Life in a Day - THEY USED MY CLIP!

I'm about as excited as I can be.

I'll be short, because I'm about to go to bed, but I watched the premier of Ridley Scott/Kevin Macdonald/YouTube's documentary "Life in a Day" that was streamed on YouTube tonight from the Sundance Film Festival, and it was the thrill of a lifetime to see a chunk of the footage I'd submitted appearing in the middle of one of the most beautifully-crafted documentaries I've ever seen.

Then I watched Kevin Macdonald (director) and Joe Walker (film editor) get up on stage afterward and prove to be the class acts they'd appeared to be throughout this whole process -- they and the rest of the production crew, who were so extremely kind, helpful, and professional throughout all the correspondences of these last six months.

I love YouTube.

FARMVILLE FOREST - Randy Ray Sides

The best thing I ever did in "Farmville" was to sell everything I had
and plant a million trees:

Now all I have to do is hire an Arborist once a week and SEE YA!

****************************************************************

EDIT January 2011: Below is what it looked like about four months later, with 2,500-or-so trees.

FIFTY-FIVE FICTION

One birthday, I received a book from my brother called The World's Shortest Stories (edited by Steve Moss). Each story contained the four elements that define a story (setting, characters, conflict, and resolution), but each was exactly 55 words long.

The concept is called Fifty-Five Fiction.

It is a complete genre unto itself, and there exist a number of published collections as well as a web site devoted entirely to the genre. Each story must have 55 words -- no more, no less. So I decided to take up the challenge. Here's my Fifty-Five Fiction story:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * COLD

Lost in the blizzard and hunkered down, I would awaken periodically to howling blackness. But the warm coccoon of my Dad's tight embrace would comfort me.

So when, finally, my eyes opened to the glare of flashlights and the barking of bloodhounds, it was a horrible bittersweet.

Because I awoke saved.

But I awoke cold.

RANDY RAY SIDES

CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG FETCHES

I'M GONNA MAKE IT SOMEDAY - Randy Ray Sides

This is called "Raw". It represents a shimmer of light in a soul emerging from depression.

LIFE IN A DAY YOUTUBE

Yes, I took part in that grand YouTube project called "Life in a Day", where the people of our planet were invited to film their day on 7-24-2010 and then submit the raw footage, where it will be reviewed by some well-know filmmakers for possible inclusion in a first-of-its-kind movie. And here's the reason I did it: Long term drug use will make you asocial, and, very often (depending largely on the substance(s) abused), antisocial. My decade of substance abuse took me on a course that --although not opposed to society-- was no longer "within" society. I was a self-imposed outcast, and with "Life in a Day", I felt that I was doing something "with" larger society. It's part of the slow process of post chemical-dependency resocialization (not that I'm out of the woods yet as far as my addictions go). It's a step in the right direction, and it felt good. When I first read about the project in USA Today in early July, I was planning on shooting the day in my hometown of Bridgeport, Nebraska, where I'd assumed I'd be on 7-24. But I unexpectedly went to Big Lake, Minnesota, and that's where I shot the footage, because that's where I was on "The Day". After that day was done and the filming was complete, I spent hours editing the footage into a ten-minute video complete with titles and musical score. Then, the night of the submission deadline, I read what I should have read weeks before: "No editing, no music, no titles. Just raw footage." So that's what I ended up doing. I simply submitted all the raw footage in five big chunks and left it at that, because that's what they wanted. So, even if my footage goes nowhere, it still feels good to have been a part of it all. I feel that much more a part of society again.

HAPPINESS IS A WARM TOILET SEAT IN A PUBLIC BATHROOM - Randy Ray Sides

The original, wordless image was public domain. I added the words at the suggestion of Shane Bateman. Saturday, July 31, 2010.

MARK ZUCKERBERG RULZ!

TRACTOR MEME

I had a dream last night. In this dream, I was playing guitar and singing gibberish, like I usually do.

And then, all of a sudden, God dropped a John Deere tractor on me. And He said "WILL YA STOP ALREADY?"

And I said "Mmpf."

And He said "Spread this throughout the whole land of cyberspace: No more high-pitched whining. NO MORE! I've had enough. Have a nice day."

And He waved His magic wand, and now I'm sitting at the computer, etc.

RANDY RAY SIDES "TOP TEN REASONS I'M TAKING TIME AWAY FROM FACEBOOK"

Click the list to enlarge:

Just kidding, Dolson.

KENNETH V. FLETCHER IS A SUPERGENIUS

This guitar study is dedicated to my wonderful friend, mentor, and role model, Ken Fletcher, who is leaving it all behind for a resort island in Europe. I owe you a lot, Ken. Thank you.

I'VE DEVELOPED A UNIQUE GUITAR METHOD!

Click on the ad below for more details:

FIFTY-FIVE FICTION

One birthday, I received a book from my brother called The World's Shortest Stories (edited by Steve Moss). Each story contained the four elements that define a story (setting, characters, conflict, and resolution), but each was exactly 55 words long.

The concept is called Fifty-Five Fiction.

It is a complete genre unto itself, and there exist a number of published collections as well as a web site devoted entirely to the genre. Each story must have 55 words -- no more, no less. So I decided to take up the challenge. Here's my Fifty-Five Fiction story:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

COLD

Lost in the blizzard and hunkered down, I would awaken periodically to howling blackness. But the warm coccoon of my Dad's tight embrace would comfort me.

So when, finally, my eyes opened to the glare of flashlights and the barking of bloodhounds, it was a horrible bittersweet.

Because I awoke saved.

But I awoke cold.

RANDY RAY SIDES

I've spent the last month wrapped up in watching my YouTube "View Count" ticker. It's time to create music. So, au revoir!

I've recently compiled twelve very short stories into a volume titled Twelve Tiny Twisted Tales.  What it is is this:  It is a volume of twelve tiny, twisted stories, which is another way of saying Twelve Tiny Twisted Tales, which, incidentally, is the name of the book.  The reason I've entitled the book this way is this:  It is titled this way because of this:  The reason is:  I've written the stories in such a way that they correspond to a firm belief of mine, which is as follows:  I like to be brief and straight to the point.  This is the reason the book is called Twelve Tiny Twisted Tales.  And that's the reason.

Above you will see the cover and one of the stories.  Please click on the image to enlarge it.

To order a book, please blow your alphorn and send a pigeon with $10 tied to its leg.  You could have used the much less tedious method of emailing a request were I not paranoid and reluctant to give out my email address.

Once I have received your order, you may find your copy of the book in a corked bottle on the shore of Lake Superior.  Shipping will take one to two years.

RANDY'S "TOP TEN REASONS I'M CONSIDERING SKIPPING MY 20th HIGH SCHOOL CLASS REUNION NEXT YEAR:

10. Everybody else got an invitation; I got a letter saying it's been cancelled

9. The lobotomy makes me fall down a lot

8. I look ten years older than everybody else

7. If they wouldn't let me come naked ten years ago, they probably won't this time, either

6. Concerned that my body guards and entourage will cause a scene

5. The last time I tried to escape from the asylum, I got beaten senseless

4. Afraid they'll find out my "40-room mansion" is really a boarding house

3. Still miffed about losing Student Council by one vote sophomore year

2. I just started my nineteenth job in 20 years; they won't let me take time off

1. Dolson

BLACK CAT MAGIC

So I took a piece of ham and a camera and I set the piece of ham
outside and I set up the camera to record to see what happened
and what happened was that after about 20 minutes a crow came
and flew off with the ham, and then about 10 minutes later a local
stray black cat that I feed all the time came by and apparently
smelled the ham and then it left and then nothing happened but
a few leaves fell in front of the camera so what I did was I did this I edited the recording to make it kind of look like the crow ate the ham and turned into the cat since they're both like the same color and all and then I added some graphics and stuff yep

ANTIQUES ROAD SHOW FIASCO

Did you catch Antiques Roadshow this week? I did, and it ended up a bit of a bust. I even happened to find an article about it. Click on it to enlarge it:

RANDY'S "TOP TEN REASONS I HAVEN'T BEEN POSTING ON BLOGGER"

10. MySpace

9. YouTube

8. Facebook

7. My pet chimp hogs the computer

6. I ran away from home

5. Got confused and kept playing "Frogger" instead

4. Like a bird, I keep attacking my own reflection in the monitor

3. Spent three months memorizing pi to 400,000 decimal places for world record attempt; when Guinness showed up, could only remember "3.14"

2. When you jump off a water tower, the parachute doesn't have time to open

1. Forgot my password

A number of years ago I blogged on Blogger, but I slacked. Now it's time to continue. The blog that inspired me to begin blogging again on Blogger was Grosvenor Square by Melissa Amateis. Thanks, Melissa!