patchdrury.com

patchdrury.com is no more

2009-04-19T09:52:00.005-04:00

What has replaced it?

Okay, that's not exactly true. Patchdrury.com isn't going anywhere. It's going to stay right here and serve as an archive of my blogging over the past four years. All new blogging, however is going to be happening over at patchdrury.net.

That may seem like a random silly change, but basically, I've figured out that, to some degree, my lack of blogging over the past six months has been partly caused by how un-user-friendly my current blogging setup is (for me).

For a while now I've like some of the features that Tumblr offers. There have always been little things that kept me from making the switch. I didn't want to lose my old blog. I wanted my page to look more personalized instead of easily recognizable as a Tumblr blog. For the most part, with the help of some third party apps, I feel like I've made some inroads around those issues - so as of today, I'm making the switch to Tumblr and Patchdrury.net - and with that change comes the promise of much more regular blogging. I've actually gone ahead and backfilled the new blog with content to make the transition a little easier.

I know this only really matters to a small handful of people, but I enjoy blogging and this promises to make it easier for me. So, wahoo!

So to recap:

This blog is now an archive. All new blogging is taking place at patchdrury.net. Change your bookmarks.

so yeah...

2009-04-13T21:09:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the long pause in posting. Same excuse as usual these days, still trying to find a balance between a demanding new job, a demanding new house, and a demanding new wife (Ha!). And now it's only going to get worse because As of three weeks ago Sara and I have added a demanding new puppy to our family.

This is Penny Lane:

She's a miniature long-haired dachshund. She's nearly 12 weeks old at this point and a lot of fun. The breeder we bought her from had her almost completely pad-trained by the time we got her, so that's been awesome. Our first two nights with her involved a lot of whining due to the fact that she couldn't sleep in the bed with us - eventually Sara calmed down, though. Hey-o!!

mike's back!

2009-03-19T14:37:00.000-04:00

filet with mushroom sauce, potato croquettes, and asparagus

2009-03-12T21:39:00.002-04:00

Birthday dinner via the Black Tulip restaurant in Midway

pistachio-crusted goat cheese and spinach salad

2009-03-12T21:37:00.001-04:00

Birthday dinner via the Black Tulip restaurant in Midway.

who watches the watchmen?

2009-03-11T21:26:00.010-04:00

I did. Last night as a matter of fact. And I loved it. Watchmen was long said to be un-filmable; and no doubt, back in the eighties when the story debuted, that was probably true. Today, though, with the help of computer animation, a talented director and no fear of a two hour plus run time, the un-filmable has been filmed.

I was genuinely surprised at how true the movie was to it's source material. Doing a straight adaptation of Watchmen was gutsy. It's a challenging story. It's dark. It's a bit morally ambiguous in places (the book's real moral is played out by minor characters who are mostly left out of the movie). I assumed the movie would be Watchmen pushed through the filter of a Hollywood tent-pole action film - and yeah there was a little bit of that, but mostly it managed to stay pretty true to the heart of the book.

Apparently there's a lot of internet nerd-rage over the changes to the ending. I wish director Zack Snyder and company had stuck with Alan Moore's ending, but thought they managed to make their changes work.

Ultimately, as good as the movie is, the comic is better. Rorschach's origin, Ozymandias' speech at the end, the tour of Mars - all have a power on the page that just doesn't quite survive the translation to celluloid.

One place where the film departed from the comic to it's advantage was the opening credits. The filmmakers created original scenes that set-up the history of super heroes in the world of the Watchmen, set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changing." While all the scenes grew out of references in the actual story, none of them actually appeared anywhere in the book.

All said and done, Watchmen set it's sights pretty high and, for the most part, hit it's mark. I'm historically unimpressed with a lot of comic book movies - and if there was ever an adaptation with the potential to disapoint, it's one as ambitious as Watchmen. It's nice to be pleasantly surprised every once in a while.

spring=sprung.

2009-03-10T18:46:00.001-04:00

hanging on e street

2009-02-24T10:29:00.002-05:00

The Avett Brothers perform Glory Days:

This performance is from Bruce Springsteen's website. They're currently featuring other artist covering Springsteen songs and talking about how they were influenced by the Boss. Totally awesome.

breakfast with joaquin

2009-02-20T11:24:00.001-05:00

st. awesome's seedy underbelly

2009-02-19T20:55:00.000-05:00

m.ward on letterman

2009-02-19T10:04:00.001-05:00

I totally missed M.Ward on Letterman last night. Man, that guy can do it live!

where i do what i do

2009-02-18T20:05:00.002-05:00

I admit to having a weird fascination with seeing other people's offices. A few years ago a comic book website I visit did a series of articles where they showed pictures of various comic book creators' work spaces. It was like some kind of nerdy weird porn for me.

So, just in case anybody else finds that kind of thing interesting you can click on the picture below and it'll take you to my Flickr page where you can see a series of pictures of my office. Roll your mouse over the pictures to see annotations describing various items.

kyle baker returns to super hero comics!

2009-02-15T19:59:00.001-05:00

As a result, a shark bites a T-Rex on the tail! Yes!

From Blogger Pictures

finally!

2009-02-15T14:33:00.002-05:00

From Blogger Pictures

valentine's day

2009-02-15T11:26:00.002-05:00

Sara and I had some all-day Valentine's Day plans that kind of fell through. So we decided instead to have a romantic dinner at home:

Sautéed chicken, mushrooms in cream sauce, and olive tapenade. It was delicious! After dinner I posted a little Valentine's Day note to Facebook and then realized that's what my blog is for. Stupid Facebook! Anyway, here it is:

I just finished cleaning up the kitchen after having a home cooked Valentine's dinner with Sara. As I turned off the lights in the kitchen I left the one over the sink on. My parents used to do that so when I do it, it reminds me of the house I grew up in. It feels homey.

Sara and I have been married for a little over 200 days. The only word I can think of to describe it to this point is idyllic. It's been a dream.

I realize that we're still deep in the honeymoon phase. I say that just because I know some of you are thinking it. Despite how new this marriage is, I like to think I know a few things about being married. My first marriage lasted for eight years. I remember the early giddy parts and I remember the bitter end. So, yeah, the new hasn't worn off yet, but that doesn't negate the fact that I'm married to possibly the most incredible woman God ever put together out of sugar, and spice, and tabasco sauce.

I'm not easy to live with. I'm a know-it-all. I'm self-centered. I'm set in my ways. But every day Sara gets up, straps on her boots, and does the hard work of being my wife like she was made for it.

A few weeks ago Glen pointed out to me that when you work for a church it can sometimes seem like you have 100 bosses. Everybody has an opinion, it seems, and not all of them are kind. I don't have a lot of critics; the occasional person with a differing aesthetic, some really opinionated folks, a busybody or two from my past. When the rare criticism raises it's head, though, Sara is the first to defend me. Right or wrong, she takes my side. Sometimes publicly, sometimes just over my shoulder as I reading a critical email. Is there anything in the world more comforting than knowing somebody's on your team no matter what?

How awesome she is isn't just defined by all the ways she validates me, though. She's the most caring, concerned, earnest person I've ever known. I've dated some phonies in the past. I know some phonies now. Sara, though, as near as I can tell, doesn't have a fake bone in her body. She is who she is. What you see is what you get. And what you get is the most beautiful, sincere, caring, and sexy girl in the world.

Well, you don't get her. I do. Sorry.

Happy Valentine's Day!

meeting penny lane

2009-02-15T11:16:00.003-05:00

So, Sara and I are getting a dog. We had originally agreed to wait until we had been married a year, but the stars all aligned a little earlier, so come March 21st we will be bringing home the newest addition to our family: a miniature long haired dachshund that we've decided to name Penny Lane.

As of this writing, Penny Lane is a little over two weeks old. We get her when she's eight weeks old. Apparently that's kind of the "everything's ok with the average puppy" point that a lot of breeders are comfortable handing them off at.

Last Friday Sara and I drove to Morehead to meet Penny Lane for the first time:

Sara fell in love instantly. She sits around the house thinking about puppies and watching videos on Youtube of dachshunds. It's pretty pitiful to watch.

And while it's not to the degree that Sara is, obviously, I'm pretty anxious myself to have Penny Lane around. I fell in love with Sara's mom's dogs. So, it'll be nice to have one of our own running around.

tv on the radio on tv

2009-02-11T10:22:00.002-05:00

I was less than impressed TV On The Radio's performance on Saturday Night Live. Something was lost in the translation. Here they are on The Colbert Report, though, being interviewed and making a much better musical showing, I think:

this one time...

2009-02-05T02:23:00.001-05:00

All my favorite people were in one room and Charlie sang the best Van Morrison song of them all:

The Healing Has Begun from Patrick Drury on Vimeo.

And that wasn't even the best part! Because next this girl came in the room...

for sara

2009-02-04T00:12:00.000-05:00

i predict 2008

2009-02-03T23:49:00.003-05:00

For the first time since I quit writing for the Harlan Daily I decided to go back and reread some columns. It wasn't as painful in hindsight as I thought it would be.

I found one column, written at the end of 2007, where I made a bunch of predictions about 2008. There's a really bone-headed section where I somehow missed the fact that just because we were going to have an election in 2008, the Presidency wouldn't actually change hands until 2009. What can I say? Coherent thought has never been my thing.

At any rate, I invite you to read back over this column and count the predictions I got right. Here's a clue: Not many.

Here are my predictions for 2008:

The US housing market will continue to plummet until all current homeowners are forced out of their properties and into apartment buildings. This will spur some scientest to finally look into why the hallways of apartment buildings always smell like ethnic food.

Britney Spears' brother Brian will reveal that he's pregnant.

Britney Spears herself will be rushed to the hospital after a near chocking incident caused by trying to eat an orange pool float she thought was a giant Cheeto.

Two days into our marriage my current fiance/future wife will wake up screaming after realizing in a dream what a terrible mistake she's made. It will be too late.

The writer's strike in Hollywood will continue but Jay Leno's monologue will return to late night television when producers realize that the chimpanzee who writes it isn't actually a member of the writer's guild.

After stepping down from the Presidency, George Bush will retire from public life and write his memoirs. A printing mishap will result in the cover of his book being put on a Curious George children's book. No one will notice the error, including George Bush himself. Instead he'll pine wistfully away for the day he flew over the city holding a bunch of helium balloons and wonder whatever happed to the man in yellow.

A new President will take office and whether it's a Democrat or a Republican one group of pundits will love him/her no matter what he/she does and another group will hate him/her no matter what he/she does. Names will be called, excuses will be made, I'll still pay too many taxes, and politicians will make more money than soldiers. Despite my ferverent suggestion, American politics will not go screw itself.

Stem cell research will make huge leaps forward as Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers collaborates with scientest to create the world's first iFetus. This completely artificial life-form will put an end to all controversial harvesting techniques, allowing scientest and researchers to finally harness the power of human stem cells. And it'll play mp3's.

Lindsay Lohan will return to rehab but leave again once she finds the earring she lost.

I will punch a horse. The horse will have it coming.

There will be famine, war, and pestilence. But there will also be Oreos, so it kind of evens out.

Someone you know will buy a hybrid vehicle. For some reason this will fill you with the unexplicable sense that they think they're better than you. You won't have long to ponder these feelings, though, because you have to go to the bank and take out a second mortgage on your home to pay for fill ups.

Killer Bees!

In an attempt to become more carbon neutral I will stop using my combustion engine powered toaster.

Sex!

HD DVD will emerge as the preferred high definition movie format, beating out Blue Ray and pounding the last nail in the coffin of my long hoped for Beta Max revival.

Dolphins will win the right to vote, but it will turn out that they're all Libertarians and the effect on American elections will be minimal at best.

Humanity will finally evolve to the point that every one of us finally realizes that every other human being on the planet is a person with hopes, dreams, and fears just like them and will then start acting accordingly. Then, right before we, as a unified people, really start to make a difference in the world, some idiot blows the whole planet up.

The End.

in case you were wondering...

2009-02-03T20:15:00.003-05:00

Right there next to me? That's what a master stylist looks like

Sara passed her final state boards today and I'm so proud of her. She was really nervous about it because, well, that's what Sara does. She gets nervous. She cares a lot and wants to do her best at everything. I knew she had nothing to worry about, though. That's my girl!

blog cloud

2009-02-03T15:58:00.002-05:00

Here's a word cloud representing my blog. The bigger a word is, the more it appears on my blog. Clicking it makes it bigger (that's what she said).

listening to:

2009-01-23T23:14:00.002-05:00

SeeqPod - Playable Search

yes, we can!

2009-01-23T11:21:00.002-05:00

Somebody made an Obama doll aaaaand a Dick Cheney doll!

Just kidding folks. Several days into a new administration and my life feels pretty much the same. Not that I expected anything else. Here's wishing Obama well. I think he makes a pretty poor messiah, but I'm hoping he'll make a good President. We can always use one of those, right?

behold comedy genius

2009-01-22T23:22:00.001-05:00

Demetri Martin has a new series coming to Comedy Central on February 11th. Yay!