room #334

there really is a bright side to everything. so my bro and his fam had some plumbing issues which basically flooded their master bathroom with subsequent damage to the downstairs kitchen, and as a result their homeowner's insurance put them up in a hotel suite.



needless to say after hearing about this and something called the manager's reception (or sum shite) which was basically FREE all you can drink alcohol from 5:30-7, it was on like donkey kong!!! oh and breakfast the next morning was just as good, we are talking cooked to order & omelettes (though i still don't fully understand the & part of that). we also did a lot of swimming, laughing and lounging.

afterwards i was able to do a little bit of exploring...

feliz cumps pops!!

it's really strange when one grows up with a father figure in a world where father figures are not more than a character on a sitcom. especially when this father has not only lived an incredibly fantastic and rewarding life, yet has given himself unconditionally to his children. this man, my father, has lived a life that i know i can only pretend to have the balls to live and, in spite of it all, has given me more love than language can even pronounce. and to my pops i wish you a happy 77th!!

nueva musica: Scarlett Johansson

so i've been reading many reviews of Scarlett Johansson's album of Tom Wait's covers "anywhere i lay my head" and they all unanimously agree that the album is crap. i on the other hand disagree, especially considering that the actress turned singer bar is so incredibly low, and also that the idea of such an album of wait's covers would raise the bar extremely high, the bar would obviously average to a respectable entry-level album deserving of an honest and open ear...and by that definition alone the album is a success.


the album is by no means radio friendly, it is very moody and serious with a tinge of whimsey. now musically and lyrically the album is genius...and though admittedly i have not heard too much of tom wait's music (despite having three of his albums in my itunes) i do feel like her take on the songs is great. most of her vocals are a bit drowned in reverb type effects, but i feel that all the synthesizing and production, thanks to David Andrew Sitek, (TV on the Radio) adds an ethereal aspect to her very low monotonic voice.



after hearing the album for a couple of weeks, it has definitely grown on me, and my only conclusion for the negative reviews are that its Scarlett Johansson doing the singing, because i feel that if it would have been a nobody newcomer the album would have been praised. so i am personally giving my thumbs up to this album...if you are a fan of moody, somewhat melancholic music definitely check this out.

favorite tracks thus far: falling down, town with no cheer, fannin street, i wish i was in new orleans, fawn (instrumental)

d.i.y.

gravity:
is one of the universal forces of nature. It is an attractive force between all matter, and is very weak as compared to the other forces of nature. The gravitational force between two objects is dependent on their masses, which is why we can only see gravity in action when at least one of the objects is very large.

bong:
commonly known as a water pipe, is a smoking device, generally used to smoke cannabis, tobacco, or other substances.

homeward bound

After a much needed drunken night of socializing, the trek home lingered...
until it was time to call it a night.

Begin:

Turn Right:

Proceed with caution:

Continue ahead:

autopilot engage.

fin

thicker than water

so to put this delicately...i think that there might be something wrong with my niece...

show me what you got...

in terms of fancy footwork


two step, two step, two step....july 30th baby!!

jasmine

this jasmine has been growing in my backyard for quite a while, its flourished to astronomical proportions so much so that it is literally collapsing the pergola which supports it. however, i truly wish that i could smell-o-blog this one to fully explain the sweet fragrance that consumes my entire house right around this time.

drugs are bad

she needs to hook me up with her connect.

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"I'm a pimp... and pimps don't commit suicide."

I was finally able to watch Southland Tales (on dvd thanks to my budget these days) after what seems to have been nearly a century.

The film is Richard Kelly's sophomore film follow up to the highly successful Donnie Darko. Now like most indi filmmakers who have a successful first film, the follow up is usually always much bigger, both in terms of budget and concept and this film is no different. With an "interesting" cast of characters including Justin Timberlake, the Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sean William Scott and Mandy Moore, the film is definitely multi layered as it connects these parallel character story lines. Without giving away too much the film follows the Rock who is related to a presidential candidate during a very big election year, who goes missing and reemerges with porn star (Gellar) and has written a very important script which seems to have peaked everyone's interest.

Now where I feel the film is successful seems to also be where I feel it fails. The film is at times too layered. And i mean this literally from all angles, it is a hybrid of the absurdist comedic sci-fi, action, political satire variety. He really does a great job tackling what seems to be every issue facing us today: our need for an alternative fuel source, our incredible desire to feed on all things pop culture, big brother, addiction, politics, the war in iraq, patriot act, marxism, young veterans, pornography, teen sex, our overwhelming news feeds which have become a crawl within a crawl within a split screen, religion, and (as in DD) the apocalypse and time travel. (Im sure i skipped a few)

Now while some are the main focus of the film (our need for alternative fuels, time travel and the apocalypse) they are all visibly present throughout the film. Now where it succeeds is in the writing, i think he really is one of the few filmmakers who would not only attempt to conquer such a daunting film but he does so without losing the viewer by actually delivering an entertaining film. And as was the case in DD, some of the scenes are just visually stunning. Also despite the big names, i felt the casting was actually surprisingly good, i actually liked the rock as the lead role.

But the film seems to be just too much, almost as if he purged himself of every single thought and emotion he has felt over the past few years and turned into a satire. And even as a satire it seems at times not funny enough to be considered a comedy though definitely absurdist at many points. As a viewer I wish that he would have either stripped it down somewhat (blasphemy! i know) or at least turned up the comedic factor (though i find myself laughing at some of the moments in retrospect)

Yet, despite all of this I did really like the film, it definitely intrigued me and had me desperately wanting a second viewing. As a writer i really did enjoy how he was able to fit all of this into one script as well as all of his social commentary on our current state and his depiction of the power an individual who would actually discover a "successful" alternative fuel source could possibly attain. (and i also loved seeing so many shots of venice beach and the sidewalk cafe) And though the film "bombed" as is the curse of the sophomore film, I am definitely anticipating how he will follow up this film.

mother's day

so i have this confession to make...anytime that i am feeling particularly down (you know those days when you are at your lowest lows, the days that you ponder what the meaning of life is and exactly how you ended up where you are and why your shit is not anywhere close to where it should be..yeah those days) i think to myself well at least i don't have any kids!


now that is not to say that i do not like children or that i necessarily believe they are evil or a killer of dreams and hopes and that having them would literally be a form of ritual suicide to what i deem to be utter "freedom", but more so that the idea of struggling both financially and emotionally singularly is sometimes too difficult to bear, let alone coupled with the responsibility and sheer selflessness that would be required with raising another human being.


but then there are those rare moments, those moments when you actually interact with children, when you just sit down, play, listen and enter their world. the moments when you realize that those beautiful little innocent faces

really are the future, and despite how insanely annoying and spoiled they may act, they just flash you this little face with a look that you know, as well as they know, will somehow completely redeem and/or justify any amount of bullshit they throw your way...

and as you stare back down at them, you think to yourself maybe that is what life is all about.

tri lambdas

one of my friends just recently moved out of a frat house and i was finally able to make it over there and see exactly how they live. aside from the stereotypical accumalation of dirt, clutter, empty beer cans and about a hundred different couches spread throughout the house, i was shocked and admittedly a little jealous once i was walked into the kitchen... behold the holy grail of alcoholics:

(fyi. those bottles of jager continued to border the entire top of the cabinetry and essentially wrapped around the entire kitchen.)

portishead

these are just a couple of snippets from portishead's brilliant performance at coachella...enjoy!