Wednesday, February 11, 2004

It's been over a week since I made any entries -- here we go with today!

Weather: Clear and cold -- no Arctic Blast, but temperature in the low 20's (F). The Sun is a welcome sight!

Wildlife: The eagles are still haunting the pond in Middle Foy's Lake -- we haven't seen them eat anything from the water though. Our hanging feeders are very active with Magpies, Flickers, Finches, Chickadees, Hairy Woodpeckers, and Downey Woodpeckers. Pheasants are eating the food on the ground, and the deer family is welcome to whatever's left!

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

At the College: I recently did two late-afternoon lecture sessions where I taught the video students various aspects of the Kron Video Editor. I was able to hook up our editing suite into a data projector and have all 17 students "look over my shoulder" on the screen at the front of the room. Today I'm checking out three sets of cameras, after making sure the students know how to use them.

Media Alert: I'm reading And Chaos Died by Joanna Russ.

I recorded the Grammy Awards to be sure I got my friends and aquaintances who performed there on tape. Who were they? Greg Boyer and Maceo Parker were behind Prince and Beyonce. Bernie Worrell was right up front (sans keyboards) with George Clinton. Other members of the P-Funk who I've met are Mike Hampton, Lige Curry, Skeet Curtis (now playing with Maceo's own band), Billy Nelson, Bennie Cowan, Robert Johnson, Greg Thomas, Clip Payne, Paul Hill, Eric McFadden, Belita Woods, Sheila Horne, Carlos McMurray, Steve Boyd, LaShonda Clinton, Frankie Waddy, Ron Wright, Cordell Mosson, Gary Shider and Garrett Shider, DeWayne McKnight, and some of their wonderful crew members -- Chuck, Citrus, Doc, Jeff Fogarty, and Derrick Drisdale. I'm a card-carrying member of Bootsy Collins' fan club, but I've never met him -- he was front and center with his Starburst Mutron Bass. George Clinton.com
Oh yeah -- they were part of an 11 minute medley with OutKast, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, and Earth, Wind & Fire. Samuel L. Jackson acted as a preacher to hold the whole thing together.
Gina Hall, one of their publicists, is an ole cyber-pal of mine, and gave me plenty of warning that the Funk Mob would be on TV. P Funk News Across One Nation
It was an ambitious show-within-a-show, and seems to have been well-received.
What else I liked: White Stripes, Christina Aguliera's song, the Black Eyed Peas (even sorry-azzed J. Timberlake was good in this number!), and seeing presenter Ozzy Osbourne without the involuntary shakes. Some other musically good numbers were marred by bad decisions, some other numbers just weren't good.

Last night we saw Killer Klowns From Outer Space -- nice flick -- a humorous horror movie without pretentions.