Yeah.... as some of you no doubt figured out, today was my birthday. Thanks to everyone who sent me well wishes. Even better, more awesomer thanks to those who sent bourbon with their well wishes. (Top Shelf Wishes?)

Among my list of birthday presents this year, I received: some awesome home made art from my kids, lunch at the Vortex with a good friend, a circuit board picture frame for my office with a sketch of me with the kids, and a kick ass new short film script from Andy that gave me 7 new gray hairs from worrying about how we were going to pull it off.

I'm sooo behind schedule on post-production for the new feature - and here we are adding new projects... new HARD projects! Would you guys do me a favor and tell us that our films suck and that you don't want to see a new short film ... ?

Ah well. More stuff on the way soon.

or video from a future Digitwin?

A 9 months baby play synthesizer. from linyuchen on Vimeo.

In celebration of the most recent Friday, February 13th and of the release of the series "reboot" of Friday the 13th, I have decided to take a journey down memory lane and review all past films featuring the world's most iconic fictional slasher, Jason Voorhees.

I was introduced to Jason at a very young age (late nights on the USA Network, woohoo!) and I've been a megafan ever since. I vividly recall childhood camping trips where I would summarize the films by campfire to anyone that bothered to listen. I even dedicated a Halloween or two to Jason by fixing up the best hockey masked slasher costume I could scrounge up. No other slasher or horror movie stands up to this character or his movies so added incentive to compose these reviews are evident. If this is the year that we celebrate briefly Jason again, I owe it to myself and to the film franchise to write all I can about it.

For those who missed my Arnold Schwarzenegger Countdown, the process is as follows. Using my fanboy powers, I go back and rewatch all pertinent movies and carefully decide how to rank them in regards to all around personal enjoyment. I'll provide an official poster for each film, a cast list, brief synopsis, my take, thoughts on the film score, body counts, favorite kill, and probably more when it comes closer to the time that I start posting up each film review. For a categorical look, here is what I am projecting:

The Specs - Title, Release Date, Tagline, Cast
The Review - My take on the film
The Score - Brief thoughts on the music
The Sequence - My favorite, most memorable scene
The Body Count - Total on screen or implied deaths of anyone by anyone
The Line - My favorite quote of the film
The Shot - The singular image that defines the film
My Favorite Kill - The most unique death, most likely
The Man Behind The Mask - Short commentary on each portrayal/performance of Jason

Preface: I do not love or hate Frank Miller. I am seeking clarity on the geek community at large about all the rapidly increasing Frank hate.

Apparently I've been in a self-induced geek coma for I am guessing at least two years now. Lately, as of early December or so, I've been reading about Frank Miller and how he'd eventually go on to butcher The Spirit. This basically came to truth without a fight when the film released but the hate seemed to get turned up a notch with the rumor about Frank Miller wanting to do a Buck Rogers imagining. After reading countless forums and blogs, I decided to take a step back to try to grasp some perspective on what the hell was happening in front of me.

Didn't this guy recently make the well-received film adaptation of his own work in Sin City? Seriously, right? I vividly recall standing outside a theater with a group of friends chatting up about how much we enjoyed the film. Then the 300 eventually came to pass, and although not as well-received as Sin City, I still did not come across the Frank Miller hate that I am now.

So that was it before The Spirit, right? I mean, this is 2009 and I suddenly didn't end up in a wormhole in the future where Frank Miller remade Napoleon Dynamite, right? So what the heck is going on? Again, I am not trying to defend the guy, but I am completely clueless as to the nosedive he has taken over recent months. Was there a sleeper I didn't hear about? Did he say or do something?

I thought he was well respected and at least a visual genius. I understand visuals alone a great film does not make but, yeah, I feel like Sinclair here with a giant hole in my mind. So all you Minbari out there clue this fellow geek in please.

it feels good to get back on track. for the holidays i let myself spiral out of the contracts and schedules i had set for myself. that's ok, everyone needs some breathing room (especially when creativity is at hand) as not to burn out. sometimes though, it's hard to remember that you had a schedule before you got so...lazy. finding that again is like a great big gift to yourself. it's a budget...for your time. want to do something? put it in the budget. write it down (fans of david allen's book getting things done will know what i am talking about here.) things that once seemed daunting turn into one step here, one step there, nothing to worry about.

some things you're going to hear from me soon... click read more for the details

it sucks having a cold
it sucks having a cold and you cough and it gives you insomnia
even more that everything you have tried to take won't fix it

it also sucks that while in the throws of insomnia you happen to remember this band in the 90s who you thought was so awesome and saw them live twice. only you can't remember the name of the band, or the name of any of the songs.

they might have played with the meices once, around 94, 95 and maybe played with dink 95, 96.

they had a song about the creator of the shopping mall, and quite possible someone in the band wore traditional native american garb? (maybe the drummer? )

that last bit sounds odd so it may or may not be true.

but damnit for some reason i want to hear that song about shopping malls, even though i have no idea what it sounded like.

if anyone knows of this band and can decipher all of this and tell me who it is...thank you!

please, i need help...

Apparently, we have an extra second tonight that is being tacked on to the end of 2008 to realign Atomic Time and Terrestrial Time. Small variances in the earth's rotation, have built up where it is now necessary to have 61 seconds in the last minute of the year. A leap second.

What are you going to do with your extra second? Don't let it go to waste. Pick something to do with it - and use your extra time wisely.