Thursday, February 2, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Wanna Make A Bet?
We all remember the bet:On Saturday, December 10th, 2011, Mitt "I'm Also Unemployed" Romney bet Rick Perry $10,000 that there is not a passage in his book on individual mandates for health insurance. Immediately the "lamestream" media blasted Mitt for being so out of touch with the average American and for being so crass and, well, stupid to make such a large bet on a nationally televised debate. As we all know, such bets should be restricted to golf foursomes and the snifter room at exclusive mens' social clubs.
So, here I am - more than one month later - rehashing this old news to prove that such a bet was no big deal. To prove my point, I did some simple math. Based on his now released tax returns for 2011, Mitt Romney made about $56,986 a day. According to The USA Today, the median household income in 2011 was $49,445 for the year. Divide that by 365 (fuck that 1/4 of a day shit), and the median daily income for the average American was $135.47 a day.
Here's some more fifth grade math. A $10,000 bet, for Mitt "I'm Just Like You" Romney, based on his average daily income in 2011, is only 17.5% of his daily income. That's like the average American worker making a $23 bet with his buddy that Billy Cundiff is going to miss that last second field goal to cost the Ravens a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Easy money, right?
So, let's all pretend that Mitt didn't bet Rick Perry $10,000. Let's just imagine it was $23, and we can all hold our noses and vote for a Mormon.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Side Chronicles
How better to inaugurate another year of blog posting than by hearing it from a master, much like the spinning of "Like A Rolling Stone" just after the ball has dropped. I found these two interview gems the other day and maybe it's just that they're written pieces, but I'm not sure I've seen such length and candor, aside from Chronicles, which I'm still holding out to read.
About Together Through Life and music
About Painting and approach
About Together Through Life and music
About Painting and approach
Friday, December 30, 2011
Joey Gee El
Perhaps JGL's recent movie work has overshadowed a certain venture of his, hitRECord, which is an honestly straight-forward attempt at connecting artists to collaborate.
After perusing the site a bit, I find the venture to be quite commendable. And from the looks of the some of the videos JGL has posted on the site and on his blog, he seems to be quite passionate about the idea. Good for him.
Here's a NYTMag piece about one of the "records" that was capitalized.
After perusing the site a bit, I find the venture to be quite commendable. And from the looks of the some of the videos JGL has posted on the site and on his blog, he seems to be quite passionate about the idea. Good for him.
Here's a NYTMag piece about one of the "records" that was capitalized.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Touch of Evil
New York Times Magazine recently produced a series of classic, spooky vignettes featuring A-list actors/actresses (Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Gosling, Gary Oldman, etc.). The "cinematic villainy from the year's best performers" is worth checking out, if you haven't already. CLICK CLICK CLICK.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thursday, December 22, 2011
It Really Does Require Paradise
Shit Burger? The following is an interesting intrigue about burgers.
---
"A few years ago, I decided that it would be interesting to make a cheeseburger from scratch. Not just regular “from scratch,” but really from scratch. Like, I’d make the buns, I’d make the mustard, I’d grow the tomatoes, I’d grow the lettuce, I’d grow the onion, I’d grind the beef, make the cheese, etc.
It didn’t happen that summer, by the following summer, my wife and I had built a new house, started raising chickens, and established a pretty good-sized garden. I realized that my prior plan hadn’t been ambitious enough—that wasn’t really from scratch. In fact, to make the buns, I’d need to grind my own wheat, collect my own eggs, and make my own butter. And I’d really need to raise the cow myself (or sheep, and make lamb burgers), mine or extract from seawater my own salt, grow my own mustard plant, etc. This past summer, revisiting the idea, I realized yet again that I was insufficiently ambitious. I’d really need to plant and harvest the wheat, raise a cow to produce the milk for the butter, raise another cow to slaughter for its rennet to make the cheese, and personally slaughter and process the cow or sheep. At this point I was thinking that this might all add up to an interesting book, and started to consider seriously the undertaking.
Further reflection revealed that it’s quite impractical—nearly impossible—to make a cheeseburger from scratch. Tomatoes are in season in the late summer. Lettuce is in season in spring and fall. Large mammals are slaughtered in early winter. The process of making such a burger would take nearly a year, and would inherently involve omitting some core cheeseburger ingredients. It would be wildly expensive—requiring a trio of cows—and demand many acres of land. There’s just no sense in it.
A cheeseburger cannot exist outside of a highly developed, post-agrarian society. It requires a complex interaction between a handful of vendors—in all likelihood, a couple of dozen—and the ability to ship ingredients vast distances while keeping them fresh. The cheeseburger couldn’t have existed until nearly a century ago as, indeed, it did not."
Taken from this blog.
---
I've said, on a handful of occasions, that I would be fine giving up beef and all other meats, 'cept for pork. In such a venture, burgers would be the only thing I truly missed. And I know there are other types of burgers besides beef, but I'm talkin' a good beef patty. In recent years, I've been intrigued by the "boutique-ing" of burgers. I feel I've been to a handful of cafes, restaurants that take the burger so seriously that they ruin the burger. The patty is too thick; the bun too creative; the toppings too absurd; the lettuce too overwhelmingly ridiculous; the presentation too inventive. These are the types of places where almost everyone leaves saying "oh yea, mmmhm, oh yea," and the few who don't go post highly self-righteous reviews online. (Perhaps they do both?) I'm not entirely sure I've ever left such a place without feeling deeply apathetic.
In contrary to the article above, the burger is quite simple, and (like many things in the modern world) depreciates as you try to 'church' it up. McDonalds holds a probable monopoly on our generation's perception of the burger, contrasted with the homemade-backyard-dad variety (why do all dads create meatballs when they mean to create burger patties?). Five Guys has an oddly respectable model that only falls short in its apparent lack of sustaining local ingredients. Diners typically do burgers better than cafes, and cafes better than restaurants. Sports venues are hit or miss. And sometimes the fine dining gets them right, mainly based on the quality of meat (I've heard Lugar's is great, never had it). It's brunch that's truly guilty of this boutique escapade.
Who do we talk to, to cease this charade of piling, masquerading as improvements on such an absurdist idea of a sandwich? It reminds me of a line from one of the greatest comedy films of all time, in which Cleveland Indians Manager Lou Brown says, "...we ought to hang around for a while and see if we can give 'em all a nice big shit burger to eat!"
---
"A few years ago, I decided that it would be interesting to make a cheeseburger from scratch. Not just regular “from scratch,” but really from scratch. Like, I’d make the buns, I’d make the mustard, I’d grow the tomatoes, I’d grow the lettuce, I’d grow the onion, I’d grind the beef, make the cheese, etc.
It didn’t happen that summer, by the following summer, my wife and I had built a new house, started raising chickens, and established a pretty good-sized garden. I realized that my prior plan hadn’t been ambitious enough—that wasn’t really from scratch. In fact, to make the buns, I’d need to grind my own wheat, collect my own eggs, and make my own butter. And I’d really need to raise the cow myself (or sheep, and make lamb burgers), mine or extract from seawater my own salt, grow my own mustard plant, etc. This past summer, revisiting the idea, I realized yet again that I was insufficiently ambitious. I’d really need to plant and harvest the wheat, raise a cow to produce the milk for the butter, raise another cow to slaughter for its rennet to make the cheese, and personally slaughter and process the cow or sheep. At this point I was thinking that this might all add up to an interesting book, and started to consider seriously the undertaking.
Further reflection revealed that it’s quite impractical—nearly impossible—to make a cheeseburger from scratch. Tomatoes are in season in the late summer. Lettuce is in season in spring and fall. Large mammals are slaughtered in early winter. The process of making such a burger would take nearly a year, and would inherently involve omitting some core cheeseburger ingredients. It would be wildly expensive—requiring a trio of cows—and demand many acres of land. There’s just no sense in it.
A cheeseburger cannot exist outside of a highly developed, post-agrarian society. It requires a complex interaction between a handful of vendors—in all likelihood, a couple of dozen—and the ability to ship ingredients vast distances while keeping them fresh. The cheeseburger couldn’t have existed until nearly a century ago as, indeed, it did not."
Taken from this blog.
---
I've said, on a handful of occasions, that I would be fine giving up beef and all other meats, 'cept for pork. In such a venture, burgers would be the only thing I truly missed. And I know there are other types of burgers besides beef, but I'm talkin' a good beef patty. In recent years, I've been intrigued by the "boutique-ing" of burgers. I feel I've been to a handful of cafes, restaurants that take the burger so seriously that they ruin the burger. The patty is too thick; the bun too creative; the toppings too absurd; the lettuce too overwhelmingly ridiculous; the presentation too inventive. These are the types of places where almost everyone leaves saying "oh yea, mmmhm, oh yea," and the few who don't go post highly self-righteous reviews online. (Perhaps they do both?) I'm not entirely sure I've ever left such a place without feeling deeply apathetic.
In contrary to the article above, the burger is quite simple, and (like many things in the modern world) depreciates as you try to 'church' it up. McDonalds holds a probable monopoly on our generation's perception of the burger, contrasted with the homemade-backyard-dad variety (why do all dads create meatballs when they mean to create burger patties?). Five Guys has an oddly respectable model that only falls short in its apparent lack of sustaining local ingredients. Diners typically do burgers better than cafes, and cafes better than restaurants. Sports venues are hit or miss. And sometimes the fine dining gets them right, mainly based on the quality of meat (I've heard Lugar's is great, never had it). It's brunch that's truly guilty of this boutique escapade.
Who do we talk to, to cease this charade of piling, masquerading as improvements on such an absurdist idea of a sandwich? It reminds me of a line from one of the greatest comedy films of all time, in which Cleveland Indians Manager Lou Brown says, "...we ought to hang around for a while and see if we can give 'em all a nice big shit burger to eat!"
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Keplancholia
I was sitting around a day or so after having seen Melancholia and Emily says to me, "they discovered a new planet."
"Ha," I thought, "what a clever little joke..." but she insisted. "Are they calling it 'Melancholia,' I asked. "No, it's called Kepler-22b... or something," she said.
Odd, I thought. And it got me thinkin...
Will...
become...
?
"Ha," I thought, "what a clever little joke..." but she insisted. "Are they calling it 'Melancholia,' I asked. "No, it's called Kepler-22b... or something," she said.
Odd, I thought. And it got me thinkin...
Will...
become...
?
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Two Turntables and a Microphone?
I saw these guys over the summer and was absolutely blown away by their pickin', their singin', and their absolute embodiment of truly American music. Enjoy!
Chris Thile & Michael Daves
Chris Thile & Michael Daves
Friday, December 9, 2011
The Armpit Collection XL: I Know
A man whose work is ripe for exploration. Shepp has a deliciously broad approach to musical form, though his tone and sentiment is singular. A Sea of Faces illustrates this characterization very well.
Here's a great piece about Shepp's life and work.
"I did learn to accept whatever my limitations are..."
"I think of myself mostly as a man."
"Music is an intelligent pursuit."
"I really am bitter."
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
PJ20
I've honestly watched this documentary three times in the last week. Cameron Crowe put together an excellent mix of interviews, shows, and behind-the-scenes footage. This brought back a lot of middle school era nostalgia, rocking out to my Pearl Jam tapes. What are middle schoolers doing these days, besides taking naked pictures of themselves with their cell phones?! If you haven't had a chance to see PJ20 yet, even if they aren't you favorite band in the world, I highly recommend you do so soon.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
I'm not playing with you . . .
Last weekend, I was quite excited to find The Great American Rock Band on the front page of nytimes.com. Fugazi has spent the last few years cataloguing their entire history of live performance — almost every show from the first to the last is on tape. Today marks the launch.
Given the excitement most of my household shared in the announcement, our conversation inevitably turned to Bono and straight-from-the-ass hogwash. "Sometimes, nice guys don't where white," I told her. "This party is not for sale."
And just a few weeks earlier, I stumbled across an even stranger thing (scroll a few blocks down). Some is fun, some is dumb (the rhythm section has been all but dismantled), but it'll surely grab the attention of any proud-to-be-punk-ass from the 1990s.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
My Latest and Greatest Production
This summer I produced my first short film, Upload, with my good pal, Morgan Evans (writer, director, actor, improver who I met through Ryan). We were fortunate enough to have our short premiere at the Friars Club Comedy Film Festival, and it's screening again at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre on November 20th.
My latest and greatest production is a 15-episode comedy webseries also starring Morgan Evans. As you can assume, doing a 15 episode series with professional cameramen, sound, lights, props, locations, etc. can cost a shitload of money, so we started a Kickstarter webpage to help us raise funding. So far we've done pretty damn good, with 70 backers at the time of the posting we've raised over 85% of our goal of $10,000, but we only have 5 more days to raise the remaining $1,500 (so if you know anyone with too much money, or someone that would be interested in supporting our ambitious cause, feel free to pass this along). In the video below Morgan does a fantastic job explaining what we're aiming to accomplish.
My latest and greatest production is a 15-episode comedy webseries also starring Morgan Evans. As you can assume, doing a 15 episode series with professional cameramen, sound, lights, props, locations, etc. can cost a shitload of money, so we started a Kickstarter webpage to help us raise funding. So far we've done pretty damn good, with 70 backers at the time of the posting we've raised over 85% of our goal of $10,000, but we only have 5 more days to raise the remaining $1,500 (so if you know anyone with too much money, or someone that would be interested in supporting our ambitious cause, feel free to pass this along). In the video below Morgan does a fantastic job explaining what we're aiming to accomplish.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
The Armpit Collection XXXIX: Need = Sunshine
"I found empathy in madness, deliverance from malaise."
Timber Timbre - Creep On, Creepin' On
This album makes me smile. It's dark, and I smile cause it hits so close to home. All the sounds I love are right there. It's not long, and there are instrumentals, nice transitions. The grooves are inviting. There's a lot of mood with a lot said: a cool-y confident voice rings effected and quiet, but also cuts. There's so much space. Respect the space and flow of things in space. I feel somewhere and also feel them somewhere. "Too Old to Die Young," damn near brings me to tears (with those background chirps).
Do YOU have power??? Over "it"?
The video I posted is for "Black Water," a wonderful lyrical journey that I've quoted above as well.
Timber Timbre - Creep On, Creepin' On
This album makes me smile. It's dark, and I smile cause it hits so close to home. All the sounds I love are right there. It's not long, and there are instrumentals, nice transitions. The grooves are inviting. There's a lot of mood with a lot said: a cool-y confident voice rings effected and quiet, but also cuts. There's so much space. Respect the space and flow of things in space. I feel somewhere and also feel them somewhere. "Too Old to Die Young," damn near brings me to tears (with those background chirps).
Do YOU have power??? Over "it"?
The video I posted is for "Black Water," a wonderful lyrical journey that I've quoted above as well.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Chuckspective
I've made references to Chuck Klosterman's work on the blog before.
Here's a couple of great journalistic pieces from him. One is an interview with Noel Gallagher that offers some interesting insight into various things. The other is a great review of "Lulu."
A couple of gems -
"In the 20 years I've interviewed celebrities, I think Gallagher might be the first one to ever directly say that the process of succeeding is more problematic than the conditions that follow that success. Celebrities have been conditioned to insist that they want their work to be consumed and appreciated, but that they always dread the subsequent lack of anonymity and the vapidity of public recognition; in many ways, Gallagher's response seems like the first honest explanation as to why talented people so often seem depressed and uncomfortable."
"Two historically significant artists merging unrelated genres for no defined reason. Adult, self-aware musicians following their own creative vision, devoid of commercial pressure or responsibility. An attempt to produce something authentically different from anything we've ever heard before, motivated only by a desire to see what would happen. A confident, unvarnished attempt at taking arcane high art and repackaging it for denim-clad teenagers huffing gas in Arizona parking lots."
Here's a couple of great journalistic pieces from him. One is an interview with Noel Gallagher that offers some interesting insight into various things. The other is a great review of "Lulu."
A couple of gems -
"In the 20 years I've interviewed celebrities, I think Gallagher might be the first one to ever directly say that the process of succeeding is more problematic than the conditions that follow that success. Celebrities have been conditioned to insist that they want their work to be consumed and appreciated, but that they always dread the subsequent lack of anonymity and the vapidity of public recognition; in many ways, Gallagher's response seems like the first honest explanation as to why talented people so often seem depressed and uncomfortable."
"Two historically significant artists merging unrelated genres for no defined reason. Adult, self-aware musicians following their own creative vision, devoid of commercial pressure or responsibility. An attempt to produce something authentically different from anything we've ever heard before, motivated only by a desire to see what would happen. A confident, unvarnished attempt at taking arcane high art and repackaging it for denim-clad teenagers huffing gas in Arizona parking lots."
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