Humanoids

Tell me how big your beats are. Do they walk themselves down the street? Do they make people look out the window and come outside? Yeah Shorty. Shorty Trombone. Now you know.

I just got back from Machete. I went alone to the first showing around the corner today. It was pretty good. I have to admit, I had been looking forward to it since I saw the preview at Grindhouse. I personally think Desperado should have been written around Trejo's character (just a general badass) years ago, but good things take time. Accompanying Danny in Machete are Cheech Marin, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson, Robert DeNiro, Jess Alba and Lindsay Lohan. It was pretty great. I don't have much to say about it, really. The obvious is that Jessica Alba still can't act. But I think Robby Rodriguez just told her not to try in this one. Little Lohan is pretty gross in both her nun costume and in her birthday suit. I just can't... yeah. Not good.

DeNiro didn't really sell the Texas politician role in my opinion. I just... couldn't smell the whiskey on his breath, you know? Don Johnson played a great shooter-for-hire/contract militiaman. Michelle Rodriguez kicked ass, chewed bubble gum and then kicked the bubble gum's ass. She's just great. And Cheech? Yeah. Cheech was just the right mix of priest and pothead. And how could I forget Steven Seagal? The everlasting antagonist, Steve played the Mexican ringleader who... well.. I won't spoil the movie. Let's just say the man knows how to tap out nicely from a fight.

Watching the movie felt like being back in Austin. I recognized the parking lots, the intersections, etc. The Frost Bank building is all over the film. Michelle Rodriguez is the head of an underground Mexican network comfortably named "The Network." Her hideout/HQ is in the old, spray-painted carriage house on E. 4th Street where the horse-drawn carriage company mounts and dismounts the carriages each night. Just before the grand finale, Trejo and his army blow down a widened E. 5th street all fanned out in a swath of hydrolic, shiny hoopties and ape-hangers. It was pretty cool.

Anyway, the movie was certainly eye candy. The nudity and body count were established very plainly in the first 60 seconds of the film. He's called "Machete" for a reason. It was pretty cool. I don't know if the advertisement for the trilogy just before the credits was genuine, but I hope it was... for Danny's sake. I want him to stay up front and show these kids what movies are all about.

This weekend is... allegedly three days long. I think I'm going to go into the city again tomorrow and ride around... exhaust myself. I don't know. I'm kinda stagnant at this point. I need to take some time and finish some songs. I might... miiiiight find an open mic night at one of the colleges around here at some point and see if anyone cares to relate to me in this place.

I haven't been able to look at the forex charts at all in the last two weeks since I started my new job. I've been working 12-14 hour days consistently and am... things are starting to fall into place. I'm getting a feel for how the place runs and just what exactly is expected of me. Right now I'm gonna brainstorm on the charts and see if I can't start automating my system.

Little can you tell, but I just got sidetracked and listened to an hour's worth of Florence and the Machine remixes. This is why my god invented the weekend: so I could hear Florence and the Machine remixes. There's one reason why these remixes work. And I've said it before. It's because the producers on this album (3 producers) did a masterful job of layering her voice. Every vocal part, be it a lead part or harmony, is either doubled or tripled. The voice carries this album like Atlas carried the world. It was written as a deliberate wave of emotion in the wake of the singer's father's death. Live performances do not, unfortunately, maintain the same power of the recordings from 2009. Such is the magic created in a studio over time.

I'm gonna listen to my favorite radio station for the rest of the day today and get ready for my trek into the city tomorrow. I'm gonna take my computer and geek out somewhere. My phone charger is at the office and the phone is dead. So I will have no music on the bike tomorrow. This is regrettable. But I will manage. Who knows. I might even be forced to engage in conversation with other humanoids, perhaps of the female variety. I hear they like being called "humanoids of the female variety."

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