A Grand Don't Come For Free

Listened to The Streets' album A Grand Don't Come For Free for the first time all the way through...good shit that. Simple story but still interesting and enough to make the songs (which are not as catchy as Everything is Borrowed songs) really engaging. Also Fit But Don't You Know It rocks hardcore right in the middle and keeps things together for me.
In unrelated business, my things seem to have been breaking randomly lately...my laptop motherboard crapped out and my bike's back tire is kinda fucked...whatever the giant desktop from days of yore and the bus are taking up the slack for now.

Best show ever?

Okay Day 1 Treasure Island did its thing...Mstrkraft was better than expected and probably had the best show...especially considering the Queen ending...super epic sing along. MGMT was alright but playing their album front to back was an unwise call and showed they had a lot of room to grow in their stage presence/ performance.
Day 2 came out and kicked some serious amounts of ass. Grizzly Bear was relatively boring despite excellent sound quality (just not that exciting). Beirut was charming and played some fun and interesting music. The Walkmen rocked out in normal very loud style and played the Rat so they were pretty good. The Decemberists played a set that was easily a headliner, they had a full animated story going on behind the show and were dead on the whole time. I could have easily been happy with their performance as a headliner as they abandoned their usual folksy, soft sound for a little more energy. I didn't head over to Yo la Tengo but apparently they played Stockholm Syndrome so plus there. But The Flaming Lips were uncomparable...they sucked the whole audience in for the whole show, played pretty much only songs the whole crowd knew and shot off more confetti per capita than any other band. From the moment they were birthed from a psycodelic vagina to the last refrain of Do You Realize I didn't feel my exhausted feet and was happy to be in the crowd generally half dancing (not enough room...sardine like packing). Wayne is my hero...Yoshimi battled robots... and there were tangerines for all. So awesome...so awesome

Should learn piano...become Ben Folds

Listening to Ben Folds Five is awesome and what instrument do they not have...guitar...so its time to learn piano or awesome fuzz style bass. Rock n' Roll foos. Also I had forgotten how cool Built to Spill's song Conventional Wisdom is...pretty damn awesome. That is all

The Yips?

I think I have paper writing style case of the yips. I can't freaking write anymore for some reason...everything comes out mushy and unoriginal. Do I need to say a prayer to the English gods, or was I never in possession of a decent voice/writing style and I'm just noticing it now...

NAWW that can't be right I fucking brilliant...right...yeah right

In the wise words of Barney Stinson: Bump the barnacle

Why the Hell

Okay so I let this sit for a while and reading it again its kinda self-aggrandizing crap...that said I haven't posted crap in a while so yeah take that internet

I don't get it at all. Why does human nature dictate that within twenty seconds of walking I can hear four different conversations of people just ripping on a non-present party? I'm all for the friendly interchange of insults...I find it humorous and anyone who has had above a twenty minute conversation with me knows its one of my favorite ways of deflecting my own social awkwardness (a now overused term but I'll get to that later). It sucks that I attend what is supposed to be an institution of higher learning, a place where people are supposed to give a shit about the topics they choose, yet all I hear is the same thing day in and day out. How can people fall asleep in history classes that actually have reasonable meaning yet be so avid about the social habits of the people around them?

It dawned on me today and I had a twenty minute internal rant about the benefits of discussing important topics. This ran into a dead end of if people don't actually like their chosen college course (doing it for the money) then they won't really be enthusiastic. But my internal discourse eventually settled to why people rely on talking about one another is it to fill space or out of paranoia for their own social alliances. Here is where the awkwardness sets in...people have become too concerned with the uncomfortable nature of a great deal of human interaction. Although some people are more or less affected by this...it seems to be a constant theme; talking to others can and will be awkward on occasion and this does not provide an excuse to turn discourse to beating on other people's flaws. The other reasoning I can figure out is that people want friends and in order to secure and protect these friendships they feel the need to run down "competitors" to maintain their position atop the flagpole. I like the first explanation better because it seems more positive a reflection of people as a whole which I prefer.

On this note I make the random jump to the self reflective period of this long rant....be warned. My nature is to accept and take people at the versions of themselves they portray to the world, I buy into most people being at heart moral and honest actors. This makes critical analysis of their behavior difficult. Essentially, I make the mistake of traditional economics in assuming that people act rationally and to a degree of morality and that they have little motivation for showing a personality they do not have. Because of this I am surprised on the rare occasion that I receive a trail of gossip and find that people are in fact not all sunshine and roses. This all probably stems from the fact that I have an incredibly minuscule level of confidence in my own social competency and "goodness" so I must over admire the more substantial abilities of others and apply this to a limited world view. But why can't people let me be happy in ignorance...why must we all know that someone made a mistake with a past or present relationship (romantic... personal whatever) which has nothing to do with our own interactions with that person? Wouldn't we all like each other better and be more able to interact if we only knew someone based on our set of interactions with them, instead of the aggregate of many, many people's relationships which tend to accumulate mistakes and flaws that once pointed out are hundreds in number and unavoidably annoying.

It may seem irrelevant but I'm tired of knowing that no matter what happens more people will care about Steve's latest drunken escapade than about a state budget or biology. Damnit STEVE.
Don't actually watch that by the way...

*Note: Dude I totally sound like this comic...awesome I am a non-original sheeple...I also added all those hyperlinks to make this seem to have slightly higher production value...your welcome

Cool scultpture

Okay this thing is really awesome looking, and it cries constantly...what else do you want. Apparently it isn't news when Russia gives the U.S. a bronze and titanium piece of awesome. And we put this thing in New Jersey...come on now.

Well if you got big tits...Reflections on drunk ramblings

I don't like these people...they talk loud enough that I can't concentrate worth a damn, but at least they are kinda funny...
Conversation topics for the night:
1. Why guys only like girls who are blonde and stupid...unless they have large breasts or as I quote "Well if you got big tits... then even a but-her-face can get some"
2. There are no attractive smart guys in Berkeley
3. "I'm sooooooo horny" (I'm pretty sure at least 4 guys and girls said this)
4. How all people are all really superficial and you never "See a fatty and a hot person together", people "get what they can"
5. How they should not get crazy drunk tonight so they can "save up" for tomorrow
6. How they are stoned in every class they go to and want to announce "Hey class I'm STONED" everyday, imagine the stoned being with that stereotypical drunken loud slur thing...hopefully you know what I'm talking about.
7. And the classic conversation of "Am I more drunk or stoned right now" which branches nicely in "Are you more drunk or stoned right now."
8. My personal favorite how girls are "actually just as horny as guys" but that drinking really "seals the deal" as one bro put it "Before the drink they are all meh...meh...maybe. After they are all hell yeah, lets do this thing."

I get angry at how reductive and superficial these people are but then become giddy and glad that I'm not one of these people (I hope, someone hit me in the dome with a wrench if I am...like inflict brain damage).

Sorry to Tristan for elongating so but it was how I think they would have spelled it so I kept to my source material.

Bandwagon that deserves some love

I love mash-ups...for like a minute and a half...but in this case I can listen to whole songs...what this means for all the kiddies...download the black and blue album or at least 99 luft problems cause it is awesome beyond belief. You will probably thank me later...unless you don't like Weezer...or Jay Z...then you are totally screwed on this one.

Two Things that Bother Me

#1. An upper division history class on U.S. Crime and Punishment history in which people are honestly surprised that Reconstruction actually occurred. I could understand in like a survey course on U.S. history...maybe your high school didn't have a half way decent history department, not a problem but it bothers me when people who are supposed to be refining their views of history are still flabbergasted that there was a period following the civil war where social change was incredibly prevalent in the South...seriously we wasted 30 minutes of class with people who though that history jumped from civil war to redemption overnight.
#2. This facebook conversation...I realize that I only half know the people involved and that I shouldn't have paid attention to it or even really confirmed their friend requests but really just read this.
X: is frusterated, sad, relaxed, thankful, exhausted, bored, excited, crying...
Y: I always knew girls could multi-task better than guys. ;)
Z :That's because most boys have the emotional range of a teaspoon. Also, wow, excuse my woman rage.
Y: But a teaspoon is entirely relative. A teaspoon for an ant is different than a teaspoon for a giant...
Z: I'm thinking teaspoon versus completely obnoxious and excessive ocean. Sometimes I wish for a teaspoon though.
And this goes on and on basically covering the ground that men are especially short-sited emotionless and perfectly well off for it. Oh yes let us try and reinforce gender norms that are completely repressive and shortsighted, thank you young high school friend people that I barely know. I find this line of reasoning degrading and although I shouldn't take it seriously it irked the crap out of me so I put it here.
If you made it all the way through that...congrats...if not I really don't mind...although you probably wouldn't read this...so then felt guilty and tried again, found your way down here and are now pissed you didn't have to....my bad.

Bandwagon of the Week: Slumdog Millionaire

Okay, I am attempting to watch Slumdog Millionaire...and was struck right away by how good both the cinematography is and how awesome MIA sounds in this chase scene thingy. But so far, good movie definitely worth the time to find in some way, shape, or form. From what I can tell there is definitely a reason why this thing has picked up such significant momentum and won shit tons of Oscars.

People in the Front Row

Freaking Alisa getting The Nosebleed Section stuck in my head...uncool. Went to San Diego for the weekend, made some sugar cookies, decorated them, drank bad champagne with orange juice and watched Pineapple Express..basically an awesome Valentines day. Unfortunately now I am completely screwed for class this week...awesometown. Also get a Firefox add-on called Media Converter so you can steal music from youtube and just take their videos into Itunes... it is awesome

I just gained so much respect for julian casablancas

Ok seriously this is sooo awesome...the music was way powerful...this was a cautionary tale...priceless. I might actually have to give the Strokes a serious second chance after hearing this.

Video Killed the Radio Star...ROCKS!?!

I honestly forgot how awesome the Ben Folds Five version of this song is. Also, Dimitri Martin is doing his own show...will it suck Heroes style....will it be awesome Flight of the Conchords style...or just be plain mediocre most everything else style. Writing a paper listening to Ben Folds Five makes me feel preeettyy damn cool, like nerd-rock cool. Song count going up as I finally figured out what fingers to use on Is This It (Strokes song) so now I have a working version of the lead guitar goin' yeahhhhhh it turns out Mr. Mastodon Farm is gonna be the hardest to do, not because its hard to play but somehow when I play it, it sounds like poop on a stick...yeah rock on all 6 of you that may or may not read this...you are my personal heroes...really the shining light in my world. I want a touch pad so I could maybe handwrite this kind of stuff...I think it would be a nice personal touch if I could doodle randomly on the actually post.

Gigantic Micheal Phelps

So I can kinda play the solo from Gigantic now...woo...so now I can essentially play the whole song one part at a time. Now its back to work on songs that I can't just cheat my way through really easily :(
Watched a shit ton of Infomania today since I hadn't watched any since the 2008 Retrospectacular or whatever that was and discovered that the world is actually a hilarious place.
Finally, screw the 3 month ban for Micheal Phelps, not that this isn't a picked over topic already but seriously, not a front page big deal that should result in harsh penalties.

I have short fingers

Okay I totally learned how to play Gigantic by the Pixies in like 15 minutes but then I started trying to learn This is It by the Strokes and have been hitting my head against a wall of my own short and uncoordinated fingers for basically an hour...with breaks to get skeletal versions of Why Bother (Weezer) and Mr. Mastodon Farm (Cake) learned. Seriously, screw having small fingers...I can't even replace my bar chords with thumb based power chords cause my thumb is 1. too short and 2. can't bend independently of my index finger. Everyone I know finds in hilarious that I can't do this simple operation....hurumph and humbug.

Also, Heroes has gone to being absolute junk now...its been trying my patience for a while and now its firmly and seriously throwing itself off a cliff...at least Lost has been alright and Chuck is still simple and awesome so yeah that kinda makes up for it.

I <3 pizza rolls and guitars

Super Bowl today, yeah for Cardinals, I hope they can at least make it respectable. Actually wrote a song Friday/yesterday/today with Eli that doesn't sound all that bad...just need some lyrics that work better than the random ones I've been using for timing and whatnot. Wish I could actually play guitar instead of cheating hardcore with bar chords...but they are just so much easier. Also to conclude, pizza rolls are tasty if dangerous for your mouth.

Finished PAA2

Whoops almost forgot to mention I finished the second Penny Arcade game...I give it an 8...you can decide on what scale.

No D & D to Feed my Nerd Heart

So hellza skipping class to go home earlier tomorrow...good thing Im just missing my hour of story time on Fridays...woot for greek myth. Yeah lamely enough my girlfriend/ ride sharer (there has got to be a better way of stating that) is not nearly nerdy enough to play D & D with our friends in Davis :( but I will live.

Also, changing color of background...black was bumming me out. I thought the text would be bright enough to not make me look like an emo douche (is that even how that is spelled?) bag but I was wrong...ohh so wrong.

New episode of Lost managed to be really mediocre until they reveal a really sweet piece of connective tissue that made the whole thing worthwhile. Lost will be Lost and that means attempting to confuse its viewers as much as possible in order to force them to adopt a near cultish faith in J.J. Abrams. Granted the man has some good shows that are well written/produced but he also wrote Mission Impossible 3 and Armeggedon, movies of such great quality! So basically I am torn between a show I like and want to have faith in and chilling memories of Stephen Tyler crooning as Bruce Willis dies...thats right the guy from Die Hard... I wept...

Ajax and potatoes

Reading Greek myths is quite interesting...especially Trojan War stuff as it finally proves once and for all that "Troy" was a failure of a movie. Not only was the whole plot line wrong but the characters are woefully simplified and lame.

Despite proving the lack of talent in Orlando Bloom, the movie also failed to develop my new favorite character Ajax...who actually is a badass. So yeah screw that movie, not that this is really an epiphany for many people.

Moving on...

Really didn't do anything today, which was alright...read a bit of Chinese history...make a meal out of potatoes, cheese and onions (the potato mess as I call it) and probably stay up ridiculously late...good times. It seems I have decided to stop allowing myself to submit to Berkeley's academic policy and just be a vaguely lazy. Soon I will just be one of those crazy hippy kids on telegraph playing bad guitar for weed money...ahhh the heights that I can reach.

Its black!!

Yes...blogging eh...at least now I can post comments on other peoples' stuff without feeling like a complete creeper. I have now realized that, as a first post, this is bound to suck anyway so I'm pretty much going to end up in stream of consciousness . I tried to write a song the other day... oddly enough it ended up being a song about a transvestite named Chip who tried to pick up the speaker in a bar. What does this mean for my psyche...only time will tell I guess.