artless Art

I tried publishing this last night but Blogger had other plans.

These were my options for tonight: 1.) Go see Transformers 3; 2.) Stay at home and watch episodes of 30 Rock on Netflix; or 3.) Go see this movie:

Why do movie trailers have to be two and a half minute condensations of the movie being advertised? You have now just seen the entire movie.

I chose option #3, I saw The Art of Getting By. This movie got pretty terrible reviews -- 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. I knew that going in, so I wasn't expecting much. And while Rotten Tomatoes does a pretty good job of telling how good the movie is, it's not an indicator of whether or not I will like the movie.

That said, this movie was neither terrible nor great. About half an hour into the movie I leaned over to my friend Afton and whispered, referring to the dialog, "I feel like I could've written this movie." Which means that either I have a future career as a screenwriter, or the script was pretty bad. (But if Hollywood is making poorly scripted movies then it really does mean I have a career as a screenwriter.)

Beside the poor dialog (which does improve), my two biggest complaints about the movie were these:

One: Teenage drinking. Some teens drink. I get that. In movies, I don't have a problem with that. But these are teens, high school seniors, drinking at bars. On three separate occasions. The first time, I let it slide. But two other times, we see teenage characters at bars, drinking. How many mainstream bars in New York City serve teenagers?

Two: Why the predictable Hollywood ending? I mean, it's a Fox Searchlight picture, it's not gonna be a summer blockbuster, so why give it the artless romantic comedy ending? Without giving away too many details, George, the protag, didn't need to get the girl for the movie to have had a strong resolution. In fact, the film would've been so much stronger if their relationship had been left up in the air. The movie wasn't about them, it was about George finding himself and his passion.

Regardless, I still liked the movie. I could relate to George's anxiety, his struggle to express himself, and his dispassionate, objective way of viewing things. And while Emma Roberts' character, Sally, causes a fair amount of trouble for George (she is referred to as "hussy" on more than one occasion), you can't help but like her because Emma herself is pretty adorable.

So yeah. The Art Of Getting By. Not good, not bad. Whatever it was or wasn't, it apparently moved me enough to come home and blog about it. I doubt I'd be saying as much for Transformers 3.

So not only does this thing exist, but now you have deprived everyone of cake!

It's no secret that I have a man-sized man-crush on Ron Swanson from NBC's Parks and Recreation. While I share many of his views on food ("You had me at meat tornado."), body grooming ("Only women shave beneath the neck."), and old wooden sailing ships ("They're beautiful."), it's his political ideologies that I'd like to highlight in this post. Take a look:

"Drop in a token, look at a duck."

Here is a Swanson-esque list of facts detailing an experience I had recently with a government agency, the United States Postal Service.

• On May 17, I purchased a book, Eat Like A Man, from Amazon. The package was shipped via USPS.


• The morning of May 19 I checked the tracking number. Its status read "Out for delivery." A day or two ahead of schedule -- I was delighted.


• Later that morning, I rechecked the status and it had changed. Not to "Delivered" but to "Incorrect address." I was confused because I'd had many packages delivered from Amazon to that address.


• I trusted USPS so I decided to play the waiting game. May 19 was a Friday so I would probably receive the package on Monday or Tuesday.


• By Tuesday, May 24, I hadn't received anything and the package's status, which now read "Arrival Scan," told me nothing.


• The same day I went to the local Post Office to get to the bottom of things. A supervisor took my name and address and told me I would likely receive the package in the next day or two.


• Two days later I found myself back at the Post Office talking to a different supervisor. He took my number and told me he'd call me later with info on my package. He never called.


• Tuesday, May 31, I called the Post Office and talked to yet another supervisor. She told me the same thing, that she'd look into it and call me back.


• Thursday, June 2, I called again. I talked to the second supervisor. He remembered me. In a roundabout way, he told me that USPS had no idea where my package was. A package with a tracking number. That they were supposed to be tracking.


• Having done more than my part to find my package with the help of USPS, I decided to call Amazon for a replacement.


• Friday, June 3, 1:59pm, within less than 24 hours of my call to Amazon, the replacement package was successfully delivered via UPS. At no extra cost to me.

This experience helped me understand why Ron feels the way he does about government. There are some things the government should leave to the private sector, and delivering our mail might be one of them.


Note #1: A man-crush only means that the object of the crush is worthy of emulation. Or that you want to do something manly with him, like go camping or have a barbecue (it really behooves you to click that link).

Note #2: I don't have many "real" celebrity crushes, i.e., a crush on a female celebrity, but I've got a pretty big one for Aubrey Plaza, also on Parks & Rec.

Note #3: Over the years there have been talks of a government bailout for the USPS. Maybe it's time for privatization instead, like a buyout from UPS and/or FedEx.

science fact

Every now and then I'll read something, a piece of fiction, and I'll wish it were real. Harry Potter, for example. And sometimes I'll read something so convincing and so appealing that I pretend it's real.

(Preface: When I use the word "physical" in the following paragraphs, keep in mind I'm talking about physics.)

In the Ender series, Orson Scott Card creates a physical explanation for why we feel connected to each other. I won't go into the mechanics, but the "science" of it says that through proximity, emotional interactions, and other circumstances, beings (human and otherwise) develop a physical, though unseen, tie between one another.

OK, you're probably thinking, Well what's so special about that? Of course you'll grow closer to someone as you interact with them. Right. But that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about using physics (about which I know very little) to explain how we grow closer to each other. Everyone knows friendships and relationships tend to grow as a function of time. But how do they grow, how and why does love develop, and is there some unseen physical event happening when all that goes down?

There are just some connections I don't know how to explain. Like being able to finish someone else's sentence, even if that might be a trivial example. It's like when you kiss a girl (or guy, depending on the reader's gender). It may or may not be the first time, but the second before you do it, somehow you know she wants it and somehow she knows you want to. It extends beyond body language, there's almost a palpable -- but subtle, quiet, unspoken -- communication taking place, and it lasts only an instant. It's an almost true understanding, truer than can be communicated by speaking. How do you physically explain that communication?

In the end, I know it doesn't matter whether or not this level of physics exists because regardless, physical or not, these bonds still exist. Call me a sci-fi romantic I guess, I just love the idea of a scientific explanation for love and attachment.

utility

What's better than The Empire Strikes Back?

Over the past several weeks my roommates and friends and I have been watching a different Star Wars movie each Sunday night. I bet you can guess which one we watched tonight.

I'm not much of a movie guy. OK, that's not entirely true, I love going to the movies and I love watching them. I just don't collect them the same way some people do. I'm not talking about a physical collection. I mean that when people ask me what my favorite movies are I have a hard time coming up with a list that extends beyond The Empire Strikes Back.

In economics there's a concept called marginal utility. It says that utility (or pleasure) decreases as you consume more units of a certain product. So, marginal utility says that the more times I watch The Empire Strikes Back the less I will like it.

I'm glad there are a few things in life that defy marginal utility.

no thanks, I'm trying to quit

Two (possibly) good reasons to (maybe) stop using iTunes:

Reason #1: Amazon MP3
Amazon MP3 isn't new, it's been around since September 2007 (and it was offering DRM-free songs a year before iTunes). I still buy a great deal of music in a physical format (CD or vinyl or both if I really love it) but sometimes Amazon has great deals I just can't pass up. Every month they have over 100 MP3 albums for $5.00 or less. They have daily deal albums for $3.99, like the new Okkervil River album that I just picked up today. And during their Black Friday weekend sale, Amazon had quite a few great albums (Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem) for only $2.00. Right now, Amazon is having their largest MP3 sale I've ever seen -- over 1,500 MP3 albums for $5.00. It's not crap either: I'm willing to guarantee you'll find something you've been wanting in there. Go see for yourself.

In March, Amazon debuted their new Cloud Player. It's 5 GB of free memory and you can put anything you want on it -- music, files, movies, etc. Granted, 5 GB isn't that much. Additional memory is pretty affordable though -- one dollar per GB per year, available in different tiers, 20 GB, 50 GB, 100 GB, up to 1000 GB of storage. It can get pricey if you plan on uploading your entire music library, but if you don't need your entire library online then it's actually a pretty good deal (myself, I don't anticipate ever needing more than 20 GB of cloud space). And if you're someone who already purchases music from Amazon, your Amazon MP3 purchases don't count against your storage limit (which I realize is a marketing gimmick on Amazon's part, but that doesn't matter to those of us who have been downloading from them for a while now).

Right now the Cloud Player is available on any browser and on Android devices (which makes me want an iPhone less; I'm guessing Apple declined the Amazon MP3/Cloud Player app because they didn't want to give their iPhone users a better deal than iTunes, though I could be wrong since it's not on Blackberry devices yet either).


Reason #2: Google Music Beta
Google Music is similar to Amazon's Cloud Player in that you can upload your music library and stream online via a web browser or Android device (once again, sorry iOS users). It differs from Amazon though, because the uploads are limited by the amount of songs, not actual storage space (you can upload 20,000 songs at any bitrate). And unlike Amazon, you can't purchase MP3s from Google. Right now, Google Music is free (subject to change?) but you need an invite (as with most Google Beta products) before using it (if anyone out there happens to have an extra invite send it to myke.olsen@gmail.com, thanks).


Caveat #1: I'm still using iTunes to manage my iPod. And to listen to a few podcasts. But it stops there. I don't plan on getting rid of my iPod anytime soon (even though it's been pretty clunky lately). It's so much easier to use than my Droid when I'm running, it has a great battery life, and I love being away from my phone for a while. I'm not opposed to Apple products, I just don't care for the Company's overall smugness; it kills whatever brand loyalty I've had for Apple and makes me want to ditch them the second something better comes along. Which, when it comes to downloading music, has effectively happened.

Caveat #2: I try to only download music when I'm not positive I'll end up loving the album. That way I don't spend the full price on a CD or vinyl (this is where the $5.00 Amazon sales come in handy). If I like it enough I usually buy it on CD and/or vinyl, and I try to find it at a local record store before looking for it online. I realize it's redundant to buy the CD when you have the MP3, it's not hard to burn a disc. I guess I'm a bit of snob and don't like burned CDs.

formidable, indeed

As soon as I heard their band name -- the Nervous Wreckords -- I knew I wouldn't like them. And sure enough, they didn't disappoint (in the sense that it felt pretty good to have my prejudice validated). They weren't terrible, it's just that mediocrity isn't my style (I'm trying to be less hard on myself so maybe I shouldn't admit that sometimes it is).

That said, I wonder if Brandon Flowers chose the Nervous Wreckords as his opening band because he knew they'd make him look and sound so much better -- not that he needs it, the guy oozes charm and pumps showmanship through his veins. Like I mentioned in one post prior, Saturday I road tripped with some pals to see Brandon Flowers perform at the House of Blues in Las Vegas (don't ever see a show there unless you can get general admission floor seats).


I haven't seen a white tuxedo jacket look that good since Sean Connery as James Bond.

I had a similar experience when I saw the Joy Formidable, from Northern Wales, at the Rhythm Room Tuesday night. The opener, the Lonely Forest from lovely Anacortes, Washington, left me with nothing to complain about (other than some weak lyrics and the bass player's choice of attire) but they didn't impress me either. Then the Joy Formidable took the stage. It only took them thirty seconds to make the Lonely Forest look like a junior high talent show band (not that they were trying to do that, TJF had great things to say about the Lonely Forest).


Here's a sample of what you missed on Tuesday.

I loved pretty much everything about this band. Ritzy Brian's intense rock-out death stare and her adorable Welsh accent were simultaneously charming and disconcerting (in a good way, of course). Rhydian Dafydd's full-chord, distorted bass lines carried the weight of a rhythm guitarist and a bass player. And I'm usually not a fan of the double bass pedal, but if more drummers were to use it the way Matt Thomas does, I wouldn't mind. I hope to see these guys and gal live again, and soon.

in a heartbeat

Last Saturday was a holiday, an albeit lesser known one, that celebrates two of my favorite things -- record stores and records. Record Store Day 2011 was recognized as a holiday in Arizona this year by our governor, Jan Brewer. Other states and cities did the same.

My Record Store Day started early... I was up at 5:30am because I couldn't sleep due to excitement and anxiety; several factors contributed to that -- a new kitten, a trip to Vegas to see Brandon Flowers, and yes, Record Store Day itself. So I went for a run, packed for my trip, met up with some friends and was in line at Stinkweeds by 8:45.

I was so impressed and pleased with how many bands issued special releases (mostly in the sonically superior vinyl format) for record store day -- over 300 new releases (compared to about 150 releases in 2010). I spent more than I planned but I don't regret it at all. Here's what I got:

Heady Nuggs by the Flaming Lips


This is the crown jewel of my Record Store Day purchases. It's a box set containing their first five albums on the Warner Bros. label. It's some of their best stuff -- The Soft Bulletin, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and Transmissions From The Satellite Heart are my top three favorite Lips albums -- and four of the five albums have been out of print for 10 years or so.

Bleed American Deluxe by Jimmy Eat World
I wasn't planning on picking this one up but I couldn't resist once I got to Stinkweeds. I didn't care for this album when it first came out, but it's really grown on me since so I'm happy to own it on vinyl. And it's the deluxe version so it's three records worth of music.

Volume I-III by Piebald
I've been looking for We Are The Only Friends That We Have on vinyl for months now -- I'm pretty sure it was never issued. This three vinyl collection has that album and two more. Each vinyl disc is a different color so that's a plus too.

Dharohar Project by Mumford & Sons/Laura Marling
This is a collaborative EP by Mumford and Sons, Laura Marling, and a "collective of Rajasthani folk musicians" from India. I don't think this EP is destined to become a favorite but it was nevertheless a necessary Record Store Day purchase.

I only had time for Stinkweeds this year because I had to be on the road for a concert in Vegas that evening. Next year I hope to have enough time to hit up Zia and Hoodlums as well. Regardless, it was the best Record Store Day yet.

speaker

I think I've mentioned here before that Speaker for the Dead is probably my second favorite book. If I haven't, I'll say it now: Speaker for the Dead is probably my second favorite book. That said, nothing saddens me more than when I hear of people reading Ender's Game and they don't bother to read Speaker for the Dead. What saddens me more than that (even though I already said "nothing saddens me more") is when people do read Speaker for the Dead and they don't like it as much as Ender's Game, or worse, they just don't like it. What saddens me equally as much as the first thing that saddens me is when someone starts reading Ender's Game and a year later (give or take) they still haven't finished it (you know who you are).

Speaker continues the story of Ender's Game protagonist Andrew "Ender" Wiggin in his travels as Speaker for the Dead -- a type of humanistic 'preacher' who recounts the deeds and misdeeds of the deceased as a way for the departed's loved ones to find truth, understanding and reconciliation in the wake of death.

About a year ago I decided to put my neglected Audible.com subscription to good use by downloading the complete Ender Saga (there are nine novels and countless short stories that make up said saga). They're fantastically produced, and according to Orson Scott Card himself, having the stories read aloud to you is the optimal medium for experiencing these books. At the end of some of the books, OSC provides an ad-libbed afterword explaining how the book came to be and so on. I love what he says at the end of Speaker:

If you really understand someone well enough to speak for them when they’re dead, you will end up – probably – loving them. Now, that’s a pretty bold thing to say – because what if you had to speak for the death of Adolph Hitler or Joseph Stalin or somebody like that – but I really think that if you knew enough about them you could at least understand how they got set on the road that led to the terrible things they did. And you don’t pull any punches, you name their sins for what they were, you talk about their flaws, you talk about their horrible choices, the viciousness, the violence, whatever they did. But you also say, "But at one point, this was a child. At one point this was a kid who wept, or a kid who wanted to be loved, or a kid who tried to well at this or at that." You look at the war experiences that shaped Adolph Hitler, or you look at the deep hunger for influence or control that drove Joseph Stalin in his childhood, and it doesn’t excuse anything, but it makes the person comprehensible. [...] You don’t eradicate them, you don’t glorify them either, you just face them for what they were, good and bad – you understand how it is a human being could get to where they are.

It's impossible to have such a complete understanding of someone, even of those we love the most. But simply knowing that we can't understand everything, and knowing there is a motive behind each action, and believing that the majority of people are inherently good -- all that is the first step, and it's quite a large one.

perfectibility is at hand

I came across this gem of a quote while I was doing some research for my forthcoming John Steinbeck blog:

"We have usurped many of the powers we once ascribed to God.

"Fearful and unprepared, we have assumed lordship over the life or death of the whole world - of all living things.

"The danger and the glory and the choice rest finally in man. The test of his perfectibility is at hand.

"Having taken Godlike power, we must seek in ourselves for the responsibility and the wisdom we once prayed some deity might have."

Given by John Steinbeck upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 (emphasis added). Full text here.

I owe you one, Harry

I remember it well. My senior year in high school. Ms. Tuzzino's mythology class. I sat in the front left corner of the classroom with my buddies, Jeff, Tyler, and Dave. OK, maybe I don't remember it as well as I thought because I don't remember how they got on the topic, but somehow Dave and Tyler started taking about Harry Potter. I was confused. I interrupted, "Wait, you guys read Harry Potter? My 12 year old brother reads that stuff."

They were two friends whose tastes and opinions I respected, so I was intrigued. I don't know if it was that night, but soon thereafter, I picked up my brother's copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I thought it was a good book, though I wasn't blown away, and I wasn't moved. But never had I been able to finish a book so quickly, and never had I been so engaged as a reader.

I picked up the second. By the third I was hooked. Forever. Reading the fourth was a milestone for me -- by my first reading, it was the longest book I had ever read, weighing in at 734 pages.

Only days away. Mere days.
Something magical happened after I read Harry Potter. I began devouring other books with the same passion. Prior to Harry, I had never considered myself much of a reader. Sure, I read here and there, but never with any consistency, taking months at a time to finish a single book. Through Harry Potter, I discovered that reading was not only enjoyable, but that it moved, inspired, and effected me in ways few things can.

So the least I can do is say thanks. Thank you, Harry and friends (and enemies) for so many great years, all seven of them. Thank you for helping me develop a love for reading, without which I would have missed out on so many great books that have influenced me so positively. Thank you for the movies too, which don't really compare to the books, but have nevertheless provided a way for my friends and me to grow closer as we celebrate you, the Boy Who Lived -- the boy who will always live on in my imagination and heart for years and years to come.

Hugo Reyes

So, Weezer has been streaming their new album Hurley on Myspace.com, A Place for Friends, for the past day or so. I checked it this morning. I have to say, I quite enjoyed the second track, "Ruling Me" (I'm listening to it right now). It's poppy and fun and has some 'oooohs' reminiscent of "Susanne". Anyway, in the midst of the song, I thought to myself, what if this album is awesome; what if I can hang with every track. Then I got to the unsavory fifth song, "Where's My Sex." If you thought "We Are All On Drugs" was bad, well, Weezer have really outdone themselves with this jam, but not in a good way.

It's funny how every Weezer album can manage to get my hopes up then dash them against the rocks. Every time. It's funny how I keep thinking that Weezer will come out with something that I'll love as much as the Blue Album or Pinkerton. Sigh.

I need to give this album a few more spins before I can say really if it's good or not (though I can tell you right now it's better than Raditude; and, by good I mean, will I love 9 out of 10 songs on this album (I've already identified one that I hate)).

I can say this, though: I feel like Weezer didn't take too much time on this album. It's not that they rushed through it, they just left it slightly unpolished. The guitars are a bit more rough and Rivers' voice seems a little flat at times -- it gives the album a raw edge, something Weezer fans haven't really heard since Pinkerton. I like it.

Hurley is out next Tuesday, 14 September. Incidentally, I'll be in Beijing next Tuesday. So who knows if I'll be able to actually buy it until I'm back in the U.S. and A. Perhaps I'll have an update for this album review then...

(Sorry if you thought this post was about LOST.)

spoiler alert!

I finished reading Mockingjay last night.

[I'd like to preface the this post with this rant.]

I think I was looking for something other than what these books turned out to be. I was looking for an adventure story and, while there was plenty of adventure along the way, in the end it was more about who Katniss ended up with than what happened to the people she was fighting for. It was almost like reading Twilight dressed up and sold as Harry Potter. If it weren't for all the dying going on I'd feel cheated.

Or maybe I just hoped too hard and tricked myself into thinking that the Hunger Games wouldn't be another girl-loves-guy-but-then-this-other-guy-comes-along-and-it-takes-three-books-for-her-to-really-decide series. I was hoping the love story would end up as an incidental aspect of the plot, not the ending point of the final book.

[End rant.]

Despite this particular setback, it's obvious that I had to enjoy this series to have made it to the last book and read it in a matter of days (as much as I love reading, I'm really slow at it).

I feel like most 'real' sci-fi authors use a dystopian setting as social commentary -- which can be annoying. However, Suzanne Collins manages to create a post-apocalyptic world whose commentary is more subtle than overbearing.

I was always surprised by the deaths of certain characters -- characters you'd think the author would keep alive for the sake of continuity. Like Cinna for example. Or Finnick, you feel like he should've made it out alive to share in the triumph over the Capitol. These unexpected deaths add a sense of reality to the series.

If it's not too morbid of me to say so, the constant death is what makes these books meaningful and sets them apart from other young adult fiction (that I've read anyway).

But I feel like the author should've played up the death aspect even more. I always love it when books explore the nature of death (HP7 did a great job of that). I would've loved for the author to develop some kind of philosophy around death instead of leaving it an incidental although integral part of the story.

I think there are few books that I read and like that I would recommend to just anyone -- but The Hunger Games series just might have something for everyone.

Update 5/19/2011: Looking back, I think there are fewer people I would recommend this to due to how the series ended.

Weezer 2010: too little, too late?

Whenever I blog about Weezer it always ends up being a long rant that I feel like no one would care about reading but me and I end up deleting it before I finish. This may turn into that. But so be it, because maybe I just need to get it out of my system.

- - - - -

Nostalgia is so in right now. And Weezer seems to be capitalizing on it. A few weeks ago Weezer released a single called "Memories" from their new album Hurley (this might be their best album cover yet), due out September 14. The song details the band's exploits during their early days and reaches levels of fuzz and rock rarely, if ever, seen in Weezer's past decade (could this be due to the band recently signing to Epitaph?).

If that's not enough, the band is set to release not one, but two throwback albums during the month of November. The first is called Death To False Metal... A Collection Of Unheard Songs From The Weezer Vault (previously titled Odds and Ends -- though I'm curious to know how much of this collection is actually 'unheard' -- old demo Weezer tracks weren't hard to find online in the early '00s).

The second album is a two-disc deluxe version of the fan favorite Pinkerton. Though I'm pretty positive I've heard every song that will be on the 'deluxe' portion of this album I'm nevertheless excited for it because a.) my Pinkerton CD skips like nobody's business and I feel cheap rocking a burned copy; after all, it is one of my top three favorite albums; and, b.) they might release it on vinyl (although I already have an import version of Pinkerton on vinyl). In addition to all this Pinkerton goodness, hardcore fans can purchase a three-disc 'superdeluxe' version of Pinkerton that includes the third installment of Rivers' Alone series (Alone is a collection of Rivers' home-recorded demos; two Alone albums have been released so far).

In sum, we're being bombarded with five albums worth of Weezer in the span of less than two months.

- - - - -

When Weezer's Pinkerton was released in 1996 I had just turned 14. I bought the album a couple weeks after it was released; I found it in the used section at Sam Goody for $9.00. I remember listening to the album the next day while working on my bike in the garage. I didn't hate it, but I didn't get it -- the rough guitars, the raw, intimate vocals, the raucous, bombastic drumbeats -- it was certainly a change from their debut Blue album. I wasn't surprised that it had ended up in the used section where I found it only a couple weeks after the album was released.

Pinkerton did have one pop gem, however, that kept me coming back to the album during the first year of owning that album: the album's first (and only semi-commercial) single, "El Scorcho." I listened to this song almost every day before school in eight grade. I know this song like I know few things in my life.

When I found out that Weezer would be stopping in Tempe during their Pinkerton tour on December 17, 1996 (I'm pretty sure of this date) I knew I had to go. But, my mom didn't agree with me. She said I was too young to attend such a concert. I was devastated. I remember walking around the block and crying (gimme a break, I was 14) when I found out I couldn't go.

I didn't see Weezer live till 2000 at the Warped Tour in 'lovely' Chula Vista, CA, with Danny, Joby, and Jeff, as evidenced in this charming photograph -- a story for a different blog post, perhaps.

Like I said, I didn't quite 'get' Pinkerton when it was first released. In time, though, I came to regard it as work of masterful genius and my love for it even surpassed that of the Blue album.

- - - - -

A week or so ago MTV News caught wind from Rivers himself of some news bound to excite even the most cynical Weezer fan: Weezer's plans for a Blue/Pinkerton tour to coincide with the release of the Pinkerton deluxe edition.

Attending a Weezer concert where they play nothing but songs from Blue and Pinkerton is something I've dreamed of since 1996. So why am I not jumping up and down and peeing my pants with joy?

I just revisited a blog post from almost two years ago wherein I describe my excitement and elation at the announcement of Jimmy Eat World's Clarity tour.

So why doesn't the announcement of a Blue/Pinkerton tour illicit a similar emotional response? Here I am, I'm not even a cynical Weezer fan and I refuse to let myself get excited. What did me in? Was the Raditude straw that broke the camel's back? (I do love a few songs on that album -- I just have an impossible time hanging with tracks like "Love is the Answer" and "In the Mall.")

Where was Weezer two years ago when Jimmy Eat World was announcing their Clarity tour and paying back the devotion of their longtime fans with the gift of a lifetime? Is Weezer's potential Blue/Pinkerton tour too little, too late?

Don't get me wrong. I still love Weezer. You know I'll be in the front row of whatever Blue/Pinkerton show I can get to (which will probably be in California because I doubt a tour like this will come to Phoenix). Maybe the Blue/Pinkerton tour is just what I need to rekindle my love for Weezer... a love that has been ever more fleeting in the recent years.

...maybe.

"Let me tell you about the gods."

I've been listening to the audiobook Xenocide at work for the past week or so and the the other day I heard a passage that I really love:


"Gods again," said Wiggin.

"Always gods," said Ela.

"What do you mean?" said Wang-mu. "Quing-jao doesn't say that she's a god, and neither do I."

"Yes you do," said Ela. "'Quing-jao is wise and good,' you said."

"'Brilliant and good,'" Wiggin corrected her.

"'And I can never be like her,'" Ela went on.

"Let me tell you about the gods,'" said Wiggin. "No matter how smart or strong you are, there's always somebody smarter or stronger, and when you run into somebody who's stronger and smarter than anybody, you think, This is a god. This is perfection. But I can promise you that there's somebody else who'll make your god look like a maggot by comparison. And somebody stronger or smarter or better in some way. So let me tell you what I think about the gods. I think a real god is not going to be so scared or angry that he tries to keep other people down.... A real god doesn't care about control. A real god already has control of everything that needs controlling. Real gods would want to teach you how to be just like them."

"Quing-jao wanted to teach me," said Wang-mu.

"But only as long as you obeyed and did what she said," said Jane.

"I'm not worthy," said Wang-mu. "I'm too stupid to ever learn to be as wise as her."

"And yet you knew when I spoke the truth," said Jane, "when all Quing-jao could see were lies."


Wise words from Ender and friends.

oh no, there she goes

Not sure how many of you have read Ender's Game. It's a sci-fi novel by Orson Scott Card. It's about little kid geniuses who head out to space to learn the ways of warfare in order to prepare for an imminent attack on Earth by, you guessed it, aliens.

I can't say I've met anyone who read this book and hated it. Which cannot be said for a lot of popular fiction out there.

As much as I love Ender's Game, it's its sequel, Speaker for the Dead, that really gets me.



Hanging with Brother Card at BYU-Idaho, November 2007. Yeah, he's LDS.

Be warned: if you read Ender's Game and decide to tackle Speaker for the Dead, remember that Speaker is an entirely different book. The things that you will end up loving about Ender's Game will be absent from Speaker. And be warned also that there are two (technically three*) books that follow Speaker. So if you want to find out what happens to the characters you will undoubtedly grow to love, you will need to read all four (five) books.

OSC is an interesting writer because he uses a science fiction setting not only to tell a great story but also to explore philosophical, psychological, emotional and moral dilemmas that don't exist in our world today. Which I think is a pretty rare thing to find in sci-fi nowadays (although it's abundant in classic sci-fi). And the characters. You fall in love with them. You wish you could be friends with them. You feel sorry for them; you cry when they do. And not all of them are human. When you start to sympathize with beings you know are not human -- I don't think you can develop more convincing characters than that. No sir, no ma'am.

Go. Read.

*There is an enormous gap of time between Ender's Game and Speaker. OSC recently wrote a fifth novel for this series that bridges the gap between these two books. Even still, it's better to read them in the order in which they were published, not the order in which they occur chronologically.

everybody wants to rule the world

Last October I came pretty close to buying an iPhone. My two year contract with Verizon was up and I was thoroughly unimpressed with their selection of smart-phones. I hesitated though because I didn't know too much about AT&T's network. It's not that I'm all about Verizon... it's just that I've never had problems with Verizon's service: no dropped calls and more bars when my friends on other networks had fewer or none. If it ain't broke why fix it, right?

Anyway, I'm glad I hesitated. Here's why:


The Motorola Droid.

I digress:

I hate iTunes. OK, that's not true, I just hate the iTunes Store. I'll explain. A few years ago, when iTunes was somewhat of a new thing, I downloaded a bunch of songs for my mom's birthday. Fast forward to Christmas 2009. My mom gets a new iPod for Christmas. Well, being the loving son I am, I offer to my help my mother load up her new iPod with the existing tunes on her computer, among which were the tracks that I had previously purchased for her. So I drag and drop onto the iPod but I'm greeted with an error message. I couldn't put these songs -- purchased from the iTunes Store -- on my mom's new iPod because they were not authorized to play on my mom's computer, nor could they be because these songs had reached the maximum amount of authorizations (five computers).

Stupid, right? Did I buy these songs or did I buy these songs? Anyway, it took me much longer than needed to put those songs on my mom's iPod. Thank you iTunes.

From what I understand -- I don't really know because I don't buy from the iTunes Store anymore -- Apple has ditched the DRM mess and they now allow their 'special' audio format to be played on non-Apple devices and softwares.

So nowadays, it's not so much that I refuse to buy from iTunes, it's more that it makes more sense to buy elsewhere, especially when it comes to price. Embryonic by the Flaming Lips on iTunes costs $10.99. Not bad for 18 tracks, right? Amazon.com for same mp3 album: $8.99 -- two bucks cheaper and it comes with a bonus track.

And you really can't beat Amazon.com's sick sales:

*Deal of the Day -- I bought Raditude (mp3) by Weezer for $3.99. A few weeks prior, FOTC's new album (mp3) sold for the same price.

*Black Friday week -- During the week of Thanksgiving they sold over 500 mp3 albums for $5.00 each.

*Every month they have 50 or more mp3 albums for $5.00. And it's legit stuff too.

*Currently they have over 800 mp3 albums for $5.00. In conjunction with this sale, if you buy an mp3 album priced at $7.99 or above you get a $5.00 album free. Again, legit stuff here; I took advantage of this sale and got OK Computer for free.

(Of course, more often than not I'll end up buying the physical copy; support your local record store.)

Don't get me wrong, Apple makes great products. I love my iPod and I wouldn't mind owning a Mac -- for photo editing and other creative projects -- and I did come pretty close to buying an iPhone. I just find their incompatibility (hence my rant about iTunes) and smugness (see any Mac or iPhone commercial) quite off-putting. Ultimately, I'm not anti-Apple, I'm anti-monopoly.

Now, let's get back to the Droid. Here's why I'm glad I didn't buy an iPhone:

*Verizon: Luke Wilson will tell you that AT&T has (1) a faster network and (2) allows for simultaneous data and voice service, i.e., Internet browsing during a phone call. (1) What is the point in having a faster network when your coverage is inferior? Also, if I'm using the Internet on my phone, it's for something that doesn't require a great amount of speed, like checking my bank balance or Facebook or sending a quick email. (2) I don't really care. I can see the advantage of simultaneous voice and data but I just don't see myself surfing the Internet and talking to a friend at the same time. So again, if it ain't broke why fix it?

*Android operating system: Since the advent of Gmail I've been in love with Google products, and so it is with the Droid's Google operating system. The way it juggles phone contacts with Facebook friends is pretty impressive.

*Its name: The word 'droid' -- short for android -- was coined by George Lucas. Verizon/Motorola is under special license from Lucasfilm for the name of this phone. It just makes sense for me to own a phone that draws its name from the Star Wars universe.

seven! seven cookies! ah! ah! ah! ah!

My brother suggested Dracula probably a year ago but I finally got around to reading in October. And I finished it two nights before Halloween. How fitting.

Honestly, Dracula freaked me out. More than once I was slightly scared to turn off the lights for bed after reading this book. More than once I expected to look up and see Dracula's pasty face, sadistic eyes and red lips hovering over me as I slept. The dude is pure evil.

That said, I totally enjoyed this book. I don't necessarily enjoy being terrified, nor am I a horror fan, but I do enjoy a classic good-versus-evil tale. Furthermore, there's something to be said for any book that can evoke a certain feeling or emotion; this one does terror quite well.

Today though, that vampiric sense of terror seems to have vanished. Instead we're stuck with this:


The contrast is laughable*.

Of course, that's not to say that nothing good has come from the Twilight series. I give you three examples:

"Meet Me on the Equinox" by Death Cab for Cutie. I kind of like the fact that this is a mediocre Death Cab song. As if they didn't want to 'waste' their best material on the New Moon soundtrack.

"Hearing Damage" by Thom Yorke. I might start liking Radiohead. Not that I've ever disliked Radiohead, I've just never taken the time to get into them.

"Possibility" by Lykke Li. I was totally surprised by this track. Not the first time I've heard Lykke Li but probably the first time I've given her an honest listen (I guess my taste in music is somewhat sexist). I also thought this song fit well in Bella's emo montage in the movie. My favorite track from New Moon.


*Speaking of laughable, as I was perusing Amazon.com for reviews on Dracula I unearthed this gem:

Me being the avid vampire fan that I am, I'm always willing to read new vampire fiction. The librarian suggested this one to me so I thought I'd give it a shot.

What a terrible read. I couldn't stand it for long, so I started skimming through the thing. Turns out the vampire in this book is an old guy, and he lives in a castle! What?! Any vampire fan knows that vampires roam the streets of upper middle class suburbia and high schools. Whoever this Bram Stoker guy is, it's quite clear that he doesn't know a thing on vampires, and his attempt to cash in on the vampire craze is indeed a failure.

I'll be returning this on my next trip to the library and sticking to the teen reading section for finding my next vampire novel.

(New Moon comes out November 20th, woooooo!)

yeah!

I'm kinda not a fan of regurgitative blog posts...


...but I just really like this picture.

Rivers and Michael Cera hangin' on the soccer field...

Timshel!

I have a confession to make. The year was 2007 and the month was February (I think; it could've been late January). On a Saturday night Fat Cat and I ended up the a Border's book store at Superstition Mall. I was in the literature section looking for a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's swashbuckling classic Treasure Island (while this post is about another book, T.I. is also very much worth a read). I pulled a copy of T.I. off the shelf along with volume of Stevenson's short stories. As I lingered among the "Ste" authors in literature section, evaluating my potential purchases, a red sticker on a hefty paperback novel caught my attention. I placed the two Stevenson books under my arm and lifted the book with the red sticker in order to examine it more closely. The sticker read, "THE BOOK THAT BROUGHT OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB BACK." (Of course after two years I couldn't recall the sticker's exact wording but I was able to find it, thanks to google.) I didn't even know that Oprah had had a book club, that it had disbanded, and that it had been called back into existence by this book. I was intrigued.

I set the book down and picked up another copy of the same book with a different cover. The cover spoke to me. Maybe it was the two trees silhouetted against the dusty yellow sky; or perhaps it was the man painted underneath the tree in the foreground, whose body language conveyed a feeling of despair and anguish and regret; but probably it was the fact that the stupid Oprah sticker was missing. I read title in small italicized print at the bottom of the book: East of Eden. The author's name was printed in capital letters in orange ink: John Steinbeck.

I flipped the book over. The back cover described it as "a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis." Who doesn't love the Old Testament? I was sold. I sandwiched it between the two Stevenson tomes and marched to the cash register.

A (very) brief summary of this multi-generational sprawling historical epic: Cal and Aron were born in the Salinas valley in Monterey County, California (incidentally where Steinbeck grew up). The fraternal twins were raised by their father Adam Trask and Lee, the family's intellectual Chinese servant. The boys grew up being told by their father that their mother, Cathy, died when they were young and was in heaven. Quite the opposite was true: after attempting to kill Adam shortly after the birth of the twins, Cathy ran away and became a prostitute in the nearby town of Salinas.


Sang's Cafe, Salinas, CA. Apparently Steinbeck himself ate here. Apparently.

Rather than wasting your time with my thoughts on the book, I'll let it speak for itself. As a teenager, Cal, the more clever and sinister of the twins, learns the truth about his mother:

Cal drifted toward the door, slowly, softly. He shoved his fists deep in his pockets. "It's like you said about knowing people. I hate her because I know why she went away. I know--because I've got her in me." His head was down and his voice was heartbroken.

Lee jumped up. "You stop that!" he said sharply. "You hear me? Don't let me catch you doing that. Of course you may have that in you. Everybody has. But you've got the other too. Here--look up! Look at me!"

Cal raised his head and said wearily, "What do you want?"

"You've got the other too. Listen to me! You wouldn't be wondering if you didn't have it. Don't you dare take the lazy way. It's too easy to excuse yourself because of your ancestry. Don't let me catch you doing it! Now--look close at me so you will remember. Whatever you do, it will be you who do it--not your mother."

"Do you believe that, Lee?"

"Yes, I believe it, and you'd better believe it or I'll break every bone in your body."

How would you like to be immortalized by a novel and a liquor store?! This is down the street from Steinbeck's boyhood home, also in Salinas, CA.

This book has several themes: identity and destiny, as illustrated by the previous passage; and good versus evil, according to the following:

I believe there is one story in the world, and only one, that has frightened and inspired us, so that we live in a Pearl White serial of continuing thought and wonder. Humans are caught--in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too--in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and vice were warp and woof of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last, and this despite any changes we may impose on field and river and mountain, on economy and manners. There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was is evil? Have I done well--or ill?
= = = = =
We have only one story. All novels, all poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good, while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.

I suppose I could keep going with passages. But, if you've made it this far you might as well read the book.

Oh yeah, I had a confession to get to, of which I'm slightly ashamed: I owe my discovery of this book to Oprah, her book club, and a tacky red sticker.

made glorious summer

It's been a while since I've gone this long without a post. It's because whenever I come home for breaks I always switch into turbo-reading mode to catch up on all the books I wasn't able to read while I'm at school.

Friday night I finished reading my sixth novel by John Steinbeck. He's my favorite deceased author (Orson Scott Card being my favorite living). The Winter of Our Discontent is probably my third favorite Steinbeck Novel, after East of Eden and Cannery Row, though it has the coolest title of any of his books (taken from Shakespeare's Richard III, I believe).

This book reads differently from the other Steinbeck novels I've read; it has a much more modern feel. It's told through the main character Ethan Allen Hawley, heir to a squandered fortune. Instead of enjoying the status and fortune of his father and grandfather, Ethan is forced to work as a grocery store clerk to support his family. The story is an account of Ethan's stuggle to regain the position and dignity his family once enjoyed.

I really enjoy Steinbeck because his stories are so original and far from predictable. You feel less like you're going through the process of a story and more like you're experiencing what the characters experience. I wish I could explain the (dare I say?) majesty of writing; it's really something you have to experience for yourself. The best part is there is a Steinbeck novel for everyone. Looking for a sprawling, multi-generational family epic of grandiose proportions? Check out East of Eden. Don't feel like making that kind of investment? Try Cannery Row or Of Mice and Men. Average length novel with a far-from-average story and even better characters? I suggest Grapes of Wrath or The Winter of Our Discontent. You can't go wrong with any of these. It's just a matter of what kind of read you want. Let me know if you want to borrow one of these, I own them all.