mama said you and Wobin Hood are sweethawts

In the last little while, I have:

-gone back home to California
-remembered why I love the Bay Area so much
-decided I want to move back for a semester after I do a little more school
-shaved some body hair that was getting too long
-reunited with several old friends
-missed Palo Alto a lot
-trespassed onto a handful of establishments' premises
-hopped fences (concurrent with the previous one)
-gone lawn bowling at 2 AM with no pins (idem)
-listened to the most beautiful music I've heard in a long, long time and decided to deprive myself of it for a while (long story)
-shaved my head
-played a lot of pool, air hockey, and table tennis
-watched several more mob films (often involving Scorsese at the helm or Pacino/de Niro)
-continued to grow in my love for soul/R&B, the blues of Jimbo Mathus, and other music stemming from the African-American vocal tradition
-begun a hiatus from playing shows, and altogether actively making music, for a number of reasons
-realized I am not, in fact, very guarded or private (as I'd previously thought) but that I wear my heart on my sleeve

leave questions and/or remarks if you wish.

discuss this

"We are greatly misunderstood, and I fear that much of it is of our own making." -President Gordon B. Hinckley

i can get away with anything

I just got back from a job interview. It took ten minutes. I showed up with rolled-up sleeves and running shoes, not having shaven for two weeks, and got the job. It's part-time and pays over $40 an hour (maybe close to $50) and I haven't even graduated college.

I feel like I can get away with anything.

Also, I can't find my wallet. Help.

thoughts?

Someone on this funny/insightful thread about the cleanliness of liberals & conservatives

(http://www.feministmormonhousewives.org/?p=2502)

posted a link to this funny/insightful article about the trend of hyper-organization:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/garden/21mess.html?ei=5090&en=de87bee10be66d1f&ex=1324357200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all


As a left-of-center guy who is pretty particular about keeping things in order, this is all very interesting and could possibly make me re-think my game.

I want to hear your thoughts. Don't be scared.

I'm wondering if the person who made this is serious:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069289/parentalguide

P.S. see my post below, too. Thanks.

kick out the jams

I've been tweaking my résumé and kicking out job apps and cover letters right and left. Will you let me know if you find jobs that involve either writing/editing or something to do with a knowledge of music or other media? I'm hoping to get paid to use my creativity. Thanks.

Forgive me if this sounds misogynistic

Funny nickname for a popular girl who ain't nothin' but a ho ho: "The wellfavoured harlot" (Nahum 3:4)

L-I-S-T / that spells the List

Three things I did today:

1. I went to the temple. Splendid.

2. I bought the only acoustic-electric baritone ukulele I know exists. Also splendid. Ask me more about it. (http://www.besthawaiianukulele.com/shop/images/KalaBrand-KA-BE.jpg)

3. I realized that all cereal bags should be like the Corn Pops bags.



Inspiration for the title:
http://m.kovideo.net/l/t/The-Bruce-Lee-Band/List.html
http://jon.luini.com/thelist/

Why Elisabeth is dope: 5 reasons (probably more to come)

Maybe she'll kick me in the crotch again if she sees this, but I'm willing to take it.

1. She wrote her master's thesis on feminist literature and she still lets me call her "babydoll". (P.S. I'm a feminist, too)

2. I've never known a girl who's so brilliant, humble, mature, approachable... and SO hot.

3. She, like me, has not-too-distant roots in rural Idaho and loves to visit and score huckleberry milkshakes (coughrehabcough) -- and she's also lived in Paris and London.

4. No other girl has ever dared correct my English. And you have no idea how sexy it is when she uses words not in my vocabulary.

5. Any girl who'll watch General Conference and Office Space on the same day -- AND give me a long massage in between -- is all right by me.

If you ever want a song out of your head and a new one in, listen to Henry Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk". Trust me -- it won't leave for days.

tribute to David Bazan

As my disdain for all forms of indie rock grows more and more fervent, my tolerance for groups I enjoyed in high school (Belle and Sebastian, Camper Van Beethoven, Radiohead, Wilco, Bedhead, the Shins, etc.) shrivels away. I still enjoy Iron and Wine on occasion, but that may only be because Beam's songs have sentimental value and he started making his music a lot more interesting on the Woman King EP.

There is, however, one guy who gets lumped with the indie-songwriter crowd whose writing and musical direction I have grown to admire even more as time goes on: David Bazan. I grew to love Pedro the Lion when my dear friend Ben played Control for me not long after I turned 16. the sadness of his songs and the full, mournful nature of his voice resonated with me at such an emo (I'd say 'for lack of a better word', but it fits in sort of a crude way) time period.

I continue to realize more and more how moving, how relevant, how evocative, how provocative, how poetic, and how utterly horrifying his lyrics are. Songs like "Gas and Matches", "Magazine", "Progress", "Cold Beer and Cigarettes", "Backwoods Nation", and "Bad Things to Such Good People" present points-of-view of people so disillusioned, so desperate -- and his hardened wisdom shines through. He's our generation's Randy Newman, channeling both Aesop and a gentler H.L. Mencken. He's a master of storytelling and of satire, he yanks at heartstrings without sounding pathetic, and he manages to set all of this to melodies so simple and attractive that you might forget how acerbic and impressive the words are.

i've come a-courtin'

I find most courtroom drama scenes to be frustratingly unconvincing -- even in movies I really dig, like A Time To Kill (for real, I started thinking if I heard Kevin Spacey blurt out, "Objection, Your Honor" one more time, I'd never watch a crime film again).

I can only imagine how painful they might be to an actual attorney, judge, student of law, or anyone who actually knows more about the judicial system than I (probably most of the population).

P.S. Hot dog, this is post #101!

Impersonations

I've discovered that I can almost perfectly impersonate the following:
Marge Simpson
Peter Breinholt (need guitar for it)
Scott Stapp (Creed)
Eddie Vedder
Randy Newman

I can do these ones pretty convincingly, but not perfectly:
Tom Waits
Jimmy Stewart
Rob Thomas

I try on these ones, but I have on-days and off-days:
John McCrea (Cake)
Björk
Elvis Costello
E (The Eels)
Robert Plant (glory days)

I used to be able to do Elmo alarmingly well but have since lost it. I also seem to remember doing a mean Louis Armstrong, but, oddly enough in conjunction with my Tom Waits impression improving, I lost Louis. Strange.

On another note, Lee Marvin, William Hanna (back when Hanna-Barbera was in its glory days) and Jim Jarmusch all look terribly alike.

Onion tickers

I started making a list of the funniest bottom-of-the-screen tickers in Onion News Network videos. Here are the fifteen I have so far and the names of the videos whence they came:


1. "Evolution farts out some new frog" ("Female Scientists Say Domestic Abuse Not Problem")

2. "Esquire magazine releases list of 25 ways to dress like a gentleman while acting like a complete dick" ("Online Dating Streamlines Rejection For Women")

3. "Happening now: Traffic on Los Angeles' Interstate 5 backed up for several miles behind a cardboard box" ("Online Dating Streamlines Rejection For Women")

4. "30,000 people drafted to live in Nebraska" ("'Gays Too Precious To Risk In Combat'")

5. "Boring guy dies" ("'Gays Too Precious To Risk In Combat'")

6. "UCLA scientists discover new strain of bacteria that feeds exclusively on hand sanitizer gel" ("Sony Releases Stupid Piece of...")

7. "22-Ferrari pileup closes Micro Machine highway" ("First Female Dictator Hailed As Step Forward For Women")

8. "Looming 2008 elections bringing 'Buck Fush' t-shirt retailers to a crossroads" ("Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 08 Election")

9. "In Provo, UT, one-man band loses drummer in car accident" ("Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of '08 Election")

10. "Tyson Meats released new line of dolphin-safe chicken" ("Many U.S. Parents Outsourcing Child Care Overseas")

11. "Atheist patient at Bailey Medical Center in Owasso, OK somehow survives difficult surgery without the help of God" ("China Celebrates Status As Number One Polluter")

12. "Man loses courageous battle with train" ("80 Percent Of Roommates Got So Drunk Last Night")

13. "Puerto Rican government makes humble bid to add half star to U.S. flag" ("Human Head Found In Hamburger")

14. "News from Philadelphia: Man negates racial slur by preceding it with 'really great'" ("'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Made Into Feature Film")

15. "Shooting at Cleveland School for the Blind causes $200 in damage, no injuries" ("'Iron Man' Trailer To Be Made Into Feature Film")

Open to the House

Remember that old post I made long ago about that C-grade horror movie I watched for work?

http://shuckslbj.blogspot.com/2007/11/open-house-synopsis.html

You can watch the movie, too.

http://www.reelconnect.com/reel.php?ReelID=124

P.S. SPOILER ALERT DO NOT PROCEED OR ELTSE YOU WILL SEE SPOILERS SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT IN THE FIRST LINK OK