The Decemberists have a video up for their song “16 Military Wives” off of their most recent album. It’s for download with BitTorrent which is pretty cool, and they’re one of the first bands that I’ve seen use that approach for distributing stuff. Unfortunately, since it seems that this has been up for a while already and interest has faded somewhat the .torrent seems to have almost no one uploading on it. I guess that’s kind of the major drawback of BitTorrent. Anyway, the video itself is pretty cool. It’s got a quirky kind of Wes Anderson-esque feel. Ok, a total Wes Anderson feel. Like it could have been shot on the set of Rushmore or something. It’s good though. Just watch it.

Comments

Comment by Neal on 2005-06-02 23:52:52 +0000

In addition to being all-around awesome, that video features some of the best acting by band members that I have ever seen. I don’t know their names, but the U.S. representative guy was deliciously evil.

Comment by Brett on 2005-06-03 09:49:39 +0000

It’s also available online here: http://www.otaku-house.com/films/decdnload.htm

originally uploaded by Chaos!.

My inner 12 year old is in love with the Bad Signs photo group at Flickr. Also good: Stick Figures in Peril

Built to Spill @ the Madrid Theatre

Originally uploaded by willgorman.

Went to see Built to Spill at the Madrid last night. I was surprised they were touring since they haven’t released an album since I last saw them in 2001 (though apparently a new album may be out this fall). I certainly wasn’t complaining though; I was thrilled to see them again and definitely not disappointed to hear a lot of their older material. It’s just that good. Heard a couple songs which I thought were probably new stuff though, and they sounded awesome. If the new album is like that it should be great, whenever it gets here.

I think the Madrid is now one of my favorite venues in KC, though it seems to be rarely used for shows. It’s really open inside, has an awesome balcony, and isn’t hot, sweaty, and odor-filled. It’s definitely nicely restored. Jolayne and I sat up on the balcony, because you know, we’re old and lazy. It was a great view though. I’m really hoping to be able to see more shows there in the future.

Comments

Comment by Neal on 2005-05-27 13:14:52 +0000

When Brett and I saw Cake recently, we made a bee-line to the few chairs in the balcony of the PromoWest Pavillion. Squeezing into a standing floor space near the stage is just not worth it.

Also, about half way through the opening band I realized that there was no haze in the air and my eyes were not stinging. I never expected it to make much difference, but the Columbus indoor smoking ban really made the experience better.

Comment by Brett on 2005-05-27 18:58:07 +0000

I agree, The Madrid is a pretty nice venue. That’s where I saw Shiner’s last shebang back in January ’03. The setup is not unlike the Newport, but it’s a lot cleaner. I saw the first half of the show from right up front and then headed up to the middle balcony to check out the rest of it. Both were great spots.

Revenge of the Sith may have been the story of Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side, but thankfully it was something of a redemption for George Lucas. After seeing it tonight, I can almost forgive him for episodes 1 and 2. The movie was good, actually really good. Good enough to end the Star Wars cycle with some measure of dignity, which until now I wouldn’t have thought possible. It was suprising what a sense of closure it gave, even considering the fact that it ends on a darker note than even Empire Strikes Back. Even though you know everything that’s going to happen in this movie, and have known for years, after actually seeing it it really makes you think about parts of the original trilogy in a new light. I forced Jolayne to go see it with me (hey, she knew what she was getting into when she married me) and even though she had been convinced that she would be bored to death, she ended up loving it. She even wants to rewatch the original trilogy now. She’s never seen episodes 1 and 2, but I don’t see any reason to go and ruin things with that. So at any rate, I would say that episode 3 was just about as good of an end middle to the Star Wars series as I could have hoped for.

A funny thing happened as I was getting ready to post some of my favorite photos from Hawaii on coaxialshutter — I found Flickr. I’d heard about Flickr before, but the idea of a web hosted photo organizer always sounded pretty absurd to me. Why squander precious upload bandwidth for something that there are perfectly capable local apps to handle. What would be the advantage of that? After giving it a brief spin though, I realized I had been completely wrong. I also realized that it would be pretty pointless to try to maintain my own photoblog in MovableType anymore. The template I’d been using was a fairly clever setup, but still had some glaring problems such as requiring manual resizing of photos before uploading and no real way to do any kind of batch uploads. Putting even a fraction of our 800 honeymoon pictures online would have been tedious. Flickr, on the other hand, makes a perfect photoblog. I’ve decided to scrap coaxialshutter and just use Flickr, since I have a feeling that will result in me actually getting more of my photos online than I would have otherwise. I’m limited to just 20MB of uploads per month with the free trial, but I’m impressed enough that I might actually end up subscribing. As cool as it is as a photoblog, I think where it really shines is the combination of shared public photos and tagging. When people tag their pictures and make them public (as many do) it becomes really easy to find other cool pictures, maybe even of some of the same things you’ve taken pictures of. It’s an interesting experience to see a shot of someplace you’ve been, taken by some other random person. For example, these shots of Poipu Beach on Kauai. At the risk of being overdramatic, it almost feels like it gives you the opportunity to examine your experiences from another viewpoint. Or not. But the point is, I think it’s pretty cool.

Comments

Comment by Dave on 2005-05-19 23:29:56 +0000

I’m glad that you’re enjoying Flickr!

I very much agree with your point on perspective. It’s neat to see what how other people photograph particular things. There’s as many tour guides as users, which I think is compelling and fantastic.

I’ve found that the forum groups are nice too.

Being able to fire pictures at Flickr from a cameraphone is good, but using Flickr has encouraged me to have my camera handy during times I otherwise might not have thought to before.

When I was trying it out, free users only got 10MB. I was very glad when they lowered (!) the Pro price to the equivalent of a steak dinner. It’s easily worth that.

Comment by Carrie on 2005-05-21 01:44:04 +0000

Oooo pretty pictures thus far. I hope you post more! 😀

Hard as it is to believe, the wedding is over and we’re now back in Kansas after a completely amazing honeymoon in Hawaii. Everything went really really well, and and I’ve never been happier, both to be married to Jolayne and that all the planning , preparation, and stress are over. The wedding itself was a total blur, and I’d been told it probably would be. There are a few moments that really stand out though, the most important of which being the moment I first saw Jolayne coming down the aisle. Maybe someone who was there can tell me, but I have the feeling I was just grinning like an idiot. Also, I really loved how the slideshow turned out (thanks Tobin!) Pretty much everything went perfectly, except for those little things that only you notice because you’re in it and even if anyone did notice them they’ve probably long since forgotten. Of course it did snow on the day of the wedding. At the end of April. Thanks a lot Ohio. At the end of the day, the best part is just that you’re finally married and you both can relax. But not until after the reception, which is an experience not unlike being a human pinball. I think that was probably the hardest part about the whole thing, being at the reception and not getting a chance to talk to everyone. We were supposed to go around and greet all the tables, but we only got to 2.5 out of I don’t know how many, a full ballroom. You see so many people there that you haven’t seen in years, people you could spend an entire evening talking to but all you have time for is a quick “Hi, thanks for coming” before you run into someone else, or the DJ comes up and tells you its time for this or that. Ok, actually the hardest part was that we never even got to eat our cake. It was some really good cake too. Right after we cut it we began to make our rounds, and never got back to our table for the rest of the evening as our pieces of cake sat up there taunting us. Before we knew it, Jolayne and I were having our last dance of the evening (note to self: should have taken dance lessons) to Death Cab for Cutie’s “Passenger Seat” which despite a somewhat scratchy cd, I’ll always remember as one of those rare perfect moments in life. Anyway, that was the wedding. Hopefully I’ll write more about the honeymoon soon and get pictures up, but I could write pages and pages about that so maybe I’ll just let the pictures do the talking. I took over 800 though, so I think I’ll just try to get the best of them up. Also, thankfully my mom fully recovered from her illness. The doctor thinks it was some kind of inner ear virus but she’s completely better now. Thanks to everyone for their concern. Unfortunately, Jolayne came down with something nasty, most likely on the way back from Hawaii. She’s been a little under the weather, but we went to the doctor and got her some cough medicine so she’s feeling a little better. I tried to convince her that I actually said “in thickness and health” during our vows instead of sickness, and that I’m off the hook for taking care of her, but she’s not buying it. Hey, I’m still new at this marriage thing.

Comments

Comment by Dan on 2005-05-10 07:32:12 +0000

I couldn’t agree more–it’s quite the blur. Our dinner was sitdown, so we actually got to eat everything (something of a rarity I’ve been informed). But honestly, so what if things go wrong in places? It’s a celebration–not a performance. As long as everyone has fun, that’s the important things.

And yes, Laura and I both got sick during the honeymoon.

Comment by Sarah on 2005-05-10 14:52:59 +0000

I remember your grin; it was so huge I thought it was going to hurt your face. But it didn’t make you look like an idiot, it was really sweet because there was a direct correlation between how well you could see her and the size of your grin. I was really thankful that the other bridesmaids had clued me in that watching your face when you saw her would be one of the best parts of the ceremony, so I made sure to watch.

Comment by Tobin on 2005-05-12 11:54:37 +0000

We didn’t get to eat our cake either. Which was even more of a shame in our case, because ours was better than yours.

And your welcome for the slideshow. It was fun to put together, and I’m glad you liked it. (i was happy that it came out so nice too)

Comment by Carrie on 2005-05-14 02:28:45 +0000

Your face looked like it would bust open you were grinning so big when Jolayne came down the asile. Everyone sitting around me was whispering “look at him grin!” it was hilarious.

Glad you’re both back safe, hope the Mrs. feels better. 😉

Comment by John on 2005-05-16 10:20:37 +0000

Congratulations, Will! Thats soooo awesome! Its been a while since we’ve spoken, so email me your contact info.

Comment by mposko on 2005-06-05 10:55:31 +0000

Well, I would say not zipping up your fly was a little more funny then the big grin… but hey, what do I know.

My last post as a single man. *deep breath* Just be glad you haven’t been Jolayne this week, and had to listen to me announce my last X as a single man over and over. (“Well, that’s the last time I’ll go to Burger King as a single man” or “Did you see that? Last time I’ll clip my fingernails as a single man”) I’m just hanging out at the hotel right now, passing the time. I’ve got to get to the church at 3 for pre-wedding photos and then all the madness starts. Fortunately, my mom is doing much better and left the hospital earlier this morning. She’s still a little dizzy, but we’re all really relieved that she’s feeling better and will be able to make it today.

Comments

Comment by Nathan Hessler on 2005-04-23 13:16:44 +0000

congratulations Will and sorry Jolayne. 😉

At least you can say you got married in authentic Ohio weather.

Comment by Carrie on 2005-04-23 13:37:21 +0000

Woo I’m glad your Mom is feeling better!

T-minus 20 minutes!

Comment by Brett on 2005-04-25 08:11:04 +0000

Crap! I missed my last comment post to your site while you were still a single man.

Congrats. I hope all went well.

Comment by kimmee on 2005-05-04 14:44:12 +0000

CONGRATS!

i missed most of your April posts, but congratulations Will. you win at life.

Comment by Will on 2005-05-09 21:36:44 +0000

Thanks everyone!

We had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner tonight and they both went really well. Unfortunately, my mother ended up having to go the hospital today with really bad vertigo and nausea that just came out of nowhere. They’re not sure what it is, but tests haven’t shown anything serious thus far. Still, we’re all really worried, not to mention sad that she couldn’t be with us at the dinner. Hopefully she’ll have recovered significantly by tomorrow. The dinner was at Buca di Beppo in downtown Columbus, and the food was great. It was total chaos though, we probably had 70-80 people there. Somehow though, seeing all my friends and family that came out has made me a lot less nervous about the wedding. I know it’s going to go fine, and I’m really excited about it.

Haha suckers, we’re already married! Ok, not really. Jolayne and I picked up our marriage license downtown yesterday. The official looking piece of paper Jolayne is holding actually only authorizes the solemnzing of the actual marriage license by the officiant on the day of the wedding. The actual marriage license didn’t have a big gold seal and wasn’t anywhere near as photogenic. We’re lucky we were able to get it though since someone (ok, me) forgot their social security card back in Kansas. Fortunately, I still carry around my (expired) military dependent ID card for no good reason, and they accepted that as a secondary form of ID. Whew. All that time carrying an expired card around actually paid off. Marriage licenses also apparently will run you $40 (cash only) in Ohio which prompted a mad dash to the nearest ATM. That’s the Man for you, trying to put a price tag on love.

(Oh yeah, and the photoblog is being updated again, at least for the duration of the wedding and trip.)

Comments

Comment by Seth Hanford on 2005-04-22 12:36:37 +0000

Hey! I was trying to type in http://www.sevenplace.com from my box, and instead Opera decided to Google “sevenplace” instead. Lo and behold, Will Gorman’s site appeared!

Congrats, you guys! This is really cool!

Shoot me an e-mail on where to send my wedding gift (shanford circled-a cisco period com). It’d be good to hear from you again. Do you live in Kansas now??

Comment by Seth Hanford on 2005-04-22 12:37:23 +0000

Hey! I was trying to type in http://www.sevenplace.com from my box, and instead Opera decided to Google “sevenplace” instead. Lo and behold, Will Gorman’s site appeared!

Congrats, you guys! This is really cool!

Shoot me an e-mail on where to send my wedding gift (shanford circled-a cisco period com). It’d be good to hear from you again. Do you live in Kansas now??

Music is a pretty major part of my life, and it follows that Jolayne and I would try to make it a part of our wedding as well. Originally we were going to have some friends of ours perform some songs that meant a lot to us: “I Found a Reason” (the Cat Power cover of the Velvet Underground song) and “Such Great Heights” (the Iron & Wine cover [from the Garden State soundtrack] of the Postal Service song). Unfortunately, it didn’t work out as our vocalist had a scheduling conflict come up a couple weeks ago. That was kind of a disappointment, but it’s one of those things you just have to work around. We’re still having “I Found a Reason” in the ceremony, only played from a cd rather than live. Instead of the other song, we’re having a slideshow of pictures of Jolayne and I growing up. Those things have the potential to be really sappy, but with some good song choices I think they can be saved. We’ve got “I’m in Love with a Girl” by Big Star and “Our Way to Fall” by Yo la Tengo. They may not be really well known songs, but I think they work really well for us.

We met with the DJ today, and as you’d guess we were probably a lot more picky than most with the music. We tried to get in a good eclectic mix of stuff that would really be unique to us along with more recognizable songs. It’s a hard thing though, because you’re putting control of the music direction in someone else’s hands, a tough thing for any music snob. Its made easier though by my gradual realization that 95% of the music in my collection would kill a party dead, either by putting people to sleep, confusing them, or just being willfully undanceable.

Comments

Comment by Carrie on 2005-04-20 03:47:55 +0000

Awww a slideshow. How cute.

I plan on spending the entire reception trying to get Phil to dance. We’ll see how that works out.

😉

Comment by Will on 2005-04-20 08:54:05 +0000

Awesome! Now that I don’t want to miss 😉 Actually, I shouldn’t say anything because I don’t have any choice about dancing or not, and that should be quite a sight on its own.

Comment by Neal on 2005-04-20 11:27:58 +0000

How about The Smiths’ “William, It Was Really Nothing” and “Jolene” by Dolly Parton? No?

Comment by Will on 2005-04-20 12:21:25 +0000

Hahaha, that’s pretty good Neal. I think “William, It Was Really Nothing” is easily in the running for all-time Most Inappropriate Song to Play at a Wedding Ever, probably with a narrow lead over “Baby Got Back”. And that’s even if your name isn’t William.

Comment by dan on 2005-04-21 08:44:00 +0000

Stick to your guns with the DJ. I’d write up a contract that stipulates the abandon of his payment if he should play anything requiring synchronized movements and gestures by audience members (YMCA, Electric Slide, etc) and forfeits life if the Duck/Chicken Dance or Macarena is played.

We had a local jazz band play