I'm back!

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...

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...

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!

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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? SureÂ…at 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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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."

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)

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

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

-Brandon

Things that piss Brandon off

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

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...

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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