, former (as of 1-22-2010) host of the Tonight Show? I can think of two reasons off the top of my head. One, which is a personal … Read More
…but he is the sidekick. I don’t know what Jay Leno’s motivation for going along with NBC upcoming late night programming shift, but I do know that going along with it isn’t a show of class. This is NBC’s mess, and Leno is aiding its happening. That’s what a sidekick does: he aids the main villain. Recently, Leno made a joke about how this controversy has helped increase Conan O’Brien’s ratings. I cry foul on this … Read More
I started working on Payday on what I think is the week of 4-20-2009 (my first post about it was made on 4-24-2009). It’s been my policy to draw for at least an hour every weekday morning, which isn’t a lot of time, this was implemented with the consideration of a few things: I have a ton of projects that I have unwisely started, and this is my way of helping me to prioritize. I need … Read More
Despite the fact that I don’t find Jay Leno funny, I respect him. Or rather, I respected him. The man works, and works hard. He hosted a late night show every weekday, never missing a show until forced to do so for medical reasons, and performed stand-up when not producing the Tonight Show. He always presented himself to be a classy fellow that seemed like he’d be likable in person. Before I go on, read this … Read More
So I’ve been back at the drawing board, and it’s nice to draw comics again. But while working on Payday, I just felt… dull. I’d spent some time doing thumbnail layouts (and if you’ve been reading, you know how I feel about doing those) and thusly lost the feel for drawing some of the characters. I needed a break from what I was doing. I needed to draw something fun and quick, and I wanted to … Read More
The use of the fulcrum has, to my knowledge, been a greatly examined topic and subject to much experimentation, especially in regards to match grip mechanics (which is what this post deals with). I’ve observed more attention being brought to it in the past decade or so, maybe because of my particular environment and who I know. Or perhaps it’s been the introduction of different techniques in the drumline arena, or maybe it’s just the natural … Read More
Last Oregon food report! Finally! This took, what… three-plus months? On our way home to California, we stopped in Reedsport, OR for lunch. It was a coastal town, and pretty charming. While using the iPhone to search for decent places to eat (what did we do before Internet phones? We just saw a place and stopped, is what), we found that the Harbor Light Family Restaurant was nearby and had received a few good reviews. In … Read More
