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Mad Men

2007-07-28T23:08:00.000-05:00

I've been watching Mad Men, A new show on AMC about ad writers in the 1960s. Only two episodes into the series and I love it. It follows two characters in a major ad agency, one a rising star in middle management (played by Jon Hamm), the other his secretary, a naive girl just starting out in the field (played by Elizabeth Moss). The show seems to focus on the fucked up sexual dynamics of the middle classes at the time. It takes place at the moment before feminism began to finally push it's way into the mainstream. The main characters all play into the sexual roles society expects them to play, but all show a clear dissatisfaction with how it's working. The series is just starting, and shows glimmers of other social critiques of 60's society. It seems, if anything, a series about how much better society is now then it was back then. It focuses on things characters say and do and allow that would never fly today. With out mentioning modern times, we still automatically make the comparison. A child with a dry cleaning plastic bag over her head "playing space man" elicits shocked giggles at the sight of something the media has terrified us into never allowing. A gynecologist giving a woman a prescription for birth control pills and telling her that if he suspects that she is abusing them and "whoring" herself out, he'll revoke it, causes shock and outrage. A woman with obvious neurological problems is told nothing is wrong and sent to a therapist. The show pays homage to the social advancements of the last thirty years not by mentioning them, but by clearly demonstrating where we were before they came. It is both shocking and beautiful even to a cynic such as myself.

-Brandon

The bloop

2007-07-12T02:15:00.000-05:00

Better quality version is here. http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/11808/large.html
I'm excited for this film. Rumors are that it might be a Lovecraftian horror/Cthulu epic, but I don't know where that's coming from.

Tyler sent me this link which led me to 1/18/08. The bloop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop Fun! Check out the realtime sound here. http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=20613

-Brandon

2007-07-04T02:11:00.000-05:00

I recently Buzzed my head. Tonight I went to the Yacht Club (a local IC bar with mostly terrible music but cheap drinks and people I know) and was twice asked if I was Andrew Juhl, the sexist asshole who writes "The Ledge (an unfunny column in one of the worst newspapers I've ever had my hands on). I somehow found this more offensive then when a coworker told me I looked like the webmaster for the Aryan Nation. Apparently buzzed hair isn't a good look for me.

Being the worst part of one of the worst newspapers ever is no mean feat. If you aren't familiar with how talentless and horrible Andrew Johl is, here is a sample of his latest ledge. Not his worst, just his latest in his string of atrocities against taste.

"

Bad pick-up lines actually used on women in Iowa City bars
by Andrew Juhl

Hey! You look just like my next ex-girlfriend.

Tell you what: Ill flip a coin. Heads, you have to sleep with me; tails, I have to sleep with you.

Roses are red, violets are blue. I like peanut butter, lets [have sex].

Excuse me, but are you a lesbian? (No.) Well, what a coincidence: neither am I.

Other than making men drop to their knees and thank God for being men, what do you do for living?

Hi. Im sterile.

For a second, I was confused; its midnight, but the sun was out. Then I realized: Its just your smile.

Your face or mine?

Wanna go halvesies on a bastard child?

Mind if I put my twinkie in your ho-ho?

I guarantee you an orgasm or your money back.

Hey, baby, my car and my chest are both waxed. Can I offer you a ride on either?

If we go home together, I promise that you wont regret it in the morning; I sleep until 1 (p.m.).

Im just transferred here from [smelly Big 12 university], and I dont know my way around. Could you please give me directions to your place?

Want to make a quick $20?

-Brandon

woo for trailers

2007-06-10T14:45:00.000-05:00

-Brandon

Truncat

2007-04-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

Here's a fantastic short story by one of my favorite authors, Cory Doctorow. Read it.

http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2003/08/26/truncat/index.html?pn=1

"God. God. The person was so old, saurian and slow, nearly 300, an original revolutionary from the dawn of the Bitchun Society. Just a kid, then, rushing the barricades, destroying the churches, putting on a homemade police uniform and forming the first ad-hoc police force. Boldly walking out of a shop with an armload of groceries, not paying a cent, shouting jauntily over his shoulder to "Charge it up to the ol' Whuffie, all right?"

What a time! Society in hybrid, halfway Bitchun. The religious ones eschewing backup, dying without any hope of recovery, entrusting their souls to Heaven instead of a force-grown clone that would accept an upload of their backup when the time came. People actually dying, dying in such number that there were whole industries built around them: gravediggers and funeral directors in quiet suits! People refusing free energy, limitless food, immortality.

And the Bitchun Society outwaited them. They died one at a time, and the revolutionaries were glad to see them go, each one was one less dissenter, until all that remained was the reputation economy, the almighty Whuffie Point, and a surfeit of everything except space."

-Brandon

About a lot of people I know and respect

2007-04-04T02:41:00.000-05:00

A Forward: This may seem corny, but understand that this is coming from my, the cynical scum-bag who despises everything cheesy.

I know nobody is perfect. Well sort of. I don't even know what perfection is. It's a cliche but our imperfections do make us who we are. I know I'm kind of an asshole sometimes. I know I'm sometimes mean to friends. But you need to know, if you haven't already been able to tell from my incredibly judgmental ways, I have high standards and if I show an interest in hanging out with you, I like you. You have passed my subconscious testing ground. You are a decent human being.

I don't mean to imply that someone should be honored for the opportunity to hang out with me. I'm not so egotistical as to think I am anything special. I am as flawed as as the next person. If anything, my pickiness is one of my major imperfections. The point of this isn't that I like you. It's that you should like you.

I like smart people. I haven't really figured out what this means. I've discovered that amount of education seems to have no bearing on how intelligent a person is. I've met people, who, at first meeting, seem vapid and dumb, but after extensive conversation seem to have a firm grasp on reality and common sense. Generally my initial impression is based off of a stereotype: Frat-boy, Sorority slut, Hipster, Punk, Goth, Hippy, Nerd. Or it's based off of the vocabularly they use. A person who doesn't use complex words must be stupid, according to whatever part of my mind decides first impressions. Experience however tells me that intelligence has nothing to with that. School teaches information, not smarts. Intelligence hasn't anything to do with experiences either, at least not directly. It's more to do with how a person understands their experiences. It has something to do with a person's though process rather then their exact thoughts. Like I said earlier, I haven't really figured it out yet.

Being smart helps a lot in life. But it isn't a key to success, nor is it even a necessity. Their is a price to a mind that works. The problem is that smart people think a lot. I like to think I'm intelligent. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do it too. And thinking a lot leads to thinking about things that aren't important or relevant. It leads to thinking too much. It leads to worrying about things that shouldn't provoke worry. And nothing is more present in our minds and more prone to inspection and worry then ourselves.

I hear and see and sense things in friends over and over that say outright, or merely imply that they doubt their own quality. Someone will kid-on-the-square about how unattractive they are, without actually being unattractive. Someone will talk about being dumber then someone else they perceive as being more intelligent for all the wrong reasons. Someone will latch onto a stereotype of their race or sex in an attempt to fit in or gain attention when that stereotype isn't who they are or want to be. Over and over again I see friends in emotional pain, mild or serious. Over and over again I see them dislike and disrespect themselves. Over and over again, I see nothing wrong with them except for their own self esteem.

I understand disliking yourself. I understand the feeling of insufficiency. I spent my entire public school career and almost two and a half years of college before dropping out thinking I was worthless because I couldn't make myself be interested in classes. I lied to myself and my family about my academic interests purely because I didn't know what other interests I could fall back on. I said I wanted to be a teacher. Not because I wanted to teach, but because the things I was interested in didn't have any other professional field to fall into. I told myself and others I wanted to continue on through grad school only because I didn't know what else to do with my life besides pass tests. I haven't found what I want to do. I haven't found my niche. I spent my social life through school either fighting people I thought meant me harm, or hiding from people in order to avoid those who might mean me harm. I wasn't happy. My last months of college before dropping out were spent without the willpower to even leave my bed. I found myself unwilling to deal with the outside world, or even the necessities of life. I had convinced myself I was worthless, so I became worthless. I stopped attending classes. I wouldn't look for a job. I wouldn't read my books. I wouldn't do my assignments. I couldn't even pass the tests that used to be so easy for me anymore. I dropped out of school. It was that or fail out.

Working full time dropped my into a situation where I was forced to be social. I had to talk to my coworkers for work, and that naturally turned into more casual conversation, which turned into friendships. I realized that all I had to do was talk to people honestly and they would like me. The only people who didn't like me were people I didn't like. My fear of social situations was caused, not by the sinister intentions of others, but rather by myself and my own fear of social interaction. I failed at life because I didn't trust myself enough to succeed at it.

Now I'm not rich, and life isn't always easy. But I'm happy. Happier then I have ever been. I have my moments of doubt. I have my spasms of depression, but nothing has ever been as terrible as it was when I didn't love myself. And I see others around me destroying themselves with doubt and self pity. So if you know me. If I am willing to hold a conversation with you. Then I like you. You are talking to me. I am talking to you. You are capable of thinking. If you are experiencing despair. If you aren't succeeding where you want to be, the only thing that could possibly be wrong with you is that you don't love yourself enough.

Fuck your faith, fuck your family, fuck your friends, fuck your fellow human beings. None of your actions or feelings for them are relevant if you can't even take the time to see the things that are wonderful about yourself. You're beautiful, you're smart, you're interesting. You have to learn to help yourself before you can help those around you. You have to learn to love yourself before you can love those around you.

Brandon's first firing...

2007-02-15T17:48:00.000-06:00

I believe I've been fired from the Hamburg Inn today. I was quitting my regular schedule in a few weeks anyway. But after writing a note on a note to employees at work yesterday (something that is done fairly often but has, as of recently, become a threat to business security according to the 'Burgs not so bright owner) I was asked about my attitude towards the job and I decided to explain to him that, well I liked the restaurant and I liked my coworkers, I had absolutely no respect for him and thought he wasn't smart enough to run a business. This came with numerous examples of his jackassery.

I believe the lesson learned here is telling the owner what you honestly think of him can shorten your time working for him.

-Brandon

The Declaration of Independance of Cyberspace, February 8, 1996

2007-02-06T23:49:00.000-06:00

http://homes.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace

by John Perry Barlow

Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.

We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.

Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do you know our world. Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Do not think that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective actions.

You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.

You claim there are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse to invade our precincts. Many of these problems don't exist. Where there are real conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract . This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world, not yours. Our world is different.

Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.

We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.

We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.

Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here.

Our identities have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonweal, our governance will emerge. Our identities may be distributed across many of your jurisdictions. The only law that all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.

In the United States, you have today created a law, the Telecommunications Reform Act, which repudiates your own Constitution and insults the dreams of Jefferson, Washington, Mill, Madison, DeToqueville, and Brandeis. These dreams must now be born anew in us.

You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.

In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media.

Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no more noble than pig iron. In our world, whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories to accomplish.

These increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our virtual selves immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.

We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.

Davos, Switzerland

February 8, 1996

Hi! A reintroduction.

2007-02-06T13:10:00.000-06:00

My name is Brandon. I am sitting at my computer at 1pm eating cold pizza and drinking Mountain Dew. This is my breakfast. On finds that they run out of food at home while working two different restaurant jobs that supply free meals.

I spend the majority of my life working or complaining about working. I am on a 1 month drinking hiatus which leaves me bored and restless and unsure of what to do after work instead of going out. I am quitting dishing at the Hamburg Inn at the end of this month and saved money from the last couple months of 60 hours a week, and the money I save from not drinking are going to help keep me afloat while working only one job. I was supposed to get my vacation money with my last pay check at the Hamburg but my boss apparently forgot as he is a royal asshole and a large reason why I am dumping my dishing shifts there.

I listen to music. Who doesn't? I find funk and hip-hop absorbing a lot of my time with a little psychedelia and dance music mixed in for variety. I recently obtained some tracks by a 70's band called Amnesty. They have a re-release of their album coming out at the end of this month through Now Again records (a branch off of Stones Throw). It's fun jazzy funk full of vocal harmonies and meandering smooth instrumentals. It is awesome. I've also been listening to another 70's funk band called Black Merda that features political funk with psychedelic Hendrix style guitar accompaniment.

I've also been on a Alice Coltrane kick recently since her death last month. A friend threw some Joe Henderson tracks she was featured on at me as well as her album "Ptah the El Daoud." And the track Caballeros off of her album "Eternity" is amazing.

60's German psychedelic noise band Can has reentered my mp3 players play lists as well.Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi are awesome and crazy. These guys were making sounds that wouldn't enter popular music until the late 90's.

A recent barrage of Stones Throw compilations, from "Chrome Children" volume 2 to the Stones Throw 10 years release has absorbed my hip-hop habits. Oh No's Exodus into Unheard Rhythms and The Disrupt has also absorbed my attention. When I first heard that Madlib's brother had his own music on stones Throw, I worried it was going to be riding on the coattails of his sibling. Boy was I wrong. Oh No's beats in no way resemble the out there surreal beats of Madlib. Oh No has feel good old school bounce in his beats whereas Madlib is all jazz and free jazz backing his efforts. Considering that their father is soul singer Otis Jackson, I'm convinced there must be something in this family's genes or their drinking water that makes musicians. It's amazing.

-Brandon

DJ Drama and Don Cannon arrested for making mixtapes

2007-01-19T13:55:00.000-06:00

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/19/technology/web.0119mixtapes.php
http://nahright.com/news/2007/01/16/dj-drama-and-don-cannon-arrested-for-piracy/
http://www.maximumfun.org/blog/2007/01/dj-drama-and-dj-cannon-arrested-in.html

And an official RIAA report last May says, "As part of its report, the RIAA for the first time has identified 12 "priority" cities as part of its nationwide physical goods piracy assessment. These cities – Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Providence, San Diego, and San Francisco – are all "hot spots" of music theft, with significant piracy problems from the manufacturer level all the way down to the point of retail sale. The RIAA will step up law enforcement training and commit additional investigative resources in all of these cities in the coming year."

The RIAA is beginning it's crackdown on self promotion and any sort of examples or paths to musical success that don't require the Recording Industry's permission. And the government has agreed to give them the authoritative power to do so. The official claim is that they were selling counterfeit CD's. That it threatened the major label's ability to make a profit off of their artist's music. In reality Mixtapes are a good promotional tool and can increase sales. The fear here isn't that they will lose sales directly to mixtape sales. It is that DJ's with the ability to release mixtapes are a clear demonstration of why the Recording industry is obsolete and unnecessary. By cracking down on whatever unaffilliated artist and promoters of artists that they can. they hope to stem the tide of independant musicians who are finding ways to succeed without signing their work they put their heart and soul into, to a record company.

Regardless of whether you are a fan of hip-hop or DJ Drama and Don Cannon, this is an issue you should care about. There are going to be more arrests and each person arrested, each musician, music dealer, producer, DJ, promoter, or whoever else they arrest needs to be put in the limelight. Every person the Recording industry hurts needs to be a martyr figure in the eyes of the media. Everytime the RIAA makes a move like this, it needs to be turned into a press loss for them. The only way to stop this is to get the masses to care. Tell your friends, enemies, family, coworkers, and acquintances about this. Post it on your blogs, your Myspaces, your Facebooks. Plaster bulliten boards, Spray it in graffiti, write it on bathroom walls. Free DJ Drama and Don Cannon. Fuck the RIAA.

-Brandon

I'm back again... fuckers

2007-01-08T22:06:00.001-06:00

Video card replaced, pc is running.

-Brandon

I'm back!

2006-12-11T14:27:00.000-06:00

Internets are operating at maximum capacity.
Idle time wasting in progress.
Obtaining musics and entertainments at high speeds.
Subject now possesses 100% of happiness capacity.

-Brandon

Sadness...

2006-11-10T17:44:00.000-06:00

Well my computer is completely fucked, and has been for about a week and a half now. So if I'm sent messages and I don't respond, I'm not slighting you, I just don't have anyway to read it at the moment.

-Brandon

For the few of you who don't know...

2006-09-25T15:53:00.000-05:00

I have a myspace page now. Why? because I'm weak. http://www.myspace.com/tsgarp524. This is still my primart blog, but I tend to copy paste stuff to myspace as well.

-Brandon

Woo!

2006-09-21T23:59:00.000-05:00

I have a second job! I start on monday! I'm now on my way to being slightly less poor! Woo!

-Brandon

Fuck Iowa/Iowa State Weekend

2006-09-17T00:15:00.000-05:00

This is, hands down, the worst fucking weekend in Iowa City. Every jackass in iowa flocks to this town, and every jackass already here is working three times as hard to piss me off. I wish both teams had somehow lost so the none of the assholes would be happy.

-Brandon

The story

2006-09-09T03:02:00.000-05:00

So, I got home from work today at 5ish, ate some food, watched some west wing, and then spent some time fucking around online. Something (I don't know what) started a train of thought that led to a cool idea for a short story. I have wanted for a while to attempt to write a comic, I just don't have the artistic skill to actually draw it. So I begin writing my ideas for the story. My story turned into 14 pages of scrawled notes about a fictional country including its government, demographics, architectural influences, geography, economics and social problems. My original story idea has turned into an introduction to a fake country that will leave me with the ablity to write all sorts of stories during all sorts of time periods. I'm gonna have some friends who know more about certain subjects look over some of this stuff and give their input over how intelligent they think it is, but if I can script out some actual dialogue and get a decent artist interested, I think this can go somewhere. Even if I don't do anything with it, its nice to be doing something productive, I haven't really worked toward creating anything since I've dropped out of school, this project is emotionally energizing.

-Brandon

Change of plans

2006-09-08T20:53:00.000-05:00

I've abandoned my aforementioned large post. The outline is saved and may be continued at a later time. I have a cool idea for a fiction short story that I'm messing around with. I might be talking about this to a friend who can draw (to turn this into a comic) at a later time. For now I need to figure out the storyline specifics.

I'm kind of excited about this.

-Brandon

Ugh

2006-09-02T02:56:00.000-05:00

Well, The big post isn't really coming along all that well. I know what I want to say, and have it in a sort of outline format ready to go, but transfering it to readable text is less easy. It doesn't help that I've been consistantly sleep deprived the last 4 days. Not enough sleep, but not able to fall asleep at a decent time when I have to work in the morning. I have trouble falling asleep, I have had this problem on and off for the last 4 years. Dropping out of school helped quite a bit, but when stress pops up in other aspects of my life it becomes a problem again (which doesn't help my stress any). Monday and Tuesday are off for me, I'll catch up on my rest and try to pick it up again.

-Brandon

Tie you over.

2006-08-31T03:13:00.000-05:00

I'm working on a fairly large post that I intend to also be fairly well polished. In the meantime here is a sweet H.L. Mencken (who had some pretty smart things to say, mixed in with some pretty ignorant things as well) quote who I have been reading a bit of lately and who is, kind of, the reason for the larger post I'm working on.

Lying stands on a different plane from all other moral offenses, not because it is intrinsically more heinous or less heinous, but simply because it is the only one that may be accurately measured. Forgetting unwitting error, which has nothing to do with morals, a statement is either true or not true. This is a simple distinction and relatively easy to establish. But when one comes to other derelictions the thing grows more complicated. The line between stealing and not stealing is beautifully vague; whether or not one has crossed it is not determined by the objective act, but by such delicate things as motive and purpose. So again, with assault, sex offenses, and even murder; there may be surrounding circumstances which greatly condition the moral quality of the actual act. But lying is specific, exact, scientific. Its capacity for precise determination, indeed, makes its presence or non-presence the only accurate gauge of other immoral acts. Murder, for example, is nowhere regarded as immoral save it involve some repudiation of a social compact, of a tacit promise to refrain from it—in brief, some deceit, some perfidy, some lie. One may kill freely when the pact is formally broken, as in war. One may kill equally freely when it is broken by the victim, as in an assault by a highwayman. But one[Pg 31] may not kill so long as it is not broken, and one may not break it to clear the way. Some form of lie is at the bottom of all other recognized crimes, from seduction to embezzlement. Curiously enough, this master immorality of them all is not prohibited by the Ten Commandments, nor is it penalized, in its pure form, by the code of any civilized nation. Only savages have laws against lying per se.

-H.L. Mencken
A book of Calumny

-Brandon

Awful article at Forbes

2006-08-24T14:33:00.000-05:00

I found this on BoingBoing (who are busy making remixes of this article). It's about why men shouldn't marry career women. Apparently a women's right to work is bad because it makes it harder for the lazy husband to be happier. Damn women's lib for making it harder to keep Michael Noer's wife in the kitchen.

The article is posted below. Not Forbes has tried to cover its ass by turning the single editorial into a "point/counter-point" page by taking on an alternate opinion. "We're not sexist we actually just wanted a debate, even though we didn't bother with another opinion until after we got fuckloads of complaints." Which is revisionism, which pisses me off. In today's internet age everyone had the ability to write whatever they wish online and access far more information then they ever could have decades ago. Professional publications like Forbes can post their own articles and editorials online for larger audiences to read. It's great. The internet also allows a larger degree of user control. Ability to do things, like, alter an article after it has already been 'published' or merely alter how it was presented in such a way as to change the original intention of the magazine. This ability to revise confuses those on the lookout for information because now the information flow has become inconsistent. This backhanded deceit makes it harder to trust your sources of information. Suddenly the reader is no longer sure if the articles are legitimate editorials or politically correct bullshit posted to mollify the masses. An editorial is meant to spark debate. Changing it in order to limit that debate is asinine even if the previous editorial was moronic. Forbes had every right to post the anti-career women article but they need to realize that the masses have every right to respond as well. Attempting to change the way the article is presented in order to calm the masses is cowardly.

http://www.forbes.com/home/2006/08/23/Marriage-Careers-Divorce_cx_mn_land.html

Point: Don't Marry Career Women
By Michael Noer
How do women, careers and marriage mix? Not well, say social scientists.

Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career.

Why? Because if many social scientists are to be believed, you run a higher risk of having a rocky marriage. While everyone knows that marriage can be stressful, recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it. A recent study in Social Forces, a research journal, found that women--even those with a "feminist" outlook--are happier when their husband is the primary breadwinner.

Not a happy conclusion, especially given that many men, particularly successful men, are attracted to women with similar goals and aspirations. And why not? After all, your typical career girl is well-educated, ambitious, informed and engaged. All seemingly good things, right? SureÂat least until you get married. Then, to put it bluntly, the more successful she is the more likely she is to grow dissatisfied with you. Sound familiar?

Many factors contribute to a stable marriage, including the marital status of your spouse's parents (folks with divorced parents are significantly more likely to get divorced themselves), age at first marriage, race, religious beliefs and socio-economic status. And, of course, many working women are indeed happily and fruitfully married--it's just that they are less likely to be so than non-working women. And that, statistically speaking, is the rub.

To be clear, we're not talking about a high-school dropout minding a cash register. For our purposes, a "career girl" has a university-level (or higher) education, works more than 35 hours a week outside the home and makes more than $30,000 a year.

If a host of studies are to be believed, marrying these women is asking for trouble. If they quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, they will be unhappy (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2003). They will be unhappy if they make more money than you do (Social Forces, 2006). You will be unhappy if they make more money than you do (Journal of Marriage and Family, 2001). You will be more likely to fall ill (American Journal of Sociology). Even your house will be dirtier (Institute for Social Research).

Why? Well, despite the fact that the link between work, women and divorce rates is complex and controversial, much of the reasoning is based on a lot of economic theory and a bit of common sense. In classic economics, a marriage is, at least in part, an exercise in labor specialization. Traditionally men have tended to do "market" or paid work outside the home and women have tended to do "non-market" or household work, including raising children. All of the work must get done by somebody, and this pairing, regardless of who is in the home and who is outside the home, accomplishes that goal. Nobel laureate Gary S. Becker argued that when the labor specialization in a marriage decreases--if, for example, both spouses have careers--the overall value of the marriage is lower for both partners because less of the total needed work is getting done, making life harder for both partners and divorce more likely. And, indeed, empirical studies have concluded just that.

In 2004, John H. Johnson examined data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and concluded that gender has a significant influence on the relationship between work hours and increases in the probability of divorce. Women's work hours consistently increase divorce, whereas increases in men's work hours often have no statistical effect. "I also find that the incidence in divorce is far higher in couples where both spouses are working than in couples where only one spouse is employed," Johnson says. A few other studies, which have focused on employment (as opposed to working hours) have concluded that working outside the home actually increases marital stability, at least when the marriage is a happy one. But even in these studies, wives' employment does correlate positively to divorce rates, when the marriage is of "low marital quality."

The other reason a career can hurt a marriage will be obvious to anyone who has seen their mate run off with a co-worker: When your spouse works outside the home, chances increase they'll meet someone they like more than you. "The work environment provides a host of potential partners," researcher Adrian J. Blow reported in the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, "and individuals frequently find themselves spending a great deal of time with these individuals."

There's more: According to a wide-ranging review of the published literature, highly educated people are more likely to have had extra-marital sex (those with graduate degrees are 1.75 more likely to have cheated than those with high school diplomas.) Additionally, individuals who earn more than $30,000 a year are more likely to cheat.

And if the cheating leads to divorce, you're really in trouble. Divorce has been positively correlated with higher rates of alcoholism, clinical depression and suicide. Other studies have associated divorce with increased rates of cancer, stroke, and sexually-transmitted disease. Plus divorce is financially devastating. According to one recent study on "Marriage and Divorce's Impact on Wealth," published in The Journal of Sociology, divorced people see their overall net worth drop an average of 77%.

So why not just stay single? Because, academically speaking, a solid marriage has a host of benefits beyond just individual "happiness." There are broader social and health implications as well. According to a 2004 paper entitled "What Do Social Scientists Know About the Benefits of Marriage?" marriage is positively associated with "better outcomes for children under most circumstances," higher earnings for adult men, and "being married and being in a satisfying marriage are positively associated with health and negatively associated with mortality." In other words, a good marriage is associated with a higher income, a longer, healthier life and better-adjusted kids.

A word of caution, though: As with any social scientific study, it's important not to confuse correlation with causation. In other words, just because married folks are healthier than single people, it doesn't mean that marriage is causing the health gains. It could just be that healthier people are more likely to be married.

-Brandon

Message to the out of state UofI students back in town

2006-08-23T15:14:00.000-05:00

You don't need obscene cleavage and asthma inducing amounts of perfume when going to your classes. It's school, not a fucking bar crawl.

Ang guys? Lay off the Axe. It doesn't really make you as attractive as the ads imply.

-Brandon

Morris Brown

2006-08-16T05:26:00.000-05:00

I can't get enough of this song. I don't know what it is. There is just so much going on in the music and it all fits together so perfectly.

-Brandon

Made a new mix cd

2006-08-08T07:50:00.000-05:00

It has a kind of an upbeat dancy theme to it. I guess I was prompted to put it together by my recent obsession with Bondo Do Role as well as my introduction to ESG. Everything else just sort of added itself in. I do think that it is interesting that more then half the songs or artists in the mix have some connection to Diplo. Shows what sort of influence he is on my listening habits.

-Brandon

The Show

2006-08-08T04:52:00.000-05:00

I have enjoyed some of Ze Franks other internet creations in the past. His videoblog dubbed "The Show" has me hooked. Well it can be picked up from pretty much anywhere he has enough inside jokes to leave a lot of newcomers confused. Which is why it is a problem that he doesn't have an easily available link to the first episode. Thank god I'm here to save the day.

-Brandon

Fuck Israel. Fuck Hezbollah too, but fuck Israel a little more.

2006-08-07T06:23:00.000-05:00

I don't understand why the west is so overwhelmingly in support of Israel when the root of the current and past conflicts with Lebenon, ongoing conflicts with Palestine and arguably the entire unstable middle easte situation lies in Israels history of militeristic and anti-arab policy. It pretty much began when Israel forced non-jews who had been living there when Britain had colonized, irrigated, and made it livable out of Israel and into infertile desert and wastelands where the refugees struggled to survive. It escalated when Israel over to an act of resistance by expanding borders and forcing refugees who had already been forced by Israel to move once to do so again. It happens over and over again. 1-10 Israeli's die from a terrorist act and Israel responds be killing ten times as many Arabs. The argument is that supposedly the disproporionate response will teach people to leave Israel alone. Of course it hasn't had any effect besides encouraging civilians who have suffered from Israeli oppression to side with the anti-Israeli terrorist groups. The real justification is that the lives 10 Jews are somehow as valuable as 200 Muslims. The justification is that Israel is led by people who some unproven and illogical believe that it is their god given right to control and dominate the region.

What I really hate is how some people percieve any disagreement with Israel as somehow anti-semetic. Or that being against Israeli defense policy means I somehow side with the scumbags launching rockets randomly into populated areas for the same (yet reversed) bigoted reasons that Isreal has. It is true that I am not a fan of religion and I am definatly "anti-religious influenced-political policy." What I am not a fan of truly though is senseless slaughter with no goal other then revenge or some abstract, never fully communicated lesson that has to be taught through mass murder.

-Brandon

Drunken post number 2? 3? 2.5? I mean... like... the second night of drunken posting... but not in a row. Just in general.

2006-08-07T03:44:00.000-05:00

I am going to make an attempt to post a new blog post weekly at the very least. For now, in order to gain attention, here is my latest post which was written, posted and is being reposted far less then sober. I vow to not alter or delete this for the sake of honesty, the most important quality a human being can have.

So Steven(download his mixes, he is not only a sweet DJ but you can respect him as a person too) and Allyson have moved into the apartment from Steven's old place and Tim is now living with Carrie which is kitty-cornor (IE we are next to Steven and Allyson's apt.) to Violet's (who hates post modernism apparently but I can't accuratly yell you why) and my (who thinks some post-modernism is pretty clever) apartment. Tonight I drank with Tim, Patrick (I know through Tim and who is awesome but who I find intimadating in so far as he seems a lot smarter then I am), Carrie (I know through Tim and don't know that well, but seems cool and I will likely know better just because of proximity to our apartment) and Dustin (who is cool to hang out with because not only did I not know him that will, but I haven't seen him since High School until this week). I'm not as drunk as my last labeled drunken post but this is probably more then I have drank outside of a bar or party situation. The good news is I've finally cleaned my fridge out of all my "opened and mostly but not completely used bottles of alcohol." I don't drink much beer unless I've had a lot of something else before hand so I don't care about the terrible taste. One of the few beers I can drink and not hate is Guinness, and I generally find wheat beers far more barebly then light (and more widely drank) beers.

I'm not sure why it matters (and if I hadn't been drinking I'm almost positive I wouldn't bother telling people some of this) but I find reading my own drunken blog posts interesting, I'm less compelled to hide things when drinking (going so far as saying things to acquintances and strangers that I don't even tell my best friends or family). It makes for an interesting psychological study of the self.

Right now I notice that it is harder to focus and appreciate some of the music I love when drunk then when I am totally sober. What I sometimes wonder is if that is because I don't honestly emotionaly enjoy some of the music and I am a subconcious poser (which is a nightmare situation, and possibly why I fear it) or if it is because I honestly listen to music with intelligence and alcohol (which impairs the mind) messes with my ability to intellectually enjoy the most intelligent music I listen to (which is what my egotistic self wished to believe). I know that I fall somewhere between those situations. I know my (and every person whether they know it or not) is mostly shaped by nothing more then personal opinion but I also know that in the height of passion I tend to represent my opinion as fact and reject opposite opinions as wrong or inferior. I know it's pompous and doesn't make my any friends but it is something I do. I think it is probably because of my awkwardness and inablity/ignorace to function in honest social situations that prompts me to emphasize and subconciously hope that my strong polarized opinions will gain my attention and maybe respect where my social confusion and maybe slight social anxiety set my back socially.

I know that my silence and inability to communicate with strangers out side of functional situations is rooted in my anger and emotional problems way back in elementary and some of middle school. I basically taught myself somewhere between sixth and ninth grade that the best way to avoid bullying and frustrating social situations I experienced thoughout elementary school was to learn to become socially invisible. I stuck to the few loyal (and arguably foolish) friends I had made and only made more through their introduction. I avoided strangers and stayed silent in classes. I didn't talk to strangers in a friendly way. I basically protected myself from pain (through bullying and violence) and ridecule (by saying somthing stupid or un-PC) by staying silent. My few best friends through high school (Violet, Steven, Martin, for a while Bobby Kennedy) kept my sane. They taught my enough (probably unknowingly) to function once I was finally placed in social situations outside of highschool and outside of pre-established social circles to at least function.

I think that the next most important part of my social development was to gain a job at the Hamburg (also thanks to Violet). The people at the burg have taught me to be comfortable with strangers and far more willing to remove my walls in front of strangers. They helped me to lose my social stiffness and take risks and do socially and sometimes legally unacceptable things that I had no moral or philosophical problems with. They only things holding me back was my fear of social fuckups.

I feel like I'm finally socially developing in a way everyone else did back in middle and highschool that I had subconciously prevented until some very cool people had helped my break out of.

In hindight I know I have messed up situations with people who were interested and made an effort to establish something with me. I regret my past ignorance.

The problem with this situation is simply that I finally feel tempted to enter a relationship beyond friendship but not only do I feel afraid of fucking up the act of establishing it but I worry about fucking it up with my personal neorosis after it has been established. And I worry about fucking up a friendship that I feel that I've just learned to maintain with a proposal of a sexual relationship. And I'm frankly afraid of the act of sex. Not that I don't want to experience it, but simply that I'm worried of embaressment from fucking it up when everyone around me has had some time to learn how to do it right. I know some of these fears are illogical and silly. And I preach and believe that emotions (like fear) that contradict logic are stupid to follow doesn't make me any less human or any more likely to resist my illogical emotional pitfalls.

I honestly wish that society had developed in a way that made my social indecision the norm for men and made women the traditional innitiates of a relationship. Not that I envy the hardships of women through the years, or that I am so naive as to think that any situation could possibly develop where men could be in control of society without having to be in control in the bedroom. I just don't like responsibility (which is probably the root of all of my problems in the first place, including what I haven't mentioned here).

I'm done. I vow to not edit this after the booze has worn off. It's a personal blogging philosophy anyway, but I want to make it official for my less then sober posts. Fuck revisionism. It's simply a long term form of dishonesty (which I disrespect more then any other human quality).

PS all conclaveproject.org sites are broken and not updated they are simply the last place I know these people have updated.

Music and stuff

2006-07-27T05:04:00.000-05:00

I've been on a big new-music spree lately. I've been messing around with the new layout for last.fm. It's pretty nice. I've been looking through and selecting recomendations it gives that seem interesting.

I'm shocked that I haven't listened to his stuff before, but I am loving Gil Scott-Heron. His spoken word stuff is incredibly clever and I can't help but love it even if it isn't necessarily something that my generation or background is supposed to identify with. They're always backed by a catchy jazz beat that matches his dialogue perfectly. His songs are just as poignant and beautiful. He bounces from folk to soul to jazz to funk and blurs the lines between them. It is great stuff.

I've also finally taken the time to really give John Coltrane a good listen. I really love the great improvizational and free jazz and it is shameful that I don't put more of my time into listening to it. I'd heard it over and over again that Coltrane's rendition of "My Favorite Things" is brilliant. I listened to the whole album and I love it. I need to start picking up more stuff by him.

I'm also loving Miles Davis's "Sketches of Spain." It isn't something I've just started listening to, but it warrents mentioning anyway. It borders on classical music (it is in fact a remake and expansion of a far older piece) but with enough of Davis's improvization to justify it as jazz. It's an album that you really need to listen to without other audible distractions. The strongest notes of the piece are the quietest. It really wouldn't have the power it does if it weren't for those low volume notes that emphasize every section of the music. It's absolutely beautiful.

I've got some other Miles Davis, some Sun Ra, and some Thelonius Monk on my to listen to list. I really need to get deeper into the genre.

At Steven's recommendation, I listened to Justice's new album "Waters of Nazerath." I had kind of been drifting away from the House genre but the title track of this album is to great to ignore. A steady beat of static bursts make sure this song stays at the forefront of your thought processes while listening to it. You can not ignore it. I think part of the problem I was having in the house genre was because I had been ruined by Diplo and Low Budget into expecting faster transitions between song sections in my dance music. A lot of house featured a standard beat for two minutes and it can't keep my attention the way the constantly shifting beats of Diplo can. Justice doesn't fall into this trap it shifts it's melody throughout while still keeping with a core theme. DJ Funk's remix of "Let There be Light" is purely about dancing. It's mantra of "Bounce that Ass" isn't exactly lyrically brilliant, but thats not the point. He wants you to "Bounce" to the rhythm and this music is perfect for dancing.

I've been on a Stones Throw spree of sorts lately too. I've long been a fan of Madlib, but I hadn't been keeping up on his exploits all that well since Madvilliany. Fortunatly I decided to see what he's been up to, or else I might not have listened to Dudley Perkins "Expressions." The thing about Dudley Perkins is he can't really sing. But he has this beautiful and unique crooning style that works so well with his introspective and spiritual lyrics. Its my understanding that sometime before he released this album Perkins had some sort of religious experience. He is devoted to dicussing his faith through music and despite my strong anti-religion beliefs I can't help but love his passion and language if not completely his message. Perkin's casual lyrical style combined with Madlib's perfectly disjointed production style makes me feel more personally connected to the artist then any other album I've ever listened to.

If you enjoy Madlib's beat production I also recommend you pick up Madlib The Beat Kunducta's latest beats album "Movie Scenes Volume 1 and 2"

-Brandon

2006-06-24T02:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/back_to_the_futurama_entertainment_don_kaplan.htm
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/06/23/woohoo_futurama_will.html

As if Futurama fans haven't been through enough with Billy West's announcing this and later retracting it a few months ago -- it has been confirmed that Futurama really will be returning with new episodes on Comedy Central. All of the original voice actors signed new deals recently, and here's to hoping the writers join in on the fun.

-Brandon

Drunken addition to previous post as well as a slight "Things that piss Brandon off."

2006-06-02T03:07:00.000-05:00

My idea of a hippy doesn't just rely on politics, sexual habits, or drug usage. My usage of hippy is based rather on the inspiration for their left leaning politics.

I am very liberal. Well sometimes. I tend to be socially Libertarian and economically Socialist. Granted I know dick about economics, so I tend to not argue that point too much. Economies are fucking confusing as hell. Anyways... A hippy isn't just a pot smoking liberal. A hippy is an illogical liberal who bases his or her ideas on what figureheads tell them to believe rather then on what logic should lead them to believe. A hippy will say or believe such nonsensicle asshole things as...
"Don't be religious. Be Spiritual." That doesn't even make enough sense to argue against!

or "Genetically engineered food is bad because it isn't natural." Only an asshole with the money to buy all the "Natural" food they want can make such an argument. Tell this to to people around the globe who are only able to eat because genetic engineering has increased production enough to feed them.

Or "Because of Global Warming, the earth will be unlivable in a century." Even though no evidence supports such a statement. In reality this mindset is nothing more then fear mongering. It is no better then the neo conservative assholes who manufacture security threats in order to scare the country into obediance.

My anti-hippy statements are not anti-liberal statements. They are rather statements against assholes who mindlessly follow whatever authority (religious, political, hereditary) figures tell them to follow without an ounce of statistical evidence to back up their beliefs. Hippies are merely the left leaning sort of these assholes.

On a totally differnt topic.

It took me a month and a half, but I've fallen in love with yet another Fiery Furnaces album. Bitter Tea is far less chaotic then Blueberry Boat (which is still my favorite) was and far easier to follow then Rehearsing my Choir (and which I still love despite close minded critics). Listen to it.

Also, if you like Hip Hop. Listen to Edan. The guy is a fucking genius. He's dubbed his genre as "Psychadelic Hip Hop." His vocals are more approachable then other experimantaly Hip Hop styles, while his beats are so completely different from most other Hip Hop out there. The background music feels like it would be more at home with a freestyle lyrics of Quasimoto then the structured Hip Hop of most artists, but Edan makes the structured vocals work with the chaotic beats.

-Brandon

Obligatory Intoxicated Blog Posting (I will probably regret this)

2006-06-02T02:47:00.000-05:00

Fuck I hate work. I don't make enough. I get all the shit jobs. But anything that makes more I honestly don't think I can handle. Lots of shit to do in a long period of time is so much easier to handle and so much less pressure then less shit to do, but more to do in a short time jobs like cooking and serving. I trained to cook for a couple weeks. I can't handle it. When it gets busy I freak out. I can't remember the list of things I'm supposed to do when they're shouting them at me, and once I fuck up I get flustered, which leads to more fuck ups.

I want to change jobs, but my supervisors and coworkers want me to stay and insist I'm good for the business. Which makes me thing that maybe I should try out for cooking or supervising again. I don't feel right asking for a raise as I just got one and I know I'm a pain in the ass for the lady who schedules hours, as I keep asking for more. I feel guilty for being so demanding and unaccomidating, but I can barely live with what I make now, and I'm constantly pissed off/unhappy at work. But I like who I work with and I know I have job security there as they at least like my work, If not me.

I don't know what to do.

My best alternative was working at the Coop. But I don't think I would like my coworkers as much, as most of the people who work there are mindless morons who believe whatever their political idols tell them to believe (ie hippies). I applies anyway (pay was better as were benefits) but was never called back. Called them. Never received a callback.

Part of me is afraid that this was the coop, and I and my shitty hearing misheard and they said and me being rude to them fucked up my chances of getting the job, as I rarely get unlisted number calls and that was shortly afterwards.

I also applied at Record Collector when they put up an "undergound hip hop fan needed" sign, but it was with the knowledge that so would every other hipster asshole in Iowa City and the knowledge that I knew no one who worked there so my chances were dick.

I need to find a better paying job with better hope for advancement. I don't want to go back to school, and I don't need anything highpaying. But as it is, I don't make enough to save money.

My problems would be fixed if the assholes at the Plasma place would let me sell plasma without a spleen. I wish they had a form that said "I agree to not hold you liable if you I get an infection from this incredibly sanitary establishment." Hell, if I could sell plasma I could afford health insurance, and afford to pay the bills for any problems that they caused me. I'd still have more money then I do now, even If I did get sick from them.

-Brandon

2006-05-31T04:11:00.000-05:00

x3 sucked, but this scene was laugh out loud hilarious.

-Brandon

Things that piss Brandon off

2006-05-26T13:55:00.000-05:00

Everyonce in a while I hear people say things like, "I don't listen to older music. There's enough new music out there for me to listen to that I don't need to listen to old music." These people are morons and don't deserve to enjoy the music they listen to. So for these assholes I have this message.

By completely ignoring music of the past you are ignoring the influences of the current music you like. You don't know where the artists you like are coming from or how much of their music is actually their creation. Listening to music with knowledge of the influences increases total comprehension of the music and makes listening a more enjoyable experience.

What really pisses me off is when the same jackasses who follow this sentiment say something like "I think that Artist X is the most original band of our generation." What?! How the fuck can you have any idea what is and isn't original when you have made a decision to ignore all music made in the past? When you make a decision to remain ignorant on a topic, you lose all rights to discuss that topic.

-Brandon

2006-05-20T12:38:00.000-05:00

Went to see a coworkers band last Tuesday at Gabe's. Missed his band, but saw the last half of the next one, "Experimental Dental School." They're pretty good. I bought a cd. Give them a listen.

-Brandon

Amazon is wierd...

2006-05-16T01:43:00.000-05:00

Just glancing through amazon.com and eyeing a prospective future book (some surreal dystopian anti-corporate thing called Zanesville) when I saw this near the end of the description.

What do customers ultimately buy after viewing items like this?
77% buy The CollegeHumor Guide to College : Selling Kidneys for Beer Money, Sleeping with Your Professors, Majoring in Communications, and Other Really Good Ideas by From the Writers of CollegeHumor.com

According to Amazon.com, 77% of people who view this buy "Collegehumor's guide to college." 77%. That is a big percentage. And, unless I am completely stupid 77/100 cannot be simplified so that means at least 100 people have viewed books "like" Zanesville and 77 people out of every 100 who just view books "LIKE" Zanesville choose to buy "Collegehumor's Guide to college." 77 for every 100. I am almost positive the shear unlikely nature of this statistic is due to the modifier "Like" (just incase you haven't noticed my emphasizing the word). But what I don't know is what exactly makes a book "like" Zanesville. What is the genre here? Science Fiction? Political commentary? Dystopia? Fiction? I have trouble believing that so many readers of these genre's are so attracted to "CollegeHumor's guide to college." Wierd as hell.

-Brandon

Phonecall

2006-05-12T14:08:00.000-05:00

I recieved a phonecall yesterday that was from a restricted number. I was at work, and it was busy, and I was in a bad mood. I answered the phone and had a conversation and though process that went something like this.

Me-"Hello?"
Him-"Who is this?"
*My Thoughts-"You called me asshole who the fuck are you?"
Me-"Brandon"
Him-"Sorry, wrong number."
Me-"Good, go away"
*hang up*
*phone rings*
*My Thoughts-"Same restricted number. guy is calling again."
*answer*
Me-"You still have the wrong number"
Him-*inaudible*
Me-"What?"
Him-"You lick hairy nutsacks."
*hangup*
*back to work*

-Brandon

Gnarles Barkley

2006-05-10T20:15:00.000-05:00

I'm really enjoying Gnarles Barkley's (Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse) album "St Elswhere" I know that everyone is all about the single "Crazy" and it certainly is good, but I really love the song "Just a Thought."

I'm not generally one to focus on the lyrics in music, and I know that "I'm sad" is hardly an original message in a song but I really like the passive-aggressive/denying way that Cee-Lo goes about talking about it.

-Brandon

Arockalypse!

2006-05-09T03:43:00.000-05:00

This song and video is so rediculous I cannot help but love it. I don't think anything sums up this video better then this comment underneath the video.

"with lyrics such as "Arockalypse" and "Day of Rockening"

how is it possible for that not to win?"

I'm gonna go watch it again.

-Brandon

Made out of Meat

2006-05-05T04:41:00.000-05:00

I know this is a Boing Boing repost but everyone should watch this seven and a half minute short film on You Tube. Very cool.

Wish I knew who did the music, didn't see it in the credits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-NAvPzdjj0&search=made%20out%20of%20meat

-Brandon

Music

2006-05-02T00:37:00.000-05:00

I cannot get enough of Rhymefest's song "Build me Up." There is something incredibly charming about Ol' Dirty Bastard singing "Build me Up Buttercup."

Still listening to Os Mutantes self titled album religiously.

I've also been re-getting into Madlib's "Shade of Blue." His remixes and remakes of classic Blue Note Record jazz recordings is so amazingly good. He released a newish beats album called "Beat Konducta" which I suppose is meant as a follow up to his 7 inch "The Beat Conductor." What a clever man.

Psapp has a new album out that is pretty similiar, and just as enjoyable as their first one. If you like mellow singing to chaotic yet relaxing electronic istrumentals, pick up "The only thing I ever Wanted."

I've gained some newfound appreciation of the newish Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, "Show Your Bones." At first I only really loved the Diplo remix of Gold Lion, but the rest is growing on my. It's good rock that's channeling a little early 90's pre-grunge and a little 80's new wave, just like their first album.

Spank Rock is amazing. His album YoYoYoYoYo is by no means lyrically brilliant. In fact, it's borderline sexist, incredibly dirty, and incredibly immature. It is also very well produced and very catchy. I don't even know if I can totally call this hip-hop. The beats are far from typical hip-hop stylings. This is club music with an MC.

J+J+J is an incredibly wierd band who sing juvenile songs about "people who wear headphones at work," and "staring at people's unborn children with a stolen ultrasound" to a techno beat. Very wierd, also incredibly entertaining. If you get the chance listen to "They Hump While We Go Nuts."

I've also been listening to a lot of Little Richard lately. His songs are pretty similiar to each other but they are still very fun to listen to. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know how to write about anything other then his sex life. And he doesn't seem to be able to write about that without adding in his own nonsensical words and phrases.

-Brandon

Pitchfork Music Fest 2006

2006-04-19T15:02:00.000-05:00

I went to the Intonation fest last year and had a lot of fun. This year is has split into "The Intonation Fest" and "The Pitchfork Music Fest." I don't particularly want to go to Intonation. Besides Jon Brion and The Streets, there really isn't anyone I want to see performing. Plus I don't think taking two weekends off this summer is a good idea. But Pitchfork is offering a whol bunch I want to see.

7/29
Silver Jews
The Futureheads
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
Art Brut
Destroyer
Mountain Goats
Band of Horses
Man Man
Hot Machines

Biz3 Stage
Dominik Eulberg
Matmos
Ada
Ghislain Poirier
8 Bold Souls

Much More TBA...

7/30
Os Mutantes
Spoon
Yo La Tengo
Devendra Banhart
Mission of Burma
Aesop Rock
The National
Jens Lekman
Tapes 'n Tapes
Chin Up Chin Up

Biz3 Stage
Diplo
Tarantula A.D.
Tyondai Braxton
Bonde Do Role

Much More TBA...

I'll get to see Diplo again (which I am excited for). Spoon and Yo La Tengo should be a lot of fun. And I am really excited to see Man Man. Plus, it has been announced that legendary Tropicália band Os Mutantes is going to be playing as well. It's actually a pretty wierd coincidence as I have just started getting into them within the last two weeks. Guy I work with introduced me to the tropicália genre. He's been getting me turned onto a lot of different psychadelia stuff lately and this latest is one of my favorites.

Tropicália legends Os Mutantes sign on!
Friday April 14th. 2006
Well, it looks like the Pitchfork Music Festival isn't just going to be two days of happy people getting drunk and rocking out-- it's also going to be an historic event!

We are honored and delighted to announce that Brazilian Tropicália gods Os Mutantes, reunited and performing live for the first time since 1973, will play the second day of the Pitchfork Music Festival. The psych-rock pioneers have scheduled just a handful of shows this summer, and we've been lucky enough to score their only American festival appearance. As Os Mutantes themselves once said, everything is possible-- including getting to see a group of living legends play on the same bill as members of the younger musical generation they helped to inspire.
Tickets are on sale now... don't sleep!

-Brandon

I'm bored

2006-04-12T16:11:00.000-05:00

So here is some time wasting stupidity.

I decided to take a quiz to decide what sort of girl I am. I'm not so sure the results are correct, but some of the questions didn't have answers I liked anyway.

http://www.cookingtohookup.com/girls/academic.php

I'm not sure why I posted this...-Brandon

2006-04-05T03:55:00.000-05:00

Firefly Season 2 as pay-per-view. Possibly online. I would gladly pay a few dollars per episode to watch on my PC as long as it was re-watchable. If it's downloadble, thats fine. If it is streaming, it must be re-watchable as many times as you want, at least until the DVD set is released. If it is made unavailable after the DVD's are released, people who bought all of the individual episodes should be given a discount on the DVD set. They paid for the episodes and it seems only fair that removing the ability to watch them should come with some sort of reimbursment even if it is only a coupon of some sort.
http://www.fireflyseason2.com/index.asp

-Brandon

Spore: The Maxis Masterpiece?

2006-03-14T05:48:00.000-06:00

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-262774490184348066&q=spore
If you have an hour to blow you need to watch this video of Will Wright showing off Maxis's (the gaming-gods responsible for the entire sim genre) long in development game Spore. In spore you control the development of an organism from the cellular level game (a 2d arcade style game where you grab up food and avoid predators game(a 3d game where you wander around, eat, don't get eaten, and mate in order to upgrade your organism) to sentient village level game(where you manage a group of your organisms in a RTS/sims fashion and buy them technological upgrades) to city level game(where you manage the city's development in a sim-city style and upgrade structures and advanced technology) to a civilization style game (where you compete with other cities on your planet through war or diplomacy) to a colonization game (where you move on to other planets and build colonies and teraform planets with your mutlitool/UFO capable of earning more abilities as you do more) to a galaxy wide God's sandbox game (where you find other life in other solar systems, initiate first contact in warlike or peaceful manner and pretty much do whatever you want from the previous games). Sound huge? It is. And that run-on sentence doesn't touch on the incredible manipulation you can do with the creature/vehicle/building editor or the fact that all other creatures and civilizations you meet are based on other players creations on other computers that you automatically download when online.

This game looks absolutely amazing, and it is due to complex algorhthyms with a minimum of data. Rather then having pre-created creature designs (as most charecter editors in games do) they created a system where you can basically do what you want through stretching and molding. There is no need for presaved models when it is all generated on the spot. Plus, by allowing you to sync up with other player's creations automatically (completely bypassing the need for a browser when accessing player created content) ensures a large number of unique and constantly updating content. I have not been this impressed by a game in a long time.

-Brandon

Slobodan Milosevic is Dead

2006-03-12T02:27:00.000-06:00

And oddly enough, this is a sad thing. The man was a monster. Arguably one of the worst human being to be alive during my lifetime. His death protects others involved in the genocide he contributed to and to make matters worse, it appears in might have been due to deliberate neglect on the part of those holding him. Death is to kind for this man, he should have been forced to live longer and see the world see him as a monster. He should have been put in a position where he had to betray his political allies. He should have had to live through decades of no allies and no friends before he was forced to die.

Slobodan Milosevic is dead, and his death is a sadness. The man deserved more pain before he went away.

-Brandon

What a stupid fucking video

2006-03-04T02:13:00.000-06:00

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4313772690011721857

Someone apparently thought they were being clever by creating this "What if Microsoft made the IPod" video. However, all I can tell is that they are mocking Microsoft for providing information on the product on the outside of the box. What the hell is the problem here? Should companies cease providing important info on the product they are buying? "Oh gee, what ever shall we do now that sinister companies have stolen our unnecessary pretty pictures and replaced them with important product info." I hate stupid hipsters who value image over practicality.

-Brandon

60's Psychedelia

2006-02-26T12:21:00.000-06:00

I've been listening to a compilation someone suggested to me called "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era" that is outstanding. I'm only vaguely acquinted with psychadelia. I used to listen to it a little on NPR on certain weeknights but they no longer do that, and I no longer listen to the radio anyway. This compilation is outstanding. Every song is great and it has prompted me to look into other work by some of these artists.

-Brandon

System of The World: Photographed

2006-02-23T05:57:00.000-06:00

There is an outstanding set of photos online of the Tower of London and how specifically it related to a lengthy and important battle scene in Neal Stephenson's "The System of the World:" the last book in his "Boroque Cycle." If you haven't read the series, you should, it is definatly one of my favorites and probably Stephenson's best (which is saying something, as the man is an outstanding author).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/notlikecalvin/sets/72057594068198516/

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=tower+of+london&ll=51.5081,-0.0761&spn=0.002063,0.005348&t=h

-Brandon

We made a Moonshtah

2006-01-24T14:14:00.000-06:00

A bunch of friends and I got together to make a snowman at 2 in the morning. It turned into a 4 decker monstrosity that looks like something out of "The Thing."

on the left are Brock and me (on my knees) on the right is Tim peeking over David's head.

The second face on his hip.

The monstrisity in its entirity

All photos are courtesy of Brock Muench

-Brandon

The Slanket!

2006-01-22T16:32:00.000-06:00

I need this so bad. It's so hard trying to read or play games while protecting yourself from the cold. The Slanket is the best idea ever.
http://www.theslanket.com/

-Brandon

More trailer reposts

2006-01-18T03:31:00.000-06:00

Haven't posted in a while. I've been going through Apple's movie trailers and came across a few more films I'm looking forward to.

Tristam Shandy - A Cock and Bull Story looks strange, and very often that's all it takes to get my interest.

While it has been out for a little while, I'm just now seeing the trailer for The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada. I'm defiantly curious, although I've heard nothing about it outside of this trailer.

Superman is most definitely going to be a fun summer movie. I certainly have more hope for it then X3 even if X-Men 2 was really well done. I've always been okay with the decision to leave Beast out of the films because it would be impossible to have him not look stupid as a real life man in costume. Case in point - Kelsey Grammer looks like an ass. I will admit to being intrigued by the addition of the very recent Mutant Cure plotline used in the very recent Astonishing X-Men storyline. We'll see how it goes.

I'm a sucker for drama/suspense like Cache. If the plotholes aren't too huge, and the suspense is actually suspensefull, It's going to be something I'll enjoy.

Mission Impossible 3 is going to be great. I've become an obsessive Lost fan, and I know Abrams has the perfect twisty plot writing style to pull off a decent MI movie. Plus anything with Philip Seymore Hoffman is going to attract my interest. I still haven't seen Capote, but it's coming to the University theatre in March, so I'll have my time.

Thank You For Smoking isn't the most original concept. Placing a completely vile man as the main character in order to learn how truly evil what he represents is. It's not exactly subtle, but that doesn't mean it won't be funny or entertaining.

I almost wish that the trailer for Bubble didn't come with a description as I love the pure nonsensical and slightly creepy nature of the trailer. That alone makes me want to see the film.

Manderlay looks like just the sort of artsy film that I could enjoy. The trailer looks like the film was directed for the worlds largest stage and the dull colors and pitch black background look so cool on a film that is sure to be depressing.

The Poseidon Adventure was such an amazingly fun film. I still watch it whenever I see is on TV. So I'm at the very least curious about the upcoming remake titled "Poseidon." It looks pretty terrible, but I can't help but be curious.

Although the trailer doesn't look like anything special the 5 minute clip from Casanova does make me curious. It may be something worth renting.

There are always a few films I want to see purely because they look the perfect most entertaining variety of terrible. The Hills Have Eyes looks like a winner. Low budget horror about mutants in the long abandoned desert accidentally stumbled upon by random stereotypical middle class family on a roadtrip. Now who is it that there are maintained roads leading right into radioactive wasteland? Even the worst SciFi has given up on the concept that radioactivity creates monsters. It may cause defects but one eyed fetuses are hardly monster movie material without another threat backing them up.

I also look forward to anything with Uwe Boll's name on it. This man is a master artisan of terrible science fiction. Plus he's the first director I've ever heard of who's craft is devoted solely to video game adaptations. How he keeps getting movie deals amazes me, but I hope it never stops. Bloodrayne was a video game with a ridiculous but fun premise as a Nazi killing half vampire who sliced people with giant blades attached to her wrist. Who better to make the film adaptation? Oh wait, he set it in the wrong century. Well, that removes half the charm of the games premise. Nazi killing never gets a frown. Ah well, I'm sure Uwe Boll's film is sure to surprise no one and be completely and wonderfully awful.

And, although I won't feel any need to see this film, I feel a need to comment on it, because its mere existence infuriates me to no end. In case you haven't heard, Flight 93 is a film about what went on aboard the airplane that was hijacked September 11th but never made it to its intended destination. The thing is, no one knew what went on during that flight beyond the actions of the pilots and the facts that the plane was hijacked, and that there was supposedly resistance from passengers after they learned of the 9/11 attacks via cell phones. The film is supposed to be an accurate recounting of everything that occurred on the plane. But due to a lack of knowledge this can be nothing but a complete and total fabrication. Their claims to accuracy are in reality only one thing, a complete and blatant attempt to profit off of September 11th. It is an attempt to make money off of the tragically dead. Should they be stopped from making this film? No, they absolutely have the right to do it. But it is in no way respectable art. It's pure market driven trash that has less merit then the hundreds of cliched romantic dramedys and shitty teen comedies these same fuckers poor out year after year. If there is one movie I hope completely and totally bombs this year, this is it. It deserves none of the money they are hoping for.

-Brandon

Silly people

2005-12-09T16:45:00.000-06:00

Well, didn't take me long to find misinformation within the new Windows Live Local. Apparently Brucemore is now the Hoover Birthplace national historic trust which, as I recall, isn't even in Cedar Rapids. They aren't even in the same county.

Google and Yahoo got it right.

-Brandon

Southpark me

2005-12-09T03:38:00.000-06:00

http://spstudio.elena.hosting-friends.de/sp-studio.swf

I don't know why. Just because.

-Brandon

Discoveries

2005-12-01T00:47:00.000-06:00

I woke from a very early sleep at about 9pm today with a huge cramp in my left calf. This is not a pleasant feeling. I spent a few seconds trying to figure out what was going on, and the next minute or so swearing as I tried to will the charlie horse away.

A coworker lent me The Mothers of Invention - Freak Out. I haven't listened to much Frank Zappa. What I had before this I didn't care for. I didn't hate it, I just couldn't get into it. This album has made me curious again. Very wierd, and very fun.

-Brandon

Wow

2005-12-01T00:14:00.000-06:00

Mitch Clem, author of Nothing Nice to Say has made a really outstanding strip on the sexism still rampant in todays music.

-Brandon

Soundtrack of Life... Again

2005-11-26T19:17:00.000-06:00

Because I'm bored and I listen to different stuff then when I did this months ago I've remade a "Soundtrack to my life."

*Your Life: The Soundtrack*
Opening credits:	The Books - Take Time
Waking up:	The Books - Tokyo
Average day:	Brian Eno and David Byrne - America is Waiting
First date:	Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher
Falling in love:	Blur - Sing
Love scene:	Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity
Fight scene:	Death From Above 1979 - Cold War
Breaking up:	Devotchka - Such a Lovely Thing
Getting back together:	Scissor Sisters - Get it Get it
Secret love:	The Herbalizer - Song for Mary
Life's okay:	Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Mental breakdown:	Pilotdrift - Elephant Island
Driving:	Hot Hot Heat - In Cairo
Learning a lesson:	The Go! Team - Friendship Update
Deep thought:	Fiery Furnaces - Quay Cur
Flashback:	Jon Brion - Phone Call
Partying:	LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is Playing at my House
Happy dance:	The Go! Team - Feel Good by Numbers
Regreting:	Super Furry Animals - Run! Christian, Run!
Long night alone:	Madlib - Montara
Death scene:	Jon Brion - Over Our Head
Closing credits:	The Moldy Peaches - Jorge Regula
Take this survey \| Find more surveys You've been totally Bzoink*d

-Brandon

Ze Frank is a funny funny man.

2005-11-21T00:19:00.000-06:00

Love Letter to Condi
Dramatization of Spam
Valentine's day monologue
Cause
Pre-date confidence booster
Design Rejection Therapy
Important Life Lessons

-Brandon

Fiery Furnaces Kick Ass

2005-11-19T13:43:00.000-06:00

I don't care what everybody else says, Rehearsing my Choir is out-fucking-standing. On par with Blueberry Boat. The Fiery Furnaces have my complete and total respect. They are probably my current favorite still active band.

-Brandon

I just lost the game.

2005-11-10T22:59:00.000-06:00

1. To know The Game is to play The Game. One can never stop playing.
2. To think of The Game is to lose The Game.
3. When one loses The Game, one must announce to all present that one has lost. (For example, "I just lost The Game!", or "I thought about The Game." or simply, "I lost.")

I'm posting this everywhere I can. You can't not play the game.

-Brandon

2005-11-10T20:19:00.000-06:00

Well. Public support for the president is lower then it has ever been before. What's caused the loss of support? Is it his awful foreign policy? No. Is it the massive defecit? No. Is it budget cuts for vital domestic programs? No. Is it his bigoted and backwards religious views? No. It's rising gas prices and natural disasters, two things he has little or no control over. People are so fucking stupid.

-Brandon

Operation Eden

2005-11-04T02:46:00.000-06:00

This blog has beautiful photgraphy and commentary of post-Katrina Lousiana and Missippi. I'm reminded of a complaint from Steven about how he was bothered by someone in his class remarking at the beauty of Katrina destruction photos. I couldn't remark on the quality of those photos, as I wasn't there, but if they were beautiful I can't imagine why it shouldn't be talked about. I'm always sort of bothered by the idea of any sort of art, statement or joke being "too soon." If something is pretty, interesting, or funny, it deserves the credit for being so. Regardless of context these photographs are outstanding. If anything their association with the disaster adds to their effect.

More photos by Clayton Cubitt are available here.

-Brandon

Mocking Jack Chick never gets old.

2005-11-02T03:01:00.000-06:00

Hilarious anti-goth Chick tract parody.
http://www.epsilonminus.com/godhatesthescene/
If you don't know who Jack Chick is, you should probably check out some of his mind numbingly ignorant comics. Some (like myself) find them hilarious. Others are merely shocked that this sort of thing exists.

A few suggestions for Chick newbies
-Good deeds don't get you into heaven.
-Muslims are damned as well.
-Apparently hell isn't one big party.
-Public education is damning children to hell as well.
-Those who don't support Israel are damned as well. Apparently the reason that so many African nations are in such dire situations is becaue they don't support Israel. Supposedly England is now in danger of the same fate.

-Brandon

Theme Punks

2005-11-01T02:23:00.000-06:00

I first discovered Cory Doctorow because I saw Eastern Standard Tribe (or read it online here) on the recent arrivals rack at my local library. I grabbed it purely because the cover was well designed and I've had good luck judging books by their covers (it provides a good way to find new authors). It was pretty good. The central story wasn't great but some of the sociological and technical ideas involved within were really clever. I finished it and quickly forgot his name, until I got hooked on BoingBoing. Boing Boing is one of many blogs out there that regurgitate links they recieve. It is also one of the more popular blogs of this sort. It's a hub of sorts so other blogs that do exactly the same thing (myself included) can re-re-link what they liked. Cory Doctorow is 1/3 of BoingBoing and provides a strong copyleft viewpoint in a lot of his posts. Most of his work is available online, as well as in print and he allows people to do other projects based off of, and using his work (something I have a lot of respect for). I've since read other works by him, and it's my opinion that he is one of a few thought provoking Science Fiction authors left. While most Sci Fi authors write mindless action with little of the inteligence of the stories published decades ago, Cory Doctorow is writing thought provoking clever works, and better yet, he makes them all freely available online.

There was recently a link on BoingBoing to a novella he has been writing for Salon. Themepunks is a really good speculative Sci Fi at the next big revolution in business. There is some interesting comparison between the decline of industrialism and its effect on communities (primarily Detroit) and a possible similiar decline of technological service based economy. The likilihood of all this is debatable, but that is hardly the point. It's an intelligent, and entertaining look at the near future. The nature of the story probably won't have much timelessness unless it proves prophetic, but it is very interesting in the now. Read it if you have the time. I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment.

-Brandon

Pity me

2005-10-31T22:10:00.000-06:00

If it turns out I'm wrong, and there truly is a God. The fucker's gonna pay. Any intelligent being who would create something as vile as the common cold deserves no worship. I'll hunt God down myself and make the bastard taste my snot. Due punishment for being forced to hack up phlegm all day. He's gonna rue the day I die and he has to deal with me.

On a slightly related note. I don't know if it really helps my immune system or if it is simply hippy propaganda, but Naked Juice is goddamn delicious. Why has it taken this long for someone to figure out how to bottle a smoothie? Sure it's a tad pricey, but it is totally worth it. Plus they list the ingredients and measurements to make your own! Talk about unconventional marketing.

-Brandon

Brandon is a Nerd

2005-10-23T05:15:00.001-05:00

Now that my money flow is more stable. I've been using some of my spare cash from tip sharing to keep up on some comic series. Most recently, Brian Michael Bendis has single handedly dragged my attention back to the Marvel Universe. This is something that hasn't happened since Middle School. Alias was so well done, I had to continue with Pulse, and when I learned he was also writing Ultimate Spiderman (My childhood favorite Superhero) I knew I had to pick that up too. I soon learned he'd written a little Ultimate XMen as well. From there, I've become immersed in the ultimate universe. I'm working on catching up with the Ultimates (I've read the first 13 and am already in love with it). Because the Ultimate universe is more directed towards older audiences (About time Marvel!), the author's personal politics tend to shine through to their series a bit more. Nick Fury is made into a respectable figure of sorts, and the author seems to advocate the policing of global affairs through whatever force is necessary. The contradictory nature of Professor Xaviar's pacifism through violent enforcement is focused upon heavily in XMen. Professor X's character is far less saintly then he's appeared in the past. It's a very nice touch.

Outside of Marvel, I've also discovered Powers, after my dive into Marvel's ultimate universe. This is another Brian Michael Bendis series and it makes his work in the Marvel universe look pathetic. Powers is a great story with simple cartoony artwork that I absolutely love. The series frequently uses very original and clever layouts (something I've found myself noticing more and more the past couple years). This is definitely work to aspire to.

I'm also hooked on Robert Kirkman's "Walking Dead." I love zombie horror when it's done right. The first two Romero movies are perfect. A great zombie film should focus on the psychological and social status of the survivors, not the mindless masses outside. Kirkman does this wonderfully. He uses a fairly predictable formula of terrible disaster followed by wonderful miracle which eventually leads to the next terrible disaster. It works well to keep the characters psychologically damaged enough to change, but hopeful enough to carry on. His main character is undergoing some interesting changes in ethics as he becomes more and more responsible for the group of survivors. My only complaint about Kirkman's writing is that he relies far too much and totally improbable occurrences but it is unimportant enough to not detract from the story.

Bill Willingham's "Fables" is another great series. It's the story of a bunch of characters out of European folklore who have fled their homeland and set up a small community in New York. Don't let the fairy tale characters put you off. This is not a series for kids. It's very dark and deals commonly with violence, sex, and various other taboo subject matters. The story is usually unpredictable, and even when you can see it coming, the process of getting there is entertaining enough to make it not matter. My biggest complaint is the issues are just too damn short.

Warren Ellis's "Desolation Jones" has only had three issues so far. Releases are slow and issues are short, which is very VERY frustrating because this series is so well done. Warren Ellis has a sick sense of humor that has yet to get old. Transmetropolitan was great, and "Global Frequency" makes for fun and short adventure Sci. Fi. His newest series, "Fell", is creepy, surreal, and hilarious, plus each issue is designed to stand alone. The first issue should still be on the shelves. I am quickly coming to believe that whatever this guy touches is gold.

-Brandon

Comments

2005-10-23T05:15:00.000-05:00

I'm turning word verification on comments backoff . It's annoying and stupid. I'm sure you are smart enough to figure out what's spam and what isn't if you happen to catch it before I do.-Brandon

Musical Brandon

2005-10-23T04:38:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I've discussed music here, and since I am always listening to something when I'm home (and sometimes when I'm out), it seems an appropriate topic.

I've been listening to the "Best Best of Fela Kuti" quite a bit lately. I'm sort of ashamed that I haven't discovered this apparently legendary musician sooner. This stuff is great. Nice jazzy instrumentals with pretty repetitive vocals that add to the rhythm and melody.

I've also been thoroughly enjoying the "Stubbs the Zombie" soundtrack. It's a mixture of 50's and 60's bubblegum pop songs covered by an assortment of Indie and alternative bands. It's really fun, particularly if you are like me and love covers.

I'm also enjoying the new Atmosphere album. It's a huge improvement over his "7even's Travels". The backing music is great, and the lyrics are very enjoyable.

During a semi-recent Atmosphere show I attended I got to see two other MC's (opening) who I am also currently listening to heavily. Blueprint and RJD2's collaboration "8 Million Stories" as "Soul Position" is outstanding. Fun and clever lyrics and beautiful instrumentals make for a near perfect album. And POS's album "Ipecac Neat" has some more entertaining Hip Hop. A few song's lyrics fall flat, but for the most part, the CD is very entertaining.

Wolf Parade's debut album "Apologies to Queen Mary" is amazing. The vocals remind me of early Modest Mouse. This is backed by complex keyboard dominated instrumentals. I hope to hear more from these guys in the future.

Danger Doom's (Danger Mouse and MF Doom) "The Mouse and the Mask;" Adult Swim themed album is also very good. Surprisingly, the theme doesn't grow old and the dialogue between songs has yet to grow old. I'd say that Meatwad's cover of MF Doom's "MMM Food" is downright adorable.

-Brandon

Diesel Sweeties - 50 states, 50 slogans

2005-10-18T22:54:00.000-05:00

http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive.php?s=1310

That is all.

-Brandon

Presidents of the United States of America apparently still exist.

2005-10-18T15:31:00.000-05:00

The minds behind "Peaches" "Lump" and my personal favorite "Kitty" have released a music video made entirely with camera phones. The video looks awesome. Pity the song is kinda mediocre. It isn't terrible, just mediocre. Actually, in retrospect, so was all their other music.

-Brandon

I know Jack Thompson was nuts, but not this nuts.

2005-10-13T09:32:00.000-05:00

Apparently Jack Thompson ran against Janet Reno for district attorney of Wade County in 1988. During his campaign he claimed that Reno was a closer lesbian and because of this she was apparently a prime target for blackmail and thus couldn't be trusted. He also made the claim that she was suffering from some form of "Parkinsons dementia"that made her act crazy and play steel drums in her office at night with a pitchfork.
CRAZY!

The wikipedia article on Thompson has all sorts of fun tidbits as well.

As well as propagating the "video games made me do it" defense, Thompson has also attempted to predict which violent crimes will be caused by specific video games; in the Washington Sniper case, he was the first individual to suggest to the press that video games may have been the source of the sniper's skills, a conjecture vindicated by the discovery of a ubiquitous PlayStation in the van used as a "mobile hideout" by the two men responsible. Dateline NBC reported that Malvo "trained" extensively on the Xbox game Halo. Because of this report, Thompson believes that "Microsoft should be sued and held liable for money damages by the victims of the Beltway Snipers." [6] It is important to note, however, that John Allen Muhammad was a former soldier with significant rifle training, as predicted by the police, and that Lee Boyd Malvo's shooting skills could have easily been the result of instruction by Muhammad.

I remember being outraged that anyone honestly believed you could learn to shoot from a FPS game at the time. I was not aware of who had started the rumors.

In one of a series of "video game violence" interviews by CBS, he compared Doug Lowenstein of the Entertainment Software Association to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, although the response has since been edited [12]. Months thereafter, Thompson instead compared Lowenstein to Adolf Hitler, in a wordy personal attack nominally veiled as an open letter [13]. In the June 2005 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Thompson was interviewed and again discussed Lowenstein, this time implying he was worse than Saddam Hussein.

On July 22, 2005, after the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas case was settled, Thompson sought after The Sims 2, citing, oxymoronically, that "This is no different than what is in San Andreas, although worse.", due to the availability of a mod that removes the censorship fields from all characters when they are nude, which he says allows "pedophiles" to see computer-rendered nude children [15]. In another instance, he claimed "Sims 2, the latest version of the Sims video game franchise...contains, according to video game news sites, full frontal nudity, including nipples, penises, labia, and pubic hair." He added an accusation that Electronic Arts (EA) and Maxis were cooperating with the mod community to "peddle vile smut to minors."

In reality, even with the "blur" removed, The Sims 2 contains no such details; the characters have no visible reproductive organs or pubic hair whatsoever, similar to children's dolls, and female models lack both nipples and areolae. Thompson further accused EA and Will Wright of supporting adult custom content specifically. In reality, Will Wright has historically supported all user-created game content universally, on the principle of endorsing personal creativity, innovation, and personalization. Although there are user-created content packages available on the Internet many would consider adult material, they are neither created nor specifically endorsed by Maxis or EA and thus are not a factor in the ESRB's rating of the software.

Although I was aware of this. What I wasn't aware of was that his entire attack against Sims began with a GTA modder deliberatly misinforming him to see if he would act on the information without doing his own research. Apparently he did. He later did an interview with Chatterbox radio (a show I remember listening to) in which he retracts some of his statements but still claims that the Sims is somehow worse then GTA. He goes on to say that by supporting a mod community, gamemakers lose their rights to defend their copyright.

* He has been commonly accused of, and many times proven to, use half-truths and misinformation to persuade others to accept his views.
* He frequently utilizes ad hominem attacks and slanderous "low blows" against those who disagree with him, as well as simply insulting his detractors, be they politely-worded or otherwise, with a variety of invectives.
* He frequently will either imply or blatantly insult those that express dissenting opinions as being mentally ill, mentally deficient, brain damaged, or on drugs.
* Accusations by him that those he disagrees with suffer from Tourette's syndrome, made without any substantiating proof or even the suggested condition's relevancy to the subject being discussed, are especially common.
* He has ignored individuals who point out factual errors or misstatements made by him and who supply substantiating proof or references, or has responded with the above described behaviors while intentionally failing to acknowledge or respond to the individual's mention of his (Thompson's) errors.
* He has provoked several people who have e-mailed him by telling them that they should enter treatment facilities. When they respond to his comments, he invokes the protection of the Florida Cyberstalker Law and threatened legal action against them. He will not hesitate to threaten legal action against people replying to negative and often hateful emails which he himself sent in the first place.
* He often invokes broad negative stereotypes against gamers in general. For example, in an e-mail correspondence with Scott Ramsoomair, he questions: "HOnestly [sic], are all of you gamers on drugs, or what?"[23]. In a correspondence with Ryan Acheson (Gaming writer for The Horror Channel’s Dread Central), where Ryan Acheson is supporting Thompson's intentions to make games rate M inaccesible to children, he identifies "gamers' ideas" as "the latest oxymoron"[24].

And apparently buddy icons can be percieved as death threats.

All this I've found recently from reading about Jack Thompson's latest offer to donate $10,000 to a charity of Paul Eibeler's (Take-Two Interactive) choice if someone makes a game where you play as a father who goes on a murdering spree of gaming figureheads to avenge the violent death of his family.

The video game industry says Sticks and stones can break my bones, but games can never hurt me. Fine. I have a modest proposal for the video game industry. I'll write a check for $10,000 to the favorite charity of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc's chairman, Paul Eibeler - a man Bernard Goldberg ranks as #43 in his book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America - if any video game company will create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006 like the following:

Osaki Kim is the father of a high school boy beaten to death with a baseball bat by a 14-year-old gamer. The killer obsessively played a violent video game in which one of the favored ways of killing is with a bat. The opening scene, before the interactive game play begins, is the Los Angeles courtroom in which the killer is sentenced "only" to life in prison after the judge and the jury have heard experts explain the connection between the game and the murder.

Osaki Kim (O.K.) exits the courtroom swearing revenge upon the video game industry whom he is convinced contributed to his son's murder. "Vengeance is mine, I will repay" he says. And boy, is O.K. not kidding.

O.K. is provided in his virtual reality playpen a panoply of weapons: machetes, Uzis, revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, Molotov cocktails, you name it. Even baseball bats. Especially baseball bats.

O.K. first hops a plane from LAX to New York to reach the Long Island home of the CEO of the company (Take This) that made the murder simulator on which his son's killer trained. O.K. gets "justice" by taking out this female CEO, whose name is Paula Eibel, along with her husband and kids. "An eye for an eye," says O.K., as he urinates onto the severed brain stems of the Eibel family victims, just as you do on the decapitated cops in the real video game Postal2.

O.K. then works his way, methodically back to LA by car, but on his way makes a stop at the Philadelphia law firm of Blank, Stare and goes floor by floor to wipe out the lawyers who protect Take This in its wrongful death law suits. "So sue me" O.K. spits, with singer Jackson Brown's 1980's hit Lawyers in Love blaring.

With the FBI now after him, O.K. keeps moving westward, shooting up high-tech video arcades called GameWerks. "Game over," O.K. laughs.

Of course, O.K. makes the obligatory runs to virtual versions of brick and mortar retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-Mart to steal supplies and bludgeon store managers and cash register clerks. "You should have checked kids' IDs!"

O.K. pushes on to Los Angeles. He must get there by May 10, 2006. That is the beginning of "E3" -- the Electronic Entertainment Expo -- the Super Bowl of the video game industry. O.K. must get to E3 to massacre all the video game industry execs with one final, monstrously delicious rampage.

How about it, video game industry? I've got the check and you've got the tech. It's all a fantasy, right? No harm can come from such a game, right? Go ahead, video game moguls. Target yourselves as you target others. I dare you.

What a jackass. I hope someone makes it.

And one last amusing link before I take off.
http://croqaudile.com/?article_id=10299

-Brandon

SPOILERS!!!

2005-10-09T15:18:00.000-05:00

At the end of Serenity, Captain Kirk dies.

-Brandon

Ha!

2005-10-03T16:26:00.000-05:00

Nothing warms my heart like a chance to shout "I fucking told you so.".
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-1798944-2,00.html

On a totally unrelated subject. National Geographics Wildcam is awesome. I've been sitting by my pc, reading, with this running and looking over from time to time. It's such a cool idea, and there's something captivating about watching and listening to it.

-Brandon

Lackluster conclusion to wierd IM

2005-09-27T23:55:00.000-05:00

[18:57] SNRemoved: im srry.im tryin to find starses adresses.i dont have many friends and i wnt some stars as friends.u dont know me so i dnt wnt u to think im hacking or anything.i did read ur link.srry for any inconveinince
[18:57] *** Auto-response sent to SNRemoved: If you are the guy who keeps asking if I am from some Disney Channel TV show I have a message for you at the link below.

Feel free to respond here or on my blog. I eagerly await your answer.
http://tsgarp.blogspot.com/2005/09/message-to-guy-who-thinks-i-am-from.html

Ok, apparently he hasn't made an attempt to improve his grammar. If anything, it's now worse.

I can't decide whether the message itself is sad or hilarious. Apparently he really is randomly messaging people in the hopes that they are one of the few stars he is looking for. Listen kid, this is not the way to go about finding friends. The internet should not be your primary source for social interaction. Messaging strangers in the hope that you can become friends with them is not only foolish, its dangerous. If you have trouble finding friends in real life, it probably has something to do with how you act. When I was in elementary school I didn't have many friends either. At the time, I thought it was something to do with poor luck or the world being unfair. In reality I either didn't socialize with people, or when I did, it was me having emotional outbursts that either led to me being mocked, or avoided. If you don't have friends, try talking to people in real life. No one is going to take you seriously if you just search randomly for friends online. And no one online is going to take you seriously if you can't write properly.

-Brandon

A message to the guy who thinks I am from "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody"

2005-09-27T02:11:00.000-05:00

I've received a few perplexing messages this week. Unfortunately he/she is gone by the time I find them. This is understandable. I've been out quite a bit and I've been leaving my PC on to share downloaded files.

[19:47] FakeScreenName: im not tryin to hack but my friend thinks ur from the suite life of zack and cody.am i correct?
[19:47] *** Auto-response sent to FakeScreenName: I am currently away from the computer.

and

[20:29] FakeScreenName: are u from the suite life of zack and cody?
[20:29] *** Auto-response sent to FakeScreenName:...

What confused me first was just poor sentence structure. It's typical internet kiddie stuff, like no caps and "ur". Then I was trying to figure out who Zack and Cody were and if I was ever friends with them. Was I part of their sweet (I mistook suite as a weird misspelling of sweet) life? A friend had to inform me that "Suite life of Zack and Cody" (see the capitalization there buddy? and those quotes help me to differentiate a title from the rest of the sentence) was in fact a Disney channel TV show.

Now I want to know a few things. First of all, why does said kid suspect me of being part of this show? Second of all, does this kid really think that he/she is hacking by asking random people personal questions?

Now, perhaps the actor or actress he/she thinks I am, is in fact a very large fan of Stalin, and this being a rare occurrence, could likely suspect that someone with the SN StalinFan101 was the sought after actor and not someone who takes too much enjoyment out of the unlikely idea that anyone would be his fan. Doesn't seem too likely, but you never know.

I'm posting a link to this post in my away message so that the next time he/she contacts me I can perhaps get an answer to some of these questions.

If you are the person asking my, and you haven't understood, I am not who you think I am. Although I would also be curious if you could tell me the name of the actor or actress you have mistaken me for. As an added bonus I have decided to correct your atrocious grammar in the hopes that you will one day successfully master the English language. I'm not looking for perfection (I certainly don't have it) but an attempt at presentation would be nice.

[19:47] FakeScreenName: im not tryin to hack but my friend thinks ur from the suite life of zack and cody.am i correct?

Should read...

[19:47] FakeScreenName: I'm not tryin to hack but my friend thinks you're from the "Suite Life of Zack and Cody." Am I correct?

-Brandon

Spam

2005-09-08T02:38:00.000-05:00

This spam is simultaneously amusing and annoying. It's apparent that it only pops up on new posts. Blogger seemed to do a decent job of blocking it before but somebody found a way around it. I don't want to turn off the ability to comment anonymously, as I don't think people should be forced to make a blogger accound if they want to comment. So I won't. So far the amount of spam I get hadn't exceded 10 comments on a post, so it isn't a huge deal to delete.

-Brandon

Christ...

2005-09-08T02:07:00.000-05:00

If half of the things in this boing boing post are true, someone in charge needs to be brought down. There are all sorts of scary stories popping up about negligence in the part of government workers. If authorities aren't even able to keep the astrodome under control, something needs (probably someone) needs to change.

-Brandon

2005-09-01T17:22:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure why but I find the fact that Amazon sells bologna incredibly amusing.

In totally unrelated news, Broken Flowers is awesome. The movie relies heavily on subtle actions in order to define each charecter and Jarmusch does such a good job at making sure the viewer notices it. Bill Murray plays pretty much the same role he has had for the last few movies. Which isn't necessarily good or bad. The camerawork is beautiful and the pacing is slow and relaxing without getting boring.

-Brandon

Upcoming concerts I am going to/want to see.

2005-09-01T12:21:00.000-05:00

4-Sep Tell Julia Gabe's Oasis, IC

20-Sep Atmosphere Scope Ballroom,IC

22-Sep Tilly and The Wall Gabe's Oasis, IC

7-Oct Fiery Furnaces Chicago

26-Nov Andrew Bird w/Head of Femur Chicago

-Brandon

2005-08-18T16:24:00.000-05:00

I've been catching up on the trailers at apple. Like usual, there are a few upcoming films that you couldn't drag me too. As well as a few others that look awful, but I will probably enjoy despite/because of their quality.

I'm pretty hyped up about Jarhead. Plus this trailer got me hooked on Kanye West's "Jesus Walks."

I think that Lord of War looks awesome. It seems like a fun and intentionally rediculous action. And cliche as it may be, I always love me a good anti-hero.

Surprisingly, Oliver Twist looks pretty good too. I am not a fan of the story, or anything Dicken's for that matter, but I am curious.

And as a huge fan of City of God I'm also pretty excited about The Constant Gardener.

King Kong looks like it might be a winner as well. I'll definatly fork over some cash to see it.

I'm not quite sure how it will be, but I am curious about Everything is Illuminated.

The new Serenity trailer has me even more excited then the first one.

School starts next week. I am not looking forward to it.

-Brandon

Atmosphere coming to IC

2005-08-14T17:05:00.000-05:00

+08.09.2005+ ATMOSPHERE: POUR ME ANOTHER TOUR PRESS RELEASE

ATMOSPHERE: POUR ME ANOTHER TOUR 2005

- Tuesday, August 9, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Atmosphere will go back on the road in support of their new album You Can’t Imagine How Much Fun We’re Having due in-stores on October 4, 2005. The Pour Me Another Tour will feature Atmosphere, Blueprint, DJ Rare Groove and P.O.S & Turbo Nemesis.

Atmosphere started out 2005 by performing eight sold out shows in a row at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis for the CD reissue of Headshots: Se7en beating the original (five) sold out shows record held by the Replacements in 1986. On January 21, Atmosphere joined the lineup on the Big Day Out Tour of Australia and New Zealand along with artists: Beastie Boys, System of a Down, Slipknot, The Streets and more. Starting March 1 in Madison, WI Atmosphere hit the road in the U.S for their two-month tour that sold out 49 of the 52 shows.

The Pour Me Another Tour takes on 56 shows in 66 days. Atmosphere will kick things off with two intimate exclusive shows in Duluth, MN at Luce before starting the official tour in Cleveland, OH on September 13, 2005 at House of Blues. The tour features two music festival dates, September 16 at CMJ Music Marathon and October 29 at the Las Vegoose festival in Las Vegas, NV. Also, it’s been over a year since Atmosphere has played in Canada, this tour we return for seven shows. The tour starts one month from today- imagine the fun…

09/09- Duluth, MN @ Luce (w/ out Blueprint)
09/10- Duluth, MN @ Luce (w/ out Blueprint)
09/13- Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
09/14- Buffalo, NY @ Buffalo Icon
09/15- New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place
09/16- New York, NY @ CMJ Music Marathon
09/18- Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
09/19- Bloomington, IN @ Rhino’s
09/20- Iowa City, IA @ Scope Memorial Ballroom
09/22- Omaha, NE @ Sokol Ballroom
09/23- Menomonie, WI @ University of WI Stout
09/24- Fargo, ND @ Playmaker’s Pavilion
09/26- Bozeman, MT @ Zebra Lounge
09/27- Missoula, MT @ University of Montana
09/28- Calgary, AB @ Mac Ewan Hall
09/29- Edmonton, AB @ Red’s
09/30- Saskatoon, SK @ Louis’ Pub (U of S)
10/01- Winnipeg, MB @ Ramada Marlborough
10/04- Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre
10/05- Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
10/06- Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall
10/07- Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
10/08- Toronto, ON @ Opera House
10/10- Montreal, QC @ TBA
10/11- Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
10/12- Providence, RI @ Lupos
10/13- Boston, MA @ The Roxy Theatre
10/14- New York, NY @ TBA
10/15- Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
10/17- Baltimore, MD @ Recher Theatre
10/18- Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
10/19- Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
10/20- Atlanta, GA @ TBA
10/21- Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds
10/22- Orlando, FL @ Pavilion
10/24- New Orleans, LA @ House Of Blues
10/25- Austin, TX @ Emo’s
10/26- Dallas, TX @ Gypsy Ballroom
10/27- Albuquerque, NM @ TBA
10/28- Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee Theatre
10/29- Las Vegas, NV @ Las Vegoose Festival
10/30- Long Beach, CA @ The Vault
11/01- Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre
11/02- San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
11/03- San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
11/04- Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre
11/05- Portland, OR @ Roseland Theatre
11/06- Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
11/07- Seattle, WA @ Showbox Theatre
11/09- Salt Lake City, UT @ Clubland Theater
11/10- Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
11/11- Lawrence, KS @ Granada
11/12- Columbia, MO @ Bluenote Theater
11/13- Madison, WI @ The Orpheum
11/14- Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave
11/15- Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave

Tour updates and ticket information posted in events section at www.rhymesayers.com

-Brandon

2005-08-13T00:03:00.000-05:00

I am having fun making ridiculous mixes. I made a fun covers mix that I enjoy, and seemed to go over well at work. Now I've been inspired by this awesome song, to make a Nerd mix. So far I have:

Mostly Harmless – Start Over
Say Hi to Your Mom – The Fritz
Say Hi to Your Mom – Unless the Laker Game was on
Peanut Butter Wolf – My 2600 – Captain Funkaho
Logan Whitehurst and the Junior Science Crew – Robot Cat
Logan Whitehurst and the Junior Science Crew – Happy Noodle versus Sad Noodle
Logan Whitehurst and the Junior Science Crew – Audubon Society
Logan Whitehurst and the Junior Science Crew – Why Don’t They Call it Art?
Logan Whitehurst and the Junior Science Crew – Volcano Song
They Might be Giants – Istanbul
They Might be Giants – Doctor Worm
They Might be Giants - Particle Man
They Might be Giants - A series of “Planet of the Apes” inspired songs(Debating these too, mostly here now just to add some time to my mix)
Freezepop – Junior Science Girl
Bullfrog – Reverse Psychology (still debating this one)
Devo – Mongoloid
Moldy Peaches – Nothing Came Out

I’m looking for something by Wesley Willis now, and still trying to think of more to add. Part of me thinks having so many artist repeats might be cheating, but I don't know.

EDIT
Here's the mix I have now. Only thing I'm unhappy with is the beginning of Particle Man really doesn't sound right in transition from any previous song. I don't want to place it first, as I prefer to start with the song that made me want to start this mix in the first place. I could also use some more songs. Other then that, I'm happy with the mix. I still have almost 20 minutes to spare so if anyone has any suggestions, throw them out here.

-Brandon

2005-08-12T16:03:00.000-05:00

Although no one actually reads this anymore, I am going to make an effort to begin regularly posting again.

-Brandon

more photos

2005-07-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

The Go! Team also put on an awesome live show. Their live-only MC Ninja adds fun vocals to their instrumental music and really succeeds at pumping up the crowd. I want a Go! Team album with their new MC. I really wish I could have been closer.

Martin: scanning the crowd

Martin: contemplating life

Waiting for the El

The necessary cliche picture of train tracks.

Some backs of heads I photographed for fun while messing with focus and aperture.

The bearded man you can barely see on stage would open for each band with an awful and nonsensical poem that was intended to be amusing. It was the first couple of times, then it was just wierd.

An interesting phenomenon. As can be expected, the lines for food and drink were really long. There were also booths set up so sponsors could advertise and some political groups could attempt to recruit. One of these was a giant XBox mobile. I never saw any more then 4 people at the Xbox mobile.
A quick shot of the crowds at food and the lack of crowds at the Xbox van right next to them.

-Brandon

Intonation: Diplo

2005-07-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

We camped out Diplo's show 40 minutes before he started. I was sitting on the stage holding a front spot. So I got some pretty decent pictures. His set was awesome, even with the interuption in the middle when they had to replace the mixer and some bizzaare sound problems afterwards.

-Brandon

Intonation was awesome!

2005-07-23T03:26:00.000-05:00

Some Intonation Photos. More to come.

Out Hud
Out Hud
Out Hud
Out Hud
Out Hud
OutHud puts on an awesome live show. I was really lucky to be so close to the stage. I was right in front of the stage left speakers. My hearing was temporarily gone but my photographs turned out awesome.

The masses are assembled
The Crowd at the Out Hud show

Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene was a pretty mediocre live show, but their announcement about a band member getting beaten up by four New York cops for buying weed was certainly surprising. As was the next announcement that they are now sueing the New York police department. The crowd cheered, but the crowd is retarded and would probably cheer at anything.

-Brandon

2005-07-20T00:04:00.000-05:00

I just grabbed this from Martins's blog. I don't know why I enjoy these stupid quiz things, but this one seemed to be fairly accurate. Of course that isn't difficult when there are 126 questions, but it's still fun to do.

Advanced Global Personality Test Results

Extraversion	\|\|	10%
Stability	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Orderliness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	40%
Altruism	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Interdependence	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Intellectual	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Mystical	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Artistic	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Religious	\|\|	10%
Hedonism	\|\|\|\|	16%
Materialism	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Narcissism	\|\|	10%
Adventurousness	\|\|	10%
Work ethic	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Self absorbed	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Conflict seeking	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Need to dominate	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%

Romantic	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Avoidant	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Anti-authority	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Wealth	\|\|\|\|	16%
Dependency	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Change averse	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Cautiousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Individuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Sexuality	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	36%
Peter pan complex	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Physical security	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Physical Fitness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	44%
Histrionic	\|\|	10%
Paranoia	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	63%
Vanity	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	43%
Hypersensitivity	\|\|\|\|\|\|	30%
Female cliche	\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Stability results were moderately low which suggests you are worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious.

Orderliness results were moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment.

Extraversion results were very low which suggests you are extremely reclusive, quiet, unassertive, and secretive.

trait snapshot:
introverted, secretive, messy, depressed, does not like leadership, somewhat nihilistic, observer, does not make friends easily, unassertive, feels invisible, feels undesirable, hates large parties, does not like to stand out, leisurely, suspicious, submissive, abstract, unpredictable, intellectual, likes rain, likes the unknown, negative, weird, not a risk taker, unadventurous, avoidant, strange

I went to Chicago with Martin for the Intonation Music Fest with and stayed with an acquintance from high school. It was a lot of fun, and hopefully I'll have pictures to share in the next couple days.

-Brandon

Doctor Who inspired thoughts

2005-07-11T00:32:00.000-05:00

I've been downloading, watching, and thoroughly enjoying the new Doctor Who. After watching episode 3 (The unquiet dead) I have decided that this world really needs more Victorian era zombie horror.

Thank you

-Brandon

DC loses Alan Moore.

2005-05-24T03:05:00.000-05:00

My respect for Alan Moore has increased a lot today.

First I encountered an interesting interview that Alan Moore did of Brian Eno on a Bittorrent site I frequent. I thought it was an odd combo so I felt compelled to download it. It was apparently from a BBC radio 4 show called Chain Reaction in which a figure from the entertainment industry is interviewed and then has the responsibility of conducting their own interview for the next show. Really neat concept. I tried to find a recording of the show where Alan Moore was interviewed but could only find a clip where he claimed that the Killing Joke was his worst work. Which surprised me, but other statements I've read imply that he finds the whole concept of Batman ridiculous.

Then, today, an article on Boing Boing popped up that claimed that Alan Moore has sworn off DC and has pulled the third volume of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman from the publisher. In fact, the article they link to has a lot more interesting information as well. I knew that he had decided to have his name removed from all film adaptations, but apparently he has refused all money they offer him as well. Through this article I found a transcript of his Chain Reaction interview (without the Killing Joke statements I had listened to earlier)

To make things even more interesting, He was apparently sued by 20th century fox because they felt his LoEG was ripping off some America screenwriter.

From the article -

"after the films came out, I began to feel increasingly uneasy, I have a dwindling respect for cinema as it is currently expressed." This came to a head when Alan Moore was sued as part of a suit against 20th Century Fox for plagiarism of the screenplay "Cast Of Characters" which bore heavy resemblance to the movie version of "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" starring Sean Connery.

From the interview transcript -

So, I said, right, that's it, no more Hollywood films. And if they do make films of my work, then I want my name taken off them and I want all the money given to the artists. I thought, God, that sounds principled (audience laughs) and almost heroic! (audience laughs) Then I got a phone call from Karen Berger the next Monday, she's an editor at DC Comics, and she said, "Yeah, we're going to be sending you a huge amount of money before the end of the year because they're making this film if your Constantine character with Keanu Reeves." I said, "Right, OK. (audience laughs) Well, take my name off of it and distribute my money amongst the other artists. I felt, well, that was difficult, but I did it and I feel pretty good about meself. Then I saw David Gibbons who I had done "Watchmen" with and he was saying, "Oh Alan, guess what, they're making the 'Watchmen' film." And I said, with tears streaming down my face, "Take my name off of it David. (sniffles)" (audience laughs) "You have all the money." Then I got a check for the "V for Vendetta" film. It was just, this was within three days!

Despite his noble efforts. He is still having trouble stopping his name from becoming a Hollywood selling point.
From article -

Earlier in the year, Moore received a call from "V For Vendetta" writer/producer and "Matrix" director Larry Wachowski, but told him politely, "I didn't want anything to do with films and had no time this year, being in the middle of work, my day job, writing, I wasn't interested in Hollywood."

Shortly afterwards, Alan Moore was made aware of a press release sent out covering a press conference producer Joel Silver and the cast had held.

In this press release, Joel Silver, as well as announcing that the release date November the 5th 2005 was the 100th anniversary of Guy Fawkes attempt on Parliament, instead of the 400th anniversary, also said of Alan, "he was very excited about what Larry had to say and Larry sent the script, so we hope to see him sometime before we're in the UK. We'd just like him to know what we're doing and to be involved in what we're trying to do together"

Alan felt, basically, that his name was being used in vain. Not only had he expressed the opposite to Larry, but his endorsement was being used as a selling point for a movie - the reason he'd requested his credit and association be dropped from all of these movies.

Poor guy. I will make it a point not to pay money and add to the box office statistics for any of these upcoming films. Of course, that doesn't mean that my curiosity won't compel me to view them through slightly less legal means.

EDIT A mysterious anonymous person pointed out that I had misread the article. Moore wasn't sued by 20th cen fox. He was sued with them. My mistake. The error above will remain because I don't want to seem like I was hiding the fact I made a mistake.

-Brandon

I think I may be becoming a Uwe Boll Fan

2005-05-18T02:59:00.000-05:00

I loved the SciFi channel when I had access to cable. I really enjoyed watching the awful films they would put on in order to fill up airspace between Star Trek, canceled 80's action shows and their limited original series selection. They were filled with terrible "science" and awful acting. There was something captivating about them. I can't say why exactly. Perhaps it's the comedy value, like an mst3k episode minus the wit (my fault). Or perhaps it's some sort of "I could do better" feeling I get that makes me feel superior to these creators.

I saw House of the Dead a while after it was in theatres. I'd heard about his "brilliant" idea to splice in shots from the video game into action scenes and knew I had to see it. The film was exactly what I love about terrible sci. fi. The acting was atrocious, the plot was filled with holes. The premise alone is enough to get it nominated for a razzie. A bunch of kids go to a rave, on an abandoned island in the middle of the Caribean and are forced to battle their way through hordes of zombies, while ignoring multiple chances for escape. The ending highlight? The hero purposefully zombifies his dead girlfriend so that he doesn't have to lose her. That is wonderfully retarded.

I decided after seeing Rotten Tomatoes 0% rating that I had to see Alone in the Dark. It was so worth it. First of all, the plot only makes the vaguest sort of sense. A crazy historian unleashes demons upon the world, and for some never explained reason he is able to control them. He also has control over a group of grown up orphans with worms surgically implanted onto their spine to make them... um... more... controllable. These are apparently Uwe Boll's interpretation of the creatures who attack you in the video game. That is about the only tie into the classic game that I can figure out. Everything about this movie is terribly done. The soundtrack switches, seemingly randomly, from a nonoffensive simple mood sound that could fit in the background of an Enya song, to hard screaming rock. There is not a decent actor in the entire film. The love interest is supposed to be some 80's sexy librarion stereotype, but the actress only manages to pull off timid moron with glasses. Fortunatly she is a useful charecter. Without her no one would have been able to translate the menacing warning on the ancient cave's walls, "Once you make it down here alive, you're already dead." That is her only useful role in the entire film. The warning later turns out to be meaningless, because down the cave a little farther they find the abandoned laboratory where they put the control worm things into the orphans (unleashing demons on the world isn't evil enough, the bad guy needs to perform experiments on orphans as well). The attempts to be dramatic in this film tend to be far funnier then they are sad. I can say that this is the first film to make me laugh at a dead nun with slit wrists. Or how about the memorable moment when the commander learns that all his men have died for nothing. He shouts something to the effect of "My men have died for nothing." Flips a table, and is okay with it for the rest of the film. Apparently the flipped table made up for the loss of his men. Sorry, I'm rambling, there is just so much about this film. I was captivated from the first fight scene. It was wonderful how every time something broke the movie would go to slow motion. Crash through window? Slow down. Break table? Slow down. Knock over trash can? Slow down. 7 minutes into this film, and I already knew that this would be a winner.

-Brandon

2005-04-20T12:54:00.000-05:00

Quick little addition of sorts to my last post. I was just reading an interview with Aronofsky about "The Fountain." He mentioned that he had met and talked with David Bowie to see if he would possibly work with Clint Mansell on the soundtrack of the new film. Apparently the main charecter's name is Tom, after Space Oddity's hero. What was particularly intersting was this...

The funny thing is that when I went to meet Bowie, one of the first things he said was, “Oh, are you doing Watchmen?" It turned out that he was developing an opera out of Watchmen. I was like, “If I do this film and I fuck it up, I'm going to piss David Bowie off.”

A Bowie written opera based on the Watchmen? I can't tell if that is incredibly awesome or incredibly crazy. I wonder if it is still being worked on.

-Brandon

More Alan Moore to be ruined by Hollywood

2005-04-20T12:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434409/fullcredits#writers

V for Vendetta is apparently being made into a movie. The terrible news is that the directors are the Wachowski's.

There are somethings with that story that I have trouble believing would be acceptable by most major movie studios. What do you want to bet they decide to change the "hero's" pro-anarchy message into something less controversial?

I also worry that they would turn V into a good guy. In the story he was not a good guy. The reader was meant, instead, to see him as one of two opposing evils.

We'll see, I'm currently just making paranoid assumptions and imagining the piece of shit it will be. I'm sure I'll have plenty of real information to discredit it in the future.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409459/
As I may have mentioned earlier, they are also going to ruin Watchmen. I had some hope for this film originally, as I had read that Terry Gilliam was going to attempt it. He eventually bailed though, saying that it would be impossible to make it into a decent movie. The story was simply too long, and it couldn't afford to cut as much as film length would require. He said he might consider it in a 12 part miniseries.

Sometime later Darren Aronofsky picked up the idea, which certainly had me curious, because it is so different then his past projects. Hebailed because of scheduling conflicts with The Fountain. So now the director is Paul Greengrass. Looking at his past projects, I can't get a feeling for how he has done. The only movie that I have seen on that list was Bourne Supremecy. I enjoyed it, and there were certain aspects of how it was shot that I really liked, but one movie really doesn't give me a feel for his overall style.

-Brandon

Manufacturing a Meme

2005-04-04T23:39:00.000-05:00

http://www.thetriforce.com/newblog/?p=53
Alright, this is incredibly cool. A while back a lot of press reported on a new practice called "toothing" in which people would participate in random sexual encounters by contacting people through blue tooth devices. Apparently it was a hoax. The original "Toothing" forum was created, and all posts were written by a few people. They then submitted it to a few major blogs and it took off.

In March of last year two of us were idly messaging about the Stan Collymore dogging scandal, and how this stupid sexual buzzword had (apparently) come from nowhere. We wondered if we could create our own. We wonder a lot of things, and rarely push them past concept, because we’re as collectively creative as we are frustratingly idle. This particularly concept was simple enough to outstrip the temptations of grinning, saying, “Yeahhhhh”, and wandering off to see what was on TV. Merging dogging with Bluejacking, a tech buzzword that had done the rounds a few months earlier, we came up with the idea of Toothing, defined as using bluetooth-equipped mobile phones to find sexual partners in public places.

Despite all the made-up ramblings on websites across the globe, despite the forums and the fan-fiction, the tabloids and the broadsheets, the perverts and the simply curious, no-one has ever ever, ever toothed.

Taken from BoingBoing

-Brandon

This is awesome

2005-04-04T03:14:00.000-05:00

Wow, I was just checking Red VS Blue for updates and saw a blog post about a paintball event they are participating in. I wish I was nearby to at least witness this, if not participate. I imagine that ensuring that the players follow the generals orders is difficult, but if everyone plays along it would make for a cool game. Plus vehicles! They have a modified tank to fire paint. That is so incredibly cool.

-Brandon

The Laura K. Krishna case

2005-03-31T11:37:00.000-06:00

For the few of you out there who haven't run across this yet, there is an interesting group of blog posts that tell a story of a man being asked to write a term paper for a lazy student, and promptly scamming her, with intent to at least humiliate, if not cause her punishment.
Here are the posts, in order, be aware that at some point he went through and changed her real last name to Krishna at the student's request. I advise reading all the way through before passing judgement on Nate. Feel free to judge the plagerist all you want.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

It it interesting reading through these comments because there seem to be two primary schools of thought. One is that what the blogger has done is good, and that Laura K. deserves whatever is coming to her. The other is that Nate is a horrible human being who is using her one little mistake as an excuse to flay her.

I have to say that at first I was a little hesitent about Nate's actions. I agree that Laura had what was coming to her but learning a lesson that plagiarism is bad will hardly help her when she gets kicked out of school (as this is what I had always heard the punishment was). As I read more of the comments many people claiming experience in the matter said that expulsion is rarely the punishment for a first time offender. A failing grade and a tarnished record were more likely. This seemed far more appropriate. When it turned out that Nate had never actually notified the college, and only intended to if she did hand in the paper, and didn't agree to confess, I gained more respect for him. Unfortunatly for him, and the incredibly stupid student, the blog was linked from some of the most visited websites. People, for some reason beyond my comprehension, decided it was appropriate to track down what school she went to, and call her and her school. This ruined Nate's plans by notifying the officials that were never supposed to be notified in the first place.

Now I happen to think that both of the fringe arguments about the morality of Nate's actions are wrong (as most fringe philosophies tend to be). The bloodthirsy of Nate's "supporters" (who largely complained when they learned of the mild finale) is proof that they have completely missed the point. What was supposed to happen was that she was supposed to be frightened into think her college career was over and then given her "second chance." It wasn't meant to sadistically ruin her life.

The other side who seem to think that Nate is evil and using the suffering of this "innocent girl" for his own amusement are even farther off. Innocent?! This woman is in her third year in college, she has no excuse to think this is okay. Lets go through the story and examine her so called "innocence."

Nate did not ask to write her paper, he in no way implied he did that for anyone, and he didn't even claim knowledge on the subject. Meanwhile this woman has asked a complete stranger to write a five page paper (FIVE PAGE! I CAN PULL THAT OFF IN TWO HOURS!) on Hinduism because his profile mentions that he "eats Hindu statues" as a hobby. Not just lazy, but stupid as well. Then she lies about paying him for the job she thinks he has done (with every intention of not actually following through)(1 lie). She then takes the paper he has written (purposefully designed to be a joke and get her a failing grade) and hands it in without reading it. But her folly doesn't end there. She lies about her school (2), as well as her name (3) and avoids his preferred payment method. He contacts her later and she pretends to be someone else (4), poorly. Meanwhile a reader has notified her college, and she has talked to the Dean, and lied to him. Apparently she did nothing wrong, this random stranger is out to ruin her (5). He gets in contact with her again and she asks for his help. They get in phone contact and he offers to talk to the dean and try to lower her punishment, she says no thanks. She asks him to remove her real name (done, but pointless as it is now posted all over the internet) and then to lie and say it was all a hoax (6). He doesn't agree to that. He continues to offer to help her case with the Dean, and then learns that she actually lied to the dean. This woman seems to be a compulsive liar but if I didn't already despise her enough, she puts on her mother.

Her mother is what one calls an 'enabler.' Nate is under the impression that she is nice. I get the feeling that she is merely a typical mother who mistakingly believes her children are perfectly good. She was also a more succesful manipulator then her daughter. She got Nate.

She also swore to Laura's diligence as a student, and knew that I was not lying about the plagiarism.

She is convinced that her daughter has never tried anything like this before. I on the other hand, have trouble believing that Laura's first time plaigerizaing was on a small five page paper, and that she would go about it by randomly IMing someone and scamming them. Just a hunch. Mother can convince Nate to trust her by saying she trusts him. This obviously isn't completely true when she follows it up with

She asked whether this was for money or personal reasons, and I told her what I told you blog people, which is that I was legitimately offended on behalf of all the people I know who take their education seriously.

She hints at buying him off. She cares more about making sure her daughter goes unpunished, then allowing her daughter to learn her lesson. And if it wasn't clear enough that Mother didn't understand the real problem here...

She expressed her dismay over the thousands of dollars this was costing her every semester for her daughter, and I agreed that that was a shame.

She completely misses his point about how her daughters actions cheapen the educational system. Unfortunatly instead of seeing that said mother is manipulative, and willing to hide the problem, instead of fix it, Nate only sees her as "being nice." I'm willing to bet that she is the same sort of Mother who would call and complain, at the request of her child, when a teacher gives a deserved bad grade. I am certainly making assumption off little information, but what I have seen is infuriating, and shows where Laura gets her morality problems from.

The way I see it, Nate acted with good intention, and his plan ws decent. There was no way he could have predicted that his post would be so popular, and there was no way it would work if he didn't post the story and his written paper online, as he intended that the teacher would search for her paper online and find his blogpost, showing that she had plagiarized. He wanted to urge her to confession, which would lead to her punishment, a possible lesson learned, but a saved school career. Sound logic. Unfortunatly the blog became incredibly popular and the Dean was notified before Laura could be talked to. Laura, not realizing how deep she was in, lied about plagiarizing. I think that Nate was manipulated into being nicer in his conversation then he needed to be, and I believe he misjudged the mothers charecter, but I think that his actions were sound and had the unlikely not happened, thinks may have turned out okay for Laura. I honestly believe that her getting expelled and having a ruined career is preferable to her getting someone else to write a paper for her, and not getting caught.

-Brandon

Misdirected campus politics

2005-03-30T15:19:00.000-06:00

I recently got this email from a student group I mistakingly got on the mailing list of.

Kick the military off our campus !!!!

Thurs. Mar. 31
6PM
Michigan State Room (349) IMU

Across the nation, college and university students are shutting down
military recruiting at their schools.
Join us for a discussion about the new student anti-war movement
that's sweeping the country and how you can get involved.

Sponsored by the University of Iowa Anti-War Committee

I am very liberal. I opposed the war in Iraq. I think it's been handled poorly and has now put the country in a perilous and costly position.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why this is a worthy cause. I understand that a stable country needs a stable military and a stable military requires people. Recruitment is a way to get people without a draft. This way those who are willing to fight do and those who don't want to, will only have to in times of crisis. Recruitment is not a bad thing. So this is an anti-war movement? Wars are not the fault of the military. They are the fault of politicians. Should we be sponsoring a "don't participate in politics" rally? Does that make any sense? I wish that the effort that goes into these rediculous movements would be transfered to something more useful.

-Brandon

Apperently artists can contract out their work and still be the artist.

2005-03-29T15:38:00.000-06:00

I was reading through this article I grabbed from Fark and this caught my eye.

The new exhibition -- 29 photorealist oil paintings based on photographs of hospital scenes, drug addicts, suicide bombers and his own artwork -- has been fuel for the fire for those who question whether he is an artist or a conman.

The paintings, which have sold for $200,000 to $2 million each, were largely executed by assistants with Hirst stepping in only to add a touch of blood or do the eyes.

"I don't like the idea that it has to be done by the artist, I think it's quite an old fashioned thing," he said.

"Architects don't build their own houses," he said, adding that his assistants are better painters than him anyway. "You'd get an inferior painting if it's done by the artist."

Let me get this straight. You don't actually need to do any work to be an artist. You can pay people to create for you and you can still take the credit. This man is expecting to be praised for work he didn't even do. This is insane. He is using contract workers to do his work for him.

The architect analogy is hardly fair as an architect has an entire building completely planned before construction begins. He has designed everything. When you are paying someone to paint for you you don't have the same complete control that the architect has. Unless the workers are simply doing paint by numbers and every color is prepicked, the actual painters are going to add some amount of personal style to the work. Construction workers building a house don't have that. They are constructing, these painters are creating. There is a difference.

Madness.

-Brandon

One more addition...

2005-03-25T13:37:00.000-06:00

This is an interesting bit of North Korean propaganda. Kim Jong Il has been commissioning flash films as a method of sending propaganda outside of NK for a while now. This is apparently his attempt to put a more human face on North Korea. Very interesting attempt...

I must say that the song kicks ass.

-Brandon

This is so awesome!

2005-03-25T02:14:00.000-06:00

A British graf artist by the name of Banksy has smuggled his own works into four major art museums in New York and photographed it. He seems to have a pretty decent sense of humor as his paintings, and statements show. There is an official news post on it. Apparently http://www.woostercollective.com is the only press with contact information for Banksy.

-Brandon

EDIT I was browsing through other works by Banksy. Some are on his website linked above, and more are here. This guys art is awesome. I don't agree with all of his philosophies but I can't deny his talent or creativity.

Spring Break Sun.

2005-03-24T10:27:00.000-06:00

First place we went was the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. Throughout the culture center were murals painted by local artists. Actually there were murals all over the city, a very pretty practice that I neglected to mention in my last post. There was an exhibit with old photographs, art, and historical information about the various pueblos. There was also an art exhibit featuring pottery and hide paintings. They were all intended to mimic traditional art styles, but they were about modern topics. The one that springs to mind was of a casino spewing gold coins in all directions.

We next went over to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. This was where I began my list of artists. There was a large contemporary art exhibit. In fact there were a couple. One that I believe was a permanent collection, and one which featured local artists. There were also older art pieces featured (a few of which I listed yesterday). The museum was large (probably the largest one I visited down there) and really focused heavily on modern art (something I felt some of the others didn't focus on enough). Some of the neatest exhibits was a collection of lunchboxes through the century. It was silly, but neat. What was really cool, was an exhibit on Clement, Edith and Thatchur Hurd. Clement Hurd is the artist responsible for illustrations in the classic children's book "Goodnight Moon." I didn't realize until this exhibit that the book "Runaway Bunny" were illustrated and written by the same people. Thatchur Hurd is his son. He wrote and drew his own children's books with some original themes. Art Dog (a book I ended up purchasing) is interesting in that it seems to condone graffiti art. The story is that a guard at the local art museum named "Arthur Dog" becomes a mysterious masked character named Art Dog when the moon is full. He goes around town at night and paints beautiful murals throughout the city. He is framed for stealing the "Mona Woof" and uses his art powers to escape and catch the real thieves. It isn't complicated are trying hard to push a message. It's a children's book. The fact that the hero of the book is a graffiti artists is very interesting though.

We had dinner at a little Italian Restaurant. I had a deliciously spicy Italian Sausage sandwich with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

After wards we headed back to the house. We rented "I Heart Huckabees" on the way. I'd seen previews for it and they hadn't seemed that interesting, but I had heard good things so I was curious. I'm very glad we did. This movie is hilarious. A lot of the humor is in the fact that it is just absurd but there is also a lot of mockery of philosophical and political views. The far left and right each are portrayed as incredibly ridiculous and existentialism (already a very odd philosophy) is made more absurd by its connection to the characters who support it and what it does to those who embrace it. The cast is great and the soundtrack is by the ever talented Jon Brion. See it.
_____________________________
Diane Marsh does beautiful paintings of people. I really like the paintings cut in half with a person on one side and a landscape on the other. They're beautiful.

I like Robert Ellis abstract landscapes.

While searching for the above Robert Ellis I stumbled across this beautiful photography taken by a different Robert Ellis.

Jane Abrams has pretty abstract, as well as more realistic paintings as well as some interesting sculptures
_____________
In a completely unrelated note. I recently learned that NBC is remaking the Office for American audiences. This is infuriating. Why must it be remade? I can think of a few reasons, none of them I like... Because the original actors have accents? Because they are foreigners? Because the humor of "The Office" isn't perfectly dumbed down to what American audiences "want?" It is completely ridiculous and a perfect example of why business dictating art is not a functional system. In their attempt gain audiences and keep mass appeal NBC is going to fund a complete revamp of the show. They liked the show, the just don't like it enough to show it as is. It isn't American enough. It doesn't appeal to the intellectually deficient masses enough.

-Brandon

Spring Break Sat./First impressions

2005-03-23T14:22:00.000-06:00

I haven't developed my 13 rolls of film yet. I'm curious to see how they turned out but I think over half of them won't as I was often operating at lower then desired light levels and had to keep shutter speed and aperture lower then I desired.

I arrived in Albuquerque after a fairly uneventful flight from Cedar Rapids to Denver to Albuquerque. The flight from Denver gave me a good chance to see how pretty New Mexico and Colorado are. There is so much undeveloped land. It's something you don't see in Iowa except for a few preserves here and there. Everything here is agriculture or architecture. Nature has been pushed out. This isn't the case in New Mexico. It probably has something to do with the fact that without complicated irrigation systems it is difficult to grow crops in the New Mexico environment. That isn't to say that there aren't native plants that don't have trouble. They just don't have much commercial value. In fact, the valleys between mountains were filled with desert plants. Bushes and cactuses and yucca plants were all over.

The city was pretty neat too. The architecture for almost all of the residential buildings mimiced spanish colonial architecture and the native pueblo building designs. Rectangular buildings made from redish brown stone with smooth curving cornors. Sometimes the top of the walls would have wooden beams poking out and evenly spaced along the sides of the buildings.

Many of the commercial buildings were designed similiarly. I was shocked (and kind of disturbed) to see a Wendy's with the same architural styles. It was like they were trying to pretend they weren't the corporate superpower they were and were really just part of the community. Odd... Other commercial buildings were typical modern designs. Nothing interesting or shocking.

What was interesting was the difference in demographics and how that effected the culture. It is hardly surprising that there would be a large hispanic population in a state that has a long history of Spanish and eventually Mexican rule. It wasn't even surprising that the hispanic population appeared to be the majority. What I thought was interesting was how advertisements were different as well. I wasn't shocked to see ads in Spanish. What I was shocked to see were ads only in Spanish and only targeting Spanish speakers. It is interesting that advertisers have decided that there are so many Spanish speakers in Albuquerque that they can afford to ignore those who can't understand their ads. I don't think it is good or bad, I just think it is interesting.

Another interesting ad campaign were numerous billboards with navy blue backgrounds and large white letters that said "Where's Larry?" or "Where's Diane?" That was all. No explanation, nothing. I found an explanation here and realized it wasn't that interesting anyway.

My grandparents picked me up from the airport. I dropped my stuff of at their house and we headed for Old Town. Old Town is a square of buildings that were the original Albuquerque Spanish colony. The buildings were all still in use by various "art" shops that all magically had the same things in stock. There was a church dominating one side of the square facing inwards towards the small park that stood at the center of these buildings. The church is apparently the oldest church in New Mexico that is still in use today. I went in and took some pictures but felt wierd because people were actually in there praying and I was just some disrespectful tourist.

We drove around for a while seeing the city and then went to the biggest restaurant I have ever been in. El Pinto was a large and beautiful Mexican restaurant. It had multiple rooms and each room was decorated differently and provided a different atmosphere then the others. There was also a large beautiful garden outside that you could eat in (weather permitting). I had a delicious chicken enchilada with green chili on top. It was very good.

We went home and I went to sleep early as I was exhausted.
__________________________________________________________
Throughout my trip we went to a lot of art museums. I started writing down the names of artists I really liked on various pieces of scrap paper. By the end of the week I had over 50 different names written down. I've been googling and going through and deciding what I artists I really like more then others.

I'll be posting some of them. I suppose (because it's the order I found them in) I'll post a few older artists before I move into my favorite contemporary.

I enjoyed William Penhallow Henderson's work, although I've only been able to find a few of his pieces online that don't require money to view.

Some of Walter Ufer's stuff is interesting as well.

My favorite out of these three would have to be Gene Kloss. She has some beautiful prints here.

-Brandon