D. Hunter Phillips's Blog, page 11

Deep Space Music Exploration

I haven’t really taken the time to talk about music all that much, at least not on here.  I think its time to change that.  Music is such a huge part of my life.  Not concerts and clubbing even, its more a personal experience for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I love love love to share my music, but its more of an intimate thing.  I think this is one of the reasons that being a DJ never really stuck with me and I moved on to something else.

I think of exploring the music dimension and imagine exploring deep space, filled with nebulae, stars, and occasionally, a habitable planet or exciting pulsar.  I am not one for Top 40 or really for music that plays on most radio stations.  I’ve always seen these as kind of the layman’s or lazyman’s way to find new music (if I’m referring to you, I apologize, I’m a snob).  I have found music in so many different avenues, though last.fm has been a huge help.  When people talk about Pandora internet radio, I could rant for ages at how limited Pandora’s underground music selection is.

So just for a basic run down, let me tell you my music listening past.  I grew up on classic rock and classic and still have a healthy respect for both, though there are only so many times you can hear “We Will Rock You” or “Kashmir”.  I went through a very brief alternative rock and grunge phase when it was popular.  I then hopped into Punk rock for a solitary minute.  Then I started listening to trance and house as I started college.  I loved electronic music, but what I started to find is that the briefest exposure I had to goth electronic i.e. synthpop, industrial, EBM, made me love that genre much more than just trance.  I’ve been exploring goth ever since the middle of my college years.

I kind of have this unofficial goal that I set for myself.  Its never really been in stone.  Basically, I want to try to find 1 new awesome song each week that I have never heard before.  Some months, I go with a dry spell.  Other times, I hit the freaking jack pot.  I remember when I was trying to look for the band Cut Rate Box and accidentally typed in or stumbled across Mind.In.A.Box.  I got their only album that was out at the time (Lost Alone).  I was absolutely blown away.  They are still probably my favorite band (and almost the only band I haven’t seen in concert that I really *really* want to see).

The two gems that I have found in the past two weeks are by two bands I’ve already loved and known for a hot couple minutes.

This song made me wonder why I thought that new Covenant was heading in a direction that I didn’t like. After giving this a couple dozen listens, I decided to listen to their album, Skyshaper, again. I found that I enjoyed it much much more than I remembered. I think I went into that album with the wrong mindset and then it convinced me that new Covenant would just be sucky (not true at all). I’m sorry Covenant, I love you.

Doctor Who Fan Film… Recruitment initiated

Do you want to be in a film?  Do you want to be nerdy?  Do you want to try something crazy?!

Let me give you some more details.

If you join with a local cadre for the Doctor Who Fan Film experience and become an officer you will get a speaking role in the film.  We are looking for people that want to act, people that want to donate money, and people to fill all the roles behind the scenes of making a film.

Essentially, over the Summer, the filming will be done in the Northern Virginia/DC/Maryland area.



Our own local goals are to recruit some interested people over the next two weeks. I know a lot of people that cosplay and do costume designing. If you want to get your work out there, this could be an opportunity. After that, the goal for the following two weeks will be to try to raise funds for our chapter to get the filming done here and to get the film made at all. After that, we plan on getting together to film our tryouts together.

The try outs for roles are starting in the coming weeks, so why not stop by for a meeting and see what’s going on?

The Weekly Swingaru

I keep meaning to get someone to take a picture of me doing some sort of move to put up here on the blog.  Swing moves are so photogenic, even the people don’t need to be.  Next time,  I must make it happen.

Class Dynamics

This week, it was Kevin Crandell’s time to step in and instruct.  Just like its good to dance with a lot of different people to learn, it is also wonderful to get different opinions and lessons from different instructors.  What really stands out to me is that there isn’t an ideal form, its more what feels good and looks good with your partner and how your skills mish mash.

We had only two leads and all the rest follows, odds on for three to one.  Somehow, I’ve got to say, we actually made it work.  We all got to do a good bit of dancing and we actually dictated a little bit what we got to learn.  Fun!

In fact, I’d almost say that the way the class broke down into small groups worked very well.  Lily worked with two or three girls at a time on instructing them on the proper way to swivel.  Meanwhile Kevin danced and instructed two other girls and myself and the other lead each danced with one person.  We were all sort of doing different activities, but the class felt way more active.

Lessons Learned

Although this move isn’t exactly what we went over or just how we did it, its hitting pretty much the basic concepts and elements that we went over.

The one thing that I really enjoyed about having the girl do Swivels is that it caused me to control my 1 and 2 step, leaning back, instead of just starting to approach my partner on those counts.  Continuing to practice this going forward should only further refine the footwork for me in Lindy Hop as well as make my partner look just totally awesome.

Fading to Consequence

At one point in his life, he sat in the finest upholstered chairs.  Stacks of paper, waiting for his signature, sat high enough to block his view of the door.  The number of analysts and aids at his beck and call, too numerous to count, but now his old age accompanied him and nothing else.  Now, he belonged to the tribe, one of the forgotten…

He walks down the street, he has lost his glasses.  He only hopes that the crunch back in his meager hovel was some old cereal and not those very glasses.  He could have never picked them up, even if his glasses had just been right there on the floor.

He has degenerative disc disease.  A bad back, one that modern medical technology could very well fix.  Tell that to the hospitals that keep turning him away.  “It’s not profitable,” they keep saying.

He raises his hands and waves them as quickly and as frantically as a geriatric can manage, which is about as exciting as watching a worm crawl across the pavement after a rain storm.  He even moves to stand in the way of all the people walking down this street.

No one makes eye contact with him; no one speaks to him; even when one of his waving arms threatens to smack them, they don’t even sigh in annoyance.  It is as if he is already gone.

Here he is, after having once sat in the oval office.  He wonders how he ended up in this terrible situation as he watched youths walking down the street with so many expensive gadgets.  He wonders how he ended up this way when, around nine in the morning, the streets are swarmed with pricey suits driving fancy sports cars.
His mind is a shambles, but when he feels helpless, he thinks back to one moment.  He thinks of a time when, with a wave of his pen, he murdered millions of the oldest Americans.  Now he is one of the murdered.  The forgotten.  Written out of history at the moment of a broken back, a stroke, or many another type of debilitation that finally removes EVERY American from the workplace.

He cries to himself, not the tears rolling down the cheek type of crying.  He cries so hard that his whole body shakes up and down with each new wave of pain and sadness.

After all this physical degradation, surviving only on handouts in the form of senior citizen discounts, and nearly losing his mind, he wonders what drove him to make the decisions he did.

Now collapsed to the ground, he looks up at the smog filled sky.  The sky brings him a moment of clarity.  He thinks to himself, “What if I could take it all back?”

His eye lids slowly descend.  “What if, right now… I could blink, and when I open my eyes I’m there.  There.  In the Whitehouse.  I could make the decisions again, the right way.”

His eyes close…

Darkness descends upon his reality…

“Mr. President, Mr. President.  Proposition 187 is ready for you to sign into law…”

He smiles, and the vision of reality returns to him as he leaves that world of horror, forever.

TV or not to TV

TV watching has taken a great big flopping back seat to doing pretty much anything and everything else.

NO!  Not that kind of back seat area.

No, I’m not busy with work or with any sort of health issue or anything like that.  I’ve just made a strong conscious decision to limit my time.

The quality of my tv watching has been great.  When you only watch a little, you can pick from among only the very best.

At this point, the best tv has to offer, for me, is The Walking Dead.  This season has been super exciting and strong since coming back from the break.  I won’t go into any spoilers here, but people are dying!  Things are happening.  Its not like the beginning of last season where they spent 5 episodes looking for one insignificant character.  That segment really dragged.  I didn’t even mind the farm thing, but that search was both long and pointless.  The character development has been much stronger this season.  I’m excited for next Sunday already.

My other current show of choice is The Americans.  I mean, depending on how well you know me, this one should have been a no brainer.  Just look in my room for a good…  5 seconds.  You’ll see more Soviet era gear than you could shake a stick at.  The show is pretty good so far.  If you don’t know, it is 1980′s era KGB spies in America.  I mean, era television is so rare, you have to give it a shot if you have any interest.  There have definitely been some tense, “Oh Crap!” moments thus far.

Pretty much the only other thing I am watching now is an old favorite.  Babylon 5 still hasn’t been beaten in my eyes.  This will be probably time #6 that I am going to watch my way through the entire series again.  Those are some dvds that have gotten their money’s worth.  If you love sci-fi and you can handle dated CG and melodramatic acting, you must go and watch B5, like… right now.  Really, just leave work, drop dinner (just don’t drop the baby), and go watch B5.  If you can make it through Season 1, you’ll thank me in a few months.

Partyin’ in Old Town

This past weekend, I finally did the thing of bar crawling Old Town Alexandria.  It took me almost two months of living here to make it so.  I’ve just been so buy having a good time and making plans outside the area.

First stop: Bilbo Baggins

I’ve been to hang out with my old Middle Earth buddy before, but this time I had dinner here as well.  I’ve always heard that the food was hit or miss.  Personally, I found my meal and my friend’s meal to be adequate, but for the price, I would have expected it to be a little better.  The staff was as friendly as usual and the beers were absolutely delicious (good old Straffe Hendrick).

Second Stop: The Light Horse

We had a couple Ranger IPAs here and met up with my roommate and her boyfriend.  The dance floor for the band was perhaps the smallest I’ve ever seen.  The people I talked to here were really fun and I had a couple of great conversations.  Also, I got a few comments on my gothy, baggy, strappy, studded pants, all compliments and all from solitary guys (and not the gay variety).  In the end, it was a fun time.

Final Stop: Flying Fish

We arrived here pretty late and only had time for one solid drink.  There was karaoke and crowding galore.  The most entertaining part had to have been that all the last few songs pretty much were metal/industrial songs sung by girls.  I quite enjoyed that aspect of it.  I rocked out a little bit, I’m not ashamed to say it.

The Closer

We finished off the night with some oven made, frozen pizza.  Stabbed that hangover before it could even cry “Et tu Brute.”

Dr. Who Fan Film… experiment

I have recently joined on to what I feel is a grand experiment.  A Doctor Who fan film, one that spans many locations and even cross country borders.  I can’t even fathom how this is going to work.  I’m not even a huge Doctor Who fan *gasp*.  I do, however, love nerds and all topics nerdy.  I look forward to seeing how this all comes together.

I’m helping out the Woodbridge/Dumfries chapter led by the lovely Kim Mignano.  If you’re in the NoVa area and you want to get involved in a film project that focuses on Doctor Who and you want to nerd out, join us for the next meeting, March 9th.  Contact me for more info.

Rumors Buried Deep Volume III

Rumors Buried Deep

News from the North Road

Planar bleed

Scholars, including Neram Nwad, have told Rumors Buried Deep that the rainfall and flooding that have been plaguing the area for so long may actually be caused by a rend in the fabric of the world.  It is quite possible that if this rend is not dealt with soon, that a major disaster far worse than flooding could impact the area.  He has taken a small group of hirelings and scholars north to seek proof of this theory.

The Horde expands

The estates of Lord Ghent Sargov are being threatened by the vanguard of the mixed band of beings.  If his estates fall, it will mean the road East to the Elfyn Wood will be cut.  The estates are the last major defense before the barbarians will be able to spread into the farm lands to the South west.

Local News

Dirk and Dagger, slashed and stabbed

The rising Tidewall Militia struck a death blow to the once powerful Dirk and Dagger gang by also striking a mortal wound to its leader, Luthor.  It remains to be seen what the new leadership of this Militia holds for Guddereicht.  Rumors state that they’ve already subsumed former gangs that the Dirk and Daggers used to compete with.  On a very positive note, Lord Artur von Fuerst has endorsed the militia with a building in Beggar’s Corner and a cache of old weapons.  Rather than taking new recruits from the local gangs, the militia has employed homeless farmers into their ranks.

Khyrin’s entourage, continued

Asmodal, the demon man has scared the pants off of some of the citizens along Hammer’s Way.  Apparently, he was confronted about his origins and allegiances.  A Gribble Numbtoe appeared from the shadows to stick and kick one of the gang members that crowded the street.  Screams filled the thoroughfare and Khyrin and dwarf companion, Bonecrusher Bexton, stepped in to calm the locals.  The heroes welcome has grown cold.  Blacksmith, Cargille, stated, “It’s not the entourage’s fault.  The damned gangs ruin everything.  They are here to help, we need heroes.”  Khyrin apologized as the heroes headed east, out of town toward the ancient Gudder Cemetery.

The News from Port Brot

The Purged, a mercenary band from CraterDeep, sent envoys to the elven council in Port Brot.  It seems that the situation has grown desperate and the brutal band of formerly diseased mercenaries has been hired to spread into the countryside and stop the refugees at all costs.  This is truly one of the few times that the Brot Elven council and the dock lords have pooled their resources.

Fiction, Its on the way

Potential and loyal readers, I am planning on putting some flash fiction and previously non-winning stories from contests on the blog here. I’d definitely love some feedback on what people are really interested in reading these days on the fiction side.

I’m also trying to think of a clever name for the category that I’ll use to organize these fiction entries. Anybody got any logical witticisms to share with me?

The first entry that I’m going to share with you all is an entry that I submitted for an NPR short story contest. I never heard anything back from them and it never showed up on their site. Its a speculative fiction piece about a future president. I do hope you’ll enjoy it and share your insights.

The second entry will be a short story that I worked up a long time ago (as in a year or two). It would probably make a cute Pixar movie, but instead its just the tale of a lizard that’s really an alien living under a human’s care.

Keep your eyes open!

Swingin’ Intermediate style’

Yesterday marked the beginning of the Intermediate level swing dancing classes.  Yet again, a big thanks to Lily and Doug.  This will be my last thanks to Doug for a while though, as he is too famous to teach classes now (solicit response here).

The Cursed River

So, the previous week, which was the final week of the beginner class, had brought forth a time of diverging fates.  I had to choose where I would take my intermediate class.  I told people I was probably going to go to the Carlyle Club, which I can walk to.  Then, I stopped myself.  “Wait a minute, do I want to be one of ‘those people’?  Hell no!”  I don’t want to live my life in an 8 block radius or never cross the Potomac as if it was a galactic border.  So, I did indeed decide to continue classes at Capitol Hill.

Lessons Learned from this week

During the Swing Out, Lindy Hop, keep those knees bent and better be in position like you are sitting your butt down on a bar stool.  As in, keep those knees bent, stay centered, but scoot that butt back, just a little crouch.  Don’t lean back from the shoulders or you might go for a backwards dive that’ll make a big splash and even the Russian judge will give you a 2.0.

The footwork really is the most important part.  If you can get the footwork down, then the rest will follow.  My experience with socially dancing is that the turns can be pretty easy to fudge and go through the motions and look pretty good, at least for a while.  The footwork though is something that could really screw up any and every dance move.  Include actually having some rhythm with whatever song is playing in the importance of the footwork.

Leads, remember that communicating with your partner is done a lot through your hands.  After class, Lily helped us refine the Texas Tommy using both hands on the partners hips and it went gloriously.  I can’t wait to try it out socially.

For me personally though, I think the biggest thing I’ve got to work on is to stop moving forward on the 1 and 2 count.  I just get so excited and carried away with moving back and forth that I forget to stop and just dance a little there.  I mean, Dancin’ with Myslef by Billy Idol was my theme song for so long, you’d think that I’d be all about the 1-2 where I get to dance alone except for holding a hand.  Remember… don’t go too quickly!

Finally

I do indeed think I shall go to see the band at Nick’s Nightclub on Wednesday.  I might try to stop by Carlyle Club for a little while, its hard not to being that I could walk or bike there.

One of my guy friends actually expressed an interest in checking out swing dancing. We will probably go to Glen Echo for the free lesson and see how long he can last.  Maybe I can even get a posse to go that night.  The free lesson will at least teach you the basic footwork! (which as stated earlier is the most important part!)