Author: colter

My photo log is one year old today. It began on this date in 2004 with a series of pictures of the dearly departed Atomic Guitars, and random scenery across northern Arkansas. Fittingly, we come full circle, as that first edition of the Plog featured an expansive pictorial of the glory that was my beloved tree.

New plog details the aftermath of an event predicted in the previous plog. The big tree outside my apartment finally fell. It took a couple of cars with it. Part of it remains, leaning against my the roof near my living room. I’ll miss you, tree.

20 years ago, Transformers the Movie came out, and after the opening credits, the ominous voice of Victor Caroli says “It is the year 2005. The treacherous Decepticons have conquered the Autobots’ home planet of Cybertron.” I remember thinking then that 2005 was so far away, and I wondered what life would be like then. Would we have robots running and flying around? Ever since the birth of science fiction films in the mid 20th century (boy, referring to the “20th century” like it’s some far away place feels weird, too) I think we consistently set ourselves up for disappointment when The Future arrives. Even the one film that was regarded as a reasonable depiction of the future, 2001: A Space Odyssey turned out to be overly optimistic. We can barely keep a rustbucket International Space Station open for business, much less commercial flights to the moon.

I’m beginning to wonder if, in general, we gorge ourselves on films (high quality, artistic films mind you) that set us up for disappointment. I’m reminded of the first chapter of Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs in which the author points out that very often movies set us up for an ideal of what love and life is supposed to be like, a standard that inevitably our messy lives continually fail to reach.

But here I am starting off the new year on a down note. Actually 2005 looks very promising. Superflux will be doing some recording this month, so I’ll have something creative of my own to point to. I’ll be putting together a new computer for home recording soon. I’ve got a ton of great DVDs to watch (such as Garden State and De-Lovely). John and Susan want me to work on a website for their London-based art consulting business. Last but not least, I’m inviting Jamie to come visit for a few weeks at the end of the month. So to quote the immortal poet Ethel Merman, “everything is coming up roses.”

Oh yeah…and there’s a new plog.

I hope the cats are OK. I didn’t go home last night because of the torrential winter weather yesterday. Brian picked me up from work and I stayed at his place up the hill from my office, which is where I am right now. Had I made it home, I would not have ventured out today. It’s madness out there, I tell you.

In addition to giving me a spare webcam, Brian also took some fab pictures of Superflux at Cajun’s last Friday. Here’s a picture of me I actually like:

Kind of a nice, Dennis Quaid-esque smirk on my face. And my oh-so-rare Obvious Moose t-shirt…could I be a bigger obscure music nerd? Only by playing a long-discontinued Ibanez JPM P3.