My rarely used Tribe Blog

Stella Weighs in on the Election

JasonBuckley — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:39:51 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf8uLbgVC4E

Acoustic Reunion!

JasonBuckley — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:14:46 GMT

Today I got to jam with the guitarist from my old band in NY. It was 12 years ago, but it feels like a lifetime. He was passing through visiting another friend and we got to hang out last night and today. We decided to play one of our old songs and record it for posterity. When his band (with our old drummer) rolls through here this summer, we're going to have a real reunion, which means I need some serious practice! So here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDefIt3RkOU If any of my Tribe friends are interested in playing this sort of dark, melodic, prog-ish, sludge, let me know. I'm itching to put something together again.

Another 10 Hour Film!

JasonBuckley — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:52:33 GMT

Thanks to Queenie and Dalia and everyone else who are not on Tribe for making this one happen. I'm always amazed that we can pull off a short film in such a short time, but we did it again! Here is Murder on the Redwood Express: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgk1IY7o-SM

Really Funny and Dorky Humor

JasonBuckley — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:05:11 GMT

What if the internet threw a party? http://www.cracked.com/article_15825_internet-party-what-happens-when-googles-parents-leave-town-for-weekend.html

OK, if I must...

JasonBuckley — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:48:26 GMT

Four jobs I have had in my life: 1. Door to door fundraiser for various hippie causes 2. Cellphone salesman 3. Web producer 4. Doorman at a strip club Movies I've watched more than once: 1. Star Wars 2. The Good the Bad and the Ugly 3. Fight Club 4. Cannibal: The Musical Four places I have lived: 1. Hyde Park, NY 2. New Paltz, NY 3. Dryden, NY 4. Washington, DC Four T.V. Shows that I watched: 1. Simpsons 2. The A Team 3. Beverly Hills 90210 4. the Office Four Places I have been: 1. Red Square, Moscow, USSR (while it was still the USSR) 2. Capri, Italy 3. New Orleans, LA 4. Graceland Four people who e-mail me: 1. Anne 2. My dad 3. My boss 4. My blogging friends Four people I wish would email me: 1. Somebody who wants to pay me lots of money to make a movie for them 2. Ed McMahon, to tell me I won the Publishers Clearninghouse sweepstakes 3. George Bush with a formal apology 4. Stella, because how cute would email from a 2 year old be? Four of my favorite foods: 1. Pizza 2. Pesto 3. Biscuits and gravy 4. Chicken Tikka Massala Four places I would rather be right now: 1. A tropical beach with an umbrella drink in one hand and a spliff in the other 2. Front row at a Radiohead show 3. On an independent film set 4. On stage rocking out Four things I am looking forward to in the next year: 1. Making more money 2. Stella's 2nd Bday party 3. Making more fun movies 4. The end of the writers strike Four people who I think should take this survey: 1. Whoever wants to.

The Writers Room

JasonBuckley — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:08:37 GMT

As a fan of well written tv, I wanted to do what little part that I could in supporting the striking writers. So I made this short with the help of an incredibly talented cast and crew (be on the lookout for some fellow tribesters in there). What's a network executive in charge of a hit sitcom to do when the writers go on strike? Find some new ones on the internet, of course! Nothing could possibly go wrong with with a plan like that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOvm-8bAPBA

The latest news on Anne

JasonBuckley — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 01:19:12 GMT

It's been a rough week, folks. Yesterday morning I was really freaked out. Anne's condition took a bit of a nosedive and it was scary as hell. Turned out that it was just side effects from her pain medication rather than complications from her surgery. They switched pain meds last night and she's bouncing back quickly. Today she was up and walking without the aid of a walker, and if all goes well, she comes home tomorrow.

Update on Anne

JasonBuckley — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:03:25 GMT

Hey folks, here's the latest news on Anne. They had her stay in the hospital again tonight. She seems to be healing, but she's still in a lot of pain and they want to make sure that there are no complications with mesh being put over a fresh appendectomy. Her dad just got in today. He was supposed to come up with her mom, but he had a nasty little bout of food poisoning. I also had a pretty nasty cold the last two days which hasn't helped things, but I seem to be mostly over that. And Stella is sure confused and missing her momma and giving her grandparents a real run for their money. So we're hoping she comes home tomorrow. I'll post more news as it comes.

Anne is Out of Surgery!

JasonBuckley — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:27:03 GMT

I haven't seen her yet, just ran home for a bit while she's in recovery so I could see Stella and post this update. The surgery took over 4 hours. They were able to do everything laproscopically but it took a long time to navigate around scar tissue. Her appendix got in the way so they took that out, and the original mesh from her hernia last year was loose so they took that out and put one big piece of mesh over the whole thing. So this should be the fix that she really needed and they were able to do it without a top to bottom incision. She should be coming home from the hospital tomorrow and I'll post another update tonight after I see her.

Thank you. Thank you very much!

JasonBuckley — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 18:55:46 GMT

I'd like to thank the incredibly creative and talented group that came together yesterday to make a movie in 10 hours. I have been involved in these types of contests before, but never with a cast and crew that brought as much to the table as this one. In order to keep it under 3 minutes for Cinemasports, we had to leave out some great stuff which is going to go back in for the extended cut. But for now, enjoy the 3 minute version: http://www.jasonbuckley.com/blog/2007/10/how-i-spent-my-saturday.html

Hoist a pint For Michael Jackson

JasonBuckley — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 03:57:25 GMT

No, not the "King of Pop," but the "Beer Hunter." For those who haven't heard of this Michael Jackson, let's just say that if it wasn't for him we'd all probably be drinking Miller Hi-Life in cans and thinking it really is the Champaign of Beers. He toured the world sampling beers and getting great beers of the world imported to the US, which ultimately led to the explosion of micro-brew, regional craft beers, brew pubs and home brewing. He's the reason that the really good beer stores now have whole aisles devoted to Belgium. He was found dead in his London home of a heart attack yesterday. http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/08/31/beer.hunter.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories This labor day weekend, hoist a pint of a nice Belgian Trappist ale for the Beer Hunter.

Full Police Review

JasonBuckley — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:26:09 GMT

Last night I saw the Police and they were amazing! When I heard they were reuniting for a tour, I figured that tickets would be both very difficult to get and incredibly expensive. The show at the McAffee Colosseum in Oakland did sell out quickly, and we just forgot about it but then somebody on one of Anne's mommy groups put out 4 tickets for face value and she snapped them up for a fathers day present for me! The seats were very high up, but close to the stage and we were able to see pretty well, though at that height, the sound was a little bit muddy with some serious echo from the back of the stadium. They opened with Message in a Bottle and Synchronicity 2 which were both really strong. There were some really awkward songs where they just couldn't quite get into the pocket, like Truth Hits Everybody, and at least during the first half of the show it seemed like they were doing much better with mellower tunes than the ones that really rocked, but they really got consistently tight after a while. Because of the muddy sound, sometimes it was hard to even tell what song it was until Sting started singing, and on some of them they even changed around the intros like on When the World is Running Down, though there were a few that I could recognize from the first drum beat. They played all the hits. Some of the highlights for me in particular were Walking on the Moon, So Lonely, Wrapped Around Your Finger, Driven to Tears and Can't Stand Losing You into Regatta De Blanc back into Can't Stand Losing You. They even somehow managed to make the massively overplayed Every Breath You Take sound fresh in an encore, and surprised me by ending the whole show by rocking out on Next to You. All in all, it was an incredible experience. I've been a fan for years and never thought I'd ever get to see them live. They really looked like they were enjoying themselves and all three of them played incredibly. It was great to see Sting rocking out again after being an adult contemporary artist for the last 20 years, and it's amazing to see him play such intricate bass lines and sing at the same time. I'm really glad to have been able to take part in this historic show, and I hope that they don't make this another 10 year long "farewell" tour like some of these bands do. I highly recommend this tour to any fan of this great band. It's definitely better than your average reunion tour which often reek of washed up desperation to grab the money one last time.

The Police rocked my world!

JasonBuckley — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 07:04:18 GMT

That was a great show! When they were nice and tight, they were incredible, though there were a few slightly awkward spots which isn't surprising given the difficult timing and 20 years not playing together. Highlights were Synchronicity 2, I Can't Stand Losing You into Regatta de Blanc back into I Can't Stand Losing You, and Walking on the Moon. Even the incredibly played to death Every Breath You Take felt fresh. I'll post a more detailed review tomorrow. Anne is the greatest wife in the world for scoring those tickets.

Best. Wife. Ever.

JasonBuckley — Wed, 30 May 2007 05:41:29 GMT

I can't believe it. Anne scored us Police tickets for an early fathers day present. Hot damn!

My Inner Guido got out tonight

JasonBuckley — Sun, 13 May 2007 06:31:04 GMT

So tonight Anne and I went to see a movie. We parked our car and as we started walking toward the mall, some lady pulls up and says "you know you took up 2 parking spaces?" Now we're not the kind of people to do that sort of thing, in fact we are extremely considerate when it comes to parking. There was a minivan parked next to us, and in order not to bang doors with them we did park right up to the line on the other side. But we were definitely in one spot. So we both said something like "uh, I don't think so," and she said something like " look at the front. So we did as she drove around giving us the stink eye. We were definitely right in our spot and now completely flabbergasted that this lady would get all bitchy with us for no reason at all. As Anne held her hands up in the universal WTF gesture, I went into automatic expletive mode and yelled out "eat shit and die, lady!" As we were eating some bad food court food before the movie, Anne mentioned how it makes her uncomfortable when I become that guy loudly bellowing foul language in parking lots or at other cars, even if those other people are being assholes and deserve to get yelled out. I realized that yelling at people for being jerks when I'm pretty sure there will be no repercussions is practically instinctual to me. It's like somebody gives me some kind of grief, that part of my subconscious mind that I call my "inner Guido" quickly sizes up whether or not this person would actually be willing and able to kick my ass, and then the four letter words start flying before I even realize I'm doing it at a volume corresponding to the threat level. So if this was some big crazy looking redneck gorilla, it would be an under the breath muttering of shits, motherfuckers and various word combinations including "ass," "douche," "cock" and whatever else feels right. But in this case, the threat level warranted the full angry baritone boom which tends to make Anne very uncomfortable, and I hate making Anne uncomfortable. So how do I stop that instinctual wiseguy from getting out?

Required Reading

JasonBuckley — Thu, 03 May 2007 04:32:54 GMT

I was surprised enough when I heard that a post on my blog - http://www.jasonbuckley.com/blog - was chosen to be in a book, but now that book is required reading in a college English class . It's pretty surreal seeing one of my silly little rants side by side with some pretty big name blogging types, but now it's actually being studied. I guess you could say that I'm doing my part to make the next generation a little bit more cynical and sarcastic.

Helper monkeys needed again

JasonBuckley — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 16:07:05 GMT

OK, we've got one more leg of this move to do on Saturday and we really are going to need some help on the East Bay end of things. We're hiring some day laborers to get our heavy furniture downstairs, but I could use at least one person to help me figure out how to arrange that in the truck. Then 2 or 3 people at the new place to help unload. Please let me know if you can lend a hand. Thanks. EDITED TO ADD: Thank you Anne for pointing this out... helping us move will be super fun! We'll get some food and drinks and you'll get to see just how cute Stella has gotten lately.

Who wants an MP3?

JasonBuckley — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:57:05 GMT

I thought it might be fun to start a song of the week club. If you have an email account that can handle attachments over 5 mb (I recommend Gmail and would be happy to send invites to anyone who needs one) and want a new song in your inbox every week without having to do anything, go to the following URL and sign up: http://www.jasonbuckley.com/mp3.html - There's no particular musical genre, just one song that I'm currently enjoying on that particular week that I think you should enjoy too.

I've been tagged by Beebalalou

JasonBuckley — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 05:13:42 GMT

I'm the latest victim in this rampant Tribe tagging spree, so now I've got to post 8 facts about myself. 1) I've become one of those dorky people who won't shut up about their baby and I don't care how dorky it is. 2) I watch horrible reality shows 3) My mom brought me out on halloween in drag when I was 3. 4) I spent one 4th of July on the South Lawn of the White House and got to shake hands with Bill Clinton. 5) I had a full beard at 16 years old, giving me access to all sorts of things and places that 16 year olds should never have access to. 6) I was a bouncer at a strip club 7) One time I found a pipe in my dad's desk. I asked him why he had it if he didn't smoke a pipe. He told me that he had a friend who was an American Indian who gave him Indian Tobacco which was what they used in peace pipes and they would smoke a peace pipe every now and then. I totally bought it until years later. 8) I had dinner with Jello Biafra. OK, so now I'm supposed to tag some people, but I think this thing has been around for a few days and I'm pretty sure everyone I know has already done this. So if anyone hasn't, step up and volunteer to be tagged please.

1 reason it's cool to work in a sign shop

JasonBuckley — Tue, 16 May 2006 13:44:41 GMT

I get to make signs like this for myself

I am such a geek

JasonBuckley — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 05:26:07 GMT

So this weekend I decided that since we can't really go out to the movies quite yet what with a 5 week old baby and all, I would see if I could download myself a copy of V for Vendetta. While searching for it (I found a decent quality cam copy, but it's a 3 disk SVCD which does not seem to want to play on my DVD player and Anne doesn't want to sit in front of the computer and watch it and doesn't want me to watch it without her) I came across something even cooler. One of the searches came up with a torrent of the original V for Vendetta comic. I had no idea that people scan comics and graphic novels and you can download them from most bittorrent sites and use a neat little program called CDisplay to read them on the computer. So now I've gone and downloaded a ton of comics that I've either been wanting to read or reread. I am just swimming in Alan Moore and Frank Miller! Now when I'm up at all hours trying to get Stella to sleep, I can be reading Promethia or Watchmen or The Dark Knight Returns. I'm such a dork.

My Daughter the Artist

JasonBuckley — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 20:07:26 GMT

Today Stella showed us a new skill. She Jackson Pollocked our bedroom wall using a lovely yellow/tan natural paint. She didn't even use her hands, let alone a brush. If she keeps this up, she'll be a star of the art world!

OMG Dick Cheney Shot a Guy!

JasonBuckley — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 03:19:43 GMT

Too many jokes! Brain overloading.

The New Job Thing

JasonBuckley — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 02:36:35 GMT

So I went in to my new job today to train with the guy I'll be replacing. It was pretty cool. I like the coworkers, and everyone was very nice to me. They're really enthusiastic about my skills and the boss took me aside to tell me that he really wants me to take on a leadership role on the production floor. I got to make more signs today than I usually do in an average week at my regular job which was very cool. Since the only signs we do at my soon to be former job are cut vinyl on glass, it's pretty cool getting to make other kinds of signs, including my first forray into Braile. Of course, tomorrow I have to go back in to the job I'm leaving and seeing my boss for the first time since leaving my letter of resignation on his desk before I left on Monday. I'm a little bit aprehensive about it, but what can he do, fire me? I hope he does! I can go start my new job even sooner. After seeing the guy who I'm replacing having a total short timer's attitude, I am kind of looking forward to slacking my way through what little time I have left. Oh the things I'm not going to do! I think the coolest difference in these jobs is the structure of the new job. This place is established and has a certain way that work flows while the one I'm leaving is constantly in a state of reinventing itself. The stability really goes a long way for making things less stressful, even if it's busier.

Take this job and shove it!

JasonBuckley — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 18:11:45 GMT

So after almost 2.5 years of working a job that his been iffy to say the least, I finally have a new one lined up. My job started out as a graphic arts job, has morphed into an office management job, and has been a rollercoaster of changing duties, responsibilities and stresses, all for decent pay but absolutely no benefits. There's been no insurance, no paid holidays, no paid vacation, and occasional seat of the pants waiting on getting paid, usually at the least opportune times. Every time a holiday would roll around, I would be more stressed about the missing money than I was happy to take much needed time off. The company I am leaving has been in a constant state of flux, and as other people realize that there are things that they don't want to deal with, I wind up getting additional responsibilities to the point where every time somebody else fucks something up it can somehow get blamed on me. So I had a great job interview on Friday for a job that is closer, has paid holidays and vacation, health benefits, and an established business that has their shit together enough that my responsibilities aren't going to change on a daily basis. The transition is going to be a bit nuts though considering I still haven't had a chance to tell my current boss about this. He's out of the office and I'd much prefer to do this in person rather than over the phone. But I need to go in and spend a training day tomorrow in the new office. I've already set my start date with the new place at two weeks from today, so the clock is ticking and I'm getting a bit anxious about this. Even before I tell my boss, I'm working on easing the transition here, drafting an extensive exit memo, and figuring out how to spread my responsibilities out to other people who work here and get them trained. I'm really excited, though a bit nervous at all of this major life change all hitting at the same time. Have I mentioned lately that there's a baby coming any day now?