homehttp://www.scottplummer.com/home/en-US2010-03-10T21:37:43ZSquarespace Site Server v5.9.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)"my year of gaiman" part 5 - the sandman, volumes 1-5http://www.scottplummer.com/home/2010/2/17/my-year-of-gaiman-part-5-the-sandman-volumes-1-5.htmlScott Plummer2010-02-18T04:59:12Zmy year of gaiman neil gaiman the sandmanit's been almost a month since my last post. i had thought about doing a post for each volume but i didn't want to interrupt the flow of the stories once i got into them.

i've never been a comic reader but this series has kept me engrossed from the very start. the story of dream and the rest of the endless is handled rather eloquently, and sometimes violently by neil and the immensley talented artists that were involved.

some of the stories are not for the faint of heart. from a masacre in a diner led by someone that i like to describe as "bat shit crazy" to convention of serial (cereal) killers to the skinning of a dead mans face.

the series is recommended for mature readers and for good reason the scenes described above are rendered uncomfortably beautiful. the depiction of hell by the artists are some of the most disturbing images i have laid eyes on. it seems the artists were in my head because that is what i picture hell to look like.

i've started with volume six so you can expect another post in this series in roughly a month.

]]>going off the grid (sort of) for awhile.http://www.scottplummer.com/home/2010/2/16/going-off-the-grid-sort-of-for-awhile.htmlScott Plummer2010-02-16T23:51:45Zoff the grid"It's no big deal, it's just -- we have to go away and ... and dream it all up again."

that is a quote from bono of u2 at the end of a series of shows in the late 80's. it's not totally in line with what i've been thinking, but i've always liked it and i wanted a reason to put it in a blog post.

you can read the full explanation as to what he was talking about here.

now. on to ME.

earlier today i tweeted that i would be "going off the grid" for awhile. i got a few responses after that which i appreciate more than i can possibly express. those that responded know who they are, and i thank them. those of you you didn't respond, it's all good, i still love you.

other than a few direct message conversations i've had with a select few people, i've tried to keep a lot of talking about my personal life out of twitter, because i just didn't want to come off as whiny and bitchy about it. believe me, given the chance, i can be quite whiny and bitchy about it.

for the better part of the last six months, i haven't been in a good place, or to put it more simply, i've been pretty fucking sad. that came immediately on the heels of what i can honestly say was the best four months of my life. as you can probably deduce i am talking about a relationship. i won't, out of respect for her, go into too many details. all i will say is i was never happier than i was during those four months.

i was doing ok after a few months, that is to say i hadn't holed up in my apartment hiding from the world. i had moments of happiness, and moments of pretty severe depression. to the point where i went to couneling. yes, i went to counseling over the breakup from a girlfriend. if you are going to judge me for that then fuck right off because i don't want to hear it. i went to someone that knows me very well. the same person who counseled me during my divorce. yes, i'm divorced, if you have a problem with that, again, with the fucking right off. i am divorced, not a leper. i have come to terms with that part of my life. if you would like to know more than i might be willing to talk to you about it, just not here.

to cope with what i was feeling i dove back into one of my first loves, music. i blogged about that a few months ago so i won't go into too much detail, but you can read about it here.

again, this year, i was doing ok, then two seperate things happened, about a week and a half apart that really threw me, and brought back a lot of emotions that i thought i was passed but i had merely just pushed as far down and away as i could. out of respect for those involved with both of these events i will leave out the details, although there are a couple of you that know of at least one of these events, and i thank you for your words of encouragement.

now, some of you might be saying, "tell me about this off the grid comment!" ok, i'm going to do that now.

i need to cut the cord from the internet a little bit. i need to get back to doing the things that i love doing. playing and writing music. seeing my family, and just generally living life. i've been on twitter since '07. there have been a lot of ups and downs in my activity on the site and the last few months have seen quite an up tick in my "tweets". i need to back away, i think i've lost sight of what i have because i have been focusing on what i don't have. that has to change if i am ever to be truly and completely happy.

with that being said, there's a reason why the title of this post has (sort of) in it. i'm not going to completely abandon all twitter and online activity, i'm just going to scale it back a lot for the time being.

some things you will notice:

-i will still send out the ocasional tweet, but i am not going to be glued to it as much as i have been
-you will still see occassional tweets come from other services like last.fm via twitterfeed, tumblr, and formspring (so yes, you can still ask me questions)
-an occasional increase in traffic for a particular event, for instance if the usa (men or women) make it to the gold medal hockey game, or the closing ceremonies.

i am still going to be somewhat active on Facebook, just not on the level i was before. if you feel the need to keep tabs on me you can friend me up there. for those of you who are worried that i'm going to run off and join some cult, or completely drop off the face of the earth i'd be more than happy to let you bug me via text or phone call, just DM me on twitter and i'll give you my number. if instant messaging is your thing then you can DM me and i'll give you those details too.

one last thing. if i happen to knock in a goal during my thursday night soccer games, you damn well know i am going to let twitter know about it.

not really sure how to end this, so i'll just say goodnight. and expect another post possibly later on tonight, i owe you all a "my year of gaiman" post, as i am halfway through the sandman series.

]]>"my year of gaiman" - updatehttp://www.scottplummer.com/home/2010/2/2/my-year-of-gaiman-update.htmlScott Plummer2010-02-03T04:22:15Zmy year of gaiman neil gaiman sandman stardusti know i haven't posted since january 22nd when i posted about stardust, but worry not all, i am still reading.

i am currently reading the sandman series and the plan is to wrap them up in two seperate posts. i am reading the series in the 10 volume format. i am on volume 3 right now and will post my thoughts after i have finished up volume 5 and again after volume 10.

want to follow my progress? well you can follow me on twitter where i chat about it occassionally or you can check out goodreads profile, which also posts to twitter and facebook.

]]>"my year of gaiman" part 4 - stardusthttp://www.scottplummer.com/home/2010/1/22/my-year-of-gaiman-part-4-stardust.htmlScott Plummer2010-01-23T02:56:16Zamerican gods anansi boys my year of gaiman neverwhere nneil gaiman stardusti read this one in 4 days. 4 days!?!?

like i posted yesterday on twitter, i guess i like to read. who knew. :) to which i got an awesome response from one of my favorite twitter friends, @kapnkaty

well said as always kap'n. :)

of the four gaiman novels i've read so far, only american gods has taken more than 7 days to read, but then it is a long book, and so far still my favorite.

there isn't a whole lot, if anything, that i can say bad about this book. like the other three that i've read it had a plot point that completely off guard. so with that said, off we go to the spoilers.

*SPOILERS*

i kept read tristran's name as tristan, i chalk that up to being a richard wagner fan. one of my favorite wagner operas is tristan and isolde.

i never saw it coming that tristran was the next lord of stormhold.

why is it that in all the books i've read of neil's so far that there has been a woman in the main character's life that really kind of treats them like shit? let's review:

-in american gods while shadow is in jail, his wife cheats on him. i totally related to that, and i don't mean the jail part.

-in anansi boys charlie's future mother-in-law is one of the biggest ball busters ever to be committed to the written page.

-which is only surpassed by richard's fiancee in neverwhere.

-and finally in stardust the woman who he loves, who has accepted a marriage proposal from someone else, tells tristran that if he brings back the star that they saw fall, she will give him anything he desires. bitch. you knew what he wanted. :)

and while the male leads in neil's novels always seem to be treated like garbage by the women in their lives, they always end up in the end in a place, or with someone that is better for them, or where they ought to be.

quite possibly my favorite part of the book was the sky ships that fish lightning. something about that reminded me of something that would come straight out of child's mind, and i mean that in the best possibly way. i think it is just brilliant writing. just think about it. ships high above storm clouds fishing for lightning. :)

*END SPOILERS*

i thought about trying to rank these four novels in the order in which i enjoyed them the most but i don't think i can. they all pulled me in and kept me hooked for different reasons.

what's up next you may ask? well that would be the sandman. i got volumes 1 and 2 from amazon today. i'm not sure what to expect. i've never been a big fan of comics or graphic novels so this is really all new territory to me.

i'm sure it is going to be at the very least, an interesting journey.

]]>"my year of gaiman" part 3 - neverwherehttp://www.scottplummer.com/home/2010/1/18/my-year-of-gaiman-part-3-neverwhere.htmlScott Plummer2010-01-19T01:56:49Zamerican gods anansi boys my year of gaiman neil gaiman neverwhereafter being completely, and totally blown away by american gods and anansi boys, i couldn't wait to start neverwhere.

my verdict?

mind=BLOWN

i honestly didn't think i could be i completely and totally impressed and in love with three books in a row from the same author, but neverwhere along with american gods and anansi boys has proved me wrong. most of this is going to be a spoiler, so i'll just alert you now.

*spoiler(s)*

first of all, like charlie in anansi boys i thought richard was a bit of a push over at the beginning of the book, which i believe was neil's intention. i loathed his fiancee jessica and her over bearing mother. if it weren't for mr. croup, mr. vandemar, and islington, those two might have been the characters i detested the most.

i completely fell for the set up in neverwhere. i was completely convinced that the marquis de carabas was going to be the one that betrayed them and was really the one that hired croup and vandemar to kill door, not islington.

with that said i was completely shocked that hunter was in on the betrayal, although she gained some sympathy when she admitted her betrayal.

the idea of the "fallen" angel, islington in this case, is often a cliche, the idea was handled wonderfully as was the dispatching of the angel along with croup and vandemar. that was wonderfully written and one of my favorite parts of the story.

i was quite happy that in the end richard decided that he wanted to go back to "london below" and be where he really belonged

*end spoiler(s)*

next up is stardust which i have already made good progress on. if all goes the same as with neverwhere i should be done with it inside of a week. after that i am probably going to start on the sandman series.

]]>"my year of gaiman" part 2 - anansi boyshttp://www.scottplummer.com/home/2010/1/9/my-year-of-gaiman-part-2-anansi-boys.htmlScott Plummer2010-01-09T23:52:40Zamerican gods anansi boys my year of gaiman neil gaimani honestly didn't think i'd be writing a "my year of gaiman" post so soon after my last one. i was around 80 pages into this one when i finally got my american gods post up on the 5th. i had started reading it i think on the 3rd. so i blazed through this one in just under a week.

damn.

according to it's wikipedia page, anansi boys exists in the same universe, but is not a sequel to american gods.

while i was hooked on american gods from pretty much the beginning it took a little bit to get into anansi boys, but just like american gods, this one got it's hooks in me and didn't let go.

my initial observations was that spider was a prick who only cared for himself, and charlie was weak who didn't care enough for himself, which i really identified with. throughout the book, at least to me, each character helps the other see their flaws and short comings and by the end of the book they are better off for the experience.

*SPOILER ALERT*

i love that spider and charlie are the good side, and the bad side of the same person, and that the "bad side", spider, was "sent away".

being a musician the realization by charlie that he had "god powers" through song really attracted me to the character.

rosie was never right for charlie, he was better off with daisy. just my opinion.

and graham coates? dude was a douchebag. period.

*END SPOILER*

there isn't a lot of insight and analysis in these "reviews" because i think over analyzing books, music, movies, etc. tends to wreck the enjoyment of them. so i will end by saying i thoroughly enjoyed this book and i can't wait to start the next one, neverwhere, probably tomorrow.

]]>american gods by neil gaiman and "my year of gaiman"http://www.scottplummer.com/home/2010/1/5/american-gods-by-neil-gaiman-and-my-year-of-gaiman.htmlScott Plummer2010-01-06T03:53:39Zamerican gods anansi boys my year of gaiman neil gaiman spoilersi recently finished neil gaiman's novel american gods. i'm not going to go into a long winded review but i just wanted to share my thoughts on it. i am not typically a fiction reader but i wanted to expand the types of books that i was reading. there will be spoilers, so if you haven't read it and you plan on reading it please stop reading this post now

you have been warned.

being new to gaiman's work i wasn't sure what to expect. he had come highly recommended. i loved it. it has it's moments of being quite unsettling. at first i found the "flash backs" to be somewhat jarring but due to the length of the book i eventually welcomed them as a break for my brain. i loved the use of american landmarks. there were moments when i was thinking what the hell is going on but he kept my interest and all i could think at the end was, "what, there's no more?" it is very, very good.

now for the spoilers.

1. for some reason i didn't make the connection that wednesday was shadow's father

2. i didn't see it coming, although i should have, that hinzelmann was also a god and had been sacrificing a child every year in the town of lakeside.

3. it kind of bugged me that shadow's wife had cheated on him while he was in jail, but in the end her charachter was one of my favorites.

4. i was also pretty disturbed at how bilquis was killed and repeatedly run over by a limo. but it was effective story telling.

*end of spoilers*

overall i loved this book and would reccommend it to anyone. it is one of those rare books that i will read again. even rarer still is that it is a fiction book that i will read again.

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ok, so now what is this "my year of gaiman" thing you might ask yourself?

i have set the task this year of reading as many of neil's works as i possibly can. i know i kind of cheated and started american gods in mid december of '09 but it's a big book. are you really going to begrudge me an extra two weeks?

i am going to provide similar type review of each book as i finish and move onto the next. it should be an interesting year, and i look forward to it and i look forward to your comments.

]]>twitterhttp://www.scottplummer.com/home/2010/1/4/twitter.htmlScott Plummer2010-01-05T00:54:30Z#lofnotc #pens twittersorry, no witty title this time around.

after more than two years of being on twitter, i have finally figured out how to use it, at least in a way that pertains to me.

i first heard about it listening to cnet's buzz out loud podcast, and as i am want to do i avoided it because it seemed like the whole tech industry was gravitating to it. i've done this before with music and movies that were too mainstream preferring to be out on the fringe somewhere.

it seemed like no matter what i was posting or how i was posting that i was getting little to no feedback or interaction from other users. i started thinking, "this isn't a very social, social network".

there was even a point over this past summer where i went a month without tweeting once.

what really changed it for me were #hashtags. for the uninitiated a #hashtag is used to track a conversation on a particular topic. they became so popular that twitter integrated them into their service by adding the "trending topics" section on twitter.com.

like the @reply, the #hashtag was not created by the developers, but rather the community as a way of making the service, some might say, more usable.

the main hashtag i follow and use is #pens for the Pittsburgh Penguins. i have met more people that i talk to on a regular basis through this #hashtag than any other that i have used on twitter.

just to name a few

@toastcommunism who i've met in person and saw Avatar with, she also tweets more than anyone else i follow, and that is something considering i follow robert scoble
@omgitsjen who i've also met in person and hung out with downtown on new year's eve
@lvallana & @rvallana sisters who are from my hometown of latrobe, they bring the funny consistently, they also love tacos, and goats (don't ask)
@FoxMists who went to my alma mater iup

as i discussed in an earlier post i've become a huge fan of amanda palmer (@amandapalmer) and the dresden dolls. sometime ago she created the #hashtag #LOFNOTC or losers of friday night on their computers. i have been a faithful #LOFNOTCer for awhile now and again have met some great people that i regularly talk to.

@kapnkaty who brings the funny more than most people i follow (along with the vallana sisters), i retweet the kapn more than just about anyone, and was once told that i am good for her self esteem. glad to help kapn.
@SheikYurbouti quality source of the out of the blue laugh which is one of my favorite kinds of laughs.
@LaurenMaeO another quality source of the out of the blue laugh.

i'm apologize to those that i follow that didn't get a mention. i love you all, but if i listed everyone that i thought was worth mentioning this post would be never ending.

i use other #hashtags on the odd occassion but these two are the ones i use the most and have met the most great people from.






]]>avatar, great conversation, and geek credhttp://www.scottplummer.com/home/2009/12/26/avatar-great-conversation-and-geek-cred.htmlScott Plummer2009-12-27T02:02:27Zavatar celtic chelsea harry potter hockey lord of the rings pens soccer star wars them crooked vultures tom morelllo twitterso i went to see avatar today, and i must say that it was as amazing and stunning as i had heard. i'm pretty sure i'll be seeing it again.

why haven't i seen it before now you may ask? well because i didn't know anyone that wanted to see and i've kind of had it with being lame and going to movies by myself. that's where twitter comes into play.

i've met some really great people on twitter but none that i have actually met in the physical world. while i was watching the incredibles with my brother and nephew last night i was tweeting, mostly about random things. i happen to see one of my numerous friends that i met through the #pens hashtag tweet that she wanted to see avatar again. i replied that i wanted to see it for the first time. so after a little back and forth we decided that we would go see it together today. i love meeting awesome people online who in turn end up being equally awesome in real life. it kind of reaffirms my belief that there more good people than bad out there.

so prior to the movie we had some time to talk. just about general things like favorite movies, music, the pens, football (of the european variety).

seriously? i met someone that likes hockey AND soccer. score! :)

some highlights from the conversation

music -  we both agree that anything tom morello touches is golden and that my musical tastes lie mainly in bands that originated out of the 70's progessive rock scene and that the combination of dave grohl, john paul jones, and josh homme as them crooked vultures is, well, epic.

sports - she is a penguins fan which is awesome in itself. but she is also a footy fan that supports chelsea which is fine because it isn't manchester united, and she has talked to ruud van nistelrooy. seriously, i can't make that up! just as a side note, i support celtic.

movies - it mainly centered around what i haven't seen. here is the short list, all of the harry potter movies and all of the lord of the rings movies. it was suggested that my geek cred is taking a hit because of this and that i can't fall back on the star wars movies to restore said geek cred. :)

so i think my goal in 2010 is to catch up on what i've missed and i think i need to turn to netflix for that. my reasoning for not seeing those, and other, movies is that they were so pervasive in the media that i tended to avoid them all together. i did the same thing when learning new songs on guitar. i avoided cliched songs like stairway to heaven and smoke on the water.

i think enough time has passed that i need to start catching up.

]]>a look into the music i listen to. part 1http://www.scottplummer.com/home/2009/12/24/a-look-into-the-music-i-listen-to-part-1.htmlScott Plummer2009-12-24T20:11:11ZMusic music neil diamondi'm hoping to make this a regular "feature" here. the plan is to put my itunes on random, press play, then take whatever track comes up first and blog about it.

if any apply i'll relate any personal stories or feelings i have for the songs, if not, i'll probably just rattle off some basic information.

i'm not going to cheat and only select certain groups or genres.

this should be an interesting insite into the music i love. everything from rock to classical.

---

and away we go...

today's track is neil diamond's "longfellow serenade"

i think this is a really appropriate artist to start off with. i grew up on neil diamond's music. he is my mom's favorite singer. i remember leafing through her records (the real, vinyl ones) and always picking out some neil to play. some think he's corny but i think he's one of the top two or three songwriters that i've ever heard. he has some real memorable and amazing music

"longfellow serenade" is from neil's 1974 album "serenade". it was his second number one single after 1972's "song sung blue".

these posts are going to be a work in progress. i'm open to any suggestions on what i should talk about regarding the featured track.

]]>