paper thin hotel

so what happens when leonard cohen and phil spector get together? they make the most awesome, desperate, debased and colorful album of leonard cohen's career. these are songs of a man who has nothing to lose. a man who is watching the leaves fall and realizes desperation can be a tool for getting women. this concept album revolves around a guy who has come to grips with his age and place in life. i love it. this album is such a messy affair, it's impossible not to love it.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

this is the lead track from "the suburbs" by the arcade fire, my vote for best album of the year. check out the houses, the streets, the fences. look familiar.

if your video has an ad at the bottom, double click the video to maximize it and then X out the ad.

yer birthday

the 23rd was demitria's birthday. i had to go to work, but only to pick up a shipment of study material. so once i got that, i headed home and we went ice-skating. there is an indoor ice skating dome in lowry, which isn't very far at all from us. we skated for about 30 minutes, realizing just how labor intensive skating is. but, our constant fight to stay upright, probably made it harder for us. later in the evening we went to le central, which is a pretty sweet french restaurant towards downtown. i think she enjoyed it and had a good time. i just don't know how someone who never skates could look so cute in her skating attire. we had fun.

merry christmas

i think this might be my favorite christmas song:

the old's man back again

hope everyone is having a blast. i'm about to go hand out sandwiches.

lights and lunar eclipses

last weekend, we went to the lights of the denver arboretum. basically, they put christmas lights on the dead plants as a way to get people into their facility during winter. well, it worked because we went. and the lights were pretty cool. they sold three different pairs of 3-d glasses and when you put them on, all the lights turned into either christmas trees, snowflakes or stars. i tried taking a picture through the 3-d glasses, but none of them turned out. that's what i'm wearing in that bottom picture.

then last night, we stayed up past midnight to see the lunar eclipse. i couldn't get a great shot with my camera, but those two are decent. the moon was reddish-orange when it finally was 100% covered. and you wouldn't believe how many stars you can see in denver. it's not like houston. i felt like i was in the woods. i guess compared to houston, i am in the woods.

the gambler

does anyone remember me picking the texans to go 7-9?

well i did.

and that's after having new orleans win the super bowl last year. quite a hot hand. of course, let's forget about my 2011 super bowl matchup of baltimore and green bay.

yeah, let's just forget that.

written in reverse

album of the year: the suburbs by the arcade fire. i've gone back and forth with this in my head over and over again. is it beach house or the arcade fire? ultimately, i had to give it to the arcade fire. the suburbs should be a mess. writing a whole album about a subject so picked over as the american suburbs, should be a cliche-ridden, word association affair. but it's not. the music is energized. the lyrics are wounded, passionate, forgiving and full of sorrow. this common area of american life is not demonized, it is mourned. the loss of the suburbs. what it was and what it turned into. in as many ways as you want to strike it down yourself, you want to save it too. because you see it decay and you wonder how much of it is inside yourself. incredible album from a band that is easily taking its place as one of the most exciting bands of the times.

artist of the year: scott walker. no, he didn't release an album this year. but this is the year i found scott walker. i bought his first three solo albums and i have listened to most of nite flights and the drift. the vocal ability of this man is unbelievable. his songs range from MOR to full orchestral workouts. 30th century man is an amazing song and, also, is the name of the documentary about scott walker. you can watch it on netflix on your computer. i highly recommend it.

concert of the year: sonny and the sunsets/best coast. this award is given for the sheer fact that i met kelley stoltz, got my picture taken with him and he gave his new album for free. plus, it was my first concert in denver. way to start, huh? if we were awarding this award just on musicality alone, it would have been vampire weekend/beach house. but we're not! so kelley stoltz wins! and thanks to demitria for asking the bass player of sonny and the sunsets if that was kelley stoltz. cause i wasn't sure.

letdown of the year: midlake, the courage of others. i was so excited about this album. have you seen the cover? it's awesome! but i have tried to love it. i have tried to live with it. but, i can't. it's terrible. i can't stand it. there's only two songs i can listen to and get all the way through. and even those are just okay. i've seen lists where this is listed as one of the best albums of the year and i just don't understand it. it's so slow. it has no melody. the vocals sound like the choir of 90 year-olds that used to sing at my church. it's horrible. total let down!

rookie of the year: twin shadow, forget. it could be that i love this album so much because it sounds like a soundtrack to winter, which i'm experiencing for the first time. but i don't think that's it. the 80's influences are there. but they're not overbearing. the lyrics are subtle, but meaningful. the album sounds beautifully sculpted, like from a piece of ice. awesome debut.

what a year for music. 2010 was incredible. i don't think i've ever seen a year like this. i can't wait to see how 2011 goes!

pirate radio

i just watched the greatest movie of all time.

PIRATE RADIO!!

this isn't some crazy single-camera, over-edited experimental movie that only i like. everyone who reads this blog will love this movie! it has philip seymour hoffman in it. i mean, that's all you need to say.

PIRATE RADIO people. check it out.

this is the new

2010 was probably the best year in music i've ever lived through. i'm sure 1966 and 1967 were pretty awesome, but, i was not there. so i cannot be sure. but, 2010 was awesome. i'm currently compiling my list of best albums of the year and these are the contenders:

spoon- transference
the arcade fire- the suburbs
the national- high violet
lcd soundsystem- this is happening
dr. dog- shame, shame
phospherescent- here's to taking it easy
beach house- teen dream
vampire weekend- contra
best coast- crazy for you
sonny and the sunsets- tomorrow is alright
blitzen trapper- destroyers of the world
the walkmen- lisbon
band of horses- infinate arms
midlake- the courage of others
kelley stoltz- in dreams
the love language- libraries
the morning benders- big echo
magnetic fields- realism
surfer blood- astro coast
the soft pack- s/t
yeasayer- odd blood
mumford and sons- sigh no more
the besnard lakes- the besnard lakes are the roaring night

those are the albums i'm currently considering. some of them i'm not considering, i just wanted to add them to the list. but look at that list. amazing. and i'm probably forgetting several albums. i'm going to have to go through my albums and see what else i can find.

for the top two, i'm probably thinking the arcade fire or beach house. that beach house album is absolutely gorgeous. the rest will flucuate, but those are the top two. for reals.

little st. nick

you notice bear sitting next to the tree down there? we tried to hang him as an ornament and he wasn't having any of it. the wrights have decorated for the holiday season and i have to say, it was a major success. the tree is awesome. the fireplace is awesome. we were listening to the beach boys christmas. we heard little st. nick about forty times that night. but we enjoyed it. i hope you guys are getting into the holiday spirit. also, if you're wondering what's up with the one stocking on the fireplace, it's demitria's. she's the only one getting a stocking stuffer this year apparently. greedy. we'll see about that.

happy thanksgiving

so as promised, here are some of the best shots from iceland. happy thanksgiving.

oh baby, houston

we have recently stepped into the 20th century. we're not quite in 21th century yet, give us some more time. but we have a functioning computer and a printer/scanner. and also, like i posted earlier, i found a place to print my black/white photos here in denver. these three are from houston taken around 2008/2009. i drove around the 59 area, on the other side of the ballpark and took the photo of the train tracks. that area was pretty fascinating because right next to new, state-of-the-art condos, was piled up garbage and old railroad tracks. the chairs were sitting out front of a goodwill type place close to the star of hope, which is also downtown. and you might recognize those guys at the top. the huge beatles statues were behind a target off of i-10, behind a locked gate. pete and i got as close as we could and i snapped that photo. so now that i have a scanner, i'm going to scan some of our iceland photos and upload those soon as well.

take a load off your feet

we haven't been hiking in a few weeks. but the weather is still holding up. these are from our previous hike to roxborough.

in other news, are the mets trying to prove that they are one of the dumbest baseball franchises? terry collins? you hire terry collins to manage your team? really? that guy has sucked everywhere he's been. he's a quitter. you had all this time, all these resources and you hire terry collins. wow.

the holy man

dennis wilson- the holy man

untitled #1

greatest video of all time.

bear and candles

the candles were lit. the cat was in his bed. and as we layed together, cuddling, whispering words and purrs of love to each other, i thought, is this wrong? is my love misplaced?

no. no. it is not wrong. our love is not wrong. our love is eternal. and although current legislation makes our love wrong in the eyes of society, i say we shun society. we make our love known and to hell with the world! we will find a way for man and cat to be one.

bad cover version

i was listening to pulp the other day, which i do from time to time and i came across the song "bad cover version."

there were some lyrics in particular that struck me:

"aah, sing your song about all the sad imitations that got it so wrong,
it's like a later 'tom and jerry' when the two of them could talk,
like the stones since the eighties, like the last days of southfork,
like 'planet of the apes' on tv, the second side of 'til the band comes in',
like an own-brand box of cornflakes: he's going to let you down my friend."

i actually heard those lyrics and stopped mid-motion and laughed. because that will be me one day. and it won't be long.

the sun ain't gonna shine anymore

i've recently become obsessed with the music of scott walker. i first heard him doing this song as part of the walker brothers. but it's his solo albums that are freaking me out. plus, i stumbled upon a documentary about him called 30th century man. his solo albums are orchestrated heavily, but they are dark, a little detached and unnervingly beautiful. i haven't seen the documentary yet, but i'm looking forward to it. here is one of my favorite songs on his first solo record called montague terrace (in blue). here is another amazing song from his fourth solo album called on your own again.

there's also the harry nilsson documentary i haven't seen yet.

and the magnetic fields documentary i haven't seen yet. falling behind.

computer blue

i've been having major computer problems for the past two weeks. today, they are solved. evidently, dell will sell you a computer with basically no RAM. so i bought some RAM and my computer is now lightening quick. checkmate kevin.

there is a record store in town called twist and shout. they are supplying me with endless amounts of quality music. scott walker, richard and linda thompson, echo and the bunnymen, galaxie 500, ladybug transistor, the love language, the fresh and onlys, john cale and todd rundgren. ample good stuff. totally love the store. anybody who comes to visit, we will be going there.

i also found a shop here that will develop all my black and white photos. i just got some back of pictures i took in iceland. incredible. i forgot all these shots i had taken. awesome stuff.

i want to see the bright lights tonight

we haven't taken many pictures lately. lots of stuff happening. hopefully we'll get out this weekend and hangout and shoot some cool stuff. in the mean time, check out the cats, well sofie at least.

the day the squirrel went berserk

this little guy has been the subject of much discussion lately. we had two pumpkins sitting out on our patio for halloween. they started to develop little patches where the outside layer was barely picked off. i attributed it to the pumpkins falling off the rail of the patio, which they had done several times. demitria thought it was a bird. well, it turns out we were both wrong. it was this guy. the corner of the patio is a mess with pumpkin seeds and pumpkin extract because this dude went to town on our pumpkins. both of them have massive holes in them. i was standing inside watching him from our front door peep window. we thought about turning them around to fool him, but ultimately, we threw them away. i guess all the apples in the backyard weren't enough.

snowstorm

we experienced our first snow of the year on tuesday. me, demitria and the two cats sat in front of the window and watched it snow. it wasn't a real thick snow, but it did stick for a while. and it snowed last night as well. but we had a snow party that night and listened to the beach boys to stay warm.

i remember you were wild

for my birthday this year, we decided to do the opposite of what we usually do, and that was to get up early and go hiking. what is the opposite of that, i wonder? get up late and go spelunking? i have no idea. but it felt opposite. check out this sign for spelunking.

anyway, enough about spelunking. saturday we woke up and headed to roxborough state park. the hikes were pretty mild, as far as difficulty, but we saw several squirrels and some deer and a pretty little bluebird who kept ahead of us one trail. that was cool. they also had a nice bathroom and a coke machine. the top two pictures are from roxborough.

sunday, we got up and went to evergreen, which a little town west of denver. we hiked around mount falcon for what seemed like half the day. from the list on the link for mount falcon, you can see the parmalee trail details. that's the trail we took. we were only two of four hikers we saw on the trail all day. the rest were bikers. at one point, we were beginning to think about looking for berries and maybe creating a fire, because we weren't sure where we were on the trail and it was close to getting dark. but we made it out alive. the bottom three pictures are from there and the pictures don't do justice to the amazing view we saw on top of that mount. it was incredible. mass amounts of green trees rolling every direction.

so i had a great birthday in denver. also got some pajama pants and a tie rack! and a new jacket! score!

yer birthday

so today is my birthday. i don't any magical/words of wisdom. some things taste better. some things taste worse. sometimes i want to sleep a lot. sometimes i want to get up early and drink coffee. sometimes i want to drink and hang out all night. most of the time, i don't. i still love music. i still love baseball. i sure do like driving with the windows down.

check for pics soon of our hike to mount falcon.

here is your space

a few weekends ago, we hoofed it up to red rocks and walked away and hiked the area. it's truly an amazing sight. i can't wait to see a show there. just getting to the theater is a course in some heavy walking. but we made it and then hiked around the whole area. it wasn't too far from denver. just maybe 25 minutes. on the way back, we ate in golden. i put the one picture of denver in the distance because i thought it was cool to see the city in the far off spot it was.

spooky

since i didn't have the internet during halloween, i thought i'd upload our pictures from that night. we decided to dress as old people and hand out candy. as you can see, the old is a little close to dead, so when the kids came to the door, i don't think they knew who they were looking at: old people or dead people. but we had a few visitors that night, probably about five groups of kids. when we didn't, we made candied apples and watched sweeney todd. you can see our house in the bottom picture. the grass is dead and there are a lot more leaves on the ground right now. the funny thing is, i was dressing as an old dude and the only new thing i had to buy was the glasses! the rest was mine and i still wear it all!

pinecone, oh yes, pinecone

last night, or possibly tonight when you read this, i met kelley stoltz. i've only been in denver a few weeks and i've seen sonny and the sunsets, best coast and i met kelley stoltz.

what a night. pinecone is the best song i've heard all year. hit the sideways triangle and listen. it's amazing.

what a night. i met kelley stoltz and listened to sonny and the sunsets and best coast. sonny actually took the picture you see of me and kelley. i talked with kelley about fifteen minutes about music and such. really cool guy. he gave his new album for free! free! amazing.

sometimes i think dennis wilson is one of the greatest artists of all time. i love brian wilson, but when i listen to pacific ocean blue, i wonder sometimes. and these tracks from the unreleased bambu, under the moonlight, love remember me, and he's a bum. plus, holy man. i'm hurtin' when i hear these songs. if anybody is wondering where i found these songs, go here. it's the best thing i've heard since brian gave it a go with the beach boys love you.

that says a lot. what is king sooper? it's everywhere in denver. i'm going to get free popcorn from the holiday inn up the road.

facts from mile high

internet is finally up and running. i feel born again. not really, but maybe awakened from a mild nap. that's more like it. so, i've been here all of a few weeks now. here is what i've learned:

1. deodorant is optional. it's fantastic. the weather is so smooth and the humidity so little, you don't walk around all day acquiring odor and moistened funk. i've probably worn deodorant maybe four times since we've been here. awesome.

2. the dryness. you wake up everyday thirsting for water. you have to drink water all day. the old days of drinking coffee and diet soda all day are over. if you did that, you would shrivel up and crust over in a matter of days. lots and lots of water needed.

3. the dryness, continued. your body needs moisturizer like crazy. take a shower, put it on. wash your hands, put it on. lots of it. otherwise, your hands will look like mine, cracked and aged after three weeks.

4. the personalities. people in this town don't have outgoing personalities. i have not met one person who has said something witty or interesting yet. lots of blandness and banalness thus far. is banalness a word?

5. good music groups come here. hopefully i'm going to see sonny and the sunsets and best coast tomorrow night at a place called the bluebird on colfax. the morning benders were here last week. the national, the week before. good stuff.

6. lots of suburus.

7. leaves are everywhere. leaves are in the road. they're on the sidewalk. they're everywhere. and they're every color imaginable. except blue. or purple, otherwise known as grape.

8. driving down alameda going to the gym or to target, you can see the snow on the tops of the mountains, plain as day. it's an amazing sight.

i'll have pictures and more stuff later.

colorado

i'm sitting in a starbucks surfing the internet. there is a guy at the table in front of me writing very frantically. i wonder what is so important. probably everything.

the trees are all shades of yellow, red, orange and brown. it's amazing. the seasons really hit here. there is talk of snow on the range. i have no idea where that is. it sounds like an advancing army. i'm nervous about the snow. but i'm sure i'll adapt quick. i bought a huge coat today. it's not made of gortex, but it will do. actually, it might be. i need to check that.

i rode my bike to city park the other day. it was beautiful. the days have been nothing short of painting i've seen before. the cats are adjusting just fine. my skin is super dry, but i'm still productive.

i'll probably have an internet connection by the end of the month. so keep checking in. i'll be posting lots of pictures once i get it up and running.

i lied

one more post. here is my big moment with the national. look for the guy with a blue wristband and a maturing bald spot in the lower left hand corner. that guy is me.

leaving this town, pt. 3

the time is coming. fast. this will be my last post from houston. probably going to break down the computer tonight. how i'm going to live without a computer for a half a week, i don' know. i haven't had to do that since those dark ages before the internet back when we had massive shelves of encyclopedias with way outdated information. i remember the ones we had at my house stopped with reagan being president. i was using these when i was 9-18. way outdated.

"we need encyclopedias that don't refer to the burgeoning civil rights movement as 'trouble ahead.'" i'm not sure if that quote is exact, but it's still funny.

i was going to make a list of things i would miss about houston, but i'm not going to. there are too many and many of them are selected memories of mine that won't make sense to anyone else. the way a day was in my head, or the way a tree looked and how everyone was smiling and how big everything was and clean and septembers and early mornings with breakfast. there are many ghosts in this town. and i'll miss them, but i have to go. i think they'll understand. plus if they're really ghosts, they should be able to travel with me. that's the advantage of being a ghost.

remember that astros game?
remember that night in my car?
remember that terrible storm?
remember our first dog?
remember the movies we snuck into?
remember graduation?
remember swinging at the church?
remember all the sweet girls?
remember laughing our heads off?

anyone for tennis?

the bachelor party was cool. not at all crazy, but fun nonetheless. the best part was the concert. the national were something to witness. through the course of the show, the area i was standing in was slowly filling with people, so i got further and further from the guys i was standing with. during the last song, i found myself standing alone basically and the lead singer got off the stage and started walking and singing in the crowd. i made a beeline for the action and was standing next to him singing vanderlylle, crybaby, cry. it was totally awesome. i was singing loud too, which i found out the next day, i was singing the wrong words!! ha! i wonder if anybody else noticed. probably not. the line is "someday i'll explain it to the geeks." well i was singing, "someday i'll explain it to the geese." fail!

but either way, either words, it was fun.

new band on the scene: tennis. they're actually from colorado, so i'm ready to get to know this band. go to the hype machine and search them. pretty sweet tunes.

10 miles stereo

beach house was amazing last night. teen dream is such a fascinating, scintillating record. it doesn't build to anything tremendous, but it keeps you at that perfect level the whole record. the female vocals voice is incredible. her energy was tremendous.

vampire weekend was full of it too. they were on top of their game. the songs were quick, crisp and a total blast. i dig them even more after seeing them live. vampire weekend's lyrics sometimes are a little harder to figure out, not what they mean, but the hell they are talking about. my friend found the vampire weekend dictionary. here it is. it certainly helps.

the national is tonight. we'll see how that holds up to last night. my concert in houston. hopefully it's the cat's meow. what? where did that come from?

four!

golf is totally boring and makes no sense to me. but this has to be one of the coolest pictures i've ever seen. it was a total missed shot by tiger and it went right at this guy's camera. amazing photograph.

here comes change

mitch hurwitz talks about the blessing and the curse that is being the creator of arrested development.

great new series at the avclub about the 90's music scene. one of the things i loved about the article was the idea that it took real effort to be an underground music fan growing up in the 90's. there was no internet for the most of us, no close independent music stores and the only way we heard about bands was through magazines and late night videos. we had to really try and almost earn the music. now, we google it and read about it until we've had too much. i saw "just" by radiohead at about 2 in the morning on mtv and was blown away. i bought the album the next day, probably at a circuit city. i bought "being there" by wilco because it was 9.99 at best buy. i'd never heard a wilco song before in my life. but there it was, on display and on sale. both were extremely lucky finds.

i'm currently listening to brian wilson sing "let's go to heaven in my car." it's another ridiculous, brilliant song by the greatest pop writer of all time.

uptight

i have had that song in my head for a better part of the day and i have no idea why. i really don't like it that much and i don't know half the words. just "baby, everything is alright, uptight, out of sight." that's it. just swirling and swirling in my head. enough little stevie!!


the going away party was a great success. seems like most people enjoyed themselves. i know i did. it was great seeing everybody. plus some people brought gifts, which i didn't expect. i got gifts for leaving!! maybe if i come back one day, i'll get gifts for that. i wonder.


so it's on to massive packing and massive moving headaches. bring them on! i should probably eat first. i'm a little famished. can you be a little famished? i'm only moderately extremely excited. what?

the wanderer

so i put together a compilation album for our party. i think it's good. it's pretty straight forward. hits a lot of the common groups i've loved for decades.

i ate two vietnamese sandwiches today. and i plan to eat one tomorrow. i'm looking forward to it. they are quite good.

currently watching our brand is crisis.

leaving this town, pt. 2

i'm back from denver. we left early thursday morning and returned late last night. it wouldn't have been so late, but we had some engine failure before we left, which is exactly the kind of thing you want to hear before you take off into the air for two hours.

we rented a chevy aveo. now, i loved the gas mileage on that car. but wow. i never felt so not in control of a car in my life. once it got to 55, it literally was rattling and on the cusp of disintegration. but we maintained. we had appointments all day thursday with apartment complexs. we saw like six or seven that day. all horrible. horrible. i can't go back to apartment living. there's no way. the rooms were too small. the rent was too high. the place was too run down. all of them. thursday was a major day of defeat. but we regrouped.

on friday, we took to the streets. i drove one corner of denver all day. we stopped and called every sign we saw for rent, no matter what the place looked like, because even if it was a mansion, maybe someone was seriously in need of renters. we hit three possibles. one was amazing and affordable. one was small and affordable. one was huge and not-affordable, but the owner said if it wasn't rented by sunday, the day we were leaving, he'd consider working with us on rent.

the amazing one was already in the process of being rented, by that i mean, the application was sent, but who knows? maybe the guy would disappear. so we held out hope. the small one was dirty and we didn't know why. it had been empty for three weeks. why show it dirty? weird. so we sat and waited.

sunday came. we met the guy at what we were calling the apple house because it has an apple tree in the backyard. we met the guy and walked all the through the house. great house. great basement. apple tree. amazing. garage. everything. he gave us his price and we couldn't do it. but for some reason, he wanted to show us his sister's house, which was very similar to the one we were looking at. so we went over there. while we were there, i got a call from the amazing house. dude's application was accepted and we were out. so i was feeling pretty low at that point. finally the guys asks us again if we want it. and we tell him we can't afford it. so lowers it again. and we take it. we got the apple house. i am going to eat so many mcintosh apples i'm going to be diabetic in a month.

four days driving in a chevy aveo with just me and my wife. we're a great team. i was really proud of her. she was stressed and so was i, but she held firm. so now, let's have our party. and we'll be out of here.

leaving this town

i'm back from illinois. vacations can be stressful. when you're taking a vacation for a funeral, it's even more stressful. there are so many small towns in southern illinois. you wouldn't even know the difference if it wasn't for a sign or a water tower. that's the only way you know.

there isn't much ewok influenced music out there. the ewoks played some solid tunes at the end of return of the jedi. george lucas made the choice to change the music on the re-releases. but if you watch the original, there is a song i called "jub jub" that is fantastic. good beat, good use of rhythm. the ewoks were solid musically.

someone great

we lost two great ones back to back. my great aunt passed away on thursday. and my wife's grandmother passed away yesterday.

the thing i admired most about my great aunt was her attitude. she was resilient. her humor and her good-naturedness radiated from her. she loved life by loving all the simple things. and she made you know she loved you too. she actually bought me a pair of star wars roller-skates. yes, they actually made those. it had darth vader on the side. i'll miss her.

my wife's grandmother was remarkable. she spoke her mind no matter the situation and generally when she spoke, we all stopped and listened. we watched many seinfeld reruns together. last time i saw her was when she, my wife and i watched the college national championship together this year. she started almost every sentence with, "oh, honey....". man, she was funny. we'll miss her too.

black bubblegum

excellent article, and starter for a series dealing with the subject, on income inequality in the united states; how much of a problem it is and where we stand in comparison with other countries.

stevie nicks fajita round-up

i don't know why, but i've brought this up in conversation a lot lately. so i had to see it.

the final countdown

the nfl season starts soon. last year, i picked a new orleans-san diego super bowl. i was confident the whole time in my nfc pick, the saints, but never in the chargers.

this year, i'm confident in my afc pick the baltimore ravens. my nfc pick is mostly a judgment based on last year's performance and that i just don't have a better pick. and that is the green bay packers.

next year's super bowl: the baltimore ravens versus the green bay packers.

on the home front, i think it's going to be a bad year. the texans will slip back to the pack and go 7-9. the schedule is too tough and we can't win the big games. hopefully they prove me wrong.

fitter, happier

my dad was heading out to target or k-mart one night, i've now forgotten which one, ultimately not pressing to the outcome of the story, but if i remember somewhat correctly, k-mart had already been overrun and returned to the emptiness of it's original state... anyway, my dad was heading to a super-store of goods and materials and popped his head in to ask me if i needed anything in the form of super-goods. i told him, "radiohead's ok computer." he gave me a weird look and left. ok computer had just come out that week. i had been a huge fan of the bends. a huge fan. i thought it was one of the best albums i'd ever heard. i lived and died from tracks two through seven and was reborn in street spirit. he returned with ok computer that night. somehow a) he found it and b) target and/or k-mart sold it. i played about fifteen times that night. i was only seventeen and had never logged onto the great expansion of the internet. but i heard the future. it was made of car crashes, buzzing noises, yuppies networking, politiking, suffocation, plane crashes and tourists moving too fast. from time to time, i come back to that album. i still can't get over it. don't lose your nerve.

snowstorm

i sold roxanne. i had that car for 12 years. i was a senior in high school when i got it.

i cannot get over this galaxie 500 album. this thing is simply rotten good. it seems like it doesn't go anywhere, but it does. the subtlety of the album is tremendous. and the cover of george harrison's "isn't it a pity" is crazy good.

i've started going to a kickboxing class twice a week. my hand is swollen from punching the bag. i haven't punched anything this much in my whole life. my hand is not used to this level of punching. lots and lots of punching. there was kicking too. but my foot was okay with that.

this class only makes me appreciate the man that is rocky balboa even more. every time i was tired, i thought, "rocky balboa wouldn't quit." so i didn't quit.

sugar cube

in my stereo right now, i have the following combination:

1. galaxie 500- on fire
2. sonny and the sunsets- tomorrow
3. teenage fanclub- songs from northern britain
4. band of horses- infinite arms
5. television- adventure

now, this weekend i had these albums in heavy rotation. last night, while cooking dinner with my wife, she said to me, "what are we listening to?" and i said, "at the moment, it's band of horses." and she said, "i like it. i like all these albums. they all go together really well." i don't think i'd ever been happier in my life.

also, i stumbled across this yo la tengo video for sugar cube. it's really great.

on my way back home

the "fairwell tour" was a great success. all participants were extremely generous with their time/couches/sodas/towels. it felt great. it felt good to go somewhere and just be myself and not worry about jobs/homes/moves.

i swam at hamilton pool, which was like discovering a new layer of earth.

i swam at barton springs pool.

i found television's adventure, galaxie 500's on fire and grinderman at waterloo records.

i climbed a giant hill and threw rocks at this bridge at four in the morning.

i ate at alamo springs.

i chose band of horse's laredo as the theme song of the trip.

i saw many friends. i saw my dad. i saw deer. i had weird dreams about my car getting jacked.

it was the final adventure/trip before the exodus. it lived up to it's billing. now back to studying/packing and making coffee.

coffee and TV

the whole blur vs. oasis battle of the early to mid 90's made me hate both bands. i thought they were both bands full of copy-cat talentless hacks who used personality to mask the fact they were terrible to mediocre pop songwriters. i believe this still holds true for oasis.

but blur is changing my mind. especially with this album: 13. this album boasts styles galour and music ranging from pseudo-soul to grunge-ish songs to simple melodic confessionals. and of course coffee and TV is basically a perfect pop song.

i liked parklife and i liked the S/T album. but 13 is worth your time.

when you dance you can really love

i passed BEC. that's half of my tests. i have now until august of 2011 to pass FAR, which i'm taking sunday, and REG. half way there.

"you see, you see...he's not a machine. he's a man."

divine comedy

stephen colbert two nights ago:

"news flash: there is no news flash."

still laughing about that.

watched capitalism: a love story yesterday.

today, currently watching maxed out.

our car club

if anyone is interested in a 1998 chevy camaro, let me know. i have one. totally clean and still moving like a champ.

benjamin is currently mashed in between my fortress of albums, two boxes and a trash can. that is cracking me up. i don't even know how he got back there.

i've been listening to bob dylan all morning. his vitriol from albums like highway 61 revisited and, to a lesser extent, blonde on blonde is sprayed across the landscape. the targets are wide ranging and varied between people and establishments. with blood on the tracks, it's totally directed at one person. now, whether that one person is actually one person or a combination of many persons together that form one target is debatable. but i love the directness of the album. he is scorned, confused, angry and somewhat embarrassed and trying to hide behind these emotions. i have a version of tangled up in blue that will make your mind melt. what am i talking about? this is the internet. here it is. look for the version called demo. listen for the buttons on his coat hitting the guitar. it's amazing. the whole tone is different. this one is sarcastic almost, covered in an apathetic nature. completely dispassionate and indifferent. i love it.