| [Pirate Radio] |
[Apr. 22nd, 2007|08:41 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  curious | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | David Bowie - Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) | ] |
Can some of you guys out there point me in the direction of some decent podcasts, particularly in the areas of music, comedy, international news, or variety. Lord knows 99% of all podcasts are crap, and, being impatient, I want to skip the "trial and error" process. |
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| [So it goes] |
[Apr. 12th, 2007|10:51 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cold | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Cannonball Adderley - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy | ] |
"When you're dead, you're dead." - Kurt Vonnegut
No writer has had as much influence on my development as Kurt Vonnegut. |
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| [A Fable] |
[Apr. 7th, 2007|06:16 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  content | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Son Volt - The Picture | ] |
52 books, 52 weeks REDUX
It's been nearly 10 weeks since I've updated this list. In fact, I had just assumed that I was terribly behind with my reading. As it turns out, I'm right on schedule! Maybe I'll do extended write-ups of the books later. For now, a list will suffice.
Endgame by Samuel Beckett
*Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
*Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
*The Real Frank Zappa Books by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhiogrosso
*The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
*Miles by Miles Davis
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Who Was Eleanor Rigby: and 908 More Questions and Answers About The Beatles by Brandon Toropov
*A Boy’s Will by Robert Frost
North of Boston by Robert Frost
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
14 books, 14 weeks
Moral (I): Never ever ever read Pride and Prejudice.
Moral (II): ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) dr_dos, Lullaby > Survivor |
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| [O Tanenbaum] |
[Apr. 6th, 2007|05:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  giddy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Ghostface Killah - Whip You With A Strap. | ] |
I took this picture in my family room today, April 6th. Easter is less than two days away. Naturally, taking it down and putting it away is on my to-do list for this spring break.
Also, the picture of our Christmas tree is the first I've uploaded with the new digital camera I got for my birthday back in February (an Olympus FE-190 6 megapixel). Yes, I haven't used it much, but I'd very much like to. It looks like an impressive lil' camera; perhaps I'll take it out with me on the weekends. |
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| [Advertising] |
[Apr. 1st, 2007|09:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  lazy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Kermit - The Rainbow Connection | ] |
A real banner ad I came across on isohunt. I admire the company's ability to target its audience. |
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| [LOOK AT ME] |
[Mar. 27th, 2007|06:04 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  exanimate | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Elvis Costello - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood | ] |
Holy shit! I went to Disney World, and I was happy.
( But then I left, and I was sad. ) |
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| {?} |
[Feb. 18th, 2007|11:20 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | curious | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Elvis Costello - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood | ] |
What should I do for my 18th birthday? |
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| {Lexicographer's Delight} |
[Feb. 14th, 2007|01:04 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  hungry | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Prince - When You Were Mine | ] |
mum·ble /`muhm-buhl/
1. to speak in a low indistinct manner, almost to an unintelligible extent; mutter.
2. to chew ineffectively, as from loss of teeth: to mumble on a crust.
I like that definition a lot. Not just in the preciseness of its meaning, but also in its perfect fit with the sound of the word "mumble".
P.S. Snow Day |
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| {Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays} |
[Feb. 3rd, 2007|09:26 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  awake | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays | ] |
I'm up relatively early for a Sunday. It's because I kept having dreams about Bob Geldof, so sleep was no longer relaxing.
So other than that, everything going swell. My reading is compelling and on schedule, and there's nothing more I could ask for. To give you an overview...
Endgame by Samuel Beckett One of Beckett's two most well-known plays (Waiting for Godot being the other). First of all, it was an incredibly fast read. I don't know how long this play takes to perform, but it only took me about a hour and a half to read. As far as the content goes, I liked it, I think. The plot had no real meaning in the play; any real substance was found in symbolism and closer analysis. So its brevity was beneficial - any longer,, and the play would have been unbearably obtuse. Darkly comic (or comically dark) in its apocalyptic setting, Endgame was well worth my time. If you pick it up, read it in one sitting.
Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Holy fuckkkkkk I still can't get over how mind-blowing Watchmen was. If Alan Moore sounds familiar, it's because he's the same guy who wrote V for Vendetta; if Watchmen sounds familiar it's because it's the most acclaimed graphic novel ever. And every once of praise for this book is totally deserved. I can only hope to read another superhero story that is as inventive, complex, and compelling as Watchmen. It does away with every trite, predictable "superhero" cliche and replaces it with the development and multifacetedness of a classic novel. Even if you're not into comics or lost interest in superheroes year ago (I fall into neither one of these camps), I imagine you'll fall in love with Watchmen. It's too undeniably rich with substance to dislaike. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read it.
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris I've read all of Sedaris's books now, and I've absolutely loved them all, too - but Dress Your Family in Corduroy blows them all away. He's been catching on in our school recently: I often see kids carrying around one of his collections. But if you're one of the (very) few uninitiated, go read Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, pronto.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare Ahhh, the classroom staple. Surprisingly, Hamlet was by fay the best Shakespeare I've read in high school. I didn't mark it as "highly recommended" when I posted it last week because I believe you need to read it and analyze it in a classroom setting in order to get that same level of appreciation and enjoyment.
The Real Frank Zappa Books by Frank Zappa and Peter Occhiogrosso I guess it was an odd choice that I choose to read Frank Zappa's autobiography. Musician's autobiographies are usually reserved for die hard fans with a comprehensive knowledge of the artists recorded output. Me? Having only three of his albums I didn't know much about Frank Zappa's extensive discography before reading this book. After reading this book, I still don't know much about his discography. But that's really beside the point. Zappa didn't want to sit down and bore me with the names of every session guitarist he's ever worked with or the effects pedals he used on each of his songs. He filled his autobiography with anecdotes that could be appreciated equally by someone who didn't know a thing about Frank Zappa. He has hundreds of hilarious, shocking stories to tell, and he gives himself a few paragraphs to riff on each one. And so this book isn't so much a panorama of Zappa's life as it is a chain of snapshots showing the best bits and pieces. I'm eternally grateful that he chose to write about things such as playing with the radioactive materials his father brought home from work instead of the more esoteric (and dry) aspects of musicianship. With chapters titled "Marriage as a Dada Concept" or "America Drinks and Goes Marching" you can guess that Zappa has a fair amount of opinions to impart on the reader as well. And you'd guess right, the last quarter of the book is dedicated to his rants about parenting, politics, the PMRC, etc. And while he occasionally gets wrapped up in unconvincing ramblings, Zappa has a sly, irreverent humor that make his rants especially pleasing most of the time. You haven't heard of Frank Zappa, you say? It doesn't matter, just go and get this book. It will make no difference.
Wrapping up here, I finished Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor this week. I'll write about that in the next few days when I update my booklist again. |
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| {College Alert} |
[Jan. 12th, 2007|01:49 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  uhhhh | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | The Ramones - Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? | ] |
If anyone can name an experience more hellish than applying to colleges, please tell me what it is now so I can avoid it as if it was the Plague. Thirteen applications later, I am done*. What satisfaction! I earned this three-day weekend.
* When I say "I am done," I mean, "I am kinda done". I only have a single paragraph to do, but you couldn't convince me at knife point to do it at this hour. |
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| {I've Been Tagged} |
[Jan. 9th, 2007|11:40 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | lazy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Keith Jarrett - Part I | ] |
Tagged by homz
List seven songs you are into right now, no matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your livejournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.
Ghostface Killah - Shakey Dog
International Beat - Rock Steady
Prince & The Revolution - The Beautiful Ones
T. Rex - Solid Gold Easy Action
Weather Report - A Remark You Made
The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New
Keith Jarrett - The Koln Concert
cosmopolites
projectwusswah
zamros
claymate88
dr_dos
satanic_owl
bird_gerhl |
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| {INTERACTIVE POST} |
[Jan. 3rd, 2007|08:35 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | awake | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Boris - Farewell | ] |
Hey piazanos! I need you. More specifically, I need you to tell me what to do in 2007. Not so much resolutions to make or break habits, they're not all that electrifying to me. I want you to comment here and tell me what to see, what to hear, what to eat and drink, where to visit, what to play indoors, what to play outdoors, what to read, what to admire, what new words or phrases to use, what to research on the internet, what to ponder, what to take up, and anything else that you think would be a worthwhile experience for me in 2007 (except smoking rocks). |
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| {Internal Observation} |
[Dec. 17th, 2006|03:46 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | good | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Prince - Gett Off | ] |
I've become pretty ambivalent regarding what college I want to go to. I'll go a college just as long as it's located in a city with plenty of things to experience. I'm as excited for college as ever, make no mistake; yet where I go is becoming less and less of a concern.
(Edit: Hay fellas I got into University of Chicago) |
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| {Request} |
[Dec. 9th, 2006|08:04 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  calm | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Wu-Tang Clan - Tearz | ] |
Are there any good webcomics out there that I should be reading? Don't comment with the obvious ones, please. Oh, I want a new userpic too, where should I search? Thank you, Internet for giving me everything I ask for. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
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| This is a crime against the state |
[Nov. 27th, 2006|10:26 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  angry | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Devo - Snowball | ] |
!
My daily newspaper took The Boondocks out of the comics section today.
Chalk this up as another crime committed by the comics staff over at the Philadelphia Inquirer, to be added to crimes such as:
-Taking Calvin and Hobbes out of the comics section and putting Cathy (*shudder*) in its place
-Allowing crap strips such as Sally Forth, Garfield, Rex Morgan M.D., One Big Happy, Rhymes with Orange, Prince Valiant, Ziggy, Blondie, Funky Winkerbean, and Pearls Before Swine to exist.
-Fuck you, Cathy.
In the weeks preceeding this post, I was thinking about commenting on each of the comic strips in my newspaper. I still want to do that. This post was brought to you by the Committee to Distract Brian from Finishing his College Applications. |
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| What is your favorite word? |
[Nov. 15th, 2006|08:21 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  busy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Bob Dylan - High Water | ] |
My favorite word is "torpedo"
Whenever people ask me what my favorite word is, I always forget that answer. So I've inscribed it on the technological clay tablet that is the internet so that, thousands of years from now, people will know my favorite word. |
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| Don't drink the wooder |
[Nov. 10th, 2006|12:05 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  indifferent | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Dr. Octagon - A Visit to the Gynecologyst | ] |
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: Philadelphia Your accent is as Philadelphian as a cheesesteak! If you're not from Philadelphia, then you're from someplace near there like south Jersey, Baltimore, or Wilmington. if you've ever journeyed to some far off place where people don't know that Philly has an accent, someone may have thought you talked a little weird even though they didn't have a clue what accent it was they heard. | | The Midland | | | The Northeast | | | The South | | | Boston | | | The Inland North | | | The West | | | North Central | | What American accent do you have?
Take More Quizzes |
How interesting! |
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| Boomstick Log |
[Oct. 30th, 2006|09:14 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  sore | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Miles Davis - Agitation | ] |
Four score and my balls are sore. |
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