This guy is not ready for Winter quarter to begin.

Listening to: Tortoise

Break or Bust

There is less than a week left until Christmas and I've already pissed away a week of break. I've had a set of cornhole boards in pieces throughout my house since summer with the intention of eventually painting the tops, but since then I've been:
(1) lazy, and/or
(2) without time.
Yesterday I decided on a design. How about the cover of Thom Yorke's solo album, half on one and half on the other? I think it's a boss plan. The black will be painted black and instead of painting the white background white, I'll leave the wood bare. It'll look damn fine.

So I think I'll go make some baked potatoes and start sketching on the boards.

My other goal is to tackle Catch-22 before the end of break. I started it and... eh. If I didn't promise myself I'd get through it I would probably put it down now.

Anyway, my printer is done so I need to go sketch. Later.

Listening to: World's End Girlfriend, Mono, Gifts from Enola, the Samuel Jackson Five, Red Sparrows

Bringing the Quarter to an End

EXAMS!

I hope none if my friends mind not seeing me until the end of the week because I've resorted to locking myself in my room with my notes, textbooks, snacks, computer, and cat.

If you don't have it I suggest you get an account with Last.fm. If you download the package, you will have a tracker in your toolbar where you can type in an artist and a radio station will pop up and play like-artists. It's really an amazing thing considering I've listened to my 4 Explosions in the Sky albums at least times 40 each all the way through and I would like new music. I've found over 50 new post-rock instrumental bands that are just as entertaining as EitS.

Anyway, back to Operations Management. Good luck with all of your finals.

OU, be warned:

HERE I COME!

I want to be part of their family.

Hey Brian, what is your favorite movie of all time?

Thank you for asking. Hands down, my favorite movie of all time would be The Royal Tenenbaums. It's the amazingly dry story of a dysfunctional family and how they find peace with each other.

Things I like about the movie:
1. THE CAST. Anjelica Huston, Gene Hackman, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Danny Glover, Bill Murray. Need I say more? I'm not a huge fan of Owen Wilson, but he played his part very well.
2. THE PLOT. All the characters hate each other (okay, well most). The father of this family (Royal played by Gene Hackman) announces that he's dying and would like to reunite his family. What follows is a reunion in the Tenenbam household. Pasts are remembered and inner demons are confronted.
3. THE HOUSE. This is my most favorite buildings in any movie. You'll just have to watch it for yourself to understand. I really love all the paintings on the walls in Richie's room.
4. THE NAMES. Margot, Richie, Royal, Chas, Etheline, Raleigh, Eli.
5. THE SOUNDTRACK. The first time I saw this movie was the first time I heard Elliott Smith and also Nico. On top of them, the unorthodox use of a classic Christmas tune fit amazingly well.


If you haven't seen this, I would suggest stopping whatever it is you are doing now to find your way to a Blockbuster to rent this flick. You honestly might not like it the first time you see it. You have to get used to their acting style to really understand the beauty in this movie.

If you have seen this, I would suggest stopping whatever it is you are doing now to watch it again. If you didn't like it the first time, give it another chance. I didn't "get it" until the second time I saw it, then I was hooked.

What a Not-So-Wonderful Day

TOP 7 SONGS OF THE MOMENT:

1. "Turnstyle Blues" by Autolux from the album Future Perfect
I had a friend in high school who was my source of new music. He is responsible for my love of Muse, Deftones, Death From Above 1979, Explosions in the Sky, Radiohead, Placebo, and even the Beatles (to an extent). My only other source for new music was VH1's morning show I'd watch before school every day, so my friend's contributions were a major impact on my underground music scene. He once played Autolux for me but it didn't work for me at the time. We had a little falling out in high school near the end of senior year, so in college it's been up to me to find new music. At one point, I started to give his old suggestions a second chance. I picked up Future Perfect at Half Price Books and absolutely loved the first track, "Turnstyle Blues." The rest of the album hasn't really grown on me, but that song is A+ work in my book. I'm sure my high school friend would be upset that I'm starting to like other shoegaze bands (sneeze My Bloody Valentine sniffle sniffle), but whatever. We don't talk anymore, so eat that.

2. "Dawn of the Dead" by Does It Offend You, Yeah? from the album You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
This album is crazy. I wouldn't even call it listenable, just crazy. I'm still not sure I would suggest this band to my friends for fear of them making fun of me. However, the one golden nugget of redemption lies with "Dawn of the Dead," one of the best keyboard/synth songs of 2008. There isn't anything amazing about it, but all of the instrumental elements are.... not ordinary, but together they sound great.

3. "Act One: Chasing Suns" by The Sounds of Animals Fighting from the album Tiger & the Duke
I'm a huge fan of anything Anthony Green does, and that includes the extremely experimental anonymous act The Sounds of Animals Fighting. I'll admit, this is not my favorite song of theirs, but it is a great song of the moment. This past weekend I went to Akron, and on the return trip to Columbus I listened to this album and really enjoyed it. They have a great way of producing unconventional music you can't find anywhere else, and it's a great thing.

4. "My Moon My Man" by Feist from the album The Reminder
I approach Feist albums like I approach Beatles albums; I get one, listen to nothing else for a month, realize I may be killing that album for myself, then move on with a deep love for it. I wasn't expecting much from The Reminder because Let It Die was too good for any one artist. I figured it was a fluke. I was majorly mistaken. I immediately fell in love with The Reminder. This song in particular sticks out for me because I'm a huge sucker for piano and awesome sounding lyrics (when she says, "take it slow, take it easy on me/shed some light, shed some light on my please," it sends chills down my back). Don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself.

5. "Tonight" by We Are Scientists from the album Brain Thrust MasteryI heard a lot of things about We Are Scientists but never looked into them because I thought they had one of the dumbest band names of all time. What sold me on them was an interview they had with Steven from Fuse. Both these guys were hilarious throughout the whole interview, and on top of that their video for "After Hours" was awesome as was the song itself. SOLD. Then I saw them in concert and they were just as funny and just as great sounding. Then I got the album and remembered this song from the set and fell in love with it for its awesome bass and keyboard components.

6. "Cross out the Eyes" by Thursday from the album Full CollapseThursday is one of those bands that I won't ever get tired of. It took a while for me to get into them because I just couldn't get over Geoff's voice. It certainly is unique but I didn't like it until after I fell in love with the rest of the band. I was head over heels for the song "For the Workforce, Drowning" from the first time I heard it. However, I recently got re-into this album, specifically this song, mostly because of the line "The sides we take divide us from our faith/And the morning dove gets caught in the telephone wire." It's sick how beautifully descriptive and poetic that is.

7. "Hello Dearest Love" by the Appleseed Cast from the album Two Conversations
I don't know what to say about this song other than it is some good quality shit. The vocals aren't overdone, the bass line is imaginative but simple, the guitars aren't anything special, and the drums are a little out there, but together it makes for a great tune. Check this album out if you've never heard of the Appleseed Cast.

LAST 7 BOOKS I READ (starting with the most recent):

1. the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
It was okay. I might suggest it to a girl because it is REALLY GIRLY, but it wasn't horrible. Someone I know called it the "female equivalent to the Catcher in the Rye," so I was expecting a lot more. Instead, I got a lot of "no, I don't want to do that, I'll stay in and be lame" attitude from the main character. 3/5

2. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Again, not what I was expecting. I grew up on the Disney version of the film, and after reading the Wind in the Willows and the Wizard of Oz, I was expecting this story to be drastically different from the film. However, Disney followed the plot pretty closely. I enjoyed it much. 4/5

3. The Lost World by Michael Crichton
Oh man, does Michael Crichton know how to write a freakin book or what? The entire thing was engaging and interesting. I HATED the movie, but I can assure you, they went wild on the movie. The book was just as good as Jurassic Park (the movie and the book). 4.5/5

4. Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
A friend of mine got me into Christopher Moore. Up til now he hasn't let me down. His books are funny, having crazy plots and hilariously unrealistic characters, but this book let me down. As a whole, it wasn't bad, but he has written better books. I'd suggest any of his others over this. 3/5

5. The Stranger by Albert Camus
I read this because Camus is taught in a lot of English classes at OSU and I wanted to see what the big deal was. After reading it, I don't know what the big deal is. Okay, the main character kills some stranger and gets tried for his crime. The End. It wasn't a bad story, nor was it poorly written, but I wouldn't call it great or a classic. 3.5/5

6. I Am Not Myself These Days by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
If you find yourself wondering how a crossdressing homosexual New Yorker finds love in the big city, this is the book for you. It's great. It's a biography. He's a crossdresser who's stage name is "Aquadite," the amazing fish-globes-for-boobs guy. I suggest this to anyone who is opened minded and likes to laugh. 4/5

7. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Again, Crichton is the shit. If you only read one book a year, start reading his stuff. It's more addicting than reality TV, and you get to learn a few things along the way. GOOD BOOK. 5/5

Time for me to get back to The Raw Shark Texts.

I want to have lunch with Greg Simkins

So I stumbled upon my favorite contemporary artist about 10 minutes ago. His Name is Greg Simkins. If anyone has an extra $75 laying around, I'd like some of his prints. I'll let his art do the rest of the talking. It's crazy how good it is.
It's so mysterious and exact and creepy and contorted and unreal and detailed. Check out his myspace.