Here.
Update your bookmarks, slackers. Or better yet- follow this RSS feed!
Showing posts with label Blowing It. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blowing It. Show all posts
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
As The Mighty Marvin Gaye Once Said, "What's Goin' On?"
Answer: nothing.
Sorry Marvin.
-Too many records to buy, too little $$$. New Sonic Youth tomorrow will burn a hole in my wallet, however.
-Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I've kept my love of basketball (actually, just Lakers Basketball really) hidden from nearly everyone for a really long time.
I suppose there are several reasons for this:
A. Definitely not punk.
B. Too much Nike. All that swoosh represents is the enslavement of thousands of Chinese babies.
C. Team sports go against my ruggedly individualistic nature. The American dream, right?
Anyways, in my old age (57 this November), I've been getting to the bottom of the following:
A. Not being so much of a dick.
B. Getting back to my roots.
C. "It's like Hamlet said- 'To Thine Own Self Be True.'"
"Hamlet didn't say that
"I think I remember Hamlet accurately."
"Well, I remember Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn't say that. That Polonius guy did."
So that's a lot of existentialism backing up my Los Angeles Lakers fandom. I've got no exit strategy for that point.
-Ladies & Gentlemen: The Fabulous Stains! Finally available. So, the movie may not technically be very well filmed, but the message is undeniable. They should show this to young girls everywhere. It does a very good job of telling the story of strong girls without trivializing them. Netflix it- seriously. I first learned about it through the transcendently-before-it's time Grand Royal Magazine. Which brings me to:
-Grand Royal Magazine. If there was ever any one group of people that were/are consistently ahead of every curve, it's the associates of Grand Royal. Initially, GR was the Beastie Boys vanity record label- however, it evolved into the most unbelievably trend-predating tastemaking organization in the history of pop culture. Not only did GR bring us 4 beyond-great Beastie Boys full lengths (and countless single/eps: see Aglio E Olio, Country Mike's Greatest Hits, Root Down), but they also introduced most of the world to Spike Jonze (Sabotage. Where The Wild Things Are. Girlfilms. Genius!), At The Drive-In, artist sanctioned mp3s (really. Ask this guy), and the Mullet (I'm not kidding). Grand Royal Magazine ("Long Awaited, Much Anticipated, Grossly Outdated") was their compendium of coolness. It only lasted 6 issues, but contained way too much excellence to post here. I have all the issues except for the first and fourth ones, which are nearly impossible to find- so let me know if you come across one. I re-read them all from time to time, when I feel like I need tips on Adidas Vs. Puma, building a demolition derby car, the best ways to harass Ted Nugent, Moog Synthesizers or the truly original expose on the mullet epidemic. Ultimately, the Beastie Boys' unwavering ability to see the future got them out of the record label business before the shitstorm, and now Grand Royal Magazine is a memento of a cooler time- just the sort of thing that the magazine would've written about.
-Dinosaur Jr, Freak Scene. Had to "get" the remastered version of Bug (see first item, above). It sounds 1000 times better than the original version, and just fucking shreds. I am now 100% a Dinosaur Jr. fan, whereas I was only like 50-75% before Saturday. Also, perhaps I could work this verse into my wedding vows?
Sometimes I dont thrill you
Sometimes I think Ill kill you
Just dont let me fuck up will you
cause when I need a friend its still you
Cute!
Sorry Marvin.
-Too many records to buy, too little $$$. New Sonic Youth tomorrow will burn a hole in my wallet, however.
-Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I've kept my love of basketball (actually, just Lakers Basketball really) hidden from nearly everyone for a really long time.
I suppose there are several reasons for this:
A. Definitely not punk.
B. Too much Nike. All that swoosh represents is the enslavement of thousands of Chinese babies.
C. Team sports go against my ruggedly individualistic nature. The American dream, right?
Anyways, in my old age (57 this November), I've been getting to the bottom of the following:
A. Not being so much of a dick.
B. Getting back to my roots.
C. "It's like Hamlet said- 'To Thine Own Self Be True.'"
"Hamlet didn't say that
"I think I remember Hamlet accurately."
"Well, I remember Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn't say that. That Polonius guy did."
So that's a lot of existentialism backing up my Los Angeles Lakers fandom. I've got no exit strategy for that point.
-Ladies & Gentlemen: The Fabulous Stains! Finally available. So, the movie may not technically be very well filmed, but the message is undeniable. They should show this to young girls everywhere. It does a very good job of telling the story of strong girls without trivializing them. Netflix it- seriously. I first learned about it through the transcendently-before-it's time Grand Royal Magazine. Which brings me to:
-Grand Royal Magazine. If there was ever any one group of people that were/are consistently ahead of every curve, it's the associates of Grand Royal. Initially, GR was the Beastie Boys vanity record label- however, it evolved into the most unbelievably trend-predating tastemaking organization in the history of pop culture. Not only did GR bring us 4 beyond-great Beastie Boys full lengths (and countless single/eps: see Aglio E Olio, Country Mike's Greatest Hits, Root Down), but they also introduced most of the world to Spike Jonze (Sabotage. Where The Wild Things Are. Girlfilms. Genius!), At The Drive-In, artist sanctioned mp3s (really. Ask this guy), and the Mullet (I'm not kidding). Grand Royal Magazine ("Long Awaited, Much Anticipated, Grossly Outdated") was their compendium of coolness. It only lasted 6 issues, but contained way too much excellence to post here. I have all the issues except for the first and fourth ones, which are nearly impossible to find- so let me know if you come across one. I re-read them all from time to time, when I feel like I need tips on Adidas Vs. Puma, building a demolition derby car, the best ways to harass Ted Nugent, Moog Synthesizers or the truly original expose on the mullet epidemic. Ultimately, the Beastie Boys' unwavering ability to see the future got them out of the record label business before the shitstorm, and now Grand Royal Magazine is a memento of a cooler time- just the sort of thing that the magazine would've written about.
-Dinosaur Jr, Freak Scene. Had to "get" the remastered version of Bug (see first item, above). It sounds 1000 times better than the original version, and just fucking shreds. I am now 100% a Dinosaur Jr. fan, whereas I was only like 50-75% before Saturday. Also, perhaps I could work this verse into my wedding vows?
Sometimes I dont thrill you
Sometimes I think Ill kill you
Just dont let me fuck up will you
cause when I need a friend its still you
Cute!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I Am So Bad At Blogging
[Note to self: Catalina Island Adventure photoblog coming soon. Maybe.]
Ugh, I'm still mostly asleep for some reason. It's not like I don't get enough sleep- my incessant selfishness and lack of any real responsibility probably afford me too much. Luckily, I don't let worrying about my budget for vinyl reissues at Insound keep me up at night. Usually. So here's how I've been spending my days in my general post-adolescent malaise:
-Wedding planning. Almost done (yeah right. Jinx!). Much was accomplished in Paso Robles last weekend (a phrase that has never been typed before!)- cake tasted/arranged for (it's gonna be good, and I don't even like cake. Seriously.), invitations designed (I was a totally wannabe graphic designer for a while, so I was prepared to be a dick about the invitations. Luckily for me, my fiance is more than capable of arranging excellent looking invitations without my faux-knowledgable snide comments), and my Sound System Assistant was arranged for (Thanks, Turtle Boy).
-We decided to take Monday off for a leisurely drive back south, so we stopped in Malibu for lunch/early dinner. As with most things, I was generally unimpressed by Malibu. I enjoy all of the leftover architecture from the 30's-40's-50's-60's, but other than that, I really don't see the big deal. Overrated, like the other 90% of Los Angeles. After we made a Lawyer Emergency Internet Pit Stop at the Panera in Santa Monica (I much prefer Santa Monica to Malibu, btw), we went the rest of the way home on PCH- though only out of necessity, since it weas now rush hour(s). Blech.
-I've sworn off physical record stores. I hate to say it, but it's true. I have a spreadsheet on my phone (nerd) of about 300 different records I need to buy (yeah right), and have only managed to find 1 of them in 3 trips to different places. The exception, of course, is Amoeba, but I can't drive there all the time. At least it took me 15 years of record buying to get to that point. Everyone else: keep going. I am an isolated case of extreme nerdiness and even more extreme jaded-ness.
-The one record I did get was Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking. As I may or may not have said before, I never liked Jane's until this past year or so. I think it has to do with living in Southern California- Jane's is everywhere (even the post office), and they wore me down. I remember hating this record in college. We had this neighbor that lived in an apartment behind our house, above our garage/practice space (which undoubtably sucked for him), and he was an older grad student who commuted (!) from Berkeley (!) 3 or 4 days a week. He was super wierd and tended to invade your space with unsettleing regularity. He used to just roll in through our back door, go through my cds and grab the ones he wanted to copy. He always traded me cds in return, although I rarely listened to them because he annoyed me and I am an asshole. One of the few I did listen to was Nothing's Shocking, which Jason and I hated (also the 2nd Meat Puppets album- the one that Nirvana did all the songs from on Unplugged in NY. I still don't like the Meat Puppets. Kurt Cobain really captures the vibe of the songs, while being 200% more tuneful than the original songs). Anyway, like Jeremy "Bummer" Machi says "We always become what we hate."
Ugh, I'm still mostly asleep for some reason. It's not like I don't get enough sleep- my incessant selfishness and lack of any real responsibility probably afford me too much. Luckily, I don't let worrying about my budget for vinyl reissues at Insound keep me up at night. Usually. So here's how I've been spending my days in my general post-adolescent malaise:
-Wedding planning. Almost done (yeah right. Jinx!). Much was accomplished in Paso Robles last weekend (a phrase that has never been typed before!)- cake tasted/arranged for (it's gonna be good, and I don't even like cake. Seriously.), invitations designed (I was a totally wannabe graphic designer for a while, so I was prepared to be a dick about the invitations. Luckily for me, my fiance is more than capable of arranging excellent looking invitations without my faux-knowledgable snide comments), and my Sound System Assistant was arranged for (Thanks, Turtle Boy).
-We decided to take Monday off for a leisurely drive back south, so we stopped in Malibu for lunch/early dinner. As with most things, I was generally unimpressed by Malibu. I enjoy all of the leftover architecture from the 30's-40's-50's-60's, but other than that, I really don't see the big deal. Overrated, like the other 90% of Los Angeles. After we made a Lawyer Emergency Internet Pit Stop at the Panera in Santa Monica (I much prefer Santa Monica to Malibu, btw), we went the rest of the way home on PCH- though only out of necessity, since it weas now rush hour(s). Blech.
-I've sworn off physical record stores. I hate to say it, but it's true. I have a spreadsheet on my phone (nerd) of about 300 different records I need to buy (yeah right), and have only managed to find 1 of them in 3 trips to different places. The exception, of course, is Amoeba, but I can't drive there all the time. At least it took me 15 years of record buying to get to that point. Everyone else: keep going. I am an isolated case of extreme nerdiness and even more extreme jaded-ness.
-The one record I did get was Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking. As I may or may not have said before, I never liked Jane's until this past year or so. I think it has to do with living in Southern California- Jane's is everywhere (even the post office), and they wore me down. I remember hating this record in college. We had this neighbor that lived in an apartment behind our house, above our garage/practice space (which undoubtably sucked for him), and he was an older grad student who commuted (!) from Berkeley (!) 3 or 4 days a week. He was super wierd and tended to invade your space with unsettleing regularity. He used to just roll in through our back door, go through my cds and grab the ones he wanted to copy. He always traded me cds in return, although I rarely listened to them because he annoyed me and I am an asshole. One of the few I did listen to was Nothing's Shocking, which Jason and I hated (also the 2nd Meat Puppets album- the one that Nirvana did all the songs from on Unplugged in NY. I still don't like the Meat Puppets. Kurt Cobain really captures the vibe of the songs, while being 200% more tuneful than the original songs). Anyway, like Jeremy "Bummer" Machi says "We always become what we hate."
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Blah-ndora Internet Blah-dio
I've given Pandora Radio months of chances. I've put my faith in the science of music- only to find out there is no such thing. And I've been forced to come up with only one conclusion-
dreadfully, Yahoo! Launch Radio is better.
Yuck. I feel like one of those assholes contending that "The Zune really is better than the iPod!" out of a sense of misguided contrarianism.
I don't even know if the Yahoo (fuck exclamation points) radio thing is even still around. Last I checked it didn't support Macs OR Firefox, which is beyond retarded, so I've boycotted it ever since. But it did (does?) have a few things going for it- actually, one major thing: the intelligent "Don't Ever Play This Again" button. Say I type in "Nirvana" (because I'm grunge) and it plays Lithium... immediately followed by Pearl Jam or Pudddddle of Mudddd or some other ridiculous shit, I click the button, the software learns I only like Nirvana and not horrible shit, and the world is happy.
But science gets in the way over at Pandora, and unfortunately I'm convinced that science gets in the way of music. Pandora breaks down the songs (as opposed to the artists) into formulas- minor key songs, rock-and-roll instrumentation songs, songs with "excessive vamping" (I didn't know what that meant either). And then it mathematically combines all these variables, and I get... Radiohead.
All the time, with the boring-ass Radiohead. I would never tell it to seach for Radiohead's acoustic b-sides and whatever else. The one positive aspect was that I was able to come up with a new term for Thom Yorke- Downs-Elf. It's pretty self-explanatory, and I apologize to the Downs- community, but it had to be said.
And just because I like Jay-Z DOS NOT MEAN I WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH 2-PAC. Sure, I can say "Don't play this song for a month" to Pandora, but what about the 5000 other posthumous 2-Pac songs, or the rest of the extensive Downs-Elf catalog? [Note- This just happend as I was typing- I thumbs-downed a Downs-Elf song, and 6 songs later it plays Creep. Arrrgh.]
That's all I've got, but at least I might have managed to offend the Downs-Syndrome Community (sorry), White Kid Wannabe Gangsters (not at all sorry), and people who like "Artistic, Creative, Mindblowing" music (hahahahaa, fucking Radiohead fans are the WORST).
And on a positive note, at least it's playing Straight Outta Compton at the moment, though I'm sure my joy will be short-lived.
dreadfully, Yahoo! Launch Radio is better.
Yuck. I feel like one of those assholes contending that "The Zune really is better than the iPod!" out of a sense of misguided contrarianism.
I don't even know if the Yahoo (fuck exclamation points) radio thing is even still around. Last I checked it didn't support Macs OR Firefox, which is beyond retarded, so I've boycotted it ever since. But it did (does?) have a few things going for it- actually, one major thing: the intelligent "Don't Ever Play This Again" button. Say I type in "Nirvana" (because I'm grunge) and it plays Lithium... immediately followed by Pearl Jam or Pudddddle of Mudddd or some other ridiculous shit, I click the button, the software learns I only like Nirvana and not horrible shit, and the world is happy.
But science gets in the way over at Pandora, and unfortunately I'm convinced that science gets in the way of music. Pandora breaks down the songs (as opposed to the artists) into formulas- minor key songs, rock-and-roll instrumentation songs, songs with "excessive vamping" (I didn't know what that meant either). And then it mathematically combines all these variables, and I get... Radiohead.
All the time, with the boring-ass Radiohead. I would never tell it to seach for Radiohead's acoustic b-sides and whatever else. The one positive aspect was that I was able to come up with a new term for Thom Yorke- Downs-Elf. It's pretty self-explanatory, and I apologize to the Downs- community, but it had to be said.
And just because I like Jay-Z DOS NOT MEAN I WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH 2-PAC. Sure, I can say "Don't play this song for a month" to Pandora, but what about the 5000 other posthumous 2-Pac songs, or the rest of the extensive Downs-Elf catalog? [Note- This just happend as I was typing- I thumbs-downed a Downs-Elf song, and 6 songs later it plays Creep. Arrrgh.]
That's all I've got, but at least I might have managed to offend the Downs-Syndrome Community (sorry), White Kid Wannabe Gangsters (not at all sorry), and people who like "Artistic, Creative, Mindblowing" music (hahahahaa, fucking Radiohead fans are the WORST).
And on a positive note, at least it's playing Straight Outta Compton at the moment, though I'm sure my joy will be short-lived.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Watchmen Was So Unbelieveably Horrible
I've never wanted to walk out a movie at so many different points- including within the first 5 minutes. I don't even want to talk about it, really.
So here are some movies I'd have rather spent my time/money on:
-Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector
-An American Carol
-Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever
-Charlies Angels 2: Full Throttle
-Paul Blart: Mall Cop
-Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li
-Speed/Speed 2 (Double Feature!)
-The DaVinci Code
-Star Wars Episodes 1 through 3
-Dave Matthews Band Live Bootleg Series
-Any Cameron Diaz/Drew Barrymore/Julia Roberts romantic comedy
-Testicles Being Crushed In A Vice: An Exhausitve 13-part Documentary
So here are some movies I'd have rather spent my time/money on:
-Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector
-An American Carol
-Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever
-Charlies Angels 2: Full Throttle
-Paul Blart: Mall Cop
-Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li
-Speed/Speed 2 (Double Feature!)
-The DaVinci Code
-Star Wars Episodes 1 through 3
-Dave Matthews Band Live Bootleg Series
-Any Cameron Diaz/Drew Barrymore/Julia Roberts romantic comedy
-Testicles Being Crushed In A Vice: An Exhausitve 13-part Documentary
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Trader Joe's Soy Orange Creamsicles
Are the fucking best. I suggest you get hip to them ASAP.
Other things I'm digging:
...Trail of Dead: Source Tags & Codes- Still good. Need the new one.
The Juliana Theory: Music From Another Room- San Luis Obispo flashback, and I'm not ashamed.
Spiritualized: Songs in A+E, Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space- Jason Spaceman wins.
Sunn0))) & Boris: Altar- I love the doom.
Counting the number of despondent wealthy people I hear daily convinced that those commies are going to steal their hard earned cash and redistribute it to the unwashed and undeserving- priceless.
Douchechill!
Not Digging:
The Top Chef winner- he doesn't get mentioned by name. Dear Padma, we'll forget this ever happened.
Shunning my instruments- not consciously.
Getting tickets for expired registration stickers, then having the parking cop PUT THE ACTUAL TICKET ON TOP OF the temporary registration in the windshield.
Not getting tickets to the Clarity x 10 tour. Blew it.
Blogger's Block- blowing it.
Other things I'm digging:
...Trail of Dead: Source Tags & Codes- Still good. Need the new one.
The Juliana Theory: Music From Another Room- San Luis Obispo flashback, and I'm not ashamed.
Spiritualized: Songs in A+E, Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space- Jason Spaceman wins.
Sunn0))) & Boris: Altar- I love the doom.
Counting the number of despondent wealthy people I hear daily convinced that those commies are going to steal their hard earned cash and redistribute it to the unwashed and undeserving- priceless.
Douchechill!
Not Digging:
The Top Chef winner- he doesn't get mentioned by name. Dear Padma, we'll forget this ever happened.
Shunning my instruments- not consciously.
Getting tickets for expired registration stickers, then having the parking cop PUT THE ACTUAL TICKET ON TOP OF the temporary registration in the windshield.
Not getting tickets to the Clarity x 10 tour. Blew it.
Blogger's Block- blowing it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
