Steve Taylor update! Steve Taylor update!

The first (necessarily vague) review of his film The Second Chance is here, written by a guy I somewhat know, actually. Also, there's a very surprising development in S.T.'s life that the author buries within a parenthentical...

Rejection.

Got a boilerplate e-mail from AGEHR's music editor today which said, in regards to "Comrades, Haste!," thanks but no thanks. This is a bit disappointing, as (a) AGEHR is the leading publisher of level-5-and-up handbell music, and (b) AGEHR is the leading publisher of contest-winning handbell pieces. I'm not completely surprised -- the title alone makes it a hard sell in the relatively staid (and religious) world of handbells -- but there aren't a lot of other good options out there, I'm sad to say. (The best remaining option -- and one half-owned by a guy I've met before, which helps -- I am sending "CHFtSP" to later today.)

Also, this statement in the official rules makes me pretty sure I'm not a TCM semi-finalist: "Semi-Finalists must return the Score Submission Materials in the pre-paid overnight mail envelope provided to them by TCM. Each such envelope must be postmarked no later than April 30, 2005." You had better hurry up with that pre-paid envelope, Ted Turner.

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A club for me.

I am probably serious.

An interesting day.

Sunday. I wake up about quarter to nine. (Kim was already kind of up, I believe.) Soon after, I go to take a shower, leaving the door to the bathroom unlocked. Maybe five minutes into my shower, Kim comes in to the bathroom and says, "Um, I'm pretty sure you didn't make the finalists in the Turner Classic Movies Scorewriting Contest. My first thought: They just called and left a message saying I lost. But then Kim asks me what the name of the movie is I had to write a score for, and I say, "Now see here, what's all this about?" (Or something.) Kim tells me that on CBS Sunday Morning, they just had a promo for a segment that's going to profile the five finalists in the TCM Scorewriting Contest. Immediately I know something's wrong, because they were supposed to announce the 10 semi-finalists around April 20th but not announce the five finalists until sometime in May. Turns out that for reasons unknown, CBS Sunday Morning choose to do two segments on last year's finalists at virtually the same time as this year's first round judging. (Last year's winner has been known for months, so I'm not sure why they decided to run these segments now.) The surrealism of seeing a contest I entered aside, it was actually a pretty interesting segment from my point of view, and I learned the following things:

(a) There were more than 600 entrants last year, about twice what I projected for this year. (I vote for my projection being wrong rather than the number of entries dropping by half.)

(b) One guy gets whittles down the original 600 entries to 30 semi-semi-finalists, which means that 570 of the scores get heard by no one but him.

(c) The five finalists' scores were all very good without being exceptionally so; it gives me slightly more hope of winning it all than I had before (discounting the doubling of my projected number of entries, of course).

I go to church. I hear one of the worst sermons I've ever had the pleasure of listening to (by a guest preacher -- the grandpa of a child being baptized), culminating in the (I think word-for-word) statement, "Abusing the ten commandments is almost as bad as drug abuse." (He also had the strangest use of phrase repetition I've ever heard, throwing in "That's just the way it is" at numerous times in the sermon, even when it didn't make sense.) (He also spent the first ten minutes of the sermon talking about how cute his wife and kids and grandkids were/are.)

Such was this day that I didn't even have the opportunity to mention this to Kim, as when she gets home she says that our pregnant friend Annette, who is three weeks from her due date and whose baby shower we were supposed to attend that afternoon, said at church that she thinks she might be having labor pains. (To clarify: Antecedent of "she" is Annette and very much not Kim.) We leave for the shower, and when we get there Annette is still very much pregnant, and she thinks she's doing better (or at least no worse). As the meal part of the party goes on she starts to get what she's pretty sure are contractions, perhaps 15 minutes apart. She's pretty convinced they're Braxton Hicks -- after all, the due date's 3 weeks away and, as she mentions many times, she still has so many things left to do! -- but others convince her that maybe you should go inside and open presents, just in case. The two dozen of us go inside. As she's opening presents the contractions get closer: Some less than five minutes apart, almost all less than 10. She's starts getting a little more convinced that, um, maybe these are real contractions, but no, because "I am not having this baby today." A woman at the party named Nancy mentions that just in case, she's delivered a baby calf before so, y'know, no worries if it comes to that. Annette starts thinking that, hmm, maybe I should at least consider going to the hospital. But she has work at church (she's the music minister) that absolutely needs to be done by tomorrow morning, and if she's in the hospital today and tomorrow... So Annette gets together a list of all the things that needed to be done ASAP (my suggestion, which she would not write down: "have baby"), and while she and another woman at the party go to church to finish her work, Annette's husband and the other four of us that hadn't yet left the party split the duties on the list -- washing clothes to take to the hospital, putting bags together for the two of them and their two kids, getting clothes together for the new baby, getting out the bassinet from the attic, finding the baby car seat, distracting the two kids while all this was going on (my job), etc. Annette gets back about an hour later, still having contractions 5-10 minutes apart, still not completely convinced it's time to head to the hospital. I fall down on my job of distracting the kids, and Isabella (age 6) realizes that if mommy and daddy are going to be at the hospital tonight, neither of them is going to be at home and that's really scary and I've never been at home without mommy or daddy and I don't know grandpa (who was going to take care of them the next two days) well at all and [much crying]. I let her and her younger brother Alex (age 3) both ride me as horsey at the same time. That helps. Despite the consistent contractions, Annette's still not convinced, so she calls the on-call doctor and gives him her symptoms. He says, yeah, you had better come in soon. An hour later, we are still all at their house, with Isabella back to crying, and Kim practically pulling Annette (still not convinced she's having this today) out the door into their minivan, where her husband drove her to the hospital.

6 pounds, 10 ounces.

Things I do not like.

Allergies.

That's about it.

Choose for me, redux.

Back at the beginning of March, I asked for you to choose for me which two music contests to enter, and I half-followed your advice. (As it happened, I had a very good idea for one of the other contests, which is why I did not follow your advise fully.) So on the eve of me learning whether or not I am one of the TCM Score-Writing Contest semi-finalists, it is time for you to choose for me again. Below are five choices, of which I will choose either two or three to complete sometime prior to June 1st:

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Sigma Alpha Iota Inter-American Music Awards

What to write: Up-to-ten-minute composition for brass quintet
Money money money: $2000 for first; no runners-up
Deadline: a week from Saturday (postmarked)
Pros: Decent money; I feel comfortable writing for brass
Cons: $35 entry fee; deadline quite soon; "up to ten minutes" probably also means "at least six-to-seven minutes"

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St. Andrew's Church Hymn Search

What to write: A hymn, words and music
Money money money: $1000 for first; no runners-up
Deadline: a week from Saturday (received, I think)
Pros: Okay money; religious music always a plus; music probably short and straightforward
Cons: Have to write words as well, which is more iffy for me; deadline quite soon; in all likelyhood, pretty high number of participants entering; don't find out if I win until May 31, 2006

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60x60 Project Call For Works

What to write: A piece less than one minute long (including creation of MP3)
Money money money: royalities off of upcoming CD for 60 winners
Deadline: May 16th (postmarked)
Pros: Sounds fun; 60 winners; short
Cons: Royalties probably next-to-nothing (current Amazon rank on last CD: #153,479)

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Bass Clarinet Composition Competition

What to write: Bass clarinet solo of between 5 and 8 minutes
Money money money: €1500 for first; HMs get nothing
Deadline: June 1st (received in England)
Pros: Bass clarinets are cool; decent money; winner announced on July 1, which is a quick turnaround
Cons: €25 entry fee; haven't ever actually written for bass clarinet (although I don't imagine that being a steep learning curve)

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Reformed Worship New Hymn Search

What to write: A hymn, both words and music
Money money money: $600 for first; no runners-up
Deadline: June 1st (postmarked)
Pros: See "St. Andrew's Church Hymn Search"
Cons: Have to write words as well, which is more iffy for me; in all likelyhood, pretty high number of participants entering

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So.

Baby complaints.

So Kimberly is now on her 15th week of pregnancy. In a normal world, that would mean that Matthew Jr. was conceived between 14 and 15 weeks ago. But as this is not a normal world, what it actually means is that Matthew Jr. was conceived between 12 and 13 weeks ago, because the two weeks prior to conception are counted in the __th week of pregnancy as in those two weeks the mother's body is preparing for a new baby.

So what that means is that all women of childbearing age, including virgins, get pregnant for a couple weeks every month or so. Was Mary not so special after all?

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Non-sports fans, please do not read, as you will not understand the punchline.
Last weekend, I was in a sporting goods store and found a replica Dolphins jersey for a 12-month old or so. It was even on sale, and I was very seriously considering buying it until I turned it around and saw the last name on the back: "Williams."

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Things we have already boughttened for Matthew Jr.
A crib. A mattress for the crib. A stroller/car seat combo. Various clothing. A Disney sheet set that Kimberly can't find for the life of her.

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Thing that I have been looking for but have not yet found.
A primary source for all the hubbub about how playing Mozart is good for your baby.

My premiere.

Nine months after composing it, "Comrades, Haste! Faster the Steel Press!" had its unofficial premiere on Sunday. (Its official premiere is later this month.) A comment from an attendee: "...it was a success. It was very evocative of its title, especially with the use of [Petit & Fritsens], whose sound I liken to breaking glass, but steel foundry imagery also works well. There was a lot of variation in the piece, and it was played well. Several ringers said it was their favorite piece of the program to play. Later I was shown an ingenious 'marching' device fabricated by Scott Barker which had both captivated and puzzled me at the time, as the person 'playing' it was unseen, below and behind a bell table."

Also, from one of the performers: "It is an incredibly fun place to play!" So yay.

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Has there ever been a good editorial cartoonist?
Based on this year's Pulitzer Prize winner, no.

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Now that we've established that John Olerud is the best Major League Baseball player, it is time to establish the best NBA player.
Which is not too difficult.

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Every year I'm think that, yeah, I want to watch one of these.
And every year I forget until it's practically too late.

Reviewlets.

Murderball (2005, Henry Alex Rubin & Dana Adam Shapiro): B
Subject matter pretty hard to mess up: Quadriplegics -- people who have lost some movement in all four limbs -- who play a sport, wheelchair rugby, where the only way to stop someone with the ball is to knock over their wheelchair with yours. The players' athletic raison d'être is pretty clear: Most of them are former jocks who are [over-]compensating for their physical loss by playing the most violent, energetic sport available to them. Somewhat strangely focused -- lengthy digression about the sex lives of quadriplegics (which came apropos of nothing) ought to have been ditched, and more actual play of the sport should have been added. (I doubt we see more than three minutes of any given game, including the big U.S./Canada Olympic showdown that two-thirds of the movie was foreshadowing. Bring back Miracle.) Success of the film comes from making a good first decision -- what subject to profile -- and not from any particular skill thereafter on the part of Rubin or Shapiro; dozens of filmmakers with the same budget these filmmakers must have had would have done just as well in profiling wheelchair rugby. Still, though.

Following Sean (2005, Ralph Arlyck): C+
There is a reason Errol Morris is the greatest documentary filmmaker of his generation, and that reason is because he simply lets his subjects speak without adding 45 minutes of narration about how he found this subject, or his past relationship with the subject, or what he thinks about what the subject is saying, or how things are going with Errol and his wife, or what Errol's kids think about his filmmaking, or "hey I'm Errol Morris and I'm going to splice in some old film I shot of his wife which has nothing to do with the subject of the film but hey she's cute." Good job Errol Morris. (The footage from the original film is all that gives my grade its plus.)

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Mommy, where do baby names come from?
Interesting explanation here.

Things I have learned in the past week.

Everything touristy in Southern California is very too expensive, other than the religious missions, which are all $4.

John Olerud is one of only 26 MLBers to hit for the cycle at least twice. (Speaking of which, the Blue Jays are currently tied for the second-best record in baseball. This will not last long.)

When you are planning a major event in the downtown of a city, and on the morning of the event there is also a 10K happening in the downtown of that city, it might behoove you to let those attending your major event know that maybe they should allot a little more time in getting there because the streets will be ultra-crowded with runners.

Speaking of which, despite being under construction for at least the last five years, the interstates in Durham are still as bad as they have always been.

Cherry 7-Up is yummy. (More relearned than learned. But still.)

I do not like the same hymns most people do.

Most maternity clothes are ugly. (Learned more by you-know-who than me. But still.)

There are now stores that sell factory seconds disc golf discs at discount prices. (I would have bought one, but the logos on all the discs are the same, so I couldn't figure out what they were supposed to be originally.)

"Arrested Development" is at its funniest when it recycles jokes from previous episodes.

28 feels pretty much exactly like 27.

Come on! Feel the Illinoise!

Sufjan Stevens is a very strange man.

Last-minute presents for my birthday, which is today by the way.

I am sure that some of you have not yet found the time to get me a present, so my present to you is a list of presents you can buy for me.

A 2006 Mazda5. (By a factor of 20, the cutest minivan ever.)

A piano from the Steinway Crown Jewel collection. (I think perhaps the Anigre.)

A modest little beach house.

A fountain. (With free ground shipping!)

I mean since they have a grandfather clock, I should have one too.

Or if you lose on that bid, just get me some art instead.

And for those you are on an incredibly tight budget, there is always something nice for the new little one.

Digging through the trash.

I spent part of yesterday cleaning up my hard drive at work -- I was running low on space -- and I found the following blog post (saved as a Word file) that I may or may not have posted at that time. Regardless, you get it today:

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World’s Most Difficult IQ Test (short form)

1) Name the letter that comes next in the following series: A, B, D, E, G, ___
a) H
b) I
c) J
d) K
e) L


2) Name the number that comes next in the following series: 1, 1000, 1000000, ___
a) 1
b) 1000001
c) 1000002
d) 1000003
e) 1000000000


3) Name the number that comes next in the following series: 1, 2, 3, 4, __
a) 5
b) 6
c) 7
d) 27
e) 1923.5

4) Name the element that comes next in the following series: triangle square pentagon
a) hexagon
b) octagon
c) circle
d) three triangles in a row
e) Q

5) Blue is to dark blue as green is to ______.
a) dark green
b) dark purple
c) dark red
d) dark white
e) dark black

6) LIVE is to EVIL as 1600 is to ______.
a) 0016
b) 0061
c) 1609
d) EUNE
e) dark black

7) Pauly Shore is to George Washintgon as Adam Sandler is to
a) Theodore Roosevelt
b) John Adams
c) Abraham Linco;n
d) Thomas Jefferson
e) Ronald Reagan

Answers:

1) L (e). Odd elements in the series cycle through every fourth letter -- starting with “A” – while even elements spell out the word “BELLBOTTOMS.”

2) 1 (a). The series is a repeating pattern that cycles through the trio of numbers 1, 1000, 1000000.

3) 27 (d). The nth element equals n^4-10n^3+35n^2-49n+24.

4) Q (e). If the (4n+1 mod 26)th letter of the alphabet contains only straight lines, then the nth element is a regular polygon with n+2 sides. If the (4n+1 mod 26)th letter of the alphabet contains a curved line, then the nth element is that (4n+1 mod 26)th letter.

5) dark purple (b). As “blue” has half as many letters as “dark blue,” so does “green” have half as many letters as “dark purple.”

6) EUNE (d). In the first half of the analogy, LIVE is the first four characters in “live,” and EVIL is the last four characters, reversed, in “live.” In the second half of the analogy, 1600 is the first four characters is “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” and EUNE is the last four characters, reversed, in “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

7) Abraham Linco;n (c). As Pauly Shore would likely spell “Washington” by transposing the “g” and “t,” Sandler would likely spell “Lincoln” with a semicolon.

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Eventually, everything ever broadcast on television will be on DVD.
I am so very happy.

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Capitalism.
You can now purchase things for Kim's and my upcoming child, or you can get some stuff for the baby I already had with my other wife.

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John Olerud watch.
Now up, with apologies to Ed.

A good way to make some money for baby Prins' diapers.

But I don't think Kim would allow me to use this idea on our child.

Yes, so basically we have no idea what to name Matthew Prins, Jr. (or Kimberly Prins, Jr., or however one would call Rory if she went by Lorelai instead). We do have a fake boy name and a fake girl name we have been using, but we are not convinced that the girl name is the best one, and we are completely convinced that boy name is no no no. (It started as a joke, but it's kind of taken hold, perhaps because it started as a joke.)

So we are soliciting suggestions. Bonus points from me if either name contains an umlaut, cedilla, or accent mark, or if either name has French roots. Bonus points from Kim if the first name is quasi-normal and if at least one of the names is the name of a saint (which is kind of pretty much required).

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Sickly.

Due to probably influenza, I spent most of the last two days in bed watching NCAA basketball and DVDs of "The West Wing" (including the episode with Liza Weil). Today I am kind of better, but not remotely completely.