Cervantes Was Wrong About Everything

Here's an adecedarian I wrote the other day.

About what I said before about the
Breakneck speed of my all white, exploding,
Catastrophic, glorious hunk of metal. She’s my
Dulcinea, or was it Rocinante that he rode all night,
Ever-questing across the deserts, upon his
Fair steed? Regardless she’s got the horsepower, the
Giddy up, of a thousand stallions, especially when I
Hit the gas, step on it, kick my spurs into the floorboards.
It impresses people when they hear her bellow from the
Jet streams of tar and soot of her hindquarters, the
K&N air recycler pushing us across the plains of
La Mancha, across town to the next party, the
Mandatory fiesta of the week. Chivalry is
Not dead. My roommates came home with an
Ordinary new girl every night, spending the
Pleasant evenings locked away. I’m the Don
Quijote of this great place, taught to me by the many
Romantic movies I watch, I learn the pick-up moves, the
Smooth talk that all the pretty plastic chicas swoon for.
Tomorrow I’m trying on some new armor that
Undoubtedly will help me get a better transaction
Verifying, castle storming, 401K stock option,
Windmill chasing career they sent me a
Xeroxed copy about. I just hope I’m not too over-
Zealous about the whole thing.

Dwelling

I've been absent from this blog for quite some time now. When I realized it was finally November, I thought it would be a good idea to get on here and throw down with everything. It's getting nice and chilly outside. The fireplace in my house has been burning lately. We've gathered some wood from the forest and stacked it on our porch. Some nights I sit and read by the fire. Other nights I sleep next to it trying to stay warm. Then I just stare at somedays. I heard that the reason fires are so engaging to us, is that they engage 4 out of our 5 senses. Everything but taste. I don't have much else to say at this point. Everything is rad though. I wrote a poem the other day. This is it. Its about ugly, poorly built buildings. I don't really write poetry but here it is.

I drive at night along the black new streets.
My eyes see things the darkness cannot hide.
The droves of spacious lofts how soon applied,
destroy my land (my place) yet still complete
the function that all housing needs to serve:
to make a place for families to stay warm.
But often these monstrosities perform
a darker function that we don’t deserve.
They steal the life from children and from men
The end of time has started once again.

Fudgenuckers.

The other day somebody this word and I laughed. I used to say it a lot when I was a kid and had completely forgotten it. Today I watched college football with a bunch of dudes. I hadn't had any genuine dude time in awhile, and it was just what the doctor ordered. I love all of my guy friends and I wish I hung out with them more. We are all somewhat dis-jounted from each other right now, so its kinda hard to make time. There is no real substitute for chillin with the homeboys, drinking a few brews, and making jokes. Today I realized that I have an addiction to mindless activities. Sometimes I really feel the need to do things that requires hand-eye coordination. Throwing darts and playing FIFA soccer, are the 2 I usually resort to. Where some people have coffee addictions and what not, I have to do something with my hands that requires some concentration. These things force you to concentrate, but at the same time you realize they are meaningless, so when you mess up, it's no big deal. Another thing I figured out today was that I don't like listening to an iPod on campus. I feel like I can't grasp my surroundings fully, and this is very disorienting. It basically simulates deafness, and the idea of that frightens me. I'm gonna get in my bed right now and read some Harry Potter...I'm over it.

Bassmaster Classic in Chenal

Sam Slaton battling the biggest fish in West Little Rock.

The Importance of Dislike

Discovering things you dislike, can often lead to a better understanding of yourself. Americans tend to tolerate a lot of mediocrity, and I think it is important to give logical reasons for not liking things. Too many TV shoes today are simply not quality, and recognizing things like that for yourself is great. Most people usually pass things off as just "ok" or actually find themselves liking things that are terrible. I usually tend to force my dislikes on others, but coming up with your own is the best way. For me, part of it is bashing the things that everyone else likes, just to feel a sense of seperation from the general public, but it is also good to enjoy things that everyone else does. For instance, when Napoleon Dynamite came out, everyone touted it as this hilarious, great movie. Of course I was skeptical, and by the time I saw it, it had already made it's way to the freshman P.A. kids who yelled "gimme your tots" through the hallways at school. After watching it though, I really had to agree with everyone else that it was a hilarious movie. Part of it connected a little deeper with me too, since the film took place in my home state of Idaho. Some things are genuinely good, and you have to listen to others. I recently watched The Godfather trilogy for the first time, and concluded like everyone else that these were great movies.

Realizing things that are bad is much more important however. Sometimes there can be a lot of pressure to enjoy certain things, when the unique person you are might not have any reason to do so. The other day I was talking about wine and how I couldn't really figure it out. I felt like somehow, somewhere, someone created a law that said you must like wine. I forced myself to drink it and tried to convince myself that I liked it. One day my brother goes, "you know you don't have to like wine." Immediately I responded, "yeah....who ever said you had to like wine?" Since then I haven't tried to drink it and it's been great. On job applications and when meeting new people, rather than asking for interests or hobbies, they should ask for dislikes. You can put down anything for hobbies and people will believe you. Everyone always puts, "I like going to the lake, the outdoors, and music." Who doesn't like these things? If instead you said, "I hate chocolate ice cream, the Simpsons, and abortion," you've said much more about yourself. You should find things you hate and stick to them, unless someone has the skills to convince you otherwise.

Magic Swirlin' Ship

I've been relating with these words lately.


I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.

If you wanna go places or see things, we should talk. Call me and we'll explore this wonderful place.

Watchmen

Do you wanna know what you should do right now? You should go read this graphic novel.

Did you ever wish that you had read Sin City or 300 before they became movies? To have read anything before it becomes a movie, I think is something to aspire to. Now is your chance to go out and maybe step into a new realm...the realm of comics. I recently took such a step last semester under the apprenticeship of my dear friend Kevin. Comics is one of those things, that if you want to get into them, you kind of need a guide. I've been reading the latest series in Uncanny X-Men, The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire. I can't tell you how fun it's been to really read these things seriously, and dare I say it...tap into my geeky side. Embracing the nerdyness is the only way to live. Anyway, I've really started enjoying comics, and I think you should too. Watchmen is a great piece of literature, and I think it should be more greatly appreciated. They are now in the pre-production process for the film, a process that has been in the works since the late 1980's. The author, Alan Moore, is one of comics all time great writers. He is also known for writing V for Vendetta, which brings up an interesting point. V was written 1982 and then made into a movie in 2006. The movie follows the book extremely closely, as Moore had originally written it. When the movie was made, many were claiming that this film was a critique on the Bush administration. If they had only known that this story was conceived during the Reagan administration....Anyway, the movie is gonna be rad whenever it comes out, so you should read the book now. Kevin gets all the credit here...

Sputterings

First of all, I'd like to give props to Chelsea for winning the FA Cup. I'm a novice soccer fan, but Drogba's goal in the 116th minute was exceptionally fun to see. I love soccer and am so glad we have the FSC channel here at home. I always hated soccer growing up, but with the World Cup going on last summer, I got really interested. It's very soothing to watch, almost as soothing as Jeopardy. I've been watching a lot of the NBA playoffs as well, and I must say the Spurs are playing too good for anyone to beat them. I don't like them much.... I can't handle Parker's floaters, Ginobli's foul drawing drives, or Bowen's dirty play. I wanted to see Phoenix on to the end, but that wasn't meant to be.
I'm not a huge horror movie fan, but last night I saw 28 weeks later. I was a big fan of the first film, and this one possibly outdid it. Both films are exceptionally edited, and director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo definitely carried on the torch for the series. The thing I love about both of these films, is that they are frightening, yet tolerable. Since the acting is superb, and the gore is somewhat timid, there are minimal opportunities for cheesiness. The rule of thumb for scary movies, as exemplified by Hitchcock, is less is more. The more you leave to the imagination, the more powerful the film ends up being. I'll sight M. Night Shyamalan in this area as well. Granted 28 Weeks Later is still fairly gory, a lot of it is blurred by the stunning use of the handheld digital cameras. If you want a good scare, but still want to be able to go to sleep at night, I highly recommend this film.
I recently went on a cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel. It was extremely intense and fun, yet strangely exhausting. I feel like I wouldn't want to go on another cruise for about 5 years. There is something about being on a boat for 5 days that is a little odd. The cheesiness of everything on the boat was a little much for me to handle as well. There were tons of strange people on this boat. I sang Miami by one of my favorite artists Will Smith one night at Karaoke. The crowd loved it. Matt took a video of it. Ok I'm gonna stop writing right now.

Mere Hours

remain before I jump in my driving car, and head east, stopping only to refill my tank, both gasolinic and digestive. I million things used to lie in front of me, and they have dwindled to a few, only to propogate a million other things which shall soon fall away behind me.

Mailbox: a Free Burrito at your neighborhood imitation place. I think the only thing authentic about this place is it's inauthenticity. Orange cans make it hard to drive. Dumptrucks, interchanges, detours. Oh to drive at a constant speed for more than 10 seconds. I hope my car doesn't hyperventilate on the way home. My AC is broke. I might burn alive. I seem to recount a certain tale I heard from arig101. Inopperable AC, DDR with DJ sammy, towelhead, redbulls. This post makes little to no senses.

In the words of Pete, "Let's start an emo and name it suicidal rhapsody."

Knife in the Water

If you want to know why Roman Polanski is brilliant, please watch this movie. I revisited it recently and its subtlety blew me away even more than the first time I encountered it. I also regained my crush for the lead actress, Jolanta Umecka. For more Polanski brilliance, watch Chinatown.

Ticket Stubs

I've never considered myself an avid concert goer, and this list proves it. In the past I usually only went to concerts when it was convenient for me, or if a lot of my friends were going. I often ended up at concerts that I had little interest in, which left me somewhat dissappointed in the whole live music scene. Living in Arkansas also hampers one's ability to see a variety of different artists. Here is a list as best I could remember of concerts I have attended, in chronological order starting with the earliest. I also included the location. This list does not include small venue shows like BDS or Ultimate Fakebook. Please laugh at this.

The Steve Miller Band //Pullman, WA
Blues Traveler //Little Rock, AR
Everclear //Little Rock, AR
The String Cheese Incident //Little Rock, AR
Widespread Panic //Little Rock, AR
James Brown //Little Rock, AR
Hootie and the Blowfish //Little Rock, AR
Collective Soul //Little Rock, AR
Further Seems Forever //Little Rock, AR
Third Eye Blind //Nashville, TN
Cheap Trick //Milwaukee, WI
Eve 6 //Milwaukee, WI
Ben Folds //Milwaukee, WI
Foo Fighters //Milwaukee, WI
Better Than Ezra //Fayetteville, AR
Jimmy Eat World //Conway, AR
Bone Thugs 'n Harmony //Fayetteville, AR
Gin Blossoms //Fayetteville, AR
Ben Kweller //Fayetteville, AR
Phantom Planet //Fayetteville, AR
Lucero //Fayetteville, AR
Regina Spektor //Dallas, TX
Camera Obscura //Denver, CO
The Shins //Denver, CO
Ratatat //Denver, CO
Brazilian Girls //Denver, CO

A Chilean Phone Call

Today I was sitting at my desk, listening to a sermon online. We interns share the responsibility of answering the phone when it rings. Julianne, who sits next to me, got my attention with a wave. She obviously had someone on the line, as she was holding the phone to her shoulder. The minute I took my headphones off, she yelled to me saying that she could not understand what was being said to her over the phone. She said she wasn't sure if it wa Spanish or Asian. I made it a quick point to inform her that Asian is not a language. She said she was going to transfer the call over to me, but I was not interested in babbling with someone in an unknown language. My phone started to ring, and reluctantly I picked it up. I realized pretty quickly that what I heard was Spanish, or at least some form of it. His name was Jose Sanchez and he was calling from Chile. His accent was very extreme however, and I think that's why Julianne had such a hard time understanding him. I think I often underestimate my ability to speak Spanish. I immediately understood most of what he was saying and was able to tell him that we have a guy here in the office who is from Guatemala, and he would be happy to talk a little more intelligently with him than I could. I was then informed that Randy was out of the office today. I asked for his phone # and he rattled it off to me in Spanish. I'm terrible with the large numbers. I think I got the right # from him and told him that Randy would be giving him a call soon. I hung up the phone very satisfied with a situation in which it was necessary to use Spanish.

For All the Jake Wight Fans Out There

A weekend in Phoenix. Shrimp wraps, poolside action, and a dog book.

If I'm Sleeping, It Better Be Cold

Last night I slept very well. The weather as of late has been quite chilly and ominous which is very conducive to good sleep. I cracked the window in my room a little, to let in some of the wonderful cold air. I have this plant sitting on my window sill and I kind of wonder if it's cool for the little guy to be cold at night. I figure if he was in the real world, not only would he be more cold than he is now, but he wouldn't have me to hang out with. I've never really owned a plant before so I'm sort of treating it like one treats their first child, with much care. My plant is getting bigger and it makes me real happy.

I think I might need to come up with a name for it. I don't like it when people come up with arbitrary names for things...which is why I have yet to name my car, and why I probably won't name my children until they are 10 years old. How are you supposed to name your child when you have no idea what they will be like. Or maybe their behaviour begins to adhere to their name. I think one of the coolest names for a car that I ever heard, was from a friend in high-school who owned a white GMC Yukon. It's name was Cornelius. If you can figure out why it was named Cornelius, you will be my friend forever. I'll give you a hint: christmas claymation cartoon. I also will probably never get a tattoo for these reasons. I hate it when people get tattoos of like a skull or something. What does that even mean? I'll never get a tattoo unless it is something incredibly cool, that means something spectacular. I think about this a lot.

So this seemed to be one of those infinite nights of sleep. I woke up a few times during the night, after what seemed ages, yet only a few hours had passed. This is probably one of the greatest feelings in the world, when you realize you still have so much sleep in front of you. I dreamt a bunch as well. In my dreams I was somewhere in Africa I think, riding a train. Our train crashed or something and I was bleeding everywhere, yet felt no pain. We went over to some people's house and they fed us after the crash. There was this old man smoking cigars and he offered me one. I sat with him and talked and smoked a wonderful cigar.

I really want to get back into cigar smoking, no more backwoods and stuff though, ony the finest handrolled dominican stuff money can buy. That is what I will do.

I was very warm under my covers all night, yet could feel the cold breath of the outdoors on my face the whole time. I've always contested that no amount of cold could ever penetrate my covers. I think I could climb mount everest in my boxers, if I had my covers over me. This claim makes Peter really mad and I think that's mostly why I say it.

I woke up at 7:30 after a few slaps at my alarm clock, ready to embrace another chilly day.

A Photo

This is me and the interns. We are standing on a bridge.

A 120 Foot Long Manuscript

My mom had just packed me 2 coolers worth of food. I like my mom a lot because sometimes she cooks me a lot of food and puts it into little containers so I can put them in my freezer and eat them later. It beats McDonald's for sure and since I lack culinary talents, it makes even more sense. They were sitting in the back of my car as I pulled onto I-25 south and headed towards Denver. I was lured by the city to once again enter its domain. Since I had the day to blow and would rather do it in Denver than in Colorado Springs, I exited.

I was in LoDo so I headed to the Tattered Cover, an old used bookstore. With a wide variety of magazines to choose from, I entertained myself a few hours, meandering about the floors, peeking at architecture books. On one of the landings I saw a sign saying something about Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," being displayed @ the Denver Public Library. I thought it worth checking out so I headed up the 16th street mall. There are a bunch buses that run up and down this street for free so I jumped aboard, careful to look cool doing so. That's one thing I don't like about doing things alone. For some reason all of my actions become a lot more calculated, and I find myself contemplating each and every motion I take. I can't explain it but it feels somewhat selfish and prideful.

Along this strip, you can find any sort of person you want, a businessmen, a highschooler, a gangsta, a panhandler, a mom, a robot, a cigarette. It is fun because this area forces together a myriad of demographics causing the occasional shocking instance. Alone I witnessed everything and everyone safe behind my headphones. If you wanna avoid talking to people, put on headphones. I was thirsty so I went into Jimmy John's to purchase a beverage. Since it is a physical impossibility to enter Jimmy John's without ordering a Slim #5, I did so and relished in my most wonderful vice. I don't know if you can beat salami, capicola, provolone, mayo and mustard on the best bread in the world.

I continued up 16th street until I reached its terminus. I could see Michael Graves' library in the distance, so I made my way towards it. To say the least, this library is somewhat dissapointing compared to some of his other achievements like the St. Colleta school in Washington D.C. Graves uses a language that works at a much smaller scale as seen in St. Colleta. His intention is clear and speaks for itself. The library seems to lose some of this clarity as the program becomes larger and more varied. What was simple about his St. Colleta design, has now become confusing and useless. The other thing that really bothers me about the library is the vertical circulation. Unless one is willing to find the elevator, which was difficult to do, one must take a series of escalators up each floor. This process is very time consuming and offers nothing new to the experience. I can understand an elaborate circulation system if it's trying to say something and take one on an interesting journey. This is not the case however and leaves the everyone tired and yet again confused.

Enough architectural analysis. After I got inside, I asked the security guard where I could find this exhibit. He told me to go to the 5th floor. As I reached the top floor, I could see what I had come for. Before me lay the original manuscript of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." Kerouac had written this entire book in a 21 day sitting. He was also known to be a really fast typer and he hated changing out sheets every few minutes. He bought come long pieces of chinese paper and taped them together to form one long scroll. He typed the whole thing single spaced with no margins. They didn't have the space to unroll the whole thing so I could only see about a 30 ft. stretch of it. It was bought at auction sometime in the 90's for 2.6 million dollars. I looked at it for awhile and then I left to do other stupid things.

Sometimes

things just get you down. Sometimes you just don't feel right. Its like an unbridled horse that drags your mind across a thousand possibilities with no resolution. There are a few pages left in your book, but you just can't bring yourself to finish them. A dullness, like two rocks rubbing against eachother. People just don't get it, get you. They poke fun and you can't tell if they are just playing around, or if they really hold you in contempt. Scrutinized. Made to feel insignificant. Sometimes, and then there are others.

Angola May Not Be The Tourism Capital Of The World

If anyone else has taken a 20 hour trans-atlantic flight, I sympathize with your sufferings. To compound the annoyance of such a flight, Delta is kind enough to play re-runs of The West Wing, and The King of Queens the entirety of the journey. This flight includes a stop in Dakar, Senegal to refuel, before continuing on to Johannesburg, South Africa. In Dakar, you are not allowed to get off the plane, as security comes on board and searches the fuselage for 2 hours. Bad food further complicates this torture, with zero leg room and minimal personal space to boot. You have to do this twice might I add. It does help with the skymiles however.

Angola is a former Portuguese colony that gained its independance around 1975. Since then they have destroyed themselves with civil war. Like any developing country, the so-called roads are almost useless. Diesel fumes suffocate you. Pedestrians dodge blazing SUV's.

The land is beautiful and limitless. If you plan on taking your next vacation there, bring an interpreter, since almost no one knows any english. Bring zero dollars because I can assure you there is nothing worth buying. Be ready to not see another white person and accept points and stares as you go anywhere. Accept bulletholes in buildings as merely part of the experience.

What I've said may come across as deregatory to Angola, but it is one of the nost wonderful and confusing places I've ever been. The people are content and happy, which comes as strange to me because it is in the top 5 poorest countries in the world. I am glad to be home yet resentful of America. We are all selfish and stupid.

An Artist I Enjoy

I guess what I really enjoy about Juan Gris, is his ability to make one think. This is sort of at the essence of the cubist movement, the act of taking something ordinary, and distorting it create a more powerful image. However, Gris does it in a way that seems to split away from Picasso. Gris paintings become much more about space and overlap and the shifting of different planes. Looking at the paintings makes one wonder how they fit together, and what the original images looked like. You soon realize that the image does not fit together, and anomalies begin to present themselves. Anyway here are a few examples.

A Few Thoughts

On Stoplights
Yellow lights in Colorado Springs are unusually long. It makes it an excellent place to squeeze in at the last minute. Is it yellow lights? Sometimes I think they are orange. People also accelerate very quickly when the light turns green. Maybe I'm used to the slow pace of Arkansas, but these people are fast. Even like soccer moms in minivans are flooring it off the line. Have you ever wondered why the lights have those little shields around them? I can't decide if it diminishes glare, or keeps people from looking to see when the light turns so they can gun it off the line. I also think there should be an amendment to traffic laws. Here is the scenario: say you are at a 3-way intersection. You are on the street that can either turn left, or go straight. There is no road to your right. I think that you should be able to go straight on red in this situation. It's no different than turning right on red at a four way. All you are looking for is the people on your left, making a left hand turn. I'll talk to my local police man.

On Iraq
On the radio today, I heard that 2 soldiers sued Boeing for a helicopter malfunction that happened in Iraq. They were awarded some 15 million dollars. They said one soldier was left a quadriplegic and the other sustained lesser injuries. A quadriplegic is about the worst injury you could sustain apart from sustaining death. That leaves a very wide range of lesser injuries. p.s. I'm sick of Iraq and I don't even care any more. I just wish everyone would be happy and love each other. I also hate it when people try to talk about Iraq like they know more about foreign policy than the government does. If you know so much, run for president.

On Pop Divas
Why do people care about other people? It's usually because they have a relationship with them and have invested things into their life. That's why I'm perplexed by people caring about celebrities. As most of us know, Anna Nicole Smith recently died of collapsing(otherwise known as an OD), in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Every morning when I turn on the TV, reporters and journalists scramble around to find the latest news on Smith. The thing I saw that disturbed me was images of young kids and teens that had gathered for a memorial to her. You've seen them before, posters with little pictures of the deceased with little messages and candles and text like RIP so and so. I was thinking, why do these people care??? They obviously never knew this person personally and therefore should have no interest in her death. I guess its different for an honorable person. When someone dies that is famous, that has lived a life of honor and grace and love, people should celebrate their death, even if they never knew them. I guess I just don't get it when people care about someone they don't know, who has lived a terrible life. Drugs, pornography, adultery, and greed were all a huge part of this woman's life. What good does it to memorialize her? So Britney has shaved her head and has checked into drug rehab twice in one week. I love how everyone cares so much.

On Reporters
I guess what angers me is the medias eagerness to unveil terrible things. That's why I was so happy when Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith gave all their credit to God. The media couldn't do anything with it and you could tell they were disappointed to hear these things. They were looking for the next T.O. scandal, or C. Johnson's latest end zone blasphemy. They couldn't find it. All they could find was God-fearing men. Thanks for the bust-out guys.