Saturday, August 27, 2005
Back in Winona
I just got to Winona today, which is pretty sweet. I went to the grocery store and then I'm going to the hypnotist. I realize that these details are a little pointless, so I'll just give you TWO pictures! They'll also link to some random page, so if you feel lucky, go ahead and click on them.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Third post today...I'm not bored am I?
Here's a list of things I'd like to say in real life without joking:
"We made a deal, the child is MINE!"
"I won a knife throwing contest last week."
"You'd think otherwise, but Angelina Jolie gives terrible head."
"Meryl Streep doesn't know a damn thing about biology!"
"I found a place where you can bet a million bucks a hand on blackjack, I kept losing but it was so much fun I played all night."
"I need to take my jet pack into the shop, the brakes are just shot."
"When my kid got an NBA contract, I had no idea he'd become and arrogant, self absorbed asshole."
"Yeah, the Rolex is new, but the clasp keeps coming loose, I think I have to take it in."
"How am I going to tell the owners they have a lion stuck in their house?"
"I'm not sure who gave me herpes, there's just so many possibilities..."
"That's the most realistic looking blow up doll I've ever seen!"
"I was thinking of quitting my job after I won the lottery before I remembered that I'm a bikini inspector."
"I always thought those parties in beer commercials never happened in real life!"
"We made a deal, the child is MINE!"
"I won a knife throwing contest last week."
"You'd think otherwise, but Angelina Jolie gives terrible head."
"Meryl Streep doesn't know a damn thing about biology!"
"I found a place where you can bet a million bucks a hand on blackjack, I kept losing but it was so much fun I played all night."
"I need to take my jet pack into the shop, the brakes are just shot."
"When my kid got an NBA contract, I had no idea he'd become and arrogant, self absorbed asshole."
"Yeah, the Rolex is new, but the clasp keeps coming loose, I think I have to take it in."
"How am I going to tell the owners they have a lion stuck in their house?"
"I'm not sure who gave me herpes, there's just so many possibilities..."
"That's the most realistic looking blow up doll I've ever seen!"
"I was thinking of quitting my job after I won the lottery before I remembered that I'm a bikini inspector."
"I always thought those parties in beer commercials never happened in real life!"
Current Favorites (August 26, 2005)
It's been a little while since I've written one of these things, but here are a few of my favorite things.
Music:
The Hold Steady Separation Sunday- This album kicks ass. Classic rock riffs, great lyrics from the Springsteen school, and one of the most unique vocal deliveries from Craig Finn. Best songs are "Multitude of Casualties" and "Charlemagne in Sweatpants", but really the rest are almost as good. 8/10
I'm also spinning a lot of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and I'm in a Radiohead phase again. I listened to Hail to the Theif one day and now I'm listening to all their albums (sans The Bends and Pablo Honey) on pretty steady basis. The one album that I'd sort of forgotten about was Amnesiac. While it's weaker than most of their other albums, it's still damn good. I also rediscovered the I Might Be Wrong EP, which is hit and miss, but has some very strong versions of "Idiotech", "Like Spinning Plates" and "Everything in its Right Place".
Books:
Sarah Vowell: I'm really getting into what she's writing. One of the most interesting writers out there. But while her words are great, her pieces are heard from her one of a kind voice. She often contributes to This American Life on NPR. I just listened to a great piece by her about Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. You can find it here. The program overall is good, but if you just want to listen to Sarah Vowell's piece, it's at about the 48 minute mark. Her works are all over the internet, and collected in the wonderful book Partly Cloudy Patriot. She has a couple other books, but I haven't read them yet.
Movies:
I watched so many movies this past summer because there was a dollar theatre in Sarasota. My favorite movies I saw there were Million Dollar Baby, Cinderella Man, and Sahara. All solid movies, 9/10, 7/10, 7/10 respectively. I also really liked Wedding Crashers, even though it lagged a little towards the end. I just didn't see it at the dollar theatre, so I'm a little bitter about paying full price. I don't know what it ranks though, probably 7/10...I'd have to think about that.
Music:
The Hold Steady Separation Sunday- This album kicks ass. Classic rock riffs, great lyrics from the Springsteen school, and one of the most unique vocal deliveries from Craig Finn. Best songs are "Multitude of Casualties" and "Charlemagne in Sweatpants", but really the rest are almost as good. 8/10
I'm also spinning a lot of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and I'm in a Radiohead phase again. I listened to Hail to the Theif one day and now I'm listening to all their albums (sans The Bends and Pablo Honey) on pretty steady basis. The one album that I'd sort of forgotten about was Amnesiac. While it's weaker than most of their other albums, it's still damn good. I also rediscovered the I Might Be Wrong EP, which is hit and miss, but has some very strong versions of "Idiotech", "Like Spinning Plates" and "Everything in its Right Place".
Books:
Sarah Vowell: I'm really getting into what she's writing. One of the most interesting writers out there. But while her words are great, her pieces are heard from her one of a kind voice. She often contributes to This American Life on NPR. I just listened to a great piece by her about Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. You can find it here. The program overall is good, but if you just want to listen to Sarah Vowell's piece, it's at about the 48 minute mark. Her works are all over the internet, and collected in the wonderful book Partly Cloudy Patriot. She has a couple other books, but I haven't read them yet.
Movies:
I watched so many movies this past summer because there was a dollar theatre in Sarasota. My favorite movies I saw there were Million Dollar Baby, Cinderella Man, and Sahara. All solid movies, 9/10, 7/10, 7/10 respectively. I also really liked Wedding Crashers, even though it lagged a little towards the end. I just didn't see it at the dollar theatre, so I'm a little bitter about paying full price. I don't know what it ranks though, probably 7/10...I'd have to think about that.
New Music...
I spent this morning listening to new music. The internet is a great tool for this, obviously, but the only problem is that I'm on a computer that doesn't have any illegal music stealing programs. So I have to scrape around for the scraps that the man hands me. Anyway, it turned out a little more fruitful than imagined. Some highlights:
I found that you can actually listen to the entire Broken Social Scene album You Forgot it in People here. I'd been itching to listen to "Cause=Time" and hey, I found it. No way to listen to the new album yet (to be released October 4), but there's details here. While Broken Social Scene isn't terribly new, I missed that bus when it happened, so like the old NBC summer regurgitation motto, "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you!".
Checked out an album from a guy called John Vanderslice that got the lead review in Pitchfork today. It was okay, but seemed a little souless. You can check it out here.
Apparently while I was gone all summer, cut off from knowing what's cool, I missed the band Dungen. While I usually don't trust Swedes, their song that's available free online, "Panda" is cool. Makes me want to listen to a little more at least. You can listen to it here.
That's all that was really notable, most of the other stuff sucked...anyway, we'll end with a picture, musically themed:
I found that you can actually listen to the entire Broken Social Scene album You Forgot it in People here. I'd been itching to listen to "Cause=Time" and hey, I found it. No way to listen to the new album yet (to be released October 4), but there's details here. While Broken Social Scene isn't terribly new, I missed that bus when it happened, so like the old NBC summer regurgitation motto, "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you!".
Checked out an album from a guy called John Vanderslice that got the lead review in Pitchfork today. It was okay, but seemed a little souless. You can check it out here.
Apparently while I was gone all summer, cut off from knowing what's cool, I missed the band Dungen. While I usually don't trust Swedes, their song that's available free online, "Panda" is cool. Makes me want to listen to a little more at least. You can listen to it here.
That's all that was really notable, most of the other stuff sucked...anyway, we'll end with a picture, musically themed:
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Revamp Blues
Alright, I made a new post to Unencumbered Enthusiasm, but other than that it looks like there will be no more attepts to revamp the blog at all. At least today, since there appear to be a couple of good baseball games coming on real soon, Yankees-Blue Jays and Brewers-Marlins. Other than that, I'm just gonna go try to get some food and watch some baseball, and just be content with my blog the way it is...and maybe do something with Unencumbered Enthusiasm.
Anyway, here's a picture to enjoy...
Anyway, here's a picture to enjoy...
Some roadblocks in revamping the blog...
Okay, I just keep running into problems with revamping my blog and getting Unencumbered Enthusiasm off the ground. One, is there are some good shows on television that I wanted to watch. Two, is that I really don't know how to do anything at all except create links and upload pictures. So I'm going to combine the two into one big super picture link right here. HA!
I made that myself also. That was when I thought I might be able to make it the header for my Unencumbered Enthusiasm blog when it was going to be super cool. But not that I've been beaten down by the internets, it looks like a cool logo that I can stare at occasionally and wish was at the top of that blog.
I made that myself also. That was when I thought I might be able to make it the header for my Unencumbered Enthusiasm blog when it was going to be super cool. But not that I've been beaten down by the internets, it looks like a cool logo that I can stare at occasionally and wish was at the top of that blog.
Books I read this summer...
Well shoot, I suppose I should also get people caught up on how the old summer reading went. These are the books I read:
The Partly Cloudy Patriot Sarah Vowell: Book of short non-fiction pieces by Sarah Vowell. I recommend it highly. Typical topics include American history and current politics, which interests me, but there's a lot more.
As I Lay Dying William Faulkner: I liked it, but I didn't love it. It is hard to understand, but there are rewards for being patient. Like Kafka, it probably deserves another read to give it its due.
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky: I did it! After almost of year of distractions leading to a slow as molasses reading pace, I picked it up and finished the damn thing. After finally finishing the book, well I can say that I loved it. Dostoevsky has a way of touching your soul like no other author I've read. And because of that I'm willing to forgive the long boring spells that would last up to one hundred pages. Why, because just around the corner would come something exhilerating. The final book made me forget the sections that nearly lulled me to sleep. I still like Crime and Punishment better, but The Brothers Karamazov is high on my list.
Bluebeard Kurt Vonnegut: Fake memoirs of an interesting character named Rabo Karabekian. Ranks as one of my favorite Vonnegut books, probably number 3. So the list I think looks like this:
1) Cat's Cradle
2) Slaughterhouse 5
3) Bluebeard
4) Breakfast of Champions
5) Slapstick
6) Mother Night
7) Player Piano
8) Galapagos
I'm probably forgetting one that I've read...but whatever.
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 Hunter S. Thompson: Probably the most entertaining book I read the whole summer. It made me realize a couple things:
1) The argument durning primaries that people should try to find the most "electable" canidate is stupid. People should vote for who they believe in, who's the best person. Why are we obsessed with finding someone who can win? I made the argument for Kerry in the 2004 election because I thought he had the best chance of beating Bush. That was stupid. I should have been looking for the canidate I really believed in.
2) Nixon was a dirty no good scumbag who despite any positive policies and actions, eroded trust in the government. We should never forget this as our tolerance for secretive goverment increases. Our democracy is never safe when we cannot trust that what our president is saying is true.
3) Hunter S. Thompson was a great American.
If I had to rank these books by how much I enjoyed them, it would go:
1) Fear and Loathing: On the Campaing Trail '72
2) The Brothers Karamazov
3) Partly Cloudy Patriot
4) Bluebeard
5) As I Lay Dying
Of the bunch, The Brothers Karamazov and Fear and Loathing both get 10/10, Partly Cloudy Patriot and Bluebeard get 8/10 and As I Lay Dying gets a 6/10.
Happy reading...
The Partly Cloudy Patriot Sarah Vowell: Book of short non-fiction pieces by Sarah Vowell. I recommend it highly. Typical topics include American history and current politics, which interests me, but there's a lot more.
As I Lay Dying William Faulkner: I liked it, but I didn't love it. It is hard to understand, but there are rewards for being patient. Like Kafka, it probably deserves another read to give it its due.
The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky: I did it! After almost of year of distractions leading to a slow as molasses reading pace, I picked it up and finished the damn thing. After finally finishing the book, well I can say that I loved it. Dostoevsky has a way of touching your soul like no other author I've read. And because of that I'm willing to forgive the long boring spells that would last up to one hundred pages. Why, because just around the corner would come something exhilerating. The final book made me forget the sections that nearly lulled me to sleep. I still like Crime and Punishment better, but The Brothers Karamazov is high on my list.
Bluebeard Kurt Vonnegut: Fake memoirs of an interesting character named Rabo Karabekian. Ranks as one of my favorite Vonnegut books, probably number 3. So the list I think looks like this:
1) Cat's Cradle
2) Slaughterhouse 5
3) Bluebeard
4) Breakfast of Champions
5) Slapstick
6) Mother Night
7) Player Piano
8) Galapagos
I'm probably forgetting one that I've read...but whatever.
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 Hunter S. Thompson: Probably the most entertaining book I read the whole summer. It made me realize a couple things:
1) The argument durning primaries that people should try to find the most "electable" canidate is stupid. People should vote for who they believe in, who's the best person. Why are we obsessed with finding someone who can win? I made the argument for Kerry in the 2004 election because I thought he had the best chance of beating Bush. That was stupid. I should have been looking for the canidate I really believed in.
2) Nixon was a dirty no good scumbag who despite any positive policies and actions, eroded trust in the government. We should never forget this as our tolerance for secretive goverment increases. Our democracy is never safe when we cannot trust that what our president is saying is true.
3) Hunter S. Thompson was a great American.
If I had to rank these books by how much I enjoyed them, it would go:
1) Fear and Loathing: On the Campaing Trail '72
2) The Brothers Karamazov
3) Partly Cloudy Patriot
4) Bluebeard
5) As I Lay Dying
Of the bunch, The Brothers Karamazov and Fear and Loathing both get 10/10, Partly Cloudy Patriot and Bluebeard get 8/10 and As I Lay Dying gets a 6/10.
Happy reading...
More updates on updates...
Okay, so I've decided to create a whole different blog because I don't really like this one as much. Anyway it's called Unencumbered Enthusiasm and it can be found here.
Seriously, I don't think I'll ever figure out how to make my blog look cool and easy to navigate. But at least I figured out how to put pictures on my blog...like this:
Seriously, I don't think I'll ever figure out how to make my blog look cool and easy to navigate. But at least I figured out how to put pictures on my blog...like this:
Revamping the blog...
So in the true blog style, I'll be crapping out useless information and opinions, mostly in a biased, unfair manner. But just to go over the top, I'm going to be documenting the process of trying to make my blog look way cooler. So here's the first post on that:
Yeah, I'm having a tough time figuring this out. I think I have to learn HTML or something. I see all these other blogs that have a cool look and are easy to navigate, but really, how are you, the reader, to know where all the good shit is. Well I'm working on rectifying that, but it might take awhile, since I mostly just like to type words and not look at all those things of code. I have bad memories from a computer programming class in high school.
Yeah, I'm having a tough time figuring this out. I think I have to learn HTML or something. I see all these other blogs that have a cool look and are easy to navigate, but really, how are you, the reader, to know where all the good shit is. Well I'm working on rectifying that, but it might take awhile, since I mostly just like to type words and not look at all those things of code. I have bad memories from a computer programming class in high school.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Don't Call it a Comeback...
Since I have a loyal readership of about 0, I feel it's important to keep everyone informed of what's going on around here. Anywho, I've been gone for awhile, doing fun things in Florida with limited internet access, but now I'm back in Wisconsin for a little bit and soon off to Winona, MN where the internet is more steady. I'm going to work on making this thing a little better organized, getting rid of lame posts, and in general, making the place more accessible for my non-existent readers. Stay tuned!
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