So, hey, the last bunch of posts have been quite nerdy, haven't they? All about movies I've seen and bands I like. I realize that no one really expects any different, because this is only read by people who talk to me and know that my life is not that interesting. But still: I posted a list of Criterion DVD covers I liked, and critiqued Pitchfork reviewers. These could be described as new lows. But that's my life, sad to say. So now I grace you with my fiction. This was something I wrote a few days ago, at night when I thought I was going to be sleeping, but no, I don't do that. I guess it turned out all snapshot fiction style, in that there's no plot. And the characters don't have names. Which isn't necessarily snapshot fiction. Maybe this makes the story more shallow. Maybe that's the point or something.
Just realized that I could do literary criticism maybe, but only for my own writing. That's not really a skill. If any of you can do the literary criticism for other people's work, feel free to do so. Anyway, without further ado:
Rubberband Summer: a love story
Her bones were like a guitar line underneath a skin of tape hiss and feedback, or so that was his metaphor. She looked the way he wanted to look. Not the female aspect, the jagged angular aspect.
He was skinny and that was fine. He didn’t want to have a six-pack, he wanted his skin to be able to be sucked in so his ribs stuck out. He wanted to look bony. He dressed in tight undershirts tucked into loose-fitting cargo pants. He had maybe three pairs of pants, and his shirts were packaged in prewrapped sets of three, sometimes shoplifted.
As dusk fell he pulled out a champagne bottle from his pants’ largest pocket. They drank it in a field that was only a thicket of trees from some business complex parking lot.
They were exactly what the other wanted to be, and they worked perfectly as a couple because they were viewed as a unit that shared the best qualities. She wanted to seem like she was an enemy of the rest of society, when in reality, she would be embraced by society as there was nothing particularly objectionable about her. He wanted to seem attractive. Together they were both those things, they were the kids of the future, both barely legal and perfect in every way.
They had nothing to say to anyone so they spent all their time together, bouncing like pinballs off of everything, saying the obnoxious shit solely for the other’s benefit. It was their last summer to be young and stupid and everything felt like it was on fire. Two months ago they’d graduated from high school, one month from now they’d be on separate coasts. They acted sad that their relationship would end but really, what they had was a moment in time, destined to end as soon as life ticked on.
So a bottle of champagne, lifted in a toast to newly-quit summer jobs. He used to pump gas, for they lived in one of only two states in the nation where self-service was not an option. She still worked at a movie theater.
They got drunk as they talked about nothing, that is to say, the grass. The drunker they became, the more nothing dominated the conversation.
They didn’t have sex that night, as they had that afternoon, on the bed belonging to the parents of one of their friends. Instead they fell asleep in the grass, holding each other ever tighter as dewdrops began to form all over their skin before the sun came up.
That's all. Oh, and that's copyright 2004 Brian Nicholson. don't even try to steal it. Well, you could steal the plot, as it was maybe cliched. But don't steal the good lines. You know the ones I'm talking about. There are like three. The first line and the last two paragraphs. The rest is kind of bullshit. The dude has my shallowness. Write what you know and all that. So if the only thing that feels authentic is that, there's a very specific reason for that. That being that it's the only thing that I didn't bullshit out of other people's work. I'll leave you to play "name the influences" as me doing so would really ratchet up this post's nerdiness level.
I like the idea of someone reading the story, liking it, then reading my thoughts and I convince them it's actually crap because they didn't like it that much to begin with. I can actually see that happening by me naming the good bits. If the highlights aren't highlighted, you just remember the story in terms of the highlights and think of it as being consistent. But, no, not really consistent at all.
No one's going to give me any criticism on this, now that I think about it. I wrote a love story. No one's going to even admit they read it. Did you read it? If so, you're gay. Or female. And if you're female, you probably had problems with the shallowness of the characters. Oh wait, everyone has problems with that, because it kind of shitties up the story.
No one ever talks about the blog, actually. Which is funny, because a lot of it is written so I don't have to bring it up in conversation. Or at least that was the original intent.
Oh and since this post really did become quite nerdy, I'll end by saying that my problem with Advisory Committee is really just that my mp3s are very low quality, and that Cold Cold Water, when heard on a decent stereo, kicks ass.
Sometimes I write these entries to have strong ending sentences. This time I just rambled on. No one reads these like essays anyway, so I'm sure the strong endings are neglected. Especially what with their being other entries, directly below it, that you need to check to make sure you haven't missed anything.
I'll steal an ending from the band Beulah, because song lyrics are nerdy, like me:
I'll fight, if you want me to fight.
Sunday, March 07, 2004
Saturday, March 06, 2004
I've watched some movies recently. From the library, Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, Jean Renoir's Rules Of The Game, and Francois Truffaut's Jules And Jim. All were good. Rules Of The Game had a cast too large for me to wrap my head around, but there was a lot to like.
I also saw Starksy and Hutch in the theater, to undermine any allegations of pretension. Not as funny as you'd want it to be, but still pretty funny. Exactly what you'd expect.
I just watched The Triplets Of Belleville. That's really good, so pretty, funny in parts, etc. It looks fucking amazing. Sometimes the character designs take a turn for the grotesque as opposed to the cute, but yeah that movie worked for me on like every level. Not a fan of some of the character designs, but most frames of that movie are so pretty.
Next paragraph gives some spoilers, and is also my little pitch to get you to see it. This movie had- old people with molotov cocktails, men in black, frogs being eaten like popsicles, homages to 1930s Fleischer cartoons fueled by opium, stolen paddleboats, and a reimagined Statue Of Liberty.
And 95% of it is FUCKING GORGEOUS.
I also ordered a copy of Brainiac's Bonsai Superstar from Half.com (out of print, and they had it for ten dollars) and downloaded Destroyer's City Of Daughters from Soulseek. There's also someone new on the iTunes network, from whom I stole a lot of stuff- Sonic Youth's Dirty reissue, The Television Personalities, Kraftwerk's Computer World, live Can, Gang Of Four, Magnetic Fields.
Most writing for the quarter is done. Oral presentation on Monday which I'll need to get some visuals for, but now I can focus my writing on that short story, which is still kind of stalled, but I need to finish it this week. And that seems doable.
Also upcoming: Spring Break, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Liars show.
Going to see Kill Bill again with Alex right fucking now.
I also saw Starksy and Hutch in the theater, to undermine any allegations of pretension. Not as funny as you'd want it to be, but still pretty funny. Exactly what you'd expect.
I just watched The Triplets Of Belleville. That's really good, so pretty, funny in parts, etc. It looks fucking amazing. Sometimes the character designs take a turn for the grotesque as opposed to the cute, but yeah that movie worked for me on like every level. Not a fan of some of the character designs, but most frames of that movie are so pretty.
Next paragraph gives some spoilers, and is also my little pitch to get you to see it. This movie had- old people with molotov cocktails, men in black, frogs being eaten like popsicles, homages to 1930s Fleischer cartoons fueled by opium, stolen paddleboats, and a reimagined Statue Of Liberty.
And 95% of it is FUCKING GORGEOUS.
I also ordered a copy of Brainiac's Bonsai Superstar from Half.com (out of print, and they had it for ten dollars) and downloaded Destroyer's City Of Daughters from Soulseek. There's also someone new on the iTunes network, from whom I stole a lot of stuff- Sonic Youth's Dirty reissue, The Television Personalities, Kraftwerk's Computer World, live Can, Gang Of Four, Magnetic Fields.
Most writing for the quarter is done. Oral presentation on Monday which I'll need to get some visuals for, but now I can focus my writing on that short story, which is still kind of stalled, but I need to finish it this week. And that seems doable.
Also upcoming: Spring Break, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Liars show.
Going to see Kill Bill again with Alex right fucking now.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
This is nerdy, but I guess I kind of already talked about it a few months ago. Pitchfork redid their best of the 90s list. At first, I thought this was bullshit. To a certain extent, I still do. But the second list is pretty much indisputably better. The first list was insane, just some of the most random records. The second list has more diversity, and as such, has more classics and less completely random records. The word "random" gets overused a lot, usually in the wrong context, but there's no other way to describe it.
The first list had such a narrow scope that most of the list had this quality of "maybe that's some great forgotten record." But more times than not, that was not the case. Looking at it now, it has more of this quality of "The Spinanes? Really?" I bought the Spinanes record in question on their recommendation, and it's good but generic. The new list... much better. Even though I might not really be feeling Illmatic, it seems like it should be on a best of the 1990s list, whereas, say, Heatmiser shouldn't. It's obviously not a perfect list, by any means. But for the second list, the individual lists are archived, which is really useful. You can really work out who's completely full of shit and not smart at all, (Chris Ott) and whose tastes align with yours. (Matt LeMay and Rob Mitchum both gave the number one slot to Neutral Milk Hotel, and even though Mitchum ranked both Pinkerton and a Braid record really high, that makes me trust both of them a lot for any recommendations in the future) On the new list, there's only one indie rock record that seems to come out of nowhere: Destroyer's City Of Daughters, but it turns out that's one that surfaces on the good writers' lists pretty much exclusively. It's out of print, but I'm working on getting it off Soulseek.
The old list also had Smart Went Crazy's Con Art on it, in the number 99 spot. I bought it. Didn't like it that much... There's some good lyrics, but it's really busy, and Now We're Even is a lot better... Now We're Even would probably be my pick for one of those great forgotten indie rock records of the decade, by my reckoning. It, too, is out of print.
Of course, now they have new writers whose tastes are unknown quantities.. One of whom reviewed the upcoming Beauty Pill record today. And according to him, its not very good. I have no idea. I'll have to pick it up, either when it comes out, or more likely, when I get back to Philadelphia. The review does mention that the record lacking harmonies is a waste, (as the band has two good singers, one male and one female, just like Smart Went Crazy, and when they used harmonies, it ruled) which I'm inclined to agree with.
The first list had such a narrow scope that most of the list had this quality of "maybe that's some great forgotten record." But more times than not, that was not the case. Looking at it now, it has more of this quality of "The Spinanes? Really?" I bought the Spinanes record in question on their recommendation, and it's good but generic. The new list... much better. Even though I might not really be feeling Illmatic, it seems like it should be on a best of the 1990s list, whereas, say, Heatmiser shouldn't. It's obviously not a perfect list, by any means. But for the second list, the individual lists are archived, which is really useful. You can really work out who's completely full of shit and not smart at all, (Chris Ott) and whose tastes align with yours. (Matt LeMay and Rob Mitchum both gave the number one slot to Neutral Milk Hotel, and even though Mitchum ranked both Pinkerton and a Braid record really high, that makes me trust both of them a lot for any recommendations in the future) On the new list, there's only one indie rock record that seems to come out of nowhere: Destroyer's City Of Daughters, but it turns out that's one that surfaces on the good writers' lists pretty much exclusively. It's out of print, but I'm working on getting it off Soulseek.
The old list also had Smart Went Crazy's Con Art on it, in the number 99 spot. I bought it. Didn't like it that much... There's some good lyrics, but it's really busy, and Now We're Even is a lot better... Now We're Even would probably be my pick for one of those great forgotten indie rock records of the decade, by my reckoning. It, too, is out of print.
Of course, now they have new writers whose tastes are unknown quantities.. One of whom reviewed the upcoming Beauty Pill record today. And according to him, its not very good. I have no idea. I'll have to pick it up, either when it comes out, or more likely, when I get back to Philadelphia. The review does mention that the record lacking harmonies is a waste, (as the band has two good singers, one male and one female, just like Smart Went Crazy, and when they used harmonies, it ruled) which I'm inclined to agree with.
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Next quarter's looking nice. Got my syllabus today. Books on it include White Noise, Catch-22, Nickel And Dimed, (interesting subject matter but apparently it sucks and is really condescending, but I don't mind having to read it) and a Studs Terkel book about race. Really looking forward to White Noise. I remarked that I really liked Catch-22, but think it's a bit tricky to read in a week, and someone attacked me. No, I liked the book a lot, and I'm not illiterate, but it's LONG.
I will probably not re-read it, so not much of an issue for me. I also have a copy already paid for, so that'll save me some money. A lot more novels next quarter, and a lot less books in general.
And that guy who attacked me, who also got pissed when I said I hated Huckleberry Finn and wasn't a fan of Twain in general? Not going to be in my seminar, it looks like. I'm also transferring back to a seminar with a better leader.
People who go to real colleges don't know what I mean when I say "seminar."
Downloaded the upcoming Mirah record, C'mon Miracle, off the internet. I don't think it's Phil Elvrum produced, and on the whole not as sonically interesting except for a few songs. Kind of a return to the more singer-songwriter stuff of You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This. Which I actually liked more than Advisory Committee, but that was mainly due to the songs being better. This new record only has 11 songs, and it seems maybe slightly more slickly produced, although that could just be these mp3s having a higher bitrate than the others. The songs on this one are okay. "Jerusalem" annoyed me... it was political. "Look Up!" is fairly noisy and probably my favorite on the record in terms of production. I'll listen to it more. My stance right now is that it's good but not great, and I think that Mirah could probably make a great record. I like her more than Phil Elvrum, as the songs are better. Not really a groundbreaking opinion there. I guess my groundbreaking opinion is that I don't think Cold Cold Water is the best shit she's ever done, I probably prefer the stuff from the first record... Cold Cold Water maybe too showy in the production, I like songs. The songs that are really good and tight but have the good noises at the periphery, as opposed to being the focus, are probably my favorite. This record does have a couple of those, (like The Light) but generally, most of the songs go the acoustic guitar/string instruments arrangement route. I also would've really liked it if this record had the diversity of the pop of songs like Don't from the Ragazza Bop comp and Oh! September off of the songs from the black mountain project. Just one to spice it up or lead the record off or something. Oh, and there's also the large possibility that I'm full of shit because I haven't listened to it enough. It turns out Jerusalem does have some cool sounds on it.
I really want that 3-disc Ennio Morricone box set.
I will probably not re-read it, so not much of an issue for me. I also have a copy already paid for, so that'll save me some money. A lot more novels next quarter, and a lot less books in general.
And that guy who attacked me, who also got pissed when I said I hated Huckleberry Finn and wasn't a fan of Twain in general? Not going to be in my seminar, it looks like. I'm also transferring back to a seminar with a better leader.
People who go to real colleges don't know what I mean when I say "seminar."
Downloaded the upcoming Mirah record, C'mon Miracle, off the internet. I don't think it's Phil Elvrum produced, and on the whole not as sonically interesting except for a few songs. Kind of a return to the more singer-songwriter stuff of You Think It's Like This But Really It's Like This. Which I actually liked more than Advisory Committee, but that was mainly due to the songs being better. This new record only has 11 songs, and it seems maybe slightly more slickly produced, although that could just be these mp3s having a higher bitrate than the others. The songs on this one are okay. "Jerusalem" annoyed me... it was political. "Look Up!" is fairly noisy and probably my favorite on the record in terms of production. I'll listen to it more. My stance right now is that it's good but not great, and I think that Mirah could probably make a great record. I like her more than Phil Elvrum, as the songs are better. Not really a groundbreaking opinion there. I guess my groundbreaking opinion is that I don't think Cold Cold Water is the best shit she's ever done, I probably prefer the stuff from the first record... Cold Cold Water maybe too showy in the production, I like songs. The songs that are really good and tight but have the good noises at the periphery, as opposed to being the focus, are probably my favorite. This record does have a couple of those, (like The Light) but generally, most of the songs go the acoustic guitar/string instruments arrangement route. I also would've really liked it if this record had the diversity of the pop of songs like Don't from the Ragazza Bop comp and Oh! September off of the songs from the black mountain project. Just one to spice it up or lead the record off or something. Oh, and there's also the large possibility that I'm full of shit because I haven't listened to it enough. It turns out Jerusalem does have some cool sounds on it.
I really want that 3-disc Ennio Morricone box set.
Saturday, February 28, 2004
Today I watched Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, and made a tracklist for a mix CD for my brother's birthday.
Also went to the Criterion website, and looked at some of their covers. They have some amazing designs. Here are the highlights of the search. It's a long list, but honestly, this stuff kicks ass. It might be my nerd-drive that leads me to compile such a list, but it's not the nerd-drive that makes me think this is cool, that's just me being smart.
Ingmar Bergman's Cries And Whispers.
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgisie is actually a movie I've seen, unlike most of the rest of this list.
Double Suicide.
Playtime.
Rififi is a movie that I really want to see.
Diary Of A Chambermaid, by Luis Bunuel, well-served by Criterion. I think all his movies had cover designs that made this list.
Withnail And I. This is Ralph Steadman art, but my brother says the actual movie is pretty much unwatchable.
How To Get Ahead In Advertising.
Day Of Wrath.
Bunuel's That Obscure Object Of Desire.
Spellbound, by Hitchcock with an animated dream sequence by Salvador Dali. I NEED TO SEE THIS.
Milos Forman's Loves Of A Blonde.
The Firemen's Ball. A cover featuring boobs, the color red, and an angled camera.
In The Mood For Love.
Ballad Of A Soldier. Does the high-contrast thing very nicely.
Hopscotch.
Tarkovsky's Solaris.
Man Bites Dog. This has implied baby-death.
Jarmusch's Down By Law.
Trouble In Paradise
Straw Dogs. I think this was actually the movie poster. If so, Sam Peckinpah is awesome. This is a nice little summary of the movie in so many ways. You can't tell about the woman-hating, but you get a lot of other stuff, like violence and nerdy sensitive dudes repressing violence. Good movie.
Stolen Kisses. One of a box set of covers featuring shirts.
Bed And Board. This is my favorite in the set.
Truffaut's 400 Blows. This is my least favorite, but is included for completion's sake, so you're all "hey, shirts."
The White Sheik, a Fellini film. Kind of a weak design, I suppose... Fellini wasn't served as nicely as Bergman or Bunuel.
Night And Fog
Indiscretion Of An American Wife & Terminal Station.
The Marriage Of Maria Braun.So begins a triology of women's faces. These made up a box set that had a cool cover that a large image link doesn't exist on the Criterion site.
Veronika Voss.
Lola.
The Pornographers has an awesome cover.
Ingmar Bergman's Through A Glass Darkly. This is just a black and white photograph, of two people. No reason I should like it, and yet I do.
Knife In The Water by Roman Polanski.
Le Cercle Rouge, this is one of my favorites.
Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. Who saw this and liked it? I'll probably watch it at some point, but I don't think I'm feeling the Cronenberg.
Ikiru, by Kurosawa.
Maitresse. Bondage imagery cover. Really cool.
Samuel Fuller's Pickup On South Street. Is anyone familar with Fuller?
Onibaba
Le Corbeau. This one's inky.
Salvatore Giuliano. Uses the black/white/grey and blood-red effect, but in a way that's not trite.
Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage.
3 Women, by Altman. Kind of an ethereal vibe, but this is one of the lesser designs to make my list.
Fritz Lang's The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse. I really like the dot-color effect, don't know what to call it. Unslick color printing effect, done in close-up, kind of like Roy Lichtenstein minus the commentary.
Floating Weeds. No idea what the movie's deal is. Japanese stuff, I'm thinking.
Kurosawa's Stray Dog.
The Tin Drum. I saw other alternate covers for this, and they were all pretty great.
Godard's Alphaville. Alphaville is both a band from the eighties, the name of a company involved in the production of Pootie Tang, and this, which seems much more accessible (read: sense-making, no long shots of car crashes) than Weekend, the only Godard I've seen as of this writing.
Flesh For Frankenstein. One of those movies that Warhol put his name on, a piece of crap movie that has a great cover, courtesy of the Criterion designers.
Diabolique. Not Danger: Diabolique, which influenced CQ (which I should see) this is instead a movie that Hitchcock says influenced Psycho.
Peter Brook's Lord Of The Flies.
The Red Shoes. I like this, maybe that's surprising to some people. I probably wouldn't like the movie, but that's true for a lot of Criterion. I am not arty. This doesn't seem that arty or what have you, just probably not my style. Although, if I were to see it at the library, I might rent it, due to Criterion's branding of my brain. I'd probably watch most Criterion's that aren't Michael Bay (The Rock and Armageddon both have Criterion editions, which is weird.)
Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. I should read that.
Charade, what I believe to be a spy movie starring Audrey Hepburn. So yeah, spy movie, Audrey Hepburn, brings a certain image to mind of hip mod stuff, which this lives up to and exemplifies. It's slick in the best kind of way, you know? The movie probably isn't as slick- spy movies never really are as cool as they seem like they should be.
Peeping Tom.
Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute.
...And God Created Woman. There are a couple of covers that mine the whole painted pulp aesthetic, but this is probably the best.
Pygmalion. Really pretty cover, no violent overtones or weirdness like a lot of my favorites.
This is for a movie called Good Morning, which I'm not familiar with in the slightest. This is just a very nice slick cover.
FIEND WITHOUT A FACE.
This is for Gimme Shelter, probably one of the weaker inclusions on this list.
Fear And Loathing.
Notorious.
Also went to the Criterion website, and looked at some of their covers. They have some amazing designs. Here are the highlights of the search. It's a long list, but honestly, this stuff kicks ass. It might be my nerd-drive that leads me to compile such a list, but it's not the nerd-drive that makes me think this is cool, that's just me being smart.
Ingmar Bergman's Cries And Whispers.
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgisie is actually a movie I've seen, unlike most of the rest of this list.
Double Suicide.
Playtime.
Rififi is a movie that I really want to see.
Diary Of A Chambermaid, by Luis Bunuel, well-served by Criterion. I think all his movies had cover designs that made this list.
Withnail And I. This is Ralph Steadman art, but my brother says the actual movie is pretty much unwatchable.
How To Get Ahead In Advertising.
Day Of Wrath.
Bunuel's That Obscure Object Of Desire.
Spellbound, by Hitchcock with an animated dream sequence by Salvador Dali. I NEED TO SEE THIS.
Milos Forman's Loves Of A Blonde.
The Firemen's Ball. A cover featuring boobs, the color red, and an angled camera.
In The Mood For Love.
Ballad Of A Soldier. Does the high-contrast thing very nicely.
Hopscotch.
Tarkovsky's Solaris.
Man Bites Dog. This has implied baby-death.
Jarmusch's Down By Law.
Trouble In Paradise
Straw Dogs. I think this was actually the movie poster. If so, Sam Peckinpah is awesome. This is a nice little summary of the movie in so many ways. You can't tell about the woman-hating, but you get a lot of other stuff, like violence and nerdy sensitive dudes repressing violence. Good movie.
Stolen Kisses. One of a box set of covers featuring shirts.
Bed And Board. This is my favorite in the set.
Truffaut's 400 Blows. This is my least favorite, but is included for completion's sake, so you're all "hey, shirts."
The White Sheik, a Fellini film. Kind of a weak design, I suppose... Fellini wasn't served as nicely as Bergman or Bunuel.
Night And Fog
Indiscretion Of An American Wife & Terminal Station.
The Marriage Of Maria Braun.So begins a triology of women's faces. These made up a box set that had a cool cover that a large image link doesn't exist on the Criterion site.
Veronika Voss.
Lola.
The Pornographers has an awesome cover.
Ingmar Bergman's Through A Glass Darkly. This is just a black and white photograph, of two people. No reason I should like it, and yet I do.
Knife In The Water by Roman Polanski.
Le Cercle Rouge, this is one of my favorites.
Cronenberg's Naked Lunch. Who saw this and liked it? I'll probably watch it at some point, but I don't think I'm feeling the Cronenberg.
Ikiru, by Kurosawa.
Maitresse. Bondage imagery cover. Really cool.
Samuel Fuller's Pickup On South Street. Is anyone familar with Fuller?
Onibaba
Le Corbeau. This one's inky.
Salvatore Giuliano. Uses the black/white/grey and blood-red effect, but in a way that's not trite.
Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From A Marriage.
3 Women, by Altman. Kind of an ethereal vibe, but this is one of the lesser designs to make my list.
Fritz Lang's The Testament Of Dr. Mabuse. I really like the dot-color effect, don't know what to call it. Unslick color printing effect, done in close-up, kind of like Roy Lichtenstein minus the commentary.
Floating Weeds. No idea what the movie's deal is. Japanese stuff, I'm thinking.
Kurosawa's Stray Dog.
The Tin Drum. I saw other alternate covers for this, and they were all pretty great.
Godard's Alphaville. Alphaville is both a band from the eighties, the name of a company involved in the production of Pootie Tang, and this, which seems much more accessible (read: sense-making, no long shots of car crashes) than Weekend, the only Godard I've seen as of this writing.
Flesh For Frankenstein. One of those movies that Warhol put his name on, a piece of crap movie that has a great cover, courtesy of the Criterion designers.
Diabolique. Not Danger: Diabolique, which influenced CQ (which I should see) this is instead a movie that Hitchcock says influenced Psycho.
Peter Brook's Lord Of The Flies.
The Red Shoes. I like this, maybe that's surprising to some people. I probably wouldn't like the movie, but that's true for a lot of Criterion. I am not arty. This doesn't seem that arty or what have you, just probably not my style. Although, if I were to see it at the library, I might rent it, due to Criterion's branding of my brain. I'd probably watch most Criterion's that aren't Michael Bay (The Rock and Armageddon both have Criterion editions, which is weird.)
Terry Gilliam's Brazil.
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. I should read that.
Charade, what I believe to be a spy movie starring Audrey Hepburn. So yeah, spy movie, Audrey Hepburn, brings a certain image to mind of hip mod stuff, which this lives up to and exemplifies. It's slick in the best kind of way, you know? The movie probably isn't as slick- spy movies never really are as cool as they seem like they should be.
Peeping Tom.
Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute.
...And God Created Woman. There are a couple of covers that mine the whole painted pulp aesthetic, but this is probably the best.
Pygmalion. Really pretty cover, no violent overtones or weirdness like a lot of my favorites.
This is for a movie called Good Morning, which I'm not familiar with in the slightest. This is just a very nice slick cover.
FIEND WITHOUT A FACE.
This is for Gimme Shelter, probably one of the weaker inclusions on this list.
Fear And Loathing.
Notorious.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
For the time being, here's the sweetest/nerdiest thing ever. After a couple of days it might be gone or down further or something. But for now, it's near the top of that page.
Brian
Brian
So today was my last official day of radio station training. So I brought the laptop in my backpack for one last heist, which sadly was not to be.
Come back to my dorm, turn on the computer. Now I find that sometimes when I play music, it has this kind of distorted skipping.
Also: computer takes a while to boot up. Sometimes blue screens come up that talk about Windows... I don't know what. Let's just say "smoking crack with Satan". And that I can fix this by uninstalling any new hardware or software. There is no new hardware or software.
I went to the college sound and image library, as I am writing a paper on 1950s American cinema. (probably going to be focused on the idea of auteur theory being put forth in Cahiers Du Cinema at this point, overseas) But I don't know shit about 1950s American cinema. I watched North By Northwest once. So I decided to see what the library had in the way of selection. Because I like movies and the research thing was a flimsy premise, I picked up All About My Mother. I also picked up Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, which is from the fifties, but Swedish. My uselessness knows no bounds.
So, I start to wonder if the audio troubles will effect the DVD. But then I look in My Computer and see that my CD-rom/DVD/CD-RW drive is no longer showing up, as if it had been uninstalled.
So I call technical support. Lots of shit later, they realize I need to physically remove the CD drive, then put it back.
I find a phillips-head screwdriver, courtesy of a guy who overheard me talking after he had gone to bed, but before he fell asleep.
I get one screw out. Turns out it was the wrong screw, this one was for the modem. I get out the other screw, for the CD. There's a second screw to be dealt with, marked with an O. If you have an Inspiron 5100, turn your computer upside down and see that which is labeled with an O. It's a hole. A hole which apparently leads to a screw, but I couldn't reach, even with THE SMALLEST PHILLIPS-HEAD EVER.
So it's been put on hold. I guess I'm going to watch these movies somewhere else tomorrow. Should be fun times. But the distorted audio is a bitch.
I can still get online and use AIM, and write papers and stuff. I'm thinking that the reason for the computer taking so long to boot up is due to the CD fuckups, and maybe the CD part that's fucking up is close to the soundcard, which maybe makes sense. I don't know anything.
Actually, no, there are things I know, and these things make me feel insecure and shitty. Like that technical support/customer service people HATE YOU. I've heard this so many times- all they want is for you to get off the phone.
So there's that bit of insecurity, and that's on top of me talking about how I have a crazy screwdriver and don't know where anything is.
There's also the part- this is racist- that is worried by the accent on the phone. Sorry. I think I just want Technical Support people to be TERRIBLE. Like voices you can hear that they're overweight. Where they make bad awkward jokes and are the worst people ever. That's what I want out of technical support. It's a white male stereotype. I totally prefer the person I was talking to as a human being. But for confidence? There is nothing like Technical Support that seems like the most socially-inept human being on the planet.
Come back to my dorm, turn on the computer. Now I find that sometimes when I play music, it has this kind of distorted skipping.
Also: computer takes a while to boot up. Sometimes blue screens come up that talk about Windows... I don't know what. Let's just say "smoking crack with Satan". And that I can fix this by uninstalling any new hardware or software. There is no new hardware or software.
I went to the college sound and image library, as I am writing a paper on 1950s American cinema. (probably going to be focused on the idea of auteur theory being put forth in Cahiers Du Cinema at this point, overseas) But I don't know shit about 1950s American cinema. I watched North By Northwest once. So I decided to see what the library had in the way of selection. Because I like movies and the research thing was a flimsy premise, I picked up All About My Mother. I also picked up Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, which is from the fifties, but Swedish. My uselessness knows no bounds.
So, I start to wonder if the audio troubles will effect the DVD. But then I look in My Computer and see that my CD-rom/DVD/CD-RW drive is no longer showing up, as if it had been uninstalled.
So I call technical support. Lots of shit later, they realize I need to physically remove the CD drive, then put it back.
I find a phillips-head screwdriver, courtesy of a guy who overheard me talking after he had gone to bed, but before he fell asleep.
I get one screw out. Turns out it was the wrong screw, this one was for the modem. I get out the other screw, for the CD. There's a second screw to be dealt with, marked with an O. If you have an Inspiron 5100, turn your computer upside down and see that which is labeled with an O. It's a hole. A hole which apparently leads to a screw, but I couldn't reach, even with THE SMALLEST PHILLIPS-HEAD EVER.
So it's been put on hold. I guess I'm going to watch these movies somewhere else tomorrow. Should be fun times. But the distorted audio is a bitch.
I can still get online and use AIM, and write papers and stuff. I'm thinking that the reason for the computer taking so long to boot up is due to the CD fuckups, and maybe the CD part that's fucking up is close to the soundcard, which maybe makes sense. I don't know anything.
Actually, no, there are things I know, and these things make me feel insecure and shitty. Like that technical support/customer service people HATE YOU. I've heard this so many times- all they want is for you to get off the phone.
So there's that bit of insecurity, and that's on top of me talking about how I have a crazy screwdriver and don't know where anything is.
There's also the part- this is racist- that is worried by the accent on the phone. Sorry. I think I just want Technical Support people to be TERRIBLE. Like voices you can hear that they're overweight. Where they make bad awkward jokes and are the worst people ever. That's what I want out of technical support. It's a white male stereotype. I totally prefer the person I was talking to as a human being. But for confidence? There is nothing like Technical Support that seems like the most socially-inept human being on the planet.
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Hey, just saw Deerhoof live. Other bands played as well. All were pretty good, but the audience pissed me the fuck off.
On the bus, there were some loud, annoying people. I'm always afraid I'm one of the loud annoying people, but no, I'm not. The annoying bus people are always young and female. Or just fucking insane/mentally handicapped. But these were of the young female variety.
The bus driver told them to be quiet. Then they made SSSHHHing sounds at loud volumes, out of spite. They were then told to stop doing this.
Can you guess what they did?
Can you?
Think: What would someone that's twelve do? Yeah, in the minutes before getting off the bus, they said words with Sh sounds, and emphasized those aspects. Like SSSSHHHit. Clever.
The bus driver told them not to ride the bus. That bus driver was awesome. She asked if they went to the college, I told them they did not. Other reports later reported otherwise.
Anyway, these people. I was afraid they were going to the concert. Alex insisted that, yeah, they were, because they were people dying for attention, and as such, they were hipsters.
We walked in to the venue and didn't see them. Alex made a joke about the hipsters stopping off at Old School Pizza before the show. They showed up a few minutes later, and the Old School explanation is probably true.
When Old Time Relijun started, they got to the front of the stage and started the dancing. The herd mentality spread. I wanted in on the action, but goddammit, those bus people ruined fun for me. I also heard that the lead singer of Old Time Relijun (ex-Evergreen) posed nude for some art class last quarter. He also apparently gets naked at shows on occasion. He didn't do that at this show though. He remained dressed in a suit, like some kind of nice guy Nick Cave. Other obnoxious things done by the bus girls: smashing Arrington in the mouth with a microphone and playing with the lights in between sets while some beat-oriented electronic music played.
I decided I wanted to be in the shit for Deerhoof though. I think I was standing next to three people from Sub Pop, who stood like statues at first, but they later caused much of the pushing-around dancing. There was a lot of pushing around type dancing. For a while, I was in the shit and the other people became like a corset for my ribs. We fought for oxygen, like we will all have to do in the terrordomes of 2028. Still kind of a good time. I really wanted to punch the one Sub Pop guy. If it happened in the heat of crazy borderline-mosh action, it would've been perfect. But it was not to be. So the bus girls didn't ruin Deerhoof for me. The drummer for Deerhoof is fucking cool, and the singer's pretty awesome as well. Part of me hopes they get that Sub Pop money, part of me likes thinking that Kill Rock Stars isn't run by assholes. But it could be, I don't know. I'm not even sure the Sub Pop people were that bad... Just kind of in love with themselves, I'm thinking, and too much goddamn muscle mass to be standing in the thick of it when the kids start spazzing out.
Also saw Parenthetical Girls, who I saw do a radio show performance a few weeks back. I knew most of their songs. I guess they're okay.
Bought the new Deerhoof record. (not out yet!) Haven't listened yet, as Alex is going to rip it and put it on the network for all.
After Parenthetical Girls but before Old Time Relijun were Le Ton Mite. Who weren't a band, per se. They did this kind of musical performance art comedy thing. THAT WAS BAD.
Saw a lot of people I know. Three people from class who I didn't know were going, and others who were friends of friends etc. And some acquaintances I've met. And people from the floor above me who I didn't know existed.
But yeah: see Deerhoof if the chance presents itself. See Old Time Relijun in places not Olympia, because in Olympia, all the assholes will come out. If you don't have any kind of contact with them, you'll have fun.
On the bus, there were some loud, annoying people. I'm always afraid I'm one of the loud annoying people, but no, I'm not. The annoying bus people are always young and female. Or just fucking insane/mentally handicapped. But these were of the young female variety.
The bus driver told them to be quiet. Then they made SSSHHHing sounds at loud volumes, out of spite. They were then told to stop doing this.
Can you guess what they did?
Can you?
Think: What would someone that's twelve do? Yeah, in the minutes before getting off the bus, they said words with Sh sounds, and emphasized those aspects. Like SSSSHHHit. Clever.
The bus driver told them not to ride the bus. That bus driver was awesome. She asked if they went to the college, I told them they did not. Other reports later reported otherwise.
Anyway, these people. I was afraid they were going to the concert. Alex insisted that, yeah, they were, because they were people dying for attention, and as such, they were hipsters.
We walked in to the venue and didn't see them. Alex made a joke about the hipsters stopping off at Old School Pizza before the show. They showed up a few minutes later, and the Old School explanation is probably true.
When Old Time Relijun started, they got to the front of the stage and started the dancing. The herd mentality spread. I wanted in on the action, but goddammit, those bus people ruined fun for me. I also heard that the lead singer of Old Time Relijun (ex-Evergreen) posed nude for some art class last quarter. He also apparently gets naked at shows on occasion. He didn't do that at this show though. He remained dressed in a suit, like some kind of nice guy Nick Cave. Other obnoxious things done by the bus girls: smashing Arrington in the mouth with a microphone and playing with the lights in between sets while some beat-oriented electronic music played.
I decided I wanted to be in the shit for Deerhoof though. I think I was standing next to three people from Sub Pop, who stood like statues at first, but they later caused much of the pushing-around dancing. There was a lot of pushing around type dancing. For a while, I was in the shit and the other people became like a corset for my ribs. We fought for oxygen, like we will all have to do in the terrordomes of 2028. Still kind of a good time. I really wanted to punch the one Sub Pop guy. If it happened in the heat of crazy borderline-mosh action, it would've been perfect. But it was not to be. So the bus girls didn't ruin Deerhoof for me. The drummer for Deerhoof is fucking cool, and the singer's pretty awesome as well. Part of me hopes they get that Sub Pop money, part of me likes thinking that Kill Rock Stars isn't run by assholes. But it could be, I don't know. I'm not even sure the Sub Pop people were that bad... Just kind of in love with themselves, I'm thinking, and too much goddamn muscle mass to be standing in the thick of it when the kids start spazzing out.
Also saw Parenthetical Girls, who I saw do a radio show performance a few weeks back. I knew most of their songs. I guess they're okay.
Bought the new Deerhoof record. (not out yet!) Haven't listened yet, as Alex is going to rip it and put it on the network for all.
After Parenthetical Girls but before Old Time Relijun were Le Ton Mite. Who weren't a band, per se. They did this kind of musical performance art comedy thing. THAT WAS BAD.
Saw a lot of people I know. Three people from class who I didn't know were going, and others who were friends of friends etc. And some acquaintances I've met. And people from the floor above me who I didn't know existed.
But yeah: see Deerhoof if the chance presents itself. See Old Time Relijun in places not Olympia, because in Olympia, all the assholes will come out. If you don't have any kind of contact with them, you'll have fun.
Friday, February 20, 2004
Yeah, some mail. Got some stale cookies from home, courtesy of UPS, given to me as I came out of the shower. I was wearing a towel and the UPS guy was doing some kind of "funny" conversation with me, about how it was from my mom and dad, and how it was only to be delivered if I had an A+ average.
We don't have grades at my hippie college, but that's not the point. The point is, I was in a towel. And he chose to make it more awkward by talking.
I really want to skew this like he was hitting on me. Which wasn't the reality at all, but seriously, is a funny scenario. Black UPS guy, me a college kid in a towel, all wet from the shower, and him making fun conversation to stick around as opposed to just being all "sign here."
I also got Unlikely, which I talked about a few days ago, before I'd read it. It's OK, not a comedy so much but enjoyable for what it is. I think other people would dig it more than I did. Here's the pitch again- autobiographical comic telling the story of this dude's relationship, that resulted in him losing his virginity at the age of 24, and the same relationship's dissolution.
So this movie Secret Things is receiving positive reviews but it seems very porn. Like, very porn. Granted, a lot of movies get reviewed in such a way as to make them seem porn, but I don't think that's the case with this film. I kind of want to see it, but you know how it is with movies that seem super-porn but are actually arty. Watching them seems like a dodgy proposition.
This story I'm writing which now has a deadline and I got some writing done on it the other day? Stalled again, after I did another one of my either brilliant or a cop-out writing things. I also wrote about my idea that old men should smoke pipes. I've already covered my anti-bumper sticker stance. What do I have after that? I've got nothing.
Well, I have a plot, with a climax in mind. Which is actually a lot- I don't have that for that story Shoppe. But getting to that ending. I need a lot more middle, and a lot less bullshit to avoid having a middle.
Just realized that some major plot elements contradict each other in terms of themes. The main thrust of the story- alienation. The world at large is overpopulated. But the character is in a place where most people have left for the time being.
Shit.
In terms of plot, it doesn't really matter. (Although there might be a logic hole.) In terms of having a strong theme, I don't know what I'm talking about.
Oh wait... yes I do. Because when the character is in places with lots of people, the loneliness remains, and it's coupled with fear, hence creating more alienation.
I totally do know what I'm talking about, and I'm not full of shit at all.
We don't have grades at my hippie college, but that's not the point. The point is, I was in a towel. And he chose to make it more awkward by talking.
I really want to skew this like he was hitting on me. Which wasn't the reality at all, but seriously, is a funny scenario. Black UPS guy, me a college kid in a towel, all wet from the shower, and him making fun conversation to stick around as opposed to just being all "sign here."
I also got Unlikely, which I talked about a few days ago, before I'd read it. It's OK, not a comedy so much but enjoyable for what it is. I think other people would dig it more than I did. Here's the pitch again- autobiographical comic telling the story of this dude's relationship, that resulted in him losing his virginity at the age of 24, and the same relationship's dissolution.
So this movie Secret Things is receiving positive reviews but it seems very porn. Like, very porn. Granted, a lot of movies get reviewed in such a way as to make them seem porn, but I don't think that's the case with this film. I kind of want to see it, but you know how it is with movies that seem super-porn but are actually arty. Watching them seems like a dodgy proposition.
This story I'm writing which now has a deadline and I got some writing done on it the other day? Stalled again, after I did another one of my either brilliant or a cop-out writing things. I also wrote about my idea that old men should smoke pipes. I've already covered my anti-bumper sticker stance. What do I have after that? I've got nothing.
Well, I have a plot, with a climax in mind. Which is actually a lot- I don't have that for that story Shoppe. But getting to that ending. I need a lot more middle, and a lot less bullshit to avoid having a middle.
Just realized that some major plot elements contradict each other in terms of themes. The main thrust of the story- alienation. The world at large is overpopulated. But the character is in a place where most people have left for the time being.
Shit.
In terms of plot, it doesn't really matter. (Although there might be a logic hole.) In terms of having a strong theme, I don't know what I'm talking about.
Oh wait... yes I do. Because when the character is in places with lots of people, the loneliness remains, and it's coupled with fear, hence creating more alienation.
I totally do know what I'm talking about, and I'm not full of shit at all.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
I'm excited again. That Brainiac record showed up in the mail today, showed up early, and it's quite good indeed. I thought I was getting a care package in the mail, but maybe that'll come tomorrow, which is also the last day of the radio station training bit. I also go into the radio station record library with my laptop in my bookbag and rip CDs. So that's a fun time, although I'm not particularly excited for it. I like the idea of finishing up the training, even though it's far from the worst thing ever. Tomorrow I'm also going to go to Grocery Outlet and buy Pop Tarts, which is also not a cause for excitement.
What is a cause for excitement, at least for me, not for any of you, is this: McSweeney's is having a contest, which one of the stories I've been working on meets the criteria for. I probably won't win. Which is not to say that you should enter, because you shouldn't. But the possibility of winning is an invigorating one, to say the least. It invigorated me to write several more paragraphs of that story in question, which had been stalled. So for that alone, it's a good thing. That it's also given the story more of a slant towards the clever, away from the nihilistic/transgressive vein I'm afraid of falling into, is also a good thing.
What is a cause for excitement, at least for me, not for any of you, is this: McSweeney's is having a contest, which one of the stories I've been working on meets the criteria for. I probably won't win. Which is not to say that you should enter, because you shouldn't. But the possibility of winning is an invigorating one, to say the least. It invigorated me to write several more paragraphs of that story in question, which had been stalled. So for that alone, it's a good thing. That it's also given the story more of a slant towards the clever, away from the nihilistic/transgressive vein I'm afraid of falling into, is also a good thing.
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
Oh, forgot to mention this in my last post, that was all of ten minutes ago. Probably. Not feeling the math.
Anyway, yeah, I'm going to talk about comics, so like one person (Jason) cares, but I'm going to fill it with information so everybody can play along at home.
I finished reading From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell today. Other people think it's a masterpiece. I was reminded a lot of Brian Bendis' Torso. Which really isn't fair to either, but seriously: A lot of similarities. From Hell is probably better. But since you read Torso already, you'd probably have the same problems I did. I haven't made it through the appendixes yet. From Hell is "good." There's nothing wrong with it, unless you've seen similar shit before. It's kind of like when I was watching L.A. Confidential and realized I've seen too fucking many neo-noir movies, and nothing can surprise me. Only Torso and From Hell are two things. Two graphic novels in an under-represented genre. To my knowledge, these are the only English-language, exhaustively researched, comics about serial killers. And there's a lot of overlap.
On the good side: I guess my copy of Torso got kind of fucked up by rainwater, so it's like I replaced it with From Hell, which is better.
Be A Man by Jeffrey Brown is a pretty fun little humor comic. I can't think of anything that really reminds me of it a lot. I'm going to talk about that, as it was the best comic I've read for awhile. Unlike From Hell, it's not "good." But it's funny. So that really lets me neglect a lot. Because that's how it fucking should be: If something is trying to be funny, and it is, that's really all that matters.
Jeffrey Brown did some comics. They are all autobiographical, they are all very sensitive, because Jeffrey Brown is a sensitive guy. Two are in print from Top Shelf. One's called Unlikely, and it's about him losing his virginity. I ordered it from Amazon after reading Be A Man, even though, as I will get into soon, it's completely different. His other comic's called Clumsy, and it's about a long-distance relationship falling apart. Both feature lots of crying, or so I'm told.
Be A Man is a scene-specific parody of Clumsy, replacing the sensitive boy bits of what really happened with over-the-top male chauvinism that didn't. And it's funny, because male chauvinism is funny to me (When it's fictional. Maybe I needed that caveat, but probably not). Totally obnoxious and tongue-in-cheek, some might say in bad taste, but fuck those people, I don't know those people. Weirdly enough: I didn't read Clumsy. I didn't even know it was so scene-specific until a second reading. Because I wasn't familar, I just saw that obnoxiousness, and I laughed at it. If I had read Clumsy, it might've been funnier. But it was pretty damn funny as is.
There's also the chance that I could read Clumsy and hate it, and then end up hating Be A Man by extension. I don't know. I just know what I think is funny, and Be A Man has some shit in it that I thought was funny.
Anyway, I'm probably going to read Clumsy at some point. And I'm going to be reading Unlikely in the near future, as soon as I receive it, from that dude I bought it off of used from Amazon. I'm thinking this Jeffrey Brown fellow has the talent.
Also, speaking of Amazon: Ordered stuff from them for the first time last week. Used stuff, which probably wasn't the best idea, but whatever. In addition to Unlikely, I ordered Hissing Prigs In Static Couture by Brainiac. All I've heard from Brainiac is the Electro-Shock For President EP, which is pretty cool. Due to the wonders of music criticism, I'm excited about Brainiac. I can't think of any other band whose music I'm excited to hear. This is what I like about music criticism, the contagious enthusiasm aspect. I'm psyched on Brainiac partly because Enon are really good, and partly due to their placement on certain individual Pitchfork writers' top 100 records of the 1990s lists. And other stuff I've heard elsewhere. About them, not by them. Like The Dismemberment Plan apparently totally ripped off Brainiac. All of these things are encouraging.
I'm excited to hear it, which seems like it disproves what I wrote in the last entry. But no: being excited anticipating something which could disappoint and being excited about something once it happens and is awesome are two different things. The former keeps you going in anticipation, the latter invigorates you until the next great thing comes along.
I write "I hope that made sense" a lot in this, but that last thing I know made sense. Maybe you didn't get it, but that is your fault instead of mine. Retard.
Anyway, yeah, I'm going to talk about comics, so like one person (Jason) cares, but I'm going to fill it with information so everybody can play along at home.
I finished reading From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell today. Other people think it's a masterpiece. I was reminded a lot of Brian Bendis' Torso. Which really isn't fair to either, but seriously: A lot of similarities. From Hell is probably better. But since you read Torso already, you'd probably have the same problems I did. I haven't made it through the appendixes yet. From Hell is "good." There's nothing wrong with it, unless you've seen similar shit before. It's kind of like when I was watching L.A. Confidential and realized I've seen too fucking many neo-noir movies, and nothing can surprise me. Only Torso and From Hell are two things. Two graphic novels in an under-represented genre. To my knowledge, these are the only English-language, exhaustively researched, comics about serial killers. And there's a lot of overlap.
On the good side: I guess my copy of Torso got kind of fucked up by rainwater, so it's like I replaced it with From Hell, which is better.
Be A Man by Jeffrey Brown is a pretty fun little humor comic. I can't think of anything that really reminds me of it a lot. I'm going to talk about that, as it was the best comic I've read for awhile. Unlike From Hell, it's not "good." But it's funny. So that really lets me neglect a lot. Because that's how it fucking should be: If something is trying to be funny, and it is, that's really all that matters.
Jeffrey Brown did some comics. They are all autobiographical, they are all very sensitive, because Jeffrey Brown is a sensitive guy. Two are in print from Top Shelf. One's called Unlikely, and it's about him losing his virginity. I ordered it from Amazon after reading Be A Man, even though, as I will get into soon, it's completely different. His other comic's called Clumsy, and it's about a long-distance relationship falling apart. Both feature lots of crying, or so I'm told.
Be A Man is a scene-specific parody of Clumsy, replacing the sensitive boy bits of what really happened with over-the-top male chauvinism that didn't. And it's funny, because male chauvinism is funny to me (When it's fictional. Maybe I needed that caveat, but probably not). Totally obnoxious and tongue-in-cheek, some might say in bad taste, but fuck those people, I don't know those people. Weirdly enough: I didn't read Clumsy. I didn't even know it was so scene-specific until a second reading. Because I wasn't familar, I just saw that obnoxiousness, and I laughed at it. If I had read Clumsy, it might've been funnier. But it was pretty damn funny as is.
There's also the chance that I could read Clumsy and hate it, and then end up hating Be A Man by extension. I don't know. I just know what I think is funny, and Be A Man has some shit in it that I thought was funny.
Anyway, I'm probably going to read Clumsy at some point. And I'm going to be reading Unlikely in the near future, as soon as I receive it, from that dude I bought it off of used from Amazon. I'm thinking this Jeffrey Brown fellow has the talent.
Also, speaking of Amazon: Ordered stuff from them for the first time last week. Used stuff, which probably wasn't the best idea, but whatever. In addition to Unlikely, I ordered Hissing Prigs In Static Couture by Brainiac. All I've heard from Brainiac is the Electro-Shock For President EP, which is pretty cool. Due to the wonders of music criticism, I'm excited about Brainiac. I can't think of any other band whose music I'm excited to hear. This is what I like about music criticism, the contagious enthusiasm aspect. I'm psyched on Brainiac partly because Enon are really good, and partly due to their placement on certain individual Pitchfork writers' top 100 records of the 1990s lists. And other stuff I've heard elsewhere. About them, not by them. Like The Dismemberment Plan apparently totally ripped off Brainiac. All of these things are encouraging.
I'm excited to hear it, which seems like it disproves what I wrote in the last entry. But no: being excited anticipating something which could disappoint and being excited about something once it happens and is awesome are two different things. The former keeps you going in anticipation, the latter invigorates you until the next great thing comes along.
I write "I hope that made sense" a lot in this, but that last thing I know made sense. Maybe you didn't get it, but that is your fault instead of mine. Retard.
Feeling like I should write in this, but nothing to say. I feel like I should say that I'm sad or something, but, no, I'm not. I'm not excited for anything, haven't been for awhile. It's not like I'm content with that, like I realize that there are times when nothing seems to happen and there's nothing to be excited about.
I do realize that, but that's not why I'm not sad.
Hoping that made sense.
Other stuff: Someone thinks I'm gay. I should really do something about that.
Our school newspaper comics page is fucking terrible. I did something, which has its moments, but all that is wrong with all of the comics in the paper is wrong with my comic as well. It's poorly drawn, too much of that wackiness/misanthropy, too self-satisfied. The only difference is that mine is being made from someone who is funny, it just doesn't come through in the comic. I want to put something in the paper, on the comics page, that's GOOD. Like, really good, like art, with thought put into it and stuff. What I did is mental diahrrea, and I find my shits more interesting to look at then other people, but- what I did is really inherently disposable. Really "don't give it a second thought." Which is both ideal for the school newspaper and bad for me as someone trying to create something good and worthwhile. So, people at the school: Don't think of me when you see it. Just view it in the context of the paper in which it appears. It will be better. Just not that much better. I'm not proud of it.
Other things I'm not proud of: I laid down some rap thing I crapped out on Alex's computer. He's trying to make an interesting backing around it. Weirdly enough, despite me being so music-asshole-guy, I was somehow able to create outsider art. Apparently, I have no cadence at all. The beat is really fucked up, no groove at all. Much like the comic strip, totally disposable and weird and not very good. Outsider art. All logic suggests I shouldn't be able to create it. And yet, I did. It's almost a miracle but because of the logic, no one's going to view it as outsider art, everyone's just going to look at it as shit.
Looking back at this, it comes off sadder than I intended. When in reality I just feel ambivalent. It's like when someone selling you food tells you to smile, don't look so sad, and you were just doing your default facial expression.
This happens to me frequently.
I do realize that, but that's not why I'm not sad.
Hoping that made sense.
Other stuff: Someone thinks I'm gay. I should really do something about that.
Our school newspaper comics page is fucking terrible. I did something, which has its moments, but all that is wrong with all of the comics in the paper is wrong with my comic as well. It's poorly drawn, too much of that wackiness/misanthropy, too self-satisfied. The only difference is that mine is being made from someone who is funny, it just doesn't come through in the comic. I want to put something in the paper, on the comics page, that's GOOD. Like, really good, like art, with thought put into it and stuff. What I did is mental diahrrea, and I find my shits more interesting to look at then other people, but- what I did is really inherently disposable. Really "don't give it a second thought." Which is both ideal for the school newspaper and bad for me as someone trying to create something good and worthwhile. So, people at the school: Don't think of me when you see it. Just view it in the context of the paper in which it appears. It will be better. Just not that much better. I'm not proud of it.
Other things I'm not proud of: I laid down some rap thing I crapped out on Alex's computer. He's trying to make an interesting backing around it. Weirdly enough, despite me being so music-asshole-guy, I was somehow able to create outsider art. Apparently, I have no cadence at all. The beat is really fucked up, no groove at all. Much like the comic strip, totally disposable and weird and not very good. Outsider art. All logic suggests I shouldn't be able to create it. And yet, I did. It's almost a miracle but because of the logic, no one's going to view it as outsider art, everyone's just going to look at it as shit.
Looking back at this, it comes off sadder than I intended. When in reality I just feel ambivalent. It's like when someone selling you food tells you to smile, don't look so sad, and you were just doing your default facial expression.
This happens to me frequently.
Friday, February 13, 2004
So old friend Diana posted a link to this here blog in her away message, so there's a chance of influx of new people reading this. I don't mind if these people like me, and find me hilarious when being hilarious is my goal. For them: the hilarious post was the one on Wednesday. Others might just find this hilarious on a completely different set of terms, one of laughing at me and my self-important blogging ass. For those people, I say: I don't want to entertain you. Luckily, I tend to write in this weird impenetrable cloud of references to comics people haven't read, music people don't listen to, and movies people don't give two shits about. And last time, Kids In The Hall. But still, you know, that's me being obscure, let me instead be clear.
To the new people I dislike: I fucking hate you.
To the other people who read this, who know that I'm not always going for the funny, I present you with this, taken from Salon.com, posted here because you shouldn't have to do the Day Pass bullshit and look at the ads for something that originally was on a politician's website, where it could have been viewed without effort.
Editor's note, from Salon.com: Following is the full text of remarks prepared for delivery on the Senate floor by Zell Miller, D-Ga. The remarks originally appeared on Miller's Web site on Feb. 12.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The Old Testament prophet Amos was a sheepherder who lived back in the Judean hills, away from the larger cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Compared to the intellectual urbanites like Isaiah and Jeremiah, he was just an unsophisticated country hick.
But Amos had a unique grasp of political and social issues, and his poetic literary skill was among the best of all the prophets. That familiar quote of Martin Luther King Jr. about "Justice will rush down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream" are Amos' words.
Amos was the first to propose the concept of a universal God and not just some tribal deity. He also wrote that God demanded moral purity, not rituals and sacrifices. This blunt-speaking moral conscience of his time warns in Chapter 8, verse 11, of the Book of Amos, as if he were speaking to us today:
That "the days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.
"And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."
"A famine in the land." Has anyone more accurately described the situation we face in America today? "A famine of hearing the words of the Lord."
But some will say, Amos was just an Old Testament prophet -- a minor one at that -- who lived 700 years before Christ. That is true, so how about one of the most influential historians of modern times?
Arnold Toynbee who wrote the acclaimed 12-volume "A Study of History," once declared, "Of the 22 civilizations that have appeared in history, 19 of them collapsed when they reached the moral state America is in today."
Toynbee died in 1975, before seeing the worst that was yet to come. Yes, Arnold Toynbee saw the famine. The "famine of hearing the words of the Lord." Whether it is removing a display of the Ten Commandments from a courthouse or the nativity scene from a city square. Whether it is eliminating prayer in schools or eliminating "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. Whether it is making a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage between a man and woman or, yes, telecasting around the world made-in-the-USA filth masquerading as entertainment.
The culture of far left America was displayed in a startling way during the Super Bowl's now infamous half-time show. A show brought to us courtesy of Value-Les Moonves and the pagan temple of Viacom-Babylon.
I asked the question yesterday, how many of you have ever run over a skunk with your car? I have many times and I can tell you, the stink stays around for a long time. You can take the car through a car wash and it's still there. So the scent of this event will long linger in the nostrils of America.
I'm not talking just about an exposed mammary gland with a pull-tab attached to it. Really no one should have been too surprised at that. Wouldn't one expect a bumping, humping, trashy routine entitled "I'm going to get you naked" to end that way.
Does any responsible adult ever listen to the words of this rap crap? I'd quote you some of it, but the sergeant of arms would throw me out of here, as well he should. And then there was that prancing, dancing, strutting, rutting guy evidently suffering from jock itch because he kept yelling and grabbing his crotch. But then, maybe there's a crotch-grabbing culture I'm unaware of.
But as bad as all this was, the thing that yanked my chain the hardest was seeing that ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through a hole he had cut in the flag of the United States of America, screaming about having "a bottle of scotch and watching lots of crotch." Think about that.
This is the same flag that we pledge allegiance to. This is the flag that is draped over coffins of dead young uniformed warriors killed while protecting Kid Crock's bony butt. He should be tarred and feathered and ridden out of this country on a rail. Talk about a good reality show, there's one for you.
The desire and will of this Congress to meaningfully do anything about any of these so-called social issues is nonexistent and embarrassingly disgraceful. The American people are waiting and growing impatient with us. They want something done.
I am pleased to be a co-sponsor of S.J. Res. 26 along with Sen. Allard and others, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage. And S.1558, the Liberties Restoration Act, which declares religious liberty rights in several ways, including the pledge of allegiance and the display of the Ten Commandments. And today I join Sen. Shelby and others with the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 that limits the jurisdiction of federal courts in certain ways.
In doing so, I stand shoulder to shoulder not only with my Senate co-sponsors and Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama but, more importantly, with our Founding Fathers in the conception of religious liberty and the terribly wrong direction our modern judiciary has taken us in.
Everyone today seems to think that the U.S. Constitution expressly provides for separation of church and state. Ask any ten people if that's not so. And I'll bet you most of them will say "Well, sure." And some will point out, "It's in the First Amendment."
Wrong! Read it! It says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Where is the word "separate"? Where are the words "church" or "state"?
They are not there. Never have been. Never intended to be. Read the Congressional Records during that four-month period in 1789 when the amendment was being framed in Congress. Clearly their intent was to prohibit a single denomination in exclusion of all others, whether it was Anglican or Catholic or some other.
I highly recommend a great book entitled "Original Intent" by David Barton. It really gets into how the actual members of Congress, who drafted the First Amendment, expected basic biblical principles and values to be present throughout public life and society, not separate from it.
It was Alexander Hamilton who pointed out that "judges should be bound down by strict rules and precedents, which serve to define and point out their duty." Bound down! That is exactly what is needed to be done. There was not a single precedent cited when school prayer was struck down in 1962.
These judges who legislate instead of adjudicate, do it without being responsible to one single solitary voter for their actions. Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence was a brilliant young physician from Pennsylvania named Benjamin Rush.
When Rush was elected to that First Continental Congress, his close friend Benjamin Franklin told him "We need you ... we have a great task before us, assigned to us by Providence." Today, 228 years later, there is still a great task before us assigned to us by Providence. Our Founding Fathers did not shirk their duty and we can do no less.
By the way, Benjamin Rush was once asked a question that has long interested this Senator from Georgia in particular. Dr. Rush was asked, are you a democrat or an aristocrat? And the good doctor answered, "I am neither. I am a Christocrat. I believe He, alone, who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him." That reply of Benjamin Rush is just as true today in the year of our Lord 2004 as it was in the year of our Lord 1776.
So, if I am asked why -- with all the pressing problems this nation faces today -- why am I pushing these social issues and taking the Senate's valuable time? I will answer: Because, it is of the highest importance. Yes, there's a deficit to be concerned about in this country, a deficit of decency.
So, as the sand empties through my hourglass at warp speed -- and with my time running out in this Senate and on this earth, I feel compelled to speak out. For I truly believe that at times like this, silence is not golden. It is yellow.
----------
Hey, this is Brian again, and you know, there are new people, so maybe my stance needs to be made clear. THIS DUDE IS FUCKING CRAZY. I hate him like I hate the people looking at this to see how much of a pretentious ass I can be, or maybe hoping this is like my livejournal and they can see me crying.
But yeah: I guess that in Georgia, even the Democrats are fucking stupid. Switch parties. I mean, if you consider CBS to be the far left, during the superbowl, (which wouldn't air the MoveOn.org ad, or the PETA ad... if the NFL is being radical in its politics, it's to the right) maybe just maybe you shouldn't be in the nominally more liberal party? Just a thought.
That said, I fucking hate Kid Rock too, so maybe we can bond over that.
To the new people I dislike: I fucking hate you.
To the other people who read this, who know that I'm not always going for the funny, I present you with this, taken from Salon.com, posted here because you shouldn't have to do the Day Pass bullshit and look at the ads for something that originally was on a politician's website, where it could have been viewed without effort.
Editor's note, from Salon.com: Following is the full text of remarks prepared for delivery on the Senate floor by Zell Miller, D-Ga. The remarks originally appeared on Miller's Web site on Feb. 12.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The Old Testament prophet Amos was a sheepherder who lived back in the Judean hills, away from the larger cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Compared to the intellectual urbanites like Isaiah and Jeremiah, he was just an unsophisticated country hick.
But Amos had a unique grasp of political and social issues, and his poetic literary skill was among the best of all the prophets. That familiar quote of Martin Luther King Jr. about "Justice will rush down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream" are Amos' words.
Amos was the first to propose the concept of a universal God and not just some tribal deity. He also wrote that God demanded moral purity, not rituals and sacrifices. This blunt-speaking moral conscience of his time warns in Chapter 8, verse 11, of the Book of Amos, as if he were speaking to us today:
That "the days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.
"And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it."
"A famine in the land." Has anyone more accurately described the situation we face in America today? "A famine of hearing the words of the Lord."
But some will say, Amos was just an Old Testament prophet -- a minor one at that -- who lived 700 years before Christ. That is true, so how about one of the most influential historians of modern times?
Arnold Toynbee who wrote the acclaimed 12-volume "A Study of History," once declared, "Of the 22 civilizations that have appeared in history, 19 of them collapsed when they reached the moral state America is in today."
Toynbee died in 1975, before seeing the worst that was yet to come. Yes, Arnold Toynbee saw the famine. The "famine of hearing the words of the Lord." Whether it is removing a display of the Ten Commandments from a courthouse or the nativity scene from a city square. Whether it is eliminating prayer in schools or eliminating "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. Whether it is making a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage between a man and woman or, yes, telecasting around the world made-in-the-USA filth masquerading as entertainment.
The culture of far left America was displayed in a startling way during the Super Bowl's now infamous half-time show. A show brought to us courtesy of Value-Les Moonves and the pagan temple of Viacom-Babylon.
I asked the question yesterday, how many of you have ever run over a skunk with your car? I have many times and I can tell you, the stink stays around for a long time. You can take the car through a car wash and it's still there. So the scent of this event will long linger in the nostrils of America.
I'm not talking just about an exposed mammary gland with a pull-tab attached to it. Really no one should have been too surprised at that. Wouldn't one expect a bumping, humping, trashy routine entitled "I'm going to get you naked" to end that way.
Does any responsible adult ever listen to the words of this rap crap? I'd quote you some of it, but the sergeant of arms would throw me out of here, as well he should. And then there was that prancing, dancing, strutting, rutting guy evidently suffering from jock itch because he kept yelling and grabbing his crotch. But then, maybe there's a crotch-grabbing culture I'm unaware of.
But as bad as all this was, the thing that yanked my chain the hardest was seeing that ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through a hole he had cut in the flag of the United States of America, screaming about having "a bottle of scotch and watching lots of crotch." Think about that.
This is the same flag that we pledge allegiance to. This is the flag that is draped over coffins of dead young uniformed warriors killed while protecting Kid Crock's bony butt. He should be tarred and feathered and ridden out of this country on a rail. Talk about a good reality show, there's one for you.
The desire and will of this Congress to meaningfully do anything about any of these so-called social issues is nonexistent and embarrassingly disgraceful. The American people are waiting and growing impatient with us. They want something done.
I am pleased to be a co-sponsor of S.J. Res. 26 along with Sen. Allard and others, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage. And S.1558, the Liberties Restoration Act, which declares religious liberty rights in several ways, including the pledge of allegiance and the display of the Ten Commandments. And today I join Sen. Shelby and others with the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 that limits the jurisdiction of federal courts in certain ways.
In doing so, I stand shoulder to shoulder not only with my Senate co-sponsors and Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama but, more importantly, with our Founding Fathers in the conception of religious liberty and the terribly wrong direction our modern judiciary has taken us in.
Everyone today seems to think that the U.S. Constitution expressly provides for separation of church and state. Ask any ten people if that's not so. And I'll bet you most of them will say "Well, sure." And some will point out, "It's in the First Amendment."
Wrong! Read it! It says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Where is the word "separate"? Where are the words "church" or "state"?
They are not there. Never have been. Never intended to be. Read the Congressional Records during that four-month period in 1789 when the amendment was being framed in Congress. Clearly their intent was to prohibit a single denomination in exclusion of all others, whether it was Anglican or Catholic or some other.
I highly recommend a great book entitled "Original Intent" by David Barton. It really gets into how the actual members of Congress, who drafted the First Amendment, expected basic biblical principles and values to be present throughout public life and society, not separate from it.
It was Alexander Hamilton who pointed out that "judges should be bound down by strict rules and precedents, which serve to define and point out their duty." Bound down! That is exactly what is needed to be done. There was not a single precedent cited when school prayer was struck down in 1962.
These judges who legislate instead of adjudicate, do it without being responsible to one single solitary voter for their actions. Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence was a brilliant young physician from Pennsylvania named Benjamin Rush.
When Rush was elected to that First Continental Congress, his close friend Benjamin Franklin told him "We need you ... we have a great task before us, assigned to us by Providence." Today, 228 years later, there is still a great task before us assigned to us by Providence. Our Founding Fathers did not shirk their duty and we can do no less.
By the way, Benjamin Rush was once asked a question that has long interested this Senator from Georgia in particular. Dr. Rush was asked, are you a democrat or an aristocrat? And the good doctor answered, "I am neither. I am a Christocrat. I believe He, alone, who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him." That reply of Benjamin Rush is just as true today in the year of our Lord 2004 as it was in the year of our Lord 1776.
So, if I am asked why -- with all the pressing problems this nation faces today -- why am I pushing these social issues and taking the Senate's valuable time? I will answer: Because, it is of the highest importance. Yes, there's a deficit to be concerned about in this country, a deficit of decency.
So, as the sand empties through my hourglass at warp speed -- and with my time running out in this Senate and on this earth, I feel compelled to speak out. For I truly believe that at times like this, silence is not golden. It is yellow.
----------
Hey, this is Brian again, and you know, there are new people, so maybe my stance needs to be made clear. THIS DUDE IS FUCKING CRAZY. I hate him like I hate the people looking at this to see how much of a pretentious ass I can be, or maybe hoping this is like my livejournal and they can see me crying.
But yeah: I guess that in Georgia, even the Democrats are fucking stupid. Switch parties. I mean, if you consider CBS to be the far left, during the superbowl, (which wouldn't air the MoveOn.org ad, or the PETA ad... if the NFL is being radical in its politics, it's to the right) maybe just maybe you shouldn't be in the nominally more liberal party? Just a thought.
That said, I fucking hate Kid Rock too, so maybe we can bond over that.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
If you loved me, you'd buy me shit.
Damn that's tempting. I almost bought it then realized I don't really have a stable shipping address. The subscription's cheaper than buying it individually, and a lot easier, and now it's on sale. I like to consider myself on the McSweeney's tip but my lack of any of the actual issues of McSweeney's suggests otherwise.
As the Flying Pig would say "Wow, what a line-up!"
I AM THE BIGGEST NERD EVER.
YOU LOVE ME.
BUY ME SHIT.
Damn that's tempting. I almost bought it then realized I don't really have a stable shipping address. The subscription's cheaper than buying it individually, and a lot easier, and now it's on sale. I like to consider myself on the McSweeney's tip but my lack of any of the actual issues of McSweeney's suggests otherwise.
As the Flying Pig would say "Wow, what a line-up!"
I AM THE BIGGEST NERD EVER.
YOU LOVE ME.
BUY ME SHIT.
So yeah, last night, I fucked up doing laundry and ended up staying up late, because my sheets were in the dryer. The internet was broken, and I had nothing to do, except for write. I have this idea for a book called Get Broken, where all the ideas come from semi-lucid states. I decided I would get high and try to give the book a go. It didn't. Fuck weed, man. Didn't allow me to focus, all my thoughts were semi-coherent (to me, probably not at all to other people), but it was all so self-involved, I just kept on thinking about my mental state. Here's the stuff I wrote. This was my attempt at writing Get Broken, before giving up. I did some audio recording of me talking, and I realized that all of my annoying mannerisms were being amplified, which you can see in my writings as well- it's very stylized in a way, but it's NOTHING BUT REFERENCES. Also, another note, in my defense: I left the room a bunch, so all the times where it seems like I am being repetitive about the internet being up and stuff, more time passed than can be discerned from this. Internet's still down as I'm writing this in Wordpad to copy and paste when it's back working. But yeah, once again: I like my brain sharp and angular. Kind of knew that that is not what weed does, but it really just reaffirmed it: Brain working all fast and stuff is the way to go. The drugs that make your brain "sharper" are also much scarier. Important to note that straight-edge kids, as dumb as they are, have that sharpness. If I understand the Minor Threat song correctly, it was all about how not doing drugs etc. keeps your mind sharp- that is the straight edge, never intended to start some dumbshit movement. My fear is that that edge is now fucking permanently gone. I'm so far from being high right now, I've sobered up, but I don't think I'm writing this as well as I would like to. Granted, not nearly as bad as I was writing last night, which you shall now see. I fixed some typoes- Far from all of them.
2:15 A M, 02/11/04, internet broken, Boredoms on headphones, just got high for the first-time, let's start Get Broken motherfuckers.
Mister you're on fire mister oops but I'
should this begin with me getting, i'm just thinking about what it feels like to be high. what's funny is how bored I am
and Liars lyrics many a Liars reference abounds
hah my legs are- exactly like how it feels like your legs go to sleep but with the edge off.
I actually feel bad which is i don't think bad pot trips are a thing affected by mood towards hit
The internet's broken the nework is on, we're just feeling like a split-off
I CAN'T WRITE WHY HIGH
I MEAN WHILE HIGH, BRAIN's tres'fucked
I don't know what the point is for me to do this. Listening to The Boredoms and no more awesome than usual? I AM WRITING DUMB I am writing like Evie talks sometime when she is parody. As i write this kind of clipped thing I realize this is so much of a Pitchfork at it's most styley bits My brain is moving back and forth in my brain, like it is there are so many fucking things to rewrite from just a sentence ago, this is fucking bullshit I am not stupid
jaw muscles making me smile will just came in interrupts wanting to know how it's going
taste of vomit in mouth
meaty
Just went to Andy and Will's, Broadcast on now, going to attempt simple task to fuck up: getting laundry. I'm thinking now I will pee on the way. I expect CRAZY HIJINX
imagining Evie reading this- my influences aren't Burroughs or Thompson, they're Fraction and Pitchfork. those past two thoughts- unconnected.
Now I do stuff....
it seemed like a good idea (the recording) after Andy came in and I realized I couldn't stop talking: AIM talk will be funny if the net's not still a-broked.
HA i forgot to not pee
goddamn i know my grammar.
I keep on thinking I should all FALL and stuff but that requires much more effort
this is going to be bad, so depressing.
I'm going to hate myself in the morning.
bad idea for many reasons
My french earlier? I don't know what to think
Let'see if Pitchfork new. went to correct than realized I was like a sucky James Joyce. that last line/thought best line/thought ever in history of linethought. need to go pack to repunctuate, adding periods. now internet oh wait no it's still fucked, as no AIMtalk which i wouldn't have gotten around to doing anyway
This took forever to do, unconnected thought. My thoughts aren't just jagged, they're diverged is the problem
I mention Joyce, Burroughs, and Thompson but that Fraction quote bit is such a pullquote. I AM such the booktyping hipster type. Realized that sentence bad mid-thought, Thoughts are fucking slow
and unconnected i hate this bullshit i'm doing
undid bad thought.
goddamn it i suck. i need to stop doing this and start being more awesome
Haha jewin' it up: when you need a little extra jewce
pop tarts jelly is better when high
laundry done now, if internet is up i will post this and horrify old friends HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY weirdos. I don't know what made me type weirdos just then.
internet: still down. i hate that i do this but i want stuff to be recorded.
I don't want people to say shit like "you were so high" because if I was that high i don't get the appeal. The idea of me being not very high, but if i'd done more i would've transcended the suck and finally entered AWESOMEVILLE where i never been to in my life ever. (sober addendum: Alex insists that I was not that high, otherwise it would've been much more enjoyable.)
Shaving is a bad idea, hilarity waiting to happen. I really like attempting simple tasks, i hate straining- I'm slowing down my thoughts.
2:15 A M, 02/11/04, internet broken, Boredoms on headphones, just got high for the first-time, let's start Get Broken motherfuckers.
Mister you're on fire mister oops but I'
should this begin with me getting, i'm just thinking about what it feels like to be high. what's funny is how bored I am
and Liars lyrics many a Liars reference abounds
hah my legs are- exactly like how it feels like your legs go to sleep but with the edge off.
I actually feel bad which is i don't think bad pot trips are a thing affected by mood towards hit
The internet's broken the nework is on, we're just feeling like a split-off
I CAN'T WRITE WHY HIGH
I MEAN WHILE HIGH, BRAIN's tres'fucked
I don't know what the point is for me to do this. Listening to The Boredoms and no more awesome than usual? I AM WRITING DUMB I am writing like Evie talks sometime when she is parody. As i write this kind of clipped thing I realize this is so much of a Pitchfork at it's most styley bits My brain is moving back and forth in my brain, like it is there are so many fucking things to rewrite from just a sentence ago, this is fucking bullshit I am not stupid
jaw muscles making me smile will just came in interrupts wanting to know how it's going
taste of vomit in mouth
meaty
Just went to Andy and Will's, Broadcast on now, going to attempt simple task to fuck up: getting laundry. I'm thinking now I will pee on the way. I expect CRAZY HIJINX
imagining Evie reading this- my influences aren't Burroughs or Thompson, they're Fraction and Pitchfork. those past two thoughts- unconnected.
Now I do stuff....
it seemed like a good idea (the recording) after Andy came in and I realized I couldn't stop talking: AIM talk will be funny if the net's not still a-broked.
HA i forgot to not pee
goddamn i know my grammar.
I keep on thinking I should all FALL and stuff but that requires much more effort
this is going to be bad, so depressing.
I'm going to hate myself in the morning.
bad idea for many reasons
My french earlier? I don't know what to think
Let'see if Pitchfork new. went to correct than realized I was like a sucky James Joyce. that last line/thought best line/thought ever in history of linethought. need to go pack to repunctuate, adding periods. now internet oh wait no it's still fucked, as no AIMtalk which i wouldn't have gotten around to doing anyway
This took forever to do, unconnected thought. My thoughts aren't just jagged, they're diverged is the problem
I mention Joyce, Burroughs, and Thompson but that Fraction quote bit is such a pullquote. I AM such the booktyping hipster type. Realized that sentence bad mid-thought, Thoughts are fucking slow
and unconnected i hate this bullshit i'm doing
undid bad thought.
goddamn it i suck. i need to stop doing this and start being more awesome
Haha jewin' it up: when you need a little extra jewce
pop tarts jelly is better when high
laundry done now, if internet is up i will post this and horrify old friends HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY weirdos. I don't know what made me type weirdos just then.
internet: still down. i hate that i do this but i want stuff to be recorded.
I don't want people to say shit like "you were so high" because if I was that high i don't get the appeal. The idea of me being not very high, but if i'd done more i would've transcended the suck and finally entered AWESOMEVILLE where i never been to in my life ever. (sober addendum: Alex insists that I was not that high, otherwise it would've been much more enjoyable.)
Shaving is a bad idea, hilarity waiting to happen. I really like attempting simple tasks, i hate straining- I'm slowing down my thoughts.
Monday, February 09, 2004
So I found out today that cartoonist Charles Burns went to Evergreen, at the same time that other cartoonists like Matt Groening and Lynda Barry went here. Now that I think about it, the possibility that Charles Montgomery Burns is named after the dude who does Black Hole is kind of large, slightly less coincidental than the fact that The Simpsons live on Evergreen Terrace.
Anyway, this was a few years before the Sub Pop and K Records people attended, but there was some overlap, with Sub Pop guy and Charles Burns meeting and Burns drawing a Sub Pop comp cover. K Records and Sub Pop kind of sucked at their inception, but they've both gone on to release some good stuff, so you know whatever, yay for my college.
Aside from the cartoonists and the music folk, we also churn out activists. Like, remember I'm thinking Spring 2003, when the first American was killed in the Israeli-Palestinean conflict? A college student (whose name I won't mention lest this come up in a google search or some such thing, but I will say that her first name was Rachel, which explains some of those banners in the library about fighting in memory or whatever) went over there to act as a human shield. She stood in front of palestinean homes and got bulldozed by Israelis. It made the news, with some surprise expressed. I was confused by the surprise. Probably not a bad person or anything, ideals are nice, I have a few, but still. Anyway, yeah, an Evergreen student. I don't know what my response is- It's one of disappointment at the college and life and whatever and the people this college creates, idealistic but with head up the ass, is what I'm saying. Another person who went here is Inga Muscio, who wrote a book called Cunt, and seems pretty fucking dumb from this review I read, and dumb in an Evergreen way. I've seen copies of that book on many a shelf, by the way.
I act like this is exclusive to Evergreen. But I know it's not. Well, I don't know that, actually. I'm assuming. So, people at other schools: How full of shit are your alumni?
Anyway, this was a few years before the Sub Pop and K Records people attended, but there was some overlap, with Sub Pop guy and Charles Burns meeting and Burns drawing a Sub Pop comp cover. K Records and Sub Pop kind of sucked at their inception, but they've both gone on to release some good stuff, so you know whatever, yay for my college.
Aside from the cartoonists and the music folk, we also churn out activists. Like, remember I'm thinking Spring 2003, when the first American was killed in the Israeli-Palestinean conflict? A college student (whose name I won't mention lest this come up in a google search or some such thing, but I will say that her first name was Rachel, which explains some of those banners in the library about fighting in memory or whatever) went over there to act as a human shield. She stood in front of palestinean homes and got bulldozed by Israelis. It made the news, with some surprise expressed. I was confused by the surprise. Probably not a bad person or anything, ideals are nice, I have a few, but still. Anyway, yeah, an Evergreen student. I don't know what my response is- It's one of disappointment at the college and life and whatever and the people this college creates, idealistic but with head up the ass, is what I'm saying. Another person who went here is Inga Muscio, who wrote a book called Cunt, and seems pretty fucking dumb from this review I read, and dumb in an Evergreen way. I've seen copies of that book on many a shelf, by the way.
I act like this is exclusive to Evergreen. But I know it's not. Well, I don't know that, actually. I'm assuming. So, people at other schools: How full of shit are your alumni?
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Things that are disconcerting:
People dropping out/transferring from Evergreen. With people I know, it seems to come out of the idea that Evergreen is not going to help them get jobs in the real world, and they would be better off going to a school where you can actually get a degree in sound engineering or special effects movie makeup. It's a desire I totally understand: Way to have your shit together, kids; but bums me out due to the fact that a) these are people I know and like, now leaving and b) that they're more focused, or reality-oriented than I am. I don't know.
Also: The realization that shitty people have good musical taste. Yeah, I know this is obvious, and not a big deal. I don't judge people by their taste, whatever. Listen to whatever the fuck you want. But the bad people who like good things- Kind of a non-issue at my high school.
On another, more positive note, I'd like to say that I looked at Paul Pope's website thursday night, and his shit remains some of the coolest shit ever.
People dropping out/transferring from Evergreen. With people I know, it seems to come out of the idea that Evergreen is not going to help them get jobs in the real world, and they would be better off going to a school where you can actually get a degree in sound engineering or special effects movie makeup. It's a desire I totally understand: Way to have your shit together, kids; but bums me out due to the fact that a) these are people I know and like, now leaving and b) that they're more focused, or reality-oriented than I am. I don't know.
Also: The realization that shitty people have good musical taste. Yeah, I know this is obvious, and not a big deal. I don't judge people by their taste, whatever. Listen to whatever the fuck you want. But the bad people who like good things- Kind of a non-issue at my high school.
On another, more positive note, I'd like to say that I looked at Paul Pope's website thursday night, and his shit remains some of the coolest shit ever.
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
There was an on-campus screening of The Shape Of Things. Fuck you, The Shape Of Things. Fuck you Neil Labute. He sure does hate the womenfolk.
I thought I'd watch it with my friend Thor, who didn't show up at the screening. Tyler did. For the non-Evergreen people reading this: Tyler is a fat awkward kid who is not funny, and is often intentionally annoying. People pity him. Anyway, so he say next to me.
Then I saw someone I knew from class, so I sat with her. Until she said "fuck this movie" and left. Then Tyler sidled up. I didn't leave. The denouement worked OK I guess, but the ending was far from surprising or satisfactory, the characters were unlikable and the dialogue sucked ass throughout.
I think this night can still be redeemed, but I don't know what could do it.
I thought I'd watch it with my friend Thor, who didn't show up at the screening. Tyler did. For the non-Evergreen people reading this: Tyler is a fat awkward kid who is not funny, and is often intentionally annoying. People pity him. Anyway, so he say next to me.
Then I saw someone I knew from class, so I sat with her. Until she said "fuck this movie" and left. Then Tyler sidled up. I didn't leave. The denouement worked OK I guess, but the ending was far from surprising or satisfactory, the characters were unlikable and the dialogue sucked ass throughout.
I think this night can still be redeemed, but I don't know what could do it.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Just watched Talk To Her. That movie is really fucking good. I am now on the Almodovar tip. Everyone I know who'd seen it before I did enjoyed it, and despite my inclinations to hate everything, (which aren't real) I agree with them. A fine film.
I don't do the film criticism very well, but I will say: shot beautifully and the characters were all sympathetic, even when they did assholish things. Two things I like.
2002 was a really good year for movies, much better than 2003.
Some might say that I probably should have spent the night reading Their Eyes Were Watching God for class. I disagree.
I don't do the film criticism very well, but I will say: shot beautifully and the characters were all sympathetic, even when they did assholish things. Two things I like.
2002 was a really good year for movies, much better than 2003.
Some might say that I probably should have spent the night reading Their Eyes Were Watching God for class. I disagree.
Friday, January 30, 2004
This is me.
Wearing too-expensive jeans torn from a dogbite to the leg; a green t-shirt with a breast pocket, tucked in to the aforementioned jeans as to not be walked upon. Cuffs to which are rolled up for the same reason. Nice tight socks.
This is me as a stylistic exercise. Me trying to be cool.
I exercise to the sound of Liars. Wanting not just to be thin, because I am thin, but I want to be post-punk. I want to be bones and connective muscle tissue. Lithe. I want to seem brittle.
Everything is a pose because we can't express the sum total of human experience all at once. This is the pose I want, one of a man skinny and tightly wound, all thoughts like 4 AM thoughts anti-social and brilliant and no not fucking pretentious, there is no artifice, this is your brain on nosleep and movies and books and music I've seen too much I've read too much I've seen too much. (you haven't seen enough) NO ONE'S AROUND.
Wrote a little song lyric this afternoon:
Like an episode of the Twilight Zone where everyone you know is dead, but they're just avoiding you.
Wrote a line of dialogue earlier in the evening: “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. Well, no, that’s not true. But the things I was more sure about in the past? Yeah, they were right. Other things I was slightly less sure about? Also right. I am right about this too, you can trust me.”
This is your brain on BEINGFUCKINGWEIRD.
This is me as a stylistic exercise. tryingtoohardmaybe?
Shut the fuck up. (oh here's a thought I had a ways ago: Remember in elementary school when we were told not to say shut up, that "Be quiet" would suffice? And we disagreed, because "be quiet" did not seem harsh enough to get the point across and we continued to say "shut up." And now look where we are, unable even to say shut up, we need to throw "The fuck" in there, just so you know, oh dude I am not fucking around I want you to be quiet. BE QUIET. Harsh like a scream but quiet like a whisper. I want to bring back Be Quiet and I want it to mean something. I can't make it mean something because yeah, look at me. I can't make anything mean anything. It's all bullshit. I can't pull off harsh like razorblades. I am more like a bunny rabbit. No, seriously, I am, I am a bunny rabbit dipped in lemon juice. Acid on my hairs, it's just citric acid but whatever I guess that can burn some people. Of course it's on me all the goddamn time, it's not meant to hurt you, but think about it, hurts me more, I've got citric acid in my fucking eyes and it burns it burns and it's funny when it hurts other people, but it shouldn't hurt them that bad, it's only lemon juice after all, and sure it might seem like it comes from me but I don't want to hurt you. It's in my eyes, I'm saturated in it I am soft on the inside but everything is going to hurt because that's the way the world fucking works)
You want me to write more and I'm giving you what you wanted. Liars on a loop now.
DUDE.
tryingtoohardmaybe?
Oh, God yes.
This is me?
Um, what?
Style over substance because I've got nothing to say. Kill Bill was cool so maybe all will be forgiven.
Of course, Kill Bill was very wisely split up into two halves because there's only so much bullshit you can take right? That's the reasoning. I guess its a certain mood you have to be in but its a mood I'm always in.
This mood, I guess its a rarity. Or is it? Is this my brain on nosleep or my brain unfiltered?
Think about that next time you talk to me and I'm trying too hard to make jokes that no one laughs at.
Wearing too-expensive jeans torn from a dogbite to the leg; a green t-shirt with a breast pocket, tucked in to the aforementioned jeans as to not be walked upon. Cuffs to which are rolled up for the same reason. Nice tight socks.
This is me as a stylistic exercise. Me trying to be cool.
I exercise to the sound of Liars. Wanting not just to be thin, because I am thin, but I want to be post-punk. I want to be bones and connective muscle tissue. Lithe. I want to seem brittle.
Everything is a pose because we can't express the sum total of human experience all at once. This is the pose I want, one of a man skinny and tightly wound, all thoughts like 4 AM thoughts anti-social and brilliant and no not fucking pretentious, there is no artifice, this is your brain on nosleep and movies and books and music I've seen too much I've read too much I've seen too much. (you haven't seen enough) NO ONE'S AROUND.
Wrote a little song lyric this afternoon:
Like an episode of the Twilight Zone where everyone you know is dead, but they're just avoiding you.
Wrote a line of dialogue earlier in the evening: “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. Well, no, that’s not true. But the things I was more sure about in the past? Yeah, they were right. Other things I was slightly less sure about? Also right. I am right about this too, you can trust me.”
This is your brain on BEINGFUCKINGWEIRD.
This is me as a stylistic exercise. tryingtoohardmaybe?
Shut the fuck up. (oh here's a thought I had a ways ago: Remember in elementary school when we were told not to say shut up, that "Be quiet" would suffice? And we disagreed, because "be quiet" did not seem harsh enough to get the point across and we continued to say "shut up." And now look where we are, unable even to say shut up, we need to throw "The fuck" in there, just so you know, oh dude I am not fucking around I want you to be quiet. BE QUIET. Harsh like a scream but quiet like a whisper. I want to bring back Be Quiet and I want it to mean something. I can't make it mean something because yeah, look at me. I can't make anything mean anything. It's all bullshit. I can't pull off harsh like razorblades. I am more like a bunny rabbit. No, seriously, I am, I am a bunny rabbit dipped in lemon juice. Acid on my hairs, it's just citric acid but whatever I guess that can burn some people. Of course it's on me all the goddamn time, it's not meant to hurt you, but think about it, hurts me more, I've got citric acid in my fucking eyes and it burns it burns and it's funny when it hurts other people, but it shouldn't hurt them that bad, it's only lemon juice after all, and sure it might seem like it comes from me but I don't want to hurt you. It's in my eyes, I'm saturated in it I am soft on the inside but everything is going to hurt because that's the way the world fucking works)
You want me to write more and I'm giving you what you wanted. Liars on a loop now.
DUDE.
tryingtoohardmaybe?
Oh, God yes.
This is me?
Um, what?
Style over substance because I've got nothing to say. Kill Bill was cool so maybe all will be forgiven.
Of course, Kill Bill was very wisely split up into two halves because there's only so much bullshit you can take right? That's the reasoning. I guess its a certain mood you have to be in but its a mood I'm always in.
This mood, I guess its a rarity. Or is it? Is this my brain on nosleep or my brain unfiltered?
Think about that next time you talk to me and I'm trying too hard to make jokes that no one laughs at.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Daily Show, I'm disappointed in you.
There was an interview with Howard Dean, conducted by Jon Stewart. Not one of the in-the-studio interviews. Jon Stewart went to wherever Howard Dean was. They overdubbed unfunny voiceovers afterwards, and then did some editing. It was fucking horrible. Very far from the land of funny. And far from the land of insight. Yeah, just bad.
This is me posting for the sake of posting. It's about TV. I swear I am not lying when I say I have nothing to say.
There was an interview with Howard Dean, conducted by Jon Stewart. Not one of the in-the-studio interviews. Jon Stewart went to wherever Howard Dean was. They overdubbed unfunny voiceovers afterwards, and then did some editing. It was fucking horrible. Very far from the land of funny. And far from the land of insight. Yeah, just bad.
This is me posting for the sake of posting. It's about TV. I swear I am not lying when I say I have nothing to say.
Thursday, January 22, 2004
So, yesterday that Neutral Milk Hotel t-shirt came in.
Also, yesterday, Evie said I should update this more.
I'm tempted to just post stuff that no one wants to read whenever someone makes such a request. Sure, it's borderline complimentary, but you know me, I'm pretty punk rock. Want to defy expectations and alienate my audience. If I had a digital camera, I could start documenting each time I take a crap. But I don't have a digital camera. But, along the lines of posting stuff that no one wants to think about: I have no sex drive at all. Rather than have the sex-drive of a college student, I have the sex drive of a corpse. And not the kind of corpse that died with an erection and this has gone unrelieved. No. Normal corpse.
Anyway, I get the impression that most people aren't psyched when I talk about music, as no one cares what I think. But there's been a few songs I've been digging that are actually really bad, and I feel they should be mentioned, along with why I like them.
First off- Atom And His Package's Philadelphia. Crap song, not big on the whole style- Goofy synth fun for the hardcore kids or whatever. But- this song is about Philadelphia, and it has this enthusiasm for the city that I share, and this makes it endearing. It's a happy song, a sing-along. "Philadelphia is a place where the mummers are weird" well said, my friend. Ween's Freedom Of '76 is cooler, but really, that song's cooler than a lot of things.
Next- The Faint's Casual Sex. I like the long noisey bit before it becomes just some kind of shitty new-wave revival. And there's the borderline stream-of-consciousness bit "I think it's time we figured out why each time I fall asleep it's nightime in a dream there's a dolphin" so it seems to exist in some kind of genius-retard netherworld.
Halo Benders' Your Asterisk. I like this band because of Doug Martsch. He is so very much where the talent lies. The record I have, God Don't Make No Junk, is too minimal K Records pop. The Rebel's Not In, found on iTunes has a bit more of Built To Spill influence on songs like Virginia Reel Around The Fountain. But this song- goddammit, it's all Calvin Johnson. His time to shine. He has a vocal melody. On all the other songs on the album, he's annoying as hell, but here, he works. The song also has Doug Martsch saying "yeah" which I am never not a fan of.
And breaking from the tradition, I'll mention a genuinely good song- Silver Jews' Random Rules. It's a good song, but it has a definite high-point. That being the second chorus- which isn't really a chorus. Anyway, the point where the trumpet (?) comes in and the drum beats away. The "yeah, you look like someone..." bit. It's a moment that shames the rest of the album, which is really good, but that one moment is so much more immediate. It's like how Dry The Rain is the high point of The Three EPs, and the best part of that song is very much the part in High Fidelity.
Also- got a letter back from these people who were doing a study on drinking habits amongst college students. I think the computer fucked up, in that I gave them the impression that I only drink on Sundays, and on Sundays, I drink 15 drinks. So, apparently, I am in the 91st percentile of college drinkers, in that I drink more or equal to 91 percent of college students. This is not true.
If I could close this with a picture of one of my turds in a toilet, I would.
Also, yesterday, Evie said I should update this more.
I'm tempted to just post stuff that no one wants to read whenever someone makes such a request. Sure, it's borderline complimentary, but you know me, I'm pretty punk rock. Want to defy expectations and alienate my audience. If I had a digital camera, I could start documenting each time I take a crap. But I don't have a digital camera. But, along the lines of posting stuff that no one wants to think about: I have no sex drive at all. Rather than have the sex-drive of a college student, I have the sex drive of a corpse. And not the kind of corpse that died with an erection and this has gone unrelieved. No. Normal corpse.
Anyway, I get the impression that most people aren't psyched when I talk about music, as no one cares what I think. But there's been a few songs I've been digging that are actually really bad, and I feel they should be mentioned, along with why I like them.
First off- Atom And His Package's Philadelphia. Crap song, not big on the whole style- Goofy synth fun for the hardcore kids or whatever. But- this song is about Philadelphia, and it has this enthusiasm for the city that I share, and this makes it endearing. It's a happy song, a sing-along. "Philadelphia is a place where the mummers are weird" well said, my friend. Ween's Freedom Of '76 is cooler, but really, that song's cooler than a lot of things.
Next- The Faint's Casual Sex. I like the long noisey bit before it becomes just some kind of shitty new-wave revival. And there's the borderline stream-of-consciousness bit "I think it's time we figured out why each time I fall asleep it's nightime in a dream there's a dolphin" so it seems to exist in some kind of genius-retard netherworld.
Halo Benders' Your Asterisk. I like this band because of Doug Martsch. He is so very much where the talent lies. The record I have, God Don't Make No Junk, is too minimal K Records pop. The Rebel's Not In, found on iTunes has a bit more of Built To Spill influence on songs like Virginia Reel Around The Fountain. But this song- goddammit, it's all Calvin Johnson. His time to shine. He has a vocal melody. On all the other songs on the album, he's annoying as hell, but here, he works. The song also has Doug Martsch saying "yeah" which I am never not a fan of.
And breaking from the tradition, I'll mention a genuinely good song- Silver Jews' Random Rules. It's a good song, but it has a definite high-point. That being the second chorus- which isn't really a chorus. Anyway, the point where the trumpet (?) comes in and the drum beats away. The "yeah, you look like someone..." bit. It's a moment that shames the rest of the album, which is really good, but that one moment is so much more immediate. It's like how Dry The Rain is the high point of The Three EPs, and the best part of that song is very much the part in High Fidelity.
Also- got a letter back from these people who were doing a study on drinking habits amongst college students. I think the computer fucked up, in that I gave them the impression that I only drink on Sundays, and on Sundays, I drink 15 drinks. So, apparently, I am in the 91st percentile of college drinkers, in that I drink more or equal to 91 percent of college students. This is not true.
If I could close this with a picture of one of my turds in a toilet, I would.
Monday, January 19, 2004
Me and Alex discuss "Float On"
AndrewWKIsntGood: so whatchya think of the new modest mouse song?
waffle4223: haven't listened to it yet
AndrewWKIsntGood: really?
waffle4223: nope
AndrewWKIsntGood: should check it out
waffle4223: i'm doing it now
AndrewWKIsntGood: it seems like it could be a radio single
AndrewWKIsntGood: imo
waffle4223: it's short enough
AndrewWKIsntGood: just everything about it
waffle4223: yeah
AndrewWKIsntGood: and i mean that in the best way possible
waffle4223: huh
AndrewWKIsntGood: well i mean its not like them doing commercial radio bullshit
waffle4223: yeah
waffle4223: dude for a second his vocal reminded me of hot hot heat
AndrewWKIsntGood: its just a modest mouse that people in general would probably enjoy
waffle4223: the vocals aren't that high in the mix
AndrewWKIsntGood: hmm well theres always a chance hot hot heat just got a lot better
waffle4223: it's just the vocals that sound like hot hot heat in places
AndrewWKIsntGood: havent listened to em much.. wasnt interested enough in em
waffle4223: and the guitar kinda' sounded like hot hot heat just then
AndrewWKIsntGood: hmm
waffle4223: i don't think it could be a single
AndrewWKIsntGood: really?
waffle4223: it sounds like modest mouse but LESS
AndrewWKIsntGood: yeah
waffle4223: like with all the edges off.
AndrewWKIsntGood: exactly
AndrewWKIsntGood: edges cut
AndrewWKIsntGood: and people dont like being cut
waffle4223: like lonesome crowded west trimmed to a pop song
waffle4223: and the abrasiveness kept in check
AndrewWKIsntGood: yeah
AndrewWKIsntGood: thats a single
waffle4223: no because there's not a hook
AndrewWKIsntGood: hmmm
AndrewWKIsntGood: true
AndrewWKIsntGood: so whatchya think of the new modest mouse song?
waffle4223: haven't listened to it yet
AndrewWKIsntGood: really?
waffle4223: nope
AndrewWKIsntGood: should check it out
waffle4223: i'm doing it now
AndrewWKIsntGood: it seems like it could be a radio single
AndrewWKIsntGood: imo
waffle4223: it's short enough
AndrewWKIsntGood: just everything about it
waffle4223: yeah
AndrewWKIsntGood: and i mean that in the best way possible
waffle4223: huh
AndrewWKIsntGood: well i mean its not like them doing commercial radio bullshit
waffle4223: yeah
waffle4223: dude for a second his vocal reminded me of hot hot heat
AndrewWKIsntGood: its just a modest mouse that people in general would probably enjoy
waffle4223: the vocals aren't that high in the mix
AndrewWKIsntGood: hmm well theres always a chance hot hot heat just got a lot better
waffle4223: it's just the vocals that sound like hot hot heat in places
AndrewWKIsntGood: havent listened to em much.. wasnt interested enough in em
waffle4223: and the guitar kinda' sounded like hot hot heat just then
AndrewWKIsntGood: hmm
waffle4223: i don't think it could be a single
AndrewWKIsntGood: really?
waffle4223: it sounds like modest mouse but LESS
AndrewWKIsntGood: yeah
waffle4223: like with all the edges off.
AndrewWKIsntGood: exactly
AndrewWKIsntGood: edges cut
AndrewWKIsntGood: and people dont like being cut
waffle4223: like lonesome crowded west trimmed to a pop song
waffle4223: and the abrasiveness kept in check
AndrewWKIsntGood: yeah
AndrewWKIsntGood: thats a single
waffle4223: no because there's not a hook
AndrewWKIsntGood: hmmm
AndrewWKIsntGood: true
Friday, January 16, 2004
So on my way to dinner, I ran into some people who were planning a trip to the Capital Theater in downtown Olympia. It's a little film society- they show movies usually like two weeks before they come out on DVD. The movies they're showing right now- Shattered Glass and All The Real Girls. We would make it a double feature.
I go, and, because of the whole "them-being-retarded" bit, we go after All The Real Girls showed. So we watched Shattered Glass. Jason recommended it, but my expectations were still pretty low.
Didn't like it. Bad acting. A lot of it, like the ANNOYINGASFUCK framing sequence, is intentional, and some other scenes it's intentional too. Acting within acting, it's about artifice, etc. But there are other scenes, like some big scenes, where the acting seemed weak, like something was being held back. My brother's really big on the acting-within-acting- he cites Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys, but I'm not sure that's an example of it. I got the phrase "acting-within-acting" from him, too, but I think it's a pretty self-explanatory concept. Bad acting, no real visual style besides just generic slickness. And a terrible title. The thing is, it starts off with large amounts of the bad acting, intentionally so, maybe. But because of that, I spent most of the movie going "oh dude, fuck this movie" so maybe it was better, I was just aggressively disliking it for a while there, because the, let's say the first twenty minutes, sucked. Cheesy as hell. And the director's name was Billy Ray! I giggled.
I was kind of wanting to see All The Real Girls. It got pretty mixed reviews, but it got a pretty positive one from a relatively reliable source that I saw today.
See, there used to be this internet column, called Title Bout, by one Abhay Khosla. It had a little framework of going over comics that got released each week, but that was just a vehicle for crazy stream-of-consciousness ramblings. Jokes were funny, and when they weren't, it was acknowledged they didn't work, because of the stream-of-consciousness nature, and the fact that funny people are really hard on themselves when they don't think a joke worked. So I liked that aspect- Kind of influential, especially on this post here. But another reason I liked the column was because I agreed with many of the opinions about pop culture stuff expressed therein. It's gone now, ran for a year. So my life was lacking the Abhay hilarity. But then I found out that the dude still posts on some shitty pop culture message board. So I, being a nerd, did a search, and found some nice longish rambly posts. Like stream-of-consciousness as-he's-watching-the-show reviews of The OC, and reviews of various other stuff. Anyway, he wrote up a Best-of-2003 movie list. The list was lacking the hilarity, but had an abundance of opinions I agreed with. Well, actually, it had some stuff I agreed with and stuff I would probably agree with if I had seen the movies in question. Number one on the list was Kill Bill, number two was Bad Santa, which I can get behind, because my movie memory is shoddy. Number five on his list was All The Real Girls. The list seems to fall apart after that- most top any kind of list falls apart at some point. Like Pitchfork is doing Top 50 of the year lists, which is retarded, due to scale, but results in a relatively solid top ten. Other people do top ten lists, which are just inconsistent, but Pitchfork's process resulted in a very solid top ten. But I'm getting off-topic, that topic being- I don't know what. I guess it's "Abhay's cool."
He also had a list of movies that were crap but he liked parts of, which I like. It allows people to give shout-outs to absolute crap that's entertaining at a lizard-brain level. I suppose that you could say that's what Kill Bill was, but it was that way all the way through, as opposed to say, Pirates Of The Caribbean. He pointed out that Pirates is pretty shitty but you forget about it when Johnny Depp's onscreen. When he's on the screen, you're like "Ghost pirates, that's pretty fucking cool" when, in execution, ghost pirates=retarded. Actually, he just wrote off the ghost pirate thing as bullshit altogether, but my brother was really feeling the whole ghost-pirate idea, so I feel like I should reconcile both ideas. I'm not sure my ghost-pirate stance. Sounds brilliant in theory, cheesy when actually on celluloid.
Anyway, All The Real Girls will probably be out on DVD shortly, if not already. I'm thinking that's a movie I'd watch.
I go, and, because of the whole "them-being-retarded" bit, we go after All The Real Girls showed. So we watched Shattered Glass. Jason recommended it, but my expectations were still pretty low.
Didn't like it. Bad acting. A lot of it, like the ANNOYINGASFUCK framing sequence, is intentional, and some other scenes it's intentional too. Acting within acting, it's about artifice, etc. But there are other scenes, like some big scenes, where the acting seemed weak, like something was being held back. My brother's really big on the acting-within-acting- he cites Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys, but I'm not sure that's an example of it. I got the phrase "acting-within-acting" from him, too, but I think it's a pretty self-explanatory concept. Bad acting, no real visual style besides just generic slickness. And a terrible title. The thing is, it starts off with large amounts of the bad acting, intentionally so, maybe. But because of that, I spent most of the movie going "oh dude, fuck this movie" so maybe it was better, I was just aggressively disliking it for a while there, because the, let's say the first twenty minutes, sucked. Cheesy as hell. And the director's name was Billy Ray! I giggled.
I was kind of wanting to see All The Real Girls. It got pretty mixed reviews, but it got a pretty positive one from a relatively reliable source that I saw today.
See, there used to be this internet column, called Title Bout, by one Abhay Khosla. It had a little framework of going over comics that got released each week, but that was just a vehicle for crazy stream-of-consciousness ramblings. Jokes were funny, and when they weren't, it was acknowledged they didn't work, because of the stream-of-consciousness nature, and the fact that funny people are really hard on themselves when they don't think a joke worked. So I liked that aspect- Kind of influential, especially on this post here. But another reason I liked the column was because I agreed with many of the opinions about pop culture stuff expressed therein. It's gone now, ran for a year. So my life was lacking the Abhay hilarity. But then I found out that the dude still posts on some shitty pop culture message board. So I, being a nerd, did a search, and found some nice longish rambly posts. Like stream-of-consciousness as-he's-watching-the-show reviews of The OC, and reviews of various other stuff. Anyway, he wrote up a Best-of-2003 movie list. The list was lacking the hilarity, but had an abundance of opinions I agreed with. Well, actually, it had some stuff I agreed with and stuff I would probably agree with if I had seen the movies in question. Number one on the list was Kill Bill, number two was Bad Santa, which I can get behind, because my movie memory is shoddy. Number five on his list was All The Real Girls. The list seems to fall apart after that- most top any kind of list falls apart at some point. Like Pitchfork is doing Top 50 of the year lists, which is retarded, due to scale, but results in a relatively solid top ten. Other people do top ten lists, which are just inconsistent, but Pitchfork's process resulted in a very solid top ten. But I'm getting off-topic, that topic being- I don't know what. I guess it's "Abhay's cool."
He also had a list of movies that were crap but he liked parts of, which I like. It allows people to give shout-outs to absolute crap that's entertaining at a lizard-brain level. I suppose that you could say that's what Kill Bill was, but it was that way all the way through, as opposed to say, Pirates Of The Caribbean. He pointed out that Pirates is pretty shitty but you forget about it when Johnny Depp's onscreen. When he's on the screen, you're like "Ghost pirates, that's pretty fucking cool" when, in execution, ghost pirates=retarded. Actually, he just wrote off the ghost pirate thing as bullshit altogether, but my brother was really feeling the whole ghost-pirate idea, so I feel like I should reconcile both ideas. I'm not sure my ghost-pirate stance. Sounds brilliant in theory, cheesy when actually on celluloid.
Anyway, All The Real Girls will probably be out on DVD shortly, if not already. I'm thinking that's a movie I'd watch.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Hey everybody, time for a gender studies class. Today, or I suppose more accurately yesterday, I was talking about my belief that women drawing mustaches on themselves a feminist statement was fucking retarded and made no sense.
Evie postulated that it's based from some kind of "sex is between your legs, gender is between your ears" kind of thing. Which I'm going on record as saying as bullshit, and articulated to myself before going to sleep, before saying "fuck going to sleep, let's see if I can articulate this in text."
First off, unless sex is being used to refer to the act, sex and gender are motherfucking synonyms. The difference between men and women is one of penises and vaginas, and then how society reacts to whether or not one has a penis or a vagina. The "sex is between your legs..." slogan assumes a homogenity in thought amongst gender lines that doesn't exist. Yeah, there are thoughts that women have that men never will, and vice versa. For example: Women have more of a fear of being raped than men do, which makes perfect sense. However, some girl who thinks of herself as a dude isn't going to walk through a dark alley any less afraid because she thinks of herself as a dude. She's going to have the same fear, because she has reason to have that fear, because she has a vagina.
My point, in conclusion, is that your sexual orientation and your "gender identity" are two very different things. The main difference being that gender identity is, for the most part, and in every sense that doesn't come directly down to penises vs. vaginas, is total bullshit.
Am I being dismissive and overly simplifying the issue? Yeah to the first and no to the second.
In other news, I finished Lolita and it's much much better than Pale Fire. I should read more Nabokov, although I've read the two classics. With records by bands, I feel that all you really need are a band's classic albums- I have Minutemen's Double Nickels On Dime and don't intend to buy any more- but with the great writers I think you need to get more of the context provided by their larger body of work, as opposed to the culmination of what they do and them at the peak of their powers. With mediocre writers you just need to see them at their best, but with ones that can be described as genius, they're more likely to fuck around and experiment with different types of work, and those works need to be investigated.
Evie postulated that it's based from some kind of "sex is between your legs, gender is between your ears" kind of thing. Which I'm going on record as saying as bullshit, and articulated to myself before going to sleep, before saying "fuck going to sleep, let's see if I can articulate this in text."
First off, unless sex is being used to refer to the act, sex and gender are motherfucking synonyms. The difference between men and women is one of penises and vaginas, and then how society reacts to whether or not one has a penis or a vagina. The "sex is between your legs..." slogan assumes a homogenity in thought amongst gender lines that doesn't exist. Yeah, there are thoughts that women have that men never will, and vice versa. For example: Women have more of a fear of being raped than men do, which makes perfect sense. However, some girl who thinks of herself as a dude isn't going to walk through a dark alley any less afraid because she thinks of herself as a dude. She's going to have the same fear, because she has reason to have that fear, because she has a vagina.
My point, in conclusion, is that your sexual orientation and your "gender identity" are two very different things. The main difference being that gender identity is, for the most part, and in every sense that doesn't come directly down to penises vs. vaginas, is total bullshit.
Am I being dismissive and overly simplifying the issue? Yeah to the first and no to the second.
In other news, I finished Lolita and it's much much better than Pale Fire. I should read more Nabokov, although I've read the two classics. With records by bands, I feel that all you really need are a band's classic albums- I have Minutemen's Double Nickels On Dime and don't intend to buy any more- but with the great writers I think you need to get more of the context provided by their larger body of work, as opposed to the culmination of what they do and them at the peak of their powers. With mediocre writers you just need to see them at their best, but with ones that can be described as genius, they're more likely to fuck around and experiment with different types of work, and those works need to be investigated.
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
So, now that I'm back in my room, I've resumed reading Lolita. I was flipping through it's pages when I came across a sheet of paper. I bought the book used, so this might've been left by the previous owner. On one side we have white text on a black background, but it's not entirely black. It was cut out from something, and it's apparent that not all it was cut out from was black, just this portion of text had a black background, for emphasis. Anyway, it reads, in all capitals "WE WERE JUST CONCERNED WITH FUCKING AROUND" on the back of the slice of paper is normal printed writing, with the white-on-black design technnique for the page number, thirty. Anyway, two lines of print can be read.
toon types of stoner metalhead kids that you could imagine," Kurt recalls. "They were so hilarious-zits, no teeth, reeking of pot."
So yeah, it's probably about Nirvana. It's just odd I came across it now. It would be better if I had discovered once I got to the page it was on, but whatever.
Let's continue on the path of me writing about things that no one else cares about. My AIM's all fucked up.
I'm thinking about buying a Neutral Milk Hotel t-shirt. I was at the Orange Twin website. This one. The text in the boxes reads "Somewhere soft and warm and without maggots" with one word per box. Awesome, but the art's kind of craptacular. But I do love me some Neutral Milk Hotel. I'm thinking it evens out.
What else- making mix CDs. One project that had been on my mind for a while was a dance mix filled with music that doesn't suck ass. I'm going to keep on throwing songs onto the iTunes tracklist until there's enough to fill a CD- more than 70 minutes. I'm following the mix rule of not repeating artists, because I'm a huge fucking dork. Then, tonight, I was thinking that this one Unicorns song would be a good opener, as it starts off with a piccolo. There was also a Magnetic Fields song I thought was particularly good, but neither were especially danceable, so I just started another mix, that will be half-assed and consist of songs I already have on iTunes. And I'm not repeating songs from the other mixes on this one. This one probably will never be finished, I just didn't want to delete the tracklist (now up to four songs) once I started it. I just have this terrible music-geek drive to make them. It's a similar compulsion to that which makes me write in this blog. Anyway, if anybody wants this mix once I finish it, you know, probably before I die, say something. You can act like I made it because I really care about you, and am a good friend. I will allow you that self-delusion as it creates a scenario where I am not insane.
toon types of stoner metalhead kids that you could imagine," Kurt recalls. "They were so hilarious-zits, no teeth, reeking of pot."
So yeah, it's probably about Nirvana. It's just odd I came across it now. It would be better if I had discovered once I got to the page it was on, but whatever.
Let's continue on the path of me writing about things that no one else cares about. My AIM's all fucked up.
I'm thinking about buying a Neutral Milk Hotel t-shirt. I was at the Orange Twin website. This one. The text in the boxes reads "Somewhere soft and warm and without maggots" with one word per box. Awesome, but the art's kind of craptacular. But I do love me some Neutral Milk Hotel. I'm thinking it evens out.
What else- making mix CDs. One project that had been on my mind for a while was a dance mix filled with music that doesn't suck ass. I'm going to keep on throwing songs onto the iTunes tracklist until there's enough to fill a CD- more than 70 minutes. I'm following the mix rule of not repeating artists, because I'm a huge fucking dork. Then, tonight, I was thinking that this one Unicorns song would be a good opener, as it starts off with a piccolo. There was also a Magnetic Fields song I thought was particularly good, but neither were especially danceable, so I just started another mix, that will be half-assed and consist of songs I already have on iTunes. And I'm not repeating songs from the other mixes on this one. This one probably will never be finished, I just didn't want to delete the tracklist (now up to four songs) once I started it. I just have this terrible music-geek drive to make them. It's a similar compulsion to that which makes me write in this blog. Anyway, if anybody wants this mix once I finish it, you know, probably before I die, say something. You can act like I made it because I really care about you, and am a good friend. I will allow you that self-delusion as it creates a scenario where I am not insane.
Monday, January 05, 2004
I made it back to Olympia, via Chicago. Weird feeling which it turns out I shared with just about everybody: A feeling of homecoming on both my leaving Olympia and my return.
So I'm back in my old room, sans roommate and a bed. My books/CDs were in disarray, and I spent some time putting it all back in order in true neurotic geekboy fashion. I think I used to have a copy of The Stranger, but maybe not. And I thought that I had Jeff Mangum's Live At Jittery Joe's returned to me, but again I'm unsure.
Threw MyTunes on my laptop. It's a great program, it allows you to download stuff off the network you get on iTunes onto your computer, where you can do with it what you will. I got Aimee Mann's Bachelor No. 2, Exile In Guyville, the Menomena record, The Unicorns album, some Sufjan Stevens outtakes, the last Cat Power record, Shrink by The Notwist, the Wrens' Secaucus, and some other stuff. I don't want to catalog every piece of new music that comes into my possession, but I mention all this just to prove that this is a fucking amazing application. It allows for music to spread like a virus. It's like an STD that gets spread amongst straight dudes, singles and the sexless- the demographic that seems to care about music more than anyone else, or at least the obscure electronic indie bands that I favor.
I brought back two things I had mentioned to people as something I should show them- my children's book done for my creative writing class and my Chlamydia comic thing I did for kicks. It doesn't hold up in a context of preservation, I'm thinking. They worked as things I crapped out, but me bringing them to the attention of people after the fact seems to imply some quality that they don't possess. Either that or I've changed since high school. I don't know.
Speaking of my writing not holding up- There's this short story I started writing after I got kicked out. Progress has gone slowly. The problem that I've created for myself is this- I'm telling the story in the present tense, stream-of-consciousness, but the story's ending takes place three days from the story's beginning. This fucks up the pacing royally. Even though I am not one for descriptions, keep in mind that this is something which would need a lot of time spent on unimportant things for the whole stream-of-consciousness/present-tense thing to work. The last sentence I wrote in the story is either brilliant or a cop-out, I don't even know yet. This thing's choking itself. It seems like the next scene for me to write involves drinking heavily, not sure how I'm going to work that out with the narration. A Burroughs style drug-state depiction using cut-up of the sentences wouldn't work, due to the nature of alcohol. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. It's a pretty good story almost. I don't know what I'll think of it a year from now. I'll probably still be trying to finish it. What a fucking terrifying thought.
Here's the thought which almost gives me hope- maybe I'm looking at my older work with such disgust because I'm a better writer now than I was then? Is that more or less believable than the idea that everything I write fucking sucks ass and I just like the new stuff because it's new, and it has that feeling of freshness?
So I'm back in my old room, sans roommate and a bed. My books/CDs were in disarray, and I spent some time putting it all back in order in true neurotic geekboy fashion. I think I used to have a copy of The Stranger, but maybe not. And I thought that I had Jeff Mangum's Live At Jittery Joe's returned to me, but again I'm unsure.
Threw MyTunes on my laptop. It's a great program, it allows you to download stuff off the network you get on iTunes onto your computer, where you can do with it what you will. I got Aimee Mann's Bachelor No. 2, Exile In Guyville, the Menomena record, The Unicorns album, some Sufjan Stevens outtakes, the last Cat Power record, Shrink by The Notwist, the Wrens' Secaucus, and some other stuff. I don't want to catalog every piece of new music that comes into my possession, but I mention all this just to prove that this is a fucking amazing application. It allows for music to spread like a virus. It's like an STD that gets spread amongst straight dudes, singles and the sexless- the demographic that seems to care about music more than anyone else, or at least the obscure electronic indie bands that I favor.
I brought back two things I had mentioned to people as something I should show them- my children's book done for my creative writing class and my Chlamydia comic thing I did for kicks. It doesn't hold up in a context of preservation, I'm thinking. They worked as things I crapped out, but me bringing them to the attention of people after the fact seems to imply some quality that they don't possess. Either that or I've changed since high school. I don't know.
Speaking of my writing not holding up- There's this short story I started writing after I got kicked out. Progress has gone slowly. The problem that I've created for myself is this- I'm telling the story in the present tense, stream-of-consciousness, but the story's ending takes place three days from the story's beginning. This fucks up the pacing royally. Even though I am not one for descriptions, keep in mind that this is something which would need a lot of time spent on unimportant things for the whole stream-of-consciousness/present-tense thing to work. The last sentence I wrote in the story is either brilliant or a cop-out, I don't even know yet. This thing's choking itself. It seems like the next scene for me to write involves drinking heavily, not sure how I'm going to work that out with the narration. A Burroughs style drug-state depiction using cut-up of the sentences wouldn't work, due to the nature of alcohol. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. It's a pretty good story almost. I don't know what I'll think of it a year from now. I'll probably still be trying to finish it. What a fucking terrifying thought.
Here's the thought which almost gives me hope- maybe I'm looking at my older work with such disgust because I'm a better writer now than I was then? Is that more or less believable than the idea that everything I write fucking sucks ass and I just like the new stuff because it's new, and it has that feeling of freshness?
Thursday, January 01, 2004
My favorite graffiti is gone. It used to rest at the corner of Second and Washington, the unpunctuated sentence "I can't sleep at night." I discovered this Tuesday night, around 1 AM, as I went out of my way to see it on the way to a convenience store after I watched Raging Bull. It bummed me out.
It's funny, in Olympia I like to claim a kinship to Philadelphia, which is kind of real and kind of bullshit, in that I lived there for all of three months this past summer. I felt the city. I know it's mood but not it's geography. But that graffiti is gone now. It's mood was not the mood of the city but was one of my moods, written in the city, actually giving me something to claim a kinship with. I could also relate to that feeling of kind of thinking I'm shitty, as opposed to New York's massive "New York is the greatest city" vibe. Philly's got this combination of pride and knowing that most people think we suck ass (especially New York, they're oh so cool) and not quite believing we suck ass, but knowing we're not as "cool" as NY, and thinking we're better for it, because fuck the hipsters man with their coke problems and their Vice magazines and their Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
I've been spending this break as a transient, needing to move on constantly. Spent a night at my dad's house, then I spent the day after Christmas with my old friends. We had lunch. Diana remarked that I should write more of my character assassination, and I'm not sure if she meant this blog in general or just the IFuckingSuck entries.
(If she likes the IFuckingSuck entries, there's a little bit of that here, I suppose. It moves on in the end, where I review movies and list CDs I bought, which is interesting to no one. And then it ends really half-assed, with a quote. Does this count as character assassination, this kind of almost-meta commenting on how shitty my blog entries are? Does anything I write about count as character assassination? And what was the fucking deal with the end of that second paragraph? Did anyone not me know what I was talking about?)
Spent the weekend at my dad's, then went over to my brother's for a couple of days, including New Year's Eve. I didn't do anything, as my brother and everyone else went to Tattooed Mom's, the punkrock bar place. Mike's roommate Cecilia left me with the remaining third of a bottle of wine to kill and so I rang in the new year, drinking but not the least bit drunk and watching South Park. Today I left my brother's, because even though I greatly prefer the company of my brother to that of my mom and stepdad, I'm just counting off the days to go back to Olympia, waitingwaitingwaiting.
My plans to see people didn't fall through, weirdly enough, but the plans to see movies and buy CDs kind of did. I went to TLA Video and instead of renting Talk To Her, which was out, I rented the first disc of The Ben Stiller Show DVD, which was pretty funny. My plans worked out for renting Raising Arizona and Raging Bull. The Raging Bull DVD was kind of fucked up with skips and stuff, and I was getting distracted thanks to being hungry and whatnot. I suppose it was OK. Raising Arizona I did indeed like quite a bit, ranking with The Big Lebowski in my mind in terms of top echelon Coen brothers movies that I've seen. I almost forgot, I also saw some movies that my brother rented before I arrived on the scene. Including Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (the director's cut). I would describe it as the worst thing that has ever lived, despite the fact that it's not actually alive, seeing as how it was a movie, and cancer cells could be aptly described as being alive. Apparently, the first one was watchable. But yeah, that sucked just as much ass as I expected. I also saw Stealing Harvard, which it turns out was directed by Bruce McCulloch. It's just as mediocre as you would expect.
When I was at my dad's, I also saw some movies. I rented The City Of Lost Children, which I didn't like as much as Delicatessen, as it's more of this French children's movie/fantasy type thing. It seemed the most Terry Gilliam influenced film in their oeuvre. Visually, it's Jeunet and Caro's best work, with tons of ideas like a brain in a fishtank. I wish I'd seen it in theaters. My dad rented Morvern Callar, which reminded me of Lost In Translation in terms of mood and being all indie-film and kind of boring. My dad also took me to see 21 Grams, which I wasn't feeling that much. It's very drama. It's cut-up and non-linear, it's about death, it's "intense," my dad described it as being "pretty damn good" and I felt like I'd seen it before, even though I hadn't. My dad also rented Secretary, which I've already seen but bring up because a) my dad rented it because he's a pervert (you don't need to be a pervert to like the movie, but that's why my dad rented it.) and b) because it's that same feeling of feeling like I've seen it before. I mean, I don't think that S&M lovestories have been done before, and if it has, I haven't seen it, but there's still that feeling I have of "I know about indie-film, and even though I haven't seen this before, it feels like I have, this doesn't seem fresh."
And when my dad took me to the record store, those CDs I mentioned in the last post weren't there. I picked up The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified, The Beauty Pill's You Are Right To Be Afraid EP, and Ween's The Mollusk. Once I got to Philly I did the record store roaming thing, and found a copy of Silver Jews' American Water for 12 bucks (the cheapest I've ever seen it, hooray for AKA Music) and nothing else.
I also looked at reviews on Amazon for David Berman's book of poetry, Actual Air. One line struck me enough to remember it, and I'll leave you with it, although it's probably just a paraphrase: I refuse to be the middleman in a relationship between you and the florist.
It's funny, in Olympia I like to claim a kinship to Philadelphia, which is kind of real and kind of bullshit, in that I lived there for all of three months this past summer. I felt the city. I know it's mood but not it's geography. But that graffiti is gone now. It's mood was not the mood of the city but was one of my moods, written in the city, actually giving me something to claim a kinship with. I could also relate to that feeling of kind of thinking I'm shitty, as opposed to New York's massive "New York is the greatest city" vibe. Philly's got this combination of pride and knowing that most people think we suck ass (especially New York, they're oh so cool) and not quite believing we suck ass, but knowing we're not as "cool" as NY, and thinking we're better for it, because fuck the hipsters man with their coke problems and their Vice magazines and their Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
I've been spending this break as a transient, needing to move on constantly. Spent a night at my dad's house, then I spent the day after Christmas with my old friends. We had lunch. Diana remarked that I should write more of my character assassination, and I'm not sure if she meant this blog in general or just the IFuckingSuck entries.
(If she likes the IFuckingSuck entries, there's a little bit of that here, I suppose. It moves on in the end, where I review movies and list CDs I bought, which is interesting to no one. And then it ends really half-assed, with a quote. Does this count as character assassination, this kind of almost-meta commenting on how shitty my blog entries are? Does anything I write about count as character assassination? And what was the fucking deal with the end of that second paragraph? Did anyone not me know what I was talking about?)
Spent the weekend at my dad's, then went over to my brother's for a couple of days, including New Year's Eve. I didn't do anything, as my brother and everyone else went to Tattooed Mom's, the punkrock bar place. Mike's roommate Cecilia left me with the remaining third of a bottle of wine to kill and so I rang in the new year, drinking but not the least bit drunk and watching South Park. Today I left my brother's, because even though I greatly prefer the company of my brother to that of my mom and stepdad, I'm just counting off the days to go back to Olympia, waitingwaitingwaiting.
My plans to see people didn't fall through, weirdly enough, but the plans to see movies and buy CDs kind of did. I went to TLA Video and instead of renting Talk To Her, which was out, I rented the first disc of The Ben Stiller Show DVD, which was pretty funny. My plans worked out for renting Raising Arizona and Raging Bull. The Raging Bull DVD was kind of fucked up with skips and stuff, and I was getting distracted thanks to being hungry and whatnot. I suppose it was OK. Raising Arizona I did indeed like quite a bit, ranking with The Big Lebowski in my mind in terms of top echelon Coen brothers movies that I've seen. I almost forgot, I also saw some movies that my brother rented before I arrived on the scene. Including Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (the director's cut). I would describe it as the worst thing that has ever lived, despite the fact that it's not actually alive, seeing as how it was a movie, and cancer cells could be aptly described as being alive. Apparently, the first one was watchable. But yeah, that sucked just as much ass as I expected. I also saw Stealing Harvard, which it turns out was directed by Bruce McCulloch. It's just as mediocre as you would expect.
When I was at my dad's, I also saw some movies. I rented The City Of Lost Children, which I didn't like as much as Delicatessen, as it's more of this French children's movie/fantasy type thing. It seemed the most Terry Gilliam influenced film in their oeuvre. Visually, it's Jeunet and Caro's best work, with tons of ideas like a brain in a fishtank. I wish I'd seen it in theaters. My dad rented Morvern Callar, which reminded me of Lost In Translation in terms of mood and being all indie-film and kind of boring. My dad also took me to see 21 Grams, which I wasn't feeling that much. It's very drama. It's cut-up and non-linear, it's about death, it's "intense," my dad described it as being "pretty damn good" and I felt like I'd seen it before, even though I hadn't. My dad also rented Secretary, which I've already seen but bring up because a) my dad rented it because he's a pervert (you don't need to be a pervert to like the movie, but that's why my dad rented it.) and b) because it's that same feeling of feeling like I've seen it before. I mean, I don't think that S&M lovestories have been done before, and if it has, I haven't seen it, but there's still that feeling I have of "I know about indie-film, and even though I haven't seen this before, it feels like I have, this doesn't seem fresh."
And when my dad took me to the record store, those CDs I mentioned in the last post weren't there. I picked up The Dismemberment Plan Is Terrified, The Beauty Pill's You Are Right To Be Afraid EP, and Ween's The Mollusk. Once I got to Philly I did the record store roaming thing, and found a copy of Silver Jews' American Water for 12 bucks (the cheapest I've ever seen it, hooray for AKA Music) and nothing else.
I also looked at reviews on Amazon for David Berman's book of poetry, Actual Air. One line struck me enough to remember it, and I'll leave you with it, although it's probably just a paraphrase: I refuse to be the middleman in a relationship between you and the florist.
Thursday, December 25, 2003
It's Christmas day and everybody's wounded. Well, not me, but everyone else. And actually, it's not even Christmas anymore here on the east coast.
I got the Michel Gondry DVD which I don't want now that I've borrowed Alex's copy, and the latest Flaming Lips EP and the new Shins record, which I'm listening to now. I'd heard it previously, on iTunes, on not very loud headphones. I like it better through speakers, but I'm still thinking I prefer the first record. I was also given a book by Thomas Hobbes which my mom figures I'll have to read at some point. She is probably right, but I'm not going to bring it back to Olympia this trip as my luggage is full and I'm not going to be reading it this quarter. She also apparently got me a boardgame, but didn't give it to me, which is cool, as I'm not sure I could mask that combination of "I don't want this," "I don't need this," and "Where am I going to fit this?" and "What about my personality suggests I would enjoy this?"
By the way I'm not that bummed about the loss of all my comics and shit I mentioned in my last post. I'm taking either a zen buddhist or a nihilist perspective to the whole thing- fuck it, they're just possessions. And they can be replaced.
Other music stuff- I might be able to get that Sufjan Stevens Michigan record for free as a dude at my church I'm friends with works for Sounds Familyre. And my dad doesn't know what to get me, so he'll probably buy me some CDs on Saturday. Also, my brother gave me a gift certificate for Spaceboy. Records I'm looking at purchasing soon include Bonnie "Prince" Billy- I See A Darkness, Silver Jews- American Water, Califone- Quicksand/Cradlesnakes, and Liars- We No Longer Knew What We Were EP. Oh, and I bought the Television Adventure reissue for 15 bucks at Best Buy, the cheapest I've seen it anywhere. I guess that even corporate chains price stuff cheaper in Philadelphia suburbs than they do in Olympia.
And tomorrow I'm going to be back in Chi, hanging out with Jason and Erin and hopefully some other people. I'm doing this early, as my dad's going to drop me off on his way to work. I'm going to sleep on Jason's couch. Regardless, I should probably go to bed now.
I got the Michel Gondry DVD which I don't want now that I've borrowed Alex's copy, and the latest Flaming Lips EP and the new Shins record, which I'm listening to now. I'd heard it previously, on iTunes, on not very loud headphones. I like it better through speakers, but I'm still thinking I prefer the first record. I was also given a book by Thomas Hobbes which my mom figures I'll have to read at some point. She is probably right, but I'm not going to bring it back to Olympia this trip as my luggage is full and I'm not going to be reading it this quarter. She also apparently got me a boardgame, but didn't give it to me, which is cool, as I'm not sure I could mask that combination of "I don't want this," "I don't need this," and "Where am I going to fit this?" and "What about my personality suggests I would enjoy this?"
By the way I'm not that bummed about the loss of all my comics and shit I mentioned in my last post. I'm taking either a zen buddhist or a nihilist perspective to the whole thing- fuck it, they're just possessions. And they can be replaced.
Other music stuff- I might be able to get that Sufjan Stevens Michigan record for free as a dude at my church I'm friends with works for Sounds Familyre. And my dad doesn't know what to get me, so he'll probably buy me some CDs on Saturday. Also, my brother gave me a gift certificate for Spaceboy. Records I'm looking at purchasing soon include Bonnie "Prince" Billy- I See A Darkness, Silver Jews- American Water, Califone- Quicksand/Cradlesnakes, and Liars- We No Longer Knew What We Were EP. Oh, and I bought the Television Adventure reissue for 15 bucks at Best Buy, the cheapest I've seen it anywhere. I guess that even corporate chains price stuff cheaper in Philadelphia suburbs than they do in Olympia.
And tomorrow I'm going to be back in Chi, hanging out with Jason and Erin and hopefully some other people. I'm doing this early, as my dad's going to drop me off on his way to work. I'm going to sleep on Jason's couch. Regardless, I should probably go to bed now.
Sunday, December 21, 2003
For those who enjoy laughing at my misfortune: Flew back to New Jersey today. It turns out that all of my comics/graphic novels of a nontraditional size got FUCKED. Warped by water, consumed by mildew, then warped by drying. All of them. The short list: Jimmy Corrigan, Eightball, Likewise, Scott Morse stuff, and old Far Side collections from when I was but a wee young'n: ALL FUCKED.
My mom remains kind of lame with her caring, my stepdad remains a prick with his saying of stupid shit.
This is funny: My stepdad was given a DVD player for his birthday, along with some of the worst movies of the past five years. I know what you're thinking "Does he have Serving Sara?" Does he ever. Along with How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days!
Oh, and at the airport, my plane was oversold. So they offered a free round trip to anywhere in the continental United States and Canada to whoever would give up their seat to take the next plane to Philadelphia. I spent a shitload of time at the airport, but now I have a free round trip.
When I go back to Olympia, I'll get my laptop back, which means that you can expect the general quality of these posts to improve.
My mom remains kind of lame with her caring, my stepdad remains a prick with his saying of stupid shit.
This is funny: My stepdad was given a DVD player for his birthday, along with some of the worst movies of the past five years. I know what you're thinking "Does he have Serving Sara?" Does he ever. Along with How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days!
Oh, and at the airport, my plane was oversold. So they offered a free round trip to anywhere in the continental United States and Canada to whoever would give up their seat to take the next plane to Philadelphia. I spent a shitload of time at the airport, but now I have a free round trip.
When I go back to Olympia, I'll get my laptop back, which means that you can expect the general quality of these posts to improve.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
I haven't updated this in a while.
My quarter's over. Now I am essentially just counting down to going home.
I saw some movies, including Doctor Strangelove, Fargo, Ghost Dog, and Bad Santa. All of these movies were quite good. Also: I borrowed the Works Of Michel Gondry DVD. My mom has already purchased it as a Christmas gift. Now that I've borrowed it, I don't need to own it, but whatever. It's got some good videos.
Oh, so that Sleater-Kinney/Cat Power show? I didn't go. Surprise.
Time for a half-assed Wilco quote: Funny how you make new friends.
Been writing a short story ever since I got kicked out, in a notebook. Progress goes slow. It's pretty fucked up and I'm happy with it.
This has been pretty structureless, so I'm not going to be able to pull off the strong ending I usually strive for.
My quarter's over. Now I am essentially just counting down to going home.
I saw some movies, including Doctor Strangelove, Fargo, Ghost Dog, and Bad Santa. All of these movies were quite good. Also: I borrowed the Works Of Michel Gondry DVD. My mom has already purchased it as a Christmas gift. Now that I've borrowed it, I don't need to own it, but whatever. It's got some good videos.
Oh, so that Sleater-Kinney/Cat Power show? I didn't go. Surprise.
Time for a half-assed Wilco quote: Funny how you make new friends.
Been writing a short story ever since I got kicked out, in a notebook. Progress goes slow. It's pretty fucked up and I'm happy with it.
This has been pretty structureless, so I'm not going to be able to pull off the strong ending I usually strive for.
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