Movie schedule...

Went and saw the documentary "Sound City" by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters (and Nirvana) fame... an interesting movie. The one part that really stood out for me was when someone pointed out that modern music making takes the human out of the music process, like so much of the rest of Western "civilization". Kind of (if you'll pardon the pun) struck a chord.

I finally picked up a decent studio microphone last weekend (the first I've ever owned... I had only had two crappy ass dynamic mics I picked up for $30 apiece new). It's an Audio-Technica AT2050 "Multi-Pattern Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone" that I got new for nowhere near the suggested retail price (from a well-known reputable music shop, don't worry, heh). It's awesome because I can use it for other project ideas I have besides music (because of the switch-selectable pickup patterns). I just need to finish the walls in the basement to isolate the cats (and especially their cat boxes) from the rest of the basement and I'll finish putting together a little home studio (I have everything else I need already, I was just missing a halfway decent microphone). This summer I'm also going to buy an inexpensive acoustic guitar as the guitar I have is fairly badly beaten up (it's intonation is shot, the frets are worn off, etc. ... 20 years of playing it have taken their toll). Finally, I am going to buy Prosonus' Studio One 2.5 Professional software... anyone who has a "certificate of completion" for Coursera's free online course "Introduction to Music Production" was given the opportunity to purchase the software suite for the "education" price (which is only 25% of the retail cost of the software!). I have used Sony Acid Pro for most of my electronic music and got a copy of Ableton Live 8 Lite with the MPK25 I purchased, but everything I have right now is hamstrung in some way to get me to shell out many, many hundreds of dollars for the "full" version of the software, which I just haven't been able to afford (well, I do also use the free package Audacity to record live stuff). The Prosonus offer will finally allow me to get a real Digital Audio Workstation for a price I can afford!

I will be continuing to go to the Mayfair Theatre for the month of June after my feminism class (which ends at 9PM) on either a Monday or a Wednesday. For June, I hope to see the following films:

2013/06/05 (Wed): Easy Rider
2013/06/12 (Wed): Evil Dead (2013)
2013/06/19 (Wed): To The Wonder
2013/06/24 (Mon): Room 237

The week of "To The Wonder", there were two movies that played late enough for me to see them and I chose that one instead of the Tom Cruise movie "Oblivion". I saw the trailer for Oblivion tonight and my decision is doubly made, ugh! The movie "To The Wonder" does sound like over two hours of watching paint dry though... dry beautifully, but... From the Rotten Tomatoes reviews of it: "Malick, who is obviously unconcerned with his film's commercial success, continues to work with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and together they have grown immensely fond of long, lovely shots of nature.", but then "While it may be filmed beautifully, To the Wonder doesn't exactly move its gestating 112-minute duration along any faster with everyone on-screen galloping around their front yard or a field full of slow moving bison genitalia." (bison dongs? what?), and sort of in the middle "Gorgeous cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki almost makes 'To the Wonder' worth seeing. Unfortunately, director/writer Terrence Malick fails to flesh out this drama with a plot we can follow.". So, go to see the cinematography, and nothing else... gotcha. I also do hope to see Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain this Friday (May 31st) if I'm rested enough, and might even go see the one or both of the Super Secret Saturday Night Sinema showings in June (one on the 1st and the other on the 29th ... original 35mm prints ... the first two events were both Russ Meyer films, "Vixen!" [critiquing communism, sort of] and "Supervixens" [critiquing American war bravado, kind of], but I'm hoping they manage to show "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" for a heaping dose of socially irredeemable celluloid). Anyway, those last two movie nights are pretty optional, especially considering I'm helping my sister-in-law and niece move the morning of June 1st (and I'm going to a get together that evening as well).

Now, off to get what sleep I can, I've been up and busy since 6AM on Monday (19 hours ago)...