Entry Eleven.
Saturday 2002.10.26 6:48 PM CST.
Halloween, Better Off Dead, a new Berlin remix, and a fond farewell to the Podunk Jamboree.

Well, here we are again; forgive me, but I think this one will be another lengthy entry.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Hope everyone is doing well out there this October.  October is such a beautiful month, with the coming of fall and all that.  Plus, I'm a big fan of Halloween.  I'm still not sure what I'm going to be for this halloween, though. Either Hannibal Lecter or a dead mime.  I think I might go for the mime idea, because (a) it's more original, (b) it's less expensive/time-consuming, and (c) let's face it; a dead mime has the potential to be more entertaining.

BETTER OFF DEAD.
Anyway, I'm sitting here alone on a Saturday evening, watching one of my favourite movies, "Better Off Dead," on DVD in a separate window while I type this entry.  For those who aren't familiar, Better Off Dead is a 1985 comedy which stars John Cusack as Lane Myer, a young fellow who goes suicidal after his girlfriend dumps him.  Yes, it's a comedy, and yes, it's extremely funny.  Highly recommendable, especially during the Christmas season, but loads of goofy fun anytime.  It's the only film in movie history that features Curtis Armstrong ("Booger" from Revenge of the Nerds) snorting a gelatin dessert PLUS a performance by a singing, dancing claymation hamburger with the voice of David Lee Roth.

Plus, on a side note, Lane's silent and industrious little brother (played with sufficient silence and industriousness by obscure actor Scooter Stevens) is named Badger Myer.  No, the film is not where I got my nickname.  In any case, it's my second-favourite flick of all time, ranking second only to Peter "Hi, I made the Lord of the Rings flicks" Jackson's cult classic, Bad Taste.  Maybe I'll tell you more about that one someday.  However, I need to move on ahead.

RECENT GIGS/SOMETIMES MY FRIENDS AREN'T ALL THAT BAD.
I guess I should follow up my last entry by letting you all know how the infamous wedding gig went.  Well, the one friend (see the "Spinelessness" section in that last entry) came through for me and actually made it, as did another friend.  The gig went really well, and the bride and her family were very pleased.  I also got a short-notice call to DJ the homecoming dance for my old high school the Friday after that reception.  That gig went really well too.  It improved my view of the whole DJ thing, though EKG is still nearing the end.

THE OPERA/SOMETIMES WOMEN AREN'T ALL THAT BAD.
Last night, I went to see the opera La Boheme with an actual living, breathing, female date.  Nope, she was not an inflate-a-date, a prostitute, or a she-male.  The opera was great, and the date kind of reaffirmed my faith in the concept that not all the women that I date are pathetic and psychotic head gamers.

ANOTHER DJ SHOW HAS APPARENTLY BITTEN THE PROVERBIAL DUST.
I got my new phone book today and I looked up "Disc Jockeys" in my area.  One of my least favourite local DJ show competitors (I won't even bother to mention their name but it started with "L") is no longer listed.  Looks like I outlived another one.  In this case, that's excellent news.

NEW DJ BADGER REMIX:  BERLIN'S "BLINK OF AN EYE."
Although I was completely planning on uploading another James Ether remix to ACIDPlanet, I ended up cranking out and uploading a remix of Berlin's "Blink of an Eye."  The remix, the "DJ Badger Garlic + Gas Mix," is a downtempo piece (insert a big sarcastic "gasp!" here) and runs over 11 minutes long.  The remix production was pretty complex, but I didn't take a lot of time to do it.  In fact, I began remixing the track at 10:00 PM one night and didn't go to bed until I was done with the mix.  If you want to hear it, it's available over at ACIDPlanet...  Just click HERE to go to the song's page over there.

FAREWELL TO THE PODUNK JAMBOREE.
About a week ago, I was chatting with James Ether and talking with him about placing another order for more of his crazy Podunk Jamboree dolls.  He then informed me that he was ending the Jamboree.  I won't go into the reasons for it, but it was nothing really bad, evil, or controversial.  A few hours later, the Podunk Jamboree homepage announced his decision to stop selling his strange little dolls.  The final tally of the number of "Podunkians" that James sold:  95.  I had really been hoping to place the order that would take that number into the "triple digits."

I am sad that I won't be able to obtain the entire collection, but I do wish James luck with his future endeavours, and I hope to remix more of this work in the near future.  He will still be offering some of his amazing cartoons and music (in fact, he just released his seventh album, Siete) at his Painted Wagon site; only the doll-making business has been shut down.

MORE DJ-ONLY REMIXES ON THEIR WAY.
On one more good note, a fellow from the Net viewed my Web pages here and sent me an e-mail asking if I'd like to purchase some classic DJ remixes from around ten years ago, on their original vinyl records, no less.  This is great news!  I'll keep you all informed of anything really cool that I get from him.

OTHER MISCELLANEOUS CRAP YOU PROBABLY DON'T WANT TO KNOW.
Just a few tidbits-o-info...  I have ordered some really cool graphics tools, including the entire Macromedia Studio MX and some massive professional sets of graphics filters, and hopefully I'll be putting together more stuff for this site soon...  On a related note, I've been taking formal training in Macromedia Flash, which will hopefully help...  I recently purchased the Criterion Collection DVD of Man Bites Dog, which is a pretty twisted little French film which I highly recommend...   I have been drinking way too much Stewart's Ginger Beer (non-alcoholic stuff, like a strong ginger ale) for my own good lately...  I've actually been cleaning my apartment, which is a bit of a miracle in and of itself...

Oh, and there'll very likely be a massive party in February 2003 to celebrate the 15 years that I've been involved in the DJ industry.  I have no further details at this time, but if you want me to send you a note to let you know when I have definite plans for the event, feel free to e-mail me by clicking HERE.

Thanks as usual,

Badger