I had heard briefly about this, but hadn't read much until now:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/26/sean.bell.trial/index.html?iref=newssearch
Well done America.
4.26.2008
Somehow We Fell Down By the Wayside
Whew, been a while since a sustainable update. I know, right? A bit of a warning, I believe the 'h' key on my laptop may be broken, so if you notice a word suspiciously missing that particular letter, be understanding.
It's finals week here in collegeland. I haven't had one yet, but one test on Monday, one on Tuesday, a poetry portfolio due Monday, and two papers due Wednesday have kept me a little more than busy. It's not that I'm trying to justify my prolonged absence, but you get it.
I DJed my first ever party last night. Not that it was the first party I've been to, just the first for which I was the DJ. I don't want to brag (but this is a blog; what else am I supposed to do?), but it went splendidly. See, yesterday was Shakespeare Day and the theatre group I'm president of teamed up with a fine arts appreciation group to plan events. We made t-shirts that named our favorite Shakespearean character and other miscellaneous things on them, played Shakespeare movies on the campus television station all day, had magnetic Shakespearean poetry outside the cafeteria for anyone to take part in, had a Shakespearean insult-off (and a spectacular rendition of Macbeth) at Blindspot, and finally, a Shake Your Willy Dance Party in the PUB. Hence the DJing. Tons of people came up to me afterwards and thanked me for my song selection, which ranged from mainstream and underground hip-hop to modern pop to 80's synth pop to ska. I never would have imagined having so much fun stepping back from the dancing of the party. I may have to look into this whole DJ thing.
I can't tell if I'm excited for summer or not. There are definite parts I'm pumped about, things like Soundset with Otte and Braizen, seeing my Grinaldo again (it's been centuries buddy), experiencing the Twin Cities energy (read: culture) again, and others. But there are things I'm unsure about, like not living next door to one of my best friends anymore, my brother staying at college for the summer, the fact that I don't have a job yet, and the redundancy that summers away from college can be. I'm sure it will be great, just different.
At the same time, I'm excited to be coming back next year. I'll be living with one of my best friends, which is always enjoyable. I have some cool ideas running around my head as for things I want to put in place on campus next year. You see, our campus newspaper has been getting into trouble recently for being willing to push buttons and dig into stories that we're told to leave alone, and as a result, the administration is taking a bit more of a stand in who will be our editor-in-chief next year. I've been flirting with the idea of producing a photocopied rag of sorts on campus, sort of an alternative to the often overly-censored and administrated newspaper. I've been sharing this idea with fellow current newspaper staffers as myself and have gotten a lot of their support. We'll see what happens. I'm thinking of calling it The Free Press. Better suggestions? Let me know.
I just got yelled at by some uppity alumni who supposedly just donated fifty grand to my college, and as such believes he should be allowed to force me into bending rules that were given to me by my boss here at the library. Pretentious bastard even took down my name. Let's bring the controversy, right? Countdown reads four days until I'm home anyways. Bring it buddy.
It's finals week here in collegeland. I haven't had one yet, but one test on Monday, one on Tuesday, a poetry portfolio due Monday, and two papers due Wednesday have kept me a little more than busy. It's not that I'm trying to justify my prolonged absence, but you get it.
I DJed my first ever party last night. Not that it was the first party I've been to, just the first for which I was the DJ. I don't want to brag (but this is a blog; what else am I supposed to do?), but it went splendidly. See, yesterday was Shakespeare Day and the theatre group I'm president of teamed up with a fine arts appreciation group to plan events. We made t-shirts that named our favorite Shakespearean character and other miscellaneous things on them, played Shakespeare movies on the campus television station all day, had magnetic Shakespearean poetry outside the cafeteria for anyone to take part in, had a Shakespearean insult-off (and a spectacular rendition of Macbeth) at Blindspot, and finally, a Shake Your Willy Dance Party in the PUB. Hence the DJing. Tons of people came up to me afterwards and thanked me for my song selection, which ranged from mainstream and underground hip-hop to modern pop to 80's synth pop to ska. I never would have imagined having so much fun stepping back from the dancing of the party. I may have to look into this whole DJ thing.
I can't tell if I'm excited for summer or not. There are definite parts I'm pumped about, things like Soundset with Otte and Braizen, seeing my Grinaldo again (it's been centuries buddy), experiencing the Twin Cities energy (read: culture) again, and others. But there are things I'm unsure about, like not living next door to one of my best friends anymore, my brother staying at college for the summer, the fact that I don't have a job yet, and the redundancy that summers away from college can be. I'm sure it will be great, just different.
At the same time, I'm excited to be coming back next year. I'll be living with one of my best friends, which is always enjoyable. I have some cool ideas running around my head as for things I want to put in place on campus next year. You see, our campus newspaper has been getting into trouble recently for being willing to push buttons and dig into stories that we're told to leave alone, and as a result, the administration is taking a bit more of a stand in who will be our editor-in-chief next year. I've been flirting with the idea of producing a photocopied rag of sorts on campus, sort of an alternative to the often overly-censored and administrated newspaper. I've been sharing this idea with fellow current newspaper staffers as myself and have gotten a lot of their support. We'll see what happens. I'm thinking of calling it The Free Press. Better suggestions? Let me know.
I just got yelled at by some uppity alumni who supposedly just donated fifty grand to my college, and as such believes he should be allowed to force me into bending rules that were given to me by my boss here at the library. Pretentious bastard even took down my name. Let's bring the controversy, right? Countdown reads four days until I'm home anyways. Bring it buddy.
4.14.2008
Turn Them Headphones Up
I have finally achieved one of my life's goals. No, I haven't published anything (not yet, wait a week or two) and no, I haven't abolished my procrastination habit (hence my appearance here at this hour. Rather, I have finally purchased an amazing pair of big, over ear headphones.
Did I need them? No. I was content with the behind the head Phillips headphones I had been using for about four years. They hadn't broken, they weren't falling apart. In fact, I still have them for occasions in which my new ones would be inconvenient. I bought them because I still had more money than I've ever had this late in the school year and they were something I've wanted for years. So I threw down forty big ones on a pair of gorgeous headphones.
I feel so badass.
Did I need them? No. I was content with the behind the head Phillips headphones I had been using for about four years. They hadn't broken, they weren't falling apart. In fact, I still have them for occasions in which my new ones would be inconvenient. I bought them because I still had more money than I've ever had this late in the school year and they were something I've wanted for years. So I threw down forty big ones on a pair of gorgeous headphones.
I feel so badass.
4.11.2008
Media is Losing Its Focus
I am, by nature, a night person. The last few nights have not only showcased this characteristic of my life, but have also proved to me just why I am this way.
Starting with Tuesday. Tuesdays are layout days for our school newspaper, you know, that one that I'm an editor for, and we were up pretty late (I left the office around 2:30 am) now that, with the recent departure of our layout editor, we all have to produce our own sections. I got back to my dorm and opted to hang out with Spats and T-Lo. I was sitting in their room when two more of our buddies, Bradles and Mangs, showed up. They wanted nothing more than some mickey d's and, owning a car as I do, I volunteered to drive them. It was a quick venture, filled mainly with mindless chit chat, but enjoyable none the less.
Wednesday night Mangs called me while I was finishing up some Shakespeare film responses in the library. I had to watch full length film adaptations of both All's Well That Ends Well and Cymbeline in what night since the discussion board posts were due by midnight. Anywhoo, Mangs was craving some Burger King and was willing to drive, so I decided to join him. As it turns out, Burger King takes around four minutes to provide you with burgers after about 11 pm. During this waiting time we had a conversation concerning existentialism, philosophy, and other aspects of what is, without question, the strangeness that is existence. I hadn't had one of those in ages, and to be honest, yesterday was the perfect night for it. We bought Spats a slice of pie, since he chose to be in a place where his cell didn't get reception, but Mangs ate it before we found Spats. We later ended up in the writing center and I made a baked potato. Incredible, I know.
As for tonight, Mangs again had a craving, this time for real pie. So the two of us, accompanied this time by Spats and Dexter, headed to the local neighborhood Perkins for some coffee and pie. We ended up staying for a couple hours, telling stories about our pasts and participating in the bonding that the collegiate fosters.
I hate this time of year. I love spring, don't get me wrong, but the pressures of not failing my classes combined with knowing that these are the last few weeks I get to spend with some of my friends throws me completely off balance. I balance that by focusing on other things.
As of lately I've been listening to a lot of electronic and experimental stuff. This started because the organization I'm president of is throwing a big dance party in a couple weeks and I'm in charge of the music. I was scanning through the massive amounts of tunes on my computer, trying to find some universally gyrateable rhythms when I started listening to a track by house groover BT and the one and only Mike Doughty. I dug the feel of this track, so I found more of BT's stuff. I never pictured myself as getting into electronic/house style stuff, but it's really complex stuff. Also, Daft Punk is the shit.
I can't recall if I've talked about them before on this particular site, but Animal Collective are incredible. The more I listen to them the more I find in the intricacies of their song construction. I read somewhere that if I like Animal Collective I should check out Battles. Initially, I was skeptical, as they're one of Spin Magazine and Pitchfork Media's poster children. I had obtained their debut full length, Mirrors, a while ago but hadn't gotten around to listening to it until this week. They've done some interesting things on it. It's math art rock, something that rarely gets done well, but in this instance, is incredible. Check it out.
By the way, my respect for Pitchfork Media has been rollercoastering lately (ups and downs). I mean, they did convince me to listen to Battles and they did inform me of what is to be the best hip hop show in Minneapolis this year, but their record review team is absolute crap. First off, they hate The Mars Volta. Now I'm not a superfan of TMV, I dig their sound and I find myself moving to them whenever I have them on, but hate them? I don't understand that. Their worse sin, however, is their recent review of Cloud Cult's newest release. On a ten point scale, reviewer Ian Cohen gave the record a 4.2. I'll be the first to admit, it isn't my favorite Cloud Cult album, but a 4.2? In academic terms (I'm still in college remember) that's a failing grade. He also made fun of them for being an environmentally friendly band, saying "Feel Good Ghosts unfortunately feels like another byproduct of Cloud Cult's recycling process." This may be the only time I print a comment of this sort on this here blog, so brace yourself.
Fuck Ian Cohen.
Starting with Tuesday. Tuesdays are layout days for our school newspaper, you know, that one that I'm an editor for, and we were up pretty late (I left the office around 2:30 am) now that, with the recent departure of our layout editor, we all have to produce our own sections. I got back to my dorm and opted to hang out with Spats and T-Lo. I was sitting in their room when two more of our buddies, Bradles and Mangs, showed up. They wanted nothing more than some mickey d's and, owning a car as I do, I volunteered to drive them. It was a quick venture, filled mainly with mindless chit chat, but enjoyable none the less.
Wednesday night Mangs called me while I was finishing up some Shakespeare film responses in the library. I had to watch full length film adaptations of both All's Well That Ends Well and Cymbeline in what night since the discussion board posts were due by midnight. Anywhoo, Mangs was craving some Burger King and was willing to drive, so I decided to join him. As it turns out, Burger King takes around four minutes to provide you with burgers after about 11 pm. During this waiting time we had a conversation concerning existentialism, philosophy, and other aspects of what is, without question, the strangeness that is existence. I hadn't had one of those in ages, and to be honest, yesterday was the perfect night for it. We bought Spats a slice of pie, since he chose to be in a place where his cell didn't get reception, but Mangs ate it before we found Spats. We later ended up in the writing center and I made a baked potato. Incredible, I know.
As for tonight, Mangs again had a craving, this time for real pie. So the two of us, accompanied this time by Spats and Dexter, headed to the local neighborhood Perkins for some coffee and pie. We ended up staying for a couple hours, telling stories about our pasts and participating in the bonding that the collegiate fosters.
I hate this time of year. I love spring, don't get me wrong, but the pressures of not failing my classes combined with knowing that these are the last few weeks I get to spend with some of my friends throws me completely off balance. I balance that by focusing on other things.
As of lately I've been listening to a lot of electronic and experimental stuff. This started because the organization I'm president of is throwing a big dance party in a couple weeks and I'm in charge of the music. I was scanning through the massive amounts of tunes on my computer, trying to find some universally gyrateable rhythms when I started listening to a track by house groover BT and the one and only Mike Doughty. I dug the feel of this track, so I found more of BT's stuff. I never pictured myself as getting into electronic/house style stuff, but it's really complex stuff. Also, Daft Punk is the shit.
I can't recall if I've talked about them before on this particular site, but Animal Collective are incredible. The more I listen to them the more I find in the intricacies of their song construction. I read somewhere that if I like Animal Collective I should check out Battles. Initially, I was skeptical, as they're one of Spin Magazine and Pitchfork Media's poster children. I had obtained their debut full length, Mirrors, a while ago but hadn't gotten around to listening to it until this week. They've done some interesting things on it. It's math art rock, something that rarely gets done well, but in this instance, is incredible. Check it out.
By the way, my respect for Pitchfork Media has been rollercoastering lately (ups and downs). I mean, they did convince me to listen to Battles and they did inform me of what is to be the best hip hop show in Minneapolis this year, but their record review team is absolute crap. First off, they hate The Mars Volta. Now I'm not a superfan of TMV, I dig their sound and I find myself moving to them whenever I have them on, but hate them? I don't understand that. Their worse sin, however, is their recent review of Cloud Cult's newest release. On a ten point scale, reviewer Ian Cohen gave the record a 4.2. I'll be the first to admit, it isn't my favorite Cloud Cult album, but a 4.2? In academic terms (I'm still in college remember) that's a failing grade. He also made fun of them for being an environmentally friendly band, saying "Feel Good Ghosts unfortunately feels like another byproduct of Cloud Cult's recycling process." This may be the only time I print a comment of this sort on this here blog, so brace yourself.
Fuck Ian Cohen.
3.23.2008
Brechtian
The first weekend of Threepenny shows came to a conclusion last night. For the most part, I'm happy with how the show turned out. There are portions of my character that I would have liked to gone a different direction with, but I understand that as an actor, those decisions are not mine to make. Our director had an interesting vision for this show, one that I think ended up being a bit more muddled than he would have liked. Overall though, it's entertaining, comically poignant, and foggy as hell.
My buddies Braizen, Poncey, Spats, and Omelette saw the opening night performance and all had positive reactions (to my face at least). Otte and Marie made the venture down south from the Twin Cities to see the show/visit. It was a good time and I'm really glad that they could make it down.
My need to create has returned. I read the blogs of people like Kevin Smith or Mike Doughty, people who create for a living, and I realize just how badly I want to do that. Don't get me wrong, I still want to teach English in high school. I'm not talking about doing that as a means of maintaining a productive member of society (i.e. contributing to our recessing economy). I'm talking about creating for the sole purpose of creating. Spats and I have joked about how we're going to decorate our room next year with bedsheets that we'll then paint over. I actually love that idea, in moderation. I want my room to be a collage of things we've made.
I've been flooding myself with music by Cloud Cult lately. It's the most artistic music I've heard in a long time. Subtle indie rock meets electronic drums, a cello, and a violin, often with gorgeous five part harmonies over it all. On top of that, there are two people in the band whose purpose is to paint during concerts. That's right, live, on-stage art. I was blown away by the strength they have in their sound. Craig Minowa, I would love to meet you.
Sometimes we all just need to find faith in our own creation.
My buddies Braizen, Poncey, Spats, and Omelette saw the opening night performance and all had positive reactions (to my face at least). Otte and Marie made the venture down south from the Twin Cities to see the show/visit. It was a good time and I'm really glad that they could make it down.
My need to create has returned. I read the blogs of people like Kevin Smith or Mike Doughty, people who create for a living, and I realize just how badly I want to do that. Don't get me wrong, I still want to teach English in high school. I'm not talking about doing that as a means of maintaining a productive member of society (i.e. contributing to our recessing economy). I'm talking about creating for the sole purpose of creating. Spats and I have joked about how we're going to decorate our room next year with bedsheets that we'll then paint over. I actually love that idea, in moderation. I want my room to be a collage of things we've made.
I've been flooding myself with music by Cloud Cult lately. It's the most artistic music I've heard in a long time. Subtle indie rock meets electronic drums, a cello, and a violin, often with gorgeous five part harmonies over it all. On top of that, there are two people in the band whose purpose is to paint during concerts. That's right, live, on-stage art. I was blown away by the strength they have in their sound. Craig Minowa, I would love to meet you.
Sometimes we all just need to find faith in our own creation.
3.11.2008
New Things On The List Of Things I'll Get To Give People When I Die
I bought a new guitar today. Long story actually, so sit back, grab yourself a cold one (I'll let you pick the beverage), and get ready for the trek that has been my last couple days.
For the longest time I've adored the look of resonator guitars. I've seen them on racks, the back of albums, and in old bluegrass footage, and I wanted one of my own. Also, ages ago I won a Fender Stratocaster. It's a beauty, but electric instruments, for the most part, don't really fit what I do.
I'm on spring break now, and in my perusal of the local Music-Go-Round led my eyes to a gorgeous resonator that looked exactly like this:
Now I had been contemplating selling my Strat for about a year now, since it's been doing nothing but gathering dust in a spare room here in my house. So what did I do? I put the resonator on hold and ran home to grab my Strat. Thus ends visit number one to that illustrious place.
On my return I was told that the trade would be one for one, no money changing hands required, something I wasn't expecting at all, something that made me smile. I made my trade and drove back home to play with my new toy. End of visit two.
I'll admit, my knowledge of the inner workings of many musical instruments is minimal. This lack of knowledge extends, of course, to resonator guitars. When I was play for a bit more than twenty minutes it began to hum something terrible. There was obviously an issue somewhere around the cone feature. So what did I do? I made my re-return to Music-Go-Round where they offered me a repair job, which graciously accepted. They assured me this would not happen again. End of visit three.
The next day I noticed the sound was off again. I started looking around online and the more I read, the more I realized just what I had got myself into. Turns out certain resonators are made for lap purposes only. All resonators are also easily tweaked, meaning too much moving around can cause the cone to shift and the tone to change. Knowing the way my life goes, I came to see that this just wasn't the instrument for me. Back to Music-Go-Round.
Here I was told what I was expecting. Since I hadn't paid anything for the resonator, because I had simply traded for it, I could only get store credit for that particular store for my return. Since I had time and money to kill, I started looking around. After playing a handful of decent items I found myself holding this
These are those qualities:
It's old
It's not glossed
It's neck fits my hand
It’s a jumbo, but it’s thinner than my Ibanez
It sounds earthy as hell
It looks like it’s actually been played before
It’s beat up just enough
It feels like me
This is an actual picture of my new baby:
Lucky for me, this new guitar was also cheaper than the resonator I had previously purchased. This left me with enough cash to get myself a hard shell case, something I’d always wanted. I picked up a tuner too, cuz I suck at that.
All in all, this spring break has been extremely profitable for me. My phone was on the fritz, so we got me a new one, one of them fancy slider phones, which I’ve pictured for you below:
Don’t worry, it’s the same number and I still have (most of) yours.
Also, two new pairs of pants. Guess who’s gonna keep being clothed? This guy.
At Target today, my mom decided that I need snack food for the rest of the semester. It’s at these points that I realize just how much of a child I still am. I will be returning to college in a few days with boxes of Goldfish Crackers, Animal Crackers, Teddy Grahams, Fruit Roll-Ups, and Gushers. She insisted and I’ll be sharing. I’m a big enough boy as it is.
2.21.2008
Let's Put a New Coat of Paint on This Lonesome Old Town
The new Mike Doughty album came out this week. I promptly requested that someone else drive me (the roads here are absolutely awful right now) to the nearest Minnesota based electronic store so that I could pick myself up a copy.
It's good stuff. Doughty never ceases to make me bob every part of my body with his melodies and lyrics that always grab my attention with their borderline nonsensical yet somehow poignant tendencies. Pick it up, totally worth the drive.
I also picked up a live podcast of a Bon Iver concert at the request of Tim. It's, as I had to expect, beautifully soulful and wrenching. It also prompted me to check the iTunes-ness of his rereleased album, where I was shocked to find that it included a new track. I proceeded to download, listen to, and thoroughly enjoy it. At this point, I'm ready to declare Bon Iver my new god.
I have this intense craving to road trip, preferably someplace I haven't been for a significant period of time before. I'm thinking Omaha, St. Louis, Kansas City, or Madison. Chris, Amelie, Joe, Brian and I may hit up Omaha in a month and a half or so for a Mike Doughty concert, which would be incredible. I just need to get off campus and preferably out of Iowa for a weekend or so.
Also, I currently crave pizza.
And to catch up on homework.
It's good stuff. Doughty never ceases to make me bob every part of my body with his melodies and lyrics that always grab my attention with their borderline nonsensical yet somehow poignant tendencies. Pick it up, totally worth the drive.
I also picked up a live podcast of a Bon Iver concert at the request of Tim. It's, as I had to expect, beautifully soulful and wrenching. It also prompted me to check the iTunes-ness of his rereleased album, where I was shocked to find that it included a new track. I proceeded to download, listen to, and thoroughly enjoy it. At this point, I'm ready to declare Bon Iver my new god.
I have this intense craving to road trip, preferably someplace I haven't been for a significant period of time before. I'm thinking Omaha, St. Louis, Kansas City, or Madison. Chris, Amelie, Joe, Brian and I may hit up Omaha in a month and a half or so for a Mike Doughty concert, which would be incredible. I just need to get off campus and preferably out of Iowa for a weekend or so.
Also, I currently crave pizza.
And to catch up on homework.
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