Its been a long time. I shouldn't have left you, without a dope beat to step to. step to. step to step to step to.
I could try to go back and recap what's been going on for the past several months in my life, but anybody who reads this probably is aware that I got married and am real happy and all that. Doing those types of things takes a lot of time out of one's schedule. I worked a lot on the train this summer and am now in Utah searching for a job for the year while I wait to hear back from some dental schools. Every day I apply to about 6 jobs and have got some interest but am still looking for the best fit. I will keep you updated on how the search is going. Right now we are staying at my sister and brother-in-law's place while we are job hunting. It is a transitory feeling, but hopefully it will all be equalized soon.
This summer I read: Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog, Metamorphasis by Franz Kafka, Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon, Superfreakanomics by Dubner and Levitt, The Quiet American by Grahm Greene, a bunch of graphic novels, and have started David Copperfield. So a good summer for reading.
I particularly enjoyed the Herzog book. It is a collection of journals he kept while he was filming Fitzcarraldo. They are for the most part a bunch of feverish rants about the jungle and his determination to get the boat over the hill. He approaches a mental breakdown several times, and when he finally succeeds he is indifferent about the success. I liked this resolution, it was not what I would have predicted. I was all set up for some last pages about the relief he felt that the hard parts were over and he had accomplished what he set out to do, but instead, he plunges into a sort of disgust...there is no sense of accomplishment, because all the work that went into this act is in his eyes insignificant. Through the entire narrative, he is venomous about how banal the jungle is. He is constantly writing about the indifference of rivers, how people die and the jungle just goes on steaming. There are some great images.
One of the images that I can't get out of my head, (much to the disdain of my wife, who can't stand when I tell people about it) has to do with what we have dubbed "the square pig". He writes,
"A pig in Palermo had fallen into a sewer shaft: it lived down there for two years, and continued to grow, surviving on the garbage that people threw down the shaft, and when they hauled the pig out, after it had completely blocked the drain, it was almost white, enormously fat, and had taken on the form of the shaft. It had turned into a kind of monumental, whitish grub, rectangular, cubic, and wobbly, an immense hunk of fat, which could move only its mouth to eat, while its legs had shrunk and retracted into the body fat"
This is a great metaphor...for what, I don't know...but I guess even creatures take the shape of their containers.
The drive down to Utah from Alaska was beautiful. There were lots of animals in northern British Columbia, including deer, moose, buffalo, and caribou. Natalie did not so much enjoy the drive itself. At one point she told me she would rather walk all the way then drive all the way. When I pushed her on this, she did not back down, which made it even more funny. She would have made a great pioneer. A couple times she suggested we just stop where we were and live there. Even I don't want to live that remote.
Over the summer, a few friends and I started a little project we are calling the armorie record club. It's a fairly common and simple concept. Basically, a bunch of us choose an album for the month, and then each of us do one or two songs from it and post them for people to download. So far, we have completed cover albums of David Bowie's Hunky Dory, The White Stripe's White Blood Cells, and Def Leppard's Hysteria. Currently we are working on the next selection, Neutral Milk Hotel's In an Aeroplane over the Sea. If you want to check out the tracks and download them for your Ipod, go to www.soundcloud.com/armorierecordclub/sets The tracks I have done are: Quicksand, Bombers, I can Tell, The Union Forever, Jolene, Gent, Animal, Love and Affection, Gods of War, and Communist Daughter. Enjoy, and let me know if you have a suggestion of a great album to cover and I will consider putting it in our monthly drawing.
I also have some other musical projects that should soon see the light of day, particularly some collaborations with Greg Santanna under the name of Pop Gun War.
If you want to hear the Armorie album we put together, here is the link to that.
http://soundcloud.com/user1991062/sets/pew-pew
That's my music news as of right now.
I saw The Social Network the other night, and it was great. Very dark and moody but great story telling and dialogue, and a pretty great illustration at the challenges of trying to fit in by changing the rules altogether. I would recommend it to anyone. J.T. isn't even dreamy in it.
I will be back with more later, including my escapades into Tai-Bo recently. it sucks.
Calvin
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Friday, December 4, 2009
National Anthem Fail, Beyond the Mat, George Jones, Podcast Animations
Yep.
Might go Roller skating tonight. Haven't done that since I was like 8 years old or something. I remember Wasilla used to have a roller rink and they would have limbo contests. I was never really all that good though.
This had me laughing so hard I was almost crying the other night. I can hardly watch it without dying.
good thing the stars were still there.
I am finishing up with this semester's classes. Just two exams to go. Things are panning out fairly well. I just turned in four papers this week, so I'm kind of sick of writing. Excited for the break, I am headed to Las Vegas and Alaska during the four weeks, should be fun.
This is what real country music sounds like. I miss it.
Last night for documentary night we watched one called Beyond the Mat, which was about professional wrestling. It was really good and I would reccommend it. There were some very sad parts too, as it showed how showbusiness ruins the families that are involved and how wrestling tears apart people's bodies as they get older. Jake the Snake had a really sad story and it was depressing to watch him try and reconcile things with his daughter. There are definitely some funny/shocking moments too, specifically when Vince MacMahon, president of the WWF, recruits a new wrestler and excitedly gives him the name "Puke". He calls home excited to tell his Mom that worldwide he will be known as "Puke" and will end the matches by puking on his opponents. Mom must be proud.
I finished my book on Little Richard. It was pretty fascinating. There were a couple chapters in that book that were tough to get through because he is pretty raw in his descriptions, but it didn't feel too gratuitous. Most of the book is direct interviews with Richard and those close to him. I thought one of the most interesting parts of the book was reading how white artists would rerecord black artist's hits and get rich off of them while the black artists would write these fantastic songs and have trouble getting any money from them. Richard claims he never has gotten royalties for Tutti Frutti, Slippin and a Slidin, Good Golly Miss Molly, Lucille, Knockin, or The girl can't help it. Kind of sad. Currently Richard is a preacher but has found peace with his position as a rock and roll icon. Instead of saying it is Satan's music he has decided that there is good rock and roll and bad rock and roll. There still is this weird conflict in his mind because he associates the music with the lifestyle, drugs, money, and sex. It's weird how bizarre some of America's celebrities are.
I am excited about the new HBO show based on the Ricky Gervais podcasts. Karl Looks awesome.
Later
Calvin
Might go Roller skating tonight. Haven't done that since I was like 8 years old or something. I remember Wasilla used to have a roller rink and they would have limbo contests. I was never really all that good though.
This had me laughing so hard I was almost crying the other night. I can hardly watch it without dying.
good thing the stars were still there.
I am finishing up with this semester's classes. Just two exams to go. Things are panning out fairly well. I just turned in four papers this week, so I'm kind of sick of writing. Excited for the break, I am headed to Las Vegas and Alaska during the four weeks, should be fun.
This is what real country music sounds like. I miss it.
Last night for documentary night we watched one called Beyond the Mat, which was about professional wrestling. It was really good and I would reccommend it. There were some very sad parts too, as it showed how showbusiness ruins the families that are involved and how wrestling tears apart people's bodies as they get older. Jake the Snake had a really sad story and it was depressing to watch him try and reconcile things with his daughter. There are definitely some funny/shocking moments too, specifically when Vince MacMahon, president of the WWF, recruits a new wrestler and excitedly gives him the name "Puke". He calls home excited to tell his Mom that worldwide he will be known as "Puke" and will end the matches by puking on his opponents. Mom must be proud.
I finished my book on Little Richard. It was pretty fascinating. There were a couple chapters in that book that were tough to get through because he is pretty raw in his descriptions, but it didn't feel too gratuitous. Most of the book is direct interviews with Richard and those close to him. I thought one of the most interesting parts of the book was reading how white artists would rerecord black artist's hits and get rich off of them while the black artists would write these fantastic songs and have trouble getting any money from them. Richard claims he never has gotten royalties for Tutti Frutti, Slippin and a Slidin, Good Golly Miss Molly, Lucille, Knockin, or The girl can't help it. Kind of sad. Currently Richard is a preacher but has found peace with his position as a rock and roll icon. Instead of saying it is Satan's music he has decided that there is good rock and roll and bad rock and roll. There still is this weird conflict in his mind because he associates the music with the lifestyle, drugs, money, and sex. It's weird how bizarre some of America's celebrities are.
I am excited about the new HBO show based on the Ricky Gervais podcasts. Karl Looks awesome.
Later
Calvin
Friday, November 27, 2009
too lazy to title.
Man oh man-Good week. I have been weirdly interested in cooking lately, (although I'm terrible at it) and I am trying to do it a bit more. Fortunately Natalie can cook well, and we are doing it twice a week. It's a welcome change from ramen noodles. I was getting desparate for that change. In fact, no joke, a few weeks ago I mixed together ramen and macaroni and cheese, just so I could taste something different. It was awful. On last Thursday we cooked some really good cajun chicken pasta and Tuesday we made Mexican Crostada. Pretty good stuff. Thanks for the recipes Rita. This week I am choosing the recipe for Wednesday so leave a good suggestion in the comments. Ate anything good lately?
Speaking of good food we went and had Thanksgiving in Cokeville yesterday. There were like 35 people there and it was a huge table and lots of fun. The food of course was incredible too so thanks to those who prepared it. Grandpa told some funny stories afterwards that had us laughing pretty good.
My obsession with little Richard is getting worse. This biography I'm reading is intense. He was a crazy dude-I just read about how as a child he used to have this compulsion to defacate in jars and boxes. He would sometimes wrap up the boxes an give them to people as gifts. Once he did it in his mothers jam jar and then put it back on the shelf like nothing had happened. The town thought he was possesed by the devil. There are some other sad things that happened to him as a boy that are probably too graphic to describe here, but his story is fascinating. He thinks many of his problems have come to him because his one leg is much shorter than the other. Although I don't think it has affected me near as much, I felt I could kind of relate. Walking funny because of my leg did have some sort of an impact on my personality, beleive it or not. It was one of the reasons I got made fun of a bit, and so I had to combat that by making fun of myself. I still have that trait to this day somewhat. Little Richard also kind of invented performance art in rock and roll because he was trying hard to be non-threatening to white people. There was a lot of racism in Georgia and the rest of the U.S., so to get around that he invented the craziest stage act that he could so as to come off as funny. Then everyone else kind of copied his free expression approach. Elvis refers to Richard as the greatest performer who ever lived.
Speaking of great performers, we went and saw the Michael Jackson movie the other night. It was a bit too long, but it was entertaining and kind of sad. Even though at times Mikey was a little over-indulgent in the rehearsals, that show would have been and amazing one. He was all about spectacle. At one point he plans to have a huge bulldozer drive onto stage and stop right before it hits him. Nobody questioned his judgement. It was weird. After watching that I can't stop singing Human Nature.
Ever seen Style Wars? Its a famous documentary about graffiti in New York in the 70's, and its pretty amazing that it even exists. Do yourself a favor and sit down to watch it sometime.
End of the year is coming up, time to start making some lists. And listening to Christmas Music. And figuring out presents for people.
My mom wanted a list of things I might want for X-Mas. Here are a few suggestions.
1. Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog.
2. Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys on Vinyl
3. Glitter and Doom by Tom Waits on Vinyl
4. Non-black Dress Shoes (Size 10 or 10.5 or so)
5. Any books by Steinbeck aside from East of Eden, Mice and Men, and Grapes of Wrath
If I can think of anything later I will post it up.
Calvin
Speaking of good food we went and had Thanksgiving in Cokeville yesterday. There were like 35 people there and it was a huge table and lots of fun. The food of course was incredible too so thanks to those who prepared it. Grandpa told some funny stories afterwards that had us laughing pretty good.
My obsession with little Richard is getting worse. This biography I'm reading is intense. He was a crazy dude-I just read about how as a child he used to have this compulsion to defacate in jars and boxes. He would sometimes wrap up the boxes an give them to people as gifts. Once he did it in his mothers jam jar and then put it back on the shelf like nothing had happened. The town thought he was possesed by the devil. There are some other sad things that happened to him as a boy that are probably too graphic to describe here, but his story is fascinating. He thinks many of his problems have come to him because his one leg is much shorter than the other. Although I don't think it has affected me near as much, I felt I could kind of relate. Walking funny because of my leg did have some sort of an impact on my personality, beleive it or not. It was one of the reasons I got made fun of a bit, and so I had to combat that by making fun of myself. I still have that trait to this day somewhat. Little Richard also kind of invented performance art in rock and roll because he was trying hard to be non-threatening to white people. There was a lot of racism in Georgia and the rest of the U.S., so to get around that he invented the craziest stage act that he could so as to come off as funny. Then everyone else kind of copied his free expression approach. Elvis refers to Richard as the greatest performer who ever lived.
Speaking of great performers, we went and saw the Michael Jackson movie the other night. It was a bit too long, but it was entertaining and kind of sad. Even though at times Mikey was a little over-indulgent in the rehearsals, that show would have been and amazing one. He was all about spectacle. At one point he plans to have a huge bulldozer drive onto stage and stop right before it hits him. Nobody questioned his judgement. It was weird. After watching that I can't stop singing Human Nature.
Ever seen Style Wars? Its a famous documentary about graffiti in New York in the 70's, and its pretty amazing that it even exists. Do yourself a favor and sit down to watch it sometime.
End of the year is coming up, time to start making some lists. And listening to Christmas Music. And figuring out presents for people.
My mom wanted a list of things I might want for X-Mas. Here are a few suggestions.
1. Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog.
2. Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys on Vinyl
3. Glitter and Doom by Tom Waits on Vinyl
4. Non-black Dress Shoes (Size 10 or 10.5 or so)
5. Any books by Steinbeck aside from East of Eden, Mice and Men, and Grapes of Wrath
If I can think of anything later I will post it up.
Calvin
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Gonzo, L.Welk, Raphanz.
Hi.
Had a busy week but things are calming down now. I am thankful I haven't had to work alot at Village Inn so far. Tonight I do though, 6 to close.
We watched this documentary called Gonzo last night about Hunter S. Thompson. Meh. It was kind of long and boring. There were a few interesting moments though. Maybe I just can't relate because I didn't live his during most of his history, so the outrages he felt don't impact me as deeply. I dunno, probably.
I realized recently how fresh Lawrence Welk can be. Yes I said it. Just watch this.
When my grandparents used to watch that show I never remember anything that cool being on. Usually some boring singer with his band. It was almost like a bad variety show. But this Neil LeVang thing is otherworldly. I love the organ player the most. Looks like he's out of a Hitchcock flim or something. Life is undescribable.
I was reading this earlier today and thought it was pretty funny. Especially if you follow the links. I know I do weird things with my hands but hope they are not this repetitive.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2009/11/11/funny-things-rappers-do-with-their-hands.aspx
I noticed that Kanye always is grabbing his head in mock unbelief too!!
I add one more handy rapper for consideration:
The first rapper there is Cadence Weapon from Edmonton. He's good.
Right, welp. seeya.
Calvin
Had a busy week but things are calming down now. I am thankful I haven't had to work alot at Village Inn so far. Tonight I do though, 6 to close.
We watched this documentary called Gonzo last night about Hunter S. Thompson. Meh. It was kind of long and boring. There were a few interesting moments though. Maybe I just can't relate because I didn't live his during most of his history, so the outrages he felt don't impact me as deeply. I dunno, probably.
I realized recently how fresh Lawrence Welk can be. Yes I said it. Just watch this.
When my grandparents used to watch that show I never remember anything that cool being on. Usually some boring singer with his band. It was almost like a bad variety show. But this Neil LeVang thing is otherworldly. I love the organ player the most. Looks like he's out of a Hitchcock flim or something. Life is undescribable.
I was reading this earlier today and thought it was pretty funny. Especially if you follow the links. I know I do weird things with my hands but hope they are not this repetitive.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2009/11/11/funny-things-rappers-do-with-their-hands.aspx
I noticed that Kanye always is grabbing his head in mock unbelief too!!
I add one more handy rapper for consideration:
The first rapper there is Cadence Weapon from Edmonton. He's good.
Right, welp. seeya.
Calvin
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Christylez, God Warrior, Lambert
I went to a crazy Hip-Hop writing workshop last night with Natalie. We were the only ones signed up so I was a little worried. The name of the guy teaching the class was "Christyles Bacon" and I thought it would be an interesting experience to see what he could possibly say about writing a rap song. Luckily there were more people there than had signed up originally, about 25 in all. The teacher turned out to be pretty cool. I'm not sure I learned much about songwriting that I hadn't already considered, but it was a strange experience, especially to occur at USU. He made us write a song about Aggie Ice Cream and perform it while he beatboxed and a piano player jammed. We wrote a song about getting obese from eating too much of it. It was a major hit.
So many people liked the last wife-swap clip that I figured you ought to see more of the insane people they find for this show. This lady especially has been popular. The clip begins with her getting home after her stint as the mother of another family. You'll get the picture. Shes a God-Warrior.
This lady is the dark-sided one, if anything. I know this is not as flattering as King Curtis is, but theres alot of freaks out there.
I read this book by Elna Baker called "At the New York Regional Singles Halloween Dance". I got it for Nat, but read it in a few hours before I gave it to her. Its an interesting take on trying to be Mormon but also trying to live in the world without being considered too weird. Amongst many other things. Reccommend. Its funny.
Did anyone else see this?
That girl is a killer!!
More Later.
Calvin
So many people liked the last wife-swap clip that I figured you ought to see more of the insane people they find for this show. This lady especially has been popular. The clip begins with her getting home after her stint as the mother of another family. You'll get the picture. Shes a God-Warrior.
This lady is the dark-sided one, if anything. I know this is not as flattering as King Curtis is, but theres alot of freaks out there.
I read this book by Elna Baker called "At the New York Regional Singles Halloween Dance". I got it for Nat, but read it in a few hours before I gave it to her. Its an interesting take on trying to be Mormon but also trying to live in the world without being considered too weird. Amongst many other things. Reccommend. Its funny.
Did anyone else see this?
That girl is a killer!!
More Later.
Calvin
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Dylan's Christmas, Herb Alpert, Disney Fail.
I have to work at 9:00 tonight. It seems like I've been working alot lately, but that's a good thing, I can use the cash. I am just sick of getting syrup all over myself. I really hate syrup....really anthing that sticky shouldn't be consumed. Speaking of, I have never liked pancakes very much. Way too bready. Seriously, I choked them down as a kid when my mom would make them, but pancakes are straight gross. They are really popular at the restaurant, but I will never understand it.
I was listening to Bob Dylan's Christmas album this last week. I don't care what people say about, its funny. I think the fact that he made it is like a slap in the face of his hardcore 60's fan, and after reading Chronicles I think he knew that. In fact, I bet that making people angry or annoyed was part of the objective. I appreciate people who play jokes for only their own benefit. It has to be important to have your own peculiar sense of humor and do things that cater to it. Dylan definitely does this. Just watching some of those documentaries makes you appreciate his cynicism and how it made him deal with fame.
This weekend I played some music with my friend Russ and recorded some stuff. Maybe we will up it soon to the myspace. He just bought a Nord 3, a Dr. Sample, a Kaoss pad, and Electribe Synth. I think I fell in love with the Nord and Sample machine. It makes sampling so easy. In fact, we spent a while tearing apart some records I got. The best by far to work with was one by Isaac Hayes called Three Tough Guys. Its a soundtrack from some blaxploitation film he did and its great.
I also found some Herb Alpert, Bach, and a few records featuring the organ. We have alot to sift through.
Do you want to see something bizarre?
I don't see how this could happen...
Lates.
Calvin
I was listening to Bob Dylan's Christmas album this last week. I don't care what people say about, its funny. I think the fact that he made it is like a slap in the face of his hardcore 60's fan, and after reading Chronicles I think he knew that. In fact, I bet that making people angry or annoyed was part of the objective. I appreciate people who play jokes for only their own benefit. It has to be important to have your own peculiar sense of humor and do things that cater to it. Dylan definitely does this. Just watching some of those documentaries makes you appreciate his cynicism and how it made him deal with fame.
This weekend I played some music with my friend Russ and recorded some stuff. Maybe we will up it soon to the myspace. He just bought a Nord 3, a Dr. Sample, a Kaoss pad, and Electribe Synth. I think I fell in love with the Nord and Sample machine. It makes sampling so easy. In fact, we spent a while tearing apart some records I got. The best by far to work with was one by Isaac Hayes called Three Tough Guys. Its a soundtrack from some blaxploitation film he did and its great.
I also found some Herb Alpert, Bach, and a few records featuring the organ. We have alot to sift through.
Do you want to see something bizarre?
I don't see how this could happen...
Lates.
Calvin
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Beyonce, King Curtis, Larper
My peoplez....
Its very possible I may become server of the month at Village Inn. Not that anybody there cares about the title, but its going to be awesome to push other servers out of the way and say, "excuse...server of the month coming through," and that jazz. I am really the worst server there, so its really going to irk some peeps that I have some sort of validation claiming I'm the best. Maybe this is the best thing thats ever happened to me?
This baby was born to get down. It seems that age is not a precursor for loving Beyonce. Nobody can resist dancing to this song.
I ordered that Little Richard Bio. I think it will be an interesting read. Dude invented much of Rock and Roll and probably took more risks than any performer ever. You can't dress like that and scream in front of a bunch of white people and not think its going to have people calling you the devil. Eventually Richard agreed with them and became a preacher and shunned his output. Then he went back and forth for a while. I like conflicts like that and think everybody has them on some level. I'll let you know what I think of the book.
I don't know if any of you watch Wife Swap on ABC, but its awesome. Just some trash TV that shows you why your family is better than any other family. On the other hand, King Curtis is pretty fresh. This kid is bratty but surprisingly articulate for his age. I like that he thinks Bacon is good for him too. Oh, by the way, the premise of the show is that the two families swap wives for like a week.
you have to love his sticky note too. "I am not lisning to your rules!" That bacon is going to be a problem when he gets older.
My brother went to see the Micheal Jackson Movie tonight. He said it was pretty good. I will probably wait for the rental. I saw Where the Wild Things Are though, it was pretty great. It reminded me more of my childhood than any movie I have seen. I think the negative reviews exist just because its not really a kids movie.
I think this is what I'm going to be for halloween.
They are called Larpers, and they live in a town near you, meeting every Wednesday to fight with sticks and styrofoam out in the woods. Its gonna be a sweet costume.
Natalie comes back to Logan in one week!
Calvin
Its very possible I may become server of the month at Village Inn. Not that anybody there cares about the title, but its going to be awesome to push other servers out of the way and say, "excuse...server of the month coming through," and that jazz. I am really the worst server there, so its really going to irk some peeps that I have some sort of validation claiming I'm the best. Maybe this is the best thing thats ever happened to me?
This baby was born to get down. It seems that age is not a precursor for loving Beyonce. Nobody can resist dancing to this song.
I ordered that Little Richard Bio. I think it will be an interesting read. Dude invented much of Rock and Roll and probably took more risks than any performer ever. You can't dress like that and scream in front of a bunch of white people and not think its going to have people calling you the devil. Eventually Richard agreed with them and became a preacher and shunned his output. Then he went back and forth for a while. I like conflicts like that and think everybody has them on some level. I'll let you know what I think of the book.
I don't know if any of you watch Wife Swap on ABC, but its awesome. Just some trash TV that shows you why your family is better than any other family. On the other hand, King Curtis is pretty fresh. This kid is bratty but surprisingly articulate for his age. I like that he thinks Bacon is good for him too. Oh, by the way, the premise of the show is that the two families swap wives for like a week.
you have to love his sticky note too. "I am not lisning to your rules!" That bacon is going to be a problem when he gets older.
My brother went to see the Micheal Jackson Movie tonight. He said it was pretty good. I will probably wait for the rental. I saw Where the Wild Things Are though, it was pretty great. It reminded me more of my childhood than any movie I have seen. I think the negative reviews exist just because its not really a kids movie.
I think this is what I'm going to be for halloween.
They are called Larpers, and they live in a town near you, meeting every Wednesday to fight with sticks and styrofoam out in the woods. Its gonna be a sweet costume.
Natalie comes back to Logan in one week!
Calvin
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