bob pendarvis: bob's ramblings

actually, this tale has been told any number of times, but it's catchier to say it's an untold tale. here goes...

a long time ago, when i was still in high school, it was the night before my birthday and my brother (scott) and i were playing a game of chess at the kitchen table. at one point, i knew that i was doomed to lose and took his queen and deposited it in the giant "jethro-sized" bowl of cereal (probably cheerios) he was only halfway through. this, understandably, irritated him no end. he got up and chased me round and round the kitchen table. this went on for several minutes, but my asthma got the better of me and i eventually ran out breath and he caught me. well, he didn't merely "catch" me, he actually ran into me and shoved me right through the dining room wall. i mean, i was IN the wall, looking out at my brother, who had a shocked look on his face (mirroring my own, no doubt, but i couldn't say for sure, as there were no mirrors hidden in the walls of our house).

as if that weren't enough, my mom drove up the driveway only minutes later. i saw my whole birthday flash before my eyes in an instant (it wasn't pretty) and i went outside to "prepare her" before she saw it with her own eyes. she saw through my strategy and brushed right past me and into the bright headlights of hell. "the wall...there's a hole in the wall...what have you two idiots done?!"

needless to say, i tried to deflect blame to my brother. again, my mom wasn't buying any of it...sigh...

this has been an untold tale of bob!

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have any of you folks (like anyone actually reads this blog) ever heard the song ALL I THINK ABOUT IS YOU by harry nilsson? i've been a big, big fan of harry's for years, but i don't own everything of his (a lot of his albums are hard to find). i had put off buying the PERSONAL BEST nilsson anthology, as i one day hoped to own all his cds anyway, but i broke down last week and discovered this gem of a song. it is simply one of the most beautiful love songs ever recorded. it just sounds perfect, from start to finish, with an angelic choir and a gorgeous string arrangement that just grabs you by the heart. on the cd, this song is followed by PERFECT DAY, which is equally fantastic and even more haunting (ALL I THINK ABOUT IS YOU is sweet, but PERFECT DAY is bittersweet and all the better for it). i also love that within the last week i've been able to mix my memories of harry potter with the music of harry nilsson...a delicious combination indeed.

THE DEATHLY HALLOWS was an amazingly well crafted finale to the harry potter series. i read the whole danged thing in one sitting (which took me quite a while, actually). i took small breaks for roobeer floats with coffee ice cream. i don't care for real coffee, so i figured i'd use the ice cream...and it worked just fine. i'm not reviewing the book here, but i did want to let both of my readers know that i was absolutely amazed in all the right spots and infinitely saddened in all the right spots...which brings us to the title of this little rant.
have any of you seen that tv ad for HSBC Direct.com? the ad starts with a little theme music "da da da da da dee, da da da da da daaa, da da da da da dee, da da da, da, da, daaa" and then you see this animated girl and guy in their house living their life. she's wearing a red skirt with some sort of orange floral print i think, i have no idea what he's wearing (couldn't care less). the commercial only lasts about thirty seconds and the girl never says a word...but at the end of the commercial, she begins to vaporize out of existence. technically, the line drawing appears to fade away. it's supposed to be a neat little end to the commercial, but it creeps me out every time i see it. i keep waiting for her to scream "aaaaieee!" as she starts disappearing. even worse, the happy little music is still playing as she disintegrates...brrr!

it's july 21st, harry potter day. it's past 8:00pm and i still haven't been able to make myself start reading yet. weird, considering how long i've been waiting for just this chance. to be honest, i hopped on board the hogwarts express much later than many of you, starting with a borrowed collection of the first four books (thanks to my friend heidi, the same heidi halabuda from the first song on my A GIRL I USED TO KNOW cd). it was great having four books to read back-to-back....plus, the fifth book came out only a few months later. sweet. i have fond memories of the release of that fifth book. i was lucky enough to have picked up THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX just after midnight at the toys-r-us in times square. well, i was there, but i had to get a friend to pick mine up, as i was forbidden to actually enter the place. seems they had a rule about costumes covering the face and they didn't want to make an exception for my hello kitty hermione outfit. mind you, i had gotten the okay from a security guard a little earlier, but the guards that night didn't care...danged muggles. anyway, i celebrated the arrival of THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by finishing the first chapter of my first novel. it felt good to reach that little milestone and connect it to harry's last hurrah. i wanted to make sure that i could devote plenty of time to harry tonight, as i intend to read the whole book straight through in one sitting. i've avoided any spoilers so far, but i'm worried about accidentally learning stuff beforehand. as far as i'm concerned, the new york times should be ashamed of itself for printing a review that gave away important plot points. i'm not too surprised that it was the new york times, as they have long ago lost their "class act" status in my eyes, but it's sad that the publisher's greed and hunger for an exclusive has given america yet another black eye...tsk-tsk.

my deluxe edition versions of the monkees' classic HEADQUARTERS and PISCES, AQUARIUS, CAPRICORN & JONES LTD. arrived yesterday, filled with bonus tracks and mono-mixes...heaven. for the uninformed out there, the monkees' first two albums mostly featured only the vocal talents of the guys while the music was supplied by ace session men. mike nesmith was the only monkee with enough chutzpah to insist that both of those first two albums also feature two of his own songs, which he also wound up producing. this meant that right from the very first album, the monkees had some classic "country rock" sounds. still, it wasn't until the recording of the HEADQUARTERS album that the monkees recorded most of the music themselves (electric, acoustic, pedal steel guitars, keyboards, banjo, drums, percussion and "occasional bass). it isounds garage band simplistic, but is all the more fun for that. several great songs on that album, including YOU JUST MAY BE THE ONE, RANDY SCOUSE GIT and FOR PETE'S SAKE (which became the show's closing credits theme song in the 2nd season). as much as i love that album. i love the fact that this album sat at number two all "summer of love" long, right after the number one album, SERGEANT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND. the beatles and the monkees: my first two earliest musical inspirations. my favorite monkees album of all is PISCES, AQUARIUS, CAPRICORN AND JONES LTD., the one which features Nesmith and Peter Tork on guitars and keyboards (micky plays drums on harry nilsson's CUDDLY TOY and nothing else), with the rest of the instruments played by the ace session men from the first two albums...a great compromise that resulted in a more overall commercial sound than HEADQUARTERS, with songs like PLEASANT VALLEY SUNDAY, WHAT AM I DOING HANGING 'ROUND?, LOVE IS ONLY SLEEPING and THE DOOR INTO SUMMER...sheer sonic bliss.

plus, i had a really strange dream last night about visiting mike nesmith. i don't remember most of it, just this vibe of poignancy and surreality. i do remember that in the dream i said goodbye to mike because it was time to wake up...and i did.

so, i'm checking my website today to see if anyone from the ditty bops fan site had popped in to check out my ABBY AND AMANDA song and i see this message in the guestbook from someone named lucy. no e-dress other than "london". she left a message that went something like "my name is lucy and i checked out your site today and it was very helpful. bye."

weird...

have i been hacked or something? ooh...this whole website thingy is so complicated and i'm such a freaking newbie.

weird...

oh! the diet is going pretty well. i've made it three days now on a diet of one caesar salad (with grilled chicken slices) a day, one cup of fruit or applesauce for snacking, and plenty of water. oh! and one coke a day (i was having caffeine withdrawal headaches, but one coke a day seems to do the trick).

yay!

now if i could just forget about that weird message from lucy...which, by the way, HAS COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED FROM MY SITE!!! did i delete her? nope, yet her original message on the guestbook and her e-mail message are both GONE.

weird...

well, it's that time of year again. yes, it's time for me to try and lose weight before the upcoming dragon con. i'd like to fit into my various costumes and i'd also like to be in better shape to handle the rigors of wandering around the con in costume for hours and hours at a time. wish me luck. my diet this summer consists of water, water, and more water. also: a grilled chicken caesar salad for lunch and a similar salad for dinner. for snacks, a few grapes here and a few apple slices there. what's not on the menu? well, no more COKE, PEPSI, DR. PEPPER, ROOT BEER, or even 7-UP (the un-cola). i might have a glass of COKE ZERO every now and then, but regular COKE is verboten and banned from my house. i'm hoping that the lack of sodas alone will help out quite a bit.

next week i'll let you know how i'm doing. stay tuned (assuming anyone is reading this).

i am going out soon to stock up on an adequate supply of fireworks to enable me to wreak much-desired havoc on the front lawn of my parent's house. if i don't blow myself up, i will write more tomorrow. on the other hand, if i do blow myself up...waaah!

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i just finished reading my copy of THE PLAIN JANES by writer cecil castellucci and jim rugg. this is a quiet little graphic novel that reads like a cross between shoujo manga and an episode of the gilmore girls. it couldn't have been more earnest if it tried, but i was in the right mood for that sort of thing. it's also very pro-girl and i'm always in the mood for that. some of the artwork was a little wonky and rushed in spots...and sometimes looked like several other artists' styles all squished together, but the overall gentle vibe got to me in the end. very nice.

sigh...

i got a little package in the mail today from super cool christy lijewski. i was so happy! i had to stay up all nite so i wouldn't miss a scad faculty meeting at 9:00am (grr) and that kinda thing always ruins my day. meetings, i mean. staying up all nite is fun...just don't like driving to and from savannah afterwards. anyhoo, i was soooo tired and miserable on the ride home. i tried getting an orange swirly mikshake thingie, but it just reminded me i need to lose weight (arrgh). and then, when all hope for a good day was lost, i check my mailbox at home and i had a little package and letter from christy. it totally turned my day around and i stopped feeling out of sorts and crummy. i felt...appreciated. sometimes that's all it takes to make the day worthwhile. thank you, christy, for saving my friday. yay!!!! christy rules! yay!!!

i'm sure people would love to know what sort of friends i'd put up links to...well, now you can find out.

today is (was) brian wilson's birthday. for the unenlightened, brian is the genius (not a word i like to throw around, but he is one of the most unqualified geniuses EVER) who brought us the magnificent and timeless music of PET SOUNDS, the innovative and ahead of its time SMILE, the 3-minute majesty of GOOD VIBRATIONS and literally hundreds and hundreds of other musically nutritional ear candy. god only knows what we did to deserve him in our lifetime, but i'm very grateful. also, a belated shout out to sir paul mccartney whose birthday was monday. his new MEMORY ALMOST FULL cd is well worth your time. finally, harry nilsson's birthday was last friday. harry's been dead for many years now, but i'd like to think he was celebrating somewhere. harry's songwriting and vocal gymnastics are beyond mere words and any fan of paul's and brian's is probably already of this, but it never hurts to mention it. anyhoo, a tip of the invisible top hat to all three of these singer/songwriters who have given all of us so much love and mercy over the years.

my good friend jarrett williams (the creator of LUNAR BOY...available at lulu.com and a great, all-ages appropriate read) will help me figure out to put links and stuff on my website this wednesday. i'm kinda computer illiterate and always welcome help that makes me look good. so, kudos to jarrett in advance (yay).

i've been getting lots of compliments on the design of my website and i wanted to make sure you understood something...i didn't actually come up with the design myself. i picked it out from a group of templates available to me by my webserver host peeps. it's called "barbie girl" and i chose it because it reminded me of the brini maxwell show. glad so many of you share my taste. down the road, i may alter things a bit when i figure out what i'm doing, but for now i'll just be plugging in some art, photos and whatnot... stay tuned, 'kay?

thanks to my brother scott (who knows good genes when he's related to them) i'm currently working on three film projects. two of these projects have been gestating for a looooong time. the other one just feels like it. anyhoo, i was up tonite working on one...doing the most boring research on earth. so boring, i won't even write about it here. what i will write about is my love for just sitting down and getting things done. i REALLY like doing my music cds and comic projects because i answer to NO ONE and do WHATEVER POPS INTO MY HEAD. the movie business, even the so-called indie movie business, is the complete and total opposite. it has merits all its own, of course, but i swear...i sometimes feel that i've passed into some kind of alternate reality where time doesn't work the same, but is muuuuuuch sloooooower. sigh...

glad to see so many old friends dropping by to see my site. still waiting for a few others (waah). meanwhile, i doff my invisible top hat to christy, jenny, jenny, megan, and rain. may your tights never get a run and may your bento box always be full of sushi...mmm...sushi....

well, it looks like my new dr. mittens comic will have to wait a little longer. i've decided to go ahead and write my first novel, based on a manga series i've been developing for over ten years now. i still plan on including some illustrations, but i've given up (for now) the idea of actually doing the manga version, as i just never seem to have enough time to do it right. if all goes well, i plan to premiere the book, the first in a nine volume series, at this summer's dragon con. wish me luck!

whaddaya know? i done had me some bonafide out-of-the-blue guests. i wasn't expecting any for awhile, as most people aren't aware of my site yet (i'm trying to get more content up first). still, it was WAY fun to see my new guestbook thingie works just fine. special thanks go to julie collins and aaron mew. "aaron?" you say. "i don't see no entry from aaron!" well, that's because i wielded my awesome power to delete it (because of some inappropriate language). still, naughty words or no, i appreciated aaron stopping by (behave next time). that goes for the rest of you out there, too. please try and keep the language family friendly, okay?

it's true:
bobpendarvis.com is finally open for business. took me awhile (don't ask), and i'm still tinkering with it (you'll see), but it's definitely here. yay!