Royal Enfield

So I saw this bike the other day. I had never seen anything like it and was surprised as I approached that the bike read: Royal Enfield. I talked with the owner about it for several minutes. He said they are a British company that set up factories in India and have been making the bikes the same way since the 40's. The technology is super old school and he said that they are really finicky. Either way I want one.

The Window Problem

So the other night I had an idea for a sci-fi horror comedy movie.

The movie begins with flies. I'm thinking it would start out documentary style, discussing the lifespan of flies, their habits and basic information, with narration. One of the major hangups with flies, if not the major hangup, is their inability to fly in a concise way. They, as we all know, wizz about erratically and bump into walls, lights, mirrors and mainly windows. It would be funniest to explain that flies are actually very cognitive beings, and that they don't fly about rapidly due to the true reason, lack of eyesight, and decreased senses, but that they actually think it to be the best way get around. The origins of this belief could be flashbacked to; some in depth ridiculous scenario would be the best. Maybe that the ancient master fly had an injury to his wing and couldn't fly straight, and ages ago, all of his subjects began imitating him in reverence, bumping into windows incessantly. It was then passed down generation to generation as the traditional fly flight style. You could then cut to a fly practicing or attempting to get the style down correctly. "Fly-dome" could actually be ruled by a totalitarian regime that forced all of its members to do this, or brainwashed them into doing so, or were forced to due to an ancient treaty with the humans, as a safeguard from keeping the flies at bay from taking over the world.

The plot would then follow a single gifted and talented fly that essentially figures out the "window problem." He realizes that bumping into windows doesn't work and begins flying normally.  He then begins to feel better, gaining better eyesight and growing larger. His friends are reluctant to follow along but the practice eventually catches on.

I havn't thought the rest of it out yet but essentially that's just the intro. Ensuing scifi mayhem then ensues with flies growing larger and killing humans starting a global fly vs. human conflict. It would have to be awesome though, unlike Starship troopers which kept coming to mind. The plot would be on a much smaller local scale, and would maybe involve espionage. The flies would be huge but talk in normal english.

I think I'm going to actually write the screenplay.

Isolate Yourself

Found this interesting "book nook" by Danish Architecture firm Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter. I often find myself enjoying Scandinavian stuff but this scenario seems a little contrived. 

It seems to stand out a little too starkly against the backdrop of the forest. Although this contrast creates an interesting juxtaposition, the structure almost sticks out, like a sore thumb.  I can imagine sitting inside, reading a book, and feeling uncomfortable. I would feel almost on display, like a manikin in a department store.

It feels more like a dollhouse or something you would play in as a child. On the other hand, I do enjoy the design, the material use and elevation compositions. I don't know what use I would have for something like this though. I think it seriously lacks in site specificity and overall design. To me this isn't really architecture, it's more like a tree-house or something less worthy of dissection.

William Kentridge

While I was still living in Dallas, I got a chance to visit the Modern Art Mseum of Fort Worth. If you are not familiar with this place, you must be. It is a classic Tadoa Ando display, a rare find in the United States. While in the Arts District of Fort Worth, it may be even more important to cross the street and visit the Kimball Art Museum, a Louis Kahn masterpiece. I had seen many pictures of the Kimball before visiting and the thing that caught my attention the most was the proportions Kahn uses. They are expertly executed and imbue the space with pre-existing knowledge. The art seemed to be happy to be there and respectful of such a vibrant interior.


Anyway, at the Modern Art Musuem of Forth Worth, a South African artist William Kentridge displayed an extensive exhibit of many of his experimental short films. Kentridge does stop motion animation with drawings. He works on the same sheet of paper and continues to add and subtract medium by drawing and erasing. This act gives his art a life span. The remnants of the erased pencil last on the page and continue to build layer upon layer of depth. Kentridge's art is completely unique and worth a view.

Toil Theory

To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Genesis 3:17

I became interested in this verse many years ago one Sunday morning as some pastor, somewhere was of course, blabbing about this fateful occurrence in Genesis. I began to wonder how this verse applied to modern life, as not all of us do manual labor to make a living. I always imagined Adam hunched over in a field digging ditches and sweating somewhere in Iraq, really hot, not too psyched about the prospect of another couple hundred years of doing the same.

There came a point, even very early on in history when not necessarily everyone had to work like this for their food. Solomon for instance pretty much didn't do anything hard in his life. He just chilled on some drank and got crunk with his homies and was real smart. I then began to ponder, how does this toil apply to someone like Solomon, or even myself.

A lot of people like to say, "everything happens for a reason." In the past I had never really agreed with this statement. There are plenty of things that happen in ones daily life that apparently have no purpose, and this is where I believe this toil comes into play. It can strike anyone anytime.

I began to define this toil as: anything that happens that is generally annoying and frustrating, yet has no real deeper consequence. Examples of this include: tripping, locking your keys in your car, the cable going out, mosquitos, no air conditioning, clothing stains etc.

So if we go back to everything happens for a reason, this must explain why these instances occur. Because it is toil, and we must endure.

Steve Nashtown

It's cold outside.

Villa Mairea

I recently took a chance to revisit one of my favorite buildings of all time. Finnish architect Alvar Aalto's masterpiece, the Villa Mairea, exemplifies architectural execution down to the minutest detail. Phaidon released a book just on this building, and if you can get ahold of it, it shows all of the wonderful thought and nuance. Here are a few images to see what I mean.


The curvilinear entry way invites you into the house from the forest incorporating an organic sensibilty to the begininning of the promenade.



The backyard has this pool along with rusticated sauna made from old wood. Several rooftop balconies look over the courtyard.


The fireplace along with the sauna are centerpieces in every Finnish home. The central location of the fireplace distinguishes it as object upon which the rest of the house rotates around.


Detail of the fireplace. Aalto's sculptural representation of a windblown snow bank.

Wesley Burt

I found this guy by chance the other day and it blew me away. Big fan of pencil drawing. Check it out at here

Things that cost about $5

Cigarettes
Wendy's
Parking
Foot longs
Airport crumbs
Red Baron
Sixers
Used Denim
2 gallons of gas
Spicy Tuna roll
Covers
Valet Tip
late fees
Film
Matinees

Months at a time

So here's my theory on why moths fly towards light: Moths have very short life spans. The luna moth, which I saw in person for the first time a few weeks ago, only lives for a few days. The adult does not eat in this time because it is not equipped with a mouth. The adults try to find each other for some midnight lovin before they die hours later. I can imagine that these few hours are very confusing for moths. They don't really know what they are doing. When it starts to get dark, the moths can't see anymore. They can however see the glimmer of the porch light. If I just emerged for the first time from the primordial sack, and saw a light off in the distance, I would totally crawl toward it. I love how when the moths find the light, they just chill next to it. They must be so pumped that they found light so they can see. This is why I think moths are the best animals, but not the coolest because they are kind of ugly and dirty looking.

Burn them with a lit cigar

I do recall making a solemn oath to post a blog daily for a month and am now coming to terms with the fact I in no way did such. I'm just gonna have to keep rolling, despite my obvious shortcomings as a writer, and a devotee to authorship.

I spent yesterday outside with friends cooking food and admiring the climate. It was a great day of relaxation and a certain remebrance of "how to chill." I think it's good to actually practice chilling in a very real way. Chilling is great and should be seen as something to acheive rather than fall back into. So chill hard amigos.

Animals making noise in the woods.
Don't worry its just a russian dinosaur.
Sending reinforcements, us extra caution.
That was really stupid of me, wow that was stupid.

Missed One

I have failed in posting a blog yesterday. I failed. I did not do it. As recompense I am going to post two "Blogs" today.

I'd like to begin with cats vs. dogs. I actually want to make some sort of documentary that matches these two species up, and analyzes them based on different criteria and then rates them on some strange scale. If a tie happens, it becomes a deathmatch. Because dogs are more aggressive and larger.....oooo wait a minute. We could do chihuahuas versus cats. Deathmatch. In the house. Different camera angles. I'm thinkin something really gritty, David Fincheresque maybe.

On another note, there are too many cat haters out there. I find this hatred to be severly unfounded. I am therefore starting a dog hatred sub culture. Everytime I hear about someone going out and needlessly killing cats, I shall do the same. If people are okay with killing cats, I'm okay with killing dogs. Thats it. I might actually do this.

Resumption a Great Success

Upon the re-arrival to this web address, I find myself bolstered and "at large." This may be in part due to the wonderful night of sleep I received last night after turning on the window a/c unit and cuddling over a fresh set of sheets. As I drifted away I thought of myself smelling the air in a crowded Holiday Inn Express somewhere, maybe somewhere in the Midwest.

And as I entered this restful state,
my mind grew lazy from rain.
And it swung from the backyard tree
enforcing not once the right thing.

(This post is the first in Nate's New explosive series called "EXPERIMENTAL BLOGGIN!")

terms and restrictions may vary. Rules and awards may also vary. Subject to Newton's laws and bending the rules of gravity, bnot limited to Einstein's theory of relativity and anonymity within the realm of our existence. Hamburglar toy not included.

May the Blogging Resume

I decided to start "blogging" again. Blogging seems to just be getting cooler and cooler as time goes on so I am now determined to blog everyday for one month. The posts shall vary in length and content but I can assure you that they will be a great read for the whole family.

With that said, we are going to start with strange tales from the life of a pizza delivery boy or just pizzaboy. The current economic downturn (I guess that's what they're calling it now) has made it especially difficult for a recent college graduate to "get paid" as it were, so I resorted to slangin' pies if you will, so I could pay for food, which in turn keeps me alive.

I was minding my own business, dropping off a single medium pizza to apartments on Oakland and Sycamore, when I got heckled. I didn't realize this was possible until I delivered pizzas. People definitely heckle sometimes. This woman yelled at me, "I know that ain't no pizza up in that box?" I responded, "actually it is." She then yelled back, " Whoever ordered that pizza needs to get their ass kicked. That ain't no pizza, that looks like a snack."

I ignored this strange person and delivered my pizza. I got back in the car and thought, "She's kinda right I guess."

I'm a Stupid Generalist

I’ve stated this many times to my friends and family that the one aspect about my personality that I have always been frustrated by is my lack of specific interest or skill. Since a kid I have always been pretty good at everything, not great, but just okay. In a negative way, our culture has taught us that we must be great at something. I don’t think that this only comes from our culture, but I believe it is something deep seeded within humanity. My good friend Peter and I often discuss the idea that we have always felt the need, or the desire to do something great within our lifetime. Like most of us Peter thought his life was leading up to a single point of ultimate glory. That something great not only in his own eyes or the eyes of God, but in the eyes of others would be achieved. I’ll go into where this idea comes a little later. So being somehow instilled with this idea has always frustrated since it’s been so difficult to find something that I feel I am really good at. I’ve always wondered if there is one skill in life that I have never explored yet if I had, I would have had the most natural proficiency at it. What if I would have been the best bocce player all time, yet I had never taken the time to try it. We could also think about with all people throughout all of history. Maybe if basketball had been around in the Middle Ages, Pope Urban II might have been the first Michael Jordan. These thoughts aside, being a generalist, as I have now found it to be called, it’s always been easy for me to fit in with different groups of people. Since I have general knowledge about most topics, I can easily engage in conversation with specialists in most fields of interest. I have therefore begun to realize the significance of being this way. However, in the world we live in, we must do something to allow us to sustain our own lives. In the earliest societies it was necessary to have a specific vocation, and that was surviving. Since no one else was going to provide sustenance for you, you had to do it yourself. As societies progressed, more and more possibilities for interest emerged, because more and more people were available to do a set number of tasks. If you were the only person on earth, you would have to seek food for yourself. If there were only two of you on earth, the other person could seek food for the both of you, while you could pursue something else. At this point in our existence, there is an infinite possibility for different pursuits.[1] So if I am a generalist, and there are infinite subjects to pursue, how can I manifest that into a way to survive, or live off of. Somehow I will have to choose something specific, but I think certain professions allow for this sort of eclecticism. I think the broadest category has to be the arts. Within each discipline of art it is possible to draw from every category of life. A painter can add text, color, images and texture. It can be something physical to interact with. I writer can discuss any topic of life that he wishes. However, film has to be the ultimate media, because of the ability for it to convey infinite ideas, in the most ways. You could say that other arts engage more of the senses. Food as an art engages to most: sight, taste, touch, smell, and occasionally hearing. But food can only convey a small set of ideas directly. Sure food can illicit the imagination in ways that other things can’t but as far as direct concepts, it is limited. This said, how should we now approach film? It is hard to argue that we should only engage in this type of media from now on. There is something beautiful about live drama that film cannot capture. There is nothing like looking at the still image of a photograph. We all understand the significance of every minute aspect of life, but the full significance of film has not yet been understood.

---

[1] Reality has become more ambiguous than ever before for this reason. When your only task was finding a way to survive, there was no time for contemplation of your own existence. You knew you existed, and you attempted to maintain this. The greatest shift from this perspective occurred at with the industrial revolution. Automation allowed the ability for us to have more free time. This brought a disconnection with nature, because we were no longer in direct contact with it. I think this is where a lot of philosophers, namely atheists go wrong because in a certain sense they attempt to deny reality. The truth is that something exists, and we therefore must engage with it.

Strangers

Upon the obstruction of the late night
bar scenes, the blasting silent trophy queens
with their greens eye lit by the north
face, a surly outer garment charged
with a specific embroidered margin of beer.
The drums and violas of the past,
ringing in the ears of the dawn, the daybreak,
as the bleak train station wheels roll past,
the majestic crown of a thousand nasty,
blanketed drones of this world we do not
yet know. When will these outhouse, tab closing
times finish...for only then will His mysteries be
laid rotten at our feet. These measly tireless
steps in the blank darkness of Arkansas.

Top Ten

The following is a list of what I consider to be the top ten albums of 2007. Respond or retaliate as you see fit.

1.) Spoon "GaGaGaGaGa"-If you liked any of Spoon's previous records, you most likely appreciated this one. The first time I sat down and listened to this record, I felt like I completely understood it. Upon further listening there is still stuff to pick up on every time. I really loved this. SONGS: Don't You Evah, You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb

2.) The Shins "Wincing the Night Away"- Whether or not you think this album is better than "Chutes Too Narrow," it's still one of the best of the year. I saw them in Denver just after the release of this record. I went to the show alone, and was blown away. I could listen to this album all day. SONGS: Girl Sailor, Turn On Me, Phantom Limb

3.) Menomena "Friend & Foe"- One of the most unique albums I put on here. I'd never heard anything quite like this when I bought the album. SONGS: Rotten Hell, Muscle'n Flow

4.) Lupe Fiasco "The Cool"- With the expected release date of Dec. 18th, this album will make Lu a superstar. This is potentially the best hip-hop album I have ever heard. He is one of the best lyricists period. Soundtrakk's production is flawless, and Lu's thematic narrative is something new to the genre. SONGS: Dumb It Down, Go Go Gadget Flow, Little Weapon

5.) Foo Fighters "Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace"- The newest release from my favorite band of all time is one their best in a few years. With disappointing releases in "One by One" and "In Your Honor" this album hearkens back to the early days of the Foo. Dave Grohl rocks it out for the 7th time. I woke up at 4am to get tickets to their show on Jan. 28. I actually cannot wait.
SONGS: The Pretender, Long Road To Ruin, But Honestly

6.) Kanye West "Graduation"- Another amazing record from Mr. West. With appearances by T-Pain, Chris Martin, and Lil' Wayne, this album is nonstop action. I listened to this straight for a week. SONGS: Barry Bonds, Homecoming, Champion

7.) Band of Horses "Cease to Begin"- If you have not gotten into these guys yet, you need to. This album so so delicate and perfect. SONGS: Is There A Ghost, Detlef Schrempf, The General Specific

8.) Feist "The Reminder"- This album is totally great. Leslie Feist follows her last album with one that is potentially better. Great for the Christmas season too. SONGS: I Feel It All, Brandy Alexander, One Two Three Four

9.) The White Stripes "Icky Thump"- I hadn't always given These guys any credit, but when I heard this album, I was blown away. The title track is one of the best of all time. Their inventive use of new instruments is amazing. A true rock album. SONGS: Icky Thump, Conquest, Little Cream Soda

10.) Kevin Drew "Spirit If..."- Co-founder of Broken Social Scene Kevin Drew, breaks away to create his own sound. Although a lot like BSS, Drew's sound is unique on it's own. With help from Pavement, Metric, and Dinosaur Jr., this record rocks. SONGS: Farewell to Pressure Kids, When It Begins

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.