I've posted some of the Concerts A Emporter before, but these really continue to rock my world.
Jens Lekman - A Little Lost (Arthur Russell; check out the original too!)
Another - I can't embed this one, and the visuals aren't as bomber, but it's a gorgeous lo-fi rendition of Jens's Into Eternity.
Found this via my buddy Phil:
Shepard Fairey does Obama. That's some nice design work. Very, very nice.
It really is shitty that Florida's Democrats don't get to have a voice in the primary.
Still curious to see who comes out on top in ol' DeSoto. Obama is, so far, rockin' Alachua (UF) and Leon (FSU) counties. Of course.
I made the questionable decision to register as an independent in Florida, and I'm still registered there, so I don't actually get to vote. Stupid closed primaries. If I stay in Oregon after this year I guess I'll need to go ahead and change my residency. Am oddly reluctant to do this.
It snowed a lot this weekend:
This was great because it meant I got to ski around town all weekend instead of driving. Also, my housemate was house-sitting for a co-worker who happens to have a dog and a cat and satellite TV, so when I wasn't skiing I was watching Food Network. And parts of Star Wars IV and V. And cooking. It was a good weekend.
The thing about snow in Hood River is that it promptly warms back up to 37, 40 degrees and starts raining again. So the snow melts and turns to slush and muck and makes a disgusting mess. Rain, clouds, and wintry mix for the next 10 days. YEAH.
Bad news: I missed a triple-header FREE SHOW in Portland - Bobby Bare Jr, Langhorne Slim, and The Long Winters - due to the snow and the fact that chains were required on the interstate (and thus speeds of about 25 mph the whole way).
Good news: Jens is coming back to Portland! In March! To a tiny venue! I am there! I am so there!
IT'S KNEE DEEP
SKIIN' THROUGH TOWN NOW!
Were there no better movies this year other than 3 about violent and/or corrupt white men and 2 involving teenage girls making questionable personal decisions?
I mean, I know that the Oscars are pretty absurd to begin with, and I rarely agree with their choices, but.. jeez. (And yes, I know those 3 about violent and/or corrupt white men are supposed to be stellar and remarkable and blah blah blah and I'm sure I'll end up seeing them at some point)
Sidenote: Juno wasn't all bad. No, it didn't deserve nearly the level of acclaim it's received, and yes, it was flip at all the wrong moments, but hey - Juno's got at least a bit of personality to her (unlike what's-her-name in Knocked Up), and in the latter half of the movie you see a few cracks in her hip facade. And her stepmom was great. Should the film have gotten deeper and more honestly involved in what it really would be like being preggo and huge in high school? Yeah. Should it have given more consideration and time to her abortion-or-not decision? Yeah.
Things the film got right:
The charged dynamic between Juno and the married but emotionally stunted Mark.
Giving Juno sexual agency and (mostly) not demonizing her for it.
Bleeker. Dude was adorable. Not particularly realistic, but adorable. You can't be a single girl who still remembers high school and not wish you'd had a Bleeker back in the day.
Still, I've gotta go with Katha Pollitt here:
Juno herself is a prickly, winsome, complex and original person: she wears work shirts, plays the guitar and has a luminous intelligence and a pixielike nonsexy beauty, and that is a way young girls are almost never portrayed in films. Still, and maybe this is why I remained dry-eyed, I couldn't get over my sense that, hard as the movie worked to be a story about particular individuals, not a sermon, it was basically saying that for a high school junior to go through pregnancy and childbirth to give a baby to an infertile couple is both noble and cool, of a piece with loving indie rock and scorning cheerleaders; it's fetal fingernails versus boysenberry condoms.
(Yes, I'm planning to see 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days if it gets out to Oregon)
UPDATE: my brother sent me a quote from a review of Juno that he found and it's SO TRUE: "Too much of it is like a subpar episode of Freaks and Geeks, padded out to 92 minutes with pseudo-witty dialogue." I mean, really. You want the best of the best of what it's really like to be in high school? Freaks and Geeks, man. Freaks and Geeks.
The thing that's hard about giving is not expecting anything in return.
What I did last weekend:
Here's the thing. As somebody who works for a small nonprofit that aims to improve people's lives, it's easy to get out of the habit of, well, actually working to improve people's lives. Sure, I spend a ton of time firing off emails, coordinating meetings, and moving projects forward. But rarely do I do anything, work-related or not, that I can say has had a demonstrably positive impact on anyone. That's kind of the nature of organizing, it's a lot of slogging and hard work for every small step, and you don't always see the results quickly. It can get you down.
So I'm really glad I went out to Vernonia last weekend. Some of my RARE friends organized the trip. Vernonia got hit by a major flood last December - hundreds of homes were underwater and many rendered permanently uninhabitable. The work we did to help was meager when compared to the long-term needs of the community, but it was tangible and legitimately helpful. We spent most of the day crawling under houses, ripping out ruined insulation and plastic, for individuals who are unable to do that work themselves. It's an important first step to getting one's house elevated and re-insulated to prevent against future floods, and it's damn expensive if you want to pay somebody to do it. We also helped load and unload FEMA-supplied sheetrock for folks who didn't have an extra pair of hands to help do it. Things we as 5 strong adults could do in 10 minutes would take one person several hours.
If it's been a while since you've gone out and done some direct-assistance volunteering, give it a shot. You're not going to fix any of the systemic problems that caused people in Vernonia to be too poor or unhealthy to clean up their own flood-damaged homes, but you're going to help some real people for one day. Likewise, we can talk all day about whether food pantries and food handouts help poor families get by or merely enable poverty and poor nutrition - but either way there's people going hungry every day and is it not better that they get to eat while we argue about how to fix things?
People! It's a documentary! About Amos Kennedy! Premieres in May 2008!
Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. is my favorite printmaker. I wish he had more of his posters online. I wish I could buy them for all of my friends. I wish I could get back down to Alabama to visit his print shop again.
An Amos quote, from another clip from the documentary: "Self-determination can only occur through the cooperation of all people. You cannot be free unless you depend on other people."
Scene: semi-hipster bar in Northeast Portland
Cast:
Me, unfortunately clad in clothes for working outdoors, not standing in bars
New Acquaintance J, a young architect, roommate of a good friend
NAJ: Yeah, we work all night at least once or twice every two weeks.
S: What's your project?
NAJ: Are you familiar with mumblemumbleDeStijl?
S: Yes, of course!
NAJ: Really? We are building his museum in Denver. (Long explanation of museum project, lots of high-minded design talk, little mention of functionality)
S: (Thinking: Hmm. Wait. His? Isn't De Stijl a movement, not a person?) Very nice. Tell me how his work has influenced your museum design.
NAJ: I must say, you're the first person I've met who actually knew who mumblemumbleStill is.
S: You don't say. (Shit)
NAJ: You must be a fan of abstract expressionism, then!
S: You could say that. I took some art classes in college, but art wasn't really a viable career option for me. (I did not actually have any talent)
NAJ: What kind of art do you do?
S: Um, well, it actually kind of looks like the art on the walls in here. (These are better than anything I could make, but I do like them)
NAJ: So, lots of graphic design and pop influences, eh?
S: For sure. It's hard not to, really. I'm not, like, the next Jeff Koons or anything though. Not that kind of pop influence. (A ha! Chance to reference an artist I actually know!)
NAJ: I would love to put a Jeff Koons in my house.
S: ...
NAJ: Are you familiar with mumblemumblerandomartist?
S: Um, no, tell me about him/her.
(Repeat, several times, for the rest of the evening)
--
As it turns out, upon Googling, Clyfford Still was a pretty cool abstract expressionist. With kind of a crazy ego. But I like his later work.
Who do you think said this?
Each and every day, I wake up early and I work out. It gives me the opportunity to watch the sun come up, and it's so joyful for me to be able to see that. It renews my spirit and it gathers me up again to try and do more to preserve the environment and protect it for future generations.
A) Carl Pope, the Sierra Club
B) George W. Bush, President
C) Charlie Crist, Republican governor of Florida
D) Ted Kulongoski, Democratic governor of Oregon
Hint: he also blocked a massive coal-fired power plant in 2007, is pushing for more stringent CO2 emissions cuts to slow climate change, and has kind of a scary perma-tan.
Yes, friends, it's C. I was pretty pissed when Crist got elected, because, well, he's a Republican. But as far as they go, he's pretty alright. Especially when it comes to the environment.
(The above quote was from an interview in Grist)
That is all.
(Well, not quite all. Got lots of photos and things to upload, per my, uh, resolutions. Maybe tonight? Been swamped at work, y'all. In brief: it's sunny, life is better because of this. Will get to see good friends this weekend, made a bunch of good food last weekend, been XC skiin every weekend, did a lot of good thinking/understanding on lots of things, read some mediocre fiction, plan to read some better fiction, and made plans to backpack in NorCal with Sally this May. Almost decided to go to Tunisia; looked at plane fares, changed my mind. Still got itchy feet though. Maybe NYC? Early spring?)
Dear Oregonians who live on the rainy side of the state,
Bend is not Eastern Oregon. The Dalles is not Eastern Oregon. Just because you've driven more than an hour east of the Willamette Valley and spotted a few sagebrush does NOT mean you've ventured to the mythical wilds of Eastern Oregon. Try telling people who live in Bend that they live in Eastern Oregon. They will laugh at you. Try telling an actual East Oregonian that The Dalles is in Eastern Oregon. They will laugh at you too.
Just sayin'.
--
Dear young men I know who have recently gone through or are currently going through quarter-life crises,
This article? Change every instance of "midlife crisis" to "quarter-life crisis". He is talking about you.
"Why do we have to label a common reaction of the male species to one of life’s challenges — the boredom of the routine — as a crisis?"
Work Resolution 2008: Make friends with your telephone. Real good friends. Remember that you always, always get better responses from people when you call. And that real people like real voices and real conversation. Just because you have your email wired directly to your brain does not mean that everyone else does too.
Today I opened my Google Reader for the first time in almost 5 months.
Good ol' Nerve.
Capricorn: You tend to put the needs of others before your own, and that is dumb. Do you really want to be stuck at work tweaking spreadsheets on the next federal holiday? Make a resolution to be more selfish this coming year. There's nothing wrong with saying no to things you don't want — in fact, it's more honest, and your holistic well-being will thank you.
Some specific, some not. First, the specifics. There are 10.
1. Try windsurfing.
2. Try kitesurfing.
3. Try snowboarding, try skiing (maybe, my knees!), improve at nordic skiing.
3a. (to keep the sporty ones together) CLIMB!
4. Keep up the hot yoga habit.
5. Read a book every other week. (I know, that's a sad, paltry goal, but I got a lot of other goals too.)
6. Do one creative thing every week. Either drawing, painting, photography, writing, or mandolin.
7. Try one new recipe every week.
8. Host or attend one potluck a month.
9. Get out of town for an adventure once a month.
10. Blog about and photograph/flickr all of these things. As in, post actual entries. With actual content. Because things are pretty lame around here lately.
While home in Florida I squeezed in time for some boating with Meg - it was great. We did the Rock Springs Run, which is a tributary spring of the Wekiva River, which starts at Wekiva Springs. It's a gorgeous chunk of Old Florida, a total jungle, just 30 miles from Orlando. Highlights:
There's lots of pictures, too.
New Year's Eve was brilliant. Better than expected - and just what I needed after the shit that went down in Boise. Pitchers of beer, 90's-theme music, plenty of dancing, plenty of friends. Good-natured banter. Good-natured crowding of 5 people into one bench seat of a big truck.
I didn't take any pictures. This is probably for the best. I hope that y'all had a good one too.
Some choice moments:
E: We're on our way to your house, I'm at the bank right now.
The crop-duster: What are you doing at the bank??
E: I'll give you one guess.
--
The crop-duster, on his first round of nahcos: Oh man, dude, these nachos are so gross. I am gonna regret this tomorrow.
The crop-duster, on his second round of nachos: Dude, I can't believe I'm eating this.
The crop-duster, on his third round of nachos: These aren't so bad, really. Who made them?
The crop-duster, on his fourth round of nachos: Uhhhgghhh.
--
Discovering that even Skoal-chewing truck-driving dudely dudes like Feist.
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Getting down old-school style to Baby Got Back and also some KRISS KROSS. Being drunk enough to really enjoy KRISS KROSS.
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Spending time with E, in general. A mutual understanding that is easy and unassuming. Only a few words, really, but it's all I needed.
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