Modern Eccentrics

One of my favorite things about livinging in New York City is the shear amount of crazy people walking amongst us. Here's a list of things that sometimes pop in my head while walking down the street: "Why is he yelling?" "Wow, I've never seen that before." "Are you kidding me?" "JESUS!" "That's incredible!" (you get the point)

My favorite blog (besides this one, obvs), Gawker, took the pleasure of listing their Modern Eccentrics: The Top 50. I haven't seen or heard of a lot of these people, but I'm sure they're legit weirdos doing their thing in New York City... and more power to 'em. A sample:

#3. He-Man
brawny man who walks the city shirtless, often in military-style cargo pants and a black choker.
More at Find He-Man.

I admire their dedication to character, and their total lack of giving a fuck. I mean, why look like a total weirdo in public? Just to get stared at? Why not?!?!

If you could spend some full-time commitment being an eccentric, what kinda eccentric would you want to be?

Anxious in America - NYT Op-Ed

If the old saying — that “as General Motors goes, so goes America” — is true, then folks, we’re in a lot of trouble. General Motors’s stock-market value now stands at just $6.47 billion, compared with Toyota’s $162.6 billion. On top of it, G.M. shares sank to a 34-year low last week.

That’s us. We’re at a 34-year low. And digging out of this hole is what the next election has to be about and is going to be about — even if it is interrupted by a terrorist attack or an outbreak of war or peace in Iraq. We need nation-building at home, and we cannot wait another year to get started. Vote for the candidate who you think will do that best. Nothing else matters.

[source]

The Chief Justice and Dylan

The last chief justice liked light opera. The new one cites Bob Dylan.

Four pages into his dissent on Monday in an achingly boring dispute between pay phone companies and long distance carriers, John G. Roberts Jr., the chief justice of the United States, put a song lyric where the citation to precedent usually goes.

“The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote. “ ‘When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.’ Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records 1965).”

Alex B. Long, a law professor at the University of Tennessee and perhaps the nation’s leading authority on the citation of popular music in judicial opinions, said this was almost certainly the first use of a rock lyric to buttress a legal proposition in a Supreme Court decision. “It’s a landmark opinion,” Professor Long said.

[source]

I'm Voting Republican

Wow, this is some shit-talking pro-Democratic propaganda! Reminds me of Democrats stooping as low as Republicans have in recent past. Can't we all just get along? YES WE CAN!

Sky Blue Sky

So I'm over a year into Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" and I still for the life of me can't let it go. I'd highly highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't have it. And if you can find it on vinyl more the better to you. I truly believe Wilco is the American Radiohead. They just choose to use americana as their avenue rather than brit-pop. Never the less have a listen and enjoy.

A Most Interesting Young Man

(taken from the latest issue of The American Scholar)

By Brian Doyle

In 1968, when my quiet sister was 19 years old, she spent the summer cleaning pools and painting cottages in Woodstock, New York. She worked for a man named Morty. Their unspoken agreement was that she would work as hard as she could until early afternoon at which point she was released to walk and meditate. She loved to walk, and so she came to know not only the village of Woodstock but the adjacent woods and fields, meadows and pastures, dairies and cornfields, hills and dales, ponds and dingles. She climbed Mount Tobias and Mount Ohayo. She swam in Cooper Lake and Echo Lake. She knew old storytellers and farmers in the woods in the little clusters of houses the locals called Willow and Bearsville and Zena. For all Woodstock’s subsequent misplaced fame in regards to the festival, which was actually held in nearby Bethel, it is a small village and the countryside around it remains rural, the sort of rolling hills and forestlands where deer and foxes and owls outnumber farmers and wanderers.

One time my sister was wandering along the shore of the Ashokan Reservoir, under which lie the towns of Ashton, Brodhead, and Boiceville. A young man was standing on the weir that divides the lake into upper and lower basins and they got to talking. He did most of the talking, she says, more like mumbling really, but he was a most interesting guy and this is pretty much what he said.

Been on this wall many a time and many a time pondered jumping into the lake to see the towns down below and what might be there yet, but I believe there are fish down there bigger than you and me both so I have declined to commit to leaping, he said. Where I grew up a fish bigger than a person would eat a person given the hint of a chance and while I am assured that trout do not behave in this fashion I am not willing to wager my corporeal presence even in the damaged form it has assumed at present. But those towns down there do haunt me in ways that I am trying to set to music. One morning all the steam whistles in the valley blew continually for an hour to warn residents that the floods were imminent and once the whistles ceased to wail, the waters rushed in to obliterate alleys and attics, chapels and cellars, confessionals and milking stools, lawns and lanes, the nests of birds and the dens of foxes, the beds in which children had been conceived, porches on which old men smoked, places where the sunlight came late on account of the hunch of the hills. All now silence. Think of the music that could and should be written, the pastoral opening, the wail of the whistles, the roar of the waters, the long silence at the end. Someone should compose such a piece. And the spiders and the insects who crawl upon the earth, the snakes and squirrels, what happened to them, did they rise upon the waters and make their way exhausted to shore after dark and in latter times mold stories to tell their young in the span of years yet appointed to them, or did they too end their days in the blue musics of the deep?

Good questions, said my sister.

Got any beer? asked the young man.

I don’t, said my sister.

Pleasure to meet you, miles to go before I sleep, said the young man, hopping off the weir and limping away down the shore, and the way my sister tells the story is that a couple of years later when she was in a record store in Nebraska, this was after she was a puppeteer and before she was a circus clown, she noticed the young man’s face on a record, and realized that he was, or had been, Bob Dylan, although one of her convictions, which she holds all the more firmly now that she is a Buddhist nun in a monastery near Woodstock, is that who we were is not who we are, so she does not say that she met Bob Dylan, but rather says that once she met a most interesting young man on the shore of the Ashokan Reservoir, and that they got to talking about music that might be composed about that haunted spot, and that some years later a fiddler named Jay Ungar actually did compose a lament that his wife Molly Mason titled “Ashokan Farewell,” which Ungar and Mason play now every night in summer on the shore of the reservoir when they teach fiddle classes for kids, and if you have ever heard the song, says my sister, which you should, you will get the shivers down in the blue bones of your heart, which is a good thing to have happen, all things considered.

Coast to Coast with Shahab - Update

I called Shahab's phone today to see where the hell he was exactly. If you'll remember, Shahab is my old roommate who is biking (and I'm not talking about a motorcycle) across the United States, left New York City 27 days ago. Today he's in Iowa, which means he's just crossed the Mississippi River! He said he can see where there has been flood damage from high river levels. I'm sure it's quite the sight to see.

I've spoken to him a handful of times since he left, and he's having a total blast. From his calculations he manages to put in 60-70 miles on the road a day. If money weren't an issue, I think he'd never get off that bike. From what I've heard he's been treated kindly everywhere he's gone, almost like a mini-celebrity, and he really appreciates his increased exposure to Americaness... He's been to little county fairs where people running for mayor ask him for his official endorsement and take pictures of him for their tiny Podunk weekly paper... He's basically like Forrest Gump on a bike. I'm sure his fast talkin' charm serves him well.

Of course his story is best told by him, but I felt a little update was due. Have a great weekend everybody!

Obama's Ipod

From the latest Rolling Stone...

Bob Dylan. Yo-Yo Ma. Sheryl Crow. Jay-Z. These aren't musical acts in a summer concert series: They're artists featured on Barack Obama's iPod.

"I have pretty eclectic tastes," the Democratic presidential contender said in an interview to be published in Friday's issue of Rolling Stone.

Growing up in the '70s, Obama said, he listened to the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Earth, Wind & Fire. Stevie Wonder is his musical hero from the era. The Stones' "Gimme Shelter" tops his favorites from the band.

The Illinois senator's playlist contains these musicians, along with about 30 songs from Dylan and the singer's "Blood on the Tracks" album. Jazz legends Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker are also in the mix.

"Actually, one of my favorites during the political season is 'Maggie's Farm,'" Obama said of one of Dylan's tracks. "It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric."

In the song, Dylan sings about trying be himself, "but everybody wants you to be just like them."

Several musicians on Obama's iPod support his bid for the White House, including Bruce Springsteen. Earlier this month, Dylan told a British newspaper that he believes Obama is redefining politics in the United States and could deliver change to a nation in upheaval.

"I've got to say, having both Dylan and Bruce Springsteen say kind words about you is pretty remarkable," Obama said. "Those guys are icons."

Obama said he hasn't met Springsteen, but the two have talked over the phone.

"Not only do I love Bruce's music, but I just love him as a person," Obama said. "He is a guy who has never lost track of his roots, who knows who he is, who has never put on a front."

And did he address him as the Boss?

"You've got to," the candidate said.

Asked what he thought of rap, Obama said the genre has broken down barriers within the music world, though he's concerned about his daughters _ Malia, 9, and Sasha, 7 _ listening to it.

"I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics," he said, "but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music."

He said hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and rappers Jay-Z and Ludacris were "great talents and great businessmen."

"It would be nice if I could have my daughters listen to their music without me worrying that they were getting bad images of themselves," he added.

Bush To Filipino President

PRESIDENT BUSH: Madam President, it is a pleasure to welcome you back to the Oval Office. We have just had a very constructive dialogue. First, I want to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a nation that -- in which there's a lot of Philippine-Americans. They love America and they love their heritage. And I reminded the President that I am reminded of the great talent of the -- of our Philippine-Americans when I eat dinner at the White House. (Laughter.)

(source)

George

Like Bo Diddley, I saw George Carlin in Jacksonville during my brief stay there. It was my first stand-up comedy show. A true lover of language, George was as articulate and funny as ever. He had to use notes for his act because it would have been next to impossible to remember his litany of jokes. It was a treat to experience him with my family on my 21st birthday. Wherever he his now, I'm sure he's rebelling against something.

Williamsburg & Philosophy

Re: Nope.

The story starts like this: I was ready for the bastard! The bastard not being the fool who made it, but rather the film itself. I've long since established my thoughts on the "filmmaker" and the various depths of confusion he so regularly engulfs himself in. To prep The Happening, I re-viewed both Unbreakable and The Village, for my memory's recollection of the two were minimal at best. Damn (for his sake), he almost had me. I've yet to see The Sixth Sense in my adult years, which would surely nail the coffin shut, and Unbreakable, well, she spoiled herself. One's second outing will allow such inevitable fault. Nice try, nonetheless. Everything Signs and on reeks of foundational flaw. A house built on sand sells an embarrassing view. He must be blind.

So on to The Blathering. Roger Ebert called it "thoughtful" because "it reminded him of some of the things that had been on his mind." Move over pillow-man (which is an oxymoronic term in itself) and read the fucking news. You wouldn't know "thoughtful" if it hit you up side the . . . well whatever, you just wouldn't know it if you deemed the world's dullest roller coaster ride "thoughtful." The film starts with 5 minutes of hyper-teen-shock, then gets straight to the intellect — a false Einstein "quote" about the food eater's dependency on the surviving abundance of bees, which in turn read like a bastardized hodge-podge of every made up what-if "fact" concerning the issue for AT LEAST 5 years now. So you know, sure, a good idea never dies, but why in the hell are we making up Einstein quotes — and regurgitating ones at that? Sure enough, pulling back from the chalk board we meet the film's (on-screen) star, Mr. Wahlberg, who appears to be teaching science to monkeys. Or maybe that's just as far as the film's scriptwriter made it in his own educational quest for intellect. The film then begins to steer its way through utter confusion with its ass in the air, slapping it with a horrifically sexual tone like a double-deuced, "who's bad" hoochied bimbo. The fool tends to flaunt it's naivety with a flying color or two, but here we get three or four. So, at least we know M Night is a liberal man — hardly an effective approach for such exasperating filmmaking.

I'm not sure I understood the comparisons to his supposed contemporaries. Are Will Ferrell movies really contemporaries of "thoughtful" filmmaking? Serious filmmaking? Personally I think that entire formula of Big Budgeted Blockbuster Farts For Dummies should be disbanded. It spoils a medium that a select few still overwhelmingly excel in carrying. Do you truly believe M Night does NOT see himself as a part of this distinguished class? Do you truly believe M Night deserves the weight you've lent him?

You mentioned the relationship between the content of the film itself and the social environment it was delivered to. This is by all means a significant point of interest, and perhaps essential to the code of responsibility filmmaking MUST uphold. This is also where I believe we truly disagree. For what reason would M Night, or any respectable "artist," step DOWN to speak to THESE people in such extremely elementary fashion? I think that's the point right there. I don't believe M Night has the perspective you've granted him. His insight is poorly researched and drastically UN-realized. It's token FIGHT the FIGHT for the FIGHT is worth FIGHTING for. It's a wide-eyed yearn for enlightenment, the fruits of a process M Night simply does not understand. His sheer lack of taste is insulting.

Muxtape Madness

You didn't ask for it, but you didn't have to. There's a new muxtape.
- Sad when true, but this version is one hell of a ride
- Guilty pleasure, Elton John has something to do with this
- Some like it hot
- Classic Ryan Adams when he was cool to like
- Rock 'N Roll Party Time
- New R.E.M. is kinda angry for the most part
- Pheonix is basically France's answer to the Strokesesque
- Not about to see your light And if you wanna find hell with me...
- Staten Island represent! I wish I could rap for a living.
- That's pretty freaky, Bowie. Isn't it cold out in space, Bowie?
- Big Love Boogy
- This is my new favorite song. New Weezer spells out a dozen ways they know how to rock. This is Rivers' epic song of ridiculousness. I could only imagine how well this song will go over live. Nerd Alert!
Rivers (far right) kinda reminds me of Freddy Mercury in that picture.

I'm still right.

I went and saw the Happening and once again was fully entertained by our modern suspense artist. This time though, the movie and the crowd reaction were both entertaining, as this was the first of his movies I've seen in the theater.

As most of you know, I've strongly backed the Entire catalog of M Night. Not because every movie is good or bad, but because he has a style that challenges the viewer, thus entertaining them. It's like Bob said about the tramp vomiting in the sewer. Aside from the perceived fact of the matter, I actually like all of his movies. I like them because he has an imagination, an imagination that is humorous, distorted and usually ridiculous. Humorous, distorted, ridiculous - sounds like the Family Swaggards on New Years Eve. Imagination to me isn't, "so then these guys start a fraternity and haze people, but we show some tits" or "so there's this anchorman" or "so this goofy white guy plays basketball in the 70's..." You get the point. What I'm saying is the most entertaining part of the matter is seeing these people using their respective film skills to pull off this somewhat fascinating story line.

The Happening is his best. First, because he eliminates the classic naysayer argument, "he's in all of his movies." He's not, or at least I didn't see him. Second, Mark Wahlberg is the man and will remain an M Night staple for the future. He's a master at delivering the supposed-to-be-cheesy dialog that is often scattered throughout M Night's work. He does this with the classic Wahlberg seriousness that's funny. Third, this movie's story line takes his usually weird story lines to a new level of simplicity, while keeping it current and humorous. Current meaning applicable to today's social environment and humorous - think Tarantino-ish gore.

When the movie was over, which was abruptly brought upon us - surprise surprise sweet bird of paradise, people didn't know what to think, so in classic American fashion, they started cussing. I heard, "I want my money back" in a slow sheeplike succession. Now I admit that I have great respect for the underdog, so sure there's some bias here, but fuck you. Go see it and be entertained. Think about how retard other current big box office filmmakers make people, particularly the comedy ones, and how much cooler and more laughable M Night's catalog is. Laughable not in a this-is-funny-cause-it's-bad, laughable in a this-is-so-much-more-interesting-than-his-contemporaries way.

Same Time, Same Place . . .

Just the other day, walking the street and about to cross, a small car of what appeared to be a father and two sons stopped to wave me through while delaying traffic. Familiar with situations such as these, I've learned to promote a seamless traffic pattern not dependent or catered to the travels I take on foot. Although much appreciative of the gesture itself, I frantically waved them through with a sturdy belief in the greater perspective I've envisioned for both participating parties and the general well-being of the community at large. We are all strangers in pursuit of a particular creed and this, by all means, is weekday traffic. An act of excessive, or even common generosity will only thorn this track and is better left for a Sunday's stroll. Regardless of my intent, which is indeed irrelevant to the governing of momentary action, I continued to wave them through yet again in response to their extended hesitation.

They laid on the horn. It appeared the gift upon return had gotten the best of their intentions. By the time I vocally motioned them forward with a fairly aggressive urgency, I was sure the public image of my own self had been drastically misinterpreted. Perhaps I had been deemed unappreciative of their intended good will, or speculative of the personal and/or cultural insecurities they may or may not have had, something I would have been unfit to perceive by this time. Perhaps the sight of my potential crossing was never taken graciously in the first place. Perhaps a pre-maturely bigoted assessment had already spoiled the lucrative communicative process I'd naturally tend to expect.

Sure enough, not a moment shy, they stepped on the gas to avoid any more self-inflicted embarrassment. I could see the prospected father in the driver's seat heatedly mumble something vulgar, violently directed my way. On the passenger's side, and closest to me, sat the boy who appeared to be the man's son. By the time of my direct passing, he looked at me in the eye and sturdily flicked me off. Clinched beneath his two front teeth was his bottom lip, pulsating with pent youth and undisclosed anger. I could see a child under pressure, frustrated with an emotion he may or may not have felt obligated to pursue. I could see that he knew of Guilt and feared the extent of it's pride. He was in tune with the tension of exercise and the dislocation of adolescence. He was not proud of his Cheap Shot, nor of the fence he had been forced to walk. To his left was a man he knew very well. To his right was one he did not. — Jack Straight, 2008

The Two Obamas - NYT Op-Ed

"I have to admit, I’m ambivalent watching all this. On the one hand, Obama did sell out the primary cause of his professional life (campaign-finance reform), all for a tiny political advantage. If he’ll sell that out, what won’t he sell out? On the other hand, global affairs ain’t beanbag. If we’re going to have a president who is going to go toe to toe with the likes of Vladimir Putin, maybe it is better that he should have a ruthlessly opportunist Fast Eddie Obama lurking inside.

All I know for sure is that this guy is no liberal goo-goo. Republicans keep calling him naïve. But naïve is the last word I’d use to describe Barack Obama. He’s the most effectively political creature we’ve seen in decades. Even Bill Clinton wasn’t smart enough to succeed in politics by pretending to renounce politics."

[source]

Girl Talk

So I've just come across this incredible little piece of pop culture smashed together. It's Girl Talk's "Feed The Animals". It's all these great pieces of pop culture smashed together. Whether it be from R&B, brit pop, indie, pop, new wave, whatever, if it fits then it's in. And not sampled in the usual mash up way, it's like taking the parts from 6 songs to make a verse of a song. For example, in one song it's gone from 'Paranoid Android' with Jay Z rapping over it, to the keyboard part of 'These Eyes' by The Guess Who which leads to Grandmaster Flash, topped off by 'Come On Eileen' and some Doug E Fresh. There's over 300 samples on this thing, and half the fun is just picking out the different tunes. But it's got me really curious onto whether this is music or art or both or neither. Part of me wants to say that it's just putting a bunch of songs together, but then the other part of me thinks it's a harnessing of pop culture in a patchwork sorta way, like little pieces of radio woven together. But whatever the case it sure is damn entertaining!

Oh and did I mention, the best part is it's pay what you want, ala Radiohead. Click here and enjoy...

If It Keep on Raining, The Levee's Gonna Break

"Well, you know right now America is in a state of upheaval. Poverty is demoralizing. You can't expect people to have the virtue of purity when they are poor," Dylan is quoted as saying.

"But we've got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up . . . Barack Obama," he was quoted as saying. "He's redefining what a politician is, so we'll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I'm hopeful that things might change. Some things are going to have to."

[source]

Butterfly

Yesterday I went outside
With my mama's mason jar,
Caught a lovely butterfly
When I woke up today
Looked in on my fairy pet
She had withered all away
No more sighing in the breast

I'm sorry for what I did
I did what my body told me to
I didn't mean to do you harm
Everytime I pin down what I think I want it slips away
The ghost slips away

Smell you on my hands for days
I can't wash away your scent
If I'm a dog then you're a bitch
I guess you're as real as me
Maybe I can live with that
Maybe I need fantasy
Life of chasing butterfly

I'm sorry for what I did
I did what my body told me to
I didn't mean to do you harm
Everytime I pin down what I think I want it slips away
The ghost slips away

I told you I would return
When the robin makes his nest
But I ain't never coming back
I'm sorry
I'm sorry
I'm sorry

- Rivers Cuomo, Weezer "Pinkerton"