Nothing of too much importance

Yeah, just go here for all your blogging needs from now on:

http://contemporation.com/

I'll post on this blog every once and while for personal reasons. It's always sort of been a journal for me anyway, but one that anyone can read. So it's the best kind of journal.

Progress

I think blogging is for people who want a creative outlet but don't really have enough internet chops (i.e. html, java, etc) or time on their hands to create a website of their own. The team at Blogger.com is awesome because they really seem to be progressing culture through the opportunity they give everyone to share their thoughts on life and cultural findings. I've been itching for more lately, and I only wish I had taken a web design class in college so that I'd be able to do something about it. I did find a sweet hosting site, however, that's similar to blogspot only it's just more rad. Check out what I made last night in about thirty minutes--

http://contemporation.com

I know it's scanty on content and it's similar to other blogs out there, but what I like about it is that it doesn't give off the same sort of amateur vibe that you get from pretty much every blogging site around. It's crisper and resonates a more professional look. Simplicity is good-- go to Drudge Report or Kulturblog if you want examples-- but blogger.com is the wrong sort of simplicity if you want your blog to be recieved as more than just a journal or creative outlet.

Bearded rockers are awesome

This is an unusual post for me because I can't really express what's on my mind right now, which is usually not one of my many weaknesses. I think it's because it's vaguely related to modern fashion, and although I have a pretty good fashion sense, it's not something I can comment on, it's just something I know. Talk to me for hours on the latest trends in video games and I'll give you a thorough and enlightening experience. Talk to me about why I use matte instead of pomade, and you'll get something to the effect of, "it smells good and feels even better." End of story.

But anyway, here's my little compilation of pictures of bearded men who have a whole lot of talent just pouring out of their ill maintained facial hair. Keep in mind that each of these bands are awesome, and not just some random faces I pulled off of Google images.

Vandaveer (the group Aubrey and I saw at the Sunset Tavern in Seattle)

The Black Keys

My Morning Jacket

Iron and Wine

Bon Iver

Band of Horses

Respite Over

I was talking to my sister, Aubrey, about how inconsistent I sometimes am in writing on my blog. She and I are different in this aspect. She was saying how she often has thoughts that make such an impact that she can't help but express them though her blog. I guess the reason my blog doesn't consist of my thoughts on life and living is because the theme of my blog has somewhat shifted this last year. You may see that back in the day (end of last year) when I started this blog it sort of read like a journal. At that time I was certainly being bombarded by thoughts which stemmed from the fact that I was having a lot of first-time-in-two-years experiences. Nowadays it seems that my writing is a lot more focused. I think I had an excess of fantastic thoughts about how the number of people who visited my blog would steadily increase until I had a healthy following of about 40,000. 

So I think I eventually, and subconsciously, came to the realization that the only people reading my blog would be my best friends and the occational family member. Now, although my posts are less frequent, I think they mostly consist of things that only you people would want to read. I can count my audience on one hand for the most part, so why in heaven's name do I need to worry about what I write? However, at the same time, why would I need to plaster a bunch of thoughts about nothing onto a computer screen when all of you are just a phone call or a facebook email away? So I'm going to try, as always, to ensure that taking time out of your busy schedules to visit my blog isn't a complete waste of time.

New Frontiers

Something I've never done: read a comic book or graphic novel or anything will illustrations and words organized into little square boxes on a page. (Calvin and Hobbes excepted)

"Watchmen" has been high on my list of necessary reads ever since I found out about the movie under the same title that will be released early next year. The movie is highly anticipated for a number of reasons.

One, it will be directed by the skill behind the movie "300", Zach Snyder. "300" is also a highly acclaimed graphic novel turned movie, so the choice of director makes perfect sense. Nailing the style of the novel and being able to translate that to film is what Snyder was able to accomplish with "300" and will presumably do with "Watchmen". Two very different styles, but one talented director whom I think will be able to again prove his prowess.

Two, because since the late nineties and especially since '01 the United States and most of world have developed an intense love of movies with superheroes. Lately, superheroes with human weaknesses are in. Peter Parker and the Bruce Wayne from "The Dark Knight" come directly to mind.

And three, because Watchmen is considered widely to be the greatest graphic novel ever written and one of the best novels of the 20th century in general, according to critics worldwide. Time magazine recognizes the book as one of best of the 20th century alongside works produced by such authors as George Orwell, John Steinbeck and Harper Lee.

I'm only a third of the way through reading it but I can already tell that I've uncovered one of those pearls of literature that's just waiting to be discovered by anyone with the mind to appreciate it.

A Night in Seattle, part 2

Before the following evening began, at least one thing was certain: we had to see a rock concert. I searched and searched online for any possible option but it soon felt like we had chosen the wrong saturday night in Seattle to catch psychadelic rock show. I felt like I was on to something when I stumbled upon a concert hosted by the Vera Project, which is also who sponsored the last Seattle rock show I went to six months ago in April. However, upon closer inspection, the concert was cancelled and I was disappointed because it sounded quite promising. However, I didn't give up hope because the other option we were going have to settle for would've been a movie, and although I would've enjoyed myself, I would've felt weird having travelled a thousand miles to Seattle just to catch a movie in the cheap (although shamelessy hip) theater.

So I kept scrounging for more choices and I found out about a place called Sunset Tavern where another little show was to take place that night. It was cheap and after checking out the band's myspace pages, we decided that the music seemed to be right up our alley. The three bands that played were Vandaveer, who are pictured above, These the United States and Velella Velella. Each of the bands were quite different from each other but fantastic in their own way. Vandaveer was way chill and just permeated an intensely free spirited attitude in their music, lyrics and the way in which they carried themselves on and off stage. These the United States were hippies as well, but their tunes were a lot more frantic and classic rock sounding, with a slightly southern touch. I'd compare them to a modern day Lynard Skynard or a louder and crazier Wilco. The last band was my favorite for a lot of reasons. For one, two of the band members were woman who did most of the backup vocals and played instruments as well. They also had a hip sound that's fairly new for the music world-- kind of dancy and retro with a lot of techno influence. It's basically rock and roll mixed with Daft Punk techno (which in itself contains a lot of funk and R&B) and the trippiness of everything produced by expert soundsmith, Moby. I know that it's a lot to digest, so I don't expect you to hear it clearly in your head based solely on my sketchy description. But I do recommend you look them up if you get the chance.

I forgot to mention that before the concert we stopped by H&M and picked up some pimpin' threads-- I'd be clearly limited in my choices if I were to buy all my clothes in the eastern Idaho region, so I had no choice but to hit that up.

A Night in Seattle

I up and went to Seattle last week to spend the weekend with Aubrey, her husband and their growing herd of rugrats. And what's a visit to Seattle without a stop at the world famous Dick's hamburgers and shakes? As excited as I was to be in Seattle out on the town, I remained calm enough to remember to call Tami and gloat about where I was. So, there she is in the pic, though it's kind of hard to tell it's her.

After the kids were in bed we left again to go to the Triple Door theater where a jazz ensemble happened to be playing that night. Going to this place was a tough decision as an Against Me! concert was starting at around the same time just a few streets away. Against Me! would've rocked harder than just about any concert I've been to, Foo Fighters aside, but I didn't regret our decision in the slightest. I love jazz. It's so transcedent and pure, and the ensemble that played that night just...got it. The best concerts are the ones where the musicians enjoy the music they're producing much more than the audience, which is exactly what we got to experience at the Triple Door.

Service to my future self

I assume that some time in the far future I'll be branded a dork by my posterity. This picture is the first of many that were taken with the hope of countering this dark inevitability. If it's not cool, it's at least interesting enough to make them look at my past in a different light. I could tell them a number of fanciful tales-- that I won the regional downhill long-boarding championship three years in a row, that I was once homeless for a year, carrying with me only the clothes on my back and my trusty long-board, or that I had a girlfriend whose hopeless addiction to photography led to the giving of a wicked-awesome camera which led to the eventual taking of this picture. I could say all of this and it would be almost completely and 100% true, except for the last part, of course.

Life-altering moment

Every so often in my life I have the priceless opportunity of experiencing something that literally changes the way in which I see everything around me. Or at least, something that makes me enjoy life much more and helps me better captivate the miniscule details that make things beautiful in more ways than are immediately obvious. I've noticed that these experiences are generally isolated within certain categories, and for me, they almost always have to with something that our senses consume, like movies, music, landscapes, people. There are specific moments in my brief existence that I can pinpoint with accuracy and say without exaggeration, "it was that very moment that I began to love movies," or music, or books, or whatever tickles my fancy (which is everything).

The point I'm trying to make is that a few weeks ago I had a life-changing experience involving cinema, all thanks to my friend and media mentor, Olivia. We watched a little-known movie called, "Brazil," released in 1985 and directed by Terry Gilliam. After seeing this movie, a lot happened within my brain. I suddenly had a further appreciation for movies and especially books that are created with the purpose of warning our society about the potentially destructive destination it's headed. And although the film and other books that do this, most notably 1984, portray these things in a deliberately over-the-top fashion, if you remove all the goofy characters, sets, and fake special effects, the story begins to be a little too close for comfort. Besides being paying obvious homage to classic dystopian literature, it's a movie that excels like none other in brilliant storytelling and sharp dialogue and easily keeps the audience intrigued with its mystery, romance and an intensely creative premise.

Watch this movie, it's changed my life.

A return to reality

You ever have one of those prolonged experiences in your life that absolutely change how you live, think, feel. . . everything? But then, it's over, and everything's instantly and often painfully brought back to the way they were, and you're left to wonder, "was it all just a dream, made up by my own mind?" The mission was like this for me. It was over suddenly, and when I returned home everything was the same. I vivedly remembered the last few weeks before my departure, but everything else was like an unusually epic dream, the details all fuzzy and unclear. Some things about this life are oddly surreal to me, like, for example, the passage of time. Time is just a mortal concept, and maybe it's for that reason that it feels so unnatural to me. I want to live in the moment, halt time's progress during those experiences most cherished and forever remembered. I've caught myself wishing this more often lately than ever before. The moment then ends and the only feeling of consolation is achieved through the hope of things to come. Optimism is much easier when our ultimate destinies are all laid out for us.

I can't really grasp a single, cohesive point right now, I just needed to ramble a bit.