Guest Blogging

Where I am right now.

Half-Assed Movie Review: The Fairy Scientist

My Dad made another beautiful film...that I can post in its entirety because it's only 5 minutes! It's an entry into a contest called The Reason Project and it stars my niece, Lydia.



Now - I get to take some credit for this cinematic treasure...even though I had nothing to do with it. The book that you see her reading was a Christmas gift from me two years ago when she was 4. It sparked an obsession that peaked with my giving her the butterfly net and the magnifying "bug box" for her birthday LAST year. Now she's a full-blown woman of science. Her auntie's so proud.

Half-Assed Reviews: Andrus - The Man, The Mind & The Magic

My dad's cooler than your dad. How many of YOUR dads have made a movie? And not just of you unwrapping your Crystal Castle when you were 6. A real movie. On film. And not Super 8 film because that's almost impossible to get and pointless... I mean digital film. Yes, the magic instant kind. And not just with one 2-hour wide angled establishing shot of a family reunion at a state park... I mean a a real MOVIE. Spliced. With cut-aways, transitions, linear storytelling, voice-over... the whole gypsy caravan. And not just played in the VCR for the grandparents on holidays... but in an effin' theater and at festivals. Yes... I win.

My father lives in Corvallis. Corvallis is a smallish town in the middle of the cool side of Oregon. That's the left. I have no idea what goes on in the right side. Corvallis is filled with aged hippies, smoothie shops and college students in orange and black. I've never liked it. But that's not the point. It was at an Oregonians for Rationality meeting in Corvallis that dad met Jerry Andrus, an 80-something fellow skeptic who was ALSO a geniusesque magician/illusionist.

Now... just imagine the kind of person you must be to inspire someone to want to make a movie about you.

That's Jerry.

Dad and Ty (the Waif's baby daddy) devoted several years with almost no help and no budget to capture what Jerry brought to the world both meaningfully and beautifully. As with any independent film, distribution has been a temperamental mistress, even with excellent reviews and support. But here's another baby step in the most correct direction:

Thursday, 10:00 PM/PT on Oregon Public Broadcasting, an hour-long version of Andrus will air.

Watch it. It will make you feel insignificant. In a good way.

This Program is Brought to You By...

The letter "C" and the number "7".

No, that's Sesame Street. Nevermind.

So this is a little shout out to me pappy, Zenboomer (aka. apterix55). He's begun a blog expose on his adventures in Second Life. Ahhhh retirement. When complete, it'll be a 12 part mini-series. It's fascinating, and I hope he continues for more than twelve entries.

I, for one, have never been on Second Life, nor will I ever go, I think. There's too much going on in this world to start bothering with a second one. Shit...I can't even find the time to clean my apartment...what do you think my virtual apartment would look like? Exactly. So this is a good way to get answers to all those pesky questions without having to do any research whatsoever. I heart those who do the heavy lifting for me.

Anyway, if one is curious, one may check it out here. The entries are numbered in the sidebar if one is so inclined to read things in order.

And now back to your regularly scheduled program.