The Buhner.com Blog

Again, my apologies for the lack of updates lately. I’ve been pretty busy this week, and haven’t had much time to put up content, and I’ve actually got a decent amount of content to put up in the next few days.

The article I’m putting up today is special to Buhner.com. Written by Joe Avella, Remembering “B” is Joe’s look back at jazz great Billy Mitchell, his discovery of jazz, hearing for the first time what he thought was “just another sax player”, and his relationship with the musician.

As for other articles, I know there are three in the works; another by Joe, one by myself, and the return to Buhner.com of Chris Buse. I’ve got a few rants in me too, but I’ll save those until another time.

Until then, enjoy Joe’s article.

Well, here it is. The new layout has arrived, and I must say, I like it quite a lot. I will say that I had very little to do with it. This is mostly Tara’s doing, the creative webpage designing half of Black Sunshine Computer Concepts. I just took the site and sanded a few of the edges (mainly my webcounter tags, which had to be changed now that the frames are dead), but the little lady is responsible for the changes. Now, without the frames and a few size constrictions, this should be good in 800×600 resolution, for whomever still uses that.

Anyone who spends a decent time around me knows I like to read, but have this inability to read just one book at a time, leaving me reading several books at the same time. Well, I managed to finish two this week. The first, Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, is probably better known by the movie it became, Field Of Dreams. Being a fan of the film, I always meant to read the book, as I have this almost morbid fascination with seeing how badly movie adaptations are from their original novel. As adaptations go, Field Of Dreams wasn’t a bad film version. The film lacks certain characters, some somewhat major, and one major change. The character of Terrance Mann, played by James Earl Jones, doesn’t exist in the novel. The character of Mann replaces that of J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher In The Rye, among others. Salinger was reportedly furious about being in the book, and threatened legal action if he were part of the movie. The book, although fiction, uses many real characters and coincidences, including the character of “Moonlight” Graham, whose portrayal in the novel (and the book) was very much true to form (with the exception of the coming back to life part). A Salinger story did include a character named “Ray Kinsella”. It’s an interesting piece of fiction using true characters, and I highly recommend the book.

The other book I read was Moneyball by Michael Lewis. This book totally pulled me in, and while I’ve stated I usually start books and wander off to others, this I finished in less than a week. I plan on doing a review of the book for the site, so I’ll save comments for later.

Expect a rant tomorrow. Memorial Day in the Hamptons… sigh.

Two things… it’s a short update.

First off, Owen Hart died today, four years ago. If you don’t have an interest in pro wrestling, I understand why you wouldn’t know who he is, but if you followed pro wrestling, you know exactly who I’m talking about. Anyone who knew Owen outside of what they saw on TV knew how good of a person he was. Always the practical joker who made a backstage area a little more comfortable to be around. Owen’s first love wasn’t wrestling, but he was blessed as a great wrestler, possibly better than his brother Bret. After wrestling for a period of time, Owen wanted to retire and become a fireman in Calgary. However, when he was unable to become a fireman, he ended up going back to wrestling to support his family, the very thing that killed him.

In a profession that has been dulled by death within its ranks, Owen’s death was especially tragic, because he didn’t die because of his vices or addictions or out of glory. He did what he was instructed to do, and it went tragicly wrong.

It’s no secret that wrestling pretty much sucks now. What’s ironic is that if you took the wrestlers who have died or been killed together over the last 10 years, you’d have a damn good company that could outproduce anything out there right now.

Anyway, second thing. I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t plug the Bridgehampton Fire Department website. Black Sunshine Computer Concepts has been working hard on it (with limited resources) and it doesn’t look bad. It’s going to look better once we get more infomation, but I figure I’d plug it anyway.

That’s it for now. The new look for the site should arrive in the next day or two.

Sorry about the double update. Black Sunshine Computer Concepts is currently working on the page(s) to give them a more “clean” look. I was going to hold off on updating until the page design was done, but I’d rather post updates (especially Griff’s article) as stuff is fresh in my mind, instead of waiting and forgetting stuff (as I’m sure I’m doing even now).

Remembered now what I wanted to say for this update. However, it got so damned long it became a column! After seeing the Academy of Country Music Awards last night, I felt the desire to write Dumbass Country Music for buhner.com. It touches on the Dixie Chicks situation, but mainly about how country music carries itself.

My dear friend Mark Warren (The 16th Parallel) has his own story about the Chicks, but more importantly, he’s a kickass web designer and father. Feel free to check out his site.

And don’t forget to scroll down a little bit and see that Griff has written an article for us. Scroll, or he won’t write more! Ah hell, I’ll just link it again. Another One of Those Stinkin’ “Buffy” Recollections

Today’s going to be an interesting day around the Buhner.com offices (ha!). Well, moreso this evening, when the final episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer shows on UPN tonight at 8PM (EST). Buffy is one of those few shows I can manage to get into, partially from it being a good show, and partially because Tara’s a really big fan. It isn’t too often we both can watch something and totally be interested in the show. When it ends tonight (and I’ve intentionally tried to stay away from any Buffy fansite or Buffy related info just to keep any kind of spoiler away), that’s just one more reason I don’t watch too much TV (and I never thought I’d say that.)

Buffy is a well written show, has good characters, and manages to throw a little bit of something for everyone in the shows. They seem to be written for the short attention span, with several things going on at once, comedy mixed with horror mixed with action mixed with drama mixed with romance. Maybe that’s what attracts me to it.

Anyway, if I can be thankful for anything that the final episode will bring (outside of allowing me to live life without hearing Michelle Trachtenberg’s screech weekly), it’s a new article from Entertainment Editor Adam Griffin! Griff’s given us Another One of Those Stinkin’ “Buffy” Recollections, his latest article showing his feelings towards the end of BTVS, and his memories from the show.