Jeffrey Lewis is an anti-folk artist. He makes comics and does spoken word history performances.
Also is this awesome-o music video:
5 degrees below zero.
I had lain my seat back as far as it could to make a very comfortable bed and gone to sleep inside my down filled cocoon. I drool when I sleep sometimes, and when I woke up in the middle of the night I found the collar of my sleeping bag fairly wet by my own saliva, frozen to various degrees in various places. This would not work, I had to urinate and couldn't go back to sleep with my frozen saliva up against my cheek as I tried to bury deeper into my sleeping bag to get a few more hours of sleep. I sat up and looked for the car key, it wasn't in the ignition and I didn't think Jake would hide it so I figured it must be somewhere I could find it. I found it and started the car, the thermometer read 8 degrees outside. As the air pouring from the heater vents started to warm the thermometer started to drop, the instrument was correcting itself from the apparent miscalculation. About every forty five seconds or so the temperature would drop a degree until about fifteen minutes later the car was pouring hot dry air from it's vents and the thermometer had dialed in the true outside temperature: five degrees below zero Fahrenheit. It was cold outside. I turned the car off.
A few hours later after soaking in the heat of the car and thawing and drying my drool laden sleeping bag collar and even getting a few more hours of sleep I awoke to sunlight. Jake woke up and we started the car once more, I related the low temp earlier in the night and after a few minutes of the thermometer adjusting again it read three degrees below zero. We sat and talked about nothing for a while before I left to dump.
A few hours later after soaking in the heat of the car and thawing and drying my drool laden sleeping bag collar and even getting a few more hours of sleep I awoke to sunlight. Jake woke up and we started the car once more, I related the low temp earlier in the night and after a few minutes of the thermometer adjusting again it read three degrees below zero. We sat and talked about nothing for a while before I left to dump.
Eugenics? My middle name is Eugene.
My middle name is Eugene. I love it. I am in love with my middle name. Studying me would be studying Eugenics, right? Wrong. Eugenics is actually a movement that advocates improving the genetic composition of a population. You might have seen this idea somewhere else, maybe Nazi Germany? You could imagine my dismay as I went from hoping there was a whole science devoted to studying me to realizing that the practice really isn't all that great.
Not to fret though, eugenics isn't all bad. Essentially, we all-well, not the asexuals amongst us-subconsciously carry out our own Eugenic practices by being physically attracted to people. Not to mention the people who decide not to procreate because they fear passing on terrible hereditary diseases. In fact, I'll even tie in my favorite writer Kurt here and mention his book "Galapagos". In the novel, one of the main characters might have an awful untreatable mysterious genetic disorder and, even when the future of the entire human population is dependent, refuses to procreate on the grounds that he might pass on this disease. With great Vonnegutian humor, Kurt goes on to explain how the child who would be the founding member of the "new" human population--who was conceived before the human population was in peril from two humans with no hereditary diseases--was born with a fur coat much like a seal or sea lion. How's that for Eugenics?
Here, read the Wikipedia article on the word:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics#United_States
Not to fret though, eugenics isn't all bad. Essentially, we all-well, not the asexuals amongst us-subconsciously carry out our own Eugenic practices by being physically attracted to people. Not to mention the people who decide not to procreate because they fear passing on terrible hereditary diseases. In fact, I'll even tie in my favorite writer Kurt here and mention his book "Galapagos". In the novel, one of the main characters might have an awful untreatable mysterious genetic disorder and, even when the future of the entire human population is dependent, refuses to procreate on the grounds that he might pass on this disease. With great Vonnegutian humor, Kurt goes on to explain how the child who would be the founding member of the "new" human population--who was conceived before the human population was in peril from two humans with no hereditary diseases--was born with a fur coat much like a seal or sea lion. How's that for Eugenics?
Here, read the Wikipedia article on the word:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics#United_States
Buzz Aldrin Nikes
Yeah, I ordered my first pair of Nikes a few days ago and I believe they should be coming this afternoon. They're no ordinary Nikes though, they are Buzz Aldrin limited edition mid-tops with his signature and everything. These are going to be prized possessions of mine. They feature Buzz's autograph on the back as well as pictures of the moon landing all over the upper. These things were pretty hard to find, but it's been a long time since I've seen shoes this cool.
Used books are tops. So are new beds.
I just got a fresh bed and it feels great. It's the perfect compliment to the fact that I've been waking up at six thirty without an alarm for the past few weeks. I love waking up early; I usually turn on the old iTunes to some mellow music, brew some coffee, and do my daily reading and writing before the day really starts.
This morning, I purchased two used books. I'm extremely excited because one of these books is coming from Louisiana, a book about Paris leading up to the impressionist period, written by Ross King titled "The Judgment of Paris". King, who wrote the bathroom book I'm currently reading, "Michaelangelo and the Pope's ceiling", is one of my favorite historical writers, also having written "Brunelleschi's Dome" which I left at an ex-grilfriend's parent's house in Seattle (her dad was nice and into history, I hope he's put it to good use).
The second book I chose is "The Borgias and their enemies" by Christopher Hibbert, a look into the lives of the Borgia family during the beginning and height of the Italian Renaissance. The focus here is on three members of the Borgia family and their tremendous influence during their lives.
In total, I think I payed twelve dollars to buy both of these books and have them shipped to my front door. I know I could probably have picked these up for one dollar a piece if I could find them at my local used book store, but I probably would have spent two hours trying to find them.
North by Northwest
Watch this.
Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock team up to make one of the all-time best spy movies. There's no special effects, hardly any gun clapping, and no bikini shots (which is by far the most missed aspect of any decent spy movie).
Though he's already fifty five years old in this movie, Grant is still the leading man to trump all leading men. At this point in time Grant had cut his contract with Paramount and gone on to start his own studio "Grantley Productions". This was a huge move considering at the time that real movie stars were contracted to one studio, allowing him to do the movies that he wanted.
Alfred Hitchcock once said that Cary Grant was the only actor he ever loved as a director. Watch for the Hitchcock cameo early in the movie. Next up on the playlist is "To Catch a Thief" which is another great Hitchcock/Grant collaboration.
Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock team up to make one of the all-time best spy movies. There's no special effects, hardly any gun clapping, and no bikini shots (which is by far the most missed aspect of any decent spy movie).
Though he's already fifty five years old in this movie, Grant is still the leading man to trump all leading men. At this point in time Grant had cut his contract with Paramount and gone on to start his own studio "Grantley Productions". This was a huge move considering at the time that real movie stars were contracted to one studio, allowing him to do the movies that he wanted.
Alfred Hitchcock once said that Cary Grant was the only actor he ever loved as a director. Watch for the Hitchcock cameo early in the movie. Next up on the playlist is "To Catch a Thief" which is another great Hitchcock/Grant collaboration.
Like the girl coming in on the vocals.
There's not too many festivals I would want to go to, but the Plan-it-x Fest is the one festival I want to go to. It's a 3 day punk/punk-folk/folk fest with like one hundred different bands and they all converge on a small town in the south and there are only six hundred tickets available.
Plan-it-x is a record label started by a few punk-folk stalwarts in a very DIY manner. PIX sells cheap cd's and tapes for the masses to enjoy, though the masses often overlook this small label.
The festival is held in Bloomington, Indiana. My friend Kurt was born in Indiana, probably one of the most influential people to come from the state, and most definitely one of the proudest Hoosiers to come from the state.
Plan-it-x is a record label started by a few punk-folk stalwarts in a very DIY manner. PIX sells cheap cd's and tapes for the masses to enjoy, though the masses often overlook this small label.
The festival is held in Bloomington, Indiana. My friend Kurt was born in Indiana, probably one of the most influential people to come from the state, and most definitely one of the proudest Hoosiers to come from the state.
I love the rain. Extra glossy please.
Living in Orange County I don't get to see rain as much as I would like. Most of the time the weather here can be described as extremely mild, maybe overcast here or there but this area isn't really well known for it's weather. When rain does come, however, I'm out there, into the weather to experience the rain. When you have nowhere to go and no reason to fret being wet you can enjoy and embrace the rain.
Exercise #1: When it's really coming down outside I like to just sit in a car and look outside. With water everywhere, on the street, coming down from the sky, pouring off roofs, cascading down the windshield, I like to imagine I am in a submarine. In the car everything is dry but if you look outside everything is wet, and if it's really coming down, everything is drenched. Give this a try next time you're in a storm.
Exercise #2: City lights are always intriguing to me, I am drawn and attracted to them, standing back and admiring them as though they were an art installation. It is easy for me to appreciate the abstractness that can be found in city lights. When it rains it is even easier. The rain water creates a glossy surface on everything: the streets, building walls, tree leaves, car hoods, jacket sleeves. When it rains, try going for a walk in an especially well lit area at night. Pay special attention not to the city lights themselves, but to the reflections that are now so visible on the glossy reflective surfaces created by the rain. Streetlights, headlights, neon signs all blend eerily into almost an impressionist masterpiece of color.
Exercise #1: When it's really coming down outside I like to just sit in a car and look outside. With water everywhere, on the street, coming down from the sky, pouring off roofs, cascading down the windshield, I like to imagine I am in a submarine. In the car everything is dry but if you look outside everything is wet, and if it's really coming down, everything is drenched. Give this a try next time you're in a storm.
Exercise #2: City lights are always intriguing to me, I am drawn and attracted to them, standing back and admiring them as though they were an art installation. It is easy for me to appreciate the abstractness that can be found in city lights. When it rains it is even easier. The rain water creates a glossy surface on everything: the streets, building walls, tree leaves, car hoods, jacket sleeves. When it rains, try going for a walk in an especially well lit area at night. Pay special attention not to the city lights themselves, but to the reflections that are now so visible on the glossy reflective surfaces created by the rain. Streetlights, headlights, neon signs all blend eerily into almost an impressionist masterpiece of color.
Anthropomorphism x zoomorphism.
Anthropomorphism is the act of giving animal or inanimate objects human attributes. I have an awesome book of Aesop's fables that is pure anthropomorphism. Considering Aesop was a slave, I find it a little ironic his penchant for anthropomorphism.
What is the opposite of anthropomorphism? The closest word I can find is zoomorphism. Which apparently is not a word according to my computer's spell check; as I write this sentence you are reading now there is a green dotted line under it which is my computer telling me the word is wrong.
What is the opposite of anthropomorphism? The closest word I can find is zoomorphism. Which apparently is not a word according to my computer's spell check; as I write this sentence you are reading now there is a green dotted line under it which is my computer telling me the word is wrong.
Social Butterfly? Social Grizzly Bear.
I've coined a new term. Firstly, no male should ever take it as a compliment to be considered a social butterfly; not unless they're gay, and there is nothing wrong with that. Butterflies are colorful feminine creatures, fragile and going from flower to flower indiscriminately hunting nectar. I am not a social butterfly. I am a social grizzly bear. I socialize how I want with who I want, often times being loud and brash.
I've recently discontinued my Facebook account (on purpose). I also recently destroyed my cell phone (on accident). As a social brown bear I figure this is my sign to go into hibernation until the time of plenty returns--ie, I regain cell phone capabilities. Until then, a few notes on the hibernation of the social grizzly bear:
While normal grizzly bears do not eat or look for food during hibernation, social grizzly bears do. Lock up all food you do not want eaten, I am a bear, one you do not trust. Like normal grizzly bears I will be sleeping a lot, but not all the time, only my normal ten to eleven hours a day. Normal grizzly bears do not write during hibernation but I will keep updating this blog regularly.
I'll see you all on the other side. Please don't try and wake me.
I've recently discontinued my Facebook account (on purpose). I also recently destroyed my cell phone (on accident). As a social brown bear I figure this is my sign to go into hibernation until the time of plenty returns--ie, I regain cell phone capabilities. Until then, a few notes on the hibernation of the social grizzly bear:
While normal grizzly bears do not eat or look for food during hibernation, social grizzly bears do. Lock up all food you do not want eaten, I am a bear, one you do not trust. Like normal grizzly bears I will be sleeping a lot, but not all the time, only my normal ten to eleven hours a day. Normal grizzly bears do not write during hibernation but I will keep updating this blog regularly.
I'll see you all on the other side. Please don't try and wake me.
Get out of the way of the train!
It's unfathomable. You can not comprehend it. Try to though. You're a seventeenth century pilgrim who just made it to Rome. Maybe you've seen a few stain glass windows in church, a fresco here and there, but really, you haven't seen too much art. You step inside the Sistine Chapel and behold:
Now fast forward a few hundred years and imagine it's the end of the nineteenth century and you've paid good money to watch some new show. The lights go out and this is what you see:
People were terrified. Some ran out of the room for fear of being ran over by the train.
I'm colorblind and I'm the minority!
I am colorblind. It's not something terrible, just harmless defective wiring in my brain. I've learned to deal with it in my everyday life, I go a long time now between color mistakes. I can see the colors, or at least I think I can, but it is sometimes hard for me to identify them. An analogous explanation I give people is that they can see a car, they know there's a car there, they can like the way the car looks, and they might even have an idea of what car it is but when it comes time to identify it they can't determine exactly what car it is. That is my relationship with color.
Life is what we perceive it to be, even color vision is just our brains perception of different wave lengths of light. So I'm left here wondering sometimes what the world truly looks like. Color blindness most commonly affects green, red, and blue. So what does the sky really look like? I see it as blue, but being color blind for as long as I can remember, my faculties for describing or analyzing color has been severely compromised. I'll probably never have an answer for this, but at the same time, others will probably never see the world as I see it. My rods and cones are all messed up; mostly my cones.
Life is what we perceive it to be, even color vision is just our brains perception of different wave lengths of light. So I'm left here wondering sometimes what the world truly looks like. Color blindness most commonly affects green, red, and blue. So what does the sky really look like? I see it as blue, but being color blind for as long as I can remember, my faculties for describing or analyzing color has been severely compromised. I'll probably never have an answer for this, but at the same time, others will probably never see the world as I see it. My rods and cones are all messed up; mostly my cones.
Biblical Diamonds in the Rough
I'm not the biggest proponent of organized religion. I am a baptized and confirmed Episcopalian but haven't gone to church for years. My parents go to church regularly and I sometimes end up eating dinner with the church's priest. She is a single woman who graduated from Stanford and earned her doctorate in genetics from Berkley. She doesn't ever seem overly concerned about my relationship with god which I take as a good sign.
These really are words to live by, and feel free to substitute whatever you like for the first word.
God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
These really are words to live by, and feel free to substitute whatever you like for the first word.
God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
You're Like "What Happenes Next in P.O.T.A?"
P.O.T.A - Planet of the Apes.
POTA is a five part series of sci-fi movies made in the early eighties and late seventies. The first one won some awards for costume design and was kind of a big deal. The worlds best over actor Mr. Charlton Heston himself starred in it. The biggest redeeming quality of this series is that the character "Nova" is unbelievably hot; I have yet to do any real scientific studies but I believe her primal cave-woman sex appeal to be universal.
Interesting note: while the first POTA was a success, Heston did not want to appear in any more and had his character killed off in the second movie.
The first movie left Taylor and Nova heading off into the forbidden zone on horseback and the second picks up right where it left off, with Taylor and Nova on horseback. Taylor somehow falls through a wall of fire never to be seen again. Another American space craft crash lands on the planet carrying a few more astronauts. One astronaut is killed and one survives, only to be captured by the apes. Of course he escapes the apes and flees to the forbidden zone where he finds telepathic mutants and Taylor. These mutants worship an unexploded nuclear bomb or "doomsday bomb" that is capable of destroying all life on earth. The apes march on the forbidden zone, there is a huge battle, and at the end the doomsday bomb is exploded, which is a key event for the other three movies.
POTA is a five part series of sci-fi movies made in the early eighties and late seventies. The first one won some awards for costume design and was kind of a big deal. The worlds best over actor Mr. Charlton Heston himself starred in it. The biggest redeeming quality of this series is that the character "Nova" is unbelievably hot; I have yet to do any real scientific studies but I believe her primal cave-woman sex appeal to be universal.Interesting note: while the first POTA was a success, Heston did not want to appear in any more and had his character killed off in the second movie.
The first movie left Taylor and Nova heading off into the forbidden zone on horseback and the second picks up right where it left off, with Taylor and Nova on horseback. Taylor somehow falls through a wall of fire never to be seen again. Another American space craft crash lands on the planet carrying a few more astronauts. One astronaut is killed and one survives, only to be captured by the apes. Of course he escapes the apes and flees to the forbidden zone where he finds telepathic mutants and Taylor. These mutants worship an unexploded nuclear bomb or "doomsday bomb" that is capable of destroying all life on earth. The apes march on the forbidden zone, there is a huge battle, and at the end the doomsday bomb is exploded, which is a key event for the other three movies.
Left Hand 170 Crank Arm
Looking for this stupid replacement crank arm to my bike so I can shred once again. Le Tour 10 speed, you're my supertime.
My Neighborhood #1
Near my house are two of the tallest buildings in the county. They are high rise apartment buildings and are almost brand new. They tower over the neighborhood and at night you can see that only a few are occupied by counting the lit up windows. Every week I notice more lit up windows. I hope sometime they are all occupied and at night they are all lit up, then two towers of light will stand above my neighborhood.
Two miles from my house is the airport. It was the first airport in the country to be named after an entertainer. It is one of my favorite night time destinations when I am via bike. Some nights I will go to where the flashing strobe light is, which is there to remind pilots that the runway is dead ahead. There are five or six flashing strobe lights but the farthest one from the runway is the only one on a street, and the only one I can visit. From here though I can see planes lining up to land as they bank over the foothills and adjust their trajectory to the airport. At the last flashing light, the one on the street, the one where I stand, the planes are not higher than two hundred feet above as they roar into the airport. They blast their engines in reverse and in a deafening smokey moment are safely on the ground.
The opposite direction from the airport is the complex of high rise buildings that I refer to as the "city". This is where I take the dog on dog walks. There are concert halls, fancy hotels with expensive cars out front, and towering high rises with the names of large corporations proudly displayed. Now that it is winter there is also a ninety foot tall Christmas tree festooned with twenty thousand Christmas lights.
Just as I supplement my very ordinary suburban life with frequent trips to the mountains to experience wilderness; the towers, the airport, the "city" are able to provide me that little taste of metropolitan culture until I am able to live my dream of making a high rise apartment in the middle of a big city my abode. I'm hoping for Seattle.
Two miles from my house is the airport. It was the first airport in the country to be named after an entertainer. It is one of my favorite night time destinations when I am via bike. Some nights I will go to where the flashing strobe light is, which is there to remind pilots that the runway is dead ahead. There are five or six flashing strobe lights but the farthest one from the runway is the only one on a street, and the only one I can visit. From here though I can see planes lining up to land as they bank over the foothills and adjust their trajectory to the airport. At the last flashing light, the one on the street, the one where I stand, the planes are not higher than two hundred feet above as they roar into the airport. They blast their engines in reverse and in a deafening smokey moment are safely on the ground.
The opposite direction from the airport is the complex of high rise buildings that I refer to as the "city". This is where I take the dog on dog walks. There are concert halls, fancy hotels with expensive cars out front, and towering high rises with the names of large corporations proudly displayed. Now that it is winter there is also a ninety foot tall Christmas tree festooned with twenty thousand Christmas lights.
Just as I supplement my very ordinary suburban life with frequent trips to the mountains to experience wilderness; the towers, the airport, the "city" are able to provide me that little taste of metropolitan culture until I am able to live my dream of making a high rise apartment in the middle of a big city my abode. I'm hoping for Seattle.
My Boy Mike.
If you are at all interested in art this book is a must read. What Michelangelo did in the Sistine Chapel is really a miracle of creativity. He wasn't a painter, he was a sculptor. He had almost no prior experience with the fresco process and yet still was able to cover the vaulted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel with not only an aesthetically pleasing piece of art but a groundbreaking revolutionary piece of magnificence. Michelangelo who was already known for his raw and powerful portrayal of the human body in sculpture was able to take the brute force and pure strength of his sculptures and recreated it in fresco. By painting the Sistine Chapel he forced a whole new paradigm in art the likes of which had not been seen for thousands of years, not since the ancients. In trying to find a modern day equivalent I am left at a loss, what Mike did is simply unparalleled.
I committed Facebook suicide this morning.
I deactivated my Facebook account today, the twenty fifth day of November. I will not reactivate it until Christmas day next month. Looking forward to a slightly different month ahead.
"I will always appreciate bad days like this, because they grant me a point of reference in regards to my happiness."
"I will always appreciate bad days like this, because they grant me a point of reference in regards to my happiness."
What Would John Muir Do?
John Muir was born in Ireland and emigrated to the united States with his father and the rest of his family early in his life. Sometime in his life after visiting some tropical location he contracted malaria and almost lost his eyesight. After making a full recovery it was apparent that the tropics were no longer in his future and he made his way west where he discovered the Sierra Nevada. I don't know if any one man's love for any geographic location has ever or ever will rival what John fealt for the Sierra.
Muir was a certified back country gangster. Often times he would head off into the wilderness with only a little bread and meat, covering miles of wilderness on foot with seemingly little regard for his safety or health. To really grasp how insanely captivated by these mountains it really helps if the reader has some familiarity with the "range of light". Clinging to a granite rock face that forms a two hundred foot tall waterfall with thousands of gallons of water pouring over the ledge and spilling into oblivion is described by Muir in his book. He also writes of climbing a hundred foot tall pine tree in the middle of a strong sierra storm, with the tree top swaying thirty or more feet with each gust.
Luckily for us, Muir was implored to write of his adventures and discoveries, and later became one of the first real environmental stewards of this country. All of his books are great collections of stories and information from his extensive time spent in the mountains, drawing from experiences all over the Sierra Nevada and even early trips to Alaska.
I bet you're confused about the Planet of the Apes series.
I bet that, like I used to be, you're more than a little confused about the whole Planet of the Apes series. Don't worry, I'll provide a quick guide.
1 - The Planet of the Apes
Charlton Heston goes through some time worm hole and lands on a barren planet he later discovers is earth. He is with two other astronauts, one who dies at the scene of the landing and one who is murdered. He is captured by apes and learns that apes are the dominant species on the planet and humans are slaves. He is cared for by two doctors, Cornelius and Zira, who eventually become his friends and assist him with his escape. He does some stuff that really angers the apes and is forced to run away into the "forbidden zone".
Here's the key: Dr. Zaius admits to Taylor that he knows man and ape's roles were reversed long long ago.
1 - The Planet of the Apes
Charlton Heston goes through some time worm hole and lands on a barren planet he later discovers is earth. He is with two other astronauts, one who dies at the scene of the landing and one who is murdered. He is captured by apes and learns that apes are the dominant species on the planet and humans are slaves. He is cared for by two doctors, Cornelius and Zira, who eventually become his friends and assist him with his escape. He does some stuff that really angers the apes and is forced to run away into the "forbidden zone".
Here's the key: Dr. Zaius admits to Taylor that he knows man and ape's roles were reversed long long ago.
The Microphones
The Microphones. The girl singer is the girl from The Blow. They are a pretty cool lo-fi band from Washington (west coast is the best coast) formed in the late 90's. You have to be in the right mood to listen to them, but when it's cloudy and cold (Washington weather) they seem to fit the bill.
Honorable mention for today: Hungry Kids from Hungary - How great of a name is this? Will be featuring them sometime later probably.
Honorable mention for today: Hungry Kids from Hungary - How great of a name is this? Will be featuring them sometime later probably.
Yake comes through
Ol' Dirty Bastard (aka Dirt McGurt) x the Neptunes, epic mix.
Danger Mouse x Jemini. I found this one, and I be digging it.
Danger Mouse x Jemini. I found this one, and I be digging it.
New Genre for my iTunes
Going to spend the morning re-organizing the old iTunes and changing the genres. Gonna try and make them more specific and apt. Favorite genre right now: folk punk.
I laboriously re-typed this without permission, enjoy it.
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England, Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the united States of America, where the factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody as good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the united States of America, where the factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn't in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse-Five
Matt and Kim
This is the first post with Matt and Kim but it won't be the last. From last album and their new one. Give them a quick listen and it'll make your day better.
Just Happened
I love skulls. My favorite shirt hands down of all time is a black t-shirt with a skull on it and "slow death" written under it. Sometimes people comment on it, about how depressing or grotesque it is (my grandma can not come to terms with why her grandson would want to wear such a t-shirt) and when they do, all I tell them is that it's my "memento mori". Loosely translated from latin, memento mori means "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die". It was an element used in christian art to remind good Christians that they will die and be judged; that they should live their lives accordingly. That's what I tell people when they ask me why I like skulls so much. Read up on it here at Wikipedia.
Looking for a YouTube to put on my Facebook and saw this band in the suggestions. Apparently they're a folk rock band from Portland. But look at the album artwork! Skulls everywhere. This isn't the first time I discovered a band I liked because of the skull related album artwork. The same thing happened inside the now extinct Tower Records with Thee Michelle Gunn Elephant, but I'll save that story of serendipity for another time. I've been digging this style of music for a while now and they're worth having a listen to.
Looking for a YouTube to put on my Facebook and saw this band in the suggestions. Apparently they're a folk rock band from Portland. But look at the album artwork! Skulls everywhere. This isn't the first time I discovered a band I liked because of the skull related album artwork. The same thing happened inside the now extinct Tower Records with Thee Michelle Gunn Elephant, but I'll save that story of serendipity for another time. I've been digging this style of music for a while now and they're worth having a listen to.
The rock on my window sill is for my feet.
My bed is arranged underneath the one window in my room. Because of this the window sill becomes a collecting area for litter, soiled dishes, various nick-knacks, and all sorts of detritus. I usually sit on my bed as I watch tv or use the computer and I tend to put whatever I'm holding on the window sill. Once I'm finished with what I am doing I get up and leave, forgetting whatever it might have been I placed on the sill. This is why my window sill almost always seems so filthy and gross.
Amongst the filth, though, is a small trapezoidal piece of granite. It's just your normal gray rock with black crystals and bits of clear quartz that make it glisten in the sun when you look closely. My friend Greg brought it down from the top of a mountain for me. We'd tried to climb this mountain three times before; pretty halfheartedly the first two times--we were content to fish all day both times, we were armed with fly fishing equipment and we caught fish like we had never caught fish before--and the third found us way off route and too lazy to retrace our tracks and continue on the correct path--I think we spent the rest of that trip fishing as well. This was the fourth attempt and after gaining the scimitar shaped pass named "Scimitar Pass" with soaking wet feet because I was wearing low-top leather shoes in deep wet snow and seeing that there was still miles of snow slogging to go I decided that enough was enough and that my feet deserved to be dry and comfortable, not cold and wet, blistering and pruningeven though they'd worked so hard for me, getting me up thousands of feet of boulders and wet slippery snow. I told Greg to bring me down a rock from the summit so that I could put it back when I climbed it on my fifth attempt.
This rock's for my feet. We've been through some pretty miserable times, you've been cut, bruised, soaked, blistered, sprained, broken, and treated with complete indifference. No more! When we drop that rock back off on top of Mt. Sill, you'll be comfortable, I promise. If it's winter, you'll be warm and dry, I promise. If it's summer, you'll get to shred rock and be soaked in an ice cold stream after.
Amongst the filth, though, is a small trapezoidal piece of granite. It's just your normal gray rock with black crystals and bits of clear quartz that make it glisten in the sun when you look closely. My friend Greg brought it down from the top of a mountain for me. We'd tried to climb this mountain three times before; pretty halfheartedly the first two times--we were content to fish all day both times, we were armed with fly fishing equipment and we caught fish like we had never caught fish before--and the third found us way off route and too lazy to retrace our tracks and continue on the correct path--I think we spent the rest of that trip fishing as well. This was the fourth attempt and after gaining the scimitar shaped pass named "Scimitar Pass" with soaking wet feet because I was wearing low-top leather shoes in deep wet snow and seeing that there was still miles of snow slogging to go I decided that enough was enough and that my feet deserved to be dry and comfortable, not cold and wet, blistering and pruningeven though they'd worked so hard for me, getting me up thousands of feet of boulders and wet slippery snow. I told Greg to bring me down a rock from the summit so that I could put it back when I climbed it on my fifth attempt.
This rock's for my feet. We've been through some pretty miserable times, you've been cut, bruised, soaked, blistered, sprained, broken, and treated with complete indifference. No more! When we drop that rock back off on top of Mt. Sill, you'll be comfortable, I promise. If it's winter, you'll be warm and dry, I promise. If it's summer, you'll get to shred rock and be soaked in an ice cold stream after.
Ster Wers.
I love science fiction. I'm not obsessed with it, but I think the genre as a whole is just so awesome. I am not alone, there are literally dozens of us. Seth McFarlane is one of them. Enjoy these awesome parodies if you haven't already.
Rap Music Appreciation #678
Dj Quik. Born David Blake. Pistol whipped his sister for extorting him and went to jail. Compton vet, was the first rapper to sign a six figure record deal. Spells his name without a "c" because he's a member of the bloods, but now denies this.
Edward Rowland Sill
Does a man ever give up hope, I wonder, --
Face the grim fact, seeing it clear as day?
When Bennen saw the snow slip, heard its thunder
Low, louder, roaring round him, felt the speed
Grow swifter as the avalanche hurled downward,
Did he for just one heart-throb -- did he indeed
Know with all certainty, as they swept onward,
There was the end, where the crag dropped away?
Or did he think, even till they plunged and fell,
Some miracle would stop them? Nay, they tell
That he turned round, face forward, calm and pale,
Stretching his arms out toward his native vale
As if in mute, unspeakable farewell,
And so went down. -- 'T is something, if at last,
Though only for a flash, a man may see
Clear-eyed the future as he sees the past,
From doubt, or fear, or hope's illusion free.
Edward Rowland Sill
Shattered from getungrounded on Vimeo.
Face the grim fact, seeing it clear as day?
When Bennen saw the snow slip, heard its thunder
Low, louder, roaring round him, felt the speed
Grow swifter as the avalanche hurled downward,
Did he for just one heart-throb -- did he indeed
Know with all certainty, as they swept onward,
There was the end, where the crag dropped away?
Or did he think, even till they plunged and fell,
Some miracle would stop them? Nay, they tell
That he turned round, face forward, calm and pale,
Stretching his arms out toward his native vale
As if in mute, unspeakable farewell,
And so went down. -- 'T is something, if at last,
Though only for a flash, a man may see
Clear-eyed the future as he sees the past,
From doubt, or fear, or hope's illusion free.
Edward Rowland Sill
Shattered from getungrounded on Vimeo.
I've been on another planet.
The alarm was set to 4am pacific standard earth time. We were both awake--fully conscious and communicating--by 4:15am pacific standard earth time. It was dark and cold, the thermometer said 5 degrees inside the tent and we would soon learn it was below zero outside. The sun had yet to even cast a glow on the horizon. We had filled steel thermos bottles with boiling hot coffee the night before and stuffed them to the feet of our sleeping bags where we fished them from that morning. Coffee too hot to drink was poured into thermos tops as we both sat up in the tent and watched an episode of our favorite tv show play on the small screen of the iPhone for a half an hour or so while we let the coffee warm us from the stomach out to our feet, toes, hands, and fingers. A little movement necessary to finish preparing to leave the tent got the blood pumping, further warming us.
We were at 12,000 feet in the middle of winter. Our small tent was surrounded by an expanse of snow that only occasionally was interrupted by some granite but only because the granite face was too steep to hold snow.
It was still completely dark when we left the tent. With no moon in the sky the only lights besides the stars above us were the lights attached to our heads, casting two cones of light a short distance in front of us. Besides that it was completely dark, and cold, the thermometer said -5 degrees Fahrenheit. It was cold but I was warm, every inch of my skin was covered with some sort of insulating clothing.
As I slowly made my way from the tent upwards and onwards into the cold dark landscape in front of us I realized I was on another planet. There was no light and no heat here, no signs of life except for the two of us. We were separated by 50 feet or so, leaving us to trudge through the snow quietly on our own. It was quiet, there was no wind, and the only sounds I could hear were the crunching of snow under our feet and my own breathing made louder by the face mask that I was covering my mouth with to warm the thin air coming into my lungs at each audible breath. It struck me then and is still a constantly recurring thought that the experience must be exactly what it's like to be on another planet. I legitimately feel as though I have been on another planet. Check that off the list.
We were at 12,000 feet in the middle of winter. Our small tent was surrounded by an expanse of snow that only occasionally was interrupted by some granite but only because the granite face was too steep to hold snow.
It was still completely dark when we left the tent. With no moon in the sky the only lights besides the stars above us were the lights attached to our heads, casting two cones of light a short distance in front of us. Besides that it was completely dark, and cold, the thermometer said -5 degrees Fahrenheit. It was cold but I was warm, every inch of my skin was covered with some sort of insulating clothing.
As I slowly made my way from the tent upwards and onwards into the cold dark landscape in front of us I realized I was on another planet. There was no light and no heat here, no signs of life except for the two of us. We were separated by 50 feet or so, leaving us to trudge through the snow quietly on our own. It was quiet, there was no wind, and the only sounds I could hear were the crunching of snow under our feet and my own breathing made louder by the face mask that I was covering my mouth with to warm the thin air coming into my lungs at each audible breath. It struck me then and is still a constantly recurring thought that the experience must be exactly what it's like to be on another planet. I legitimately feel as though I have been on another planet. Check that off the list.
I saw a space ship tonight.
I was standing on the tarmac below the pier tonight with my eyes trained to the north east. The space ship appeared to my left and continued across the night sky as a red dot for what seemed like a good two minutes. It slowly faded away as it disappeared over the southern horizon. It was interesting to fathom just how large our planet is as I watched the satellite continue southward, expecting it to dip down any moment as it followed the earth's curvature. Contrary to my expectations though, it seemed to only slightly curve downwards before fading into an indiscernible faint red light, revealing the true enormity of earth. It's hard to fathom the thought that the slowly disappearing light was the reflection of sunlight off of the metal skin of the tube that actual men were living in.
I will let you know that I love science fiction. It is a combination of realism, surrealism, existentialism, and half-science. My favorite author of all time is a science fiction writer and I don't think any other genre would have let him really reach his full potential. Kurt Vonnegut is sardonic and satirical with an unprecedented perspective of the human condition. All of his novels, though deeply rooted in the genre of science fiction are entirely written about being human; what it is to be human. He dissects and analyzes post-war western society with such skill he was awarded a honorary degree in anthropology. His writing is easily my biggest influence outside of my friends and family. Thank god for that.
I wish I could provide you with a link to one of my favorite Vonnegut stories in which the first man to be launched into space encounters something horribly surprising. As he escapes the earth's atmosphere he finds himself in the "Thanasphere" where he can hear the voices of dead people. Seeing the space station fly over me high in orbit made me remember this story, which I will read tomorrow probably. I wish I could provide a link to the story but Google has yet to take over the world and does not have it available via Google Books. I'm sorry. The story is titled "Thanasphere" and can be found in Kurt's book "Bagombo Snuff Box" which is a collection of short stories written by Kurt. I'll leave you with an awesome interview of Kurt and a link to the Google Books page about the book.
PBS Kurt Vonnegut Interview
Google Books "Bagombo Snuff Box"
I will let you know that I love science fiction. It is a combination of realism, surrealism, existentialism, and half-science. My favorite author of all time is a science fiction writer and I don't think any other genre would have let him really reach his full potential. Kurt Vonnegut is sardonic and satirical with an unprecedented perspective of the human condition. All of his novels, though deeply rooted in the genre of science fiction are entirely written about being human; what it is to be human. He dissects and analyzes post-war western society with such skill he was awarded a honorary degree in anthropology. His writing is easily my biggest influence outside of my friends and family. Thank god for that.
I wish I could provide you with a link to one of my favorite Vonnegut stories in which the first man to be launched into space encounters something horribly surprising. As he escapes the earth's atmosphere he finds himself in the "Thanasphere" where he can hear the voices of dead people. Seeing the space station fly over me high in orbit made me remember this story, which I will read tomorrow probably. I wish I could provide a link to the story but Google has yet to take over the world and does not have it available via Google Books. I'm sorry. The story is titled "Thanasphere" and can be found in Kurt's book "Bagombo Snuff Box" which is a collection of short stories written by Kurt. I'll leave you with an awesome interview of Kurt and a link to the Google Books page about the book.
PBS Kurt Vonnegut Interview
Google Books "Bagombo Snuff Box"
Another entry about the cold.
It's cold again, but this morning it's cold and windy; it's blowing offshore. The pear tree outside my bedroom window is losing leaves to the wind and out front on the street more leaves and litter are being blown down the street, not up it as usual. Fall is really here.
I left my window open just a little last night, no more then an inch, but it was enough to let all the cold in and all my hard won heat out. I curled up beneath the covers, trying to keep the edges flat against the bed so that no cold air could make it's way to me.
I look outside my window and it's not just the pear tree that gives the wind away. I can see airplanes taking off from John Wayne! Usually I see them landing, but because the wind has switched from the predominant direction, so have the planes, and instead of seeing them land I'm watching them take off. I'd like to be on one of them. I feel bad for the passengers, because when the winds are offshore they miss out on the famous climb out of Orange County. Wealthy neighborhoods on one side of the airport demand that the airplanes be as considerate as safely possible, making them climb abruptly from the runway. There aren't any wealthy neighborhoods on the other side of the airport--the side that the planes are taking off towards today--just a defunct military base across the freeway with no one left living there to complain.
I stole the new Matt and Kim album "Sidewalks" the other day. It's really really good. I'm not gonna talk about it yet though, because I'm just not in the mood. I'm leaving in a few moments to go surf though, and will most definitely listen to it on the way down there.
this morning's track:
blacking out the friction - death cab for cutie
I left my window open just a little last night, no more then an inch, but it was enough to let all the cold in and all my hard won heat out. I curled up beneath the covers, trying to keep the edges flat against the bed so that no cold air could make it's way to me.
I look outside my window and it's not just the pear tree that gives the wind away. I can see airplanes taking off from John Wayne! Usually I see them landing, but because the wind has switched from the predominant direction, so have the planes, and instead of seeing them land I'm watching them take off. I'd like to be on one of them. I feel bad for the passengers, because when the winds are offshore they miss out on the famous climb out of Orange County. Wealthy neighborhoods on one side of the airport demand that the airplanes be as considerate as safely possible, making them climb abruptly from the runway. There aren't any wealthy neighborhoods on the other side of the airport--the side that the planes are taking off towards today--just a defunct military base across the freeway with no one left living there to complain.
I stole the new Matt and Kim album "Sidewalks" the other day. It's really really good. I'm not gonna talk about it yet though, because I'm just not in the mood. I'm leaving in a few moments to go surf though, and will most definitely listen to it on the way down there.
this morning's track:
blacking out the friction - death cab for cutie
Winter's here!
It's cold outside in southern California. Surfing yesterday morning was exceptionally cold. I woke up at 2am and headed outside to see how cold it was and the lightweight sweatshirt I was wearing was just not cutting it. It's officially cold outside and I'm ecstatic. We've had a few cool nights already, but this feels like the first one.
This is the morning that you're lucky to wake up next to someone and share their warmth under heavy blankets. You try once to get up and maybe make it to the toilet to expel before running back to bed, shivering because your blood is stagnant from laying at rest all night. If you're lucky you don't have much to do and can stay hidden for a few more hours safe in bed under the covers.
I think my musical tastes have been changing with the seasons, going from heavily electronic and up beat music to more organic and slower music. I built a new smart playlist in iTunes that compiled all the songs with "winter" or "cold" in the title. Here's a short list of movies of the best ones I could find on youtube and another list of the best ones which I couldn't.
Here's a selection of my favorite winter songs with links to youtube videos:
winter song - the caesars
winter long - neil young
winter song (cover) - the pixies
winter fling - ima robot
winter's heir - sea wolf
winter - the rolling stones
in the cold cold night - the white stripes
cold december - matt costa
the cold part - modest mouse
winter for a year - arcade fire
Please comment and contribute any good winter songs you know of.
This is the morning that you're lucky to wake up next to someone and share their warmth under heavy blankets. You try once to get up and maybe make it to the toilet to expel before running back to bed, shivering because your blood is stagnant from laying at rest all night. If you're lucky you don't have much to do and can stay hidden for a few more hours safe in bed under the covers.
I think my musical tastes have been changing with the seasons, going from heavily electronic and up beat music to more organic and slower music. I built a new smart playlist in iTunes that compiled all the songs with "winter" or "cold" in the title. Here's a short list of movies of the best ones I could find on youtube and another list of the best ones which I couldn't.
Here's a selection of my favorite winter songs with links to youtube videos:
winter song - the caesars
winter long - neil young
winter song (cover) - the pixies
winter fling - ima robot
winter's heir - sea wolf
winter - the rolling stones
in the cold cold night - the white stripes
cold december - matt costa
the cold part - modest mouse
winter for a year - arcade fire
Please comment and contribute any good winter songs you know of.
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