Kevin Nealon

I had the chance to see Kevin Nealon‘s stand-up routine again recently (a few weekends ago).  He was very funny.  I still enjoy his subliminal routine he put in towards the end.  He does a great job with that.  See him if you get a chance.

Steve Byrne

I had the chance to see Steve Byrne perform at the Parlor this weekend.  Wow, what an amazing show!  The guy is seriously funny, witty, and unafraid of being a bit edgy.  Did I say a bit edgy?  I mean a lot edgy.  Anyhow, he is a must see in my book.

Detachment

I recently had the chance to see a not too old indie movie called Detachment.  It was a bit of a depressing movie but I really enjoyed the theme of the movie which seemed to me to be an indictment on parents in the US and their apathy with regards to their children’s education and the role of the public school system.  Although I know this is not the reality across the US, I know it is true in some places.  It seems that many people somehow lose sight of their own role in their children’s education, leaving the impossible burden to public school teachers who are not given the resources or the rights to properly teach and discipline.  Unfortunately it is a film that will likely not be seen by those who really need to, but I hope those reading this blog take the time to view it and consider its meaning.  If that isn’t enough of a motivation to see this film, I might mention that the movie has an all star cast, despite being an indie film, including Adrien Brody, Christina Hendricks, Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Blythe Danner, and Lucy Liu.

Brian Posehn

I had the chance to see Brian Posehn perform this weekend at the Parlor.  He was very funny.  I really enjoyed how open he was to making fun of himself, specifically intimate details like what has happened to his body with age (and not taking very good care of himself).  He is definitely worth checking out if you can.

The English Beat (8/11/2012 at the Showbox Market)

Had a chance to see the English Beat, again, and I just couldn’t pass it up.  What a great show.  Dave still rocks!  Also, love the smaller shows where I get to watch it up close and shake hands with the artists.  Very cool.  I was also surprised by the opening band, a local ska band that I hadn’t heard of before called Natalie Wouldn’t.  They were really good.  I will definitely try to see them again.

Sebastian Maniscalco

Yeah, it’s been a while since I posted.  Pretty lame I know.  I’ll try to get back on the horse. 🙂

I had a chance to see Sebastian Maniscalco perform last weekend at the Parlor.  He was hilarious.  He is obviously a character comedian, falling fully into an Italian schtick, but he is really good at it.  I encourage you to see him if you haven’t yet.

We are Big Brother

I really enjoyed an article I read recently from a blogger/writer I follow, Mitch Joel, called “Each of us is becoming our very own Big Brother” (the title as published by the Vancouver Sun).  The idea is something I think we have all become aware of, without fully realizing the implications.  I believe the original fear was that technology would advance such that we would no longer have the freedom to have our actions and discussions be our own, and that our government and corporations would find a way to convince us that by watching us they would be better able to protect and serve us.  Of course this Orwellian story made us all nervous and watchful, but now that we are in the future, well past 1984, it turns out that all you had to do was give people the means to share their own activities with the world and they would be happy to do so.  So here we are in 2012 and most of what people are up to is being posted by themselves and often with the help of their friends.  I think many people buy into the idea that sharing their stories and logging their activites is really just an online journal, but I think it does turn out that we have started opening ourselves up to the world in a similar way we may have thought would happen only subversively by Big Brother.  I am quite fascinated by the ironic twist in this story.  I too wouldn’t have imagined that we as people might surpass the information gathering/sharing efforts of the government and corporations so much that social databases have become some of the greater sources of information on people than their own records.  I admit to contributing to the documentation of my own life online via social sites and this blog, but with the understanding that I should do my best to present my good side since many people might see it and judge me by it.  Ultimately a positive spin is the intention of the content everyone shares about themelves, and although somewhat biased we still tell a lot about ourselves with the post frequency, content, friends, and interactions with other posts.  Of course some less than desirable information may get out about us even without the help of government and corporations who end up abiding by our rules about what they can share about us.  We might be better censors of our posts if we think about how much we really want anyone to know about us.  There are many of us with less to hide than others, but ultimately we all have secrets.  So as much advice has already been given about this topic by others, I would just add my recommendation that we think about how we manage the dissemination of our personal information, keeping in mind that we have the right to remain silent and if we choose to give up that right, we are responsible for what we decide to say and reveal.  Good luck to everyone in this new world.  I personally enjoy this knowledge sharing to an extent but I also think some people should think about who they really are before they continue down the road of potential oversharing.

John Caparulo

I saw John Caparulo this weekend at the Parlor.  I really didn’t know much about him before this show but he turned out to be as funny as I had heard.  Glad I had a chance to see him.  He had me laughing almost the whole time.  It is obvious he has had enough time to perfect his style.  Definitely see him if you get the chance.

Seattle Snow

Last week Seattle got hit with a pretty big snowstorm for our area, as sometimes happens about once a year.  I had to work from home the last half of the week because I couldn’t get my 2 wheel drive vehicles out of my neighborhood and I didn’t want to hike uphill a mile in the snow to catch a bus that would likely take forever to get me home after work.  Yeah, I know if you are reading this from parts of our country where snow is normal most of the year, you think we are pretty wimpy about snow.  But just think what it’s like for those of us who never have snow except maybe a few days a year.  We just aren’t used to it and are definitely not prepared for it.  Many people lost power during that week and some are still not back up and running, which is also pretty tough.  One year we had to go without power for three days and it was not fun.  It was cold and miserable.  So it is interesting here when it snows as it is mostly not received very well and causes a lot more trouble for the area than you might think it should.  Anyhow, we survived it well this year.  It was kind of nice avoiding the normal commute and just going to my couch and opening my laptop to work.  Not to mention avoiding all the usual after work errands of meetings or school or sports events.  It was a nice break and where snow is a bit of a novelty, it is kind of fun for a while.  Let’s be clear though.  I live in Seattle because of the milder climate and because I didn’t enjoy living in a place where it snowed all winter and I had to unbury my car every day before going to work and hope I didn’t crash during my commute (even with 4 wheel drive).  So, happy it is pretty much gone now and probably not coming back the rest of the winter.  And those who like snow don’t have to drive very far into the mountains to find it.  I’ll just be back at home if anyone needs me.