It's a busy life...sure beats the alternative

It seems like forever since I've posted anything here. I'd apologize, but I only have two regular readers, so that would be silly. It's not like there are hundreds or even dozens of people hanging on my words. Suppose I can take however much time I want between posts.

Anyway, so one of the things that's been taking my time is a newsletter I'd love to show off to you. It's quarterly, so I only spend probably a total of five to six weeks a year on this, but I'm always so very pleased with the final product. It's a much more in-depth commitment than the weekly e-newsletter I throw together every weekend and distribute through Constant Contact. This one is actually a print newsletter and I do everything for it but write. Editing, photography (or image hunting; about half of the images are shot by me, while the others are either public domain or CC-sharealike), layout, electronic conversion, etc. are all me.

Please take a look at them here. Heck, if you're agriculture-minded, go ahead and inquire about signing up. It's free.

Dirty Peanutz has an official home!

OK, folks--if you've enjoyed my plying my twisted humor on these classic Peanuts strips, go on over to check out my new Dirty Peanutz page on Blogger. I'll be posting a new Peanutz strip there every day! If you've been following along, you'll see familiar strips for a while (with a surprise bonus strip coming up soon) and then after those have all been posted I'm moving on to ALL NEW MATERIAL!

Subscribe now to make sure you get your daily fix of beloved children's characters engaged in the most tasteless endeavors you can imagine. I will no longer be posting these creations on this page; to see more you'll have to visit me at peanuttier.blogspot.com.

New header image is up

Hey, gang! I updated that header this morning by incorporating the souvenir log flume photo from this last Six Flags trip. As I mentioned the other day, it's the first souvenir photo from Six Flags that I've actually ever purchased. Now, instead of me and some stranger's kid, it's me along with the wife and two young'uns. Thing is, the laptop is missing from the shot now. That was my favorite part of the previous graphic. Perhaps I'll photoshop one in later. It would make more sense, I think.

Follow follow follow

Hey you! Like what you are reading? Subscribe! Make my day! You can now follow via RSS or email. Why not check out my other pages ("Find Me Elsewhere" links in the sidebar) and follow me on some of those sites as well? Come on, what have you got to lose? If you're gonna be screwing around on that fancy tablet or phone all day anyway, why not have fun doing it? Go for a daily ride on the Blog Flume! :)

National Poetry Month #22

ME via INSTAGRAM: Downtown Peoria is due for record flooding by Tuesday.

The Peoria, Illinois riverfront is one day away from seeing a record flood crest of around 30 feet tomorrow. It is drawing a lot of gawkers down to the water's edge. I hope dearly that everyone behaves responsibly and remembers to keep themselves and their children a safe distance away from the flood waters.

With that thought in mind. I present a quirky, thought-provoking, sad yet serene poem by a true American master.


HOW THE WATERS CLOSED ABOVE HIM
by Emily Dickinson

How the Waters closed above Him
We shall never know -
How He stretched His Anguish to us
That - is covered too -

Spreads the Pond Her Base of Lilies
Bold above the Boy
Whose unclaimed Hat and Jacket
Sum the History -

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

After years of ignoring my MySpace page, I have finally deleted my account. Before doing so, I was sure to download all my blog entries from there. I am currently in the process of transferring those to this blog. They date back to 2007, and there is some very interesting stuff in them. I read through several today as I converted them to this page.

You might also have noticed some rebranding going on. Say farewell to the old McGraw Media Matters (M3) blog. I have noticed that a lot of the stuff I've been posting and basically all of the old MySpace stuff is highly personal, introspective or speculative. Seems like this blog was beginning to shift into more than I had originally bargained for, so I thought it best to simply rebrand it as sort of a catch-all blog instead of a narrowly targeted one. Here you can really get to know me now, more than just professionally.

I hope you enjoy the changes. I am excited to roll out this new image and continue in the new direction. Thanks as always for your readership. Now do me a solid and subscribe please?

I am coaster crazy

Meet El Toro, the most bad-ass wooden coaster I've encountered yet!

Here's a departure from the norm on this page.

I just realized that I have ridden 65 roller coasters in my lifetime so far. You know what? My bucket list just got an item added: To ride 100 coasters before taking on that big thrill ride in the sky.

Soon I will post a list with the 65 I've ridden, complete with locations, descriptions and very brief reviews. And this summer I will add at least number 66, in Six Flags St. Louis' latest addition, the currently-under-construction Boomerang!

More online activity than you can shake a virtual stick at

Can't get enough of me? Yeah, that's what my wife said too. Head on over and check out my Instagram feed at http://instagram.com/shanemcgraw1. I have 393 photos uploaded so far, but only 31 followers. Please take a quick visit. If you like what you see, click the FOLLOW button. It will make me happy. :D 

This weekend: Peoria Ballet presents The Nutcracker

Seats remaining for the Dec 8 show as of this morning (Dec 3) are shown in blue.

If you are in the Peoria-Bloomington area and need a dose of culture or Christmas spirit, head on over to Ticketmaster.com and purchase some tickets for Peoria Ballet's 30th annual presentation of The Nutcracker. There are two shows only -- Saturday December 8 at 7:30 PM and Sunday December 9 at 2:00 PM. Tickets start at only $10, and they're going FAST, especially for the Saturday evening show!



Seats remaining for the Dec 9 show as of this morning (Dec 3) are shown in blue.

Come see my kids and me perform in this seasonal show that has become a holiday tradition in Peoria.
Start a tradition with your own family! Ring in each Christmas season with the premiere classical ballet of the yuletide season.

This year's production features many brand new costumes, all new choreography, and a brand new backdrop that the ballet acquired thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign that I helped put together!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-news/press-releases/2012/10/disney-acquire-lucasfilm-ltd

So long, Vader. It was nice knowin' ya.

Disney is un-friggin-stoppable. It's like that crazy Playstation game Katamari. Pixar, Marvel (I died a little that day too) and now Lucasfilm... What will that monstrosity of a Hollywood juggernaut devour next?

Three new Star Wars movies? Really? Why, for God's sake? Well, I don't care what they say. They won't be canon.

And let's not forget Indiana Jones. Any plans there, Disney? Actually, Lucas did a good job on his own of screwing up that franchise. It could use some fresh life.

If they remake Labyrinth I'll scream, I swear to God.

Bastards.

Raising funds to help the local Arts scene

A non-profit near and dear to my heart, the Peoria Ballet, is currently attempting to raise enough donations to purchase a beautiful hand-painted backdrop for their annual performance of The Nutcracker at the Peoria Civic Center.

The rental fees on this thing are exorbitant, so owning a brand new one outright would be a wonderful boon for the organization, as the financial burden of putting on this traditional show (now in its 30th year) would be eased significantly.

More and more, arts programs are being cut from public schools due to lack of funding. The Peoria Ballet's Nutcracker has a day devoted to two performances just for our local schools. Many of those children will be seeing a production like this for the very first time. Each year I watch from backstage or the side aisles as a hush of wonder falls over those kids when the curtains open. It's an amazing feeling to be a part of inspiring so many young minds at once like that. That is what this production is all about.

Please help the Peoria Ballet maintain the majesty of this gorgeous production while exposing new generations to the classical beauty of the art of ballet, inspiring the dancers of tomorrow year after year. Make your pledge today, even if you have never been to the ballet or live too far away to come take in the show. You can still make a difference.

Visit the Kickstarter page and help the Peoria Ballet keep this Peoria family holiday tradition going strong. And check out the cool PowerPoint video featured on the page. That's my work. Only took about four hours to throw together. :)

Draw Something... Draw anything! Just draw already!

My addiction has moved to the next level. I killed the Facebook album I mentioned earlier and started a Tumblr page to share my coolest drawings.

Check out McDraw Something at
http://mcgrawshane.tumblr.com
and feel free to comment, reply, post your own versions, or whatever!

While you're at it, subscribe! :)

Sourceforge releases new version of sound editor

I was stoked to learn this morning that our friends at Sourceforge have recently taken their wonderful sound editor, Audacity, from its latest beta version to a full, new version release! On March 13 of this year, they unveiled Audacity v 2.0!

A screenshot from Audacity 2.0

I've been using Audacity for many years, and I can't be happier with its performance. For a free product, you can't beat it. Audacity outperforms some premium products I've used. This release addresses, among other things, some of the bugs that have been driving me occasionally nuts, primarily the one that causes the program to sometimes crash for no reason after recording in Windows 7. Even though the product has admittedly brought me infrequent headaches over the years due to glitches like this, I would still wholeheartedly recommend it to any audiophile who wants a powerful piece of audio editing software on a budget.

I have not yet had time to explore all the upgrades in this release. If I end up having more feedback on the matter I will definitely forward it on to the Sourceforge team and post it here for the curious.



Manowar update re: Hammer of the Gods

I was looking at my posts today and noticed when browsing the analytics that the post that's brought in the most readers was the post I did about Manowar. With that in mind and my desire to become part of the "Circle," here's a fresh post concerning a 2012 album update.

Manowar today released the second preview from the upcoming Hammer of the Gods album release. The song is called "Expendable," and it sounds like a true metal masterpiece to me. Here's an exclusive clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koNYpiwHjHY&feature=colike

If you missed the first preview, for the song "El Gringo," you can find it here:

http://youtu.be/2JOqDxJ5trY

Both are some kickass sounding tunes. I am more excited for this release than any other album yet. The previews make the songs sound like they are not as full of the typical Manowar trope that has honestly made the band a bit of a joke with outsiders over the years.

Let's hope that 2012 will be the year that Manowar gains some much overdue respect in the rock world. Hail and Kill, brothers and sisters of true metal!

New Manowar album preview!

Below is a video of members of "The Circle" - fans and media contacts hand chosen by Manowar - previewing the rough mix of the newest studio track, "El Gringo," from Manowar's upcoming album, which will be released in late June/early July 2012.

Not only am I stoked for the new album; I also saw this as an opportunity to hopefully get involved with this "Circle." For now, count on me to promote Manowar news whenever I receive updates. Later, who knows?

 

Also note that 2012 is the 10th anniversary of one of my favorite Manowar discs, Warriors of the World. It's a big year! Perhaps another U.S. visit will be in the works???

Hail and Kill,
Your brother of steel
official band site:
www.manowar.com

More pro bono work to add to the portfolio

I just finished up a pretty cool video project for my children's private school. My wife and I donated our time last week to plan, write, direct, shoot and edit a brief promotional video to be shown at a fundraiser.

More details to come, but they'll have to wait until next Saturday (March 17). I need to make sure that we have the benefit of first viewing at our school fundraiser dinner and auction on the evening of March 16.

I'm happy to have been given the opportunity to help out again, and not only do I help the school with this project - my wife parlayed it into an opportunity to allow me to create and place a free ad for my son's ballet school in the event program as payment!

In addition, this project is also blossoming into another opportunity, to create a more high-profile video of the same ilk for the school's web page. Hooray for me! Things are looking up. :)

A 20+ year obsession comes of age

OK, so since I've designated this page as media-themed and that can mean just about anything really, I'm going to start additionally using it as a way to spotlight a musical obsession I've had for nearly 25 years: METAL.

And I'm not talking about that cookie cutter new metal that we get in abundance in the USA. I enjoy listening to that stuff once in a while--even Nickelback takes a few turns on my iPod rotation now and then. What I'm talking about is the stuff that doesn't get much or any airplay on so-called "hard rock and metal" radio stations in this country, at least nowhere I'm aware of. There's a whole world of heavy music out there that the average American hard rock fan has never been exposed to. Many of the bands in these subgenres have very successful careers throughout the world but are relatively unheard of in North America.

I'm going to keep this blog going as before, but when I am at a loss for a "normal" post, I'll toss in a link to a YouTube video, official band site, album review or something else within the realm of legality that features a heavy music act that I think deserves some attention.

Kicking it off with some Gamma Ray. The band was founded by Kai Hansen, the original lead singer of German metal band Helloween. During Hansen's time at the helm, Helloween was a very decent thrash band. They only released a couple of EPs and a full-length album before his departure from the band and their new direction which originated the sound that came to be known as power metal.

Hansen went on to form Gamma Ray in 1988. Their debut album, Heading for Tomorrow, was released two years later on Noise Records. If featured Hansen on lead guitar and Ralf Scheepers on vocals. Scheepers would provide vocals for two additional outings before Hansen took over beginning on the 1995 release, Land of the Free. From that point on, Hansen would do double duty as lead guitarist and vocalist. He's also been the main songwriter during the band's career.

Scheepers went on to found another successful power metal band, Primal Fear, after being turned down as Rob Halford's replacement in Judas Priest.

To date, Gamma Ray has released 10 studio albums, three live discs and three EPs. They have become one of Germany's most successful metal acts ever. And deservedly so.

Here's Gamma Ray doing a live version of one of the catchiest tunes from their debut album, "Heaven Can Wait":

New banner is up!

I finally decided to throw together a header yesterday. I knocked this out after I finished another Photoshop job for a friend during the kids' gymnastics classes. Probably not done yet. I think it needs some more layering effects, but not sure what yet. Let's call it a work in progress.

Link to my Examiner.com page

As I mentioned before, I have become a writer for Examiner.com. I've totally flaked on this site because of everything else going on. I wanted to at least give out a link to my page, which will be updated weekly at least. My goal is two to three articles per week, but as it's all going to have to be on one topic, that might be a lofty number to keep up while maintaining originality.

If you're interested in checking it out, you can find my Examiner page at http://www.examiner.com/family-entertainment-in-peoria/shane-mcgraw. Wish me luck!

Busy busy busy

New earlier work hours, application for promotion, kids, ballet, gym, dinners, pets, photography, blogging, writing for Examiner.com, Netflix, PS3 (now connected to wireless signal in the living room), full DVR, dishes, laundry, leaves to rake, spending more time with more friends . . . Holy crap! When did lazy ol' me get to be so damn busy? Somebody get me a beer! And a holiday.

I promise I'll post more soon. Oh, wait. I have one. I'll post it next.