Yesterday, I saw that as writing on a bathroom stall… I had to snap a picture because the line was so hauntingly familiar. I couldn’t make out what was underneath it. So I took a picture, and I put it on Facebook to remind me later to look for it… Plus, there’s something about intelligent bathroom graffitti that I actually enjoy.
A note on that: intelligent bathroom graffitti? Yes. I’m referring to anything other than the “[Phone Number/E-mail] for a good time,” “[Fraternity/Politician] sucks,” or the classic “I pooped here.” Every so often, like the nuggets that we let slip while we sit on that porcelain throne, we read a nugget of truth on the wall. Of course, this is coming from the guy who saw “The cake is a lie” on a bathroom stall and had no idea it was from Portal.
When I read that on the wall, it made sense, and at the same time, it felt really hauntingly familiar… I tried to rationalize what it could mean. When you think about it, the words “world” and “sky” are operative terms here. It all depends on how you take those two words. If you consider that “world” could be referring to an individual person and not the world as a world itself and that “sky” is a goal you’re reaching for, it’s as if you’re accomplishing something, fulfilling who you are and what you can be.
I think that’s where my mind first went. And then there was the direction that I started thinking religiously. I could only barely make out the “TOS 65″ underneath it, and ironically that was only after I got home. I was trying to think why that looked familiar and why it was something that seemed so simple and maybe just a quote from something else. And if it was a quote, what was it from and what meaning did it have?
When I got home and I did a google search for it, I felt stupid for not knowing it.
The quote was an episode title from Star Trek. That’s why it said “TOS 65:” The Original Series, episode 65. Well, that aside, why would you put a Star Trek episode title on a bathroom wall…
In the episode, the line refers to an ancient proverb that ties into the fact that the individuals are living inside an “arc” in space, of sorts. Just a giant asteroid/ship that’s floating around. And the line refers to being outside of this ship. Because, well, their world is hollow, and to get outside, you’re touching the real sky…
Not really too profound, till I found something else out, actually…
There’s a band from Sweden called Jeniferever that wrote and recorded a song of the same name. While I haven’t been able to find that song in particular, in sampling some of their music on MySpace, I can only imagine how it really would sound, and it makes me yearn to try to get my hands on it even more…
I read those lyrics to be longing, to be understanding… To just be living.
That truth, and knowing the real truth, sometimes just aren’t the same thing and aren’t the best thing to do. And sometimes, we just need to “smile and bear with it” because we know all we need to know. There’s a longing to the truth and how we know things and how we live things, and in that, in everything we don’t know, there’s a good reason for it…
I’m not going to try to wax philosophical anymore on this one because I think this is a phrase that we need to take what it means to us individually to each of us if we can find meaning to it…
But leave it to me to psychoanalyze a piece of wall graffitti that ends up being the title of a Star Trek episode…
This weekend amidst all of the packing and other items for our upcoming end-of-apartment-lease move, I happened across a news article that started to sicken me:
I read through it and I got sickened at the state that I was living in. Physically sick. To see an elected official who wasn’t doing everything they could in a non-partisan way but with a definitive swipe to “cover their own bases.” Its everything that makes people hate politics.
So that’s it. Congrats, Florida. Once again, we’re the electorial dick. We’re the laughing stock of another vote.
Well, at least there’s the general election. That’s the very least that I can be concerned about and voicing my opinion there. And I’ll keep voicing it now, because even though my vote may have not counted, I still took my own damn time and cast my opinion…
Posted on Monday, March 17th, 2008 in Babbling, Music.
It seems that I’ve come across a lot more musicians who are putting up free music for download or for sliding scale… I mean, here, a simple little list of ones I’ve seen so far: Aaron Lee Tasjan - His EP is available on his site for free download. Steven Foxbury - 2 EPs and 1 LP worth of songs for free download. Saul Williams - Another free download of a whole album. Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers - Are offering their new album on a “sliding scale” that can be set to zero. Nine Inch Nails - Sliding scale with free download option for a portion of it. Todd Carey - Another sliding scale option.
And the list goes on and on.
Ever since Radiohead hit it big when they released In Rainbows on the brilliant idea of having the fan pay what they felt was right. It’s not a new concept, seeing Jonah Matranga has been doing a sliding scale within a $4 range (plus/minus $2) on his merch for a while, and others have done similar. You’ve always been able to use sites like Last.FM for free downloads of sample tracks, as well as the iTunes picks of the week, and even musicians who have a few tracks on their site here or there for free download. Free is the way to get people to get their foot through the door. A recent MSNBC.com survey and reader response showed that if folks could get some music for free? They’d buy the album.
And that’s an interesting truth to the matter. I can’t count how many times I’ve grabbed free music in some legal or illegal form and if I really support the artist? I’ll buy a concert ticket, get a shirt, or buy the album. If I don’t like it? I’ll get rid of it after a while. We all do the same. When I was cleaning out our closet yesterday, I came across a ton of CDs that I’ve since digitized and never use. And I looked sickenly at all of the albums and realized how many hundreds of dollars I spent on music and how much of it I could have spent on other things.
But, what about the artist and all of the money? What about things like that? Everyone says the artist sees nothing from the CD sales, or from sites like iTunes and selling their music. Recently, I found out about a site called TheTrackShack.com from a website, BzzAgent.com where I’m a member of. Its a campaign that I’m involved in. With this campaign, I’m promoting how this is a new site for people to sell mp3s through. And its one that allows another percentage with money back to the artist. Add to that other plug-ins like SnoCap.com and plenty of other sites like ZooMoozik.com that give musicians the same capability. I’ve seen folks like Mike Garrigan and Steve Foxbury use both. They’re all options.
And then, there’s the sliding scale model, or something similar to what I’ve done with the way I’ve offered my downloads: Donations.
Whenever I’ve seen the sliding scale things, I have to admit that I’m usually broke and can’t afford them. And whenever I see the donation box like I have with mine, well, I think the same thing. I wish that I could chip someone something for their art, especially when its directly linked like that. It makes me feel like maybe I should do something to show just how much I appreciate what’s being done for me. You know, sort of like the whole “buy the shirt” or “buy the ticket” thing I mentioned earlier. And I thought that usually whenever someone does a free download, well, they don’t match things up when there’s a donation box. Heck, I know that I haven’t.
What’s interesting, though, is now on this side of things? I can tell you that everyone who’s talked about it is right: there is a 50/50 response to having something of that sort on your page. When you offer it up for free download, half of the people do donate just as a thanks and the other half just take it and leave. The truth of the matter is that I don’t care if people donate or not for my music. I’ve said plenty of times that I’m just happy that someone can enjoy it. But I do find it really interesting everytime someone does and it’s an amazing rush that someone cared that much to chip a few bucks my way.
The business model is interesting, that’s for sure. Definitely something new in the whole world of online downloads and music. Its a shot against the record machine, but no matter how many bands, musicians, artists, hack-hobbyists-like-me do it? These shots won’t bring down the label machine. But with time, the impact will be interesting to see…
I didn’t mean for this to be a guilt trip or an egotistical rant of “give me money, damnit,” which I feel it came off as. I just started thinking about this one after downloading the new Roger Clyne and the Peacemaker’s album on its own sliding scale and it made me think about how I run things around here.
And I wouldn’t change a thing… Except to add some more downloads, which I should do soon.
I decided for today’s entry, I’d like to do something a little different for my Sunday and share a video that I’ve recently watched. I might have to do this regularly, but I wanted to start out with this one. I have to credit my friend Rob for coming up with the idea, seeing he regularly shares a J-Pop song on his LiveJournal every Sunday…
Even though I have a small readership and most of the folks have probably already seen this, I thought that it would be fitting that I share it as my first Sunday Share. Hmmm, I like the ring of that…
So this is a film that some friends of mine did for the Campus Movie Fest. Definitely a cool festival, and these guys did a great film. I loved what they did last year with The Importance of Playing Yardball, so its no surprise that this years was just as amazing. Or at least in my opinion. Kevin Allen, Matt Deicke, and the rest of the cast/crew did an amazing job. And I feel bad just naming those two because when I saw the credits, I know like most of the people on it.
I’ll let you be the judge of that as I present: The Caterpillars
I mean come on, who else would say that they have even the slightest crushes on Mika Brzezinski or Alison Stewart? Most likely before now, you’ve never even heard of either. I mean, who really has crushes on news anchors? It’d be like me admitting to a crush on Barbara Walters or Connie Chung or something, right?
The fact of the matter for me is that there’s something about the power that they have and the way they present themselves that draws me in that I’ll admit to a “crush.” Its not even as much of a “crush” as it is an awe with their presence. Well, not awe. I’m not drooling on the couch, but I like their collected personas and how they can present the news in such a fashion that its intelligent, to the point, and yet at the same time, they retain that sense of self that makes me feel that even though they’re an unbiased newswoman, they still have a strong opinion that they would tell you, but they’d have to kill you.
Of course, I’m not imagining either of them as a Bond girl coming out of the water in a bikini or anything, but I’m just sayin’ that looks aren’t everything: its all about the charisma and the way you wield it for me.
I really wasn’t going anywhere with this, but I’ll leave it as your Saturday question: What sort of “off color” celebrity crushes do you have?
No, we’re not talking about Estelle Getty or Angela Lansbury, but something that’s maybe not someone that someone else might find the next “it girl.”
I mentioned the other day that I just started using a program called Newzie for my RSS feeds, and I can’t believe how much that really keeps me “in touch” with the world around me. Seriously. Not that I wasn’t in touch with the same world before…
But a lot of folks have been coming to me with the big stories recently, asking my take on them. The truth is, anyone and everyone could be up to date and in touch with the news: you just need a half an hour a day.
Just a half an hour a day to know what’s going on in the world? Yup. And here’s how you do it.
Wake up in the morning and choose a website you like from the following three: MSNBC.com Reuters.com CNN.com
Spend about 5-10 minutes perusing the headlines and skim the stories that interest you.
Then, on your lunch break, check out another one from the above, and this time spend about 10-15 minutes heading into a bit more depth onto some of the stories that interest you.
Finally at night when you get home, at 6pm choose a network you like and watch just the headlines from the news report. If you choose to, you can watch the whole thing, but the headlines will give you a good wrap up of the daily events.
Is that how I do it? Oh no no no. I probably take a good 3 hours or so out of my day to keep up with my news, and here’s how I do it.
1) When I wake up in the morning, I skim my news feeds on Newzie, which come from MSNBC.com and a few other sources, including Drudge Report.
2) I watch a bit of Morning Joe to get a sense of what’s going on in the world.
3) After 20-30 minutes of that (unless its something good), I turn on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Daily Show with John Stewart, and The Colbert Report, which I’ve DVRed from the night before. I usually watch all in their entirety, and only occasionally skip out on Colbert.
4) When I’m done with all of that, I’ll watch Mika Brzezinski if she’s still on MSNBC or if their morning breaking news is still relevant, and if not, I’ll usually head back to my computer and see what’s popped up on my feeds. And I’ll admit it here: Mika’s probably one of my only two celebrity crushes. The second one being Alison Stewart. I can’t explain it, there’s just something about their newsperson charisma that I like. Sorry Katie Couric.
5) I’m always refreshing my feeds and reading new stories as they interest me, and when I’m away from my computer, I read MSNBC.com on my cell phone (it transfers really well to the cell, trust me).
6) Election night coverage is the ONLY time that I defer from MSNBC, but its only to CNN for their statistics. Their updates are to the minute, and county by county of who won, with popular vote and everything as it comes in. MSNBC is good, but not that good. Though the team of Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann on commentary as the results come in is what I’ll listen to. Come November, I’ll be watching them on TV and watching the numbers on my computer.
7) I also am a constant force in making very bad political jokes and references over the course of the day, and there are friends and folks whom I run into who I will discuss politics and policies that are going on just to see how things are interpreted. Through open and honest discussion, you can learn and know much much more than just by reading it.
8) At night, the wife and I settle down and watch Chelsea Lately. While its more gossip/Hollywood themed, it still has news pieces of interest in it from time to time. And she’s just funny, enough said.
9) Finally, I’m subscribed to a few news podcasts that I’ll listen to if I don’t have the time to watch my shows. You can get great audio feeds of Countdown, Hardball, NBC Nightly News, and Meet The Press, as well as other network’s news programs too.
Finally, to anyone who reads this and says “Oh fuck, another liberal blogger spouting off all of his anti-Fox sources with a pigeon-holed mindset.” I do watch Fox too for things other than Simpsons and Family Guy, but mostly their “news” and their reporting of said “news” makes me laugh. But, I do understand that I have a liberal bias, and I can look around this to a conservative argument. Heck, most of the people I’m going to school with are conservatives or moderates: it’s the nature of being a business major.
But there you have it: thirty minutes a day you can take to be a better informed citizen. Or, you could take my approach, but I’ll understand if you’d rather the condensed version.
After talking to a friend and realizing that from high school to now? The only thing that’s changed is me getting more educated about the Democrats and being Liberal, it should be no surprise that I want to earmark this next article…
Quite possibly an amazingly fair answer to the Michigan and Florida dilemma. I’m open for some discussion on this one because its an amazingly simple plan and it appropriately handles the dilemma and gives both Obama and Clinton delegates, allows the states to be seated, and the 19 delegate net that Clinton gets there would probably be the only point of contention, but even still? Take it and let it be, I say. Thoughts?
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As a side note, I just tested something and I’m pleased to report that I’m really happy with WPhone as a plugin. As I’ve noted before, for the weekends, I draft ahead. This week alone? Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are all ready to go and I can tell you there are some interactive topics, so I’m looking forward to the discussions.
But as to drafting ahead, when the wife and I head on vacation? I can just post right from my phone and all of the formatting is saved and posts as normal as if I was writing from my computer. That is, presuming we’re vacationing within this country and I have cell phone access. I had to do a quick check with a test entry with basic formatting (italics, bold, links: you know, the usual that I use) which was written on my computer and then accessed on my cell phone and posted, and it did just fine. Very nice mobility right there…
I should get back to my homework, the wife and I have some roadtrippin’ to do when we wake up today…
I’ve been sitting here for the better part of thirty minutes working on drafts for this weekend because, in all honesty, I didn’t want to really think about he writing I’d be doing here and now. The fact of the matter is? I feel I must. I feel that because of what I saw yesterday when I originally watched this air, that I had to repost it here and I had to add in my two cents to it.
Last night as I watched live as Keith Olbermann delivered that on Countdown. And as Olbermann unwound it all, I noted a few things that really were key to how I felt. I’d like to share those outtakes here, but I think the whole thing is worth watching.
Senator, their words, and your own, are now slowly killing the chances for any Democrat to become President. In your tepid response to this Ferraro disaster, you may sincerely think you are disenthralling an enchanted media, and righting an unfair advance bestowed on Senator Obama. You may think the matter has closed with Representative Ferraro’s bitter, almost threatening resignation. But in fact, Senator, you are now campaigning, as if Barock [sic] Obama were the Democrat, and you… were the Republican. As Shakespeare wrote, Senator — that way… madness… lies.
This, is the first thing that I noted. To go back to my words from March 6th–two days after the VOTR (Vermont, Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island) primaries–this is no longer a presidential campaign, but a Vice Presidential War of Attrition. And its not one for her to keep her name up there to have to be nominated for him, but for her to overthrow his voters and try to tell them that a vote for her is a vote for him as a Vice President. Even as Jon Stewart showed a clip from CNN that showed all of the far-shot chances for Clinton to be able to overthrow Obama’s vote lead, the magic number is now 64%. That’s the number of contests that she must win with a decisive lead to overtake Obama’s delegate lead. That includes Michigan and Florida being re-enstated.
And when this despicable statement — ugly in its overtones, laughable in its weak grip of facts, and moronic in the historical context — when it floats outward from the Clinton Campaign like a poison cloud, what do the advisors have their candidate do? Do they have Senator Clinton herself compare the remark to Al Campanis talking on Nightline… on Jackie Robinson day… about how blacks lacked the necessities to become baseball executives, while she points out that Barock Obama has not gotten his 1600 delegates as part of some kind of Affirmative Action plan? Do they have Senator Clinton note that her own brief period in elected office, is as irrelevant to the issue of judgment as is Senator Obama’s… …while she points out that FDR had served only six years as a governor and state Senator before he became President? Or that Teddy Roosevelt had four-and-a-half years before the White House? Or that Woodrow Wilson had two years and six weeks? Or Richard Nixon… fourteen… and Calvin Coolidge 25? Do these advisors have Senator Clinton invoke Samantha Power — gone by sunrise after she used the word “monster” — and have Senator Clinton say, “this is how I police my campaign and this is what I stand for,” while she fires former Congresswoman Ferraro from any role the campaign? No. Somebody tells her that simply disagreeing with and rejecting the remarks is sufficient. And she should then call, “regrettable”, words that should make any Democrat retch.
Retch is right. For the last debate for her to call upon Obama to do more than just reject Farrakhan’s support and for him to announce so amicably his rejection and denouncing? Bravo. (Watch from 3:00 through till the end, unless you care about the Clinton tax statements, which is a story for another time.)
And add to that, drawing a comparison to Samantha Power and the “monster”-incident, which I think is key. The biggest thing with that is that the comment that the two points are not equal is important, but I think that its important to note how the two campaigns did take care of these things. Obama was quick to remove her from her position, whereas Clinton left Ferraro in her position for two weeks afterwards. Its the difference in the two campaigns: Obama taking a less political road and facing more on the issues than mud-slinging, and Clinton taking the role of letting everyone say what it is she can’t say.
Another thing to point out with this is a Time magazine article on experience from a week or so back that I’ve cited before in conversation at least with friends. I wish they had part of the graphics online for this one, but they tallied up all of the experience from Washington all the way to W and showed it graphically and there were Presidents with less experience than any three of the candidates and those with more–which Olbermann briefly touched on the above.
This week alone, your so-called strategists have declared that Senator Obama has not yet crossed the “commander-in-chief threshold”… But — he might be your choice to be Vice President, even though a quarter of the previous sixteen Vice Presidents have become commander-in-chief during the greatest kind of crisis this nation can face: a mid-term succession. But you’d only pick him if he crosses that threshold by the time of the convention. But if he does cross that threshold by the time of the convention, he will only have done so sufficiently enough to become Vice President, not President.
In other words, this goes back to my Vice Presidental War of Attrition remark. There have been some great statements back and forth by Clinton and Obama about who would be Vice President, and its noted to that this one is one for you to research on your own and to keep watching for on the news as it replays as a talking point.
This, Senator Clinton, is your campaign, and it is your name. Grab the reins back from whoever has led you to this precipice, before it is too late. Voluntarily or inadvertently, you are still awash in this filth.
I am not and have never been a Clinton supporter, but this statement is true beyond all words. More often than not when they’re talking about policies or talking points from one campaign or another, I feel like I hear Obama’s name more than I hear Clinton’s when they refer directly to the campaigns. I feel like they’re always mentioning Wolfson for Clinton as the person speaking, and not some direct statement from her. I know that they both have staffers that speak for them, but the difference I see are like a glove and a mitten.
A glove and a mitten–an interesting way to look at the two campaigns. Clinton is the glove: with many tentacles of statements and individuals reaching out from her, she’s a lot more effective at letting you move around and do what you’d like, but they’re all attached back to the palm, and in the end work together. They can sound off in 5 different directions, and choose to do so as they like. Obama, however, is the mitten: while it might be awkward to have to move all four fingers together, you have a unified movement and there’s no worries about any one of them doing something wrong that might hurt it or the others. Sure, there’s the thumb that shoots off from it all, but it helps the other fingers and works with it, and not in-as-much alone as a thumb works with a glove.
And to me, Obama/Clinton is like a mitten/glove difference: when we’re young, we wear the mittens and we have that warm comfortable feeling. Its a childish hope and wish. We’re tied to them and we dream for the gloves and maturity. But, when we get those gloves, we lose them or forget where we put one. And we always dream about the days when we wore mittens and had hope…
As a whole, I didn’t like Ferraro’s statements about Obama, and I did feel they were thinly veiled racism. And I really hope that Clinton can do something to repair the damage from these statements, but as a whole? I like the rest of America will have to wait… Racism and sexism are twobig issues in this campaign. It’ll be a talking point that we’ll hear no matter who the Democrat candidate ends up being…
And me? I’ll just look for my other glove while I dream of childhood mittens…
Posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 in Babbling.
This morning as I settled down to read my news feeds and play a quick game or two on Facebook, I started to think about all of the social networking sites and their evolution…
First off, there was Friendster back in what, 2002 or so? I used to have an account there. Heck, I still do. I just don’t know my password to get in, and I think it’s tied to an old e-mail account of mine that I’ve long since given up on. So all in all, its gone to me. I remember that it was very basic and fairly easy to navigate, and didn’t have many graphics to it. And uploading pictures? Hah. You only put your own on it.
Then sites like HotorNot.com and other rating sites added social networking. I’m on that one too, and I don’t care to find my rating or my picture. There were also dating sites that gave you the social networking.
There were blog-ring sites before WordPress and Blogger became “standards.” There was LiveJournal, DeadJournal, Xanga, Open Diary, and tons more that were based on some free to distribute variation of these codes.
And the explosion hit: MySpace, Facebook, BeBo, LinkedIn… There was a social networking site for everything. DogSpace and MyCatSpace and probably dozens of other pet specific ones.
Enough. Seriously, enough.
How many different sites and profiles do we need? I have MySpace, Facebook, and LiveJournal that I read regularly. I also have had Xanga and DeadJournal accounts in the past… Its all too much, too many passwords, too many places to read, and just too much more meaningless drivel to worry about.
In the first place, multiple social networking sites don’t help you have all of your friends in one place like they’d like you to for the sole reason that not everyone is going to be on one site: some people will be on one, some on another. And it reminds me of another issue with the internet…
Instant messengers.
Back when things first started out online, it seems that AOL had the jump on things with their AOL Instant Messenger. I don’t know the exact chronology because UseNet and other BBS chat types were there first, but from there too you also have ICQ, Yahoo IM, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, and a few other protocols that many folks probably have no clue about. And if you don’t like how those programs work? Well, you can always use Pidgin (or GAIM as it used to be called) or Trillian. And with those, you don’t need 20 different messengers, just the 20 different screennames.
The fact of the matter is, we have to have different user names and different passwords to put everything all into one or two different places, and then something different for people on a different one, and we all want what’s comfortable and convenient for us. Heck, I know I didn’t make it any easier by requiring a registration for this site, but that’s just how I wanted it. And I’d imagine that’s why my syndication feed on LJ gets more comments than my actual site.
We try to bring everyone together, but we just can’t all do it in one place at one time. That’s why I have to have three IM screennames for three different messengers and a MySpace and Facebook account: just to keep in touch. I remember when it was much easier than that and you could just pick up a phone and call someone to be connected, and not have to wonder if they’re going to check their MySpace or Facebook first. Or for that matter, what e-mail account is the fastest way to reach them. This is all the product of our “networking.”
I wonder if we really are networked as much as we think we are. We’ve diluted that meaning…
I actually got a pretty funny e-mail yesterday. And its one that before even opening it, I thought it was spam, but the second I opened it, I had to laugh.
From: Monique Lapointe
Date: Monday, March 10, 2008 2:45PM
To: adamjcohen(at)gmail(dot)com
Subject: Radio-Canada
Monsieur Cohen,
J’ai cherché à vous joindre en fin de semaine, mais je n’avais pas vos coordonnées.
L’animateur de l’émission du matin de la radio de Radio-Canada dans la grande région de Montréal, Monsieur René Homier-Roy, aurait aimé qu’on fasse une entrevue avec vous à l’occasion de l’intronisation de votre père au Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Auriez-vous la gentillesse de me dire si cette adresse électronique est valide? Si ça ne vous embête pas, pourriez-vous aussi me donner votre numéro de cellulaire?
Un grand merci.
Bien cordialement,
Monique Lapointe
«C’est bien meilleur le matin»
Radio-Canada
Studio : (514) ***-****
Cellulaire : (514) ***-****
Crazy, huh? And one might wonder why the hell would I be getting an e-mail all in french and the only words that are in english are “Rock an d Roll Hall of Fame.” But the second I read those words, I knew why I got the e-mail: Leonard Cohen was inducted yesterday.
I was expecting an e-mail like this? Sort of, you could say. I used to get them all the time. There’s a reason why I go by “Adam J. Cohen” and not just “Adam Cohen.” If you’ve never gone there before, take this second to head over to AdamCohen.com
Okay, you’re back? Good.
Adam Cohen, the other Adam Cohen, is a musician and a son of the well known singer/song-writer/lyricist Leonard Cohen. Because of the fact that I play/release/record music as well, whenever you Google for “Adam Cohen Guitar Music,” I come up quite often. Try other variations like “Adam Cohen Guitar” or “Adam Cohen Music” and you get me and him, sometimes not as high as him and sometimes beating him out.
The fact of the matter is, he and I are both out there, and even though he and I look really nothing alike, I get french e-mails like that from time to time. So I just pop open his MySpace page and shoot him a line with the e-mails as a courtesy to ensure that he gets his messages, seeing I don’t even have his contact information that most of these people want.
I’d like to meet him someday, though, and shake his hand and have a beer and a good laugh, just for all of these times. That would amuse me.
On Saturday afternoon, Sarah and I met her father down at the Altamonte Mall to go grab lunch and see The Spiderwick Chronicles. We stopped in a nice little restaurant by the theater and we had a pretty good lunch and at the end of lunch there was a little exchange between the waitress and our table about learning something new everyday. I don’t remember who started it all, but our waitress remarked “Well, I just learned today that olives were grown. I never knew that before. Is this some sort of common knowledge or something?”
We were all dumbfounded. She was probably in her early 20s, and to not know an olive was grown?
You have to sort of stop and think about all of the references to olives throughout history: olive branch at times of war/peace, Noah’s ark, Theseus and the Minotaur with the olive tree (which is what Theseus tied the ball of string to as he went through the labrynth)?
And somehow even growing up, someone missed all of this mythology and history. Even the most basic references like the olive branch on our currency and the olive branch mentioned in the tale of Noah’s ark.
When you come across folks like this, it makes it clear to me how we can have people who are so misinformed in this country if they didn’t even know something as simple as this.
Whenever he’d sit down to turn on one of his movies–that I usually had to leave halfway through for class–like Cider House Rules, Toy Story, or The Legend of Bagger Vance, he was usually working on his screenplay called “Adam.” Ironic that he was living with a guy of the same name, but he started it before me. A prelude to meeting me, it was his subconscious setting him up, I’d say. But whenever he sat down to work on his old laptop there, he’d head over to the microwave and pop in a bowl of ramen. It was the all purpose work food.
As I started to work on my papers and assignments, I’d be waiting with a bowl of ramen right after him. He’d have his in, and then mine would go into the microwave. I couldn’t focus for some reason or another without having a bowl of ramen. The aroma of his made me hungry, and it just became that staple for me. Even after he and I weren’t roommates, there was something about sitting down with that warm bowl of ramen that just begged writing and work from me.
Even to this day, I keep a 6 pack of ramen in the closet. Whenever I sit down and things just don’t come out? It’s a nice safety to keep around to know that I’ve got that fuel if I need it.
So, seeing I haven’t had an open response entry in a while and things have been quiet, I’ll ask the question: What special vices do you have that help you study or focus?
Let’s keep that answer legal, clean, and legit, folks… I’ve already done enough of the cursing in the past few days… Haha! Have a great day and will catch you tomorrow…
First of all, I should get into what the chai tea latte is. Classically, its really just the brewed tea and frothed milk, as commented on here. But, at the same time whenever you go to any shop, you don’t get that at all. What you normally get is some form of concentrate and frothed/steamed milk. I’ve seen them in different forms: there’s the pump syrup that you see at some shops, powders at others, and some its a carton concentrate. Its not bad, but some of them are better than others. For me personally, I like the Barnies one better than I do the Starbucks one. I couldn’t tell you why, I just do. And when it comes to campus, I liked the Java City one better than the Starbucks one.
Until Tuesday.
See, I have a fairly regular studying routine. I grab a soy chai latte at the library, head to the 5th floor, and hit the books. Its one of those things that helps me to study and focus (more on that tomorrow). Puts me in the frameset that I can do it. Well, on Tuesday, the steamers were down at the Java City, so I just studied with some water. I was having issues focusing and so I grabbed a quick lower carb and sugar snack at Subway, and then headed back. And I walked by Joffrey’s Coffee in the union. One of the first coffee shops on campus that I visited when I first started here at in 2001, I figured I’d give them a try. They’re usually fairly slow, and I’ve never had a chai from them, so it was worth a shot.
By far, I have to say that they have the best one on campus: its smooth, well mixed, good flavor, and fast and hot and right without me having to keep an eagle eye on them. Its also the cheapest one (even if by only 16 cents), and their large appears to be larger than the other large that I was getting from Java City, even if it is the same 20oz. Its the powder concentrate spiced chai, and the girl didn’t ask me for whipped cream at all. When I told her that she was the first person to not do that? She laughed and said “Who’d want whipped cream on a chai?”
This is the first part of lord knows how many part series that I’m going to run here… Okay, so I just came up with it now, but still.
I don’t know about how you guys are at home, but we keep a few 12 packs of soda around the apartment. Usually its ginger ale and root beer. You know, perfect combination right there. Sarah and I drink both of them, but usually I’m the one swiping the root beers and she’s all about the ginger ales. And the root beers. So I usually get my hand swatted a few times because I’ll finish all of the root beer before she gets to it.
Needless to say, there’s some sort of bottomless can theory that I have with everyone around me in the world. I don’t know what it is, but whenever I have a can of any soda and I’m anywhere else, it seems like I’m done with it in maybe 5-10 minutes. And then 30-40 minutes later, the person I’m with is only halfway there. And we’re drinking just the same, but there’s something about it. Are they drinking less? Are they letting it backwash into the can completely after just clearing their mouth with its soday goodness of doom? How is it that someone can spend 30-40 minutes on a single can of soda?
I’m still trying to figure this one out. But you know what I mean… Or at least, I think you do?
South Pasedena recently became a profanity free zone. No, I’m serious. Just think about it: a whole town full of Ned Flanders‘, venting frustration, “Gosh diddily darn it,” every time someone cut them off.
Or even worse, the high school student who called her administrators “douchebags” and said she was “pissed off” in her blog. Yeah, I’m still serious. Think about that one: I’d be shit-canned for this blog’s title and sentence alone.
The number of stories about absurd things like this in the news that I read just seems to slowly grow daily. We’re all so concerned about free speech and censorship that it seems like we forget that we’re close to living in a real legitimate era of Big Brother. The Protect America Act of 2007–which thank God hasn’t been renewed–makes me wake up daily and wonder why I haven’t moved from this country.
And I shouldn’t. Seriously. We complain about all of this crap, but in the end, we have the greatest civil liberties to show for it.
Even if we can’t express how we’re “pissed off” sometimes, gosh diddily darn it…
