just do it

http://www.youtube.com/user/AmandahBerkowskiFan#p/u/14/dJg2tU_1Gb8

Go to Holland with Me

You may have noted this is also posted on facebook. This year's Roadburn Festival (the mecca of underground music festivals) is being curated by the almighty Sunn. Tickets go on sale in 4 days. Last year they sold out in like 12 minutes. Provided I can a.) land a ticket and b.) find someone to go with, total costs for me (coming from Japan) are:

Tickets - 175 euros, or ~$240
Camp ground - 72.50 euros, or ~$100
My plane ticket - ~95000 yen, or ~$1,138

What a great way to catch up with The One Stuck In The Land Of The Sun!

Everything in the range of heavy psychedelia/krautrock/drone/black metal/experimental jazz/avant-garde/doom metal will be present and blowing your ears off. The whole thing lasts from April 14 to april 18 '11.

website: http://www.roadburn.com/

Go! Go! Go!

And If You Don't Like That...

...here's Sir Richard Bishop, of the Sun City Girls, playing some uber-rad neo-classical acoustic guitar.



http://www.mediafire.com/?gg127g6j45l33vz

Kvlt

Kvlt (adj.) - A purposeful misspelling of the word "cult" by fans of the metal sub-genre known as "black metal." Meant to evoke images of the occult, or divine, though outside of contemporary religious means. Note that only "true black metal" is subject to such a term....



So ya'll'er bitches... Andrew, maybe Peter (?), and (according to Andrew) a non-follower of this blog who goes by the code-name of "Ally" understand that this hyper-fast, ultra-abrasive, mega-lo-fi, totally misanthropic, incredibly philosophically-informed, and typically outstandingly anti-christianity genre of music is a super-viable candidate in the "music that makes me say, 'what the fuck?' when I listen to it" category. I'm willing to bet none of you will like this, but that's the exact reason why I'm posting this - it'll blow yr mind. So check out what picking single notes really, really quickly while accompanied by very fast, off-beat-based drums will do for you...

This is the one-man (typical) black metal band from Brazil called... SOVEREIGN

http://www.mediafire.com/?dgmrnwozizr

This is Important

You guys, the Plenaliens or whatever are gonna eat us and the Pope is gonna be all like "SHIT YEAH" while partying down with the Nazi SS while some giant space EMP from the Draconians rapes the Earth's electronic systems all the way down to the core. AND ITS BECAUSE OF OBAMA. Thank god there are brave intergalactic informants such as this.

Ali Baba's Magical Website

So I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I need 5000 of something, and I need it directly from China. In the old days this was a major headache, with all the long distance calls, negotiations and headaches. Luckily, I've discovered a website that caters to my need for large quantities of low quality consumer products. Like these awesome off brand Jordans:



A real steal at $5 a pair, and with a maximum supply capacity of a 1000 pairs a week I have the peace of mind of knowing I'll never run out.

Or these headphones:


Only $3 each, though with a minimum order of 3000 pairs, I'd need to know a lot of music lovers.

Luckily, I can contact the manufacturer directly to haggle with them via the magic of the internet. There's a whole country full of this stuff, and now, with Alibaba.com that stuff can be mine.

New York Pizza

This video about DiFara pizza (but mostly about Demonico DeMarco, who essentially IS DiFara pizza) is a little too long, and may be a little too romantic for someone who has never tried the pizza there, but for those who follow with religious fervor (me), it hits the nail on the head. So if this shit goes right over yours, I'm sorry, but otherwise it may remind you of the respect people have in this world for true beauty.

Weird

So my High School was/is pretty well respected, and most people who went/go there tend to go to college, lead normal-ish, middle-class lives. Then there's this story I saw in the local Pittsburgh paper today, mentioning one of my classmates (admittedly a very experimental drug user, though I always thought he was a really intelligent guy past the facade) who is now part of an FBI investigation because, after having been arrested on 8 charges of felony drug counts as well as aggravated assault, he had the living shit beat out of him by jail guards. Ended up with a broken nose, bruised eyes, perforated eardrums, ''...and possibly other head injuries.'' Fucked up picture included in the article.

Truthfully, I'm not exactly sure why I'm posting this... I guess its just kind of weird seeing someone who I kind of respected as, albeit incredibly fringe, intelligent in a wholly different kind of way reduced to this pathetic image of a mentally-broken serious drug abuser (8 felony counts of possession implies so much) who's been physically broken by none other than the Man. I can't help but wonder, 'where, if anywhere at all, do his freedoms lie?' He can't trust himself, and he can't trust the Man - both have reduced him to barely anything at all. What options does this guy have, who once struck me as a very outsider creative force? Shit, guy was one of the main influences on me deciding to start drawing...

Procrastination

Read a great article in the New Yorker about the philosophical examination of procrastination. The article is reviewing a book of essays called 'the thief of time', but it offers a number of fantastic points, historic writings and theories. One of my favorites is the external tool of 'extended will' which is used to fight procrastination.
Ulysses had his men tie him to the mast of his ship because he knew he would not be able to resist the songs of the siren. Gambling addicts initiate contracts with casinos to ban them from the premises. Victor Hugo would write naked and have his valet hide his clothes so as to prevent him from going out. This next one blew my mind from a number of different perspectives: a PhD candidate at Chapel Hill wrote software that enables people to shut off their internet access for up to eight hours. It currently has an estimated 75,000 users. It's called "Freedom". sheeeeeeet.

There's another great concept by Thomas Schelling, a game theorist called "The divided self". that procrastination is not the fault of a single person but a collection of selves arguing, debating, and bargaining in a sort of parliamentary chamber. "Not only were motions tabled and opposed, certain proposals were aired in order to mask others"

A number of very interesting experiments are discussed as well. The economist George Lowenstein ran one in which people were asked to pick out a movie to watch immediately and a movie to watch at a later date. The immediate film was typically a light and fluffy affair--a romantic comedy or a blockbuster--and the later film was more serious and important. "The problem, of course, is that when the time comes to watch the serious movie, another frothy one will often seem more appealing. This is why Netflix queues are filled with movies that never get watched: our responsible selves put "hotel Rwanda" and "the seventh seal" in our queue, but when the time comes we end up in front of a rerun of "the hangover""

I will now stop procrastinating and call sandwich shops to discuss my upcoming "Sandwich Tour of Hells Kitchen", which will be featured on Groupon.com starting next Friday, along with "Hey Ho! Let's Go! Punk Rock on the Bowery", a pub crawl that compares the punks of the 1970s to the punks of the 1870's. Also available will be "Jewish Gangsters of the Lower East Side" and "Greenwich Village Literary Tour". Boom.

Peter Inspired Me

Here I am again, with multiple posts in a row... But hey, Lucid got shut down by The Man and I'm in a super music-funk now that I don't have a music blog to call home so I'm throwing some shit your way, just like ol' boy Peter. Band's name is Natural Snow Buildings. They are from France. They are not Metal, nor Rock, nor whatever the hell else you might expect from me. Except wait, they're an experimental drone group... so I guess that does kind of sound like something I would recommend. Anyway, don't let that relatively vague precursor of a classification deter you - this band is pretty. Not in a glam, or David Bowie, or Blondie, or... well fuck you guys its not like that. These 2 dudes do some pretty impressive stuff, on a very lo-fi, drone-y level. "Slayer of the King of Hell" is the best rival I've ever heard to what AMT has to offer in the way of non-freak-out drone-y, Indian-inspired psychedelia. Its great. Its lo-fi as shit. Its experimental. Its groovy. Its a really long album. If anything, I implore you to download this, start it about 20 minutes before you hit the sack, and then revel in the beautiful, hazy, wavy, psychedelic radicalitude of this album as you drift into that wonderful selfless void.

At the very least, it won't hurt your ears.

Slayer of the King of Hell
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zyugyufzcz0/Slayer%20of%20the%20King%20of%20Hell.zip

DEEDLYDEEDLYDEEDLY EXCELLLLLLLENT!!!

Fuck yes.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/09/23/alex-winter-confirms-new-bill-ted-sequel-in-development/

Vegetable Man

So I've been working on advertisements for selling vegetables, and in the course of my research came across these two gems:





It's great to live in a world where things like this exist.

From me to you

Avey Tare - Under There [2010]


http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/83398348/file.html

<3

Vancouver part 2

My last day in Vancouver was good but had a very unfortunate surprise ending. I got together with that tour guide, who gave me an awwwwesome tour. He had it all down pat--history, stories, statistics, good jokes, bad jokes, passion, pride...he even hooked with me with one of my favorite motifs: cynical history. Afterwards, we went out for beers, japadogs, and more touring. We ended up at a book reading (my suggestion) at the Museum of Vancouver. This radio host wrote a book called "Adventures in Solitude: What Not to Wear to a Nude Potluck and Other Stories from Desolation Bay". It's a memoir about a chunk of land that his father bought in the boonies of British Columbia and his return as an older man. There's some great stories of bushwacking, drunken fishing, and more or less being in the grip of nature. The reading included some music by a fav local band called "Said the Whale".

But that's when I got a text message from my father saying that my grandfather (his father) was in the hospital for congenital heart failure. One of his lungs collapsed and this was most likely the end. My grandfather would have turned 90 next month, has been in and out of the hospital countless times over the past 10 years+, and we've had scares so many times it's ridiculous (thirty years ago, my parents considered pushing their wedding forward because they were worried he wasn't going to make it). But this time it was pretty obvious. I booked the first flight back the next morning and the day after he passed on.

The funny thing was that he was on a breathing tube and because it was in his will that he didn't want to be on life support, my father and grandmother made the decision to get the family together at about noon, remove the tube, and spend the last few hours together. My grandfather was an obstinate, cantankerous man who always had to have the last word. So despite our decision, he went on his own Saturday morning. The next 36 hours were spent comforting my grandmother and taking care of the funeral necessities, which was exhausting and emotional to say the least. The funeral was this morning, and although my grandfather was an atheist, we said Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for mourning. My brothers, cousin, father and I all spoke beautifully and he was buried at the family plot in Paramus, NJ.

What was new to me here was the act of physically burying the casket. With four shovels, 7 strapping family members, and my dads men's group, we shoveled loads of dirt into his grave until it was full. The idea here being that no strangers taking care of the corpse. This basically comes from a conservative Jewish exclusion policy that no one outside the faith has the opportunity to "corrupt" the soul on it's way to heaven, but that's besides the point. What was significant about this was the rigorous send off that honored this man.

There are many things to say about my grandfather. One is that he fought hard for social justice throughout his life, forming and participating in community organizations and marching on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. Another is that he dreamt of a racially harmonious world, even though much of family (including his now-estranged brother) refused to attend my aunts wedding when she married a black man. At the funeral, I spoke of his passionately creative mind, his love for painting, film, theater, writing and abstract concepts. One of his most prevalent qualities was his undying loyalty and love for his wife, whom he had been married to for 62 years.

Finally, we have his humor. For six years, he convinced my cousin that there was a little man in the ATM machine that gave out money. Once while coalescing after a visit the hospital, he claimed to have been given an infusion with the blood of Burt Lancaster. Even into the days of wheelchairs and walkers, he would break into a cha-cha while crossing the living room. Below is a video that I hope you enjoy...the story here is that my grandmother was in a bicycling PSA and although my grandfather was asked to play the "straight man", he refused, and here are the outtakes



Although we'd been preparing for this day for a long time, he will be greatly missed.

Vancouver

So I been on vacation about a week and its been nice, refreshing, fun and interesting...at times. I can't say its been my best trip, but lack of preparation and planning is the only thing at fault.

I decided I wanted to go to Vancouver because
A) I love the pacific northwest: culture, climate, food; I've had great experiences in North California and Portland
B) My aunt lives in Seattle and my cousin goes to school in Bellingham, a beautiful area btwn there and Vancouver so it seemed like a good way to see em all
B) I imagined it's a damn cool Canadian city and a good counterpart to NYC w/urban arts culture, modernity and surrounding nature

This is also a major Couchsurfing trip, and CS culture is a very particular type of travel culture. Those of you who don't know, this is a GIANT community of travelers worldwide. They can typically be a little scatterbrained and certainly travel on the type of shoestring budget that I find can be very restricting and uncomfortable, but they are awesomely adventurous, friendly and extroverted people. My hosts, for example, are two fabulous gay guys who have hosted 80 people over the course of 8 weeks and are fun, kind, wacky guys who are soooo happy to be surrounded by travelers every day of the week.

One Australian guy, David, that I met was a great travel partner for a day or two. We hiked Lynn Peak, a 9 km hike of 1000m elevation. On a beautiful day (when I thought I was gonna get rain all week), it was EXACTLY what I wanted to do. And it was easy, cause he had a car. The next day we spent wandering around, drinkin beers, not exactly finding what we were looking for (generally having a cool time while doing it), but when we were at a serious loss for the next step, our interests began to divert.

I saw a really cool tour go by that my family has connections with, but he didn't wanna do it, so I gave the guide my card to hook up with him later and we went to an art gallery. Now David is a very outdoorsy sort of person and I knew he would not be into art, but I really wanted to go and there was practically nothing else in the area so we went. The stuff wasn't very good, but he goes off into a diatribe of how disgusting it was and it really just pumped negativity into the already uncomfortable situation and unfortunately, that was how we said goodbye. I sat around for a bit, waiting for the tour guide to call me and later found out that he got caught up grabbing beers with his tourists (some of whom were damn cute). I kicked myself for missing out on that and fighting with David instead, and stood on line for rush tix at a film festival for 20 minutes before realizing I couldn't get in.

So this was just one shitty thing that came about. I'm hookin up with the guide later today but otherwise Im really not sure what I'm doing here. I've wanted to bike around but I keep passing that up for other opportunities. My cousin is coming up this weekend to hang out with me/see his girlfriend and he's a fun, cool, outdoorsy guy so I really gotta make some plans with him (esp cause he's got a car) but it's gonna rain most of the weekend. I may end up spending a lot more time at the film festival (I saw one pretty intrstiing bawdy sex comedy from China about nonagenarians at a northern farming village), so that'll be cool but I'm lacking a travel partner and I knew that would get me down.

How come no one stopped and said "Hey Jonah, Canada can be pretty boring"? Again, I'm probably not looking in the right places, hooking up with the right people and making the right plans, but I guess I got a coupla more days to get that right.

On the upside, I had a blast biking around Seattle, hanging with my Aunt and I got a couple more days of that before I go home, so I'm looking forward to wrapping up the trip with positivity.

This Blog is Boring

The hell guys... lucidmedia got shut down so now I spend my time staring at the forever unchanging face of Boogaloo...

Life's been steadily picking up over here. I climbed a mountain recently, Mt. Hayachine, and I swear to god it was like being on Gutz. Ladder-climbing, chain-swinging, cliff-face-scaling, all with the added bonus of certain death if you fell. I went with my school's mountain climbing club (that's tozanbu, for those of you who are curious). Camped out the night before, had the students cook us dinner, "party" with the other 2 teachers there after lights out... great experience over-all. Next month we're hitting Mt. Goyo and Mt. Iwate.
My band, Kraken Strike (believe it or not, I was not the one who picked that name), has our first concert next month. Its an alright deal, what I've got going, though we've still yet to integrate each of our specific tastes in music into one cohesive whole. Covering the Ramones' "Rock 'n' Roll Radio" and then doing at least 2 of my original songs and one of my bassist's. Obviously we're opening. By that time we might have more under out belts, but at the moment that's our (nameless) set list.
Oh, check this out: I'm taking lessons from a Noh theater director. There's a possibility I might perform in a play in Morioka sometime during November, though I seriously doubt that. Difficult shit, and learning it to a sufficient measure by that time is more or less unthinkable, though its a thought I like to entertain.
I sent in my application for the 73rd Peace Boat voyage last week, though (and per the usual), I'm not at all confident in my chances. For those of you who aren't familiar, Peace Boat is a circumnavigating humanity aid cruise ship docked in Yokohama just outside of Tokyo that makes apprx. 3 trips around the globe a year stopping at different ports for varying spans of time to assist with humanitarian aid projects, as well as to open the world's eyes to different cultures. Normally, it costs (if I'm not mistaken) around 14k to ride. However, if you've got 18 months or more of ALT/ESL work under your belt by the time of departure, you have the chance to be taken on board as an English teacher and have all dues and fees waived. So its awesome, and by the time that 73rd comes around I'll have what, 19 months or so working like this? Hard to believe. Anyway, its doubly good if I actually am lucky enough to be selected because I can opt to not resign with this position when my contract expires in March, have a month of to dick around, set sail in April, and get back right around the time a lot of the contracts come in for another, better company located in Osaka with whom I've already spoken with about employment. That'd be a hell of a year, to say the least.

Alright, I need to go duct-tape more bags together - its getting cold and Japan doesn't know the first thing about insulation.

I think Collin would appreciate this one.

see more EpicFail

inxs - devil inside

i watched this video on VH1 Classics the other day and was extremely entertained. this video features the following:

1. near constant use of a smoke machine
2. skateboarding
3. pool playing
4. catwalking
5. big permed hair (male & female)
6. surfboards
7. motorcycles
8. palpable tension between surfers and motorcyclists
9. ill-fitting blazers worn with mock turtlenecks
10. subtle 'devil' theme
11. keyboards
12. ominous lighting
13. asian girls
14. solitary appearance of what seems to be a bellhop
15. pole dancing
16. satin opera-length gloves paired with off the shoulder tops (a look i am willing to bet we will not see 'come around' again)
17. spandex-clad wrestler types ("beefcakes")
18. unfriendly sideways glares
19. more bowler hats than you can shake a stick at

hello

I'm going to start posting blogs I use starting with this one:

http://www.tkshare.com/

The movies category is good for new releases and the music category is a mixed bag.

this is good.

http://coolmaterial.com/roundup/if-historical-events-had-facebook-statuses/

science.

http://astro.berkeley.edu/~gmarcy/thermal/tpteacher/jokes/icecream.html

Summer Vacation

I ate raw whale and I ate raw cow liver.
I hitchhiked to Fuji Rock.
I got lost while hitchhiking to Fuji Rock with my friend, and ended up in a infintesimally small coastal village where we ate just-caught (by the owner) fish and Abalone, and then discovered a hidden Shinto Shrine on a small and very tall island.
I barely slept for 5 days while going to/attending Fuji Rock.
My friend and I bought a ticket only for the last day of Fuji Rock and we ended up getting free 3-day backstage passes from the Roxy Music guys. Because of this...
I got a bunch of free beer, didn't have to wait in bathroom lines, got to meet a bunch of bands, got to watch a bunch of bands from the sidelines of the stage, etc.
I slept beside a river.
I bathed in a river while people watched.
I slept on a tennis court and then in a tree house because the tennis court was too cold because all I had was a towel.
I kissed a girl I had been dancing with outside in a mudpit for a number of hours while the sun was rising over steep mountains and sun beams were exploding through a heavy fog, while there were gigantic plumes of flames shooting up behind us in front of the stage while the DJ was playing.
I met Thom Yorke.
I saw fucking John Fogerty play like every CCR song.
I turned 24 while the Scissor Sisters were playing.
I went on a sweet picnic date at the Jodogahama Nat'l Park.
I went on another date with another girl and then was like, whoa, I can't do this - you're wayyyyyy too nice.
I went to Tokyo, and met with a bunch of friends, ate ramen, drank beer, head-banged, and whatever else.
I saw my friend's new kid, Haru, kind of sort of stand up for the first time.
I got sick and stayed in my hotel for a day.
I found out I can apply for a position on Peace Boat for free after my contract expires.
I met with my Dad's friend's lawyer in Tokyo for some very inspirational words.
I found out my computer is busted with the same problems again, but Apple's fixing it, sending it, and giving me a bunch of new programs for free.
I got tired of travelling, and I'm in Morioka waiting for this tropical storm to end so that I can walk to training tomorrow, get that boring shit over with and head back home and get back to a simple life.

I had a pretty fucking awesome last 2.5 weeks. How've you guys been?

Laces out Dirty Dan

Mkay... lets get a friendly league going. Hey wait, I've already set that shit up!

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/register/tos?league_id=320134&password=accrossthesky

The following is a quote from an automated e-mail I received shortly after creating the league: "To allow other managers to join your league, send them the League ID# and Password. In your case, the ID# is 320134 and the Password is accrossthesky." I've also sent the invite via yahoo to some of you. Could someone please forward that to me, because I have no idea what I wrote in it.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

bike's out!

Finally I have gotten back on my bike...even if it is the hottest day of the summer, I must say there is nothing quite like smokin a doob and an early morning ride on seneca lake to work...I spent the past few days weeding the garden that I basically disowned after planting it. It was such a bitch...just wanted to know how everyone else's growing greens are doing. I have been eating beets for the past week...Victor planted far too many, but our onions came up and yellow squash, still waiting on the other squashes...i have no idea when to pick those, i'm guessing fall? But the carrots and potatoes are also coming along quite nicely, and i'm up to my ears in basil! yikes. My other herbs are also growing like weeds...phew.

So, I got a facebook message from Jonah and I think he might come up sometime in August, most likely during the week though, so anyone else who wants to come is definitely invited. The one thing if you are thinking about coming is that once August hits, I will be busy with harvest stuff so I can hang out nights and what not but I won't be able to take any time off from work.

Has anyone stayed in Letchworth State Park before??

PARADIGM SHIFT

Why The Fuck Am I Posting So Much; or, The Fuck You Guys Doing?!?

Yeah, so I had 3 gin rickys while watching the Brazil/Portugal game, and I'm drinking a chu-hi and eating peanuts while listening to the only good Mastodon album Leviathan... so here's yet another post. Its a short one, and blog-related: there's this real killer art/film blog called Opium Fields that I think you guys should check out. The art that the dude posts is usually pretty... meta. Most likely NSFW, but not in a pornographic way - if there's any nudity involved its either in the artful or Satanic manner, and nothing else. And he's got a serious penchant for out-there art flicks, Criterion included. Overall I think its a really great find in the blogosphere (my FUCK I hate that word) and if any of you guys are interested, I say check it out.

For ease of viewing's sake, here's the link: www.opium-fields.blogspot.com

I also might be starting an online store for Japanese clothing and Japanese Metal. I'll keep you posted.

My Least Favorite Bug

So, I used to think it was cool that Japan apparently doesn't have any indigenous poisonous spiders... cause I fucking hate spiders. And, you know, when they aren't poisonous, they're still kind of gross, but ultimately I can just throw up a little bit upon seeing one and be on my way after that.

Now, I have a hypothesis on why there are no poisonous spiders in Japan... poisonous anything much at all, if I'm not mistaken: its because Izanagi (probably, the shitty bastard) decided to take all the poison that bugs generally have and terror that bugs generally instill and stick it allllll in the most ultimate, horrifying bug ever.. THE JAPANESE GIANT HORNET.

This shit is like the Dodge Viper of "GETITTHEFUCKAWAYFROMME!!!" buggy mother fuckers. Here are some highlights:

+ Its stinger is a quarter of an inch long, and noticeably drips venom.

+ One component of its venom is a pheromone that attracts more of the bug bastards.

+ They have no natural enemies/predators, because they can kill fucking anything.

+ It can fly up to 25 mph, and likes to chase you.

There's a lot more over at wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet

書き過ぎてまた御邪魔しますが～

So one of my friends who I met when I worked at the Japanese camp is bumming around Japan for a few months. He recently suggested we hit up Fuji Rock Festival (being held in Niigata, I believe) on the 30th and 31st of July, and the 1st of August. Those keen devotees of Matt will notice the relative proximity to the Day of My Birth (August 2nd) and will probably think 'oh, neat.' But, I say, THERE IS MORE!

First, here are the lineup highlights:
Muse, Them Crooked Vultures, Massive Attack, Roxy fuckin' Music, John FUCKIN' Fogerty, Scissor Sisters, !!!, Belle & Sebastian, LCD Soundsystem, Third Eye FFUUCCKIN' Blind, Flogging Molly, Broken Social Scene, Lite, Air, and FUCK Magma FUCKKKKK.

Second, there is the suggested mini-adventure of hitching our way there (who knew Japan is purportedly the safest place to hitchhike in the world?!) We would also be camping, in tents, with bonfires and, assumedly, Ronald McDonald popping up here and there in the most creepy, and occasionaly most intimate, of ways.

The down side is that it costs approximately $400 to attend all 3 days, not counting food or anything but the price of admission. I'm pretty sure I'm OK with that... besides, Third Eye Blind?

http://www.smash-uk.com/frf10/

Comics

For all y'all comic readers, thought I'd let you know there's a new poster over at Lucid who's posting some pretty decent series.

Also, anyone ever read Hellblazer? Its fucking awesome.

Oil Well Disaster

So, this is pretty terrifying stuff. Sorry the sound is shitty.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

He's basically saying that
1) What BP has been trying to fix, and has thus far failed at, is a minor leak compared to the inevitable open hole on the ocean floor that is spewing much of the oil. The gash's existence hasn't been confirmed by BP, and it may not exist, but the volume of oil being found in the ocean, and the size of the blowout is inconsistent with the size of this leak at the drilling pipe.
2) If this hole exists, and evidence says it probably does, there are two ways to fix it. One is to let it run it's course, which could take 30 years and poison not only the Gulf of Mexico, but the Atlantic Ocean as well. The second is to use a nuclear device to crush the rock around the hole and close it.
3) The amount of oil in the Gulf of Mexico is a time bomb for hurricane season, when a big storm could cover the entire gulf coast in crude oil, basically causing complete destruction.

The first two statements could prove false, and let's all hope they do, but the third is as terrifying as poisoned oceans and deep sea nuclear explosions on top spewing oil reservoirs.

Isn't this basically the craziest shit you've ever heard in your life? Real Life Boogaloo indeed

Right Call?

I am sure you all saw the almost perfect game pitched by the Detroit pitcher, Galarraaga, and the blown call by the first base umpire. I read an interesting post on another blog that despite the fact the ump made a bad call at first the runner was still safe. This is because a runner is not safe because he reaches the base before the ball gets to the bag, but because the first base umpire calls it this way. I think this is right. Anyone else agree?

Eye Opening Sandwich

Whuttup sluts,

I had the most eye-opening sandwich the other day. It was a ham and cheese with cornichons and grainy mustard, but fellows, the groundbreaking thing about this sandwich was that it was on PRETZEL BREAD. This bread was soft, but so substantially condensed...the crust was so paper-thin, but still had that slight stickiness...what this did was allow your teeth to find that traction, so when you bite down, you had a damn good half-second of doughy wonder before meeting the tasty contents of the sandwich. As for flavor, it had that bare amount of cooked-in smokiness and just a touch of dry saltiness...i can't stop thinking about it.
Its ironic because there was an article about proper pretzel bread in the Times last week. So I now either need to track down spots that offer such a delicacy or learn how to bake my own.

~Scooter

hey, crapheads!

Stuff

So I went to a wedding this weekend on a beach and it was cool and all and I took pictures and Ill probably post them later but right now... I simply want to suggest that you all head over to my music blog, lucidmedia, for not only a great new album by serial groovsters Harvey Milk, but (and more specifically) for what is just a really great drunk post by fellow contributor Piotr Rasputin. Worth reading.

Bike!

Got a new bike for wicked cheap, comparatively at least. Anchor's one of Japan's leading road bike companies and they usually sell somewhere in or above the $2000 price point, but somehow I found a "used" one (barely) for 50K yen, or about $500. Anyway, video!

A Message from a Japanese Girl

'It was able to sleep and was good. Because sleep is important!!!! Let's always play (Grateful Dead Bear). However, it has been forgotten to present the cucumber (OH NO face). I'm sorry (Panda Bear with a runny nose).'

Gardens

Spring has come again and gardening season is starting up. I've just direct seeded some cilantro and chervil on the herb front. Vegetable wise I've got red radishes and snow peas in. I also put in some Buttercrunch lettuce and Red Russian Kale. We have a late frost date here in Troy so I'm going to wait a while for some of the sexier vegetables. Anybody else growing anything?

i am a weener.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SenecaLakeWineTrail#p/a/u/0/XBoNDOtvVCY

Some Help?

So I've decided to try and take on 'managing' a band, and by that I mean getting them signed. Note: this is not a job I'm getting money from, but rather a job I'm doing out of respect for a band who I think really needs to be heard. Anyway, I've got some connections in the 'biz' as it were, but nothing that particularly substantial. My question is, anyone have any ideas about how I might go about this faster than if I just plunge head-first without knowing too much and doing it DIY contacting labels, posting on blogs, and informing others of shows?

Oh, and Vince, you posted a message a while ago about how long I'll be here in Japan. At least until 2011, my brotha. And don't let that not-getting-into-a-journal thing get you down, keep at it.

Oxford Comma

So I recently found out I did not got onto a law journal. I am kinda bummed out about it. I spent my entire spring break working to get on journal and went to these writing sessions to improve my chances in which they spent half an hour discussing the difference between a hyphen and an em dash. I can only assume I didn't get on because I never truly learned the difference, so Meg who is into Vampire Weekend suggested I watch this video.

On The Subject: Paperbacks

I started collecting books in High School, but took a particular interest in old paperbacks in College. Specifically Mass Market paperbacks. For one thing, they're dirt cheap when you can find em. And the art on them tends to be much more daring and less strictly sales-oriented than what you'd find on hardcovers. Maybe cus most books become Mass Market PB's by being proven sellers /academic transgression/.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites from my collection:



I think Matt Ketchum might have this one too.








A little banged up but just look at all three of that handsome gentleman.

And the cream of the crop...

What I've been up to...sorta

Hey all,

hope everyone's doing well and the weather is nice where ever you are. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I figure I'd give you a heads up on some of the work I've been doing. Check it out below.

Cleaning up the mess

Shit's HOT

Goddamnit. This is awful.



This, on the other hand, is super awesome.

TV

Is it just me or has the world entered an entirely new phase of serialized TV. Be it quality, distribution, attention and all of the above, it's unavoidable to me. I've discovered that my favored (and many times required) version of "winding down" after a long day or before going to bed involves watching at least one show on hulu, hbo on demand (which i JUST discovered i have...hallelulah) or catching up on downloaded episodes of entourage.
It's pretty amazing to me seeing as how I've never been a fan of TV. the virtual deletion of ads really does it for me. The crappy/sappy music, painstaking graphics and see-through message (e.g. It's so much better in the bahamas, everyone loves chef boyardee) used to (and still) drives me so nuts I can't sit through 'em.
So what's the deal? Are we gonna have to start paying for this hulu business or will commercials get longer and longer? I noticed they occassionally pop up on youtube now...weird.

If you haven't heard of or seen my latest fascination, "how to make it in america", you ought to give it a try. It helps if your as crazy about NYC as I am, but that's hard. When I realized my new episode has HBO, I caught a mid-season episode and got into it. I watched the first two episodes the next day and the day after that I got invited to a screening at the HBO building with a Q+A w/the actors and creator. I burned through the rest of the series and you can now consider my hooked.

lemme lay this shit out for you:
late 20-somethings are trying to make it in NYC. Fashionistas, hustlers, players, Ben and Cam try to keep honest schemes together in the garment trade and the night life scene while Cam's ex-con cousin, Rene (Luis Gusman) tries to run a legit business making Rasta Mansta (the Caribbean Red Bull) a successful product. First the Lower East Side, then the world.
I love this show for a number of reasons, but #1 would have to be the role that NYC plays. This show does such an incredible job of making the city a living, breathing, throbbing, damning, teasing beautiful bastard that it is. They do SO much shooting on location and each neighborhood and locale comes off as such an integral part of each episode.
#2 is the dynamic between the two main characters. Ben, the Jew, and Cam, the Dominican are a perfect yin-yang: grumpy and excitable, stable and wild, driven and spontaneous, they gave each other a leg-up when the other is tapped out and love each other to the core. Rene's stories are terrific as well, showing a powerful but reproachful man trying to lead an honest and benevolent life. His criminal instincts and desires to rise back to the top get in the way of his penitence, but his love for his community and the need to take the righteous path is very compelling. Plus the way he pronounces Rasta Mansta with that lisp is fucking hilarious.
#3 the show is fucking funny. The ups and downs, wise-cracking side characters (Eddie Kaye Thomas plays the super-Jewy hedge-fund manager), and constant chatter between Ben and Cam is very entertaining.
#4 it looks beautiful. Again, this show has a great eye for NYC. Architecture, streetscapes, the vibrancy of new yorkers and the eye-catching interplay of party scenes keep this show in my minds' eye. It's all in the opening credits, which play over a crazy-hot photo montage with a sick soul song.
What the show fails at however, is the side story of Ben's ex-girlfriend Rachel, who is boring, whiny and doesn't know what she wants. Her boyfriend Darren is rich, beautiful and soulless and it's so obvious that we're supposed to hate him that this story line gets old fast. The one thing that keeps it going is her sex-crazed stoner boss, Edie, who keeps the dumb girl in check.
I also don't like how all these hipster fashionistas can afford to party every night in lavishly decorated and gi-fucking-normous downtown lofts.
But hey, that's TV

Back To Tokyo

Just drove in to Tokyo late last night. I'll be here until at least the seventh, but I don't have anything to do until the 15th so I might extend my stay a bit to hunt for a job. Last night I stayed at my friend's host-family's house (that's their house/dog (named Benkei) below), and starting today until the 7th I'll be staying in the city I lived in briefly in Chiba-ken, Kashiwa.

So what am I doing today? Hanami, bitches. Fuckin' cherry blossom picnic party extravaganza. Its gonna be brutal. Followed by a night out with some friends at a spot we used to frequent in Kashiwa. This shit is SICK compared to my mundane life in Iwate... god damn I need to find a new job. Tomorrow has me seeing one of my new favorite Japanese bands, Gotsu Totsu Kotsu (self-described Samurai Death Metal - these guys chew up and spit out a fretboard like no-one's business) with another old friend in Shinjuku at a club called Antiknock. Despite it being Sunday night, I'm pretty sure that's going to be the defining out-all-night experience of this trip to Tokyo.

Also, let's talk about mutton chops.

name of wine predicament

sooooo I am getting ready to bottle two of rieslings here. One is sweet and the other is a semi-sweet. I have to develop a label for each of them so that its clear to customers which one is sweeter and which isn't...what I can't decide is if I should put Sweet Riesling right on the front of the label or if that sounds tacky. My boss wants me to call it a "Dolce" Riesling...because we're an italian winery but I think it sounds awful. any suggestions???

ps. the weather is awesome here! hope you are all enjoying the sunshine...taj mahal is coming here in may...flaming lips will be here in april and further is touring here in the summer too i think june or july...and also, we have the grassroots festival in july which is going to be awesome....just throwing out some bones...maybe someone will bite

A Little Warmth in the Depths of Winter

I saw a lady in a miniskirt today while I was trudging through a blizzard and about 30 cm of newly fallen snow on the way to school. God bless her... and FUCKthatblizzardIthoughtspringwashere.

pictorial!

My baby, 2009 Sangiovese Rose and my sweet science lab...

my vines

my nitrous tanks and my boots

my barrels

my tanks and riesling getting taken out of one of the tanks

my pregnant donkey, Bella

Riesling being taken out today

stupid peacocks.

my goat, nanny.

DuQuan Sighting

I was at the thrift store the other day near my house, and out of the corner of my eye I spied this tall skinny black guy that looked unbelievably like Dookie from the Wire. Being nosy, I went and browsed some coats in the general area he was browsing. As soon as I overheard him utter the words "That coat is fly" I knew that I had found the genuine article.

He was dressed better than the character he played on the show, but the coat he was commenting on was vintage Bubbles. I felt weird ogling him from a distance, and being kind of awkward I didn't feel like verifying that he was, in fact, Dookie. So, I left feeling 99% sure I had actually seen him. My brother confirms that he lives in our neck of the woods, and is in fact a really nice guy. All in all, another good find at the Hyattsville Value Village.

live from geneva

earth to friendz?

I hear you have all been anti-blog as of late but now that i can post on this electronic mumbojumbo you should get back in the game!

sooooo lotsa new stuff happening in geneva, im a winemaker, we have a new hip hang out on linden street that james elkin is turning into a wine/ beer bar. There is a new garbage plate place called joe's hots and they are building a super walmart! bitches. Good news is that there is this new group i'm a part of called the 40 under 40... we're trying to revamp geneva to make it a hip and happening progressive place...i smell a new, smaller and cooler ithaca...its pretty neat though you know...change. We have a new art space in this old building called the cracker factory, feels like brooklyn...we had the film festival and a few performances there so far (by the way if you want to submit to the finger lakes film festival its in november so start rollin!)

also, i am taking care of a fat goat and a preggers donkey and 3 peacocks.

victor and i made 6 cases of riesling...its almost ready, therefore you should come up here and drink some with us and go skiing and or snowboarding?

Today i'm trying to filter out pinot gris to make it taste good.. its a pretty slow process so figured i would write to you people...

maybe "cats" had more of an effect than we'd all care to admit

What was with this 80's trend of 'lecherous cats in pop music videos'?

The Easter Bunny

Hahaha. ; )

Obama

Not only is Obama single handly saving the country in some mysterious way that has yet to be revealed to us or take form, he is doing all of these wonderful things for your personally: http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/

Couldn't help but notice

Found this the other day, reminds me of you Peter

Insert Peter Kelly in Neil Patrick Harris' role in this little number

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_N43GedsfE

Snow Dayz

I was snowed into my apartment for 7 days straight. Around day 5 my roommate and I decided to go outside...wearing troll masks.

Snow

As you many may have heard DC got some snow. I haven't had class since last Thursday since I don't have classes on Fridays. This is odd because I never had a class cancled at HWS because of snow. Our teachers are doubling up our classes next week to try to make it up, so I have to pay for my week of fun with a week of hell.

The city is just not prepared for it. My street still hasn't been plowed since the storm started on Saturday. Everyboday has been walking on the streets since the sidewalks are covered. The grocery stores are decimated. There wasn't any milk, eggs, and little produce when I walked there on Wednesday. I am interested to see what it is like for Nick or Lauren. My roommate took the picture below when he went to the national mall today.

Coxe popping out at you

A good idea? Gotta give it to HWS for thinkin ahead of the curve in creative thinking in the admissions department. The only reason I didn't throw out the first brochure they sent me was because it asked if i was a hedgehog or a fox

Check it

Japan has Surely One-Upped Everyone Else This Time

Bondage go-kart racing. With helmets, flags, and what seem to be pit-stop engineers. A contributor from my other blog, Lucidmedia, was kind enough to point this out and to supply images and an MPG that honestly took me a few views to actually figure out what was going on.

How the hell does a country so small and with a long history of conservative-ish cultural norms produce so much beyond-wacky shit? Blows my mind.

My Brother Has a Sports Blog

My brother has started a sports blog http://quickslantsreporting.blogspot.com/ which I unabashedly think is pretty good. Check it and tell your friends.

I Spent The Weekend in Morioka & My Internet is Back

Like the title says, I was getting down in Morioka for Friday and Saturday. Morioka's the capitol of the prefecture I live in, Iwate. Its about 2 hours by train or bus from my town, so its not all that convenient to get there, nor is it a day-trip destination; you make a weekend of Morioka. Honestly, its not all that big, with a population of about 300k I think in the city proper. Iwate is funny like that - it is 100% a middle-of-nowhere kind of place, where even big cities are laughably small in comparison to the real thing.
Anyway, I met up with one of my coworkers and her boyfriend, who then had us all meet up with his friends/coworkers, and we all ended up at a club named Players Cafe (odd...) on Friday and Saturday. A few of their friends were guest DJs, so we all got in for less than the cover. Its funny stacking Morioka clubs up against Tokyo clubs: the latter tend to have a few stories, each devoted to a separate genre of music, with a cover fee of anywhere from 3.5k-6k, multiple DJs, lounges, and stupid expensive drinks (upwards of a base of about 1k). Morioka clubs have one room, really not that big, a cover of around 2k, free drink tickets, and like 3 DJs max. Its a totally different world.
In addition to the whole club scene, I got up there on Friday at about 7 so we didn't do too much else that night, but I got up at 9 Saturday morning, and:

Walked around the main drag, Oodoori, and got some seriously banging mushroom and spinach indian curry (with a bit of a kick too, which is a hell of a surprise in Japan);

Scoped out the tattoo parlors to see if theres any I might consider going to in a bit, and was pleasantly surprised with at least one, called Futurism, that does the whole traditional stick & poke thing;

Went to an art museum that was having a showing of a bunch of historical items from the latter half of the Tokugawa regime (so around 1730/50-1868) including some woodblock prints;

Got some okonomiyaki with Emily & Rylan;

Went to a rockabilly show... Holy hell were there some pompadours showing that night. Nice bar, with an owner stuck in his own fantasy of being a rockabilly legend, making all the patrons listen to his awful but admittedly well-intended attempts to cover various songs from the 50s. He's got his whole crew up front with their leather jackets RIDICULOUS hair snapping along, dancing, and cheering him on. Its kind of surreal, but I've gotta give the guy credit for, despite any objective short comings, constructing his own fantasy world and living the hell out of it. And of course, there were these 2 Japanese business men covering our tab.

Ended up back at Player's after that, and did my thing there. Grabbed a cab to the station this morning, where I had the best fucking fresh oysters 定食 (that's Tei-shoku, which is basically a set meal (for example, in this instance I got some fresh oysters on the half shell, a bowl of rice, a bowl of miso soup, a salad, 12 oysters fried in pairs, and some pickled cabbage and cucumbers) for a late breakfast (is that weird?), and caught the bus back here, where, upon arriving, I discovered that the internet source I'd been stealing from is once again working. Good weekend.

So this is Morioka station, and all of these igloos and snowmen were apparently built by some elementary schools or something.


Me at the "Rock-Splitting Cherry Tree" (How the hell do I rotate the video?)


Making Okonomiyaki #1&2

The Zest of Life

As you all know, it's been a weird couple of months for me. I came across this video I took over the summer, the weekend after MJ died. It shows the kind of weirdness that makes life awesome, and I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did/do.

My Internet is Down

Which really sucks, because now I have to rely on my school's computers to get things done online (which includes getting my schedules, which makes me a bit wary). However, where I was once paying 0 Yen to get free wifi internet from some chump in my apartment complex, I now am very much against actually paying for the service. Presumably, this situation will be rectified in the near future.

That brings me to another point: since I blew about $1k while in Tokyo I've been living on the cheap from the beginning of this year up until now. What does that mean? Mostly, I've been living on a diet of sticky rice, green tea, and vegetable juice - that is legit no lie. I don't turn on lights. I take showers as quickly as possible, and at the lowest possible acceptable temperature (which, unfortunately, is about the hiottest the water in my PARTICULAR apartment gets). This leaves me with a lot of time, as I'm not sitting around chowing down on fresh seafood or whatever and watching Trailer Park Boys... or whatever..., because if I was then my computer would be on, my kotatsu (heated table & blanket) would be on, my lights would be on, etc.

So what have I been doing instead of being lazy while not kicking ass in the classroom? Almost nothing aside from exercising, reading (as of now 3 books: Camus - The Plague, Embracing Defeat (history of post-war Japan. I forget the author), and Crowley - Magick in Theory and Practice), practicing guitar, studying for the Business Japanese exam (that's Nikyuu of the Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken (2nd tier of the Japanese Brain Power Exam (what a literal translation))), and planning lessons. Unbeknownst to me, this all started right about the time the New Year came in, so I guess it seems that I've accidentally started pursuing a New Year's Resolution of being productive. Weird how that happened, but when yr belly is empty and taste buds 100% unused, you really start looking for things of interest.

Unfortunately, that Brown winning in Mass. deal is one of those things of interest. Man I'm happy I'm not living over there now - the Steelers don't even make the play offs, its unseasonably cold for some strange reason unrelated to 'global warming', and now this Brown dude is pooping all over things that might've, at one point, been pretty ok. The headlines around me? We don't have sports teams outside of high school, weather is pretty normal, and we've got a cute little baby seal, called Tarou-chan, that got lost in one of the rivers of my town... He's alright.

http://mytown.asahi.com/iwate/news.php?k_id=03000001001170002

SINGLE GUYS GET ON THIS

‘Jersey Shore’s’ Snooki Snags Her Own Show
by Ann Murray-Yavar
Jan 19th, 2010 | 11:29 AM | Comments 15

Looks like a ‘Jersey Shore‘ star will soon be “snookin” for love on reality TV.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi is close to landing her own dating show.

“Definitely there is no set thing, but it has been talked about,” Snooki told UsMagazine.com about the possibility, adding “I got offers from VH1 and other reality networks.”

What type of man will she seek? “A guy I can be real with,” she explained. “I love to be a dork; I love a guy with a sense of humor!”

Perhaps much like her roommate, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, whom she revealed she hooked up with. “But it’s not a big deal,” she told Chelsea Handler last week. “It’s not awkward at all. If I wanna make out with him right now, I can. It’s not weird.”

This is what you were doing on new years

sorry it took so long

Bacon Candy

Facts About The Song "Black Betty"

1. Performed by the band "Ram Jam"
2. Phrase "Black Betty" is said 13 times
3. Phrase "bam-A-lam" is said 24 times
4. 4/5 members of Ram Jam have a moustache
5. This song rules.

The British Office is Better than the US Verison

What does this video mean to you