• Filming and editing videos

- Still have the same 3 final episodes of Scooter Sunday Season 4 filmed and sitting and waiting to be edited into some type of greatness. With Season 5 coming up in the next 90 days, I best get crackin’ on this. Obviously, Snowy Sunday is in the queue as well. More on this in a future blog post.

• Writing

- Working on my next submission for Thrice Fiction. A dark yet humorous piece that is actually flowing quite well.

• Screenwriting/Movie making

- Talked to my daughter this last week when we attended a Sundance 2012 film, which is when I get the most motivated to create something of my own. The idea is still there, the characters are stil in development and it’s in my mind each day.

• Reading Books

- No progress here. Same stack, same spot on the desk they sit.

• Exercise

- Probably the most progress I’ve made of all of these TINTFA items. I am to the point where I am actually going to the gym without making my own excuses. I still am highly distracted by others, but working to overcome those.

• Golf

- I can tell you that with cold temps here in Utah, there won’t be any updates on this until at least late March or early April. Still planning on playing at least 15 games this year.

• Blogging

- I have been posting more over on Chillywilly.org and have made some more consistent design changes over on Scootersunday.com, including a nicely edited pic of the scooter as the header image and a Favicon, too.

Motivation needs to be my middle name.

Another update on March 1st.

Thanks to Kapgar for his blog post update.

Howard Jones [no, not that HoJo] recently announced he is leaving Killswitch Engage. His statement is below:

Well, I guess I will shed a little light without going too deep. As some of you may know, I’ve had a pretty interesting couple of years to say the least battling with some personal issues. One of the low points being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes that went unchecked for years. The rest of the band stuck with me through it, and to be honest they are the ones that kept me going. The whole experience definitely put a scare in me.

“Recently we’ve all been in writing mode but somehow I couldn’t get excited about the new album and all the touring that would go with it. The guys saw it before I did. In hindsight I now realize that my heart wasn’t in it. I have had an amazing decade with KSE. I love Justin, MikeD, Joel and Adam for hanging in there and standing by me no matter how bad it was. I have so many good memories, and those are the ones that I will keep. Will I be involved in music again? Sure, I have been in bands for a little over half my life, can’t stop now. Until then, get the new KSE album, it’s going to be good. Thanks everyone for letting me try to entertain you, and I wish myself well in my future endeavors. Gone fishin’ Howard

Howard Jones with Killswitch Engage at Saltair – March 30, 2007

I’ve only seen Killswitch Engage twice and both times, the band killed it. They are my favorite metalcore band and their sound, lyrics and on stage persona stands up as one of the best and most popular. I am sad to hear of Howard’s leaving, but hope he gets better and also hope they can find a lead singer soon, given they are working a new album this year and have a tour starting in a few months.

And here’s this year’s list of Oscar nominations. I look forward to this time each and every year, even if I’ve not seen all of the movies that were nominated.

Best Picture
• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Best Supporting Actor

• Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
• Jonah Hill, Moneyball
• Nick Nolte, Warrior
• Christopher Plummer, Beginners
• Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress

• Berenice Bejo, The Artist
• Jessica Chastain, The Help
• Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
• Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
• Octavia Spencer, The Help

Best Actress

• Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
• Viola Davis, The Help
• Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
• Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn

Best Actor

• Demian Bichir, A Better Life
• George Clooney, The Descendants
• Jean Dujardin, The Artist
• Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
• Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Director

• Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
• Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
• Alexander Payne, The Descendants
• Martin Scorsese, Hugo
• Terrence Malick, Tree of Life

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
• Hugo, John Logan
• The Ides of March, George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
• Moneyball, Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin.
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bridget O’ Connor and Peter Straughan

Best Original Screenplay

• The Artist, Michael Hazanavicius
• Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
• Margin Call, J.C. Chandor
• Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
• A Separation, Asghar Farhadi

Best Animated Feature

• A Cat in Paris
• Chico & Rita
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

My Picks and Locks

So I’ve not seen too many of the films on this year’s list, which is surprisingly shocking even to me. I normally have seen most on the list, with a few exceptions [like last years winner "The King's Speech" I still haven't seen yet]. But that still doesn’t stop me from picking who I think will win.

• Best Supporting Actor – Christopher Plummer, Beginners
• Best Supporting Actress – Octavia Spencer, The Help
• Best Actor – Brad Pitt, Moneyball
• Best Actress – Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
• Best Picture – The Artist

I’m pretty sure Christopher Plummer is a lock and so is Michelle Williams. But I’m holding off guessing at the other major categories at this time. Still very much want to see “War Horse” and “The Descendants”. “The Artist” for best picture is a easy pick since Hollywood loves to go retro with their mindset and it’s a throwback to the older days of filmmaking that they feel should be rewarded. My guess is this will spring up several clones of this style of movie in the next few years.

So until that night in February when all will be revealed, it’s anyone’s guess at this point.

To download the complete list in PDF format, click here.

What movies have you seen so far that have been nominated?

1. My mom had me when she was 40 years old

- my family would know this, but even for the times I’ve talked about my mom here, I don’t believe I’ve shared this here on the blog. There were some complications (breach), but for the medical advances that were around in 1963, I’m sure this one was common.

2. I took Ritalin as a child

- for some reason when I was about 9, my teacher thought I was hyperactive. This was reported to my mom, who as a single parent, took it to an extreme level and put me into counseling. At the time (early 70′s), Ritalin was a common thing for psychologists to prescribe for activities they were not all that familiar with. This lasted for a good three years before I finally got tired of taking it.

3. My first car was a 1974 Honda Civic


The above photo is not of the actual car I owned. Mine was a creme color. I didn’t have it very long – maybe about 6 months or so. My memories of driving this car are fading as the year’s pass. Unlike my memories of my second car, which was a 1972 Toyota Corolla wagon that had a huge dent on the side [I wish I had taken more photos in my early 20's].

4. The first computer I owned was an Atari 800


- Yes, with two cartridge slots and 48k of RAM, this was the top of the line back in the day [I won't tell you what year this was, but I'll let you guess]. I owned it for a good five years, even after I got my first PC. I wrote BASIC programs and played several games on it.

5. I was called “McFly” when the Back To The Future movie first came out

- I was proud to have this nickname. Even if people would use it often, to be associated with someone like Michael J. Fox was pretty cool in 1985.

6. The first CD I bought was U2′s “The Unforgettable Fire”


- the year was 1988. I had just bought my first CD player. There was a local record store in Orem, UT called Crandall Records. Albums and cassettes will still big, but CDs were starting to make huge inroads into the hands of music fans. As a fan of the band, I thought it was appropriate to get my favorite album of theirs on CD. I still have this CD today and will never part with it.

7. Several of my randoms here are “firsts”

- no particular reason other than they are random facts about me. See how I did that there? I now only have to worry about coming up with 10 of these.

8. My first short film I did was shown at a film festival


- the film is only 1 minute long, which was a requirement for the 2007 Treo Film Festival. But it was based off something that actually happened to me. The film festival was held at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood in October of that year. A good 500 people were at this event and for 60 seconds, I saw something my daughter and I created on a big screen. To this day, it’s one of the things I am most proud to have done, even though my skills in filming and editing have improved greatly.

9. I grew up a couple of miles from Disneyland


- Until I moved from California to Utah in late 1987, I never lived more than 2 miles away from Disneyland. My mom use to take me often when I was little. As a teen, I would go with my friends. And my first wife worked there when we first started dating. I would hear the train sound most days and fireworks at 9:30pm each night provided long lasting memories of growing up near The Happiest Place On Earth.

10. My favorite vegetable is brussel sprouts


Original image found at The Daily Green
- Believe it or not, I really do love these. steamed and cooked for 30 mins, then served with butter, they are so, so good.

11. I went to Gambler’s Anonymous for playing video games


Original image found at Pink Gorilla Games
- At the age of 17, along with my mom in tow, I stood up along side some people with serious gambling problems to announce that it had been 12 days since I last played Pac-man. I shit you not, this really did happen. The meetings were held at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA and I was the lone person who wasn’t dropping $100 bills on the blackjack table or other card and casino games. My addiction to the quater-eating mavens wasn’t really an addiction at all, as after 10 or so meetings, it was suggested that we find another option for saving me the $10 a week I spent at the arcade. To say that I was embarrassed at being forced to do this, is an understatement. I look back now and glad I didn’t do this with my daughter over her Pokemon “addiction”.

11 Questions From Kim

Ok.. ok… I’ll at least answer Kim’s questions she posed over on her blog post. Go to her site to see the questions.

1. To be a writer/published author and filmmaker/screenwriter
2. Maine in 1999. I toyed with going all the way up to Nova Scotia, but ran out of time.
3. Yes.
4. Shrimp scampi and pan-seared scallops. And Fettucine Alfredo if it’s made right.
5. Depends on the news, but normally my wife.
6. Computer problems. See this blog post and why I loathe it.
7. Lately, MySQL questions. I try to keep them down to just a few times a month.
8. Because I like to read other people’s writings and the curious nature of why others blog like me.
9. Probably my wife. Maybe a few others. Mostly though, myself.
10. Yes.
11. The conspiracy that surrounds the JFK assassination. I did a history report on it many years ago in college and I was highly fascinated by how many different versions of the story are out there.

Ok, now comment away. Or steal this meme for your own blog. I say make up your own rules as you see fit.

Yesterday, I participated in the online protest against SOPA and PIPA. This is what my page looked like to visitors that landed on the main URL of www.banalleakage.com:

Banal Leakage’s page for 1/18/12

I chose that image because it’s one that could be used to shut down a site/domain without much notice. I mean, with a name like Banal Leakage, it’s possible someone could have issue with it [besides the general structure of the name itself], think some link I used belongs to them and without even talking to me first, complain loud enough and take me down. Am I up all night worried that will ever happen? Nope. But I don’t want shoddy legislature with a gray area of due process giving it a better chance of happening.

webOS Internals’ page for 1/18/12

This is why the web’s biggest players came out in full force. Was it effective? Well, the web sites for Senate and Congress for each elected official were getting slammed and many were down most of the day. Three of them pulled their names off as co-sponsors of the bills. The general populace of the web is now more learned of SOPA and PIPA. Over 4,000,000 signatures were collected by Reddit. I would say that’s quite an effective list.

Wikipedia’s page for 1/18/12

This fight is not over. And while certain provisions of the bill have been changed, altered or removed, the bill is still very flawed in how it plans to fight piracy. I am against piracy on many levels and very much for owners of media and copyrighted material for getting their monetary compensation for their work. Yes, I admit to visiting the torrents here and there, but my intent is always to become legit with the media I plan to own. As I venture into media distribution myself, I know there will be items taken without proper payment. That’s going to happen regardless of how many web sites the government shuts down. The goal is to get your media into the hands of people at a reasonable price and without the hassle of DRM and other hinderances that prevent a great user experience.

And SOPA and PIPA do not accomplish this task. Their purpose is not concerned with any user experience. Their purpose is to prevent criminal intent and illegal forms of delivery. There are other methods that will can and be more effective. Working together as a collective group, the government and the tech industry can find the best solutions for protecting the property owner as well as the design and flow of information on the internet.

On Wednesday January 18, 2012, this site will be participating in the protest of the proposed SOPA bill – Stop Online Piracy Act. It, along with PIPA, are bills in the House and Senate that are designed to stop online piracy by way of changing certain parts of how the internet works. Yes, recently Rep. Lamar Smith-TX announced they are removing the DNS blocking portion of the bill. But even with all of the other provisions that remain, this bill is not the best option for stopping the illegal download of movies, music and media and intellectual property of artists and copyright owners.

There are other ways and methods of reducing piracy including the supporting of increasing legal options of obtaining media. And while there are legal methods today like Amazon and iTunes, the MPAA and RIAA have not fully embraced new media and spend more money litigating than they do promoting.

Seized

You will see the following graphic on my site tomorrow. DO NOT BE ALARMED!! MY SITE DIDN’T GET SEIZED FOR ILLEGAL ACTIVITY!!. All will be back to normal on Thursday.

a sample notice of a site that is seized
Original image found at Anondora.org

If you want to join in, feel free. Be creative or be simple. If these bills are passed, changes that are out of your hands could happen. Stop SOPA and Stop PIPA.

My regular readers know that I really like Miniature Tigers. My daughter introduced me to them a few years ago and I’ve really embraced their sound, which has some hints of island sounds and tropical musical highlights.

In between mini tours, they have been hard at work on a new album and have recently released the details. It’s called “Mia Pharaoh” and it comes out on March 6th. Here’s the track listing:

1. Sex On The Regular
2. Female Doctor
3. Cleopatra
4. Afternoons With David Hockney
5. Easy As All That
6. Flower Door
7. Boomerang
8. Ugly Needs
9. Angel Bath
10. Husbands and Wives

Here’s the video to their lastest song “Female Doctor”

Last year, they released the single “Boomerang” which I played quite often and is officially released with this new album. It’s a wonderfully catchy song. And if “Female Doctor” sounds anything like the other 8 tracks on the album, this slightly more pop sound of this indie band will explode them into the mainstream this year.

I am in Las Vegas for the CES 2012 trade show this week.

I will get a nice set of photos and coverage together to post here once I get home [and my feet and liver get a nice rest, too], but for now, I am posting what I see on the show floor over on Penguin Bytes.

When we last left you here on Music Monday, we talked about the teaser video that Van Halen tossed out about a new tour and a new album. Well, to announce the dates and give fans proof they are really doing something, they jammed to an invite-only event on Jan 5th at Cafe Wha? in New York. After reading the reviews, seeing some photos and watching the plethora of YouTube footage captured from that night, I can honestly say that they are back [well, not completely since Michael Anthony is not part of this] and look and sound like they are ready to take on 2012 in a big way.

David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen are look like they are fit, cleaned up, the same and well trained as a band. The new album titled “A Different Kind Of Truth” drops Feb 7th.

Track Listing

1. Tattoo
2. She’s The Woman
3. You and Your Blues
4. China Town
5. Blood and Fire
6. Bullethead
7. As Is
8. Honeybabysweetiedoll
9. The Trouble With Never
10. Outta Space
11. Stay Frosty
12. Big River
13. Beats Workin’

New song “She’s The Woman”

Somebody Get Me a Doctor

Tour Dates

No Salt Lake date, so I will be traveling for this tour.

February
• 18th – Louisville, KY
• 20th – Auburn Hills, MI
• 22nd – Indianapolis, IN
• 24th – Chicago, IL
• 28th – New York, NY

March

• 1st – New York, NY
• 3rd – Uncasville, CT
• 5th – Philadelphia, PA
• 9th – Buffalo, NY
• 11th – Boston, MA
• 15th – Montreal, QC
• 17th – Toronto, ON
• 21st – Ottawa, ON
• 24th – Atlantic City, NJ
• 28th – Washington, DC

April

• 1st – Rosemont, IL
• 10th – Sunrise, FL
• 12th – Tampa, FL
• 14rh – Orlando, FL
• 16th – Jacksonville, FL
• 19th – Atlanta, GA
• 21st – Greensboro, NC
• 25th – Charlotte, NC
• 27th – Nashville, TN

May

• 1st – Tulsa, OK
• 5th – Tacoma, WA
• 7th – Vancouver, BC
• 9th – Calgary, AB
• 11th – Edmonton, AB
• 17th – Winnipeg, MB
• 19th – St. Paul, MN
• 22nd – Kansas City, MO
• 24th – Denver, CO
• 27th – Las Vegas, NV

June

• 1st – Los Angeles, CA
• 3rd – Oakland, CA
• 5th – San Jose, CA
• 12th – Anaheim, CA
• 14th – San Diego, CA
• 16th – Phoenix, AZ
• 20th – Dallas, TX
• 22nd – San Antonio, TX
• 24th – Houston, TX
• 26th – New Orleans, LA

Reviews

Long Video

And one last video that melds a few songs together

Audio is so-so, but video is nice and up close

This time, it is happening. 2010 and 2011 were failed starts to a promise of change. And since there were no TINTFA lists made for those years, there wasn’t much headway made into getting things done.

But I have to say that this doesn’t mean that 2011 was all bad. In fact, lots of it was good. I traveled a lot [Myrtle Beach, Vancouver, WA, Seattle, LEGOLand, Las Vegas], I made a few videos, I expanded my writing by contributing to Thrice Fiction and I had a great Christmas.

But all that good doesn’t change the fact that I wanted to do more with my creative talents. I let way too many other things distract me from what I really enjoy and want to do.

So with that, here is my TINTFA 2012 list of what I want to accomplish:

• Filming and editing videos

- everyone that has read this blog for any length of time knows the videos I’ve done. Both Scooter Sunday and Snowy Sunday videos have been fun to make and fun to hear other’s comments on them. I love making them and have missed making them. 2012 will be the year I make more of these. Scooter Sunday Season 5 will be my push to make at least 10 episodes this spring, summer and fall.

• Writing

- my other love is writing. I’ve almost made a living at it some years back and would love to do that again. That takes time to sit down and write and often. Meeting deadlines for Thrice Fiction helps, but I want to write more and expand my skills. 2012 will the year I add at least another regular writing gig to my portfolio.

• Screenwriting/Movie making

- combining the above two, my daughter and I have talked about making a movie together. 2012 is the year we stop talking about it and actually make a movie… regardless how professional or rudimentary it is.

• Reading Books

- along the same lines as my desire to write, reading other works seems natural. And I love to read, but just don’t make the time to dust off the stack of books I want to finish. 2012 will be where I read a book a month. Ambitious for this wordsmith, but it will be a great thing to accomplish.

• Exercise

- As I recently blogged about, I joined a gym that is very close to my house and at a low cost per month [$10], which gives me pretty much no excuses to not get fit and in shape. 2012 is the year I do this without any more failed attempts. My health depends on it as I approach the age of 50. Also would be great to get rid of my chin and gut.

• Golf

- I only played 2 games of golf this year. I played none – ZERO TIMES – in 2010. 2012 is the year I plan to play at least 15 times. I enjoy the game and simply need to make time for it.

• Blogging

- I blog enough here, but I have two other blogs that I post to as well – ScooterSunday.com and Chillywilly.org. But I am working [and have been for almost 2 years now] two commercial blogging sites. I have made some progress on both of them, just at my distracted pace. 2012 is the year that both sites [which I will talk about more as things get closer] will be launched.

And that should be enough TINTFAs to keep me from being distracted in the year of 2012.

Wich me luck. Better yet, kick my ass in a couple of months if you don’t see any updates on these items here on this blog. Because that’s one of the ways I’m going to stay accountable for the above list. Regular updates so that I can see my progress.

I know most of you with iPhones play Words With Friends, but there is an official Scrabble app as well.

And if you didn’t get to your local Starbucks for their Pick of the Week free app, I have 5 of them to give away.

The first 5 people that comment will get a code sent to their email.

The app so far is pretty polished. Easy to play, works well and for this iPhone user that hasn’t joined the WwF crowd, I’m content to use this official Scrabble app for now.

UPDATE for 1/20/12: I got 5 more codes today. If you missed them before, now’s your chance.

Happy New Year all.

With a new year brings new adventures – a new cat to our home.

A week ago, a member of our family asked us to take his cat as the place he was moving to doesn’t allow cats.

Her first few days here were mostly spent hiding under the bed. It’s a new place and she needs to get acclimated to her new surroundings.

Still shy, but warming up

Up until Triscuit arrived, we had one cat – Rocko – who is 18 and moves slower than normal. While he’s very patient and mostly leaves her alone, he’s still curious what we have done to him.

Staying for a while

So while Triscuit may end up back with her previous owner, she’s welcome here for as long as she stays. Now let’s see how a couple of late 40-somethings and an almost 20 year old feline keep up with the young little thing.