Reading

I am soaking wet.

This extends to my physical appearance (as it is pouring) and my mental state of being. I feel that I have a millions thoughts and desires swimming in my head at any given moment...and I'm not entirely sure what to do with them. I come up with good ideas, or at least I think so, and then I'll take a few steps forward until I see something shiny and sit down to think about it.

I have started a new tradition of escaping the various levels of Dante-ian Hell that is my job. Through word of mouth, I found a quiet quarry that I can visit. I bring a book to read as it affords me time to take a brief vacation. This will all tie together.

I finished my first book (I own it, I didn't write it...actually, I borrowed it) yesterday. It was by Augusten Burroghs. It was called Dry. It was fantastic.

I drove back from the quarry just now with a clear focus of what I wanted to write. It's possible I was up from the coffee, but who knows. It also doesn't help when I sit and actually try and focus and I'm interrupted by the mundane chatter bred in cubicles, but I am at work and getting paid to be here. Anyway, I had planned to write more about Dry but now I lost track of where I was going to go with it. Maybe another time.

I just started reading Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live and I couldn't be more excited to see where this takes me. So far I love it. But his writing style is really what's important b/c I feel that I have found an author that has a voice that I can really get into. It has awoken something within me b/c I have always wanted to write and it's been dormant for more days than I can count at this point.

This brings me to my point (I think). I have been using this blog as an excuse to waste time because I'm not happy with what I'm doing with my life right now. I'll throw up various interesting tidbits that other people have found on the internet in some hope that it will be interesting enough to someone else to drive up my hits. Hits for what? I'm not sure. I'm an internet middleman; a content smut peddler. The funny thing is that I'm not even that good at it. But, I consider that a good thing now. The main theme of Dry was that nobody has to be stuck with the life they have if they don't like it. It is possible to make very dramatic changes and it can all turn out ok. Maybe this is the start. This is the start...for me. I'm excited to see..

Hopefully this will help me dry off.

Sub City New York

It's a short film - a visual poem - about that moment in New York when you emerge from the subway and find yourself in a new and sometimes unexpected world.

A film by Sarah Klein and Tom Mason
Concept by Jennifer McClory
Music by Erik Satie

Sub City New York from sarah klein on Vimeo.

Mortal Kombat Voices Explained

I am a child of the 90's. Being such, I was exposed to Mortal Kombat. I played the game for hours upon hours and I never really questioned what the characters were actually saying. Sure, I knew that Scorpion said, "Get Over Here!" or "Come Here!" or something of the sort, but I always figured that all of the other characters were simply spewing out other ethnic phrases in the sweaty heat of battle to the death. I don't know why Johnny Cage didn't know English, but Scorpion did, but I wasn't old enough to ask questions.

Here are the phrases explained.

Best Fails of Feb 2011

Watch a Baby Reenact What You Look Like Drunk

...in a bar full of puppets.

Hungry, Hungry Hippos!

Yikes.

Epic Family Feud Answer

Cockpit View of a Twilight Landing at Los Angeles International Airport

Kilian Martin: Skate Art

Happy New Year!


I always wished I would have stuck with trying to skate. I admire people that did.

These videos are amazing. Check it out.

Steel Train "You and I Undercover"

Happy Friday, everyone!

This song feels Christmas-y to me for some reason. I briefly listened to it...so if I'm wrong, well whatever.

Hope you all have a great holiday season!

Best Viral Videos of 2010

These are great. Some of them I haven't seen, but they're all funny.

The Lakers Sing Jingle Bells

I could watch this video all day.

Lakers Holiday Greetings from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.

The Damned Things - Ironiclast

Here is a band called The Damned Things. This mutt of a band collected members of Fall Out Boy, Anthrax, and Every Time I Die.

It's certainly not going to be everyone's cup of proverbial tea, but I like it and I run things around here. It's been this type of week.

I really love when musicians leave their comfort zone and decide to play with other people to create a new sound. This is really what it means to play music in my opinion...stay hungry, stay curious, stay dangerous. Create something new.

Nothing Says Delicious Chocolaty Goodness like AIDS

Seriously...how was this a good idea? I often question how a lot of ideas get past the people in charge (i.e. this suggestive Yogi the Bear poster), but wow...this one is right up there at the top.

Ayds — an appetite suppressant candy — enjoyed strong sales for much of the 1970s and 80s, until — alas — that other AIDS came along. At that point, the Campana Company decided to change the name to Diet Ayds.

That obviously didn't work.





And here is a bonus commercial!

New Mario Bros. Movie Trailer

I would watch this in less time than it took to read this sentence.

Via my buddy Todd:

Man Opens Fire at School Board Meeting

Wow...




As media coverage and live streaming internet feed usage becomes more widespread, I believe we are going to see more and more stories such as this.

Videogames and Safe Sex

Hey, whatever works!

I'll never look at Mega Man the same.

A Penguin Dilemma

Carbon Leaf - Mary Mac

Happy Friday, everyone! Super pumped that it's closing in the weekend already. It's strangely snowing here in Baltimore, which I am fully unprepared for. I feel like it was Halloween just yesterday, but this year is moving faster than others it appears.

I'm having a super busy day at work so I've been neglecting the blog here, but I'll do my best to change that next week.

As far as music this week, I think it's time for some locals on this page.

Here is Carbon Leaf and a song called "Mary Mac."

Enjoy!

Dexter Claus is Coming to Town

Sugarbrush Dog Groomers

Ha, I could watch this video all day.

The Flattened Streets of San Francisco

Although I have only been there once, my memories of being in San Francisco have aged quite favorably with time. I long to go back and visit as an adult, especially since as a child I wondered how it would differ had it been flat.

Well it appears I have an answer!

As always, click to enlarge.

The Donald's Hair Struggles in the MNF Wind

This makes me giggle.

Rudolph Gets Empaled!

And an entire generation of the town's children are scared for life.

Bonus: Friday Music!

2 Friday Music segments you say? I say yes!

This is a supergroup of sorts, but this time, it's pretty good. The band is Mister Heavenly and they're playing a show here in Portland.

See if you recognize the genlteman on bass.




Mister Heavenly is:
Honus Honus (Man Man)
Nick Thorburn (Unicorns / Islands)
Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse)
+ Michael Cera on Bass