The Troubles
Eight months since the last entry . . . it doesn't feel that long, though a lot of life happens in that amount of time. Arc Impulse completed recording a 4 track EP, available now on Bandcamp:
http://arc-impulse.bandcamp.com/
Tracks:
Arrival: M (Metroid)
Sewer Surfin' (TMNT: Turtles in Time)
Fantasy Zone (Space Harrier)
The Main Event (Punch-Out!!)
I've started playing electric guitar over my acoustic for live shows, which has been a bit of a challenge as I haven't touched the guitar I used for this album in almost seven years. One of the first shows I played with it was one of our biggest, at MAGFest in January - after years of being a part of the video game music scene it was gratifying to finally be on stage at a festival that's been preceded with performances the Protomen, Armcannon, The One-Ups, and a bunch of other bands I've listened to over the years. I hope we're able to return next year.
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The Believers, the latest feature documentary we've completed at 137 Films, premiered and competed at the Chicago International Film Festival. It won the Golden Hugo in its category! We've also secured international distribution. Can't wait until it's available in the states for everyone to watch.
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One of my coworkers is steeped in the homebrew community of Chicago, which has led to some video work I've done with him around a few local drinking/food events:
Iron Brew with Chef Won Kim and interviews with the founders of Stone, 5 Rabbit, and Two Brothers:
Iron Brew from Mark Skala on Vimeo.
The Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer:
Click to view- - -
I'm dating a wonderful woman named Abby.
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For two and a half weeks in February and March, I had the good fortune to travel around Ireland with some incredible people.
Read:
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Venus on the Half Shell, Kilgore Trout
Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 3
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar, Maurice Leblanc
Sun and Steel, Yukio Mishima
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Nicholas Meyer
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Distrust That Particular Flavor, William Gibson
The Prophet, Khalil Gibran
The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth
Six Memos for the Next Millennium, invis Calvino
2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Castle of Crossed Destinies
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
2010: Odyssey Two, Arthur C. Clarke
2061: Odyssey Three, Arthur C. Clarke
3001: The Final Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Shane, Jack Schaefer
The Complete Stories, Flannery O'Connor
Legend, Marie Lu
Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson
El Hacedor, Jorge Luis Borges
Mr. Palomar, Italo Calvino
Marcovaldo, Italo Calvino
The Speed of Dark, Elizabeth Moon
The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain, Mark Twain
Asimov on Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov
Why Read the Classics?, Italo Calvino
The Crying of Lot 49, Thomas Pynchon
The World of Null-A, A. E. Van Vogt
Under the Jaguar Sun, Italo Calvino
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Last and First Men, Olaf Stapledon
Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon
Metamorphoses, Ovid
The Aleph and other stories 1933-1969, Jorge Luis Borges
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, Frederik Pohl
Three Tales, Gustave Flaubert
A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
Heechee Rendezvous, Frederik Pohl
Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges
The Book of Dede Korkut
The Big Time, Fritz Leiber
The Skylark of Space, E. E. "Doc" Smith
Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges, Richard Burgin
Double Star, Robert A. Heinlein
Anabasis - The March Up Country, Xenophon
Constellation Games, Leonard Richardson
Who?, Algis Budrys
Kitsune-Tsuki, Laura V. Baugh
IQ84, Haruki Murakami
The Baron in the Trees, Italo Calvino
The Dialogue of the Dogs, Miguel de Cervantes
The Way the Future Was, Frederik Pohl
Altered Carbon, Richard K. Morgan
An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter, Cesar Aira
A Case of Conscience, James Blish
The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham
First Meetings in Ender's Universe, Orson Scott Card
Shadows in Flight, Orson Scott Card
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Long Tomorrow, Leigh Brackett
The Prisoner of Heaven, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
Reamde, Neal Stephenson
A Hermit in Paris, Italo Calvino
The Watcher, and Other Stories, Italo Calvino
The Handmaid's Tail, Margaret Atwood
The Happy Prince & Other Stories, Oscar Wilde
The Early Williamson, Jack Williamson
Have Space Suit - Will Travel, Robert A. Heinlein
The Shrinking Man, Richard Matheson
The Speed of Darkness, Steve Tesich
Hyperion, Dan Simmons
The Road to San Giovanni, Italo Calvino
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Life a User's Manual, Georges Perec
Barbara, Osamu Tezuka
Blade of the Immortal, Volume 25: Snowfall at Dawn, Hiroaki Samura
Blade of the Immortal, Volume 26: Blizzard, Hiroaki Samura
Seen:
Slaughterhouse-Five
Sophie's Choice
Norwegian Wood
How to Steal a Million
The Cider House Rules
Bronson
We're Not Married!
Let's Make Love
The Artist
A Prophet
Sleepwalk with Me
The Hunter
Haywire
Magnolia
Revolver
Samsara
Snatch
The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
Mulholland Dr.
Vanilla Sky
Barbarella
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Everything is Illuminated
Stranger Than Fiction
The Interruptors
The Soloist
Thin
Paths of Glory
The Grey
Dredd 3D
13 Tzameti
Sleuth [2007]
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Rambo: First Blood
Titus
Looper
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below
The Green Mile
The FP
Indie Game: The Movie
Rambo III
Taxidermia
Rambo
Lebanon
Argo
Heavenly Creatures
The Hunger Games
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Cloud Atlas
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
RocknRolla
A Separation
La Dolce Vita
Skyfall
Boogie Nights
The Three Musketeers [2011]
Mean Girls
Pickpocket
Wreck-It Ralph
Bad Lieutenant
Barry Lyndon
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
Public Enemies
Withnail and I
My First Mister
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Last Hurrah for Chivalry
Top Hat
Sexy Beast
Lockout
Bottle Rocket
Margin Call
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Great Escape
Hukkle
Pina
Dead Man
The Long Goodbye
Safety Not Guaranteed
Another Year
Soylent Green
Les Miserables [2012]
Sound of My Voice
Django Unchained
Rurouni Kenshin [2012]
Trekkies
The Queen of Versailles
The Expendables 2
2 Days in New York
Alamar
WarGames
The Kid with a Bike
Angels & Airwaves Love
The Loneliest Planet
Chico & Rita
The Deep Blue Sea
Iron Sky
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Premium Rush
A Prairie Home Companion
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
The Turin Horse
Horrible Bosses
Drunken Angel
The Knack . . . and How to Get it
Barton Fink
Blood Simple.
What's Up, Doc?
The Hedgehog
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
9
The Son's Room
Miller's Crossing
Seraphine
Battle Creek Brawl
Cosmopolis
Cocoon
Eternity and a Day
New Fist of Fury
The Killer Meteors
To Kill with Intrigue
John Carter
Rhapsody in August
The Castle
Lincoln
The Sessions
The Master
The Goonies
The Amazing Spider Man
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Hara Kiri: The Death of a Samurai [2011]
The Mill and the Cross
The Women on the 6th Floor
Seven Up
Seven Psychopaths
Madadayo
7 Plus Seven
Kumare
21 Up
Holy Motors
Flight
Fantasy Mission Force
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
This is Not a Film
Men in Black III
Marty
Dodes'ka-den
Quills
Homeland [Seasons 1 and 2]
The Venture Bros [Season 4]
Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine [Complete Series]
Time of Eve [Complete Series]
Kids on the Slope [Complete Series]
Undeclared [Complete Series]