Rise and Shine

Eat This, Mystery Man!

OK, so Tom Spence accuses me of ordering him to write for this blog. Then he does so and includes me in the category of the talented. I'm even mentioned in the same sentence as Mozart, one of the greatest musical geniuses the world has even seen or heard. Of course, to put it in context Tom did write, "they are the talented, from Mozart to Jester Jeeves." In other words, if we consider the talent spectrum, Mozart is at one end and Jester Jeeves is at the other. Oh---I get it now, Tom is saying that I am talented, but just barely. Well, with this post, I hope to make him eat those words. I mean just look at the Rise and Shine image above, which by the way is not meant to offend anyone, be they Baptist, Bread Boy, or otherwise. If that's not a stroke of evil genius I don't what is.

Anyway, I don't make this stuff up---I just call 'em like I see 'em. And what I saw was a church signboard around Easter time. As I drove by, the Pillsbury Dough Boy jumped out of that inspirational dimension and into my head. I felt that I owed it to the world to share my vision of doughy divinity. Armed with my meager talent, digital camera, and minuscule Photoshop skills, I crafted this image from my imagined inspiration. Hopefully no Parkview Baptist Church-goers or Pillsbury corporate lawyers are among the millions of Jeev Jago Studios' fans.

Postmodern Progess

After our brush with the vicious Vista memory monopolizer on Tom's laptop we transfered our Vegas video editing to my old but operational desktop running on the comparatively expeditious XP. Frame by digital frame, Postmodern Times is coming together in a way that
can only be described as miraculous---or amazing, anomalous, astonishing, astounding, awesome, extraordinary, fabulous, fantasmo, far out, freakish, gas (?), heavy (?), incredible, inexplicable, magical, marvelous, monstrous, numinous, phenomenal, preternatural, prodigious, spectacular, staggering, strange, stupefying, stupendous, superhuman, superior, supermundane, supernatural, supranatural, thaumaturgic, the utmost, too much, unaccountable, unbelievable, unearthly, unimaginable, unreal, wonderworking, or wondrous.

Well, not really, but Tom and I are very excited about our progress. And now there's even the possibility of premiering Postmodern Times at a summer festival in Florida next month!

I feel like Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music, tried his hand at the written word at one point in his career. He said, "I experience a sort of terror if I sit down to work and find an infinity of possibilities open to me. No effort is conceivable."

Andy Rooney, who relates this anecdote, tells us that Stravinsky conquered that terror by turning his creative urge to the seven notes of the scale and writing music. "For then I have something solid and concrete," Stravinsky said. "I am saved from the anguish of unconditional liberty."

Rooney, himself, turns not to the piano, but to the essay form. He says, "The essay offers a writer a great deal of freedom but falls short of offering the 'unconditional liberty' that stopped Stravinsky. The essay provides a writer boundaries within which he can go to work. Confinement is conducive to creativity."

I, as a Renaissance man of mystery, dabble in both the literary and the musical, but I drown in the terror of perfection paralysis. And I find little solace in the solid and concrete of the seven notes or the boundaries of the essay.

Creative inspiration comes from another dimension. Some seem unable to access it at all---they feel themselves untalented. Others, to different degrees, are given access and the ability to bring back and materialize in our 3D world what they perceive in the realm of inspiration---they are the talented, from Mozart to Jester Jeeves. Still others are given access to perceive, but are cursed by the inability to communicate---they are the frustrated sufferers.

As a certifiable frustrated sufferer, I struggle with what Stravinsky expressed about writing: he could perceive an infinity of possibilities, but felt powerless to express anything in the face of the unlimited. That's me, that's how I feel, that's my struggle, and in spite of all of that, Jester Jeeves has ordered me (yes, ordered me), to pull my weight on this blog.

What to do?

Hey, I just noticed that I've written over 300 words---that must count as a blog entry. It should also count to get Jester Jeeves off my back for at least a week. I've been saved from the anguish of unconditional liberty by the confinement of blogs. Maybe blogging is my thing.

Broadcast News

Give War A Chance viewership reaches critical mass!

Jeev Jago Studios is humbled to report that its premiere YouTube video has been viewed by a significant portion of the earth's human population (0.000003% or about 200 of 6.5 billion people). What to speak of the inestimable number of cats, dogs, ferrets, iguanas, parakeets, hamsters, cockroaches, termites, etc. that have undoubtedly watched along with their human housemates. With an initial success of such magnitude there is only thing for Tom and Jeeves to do: forge ahead with their next magnum opus, Postmodern Times.

Hasta la vista, Vista

And forge ahead they will despite suffering temporary setbacks, unforeseen obstacles, and technical glitches. Just last week Tom admitted to having an illicit affair with an alluring femme fatale, none other than Madame Vista herself. Needless to say, upgrading to a new Microsoft operating system so soon after its release is a dangerous affair indeed. One sure to cause a myriad of distresses, technical as well as emotional. Without getting into all the gory details of how Tom's sordid software infidelity has affected his family, Jeev Jago Studios sadly reports that the editing of Postmodern Times ground to a halt on Friday. But it will take forces much greater than Bill Gates and his sinister software engineers to stop Tom and Jeeves from completing their cyber-creations of enlightening entertainment. Stay tuned . . .

Give War A Chance

As forewarned, here it is: Jeev Jago Studios' first YouTube release! The first of many, we hope.

Give War A Chance was inspired by the President's State of the Union address and the support his troop-surge strategy received from many of his GOP followers. We figured John Lennon must be turning in his grave over the choice of words used by the Bush administration in asking the American public to give his war plan a chance. Generally, our productions will take a more philosophical bend, but sometimes you just have to let your inspiration take you where it will.

Before we sign off, we should give credit where credit is due (or should we say blame where blame is due?): President Bush was impersonated by former town councilman Captain Kinch and the Give War A Chance refrain was performed by the Blind Uncle Tabernacle Choir. The rest of the blame for this production rests with Jeeves McAtman (AKA Jester Jeeves) and the mysterious Tom Spence.

If instant fame and fortune don't corrupt Tom and Jeeves, they will continue producing (in cooperation with Pop Goes the Gita Productions) their next masterpiece Postmodern Times, now in the beginning stages of editing.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia

Paraskavedekatriaphobia. What is it and is the concern justified? (I'm certainly afraid of even trying to pronounce it out loud.)

Well, according to the supreme authority for the 21st Century, Wikipedia, it is the fear of Friday the 13th. Is it something to worry about? Read on and decide for yourself.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th

Consider the following nuggets of Wikipedia wisdom:

Novelist Daniel Handler, also known as Lemony Snicket, released the 13th book of the Series of Unfortunate Events on Friday, October 13, 2006 (BTW, January 13, 2006, and October 13, 2006, were not only Fridays, but the digits in the month, day, and year of each date add up to 13. This last occurred on October 13, 1520, and will next occur on May 13, 2011).

Notable births on Friday the 13th:

El presidente de Cuba, Fidel Castro (el 13 agosto de 1926)

Elaine Benes AKA Julia Louis-Dreyfus (January 13, 1961)

and the scariest of all---

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson (June 13, 1986)

And here's another reason to take Paraskavedekatriaphobia seriously. Friday, April 13, 2007, marked the completion of Jeev Jago Studios' first video "Give War a Chance" (soon to be released on the small screen).