all thangs considered

check out this podcast. some amazing concerts by a wide array of artists. the cat power one is incredible. about an hour and a half into the set she busts into a cover of gnarls barkley's 'crazy.' a song i sort of grew pretty tired of by the end of it's huge popularity. but to hear her take a stab at, it's something else completely. shiva's

nah, nah, nah, nah, nah batman!

new batman biopic.
heath ledger as the joker.
sweet trailer.

Read a Fucking Book

A site I stumbled across. Seems very thorough. You can tell them what you like/dislike and they will tell you what to read. if you like books, read them.    Read A Fucking Book

menomena

thank you itunes for another great reco. (recommendation)

one day

speaking of gondry. starring gondry himself & david cross as a turd/nazi.

weird, wild stuff

new video from bjork, directed by michel gondry. i cant imagine the pitch meeting with those two nutballs, those brilliantly artistic genius nutballs.
*also gondry's new film 'be kind, rewind' starring mos def and jack black looks incredible. the website is has really got something to it. it involves a concept called 'sweding.' i'll let jack black explain.

don't look out the window

i thought this was superimposed upon first glance. i cant imagine how miserable it must already be as resident in this terribly drab romania apartment block. now they gotta see this window everytime they look out their window.

currently under construction in Dubai, Hydropolis is the world's first luxury underwater hotel. It will include three elements: the land station, where guests will be welcomed, the connecting tunnel, which will transport people by train to the main area of the hotel, and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex. It is one of the largest contemporary construction projects in the world, covering an area of 260 hectares, about the size of London's Hyde Park.

CAN + iTunes

Can was a musical group formed in West Germany in 1968. One of the most important "krautrock" groups, Can had a style grounded in the art rock of bands such as The Velvet Underground, with strong experimental and world music influences.

Described by keyboard player Irmin Schmidt as an "anarchist community" and constructing their music largely through free improvisation and editing, which bassist Holger Czukay has referred to as "instant compositions", they had only occasional commercial success, with singles such as "Spoon" and "I Want More" reaching national singles charts. However, through albums such as Tago Mago (1971) and Ege Bamyasi (1972), Can exerted a considerable influence on avant-garde, experimental, underground, ambient, New Wave and electronic music.

these dude were recommended to me by the good folks at itunes. they have a section on there homepage that recommends artists based on my prior purchases. i fucking love the age we live in. i have such a broader range of tastes now that i can sit in my underwear on saturday morning and check out tunes, and get recommendations and shit. my days of buying tangible music is well over. death to the cd.

pretty cool vid. some optical illusions we've all been dazzled by at some point in our life. very handsomely displayed, and set to a groovy tune. get out the weed.

Ms. Jones

a tribute to ms. gabrielle jones.

57 varietals

ever wonder where ketchup is made? neither did i, until i drove past the factory in pittsburgh. i think its such a cliche for a factory to have a smoke stack. especially one that makes condiments.

i choo, choo, choose you.

this is absolutely incredible. we (americans) bitch and moan when there's no parking space close to the entrance at the mall. imagine if there was a fucking train running through it.

i hate math. but i love rap.

surprisingly funny.
rap graphs

nature...at it's best.

nobo

giving change to homeless people is something that i have always hated being confronted with. it is something i will quite literally go out of my way to avoid. im not adverse to crossing the street, pretending i'm deaf, or just turning around and going home just to avoid that dreaded question. 'spare a little change?' in this country we have branded the homeless a stigma of being drug addict, booze hounds. dont get me wrong, i have nothing agains't drugs or booze, or the abuse of either. its just that i never really thought it fair to just be able to stand lazily on corner pestering passer-bys, when i have to punch in and out and pay taxes just to get my booze and drugs.
then last night, i had an epiphany of sorts. i had just come back home from a night of drug and alcohol abuse and didn't have any cash on me. i was craving a black & mild (cigar) as i often do on a late night bender. i searched my room for change and came up with about 52 cents. 56 cents short. i knocked on my roommates door and asked him if he could 'spare a little change.' groggily he checked his dresser and his pants to see what he could come up with. he handed me roughly 13 cents and said, 'why don't you check the couch cushions.' it was then that it hit me. when ever im asked for change my first reaction is 'why dont you just get a job?' for what? to make the dollar eighteen it cost for a low grade malt liquor. not saying that all who beg are looking for a buzz but if that is why they need the change, i get it now.
i work (well, i have worked) to pay rent, for a roof over my head. i work, for food in my belly. i work so i can travel. but if all i needed was enough money for a buzz to get my through boring homeless day then its obvious that work is a terrible idea.
this doesn't mean i'm going to start showering hobo's with a handfuls of penny's when they ask, but at least now i'll feel a little guilty about it.

ahh, who i'am kidding, no i won't.

boozin' for a good cause

fuck work, fuck rent. right? yeah, of course i'm right. but it doesn't mean im right. you have to have an earning of sorts. it doesn't have to be much, but you have to have it, unless of course you're cool with sleeping on the street. i'm not. the last trip i took on a plane was planned for 7 hours in the air. turned out all told i was in travel limbo for a little over 17 hours. largely due to my poor airport punctuality. but as i sat in the airport, hour after hour with literally nothing to do i realized how shitty that would be to have no where to call home, or to never have any obligatory tasks to fill the day. or how shitty it would be to live in an airport for that matter. so i've moved back to my hometown and i'am once again forced to seek some form of income. getting back to my original thought; fuck work. that is something i hope to accomplish. weekly i search the local entertainment paper for various paying gigs involving little or no labor. there are always ones pertaining to alcohol. the pulse of this city. the pulse that i find throbbing in me the moment the sun begins to go down.
so i gave one a ring the other day, left a message, and put it in the back of my mind. a few days later they called me back, ran me through a preliminary battery of questions) pertaining to my alcohol use (how often i drink, am i depressed, do i ever wake up hung-over; they should have saved some time and just asked if i was an american) and any other extracurricular activities that i may or may not partake in. i passed with flying colors. i can only speculate on what the criteria was for pass or fail. i suppose had i said i only drink 5 times a week instead of 6 there would have been a chance i wouldn't have made the cut. all the details (length, compensation, rules, etc.) of the study were discussed with me and i accepted. this afternoon i went in for a more lengthy battery of questionnaires to dig a little deeper into physche. i began to lose focus about a quarter of a way through as the questions became a tad repetitive and all the talk of alcohol made want a beer really bad. i forged on and about an hour and a half later i was given a cell phone and instructed that i would be called at random four times a day to answer a few questions pertaining to my daily activities. in addition to the four random calls, i have to make a call when i wake up for the day. they prefer that its before 12:30. i assured them that i would do my best. we're studying booze hounds here aren't we. what self respecting alky wakes up before brunch ends? also before i have my first sip of alcohol i have to call the automated service and let them know. likewise i have to call when my drinking session has ended and inform them of how much booze i've consumed that night. assuming that i can still dial a phone at that point.
the compensation is based on how often iam able to receive the random calls and how thorough i complete them. all told over the 7 month study i should receive roughly 525 dollars. not bad for pressing a few buttons and drinking a ton of beers on some doctor's tab.

hot, hot, heat

For the past three days the temperature/humitity in the Queen City has been (un)bearable. Certainly something to constantly complain about. Being without a job and without any real stresses in life the weather has once again filled the void of the negative. I suppose you always need a ying to the yang. A balance. I am, as most who know me know, easily defeated. So 89 degrees with a 101% humitity is reason enough to say 'fuck it, its too hot for that.' Nothing is important enough to break a sweat doing it.

Wii, Myself and I

there is a big difference between wants and needs. it's very rare in my life that i will find the need for something, but even more rare that i will want something, materialistically, that is. but i have found that when that rare occasion does present itself it will be something that is frustratingly difficult to obtain. this time around being the nintendo Wii. since the introduction of this new platform i have been quite fasicnated by it. its only after i realized that i could allote in my not so frivolous budget that i have thristed for it so greatly, wanting it to become a part of my life. and of course by the time i had this realization every nerd and their nerdy grandma scooped them all up. leaving me to call all the electronics stores within a 25 mile radius everyday only to find out, 'no, we(wii) dont have any.' and 'no, we(wii) don't know when there will be more.' so what am i to do? just forget about it? take up another hobby? build my own? wait until they make more?
for now, i suppose i really dont have a choice but to just wait it out.