When I have something legit and worthwhile to write/read about I will. Until then

90's Take 3

Sebadoh
"Rebound"




Sebadoh emerged at a time when it was ok to be angst ridden. Much like the 2000's the early-mid 90's was a time of great complacency. People lived. People made music. People made art. It wasn't punk, it wasn't rock, it was lo-fi cheap and flawed. MTV was a big deal, but it wasn't the monopoly it is now (there was ONE MTV channel, not 7).

One of the gem's of the 90's was Sebadoh's album "Bakesale" and their teenage centered lyrics: lost love, confusion, sex, drugs... along with the raw, rough guitar.

Standout Tracks:

-Not too Amused

-Skull

-Rebound

-Together or Alone

-License to Confuse

Not to mention Lou Barlow's amazing talent... (The Folk Implosion/bassist Dinosaur Jr.)

Sebadoh is everything that Blink 182 should of been for those of us in the late 90's.

I just finished watching "Pierrot le fou." Instead of creating a long winded rant about how fucking amazing this movie is (because it is) I will instead objectify the main character. Not only is his acting alluring, sexy, he somehow uses his body unlike any man I've ever seen on film. Never once does he have to act sexy, he just seeps it from every pore in his body. As a viewer, you can tell that his acting is his craft and he is truly passionate about what he does. Passion= pure sex. Goddamn. Not to mention he's chiseled like an ideal form, Greek statue...

Hello Art!Hello Words!

I was walking through work today, a hazy daze that was heavily lubricated with current nights of heavy drinking combined with sickness and medication.

I am telling you this because as I was walking in a practiced haze I saw information on "The National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read" I immediately became very excited.

It is nonprofit grant funded program that has the following mission:

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.

The current book they are reading is Old School, a novel by Tobias Wolff, a professor at Standford University. He is best known for his short stories, In The Garden Of The North American Martyrs. Wolff has been praised by The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Paris Review as one of the saving graces for American Lit. Wolff has words that are so beautiful and rich they almost seem unreal.

Why am I telling you this? People used to read, they used to be able to create a scene, a life inside their mind from words written on a page-- and in the medium of multi-media, computers and kindles, e-books and digital literacy, people read books less. This is sad. While cultural shifts are neat-- I would hate to see books become obsolete, a thing of the past and this program sees this shift and created a way to remedy it, or at least try.

Books <3

Let's take a hip step back for a moment.

Someone today asked me where Haiti was.

Seriously??

*Haiti is the poorest nation in the W. hemisphere

-70% of Haitians live below the "US Poverty Line"

*Average lifespan (M&F) is 49.7 years

*97/1000 infant mortality rate

*French Colonization +political oppression= crazy instability.

*45% literacy rate.

7.0 Earthquake didn't help.

7.0 magnitude earthquake = appx. half million tons of high explosive.

Think about it.

Cart-tuunez. Twenty.

Back when I was 20, when the economy was booming and I only slept 4 hours a night, I had an internship. This internship was at a very large, multi billion dollar production company that made aluminum. (When I say multi billion, I mean they spent 6 million dollars on machinery to cool metal at a faster pace so they could produce more annually)

They paid me well. In fact, they paid me more two weeks what I make in an entire month.

This might kill me a bit now when I eat my welfare bread.

Here is where that ego-mess/ hedonistic prose ties into this blog. While they paid me well, I learned how to work the system and work it well. While going through my email today (slacking off, much) I made these ironic comics, while on the clock. They made me realize I used to be funny, I used to be young and my sketches looked like Beavis and Butthead. Enjoy.

Let's play Politic

This movie was shown to me by an English Prof. my freshman year (way, way back when). I have since watched the movie, only to realize that the game of politic is both enjoyable, fun and completely cut throat. (surprise)

()

This woman is so fierce, unashamed, unabashed and aggressive. Goddamn she's fucking amazing.

twenty ten/multimedia

I may delete this tomorrow but probably not.

SUCCESS=

AND

AND

And perhaps the Mama and The Papa's "Monday Monday" just because its so goddamn fitting (better than the pencil skirt)

2010, I like you.

90's Take 2

Two Words
Le Tigre.

Lit.Lit.Lit.

For some reason, I always write in the airport. I'm sitting, thinking, typing, the rhythmic clatter of my keyboard is uneven, there are slight pauses, shortly followed by frequent, high paced clicks. The words are uneasy. The words are heavy. These words are mine. Every single letter, every single space; the words they are uneasy, the words they are heavy, the words, goddamnit, these words, they are mine.

A few nights ago my friend and I were discussing the lacking simplicity in life. Things have been complicated with age, with time, with the numeric progression of the two to the three, the three to the four and so on. We cannot help this, the creases under our eyes, the loss of innocence, the grave misconceptions and injustices of the world, the beauty we see everyday but have become blind to. We must sit back and accept this progressing without a fight. We put down our fist, we do not have control.

Yet, as we both sit, we crave this simplicity, we build the nostalgia, we recreate the past into something natural and true. We sip our cheap wine out of mugs. Mine reads, "Put the fun back in dysfunction." There is a middle aged white woman in black with wide, terrified eyes staring at me as I sip. My friend's mugs, hers is much more peaceful, a soft yellow with the etching of a tree hugs the circular surface.

I sit up, the hottub producing an opaque steam against the skin piercing December air. Out of nowhere, against the splashing of the jets she says, "Don't you realize we used to worry about the hot dog machine? Don't you remember smoking pot out of an apple because our boss yelled at us for not scrubbing the floor? Don't you realize we used to get stressed about waffle cones?! Everything was so simple."

"Think about it", and she says, very slowly, "Waffle. Cones."

I pause. My eyes look up, the clouds are covering everything but the full moon. I can see the silhouettes of bushes that our suburban landscaped backyard produces.

"You burnt your lip with that apple! I fell in the bathtub roaring with laughter. I hated Kathy. She was such a bitch."

She erupts in a fit of giggles, as she takes a moment to sip her wine.

I think about the times we spent surrounded by darkness staring up at the sky laying on the grass. With no lights from the city, the stars shone with a fierce intensity I didn't know was possible. They blinked and in turn, taunted our small existence. They punched my ego, as if to say, "Hey, you're not that big! Check yourself!"

She looks down at her mug, "I wish things were that simple still," she mutters quietly as she swirls remainder the cheap red wine.

There's a long pause.

I set down my cup, the woman on the front, taunts me, "Put the fun back in dysfunction! Go ahead, do it! Give it a try!"

I look at my friend, and say, "Things will never be that simple."

The wine bottle is empty and we look at one another and begin to laugh.

I immediately start to think, "Fuck, if we were in a movie, this would be the closing scene and our laughter would fade and The Walkmen We've Been Had would play."

Hey ego, you're not that big, Check yourself! The words are uneasy. The words are heavy. These words are mine. Every single letter, every single space; the words they are uneasy, the words they are heavy, the words, goddamnit, these words, they are mine.

Here comes the sun!

Honestly, normally I don't have a lot of optimism when it comes to New Years and the idea of change. I view time as a continuum, but, for some reason, I guess with the start of a New Decade (2010's yo!) a flight leaving early in the morning of a new year, a change of pace and life, the optimism is seeping out of my pores, its dripping onto the floor and it's the beautiful hue of honey. (no, it. is.not.sweat)

And, for the first time, ever, I realize that I can remember an entire decade! So the 2000's, Y2K graduation from both high school and college behind me, a slew of broken hearts, movement, saying goodbye to young adolescence and cheering on my mid-20's with high expectations. MY MID TWENTIES! JIGGA WHA?! I have high optimism for the 2010's. I hope you do too. Really! It's a new decade. Change is bea-tee-ful! Cheers!

This is probably the most personal blog I will ever write, but goddamn, glasses clanking alongside the rhythm of time progression and the close of the 2000's & in turn, 2009 and welcome hopeful and unknown idea a new decade. Here's the Beatles! Here's to optimism! Go drink some Gin and dance!!