Life of Chadams

CORRECT TIME AND DATE FOR DRUM CORPS!!!!!!!!

2006-08-17T00:07:00.000-07:00

It's all correct now! Don't miss it - you WILL regret it!

Drum Corps Withdrawal

2006-08-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

CORRECTION!!!!!!! That's the wrong ad, I know. Drum Corps International Finals will air on ESPN2 on SEPTEMBER 5TH 2006 at 8/7 PM (Eastern/Central)

Last weekend was amazing! I caught semifinals and finals at Camp Randall Stadium here in Madison. It was the perfect end to a terrific season for many of the world's greatest drum corps, as it was also the perfect end to a season in which I got to see a ton of terrific shows (Dubuque, Madison and Rockford - now that I'm within an hour away from DBQ and R-ford).

And yes - finals (in it's stilted, abbreviated version) will be on ESPN2 next month. DEFINITELY check it out. 1st place Cavaliers put on an INSANE show - I loved the shit out of it.

I could go on and on (as you well know), but I'll spare you (unless in the coming weeks I find myself SO withdrawn that I find more great YouTube clips).

This should do the trick

2006-08-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

So, I was having trouble finding something that really let you know what drum corps is all about and why I'm so crazy about it. I think this will help you all figure it out.

WHO ARE YOU KIDDING????? The Blue Devils DO NOT FUCK AROUND!!!!!!!!!!! Coming with that drum shit - marching percussion going OFF on the cymbal rack (4:30-5:00 and again at the end), the combined drum rolls - multiple drums playing two parts to one drum roll (very beginning with two snares and at the end with the whole snare line) and the horns KILLING IT. Plus some recognizable Dave Brubeck (Blue Rondo A La Turk at the beginning, and later combined with West Side Story's "Cool" and Brubeck's "Take Five") will help you understand drum corps composition and arrangement.

FIVE DAYS AWAY FROM FINALS - and you can't tell just how damn excited I am.

IMDB - you make it all the easier to understand...

2006-08-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

So, I'm on my lunch break today and there's my girlfriend asleep in bed - not uncommon since she works overnight at the TV station. I turn on the TV and the ABC Family Channel is on (because she probably watched Gilmore Girls at 10 AM, as usual). At noon, however, Family Matters is on.

Family Matters - thy name be heroin: addictive and nauseating afterwards. Here's the rub. The show spent years on ABC but went to CBS for a dismal, ill-advised final year. I think I may have been watching an episode from that season (which no one ever saw because we were all in high school and knew then what a horrible idea it was that the show went to CBS.) Having seen nary a moment (okay, I may have watched a show. BUT ONLY ONCE! ONCE!) my jaw dropped to find that Harriet (originally played by Jo-Marie Peyton-Noble France) was A DIFFERENT FREAKING WOMAN!!! Why/how the FUCK does HARRIET GET REPLACED????? No one else says "Carl Winslow!" in a pissed-off tone like J-Mar Pey-No! (Okay, so that abbreviation doesn't work at all. Sorry.)

TV execs at CBS (circa late 90s) - what was your deal? Did "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" set a precedent when THEY switched maternal lead actresses during their last season? Did they really?

Oh and sweet little Judy Winslow who only appeared in the opening credits - she's a porn star now. Way to ruin a little girl's dreams of being on TV for more than three seconds a week and turning her to a life of porn! Shame on you Miller-Boyett Productions...shame...

And one last thing, the episode I watched today featured a character named Myra who was TOO bubbly and obsessed with Urkel. The actress? Died from stomach cancer in 1998. (or so some French website would have me/us believe...)

Family Matters - you have a more fucked-up E! True Hollywood Story than even Diff'rent Strokes. And that's part of the entertainment value, isn't it folks?

Another crappy comedian that I failed to mention earlier.

2006-08-01T03:08:00.000-07:00

Greg Behrendt. Granted he knows that he's uncool (considering he has a DVD or CD by that name), but I hate how he tries to demystify men to women in his book,

And any talk show appearance he's done in support of his book, he's done by acting like SUCH a douche! All soft-voiced, nicey-nice and whatnot.

If you're a guy and you're trying to help men understand women - do it while you're dating the women or only if you're gay. No one appreciates a guy divulging how all other guys work, unless women are going to do the same. (which they never will because they chalk it up to "randomness" p in regards to how their minds work.) Thus, men and women should only try to understand each other by interacting with each other instead of trying to beg for answers - that's cheating.

I'd trust Behrendt if he were laying it out matter-of-factly and not giving women the benefit of the doubt (and by wrapping up his info. in a girly pink book cover). If you're not actively trying to figure the opposite sex out and taking the easy way out by reading this book, well then I have no sympathy for you or your growing collection of cats, ma'am.

I just wished I would've been consulted before the actions and thoughts of my gender were explicitly laid out for all to see. I only wish there were more of an even trade-off to the whole thing. That having been said, I can't say that I haven't tried to rationalize another man's actions for a close female friend who has been wanting answers (or to perhaps get closer to said female friend in the process), nor can I say that I haven't ever done shit that was in need of explaining only to have not been able to ("shit" being done, being for example, blowing a girl off, not calling her back, breaking up with her, you know, stuff that's in the past). But MY actions are mine to explain, not to be decoded for easy literary consumption.

Mr. Behrendt, you'll need to report to male headquarters and hand in your license as a practicing male. In exhange, you will be given the entire canon of romantic comedies from 1986 to the present.

The best TV show ever, and proof of it.

2006-08-01T02:58:00.000-07:00

In a show OVERFLOWING with comedic genius, this has been (thanks to Andrew Sullivan.com) one of the best clips I've found that I haven't originally watched. It's like she knew what was coming (maybe having been a Daily Show watcher herself). Her icy defenses not withstanding, Colbert stepped up and delivered above and beyond what is usually expected of him. That ending is KILLER. Plus, why is a deomcrat trying to play a round of French-baiting? I don't get it - I didn't think that was naturally the demos style.

Not only is The Colbert Report hilarious, but Colbert is a formidable interview (even outshining Jon Stewart on a regular basis. Stewart tried to cajole with Anderson Cooper recently going off about how he hates cable news to no avail. As much as Stewart is correct, Cooper shot him down for being a bit too glib and over-the-top in his accusations. But shame on Cooper for just being so damn full of gravitas all the time.)

So Colbert is unrelenting in his scathing humor, a great interviewer, but he's a uniter no a divider - no matter how much he plays up the conservative-cable-news-commentator character. Check out him chatting up the NAACP pres. Is that not sweet, yet snarky? How does he do it!!?!!!??!?!

God Bless The Colbert Report.

"I'm in LOVE and I don't care who knows it!" - Buddy the Elf

2006-07-31T03:23:00.000-07:00

I love my girlfriend. This is a known fact. But this post does not deal with my love for her. (Sorry, Lisa.) This post deals with my love for drum corps.

Here's my question to you - how, knowing me, can any of you STAND my utter geekiness? One, I'm a giant popular music nerd (not too frowned upon, socially speaking). Two, I read comic books (not so much a "cool" trait). Three, I am/was a film/media major so I get academically geeky about movies and TV (quite an annoying thing to behold, I'm sure). Fourthly, I'm something of an information whore - I thirst for random facts, trivia, new information & knowledge on anything and everything.

But drum corps, and my love for it, rivals the uncoolness of reading comic books. Except I geek the fuck out about drum corps - more than some people (my girlfriend, mainly) would like me to. BUT I CAN'T STOP.

Drum corps, isn't marching band. It's innovative high-art. If you've seen the Broadway show "Blast!", you get a small taste of drum corps (albiet a weird permutation of corps). I can take or leave "Blast!" because drum corps belongs and thrives on the field. It's sensory. In a theatre, you don't get the whole experience, there's not diesel fumes, sunscreen scent, no horn blasts and rim shots echoing off of buildings. You're getting what some producers think is a more palatable and digestable way for more people to get into drum corps (not that I am in ANY WAY against people getting into corps. I wish more people knew about something I love so much.)

I've gone to drum corps shows in Dubuque since I was a kid and I marched three years in the Colt Cadets drum corps (a corps designed to feed trained kids into the Colts drum corps, for slightly older kids). If there was a way I could get paid to march - I'd do it in a second. The fact that kids are out rehearsing 10 hours a day (roughly), slamming through a 12 minute show, and working & toiling over the course of the summer to polish and perfect a show to reach musical perfection is incredible. And while I also hated the hot, hot days where I worked until I couldn't hold up a heavy-ass horn anymore, it was incredibly rewarding and sparked a million great memories. Like the year and half that Nick was a dick to me. (kidding, pal!) Oh, to be in 8th grade again (and not have to deal with too much awkwardness, thanks to being among friends).

I digress. Drum corps (for the most part) consists of crazily arranged music (mainly classical or jazz) that is given beautiful voicings through brass and percussion. And like I said, it's high art - some of the conceptual shit going on in these shows is amazing. (This cannot be said for every corps). It's insane to see corps evolve over a summer as they become one with their show (the music and the marching), all while the show changes around them (corps are CONSTANTLY changing their drill and music in effort to bring the show as close to perfection as possible). Never have musical genres (those of classical and jazz) become so lively, energetic and compelling as they have once they have come onto the field.

I'm not spilling the beans, but 10 or so years from now, a documentary on drum corps would/will be the greatest achievement I ever hope to accomplish.

In the meantime, come with me and enjoy some hot clips that exemplify some of the more exciting parts of drum corps. Here's some Blue Devils drum line warm-up ish.

here's some great Blue Devils pit/frontline and marching percussion business.

And lastly I'll throw you some 1996 Phantom Regiment just so you get a more complete picture of great drill and the full drum and bugle sound. Go to Drum Corps International and check out some great stuff and check out the links to the home pages of drum corps all over the country. Give this stuff a try - it's addictive and engrossing, not to mention exhilarating for viewers of any interest level. FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!

Who was the world's worst comedian before Jay Davis?

2006-07-24T02:02:00.000-07:00

Was it Carrot Top or Mitch Fatel?

Either way, as I said, Jay Davis is the new worst comedian in the world. We're looking at a man who was the opener on Dane Cook's Tourgasm (with two other not-as-crappy openers, Gary Gulman and Robert Kennedy, who are still bad in their own special way) and has given viewers the sense that he has spent the entirety of his career working at small colleges. Any act, musical or comedic (or if you are a magician, acapella group or hypnotist), that does the small college circuit means you pretty much suck all sorts of suckiness and are way too bad at what you do to have any kind of audience that consists of more 22 people. He even looks like he's trying to do some magic shit in some homely college student union.

Not only has the shitty HBO series "Tourgasm" shown Jay to lack the ability to create a rapport with his audience, but the way he struggles through his jokes is just painful and telling of someone who doesn't need to be doing something so poorly. But this is compared to Dane Cook who (as The Onion's AV Club has so expertly pointed out) tries to appear as some sort of comedic messiah.

So there's that to contend with... mediocre comedy somewhere in this world that is being presented on a larger venue thanks to HBO. At least you can change the channel after Entourage (and Lucky Louie).

TOPIC: "Lucky Louie" is an okay show, whereas Louis C.K. is a terrific comedian/writer. Whats up with that? Dear Reader, please don't hold it against him that he directed Pootie Tang and made Lucky Louie. He did write for SNL and Conan, after all!

A note of caution.

2006-07-22T01:45:00.000-07:00

In Van Wilder, as in all movies in which a group of rogues fool around and eventually plea for one final chance to undo all of their shenanigans (in order to graduate), said rogues are given their chance to make good.

This, I have found out on repeat occasions (several times in college, in fact), is not true in real life.

Wait - now that I think about my prior experiences, this happens only half the time in college. You can atone for screwing around 50% of the time, the other half you bite it and take a loss.

That is all. And yes, you're welcome... for advice that won't truly matter you since almost all of you who read this are out off college. You're welcome nonetheless.

Chris hearts lala.com

2006-07-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Here's a list of the CDs I have for trade/sale on lala.com. You can post the CDs you don't want anymore and buy the ones you want for $1.

Below is a list of the CDs me wants.

Potentially the best movie concept EVER.

2006-07-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

I've had this concept in my head for about a week, and if I think about it any longer, I won't be a well person for thinking/planning such a hare-brained project.

So here it is:
A documentary/dual-interview (meaning both persons would be interviewing each other)/series of comedy sketches (improved and otherwise)/taping anything else involving two men: Tracy Morgan and Jay-Z.

If someone could hand these two guys a couple of video cameras, give them some time in a room so they could interview each other, and then perhaps instruct the two of them to do random shit and capture it on said cameras - we'd have something really freaking entertaining.

I'll admit I was re-inspired by seeing Tracy Morgan on Last Call with Carson Daly (don't judge me for havig watched it - I turned it off when really shitty band Halifax came on). How can you not love a crazy man who took his shirt off with very little provocation? Go to nbc.com and check out the preview for "30 Rock" - you'll see the comic genius that is TM that I'm talking about.

And the worst movie of 2005 goes to.........

2006-01-21T00:07:00.000-08:00

No, it's not the fucking "Wake Me When September Ends" video for Green Day. (Although that did come a CLOSE second.) It's....

The tagline should read "A hack attempts to recreate Donnie Darko and American Beauty - Come watch the suck!" Insanely awful - this is the cinema equivalent of emo - trying to emulate emotions and larger overarching connections and falling short of communicating something real. There are NEVER any windows opened into any psyches or reasons for the emotions and actions of the characters - THERE ARE NO REASONS FOR ANYTHING THAT ANYBODY DOES IN THIS MOVIE.

The so-called suburban angst or ennui or the pill dependency or the teenage "teenageness" that substitute for the emotions and actions in this movie are written from the most uneducated standpoint - do teens just pop pills and emote because it matches the color of clothes they wear? Yes they do, but the film aims to make it all real instead of the sham goth culture is. (Not to say this film is full of goth kids - but it tries to breath life and make it more palatable.) Like I said, it's all trying to show how emotionally torn the parents are (a la American Beauty) and how tortured the kids are (a la Donnie Darko).
Does this look like the kind of guy who knows from teenage angst? Looks like he spent his formative years in an L.L. Bean catalog before going to college. Kudos on sucking, guy.

There's never any "why" in the whole movie. Ever. Somebody fucking run the co-writer/director (Arie Posin, above) and producers to this movie out of Hollywood right now. It's all idiotic especially this stupid
ending.

The kid who plays Billy (Justin Chatwin, right) is fucking moronic and Camilla Belle (left) is horrible as well. That make two for her, counting that awesome "When A Stranger Calls" coming soon! The Chumscrubber narrates - a beyond idiotic idea and Crimes Against Ralph Fiennes are commited. Go fuck a dolphin, everybody!

Aaaand that puts the score at shitty projects that have had tons of money put behind them - 1,000,000

Chris - 0

I swear I had a couple of things to post last night...

2005-11-26T00:57:00.000-08:00

I now remember that I was going to go off on how great this Thanksgiving has been (despite it going by rather quickly). Kinda funny that I feel excited about T-Givs more than usual. I'm excited basically because I just spent five wonderful days and/or nights with the girlfriend. It was truly great having a weekend and our "weekend" (Sun. night and Mon. and Tues.), it felt nice to preview life NOT split between two towns. And the 6-month anniversary is this "weekend" - awesome shit!

That and T-Giving heralds that great, curl-up-in-blankets-and-hibernate-with-my-family(and my geeky possessions/X-mas presents) feeling. Which is only made better by the occasionally perfect/beautful tiny snowfall, and made even greater by the 5-wk. vacation where I can just make scads of money at the job. You guys remember that? When you had 4-5 wk. vacations? Yeah, you shouldn't have graduated like I didn't.

I think the most anxious thing I'm awaiting is my BESTOWAL UPON YOU - my Top 10 Albums and Top 10 Songs of 2005 List. I think I'm shortening it from last year's 25 - there weren't 25 albums I liked as much as 10 albums I loved. The list of songs may be lengthened, however. I really want to put it up now, but I may wait a week - which is of no use, nothing else really good will come out and grace my ears this year. Find it SOON at http://roomnowclean.blogspot.com

Hee-yeah!
- Christopher

A move to complacency causes procrastination

2005-11-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

Hey guys.

This is not to mention that I have a job that eats up my weekend. Work, school, the lovely lady, and to a lesser extend the near-failed radio station (which exists and is running, but on metahorical life support).

But I truly have to attribute another portion of this to (as mentioned) the country-wide call for responsiblity and answers. What do I have to bitch about now? I have a great girlfriend, a job that is good (apart from three people) -

Okay, I can bitch about having no time to hang out with the occasional friend (which for the last year+ has been just Nick), a cluelessness stemming from how to start my lovely young filmmaking career, a desire to at least visit people in Iowa City (and those I can meet halfway in Iowa City), a desire to visit people in L.A. (speaking of, I had a gloriouslt weird dream last night that I went to visit Jon Weber in L.A. where he had a bit part in an episode of Home Improvement as a trumpet-playing Japanese man who had a piece of chocolate cheesecake eaten by kooky Tim Allen.)

I got things to ponder and bitch about, but it's the same things as before. I want to see everybody - that's the thing of it.

That's all. One more thing however, I found my kindergarten chum on Facebook the other day - guy could possibly be a bigger Arrested Development fan than myself, which gives me pause and will cause me to once again reflect and soberly look in the mirror to reassess who the hell I am inside. Hope he gets to work on that screenplay adaptation of M.A.S.K. soon.

Dr. Adams - licensed fake therapist

2005-10-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

Watch as I pretend to sit my two friends down for a relationship therapy session:

DUDE, don't get drunk and let all of your problems come out when that happens. Also, try to find trust and common interests in your significant other, instead of basing your realationship on qualifiers (see "high-maintenance type").

DARLIN', STOP acting out and pouting, you're not 12. Your relationship troubles are your own and nobody else's. Also, you're stuck in a rut where you feel the need to fight in order to acheive normalcy. I love you , DARLIN' but grow up. Attention is not your prime directive. And, yes, you can ask me what "prime directive" means later...

Ashless Simpson is so hot with her dress and braid/dread business going on. Perhaps that's an oversight. But she is telling me that raccoon-eye makeup is still all the rage.

Things about SNL:
- Jason Sudeikis [sp] is getting plenty of airtime, which is good since he's decent and not Fred Armisen.
- This shit's gotta stop: Ashlee Simpson, Paris Hilton, Jon Heder. Culture ditch-diving WOULD happen on SNL. (Next week: The cast from Laguna Beach hosting)
- Amy Poehler's hyper-4th-grader character is one of the few funny things on the show.

**********************
I give so little credit to my high school years being as formative as my college years. I don't know why. I forget how incredible my friends from high school have been and how much they still mean to me now. In many ways, much more than a lot of the friends I had in college. This is brought up by Dave's wedding reception having happened last night - an incredibly positive experience.

I also realize that the hours of the reception that preceded the bar-hopping was awkward since almost ALL of my social activities with Dave and our brethren have taken place in bars. Who would have fucking thunk that.

A Desperate Housewives comment:
- this show's jumping the shark as we speak, what with the whole "one-season-long-mystery-per-season". The other plots haven't moved worth a shit.

I feel dirty for having mentioned that. Music blog time.

a DECENT discussion!

2005-10-02T00:50:00.000-07:00

BRIEFLY -

Dave (my Air Force buddy), and I (and Bartini's bouncer Scotty) produced one of THE BEST EVER political discussions ever. I was NOT regaled with the media portrait of "everyone hates the troops in America" soundbite.

NEVER PAY ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING (even though that's all you'll ever see on TV):

- anyone over 35 who pastes bumper stickers over anything
- zealots of any shade
- anyone who pays too much attention to their parents' politics
- anyone who deals in topical, cosmetic political ideology (Ann Coulter - as if I had to specify)
- anyone who deals with politics in PR form (the DNC, Karl Rove, etc.)
- celebrities of any kind

When it comes down to it (like it did with Dave and I, through making valid points that weren't overtly emotional or uninformed), we went back and forth so civilly [sp] and our discussion was pure understanding and acknowledgement of us being right and feeling the way we did. Both of the sides of the fence we sit on have been publicly fucking up (Repub.s being money-grubbing, negative-zeitgeist producing, shame-inducing fuckheads, and Dem.s being apologetic unknowledgeable PR and ad-men trying to be like the ad-men who run the GOP- when what we needed was the intellectual minds of Howard Dean and Michael Dyson (e.g.) running thangs).

I'm sleepy and have to finish watching SNL and the other shows I taped tonight. Y'all have a good one.

Why didn't you tell me!

2005-09-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

How are things going so good in our country these days? Let's list:

1.) Bush has a billion eyes on him and he's now being viewed as someone to actually be held accountable for things going wrong in America and the world.

2.) Bullshit detectors are on high. When Brownie blames the state gov.s, IMMEDIATELY facts turn up and are DISSEMINATED to prove that he's a gaseous man because he talks out of it often.

3.) And now DeLay's been indicted? Fucking a! WE ARE WITNESSING A SWING!! A swing from scare tactics to a need for answers. We've seen the worst and now all of the "piled-up questions" (first DeLay then Rove then FEMA - plus Iraq and 9/11 questions being raised) are making the entirety of us finally want answers. All of us do. And they are coming. Good lord, I had to wait five years for this!

Calling his name from either side

2005-09-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

So Bush keeps going back down to Texas to make sure various refineries and energy resource centers are in order. No fly-overs to mock the people below because they don't get five-week vacations. Disconcerting feelings are coming back, y'all!

To reference my title, I don't actually think it's like he's stuck in the middle of two states and their both calling his name to see where that little scamp will go to. If they have, he chose his home state the money-makin', pollutin' non-smart stoodent capital of the world! DON'T MESS WITH [TEXAS].

It's great to see CNN doing packages on the irresponsibility and weight of Presidential appointees. But they should kick Mike Brown in his testicles for the WAY-LATE and idiotic "it's Louisiana's fault!" statement. Yeah, the state and local governments weren't doing great at managing their post-storm shit either, but it's his fucking job. (Imagining John Malkovich yelling, "It's your job, Brownie! YOUR JOB!!!" a la John Malkovich in "Being John Malkovich. Malkovich Malkovich.) Take the blame and go the fuck away, Brownie!

***

So my buddy from the Air Force is back in town. We went out big one night and I felt like crap the next morning OBVIOUSLY. So I'm going to drink VERY little this next month while he's back. And I'm CLUELESS as to how to handle impending misogynist, racist, neo-con, red-state statements. This is my boy from back when we were theatre geeks and choir nerds in high school. This is more than a 180, it's like a 940 or something. I'm going to get shit from him (obviously) if I call for him to stop it, walk out, whatever. I am in a horrible lose-lose situation where I do NOT know what to do AT ALL. I have reservations about severing ties and just keeping this out of my life, but there are only a few. I'm not going to cold-ditch my body but it's a two-way street and it's not like I haven't abandoned the way I act in high school, but he wasn't a inappropriately-angered guy the months before he left for the Force.

Needless to say I'll be in class and can't focus and be angry or sad or feel unable to overcome ANYTHING. Worse than MANY of the roadblocks I have had in the past (except for that time when I couldn't get out of bed due to panic attacks).

But talking about it to my girlfriend helps, writing about it helps. It's usually when I spend the majority of my day NOT talking to people and in class or working on something that it festers.

I totally forget the great times that were in the past because shortly after high school he let it build up - refusing the help that I know to be valuable (talking to someone, even if it IS a professional) and I forget the fact that I did have a great time with him Thurs. and Sat. but hearing the exploits of a relative of his from trusted friends and his accepting views on said exploits make it harder for me to know what to do.

I just pray that I don't spend the whole time beating myself up inside and letting my emotions miscalculate themselves.

addendum to "takin' a break"

2005-09-17T23:50:00.000-07:00

Just a sentence:

PJ O'Rourke strongly feels that the political stratification of Republican and Democrat also spills over into society. WHICH IT DOES - but to throw such names at people societally is worse than lumping extremists in with moderates on both sides of the Senate floor. Good Lord was I annoyed at his smug shit...

Takin' a break

2005-09-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

Watched another episode of Bill Maher and I've decided to not comment on the hurricane any more. The coming months and years will show that this incident will become politicized to an extent beyond what the American public desires. It's already started with some uber-conservative Republicans questioning send aid packages and alloting money to relief efforts. One, this kind of slow response and discussion (AT ALL) is what caused the shitty slow response and the public's newfound distaste for the Bush Administration.

So, PJ O'Rourke isn't the most asshole conservative out there, but his lousy and useless for lumping everyone into groups of democrats and republicans. Dumbfuck has obviously not been out in public and has been masturbating to his own writings for the last ten years, because he should know that most liberals DON'T associate themselves as Democrats and the majority of America is moderate and unassigned to a party, for one. And two, John McCain and Tom DeLay are hardly similar Republicans. McCain doesn't do "Justice Sunday" FOR ONE. (What's up with my new phrase, huh?). But PJ O'Rourke kept waving his hands and interrupting as if he knew the answers and was lambasting Joy Behar (who was saying some okay things) and former San Fran mayor Willie Brown (correct name?). The "know-it-all-ness" of Republican/conservative pundits/authors was streamlined so much so that you his ass can glide on air, if properly propelled by fellow Fox News-type windbaggedness, and he talked so goddamn loud, quickly and succinctly, so as to give the impression of being correct or having knowledge on the subject. (Which was proven false by his comments being based in 80s 2-party ideology.)

As I said - I feel real bad about there being enough polarization between the gov't. and the public over the hurricane in the coming months that PLENTY will take care of itself in America wanting action over inevitable bureaucracy. On top of that, I think Bush said some decent things (time will tell if he follows through before whatever the next problem is that comes his way). I also don't trust him above anybody who's given any money to hurricane relief - you/they have done more than he has thus far.

Also Karl Rove is the architect for Bush's rebuilding plan - what the fuck? That's scary and ultimately wrong. P.S. So Bush asked for an end to ALL trade tariffs and the like - what up with that one too, y'all?

Time for my music blog to be written in praise of Mark Romanek.

Facebook guilt and unease, creating positive effects

2005-09-08T22:47:00.000-07:00

So I trolled Facebook because my co-worker Alison added me as a friend. I also had an add from a girl I used to go to high school with and I rejected her due to the unease created at any point by running into her (especially when in a bar, and she picks you out of a crowd and talks a blue streak about something/nothing - that's a fair assessment). I say especially in a bar since she was quiet as a churchmouse in high school - there in lies the unease - the unholy drunken transformation.

I also felt a bit "behind the times" as everyone now has a new post-collegiate location. I do not, since I'm STILL not post-collegiate (as you know). But I realized that:

1. I know really great people (even if not very well)
2. I will see them all again through my planned artistic endeavors.
2a. Which added to the desire to do them (planned artistic endeavors) ASAP after I graduate
2b. Which also added to my desire to NOT immediately seek a more permanent employment opportunity (which would involve some sort of cont'd. education)

Basically - I'm going to move and going to try before going to plan B or C immediately. Which is good that I haven't let a fascination or desire die down without actually giving it a shot. I've been know to do that. (See: why I'm still in school)

I also realized that I've met incredible women that I've been terrific friends with and have often had only a slight compatability with in a relationship-type way. Which makes me proud that Lisa and I are as great a couple as we are. Our compatablilty is nonpareil, she's so amazing in a way I like to describe as "she can hang" (not that that's her only charm), and the fact that she's neck-deep in Plan A and plans to have it benefit her (job opps., different locales possibly) for a long time is impressive.

Good god, I've got to stop doing that - dissect what's great about her. It's like I just said her stock portfolio's great as part of why she's incredible. But in truth, commending her on her amazing ability to successfully start a career at her young age IS impressive, but there are MANY reasons beayond that why I like her as much as I do. So those are just SOME of the reasons why my girlfriend fucking rocks.

But like I said, my post-college work (hopefully documentaries) is how I hope to stay connected to all of you and to those that are a bit off in the distance right now.

***

I started reading my buddy Pete's blog again today. He's kinda angry but I'm glad he's looking to change out of his job and go somewhere and start to really WORK, like myself. That theme of starting to work on that which we love (filming thangs) is good to see because he hates his job and it really was bringing him down. He's one of the coolest people I've met (he was my FIRST roomate at Iowa) and if anyone deserves to be allowed by himself to create, it's Pete.

I think that's all I got for tonight.

Slight revision to the previous post

2005-09-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

Did I say I don't think Bush hates blacks? Cuz he does. It's true. Kanye's 100% right, not just 98% right. We are talking about a silver spoon, blue blood. He [Bush] doesn't hate as much as his misunderstanding and failure to do so prevents him from not liking African Americans (let alone ALL minorities).

Just wanted to set something straight I may have been unclear about a few hours ago.

An update on racist bitch watch 2005

2005-09-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to let you know that I did notify my store manager of my dumbass co-worker being a racist bitch to customers. She (my manager) said she'd talk with the offender. I'll let you know how everything goes and what further actions I may have to take. This ain't dying soon by ANY means!!!!

HEAD ON A PLATTER!!!!!!!!!

2005-09-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

moveon.org sent me a mass e-mail with a petition to sign and I wish I hadn't thrown it away. (NOTE: I DID sign it AND pass it on before throwing it away.)

The petition is asking Bush to stop placing the blame on the local and state government when it has been made incredibly clear that an internal document in FEMA is responsible for the delay in relief efforts coming from outside of the state. (I apologize, I'm kind of busy (or should be) - the FEMA document story I found on http://www.mtv.com/news and sadly, I couldn't find any info. at moveon.org about this. But there is plenty via yahoo and google about Bush blaming Gov. Blanco.)

Who, you ask, is behind the backlash against Gov. Blanco and the state and local gov't.s? Karl Rove. Who else? Moveon.org's petition came with a biblio. with plenty of articles, some of which out Rove as the designer of the backlash and caught in an outright fucking lie regarding when Gov. Blanco sent help to those in need.

So not only, since 9/11, has the blame game become the choice way to smokescreen the fuck-ups of the Bush adminstration, but now it's become an internal affair in America. The Bush Admin. can't even set aside such shenanigans when problems hit home. The gaffes have been shown and exposed before they had a chance to cover it up. Not the first time, OBVIOUSLY, but boy, is everything out in full force to cover their asses.

This is the last straw folks - MOBILIZE, REVOLT, AND BE LIKE KANYE.

Kanye West, not only has made an amazing album that appeals to our entire culture. But his strong convictions allowed him to utter a penultimate cultural sentiment - Bush hates America. (Funny how it sounds when someone from the left says it to those who shout it from the right!) I may not think that Bush hates blacks, but Bush hates the parts of America (which New Orleans is) that don't love him back and can't be as economically productive as he wishes. (Meaning he wishes the sewers of N.O. ran green with dollar bills like they do in the middle east.)

Kanye, however, articulated a prevalent opinion among minority populations - that they feel counted out of Bush's America. Gays, blacks, hispanics, the lower class, etc., etc. - millions and millions aren't within his vision - because he won't look down to recognize them from his high horse. Know that Kanye is NOT wrong and is NOT alone. How many other rappers came out and said that they emphatically agree with him? David Banner (from Mississippi), T.I. (also a Southerner), and Jay-Z. Jay fuckin' Z knows Kanye's right and won't hesitate to agree, no matter how important he is (and how large his potential for scrutiny - which is about equal to the amount Kanye is receiving) as Def Jam prez.

Also, Kanye's "Jesus Walks"? That's using religion as a fount of inspiration, life and love - NOT as a weapon. We need to realize it's actually possible for someone to use religion as a shield and not a sword. (Even though, that's only one cultural figure out of thousands using religion improperly.)

A few minutes later...

2005-09-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

I turned the channel to TNT where "Back to the Future II" is on.

I'm excited that in ten years there will be hoverboards, among other less important innovations. One of those less important inventions being the Pugilist Box (<-see previous post) (patent pending - I've yet to call the invention hotline).

more sense has been made

2005-09-03T23:53:00.000-07:00

I've expanded upon another set of generally held ideas (I'm right, shit's fucked up, people are stupid, etc.)

First off - a question that needs to be ask is how do we reverse the intertwined inabilities of people to listen to more than one side of things or question their one-sided views and the reinforcement in the media that such stubborness on views is a proper way to view and process news into opinions. Scarborough, Carlson, Hannity, O'Reilly - using books with big titles as weapons.

How do you combat that? Books that combat the "fuck you for questioning Bush" (<- in which the name "Bush" is usually replaced with "America".) Other books in response/defense never work. In fact - in the media, with such things as politics, NEVER respond. By that I mean, if Michael Moore makes "Fahrenheit 9/11", DON'T MAKE A DOCUMENTARY CALLED "Fahrenhype 9/11". When I say don't resond, I say don't attack. That COMPLETELY has thrown of the ability to have any sort of reasonable discourse on TV or elsewhere. "Fahrenhype 9/11" is - from what I've come to understand from reading the back of the DVD box - Zell Miller and Ann Coulter saying how they don't like Michael Moore. Good for them. And it's good to see that mental patients can try and reintroduce themselves into society as slightly productive members of society - with a small modicum of success.

How do we rebuild RATIONAL, REASONABLE, PRODUCTIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE discussions within news-related programs? We've "bombed" the ability to speak in such a manner "back into the stone age".

Bill Maher's "Real Time with Bill Maher" (which I'm watching for the second time tonight) was REALLY good tonight, partly because they didn't have to deal with fuck-wit half-ass Ann Coulter wannabes defending the president in the same way people defend Jennifer Aniston - because they like what they read and hear and see about that person in the media. Pick up Newsweek or turn on CNN and we get the loudest voices saying very little.

This weekend's show had a liberal and smart panel. There's no need to stop and waste precious time rolling your eyes at people saying stupid things. The discussons PROGRESS and EVOLVE and <> ADVANCE.

I missed the first part of the show, so I'm seeing it now. Anderson Cooper is standing up and joining the MILLIONS asking the government, "Where the fuck were you?" Oh yeah, on you fucking ranch, asshole. Not taking accountability for the war's misguided goals. The "one problem overshadowing another problem" has come to an end as Bush has blundered the ability to proactively aid Hurricane victims. People know the cycle is at an end and once this question is answered as to why he wasn't there and didn't rally FEMA and the National Guard EARLIER, he's going to need to be accountable for everything else. He can't be held accountable for something that wasn't beyond his power to prevent, but to misjudge the ability to help and save lives is something he's accountable for.

Bill Maher's now talking to scientist Prof. Stephen Schneider (Stanford). Twice in two weeks Maher has ably been able to put to rest ANY stupidity regarding ANY debate over global warming (and evolution). There is none, there's facts (facts, which are not a friend of the Bush administration) and there's people who (again) talk loud and say nothing but to divert heads away while curtains get closed.

But the original point of this blog is a discussion that I did catch on the previous viewing of the Bill Maher show - religion is weapon used by majority media and governmental figures to try and do various things - call for assassinations of Venezuelan presidents (okay, so that was an ISOLATED incident), call for the democratic accountability of the Supreme Court, call for the integration of Church and State. But where in the use of religion as a weapon is the religion?

Not only does the liberal community and the intelligence/collegiate/scholastic community have intelligence on it's side, but it also has religion - love, compassion, thought processes that lend themselves to questioning and wondering about the entire human experience. The "evangelical right" has what? Money, tv cameras, loud voices, little substance, HATRED, an unwillingness to educate properly (case in point: in promoting abstinence programs, HORRIBLE things are said about how condoms don't work - to a lesser extent than they do work - that's just the least horrid thing said in that realm), and a desire to count people (and their dollars) as on their side. These things - especially hatred and money - does not religion make. Christianity does not run like Wal-Mart where we supress the ability of information (or product) to be successfully produced and supplied to the masses.

Did you know Karl Rove is responsible for this entire twisting of cultural groupthink where however is in power is right, pious and unquestionable? He is. Fuckin' fattie.

Brad Whitford (of The West Wing, not of Aerosmith) is thankfully bringing up much of this same discourse that I'm talking of. He's also bitching about his unneeded tax break (which as we all know is such a huge part of how this nation has become a vice grip on the middle class, squeezing it into the lower class. I'll glaze over that rant, in favor of having spent time on the previous stuff.).

I'm scared about how I may react (as racism comes up in Bill Maher's panel's discourse), but I've had to personally deal with a co-worker (who's rich and extremely angry about being rich and aligned with the majority point of view) and her hatred pouring into her job - eagle-eyeing a couple of black gentleman casually shopping. Staring at them, crossedly, arms folded. I have no problem doing my part to ease the tension through talking to said customers to let them know evil harpy money-stuffed bitches aren't the only people who work where I work - but this is boiling to where it's going to fucking come down with me being red-faced and spewing words and having it the fuck out. I can't wait - and I hope to god something can come of it. I can't not let this situation be put to rest - no matter what happens to my job as a freaking cashier.

Back to religion - I've realized that I may have no specific dogma in which I believe, but my moral sanity and rationality in and of itself is enough to say that within me, I have religion. Pat Robertson, Phyllis Shlafly - DO NOT. They have bibles in hand and a desire to grab a microphone and yell at you.

Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek International said that those who claim such things (like religion is their weapon) "...have a problem with modernity in American Culture." The inability of Ann Coulter to respond in political debate WITHOUT personal attacks and the rise of evangelical right assholes are one in the same - they put us in the past and keep us from dealing with the task at hand. America needs to save lives, at home and abroad - and next weekend all we're going to get is Pat Robertson thanking the lord that a second Supreme Court vacancy has been created. Pat Robertson will glaze over the Katrina disaster and concentrate on his agenda.

HERE IT IS - Michael Dyson (author of "Is Bill Cosby Right?") and Brad Whitford saying there are no positive religious voices dominating the airwaves (peace, anybody? compassion? what? God hates f*gs? Oh yeah, that's right - let's concentrate on the negativity that Jesus was all about. Good one.) Dyson beautifully posists that a modern-day Jesus would be something the evangelical right would have NOTHING to do with. Whitford says Jesus 2000 would be called an "un-american wuss". (Meaning he would have a heart and be compassionate.)

Can you all understand how I feel when I say I would give anything to bust into Fox News and, as Ron Burgundy would say, "box your ears!" The Daily Show, two weeks ago aired a pundit calling Cindy Sheehan "a crackpot", but when Terry Schiavo's parents protest against their daughter's death, same fucker lauds them. Hy-po-crite!

LASTLY, one of my co-workers (the one who's an ardent Democrat AND keeps her racism at home) had the heavy task of having to silence herself when a customer said that "people were being punished in Lousiana for being lazy".

I've reached fever pitch and must do SOMETHING to calm my ass down.

I think if I were to create some sort of invention that would allow us to take out our agression when people like this person orally shits words - I would be rich AND still compassionate and "religious". A glorified bop bag - that's what I need to invent. I'm going to call that phone number on the TV ads.

So I get racism and ignorance at work - and my beautiful, wonderful girlfriend has to take calls from similar people. I couldn't do that - I'd have caller ID on these people and dozens of eggs at the ready.

Stop. Think. Then speak. Please - I'm begging.

a synergy of greatness

2005-08-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

i'm about to (HOPEFULLY) finish up my final year of undergrad. After going back to collge for a year, preceded by A YEAR-AND-A-HALF of not going to college. Yes, you read that right - I didn't return after the semester I took off for being sick. (I'll be starting year five, not counting "hiatus" time - not uncommon nowadays.) There's no need for me to hide that anymore - I've had enough support/understanding form people I've told. "And I thank you all"

Truly, it has been no bed of roses, nor a pleasure cruise - but lord did I expect one! Kidding... Things have been going VERY well for me these past few months (as some to most of you know). I have a crazy focus to return to Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area soon. I keep getting more and more ideas for documentaries, and am looking forward to a possible/hopefully likely return to playing music as well - I'm more in love with the idea of playing music than I was before I left Iowa City.

Here's the screwed-up/stupid thing - I doubt I should do this at U. of Iowa (which may be necessary given where I want to live), but I want to at least investigate the idea of purusing a social sciences/sociology degree. In my documentary work, I hope to document bands, music (drum corps in one specfic instance), social trends/forces, political power-movement-making folks (a doc. specifically about "people for a better america" groups and religious-based social reform groups, for one), and what would be awesome is to combine the two - documentaries about music and society/societies (a la "the decline of western civilization" and "heavy metal parking lot"). Don't need a degree to do it, but my buddy Aaron did tell me that it seems to him that I want to go back to school (before I've LEFT) and pursue this.

Things that are going well:
- debts are being paid
- i'm makin' better money right now
- Mannix (the band) exists and is awesome and is continuing to grow (http://www.myspace.com/mannixtheband)
- everyone around me is happy, and there is a growing collective positivity around me (which you can always tell when people are happier - it does things to the world. good lord that sounded hippie-ish)
- said positivity is subtly influencing me to make everything better, more effortless and easier (every smallest action to the day's/week's most important choice).

Also, as we all know, my girlfriend is the damn greatest. It's terrific that I was ready for a mature relationship and didn't necessarily know it or was looking for it. And my girlfriend is such an incredibly giving, caring individual - it's flooring. I'm going to call her right now, in fact. Enough talking about her, time to talk to her.

If you do New York Times crossword puzzles...you would call this "olio" and not "oleo"

2005-07-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

I don't fucking know, at least I think it's olio.

GOOD THING: My ear infection(s)/swimmer's ear are almost gone. I feel like an old man bitching about this, but Saturday night I couldn't move my head, extend my jaw, laugh, etc. This hindered my ability to ably hang out with Emily, on holidau from LA, and Emily, who I had not seen in a few months, and Lisa (who I saw/slept next to for roughly 14 hours), and everyone else (Jack, Heather, Aaron, etc.). I stayed out for a VERY SHORT time, and couldn't partake in festivities worth SHIT! Anyway, I'm fine now - and my ear's not bleeding...which is a good thing.

BAD THING: I watched Celebrity Fit Club tonight. God help me. I'm sad to say that for someone who tries to pride themselves on watching good TV (Arrested Development, The Office, Adult Swim) I watch some shit TV (see above). I fault Best Week Ever and The Soup for their ironic proxy voyeurism. (Again, don't look it up - I'm hoping that compound-word term can SOMEHOW convey what I'm trying to get across.)

Around the time I went to London (this past Feb./March), I had planned on making a visit to LA. Since then, I have not given much thought to going. But I really want to now, partly since I didn't get to hang with Emily for as long as I had hoped. (Making that TWICE in a row) Especially with Jon (sometime within the next five years) heading out around the end of the year, I would be incredibly open to making an appearance out there over my x-mas break. It's been over a year since the three of us hung out together and it's always great fun when it does happen. Fingers crossed. But Spencer will have left by then, which sucks. The Jimmy Kimmel Show should air a montage of photos of him instead of their regular programming before he leaves. Two words: ratings boost.

Honorable mention going out to Lisa for being my caretaker for 14 of the most painful hours of my life (not a stretch, truthfully). The woman administered ear drops, for god's sake! That's a girlfriend. Try to find one like that - I DARE YOU.

the post after a long absence.

2005-07-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

I just had an absolutely fantastic four days (Sat.-Tues.). Lisa came up for the weekend and the first few days of the week that she now has off. It was funny, my co-worker/friend (he's a co-coworker first, friend second - and one of the few co-worker's I'd hang out with outside of work) Suman, said that I could easily find out by spending four whole days with her whether or not I could stand to be with her for four whole days without finding some quirk or unfavorable habit/characteristic. I knew there was potential, but I quickly told Suman that that wasn't to be the case.

Suman's words didn't resonate in my head nor did they stay on my mind, but I'm happy to report that Suman's concern didn't come to fruition and I WAS RIGHT. I spent four incredible days with Lisa and nary a snore or ineresting habit developed or bothered me. Though I may have freaked Lisa out by stirring/talking in my sleep. She has quoted me as waking up and saying "Bingo. What?" I guess that's me - I subconsciously say something than immediately follow it up with an embarassed, self-aware "huh?" or "what?"

I downplay it by calling it a "habit or characteristic" but Suman's really saying that I could've found out that four whole days could've brought up the potential for incompatability. IT DIDN'T. I couldn't have spent a more ideal four days with this lovely person who I'm falling for. Lisa hardly ever gets time off like that and to want to spend it with me made me happy and honored.

We tried to go see Head Automatica in Cedar Falls Sunday night with my friend Nick only to have the HORRIBLE luck of H.A. cancelling seven dates (including the show we tried to go see) due to lead singer Daryl's Crohn's disease acting up. (Get well soon, D!) Man - the first time in a while I want to go see a band that I REALLY would love more than anything to see, they ain't there. I also saw one of the worst bands I've EVER seen in my life The Fury (http://www.thefurymusic.com). This band had no concept of music as an overall arch of inspiration in their art and their lives (read: poseurs purely trying to achieve style points).

Even though that happened, I STILL had an awesome time with my girlfriend and one of my best friends. I have the great fortune to get see Lisa AGAIN (albeit back to the Sat. night/Sun. night times I can see her when I come down for the weekend) as well as see my lovely friends Emily AND Megan (if she's still in I.C. - which I'm sure she is). And I'll also see Lisa for a longer period of time the weekend after as I help her move to Cedar Rapids - at which time I'll meet her friend Will for the first time AND her parents. Time to dress up and charm the parents like a politician - you know, lay out my platform for dating their daughter.

Lisa and I didn't spend much money this past weekend (her choice as determined by my dismal economic situation) but we did get out to a movie (the fairly good/okay Wedding Crashers) and to an exhibit at the Mississippi River Museum. The exhibit was frogs. Doesn't sound exciting, and it was pretty small, but there were some neat looking frogs from Asia and Africa. And it did get us up off the couch, too. Which meant I did have to stop cuddling her for an hour or so. (AWWWWW!!!! - There. I put it in so you didn't have to think it).

Holy crappin' crap - The National Enquirer has a television ad. That clopping sound you hear? Horseman of the Apocalypse number three (pestilence) ridin' on into town. I can't even think of the fourth one's name - war, famine, pestilence... If I were to ask Tom Cruise, he would probably say psychology. (Sorry I didn't think I could go the whole post without beating a now dead horse.)

Well - sleep's heading my way. I will see some of you very soon and will post again (most likely back on the music blog (http://roomnowclean.blogspot.com) soon.

Take care and be jealous of me having my head-in-the-clouds.

more political spitfire

2005-07-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

When Susan Sarandon and celebrity/activists who go on TV and calmly say that they don't believe we should go to war, they catch flak for being a celebrity who has an opinion like [some of] the rest of us and get branded as "speaking down from on high". But Tom Cruise (who thankfully is now branded as crazy, which truthfully may be a worse tag) has escaped the negative flak that Ms. Sarandon has been given, despite having acted much more irrationally and irresponsibly.

I applaud him for believing in homeopathic/holistic healing alternatives, but I think a healthy balance between TRUSTING HUMAN SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT, while heralding natural medicinal methods is the better way to go. Especially if you're going to personally attack your interviewer, whether or not he happens to Matt Lauer.

So please, next time you talk about this fiasco - paint a worse image of Tom Cruise than the media has. It's unfair that you can get shit on for protesting a war and expressing a political view outside of ALL mainstream media POVs (read: the one semi-opinionated, uninforming point of view that anyone can receive via television), and if you lambast your interviewer for having the "audacity" to call you on bad-mouthing another person's methods of recovery, you can walk away less affected. I think it preferable to find a more natural form of recovery, but everyone's entitled to their own method.

"How dare you? You're a jerk, you know that? You're a jerk!" I would've paid handsomely to hear him say that to Mr. Lauer.

Also, in my previous post, I detailed (quite amazingly, if I do say so myself) the best way to end an argument. Here are two more!
- my dad said that "Jane, you ignorant slut" (or some form less directly quoted) works to end all discussion. Sad thing is, people like Ann Coulter aren't above a good old personal attack to derail a political discussion. She did after all call Richard Belzer "Osama Bin Laden" (without ANY prodding on his part) on Real Time with Bill Maher around election time last year. Someone oughta to pull a "Fight Club" and do something unmentionable to her food at a fancy restaurant. (Wow - that was mean...but well-deserved.)
- or if you're my friends Kyle and Kim, you could use their perfect method. Simply offer up the rebuttal, "you are"
Example:
Idiotic conservative senator/commentator/showboat: "You're lack of support of (the Iraqi war, social security reform, moral blah blah blah, what have you) is unamerican and reprehensible"
You (or someone smart like yourself): "You are"
Them: "No, I- but-"
You: "No, you are"
Them: "bu-"
You: "No, you are"
(ad nauseam, ad infinitum, etc. etc.)
END OF DISCUSSION. YOU'VE WON!

Wow! Three great ways to win! Practice them all with a friend and you'll be the intellectual equivalent of someone who's take Charles Atlas's muscle-building program. Fuck getting sand kicked in your face at the beach! Take your girlfriend (or nation) back from the arrogant guy who stole her from you in the first place!

RIP Luther Vandross - an artist who thrived during the decade of Soul Music's Last Breath - the 70s. We'll miss you (and we will all pick up a Chic greatest hits album this weekend in your honor - at least I will).

I just saw an ad for Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show PROPERLY lambasting Mr. Cruise's actions, albeit less ferociously than myself. Kudos C.F., maybe you don't suck so bad after all.

Goodnight, goodnight.
- Christopher

this nameless post

2005-06-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

i've been meaning to post for over a week now. but you know me - i save my desire to post until the last second, forgetting some things but remembering to post most of what I wanted to initially.

after i post this i'm going to try and make a link from this blog to my other blog, since I'm an idiot and haven't bothered to figure out how to do so yet.

i've been listening to a handful of new records lately. For more about those, http://roomnowclean.blogspot.com i've been driving around Dubuque a lot and I'm sick of it for a number of reasons. Dubuque seems incredibly small yet the town seems to have grown. I attribute this to boredom and tedium. I've been driving a lot from home, school and to the hospital. My sister's been in for most of the week with a possible case gastroenteritis. She's been doing well, a lot better than past hospital visits which have ranged in length from 1-2 months at a time. It was possible that she'd be out by tomorrow, but she got sick today and that doesn't bode well for her release tomorrow. From what I see, and compared to her past hospital visits, she's close to getting better and not in much danger of being as sick as she has been in the past.

Good things are in this paragraph. I have had the best fortune lately to be able to see Lisa many times lately. Last week she accompanied me and my parents to a drum corps show in Cedar Rapids and then I went back down the following night after work to hang out with her and her friends. I would try to put into words how awesome it is to be able to see her as often as I do, but I feel it's really effortless of me to be able to - I want to see her on weekends and do - it's simple and fueled by a strong attraction and growing connection to her.

I have given up on many things in regards to the world outside of Dubuque. My friend Nick went to visit my friend Dave in Alaska last week and was met with Dave's burgeoning militant conservativism and newfound racism. Yes racism. Dave loves himself some "n-word" usage. I've been friends with Dave since he transferred to my elementary school in the sixth grade. Ever since the sixth grade, Dave has never (except ONCE) listened to the advice of a friend in regards to any concerns of his behavior. He's met any teasing or note of concern with rash and caustic retaliation. How dare a friend do either of the above to Dave, basically. I'm an usher in Dave's wedding in October and am afraid of what may lie ahead - I'm afraid of what seems to be an inevitable moment when I'm going to tell him to stop saying stupid shit that's offensive and who knows - Dave's gone from sensitive theatre kid in high school to alpha-male military officer, and with it he's grown into this person that I would never be friends with, if I wasn't a good friend of his for so long already. Dave speaks his mind because he likes to hear himself say these shocking things for their shock value. It was funny when I was 18.

Seguing into this, I was watching the CBS evening news tonight and they had interviews with soldiers in Iraq today who feel that people are against the troops in America. For one of the first times in my life, I wasn't immediately angry - I was sad and in in the nicest way possible I wanted to tell this person that NO ONE in this COUNTRY thinks that AT ALL. And it's horrible to even imagine that people think anyone's anti-troops. It's an argument that I think has been over and done with in America for a long time. But this discourse is obviously not immediately available to the soldiers. And this has only been worsened by King Fucko's speech last night.

AGAIN, the current administration leaves America to do the math incorrectly - Bush mentioned Sept. 11 and the efforts in Iraq in the same sentence numerous times. He never said that they are linked, but he left it there to be interpreted as such. This is how they roll and it's horrible Karl Rove/Wal-Mart advertising at it's worst/best. This kind of shit totally "un-does" the efforts of the 9/11 commission to have clarified that there is NO SUCH LINK between Iraq and 9/11. Fucking story-weaving oxycontin lovers. All of 'em.

On the same note - have you ever wanted to end a discusion with a far-right Republican or a religious zealot or any anti-progressive? Here 'tis:
- Ask them if they are of the current majority media and/or political opinion
- Tell them that arguing as if they weren't in the majority and in control of all politics and media holdings makes them fucking stupid, ignorant and hurtful to the practice of words coming out of peoples' mouths in order to prove points and make insightful statements. (Cite specific examples from loudmouth fucks on ANY news channel. ANY ONE.)
- Remind them that your opinions against anyone who says stupid things like "America is losing touch with values and faith of (insert religion that's being used as a weapon) and gays shouldn't get married" doesn't mean you hate religions and/or America. INTELLIGENT critical views of issues aren't anti- ANYTHING, they're for the betterment of how this country should be run.
- End your discussion with a firm slap to the face. Then spit on their shoes for good measure.

This previous paragraph is brought to you by the fact that a show called "Faith Under Fire" exists, and that all of these too-powerful organizations (Foundation for Families for Church and State Integration, e.g.) believe holy wars exist in the U.S. today. Terrorists hate our freedom and so do our richest insane people. Faith is not "under fire" it's the fuel used by Jerry Falwell and his ilk to start fires. Lock these fucks up, I say.

And that's about as much of airing almost my entire repetoire of political beliefs as I can take. I haven't been this saddened/incensed since the elections when I found out that a lot of my peers at Loras are Republican twits who can't win debates as to why Bush should be in power for the life of them. Yet they still believe...

With this quagmire of idiocy rampant in my neighborhood, I announce my desire to move back to Iowa City once I finish with school next year. I'm going to delve head first into activist endeavors as well as start documentaries and music projects in a city that will allow these things to flourish and help support my growth. I cut short some opportunities before by not knowing if I was going to finish school, for one, and having little clue as to what I was going to do if I wasn't going to finish school. But I'm at a time when I've re-entered and re-invigorated my ability to learn and hone my filmmaking abilities. I haven't finalized this, but it seems to be the right thing to do in every column.

End tirade,
- Christopher

P.S. "Lisa it's your birthday. Happy Birthday, Lisa" -- Michael Jackson "His Exonerated-ness"

egregious omissions

2005-06-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

okay two more things:

- Weber's good. I was very happy to see him around my b-day. I'm hoping/planning that Weber and Emily meet up in IC when Emily comes back around in July. DO IT GUYS!

- why am i bullet pointing?

- Andy's moving back to IC! He finished up his MFA at the Art Institute in Chicago and is moving back there to do art and fucking be awesome. That's a job I could do, but Andy's already got that one on lockdown. Even more awesome things will keep happen in Iowa City again. Who knew?

- Tom Cruise - stop dancing on fucking couches before I punch you. I mean kick you since you come up to my knee.

so little to [say], so much time. wait - strike that, reverse it

2005-06-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

let's start around the time of the last post. okay, let's start about a week after that. that was my birthday. which was heralded by an intimate gettogether with the few people I really still connect with in Iowa City. It's interesting that a lot of people left when I left last summer, but there were still definitely people I went back to visit and cared about (Riki, Sam, Val, Aaron, Jeff, etc. - especially etc., what a great friend)

Birthday was quite good - took Lisa to see "Crash" Fri. night, met up with Weber and everyone at the Mill, Sat. party/kickball in the park for Kevin's birthday, kick off Adam's bach. party, kick ass and handily defeat all at Colonial Lanes, Sat. night at Quentin's and the Q.

"Crash" was pretty good, some of it was overwrought and melodramatic, but a lot of it was good. Tony Danza's racist cameo - GENIUS. And then there's Terrence Howard, who's perched on the precipice of massive public recognition (with his forthcoming Hustle and Flow) and ALREADY being a media-weary quirky non-violent Russell Crowe - he's a really good actor (which is odd since nobody likes to watch actors anymore - people prefer to watch homemade sex tapes in night vision - AND I SAY LET 'EM!). Which reminds me I need to get my hands on that episode of South Park where they watch the Russell Crowe show where he beats up people from countries far and wide. "TUGGER!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!"

Uhm, I saw the Tony Awards and I wish I could go see "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee". That's all I really need to say about that. I wish that I could.

Also, Lisa has been long suffering the lack of blog entires I've made in a while. Here ya go - now get back on the phone! Or e-mail me what's in your purse today.

A lot of people know I spend time with Lisa in Iowa City. It's great to have a really good reason to go to Iowa City these days and also to know I have something to do instead of waste hourse walking around planning what to do next. Also there's a real sense of enthusiasm that is involved in hanging out with her. It's odd to think that that was missing before in hanging out with other women, but you realize when it's there and it's great to know that it's present when I hang out with her/talk to her.

So I was back down to Iowa City the weekend after my birthday to hang out with "none other than". I spent a lovely afternoon in Clinton, IA visiting Jeff at his parents as he was having a co-grad party with his sister. Prom Night Tornado (Corey, Brendan, Jeff and I) were there to make a public apperance and plug our FINAL SHOW ON JULY 30TH AT GABE'S OASIS. Stay tuned for Dubuque and Clinton dates (sorry, Burlington, IA!). I just went to checkthe Gabe's Oasis website and I'm pretty sure it's the 30th and not the 20th. The Tanks are coming back to play and kick off their midwest tour - I'm glad to play another show with them and "pass the torch". Or not pass it depending on how I feel that night.

The Clinton/Iowa City crew was at Jeff's and then I left for Iowa City to hang out with Lisa and she stayed in Cedar Rapids for an hour, due to the storm to end all storms. I hung out in my van for a little while and then went over to Val's where Riki was also taking shelter from said storm. I, for lack of something else to do, joined them in a workout consisting of "abs of steel" and "thighs of steel". Holy fuck are my abs the most amazing shit now. In my mind, that's how they are, I think positive encouragement is the way to go with this one - let my abs think they're awesome and then apply minimal amounts of working out to them.

Val then enthusiastically suggested we play a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen board game. Val won. The game devolved into merely asking the questions on the cards. One card mentioned painting one's nails. They suggested I let them. I left. Never to return. Thankfully Lisa was there to provide me sanctuary by that time.

For some reason, my mind wandered and lead me to remember a time a took an axe to a spray can of varnish outside my friend Peter's house in eighth grade. That's one of the times I most remember that I could've die from my own stupidity. I'll try to post more of those lovely moments as I think of them. I'm sure there were many times in my youth that run in much the same fashion.

I also had a bad dream this morning at 6:30 and I woke and tried to go back to sleep but was so disturbed that I couldn't go back to sleep. I managed to get some more sleep before I had to be out of the house for class at 7:45. At which time I took a half-nap/nodded off in class. AWESOME.

Even more awesomer than that is the fact that Lisa had an evening off (her first in eight years), and came up and visited me. That was too cool for school. (almost, i did take off for class before she left today) We went out to eat with my folks, I showed her Dubuque (in under an hour and a half) and went over to Nick's for his white trash party (100+ cans of low-brow beer). I spent the afternoon preparing with Nick - getting his mullet wig just right, finding a lovely mesh football practice jersey, rocking out and thus creating the world's worst jam session ever, getting his dogs to sing karaoke.

Holy shit this is turning out to be the longest post ever. I'm almost done, I swear. I'm getting in the practice of writing long e-mails more than once a day to Lisa. (Number of mentions of Lisa in this blog: uhm, like ten or something...)

So Lisa and I went over to Nick's and we just kicked it a little bit before the party got started (by which time we left to get some sleep before some early mornings today). Be prepared for a possible picture of myself in Nick's mullet wig to pop on here in a week's time.

That's it - see you in four months!
- Chrock

the internet tool I used to hate the MOST

2005-05-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

a few minutes ago, this post dealt with anxieties inherent in flirting. and then after i finished writing it, i stupidly realized that I have not hang-ups with such a sport.

i wrote this blog entry like all other blog entries on this planet - self-serious and chock full of angst and self-deprication. we(I) all know that ain't me. that's what I ahte about blogging, there's an expectation to bitch.

this blog entry was all about how I talked with this girl on IM (see title). i used to hate, it now i don't. i had about as good a conversation as one could have on IM. It was fun, I liked it. I didn't think horrible self-conscious things while talking. it was good.

blogs report good things that happen to people in small towns. i think that's what will push this art form into it's renaissance - bliss in universally unimportant, yet universal manners. i will stand in front of a huge 100-foot flag that represents a blog and hold my hand at my heart while a huge fan makes that bitch ripple with wrought meaning. but i don't care about blogging, i'm trying to decode the complications and handicaps in IMing. fuck blogs. i tear down the flag of blogs - take that.

who needs sleep? raise your hand and then lie down.

still - i'm not teen-angsty over flirting, i do it well and with ease/relish.
next, i will edit this post to mask the stupid smirk on my face from having that IM chat that resembles the hours-long phone conversation of days gone by. see you in a few minutes.

F.S.U.,
- Christopher

"Awww, you must be heartbroken!"

2005-05-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

I am NOT, Emily! GAWD!

I'm over being angry, as well. It's stupid to fret about seeing someone before they leave. You do, you do. You don't - then you can feel a bit angry. Otherwise, no.

I had not seen Emily since NYE and that was definitely too long. Poor thing telling me how her last semester at UI was - boring. I know and I apologize because I know it rested on my shoulders to entertain her.

Spencer kept good spirits which I was proud of him for. I've seen him get fucking down about a girl, but I think all of us being out was a positive and obviously more important thing.

Bock's girlfriend is hot. It's as if he had been saving up the past three-four years to have one cool girlfriend instead of a few okay ones. Kudos, Bock. Mars Volta.

Saw Lisa last night which was very cool. Hung out most of the night/morning and just talked and watched a movie. It was just a good situation of being able to hang out with a cool person for a while, except what would've been a more ideal hang-out involving talking on swings @ 3-4 AM was a bit FUCKING chilly. But I didn't mind, truthfully.

Y'all get ready - I'll be back on the 27th w/ WEBER. That's a fucking problem and half for the ICPD to deal the fuck with.

Yes. Hot.

Fucking Ponces

2005-05-10T00:47:00.000-07:00

That's what Ryan Adams once called Jack White after some stupid shit involving Ryan Adams being attracted to Meg White and knocking the White Stripes in the process.And that same phrase is what I use to call some of the fucks I went to Clarke College with (long, long time ago - Don McLean will fill you in on the rest). I ran into Ellen at the Busted Lift tonight (as I often do). She said Jed was on his way back to CO from D.C. Lo and behold that "f.p." stopped in not 5 min. later. I was greeted with "no matter how many times i try to get you out of my life, you're right there again" Fuck you, highwater. (<- that insult may prove to work or prove to not, we'll see) Such a self-serving, thought-you-weren't-cool-because-you-were-the-butt-of-the-joke-regarding-everything-theatre-department-related-at-Clarke-thanks-to-another-fucking-ponce-who-had-so-many-issues-it's-not-even-funny-and-I-didn't-want-to-not-fit-in-unlike-you-so-I-chimed-in statement. This stings because Clarke was my home from the moment I was born to the moment I transferred to Iowa. My dad taught there for twenty-plus years. I braved the "I remember you when you were in your father's arms" statements from teachers and nuns alike and all I asked for in return was normalcy and to fit in. I got that the next fall when I moved on campus for a semester but it's amazing how outcast an off-campus/living-at-home student can become - it's sad, stupid and rife with misplaced anti-sentiment. (JESUS, HOW MANY HYPHENS MUST POPULATE THIS BLOG ENTRY) And after years of slight emotional development and maturation we come back to five years ago and dumbass attitudes that help fucking ponces sleep at night when the college you attend resembles a fucking high school. I sleep better knowing I grew up. And honestly, Dave was worse by a million strides. Jed doesn't deserve the brunt - just a chunk of the aggrandizement. He just gets it for opening up the mason jar. Ellen plays along, too, to a lesser extent which is frustrating but permissable consdering it's just a lifelong phase. Megan was at another bar which made for nice catch-up conversation. If she had been at the Lift, that would've been another story. I made it out of DBQ and they didn't. Growing up was just inherent. Couldn't have not grown in the process. This thankfully insures my inevitable departure from DBQ since I don't do shit like snap like this in people's faces. I save it for the blog and play nice - which is a last laugh in some ways. Goodbye jackasses and take care! Let your short-sightedness and tunnelvision comfort you like closing walls. Sincerely,Christopher Robert (<-check the middle name, "f.p."s, THAT'S WHAT.)

Can a fucking XBox make you insecure?

2005-04-28T11:06:00.000-07:00

Yes. Yes it can.

I got a XBox from my father (it was sitting in his office for a long while as he was supposed to give it to someone who filled out a survey) this weekend. It came with Halo.

Here comes the insecurity part. I haven't had a videogame system since the almighty Super Nintendo. Obviously, I am a tad rusty. But with all of the hype surrounding Halo and Halo 2, I find that I'm amiss as to why it's so popular and why I'm so not good at it. I do not belong in a video-game fan realm, which saddens me slightly by my exclusion. But this is all remedied by how idiotic that group of people are. I thankfully will never live in an apartment with ten guys, twenty LAN lines, work late nights at UPS, wear leather coats and adopt screen names as my real name (i.e. bLaCkSkYdEaTh), and never leave my apartment.

i bought X-Men: Legends and Mega Man Anniversary Edition in hopes of being better at the X-Box or at least more diversely knowledgable (across three games, that is) and feel less old and uncool about video games.

Many Happy Returns (unmisspelled (sp?))

2005-04-18T19:34:00.000-07:00

Emily visited from L.A. this weekend and Cara came back to I.C. from having been back from London for almost a week. About the most monumental thing to happen since London itself.

Spending the weekend in Iowa City had me walking around somewhat pointlessly a few times, falling asleep reading magazines outside, you know - nothing I wouldn't do if I were still living there. Good to see people I haven't seen in almost a year (Heather and Jack, for instance) and hang out with people (Erin and Randi, for instance) that I don't get to hang out with too often.

Uh....everyone's good. I guesssssssssss.

It was so incredibly good to see Cara again - it sucked getting to see here and then have to leave but now she's back and we'll hopefully be hanging out quite a bit these next couple months until she does something else.

Let's hope in the next few weeks I have me a freaking radio job finally - it's been about two weeks at the one station and I'll be applying at the other one in town tomorrow.

Oh - so get this. I, the sometimes-messy-roomed guy, cleaned my parents' garage last Friday. (Half of it, so far.) What the fuck was up with that? I ask you.

I'm watching Envy (Jack Black, Ben Stiller) right now - man it's just not engaging. Christopher Walken's funny but he's being used in this movie solely because of his voice so he can say odd things as a longhaired homeless something-or-other. Let's watch the Daily Show instead....right.......now.

So, Cara looks amazing, it was great to see here and to hanging out with her again, I raise a glass. That's the overriding good thing right now. Bless it.

"Bless. Bless. Bless. Bless this house." -- Cody Chesnutt (during soundcheck opening for John Mayer)

what's the point you ask?

2005-04-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

okay, so we can definitely tell that since I dedicated a blog specifically to music, radio, the like - that I have run out of source material in which to comment on in this blog. Yesterday I was totally going to write in this blog about how I hated something and found it derivative. It happened at the mall while I was working - I can't remember what it was. I don't think it dealt with Hot Topic, it might have dealt with two hard-ass tattooed gents trying to be cool in front of Hallmark, though.

I, upon reflection, don't feel like retreading old topics I used to go off on in high school - this blog should be hip, fresh and new and deal with more current bitchfests.

I could however talk about the strange worship of At The Drive-In which is sadly inspired by Sparta more than Mars Volta. But that would TOTALLY impede on my other blog's forum.

Shit...now it's time to go write in the other blog. Dammit.

The acrimonious split personality

2005-03-31T22:24:00.000-08:00

Aight - this blog is now all personal news.

For music fever and fixes check out the B-Side to this blog @ http://roomnowclean.blogspot.com

Cha-ow!
- Chadams

"Did you get the real good ones? Did you get the good ones?"

2005-03-31T22:03:00.000-08:00

Mitch Hedberg was found dead in a Jersey hotel room today, possibly of a heart attack. A day rife with controviersial death and ailment, an important one has been egregiously overlooked. Poor fella - too young...

"Rice is great when you're hungry and want 2,000 of something"

Too true, Mitchell, too true. We'll miss you.

Teri Hatcher's planned cover shots for the next two months (as follows...)

2005-03-27T22:52:00.000-08:00

What folks, what.

The Iowa City is alive and well. Here's a suggestion: NEVER play a show at the Hall Mall if you expect to load your bands equipment out that night. Good god. And don't expect Spider Monkey Lady to not show up. She will.

An insane bill it was with Navies, A Day in Black and White and bon hommes The Tanks. Try finding them on mySpace. I bet you'll be successful.

So, Spider Monkey Lady, who if you for some reason were to take her out for an evening, likes drugs and alcohol to be mixed together in her soy milk container. She might like some new pink latex dishwashing gloves for a present, too. And as the iron-on letters on her old leather jacket indicate, she INDEED is R-A-W! (Q: how does one iron on iron-on letters to leather jacket? can you?)

This dynamo was at our show on Thursday. Starting after our set, she stripped, writhed, induced sick feelings in the audience by doing the aforementioned, and just simply was. And all to the music - once the music was over, she stopped. Once the music started again, so did Spider Monkey Lady.

Other than S.M. Lady, Iowa City is spanking. go check out Hip-Hop Week (dutifully held down by SCOPE Productions on the concert front). http://www.uiowa.edu/~scope will have a link to Hip-Hop Week's website. Slick Rick: the only two words that should matter to you this paragraph. Slick Rick.

rebuttal

2005-03-18T22:03:00.001-08:00

Man - that post left me in a spot of bother this morning! Promise me that you'll never overindulge in blog bosting! Promise me!

That's all. Have a good one.

First post of its kind

2005-03-18T00:16:00.000-08:00

HAS there been one like this?

NO THERE HASN'T. This kind of genius hath not been witnessed since the dawn of the Prom Night Tornado website's board (http://www.promnighttornado.com).

To quote Cornershop - "I hear those funky days are back again. Those funky, funky days - they're back again."
To more aptly quote Zepp - "Dancing days are here again."

The murky emotional depth that epilogued London have caused the revelation that Dubuque holds for me... something. Not a future but a present comprised of what I left behind in order to venture and grow into in I.C.

Thanks to all, everyone for still being there despite the opinions I think to be true. Y'all are out there - I just expected too much. LOVE STILL EXISTS.

You guys didn't know this but my artistic aims have been propelled by love. The end results, whatever they may be, will reflect that. It's one of the many epiphanies (see above re: Dubuque's positives) that have come to me.

THANK YOU ONE AND ALL. INFINITELY.

Funny story - Having stayed up two nights in a row to complete my Communications Law paper, waking up this morning found me questioning time itself. The numbers on my clock appeared to be footnotes, and dually, numbers that weren't true due to their lack of copyrighted fidelity. Honestly. I can honestly say that I have never been so confused by the combination of numbers and punctuation (namely colons...fucking dicks that they are) as I was this morning. The great thing is that my religion and TV production professors understood my need to rest after creathing such an awkward beast of paper. (My TV prof. knew I wasn't coming to class - my religion professor, I'm sure, divined that I wasn't coming). God and my burgeoning career skills are on my side.

Thank you and goodnight.

(God...what's this going to read like in the morning?)

- ChrisTOPH

At least I'm not listening to the Smiths...yet

2005-03-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

I've been putting off writing this one for the majority of the week - lot of good things and a lot of less-than-savory (I barely know what that means, myself) things happened over in London/Paris.

As I discussed in a previous post - things done changed. I didn't expect us all to stay the tight bros. we once were, but I didn't think we'd all have moved on and changed as much as we have. Well, except for me that is.

So I apologize to everyone for things such as this - these "what happened to us?" type of posts. It's something that I'm struggling with and need to work out. I know I'm exaggerating a tad when I say things like "we're so different, we're not the same" but to feel so alien and foreign as I do to many of my friends/you, is something that has fucked me up considerably, as of recently.

I had a great time and had the perfect host over in London, who also served as the perfect accompaniment to Paris. Great theatre, jazz, trash tv and everything else in London; great food, wine, accomodations and everything else in Paris.

The bad was finding out again that relationships aren't as they once were. I never expected to have things pick up where they left off (as if I had only seen them yesterday), but it's so different that the small confines of my current living situation (hometown, parents' house) didn't prepare me for what is actually going on with my friends in the rest of the world, miles away.

I always thought it was an exaggerated idea that small towns are cut off from the rest of the world, but I believe it now. When you can only hear someone's voice or read their words, what you might think they're saying or how they feel is, in part, made up in your head.

To all of you: Like I said in my first blog post, this place is for us to reconnect and keep in touch. I put all of my energy the past three years into connect with you and have shared with you some of what are now my fondest moments. I have never asked for much and will continue to not ask for much. Not my style. What I will not keep doing is imagining things as they once were or as I think things ought to be - that has caused me quite a bit of pain recently. And I'm not one to show or even have negative feelings in my life. Shit happened. It's being rectified within me now, and this will all blow over soon.

Thanks for listening to this drivel. I'll try and see some of you in Iowa City soon. I have a show on the 23rd this month. Don't come to it - honestly. No offense - but don't come to it.

Next time I see you, I'll let you know in detail about what happened, if you like. We'll chat, drink, it'll be a good time.

Take care everyone.

P.S. Phantom Planet says "Hi."

Highlights of World Tour:
Seeing Dave Mustaine of Megadeth at the Tower of London gift shop. That made me laugh, I don't know why.
My wonderful host, Cara.
The Aviator (with Oscar nominated man-boy Leonardo DiCaprio)
A Life in the Theatre by David Mamet (Joshua Jackson and Patrick Stewart starring)
Patrick Stewart's fucking comic genius self (and Jackson as the straight-man)
Gary Husband's Force Majeure (Mon. night at Ronnie Scott's)
L'hotel de Saint-Pierre
my new David Brent t-shirt
the new Mars Volta album
Spongebob's David Lee Roth impression (the movie was the only watchable things on the way home)
Phantom Planet (chatted with Jeff on my flight home - go see them on tour with Sting)

Lowlights:
high expectations, emotional swan dives and the like
Spanglish (worst movie ever)
little $$
not seeing Sarah (more than once)
U.S. customs dept.

You know, I'm the world's greatest jazz guitarist. Well, except for this one gypsy in France...

2005-02-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

Briefly, as this is old news, I present my Grammys recap.

Sucked. Worse than ever.
Amazing since Ben Harper and Wilco each won two, something slightly karmic I think.

These people performed well: Bonnie Raitt/Billy Preston, Alicia Keys/Jamie Foxx, John Mayer (because of Steve Jordan and his great drumset), Melissa Etheridge (because of her baldness)...uh, think that's it. Like I said, worse than freaking ever before. Horrendous.

These people did awfully; Los Lonely Boys (the worst thing in music today- hands down), Black Eyed Peas (doesn't matter how much "krumping" [found in Missy Elliott videos, defined as anybody in a clown suit erratically dancing] they do, they also blow ass in high amounts), Franz Ferdinand (go away for a few months, please and then come back with something that doesn't sound like the last song you wrote), Maroon 5 (I should win something for tolerating them still), the whole country/classic rock clusterfuck (obviously), the Tsunami Benefit (minus Brian Wilson. Honestly, he was awesome.), U2 (don't bore us, get to the - wait no the chorus sucks, too)

Kanye West was the worst thing about the show, though. What a fucking showboat piece of crap. Good album, but so offensively arrogant, smug and desperate for the highest adulation that I couldn't take it. Someone as talented as he is should not be this desperate to justify his career with a Grammy. He knew (as did all of us) that he would win one. But man did his whole "Hush, crowd - listen to me and know that my word is golden" bullshit make me want to turn my back on him in any way.

This wasn't a very brief recap. Sorry. But the BEST thing about the awards was the interplay between Loretta Lynn and Jack White during her acceptance speech. "Jack! Where you goin'? Get back here! Don't run off, now!" What a damn character. And Jack obviously has joined Grand Funk Railroad, or Bread or some band of that sort, according to his wardrobe and his 'stache.

That's it. Seacrest out.

an open letter that (probably) for the better isn't named by an Aqua Teen quote

2005-02-16T00:17:00.000-08:00

Griping aside, we had a good show.

Again, search yerself out some Little Brazil and some The Show is A Rainbow. You couldn't do any better by doing so.

Also, let's address the welcome random comments by Melissa. She offered up Franz Ferdinand as something missing from the totally rad lists below. FF should have totally been near the top with "Take Me Out" and if I missed it, Modest Mouse should have one or three songs on there as well. I think there's one... Thank you, Melissa - and unless you count what I might be able to find in a grocery store, there are NO White Castles near Galena. And that's probably a good thing. This coming from the guy who used to subsist on fast food and has since given it up via accidental New Years' resolution. Meaning that you shouldn't take that last part seriously. The Franz Ferdinand biz, that's fur real.

Also, 21, 22, and 23 on the top 25 list should be placed much higher. But then again, I have not placed them in an exacting order. Regardless, they're amazing and much better than the numbers 21, 22, and 23 would have you believe.

That is all.

the crickets chirped during the quietest parts

2005-02-14T21:35:00.000-08:00

Hey you,

Yes, I am talking directly to you and to no one else. Unless this applies to someone else, in which case you also fall under the banner of "you".

I am dismayed that you did not show up to my show last night. There are many reasons why this is true, and they all apply to "you" (as well as "all of you"):
- I only saw you for a brief period of time last weekend
- I didn't see you at all last weekend
- We had a new song that we played for the first time last night
- We haven't played in a while (and let's not get into the last time you came to my show.
SUBLIST:
- you missed that show
- have never seen us play
- had a hair style that you now TOTALLY regret since you've last seen us play
- have forgotten my band's name)
- We played with an amazing band that I had just recently heard of named Little Brazil (F*CKING SEARCH THEM OUT. NOW. DO IT.)
- You would have met Darren a.k.a. The Show is A Rainbow and would've later called meeting him and seeing his show "...an experience". During that elipses you would've shook your head recalling the oddness and pleasure you took in this "experience".
- The only person who bothered to call and say she couldn't come is someone I've ONLY MET ONCE.

Honestly, I'm pissed. I show up precious few times, don't ask fer much. Maybe a show, maybe a little hang time. Things done changed, sure. But things ain't radically different. Except your haircut. Thank God you got rid of that.

Now please sit in your "naughty spot" (<- someone needs to watch more ultra-nanny shows, and more TV in general) and think about what you done did.

That is all,
- Christopher

P.S. You can call me Chadams only after your period of thoughtful reflection (and hopefully a good cry).

Weekend wrapup? Yaaaaay!

2005-02-05T23:25:00.000-08:00

I sat through the Paris Hilton-hosted SNL. Fearing the worst helped me get through it in once piece. Best part was bearing witness, yet again, to the celebrity phenomenon of the tiny bug-eyed chihuahua as sole friend and companion. The funniest part of SNL is watching the dog shake as if overcome by violent anxiety attack. They must have tiny receptors inside of their [the chihuahuas', not Paris] bodies that must shake from exposure to beta rays emitted by cameras (both video and photo). That's best I can come up with. It's not fear, I'm sure of it.

Jeezus, anyway. I'll be back down in Iowa City next weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and will be playing a show Sunday night at good ol' Gabe's. We're playing with The Show is A Rainbow, Clair De Lune and Little Brazil (featuring ex-members of Saddle Creek bands The Good Life and Deseparacidos). Five dollars gets you in after 9 PM.

One of the reasons this blog exists is to post things I'm writing as I've given writing another half-hearted attempt. This makes this my eighth type of attempt since fourth grade. I may be published on the McSweeney's website http://www.mcsweeneys.net soon - just some e-mailed entries sent in as part of big cattle calls for writing. Things I do not send in, I'll put on here.

Let's go to bed and sleep. 'Night.

Best things about this past week:
Jonny Polonsky "Even the Oxen"
Saul Williams' "List of Demands" video (holy shit)
the nice-ass weather
Peter Larsen's "about me" section on Friendster
finding out that Denali now exists as Bella Lea (GO SEE THEM THIS THURSDAY AT THE MILL)
laughing at everybody's profile on MySpace.com
the Bonnaroo and Coachella line-ups
the re-re-regrouping ofProm Night Tornado

Worst thing about this past week:
Not being able to go see Bella Lea next Thursday at The Mill
Having yet to find a good book to read (out of the crap loads that I own)
Owning a crapload of books
John Butler "Something's Gotta Give" (still holding out hope for material I hear in the future)
Babies crying (in general)
Cancer (this is also one of the worst things of the past few decades, not just last week)

A scenario from a sage

2005-02-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

I'll put it in quotes though I'm not quoting him verbatim. He was somehow relating this St. Thomas Aquinas' theory that change is always caused by a catalyst (or something...), like "wood in a heat stage".

"So you're going to the Galena [,Illinois] Territory, you've got a nice cabin up there. You've got your fireplace, your Johnny Mathis CDs, your incense - you're really going all out. You've got your White Castle - both the regular and the cheese; you're sparing no expense[...]and ho hos and twinkies for dessert. You want to show her a good time. And don't forget the Boone's Farm."

- Dr. Joseph Magno,
Catholicism and Taoism teahcer at Loras College
Author of "The Spiritual Philosophy of the Tao Te Ching"

Christopher Adams' Top 25 Albums and Songs of 2004

2005-02-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

Found a place to display this monster I created a few weeks ago. There's some truth to the numerical order of the lists, but not really.

The Albums
1. Elvis Costello - The Delivery Man
2. Head Automatica - Decadence
3. John Frusciante - Shadows Collide with People
4. Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News
5. Mos Def - The New Danger
6. NERD - Fly or Die
7. John Frusciante - The Will to Death
8. The Helio Sequence - Love and Distance
9. Saul Williams - Saul Williams
10. Carina Round - The Disconnection
11. Detachment Kit - Of This Blood...
12. Elefant - Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid
13. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Live in Hyde Park
14. The Killers - Hot Fuss
15. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Shake the Sheets
16. Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama - There Will Be A Light
17. Wilco - A Ghost is Born
18. The Walkmen - Bows and Arrows
19. Plastic Contsellations - Mazatlan
20. Rachel Yamagata - Happenstance
21. Elliott Smith - From A Basement on The Hill
22. Interpol - Antics
23. Phoenix - Alphabetical
24. Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
25. Athlete - Vehicles and Animals

Honorable Mention: Earlimart, The Dears, Converge, Walking Concert, Liars Academy, etc. (I haven't heard them yet, but when I do...)

The Songs
1. "Skyscrapers" - Detachment Kit
2. "A Loop" - John Frusciante
3. "Beating Heart Baby" - Head Automatica
4. "Heaven Adores You" - Earlimart
5. "Hunker Down" - Mile Viola/Candy Butchers
6. "Me and Mia" - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
7. "The Rat" - The Walkmen
8. "Either Side of the Same Town" - Elvis Costello
9. "The Easy Spell" - Mos Def
10. "Carvel" - John Frusciante
11. "Theologians" - Wilco
12. "You Got the Style" - Athlete
13. "Staring at the Sun" - TV on the Radio
14. "A Favor House Atlantic" - Coheed and Cambria
15. "Drill Sargeant" - NERD
16. "Everything is Everything" - Phoenix
17. "Water" - John Frusciante
18. "Telegram" - Saul Williams
19. "Into My Blood" - Carina Round
20. "Misfit" - Elefant
21. "Picture of Jesus" - Ben Harper/Blind Boys of Alabama
22. "Coin-Operated Boy" - Dresden Dolls
23. "Badd Business" - Phantom Planet
24. "Maddening Cloud" - Blonde Redhead
25. "Primitive (The Way I Treat You)" - Ambulance LTD.
26. "The Race" - The Detachment Kit (I'm cheating by adding a 26th, right?)
and oh, what the hell... (just don't tell anyone)
27. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" - My Chemical Romance

Yeah I kind of obsessed over the John Frusciante here a little bit, but the man DID relase SEVEN albums in less than a year. Five full-length albums (one of which was major-label), one EP and one under the name "Ataxia". And for the most part it was REALLY, REALLY good.

Rant below if I've done any disservices. Which I haven't. Trust me. Oh and hey - I'll probably mock up a cheap list for movies and books, too! Probably not books, to "smarty-pants" for the likes of me.

Introductory

2005-02-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Alright - welcome everybody. I don't have any set plan as to what's going to go on here. I'm just going to write, practice writing and rave about this and that from time to time. "Time" being during class and "to time" being when I should be sleeping or doing homework. Like right now...ahem...

So come back often - this seems the easiest way to catch everybody up on what's happening in my life, which admittedly is very little.

One love (wow that doesn't fit...)
- Christopher

P.S. A big intent of this website is using it as a place for everybody to get a hold of everybody. Hopefully people might stay in contact with others besides me through the website. I'm shooting for messiah-like wedding planner here.