Now I love the Occupy movement. Although I think that in some places like Oakland it has gotten a bit out of hand, I still absolutely love it and I wish that I had the time (and money) to go and participate.
Besides the message however, I also love the music that has come out of this movement. One of the things I always complain about to my father is that he was alive and active during the 70s when all of the anti-establishment folk songs were popular and I completely missed all of them (on a contrasting note I think that LBJ is one of our most under-appreciated presidents who did NOT deserve all the hate that he got thrown his way). This is most likely why I love such songs as Run From The Gun by Dead Confederate. Now, I have found this absolute gem coming from the Occupy Seattle camp that makes me so happy that there are some very talented people out there making beautiful music for a great cause.
This guy is just amazing and I just wanna listen to it over, and over, and over again.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Up-up-update
What I'm reading right now: "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman (as soon as I can find it again) and "Life, the Universe, and Everything" by Douglas Adams
What I'm listening to on repeat: A very catchy song called "Down with the Trumpets" by a relatively unknown Hip Hop group called Rizzle Kicks. Now I'm not really one for rapping unless I'm at a school dance or tearing it off presents of Christmas morning, I normally just stick to music where actual melodies are the order of the day. However, these two guys perfectly blend their low-difficulty singing with high-difficulty rap skills and their music has just gotten to me.
And hasn't given my poor brain any rest for a week.
What I'm listening to on repeat: A very catchy song called "Down with the Trumpets" by a relatively unknown Hip Hop group called Rizzle Kicks. Now I'm not really one for rapping unless I'm at a school dance or tearing it off presents of Christmas morning, I normally just stick to music where actual melodies are the order of the day. However, these two guys perfectly blend their low-difficulty singing with high-difficulty rap skills and their music has just gotten to me.
And hasn't given my poor brain any rest for a week.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
This afternoon I caught my 70 year old dad whistling along to the radio.
It was playing Love Story by Taylor Swift.
I was mildly alarmed.
It was playing Love Story by Taylor Swift.
I was mildly alarmed.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Ricky Perry
Now, it's probably not surprising that I consider myself a Democrat. I live in Western Washington for heaven's sake. Contrary to the position most people would expect to come from a person so far to the left, I am a supporter of capital punishment (Edit: The Troy Davis debacle/calamity/tragedy notwithstanding). As I stated about Bin Laden earlier, there are simply some people who deserve the ultimate punishment that can be given. On that note, I support Governor Perry's choice to stick up for his State's reputation with this controversial subject. Many of these people who act like it is all cut & dried and accuse him of being a "Nazi," and as much of a murderer as the men on death row, don't understand the extensive process it take for a person to actually make it to that execution chamber. Sure, mistakes happen and in theory the accused could be innocent men but many act like it is a common occurrence, that it doesn't take over five years to put someone on death row. It doesn't even save money to execute a man rather than keep them in jail or life. That just illustrates how much money is poured into making absolutely sure that they caught the right man. Sometimes they even die in prison before all of the appeals go through.
So, "Right on, Rick Perry!" I may not be voting for you in next year's election of you manage to get the nomination, but on this front I think you are being attacked more than you deserve.
So, "Right on, Rick Perry!" I may not be voting for you in next year's election of you manage to get the nomination, but on this front I think you are being attacked more than you deserve.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
No shampoo?
While wandering around the internet the other day, dodging CommenTrolls and other fearsome WeBeasts, I found an article extolling the virtues of life without shampoo (here it is). Since it is the summer and I therefore have nothing to lose I figure I should should give it a month's test run, documenting my hair's progress along the way. This morning was the official last usage of my rapidly depleting Garnier Fructis shampoo and hopefully it all works out.
Wish me luck!
Wish me luck!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Housing
Recently I have started to understand something about my mother.
When I was very young, living in the bad part of town because it was closer to the hospital, my family lived in an apartment. It was a nice apartment with a great fireplace, plenty of room for our small three person family, and we even had the advantage of living on the ground floor because of my father's wheelchair bound state at the time. However, as soon as my father got on the crutches and my mother got settled into her new job she started to clamor for a house of her own. With a backyard. And a garden. Those were the important parts. I, being four, was reluctant. I had friends in the apartments; I was comfortable there. Most importantly, the complex had a pool. But my mother wanted her garden, so we moved to the other side of town.
I had never understood before why she wanted a garden so badly. Sure she liked plants, our house has always been full of tropical vines winding around the dining room, giant "elephant ears" that would never fit through the door way if we tried to move them at their present, advanced state. Now, in the middle of this cramped city she grew up in, I can understand.
My family's house here is uncommonly nice; it's all cinder-block and concrete but the furniture is as expensive as can be expected in a city where the storm drains regularly fail and ground floors are flooded. I'm even using the family WiFi. The problem is: everyone lives here. This house, in the U.S. would probably hold a family of four, maybe five, comfortably. Here, the entire extended family (except mine) lives in the same house. The problem is not even that it's cramped (which it isn't); the problem is that it doesn't really definitively belong to anyone. No one in the family really owns the entire house, it's like a commune without all of the creepy breeding tactics or nudity. Most importantly, there is no backyard. In local commercials here the average family is seen in a house that would not be out of place in suburban America but the truth is that houses like that can't be found in any places other than those of the fabulously wealthy. A garden is so out of place here because most people can't afford to buy the extra land if they aren't even going to live on it.
At home I always thought that my mother's dream was uncommonly small, not ambitious enough but when compared my life at home seems incredibly lucky.
When I was very young, living in the bad part of town because it was closer to the hospital, my family lived in an apartment. It was a nice apartment with a great fireplace, plenty of room for our small three person family, and we even had the advantage of living on the ground floor because of my father's wheelchair bound state at the time. However, as soon as my father got on the crutches and my mother got settled into her new job she started to clamor for a house of her own. With a backyard. And a garden. Those were the important parts. I, being four, was reluctant. I had friends in the apartments; I was comfortable there. Most importantly, the complex had a pool. But my mother wanted her garden, so we moved to the other side of town.
I had never understood before why she wanted a garden so badly. Sure she liked plants, our house has always been full of tropical vines winding around the dining room, giant "elephant ears" that would never fit through the door way if we tried to move them at their present, advanced state. Now, in the middle of this cramped city she grew up in, I can understand.
My family's house here is uncommonly nice; it's all cinder-block and concrete but the furniture is as expensive as can be expected in a city where the storm drains regularly fail and ground floors are flooded. I'm even using the family WiFi. The problem is: everyone lives here. This house, in the U.S. would probably hold a family of four, maybe five, comfortably. Here, the entire extended family (except mine) lives in the same house. The problem is not even that it's cramped (which it isn't); the problem is that it doesn't really definitively belong to anyone. No one in the family really owns the entire house, it's like a commune without all of the creepy breeding tactics or nudity. Most importantly, there is no backyard. In local commercials here the average family is seen in a house that would not be out of place in suburban America but the truth is that houses like that can't be found in any places other than those of the fabulously wealthy. A garden is so out of place here because most people can't afford to buy the extra land if they aren't even going to live on it.
At home I always thought that my mother's dream was uncommonly small, not ambitious enough but when compared my life at home seems incredibly lucky.
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