I just launched a developer blog over at villagemind.com check it out for updates on some of the projects I am working on.

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.”

The new Decultured.com website has been launched and this blog is being retired. The news section on the new site replaces what used to be posted here, and I am in the process of migrating all of the content from this blog to the new system. For the time being I will be leaving this old wordpress system live, but will likely eventually redirect it to the new area.

The new page contains many useful features, such as a links area where I post in a mini-blog style format about interesting websites, videos and other content on the web, a gallery where you can view many photos from events I have attended, and the news section which serves as a general purpose blog.

All of the features on the new site are running under a custom made system that I wrote to better manage my content. It is written in ph with a mySQL back-end and should be pretty fast. I will be regularly adding new features and content to further enhance the site. Right now, the site is still mainly a personal site, and will be for the foreseeable future, but I will be adding quite a bit of general interest content in the links section and with other articles and features in the future.

You can access the new site at: http://www.decultured.com/

If you have any feedback on the new site, please leave a comment here.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I have been hard at work building out a complete redesign of the decultured homepage. I am adding several new and useful features to the site, including a gallery system, a links mini-blog, and an events calendar.  These features should be finished soon, and once they are I will return to the blog to post some long over-due entries about the last few cons and events.  Please bear with me, and thank you for visiting my site!

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.

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.

 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.

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.

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!

Earlier this month, the 2007 World Beard and Mustache Championships (or WBMC) were held in Brighton, UK.  The event is held every two years and moves from country to country, much like an Olympics of ridiculous facial hair.  I have been a big fan of the event since I first found out about it a few years ago, and always get a good laugh out of some of the more bizarre beards on display. The sheer ridiculousness of the whole thing combined with the tongue-in-cheek seriousness of the contestants make the participants universally my heroes.  Check out the Winner’s gallery for some of the best examples of awesomely sculpted facial hair art you will ever see.