Blog entries for littletinyfish

Bike School at the Milwaukee Bicycle Collective

littletinyfish — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:32:18 GMT

A month ago I didn't know the difference between a derailler and a spoke, and I had no reason to learn how to patch a tire because I had somehow been lucky enough to avoid any stray pokey things that litter the streets of Milwaukee (I'm still amazed), but after a few visits to Milwaukee's Bicycle Co-Op on 29th and Clyborne I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things.

I only recently got into the idea of biking as much as possible up to as early as a year ago. I started on a mountain bike that I had dragged up from my parents house in Iowa and, shortly thereafter, graduated to a road bike thanks to the generous holiday gift from my girlfriend. After a hard ride through the rest of the winter, my Raleigh Capri 10 speed was feeling the effects of all the sand, salt, dirt, and grime that had accumulated over those grueling months. By the time Spring rolled around I thought the worst was over and a hose down was all it needed.

Because of this general lack of knowledge of anything with wheels I found myself in need of bicycle related assistance. But instead of taking it to a bike shop and getting a run-down of everything that needed to be replaced, I wanted to take a proactive step towards learning what I should be doing to keep things in working condition, rather than buy and replace every few seasons.

That's when I remembered visiting the Bike Collective a couple years earlier. A group of us unceremoniously stopped by and we picked up some basic information, but it had all but seeped out of my brain making room for City of Heroes stats, typeface examples, and dog training techniques.

According to their website, the Milwaukee Bicycle Collective is made up of individuals committed to providing a publically accessible bicycle resource center - a place where bike repair and bike construction can happen in a creative and supportive atmosphere at an affordable cost.

When I first arrived it was a little awkward. The people there were polite, but eyeing me suspiciously and questioning my motives. I can understand this to a degree. The Bicycle Co-Op helps people fix, build, and supply information about bikes with little monetary incentive and in the short time I've been visiting, I've seen my fair share of those who would like to take advantage of this. In order to be nice to everybody, sometimes you gotta be a little mean. But I stood my ground, as my intentions were pure. I wanted to fix my bike and I wanted to learn how to do it.

Since then I've learned that bikes are both deceptively simple and complex. Often realigning one thing means realigning the rest of the bike. But once you have the basic principles down, you can just about troubleshoot the rest of the machine. In the brief time I've been joining the co-op I've managed to:

-Replace my breaks
-Stop them from squeaking
-Replace the cable housing
-Adjust my handle bars
-Tighten my fork
-True (straighten) my wheels
-Replace my rear derailer
-Adjust my rear and front derailer
-Ditch both the derailers and convert to a 1 Speed
-"Break," shorten, and replace my chain.
-Adjust my fenders
-Patch my tires (Actually, it'd be patching the tube inside the tires).
-Tighten a leaking valve.

And seriously, what more do you need to know? Well, probably quite a bit, but that covers a lot of ground in general maintenance. If you would like to get involved with Milwaukee's Bicycle Collective, which could be anything from donating your old bicycles, making a monetary contribution, helping organize paperwork, or even going in to get your hands dirty you can call, send an e-mail, or stop by during their hours of operation. More information can be found at the link below.

Thoughts on the upcoming weekend (Plus music talk!)

littletinyfish — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:28:33 GMT

Today marks the beginning of the Milwaukee International Film Festival which means I need to get on the ball in deciding which flicks I want to see. One thing I do know is I'll be attending a VIP Reception with Academy Award-nominated Willem Dafoe on Friday, who's films are being showcased all day at the MIFF. I feel a little foolish going to a party to celebrate this guy when I've only seen two of his movies which could be considered...shaky, at best - Spider-Man and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

This weekend is Center Street Daze, in which the businesses of Center Street in Riverwest show their pride for the street they sit on. A decidedly Un-Center Street non-Business...the Bike Co-Op (which typically resides on 29th and Clyborne) will be there fixing bikes, tuning them up and raising money for their non-profit organization. Good people, those guys, if a little eccentric.

Also of note, The Scarring Party will be playing on the streets somewhere through the festival. If you haven't heard their odd brand of old-timey, end-timey carnival-esque eccentricities, you should definitely check out their MySpace (myspace.com/scarringparty) and listen to their cover of Leonard Cohen's Everybody Knows.

And speaking of music, I picked up The 1900s new album, Cold & Kind and could not be happier with this purchase. The 1900s hail from Chicago and sound as if they were ripped directly from the syrupy, sexy folk-pop scene of the early 70s. I would almost swear that CD was made of vinyl. And the CD is dirt cheap at Atomic Records. Pick it up and hopefully they'll stop by when they tour.

What's Your Seasonal Music?

littletinyfish — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:22:10 GMT

The weather transitions bring about musical transitions. The old, slow, introspective tunes of the winter will briefly retire while the hot, and bouncy, group-gathering music takes it's place.

Among the bands that I have a feeling will resurface under the blazing sun:

Westbound Train
Rockin' Bones Box Set
Bomb the Music Industry!
Trojan Records Ska Compilations
Hasil Adkins
Gogol Bordello

I'm also awaiting that soul/country 4 pack that's coming my way after I give many dollars to WMSE

How about yourself? Notice any seasonal (any of them) trends in your music collection?

A Man's Got to Know His Limitations, Briggs!

littletinyfish — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:56:58 GMT

This morning was, of course, delightful as are most mornings after the first rain after the first snow. I took my dog down by the lakefront, which provides she and I with a solid half hour workout and a beautiful view.

The one thing that marred the occasion were the worms.

I think I developed my phobia of worms while I was in middle school, when Iowa was being hit with some particularly flooding rainstorms. The worms, finding their homes completely saturated rose to the surface, wriggling around in the fresh air, many of them finding their way onto the pavement.

Hundreds upon thousands of worms littered the sidewalks, streets, and playgrounds. You had to step lightly lest you slip on these soft tubes of flesh and shit. I didn't like it, but my disgust was further compounded by the kids on the playground, with stronger stomachs than I, who would pick these infernal things up and shove them in my face, to my obvious chagrin.

My realization that I had worm phobia (that's the scientific name, unfortunately) was solidified in my High School Sophomore Biology Class, during the dissection part; we had to dissect clams, fish, frogs, crayfish, and, the very first subject...worms.

I couldn't do it, though. I was in a group with two girls and I watched from a distance while they handled, sliced, and studied it's simple insides. I did fine with everything else, and probably had a bit too much fun with it, and I could describe many aspects of my dissection experience...with the exception of the worm. I barely even remember it being cut open.

So today, while walking, during the half hour walk I probably encountered about twenty worms. Twenty too many, if you ask me.

William Elliott Whitmore Satisfies

littletinyfish — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:43:01 GMT

I saw Iowa-native William Elliott Whitmore at Stonefly with some friends last night. Of the three times I saw him, this was probably among the best. My first experience with his bluesy, old-timey music was powerful and unexpected, and was also followed by the excellent band, Murder by Death.

This time seemed to hold all the right elements, though. Mr. Whitmore was able to play a longer show (40 whole minutes!), I was more familiar with his music, and he represented a casual everyman, which the audience just ate up. He mostly sat on stage strumming his banjo or guitar, crooning with his deep, gravelly voice, but at various times through his set he was accompanied by a basic drum set, or a bass guitar and a steel pedal. Between songs he'd bemoan the loss of a good beer (the bar was out of IPA) or how quickly embarassing videos find their way onto the internet. Mostly he was very pleased to be playing in front of a generous crowd.

There are so few times when I go to a show where I appreciate the genuine attitude of the performers. Most of the time the audience is merely a formality towards making money. Mr. Whitmore doesn't appear to have even heard about money. He's all about the love.

Some favorite quotes:
"Sh*t, that mustache looks awesome. I never thought I'd say that to a girl."
"I'm speaking directly to the internet: I don't like to f*ck and fight at the same time."

Tonight I'm debating about seeing <strong>Toots and the Maytals</strong>. The biggest problem I have with it, is I don't want to hang out at <strong>The Rave</strong> all night.

And I just checked The Rave website...Stone Sour is still together? Ugh.

The Read-ability of Art

littletinyfish — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 16:51:36 GMT

I'm working on a piece called Jack & the Coffee Bean Stalk, a piece of sequential art that doesn't follow the traditional western reading path. Instead of starting in the top left, traveling to the right the story actually starts in the middle of the page, then moves to the LEFT (opposite of western expectations) then down, to the right, and back up again. So, starting at the pound sign (and assuming this actually looks correct) it reads something like this.

     <_____>
          |
|--#    |
|       |
|______|

The problem, though, that I'm running into is trying to counteract that western starting point and make it obvious as to where to start and where to go. I think once you explore and understand what's going on it's very obvious to see.

This makes me wonder if this kind of understanding is okay. Is it okay that, the viewer may (will probably) initially read it incorrectly, but figure it out shortly? Or is it important that the story elements be so obvious that it would certainly counteract the western way of reading so that it could be read correctly from the very beginning?

When the audience initially views a piece of art for the first time the odds of them getting it right away are slim. It would probably take the explanation of the artist, or several experts, or some kind of context for the viewer to understand and appreciate the work.

But regardless of the lack of context or explanation, I suppose the artist should be guiding and controlling the eye successfully from the outset. Anything added should be a supplement to the piece, not a requirement.

Any thoughts?

Node is Done: The Underground Moves Back Underground

littletinyfish — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 22:21:15 GMT

As a casual infrequenter of the East Side coffee shop, Node, I'm sad to see it closing it's doors, but I'm also not too surprised.

I didn't discover Node until my senior year in college when the gritty, club-house coffee shop was barely a year old, but it already felt like such a Milwaukee institution that I assumed it had been around for awhile.

It was an unusual place with more unusual patrons. Street punks, yarn-haired goths, or intellectual book worms; it was a hole-in-the-wall haven for Milwaukee's sub-cultures. It was a place that you could go to feel better about yourself, where you could be happy that you weren't this person, but be happy that you could fit in with this person.

For a few months I lived in Iowa and after a spur of the moment six hour trip back to Milwaukee with a friend of mine, one of the first places we stopped was Node, as a sort of reminder of what really drives Milwaukee. My brother visited from Lincoln, Nebraska and was excited that a place existed where anybody could go and be able to meet somebody new and interesting. I lamented that "Yeah, but most of the people are kinda lame," but he shot back that he was excited that THE POSSIBILITY of this kind of interaction was available.

It was a place for guys to wear dresses, high schoolers to try smoking and freaks to meet freakiers. The cable-less could catch Adult Swim (did the television ever leave that station?), insomniacs could put off the inevitable (sleep or help...take your pick) and suburbanites could walk the darker side.

Oh yeah, and of course the coffee.

Yeah, the perks became the inherent flaws. Node wasn't just a social joint. It was a business, which requires certain things...namely money. The back used to be filled with curbside couches, and a television that promoted the look and feel of your parents basement, a place that didn't require you to purchase anything.

The 24 hour, all ages policy was a seductive idea for under agers to escape from their scrutinizing parents.

And the smoke was nearly debilitating. A non-smoking area was eventually built in back, but it required a trek through two rooms of carcinogen fumes.

The night life left the place in a state unsuitable for the daytime crowd.

It is probably inevitable that the place would going to have to close down. In the end it was a place of business, not a babysitter. I do like to believe, though, that the majority of the people who frequented the place, whether they bought anything or not, understand and appreciate the beauty of the idea behind Node.

So, as we bid Node a fond and unfortunate farewell, the question is now is, where to next?

Land Lord Gives Cold House, Cold Shoulder

littletinyfish — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 16:41:44 GMT

Last night the temperature of my house dropped 20 degrees. Our fish started floating upside down. Little work was accomplished because our computers couldn't be turned on and holding steady while shivering was proving to be a difficult task. This was night number two without heat.

The first night started off when we heard crackling and snapping coming from a light switch. We pulled the cover off to find smoke and sparks, so we threw the breaker. Our house is pretty old so it only has three breakers:

One shuts off one half of the house.
Another shuts off the other half.
A third shuts off the entire house.

We thought that we were okay, because the sparks were on one side of the house and the thermostat is on the other, but some crazy wiring in there dictates otherwise.

Our landlords reacted with surprising speed (15 hours later. I don't think I've actually spoken to them since signing the lease, just their answering machine) and sent over a couple of guys to take care of the switch and restore our electricity. We also asked that they fix our broken door lock. A half an hour later they were gone, leaving the switch and all it's guts hanging out of the wall, and instead of fixing the lock, they just locked it, and locked us out of the house.

With much frustration and a near-breaking of our door window, we got back inside. That brought us to night number two, and angry phone calls in the morning. I guess they tried to accuse us of installing and poorly wiring the light switch ourselves, despite the wiring that is obviously from at least the seventies, and the fact that the overhead light was THERE when we signed the lease.

We're paying $300 a month more this year compared to last year for this?

I have friends with different landlords and a couple of them guarantee that within 24 hours of a major problem they'll have that problem fixed; if they don't they get a severe discount on rent.

It's times like this when I'm happy I don't have kids to feed (my dog doesn't require heated meals) and friends who are willing to put me up for the night. I know some people aren't so lucky.

It's also times like this when I think back to when I went to school and we had teacher evaluations. At the end of each semester you were required to anonymously air your grievances to the administration and those comments would be a big part of whether or not the instructor was hired back. The instructors would also be made privy to the information after the semesters end as well.

I wish land lords would have to live in fear of whether or not they'd lose their houses, rather than live in the comfort of the money they are able to burn to keep their houses warm.

The 2006 Annie Awards

littletinyfish — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:12:11 GMT

The Annie Awards nominees were announced a little while ago and I just had time to sit down and shuffle through them. The Annie Awards are essentially the Oscars for the animation industry. There were some nods to some nice movies; there were also some big WTFs.

In a big round of disappointment, the Best Animated Feature of this year was narrowed down to Pixar's Cars (obviously), the sugary sweet Happy Feet, the mainly mo-cap Monster House, as well as Open Season and Over the Hedge.

Let me get this straight: Open Season made it in, but Flushed Away missed the mark?

It's pretty obvious who this award is going to, which is just sad, because Cars really wasn't a groundbreaking movie. Visually pleasing, yes, but terribly contrived. Drilling down through the rest of the nominees, it only gets worse. It might be nice to see Monster House win, if only to support Wisconsin-ite and MIAD grad, Rob Schrab.

This year marked the end of the Golden Age of CG animation and the beginning of a finely polished, taffy-textured computer generated glut.

Up for Best Animated Short Subject are Adventure Time, Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot (which showed at the Milwaukee International Film Festival), No Time for Nuts, and Weird Al Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song." I'm surprised to see Fumi in there, because while it was comedically genius in many areas it didn't hold up through the end. I am pleased to see Don't Download This Song, as animation legend Bill Plympton was responsible for that one. Hilarious and unique, in only the way a Plymptoon can be.

Bill Plympton's The Fan and the Flower (which wasn't nominated for anything) was shown at the Milwaukee International Film Festival. He also made an appearance at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in early November this year, where he talked about his life in animation.

I was happy to see both King of the Hill and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends up for Best Animated Television Production. While I think King of the Hill has been an amazingly consistent show throughout the many years it's been around I think that Foster's is just beautiful from concept to character design. Maybe King deserves the award for it's longevity, but I wouldn't be disappointed if Foster's took the prize.

Peter DeSeve is up for Best Character design for his work on Ice Age: The Meltdown, but the competition is stiff with Carter Goodrich (Open Season) and Nicolas Marlet (Over the Hedge). Half of DeSeve's characters came out unique while the other half came out a little too Disney-bland. I think I'd extend my vote to Goodrich this year.

Flushed Away makes the grade for Best Direction, along with Over the Hedge, Monster House, Cars, and Ice Age: The Meltdown. Cars is bound to take this one, and it rightly deserves it.

If King of the Hill takes Best Television Series, than justice should allow that Craig McCracken (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) get Best Director of a Television Series.

Voice Acting extends a nod to Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, Russi Taylor and, in the WTF file, Mila Kunis for her lack-luster performance on Family Guy as well as Keith Ferguson for his more irritating voice on Foster's.

And another big WTF: Brother Bear 2 up for best writing? Flushed Away, Monster House, Cars, and Happy Feet follow. Another chance to vote for Mr. Schrab.

The Winsor McCay Award, the recognition of lifetime achievement in animation are going to Bill Plympton (he's gotta win Best Short now) Genndy Tartakovsky (who gave us Samurai Jack & Dexter's Laboratory) and Andreas Deja a top Disney animator who was partly responsible for Disney's golden age.

The Annie Awards help to bring recognition to an art that has long been relegated to the children, which is certainly a nice thing, but it's only one facet of the entire movement.

You Should Meat Jan Svankmajer

littletinyfish — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 20:49:11 GMT

I recently learned that renown and meat-centric Czech filmmaker, Jan Švankmajer has returned to Milwaukee in the form of a week long retrospective of some of his best and most popular work. His style of mixing stop motion animation with live action has influenced such other mixed media filmmaking greats like Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas), Terry Gilliam (Monty Python), and The Brother's Quay (Street Of Crocodiles). I would be surprised if Michael Gondry (The Science of Sleep) isn't included in that list as well.

We've already missed the opportunity to see a series of his shorts, but there is still much more available. Alice, Little Otik, Conspirators of Pleasure, Faust, and Lunacy (easily the best film I've seen all year).

The best part about it (not counting the work itself, of course) is that the UWM Union Theatre is putting on this show for free, which is especially nice considering I had to pay $9.00 to see Lunacy only a few short months ago. At that price it was totally worth it and I probably would have paid upwards of $15.00 if I had to, so being able to see any of these films for nothing makes this un-missable chance to see work that is both utterly unique and extremely inspiring.

Click the link below to get the complete schedule from the OnMilwaukee Event Calendar.

I Don't Know Why the TMJ4 Spins

littletinyfish — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:35:30 GMT

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is written by well respected contemporary author Maya Angelou and it's no lie that it's a controversial work. This is probably with good reason; she writes about being raped and becoming a teenage mother. Local news station TMJ4 broadcast a story last night questioning it's ban from Fond du Lac's schools.

They interviewed both sides of the story as any news station should do. One man complained that it encourages sexual exploration. One woman said the book was just telling it like it is.

Sounds fair and balanced, right? In this case, no, and it's because of the same reason that movie lines like "I'll be back!" are never far from our mouths; it's all about the delivery.

The man who believes in the ban was a generally nice looking guy, a church-goer, calm and articulate. He had a soft, warm voice and was sitting at a table in front of a nice looking fireplace. He sounded well read.

On the other hand, the woman who was supposedly against the book didn't appear to know what she was talking about. Her opinion relied on her daughter's opinion, not any real firsthand knowledge. She looked nervous and cold and was standing outside in the damp mist, talking over a layer of distracting background noise. She sounded like a startled muppet.

I have a hard time believing that this was the best candidate they found to describe the opposite side of the story and can immediately think of a couple of reasons for this, such as 1)The station has an agenda to support the ban, for whatever reason or 2)The station has generally shoddy, lazy reporting work. I don't know or watch enough to know whether either is true, but the scales to feel awfully tipped in this case.

I really wish TMJ4 would look into the story a little bit more (I went to their website to look for more info and found a small, almost word-for-word recap). This doesn't just address the issue of whether a potentially racy and uncomfortable book should land in the hands of those who may potentially not be ready for it. It also brings up questions about whether information itself should ever be censored, an important question that TMJ4, who are in the business of information, should really address.

You can read the story and watch the video (though it appears you NEED Internet Explorer to do so) at http://www.todaystmj4.com (or click the link below to directly access it).

Wow! Vegetarian Options at the Wingery

littletinyfish — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:12:49 GMT

Being a vegetarian in a land of meat-eating eateries often requires a little bit of creative thinking and adaptation. Collectively I'm sure we've worn out the phrase "Can I get no "______", but add "______?" Even in most of the hipster hangouts the same tired seasonal veggie mix requires a bit of jazzing up, though sometimes that's not even allowed (*cough*Trocadero*cough*). This becomes increasingly difficult the more carni-centric the establishment is.

Famous Dave's is famous amongst the leaf-eaters for being particularly hostile snidely remarking that "We like Vegetarians! They make us laugh." I had to follow my friends there a few times and on no occasion was I able to dodge that joke.

Har har. I get it, and I'm not going back.

I was expecting more of the same when some friends met at the WOW Cafe & Wingery on Farwell. It's a sports bar centering around big-screen football, boxing, beer, and, of course, chicken wings. What was I to expect?

When I first opened the menu it only took me a short bit to realize that there were actually quite a few options. A garden veggie quesadilla, lots of salads (a bit pricey, though I don't know their true size), a fajita and wrap, as well as the bar sides, like fried mushrooms and sweet potato fries. There's even a fruit cup.

All of these options are still the sort of typical of the food that vegetarians usually see (tomatos, mushrooms, onions, peppers, cucumbers) but with the whopping seventeen sauces to choose from WOW really offers a nice way to drizzle a little jazz into our lives.

If you and your friends have got a date with the next big boxing rivalry avoid the chips and peanuts of most sport bars and check out the WOW Cafe & Wingery. It'll keep you going though every round.

An Indoor Dog Park?

littletinyfish — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:08:04 GMT

I just picked up my pup towards the middle of fall, knowing that the beautiful brown and red leafy trees would give way to the dead of Milwaukee winter quite quickly. Already, though, I've found some nice little spots to walk her around. There's a grand open park area by Alterra on the lake that's big enough to run around on without intense worries of running out into traffic.

There's also a small, unused baseball diamond where other fellow dog walkers congregate. I've met quite a few nice people there, including a police officer who was called in (apparently periodically) to shoo us away. There's a sign on the gate that reads "NO DOGS ALLOWED" and below it "PLEASE PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG."

There's also a kind of dirty little knoll down by the river that overlooks the backside of a lot of ugly buildings. It gives way to a gravelly path that, while it seems uncomfortable for dog feet, is nicely kempt.

Dog walking is also a nice way to wake up in the morning. I'm normally a cranky guy when I get up and it takes a good half an hour before I become coherent to anybody around me. The dog doesn't ask me questions. She pulls on the leash to threaten squirrels occasionally and sometimes she's quick to eat anything that falls on the ground, but for the most part it's a quiet stroll just before traffic picks up on the main streets around me.

But I fear the cold. I remember one night last year where it hurt to walk for two blocks because the wind was skilled at finding every pore in my shirt and lancing through. I don't even have a coat yet...just a couple of hoodies layered on top of each other.

I don't know if the dog knows what she's in for, because last I knew she came from Kentucky, a nice ways south from here.

So how about an indoor dog park? Especially if it's close to where I live. Maybe the size of a football field, or Brewer's stadium. Open the dome to let the light and rain through, then close the roof and turn up the thermostat. Dog owners from everywhere would make the short trip to congregate and trade tips. The dogs would socialize. You could even hold training classes there.

I think it's a good idea; hopefully somebody with money does too.