Happy Aaron Burr's Birthday

It's Aaron Burr's birthday today! While Aaron Burr, by an large, was a vile creature, he was an important character in American history. He was a Lex Luther to Thomas Jefferson's Superman, a Riddler to Benjamin Franklin's Batman...and a Jack McCall to Alexander Hamilton's Wild Bill Hickock (zing!)

Anyways, Aaron Burr was a bogeyman that kept the founding fathers on their toes. In 1800 when he tried to steal the presidency from Thomas Jefferson, we realized that our system of electing vice presidents was like, messed up. He tried to create his own country in New Orleans and in the ensuing trial for treason helped establish our independent courts. And when he actually outright killed a founding father, it was Alexander Hamilton, and let's face it, if he was going to kill any of the founding fathers, it might as well have been the douchebag that kept advocating an American monarch.

So Aaron Burr kept trying to create disaster after disaster, but in the end he'd fail and end up making things better.

Well I felt as though today, Mr. Burr's birthday, his spirit was haunting me. Without getting into too many details, I face a series of near tragedies that ended up being averted. A couple near car accidents, left my headlights on, was nearly the victim of a scam...but in the end everything worked itself out tidier than an episode of Family Matters. So Happy Birthday Aaron Burr! Hope you're making Hell a better place by failing to take it over.

A Quick One, While He's Away...

-I just saw this blurb for some musician, Under Byen (not sure what that is...and if this were a more long winded column I'd look it up for you) over at Stereogum.com. It said, "Denmark's best kept secret." To be honest, I thought all of Denmarks secrets were pretty well kept. In fact, I don't know anything about Denmark except that it's capital is Copenhagen...and now that it has produced someone called Under Byen...

-Now that I've resigned myself to a Brewer-less and Red Sox-less October, my ideal playoff picture looks like this.

NL

Dodgers, St Louis, Mets, Phillies

AL

A's, Twins, Tigers, Yankees

As for World Series matchups, the one's I'd most like to see are:

1) Twins-Dodgers (My two favorite teams out of the ones listed there)
2) Tigers-Dodgers
3) Yankees-Dodgers (that's old school, east versus west goodness, even though I hate the Yankees)

So yeah, I'm pulling for the Dodgers...

-I just ordered tickets to see the Hold Steady on October 2 in Baltimore...the new album comes out the next day. That is nothing but fantastic.

-I still have no idea whether or not I love Blueberry Boat.

-I'm actually kind of excited to see the Monday Night Football game from New Orleans. I love New Orleans. I wish them the best and hope everything works out there. I'm starting to feel really guilty about picking Atlanta...

-Apparently the new Jet album leaked...and no, it wasn't leaked by a commercial...

-I don't know how, but the movie Paradise Now caused a big argument about good and evil between Ann and I. I'm also unsure if this makes me more or less of a nerd...

-You know you love double enthusiasm for the day...later friends...

A Quick One, While He's Away

Some random thoughts, wired for sound and down with whatever:

1) I blame one man for the giant Brett Favre backlash that's occuring right now and driving me crazy: John Madden. If John Madden hadn't taken it upon himself to have a Favregasm everytime he announced a Packers game, nobody would be sick of hearing Brett Favre described as a gunslinger, the only people making mean jokes about his interceptions would be Vikings fans. Who are just bad people. Now I love Brett Favre, and he really deserves better than this. I mean, just because you got annoyed by John Madden doesn't take away the fact that he was a consistent joy to watch over the years...and it's not like the Packers would be better without him. People don't treat Bernie Williams like this...

2) I'm glad Congress had the balls to stand up to President Bush's "I wanna be a dictator" plans. Seriously, when have secret prisons where the accused don't get to see the evidence against them been a good idea?

3) My NFL Picks column every Thursday is growning into my favorite thing to write. I'm hoping I can make it even more entertaining. Of course, this has led me to read other football columns...which is something I haven't really done in years. Hopefully all this information gathering helps my picks (yeah right).

4) The song "Collarbone" by Fujiya & Miyagi is incredibly infectious, though I'm quite skeptical that I could consistently listen to Fujiya & Miyagi.

5) Top Five Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1) The Hold Steady Concert in Baltimore on October 2
2) Sightseeing in Washington DC
3) New Hold Steady and Beck albums out October 3
4) Marlins-Reds game September 26th (I hope the Reds get crushed).
5) Getting to use my kayak again

6) I might have seen the best movie of 2006 this week. Details are coming on Monday...

7) Digging through things I downloaded on Ares almost a year ago but never really listened to is really starting to pay off. I found the Fiery Furnaces, and I realized that Boards of Canada make extremely boring music. Huzzah! I have an opinion on Boards of Canada!

Sufjan, Le Film de Rien...ect.

This morning, I was listening to Sufjan Stevens' "Romulus" and it made me think of this one guy I had in my French class sophomore year of high school. He was an interesting guy, but I can't for the life of me remember his name. He lived with his mom, who moved around the country a lot. He didn't even finish the year at Stevens Point, leaving somewhere around March. One of the nicest people I've ever met, a real asset to our somewhat tightknit French class. Plus, like me, he wasn't terribly good at French. Anyways, one assignment we had was to make a film in French.

What became of this project, Le Film de Rien (The Film of Nothing) was one of those projects I'm still pretty proud of. It included a motley cast of characters, my friend Josh played Chris Farley, I played the man who lived under the tree house who was perpetually late on rent, my friend Jeremiah as a sort of evil violinist, and the guy who's name I can't remember living in the dilapidated tree house. It made no sense, contained a minimum of actual dialouge (as only Josh was any good at French), and in the end was probably the best film I've ever made (ranking it ahead of maybe 4 or 5 others).

But now I'm caught thinking of this guy who's name I can't remember. I want to say Nick...but that doesn't sound right. Why that song made me think of him, I don't know. Really, all I want now is to watch Le Film de Rien again. I don't have a copy...I believe Josh has it. This also makes me want to get into contact with him. Last time we spoke he was getting married and working for a newspaper. Curse you Sufjan...curse you...

Baked Goods

There are not fun things to recieve in the mail (bills, severed heads...), there are fun things to recieve in the mail (magazines, birthday cards) and then there are those special moments when baked goods are boxed up and sent to your residence. There's nothing quite like getting baked goods. It's like a windfall of snacks. At first, your not sure what to do with it all. Do you start with the brownies? Or go for the cookies first? Do you save some for others, or do you just eat it all at once? Should I have not eaten three brownies just now? Oy y ve...I'm feeling a little sick...

Once upon a time, my esteemed roomate Blake thought that with all the meaningless holidays we have out there (Veterans Day? what the heck is that about???) there should be a pie day, in which every citizen of the US of A would get a pie. I'd like to amend that...I think there should still be pie day...but that the pie should be sent via US Postal Service. So that every American can experience the joy of recieving baked goods via mail. Perhaps there should be tax breaks for those who send baked goods via mail. I know I'd send out more delicious sweets if it made a difference on my tax return!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if Ann ate all the cookies...

Fear and Loathing on the Playing Field...

A thought I've had concerning the previous post is how sports fits into this whole darn thing. I claimed that since Video Games were just that, a game, they could never come under the critical scrutiny of say...film. But I'm starting to wonder how correct that statement could be. First of all, music, film, literature, ect also exist in a twin world of consumer goods as well as art. What's to say that games couldn't? In addition, what about sports? Aren't they, strictly speaking, a game? But somehow, it's able to trancend that to mean so much more in certain cases (Mohammed Ali, Jackie Robinson, or even the 2004 Red Sox). There's a definate split in sports critique. Some of it falls under the inane banter like the "Contender and Pretender" crap on SportsCenter, while others of it is extremely well done. I have no idea what the hell it all means, but it will give me something to think about whilst making appetizers today.

Communist Daughter

There is a song by Neutral Milk Hotel snuck in between the rollicking of "Holland 1945" and the epic, eight minute "Oh Comely" which, at only 1:58 serves basicly as an interlude. A low organ drawl floating in the background along with Jeff Magnum saying the lyrics methodically. A quick image flits through my mind which taps into something that haunts me. A little girl wearing a red dress with a desperate face stares out at a camera in a dilapitated tenement. Out of view, but entirely suffocating the scene are countless brothers and sisters, a consumptive mother all existing in an environment of claustrophobic humidity. Her father has recently died in some awful factory accident. The image is a three dimensional photograph. She exists down at the bottom of adolescent industrialism, a time that has in recent years captured my imagination.

This is one of a few strange images my mind constructs when left to wander. Focus shifts from one aspect to another in each of them. The "Communist Daughter" image shifts from the girl's face, sad and desperate, to her dress, dirty but bright at the same time. It shifts to the room, a bathroom with a candle and dark wallpaper, peeling wallpaper. There are cracks in the tile on the floor, and a pile of debris sits at the corner of the picture. Sometimes I focus on what lies outside the picture. But most of all, I feel the humidity, the choking air trying desprately to escape from the tenement's lone window.

Upon trying to analyze this image, I lose it. It flits away, as if telling me not to read too much into it. My mind draws to a blank and some other thought soon replaces it.

New Annoying Habit...

aside from posting three times in one day when I have the internet...

I have been using the expression, "up in this muthafucka" or "up in this bitch" when asking for something. For example, if I'm in the car and would like some water, I will ask Ann if I could, "Get some water up in this muthafucka". Or, "Can I get a granola bar up in this bitch". Ann is understandably annoyed and has begun refusing to hand me things when I use these expressions. Also, it could be problem if I'm at a store and I ask someone in my posse, "Can get a quarter up in this muthafucka." So I understand that it's probably best to put this by the wayside. Ann's even suggested using "up in this joint" instead of "muthafucka" or "bitch". However, this just isn't nearly as satisfying to say. So I continue to say it knowing full well my request will most likely be denied. Yes, I live with quite a quandry don't I...

Uninformed Expressions

Some random thoughts this morning and early afternoon...

-While "Svefn G Englar" is a fantastic song, everything else by Sigur Ros is boring and redundant.

-Jason Collett kicks ass.

-Perhaps the reason the music industry is failing is because music as entertainment cannot compete with movies or video games. Instead, music works better in a smaller scale thing, and the market is shifting to reflect that.

-The NFL draft is slightly more exciting when your team is picking higher. However, going through a 4-12 season is not worth it the enhanced excitement.

-Linebacker is the only position Packers draft choice AJ Hawk could possibly play, given his name.

-If the weather gods are trying to tell me something with the cold, cloudy rain they're giving me in my last week in Winona, then they can go screw themselves...jerks...

-Things I will always watch a documentary on, regardless of quality: serial killers, the Russian Revolution, drugs, Ghengis Khan, dinosaurs, decadent rock stars, India, baseball, schizophrenia, the Mississippi River, arctic and antarctic wildlife.

-Things I prefer not to watch a documentary on, regardless of quality: the Kennedy assisination, mountain climbing, dogs, Christianity, Mexico, oil spills, child development, unsolved murders, movie stars, weather/natural disasters.

Hehe...

While listening to the Twins game on the radio, I heard a commercial for a jewelry shop. They said that if she isn't happy with the ring you got her, they'll exchange it for one that will make her happy. In addition, they'll continually exchange until she is, in fact, happy. This is actually quite brilliant...apparently someone out there in the jewelry industry realizes that women, are in fact, the most insane life form on the planet earth.

I am so getting an angry phone call tonight...thus proving me correct...

Ahh, Blogs are very stupid!!!

So I took some time out between giving Blake a ride to pay the internet bill and getting some homework done to do that random "Next Blog" thing. Last time I did this, I found Discord/Harmony and I like that blog quite a bit. Also, I like Blake's blog. I can never remember how to get to Jeff's...but I get to hear most of his stories anyway so it's not really that big of a loss. And I like You Ain't No Picasso as far as MP3 blogs go, since it actually adds some sort of thoughts and interviews rather than just being a dumping ground for free music that most MP3 blogs are. But wow! BLOGS SUCK! It makes me wonder if mine looks as utterly stupid as everyone else's out there. I hope not. Am I just going to the wrong places? Every political blog I've seen is just slanted opinion pieces with little to no nuanced thought thrown in. Most music blogs just insult Pitchfork for, I dunno, being jealous that Pitchfork writers have a spell check and a working knowledge of the English language? I wish there was a better way to slog through this crap, because, I've found 3 awesome blogs...there must be more? I think?

The answer, I think, is that all the good blogs are the one's in Spanish that I can't read...

British Invasion

How did this happen? High Fidelity? The Streets?

Why am I listening to Pulp? Why am I searching for my Blur CDs, frantically importing 13 and Parklife into my music library? Why am I saying "fairplay"? When did "bollocks!" replace "damn!" in my vocabulary? Why am I reading NME? I'm a bloody American (bah!). Good lord, did I eat an ENGLISH muffin this morning? Why yes, I think I did...

Did I spend Saturday night watching "Fawlty Towers" and "Monty Python"? Did I laugh heartily? Yes...yes, I think I did...wtf?

Why is "Wonderwall" stuck in my head?

I noted to Shannon that I've only met maybe 2 or 3 British people in my entire life, but I feel like I know more from movies and TV and music. Why am I having these thoughts? What's this preoccupation with the British? Is it a passing fad? Or will I wonder around in my English soccer jersey drinking pints of bitter and betting on football? Will I go all Madonna and hone some sort of outrageous British accent?

You're from the Midwest dammit! Fight the invasion! As Churchill said...no! Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes! That's what I mean...find some Andrew Jackson quote here...are there any Andrew Jackson quotes?

Bah, screw it...I'm watching Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells...cheery-o!

Same Ghost Every Night

Saying “I don’t regret anything” is a horribly dishonest way of saying, “I’ve come to terms with things I’ve done.” The difference between the two phrases is light years apart, but people try to disguise the latter by saying the former without batting an eye. The only people who can truly say the former are psychopaths and the completely virtuous (who don’t exist). Regret wallows in negativity, and people don’t like to admit that they spend time regretting things. But it really isn’t such a bad thing, merely an unpleasant thing. It’s always warned against, people make vows of “no regrets”, or go through life changes proudly declaring they regret nothing anymore. Or, in the instance of a rather large mistake, only regret one thing about the whole thing. We are often told there’s no point regretting something because we cannot change what happened. Which is bullshit.

Regret is actually a pretty cool thing. For one, it keeps us from doing stupid things (“I’m going to regret this”). It exists as a teaching tool. But its biggest strength is that it keeps at us allowing us to remember all those bad times. I like regrets. I have plenty of them. I think about them a lot. They mostly come at night when I can’t fall asleep. There are so many paths I could have taken that would probably lead me somewhere else a little better than where I am right now. I dwell on mistakes I’ve made, analyzed them and wondered, “what if?”

This does not make me terribly unhappy. I’m a happy person. I like waking up in the morning. My most unpleasant feeling during a typical day is boredom. I’ve had hard times, and I regret them deeply. I think about them, and pangs of sadness visit me. This is a good thing. Warren Zevon said, “I’d rather feel bad than not feel anything at all.” How could I let myself forget the bad things I’ve done? How could I cheapen them by laughing about them? They were sad events and I should feel sad about them. If I let them go, then I won’t feel anything, and that would be infinitely worse than feeling bad about something.

What is important is coming to terms with regrets. Allowing them to exist, but not letting them keep you from continuing. But I will always have more respect for the person with regrets that haunt them to distraction than the person who ignores their existence. The second person is a liar, and worse, foists the lie onto others and brags about it. I have come to terms with my regrets, but only by letting them exist and letting them make me sad. Because you can never make yourself a better person if you don’t allow yourself to be sad.

We Must Protect This House!

That title has nothing to do with this post...but I was thinking about that commercial just now. That had to be one of the dumbest commercials of all time. Some guy screaming about Under Armor...that was just bizzare. Has a commercial so successfully made a brand a punchline like those "We must protect this house" commercials? I kind of hope those involved with it have been sacked, because they really don't deserve such a high paying job. The only people that commercial inspired to buy Under Armor are insane people...

Well, I just wanted to say that Blogger is being a class A jerkoff right now. I can't post pictures without a great deal of effort. Also, since I started working on my Top Ten Albums post on Monday, it says the post is on Monday, which isn't true...I really only wrote a paragraph on Monday and finished and posted it today. But I can't make it say Wednesday. Anyway, it's right before yesterdays post. Which is pretty lame. Also, no pictures as of right now.

In other news, my iPod is seriously getting hot and heavy with the Strokes right now. I put it on shuffle, and I swear, in the past thirty minutes, four Strokes songs. I don't like the Strokes that much. This is like how my 5 disc changer is in love with Pearl Jam, another band I like, but don't love.

Also, I'm getting a little impatient with the weather, because I have no idea if I can leave the windows open in my apartment or not. It felt good yesterday to have them open, but then I woke up this morning and it was absolutely freezing in my room. The weather is being extremely schizophrenic right now, and I just want to know if I can leave my window open and wear sandals. Blah...

I don't want to give the impression that I'm having a bad day or anything though. Actually, I'm in a pretty good mood, in spite of everything. Who the hell knows why, but that's fine. Also, I just noticed my knee is creaky right now. But I'm still smiling! :o)