Author Archives: Rob MacD

The Not-So-Straight Story

This weekend, my son asked me if he could borrow the Canon A-510 digital camera and make a video.  He said that he and his friend, Keaton, had an idea to make a movie along the lines of “The Straight Story”, by David Lynch.  (If you’ve never seen that film, you owe it to yourself to see it.  It’s a wonderfully gently movie, starring Richard Farnsworth as an old guy who travels across country to visit his estranged brother, who is dying.
Since this sounded like a step up from their usual “two guys with swords chase each other and one dies at the end” plot-line, I gave them the camera for the afternoon.  They asked me to play a small (but pivotal, I think) role.  After the shoot was over, Cameron did a rough edit.  Then I helped out by tightening it up, deleting a couple of unnecessary scenes, adding music and titles, and finding an ending out of the non-ending footage they finished with.
Overall, I think they did a pretty good job, and even threw in a bit of an homage to the strangeness of David Lynch.

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TAM Daily Trivia – April Results

The first month of The Annekenstein Monster Daily Trivia is over.  Here are the results:

18 players played during the month.

Top Ten:

1. annekenstein (168 points, 6 wins)
 2. Wessie (157 points, 3 wins)
3. TracyJ (146 points, 3 wins)
4. reverseflash (139 points, 5 wins)
5. paella (138 points, 1 wins)
6. misskris (104 points, 0 wins)
7. Cool Girl (83 points, 0 wins)
8. Frankie (78 points, 0 wins)
9. Grover (77 points, 3 wins)
10. desperation (65 points, 0 wins)

Thanks for playing, those who play.  I guess the challenge is officially on, now, to try and knock annekenstein off the podium.  Good luck, losers!

If you’d like to join in on all the trivial-ness (it only takes about a minute a day), bookmark this link and come back to it once every day:
The link to The Annekenstein Monster’s Daily Trivia Page

Sketch22 Has A New Member! (unofficial)

Well, we did it.  We finally chose someone to be the fifth actor in our stage show this summer.  After 19 auditioners (practically every one of which did a really good job), we couldn’t narrow it down beyond a select handful.  So, we asked them if they’d come back and do a bit more script reading and auditioning with us.
That happened earlier this week, and after seeing them again, the decision was no easier.  It’s a pretty good feeling to have to choose among people, all of whom would likely be a great addition.  Conversely, it’s not so great knowing that some pretty talented people won’t be joining us (not that “joining us” is any kind of end-all, be-all).  So, Thursday night, the four of us who are currently on the island, got together for a couple of hours, talked about all the strengths and pros of each person and tried to imagine some potential cons, and finally made a unanimous decision that we think is pretty exciting.
I’m not going to divulge the name quite yet.  While the person, when asked to become part of the group, was enthusiastic and excited, and agreed, we haven’t talked money yet.  So, until those final details get worked out, and agreed upon by all, it’s probably best to keep the name as under wraps as mildly leaked information can remain under wraps on PEI.
But we do have a new cast member for the summer show.  And it’s going to be fantastic.

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Will You Be My Friend?

I just signed up to Frappr, which is a kind of cool Google Maps way to view where your friends and acquaintances are, globally speaking.  It’d be superkeen if you took the time to visit my map and add yourself.  Click the link, won’t you?
The Annekenstein Monster’s Friend Map – Friend Map by Frappr Maps

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LegoTown: My Son’s Deadwood

My son and two of his friends have been playing what I would classify as a role-playing game, for about two years.  It’s a game they made up themselves (although I believe it’s mostly from the brain of my imaginative son), involving a town they built and the people who inhabit it.  It’s pretty intricate in its mechanisms and history and rules and procedures.
Originally, it was called Lepodink, which was short for the three main elements of the game:  Legos, Pokemon figures and dinkies.  Sometime in the past few months, the Pokemon figures and dinkies have been abandoned in favour of 100% Lego-only.  Hence: Lego Town
From what I can tell, each of the three have several characters (who each have families) they’re responsible for.  Each character has his or her own profession and associations with other characters.  It’s all played on a couple of those play mats that have streets on them, etc., with Lego buildings and Lego people populating it.
Here’s a picture:

Lately, they’ve felt the need to implement some rules, to make the town run more smoothly, and to protect themselves from the criminal element.  They’ve also made me Judge, and whenever there are grievances between citizens, or laws that are allegedly broken, they come to me, explain themselves, and I judge what I think is a fair punishment or fine (if the case doesn’t get thrown out of court for any number of protocol breaches).
Here is the list of rules that they made up.  This is the list that they need to make their Lego Town run more smoothly.  I wonder if Charlottetown would do well to implement some of these:

  1. Do not steal.
  2. Do not kill or hurt any living thing.
  3. Must have permits to have a weapon or job.
  4. No speeding or bad driving.
  5. Two warnings and you go to jail.
  6. No mafias.
  7. Respect officers and the law.
  8. If you help in a crime you get blamed for everything.
  9. No threatening.
  10. Do not try to solve a crime yourself.
  11. Don’t break people out of jail.
  12. Do not break into a house.
  13. Drinking and driving.

I like how number 6, “No mafias” is just sort of stuck in there, in the middle, like it’s akin to jaywalking or something.  And I also like how number 13 isn’t really a law at all, like an unfinished thought.  But I think I understand its meaning.  And as for mafias, they were a big problem in this town a month or so ago, and I believe that was the impetus for establishing a system of law and order.  The town was out of control, much like the town Deadwood in the HBO show, and, like that town, is only now taking the necessary early steps to make it a more livable, enjoyable place to live.  One difference, though, between LegoTown and Deadwood, is that there is far less swearing in LegoTown.  Now that law and order has been established, the mafias are quickly dying out as respectable businesses and owners take back the town.

I’m very thankful that they spend a lot of time each day playing this game, rather than spend it playing computer games.  Now that the weather is nicer, though, the challenge will be to get them outside.  Which isn’t really a challenge at all.  We spent about an hour playing football in the backyard tonight, after they spent about an hour playing LegoTown.
Busy lives.  Busy lives.

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LegoTown

A picture of Cameron’s Lego Town. Posted by Picasa

Katharine MacPhee’s White Panties

I was a bit worried about American Idol’s theme this week:  Love Songs, as interpreted by Andrea Bocelli (who, coincidentally, has a new album out!  Imagine that!  What luck that Mr. Bocelli is a fan of American Idol, and has an album to hock at the same time!), with help from producer David Foster.
Okay, I can handle Andrea Bocelli (who, it turns out, was a pretty ineffectual assistant to the Idols. At least what we saw on the show), but my fear came when I heard David Foster and his egotistical smugness would also be an on-screen presence.  I’m not a fan of the pap that David Foster puts out, and feared that this would be an hour of ugliness.  Turns out that Foster really seemed to put “the kids” through the paces and was likely a necessary alternative to the sycophants who most likely surround these people all week long.  So, my respect for David Foster goes up a notch or two, for giving honest criticism and, at the same time, trying to help the Idols do their best.
Ugh.
Katharine MacPhee starts off.  Has anyone else noticed, that in the last three weeks, Katharine has really amped up the “I am making love to you, through the camera” sexuality?  Last week it was atrociously obvious.  This week, slightly less so, but still a full blast of “I am HOT”.  Her singing this week, I thought, was “meh”.  Not the greatest, but nothing bad enough to endanger her.  I agree with whichever judge it was that said she is not at her best, vocally, when she tries to push it.
But, how she sings really doesn’t matter at the moment, because right now, she is all about selling The Idea of Love.  Every ounce of her being is thrusting itself into Turning On The Boys.  Sex sells, baby, and I’m riding that pony all the way to the top!!  I’m wondering now, when they cut to her crying father, if he’s crying because of the beauty he hears in the song, or because he’s forced to witness the transformation of his virginal daughter into a high-class hooker?
Last night, she was literally spilling out of her yellow dress.  Her oh-so-tight dress.  Her breasts were pushed so high that I was scared they’d get nosebleeds.  And then there was the slit.  Near the end of her performance, when she really started pushing the song, a part of the slit on her dress comes undone (I assume it was taped together?) and she began showing a whole heck of a lot of leg.  As I was watching her performance, I was noticing what I thought was a panty line on the side of her hip (due, I guess, to the tightness of the dress).  I was thinking that she should have gone panty-less, to rid herself of the panty-line problem.  Well, good thing she wasn’t panty-less, because when she started strutting up the stage, near the end of her song, her wardrobe malfunction gave us all the briefest brief look at her briefs.  Her white briefs.  I’m sure of it.  I wasn’t imagining it.  And, yeah, it titillated me a bit.  I thought, for a moment, about searching the internet, to see if there was a picture of the moment somewhere (you know, to show you), but I didn’t.  I also thought about downloading the show and getting a still image of “the event” from the video.  But I really don’t want to be that guy.  I’d rather be the guy who advertises it in the title of the post.
So, Katharine will be safe, due to her sexuality.
Elliott, I had all but given up on you.  I kept hearing other people giving you credit for your talents, but I never saw them materialize, my friend.  You’ve always come up short.  Last night, though, you blew them all away.  The first 3/4 of the song, you were superb.  The last 1/4 you started to lose your sense of power, and I could feel the old trepidation and nerves seeping back into your performance.  But you held them off enough.  Easily, this was Elliott’s best performance of the season.  Therefore, he will be leaving the show tonight.  Stupid voters.
The only reason Kelly is still around is that the stupid voters like her stupid personality.  She is an onion that they can relate to.  Last week, her singing was just awful.  This week, equally hideous.  And her makeup was ugly ugly ugly.  She looked like a whore.  A male whore dressed up as a woman whore.  An old, ugly male whore, dressed up as an old ugly woman whore.  I mean, it was terrible.  Kelly, I think the Stupid Train is leaving tonight.  You really deserve to be gone from the competition.  I don’t even know if you ever belonged.  You are a robot.  A stupid robot.  A Stubot.
Paris’ performance was powerfully understated, I thought.  She sang very well, didn’t over-sing it, was full of emotion, and yet, it left me wanting.  I’m not sure why?  Actually, I think I do.  She sang “Memories” and I don’t know if she knew whether she was supposed to sing happy or sing sad.  So she sang both.  I don’t think she understood the song.  That, plus the song is shit.  Ugh.  I hate Babs so much.
Taylor gave another sub-standard performance that suffered from his flat, empty performance.  I don’t believe he was “into” the song.  He was singing the words, but only pretending to feel them.  It showed.
Chris was the second best, last night, I thought, behind Elliott.  As good as he is, his singing bores me now.  Isn’t that strange, how he can be the one you pin your hopes on (well, you know, your American Idol hopes, which, really, are the cheapest hopes in your chest) a few weeks ago, and now he just sits there, in his Alterna-Rocker Safety-Tub, bathing in his own wondrousness.  Who the heck are David Foster and Andrea Bocelli to dare try and teach Chris to be a better technical singer.  Like they said, he’s all in his head.
Ugh.  Too many words.  Who cares!
Bottom Three tonight:  Kelly, Elliott, Taylor

The Idol with the lowest number of votes…. will be revealed, right after the break.
[break] [/break]
Kelly.

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Christmas Driving Lights

Here’s a video that was part of the Sketch22 Christmas show last year. I’m quite fond of it.
If you prefer to visit the YouTube page where it’s located, here’s the link to Christmas Driving Lights.

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I Can Make It On My Own – Li’l Brudder

Q: What’s more inspirational than a two-legged dog?

A:  A one-legged dog.

Get out your hankies, folks.  These links are a-gonna make you cry.  For the record, neither link made me cry.  Or even come close.  Okay, Li’l Brudder did make me tear up.  Just a bit.  He’s just… he’s just so inspirational.

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Whatever Happened To That Audition Thing?

For those of you who have been bating your breath in anticipation of the announcement of who becomes the newest cast member of Sketch22, you’ll have to wait and bate a while longer yet.
It’s really a difficult decision we have to make, and we want to make sure we pick the best person for the group.  We’ve narrowed it down to a final four, any of whom would be excellent additions.  We’re hoping to call back these four for another session with us, to see how we all react to each other on stage. 
And, no, we won’t be saying who we have in mind, at this stage, so don’t even ask.
Due to scheduling conflicts, it won’t be until next week before we have our callbacks.  Hopefully, very soon after that, we’ll have a decision that will make Sketch22 the SuperPowerRockComedyPhenomenon that we all hope it can be.
We’ll let you know.  Because we know you care so very much.

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