Three great CD releases are sneaking in under the radar in the next month or so. I already mentioned the new Tom Waits album, but two more also have me excited. The Black Keys just released their third album, which I promptly bought to celebrate my first check. Oh, the neighbors are going to love me for the next month and a half as I learn to play the new songs. Third is Billy Corgan's solo album, slated for a late October release. I'm not really holding my breath, as he is notorious for taking several months in the studio, but whenever it gets released I'll be frantically scurrying down to Best Buy to get my grubby mits on it.

Work is getting better and better. It turns out that the nice young woman who I met at the Heorat last week works in the office down the hall a couple days a week. She loves music, and the two CDs on her desk right now are my copy of the Breeders' Title TK, and Johnny Cash's American IV: the Man Comes Around. Great taste, I must say. Elsewhere around the office, I found out that my paycheck is delivered to me. This is after I walked all over creation yesterday trying to find it. Convenience. Today, I met the head of BSU marketing. He's a good guy, and that means something from me, as I typically hold marketing majors in similar esteem as middle school gym teachers. I first met him when I accidentally walked in on a meeting with him and my boss and my boss's boss. I wanted to buy a coke out of the refrigerator behind his chair, so his first impression of me was a tall guy with an iPod loping through the door and wedging in behind his chair to acquire a canned beverage. I was introduced by name and then as a student in the Digital Storytelling program. His affirmative answer, like so many others, said that he didn't know what that meant either. Later on, as I was saving my work and preparing to leave, he came in with my boss to tell us about his great idea for the video tour. Something new and innovative- computer animated tourguides! The user would have a choice of three fun characters to watch, and... Something about a greenscreen... Something else... I was thinking "wow, I'm blogging this." He asked me if I thought this sounded good, and I told him that a little animated character was going to come across like the MS Word paperclip. It would disconnect people from the message. I didn't mention that it would mean about ten grand in equipment upgrades and more to hire a staff to create these to have online by March at the earliest. Later, my boss (a saint, I should mention) told me that she was happy that I stood up and told him the truth.

I got to thinking, though. What would an animated tour look like? Imagine Gollum at BSU. "Ahh! Tricksy bursarses, steals your monies! No, they's's good to us, the school cares for us. No! All our monies go to losing football team! We hates them! Hates them! Curses!" It would go on like that, and enrollment at IU would jump through the roof. I find it weird that being an animator has meant that I spend much of my time in such discussions telling people how much harder animation is, and how live action is simpler.

Tomorrow night I'm going to see Wynton Marsallis for ten bucks. I'm going with Gerry and a few other friends, and a few total strangers. Discount tickets to good events is another great thing about BSU. USF would be lucky to get Tito Jackson and John Oates.