Edward Norton... in Tallahassee?

My roommate just told us he saw Edward Norton and Jared Leto at La Pitaria.

Jared has a band called 30 Seconds to Mars and is playing at Floyd's (ugh). Go figure.

Ok, no.

You can go ahead and scratch that whole "buy Deerhoof" CDs comment -- just go see their live show if you're within 50 miles and it's within $50. (Doesn't really transfer well to record.)

Instead, at this point, you can go ahead and safely buy Ok Go's Oh No without worrying -- it rocks.

Eating Contest.

Mood: Full.
Music: Cake (Comfort Eagle).

I disclosed to a friend via AIM earlier today that school is getting in the way of everything that I want to accomplish now.

I guess it's not that bad... I'm cutting back on class hours next year (semester), concentrating on Latin, and taking some graduate-level courses, which should all be cool and exciting things.

***

I had an eating contest with one of my apartmates. We decided to do it at 11 p.m. and went to Publix to look around for things to eat. We decided on Totino's pizzas, hot dogs, and ... pudding.

1) I do think that picking multiple things to eat for a contest is a good thing. It's diversity, so the dish doesn't get too sickening.
2) I do not think I want to do eating contests... ever again. I've always wanted to do one, and I'm glad I did it... but, man. Man. I shall retire as reigning champ for my defeat of (very nearly) two whole Totinos' Supremes, five hot dogs (with buns), and three of those little plastic cups of pudding.

DE-SGAH-STING.

I was actually listening to Cake when I started this -- I heard them on a VH1 countdown (all that VH1 is nowadays) in the background and I popped in this disc. Not their best (arguably Motorcade of Generosity is, though Fashion Nugget has the hip factor), but still pretty darn good. Sleigh bells on "World of Two." Now the 3-disc CD player has shifted to what was in the third spot-- At the Drive-In, Relationship of Command.

***

I finished my painting... it has, well, hard to describe ideas. I'll post a pic later when I d'bo someone's digicam.

***

Music is a pretty cool force. Universal phenomenon, not "language," my hippy ethnomusicologist professor argued two years ago to us. I guess I'll agree with him. There are just SO many bands. And I've only been exploring one subsection of one major area of recorded music -- independent rock. That exploration has been ongoing for the past two years or so, and it's pretty fulfilling, but, despite the fact that new bands are created daily, I still don't think I've gotten very deep into the roots or midsection, but that I've been exposed to a considerable amount, but not majority, of current stuff.

The things that drive me, supposedly, are the possible discovery of new stuff that will become my favorite stuff. Stuff that is so cool, I will regret missing out on it all these years. And then there's the hipness factor. I guess that's a big part. Buying CDs on other people's recommendations. I still contend that without anyone else in the world liking a band, you're at about an 85% chance of not liking them. Now, I'm not talking everyone else in the world hates the band, just casually dismisses them -- "Nah, I don't really care for them," maybe "Yeah, they're alright." Music is a very social thing, although recordings can have an intimate impact on people.

***

No new songs really being produced. Some fragments, no really good lyrical ideas. I'm pretty critical of my previous songs all the time, just thinking back on them, and what I was saying at the time, and what they mean, and such. I guess I write about that a lot, but I've noticed my songs come in spurts, usually 4-6 at a time in one month. All these other times it's just combing through dumb riffs, singing weird lines, and trying to make meaning of stuff. Guess that's the way it works.

***

I hadn't watched Homestar for a looong time, but I checked back in last week, and saw this Strongbad email. I thought it was only moderately funny... until it got near the end, and I just started cracking up. Mostly because I thought of how this seemed to be like a childish online cartoon the whole time, but they have stuff like is in this email... and it's just brilliant. Hopefully you'll know about the part I'm talking about when you see it in the cartoon.

***

New Strokes album on January 3? (With a Parental Advisory sticker?) I'm THERE!

Comparison.

Online Comics.

Hahah, ... they actually printed three comics in association with my article covering online comics (although only one is shown here...):

Check online for laughs

There was also one of the last PLIF strips, and a teaser toothpaste for dinner on the front page (left column)!

Really brightened up my day... and I think I just aced a test (that helped too).

Rate my CD Collection!

Alright, so I got this idea to start listing all of the albums I own...

CD Collection

I guess I'll keep updating it, since the bulk of the work has already been done...

Post corrections/comments here...

Everything.

Check it:

Everything Is Illuminated

It doesn't display it, but I gave the movie an "A+".

I think I'm getting better at this whole writing thing.

Xiao cai feng.

I went to see Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress tonight. I would give it a B-.

Its greatest accomplishment, I think, was getting people to think about banned literature, as well as the limits of Mao's system of rule (obviously). I enjoyed the premise, thought the acting was good, but didn't really care for the plot or think the cinematography or direction was all that outstanding. It had its little charms, though, and I would recommend it to those who are looking for a quaint story of rural China, with some artistic flourishes here and there. (Though I would recommend Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom, which I consider to be better in most aspects, first.)

***

I've begun reading 1776 by David McCullough. It caught my eye when I was working at Target last summer, and seems like it will feed into my Hamilton Biography (Ron Chernow) reading and my general fondness for American History. It is a hardback that I found online for a reasonable price, and at least two people who saw me reading it commented on the fact that I removed the dust cover. ... They made it sound like it wasn't normal to remove the dustcovers from books while you're reading them. Is this a customary habit? I just don't want them to get smudged, ripped, or lost. And some of my older books have ones that are delicate and I don't want them to fall apart.

***

I've been testing my need for sleep lately. Although I thoroughly enjoy getting massive amounts of sleep, I have been staying up later and later, finding a unique creativity during the magical 3 to 5 a.m. period of hazy sleep-deprived mental states.

***

My former (cool) editor was forced to leave the newspaper, without even being able to publish a farewell column (after being there for 2 + years, and being A&E editor there for at least one of those years) in some odd circumstances that I do not fully understand. I considered quitting (yet again), romanticizing my departure as being based on morals, but I actually do enjoy writing and editing, I look forward to the prospect of being able to head the section, and the monthly supplementary income is not a bad thing in the least.

***

It is getting cooler here and I welcome the change. It has been a ridiculously 85 + degrees forever now, and that just didn't make much sense to me. Now I can start wearing my new jacket and sweaters, and even my gloves!

#1.

Hahaha, the first time I log onto fark in months, and I see a topic about good wallpaper. With zero comments. I see that it was posted one minute prior to my visit. As I search for the website where I got my background, and realized I already had the image stored online, 3 other people posted in the comments. But they weren't pictures.

So, guess who's number one now, baby?

So now I've gotten one link submitted to Fark's mainpage, and the first comment in one thread. Schwea.

(I just had a great interview with Lars from The (International) Noise Conspiracy! -- They're Swedish!)

Deerhoof rules.

Everyone go out and buy Deerhoof CDs. I bought one tonight after their live set (amazing), and I haven't listened to it yet, but I know it's gonna be good. Their drummer had a bass drum, a snare, and a monsterly-chipped high-hat. And that was it. Only those three things. And two sticks. Amazing.

***

Oh, crap. I just read the AMG weekly newsletter -- the new Wilco live double CD set is out. There goes another $20...

Old video games.

I started watching some speed runs of Super Mario Bros. 3, done on emulators and exploiting every glitch known to man.

Then, I remembered that Matt had a Nintendo...

Last Sunday I played the following for about 6 hours before beating it (didn't use any warp whistles):




It was an addictive experience. I remembered all these little things about it, and every level. I had forgotten about the Hammer Bros. suit, and a couple of other little things like that.

So then, yesterday, I started in on



I wasn't able to beat it in one night, but when I popped it in today, I got through it in two tries (using all the warps I knew). Then, once I had beaten the final Bowser, I used the special warp ability you get when you beat it to go back and play through every single level. And I remembered every single level. I don't know how I played that as a child (I even remembered where hidden 1-ups and stars were!). But, by now, I think I've become rather skilled in the game, as opposed to in my younger years, when I remembering running into those stupid spinning flames in the castles constantly. Yet, somehow, I remember something about every stage. I must have played it a lot.

Matt also has Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles -- the first one, yeah the original. And I even remember stuff about that too-- I think. I'm not gonna try to beat that one, I just played some of it and it can get frustrating.
And, he has Top Gun, which I don't remember playing and will not attempt.
And, he has Dr. Mario, which pales in comparison to the original Gameboy Tetris.

Yeah, I went there.

That pointy little square controller hurts so much.

--Anyone have questions for The (International) Noise Conspiracy?--

GA.

In some annual events, in certain parts of rural Georgia, bands like Echo Valve compete in a fishy battle against local bands after touring Germany and playing on the Warped Tour. Suck Valve gets to play last, of course, as other lesser-known bands who, coincidentally, have music in the artistic left field of the mainstream cRap/heartfelt-metal/"make some noise"-toting lead singers with junk for melodies and blandness for music rock groups that comprise the rest of the battle of the bands line-up get to go first (through a random drawing).

In broad daylight.

With a crowd of 10 less-than-thrilled Georgians.

With no light shows that happened for every other band.

Being judged in such categories as:

Appropriateness: Were their lyrics, gestures, etc. appropriate for the (Bainbridge College) campus?

and

Wardrobe: Does the band's physical appearance match its music?

***

***

Sitting through this event once again reminded me that not everyone has the Club Downunder. That, although there are hundreds of good bands out there, under the radar, there are probably 1.5X that many bad "don't go psycho" bands out there.

"This is a song about somebody that goes psycho..."

Jewish Rapper + Gypsy Punks ... = ?

Matisyahu speaks out

I do not like reading or linking to Rolling Stone's Web site. But, this guy is not bad -- my roommate has the CD and he does (Matisyahu does, that is) some mad-wicked beatboxing.

Gogol Bordello

I might have mentioned Everything Is Illuminated, but maybe (maybe?) I did not mention that the guy who plays Alex opposite Elijah Wood in the film is Eugene Hutz, lead singer of Gogol Bordello, a punk band... with gypsy influences. Yeah, strangely enough, that same roommate of mine also has these guys' CD, and it does not sound bad. (I started cracking up when I heard "Start Wearing Purple" play during the credits of Everything...

Amazing.

The 1 Second Film

***

A collaborative non-profit epic that climaxes in one second of animation. The animation consists of 12 frames- each frame is a giant painting (5ft x 9ft) that was created by hundreds of people in one night. Each painting was then filmed twice (on 70mm) to create the 24 frames in one second of film. The 1 Second Film is being financed by thousands of people around the world, from some of Hollywoods biggest celebrities to great-grandmothers and gas-station attendants (credits are sold for as little as $1 and listed in order of the amount). A feature-length 'making of' documentary will play during the film's estimated 90 minutes of end-credits. After the film's premiere, the 12 giant frames will be on exhibit and auctioned off to raise money for the Global Fund for Women.

Alright.

Band Name Generator

Andrew Bird.

Here is some interesting art I found while streaming Andrew Bird's latest album, The Mysterious Production of Eggs.







***

So I haven't gone for groceries in weeks, I just did all of my laundry, but our dryer still does not work properly, our (and apparently everyone else's [comcast]) internet connection has been on the fritz for the past three days, and I just saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Eh.

Nashville for Turkey Day, baby!

***

Yesterday I had this deeply moving, realistic dream. I woke up after a two-hour nap after classes and was stunned at how vivid this dream was. The mind, you see, is very powerful.

***

Evolutionary psychology/biology is just plain dumb. Have you heard of this stuff? People come up with theories based on what has happened. "So, evolutionary psychologists would tell us, since life began in the ocean, we didn't need a taste for salt, and that's why it's separate from sweet tastes, even though we still need the properties of things that taste salty."

No one tests anything.
No one predicts anything.
No one adds anything useful to existing knowledge.
Just, theories about stuff that's happened.

Heck, I do that all the time. And I don't need a degree/to spend my life's work doing it.