Songwriting

I saw on MySpace today that a film is looking for a song and they're running a contest to find said song. The film is called "Henry Poole is Here," and the prize is to get a video made by the movie's director for the submitted song.

So, I looked at the rules. Apparently, the song MUST be named "Henry Poole is Here" and MUST use those words in the lyrics; you grant them all rights in perpetuity for the song, and allow them to be listed as the author in the copyright. Then, they reserve the right to not let you be in the video, and the video may not be used at all... and the song may not be used at all. They won't give you royalties or any money at all for the song, either.

WTF? What a shitty deal.

The sorry part is that there will be bands and songwriters who will enter this contest simply to get a music video. They won't even read the rules and realize what they're giving up. Might be a decent promotional opportunity, but it looks like another ripoff to me.

In related news, I just entered a contest, but a real one this time, that actually has benefits for me. It cost me $35, but the grand prize is $50,000, so, yeah... worth it. Cross your fingers for me!

**YAWN**

I re-did my personal site... again. I keep getting letters from people that the light text on the dark background is hard to read. So, I changed it, almost back to where it was two years ago. It even has the same background as it did back then. Oh, well.

I also started writing a new song today. It's called "You're The Reason." I'm not finished with it yet, but I'll get it done tomorrow, probably.

Slightly Less Depressed

We had band practice on Friday, and that went really well. The originals are starting to sound quite polished.

Saturday, I went up to Sandpoint and went grocery shopping. Bought a HDTV and a new entertainment center to put it on. I like the new HDTV set-up for football already. NFL Network had the Steelers/Browns match-up from mid-season on this morning, and, holy schmoly! You can see every blade of grass! Kick ass. Some of the other channels (even in HD) aren't as amazing, but I guess they'll all get on a standard sooner or later.

I have been writing in Devil's Handiwork the last couple of days, but it isn't going very well. I suppose I should just write and leave the editing for later this summer. **sigh** But I have so much trouble doing that. I just can't leave it alone. I will write for a while, go back and read, and simply delete more than 75% of what I've written.

I watched CSI from Thursday night the other day (I'd taped it), and the season finale was, like, WTF?!?! They killed off my favorite character!!!

Later tonight I might start recording scratch tracks for the band's upcoming second album. The plan is to get these scratch tracks to the new guy so that the songs will all be in tempo and won't waver all over the timing spectrum. For whatever reason, I absolutely HATE recording. (I'm sure you all can figure out WHY I hate recording so damned much! ::grin::)

Grades

I got my grades for this semester today. Two more 4.0s! That makes three altogether!!

Been So Busy...

I tried for days to write my term paper, but couldn't get into the right frame of mind to do so. I was going to on Wednesday, but the fiasco with the studio was a major deterrent. Was going to Thursday, but I decided to watch TV instead. About 2 in the afternoon on Thursday, Kenny calls me and tells me to get ready to go to the Legion and that he'll be home at 4PM to go up to Cusick. I think this is odd because he never calls me that early in the day to tell me to do something unless it is like looking something up on the Internet. And I had thought all week that he was planning something, but I didn't think he would pick Thursday to do it because of a number of reasons. First, my Dad would have to work the next day. Second, Kenny himself would have to work the next day. So, even though I suspected that something might be up, I really didn't think that he would pull anything.

So, we went up to the Cusick Tavern and had tacos, as usual. After dinner, we got in the car to go to the Legion (as usual), and I started fixing my lipstick, which had worn off while eating. Because my head was down doing that, I did not see my Dad hiding his truck. When we pulled up to the Legion, I looked up and saw one of my best friends standing on the porch of the Legion. The jig was up!

Kenny had thrown me a surprise party, complete with balloons and cake and some of my friends and my family, so it was a really nice surprise. I only wish Dad and my friend could have stayed longer and that some of my other friends could have made it. My drummer and bassist came over a little later, and we all had a great time. It was a very nice party. :)

On Friday, after drinking pretty heavily the night before, I woke up at 6 AM after going to bed at around 1:30AM. I don't know why, but drinking messes with my sleep patterns. Anyway, so I ran to the store and bought water for coffee ('cause I was out... again) and a dozen donuts for the kids.

After that, I drank some coffee and then started writing my paper. I stayed writing my paper all day long. I finally finished the thing at 6AM Saturday. So, anyway, I finished my paper and went to bed and then got up the next day and swept and mopped the kitchen. I went to my aunt's house, and I worked on her son's computer for a while, trying to remove a virus and a trojan from the machine, to no avail. The hard drive was, eventually, reset.

On my birthday, I talked to my friend from Sandpoint for a while, and talked to Mom for a while, and finished dusting and vaccuuming and started cooking for everyone. I made rigatoni and cheese sticks and had chips and salsa set out for munchies.

I got up today intending to make my forum postings, but instead let the kids play on the computer for quite a while, and then I cooked dinner. I finally did get my forum postings made. Anyway, I have some more forum postings to do, but I will catch up on all of those later in the week, and then be done on Friday. Yay!

Tomorrow, I am working on my Sekrit Prawjikt. Wednesday, forum postings. After that, no clue.