Sep 23, 2008

WWJD... He'd Twitter

I love the Internet. It's the only place I can go on a daily basis and consistently be amazed at what I find (and I'm not just talking about weird fetishes). Today, an article I was reading sent me to Gospelr, a micro-blog for Jesus. I sat at the home page for 30 minutes trying to decide whether this was a place for me or if Rev. Jim should emerge from seclusion to participate. I think my soul could use a little micro-blog healing, don't you?

posted by Jim at 2:53 PM | Comments (3)

Sep 20, 2008

Six Bloggin’ Years Ago

So, Twistedjim.com turned six years old today. And instead of treating our oldest to a birthday celebration worthy of My Super Sweet Sixteen, Twisted Wife went to Old Shawnee Days (don’t ask) and I took Twisted Son to Twisted Daughter’s soccer game. Instead of cake and ice cream, I got to watch a bunch of five and six year-old girls kick a ball one at a time and then stand there as the next little girl kicked the ball. It was riveting.

I expected Twisted Daughter to be the team enforcer. She’s a little big for her age and can easily run the other girls over. I thought this was going to be her season. As soon as the ref blew the whistle to start the game, she took the ball right down the field and scored a goal. Unfortunately, all the other little girls didn’t realize the game had started and they just stood there as she ran by. It was SWEET! Once they brought the ball back to midfield and informed the others that the game had started, TD took the ball right down the field and scored again… SUPER SWEET! After that, the other girls realized they were playing soccer. TD lost interest but ran around and kicked the ball a few more times… super suck!

As I stood there clapping and faking a smile, I thought of how we’d neglected Twistedjim.com all day. Then, I realized it is just a blog and I just wanted a piece of cake. Good thing my birthday’s right around the corner.

Thanks for the last six years.

posted by Jim at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)

Sep 16, 2008

TwistedYouTube

As you may or may not know, I am an avid user of new technologies. If it's bright and shiny, I want it. So, you're probably wondering why it took so long for Twisted Jim to get on YouTube The truth is I used to have a little site called Bedlam City. It was intended to be an online film festival. Of course, the site was launched a month or two before YouTube became the place to upload your videos. So, Bedlam City was a monumental failure. I never really blamed YouTube, I just didn't see it as the place for my videos... until now.

Of course, this begs the question, "Where else is Twisted Jim? Can I become his Friend?" So, here's the list for those of you who have not poked, tweeted, friended, apped or written on my wall:

Twisted Jim on Twitter - Follow Me!
Twisted Jim on Facebook - Friend Me!
Twisted Jim on MySpace - Stalk Me!
Twisted Jim on YouTube - Can't Follow the Link Above Me!

Oh, by the way, Bedlam City is being redesigned. It is going to become my take on parenthood and living in the suburbs. Remember Rock Fathers? Stay tuned.

posted by Jim at 7:47 AM | Comments (1)

Sep 6, 2008

Genius Doesn’t Discriminate

In the last month, there have been a couple of significant losses to our world that went largely unnoticed. Two men of extraordinary talent passed away, and the vast majority of people would probably struggle to remember their names unless they were the answer to a $1,000,000 trivia question. These two men were Isaac Hayes and Jerry Reed.

Like many, my love for these two artists’ work started with movie theme songs. Isaac Hayes’ Theme from Shaft and Jerry Reed’s East Bound and Down are two of my all-time favorite songs. With Shaft being the epitome of the hardass, sex-machine cop film and Smokey and the Bandit defining car chase movies, Reed’s and Hayes’ songs have become the standard by which movie themes are measured. To this day, when I hear these songs, I walk with a little more soul or I lean into the accelerator and run a red light. These songs not only define a moment in time for me, they define an attitude.

Both men transcended the music industry and became great character actors. Jerry Reed perfected the Good Ol’ Boy and Isaace Hayes became everyone’s favorite Chef. Okay, so their influence on screen was nothing compared to their musical influence. Hayes showed countless musicians exactly how much soul it took to play Soul and Reed was one of the most amazing guitarists to ever pick up the instrument. Like most, I would give my left arm to have even a fraction of the talent these two men had. They were artists in the truest sense of the word and they will be missed.

posted by Jim at 4:16 PM | Comments (0)

Sep 1, 2008

Musicals and Twisted Jim Do Not Mix

I've told the stories over and over again about my experience with musicals. Twisted Parents bought season tickets to Starlight Theater when I was a child. I remember seeing The King and I, The Music Man, Annie and The Sound of Music all with second rate touring companies mixed with local talent. It was exactly as awesome as it sounds. Okay, this looks like I'm blaming my issues with musicals on my parents, or more specifically Twisted Mom. But that's really not the case. I think it is a deep-seeded fear of people spontaneously breaking into song. And when I say "fear" I mean I am deeply afraid of spontaneous singing to explain your feelings. It's almost funny with how much I love music that I suffer from Sociomelophobia.

Twisted Wife took me to see Rent at our local music hall years ago when we started dating. I acted like it was okay, but I can still feel the dread just thinking about it now. At the time, I thought "it's a rock opera, it can't be that bad." Then I remembered how Tommy made my skin crawl. The only difference with Tommy is that the music can actually stand on it's own as rock. I don't think there are many people who will argue that Jonathan Larson is not Pete Townsend... anyone?

Then, there was the whole Moulin Rouge episode. I watched it after all the hype and acclaim, thinking I would get over my fear. I really wanted to think it was good... it wasn't. I even watched it a second time to make sure I hadn't missed that one scene that made it a spectacular movie. Instead, it was four hours of my life wasted.

This weekend, Twisted Wife stopped at the Red Box and brought home yet another musical hoping to erase my fears. She thought, and rightfully so, that the subject matter of this musical would finally make me see the light. This silver bullet was Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Granted, TW hit the mark thinking a bloody mess of a musical may turn me on to the genre. But, she was wrong. No matter where you're sitting, it's still a musical. It could have been written by Kafka, directed by David Lynch, starred Crispin Glover with music by Trent Reznor and it would have still been a musical that was nothing more than cinematic masturbation.

Thank god TW slept through the whole thing so she didn't have to witness my disgust.

posted by Jim at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)