Monday, January 26, 2009

Review: I'm In the Basement (2008)


"I'm In the Basement" brings back that familiar old school scary story fun. From the unique homemade DVD cover to the witty dialog, Gonzoriffic are at it again. Directed by Andrew Shearer and staring Gonzoriffic's usual crop of great female talent, "Basement" is full of effective humor and storytelling. But it's Gonzoriffic's subtlety and timing that sets their movies apart from other SOV fare. I may be cheating the material if I point out things like the cracker box (look for it!), but that is just one of many unspoken treats to discover.

"Basement" finds us huddled inside a camping tent with four friends goofing off and telling scary stories. Something we've all done and can relate to. But when they begin to get harassing phone calls, the creepy factor gets turned up a notch. The ending has a nice twist that will make you appreciate the choice for blonds.

DVD is chocked full of goodies. Everything from the staple outtake reel to behind the scenes footage of "Basement's" premiere at Athens Cine in Georgia. Even the synopsis write up on the back cover will cause explosive laughter.

I can trust that when I receive a DVD wrapped in black and white poster art that I'll be entertained once again by the latest installment of Andrew, Monica, and Co.


For more information, or to buy your copy, please visit: www.gonzoriffic.com Tell 'em Val sent ya. You won't get anything free, but I'll feel better about myself. Ha.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

music lesson v.2 - intervals and power chords

intervals

when i first started teaching myself piano i studied intervals from my lesson book. but while i learned what intervals are, i didn't learn how i can use them in playing. this is why having an instructor is beneficial. in my second lesson i was introduced to the concept of actually "reading" (or recognizing) intervals in music notation. i see now how helpful it will be in reading notation faster.

my instructor showed me the notation for a version of "smells like teen spirit" written by tori amos. she's an amazingly talented musician and wrote a complicated piece out of a nirvana song. i'll go ahead and state right now that i'm not much of a grunge fan and i like nirvana even less. grunge killed the guitar solo. :P however, her piece was pretty. then we got into talking about intervals and went back to the notation for tori's song. still complicated, no doubt, but recognizing intervals in the piece suddenly made it not so impossible-looking.


power chords

now i'm playing with power! oh wait, that's a nintendo reference. see, video games are never very far from my conscience. so, craig showed me what he learned in his guitar lesson: power chords. they are a little harder on my untrained fingers, but wow, do these sound good! fun to play, too. now when friends or family come over i'll at least be able to fake it and show off that i've learned something, haha.

update: i've been playing power chords for a couple of days now. my hands and fingers are finally starting to loosen up. still have a long way to go, but i'm making sounds now!

Monday, January 19, 2009

my first guitar

i suppose i should start off by saying that my music lesson blog entries may include notes about guitar as well as piano from here on out. after playing around with craig's ibanez electric guitar for several days i decided to get my own. in fact, he returned his and bought a different one, too. an upgrade, basically.

i went with a fender stratocaster (mexican made). it's blue with a white pick plate. not only is it a beauty, but it plays and sounds awesome, too. once i tweak it a bit for my playing preference i think i will love it even more. the action (string height) is too high, so i'm having it lowered this week. i'm always very excited to get a new music instrument. while i've owned several iterations of a piano/keyboard, this is a first for me. to say i'm on a high right now is an understatement.

the guitar that craig bought was also one of my choices. it's another ibanez (part of their RG series). it came set up with a very low action and slightly lighter (thinner) strings than my strat. thinking back, i'm not sure why i chose the strat over the rg ibanez; i would've been happy with the ibanez's factory set up. but i do like how clean the strat sounds and how it feels in my hands. which is why i think with some tweaking it will be my preferred guitar. i can always play craig's and he can always play mine. that's one cool advantage to buying two different guitars; they each differ in pick ups and sound.

so far all i've really learned is how to play the opening riff of 'smoke on the water' (deep purple). i'm looking forward to tonight's lessons so that i can not only learn something new for piano but also for guitar. after practicing guitar for less than a week, i have already noticed improvement. i told craig last night (after playing my strat for a bit), "i can do this. give me a few months and i'll be playing guitar."

Friday, January 16, 2009

drums are soothing

sometimes things seem to not be working out and then suddenly it all comes together. that happened to me last night. i played around on the piano for a few minutes and realized that i wasn't into it. i just wasn't feeling it. so, i moved on to practice guitar. i was off. i stayed with it for about 15 minutes, but i left unsatisfied.

screw it, i said.

i sat down at my drums and started banging away and had the best time. you know those moments when things seem to gel musically? when the flow is smooth and natural? that's what it felt like at that moment.

drums are good. drums are soothing.

update - degree of blood

filming has been sorta slow on degree of blood. scheduling and weather have caused a delay. but that's the life of independent art. you have to go with the flow sometimes. once the weather warms up a little we should resume filming.

in the meantime, i'm working on various things:

short film - an idea that james passed along to me. if we can get together with those involved, we should be able to knock out 80% of the shoot in one day.

short story - working on something that is in the vein of "murders in the closet", a fun horror story i wrote last fall.

val

Thursday, January 15, 2009

piano lesson #1

So, I had my first lesson Tues night (1-13-09). We mainly talked about what I have already taught myself so the instructor could gauge where we need to begin. I got confirmation on a few things I was doing right, which I am very happy about, and learned a few tricks, too. I've been struggling with this one lesson (song) and after applying the tips he gave me, I've already noticed improvement. We talked a little about music theory, too. Something else I'm interested in learning more about. It only makes sense to understand the "why's" of music. Taking lessons is really going to help me. I'm really excited about it!

Our instructor is great. We hope to watch his band, Distilled, perform Fri night. Should be fun.

I also started practicing guitar with Craig. Unlike piano, I know ziltch about guitar. I think I will do ok with some practice. I'm already wanting my own to play on. Haha...


Also, for my birthday, Craig gave me an Alesis Trigger IO interface for my Ion Drum Rocker kit. I'm in love with that thing. All I need now is a new kick pad and pedal and I'm good to go. It'll hook straight into my Mac and I can use any drum sounds that I already have from Garage Band and Logic. Can't wait to lay down a beat to either Craig's guitar and or my piano tracks.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

piano lessons start tonight!

1-13-09

i'm so excited! craig and i start music lessons tonight! i'll be learning piano and craig will learn guitar.

last week we met with the owner of vision music (jason whitt) in munford. he's been an instructor for many years, but over the christmas holiday he moved into a storefront in downtown munford. it opened last week, so we stopped in to get the details. our first (free) lesson is tonight. then we move to monday's next week. it will cost $15 per 30 minute lesson through march and then move up to his regular rate of $18.

we went last week to guitar center and bought craig another starter guitar kit (he sold the one he bought 2 years ago). it's an ibanez and it looks sweet. it's more of a metal guitar, but craig really liked the thinner neck; said it felt better in his hands. i agree. the neck is nice and thin.

i'm hoping we will get 2 for the price of 1 with the guitar lessons. i want craig to show me everything he learns so i can practice, too. that'd be awesome if i learned to play piano, drums, and guitar!