Protected: Short Story - 24 Hours
Posted by Jayson on April 14th, 2008 filed in Short storiesEnter your password to view comments
JPG Magazine entry
Posted by Jayson on March 5th, 2008 filed in PhotographyComment now »
Hey A photo I took is in a contest at JPG Magazine. Now the contest is over and I have no idea where I stand (though imagine at the end of the line someplace) but you can see the entry here:http://jpgmag.com/photos/524021
Thanks
A fine wine (for someone)
Posted by Jayson on February 28th, 2008 filed in Product ReviewsComment now »
Again, I have not tried this but a report from a friend that has says it is best admired at a distance
Telephone Brand Agar-Agar
Posted by Jayson on February 27th, 2008 filed in Product ReviewsComment now »
Good ol Telephone Brand Agar-Agar:
Well .. it is Agar-Agar, tastes like … well nothing but has a nice jello like consistency and you can make things from it. Loadings it up here just to show the cool packaging. I love the logo.
Easy Money Vodka
Posted by Jayson on February 27th, 2008 filed in Product ReviewsComment now »
Here is a great neighborhood find, the (in)famous Easy Money Vodka
I am not sure what it tastes like as I have not sampled it, but my wife uses it for making soap, lotions, cologne etc. It works great for that as far as I can tell.
Best feature however is the name and the cute way the shop selling it talks it up. Say it is the best thing and it is made locally. How can you go wrong with that.
Song - Storm to four thirty
Posted by Jayson on February 24th, 2008 filed in Music - my songs3 Comments »
So, as some may have heard, I am once again playing guitar a bit these days. Though nothing to write home about, I am going post some songs I have been messing around with here.
This is the first song I have recorded that I am even halfway comfortable uploading, something I am calling “Storm to 4:30″. It was written in two very short (15 min or so each) sessions after getting home from work and leading up to 4:30 pm when I leave to pick up my Son from daycare, and both days were very stormy. Let me know what you think.
This work is licensed under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, so download , edit, mix, or do whatever you like with it. I will provide a Garageband project containing the individual tracks if desired. Comment here to request it.
Feb 22nd upload to zooomr
Posted by Jayson on February 23rd, 2008 filed in PhotographyComment now »
Feb 22 upload to zooomr.com.
Just a flower I saw while walking in our neighborhood
My photos hosted at zooomr.com
Posted by admin on February 23rd, 2008 filed in PhotographyComment now »
I have been using zooomr.com for hosting my photos recently.
My best one to date: A shot of my handlebars while riding my Surly Crosscheck single speed in the park.
March 5th NOTE:Hey this photo is now in a contest at JPG Magazine. I could win some cash, not that I would share but I need it so if ya could, please take a look and maybe vote for me.
Vote here:
http://jpgmag.com/photos/524021
Short Story - The Brucible
Posted by Jayson on January 11th, 2008 filed in Short stories1 Comment »
The other day I found myself leaving the office without a book to read on MUNI and stopping by a friends room before leaving, was handed a copy of The Crucible by Arthur Miller. While not exactly my usual turn of the 20th century Sword and Planet, lost world, Voodoo and Zulu war, or thriller fare (and oceans separate them let me tell you) I was desperate. So I read this book, actually a play, and well … it just pissed me off.
Reading the book, the following scene as a replacement for Act 3 in Mr. Miller’s play kept coming into my head and I had to put it down. Here is my version of Act 3 of the Crucible as a new play. Enjoy.
THE BRUCIBLE
Act 3
As the curtain rises on the meeting room where the Salem court is in session, the Judge Hawthorn is questioning little Meri Whorin.
Judge Hawthorn, to Meri while gesturing to girls on the floor seemingly in agony: Why do these girls behave thus?
Girls, all together, rolling on floor: Make it stop!
Meri, faintly: I know not. Pretense?
Judge Hawthorn: Speak up girl.
Meri, loud: I said Pretense sir.
Girls, all together, mockingly and we see a secreted wink and smile between the girls that us unobserved by the court: Pretense sir!
Girls, all together pointing up: It is in the rafters, there it goes over there, make it go away Meri please ooooohhh.
Farmer Jon: They lie!
Danport: Hold your tongue lecher, we burn a hot fire here and we’ll hang you after your wife!
Danport: Meri, confess you danced with your friends, thereby making a pact with the devil, and you send your spirit out on these innocent girls here today.
Judge Hawthorn: Meri, 23 women and children have died this day and we’ll hang you or we’ll torture it out of you.
Suddenly there is a loud crash heard at the rear of the court room. The ceiling collapses and a large metal object falls to the floor in a cloud of dust and debris. It is unlike anything seen before, possibly a metal carriage of a sort, yellow in color with black fat wheels. A name seems to have been give it or perhaps branded by it’s owner as it reads "Oldsmobile" across the rear. As the dust settles we see a strange man has fallen in next to the carriage, a most particular man indeed. Not only is the strange man oddly attired but amazingly he appears to be adorned with a mechanical saw in place of his left hand. We rejoin the scene as the strange man rises, facing the Judge Hawthorn.
Judge Hawthorn,to the strange man: Who, or what, might you be sir, another of the devil’s allies conjured by this little girl?
Strange man: No devil, name’s Ash, but some call me Bruce.
Danport, tapping strange man on the shoulder with the handle of his whip: Then sit ye down sir, we do the lords work here.
With catlike swiftness the strange man does a double back-flip and facing Danport on the other side, lops off his head with the mechanical saw ~Brrrrraaawwwswhinng….~
Strange man, winded and licking his lips: Now the next one of you primates so much as touches me ….
Judge Hawthorn,to the strange man: What manner of man are you who takes life so cheaply? Be you on the side of the court or against? I have 9 men outside!
Strange man mumbling to himself: Man? I could have been king … in my way I guess I am kind of like a king.
Judge Hawthorn: Speak up man! Do ye know thy commandments? Let ye say them now or confess a pact with the devil!
Strange man: Yeah, I know commandments. Let’s see.. ummm Thou shall …
The strange man recites commandments, mumbling much of them and some in an inaudible voice, ending with:
"Thou shall not kill, unless it is done by a policeman or aristocrat."
Strange man: There, I said your commandments, maybe not ever word but basically I said em.
Judge Hawthorn: You cannot change God’s commandments like that.
We hear a creaking noise from the now forgotten carriage, and turning to face it see another strange man opening a door and stepping out. This man is wearing spectacles and a jacket made of a blackened animal skin with lots of silver buckles and the like. He appears to be reading a book covered in human skin and written in blood.
New Strange man, to Judge Hawthorn: Actually, I think those are in the public domain and anyone can do as they like with them as long as they paste 50 pages of disclaimer at the bottom.
Judge Hawthorn: And what mannor of devil might you be?
New Strange man: I am Cory Doctorow.
Original Strange man, to the court: now let farmer Jon and his wife free!
Abby girl , one of the girls rolling on the floor: n-n-n-nooooo! He is a lecher. He has known me sir, and in his own house. He said certain sweet things to me on those occasions.
Original Strange man: Aww that was probably just pillow talk baby.
Suddenly all the girls jump up and thrash around as if really possessed, with their hair standing on end, and the Abby girl floats up to the ceiling ranting and foaming at the mouth.
Original Strange man, to Cory: Get an Axe!
THE CURTAIN FALLS
New Guitar - Tribute to a Tribute
Posted by Jayson on December 3rd, 2007 filed in Music - misc1 Comment »
This entry is a partially tribute to a budding local artisan named Chis (last name kept out unless the man himself adds it for yall) and his tribute to the guitar of Joe Strummer, and partially showing off my new Guitar. As you all probably know, Fender® did an official Joe Strummer Tribute guitar this year which probably inspired our man, and definitely led me to purchase the guitar of which I write. However, instead of a collectors item costing enough to keep it in a display, this one was done as a simple fun and playable Fender guitar.
This is a 90’s Made in Mexico, Fender® Telecaster that was relic-ed into a real DIY vintage Joe Strummer Tribute, which was done along the same lines as the official Fender® item (which is also a Made in Mexico Telecaster).
The guitar start its life … well .. probably it start in a Fender® factory someplace but as far as your author and this story is concerned it start as a project guitar on eBay.It seems it was pretty beat up as the original owner (before Chris) had tried to start relic-ing it but might not have had the best idea of how to do such a thing. Luckily that relic project was abandoned and the remains put up for sale.
Once our man procured the subject, he stripped down the body and then slowly added paint. He added 2 coats of a standard grey primer, 2 coats of a black, then 1 coat of polyurethane before doing the relic on the body (simulating the ware on it). Then he added 2 light satin polyurethane coats on top of that, once the sanding was done.This is nicer, in my opinion, than the official Fender® product in that their’s seems to simulate a REALLY worn down guitar, e.g. no coating over most of it, whereas this one appears to be worn at a distance (or even quite close) but it actually has a nice smooth and even clear coat over the entire surface, including the areas that appear to be bare wood. Then the neck was also worked to look vintage with some light sanding on the fret board and some nicks and scratches, “everything except the old cigarette burn..” says Chris.
Not that I was looking to get another guitar right now, but I just could not pass this up. I had (as yall know) got a Strat recently. At that time I played a bunch of new Guitars (mostly Fender®s) and as I always had played a Telecaster of some sort, I had of course tried the current models of these in my testing. However, the ones in the stores that I tried under $1000 (so the Made in Mexico versions) for either a Strat or a Tele, just felt bad. Tall frets, with sharp edges and lots of buzzing all over the neck. As I was not looking to spend more at that time I kind of gave up on that and got a Strat at Subway Guitars .
Anyway, I had heard then that the 90s Telecasters had nicer necks than the current offerings and kind of watched for an inexpensive one from then on. Then I got a flyer in the mail from Fender® when the Joe Strummer guitar was released and, well “oh man!” I was suddenly dreaming of this thing I could no way afford, or should not afford at least. So when this DIY tribute appeared, it caught my eye, being labeled as a Joe Strummer Tribute, thinking at first that it was the real deal, maybe a pre-production model or some Magazine reviewer etc. that was being sold used already. However looking into it I saw that it was a DIY tribute and relic, and then I decided to look closer to pick it apart and mock it. But looking closer, well … there as nothing at all to pick at and of course nothing to mock. This guy did a great job and made a really fun, and playable Guitar. Oh, the neck, is much much nicer than the current offerings BTW, just as folks online are saying. So if thinking of a new Tele, you might want to check out eBay first. The frets are nice and low, and the ends are nicely shaped and smooth. This one came super straight too, maybe a little two straight, causing a little buzz, but changing from the 9s, that came on it, to 10s gave it just the slightest relief, which turned out to be perfect.
I hear he actually made this for himself, but things come up ya know and well luckily for me, he had to part with it. I hope to do the thing justice and intend to play it a lot, really take those Jazz lessons I keep talking about with it and take proper care of it of course. Maybe I will still get one of the official Fender®s someday, but that would most likely see little use. This on the other hand … well it is sure to get much love.
Chris is not in the business of relic-ing guitars but I think it might not be a bad business for him to get into, if this is an example of an early attempt. The link posted above to explain relic-ing is a company that does this kind of thing and there are others out there if you google a bit, but also check back here. Who knows, maybe this local guy will post a comment when and if he decides to do more.
*** NOTE: Gallery of images at Flickr, including much larger versions :ETON ***