Matt Getty

Keeping Susie Whole

2012-01-27T18:14:00.003-05:00

"Keeping Susie Whole" is now available in the Winter 2012 issue of Frigg Magazine. It's about raising a daughter whose body parts keep falling off. Give it a read.

Sophia

2011-12-26T15:34:00.001-05:00

Cheri

2011-12-25T21:20:00.001-05:00

My lovely wife.

Zoe

2011-12-24T20:31:00.001-05:00

Book Review: The Dark Fields

2011-12-19T07:14:00.000-05:00

The Dark Fields (or Limitless) is a great high-concept, quasi-literary thriller. The writing throughout is fast paced and highly detailed, each of the characters are well drawn, and the plot was gripping from start to finish. For my money, there's not much more that you could ask for from a book.

The gist of the novel is that Eddie Spinola, a struggling freelance writer, begins taking the super-smart drug MDT after stumbling onto a stash of the pills supplied by his recently murdered ex-brother in law. Once Eddie takes the pills, he becomes super-productive, cleaning his apartment, finishing his latest manuscript, and learning new languages and how to play piano in the space of a few days. Enthralled with his newfound brilliance, Eddie takes two to three pills a day and begins making a killing on the market as a day trader. Along the way he takes a $100,000 loan from, and writes a screenplay treatment for, the Russian mafia, begins suffering from periodic blackouts, and possibly murders the wife of a famous Mexican painter.

Surely, you knew there'd be a drawbacks to this experimental wonder-drug.

Naturally, Eddie decides to get off MDT, but doing so unleashes more complications. Stopping the drug, he soon finds, causes debilitating headaches, nausea, and other flu-like symptom that eventually lead to death. Not to mention it's kind of difficult to do his new job as the broker for a multi-million-dollar media conglomerate merger without the help of those little wonder pills.

OK, you can see where this is going in a hurry, but what author Alan Glynn does so effectively here is make you wish Eddie would go back on the drugs even when you know it will only make things worse. This is a neat trick that forces the reader sympathize with the addict. Because we spend so much time with Eddie, experiencing his life on and off MDT moment by moment, we feel his desire for the drug viscerally, even as we--like him--know it can't really solve his problems. This simultaneous desire for and fear of the drug, coupled with the hope that everything can turn out right with just a little more MDT, is the emotional heart of the novel. Like Eddie, we know that throwing more MDT at the problem would be like trying to put out a fire with a bucket of gasoline, but also like him we can't help make that irrational choice. By the end then, the reader becomes complicit in Eddie's eventual downfall, which makes the final act all the more powerful.

Published in 2001, the book also asks questions about brain chemistry and identity that are all the more relevant a decade later. As Eddie alternately unravels and pulls himself back together off and on the drug, The Dark Fields prompts you to wonder who we truly are? Do we have an identity independent of our brain chemistry? When are we responsible for the choices our brain makes? Do our mental limitations truly hold us back, or do they rather allow us to be who we truly are?

This may not have been intended, but Eddie's choice to dedicate his superhuman abilities to beating the market also made an impression on me early in the book. It's interesting--yet wholly believable--that after discovering he could learn musical instruments, new languages, and just about anything else in just a day, Eddie chose to dedicate his new abilities to the market--a complex but ultimately empty skill, whose only product is financial reward.

For my money, this says something about where we've come in the 21st century. I think it's safe to say that today's best minds are often, like Eddie, drawn to the wold of finance because there is no other field that yields such quick financial gains. And, while the world of finance plays a critical role in the world economy, you can't help but wonder about the effect this intellectual drain has on other fields. How many great inventors, artists and doctors have we lost--like Eddie--to the lure of money?

In Dark Fields, Eddie realizes far too late that he'd be best off if he dedicated his amplified intelligence and drive toward creating a sustainable supply of the very thing that allows him to be successful. As I closed the book, I couldn't help but feel that we might be making the same mistake.

View all my reviews

A Reindeer's Life

2011-12-11T23:06:00.005-05:00

A short illustrated movie I made with my daughters.

Fistful of Xmas Cheer

2011-12-07T18:47:00.000-05:00

Is it too early to get into the Christmas Spirit?

High-rise on the Moon

2011-12-06T23:07:00.003-05:00

Another song from the "Be One Instead" project. Be One Instead is a children's book about a juggling flea who wants to be everything, becomes a real estate developer, and has to build a high-rise on the moon before he realizes that the only place where he could truly be everything was home.

This song sits right at the center of the story.

Free eBook With Purchase of Print Copy - News - Dzanc Books

2011-12-05T23:10:00.002-05:00

I love digital books. I've been an audio-book fan for years, and I love the instant access and centralized note-taking capabilities of e-books. Still, whenever I finish a digital book, I just can't help but wish that I had the physical actual book in my library.

I know, it's just so 20th-century of me, but it's true. I won't wax poetic about the feel of the physical pages in my hand, the way the worn cover speaks volumes about how much a book has been loved, or the fact that books don't need batteries. But I love the idea of a personal library and how it reflects its owner. Sadly, many of my favorite books have no place in my library because they live only on my hard-drive.

And this is why I love what Dzanc book is doing here. By offering a free e-book with the purchase of the physical book, they're telling me I can have my cake and eat it too. Hat's off to them for recognizing this, and I hope more publishers will embrace this. Why not? It provides added value, it costs the publisher nothing extra, and it allows me to embrace the two centuries my life straddles.

Book Review: The Hunger Games

2011-12-03T12:23:00.002-05:00

Maybe I should start reading more young-adult fantasy novels, because I have to admit that I probably enjoyed The Hunger Games more than any other book I've read in the last few months.

The premise is straight-forward and compelling, if not all that original: In a dystopic future America, teenagers from outlying districts must compete with each other in a battle to the death to pay tribute for their districts' previous rebellion against the capital. When her younger sister is picked to compete, a 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her place. At The Hunger Games she must struggle to overcome stronger opponents as well as a young girl who reminds her of her sister and a boy from her own district with whom she may be falling in love.

So, yeah, it's The Running Man meets The Breakfast Club.

Simple as it may be, however, the premise allows for a lot of interesting complications. How will Katniss deal with having to kill children, who like her are merely pawns in a game played by the opulent and cruel denizens of the capital? What will she do when she has to face-off against Rue, the young girl who reminds her of her sister? How will she reconcile the fake romance she's developing with Peeta, a baker's child from her own district, with her true feelings and her need to kill (or be killed by) him.

Collins fails to realize the full potential of some of these complications, giving Katniss what some readers might see as a few easy outs--especially with Rue. But I can forgive her mainly because of how deftly she handles the complex relationship between Katniss and Peeta. I hate to bring up this other wildly popular YA-fantasy title, but what Collins does with this budding romance is so much more nuanced and so much less insulting to women than anything in the Twilight series that I can't wait for my daughters to read this book. Hopefully, they'll look at me one day and say, "Katniss is so much cooler than Bella," but I digress.

Though the fast-paced novel mostly eschews literary flourishes, the story-telling is deft and confident throughout, and their are some truly inspired descriptions, such as when Katniss's sister's face is described as "as fresh as a raindrop" and her cat's eyes are described as "the color of rotting squash."

To revisit the issue of Katniss being a refreshingly strong female lead, I have to admit that this also probably played a big role in my enjoyment of The Hunger Games. As the father of two daughters, I love seeing that there's a heroine out there who takes responsibility for her family, hunts with a skill and knowledge rivaling that of any male characters, and kicks ass with a bow and arrow. I hope the movie coming out next year is a hit, because I'd love to see Katniss Everdeen become a true pop-culture icon for my daughters.

View all my reviews

New Story Coming out in Frigg Magazine

2011-12-02T07:44:00.003-05:00

My short story "Keeping Susie Whole" has been accepted for the winter issue of Frigg Magazine. It's about raising a daughter whose body parts fall off. Check back for a link some time in the new year, or just visit Frigg Magazine every day and read everything there until you find it.

“Master Anthony Greedyguts” Becomes a Pig: A Slide Show of Cautionary Tales for Children - Slate Magazine

2011-10-28T09:09:00.000-04:00

An interesting survey of cautionary children's stories ...

“Master Anthony Greedyguts” Becomes a Pig: A Slide Show of Cautionary Tales for Children - Slate Magazine:

'via Blog this'

Take Your Time

2011-08-17T22:31:00.001-04:00

New recording of old children's song--for use in the "Be One Instead" project.

Take Your Time by Matt Getty

The Mighty Zorog: Office Monster

2011-07-31T23:26:00.002-04:00

It's All Right

2011-07-09T16:03:00.000-04:00

It's All Right by Matt Getty

Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman

2011-07-08T12:43:00.003-04:00

Who's at the wheel? What really controls the decisions and actions we commonly think of as ours? Do our brains really belong to us, or do we belong to our brains? David Eagleman kicks up a hornet's nest of head-scratchers like these throughout this fascinating book that reveals how much our unconscious minds control our lives.

Surveying a slew of neurological research, Eagleman shows how the human brain has evolved to handle the large majority of daily life through sub-conscious routines, or--as he puts it--zombie programs. This goes well beyond low-level survival activities like breathing and digesting food. Almost any skill that we master becomes an embedded zombie program that operates better without conscious attention. Riding a bike, catching a pop-fly, or playing the piano all depend on a myriad of complex calculations that our brains carry out without active through. What's more is that most of the decisions we make, such as which member of the opposite sex to pursue or whether or not to behave violently, are based not on rational thought--but rather brain chemistry to which we have no conscious access.

After convincingly laying out this argument, Eagleman raises some compelling points about how the criminal-justice system should adapt to reflect our new understanding of behavior and the brain. If we don't actively choose our genes and if those genes (coupled with experiences) don't just influence violent, anti-social acts but rather direct them, he argues, then the question of culpability has no place in a murder trial. Rather, the standard should be whether or not an individual poses a future threat to society. Then instead of punishment and retribution, he says, justice should focus on rehabilitation through advanced therapy influenced by the latest neurological breakthroughs.

Though he definitely has a point, Eagleman ignores one important role of the justice system--to depersonalize crimes and convert the motivation for revenge into the understanding that criminals must "pay a debt to society." Even if we can someday "cure" a serial killer through brain rehabilitation, there will no doubt be some need to to satisfy the victims families' desire for punishment, or else their unconscious zombie routines are likely to push them toward violent retribution.

Eagleman's point isn't to obliterate the idea of personal responsibility, but the argument does raise some troubling questions about individual agency and even identity itself. We're all fond of believing that we are who we are and we do what we do because of the decisions we make. Yet Eagleman shows that even in studies measuring why people chose to raise a finger at a certain moment, it's clear that the unconscious mind initiated the action before the conscious mind decided to take credit for it. Even though his final chapters show that the complex interaction between nature and nurture invalidates a reductionist understanding of people as no more than the sum of their neurons, it's impossible to leave this book without wondering what we really mean when we say "I." Am I the me that takes credit for all the things my zombie programs really do, am I simply the sum of all these zombie programs, or am I the unknowable something in between?

One-Footed Dandy Troll (take 2)

2011-05-05T22:30:00.000-04:00

One Footed Dandy Troll

2011-05-04T23:00:00.001-04:00

I need a name for this ...

2011-04-28T22:50:00.002-04:00

Fuzzy Monster

2011-04-08T20:31:00.003-04:00

Followed this tutorial: http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-cute-furry-vector-monster-in-illustrator

RPM Challenge Failure

2011-03-01T21:33:00.002-05:00

So it's March 1, and no finished album. OK, I did not make it. I guess i never really had that string of days where I pushed really hard, stayed up til 2:00 a.m. etc.

But, hey, I've got thirteen tracks of guitar, drums, and bass ready for vocals to be recorded, so that's a start at something.

So, yeah, I didn't make it, but I'm glad I tried.

RPM Challenge Day 21

2011-02-21T07:22:00.000-05:00

One week left, and I'm only almost finished with the initial edits. That leaves just one week to:

Record vocals
Edit vocals
Add "lead" instruments
Edit "lead" instruments
Add "background" sounds
Edit "background" sounds
Mix
Master

OK, so it doesn't look possible, but I'm going to keep pushing forward. We'll see how close I get to my original vision for this project.

In the meantime, here's another snippet. This one is taken from the potential title track:

RPM Challenge Day 14

2011-02-14T23:56:00.001-05:00

Good News: The project still feels exciting and fresh.

Bad News: I've hit a major speed bump. Thus far only five songs are edited and ready for vocals to be recorded. I really must have all vocals recorded by the end of this week. I need one big day, or one big weekend to get this thing back on track.

RPM Challenge Day 9

2011-02-09T22:35:00.003-05:00

Still making progress, though it feels very slow. At this point I have 4.5 songs edited and ready for vocal recording. I really wanted to start vocal recording next week, so I'll need a major push over the weekend. The good new is that my initial excitement is holding up and even growing during the editing process. I'd been worried that reality might start to set in at this point, and some songs would start to sound like crap. I'm still somewhat certain that will happen at some point, but for now, I'm still wide-eyed and innocent.

Here's a sample of one of those open-g tracks I mentioned earlier. I really like the way the drone is working on this right now:

RPM Challenge Day 8

2011-02-09T07:11:00.000-05:00

Not moving quickly enough. Nine days in and I'm only finished with preliminary edits on one and a half songs. I need to have a really productive day or two this week to turn things around.

I think the key will be to limit my tinkering and just keep my head down and plow forward. Rather than trying out 10 different drum sounds, for instance, I need to just pick one for a song, get it down and move on to the next one.

Keep moving forward.

RPM Challenge Day 7

2011-02-08T17:18:00.003-05:00

The editing process has started. Yes, it's very early for editing, but for me editing is part of the composition process, so I actually feel far behind. So far I have only one song edited. All that means is that there are one or two instruments mapped out to give the song a begining middle and end. After I do this for all 14 songs, I'll record vocals. Then the second editing stage will begin. Then mixing.

At this point, here's an early track list in the best I can do at an order right now:

About the Future I (Past)
Radio Sunday
It's Alright
Hey
Let You Down
About the Future II (Present)
Digital Soul
618
The Console
Real
One Night
Still Running Back
About the Future III (Future)

RPM Challenge Day 4.5

2011-02-05T14:06:00.002-05:00

All I managed to record yesterday was an acoustic guitar track for what might turn out to be the albums title track. It's another discordant song in open G tuning. I feel like it's got the looser, thrown-together feel I'm looking for, but that might mean that it just turns out sounding like crap.

So all of the acoustic guitar tracks are now cut. I've copied them all to a thumb drive so I could move them from the down stairs (recording) computer to the upstairs (editing) computer. The plan is to now build the basic tracks out using highly edited samples from free-sound.org. I intend to liberally use melodyne and vocoders, so that the samples will be largely unrecognizable, but still it's exciting to have a resource like that. I'd originally hoped to record all of the sounds myself and them manipulate them with melodyne, but this is goign to be a huge-time saver and should yield some happy surprises, so I figure, why not?

A word on melodyne. This is an unbelievable powerful tool that will allow me to manipulate recorded audio like midi noted. Beyond simply correcting my bad notes when I cut the vocals, melodyne's capabilities will serve as the backbone of my editing/composing process. In the end, if this all works, this will be album that would have been impossible without melodyne.

RPM Challenge Day 3

2011-02-04T07:18:00.000-05:00

I recorded four more acoustic guitar tracks yesterday. The final one was a simple progression in an open-G tuning that really seemed to open up some exciting possibilities. This was for one of the completely unwritten pieces. I just searched for some chords that sounded interesting and played them. I'm interested to see what comes of that. I think that approach might really open up some new possibilities. I'm trying to take a less song-oriented approach, which is difficult for me.

At the end of the session, I started messing around with this discordant riff in open G. I'm thinking I'll record that today and maybe a few more open-G progressions/riffs. What I like about that is I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just lookign for ways to place my fingers on the strings to produce interesting sounds, so there's a real innocence and experimentation to that. Who knows? That could mean it just sounds sloppy and simplistic, but I'll see where it goes.

RPM Challenge Day 2

2011-02-03T07:11:00.000-05:00

I cut a three more rough acoustic guitar tracks. The plan is to cut rough accoustic guitar and vocal track for everything and then do some basic editing to rough out the shapes of the songs. Then we'll record additional sounds for all tracks, and then edit those. At that point, i imagine that some of the vocals will need to be recut, but we'll see.

My goal is for the songs to have a lot of space, to sound like their falling apart and coming back together, but I feel like I'm already undermining that by making these accoustic guitar takes the foundation of the writing/recording process. My hope is that I'm able to introduce the disjointed, atmospheric feel in the first round of editing. We'll see how it goes.

Also, I have a working title: "About the Future"

RPM Challenge Day 1

2011-02-02T10:28:00.003-05:00

I took the RPM Challenge this year and will try to record an album in the month of February. Technically, I'll be writing all the songs in that time as well, but some of those songs will be finished scraps I've been working on for a while.

I got started last night by recording two conversations with my daughters, which will be woven throughout the album, cutting two raw acoustic guitar tracks, and printing off pictures to inspire the album.

Essentially the pictures are meant to look like what I want the album to sound like. I figured if I was going to record an album in 28 days, I needed something to reign in the possibilities. So I came up with a set of words I want to guide the album--conceptually and sonically--and then I did a Google image search on those words:

organic
apocalypse
disjointed
disintegrate
collapse
technology
future
noise

I then posted those images on a bulletin board in my basement, where I will record the album. I'll be posting updates on my progress throughout the month.

Having a Ball

2011-01-03T21:47:00.004-05:00

Here's a little a capella loop experiment I did a few weeks back with VoiceJam:

It's amazing what you can do with an iPod.

Deep Love (Final) Free MP3 & Tracks for Samples

2010-09-04T11:10:00.002-04:00

This my final mix of "Deep Love." I'm including all the independent dry tracks for anyone else who might want to take a crack at remixing this, or sampling any part of it in their own projects:

Deep Love (with all dry tracks) by Matt Getty

The Power of Music

2010-09-01T00:06:00.006-04:00

When I watched this I thought, what song would have that effect on me? It's hard to think of just one--and maybe that's the problem.

Music has increasingly become an unending part of the the background noise of life that I wonder if something like this could still have the same impact today. I'd like to think "yes," but who knows?

Great Remix of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home

2010-08-30T08:05:00.003-04:00

Artist Collective posted a fantastic remix of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Home" four months ago. I just found it this weekend.

The alternate take on this lovely American Gothic track lends the song a bleak, haunting soundscape. Small touches like the lilting piano and the whistle that replaces the horns in the post-chorus take away any sense of irony there might have been in the original. As a result, the song comes of sounding more heartfelt and tender.

I won't go so far as to say that I prefer this to the original, but it's definitely an interesting take on a great song:

Remix Artist Collective - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home (RAC Mix) - SoundCloud

Three Simple Words -- The Mind-Warp Pavilion

2010-08-29T12:16:00.005-04:00

Found this great tribute to 60s bubble-gum pop the other day:

The Mind-Warp Pavilion

First Guitar Take for Highrise

2010-08-28T08:51:00.003-04:00

Here's the first take at a guitar track for Highrise on the Moon, a children's song I'm working on.

Highrise (guitar track) by Matt Getty

Band of Horses--Infinite Arms

2010-08-27T07:35:00.002-04:00

Band of Horses new album, Infinite Arms, has been streaming on their site for a few weeks now. The songs are lush and haunting. It's got a very American feel to it. When I listen, I think of open spaces--vast plains, strip malls, abandoned highways.

Give it a listen.

Nobody Just Like You (Version 2)

2010-02-06T21:15:00.011-05:00

Here's an alternate version of Nobody Just Like You. I went for more of a steady droning feel here (compared to the peppy first version). I think it fits the song better, though I'm still not sure the vocoded electro take is really the way to go with this.

Deep Love -- Free MP3

2010-01-14T21:35:00.009-05:00

Here's a rough mix of "Deep Love," a 2-minute burst of candy-coated pop joy. Matt Pilconis wrote the bulk of this more than 10 years ago (my only contribution, I believe, were the bridges and--years later--the middle 8), but we never recorded it as Whoopycat.

Listening to this recording takes me right back to those Whoopycat days though--especially when I hear the creaking chairs at the end. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. I'd like to get around to doing a proper mix at some point, so let me know what you think. Drums to loud? Vocal too amateurish? (Can't do much about that one I guess.)

As usual, you can download this sucker by right-clicking here and choosing "Save As."

808 Early Mixes

2009-12-08T22:50:00.003-05:00

Here's an early rough mix of a song I started writing about 15 years ago and have been recording off an on for about a year:

It's called 808, and it's about the end of something.

Here's an accoustic version:

Once I add a few back-up vocals, I'll dig in and try to pull off a proper mix. But for now, I thought I'd share what I have. Let me know what you think.

Beautiful

2009-10-13T20:37:00.002-04:00

A video contemplation on the meaning of beauty:

Nobody Just Like You

2009-09-24T20:37:00.004-04:00

Here's the first mix of the electronic version of "Nobody Just Like You"--a peppy little vocoded self-esteem builder. Enjoy.

Highrise on the Moon

2009-08-04T18:06:00.002-04:00

Maybe I should call these children's songs for grownups. Not sure what they really are, but here's another one in the same vein written last night.

Nobody Just Like You

2009-08-03T08:00:00.001-04:00

Another all-ages children's song.

Don't Ever Run out of Why

2009-07-30T07:47:00.001-04:00

Here's an all ages children's song I wrote last night.

The Dead Weather -- A True Supergroup

2009-07-14T21:12:00.006-04:00

If you like your supergroups raw, loud, dark, and just a little bit evil, then you've been looking for The Dead Weather for a long time. Take one part White Stripes, One part The Kills, and two parts Queens of the Stone Age, add in a dark twisted root of American blues, just a touch of dirty swamp water, and an ungrounded electric current, and you get the Dead Weather--Jack White's latest side project to outshine his day-job as White Stripes frontman.
As great as White is and as much as his signature marriage of simplicity with raw rock power is all over the Dead Weather's sound, it's front-woman Alison Mosshart who really shines here.

She's always had a haunting soulful yet edgy voice in her work with The Kills, but the muscle she lends to songs like "Hang You from the Heavens" and "Treat Me Like Your Mother" just make your ears sweat. Her vocals swagger all over Horehound, the band's first album, clutching their crotch, spitting raw sex in your face, and setting her apart as the ballsiest rock-god I've heard since Plant's teenage years.

You can hear the whole album for yourself if you don't believe me. Better yet, if you're quick, you can hear them live at the 9:30 club.

Best Michael Jackson Tribute

2009-07-13T22:34:00.004-04:00

Check out eternalmoonwalk.com for the best Michael Jackson tribute I've seen so far.

What I love is that it's more about the inspiration than man.

Fanfarlo -- Harold T. Wilkins

2009-07-09T23:04:00.006-04:00

Great song, great album. They have a knack for sounding carefree and effortless but poignant at the same time.

Me = Best of the Web

2009-06-30T22:20:00.003-04:00

The Best of the Web 2009 Anthology, guest edited by Lee K. Abbott, is now available, and it features my story, "When My Girlfriend Lost the Weight" plus an interview with the world's best writer ever. OK, the self-proclaimed world's best writer ever.

Random Sentence From a Story in Progress

2009-03-11T23:51:00.003-04:00

I watch her calves as she storms off down the hall.

Barbie Abuse

2009-03-10T21:20:00.001-04:00

Look's like it's not just the main character in You Will Behave:

TheStar.com | living | For 50 years, girls have loved to mutilate Barbie

Ken in the News

2009-03-09T09:47:00.000-04:00

You gotta love the attention Barbie's getting due to her upcoming 50th birthday. You'd think that might give You Will Behave a little bump in sales, but I guess it still doesn't come up in any Barbie-related searches on Amazon. In any event, it's nice to see Ken get a little virtual ink:

Ken's sad and lonely life in Barbie's shadow. - By Troy Patterson - Slate Magazine: "Boy Toy"

Midge Walkcycle -- The Sneak

2009-02-20T20:28:00.002-05:00

Here's another walk-cycle with Midge. This one is a sneak:

Wordle to the Wise

2009-02-19T19:38:00.014-05:00

I found a great little design tool on the Web called Wordle. It creates word clouds from your text with the size of words dependent on their frequency. Here's an example from You Will Behave:

Midge Skipping

2009-02-17T23:42:00.008-05:00

Here's a 3-D animation test skip-cycle for Midge.

Cracked

2009-02-09T10:18:00.004-05:00

Here's another simple 2-D animation.

If you enjoyed that, why not support mattgetty.com?

The Smile -- 2D Animation

2009-02-06T20:28:00.001-05:00

Here's a quick 2-D flipbook animation I made:

Take Your Time -- Free MP3

2009-01-24T21:00:00.003-05:00

Here's an anthem to procrastination 12 years in the making:

(To download, right click here and select "Save As".)

I first wrote a version of this song about living a bit more slowly when I saw how quickly my two young cousins were growing up. They were 4 and 2 at the time. Now they're 16 and 14, and my own kids who are suddenly 6 and 4 recently got me thinking along these same lines.

Taking your time may be a virtue, but I figured 12 years were enough. I couldn't wait until my oldest daughter had her driver's license to record this, and since '09 is the year of finishing, I thought it was time to finish this one.

As usual, there's a de-mastered version after the jump. I thought a vintage 1970s 45-sound would work here.

(To download, right click here and select "Save As".)

Best of the Web 2009 Honors "When My Girlfriend ..."

2009-01-23T21:10:00.003-05:00

"When my Girlfriend Lost the Weight" has been selected for inclusion in the Best of the Web 2009 anthology. Yippee!

It comes out in July.

Reading Disorder -- Free Flash Game

2008-12-12T22:30:00.007-05:00

I think I just made the world's first Flash game about the pervasiveness of an unhealthy feminine ideal in the media. It's called "Reading Disorder."

Of course if you're into this kind of thing and you appreciate a slightly twisted take on the issue, check out "When My Girlfriend Lost the Weight."

Play With My Head

2008-12-06T00:34:00.002-05:00

. . . literally. Well, no, not literally, I guess. But not figuratively either. Perhaps it would be most appropriate to say "representationally," but where's the fun in that?

Any way Click here; you'll get the point.

Come on, give it a shot--you know you want to throw my head around.

Can't Decide -- Free Electronic MP3

2008-12-04T21:12:00.004-05:00

So there's a huge stack of unfinished electronic songs floating around on various hard-drives of mine. And guess what . . . they've been unfinished so long now, I think it's safe to call them finished.

Here's the first of several let's call them "musical sketches" I'll be posting sporadically over the next few weeks:

It's called "Can't Decide," and it's a nervous yet aggressive little electronic toe tapper.

Listen:

Download:
Right click this link, and choose "Save As"

I may use some as background tracks here and there, but for now I'm going to make like I'm putting together my own personal "Best Of" compilation--only without the best. Instead I'll just comb through the archives and dig up all the little "bonus" "previously unheard" tracks not good or "finished" enough to make it onto any of the standard releases. Hey, if I don't do it who will? It's been a long time since i got a call from Rykodisc.

Let me know what you think.

Kill all Punchibas -- Free Web Game

2008-12-03T22:00:00.002-05:00

Hey, wanna shoot weird little trolls wearing one boxing glove? Then have I got the game for you! I just finished making "Kill All Punchibas." Give it a whirl, and let me know what your high score is.

What are punchibas? Why are we killing them?

These are good questions, and I wish I had the answers. It's a cruel world we live in. Punchibas love to punch, and for this they must be shot.

It just doesn't seem fair. If we could only talk to them, perhaps we could find a reasonable solution.

Unfortunately, programming some sort of artificial intelligence that would create the illusion of communication between the punchibas and you is much more complicated than programming a first person shooter with a simple animation of the punchibas exploding in a cartoon mess of limbs and blood.

And maybe that's why our world is the way it is. Perhaps God is just a tired programmer with limited Actionscript skills . . .

But can we really afford to be asking these questions when there are so many punchibas left to kill? Get to work.

Punchiba

2008-11-26T23:46:00.003-05:00

Seriously, you want more?

Yochiba

2008-11-24T21:23:00.001-05:00

That's all there is.

The Icky Bug Machine -- Free Web Toy

2008-11-19T21:17:00.007-05:00

Would you like to make some bugs? Would you like to squish some bugs? Either way, check out the Icky Bug Machine I just made.

Instructions:

Press the buttons to make bugs. When the bugs begin to disgust you, click on the bugs to squish them. When you become overwhelmed by all the devastation you have wrought, turn off you computer, and go talk to someone you love.

The Fantastic Blue Balloon Machine

2008-11-18T17:23:00.003-05:00

Check out the new Web toy I made: The Fantastic Blue Balloon Machine.

It will make you happy--unless you're really really sad. Then I can't help you.

Instructions: Click on the button to make balloons until you have produced sufficient balloons to produce happiness. If you produce too many and can no longer handle the joy, click on the balloons to pop them until you have reached a satisfactory number of balloons.

Repeat as necessary.

Participation:

Let me know how many balloons it took to make you happy.

Free Children's Song -- MP3

2008-11-16T22:46:00.003-05:00

Here's my tribute to my favorite record from my childhood:

Download for free (right click, and choose "Save As").

When I was six years old, my favorite record was "Dumb Ditties." It was filled with novelty songs like "Beans in my Ears," "Martian Hop," and "My Ding-a-Ling." My brother and I played it endlessly on our plastic Fisher Price record player. We dragged and dropped the needle to our favorite sections so often that you could see the scratches from the other side of the room.

Every time I heard the pitch-shifted scatting on "Martian Hop," all I could think was "Why doesn't everyone make music like this?"

As a tribute to "Dumb Ditties," I thought I'd mix a de-mastered version as well to get that vintage 1978 Fisher Price record player sound:

Midge and Bimboo at Printer

2008-10-16T19:44:00.005-04:00

"Midge and Bimboo" is now at the printer. I'm waiting for the first proofs, which should arrive in about a week. In the meantime, here's an electronic version of the completed book.

Midge and Bimboo

2008-09-02T22:09:00.023-04:00

There's a children's story developing here. Stay tuned . . .

Here's Page 1:

This is Midge.

Here's a new cover image and page 2:

This is Bimboo.

Bimboo wants to eat Midge.

Page 4:

Midge should run.

Page 5:

Midge runs.

New Page 5:

Midge runs.

New New Page 5:

Midge runs.

Page 6:

Bimboo runs.

Page 7:

Bimboo chases Midge.

Page 8:

Midge comes to a cliff.

Page 9:

Midge can't run anymore.

Page 10:

Bimboo opens his mouth.

Page 11:

Midge has an idea.

Page 12:

Bimboo charges.

Page 13:

Midge jumps.

Page 14:

Bimboo falls.

Page 15:

Midge is safe.

Page 16:

For now . . .

Alternate textures:

New Story in FRiGG -- When My Girlfriend Lost the Weight

2008-07-22T16:23:00.002-04:00

My latest short story, "When My Girlfriend Lost the Weight" is now available at FRiGG Magazine. You can read it by clicking here.

It's about a girl who stops eating and goes from 143 to 0 pounds.

Introducing Bimboo

2008-07-19T00:31:00.001-04:00

Actually, there is no more yet. Stay tuned . . .

2008-07-16T09:13:00.003-04:00

I've been working on some animation basics lately. I'm not really sure why. Here's a jump:

There are also a pair of bouncing ball exercises after the "jump." Just click

Ice Cream Truck -- Free MP3

2008-05-19T21:23:00.007-04:00

All the news about the real estate market has me thinking about the 1930s. So I co-opted some Depression-era production values for this instant vintage take on the sub-prime blues: "I'd rather live in an ice cream truck with you." Download for free (right click, and choose "Save As").

Listen:

Hat's off to Isotope Vinyl for contributing the great VST that made this de-mastered track possible. This might be the start of a new audio obsession for me. What better way to hide all my faults than run it through this plug in? Fundamentally flawed becomes charmingly retro in an instant.

Throw a Buck int eh Hat

2008-04-18T12:33:00.001-04:00

Click on the button below to make a secure online payment to mattgetty.com.

She Falls Down -- Free Short Story e-Book

2008-04-01T12:04:00.001-04:00

"She Falls Down," a short story I wrote about a guy in love with a girl who collapse fairly often is now available as a free micro E-book. You can also buy the micro book itself to hold in your hands and read the old fashioned way. You can also read the whole thing right here:

She Falls Down

She falls down. Whenever I kiss her. Whenever I ask her where she's been. Whenever she sees Mr. Miyagi nod at Ralph Macchio in the last scene of The Karate Kid.

It's a congenital neurological disorder. Something about the frontal lobe. Something about endorphins and oxygen, extreme emotions cutting off blood flow. I can never pay attention to the doctors long enough to understand it. Apparently, it's common in a certain kind of goat.

But what does it matter? It is what it is. It's not going to change how I feel. It's not going to change how I act.

"I'll be damned if I'm going to walk on egg shells around you," I tell her.

She collapses. Of course.

The bruises scatter across the back of her head, her neck, her thighs, her shoulder blades. They become constellations of our emotional life one week at a time. Each purple blotch is a memory. This is the argument over the fact that my mother still buys my underwear. This is the gentle kiss I placed on her throat last week. This is the time I told her I dreamt we were old and married with six children, one five years old, slightly retarded, and unable to pronounce "Mom," so instead she called her "Mush."

I've tried placing pillows around the house. We've coated the coffee table in bubble wrap. It only helps a little. The world has more edges than you can soften. We never realize how much things hurt until she falls on them.

And I've tried catching her. Admittedly, I used to put more effort into it, but it doesn't matter. What am I going to do? Make sure I'm standing behind her every time I open my mouth, every time the Bee Gees come over the radio, every time the newspaper runs a story about some kid with no legs who's competing in the state high school pole vault finals. At best I could get to her half the time, and even then I can barely break her fall. It's not like in the movies. When women fall, they fall hard. Dead weight--even 120 pounds of it--is heavy enough to knock you on your ass.

I tried to leave her once. This was before we moved in together. Back when we'd been dating for a month or two. We'd gone out for tappas at some new Mediterranean place. I'd had three glasses of plum wine and told her I thought I was falling in love. She shattered her wine glass with her face, then slumped sideways out her chair and hit the ground nose first. Blood everywhere.

"It's for the best," I told her in the emergency room lobby.

She wobbled slightly, put a hand on one of the plastic chairs. "This is me," she said. "With you, without you. You can't change that."

"But I'm obviously not healthy for you," I said, clumsily gesturing toward the gauze covering half her face.

"It's not about me. I'm fine with this. I've lived with it my whole life, and I can handle it. Maybe you can't. Maybe I'm not healthy for you, but don't act like you're doing me any favors."

There you had it. It was like a challenge. Stick around or admit I was a wuss. Plus, plum wine or not, I was falling in love with her.

In time, I actually grew used to her condition. It was exciting in a way. We lived always on the edge. Each moment held the promise of disaster. She fell down the steps. She knocked over breakables. She crashed into the shower curtain, tearing it loose from the rod ring by ring as her wet naked back clung to it. She fell over while driving, slumped against my shoulder as I frantically grasped the wheel and steered us into the curb.

By the time we moved in together I'd grown fascinated with the things that might knock her over. I kept a record of her collapses. Monday: Found out sister was pregnant -- fell into living room entertainment center. Tuesday: talked to mother on phone -- tumbled head-first into kitchen sink. Wednesday: found old high school year book -- slumped gently to bedroom floor.

The more time we spent together, the more fascinated I grew with the whole thing. Sometimes I would just sit and watch her, waiting for the moment her body would slip from her control. You could see it almost before it happened. Her muscles would suddenly relax, an eerie calm washing across her flesh. Then everything would go slack. I'd watch her shoulders slump and knees buckle, everything so fluid, so free. All of it giving in only to gravity, limbs splayed across the floor like something spilled.

I have over 100 photographs of her collapsed on the carpet, draped over a sofa, stretched out on a staircase. No two poses are the same.

So we're together for a year, and things are good. But then about a month ago, she starts disappearing for long stretches. Showing up after nights away with bruises I'd never seen before. She asks me to touch them, press my fingers into their center so she can feel the pain fresh.

Obviously, confronting her gets me nowhere. So I hack into her e-mail. I get her password "gravitylove1" in three guesses and find all these cryptic messages from some guy she works with. Chris. It's all inside jokes and innuendo, so who knows? But then I call around, ask her other coworkers.

"Has she been falling down a lot at the office lately?" I ask.

They tell me yeah, and I know I'm screwed.

Week by week I see her less and less. She goes days without falling in front of me.

Of course, I torture myself wondering what he has that I don't. Plush furniture? Padded floors? Does she want the falls to be better or worse? Should I buy some marble end tables? Rig up a system of ropes and pulleys so she can move about the house without ever touching the floor?

It's no use. If I bring it up she gets moody and distant. "You don't get it," she says. "There's more to me than this. The majority of the time, I'm on my feet. You'd think you could show some interest in that."

A week ago we get into a screaming match over a long bruise on her calf I'd never seen before. I call her a whore, a slut. I break down in ridiculous tears, fall to the floor. She doesn't even look dizzy.

Then, last night without coming home, she calls to tell me she's leaving. She'll be coming by today to pack up her stuff. I begged her not to bring him with her. Then I went to sleep and had this dream.

It's all I can think of now. Like a revelation, an omen, something.

I dreamt I built her a house without floors. A world without floors. It was one of those dreams that seems like it goes on for weeks. She fell endlessly, her limbs limp, contorting in slow circles as she tumbled against nothing. I woke up with my hair wet at the temples from my tears, my face sore from smiling.

When she gets here I will tell her about the dream. How her back arched and her legs swam wildly, how she turned clumsy somersaults over and over, how her hair spun out from her head, tangling around her fingers as they grasped at the air. I will make her see herself through my eyes—endless, free.

I can only hope that there's enough still there to knock her on her ass. That she will fall and I will tell her the dream over and over. That I will tell her the dream, and she will never leave.

J-Dawg Mullet Animation Tests

2008-03-31T21:07:00.001-04:00

Here are the first videos of J-Dawg Mullet in action.

J-Dawg Mullet Stills

2008-03-28T23:16:00.006-04:00

Here are some stills from a new animation project I'll be launching soon. It's temporarily titled "J-Dawg Mullet's One-Liners." The plan is to write let's say 50 one-liners and animate J-Dawg over here saying each. Click the "More" link to see more larger pictures.

New Stills:

New Mesh:

Support mattgetty.com

2008-03-03T12:24:00.004-05:00

OK, I know how you feel. You downloaded a song you love, you read a story that changed your life, or you watched some videos that brought you closer to the people you love. The problem is it was all free, and now your racked with guilt. If only there were some way I could pay for all this free entertainment, you ask yourself, then I could finally sleep at night.

Well rest easy my friend. See that little "Donate" button below. Just click on that and you can give mattgetty.com all the money you want securely with the credit card of your choice. I know, I know, don't thank me. Just click the link. You deserve it.

Gelda The Goblin Girl -- Pic

2008-03-01T09:10:00.003-05:00

Here's the first sample from "Gelda the Goblin Girl: A Fairy-Tale for Future Activists," a new children's book I'm working on at the moment.

Trailer Lover -- Free MP3

2008-03-01T08:52:00.002-05:00

A novelty country ballad about finding love in the shadow of a mobile home.

Listen:

Download:
Download Trailer Lover for Free. (Right click and choose "Save As")

If you like what you hear, consider supporting mattgetty.com.

Ripples -- Free MP3

2008-03-01T07:31:00.001-05:00

Revved up lounge music for hipster robots on the verge of dancing.
Listen:

Download:
Download Ripples for Free. (Right click and choose "Save As")
If you like what you hear, consider supporting mattgetty.com.

Watch You Die -- Free MP3

2008-02-29T23:14:00.001-05:00

It's like pure raw, senseless, unreasonable anger, but you can dance to it.
Listen:

Download:
Download Watch You Die for Free. (Right click and choose "Save As")
If you like what you hear, consider supporting mattgetty.com.

Blame -- Free MP3

2008-02-29T22:54:00.007-05:00

An acoustic guitar, some brittle piano notes, and one jilted lover beg someone else to take the blame in this bitter, yet hauntingly tender ballad.

Listen:

Download:
Download Blame for Free. (Right click and choose "Save As")
If you like what you hear, consider supporting mattgetty.com.

Dear Mama -- Free MP3

2008-02-28T22:31:00.014-05:00

Take one Wurly upright piano, stir in a handful of ambient synths, season with a feeling of absolute desolation, and here's what you get. Click the

Download Dear Mama for Free. (Right click and choose "Save As")

If you like what you hear, consider supporting mattgetty.com.

Buy Matt Getty Merch

2008-02-18T19:26:00.004-05:00

The Sneaky Spider

2007-12-11T19:16:00.000-05:00

My daughters' first feature film:

2 3-D Animation Tests

2007-12-10T19:19:00.000-05:00

Buy My Book

2007-05-05T19:07:00.000-04:00

You Will Behave begins with a mother reprimanding her son for raping his sister's Barbie Doll with Darth Vader's light-saber. She tells him that he will apologize, that he will bury the doll, that Darth will look Ken in the eye and confess his crime.

Only she doesn't stop there.

In this same tone, she proceeds to tell her son his entire life story. The result is a dark and uproarious tale of love, violence, and what little difference there is between the two. Told entirely in the second person future, You Will Behave is at once a heart-felt coming of age story and a send up of the very idea of coming of age at all.

Buy it at Amazon.

Or just learn more.

Or just post your review.

"Whatever God Blesses Us With" Nominated for Pushcart

2006-12-11T21:40:00.000-05:00

FRiGG Magazine has nominated "Whatever God Blesses Us With" for a Pushcart Prize. If you haven't read it it, now might be the time.

It's about a woman who gives birth to home-electronics equipment. Perfect for the holiday season.

"She Falls Down" in Opium

2006-11-14T12:34:00.000-05:00

"She Falls Down" is a story about a guy dating a girl who keeps falling down. You can read it in today's Opium.

Go ahead. The estimated reading time is less than 7 minutes. What have you got to lose?

French Dragon Monologue 1 -- On Being a French Dragon

2006-11-07T12:59:00.000-05:00

Reading from You Will Behave

2006-10-30T12:25:00.000-05:00

Click here to hear my reading from AU's 2006 Visiting Writers program.

Weight

2006-10-28T23:36:00.000-04:00

View Larger.

Wings

2006-10-27T23:20:00.001-04:00

View Larger.

Buy Wings T-Shirts, Coffee Mugs, or other merchandise.

UNDER RECONSTRUCTION

2006-08-16T11:13:00.000-04:00

Zog is Coming

2006-07-26T23:33:00.000-04:00

Zog is Coming

Thumb Squid

2006-07-25T19:24:00.001-04:00

Mattel chief's goal: Find Barbie's 'wow'

2006-07-05T09:36:00.000-04:00

. . . says this Miami Herald article.

My advice -- package a pre-mutilated Barbie doll with a copy of You Will Behave.

Give me a call Neil . . .

Look Ma -- Chatter

2006-06-30T14:56:00.000-04:00

Ever since I named myself "the world's best writer ever" about 2 years ago, I've been waiting for someone to call me out as the a**hole that I am. Iain Sharp took a shot in a New Zealand newspaper piece, but that was playful at best.

Now, however, I think I've come across something downright negative (well, sort of at least).

Don't worry Max Reif, the self-promotion on this site gives me a headache too. But you'll never know the truth about You Will Behave unless you buy a copy.