I’ve spent the past few weeks working on a complete home theater remodel. The room was basically gutted and everything put in anew. I think the results came out great!
This pic shows the new door between the theater and the game room (also being remodeled a bit). You can also see the floor and crown molding that hides all of the wires. In the corner is a floor-to-ceiling bass trap that I made out of 1×4 lumber, insulation, chicken wire, and fabric. The lights on the front speakers are connect to a remote control switch. The center console will eventually be replaced with something nicer. For now, it holds the center speaker and the remote/game controller chargers.
You can see the riser here along with rope lighting. These lights are on a remote control as well. The side TV-trays will be replaced with end tables as soon as we find some we like. You can also see the other bass trap in the corner.
You can see the new media wall in this pic. The very left is the server cabinet that houses all of my gear. You can see the new door that goes in between the kids play room and the theater as well. Hanging a 36″ door was fairly difficult, but worth it! The media shelves are lit with remote-dimmable track lighting.
Here’s a view of the front row and riser.
There’s still some work to be done though. I want to get new end tables, a sectional sofa for the riser, mic and guitar stands (for rock band), and posters and lighting along the back wall. I might add more bass traps as well, but the sound is pretty tight right now so I may not.
I was watching the JoCo videos from his PAX performances this morning and it reminded me of Molly Lewis, a great ukulele player he had on stage with him. A quick Googling directed me to her website where I discovered she had a video log series called “Vlogging Molly”. Awesome!
So I watched this video:
In the video, she answers some questions (from fans presumably). One of the questions is “John McCain or Barack Obama?” She answers with some cheesy, but funny, songs that clearly indicate her preference for Barack. I agree Molly. Now, here’s where things get real. I scroll through her comments and notice that three people, accounting for 100% of the comments on that page, uniquely misspelled Barack Obama’s name.
How hard is it to know how to spell the President of the United States name? Further, how hard is it to google how to spell his name if you aren’t sure. Sigh.
Anyhow, despite the fact that her fans are lazy and can’t spell, Molly’s a great musician and pretty funny vlogger. Check her out.
This year’s Penny Arcade Expo was my first. In a word, it is EPIC. I knew that it would be great, but it far surpassed my expectations.
What started out as a trip for just me and my friend Kevin turned into a mega-trip of 10 people. As most of us were on a budget, we decided to share two hotel rooms. The only ones we could find were about six miles from the convention center, but right on an express bus route.
The Science fiction part of the museum was awesome, including some amazing collections of movie memorabilia. Unfortunately they don’t allow pictures inside the museum, so you’ll have to take my word for it that it’s worth a visit.
The Experience Music Project (the majority of the same complex) was also most excellent. Aside from the great exhibits, they had lots of places where you could learn, play, and otherwise interact with musical instruments. We even got to into a sound booth and play real instruments together as a band. We sucked… but it was fun!
When we were done, we used the Garmin Nuvi GPS that Val had to find a german pub. Bingo… one just a couple of miles away!
In the evening, Adam, Justin, Mike, and Judy arrived.
Friday – PAX Day One Day one started fairly early with us arriving in line a little after 8am. We waited in a huge line of several thousand people. This being PAX and not some other crappy convention meant that there was geeky entertainment while we waited in line. Internet videos, text message trivia games, gameboys, magic the gathering, and countless other things were happening. It was pretty much the best time I’ve ever had waiting in line.
We were finally let into the Expo hall at 10 am. Upon entering, I was smacked with an explosion of awesome. One minute there are seven of us, jaws on the floor, and the next we all fell victim to “Oooh! Shiny!” and departed in many directions. I think we managed to stay together in the expo hall for about 45 seconds.
Blizzard was there in full force with Warcraft Cataclysm, Starcraft II, and Diablo III playable demos. I only played Diablo III and it was awesome. It probably won’t be for sale until 2010, but it was fun even in it’s current state of development.
There were a lot of costumed folks running around and I stopped to take pics of a few of my favorites.
Megan, Kelly, and Kyle arrived Friday evening and we all went back to the hotel fairly late Friday night, too tired to stick around for the MC Frontalot concert. We wanted to be well rested for our Ultimate Dungeon Delve in the morning.
Saturday - PAX Day Two Most of us arrived a little after 8am. We went to the queue room, grabbed our concert bracelets and departed to discuss last minute plans for our Ultimate Dungeon Delve attempt at 10:30am. We won the delve after about four hours of nervous gameplay! The full details are on Dragon Avenue.
After our major win, we hung around the expo a bit, played a few games, and eventually basked in the glow of our awesome accomplishment. We went to dinner at the pub in the Red Lion Hotel. We ate good food and did some more basking in our own glow.
Afterward, we returned to PAX and went to the concerts. Wil Wheaton opened the event with an excellent dedication to Jonathan Coulton (JoCo) and an introduction to Paul and Storm, the opening act. I had never heard to them, but they were awesome!
After Paul and Storm melted our faces off, JoCo took the stage and proceed to do the same. He even brought up Paul and Storm for most of his set as backup singers. My favorite highlight of the JoCo set was when he changed the lyrics of “My Monkey” to “Wil Wheaton”!
He did three encores, including Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond and Birdhouse for my Soul by They Might Be Giants!
Sunday - PAX Day Three We were wiped at this point as the concerts lasted until 2:30am! We hit the pillows around 3:20am and woke up at 7:30am for more PAX fun! Our first stop was the Star Wars: The Old Republic demo which was decent, but not as awesome as I was hoping. The presenters were too marketing-like and should have been developers (geeks like us). Nonetheless, the game looks great!
One highlight was meeting Sandeep Parikh (The Guild, Legend of Neil) and Tony Janning (The Legend of Neil). I got autographed DVDs and pictures to add to my Home Theater decorations.
Adam and I attended the Wil Wheaton Awesome Hour and it was indeed awesome. Afterward, we headed home completely drained of energy, but filled with awesome.
I was recently browsing my best friend Chris’ music collection and stumbled on his Don Francisco collection. Don is an amazing Christian folk singer that we’ve listened to since we were kids (well teenagers). My CDs have long since been scratched or lost and it was a great joy to listen to Don again. It got me thinking about high school and I suddenly remembered that I have a picture of Chris wearing a t-shirt from one of Don’s albums.
I scanned it and sent a copy to Don via email for kicks – he was, after all, the first Christian concert I attended and remains one of my favorite Christian artists.
Hi Don,
I’m sure you won’t remember me, but my friend Chris and I saw you at a concert in Long Beach, CA in the early 90′s at a small church. I can’t recall the year exactly, but we were probably 15 or 16 years old when we saw you. I had never heard your songs before the concert, but I was so moved by your music that we spent all the money we had to buy 2 CDs and two T-shirts.
We sat right next to a woman who claimed to be your sister. After the concert, she invited us “back stage” to meet you. You were kind enough to autograph our T-Shirts and CD’s. We wore those shirts at school (which raised some eyebrows). I attached a picture of me and my friend Chris from our yearbook where you can see Chris wearing your T-shirt.
Anyhow, I stumbled across my yearbook recently and I thought you might get a kick out of the picture. Chris and I have grown up and have families now, but we still listen to your music. I’ve met several “celebrities” in my life, but none quite compared to the humble Christian singer I met when I was a teenager. You are a true celebrity to me (and Chris I’m sure).
Thanks Don. Your music has inspired us both in ways we cannot express.
God Bless,
Jim
Three days later, Don sent a reply:
Jim,
Thank you very much. That photo is just wonderful! Wow, we’ve been around awhile.
What a great God we have.
In Him,
Don
There’s still some work to be done though. I want to get new end tables, a sectional sofa for the riser, mic and guitar stands (for rock band), and posters and lighting along the back wall. I might add more bass traps as well, but the sound is pretty tight right now so I may not.
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