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April 25, 2008
Leo's Jazz Band Wins Top Honors
Leo's Middle School Jazz Band (Ruth Dowell MS, McKinney) won "Outstanding CCC Class Jazz Band" at the Sandy Lake Fun-Fest band competition today. They played two compositions and Leo had a solo in the first performance. This is the first year that Dowell MS Jazz Band has won this award at the Fun-Fest. They sounded like a high school band, they're so polished it's amazing to listen to them.
Congratulations, Leo!
Posted by Steven at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2008
Cat and the Engineer
Charles Forsythe pointed out this hilarious video featuring "calculator-fu" at the intro.
Joe Bob sez, "Nerds! Check it out."
Spoiler Alert: look for the "cat yodeling".
Posted by Steven at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2008
Leo's 13th Birthday Party
Leo had four friends over night on Saturday for his 13th birthday. Everyone game him gift cards for video game stores, so he's got a bunch of new games coming. Anne got him a one-year subscription to a British gaming magazine that cost as much as buying games (the dollar-to-pound exchange isn't helping here). You may notice that he's now got braces (again), and if you look closely he's got a mustache now, too.
We have two teenagers now. One is even driving.
Everyone (except Leo) slept downstairs on the sofas and an inflatable mattress I picked up originally for hosting U of H clarinet students for the Boyd band (long story).
Posted by Steven at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
Laser Forte?
Llama and her "laser cat" (Forte) in the defensive mode
Posted by Steven at 08:25 PM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2008
Daicon 4 Anime
One of the most amazing pieces of fan anime is the 1983 Daicon IV animation produced by the fans, which features ELO's two songs ("Prolog" - the voice over, "Twilight") from the 1980 album Time. There are so many hommage pieces in this it's hard to list them all, but at one point Robbie the Robot from Forbidden Planet is shaking hands/clamps with Huey from Slient Running, an obscure mashup that few people would even spot. Be on the look out for the multiple destructions of the Yamamoto, home of the famous "wave motion gun", too.
Joe Bob sez, "Check it out!"
Posted by Steven at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2008
Anne's Xmas Music Stand
Back in Oct. of 2007, Anne ordered a custom music stand from a fellow in Idaho who offered them on the Internet. The stand was not inexpensive, so she ordered it as her main Xmas gift.
It finally arrived today!
She ordered a free-standing, wide top stand that has the capability of being a small desk as well as holding full sheet music and items in the lower cubby.
Close up of the music stand.
Posted by Steven at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)