Update after a solid month!

Lots to write about here and I'm sure it will be all over the place.

Picking up from a month ago: books. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? turned out to be reasonably good. I finished it a few weeks ago and am already having trouble with specific details (I'm getting old). The world that Philip K. Dick created for this book is unreal. It is rich and seems as if it could actually exist. I was impressed. The novel plays with identity quite a bit which I enjoyed. I don't have much more to say about it sadly. I enjoyed it, but it definitely isn't one of my favorite books. Cool facts - Google mobile stuff seems to be based on the book. The robots are called "androids" in the novel and the "nexus-one" is reminiscent of the "nexus-6" androids that Deckard eliminates. Fun.


More on books: Tonight, I finished Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Quite a bit of a change from extreme sci-fi to this non-fiction novel, but I liked it. After Androids, this book was a needed change. The book is about Krakauer's personal trip up Mt. Everest. My mom has been recommending the book to me for years and I just haven't read it for some odd reason. I loved every bit of this book. It read quickly, gave an interesting history of Everest, told the story of many different groups who climbed Everest in the Spring of 1996, and was simply a great read. Krakauer's voice can be a bit cocky at times (though he is one of very few people who actually survive the trip - maybe he can speak like this), but overall, the book is great.


This particular season climbing on Everest would lead to the deaths of 12 people and this novel chronicles all the stories. The rivalry between the 2 group leaders (Fischer and Hall), the unready Taiwanese and South African groups, and the personal stories themselves, all create a lush story. The most interesting character proves to be Beck Weathers (who I barely recognized at all throughout the book). In the end, he was left for dead in the ice, made it back to camp, was left in a tent that fell apart in a windstorm (shouldve died again as his sleeping bag fell off and tent was wide open at the 2nd highest camp), and somehow managed to survive it all (be it with only 3/4 of one arm and no fingers on the other hand). I'm rambling about this book and getting nowhere, but the most fascinating part about this book is the fact that humans simply desire to conquer everything. There's no reason for anyone to ever attempt to survive at altitudes that high. It's physically impossible. Yet, humans go again and again to summit this mountain. The book is an interesting look at the human condition and the flaws within it. And! is also awesome.


Next up - George Orwell's 1984. I skipped it in high school and decided it was about time to get caught up. Thank you summertime!


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Onto movies! My mom and I have recently been covering the great animated films - Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me. I've realized that I appreciate Pixar movies more than most true films. Their messages resonate with everyone from a 2 year old to grandparents and have some of the best scripts today. Toy Story was great. I'd put TS1 at #1, TS3 at #2, and TS2 at #3 on my rankings of best Toy Story films. TS3 incorporates an evil dictator teddy bear, Buzz's Spanish language button, a host of more toys, and a great plot surrounding Andy's going to college. It is a great look at growing up, overcoming the odds, and letting things go. What more could you ask for? Oh - it was in 3d! Cha ching!

Somewhat related, but mostly a great video (comprised entirely of audio derived from the film):



Despicable Me wasn't nearly as good as TS, but in the end, I enjoyed it. How could I not with Steve Carrell and Russell Brand voicing the 2 main characters? Sadly, I didn't see this one in 3d so I don't think I enjoyed the rollercoaster scene as much as I could have, but I don't think that's what hurt the film. The script just wasn't quite as good as TS and the characters weren't nearly as great as Woody and Buzz. Regardless, it was great and the theme song was really catchy.




Onto other movies! Last night I finished The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. I downloaded it via torrent (I'm a badass) though I didn't know much about it. Turns out, it is Heath Ledger's last film, but he died in the midst of production. Director Terry Gilliam (Of Monty Python fame, who I have loved for a long time. I grew up watching Time Bandits) was able to continue production by hiring Ledger's friends Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell to fill in. Gilliam's films are so stylistic that somehow he is able to pull this off. The film is extremely surreal and isn't the most "normal" movie I have ever seen, but that's why I enjoyed it. Tom Waits also stars as the Devil which was interesting. I appreciated the visual appeal of the film more than the actual story. But I may just be biased because I love Time Bandits so much.


And I'm a bit late on this one, but I finally saw Donnie Darko tonight. While I liked the film, I can't say I'll be joining the cult followers of this one. The bunny was creepy, Jake Gyllenhaal was great, and I was shocked to see Seth Rogen in the cast. Didn't really think he existed pre-5 years ago. Best part of the movie:




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And finally! videos that have interested me/I've made recently:

Pogo - "Gardyn"


Video is made entirely of sounds from an interview with his mom and sounds from her working in the garden. It's crazy to see the music that's possible with just normal day to day sound. I love this video. Pogo is a great producer that also did the Toy Story video above. I first found his music through a video he did for Alice in Wonderland. He took audio from that movie and created a song and video to accompany it. His whole catalogue is pretty fascinating."Upular" is probably his best produced piece. Highly recommend.


Ok Go - "This Too Shall Pass"


OK Go might be create the best music videos ever. This one is recorded in one take (which seems to be a theme for them). Featured is the Notre Dame marching band. Every aspect of this production is so over the top. It's great.


A bit of self promotion:

(I'm no JoBroz fan, but I will say I have a lot more respect for them after interviewing them. They were much more down to earth and intelligent than I would have guessed)


And to close, what better than this:


I can't even begin to explain that one, but I was laughing hysterically.

more Sufjan

In my last post, I wrote about my hopes that Sufjan Stevens would come out with some new music. I said how much I loved his whole catalogue. One of my favorite blogs "The World Forgot" also just went on a similar rant.

Kinda weird how that worked out. While I was a month late on the uptake, it was odd how that worked out. I had no idea he performed on The National song "Afraid of Everyone" (on the album I also wrote about in that post). Either way, I'm still hoping for a lot out of him. He created a huge amount of music in those 2003-2006ish years, and I'm dreaming that another gigantic burst of inspiration comes out of him.

Sufjan mp3 (via Last.fm)

06.04.10

since I've been riding public transportation for about 4 hours a day the past few days, I've run out of new music to listen to.

But! The national album is unreal. The guy's voice (I apologize for not knowing his name) is so deep and eerie. Lends to a great sound for the band. Its also great music to listen to while going through newark (as I am right now). the dark sound matches the texture of this rundown city. Currently driving past abandoned warehouses, graffiti lined streets, and gigantic cranes that don't seem like they've worked on a project in years.





I find myself having a tough time reading on the train during my commutes now. Its the 1 time in my day that I have some time to myself. I've been finally able to look back and think about my life this past year. Everything was so fast that I was unable to examine anything that happened. Sitting here looking at the window let's me reminisc - and I'm enjoying it.

While I'm meandering - books. I just finished "goodbye columbus" by philip roth. Its a great story about summer romance between a girl who lives in short hills, nj and a guy from newark, nj. Being that I pass through these two towns every day when I head to work and that I frequent both these places, I found the book more interesting than I think most would (though it won the national book award, so apparently others enjoyed it). Roth's description of the polarities between the 2 cities and the lifestyle differences is what makes the book so great. Short hills is in the '50s is already the tennis playing, preppy place while newark is the tougher, working metropolis. I liked that aspect of the story more than the true narrative. It was fascinating to see that these 2 cities haven't changed much in roughly 60 years. Roth's description could still be applicable today, but Newark would be even rougher now.





I'm onto "do androids dream of electric sheep now" by Philip k dick. I know - its an awesome title. And I seem to have a thing for writers named phil recently, but we'll ignore both these facts. The novel is the inspiration for the film "bladerunner" which is one of my favorite movies of all time. Ridley scott created such a lush fantasy world. At the time, the film was extremely under-appreciated, but has come to have the respect it deserves in recent day. The novel is very different from the film, but it is only an "inspiration" according to ridley scott. It gives a great background story for the protagonist rick deckard. The film ignores this and casts harrison ford as the badass android-killer with no explanation for his demeanor or profession. I'm only 40 pages into the novel, but Dick has already established a great, fantastical environment. I'm sure the book will be great - updates to follow.





And finally, the reason I started writing this post. I became bored with my new music so I revisited some old stuff on my ipod. And! I refound sufjan stevens. I had an odd obsession with him in high school and am rekindling that now. His music defies true categorization. It goes from folk, to rock, some classical tinges, and mostly just truly original. There's about 25 of his songs that I think are all great and the rest of his catalogue is also noteworthy. But there's something about his music that keeps me coming back. He creates such complex layers in all of his songs. Every one sounds different from the last. He uses melodies, progressions, and time signatures that are rare in modern artists. He's slacking on his goal to make an album about every one of the 50 states. I'm upset about this solely cause I want to hear more of his music. He's covered michigan and illinois, so I'm assuming new jersey will most likely be next. It makes sense. His christmas album was also great, though not the most christmas-y music. In conclusion, he's awesome and I can't wait for his next album





Wow that was a lot. And all written from my phone! Thank you moto droid phone [edit - pictures put in afterwards... phone cant do it all :( ]

wonderland or narnia?

If they say life's a dream,
Call this insomnia.
Cause this ain't Wonderland,
It damn sure ain't Narnia.

-- Bruno Mars - "the other side" (verse by b.o.b.)

One of the catchiest and funniest lines I've heard in a while from a rapper


I'm also very glad that b.o.b. is becoming popular. he's one of the more talented rappers I've heard in recent memory. Between him, Drake, Charles Hamilton, Asher Roth (yes I like him... there's more than "I love college"), and Kid Cudi, there's a new style of rap that I'm glad is catching on.

Sam Cooke wrote "A Change is Gonna Come" in the mid '60's. It was a powerful song against racism and segregation in the USA. B.oB., Charles Hamilton, and Asher Roth sampled the song and created something completely different. While I think the original version is much more powerful (and better in general) than the new, sampled version, I still think the new song showcases the abilities of these rappers. It's good, but I'll always love Sam Cooke.

B.o.B, Charles Hamilton, Asher Roth - "Change Gonna Come"
(mediafire)


"I was borrrrrn by the river"

thanks for the great advice

"It's not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know."

Thanks Yusuf Islam! I'm going to abide by these words of advice for the next few years. Hopefully I can make them last a really long time. I don't particularly want to grow up

why not have a robot wedding?

I'm not sure why anyone thought this was a good idea ever, or why it was a most read article on BBC news (pretty sad actually), but I guess I was interested enough to post it here. As much as I love robots, I have to say this is a bit out of the ordinary.

Japan has hosted the world's first wedding to be conducted by a robot.... During the ceremony, I-Fairy - which has flashing eyes and plastic pigtails - instructed the groom to lift the bride's veil for the kiss.

(via BBC)


Tokyo couple married by robot in rooftop wedding



On a totally different note, I highly recommend going to see the Red Bulls soccer team play in Harrison, NJ. The stadium is awesome, the team is ok, and it's an overall great time. It is the best thing to happen to soccer in the US in a long time. I think it will end up being better than the David Beckham move which didn't seem to turn out too well with injuries and such. The stadium is in the midst of one of the US' soccer hotbeds so it will get people out to the games and excited about soccer. Also, the world cup is coming up - another chance for people to see good soccer in the US. Hopefully it catches on eventually. Hopefully.

Red Bull Stadium (looks like a spaceship)

"since the war everything was synthetic. they said after the war we were going to have plastic houses and helicopters, but I never saw any, and I wondered if they had them in New York. that was where they had everything."

- john kennedy toole from the neon bible


NYC is great. I've been trying to read this book since winter break and have finally almost finished it. Schoolwork really takes away from my real reading that I want to do. I'm currently in the middle of three different books and have no idea how I got to this point - I need to start just finishing one and then making it to the next one.

this book isn't as great as A Confederacy of Dunces, but I'm still enjoying it (and I'm pretty biased towards Confederacy considering it is actually one of my favorite books). Neon Bible is a great description of small town, central-US life for a young teen. Toole wrote it at 16 years old and for that reason alone, its pretty impressive. I could barely write a 5 paragraph essay at 16 and he wrote a book.

end of the semester

things have been busssy this semester. my life has been a bit all over the place and fairly sloppy, but in the end, things went welllll. this is good news.one more final on monday and then I'm finished with junior year. crazzzy stuff. its beena semester full of work. between forbes, extra forbes work, fuv, actual college work, and the scholarship, I did a lot. It was great.


Also, I love the talking heads. "this must be the place" is great


"this must be the place" mp3

henry wadsworth longfellow through john kennedy toole

Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme of the poet
The beauty of thy voice.
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares, that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.

got a girl with a banjo

found this about a year ago and refound it again tonight. one of the greatest rap videos ive ever seen. all recorded and filmed in one take. nyle is dirrrrty! I wish I knew more about him

prohibcrasitinition

F. Scott Fitzgerald on the jazz age - “what was fashionable and what was fun."

99 out of 100 liquor samples tested by NYC labs contained poison or fusel oil


poison sucks,



(unrelated great version of a great song)


its a bad sign when I made a blog and started posting instead of writing essays when I have work all day tomorrow. Not the best decision I've ever made, but I'm fairly satisfied. Now I just need to think of actual things to write on here

first post

I have to begin my blog with the most important influence upon my life: