**eastward movement is included

20061127

... and the genetically superior will inherit the earth.


thursday night, i came to the conclusion that i am now more sheltered than i have ever been in my entire life. it was during the middle of a show at the doug fir. i had a $5 terminator stout in my hand. i was surrounded by kids wearing converse and messenger bags, filthy black hair and terribly bloated egos. i was at a concert. i took a cab there. i paid for that cab and that concert with the money i earned from my apprenticeship with a large architectural firm. i gave the cabbie a large tip. 99% of my communication takes place with individuals who possess a college degree. i shop at whole foods and trader joes. i live in an apartment in a urban area with a seemingly low crime rate.

it just seems funny that my life {our lives?} has seemed to veer down this path of 'cleanliness.' suddenly this reality revealed itself; i could easily construct a lifestyle completely devoid of any undesirable distinction or feature. i could move to the suburbs. i could drive everywhere. i could wear khakis and dream of trips to hawaii.


in a way, this makes me feel terrible, and what's worse is this principle of predictability/safety that this whole routine is fueled by. it's like someone should have just looked at my parents, my friends, my education and the general environment of my youth and say "yea, i know where you're headed."

i'm stopping there, seeing as i just punched a ticket to that boring and repetitive discussion of existentialism and fate or whatever; far from my original intent. {i've forgotten what it was, anyhow.} such a topic is best contemplated elsewhere; you know, far from the sanctuary of the blogosphere.



switching gears :

the other morning {at work, of course} i was thinking about the sites i frequent when i'm gathering 'news' on the internet and the frequency of my attendance. typically, the amount of free time i allow myself to 'browse' on the internet is kept to a minimum, given the professional nature of my, eh ... profession. so i have to be brief and efficient when i'm poking around.

suddenly, i asked myelf a question; is it possible to obtain an adequate amount of news and information that would allow me to maintain/strike up normal and civilized conversation on a day-to-day basis with my co-workers/friends/baristas if i were to avoid the standard news sources? {cnn, nytimes, drudgereport, etc.} what if i simply avoided the path to nobility and stuck to my grab-bag of electronic junk food - friends' blogs, myspace comment boards, sports columns {bill simmons and the rest of page 2} or otherwise non-direct-news electronic entertainment?

i guess i'm simply exploring the possibility {in my mind, at this point} of forming a somewhat surreptitious relationship with reality. is it ridiculous to seek out the truth by way of notoriously shallow and unreliable online nothingness? is it possible to know what's going on in the world simply by waking up to npr, reading outlandish album reviews on pitchfork, grazing through the sports sction of the star and laughing at konnor ervin's blog? all signs point to yes.



looking through my itunes list this morning, i thought it would be interesting to pick out random albums and try to associate someone* i knew with it. the results:

bob dylan - charles bush.
bjork - abby clarkson.
my morning jacket - andrew zender.
wilco - andrew zender.
the walkmen - kyle knecht.
spoon - kyle knecht.
the faint - tanner pikop.
tool - sean hughes.
moe. - adam crowley.
ben kweller - jill funston.
blur - andrew handsborogh.
fugazi - evan weir.
joanna newsom - jessica mitchell.
wolf parade - josh orona.
the sunset rubdown - sam loring.
neko case - aaron schump.
regina spektor - trishawna quincy.
the knife - nathan reidy.
david bowie - aaron ross.
the national - sara dasta.
built to spill - david ducker.
sublime - patrick glynn.
beastie boys - tony vontz.
van morrison - sheila dunn.
pearl jam - logan keech.
sade - camilla keech**
the rolling stones - john keech.

obviously, i could easily associate a person with nearly everything i own***, but i don't think anyone wants to scroll through that manifesto. it would be funny to construct a tree of associations; what a convoluted mess that wold be.

until i make the effort, i'm going to return to my coffee and joe posnanski columns.

jason whitlock.

*i didn't know i knew this many people.
**clearly, this is a lie. i don't own any sade.
***most of this music i have not paid for.

20061118

you better see someone about that hole in your heart.

seeing as i don't have access to any actual newspapers anymore {this doesn't include articles sent via mail from my parents about volatile organic paints or Kofi Annan} i'm left to get my news over the internet. the first article i read saturday morning was a suggested link posted in my gmailbox. it was about floyd little, former denver broncos running back who postulated that he had not been inducted into the hall of fame because he played for the broncos. john madden was interviewed on little's behalf, and had the following to add :

"Floyd was a great player and a Hall of Fame-type guy. I think [he'll get in].''

so, what's up with that last sentence? "

...I think [he'll get in]."

I can't get over this. it's common knowledge that john madden's legendary {mythical? maybe not ... } status is based on more than just a super bowl win and the most notoriously successful video game series of all time. no, john madden is more than that. john madden says outrageous and hilarious things. half of everything that leaves his mouth is either nonsensical minutia or the blatantly obvious. {yes, i know. me stating this is the blatantly obvious.} so what did madden actually say after he uttered 'I think ...'?

> i think i'll start a blog.
> i think i want pat summerall back.
> I think turkey is the best thanksgiving meat of all the thanksgiving meats.
> think it's gonna be a long long time, till touch down brings me round again to find I'm not the man they think I am at home.



notes & news ::

- portland is cloudy and rainy all the time? really? is it? thus far, it's been grossly exaggerated.

- i've realized that the most peaceful part of my day is the 2~3 minutes i spend brushing my teeth.*
- ivy league football? oxymoron?**
- apocalypse now is my new favorite movie.
- the other night i had a strange dream where my co-workers unscrewed my skull.
- girls picking their butt at the gym? slightly off-putting, yet hilarious.
- guys picking their butt at the gym? expected.
- i bought some scented candles the other day. on any given night, my apartment smells 'linen fresh' or 'gingerbread spice.'
- apparently you can buy poop scented candles. i want some. bad.
- there has been a notable amount of awkwardness {on my part} lately when i'm interacting with my more attractive co-workers. i'm probably just being neurotic, and no one has even noticed. ***



compact discs purchased this evening ::

- the evens - get evens.
- the hold steady - boys and girls in america. {The Boss + dismemberment plan + pearl jam + belle & sebastian + ben folds = ehhh, yes please!}
- my morning jacket - okonokos. {plus an acoustic bonus disc, for free!}

- honeycut - the day i turned to glass. {what gnarls barkley would sound like if they didn't get big and didn't do crappy violent femmes covers.}
- junior boys - last exit.

i went to music millenium with two albums and two albums only in my mind, neither of which they carried. this sort of annoyed me, so i bought five entirely different cds. pathetic.



recent culinary additions ::

= darigold yogurt cups {vanilla, blueberry, northwest rasberry, and peach.}
= roasted soynuts {bought in bulk at whole foods. unsalted.}
= nature's path soy plus granola.
= red peppers.
= shallots.
= roasted milled flax seed with blueberries.
= gerhards gourmet chicken turkey sausage links {with sweet basil & pine nuts.}
= ezekiel whole grain bread.

*i've started brushing my teeth at least four times a day, up from the standard two.
**yale/harvard was playing on my tv as i wrote a portion of this blog.
***this is obviously a lie.

20061108

when i die, i'm leaving you my feet.

first off, i'd like to point out how surprised the voters of kansas city actually approved the light rail initiative.

in the adjacent vein, and i realize i'm shamelessly pandering to maybe three kansas city people {if i'm lucky} when i write this, but can anyone give me a reason to listen to, let alone respect Jack Harry? you know, he's that grumpy, worn-out-baseball-mitt of a sports radio/television journalist that's been treading water for thirty years; a poor man's bob davis, who is a poor man's don fortune, who is a probably a poor man's bob ryan. it's almost comical how his rants ooze mediocrity. furthermore, and even more perplexing is the relationship between kevin keitzman and harry. it's assumed they'll argue about some boring subject, one what keitzman will inevitably win. then they'll talk about the best bud light they ever had, and then they'll bring the 'racin' boys' and i'll turn the station. the thing is, harry NEVER has anything insightful to say. ever. his profundity is commonly expressed in the following ways:

"i'll tell you what, no one will runs harder than larry johnson."
"i'll tell you what, those royals sure need to get their act together."
"i'll tell you what, i think coasters are the best way to prevent drink rings."

still, kevin keitzman continues to suck this guy's dick. he praises him for his insight and influence on kansas city sports. it's pathetic, actually. the more i think about it, keitzman himself, the 'king' of kansas city sports talk, is starting to wear thin in my book. i can't decide if ranting about a couple of kansas city sports broadcasters is either dorky, pathetic or just plain predictable.

i haven't attended any shows recently {is two weeks a long time?} but there a few approaching that are the business. currently, there are numerous electronic 'cuts' {pun so intended} in rotation :

the knife - deep cuts.
the knife - silent shout.
ratatat - classics.
rilo kiley - take offs and landings.
the futureheads - the futureheads.
psapp - tiger, my friend.
junior boys - so this is goodbye.
hot chip - come on strong.
wolf parade - apologies to the queen mary. {i've had to stop myself from listening to this too much.}
mobius band - the loving sounds of static.
the black angels - passover.

the black angels have, without question, hit me hardest. just another band from austin that continues to bring it, and they're the best thing i've heard come out of that god-forsaken state since i first made love to spoon a few years ago. my boy josh dropped it in my lap the other day, quietly informed me they'd change my life, predicted i'd continue to lose my mind, and i haven't stopped listening since. it might be the sexiest throwback band since the black keys; a classic rock-meets indie distortion-meets a beautiful and somehow dangerous tribal mysticism. pixies vs. black sabbath vs. led zeppelin vs. SRV vs. the velvet underground vs. clinic. i'll probably hate this band in two weeks.

after writing this, i've realized that i don't listen to any shitty music ... at least on my own volition. is that slightly pretentious? umm, slightly. but i'm being entirely serious; at this moment, i'm overcome with this desire to deliberately inject something inoffensive and entirely replaceable into my listening routine. i'm talking the most accessable, mundane, waste-of-bandwith, characterless rock imaginable. something with true staying power, something that i can listen to when i really don't want to listen to anything at all. i'm open to suggestions.

something else i have been thinking about lately that just baffles me is the fact that so many adults, after years of activity involving art or music or the outdoors or literature or anything, have managed to distill their interests down to the bare essentials; monday night football and watching 'how i met your mother.'

i'm also concerned about my eye. no, my sight isn't fading {it probably is} but it has been twitching. a lot. could this be a result of stress and anxiety? is it from staring at a computer screen all day? is this just another sign of my body's natural aging process? all signs point to yes. will blogging about it alleviate the problem? probably not.

in conclusion, i'd like to point out that for the past two weeks, i've been entering my apartment expecting to see that something terrible has happened inside; either my computer is stolen, there's a dead animal/person on the floor, a small fire started behind the refridgerator ... something. i have no rational explaination for this.

cosmically,

brian eno.

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New York, New York, United States
I take myself too seriously most of the time and I am trying to do that less. I remind some people of Woody Allen. I occationally indulge in the weekend camping trip. I adamantly support the Kansas City Royals baseball club. My identity is wrapped up in a few simple things, most of which are continuously displayed on this here blog.

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