Today's number is...

the number 254.

A stranger eating in a diner. A dwarf with a revolver. A brain in a jar...

...and creatures outside the window.

Amazing.

If only The Stranger series were more than just individual panels.

Nick Derington's Flickr. - Via Neatorama

ps. I might have misjudged "Universal Mind Control"

universal mind control

So what happened? it's a total club album. the title track, and single, is as pop as it gets. the album as a whole feels as though it was made for radio, I don't know how I feel about it. It will Definitely have to grow on me.

Kanye's new album is pretty bad too. At least I have Q-Tip's The Renaissance to fall back on.

Look Sharp+Live Smart

On my first day of work I had a buddy to ask any questions to if needed. Her name was Yuki. She was this 20-something Asian woman with a round face, small oval eyeglasses and that typical Asian accent we're all used to hearing around The City. On her way to lunch she asked me if I was ok to stay by myself. I said, "Yeah, I'm good. Everything's pretty easy." "NO, don't think like that. You are too confident. You never know when something will go wrong. You never know," she says. I stop. Think, and respond. "I'm too confident?" At this point one of the hipster booksellers from the 2nd floor walks by. Her name is Rose. Yuki turns to Rose and tells her I shouldn't be so worry free because I never know what will happen. And yes, Yuki made it a point to emphasize "YOU NEVER KNOW." (I wish I was exaggerating). Rose laughed it off and kept walking.
Later that night I went upstairs to work on the magazines. Yuki, again, was my buddy. She gave me a tour of the magazines and explained how they were organized. When we got to the end of our tiny tour, which concluded with Men's Health and Lifestyle, she exlpained how sometimes magazines have multiple covers and we need to make a place for each one. (This month's GQ features Barack Obama, Jon Hamm, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Michael Phelps, in case anyone is wondering). In that same section we find tattoo magz, Maxim, and High Times. I don't recall what other cover he was on but James Franco was on the current cover of High Times. Yuki picked up the issue of High Times with James Franco on the cover and told me, "Here we have some pot magazines." Rose happened to walk by again when Yuki asked us if we thought he was high. Neither of us knew what to say. "Probably not," said Rose. "But he's holding a one," Yuki replied, pointing at the bong in James Franco's hand. Neither of us replied so she put magazine back. I found it pretty hilarious that a kid, either 13 or 15, was standing next to us looking at the sports magazines as Yuki asked Rose and I whether James Franco was high on the cover of High Times. The kid didn't laugh or smile.

working title/s

Some titles of my work-in-progress:

"Edgar and Alberto steal Taylor's Meth."

"Untitled 90's project aka Thunder Chunky"

"Stand and Deliver 2: Stand and Deliver my *** * ***** **** ** your Mouth"

"Edgar and Alberto go to High School Musical 3" - my favorite so far. storyline = priceless

"Mr. Berry goes to HOT-lanta" - Nic meets his friends from xbox live. things go south for Nic.

"Mike calls the cops on Edgar, Nic, and Alberto, pt. 1" - based on actual events

"Mike calls the cops on Edgar, Nic, and Alberto, pt. 2"

"Why We Left Earth" - EPIC galactic saga. Think Firefly meets The Walking Dead

"the one where Edgar takes one for the team"

and...just for kicks, here's a video.

Planet Funk - "The Switch" feat. Dan Black

Robocop on a Unicorn

Link


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Now playing: Cut Copy - Nobody Lost, Nobody Found
via FoxyTunes

holy hell

a roadie somewhere on the way to tucson wearing cowboy boots and shades. the sun sets behind a cactus. at least that's the design on his shirt.
greenman and an old chair. the chair creaks every time its sat on.
a man and a woman run towards us. they are wearing the clothes of a bum. a bum from the fifties.
a bear attempts to get to a beehive.
a steel chair. this chair was actually used in an episode of wwe smackdown. fyi. that's a wrestling show.
a large glass container. in it a brain. next to the brain, a dwarf in a brown jacket and dockers. he is also sporting recently shined shoes. the dwarf is sitting on the ground reloading his revolver. behind the dwarf a large, dark, ominous creature lurks.
a killer whale fights a great white shark.
a smirking mouth, the eye of ra, a regular chocolate m&m, a peanut m&m, and a 3D box.
the profile of an androgynous figure with huge sideburns.

Beavis is an idiot

This one time I convinced this ugly kid I worked with that he looked like Justin Timberlake. At first he thought I was bullshitting him, which I was, but then I started pulling stuff out of my ass and he bought it. I told him they had the same bone strutcture, the same ears, the same haircut, and whatever else I thought up. At one point he was asking people we worked with if they thought he looked like J.T. I don't remember what they all said to him except for this girl Raquel. Raquel came up to me, laughing, and said the ugly kid, whose name happened to be Justin, came up to her and asked her if he looked like J.T. She said, "A little in the chin."

Another time I told him girls like when guys dress as cowboys. On one of his days off he came into the store in full attire. I was amazed. Now this guy wasn't slow or anything he was just dumb and extremely gullible. Another time I got him to call me a f^ggot in front of a customer. I probably went too far there.

Oh, and this kid also happened to look like Beavis.

youmakemetouchyourhandsforstupidreasons

I'd been looking forward to getting a new toothbrush all day. After a worthless drive to Pacifica and San Mateo, I got one.

Yesterday I went by Aardvark Books over on Church and I found a copy of Henri-Pierre Roché's Jules and Jim. I'd been trying to track down a used copy for a while and just happened to stumble upon one as I browsed the bookstore. I do have to say Francois Truffaut's film version is probably one of my favorite films, if not my favorite.

My absentee ballot has been sitting in my room for a few days. I need to get a stamp.

If I were to stick my old roommate's head in a bathtub full of water, how long would it take for him to drown?

Why does TRL have to come to an end?

Is it so bad that I've taken up John Mayer recently?
Not at all.
At least it's not the Jonas Bros.
Maybe I'll check them out next.
Actually, no. That will never happen.

According to Woody Allen, once a guy is initiated into the mafia he is forbidden from ever whacking someone by the name of Vito.

More people need to listen to International Superheroes Of Hardcore.
And Maylene and the Sons of Disaster.
Maybe even some Mêlée.
I could go for some Henry Mancini right now.

There's moments you look forward to in your day. While some should have more value placed on them, I find the smaller insignificant ones are what I wake for. Then there's those shared moments when you wonder if the other values them as much as you. Probably not.

All About Esther

There's a subtlety about Esther Phillips' voice that just stands out to me. It's weird because her voice is unique and smokey. There's nothing really subtle about it. Sometimes before or in between tracks Esther feels the need to just have a conversation with you and she goes off. She'll either talk to the ladies or just go off on a man.
Unlike Aretha Franklin or Billie Holiday, Esther makes you feel what she's feeling. It's as though she lets you in. Overall, she is amazing.

"Home is Where the Hatred is"


"And I Love Him"


"Try Me"

Death In The Park

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Now playing: Oingo Boingo - Hey!
via FoxyTunes
After the band Hot Rod Circuit broke up and Fred left Taking Back Sunday I heard a rumor that Andy Jackson was taking Fred's place in TBS. While this was going on Andy Jackson started Death In The Park and posted a few demos on the band's Myspace page, which I have to say scared me a bit. By scared I mean scared he would join TBS. The demos I had heard were really catchy and definitely added a much needed rock edge to the indie scene, and music scene in general considering everything else is faux rock and pop-punk crap. And yes, I am referring to the faux rock "music" of myley cyrus and the jonas bros.
Everything the guys posted was pretty much gold. The one thing that bothered me was that there was no way to get their music. Since the band was pretty new and all they had were demos, we the fans had to resort to listening to their Myspace page. What bugged me even more was that they didn't allow us to download their demos. This was just extremely frustrating because I needed their music with me wherever I went and it wasn't possible. I looked for a way to get their demos off their page, and I found one. Now I do not consider this any sort of piracy or anything like that as I am obtaining their music solely for my enjoyment. These guys are really great and Andy Jackson's melodic, yet grungy voice tops off their sound.
What I feel gives them their sound is their age. Now I'm not saying they're old, because they're not, and I'm not saying young people can't make great music, because they can. Nas and Andrew McMahon are two examples of that. What I mean is that these guys have been in the scene a while and they've had a chance experiment and fine tune their sound. That said, check out Death In The Park.

I guess the underlying theme of this post is the lack of great music in the world today. I mean everything nowadays is like predigested nonsense. From hannah montana to lil wayne. Rock music and hip-hop are dying because of these artists.
Here are two awesome posts that go into what I'm talking about. They're better at it than I:
Live From The VMA's on My Couch

Slipknot front man says labels Cause Piracy

Anyone Can Dig A Hole But It Takes A Real Man To Call It Home

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Now playing: Underoath - A Fault Line, A Fault Of Mine
via FoxyTunes
So for the first time in a little over a week, I broke away from Underoath's "Lost In The Sound of Separation" and played some Cake. Their album was literally on repeat for a week, nonstop. That lasted all of about 3 Cake songs.

Stand Out Tracks:
"Breathing In A New Mentality"
" Desperate Times Desperate Measures"
"Too Bright To See Too Loud To Hear"

Angel-A

When it comes to Luc Besson films one can expect two things: shootouts and explosions. Although Besson is known for his action films I find that the action comes second to his narrative. In "Léon", a lonely assassin takes care of a young girl after her parents are killed by Gary Oldman's crooked cop, Stansfield. The greatest thing about "Léon" is the relationship between himself and the young Mathilda. Besson plays with a Lolita like romance between the two, yet their friendship never goes there. While I can not say enough about "Léon," Besson's romantic fantasy "Angel-a" is my main focus today.
After a string of action films Besson made his comeback with "Angel-a," a black and white film about an in-debt gambler and a tall, sexy stranger. Again, Besson creates two odd characters who reluctantly partner up and fall for each other. The only other thing I find seductive other than the leggy Angela is Paris, captured in black and white. While Americans are used to seeing the Eiffel Tower and other popular French monuments, I feel as though Besson and his cinematographer truly captured Paris in a new fascinating light.
Although the relationship between Angela and Andre leaves something to be desired, I find this French romance stands out far beyond its American counterparts. Check out the trailer. Netflix it. Do what you gotta do to see it.

THE DELICACY OF LIVING MODESTLY

There was no other way to kick this thing off than with one of the greatest road bands you have probably never heard. If you have, congrats.
Browsing through my iTunes I realized I have outgrown much of the music I loved and listened to non-stop. I noticed that as I matured, so did my tastes. An exception would be Limbeck. I started listening to Limbeck back in high school while I went through my pop-punk and "emo" phases yet somehow still listened to Limbeck despite the fact they were more of a indie/country rock band. It was just really odd. Over the years as I left artists like My Chemical Romance and Dashboard Confessional behind, Limbeck managed to stay on my ipod.
Limbeck always puts a smile on my face, there's no denying it. While other artists like to get complicated in their songwriting, Limbeck keeps it simple. Their discography consists of albums about friends/people, places, and memories mixed with melodic country pop-rock. Not one song on any of their albums disappoints. Check them out at myspace.com/limbeck

"People Don't Change"

"Big Drag"