sexy japanese vomit cheerleaders

is it wemsblyday already?

2010-09-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

other internet stuff

2010-09-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

...so, I'm here now, too.

Tomorrow, In A Year

2010-08-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

"[Philip] Glass was a composer, not a pop star, and he had his own way of defining the difference between the two that appeared in the sleeve notes of Einstein On The Beach: 'When you talk about concert musicians, you're talking about people who actually invent language. They create values, a value being a unit of meaning that is new and different. Pop musicians package language. I don't think there's anything wrong with packaging language; some of that can be very good music. It doesn't bother me; the two kinds of music are just different.'"

[via]

ps, The Knife wrote an opera?!?

new kitties have BLAZING SPEED

2010-07-30T18:47:00.000-07:00

Palom, meek boy kitty, and Porom, cheeky girl kitty.

Jim Henson's day job, 1957

2010-06-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Update, 100730:

read any good books lately?

2010-05-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

whoa

2010-04-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

this is, um, pretty great.

a wagon full of bands

2010-03-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

Along with the slew of Scott Pilgrim news lately comes news of the video game tie-in, helmed by the fellow whose previous work is, ah, adumbrated below:

Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 (by Paul Robertson) from Matthias Magold on Vimeo.

Kings of Power 4 Billion % from Zarradeth on Vimeo.

F'reals, some of the baddest-ass shit I've ever bleedin' seen. But back to the game real quick, soundtrack by chiptune wizards Anamanaguchi.

additional: alt link for wizards.

...

2010-03-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

happy presidents day

2010-02-15T22:31:00.000-08:00

Washington, Nixon, whatever.

i can has draw?

2010-02-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

As part of Jenny's drawing lessons, she's had me do some emulations, two of which are below. Scott Pilgrim & Ramona Flowers! I'm pretty proud of these guys. Long ways to go yet, though.

the known universe

2010-01-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

Video by the American Museum of Natural History.

(via.)

birds, guitars

2010-01-18T13:36:00.000-08:00

fun with graphics

2010-01-14T14:53:00.000-08:00

...where the x axis is my Facebook usage, and y represents time. The surge starting in 2008 was when everybody I spoke to on a regular basis began using it, and that dip in late 2009 is when my entire family, as well as everyone I have ever met, began using it. Where did that happy medium go?

Also, I drew this today with Jenny's awesome brush pens. I drew it from a photo of me, and even though there is minimal resemblance, I like how it turned out.

this far, no further

2009-12-30T22:50:00.000-08:00

I feel as though I've been thoroughly and repeatedly raped in my soul.

I hate this with a consuming hatred. They took a beautiful thing and they made it garish, drained it of mystery & subtlety, and then they threw in fucking Fergie. If DDL can't hide from Scorsese, he can't hide from me, and if I do find him he better be wearing a fucking good hat, or I'll... well I just don't know what I'll do.

seven degrees of 2009

2009-12-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

This image neatly summarizes the awesomeness of 2009 for me. That's me (looking sinister) standing with Quiet Bird Man, a character created by Jamie Tanner. Jenny got him to draw it, I assume through egregious use of the dark arts. I was introduced to QBM in the (quite superior) Project Superior collection, to which Tanner's was my favorite contribution; I seriously considered getting him tattooed somewhere (blinking, of course). I read Project Superior while in Hawaii visiting Jenny's family (and loitering in paradise); and the reference photo Jenny sent him was taken at a temple in Tokyo. So linking in Christmas, for which it was gifted, you have there some of the best major events of my 2009. Of course there was much more -- but as it is, the summary is surprisingly comprehensive. Speaking of Christmas:

THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!!
(thanks again, Megan!)

UPDATE: Why seven degrees? Because I said so. Shut up.

speaking of emily dickinson

2009-12-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

Video for Broadcast et al.'s "I see, so i see so". Vindication.

sexy japanese favorite music of 2009

2009-12-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

Well, Facebook has done it: not only has it totally eclipsed MySpace, but it has taken over nearly the entire internet (at least the interesting part). Blogging has become a remnant of Web 2.0, made passé by Twitter -- a key player in FB's success, the midwife of microbloggery. You can only give Twitter so much credit; all you have to do is load FB and you can see what are essentially tweets from all your friends, plus you can play games (erg!) and share your media-related preferences. Oh, but don't get me wrong, I think Facebook's great! I'm just noticing a trend I want to exploit. Which is where this post comes in. Now that the limelight is off of blogging, I want to make a new year's resolution to bring the blog back to life -- after all, being unselfconscious is a major boon to creativity. Here's to blogging, now an outmoded technology, the internet's newest equivalent to ham radio.

So here's my list of my favorite albums of the year. They're not in any order, at least not exoterically. There probably will be more added as other year-end lists pile up, as always seems to happen. Originally I intended to make a favorites of the decade, with far more detail. That may yet happen; but, uh, for now here's this! Enjoy!

Broadcast & The Focus Group: Broadcast & the Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
Ok, I lied right off: this is my favorite album this year. Like walking through Emily Dickinson's brain while she's lying in a field high on mushrooms. Track 21, "Let It Begin/Oh Joy" is... well, that pretty much sums it up.

Yesterdays New Quintet: Angles Without Edges
Madlib plays all the instruments in the jazz quintet in his mind. As far as the flavor of his jazz, it's somewhere between post-funk and, uh, post-post-post-bop?

Medeski, Martin & Wood: Radiolarians 3
Track two, "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down," starts like Cecil Taylor summoning Beelzebub, and transmogrifies into a raucous spiritual. Good times!

Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
"My Girls," ecstatic soundtrack of summer. This might be the secret best album, just don't tell Broadcast.

Tyondai Braxton: Central Market
Anthony's kid makes a good bid for a name in modern ensemble composition. You can tell from the title of "Uffe's Woodshop" that this album sounds like a cuckoo clock, in the mind of Emily Dickinson, lying in a field, still out of her mind on mushrooms.

Vijay Iyer: Historicity
American/Indian (not Amerindian) jazz pianist works out his own versions of some great songs, including some by Stevie Wonder, Julius Hemphill (my favorite) and... M.I.A? Well, it works. Original compositions also included! See store for details!

Nisennenmondai: Destination Tokyo
Their name means, roughly, Y2K bug. Girl-group from Japan's excursions into post-no wave territories.

]
tUnE-YaRdS: Bird-brains
Who? So lo-fi, their allmusic entry says their album sales have already broken the thousand dollar mark! Congratulations, kids! Sweet arpeggiated guitar melodies, strange found sounds here & there. Beautiful.

Swan Lake: Enemy Mine
I love Dan Bejar. That is all. Ok, two more words: Warlock Psychologist.

A Hawk & a Hacksaw: Délivrance
Neutral Milk Hotel's drummer goes on a folksploration, comes back with eastern European jam band; sounds like the best Romanian wedding party you've ever been to.

riding the tryptophan train straight to napsville

2009-11-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

The Burroughs one is, like, so 2 years ago. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

UPDATE: Ha!

great moments in women's history

2009-11-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

We can sum up her entire life in twenty words. Watch:

“Stephenie Meyer grew up in the Southwest, got married, had kids, wrote some books about vampires and got rich. Batman.”

We threw “Batman” in there to make it more exciting.

[pic is a link to source]

Remember, remember the 7th of November

2009-11-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

Above: the winner of this year's Strangest Party Detritus Award. It just raises further questions...

Anyway, 30th surprise birthday party, greatest ever. The love was palpable. I beat myself in effigy with a cricket bat, played the bass part of a Hungarian Rhapsody with Mike, was toasted (er, given toast?), found lots of amazing drawings by people hung all over the house, drank Mack & Jack's in my own home, um, the list goes on & on. Plus, Braden got me a sweet knife! Indeed, the swag was unbelievable, to say the least. Pictures forthcoming! (...and also here.)

strange parallel

2009-11-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

28:24 of Elliott Smith! Via.

cry havoc

2009-10-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

my god, it's full of stars

2009-09-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

first of all:

"Whan that Aprill with his shouressoote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertuengendred is the flour,
Whan Zephiruseek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(so priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages[.]"+

-Geoffrey "Def-Jeff" Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, General Prologue

... I'm not even sure how I found these. Or, indeed, why. And these are just a small sampling of the Chaucer fanvids on YouTube.

Befuddling.

j.s. bach: iq infinity

2009-09-14T12:33:00.001-07:00

marmalade skies

2009-09-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

I had a dream last night that I went fishing by myself in a boat on a river, but couldn't bring in any fish alone, and woke up feeling kind of unmoored. Extremely uncharacteristic of me.

8:32

2009-09-10T09:28:00.001-07:00

The Cat Piano from PRA on Vimeo.

miraculous.

quickly

2009-09-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

Leaving at midnight tonight for the Olympic Peninsula in search of birthday fish. Exciting!

Also, this is fascinating.

Also also, Sordid Sentinels EP is good (or close to good?) to go. More on that soon.

one day they'll sing songs about us

2009-08-17T21:26:00.000-07:00

img -> new flickr photoset

the pentatonic scale

2009-08-13T09:24:00.000-07:00

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

fascinating, that the audience (which, incidentally, McF is "playing") intuitively extrapolates the pentatonic scale from so little given information. hm.

because it's there

2009-08-07T11:27:00.001-07:00

i (heart) science

2009-07-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

listen - smell that?

2009-07-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

where's my inflatable pool

2009-07-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Played a bloody mystical game of baseball yesterday at Cal Anderson park in Seattle for Dawn's birthday, and every part of me is (good) sore. Baseball must happen much more often, yes. And maybe next time there won't be a furry convention going on somewhere nearby (to be fair though, they did keep to themselves). Meanwhile, good luck to everybody looking to escape the heat in the next few days - incapacitating as it is certain to be.

Today's bookstore bonus: found Ezra Pound's hilarious (belligerent) letter to HG Wells (quote: "Waaal, you are pretty messy [...] Backward countries me arse! [...] Nevertheless if you are ass enough to consider Keynes a reliable writer, Khrist and all ---- help you [etc.]"). I do love that Pound rascal.

Sing goddamn, damn. Sing goddamn!
Sing goddamn, damn. Sing goddamn!

Winter is i-cumin in,
Lhude sing goddamn!
Raineth drop and staineth slop
And how the wind doth ram
Sing goddamn!

Skiddth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damn you, sing goddamn.
Goddamn, goddamn, tis why I am goddamn,
So gainst the winter's balm.

Sing goddamn, sing goddamn, DAMN!

~Ancient Music, Ezra Pound

ah! the sublimity of humour

2009-07-17T16:02:00.001-07:00

gravity's lolz

2009-07-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

bearded destiny (find me the white whale)

2009-07-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Beard & Mustache Championships. The Beardfolio.

errata (agenda (candelabra))

2009-07-04T16:51:00.001-07:00

I'm pretty sure this (img = link) is my new favorite thing on the entire internet. It works on so many levels. And hypnotic, really. You could just spend all day staring.

-The 4th was bleeding awesome: plenty of awesome people, lots of substandard beer, a whole valley full of fireworks, and ice cream casserole. Plus I got to teach a bright 7 yr old about overtones. It was probably good that I wasn't drunk enough to try to explain the Pythagorean comma. (Close call, though.)

-Earthbound is the most underrated game I hadn't heard of until a month ago (despite that being a somewhat narrow category). How did I miss that?

-I've been reading the 3e PM & DMG intensively, in preparation for DMing (just a module at first). Maintaining immersive narrative, keeping game flow smooth, and most importantly being a walking rulebook... it is quite a challenge, but the dividends will be well worth it. ...NERD!!

-Sordid Sentinals show this thursday at the New Frontier, with distinguished guests! Of distinguishment!

-The other day I was idly wondering what percentage of my sum "knowledge" has been gained from the internet. I estimate the figure at over 51%. Long live the Internet.

the sputtering doubt of the morningtimes

2009-06-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

After a legendarily hard sleep last night, this morning's groggy shamble over to the computer yielded some news that actually made me make a sharp inhalation: finally my friends, after all these years, and all my bitching about it, the powers that be have released the first season of Parker Lewis Can't Lose on DVD. Synchronize watches.

Also in my inbox was news of Patterson's newest masterpiece, which is much less exciting, but it does, uh, make, uhm, funny. Breakfast now.

must... post... something...

2009-06-22T10:15:00.001-07:00

mcpost (...?)

2009-06-12T17:19:00.000-07:00

yep! that's a music vid animated by mcbess, whose illustration i ripped off for a desktop at work.

back to chillaxin'! this being my day off, i'm attempting to consume as much of the mountain of various media i've dived into but neglected to finish over the last... whenever. it's all too much! too, too much awesome. goggles back on and... ::dive::.

so, this happened

2009-05-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Cows in the driveway. Ah, sweet surreal Unincorporated.

Arigato, pt. 2

2009-05-21T10:49:00.001-07:00

More from Tokyo! Highlights from the rest of the trip.

Arigato, Tokyo pt. 1

2009-05-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

Picture is a link

Due to overwhelming demand, I've begun the process of uploading the Japan pictures to flickr. They cover most of days 1-4.

today = yesterday? wtf

2009-05-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

home now. ripped from Japan's nurturing teat. woke up saturday morning in Tokyo, had sushi at Tsukiji, got on a plane at 16:00, slept on & off for 8 hours, then arrived in the States at 08:30 on saturday. instead of trying to wrap my mind around that conundrum, I am very busy cleaning, scrubbing, and organizing the life I left into some semblance of this past pristinely beautiful week. where's the bleach?

pictures coming soon.

30 seconds over Tokyo

2009-05-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

the internet room here is constantly swarmed ... this may been the most fun i`ve ever had ... epic wins on all fronts ... i may arrange my own kidnapping ... i love riding the trains, why the hell don`t we have trains connecting everything ... saw bunraku last night, completely amazing ... last night we trekked through Shinjuku (downtown, basically), and it totally put Vegas to shame as far as weird omnipresent light and sound ... it`s strangely difficult to find sushi here, I think we`ve walked past a single conveyor-belt shop; but we have yet to visit the Tsukiji fish market, that`ll be a coup ... weather`s nice ... california-ey ... language barrier is not a barrier at all ... too many completely, utterly amazing adventures to recount right now ... have been taking loads of pictures & videos ... i love it here ... time to cross the Yakuza? ... more later ...

sexy japanese vacation cheerleaders

2009-05-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

we arrived safely
toilets are complicated
adventure awaits

isomorphic cartography

2009-05-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

this is what my brain feels like right now, stuffed like a bag of holding with phrases, figures and factoids (+ a plethora of preparations):

eigo-ga hanasemasu ka?

hi-ho jazzoids

2009-05-04T11:15:00.001-07:00

Just a note: the music editors at Amazon just published a surprisingly well-rounded (even for net-media) list of the 100 "greatest Jazz albums of all time", with Ornette at a shocking #1 and John Zorn at (of course) #23. Cecil's only at 54, but I'm not grumbling. I'm extra impressed they put Brax, Ayler, Moondog, & Sun Ra on there, surely a sign of receding jazz-revisionism. Fascists.

the picoult factor

2009-05-02T11:22:00.000-07:00

As I toil away every day in the HPB fiction section, few books are as welcome to my book-weary eyes as those of Jodi Picoult -- not (sweet Jesus) because they have substance or any other superlative quality, but because good lord they sell better than anything else there. So I read with actual interest this interview with the author, and a total lack of the spite I reserve for the Gutersons and the Frazers of the literary world. An interesting tidbit from the interview:

"She posts videos of herself, and of her family romping at their Vermont summer home on her website, www.jodipicoult.com, which also hosts a conversation group called the Pi-cult. On the surface, that sounds cringingly self-important, except for the fact that her readers, and there are millions, are remarkably cult-like."

Indeed! I did watch some of the videos, and I feel conflicted about having no hatred (albeit no respect either) for Ms. Picoult, since she clearly is running a very similar artistic agenda to Nicholas Sparks. And I seethe with hatred for that douchebag. Anyways, the seed has been planted.

m'aider

2009-05-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

And that's about enough of shove-tales. Update time! We played our second Seattle show last night, at the "historic" Blue Moon Tavern, which I thought went quite well, despite learning afterward the keys were inaudible (for which I blame the stupid (well, jaded) sound check guy). The magic grows stronger with every show, no doubt about it. The next month will see more emphasis on recording, I'm told.

Foremost on my mind: at loooong last, thursday of this week Jenny & I are flying to Japan. I'm nowhere near ready, but really how ready can you be for mf-ing JAPAN? Never, or uh, "not" is the answer to that ostensibly rhetorical question. I am very keen on the investigation of (& simply soaking in) a culture that is so famously omnivorous. Or just surreal. I will try not to cross the Yakuza. (Man, I hope I don't cross the Yakuza.)

My Japanese language skills are weak at best, so we'll be relying quite heavily on the ingenious Japanese public school English education program (lucky time #1). Most interestingly, I'm bringing my iPod touch, which has wifi capability, and will likely be our primary source of information; interesting because being able to stay in a foreign country in which you do not speak the language and having a technology (even better! a wireless technology!) to more or less be your guide is solid proof that we're living in the future. Paul Bowles had to know French when he lived in Tangiers but mothafocka I got the internets.

Also I'm looking forward to eating sushi for every meal. Oh, shit.

so, funny story

2009-04-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

Alright, so last night Jenny & I saw The Roots play in Seattle, which ended up being one of the best & most perfect shows I have ever, wtfbbq ever seen. So let's set the scene here: the crowd has assembled (Jenny & I standing maybe 4-5 rows from the stage), the lights go off, massive cheers, weirdo pseudojamaican dudes behind us make trills & animal noises. A bass line plays, then spotlight as the Roots march single file to center stage behind a motherfucking tuba. On that note, things escalate. Everybody's enjoying the hell out of the first quarter of the set, when this megadrunk chick & her bf literally elbow past me yelling [direct quote] "I'm looking for my son, he's lost! I have to find my son!"

Oh man! I let her through. Then, just as she gets past me, she & her guy stop, and start dancing right in front of me. And I mean wild, gyrating, hitting people with her hair and arms "dancing." If she had just nudged her way past, it wouldn't have been nearly as offensive, but something about the lie was just... dishonorable? Whatever, it crossed a certain line. Anyway she's flailing around drunkenly, bumping into everybody, & several people actually turn to her with hands raised in diplomacy. Yet she continues.

I might not have done anything if she hadn't been almost constantly harassing Jenny, but she was, and edge-of-the-volcano style, with cat-like grace I stepped one leg a foot towards her, hands in pockets, and shoved her (pretty hard) into the people in front of her (who had just turned around). I then deftly stepped back to my original position, and just stared at Black Thought while grooving my whitest. She stared at me for probably 10 seconds as I suddenly enjoyed the show a whole lot more. She stopped her suffocating-fish dance, adopted a respectable groove, and in five more minutes was out of sight.

But the best part of the story! Oh, my brothers. As the woman begins to disappear into the crowd, I feel a patting on my arm. Suddenly realizing I just shoved - a woman - at a Hip-hop concert, I slowly turn around, and standing there is this tiny Asian girl with her bf, beaming at me, and she gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up. I laughed & smiled back, and the show, oh my brothers, just got better from there.

-/+

2009-03-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

you may have seen this. but i hadn't. and now that i'm wearing new pants:

ok, off to the JavaJive. enjoy the equinox.

flickr/update (sentinental)

2009-03-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

apparently random sound waves

2009-03-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Happy 79th, Ornette Coleman!

tuesday thoughts

2009-03-02T13:52:00.001-08:00

1. Jenny & I are in fact going to all 3 spectacular days of Sasquatch, and we're going to try & stay in a motor-hotel in (say) Moses Lake, so anybody who wants in on that Action (any of the days) is welcome to chip in and share a luxurious Holiday Inn Express suite. Eh? Eh?!

2. Reading notes: I would kind of like to dig up DF Wallace's corpse and have sex with it, because of both the great pleasure I would derive and the simultaneous desecration he deserves for killing himself, the bastard. Conundrum?

3. Weather = good. Birds = especially good. Sunshine = oh man.

4. ... nevermind.

me me me me me

2009-02-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

Feb 7. More (other) people after the link!

big enough

2009-02-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

My keyboard hero:

hi can george play?

2009-02-09T11:38:00.001-08:00

Last night I had a dream in which our former President moved into the house next door, and we became fast friends. Pals, I'd even say. We did lots of cool stuff together, and I even remember one part of the dream where we rode bikes.

In other news I'd like to explicitly recommit to my vision of revitalizing/recreating a Vaudeville scene. (Or at least expand my proposal, for public review). Burlesque shows have already seen an incredible revival this decade, which I think is an indication of a certain pre-existing market or demographic or whatever. Some latency. Maybe it was just the mystically goofy atmosphere of the JavaJive overstimulating my already deranged imagination, but I got a sense this might be something the television-sick media-bored participation-frenzied youth culture these days might completely latch on to & thrive in. Saturday night? Why not go down to whatever venue & see some weird theatrical shit with probably some unusual music thrown in & a comedy act to boot. BAM!! Fun.

Of course the minstrel-show aspect of the original Vaudeville would have to be either removed or transformed; I mention it deliberately because of the awful bad karma generated, which this country still won't have balanced out in the next hundred years. It's not something you can pretend didn't happen. Uh, but maybe that goes without saying? I think the old Vaudeville is frequently associated with racism, and some widespread alteration of perception may have transformative powers, possibly on a societal scale if not a purely linguistic one.

Either way, it has to be done just the right way, or else it will risk being misperceived. As lame. Which it isn't.

Thoughts?

who likes to rock the party

2009-02-08T00:27:00.001-08:00

incredible success. after tonight's rock-fest, I'm considering putting together a show at the java-jive consisting of a plethora of ragtime-y & stride piano music. i would, of course, have to procure the regulation hat & suit. James P Johnson & Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton & co., oh my. I'm actually thinking about how Tacoma is really the perfect venue for the revitalization of vaudeville. hipsters and the extensive bar culture would eat that shiz up. right? hm. any thoughts?

apparently youtube videos are forthcoming. watch this space.

the state that i am in

2009-02-05T23:05:00.000-08:00

I've been fighting off the severe muddle of a cold for the last few days. Lots of birds and stars twirling around my head. Maybe somebody should unequip & hit me. This is weird. I feel like David.

bloodline

2009-01-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

Friends, meet Muhal Richard Abrams!

[image is an mp3 link -- downloads encouraged]

The excellent genii at musicblog Destination:OUT have made a bleeding awesome (long, somewhat vitriolic but crazy well-written) post about Jazz history and Wynton Marsalis's controversial conservatism within that spectrum -- for better or worse. I'd venture a guess that most of the kind folks who read my happy little blog don't care too much for Jazz, and I've always felt that's totally understandable, tastes differing as they do, but especially considering lack of widespread exposure of pieces like the one hotlinked above. I strongly encourage giving it a listen. It may even rock your face off. BEWARE!!

ps, Happy Inauguration Day!!

guess what, i liked it

2008-12-30T10:21:00.000-08:00

If you haven't already seen it, this is DJ Earworm's mashup of the Billboard top 25 of 2008. That this is possible says something very distinct about pop music - but instead of being depressing (as I was expecting), it ends up being really, uh, something. Amazing, in fact. I guess that could be because, radiophobe that I am, I hadn't heard any of the songs before, although I suspect it has more to do with the common denominator. Well anyway, here ya go.

the silence of snow

2008-12-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

Multiple-thought Monday:

1. RESTLESSNESS. (except finding stuff to do isn't hard at all - it's just being trapped in the snow.)

2. There's been a good flurry of bloggings! I think it's great that everybody being confined to their houses drives them to their true home, the warm source of all good, the Internet. Make a fire, post a blog. Eat some pie, post a blog. Post a blog! Post a blog!!

3. Before we arrived at Jenny's family Christmas saturday, her father decided to precede me by announcing that I am a black man. There were surprised looks all around the room when my arrival displayed otherwise. True story.

4. SJVC recipe for snowy isolation happiness: hot chocolate, weird literature, headphones & warm electronicky music.

5. Just in general, Warren Ellis is the best shelter from the storm. (honestly, he reminds me of Christmas - probably because I'm always looking for something to do on the computer around Christmas & he does own the internet).

6. I've recently added Rapidshare to my arsenal of internet musics acquiral methodologies. Neat, good, fine, awesome.

6b. Wow! ...seriously?

7. The accumulation in perspective: snow fills our lamppost.

FailPriceBooks

2008-12-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

I sticker books that way all the time. It's funny. Now the internet knows.

Thanks, Braden!

...and, SNOW!!

2008-12-18T11:47:00.000-08:00

My life certainly feels threatened. Kudos to HalfPrice for effectively staging a coup & shutting down business. The roads are safer with less people on them. Although this morning as I was making breakfast a SUV drove up our hill at like 50mph, proudly displaying its post-9/11 American SUV Flag™. "Huh," I said, and continued to fry my hen ova.

Also, in the spirit of year end best-of lists, I offer this single-item list of the year's best "news" headline. The photo caption wins an honorable mention.

Fixed the link... heh, sorry. Hopefully this will make up for it.

weatherblog!

2008-12-12T17:48:00.000-08:00

Accuweather right now is headlining a "Potentially Life-Threatening Blizzard," so looks like it's coming down to the time to hunker down, insulate, and submit to winter's cold bastardry. Blankets & winter brews & fire don't sound half bad, no sir. Hey, maybe being trapped under 14' of snow will force more people like me to blog! I'm going to pray on that.

This past monday was the HPB Holiday Party, which was fun. Also there was a story club a couple weeks ago... soon as I find my story again I'll post that.

I think this photo most accurately expresses my state at this time.

Thank you, and good night.

happy holidays. or ELSE!!

2008-11-26T08:02:00.000-08:00

Sure, it's the wrong holiday, but kids don't get their picture taken with some skeez in a turkey suit. Enjoy the turkeys!

totally cribbed

2008-11-19T11:28:00.000-08:00

“Everybody’s for love. Everybody’s against war. You’ve got to say something that goes deep enough into man’s nature to make him feel the brotherhood of man. Don’t just say the word “brotherhood.” That’s easy to do. You’ve got to establish between people a oneness, a brotherhood. Establish it. Don’t use the word a lot. This idea of the uninformed young person of today who is saying, “Ban the bomb and let’s have peace and clasp hands. Are you for peace? Yes, I am. Let’s talk about flowers.” They talk about doves and nobody knows a damn thing that’s going on. You ask somebody who’s the ambassador to Russia, they don’t know. You ask them what’s going on in Congress, they don’t know. All they know is peace. Scream the word out. You can’t jell the word and cut it up into fudge or something. You can’t make a concrete block out of it and climb up on it and be out of range of the bomb with it. They’re more interested in banning the bomb. I think they’re more interested in marching all together and singing folksongs and drinking hot chocolate. I think that’s what they’re really interested in.”

~Shel Silverstein, interviewed in 1963.

hey why not!

2008-11-07T08:29:00.000-08:00

My mountain plans have been rained out. Aw, shucks. That's fine though, I can use all this free time for piano related activities. Weeee!

ps, Happy birthday to Joni Mitchell.

radiation!

2008-11-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

What a bleedin' week - started off with Cecil (unbelievably, arrestingly amazing, of course - a large blogessay hes been working through the back of my mind), then monday I got promoted, huge sigh of relief, and last night was the quite successful if I do say so myself debut show of Plague Doctors, at Riley's Halloween party. I dressed as a homeless man instead of Sartre, mainly because the costumes are (eerily) similar and I couldn't be bothered to find a pipe. All in all, one of the best weeks ever. And next week's my b-day, on which I hope to repeat last year's pilgrimage to densely wooded Mt Rainier Nat'l Park, and have some kind of several parties perhaps, I don't know, but I like to celebrate so count on lots of those situations. This morning B & I are jamming with ol' Dads, which will be righteous.

pressings

2008-10-26T12:52:00.001-07:00

It almost feels like the last month has been killing time before seeing Cecil Taylor. It's not true, of course - but that's how excited I am for this evening's show. It is a culmination. It feels like the last dregs of the drama at work are finally being squeezed out, and as soon as the shift lead decision is made, it will feel like a great cadence to a very satisfying resolution. Whatever happens, happens. I feel very content right now.

So, this week is going to be awesome. Halloween party friday at Riley's place, jamming with (& as) Plague Doctors (excellent graphic forthcoming). And I'll have to post whatever I come up with for Tuesday's story club. Hopefully it's good.

Ps, go here. The site will probably only last a week, but it's a really neat concept.

Pps, Jeff Mangum came out of hiding for a second. Wee!

uh-ohs!

2008-10-24T17:09:00.001-07:00

story club #6: [no theme]

2008-10-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

...once again written in about half an hour. This one may seem sloppy (too), but if you take into consideration that it's based in my life then it coheres a bit better. Whoa! Pretentious!

In other Joshtown news, my iPod has defected to the Russkies. Treasonous bastard. Turns out the week I start using both iTunes & Winamp to manage my iPod, which coincidentally is also the week a new version of iTunes comes out (hmmm), my iPod is no longer recognized by any computer (though I still can play its music). All's good though, like all things I'm sure the iPod benefits from a wipe & reload. I'm actually looking forward to it. Now just to find the time.

two friday things

2008-10-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Apologies for not posting over my entire vacation last week - I'll get around to some kind of meaty update soon. As always there's great stuff all around. But for now: today I've been totally grooving on this, as well as the following excerpt from Abraham Maslow's The Farther Reaches of Human Nature:

"The past is active and alive only insofar as it has re-created the person, and has been digested into the present person. It is not or should not be something other than the person, something alien to it. It has now become Person (and has lost its own identity as something different and other), just as past steaks that I have eaten are now me, not steaks. The digested past is different from the undigested past."

Also I think I pulled a muscle in my neck at the Y today. Ouch.

saturday morning eyecandy

2008-09-19T09:15:00.001-07:00

Wow. I want every single one of these plastered all over my walls. I guess the good news then is the link at the bottom there, to this site. Woo!

air above mountains

2008-09-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

So, yes! I have Cecil Taylor tickets, and anyone wishing to experience the music of one of the most intriguing living musical legends, for whom the term "towering musical genius" is no exaggeration (except insofar as he's not very tall), should totally come too. But I understand free jazz isn't everyone's thing, so hey, any Messiaen fans out there? St. James Cathedral and St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle are doing a cycle of the complete organ works for his centennial, which will be an amazing experience. And uh, anyone who wants to go should, um, let me know. Alright? Alright.

2008 is the year of bloody awesome musics, yes.

best headline EVAR

2008-09-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

"Dark matter 'bridge to nowhere' found in cosmic void".

At first glance, the mind reels with possibilities of whateverthehell that could be about. Turns out it's some neat science! Yay!

get in solid walls with the know-it-alls

2008-09-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

I drove up to Redmond yesterday with a couple coworkers to help out the HalfPrice remodel there, big fun. (Not really! The drive was awful. But I was "volunteered" into it, so not much I could do. Oh well. At least I got some gas cash reimbursement out of the deal.) I'm very greatly looking forward to this vacation next week. (Yes, I'm still feeling resentful about employment as a concept, and maybe my brain is letting that come to a head (ha!) because vacation is impending - stupid brain.) The last month's worth of weekends has been full of some of the funnest things I've done all year, and this weekend I'm looking forward to just chilling out, around town. (Maybe we'll see autumn creeping in, seems like you can tell it's coming pretty reliably when the clouds get really interesting, and yesterday driving south on the 5 they looked like wispy glowing spaceships. Very beautiful.)

ps, everybody blog! the blogosphere is sad because it's hungry.

ps, my birthday's coming up

2008-09-14T12:59:00.001-07:00

Also I nearly crapped myself when I found out Cecil Taylor's playing in Seattle on 10/26... the week before my birfday... and I can't afford tickets until next friday... hint? Hint?!

the cobwebs of chastity

2008-09-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

I went to sleep last night with a strong desire to be unemployed. Hardly surprising given the caliber of awesomeness at Jenny's talent-show birthday party; in fact I wish everyone who came (heck, everyone I know) could be unemployed, because how much greater would the world be without that drain on creativity? Not to mention forfeited time. Man. Stupid work.

Those were the 3 phases of the party: setting up, kicking out the jams, and winding down to songs about praying for rain. And Saturday.

The evening also saw the public debut of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome / MasterSword / TriForce, as well as our first time playing with a drummer. Spectacular! Never has this house been rocked so hard, and thoroughly. I can't wait to see the videos.

rock the bells

2008-09-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

The night before we went to Rock the Bells I had a ridiculous dream: Ryan, Jenny & I were down by the stage during the headline show, and between songs the performers bantered with the audience, "Hello! Are there any white people here tonight?" And we 3 raised our hands and looked around, slowly realizing everybody else was black. Don't know why but I wish my dream had come true. There were maybe 10 black folk, total. *sigh*

Oh, Payton. You rascal.

The whole show was bleedin' awesome. I mean uh, fuckin tight. Highlights included Supernatural's hilarious freestyling (which my uncultured ass had never seen before, heh), Sage Francis being really angry & earnest (also mixing his own set, which I guess rarely happens?), Tribe being Tribe, and most definitely, Mos Def.

So the lesson I learned was that hip-hop is not about black culture, indeed has nothing whatsoever to do with race. It's about being poor. Wait, no. It's about political strife. Er, wait - it's about getting high. Well... okay, so it must be about the music.

Word.

captain hadron (?!)

2008-09-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Science is AWESOME!!

Update, 080914: uh-oh!

storyclub#5:scifi

2008-09-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

Todaysinstallmentofstoryclub:[teme:scifi]

Jennyskeyboardasnospacebar.
Alsomissinseverallettersintecenter.
Rocktebelspostcominsoon!

short story club #3: just one character

2008-08-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

here's a scan of my story for club #3, which is the one i'm happiest with. it also was written at the last minute, sigh.

short story club #4: gayness

2008-08-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

hi! i've been meaning to post all the "stories" i've written for this club we've been doing among several of us at work... basically we meet and share some short fiction we write, with an agreed-upon restriction each week (month?). this week's was that it has to have some reference to homosexuality. fine! usually i procrastinate and end up having to write these in like half an hour. this week was no exception. more to come!

...

His pants fell off.

He was less embarrassed than he expected, just pretty surprised. Debriefing the United Nations Disarmament Commission on the recent involvement of a certain communist nation with a certain radioactive isotope, much as it would seem vital in this milieu, suddenly took a trivial importance next to his fallen knickers.

Puzzled, he paused for a second, just long enough for his brain to cease its usual chatter (its neurological equivalent of standing mouth agape), and a flash came up from its depths. It was a single word, urgent in the same way his debriefing suddenly wasn’t.

“RUN!”

He stumbled, pulling his shoes through his pants legs almost by accident, but he paid that no mind – according to his brain, the fate of everything good in the world rested on his immediate flight from the scene. He ran. He ran fast.

He ran from the podium, down the stairs, through the hallway, down another series of corridors, appearing much like a rat in a maze. Not to himself, of course – his brain had a plan. In his befuddled state he wondered for a fraction of a second what the plan was. But there was no time.

Walls streaked by him, the whole world was horizontally blurred. Soon colors became meaningless, space was undifferentiated, lines and shapes took on no meaning other than the furthest abstractions. And then, just as it seemed everything was converging into boundless light, it wall went dark.

When he came to, he did not recognize his surroundings. He appeared to have been asleep on the ground, snug on a rug at a Moroccan street bazaar. Strangers around him went about their business as if he did not exist. He was still not wearing pants.

Rising, he moseyed through the crowd, entering a doorway beyond which he could not see. It was totally dark, and though such an action seemed to him contrary to his best interests, his brain seemed to be leading him. A couple steps inside the door, he stopped in the pitch blackness. Not a sound around him. Listening attentively, he heard what sounded like… a giggle?

Very suddenly everything was so bright his eyes hurt to see. Slowly he lowered his arm from over his face and saw that the room was indeed huge, and held a crowd of people, all staring at him, and as he began to recognize some of them, they all yelled, in unison:

“SURPRISE!”

“Oh, it’s my birthday!” he said, believing it for some reason. “There’s my parents, and my boyfriend with whom I’ve had sexual relations, and oh! Even my dog is here. And it looks like they’ve invited like, a hundred people! Gosh. I’m so lucky!”
And then he realized that made no sense.

The images faded. All was black again. He considered the idea that he was dead.

And he was RIGHT!!

...

i really crapped out on this one. feels like i could have done much better... ah well.

mondaytimes quickpost

2008-08-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

via the awesome found-photo post, riot rite click blah blah blah some images nsfw.

ocho ocho ocho

2008-08-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

Friends! Wellwishers! Happy 8th day of the 8th month of 2008. Get festive & do something eight-y today. I won't be providing examples.

My grandparents are in town, so my home time is consumed by that; on the bright side, free food abounds. I never realize how much of a stressor finding food is until my grandparents visit & back a truck up to our refrigerator.

So! Today be a master of eight. Kafka bids it.

lieu

2008-07-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

yeah, i'm sorry i haven't posted in weeks... it's summer man, and Dane's here, and whatnot, and man, finding time to write it all down is tough. but for now, watch this harmless youtube video that my dear dad sent me. it really makes sense, if you know my dad. and if you don't, it's still pretty cool.

slices of life (everybody dance like Kevin Bacon)

2008-06-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

The sun seems to be making up for lost time (boo to heatstroke), Jenny & Craig are getting settled in their new pad (let the mad science commence), work today after a week away was full of teh suck (24 boxes up in what, 4 hours, & 8 yet remain), gonna see Wynton tomorrow night (sweet zombie Jesus), bloggery continues to proliferate unabated (hello, almost everybody!), and Joshtown has great art in it (I win the internets!). The world is bulging at its seams: the exploding awesome is threatening to devastate the thin membrane containing all life (here we come, Universe B). Go 2008!

If we make it out alive we'll all be president. Or something.

in the conservatory, with the bludgeon

2008-06-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

Yessir, Jenny made this piece of badassness for me. I am phosphorescent with delight.

...and, otherwise

2008-06-18T21:32:00.000-07:00

Things are magnificent. This weather has finally perked up, summer has fully arrived, and the world seems to be in its most quicksilvery state. Lightning and motion. Everybody's blogging! This makes me so happy. There's a new Hrádek, and I can't wait to hear all the details.

Braden starts his job next week, and I'm really happy for him. Dane is going to be in town next month, holy shit! (*cough*, speaking of updating blogs... ahem!) Umm, we all caught a screening of Choke a couple weekends ago, good stuff. Father's Day weekend was great. Next week J & I are taking a (supernaturally well-timed) vay-cay, planning on jaunting up to the Vancouver Art Museum for Krazy!, hopefully without incident at the border. I'll have to bring only half a shipment with me this time. Alice is happy laying in the sun.

That's all I can think of for now. Really, I'll try to update more frequently. Good work to all who have been showing the internet what for, with your excellent bloggery skillz. We're making some headway - if we can collectively make 10,000 blog posts, I heard there's some archaic law that says we officially own the internet! Or maybe it was pwn. Either way, eh?

/rant

2008-06-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

So yeah! Bloggery. I've been really lazy about it for the past... long time. There's many a thing afoot, as always. Novelty abounds.

Here's an example! Life being one long learning experience as it is, I've learned recently that dating someone you work with can be, oh, quite a complicated experience. Another thing I've learned is that, no matter how great a worker you are, or how polite & cheery you are to your coworkers, the pettiness in people works like Boyle's Law, expanding to fill whatever space it has available. I was called into the office monday and told that, despite our sincerest efforts to be subtle, there have been 5 complaints about the way Jenny & I conduct ourselves at work. What?! We hardly talk. Can any examples be given? Well, no. What are we supposed to do? To quote directly: "ignore each other." Yes, because god forbid somebody should feel awkward seeing us talking, because you know what, if you don't draw a line here, why, in five minutes we could be fucking right on the pricing table. In all seriousness, I'm trying to take this with a grain of salt. Really, since that talk I've spent every moment second-guessing my every move, feeling really awkward around Jenny, and in general feeling totally devalued as a worker (it'd be another thing if I didn't bust my ass every day). I hope it's worth it to those that complained, that their supposed comfort has been bought by my stifling and constant anxiety. Ah, office politics. I'm sure it would also be a different issue if we had the same level of power in our jobs. But we don't, and if there's one thing people's irrational minds latch onto it's power structures, and no doubt this is all just territorial instinct gone horribly awry.

So that's one thing that's new. Heh - there's more stuff, but I think I'm going to just keep this in a post by itself. Feels better that way. All is love, my friends.

but there isn't any tomorrow...

2008-06-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

supervillainous

2008-06-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

Braden is a Bond villain. He expects you to die!

mom & the simulacra

2008-06-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

...yet another example of Braden & I having left the house together not realizing we're wearing almost the exact same clothes. On mother's day.

the friendly "wood-ape"

2008-05-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

There's Jenny & Megan being rogueish and rockin' out (respectively) in front of the grizzly bear with the guitar at the 'Squatch last Monday. Highlights included Michaels Showalter & Ian Black, Flight of the Conchords, and definitely & especially Rodrigo y Gabriela, whose fiery flamenco metal stylings were soul-snatchingly awesome. A good time was had by all. Except Dale, the uber-creepy waiter at Denny's, who actually rejoindered one of our party's sandwich order with the line: "Should I report a crime?" (The spot-on reply: an apathetic "No, that's okay.")

In other news, I'm zealously trying to get everyone to blog more/at all. Seem hypocritical? Feel free to blog about that.

voting is so important

2008-05-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

visit the link! vote for an ugly dog! i bid it!

glitter + doom

2008-05-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

thanks, Rick!

"...people envy happiness; dogs, though, sense courage, knowing jubilation means better ass...ets."

oh i'm so f*cking happy

2008-05-01T10:06:00.000-07:00