September 3rd, 2008
Last weekend I traveled to south Missouri (near Liberal, MO) with some of the guys I work with to fish at a fishing camp called Angler’s Paradise. Rumor has it that the pit at this camp could hold a record breaking bass, and in fact many greater than ten pound to 13 pound bass have been found there. The owner, Don, is a great guy and takes fantastic care of the grounds and the modern, comfortable cabins. He is very willing to swap fishing stories and provide advice for great spots to fish and the tecniques to catch em.
The lake is beautiful, especially in the morning when the still water reflects the surroundings like a polished mirror. It is a pit, and old converted strip mine, so the walls surrounding the lake are mostly sheer cliffs or very steep wooded hills. This means that most fishing needs to be done from boat, which we rented from the owner.
As for our luck fishing, we did not do nearly as well as any of us hoped. The biggest fish anyone in our group landed was a 4.5 pounder, and I mostly cought 1-2 lb bass. The owner attribute the less than stellar fishing to torrential rains this year that have already dropped twice the annual rainfall on the lake. This has killed much of the shoreline vegetation and disrupted the habitat. I hope to return there next spring when the ecosystem should start recovering.
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April 9th, 2008
tinyCritic has just been launched to closed beta!
“tinyCritic was created for you to write and read concise reviews of media. We believe that reading many peoples’ condensed opinions can be more useful than reading a many page review by one person.
The philosophy behind tinyCritic is to keep the site as simple and concise as possible, just like the reviews you will find here.
Please keep in mind that tinyCritic is currently in a beta state and not fully released. If you find a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us.”
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October 13th, 2007
Last night I had the pleasure of experiencing Jethro Tull live in concert for the second time in my life. The first time I saw the most famous progressive rock band fronted by a flautist was in 1997 when they played at the Sandstone Amphitheater (now the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater). At that time, they were opened by Emerson, Lake and Palmer (ELP) another of my favorite bands in the genre. Jethro Tull, and more specifically, front-man Ian Anderson have been playing for a long time. Ian Anderson’s first band, the Blades, was formed in 1963 – nearly 45 years ago. However, the set they played in ‘97 was fantastic and despite the jokes Ian Anderson made about getting old and his graying and disappearing hairline, musically he showed no signs of aging.
Despite the incredible set played in ‘97, I was initially a bit apprehensive about the concert last night. It had been ten more years since the first time I saw them live, and after seeing Dylan’s disappointing concert a few months ago, I was not expecting the amazing concert that was presented last night. This time there was no opening band — instead, Jethro Tull played two long sets separated by a 20 minute intermission.
Ian Anderson took full charge of the stage for both sets and played with fantastic energy and enthusiasm for his music. He livened up the music on many of his classic songs, changing the tone, tempo or melody enough to make each a unique and exciting experience. Aqualung, perhaps the band’s most famous song (but no where near the best) was changed to the point that it was barely recognizable melodically, but the spirit of the song remained in such a way that the audience fully bought into the changes and responded with some of the loudest and most enthusiastic applause I have heard at a concert.
The band did not spend the whole concert reminiscing with their classic songs, much of the time was spent introducing new music. There has been a steady genesis in the musical style of Jethro Tull over the years, and it is not hard to identify when a song was written in the band’s long history just by listening to a few bars. However, the soul of the music has always remained steady and the unique sound of the group has made any song they create instantly identifiable as Tull. The newest music presented at last night’s concert was no exception. Every song was graced with a newness and fresh sound that did not borrow too heavily on past works, yet any one of them heard for the first time could not have been mistaken as originating from any group but Tull.
Overall the concert was easily among the best I have seen, and I hope Ian Anderson and his band continue to play for years to come.
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October 4th, 2007
This weekend I will be driving to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to attend Sogen Con. While I have never been to Sogen Con, I have high hopes for a great weekend. It is a smaller convention, but there are several interesting guests and a very interesting and unique list of events, many of which I have not seen at previous conventions.
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September 28th, 2007
Every year in Kansas City, the Japan festival Committee holds a Japanese cultural festival at a local community college. While in previous years the festival spanned an entire weekend, this year they are holding the festival on only one day, but adding more event during that time. I will be going for part of the day to explore the various exhibits, listen to some talks, and sample some food.
From their Website:
The 2007 Japan Festival will take place in the spacious Carlsen Center and include more “hands-on” workshops than ever. We hope these workshops will allow you to get involved in aspects of Japanese culture that you have wanted to try but have not gotten a chance to in the past.
This year you can participate in one or several of these workshops: from flower arrangement, bonsai, and tea ceremony to dance, music, origami, taiko and three kinds of martial arts.
Join us and experience the “new” and “old” Japan.
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September 21st, 2007
After attending the Renaissance Festival on Saturday, I will visit Kansas City’s 76th Annual Country Club Plaza Art Fair on Sunday. I love art, and always enjoy seeing what the various local and national talents attending have to show.
From the Website:
Each autumn, the streets of the Country Club Plaza become a beautiful outdoor art gallery as the nation’s top artists display their work and attract art enthusiasts from all over the country. An annual event rich with tradition, the Plaza Art Fair is pleased to have American Century Investments as its presenting sponsor for the seventh year.
The Plaza Art Fair is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 5 art festivals. In a highly competitive jury process, about 1,500 artists submit their best in hopes of becoming an exhibitor in the nationally recognized program.
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September 21st, 2007
This weekend, I will be attending the Kansas City Renaissance Festival held in Bonner Springs, KS. I have attended the faire almost every year of my life that I have lived in Kansas City, since my parents started taking me along when I was very young. From good food to great entertainment and interesting shopping, there is always more to do at the renaissance festival than I have time for in a single day. I have been to renaissance fairs held in other cities, but so far Kansas City’s is better. Not only is it huge, spanning 16 Acres of private land, but the land they have is used exclusively for the renaissance festival and related events. This means that they are able to have a huge number of permanent structures, rides, and attractions that would not be possible at fairs that must be torn down after each festival.
Each of the seven weekends the festival is open, they have a different theme. This weekend’s theme is “Celtic Crimes of Fashion – Featuring the Scottish Heavy Athletics Wargames!” I am particularly interested in trying some haggis, the horrible sounding Scottish “delicacy” involving sheep organs cooked with oatmeal in a stomach lining. Yum!
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August 16th, 2007
This weekend, I will be attending my fifth anime convention this year, the Anime Festival Wichita held in Wichita, KS. It is one of the smaller cons I have ever attended, but it should be fun. Expect a report when I return.
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August 13th, 2007
Last weekend while driving back from the Anime Iowa convention in Coralville, IA, about halfway from there to Des Moines, we witnessed a car fire on the side of the road. From what we could tell, the driver was safe and the fire department were on the scene. My roommate took a couple of impressive shots of the fire out the side window as we drove by.
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August 9th, 2007
This weekend I will be attending Anime Iowa, a convention held in the brand new Coralville, IA hotel and convention center just outside of Iowa City. This should be the largest convention I will have attend this year, with an estimated 2,000 attendees. It is also the first convention which I will be attending for all three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It should be a lot of fun, and I will report back with the details after I return.
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