Noodles Rice and Pasta

Ancient Purple & Green Heat

2011-03-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

I went to a great show last night. I don't think my booty has shaken that hard in a while. I went to support Ancient Heat, a band who has a few members that I am acquainted with. They are a super awesome nine piece outfit rocking monumental Disco-scapes of the grooviest sort. Check it out:

01 Boy You Keep On Doing That Mess Around by AncientHeat

The big surprise was the duo that came on before Ancient Heat. Purple & Green rocked my face off. Crazy looped funk and R&B beats by Adam "Purple" Forkner, crowned by the virtuosic vocals of Justin "Green" Johnson. SOOOOOO good. The crowd was going crazy.

Everything you need to know...

2011-03-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

... about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

Ensalada de aguacate

2011-03-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Check out this delicious snack I just made:

Ensalada de Aguacate

Ingredients:

· 1 ripe avocado
· 1 juicy lime
· 1 small clove of garlic
· 1 drizzle of olive oil
· 1 mutable measurement of salt (read: to taste)
· some spices, I guess. I used a light dusting of smoked paprika

Thickly dice the Avocado. Juice that lime! Mince the heck outta' the garlic. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl gently. let it rest for a few minutes. Eat it with a fork, never with tortilla chips, 'cause at that point you should just mash it all up and eat it as guacamole.

This is the most bare-bones method of making it. Add some tomatoes, onions, cilantro, or whatever to jazz it up a bit. But frankly, It's quite good as described in the recipe above.

じしん (earthquake)

2011-03-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

The earthquake that has devastated NE Japan is quite frightening. The images and videos coming out of the country are staggering. It's hard to imagine such destruction could just spring upon you like that. Clearly, I am without words.

I will leave you with this unsettling video, although calm in comparison to the tsunami shots circulating.

Cooking with Dog

2011-03-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

My new favorite cooking show! Learn traditional Japanese cooking with Francis the poodle.

Watch all of the videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog

scintillating comic imports

2011-02-23T22:55:00.000-08:00

Today, in the mail, I received two items from the British Isles' finest comic artist, John Allison. Item the first! One Tea towel featuring everyone's favorite beasty, the Wendigo:

Item the second! A personally requested, hand drawn image of Desmond Fishman(!):

Hooray!

Bored games

2011-02-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

I believe that I am a reasonably smart fellow. Not brilliant, but certainly not stupid. Basically, I think I do alright in the brain department. But, without fail, if I am to be made to feel like a dummy, all that is needed is for me to play a board game with a map of a world on it. The playing field could be our world, a fictional world, or a map of many worlds, it doesn't matter. Whether it's Risk, Stratego, Settlers of Cattan, or Twilight Imperium, I am a complete mess. I just can't grock the rules of these games. Unfortunately, all of my friends love them.

There is something about the strategy and copious rules associated with these games that flummox me. I invariably end up glassy eyed and confused, my mind glazed over. I have to ask what I'm doing each round, seeking help from my opponents. I end up just sitting there while my friends play for me and I don't learn how to follow the progress.

Can't we just play dominoes?

Mirakutei vs. Biwa AKA apples and oranges when the apples are in season and the oranges are under ripe AKA this is a total cop out post from facebook

2011-02-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

I was asked on Facebook to compare my first impressions of Mirakutei (a new Japanese restaurant touting their Ramen) with my favorite, Biwa:

Okay, First impressions on Mirakutei (and keep in mind that they just opened) aren't strong. The bowl of Ramen I had was the "Mirakutei Original Ramen" which on the Japanese language menu said was a Tonkotsu ramen. I would personally call it a hybrid; the broth had some of the richness of a true Tonkotsu, but really is more of a Shoyu broth. The toppings were a spartan selection of lean chashyu, bean sprout, sliced negi, and bamboo shoot. The noodles were, as far as I could tell, descent fresh chukasoba made in a factory.

Overall the Mirakutei Original Ramen was a simple, clean bowl of noodles. Nothing flashy, nothing to gush over. I felt the portion, though not small, didn't fill me. I was disappointed by the skimpy portions of the toppings. the price is eight dollars.

As far as I could tell, the rest of the menu is primarily sushi. I didn't have any, but I've eaten at Hiroshi (Mirakutei's parent restaurant) several times and the sushi there is my gold standard by which I measure all other sushi. So I can assume it's good at Mirakutei.

ALL THAT BEING SAID:

Biwa is the better restaurant. The Biwa ramen is also a hybrid, albeit totally different than mirakutei, so I can't claim they make a truer ramen (and in all honesty, that claim would probably go to mirakutei, shoyu broth being the original and most common style). For just a few more dollars Biwa gives you about twice the ramen, six times the (better) chashyu, a shoyu egg, and a pile of sliced green onion. Not to mention the nightly bar menu (9-10) where the ramen is only $5(!)

I must recall that I hated Biwa when they first opened, so I'll be giving Mirakutei another chance in the future.

The big selling point for me is the vast menu beyond the ramen at Biwa. What they offer is real Japanese food, unlike any I've seen offered anywhere in the US. Biwa is the shit.

A bitter taste

2011-02-15T23:04:00.000-08:00

I sometimes have a hard time accepting things as they are. I'll get an idea in my head of how things will turn out, and when I find it to not be that way it hurts. What is disappointment? Why is it a feeling that is felt? I find that in most cases, not all, but most cases disappointment comes from a self created idea of the way things are gonna be. Rarely is it external. Usually once I realize that I have deluded myself I can recognize it and move past it. This process can take as short as the moment it took to think it, or as long as months. These are learning experiences.

It can be easy to forget that the world is not about me.

Have booty, will shake

2011-02-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how I began dancing, what influenced me, why I felt the need. I think of myself as somewhat of a shy person. I try not to flaunt, make a spectacle, or show off too much, thinking it to be boorish. But that is precisely what dancing is. It's putting yourself out there on the dance floor and moving in all sorts of awkward, crass, and suggestive ways for all to see.

I love it.

I have always had a strong affinity for music, and long ago noticed that it takes much less from a song to make me nod my head or tap my toe than other people. I can't help it, I feel the same kind of exertion when trying to not move my body to a beat as one might feel while attempting not to visibly flinch at a buddy swiping at their face. It's animal, it's innate, a reflex. There is no resisting it.

I remember clearly the summer of 2002 as the beginning of my desire to dance. I had attended many concerts in those months and just couldn't not dance. Unfortunately I had no idea how to, and resorted to the only movement I was familiar with: Martial arts. I must have looked a fool out there, doing high speed tai chi to the beat, but it felt good. As I've said, I have always loved music, but never participated in it's creation; Dancing revealed to me a means for active participation. Unfortunately, I was Single-Whipping, Roll-Back-And-Pushing, and Snake-Creeps-Downing to the point that I was once called out, over the sound system, by the lead singer of a band for doing chopsocky on the dance floor.

So, I started watching other people dance, picked out what seemed right and excluded what looked bad. I recalled my friend in high school who was always dancing in the halls and doing, what seemed to me at the time, improbable steps. I asked him where he learned to dance and he replied "BET music videos." So I started paying attention to the pro dancers whenever I saw music videos. What's funny is that as I found my own style I realized I was dancing more like the women I saw on MTV and less like the men; I would shimmy and shake, bounce my butt, and shake my shoulders. Dancing in this way is just more fun I think.

Eventually I realized that being self-conscious of my dancing actually made me a better dancer. If I knew someone might be watching me, I didn't want to make too much a fool of myself and would really try to nail the steps and work on my timing. If I'm dancing alone in my house I'm sloppy and carefree. If I'm at a concert or a club, I want to be getting down harder than anyone else out there.

I am by no means a great dancer, at all, but I frequently get complimented by strangers for my moves. I think this is hilarious. I just don't think they expect to see such a plain, non-flashy looking dude shake his ass like Shakira.

I think everyone should feel free to dance, but shyness and a self held belief that they can't often holds people back. If you are reading this and you are afraid to dance, I encourage you to get out there and do it. After all, everyone else is doing it too, and who are they to pass judgment?

African Action

2011-02-10T22:11:00.001-08:00

In my varied online perusals today I came across these two loosely related video clips. The first is wildly absurd, but equally awesome:

The next one is wonderful, but derives that wonder from a ridiculous source:

I think both of these videos are a hoot.

Kung fu anew

2011-02-09T22:24:00.000-08:00

I'm recovering from what I see as roughly a one year lull in my martial arts practice. I'm going from attending one class a week, if even, to taking two classes and teaching one per week. Now, this is considerably less than the heyday of kung fu when I was going almost every day and practicing at home constantly; I was a kid then with little responsibility, I am a young adult now with still little responsibility, but now I have a demanding job. what can you do.

Anyway, I've really been feeling the kung fu lately. I think it's because of two things. Item the first: I have been going to Sean's new(ish) Monday night classes, which unlike the usual Sunday morning class he leads, this class he teaches, if you can see the distinction there. Sean was and is, a huge influence in my martial studies, and when I was younger he was my primary teacher for some time. So to be back in his class, hearing his instruction and following his direction, it takes my back to when I was first starting this journey. Item the second: I have been teaching my own class again. I took over a year off from teaching my Wednesday night classes for various reasons, but about two months ago I realized that it is something I need in my life. One of the best ways to learn something is by explaining it in detail to another person. That idea really rang true when I began teaching back in 2002; These days I feel like I'm shaking out the cobwebs as I instruct a student, reminding myself of all the skills and techniques that are now second nature to me, analyzing them anew, and concluding that I still have room to grow.

Nippon no more

2011-02-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me is undoubtedly aware that I have long been planning to move to Japan. There are many reasons for this, notably my strong desire to become fluent in Japanese, a language I have spent years studying but have never fully got a handle on. I believe that total immersion would really supply what I've been missing in my studies. Other reasons include a strong desire to study martial arts in Japan, learn authentic Japanese cookery, and the importance of living somewhere else in a different culture and out of my comfort zone for a bit.

...

guh, I started writing this yesterday, and just don't have the will to relate the whole story. Basically, my goal has always been to apply to JET. Last year I completely screwed up the application, and never even sent it. This year, I rectified this by busting my ass and producing what I thought was one hell of an application packet. I found out yesterday that I was not accepted. I was not even invited in for an interview. This is surprising and highly disappointing. I had been told by many people familiar with the program that with my back ground and particular passion for Japan I was more or less a shoe-in. Not being accepted was always a possibility, but I thought that the rejection, if it came, would be after an interview. To not even qualify for an interview, and not know why, is incredibly hard to swallow.

If I had been going to Japan, I would have been leaving in August. Now I don't know what to do. It made me realize that I need to take a more active role in the direction of my life. I have been very fortunate to have the job that I have, but it is a passive and uncreative (though, admittedly stable) way to live my life.

Let's see what is next.

How to mince garlic

2011-02-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

First, peel the garlic. Second, chop off the stem end. Third, split it in half length wise. The rest you see in the video

Ramen/Burger

2011-02-04T23:55:00.000-08:00

Biwa is, if not my favorite, one of of my most enjoyed restaurants in Portland. It is in every way a super sexy establishment. The open kitchen with full wrap around bar, the amazing menu, the friendly staff, and their creative drinks all add up to a great experience.

I first went to Biwa soon after they opened several years ago. I had a strange anxiety about it at the time; For years and years I had aspired to open the first Ramen joint in Portland, and now there was Biwa. I was disappointed it couldn't be me, but also excited that there would finally be a legit Ramen shop in my home town.

I was sorely let down. The broth was okay, I guess: I bit salty, no depth, a little thin. Don't even get me started on the noodles. They had none of the characteristics of a classic chuka-soba. I was bummed out, this hit so far below my expectations. I had to later admit that it wasn't a bad bowl of noodles, it would've been quite tasty if not for the fact that it was trying to pass for ramen. I turned my back and didn't return for over two years.

After college I moved into the same neighborhood as Biwa, and one lonely October night I found myself sitting at their bar. I stayed away from the ramen offerings and dug deep into the Yakimono (literally "grilled stuff") menu. Holy cow! This was food of the type I had not had since I was last in Japan! Perfectly prepared pork belly, grilled garlic cloves, plump onigiri, and on and on. I sampled a glass of sweet potato Shōchū over ice, a pleasant drink somewhere between vodka and sweet sake. What a meal!

I went back several times before I attempted the ramen again. The improvement was remarkable. The noodles were perfect, and the chicken broth (one of two options) was rich and meaty. Finally, I sighed, a passable ramen in my hometown.

Sometime during my frequent trips I introduced my friend Tyson to Biwa, and soon after came our friend David. We gathered at the ramen bar like beasts at a watering hole, packing away bowl after bowl and countless skewers of grilled meat. Heaven.

I had heard rumor of a mythical burger, served only on the night of their opening anniversary. Then further rumor that they had expanded it to Friday late nights, and perhaps even every night. Some heard it was served only after ten o'clock, I heard eleven. Conjecture and speculation ruled. One night Tyson and David found themselves at Biwa without me (grrrrr) late at night. A small slip, carefully printed on blue stock, was presented to them. Late Night Menu, it read. And there, at the top: Biwa Burger.

With rage in my heart I listened to them recount each bite, describing the light brioche bun nestling the Wagyu beef chuck patty and thick cut chashyu slab; the full, deep green butter lettuce leaf caressed by the house made kimchi mayo. Soon enough my rage passed as I too was able to enjoy what is surely, and consistently the best burger I have ever had.

Because we are brash young men, seemingly unaware of our own mortality, we soon took our Biwa trips to its (il)logical conclusion. Ramen/Burger. Beginning at 9pm, Biwa has a special bar menu, which includes a dramatically reduced price on the Ramen. Then, at 11pm the burger is served. One summer night, the three of us entered Biwa, found a comfortable spot at the bar, and consumed our respective warm bowl. We retreated to a nearby Karaoke bar and rested for the next phase of our attack.

Upon our return, the maître d’ did a double take, and the cooks behind the bar raised eyebrows all around. We sat in the same stools and ordered with confidence: Three Biwa Burgers please! A frisson spread through the place. A bold applause rang from the back kitchen, our server clapped us heartily on the back, the grill cook reached over the bar to shake our hands. We were heroes.

We were very, very full heroes. This feat has been successfully attempted only a couple more times, but the legend of the Ramen/Burger Three still thrives in the Restaurant. I once walked into a bar near my house and was greeted with a chorus of "Ramen/Burger!" by a table of off-duty Biwa staff. One of my proudest moments of 2010.

In short: You owe yourself a trip to Biwa soon.

Glimpses

2011-02-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

My hands clasp and embrace with opposing forces. working it's way underneath the small ring, my index finger smoothly lifts, popping the seal. Carefully, carefully I prize the lid so as not to stain my hands with the pungent smell. Six fat fishes.

Over my shoulder, his face framed in his upraised hands, themselves framed in the windshield. If not for his look of disgust, I would not be so outraged. My wool clad hand obscures him, middle finger raised.

Like sites in a gunners turret, my foam clad fists target on my good friends head. Our frenetic pace is seized by the sudden stillness of the standoff. In my peripheral, the uninitiated woman titters uncomfortably. We lunge simultaneously.

It's sort of red, with maybe swaths of a dark yellow/brown, but probably not. It's certainly not black, like we often say it is. Dozens of white, or perhaps they're blue, squares hover there, all layered upon each other, corners poking out, brighter in the middle. The monitor screen blinds me when, at last, I crack my eyelids.

My whole body moves the thin bead along the line where the wall intersects the plane of the door casing. The paint, a pleasant dark sage, glides off the bristles with a slight waver, forgivable at anything beyond this magnified concentration. My tongue emerges from the corner of my mouth.

A Flicker, Colaptes auratus, mulishly pecks at the broken crest of a telephone pole. It looks bored though.

She looks annoyed that I am standing there, shyly asking for a glass. When she returns, I correct this by grinning at her. Her crow's feet, laugh lines, and other wrinkles deepen in a genuine smile. The pint is frosty from their fridge.

Skills

2011-02-02T21:30:00.000-08:00

I often dread the question, "what do you do?" because what the person means is "How do you make money?" I admit that this is not an entirely pointless question, particularly in this society, but it irks me that this is one of the first questions asked when meeting a new person. Now, the reason this annoys me so much is that most of the people I regularly interact with are in my age/socioeconomic group and people in my age/socioeconomic group do not make a living doing things they enjoy or choose to associate themselves with. This does not mean that I don't have friends who do not love their jobs, or are not proud of the good work they do, but I think most do not see themselves as Barista/House Painter/Child Care Provider/Online Tech Support/What-Have-You. That is what they do for money.

It would be neat if, when asked the dreaded question, people responded instead with Comic Artist/Bass Player/Quilter/Singer\Song Writer/What-Have-You. It would be even better if when people asked that question, that was the answer they were looking for.

Someone once asked me what I did to stay out of trouble. I knew exactly what they meant and was able to tell them about my fondness of cooking, and the new print I was working on, and my kung fu class. I feel this gave a more telling description of my character than heaving a sigh and saying I do home remodeling and general contracting work. It's not that I don't like my job, it's just not who I am. Unfortunately, whenever I've tried to use that phrase on others, they either assume I mean what they do for work, or think I'm implying that they are troublemakers.

What I'm getting at is, I wish the question were "What are your self selected skills?" Meaning what are the activities that you have invested your personal time into becoming better at? What are you best at? Why that activity?

Now if only someone would coin the phrase that asks that as simply as, "Whad'ya do?"

Return?

2011-02-01T10:00:00.000-08:00

I am probably just dooming myself by writing these words, but I want to start writing in this space again. I originally set out in December of 2008 to write a post every day. Well, I did do that for a while, but things petered out and I didn't get nearly that close with (a still respectable) 135 posts in 2009. Then only 11 in all of 2010, and none so far this year. hmm...

I am intrigued by the "thing-a-day" concept, and have seen some pretty cool projects come out of it. I am currently five months into doing a silly thing on Facebook I call "Today's jimmity-jam" which has me posting a song I like everyday. Now this is actually much more difficult than it sounds, what with selecting a suitable song, finding it on youtube, and keeping track of them all so as not to have duplicates. Buuuuut, it's not very creative. I'm just sharing things that other creative people have done.

SO! I plan to write everyday! But, I do not consider myself I writer, so it's kind of a weird choice. I plan to start with writing and expand to some different projects like drawing, painting, cooking, martial arts things, and videos.

I hope to see y'all 'round here!

Breakfast innovation

2010-11-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

This morning I was lazy and felt like going to the diner and getting some pancakes. However, I didn't want to get dressed, nor spend the money. So I rallied, went to the kitchen, and created a breakfast masterpiece.

Now, what you are looking at may look like a burnt mushroom/basil/chevre omelet, but if you look closer, you will be able tell that the burn marks are, in fact, a thin layer of crisp fried prosciutto.

I started by laying down two thick-cut slices of prosciutto into the skillet, overlapping slightly at the edge. I then added chopped crimini mushrooms on top of the crackling meat, cooking them in the released fat. A few dollops of chevre, and a loose bunch of minced basil were added to the mushrooms while a whisked up a pair of eggs. I poured the eggs on top and quickly and continuously scooped up the egg dribbles that escaped over the edge of the prosciutto. After a moment waiting for the eggs to set, I folded the omelet over, sealing it closed.

The Prosciutto had a crisp snap as the fork bit through into the moist interior, and added a smokey meat flavor to the omelet. The presentation could use some work, but overall I am very pleased with this sudden spike of inspiration.

Field notes on handwriting

2010-10-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

Some notes on handwriting:

1) I noticed yesterday while signing a receipt at a phở restaurant that I have somehow, without thought or intention, removed all vowels from my last name in my signature. It reads Eli Gbsn. I'm not sure when this happened or how, but it has, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Too, the "i" in Eli is no longer dotted.

2) For the past week or two, I have begun to write the numeral four differently than I have my whole life. I have always written it in one stroke, with a closed top, as so: 4. But now, I have an involuntary urge to write it in two strokes, with an open top. This is rather annoying because whenever I come upon the number four, my hand stutters with uncertainty and somehow comes out with this new, unintended four.

That is all.

VROOM-VROOOOOOM-VROOOM

2010-08-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's probably my y-chromosome that makes me so entranced by this video, but I love it.

Song of the Day: Please Set Me At Ease (Hip Hop mix), Madlib This song is SO good

Hey there,

2010-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

I'm still working for UKH Construction. Though, for a few months there it was extremely slow, and I thought I might starve. Luckily, as the Boss predicted, the Springtime has brought in several clients, new and old, and I am slowly recovering from my poverty. I keep feeling that I am actually getting good at my job, then I'll do something completely stupid, and feel like I'm back where I started. ah well, such is life.

During the slow period, I renewed my role as occasional fill in guy at elsa+sam with a weekly post on Tuesdays. Come visit me sometime! I'm there from 11am-6pm every week. See you soon.

My Brother and I have recently been hatching a scheme to do something really cool. We are trying to improve our life in a creative and productive way that will fulfill both our financial and emotional well-being. Manifest destiny and all that. Stay tuned for announcements as we figure out how to pull it off.

I finally, eight months after my bike wreck, have teeth in my head again. It was a six month process including countless dentist visits, several false starts, a disconcerting number of x-rays aimed at my head, one titanium screw and two precious metal/ceramic teeth, and thousands of my generous and caring parents' dollars. The teeth aren't perfect, but I no longer look like a Jack-O-Lantern.

Too, it's a beautiful day.

Song of the Day: Ya Mama, The Pharcyde

Return of the Ankh

2010-04-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

Erykah Badu's latest album, New Amerykah part two: Return of the Ankh, dropped on Tuesday, and boy is it great! I've had it on repeat for the last three days. It is super groovy, funky, and fun; a welcome departure from her challenging 2008 release New Amerykah part one: 4th World War.

Return of the Ankh is joyful in sound, but perhaps at times a little woebegone in lyrical content. The feeling I come away with after listening to the smooth and bouncy songs is that of optimism, as if Badu has been through a dark patch and is finally overcoming that weight, remembering what it's like to feel whole again.

Perhaps I'm reading into it all wrong, but I'm sure of one thing: This is one hell of a record. Personal favorites from Return of the Ankh are Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY), Love, and Window Seat.

Song of the Day: Hurry On Now, Alice Russel - I also purchased Pot of Gold by Alice Russel on my visit to the record store. This song is what turned me onto her music. So great.

Kung Fu on the Entire-Net

2010-02-27T22:20:00.000-08:00

Quite sometime ago I created a Youtube account for the Kung Fu school, planning to post videos of what we do at the Black Dragon Kung Fu Society. I envisioned all of the school's forms, countless examples of self-defense training, sticking hands, and sparring, maybe even tutorials and lessons. Now, two years later, I am finally getting around to it. So far I have seven videos posted with three examples each of self-defense and focus mitt training, and this video I posted yesterday of the Choi Lay Fut form we do called Siu (small) Moi Fah (plumb blossom) Kuen (fist):

I'm currently trying to rustle up some help with this project. Off the top of my head, I can think of Thirty Four(!) different forms that are done in our school. I can't do that all alone. Well, maybe I could, but I don't want to. Not to mention that most of what we do in our school is two person exercises, and I would like to get as much variety of people as possible. Wish me luck!

Song of the Day: Live at the Amphitheatre, Double Trouble - This is a clip from the fantastic 1982 Hip Hop movie Wild Style.

Die Antwoord

2010-02-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

So, this band has been blowin' up all over the internet for the past week, and I've been following it every step of the way. I'm not sure what to say about them: they are South African. They're strange. They have attempted to mix Rave with Rap. . . I dunno. For all intents and purposes, I should not be at all interested in them, they are not actually producing good music, they are rapping about topics completely alien to me, and at times they are completely offensive.

But Goddamn they are really compelling. I can't stop listening to them. I can't wait for them to release their album $O$ later this month.

Here, this is a good, and hilarious, sample of what they are about:

Crazy, right? Anyway, I just thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and finally blog about it myself.

Song of the Day: Ninja, Die Antwoord

Picture of the day!

2010-01-21T19:23:00.000-08:00

This would have been more appropriate to post on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but I only just found it. oh well.

Blues Dancing

2010-01-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

So, the lady I'm seeing participates in an activity known as Blues Dancing. On Tuesday night I went with her to one of the many blues dancing events that happens regularly around Portland. What a blast.

Blues dancing is a slow to fast, more-or-less free form, partnered dance, set (usually) to blues music. I was told that it is what Swing and Lindy dancers do after midnight.

This video (shot in Portland) is a good example of the range in Blues Dancing. Watch the figures in the foreground as well as the dancers in the back.

Here is another. This one was shot in the very ballroom that I danced in on Tuesday

I've never done any sort of partner dancing before so was a little nervous about it beforehand. I found blues dancing to be especially easy for me, though. The movements are not defined by set steps, but rather the mood of the music and connection with the partner. There is certainly a recognizable aesthetic to Blues Dance, but it is an extremely loose form, open to a wide variety of interpretation, something that is shown well in the first video above. Several people were amazed that I had never done any sort of paired dancing before, let alone Blues. I figure that I did so well because Blues Dancing is pretty much exactly how I dance solo, but instead with a person. The major point of Blues is to feel the music and express it in a way with your body that your partner can pick up on. This task is fairly easy for me because of a) I know how to shake my booty to a beat, and b) my extensive martial arts training has, I believe, taught me how to interact with another individual in a very physical way.

This is perhaps a silly observation to anyone who has been involved with any sort of dance scene, but I really enjoyed this environment that allowed me to meet a lot of people in short micro-sessions. A simple, "care to dance?" and the next few minutes are spent (usually) quite enjoyably with a complete stranger. I had some amazingly intimate moments with people that I will likely not see again. I drew comparisons to speed dating and those strange cuddle puddle groups that meet solely for the purpose of human connection, though Blues Dancing seems a much more sane and productive sort of interaction than either of those.

The event I attended is every Tuesday night at Lenora's Room hosted by The Portland Blues & Jazz Dance Society. There is a crash course instruction for beginners starting at 8:30pm, Dancing starts at 9pm, it really gets going 'round 10pm until 1am. Six dollars at the door, free to first timers.

Song of the Day: Let's Dance (the Blues), David Bowie

Happy Hour

2010-01-05T17:22:00.000-08:00

Boy oh boy do I love me some happy hour.

Fours days into the new year.

2010-01-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

let's see here. I've moved into a new place, The Slanty Shanty, with The Shag and Tracer. It's good to be back in the 'hood where I grew up. Notably cool is the fact that my backyard happens to be the Kung Fu school. Hooray. (Though, as I write this, Monday night class is starting without me. I'm about to go watch a Blazers game. I am very bad)

Also, in 2010, I've been kissing a girl. But that's private.

Song of the Day: Crushin' , J Dilla

My Ten Favorite Albums of the Decade

2009-12-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write a "best of 2009" post, but looking back on the year, I only bought three albums that came out this year. Also, I never wrote top ten lists for any of the other years, so to start now seems silly. I will try to include a wide range of genres and production years, but that may not happen. Here goes:

10) Gorillaz - Gorillaz (2001)
Alternative Rock/Hip-Hop

This is perhaps a strange inclusion in this list because I haven't listened to it for several years. That being said, when my brother Niko discovered this (at the time) unknown album at the local music store, we lost our shit. This was some of the freshest, most original work we had ever heard. The fictional characters and the mysterious real-world musicians behind the work made for an alluring piece of art. We would wake up, put the CD in the player on repeat and turn the volume up to eleven. Not to sound like a hipster, but we were rocking out to this months before anybody else caught wind of it. And then, they did. The ungodly amount of airtime it received killed it. I went slowly from listening to it nonstop to being forced to listen to it nonstop. bummer. All that aside, this album was hugely influential to me early in this decade.
Sample: Starshine

9) Armored Vegetable - Funk Shui (2007)
Funk/Rock

Funk Shui is my favorite local band. Armored Vegetable is their second album after "Giant Sized Masters of...". Every musician in this band is fucking killer. Sean Nowland, the bassist, has been a friend through the kung fu school for over a decade, and introduced me to the band. My friends and I go to nearly every show they preform, and have become well acquainted with the members. The title, "Armored Vegetable" refers to a favorite track of mine about cooking an artichoke with a special person.
Sample: Lockjaw (live)

8) Supermoon - Zap Mama (2007)
R&B/Soul

This album is sweet and smooth and funky and just awesome all over. Marie Daulne, founder and leader of Zap Mama, brings her best blend of African infused polyphonic Soul to this record. Supermoon feels a bit more laid back and gentle than the other albums put out by the group. For fans of vocals, Zap Mama is an absolute must. Marie Doulne has, at times, a challenging voice to listen to, raspy and harsh, but then she will switch to some of the most honeyed vocals imaginable. The woman's talent is awe inspiring, and the singers she draws to her for her albums are equally as impressive.
Sample: Toma Taboo

7) Eyes at Half Mast - Talkdemonic (2008)
Folktronica (ugh, what a terrible genre name)

Another local band. Eyes at Half Mast was recorded in an old empty house in Lake Oswego, the hollow, echoing quality of the bare rooms filling this record with a ghostly sound. I've heard that this album was inspired by the death of one of the members' father, and the emotional struggle of loss. That may be true, but this album is not a downer. The storming drums and swelling viola that characterize Talkdemonic are at their most powerful in this album. This record kicks ass.
Sample: Black Wood Crimson (live)

6) New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) - Erykah Badu (2008)
Nu Soul/R&B/jazz/Hip-Hop/Funk

This amazing album felt like a dramatic departure from Badu's previous work. Dark, complicated, and most of the time, rather serious. From my understanding, Badu created this album from scratch in the free Apple software Garage Band, recorded the vocals through a laptop microphone, and then sent the music to her producer friends to recreate it at studio quality. In interviews, she talks about cooking dinner for her kids and recording tracks in her kitchen at the same time. Tracks like "That Hump" and "Telephone" strike deep, haunting the listener for days; where more uplifting songs like "Soldier" and "Honey" keep the toes tapping and head nodding.
Sample: Telephone

5) Amethyst Rock Star - Saul Williams (2001)
Hip-Hop/Spoken word/Rock

Williams' first album is a beast. A dizzying musical stratum of hip-hop beats, fearsome rock guitar, and Williams' brilliant, no-nonsense lyrics. I first heard Saul Williams while on vacation in Victoria B.C. with my family in late 2001. His sharp insight and unique sound blew my mind. This album has been on heavy rotation on my stereo ever since.
Sample: Tao of Now

4) Radio Retaliation - Thievery Corporation (2008)
Downtempo

Thievery Corporation is a perennial favorite, and choosing one of their many albums that came out this decade to sit on top is not really possible. Radio Retaliation, being their most recent, is a logical choice, but also it is Goddamn good. Radio Retaliation is a rather politically motivated album, speaking up about issues like free-trade and globalization. The album features many guest musicians such as Seu Jorge and Femi Kuti. I went and saw Thievery Corporation while they were on the Radio Retaliation Tour and it was easily one of the better concerts I have ever seen. There is this notion that they are all turntables and beat machines, but there were roughly fifteen musicians, including up to seven vocalists, performing on stage.
Sample: Beautiful Drug

3) Gungle Dungn - Doubledutch (2008)
Indie-ish stuff, Soul(?)

I don't know what kind of music this is. I just know it is so good I want to cry. Gungle Dungn was produced by a pair of youngsters from Portland, Oregon. I had an art class with one of them and learned of the band through her. The album is unbelievably good. Chunky beats and smooth lyrics from Dhanni and Jordan, respectively, make this work so good. It came at a time in my life when I felt rather lonely and the music wrapped me up like a blanket. It didn't cure the loneliness, but made it seem alright. This was easily, for me, the best album of 2008.
Doubledutch myspace page

2) Jay Stay Paid - J Dilla (2009)
Nu Soul/Hip-Hop/Rap

Album of the mother fucking year. I've talked about Jay Stay Paid in this space before, but I will quickly summarize. After J Dilla's death in 2006, he left hours and hours of unreleased and unfinished tracks on old floppy discs, hard drives, and cassette tapes. His mother Maureen, AKA Ma Dukes, wanted to release these gems, and with the help of legendary producer Pete Rock, made this amazing record. J Dilla was a master. This album deserves all of your guys' attention.
Sample: King

1) Xen Cuts - Ninja Tune record label. (2000)
Electronic, Hip-Hop, Nu Jazz, Drum and Bass, Turntablism, etc.

Calling this an "album" is erroneous, but fuck it, this is my list, I'll include what I want. Xen Cuts is a three disc compilation of artists under the Ninja Tune record label, celebrating their tenth year producing music, So yes, most of this music was not created in the 2000s, so what. Again, my list, screw off. Anyway, No other track-list has done more to guide my musical preferences than this release. Xen Cuts introduced me to whole swaths of musical genres that I had never heard previously. Most importantly, I found new pockets of the Hip-Hop world that excited me more than ever. Artists like The Herbaliser, Dynamic Syncopation, and Roots Manuva. This album showed me that I needed to get out there and seek out new music, and not just passively consume what was on the radio.
Sample: Dynamic Syncopation - 2 Tha Left Sample: The Irresistible Force - Nepalese Bliss Sample: Amon Tobin - Down & To The Left

Wow, that was impossible. There are too many good albums out there to limit it to only ten. I pretty much ended up picking at random. I'd like to reiterate that these are not necessarily the best albums of the decade, but rather some of my personal favorites and records that had the most influence on me.

Happy New Year!

The mustache gave me power

2009-12-06T22:20:00.001-08:00

I just re-discovered this video of me and my dad doing self defense from July. Note the mustache.

The Chicken Slaughter of 2009

2009-11-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

WARNING: This blog post is far from being vegetarian friendly. Those who are squeamish about blood and guts should perhaps find another blog to read for the time being.

Yesterday afternoon, while digging into the Thanksgiving leftovers, I looked at the large turkey carcass on the counter and really tried to look at it for what it was: a big dead animal that used to live and breathe and strut about. I did all the sort of thinking and pondering about the disconnect between source and consumer, and the environmental impact of meat production, and the moral implications of killing an animal, that any good leftie Portland kid should be doing. Then, typically, I shrugged it off and tucked into a hearty helping of dark meat and gravy.

Mere minutes later I got a call from Ida over at the Lazy Onion Urban Farm asking me if I could help slaughter eleven chickens that afternoon. I immediately knew that I would and should say yes, but told her I had to go to the dentist and would think about it and call her back. The largest thing I had ever killed was a trout, and that was over a decade ago. I don't really think of myself as a life taker, and felt conflicted. But I knew I would feel ashamed and hypocritical if I didn't go through with it. Two hours later, I was killing chickens.

There are (or rather, were) over thirty chickens at the farm. Five were enormous broiler chickens who's time had come, and six were elderly laying hens that had stopped producing eggs.

When I arrived, Ida was setting up the "killing cones," which as you can see are just traffic cones (cut wider at the peak so the chickens' heads would fit through) hung over buckets. Also present were some other lovely people named Ben, Kellyn, Kathrine, and later Aaron arrived.

This is me with Harold, the largest of the chickens, Standing high, he came up to my waist. He was one of the first three to be dispatched and the first, and only, chicken I would kill that night.

Here we see Ida lowering the first of the chickens into a killing cone. When chickens are held upside down by their feet they pass out, making it much easier to handle them. We let Ida do all of the steps with the first chicken, learning as we watched and she instructed.

We used the bleed-out method, which consists of cutting their carotid arteries in, hopefully, one swift slice. This is Harold's last moment before I did the deed. I learned quickly that a firm, dedicated stab and slash with a sharp knife was necessary for a quick and humane death. Unfortunately all we had were our pocket knives.

Harold bleeding out. Like humans, Chickens loose consciousness almost immediately upon loss of blood pressure to the brain. Unfortunately the brain stem continues to send innate impulses to the body for some time, resulting in much leg kicking and wing flapping. Harold was an impressive bird and we looked on in silence for a while as he went still. I didn't have any huge emotional event upon my first kill, but it was certainly a moment to be contemplated for some time.

The most bizarre and tedious task was plucking the feathers. First the chickens are submerged in water that is heated to approximately one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit, and plunged up and down for roughly ninety seconds so the water could seep it's way between the oily feathers to the skin.

We then used a homemade sort-of rubber paddle wheel type contraption attached to an electric drill to quickly remove the feathers. Some birds this worked better than others, and much hand plucking was needed.

Here is the carnage that was the plucking station:

We used a machete to remove the heads and feet. Harold does not look his best here.

Removing the internal organs was highly macabre and rather challenging. Knowing how and where to make the proper incisions took much tutoring on Ida's part. After a good deal of grime and gore and being wrist deep in a dead animal, Harold was ready to be washed, bagged and weighed:

EIGHT POUNDS!!! What a big chicken!

We had killed and processed only three chickens out of eleven and the Sun had long set. We agreed to pick up where we had left it in the morning.

This morning I arrived a bit late and they had already slaughtered three chickens. I brought along some knives that I felt were much more suited for the job. A long, sharp, slim utility knife for the killing; a small but beefy deba bocho for the processing; and my mid range heavy duty Chinese cleaver for removing the head and feet.

One of the organ buckets:

The feathers and feet were all collected for various projects. Here you can see the immense difference in size between the laying hens and the broiler chickens just by comparing their feet side by side:

The blood was used as a fertilizer, the buckets waiting to be washed.

All told, I personally killed six out of eleven chickens. I took Harold home and put him in the freezer for dinner with my family next Sunday.

Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No

2009-11-12T17:28:00.000-08:00

I've loved this story ever since I first read about it on boingboing.net a couple years ago. Now I love it even more!

Full disclosure: I lifted this blogpost, lazily, from Blogtown. But such is the way of the blogocube, no?

Song of the Day: Magic Potion, Flunk

Cyclocrossin'

2009-11-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

On the invitation of my friend Corin, I went and spectated the annual cyclocross race out at the Portland International Raceway. I knew three of the racers. Below is Trever Spahr in Orange:

For those of you not yet introduces to the sport, let me advise you to go look it up. I know only a little more than you. Basically it's a bunch of crazy people riding their bike at breakneck speeds through a long, muddy, and obstacle-ridden course.

It was raining very wetly, and it was very muddy. Here is Corin in her free Shimano(TM) poncho

The big draw for me was the sweet food karts and the beer.

Waffles! and Beer too!

Here's me and my Waffle! And a crazy hat that I borrowed from Alyssa.
I also ate a taco from Koi Fusion, it was delicious!
The theme was Thunderdome or something so they had this sweet geodesic dome that the course snaked through.

My friends Meghan and Sarah were there too watching my other friend Nissy race

Here's Nissy using a puddle like a giant bird bath after the race:

There was even rock and roll music

It was a lot of fun!

Song of the Day: Damn your eyes, Zap Mama

Panoramica

2009-11-06T16:06:00.000-08:00

Kozyndan are/is my favorite artist(s). Check out their latest panorama!

Song of the Day: Roochoo Gumbo , 細野晴臣 (Haruomi Hosono) - I found this song on a play list that Kozyndan released for the purpose of exploring japan during the Summer time. Such a good song!

Teeths

2009-11-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

So, my teeth. Effed. I need two extractions, and one cantilevered dental implant supporting two crowns.

It will look like this, but have a forking abutment to support two teeth. This will cost more money than seems reasonable, and will take five months of procedures.

That is all for now.

Song of the Day: Modern Marvel, Mos Def

I went splat

2009-09-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

Five days ago on Thursday I spent a lovely evening at my friend Corin's house, eating pizza and drinking beer. I had a very good time. Unfortunately, I had to work the next morning and ducked out early. I went downstairs, unlocked my bike, and set out for home.

I usually cut over to Ankeny st. when biking home from the East, but recently had been making a straight shot down the low traffic of the nighttime Stark st. I did this on Thursday. I had a pleasant, car free ride for ten blocks down Stark, which was half luck of having low traffic, and half my high rate of speed to keep cars from overtaking me. At 25th, alongside Central Catholic High School, I looked back over my shoulder and spotted a car gaining on me from about two blocks away. With the 20th avenue light in my sights, I gunned my speed, desiring to beat the car to the light.

View Larger Map
I stood up on my peddles, and swayed my bike from side to side with my peddle strokes to accelerate. One, two, three quick bursts of power into my gears was as far as I got. Somehow my front tire caught the pavement at an unfriendly angle to the left. The friction overwhelmed my firm hold on the handlebars and instantaneously forced the wheel at a ninety degree angle to the direction I was traveling.

There was nothing to be done. My face impacted the asphalt before I could even consider my situation. A loud crack, and then Blackness.

I have never lost consciousness before. To "black out" is an extremely apt term for this, as Blackness was the overriding sensation; a void total and complete. Yet, somehow this is my most clear memory of the accident.

When I came to I was upside down, still hurtling through space, continuing to my back. I used some unspent momentum to carry myself to a sitting position. Blood fell to the ground between my legs. I quickly explored my visage with my hand and found it ruined. Lacerations, broken teeth, the works. I looked behind me and found my bicycle about six feet away where I had left it. My lights, still flashing, scattered between us.

I scrambled to my feet and dragged my belongings to the curb for fear of being run over by the car that I had initially fled from. It wasn't there. Must have turned off of Stark. At this point I called my Folks at home. My dad received the who, the what, the where, and was speeding towards me in the car before I could groggily relate the why and the how. Two passersby stopped to assist me, did what they could, and I sent them away, assuring them that help was coming.

At this point, I took a picture of my face, wanting to see what caused these people to wrinkle their brow with concern.

Hmm, interesting. I'm not sure what came over me, but I posted it to Facebook while I was waiting for my dad to show up. Almost immediately I was getting calls and text messages.

My dad showed up, gathered me and my things into the car and set out for the hospital. The urgent care was closed at this location, we were sent away to Sunnyside Hospital, seven miles from where we were.

Upon arrival, I was wrapped up like a mummy and almost immediately sent away to get a CT scan.

I was pretty concussed, fading in and out, talking jovially with my dad and the hospital staff.

I was given a bed and a tetanus shot. Then we waited.

A nurse came along and gave me numbing shots directly into my wounds. This was very painful. Then we waited. Another nurse came along and cleaned out my lacerations with saline solution, blasted full power from a special syringe. Then we waited. This is what I looked like at that point.

The Doctor then came along and began to stitch me up. The local anesthetic had worn off while we waited, so it had to be repeated. The stitches were no fun. He finished and left. Then we waited.

I was wheeled into the radiology unit to get X-rays of my shoulder, but my right shoulder was hurting, not my left as it said on my file. They couldn't proceed until the doctor approved so they wheeled me back into my room. Then we waited.
I was certain that I did not need X-rays, having full range of motion in my arm and only muscular soreness. Eventually the Doctor came around and I told him as much. The X-rays were canceled. Then we waited.

Finally a nurse in Portland Trail Blazers scrubs came by to tell us what we needed to know about my Vicodin prescription, and how to watch out for signs of trouble from my concussion. Finally, after hours and hours, we were sent home. I spent the night with my folks so they could keep an eye on me. My poor father had worked a thirteen hour day at his school for open house night and then, upon getting home, promptly set out to pick me up from the side of the road. We got home at 4am. He went and taught school the next day, God bless him.

Now I am recuperating. The Vicodin and Ibuprofen are working wonders. The most trivial of injuries is causing me the most discomfort.

Road rash on my right elbow painfully cracks open every time I move it. My teeth are pretty fucked. I am going to need a root canal, a crown, a filling or cap, and maybe one pulled. None of this can happen for two more weeks as we wait for the swelling to go down.

All and all, I feel much better. Here is how I look today:

Pocket Knife

2009-09-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

As you know, I appreciate a good knife. The intersection of function and form (in that order) has always interested me, and knives seem to represent this perfectly. I find a similar beauty in things like chisels or axes, but having very little use for such things in my day to day life disinclines me to them. Thus, it is knives.

I always carry a knife with me. For the past seven years it has been the knife seen above. I bought it at the Shadow House during the 2002 Hawthorne street fair for $20. The design is, in my opinion, beautiful. Unfortunately, the craftsmanship is shoddy, and the steel, shit. Don't get me wrong, I love this knife, I wouldn't have carried it for nearly a third of my life(!) if it didn't serve me well. The last two years or so it has been harder and harder to keep it in good condition; The rivets are popping out and the blade hardly hold an edge. It's time to retire the old guy.

Meet my new knife. It's a Benchmade Shoki. Benchmade is a local knife company that produces some of the finest quality pocket knives available. I'll try not to wax too technical, so I'll say this, the steel and blade design is superior in every way over my old knife, the blade locking mechanism innovative, and the quality of craftsmanship is through the roof. Too, it is wicked sharp.

As you can see, it is smaller than my old knife, which isn't saying much because the old one is pretty large for a pocket knife, coming in just under the legal length for a concealed blade. It's also quite a bit lighter, which is actually a downside; I prefer a more substantial tool in my hand to let me know where it is and what it's doing. It's astonishingly light, about five times lighter than my old knife. I will adjust eventually.

They call it a "gentleman's carry" which is an annoying way of saying it is not particularly rugged, so no screw-drivering or ninja knife throwing for me anytime soon. Which is fine by me.

Song of the Day: Make it Fast, J Dilla feat. Guilty Simpson - This samples heavily from "Make it Fast, Make it Slow" by Di Rob, a Ghanaian funk/rock musician from the 1970's

Birthday at Wong's

2009-09-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I love and adore Wong's King Seafood Restaurant. And not without reason; They consistently produce some of the freshest, most delicious food in Portland. Note that I did not qualify it by saying Chinese food. Food, any type of food. Absolutely amazing.

So, last Wednesday, on our weekly visit, Katelyn and I swung by the live seafood tanks to admire the beautiful (and tasty looking) rock prawns. The always amiable general manager, Fu, noticed our interest and swooped in to gloat about how good they make them at Wong's. He was so proud of them that he insisted we try them soon, but also acknowledged how pricey they can be. Suddenly, a smile spread across his face and he asked conspiratorially,

"Hey, when is your birthday?"

I had to laugh, "why, this coming Saturday, actually!"

"Great," he said, "you come back next week and I will have some of these made up for you. On me!"

I thought this to be extremely generous, which it is; But let's be clear here, Katelyn and I aren't one of the big spending clients, the type who rent out the whole restaurant and drop a dozen grand on one evening, but we are consistent customers. We have a (nearly) two year tradition of going to Wong's EVERY WEEK. On top of that, we direct all of our friends towards Wong's, building the fan base. Fu recognizes this, and I guess doesn't feel hesitant to acknowledge it. I certainly don't feel that I deserve this generosity, but absolutely appreciate it!

Tonight was the night. Through a combination of confusion, miscommunication, and greater generosity on their part, we got our entire meal on the house. This elates me.

Check it:
We started with one our favorite appetizers, Fried Shrimp Dumplings:

Loving them so much, I forgot to snap a picture of the main platter before tucking in with gusto.

These are the Prawns. Part of the above mentioned confusion was that these four Rock Prawns were most likely the last in the state, if not everywhere. The rock prawn season ended two weeks ago(!), a small but important point Fu forgot about when he invited us eat them last week. Since then, these four had been kept alive in their tank, just for us. Rock Prawns don't become available again until next June.

They were very lightly fried whole, in their shell, with garlic, chillies, and scallions. After sucking off the shells, we cracked them open, eating the tails, brains, entrails, eyes, and all. Holy Good Lord were they good.

The Prawn shells

The main course was one our absolute favorites, Crab with E-Fu Noodles in Supreme Broth. This dish is amazing. The crab is cooked perfectly, served on top of a pile of thick and chewy noodles. These noodles are made using soda water, giving them their distinctive spring. I just found out that they are also known as Longevity Noodles, traditionally being eaten on birthdays, making for an auspicious selection on our part. The Supreme Broth is a mystery to me. It is a thick, hearty sauce imbued with a meaty savoriness that perfectly compliments the noodles and crab. Something tells me that it is much simpler than it seems, though.

The staff provide you with shell crackers and meat picks that work wonders on retrieving the hard to reach morsels.

I love you Wong's King!

Song of the Day: Telephone, Erykah Badu - This song was apparently written using imagery from the mind of J-dilla, on his deathbed, while hallucinating, as told to his mother who later related it to Badu. Powerful shit.

J-Dilla

2009-08-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday was my twenty fourth birthday. At the end of the day, well spent eating Biscuits with Corin, lounging at Crema, and eating tasty Greek food with my family, I went to the Roseland and saw Mos Def perform. One of the opening acts was Jay Electronica, a charismatic and somewhat avant-garde rapper who is known more, perhaps unfairly, for being Erykah Badu's baby daddy instead of his talent for rapping. I was gladdened by the time that he set aside to honor and memorialize J-Dilla by playing his beats and getting the audience to go crazy and be as loud as possible.

The reason I bring this up is to draw attention to the latest J-Dilla album to come out, Jay Stay Paid. "But Eli," you might ask, "Dilla died over three years ago, how could he still be releasing?" Well, his mother (Ma Dukes, as she is known) knew that there was still a lot of Dilla beats that were floating around on old floppy discs and hard drives and wanted the world to hear them. Teaming up with the legendary Pete Rock, they produced this amazing album.

The album is mostly instrumental, but there are quite a few guest rappers that rhyme over his tracks, notably Black Thought of The Roots and MF DOOM, among many other M.C.'s that Dilla had worked with through the years. I've been listening to this album almost everyday (sometimes twice) since I picked it up over a week ago. If you're a fan of Hip Hop, you need this.

Song of the Day: Lazer Gunne Funke, J-Dilla

New(ish) developments

2009-08-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

I look at the time stamp of my last post and on one hand am surprised that it has nearly been a month, and on the other, not at all. A lot has happened! This summer is quickly deteriorating, giving me that creeping melancholy associated with early Autumn. This feeling is usually a mixture of anticipating the winter months and an anxiety about the resumption of school. I am graduated, and am for the first time left unsure how the seasons will change without the dependable lense of school to view it through. As a lifelong student, my year has always begun in September with the school year. The idea of a year unbroken by Summer-, Winter-, and Spring-breaks has always seemed odd and frustrating to me. But here I find myself within this reality. The reality of having a job. Of having a job not proceeded by the words "seasonal," or "part-time."

A Job of that nature is what I now have. About a month ago I started working for a man who I have known off and on for about fifteen years. He runs a small, but serious, contracting company of the home remodeling type. Roofing, painting, plumbing, drywall, electrical work, &c. is all in my future. The job also entails certain personal assistantry duties ranging from office type work to defrosting the man's freezer. I did not expect to find myself with a good, well-paying job so soon after graduating from college, a job that I am grateful and lucky to have. I hope, however, that you will pardon me for being slightly disappointed with myself in this occupation. I should expect no better than a manual labor job with my Fine Arts degree and paltry resume. However, this is a skilled manual labor job of which I have no skills in. So, in this fine and desirable job, I am dually disappointed, on the kind of work it is, and my inability to actually be good at it. I suspect that both of these, with time, will remedy themselves and I will be a happy and helpful worker.

About the time I started this job I also had an art show. I displayed prints from my Nikkei Grocery project in a small space called Carole Zoom Studios in the Pearl. The night was a huge success! Many of my friends stopped by and I sold three prints. In contrast, I had spent many hours earlier in the day arduously shoveling gravel in a basement. I hope this makes clear the misgivings about my job I stated above. I went from grueling, dirty, sweaty labor to making nearly two months rent by standing around, talking art, and sipping wine. It does not escape me though that a night like that does not come around very often.

The Chunkin' Master - Enter Bruce Presley

2009-07-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Judo

2009-07-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

I know that you probably don't think this is interesting. Tough noogies, I do. (I recommend that you mute your volume, unless you like Slayer that is.)

Judo is fascinating to watch.

Um,

2009-07-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

So remember how I said I would post every day? Yeah, about that. . .

My life right now consists of hanging out and eating food. Not very interesting nor inspiring. When I have something good to write about, I will.

Oh wait, my computer crapped it's pants. (writing this from my iphone) I have neither the ability to fix it nor the funds to pay someone else, not to mention buying a new one.

On a side note: It is hot. I have rediscovered the folding fan. I am curious why you don't see these carried more often. I think I am going to try my hand at making one. I think if I am successful at my first attempt, I will craft more, incorporating my prints onto the paper or cloth webing. Wish me luck!

Vietnam

2009-07-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's death of Robert McNamara really had me thinking a lot about the war in Vietnam and what I know about it. I have decided that I know very little about it. But what I do know (besides what I've seen in fictions based upon the war) I learned from two cute kitties.

This is the clearest explanation of the Vietnam War I have ever heard. Be warned, it is just over forty minutes long. I highly recommend that you find the time to watch it.

Song of the Day: Listening Wind, Talking Heads

The stuff of nightmares

2009-07-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

Found in a North Carolina sewer during remote video inspection:

Turns out it's just Tubifex worms

Song of the Day: There is a Way, Mos Def

The Lazy Onion Urban Farm

2009-07-01T01:33:00.000-07:00

Today I went up to 63rd and Burnside to visit my friend Aaron on his farm. I believe I have mentioned it before. I am always very impressed with what he is doing there. The volume and variety of produce that he is producing is staggering and really inspiring. I lent a hand with harvesting garlic

The garlic will sit for a few weeks and dry above the chicken coop, it will then be ready for storing.

Aaron mentioned making onion rings for lunch with the sweet Walla walla onions he is growing. I noted that if he is already frying, we should make some fried Zucchini Blossoms (there were dozens of zucchini plants covered in the flowers). I had eaten them in Italy and been dying to try my hand at them, this seemed like the perfect time.
The fresh blossoms:

Simply dredged in egg (from the farm's chickens) and lightly rolled through herbed flower, then fried:

The final result is light and fluffy, crisp and flavorful, savory and filling:

The onion rings, fresh from the garden (who says home grown veggies have to be healthy?):

We crunched happily on sweet peas as Aaron grilled up some tasty salmon and fire roasted a few heads of the garlic we pulled up. Awesome. What an amazing lunch, almost everything we ate came from the farm.

Some more pictures:

Song of the Day: Shove It, Santogold

hmm

2009-06-27T13:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting much lately because lately I haven't had much to post about.

Some food stuff

2009-06-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

My lunch today:

Rigatoni salad with prosciutto, chevre, and basil, and a side of duck sausage.

Two Spatchcocked chickens:

~Dry rub~

~Sweet chili glaze~

My family went out to dinner to celebrate several notable happenings, including my graduation. We decided to go to LePigeon, a small, open kitchen restaurant known for their daring use of offal, fat, and various tasty bits of the pig not normally served in the States. The dinner was easily one of the best I've ever had.

We began with two starters:

~Jelly donut with seared Foie Gras and red wine vinegar drizzle~

~Rabbit Terrine with eel sliver, avocado, and miso sauce~

I had for my main course a Veal Blanquette over egg noodles with sautéed mushrooms and pearl onions and a healthy chunk of veal. A slim disc of foie gras placed on top slowly melted into the dish as I ate. Devine:

My dad and Stephanie both had steak with potatoes cooked in duck fat and flavored with marrow:

My mom and Niko both had the Duck confit with stewed root vegetables:

For dessert we split dense and delicious chocolate caramel tart. Unfortunately I did not snap any pics of this.

Song of the Day: Sugar Water, Cibo Matto - This video was directed by french weirdo/film director Michel Gondry, and has a very cool split-screen, forward/reverse, palindrome visual mechanic that I just love. It starts with Yuka Honda on the left (on keys), and my future wife Miho Hatori on the right (vox). Apparently copyright holders have chased it off of youtube, which sucks, but I have found it on dailymotion for your enjoyment.

blog blerg

2009-06-15T00:06:00.000-07:00

My computer is broken and I've been out of town. Sorry for the absence. I will not have my computer up and running for another week or two, so don't expect any posts for a while. I am writing this on another computer

I've been in Bellingham Washington visiting Tyson. I came up on the train with his brother Rayne on Tuesday and have been having fun ever since. I am back in Portland with some good memories, a bevy of bumps, bruises, scrapes, and cuts, and a passion for three new-to-me games: Settlers of Catan, Dominoes, and Bike Polo. Yes, bike polo.

On Wednesday nights the town's crusty bike kids gather in the highschool parking lot, drink booze, and play fierce bouts of three on three polo. After several three point rounds the rules switch and it becomes strip bike polo, the first team who is unwilling to strip off anymore layers looses. My team got to the point where I had my thumbs hooked in my boxers and ready to drop, but the loan girl on my team decided, perhaps not unwisely, to keep her bra on. Or perhaps she was just trying to keep my underwear on.

I also enjoyed some cliff jumping into the bay. The cliff was probably 25 feet high, and took me a few minutes to will my self over the edge and then what felt like another few minutes to hit the water.

quick update

2009-06-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

Let's see here

I've spent five nights in my new place now. It's going well! The other people are quite agreeable, and I enjoy their company a good deal. The location is pretty cool, lots of restaurants and bus lines, two of my living requirements . Yesterday Dan and Alyssa showed me some of the wonders of the nearby East side industrial area, I had never spent very much time in that area and was surprised by some of the cool stuff.

Yesterday I spatchcocked a chicken and grilled it. Spatchcocking involves removing the spine and then the breastbone from the bird and flattening it. This allows you to grill the whole bird at once, yielding astonishingly tender and juicy chicken. I plan to do this at the beginning of every weekend and just use it in meals for the rest of the week.

That is all.

Song of the Day: Flying Birds, RZA - From the Ghost Dog soundtrack. I don't know why the visuals in this are from an old Cypress Hill video.

Lucy Knisley

2009-06-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

I found a lovely new comic artist. Well, you know, new to me. Lucy Knisley:

Boing Boing posted a link to a comic about a week long fast she did. I find her simple line work and cute, understated humor to be quite charming.

I was initially drawn in by the Ligne Claire style she uses, but stayed for the wit. The autobiographical nature of her comics is quite appealing, especially since much of her material is about food. Her first book will be all about food, I can't wait to pick it up. Anyway, check out her website

Song of the Day: Can't Tell Me Nothing, Kanye West - I think Kanye West is an amazing producer and beat maker. His rapping could use some work. The reason I link this video is because Zach Galifianakis somehow talked Kanye into letting him make the video. The results are amazing. I saw The Hangover today (starring Galifianakis) and was reminded of this video when the song was used in the sound track.

Metal

2009-06-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

In my Metals class I produced a wall mounted vase out of copper. The body was formed by a process called raising. Basically it consists of hammering a metal disc in concentric circles over a stake, gradually changing the angle as you progress. After a bit of hammering, the metal becomes work hardened and won't move under force, leading it to crack or break; This requires constant annealing, which is done by bringing the metal to a certain temperature where the crystalline structure breaks down and reforms into a more malleable state.

Here is the finished product:

The Process

I started with a piece of aluminum, but the alloy was unknown, causing it to not anneal correctly. After a week of hammering on it, it exploded, suddenly forming half a dozen gaping cracks across its surface in a matter of a few hammer blows.

So I switched to Copper:

Here is the first two passes with the hammer on the stake looks like:

Oh yeah, this is what the hammer and stake look like:

A little more raising:

After a certain point I had to planish it over a domed stake to work out the wrinkles:

And then a lot more raising:

And more yet:

At this point I became impatient (each picture represents several hours of hammering) and tried to raise the point faster than the metal could allow and I got a tear in the tip. I patched this up with solder and it worked out in the end:

The final shape:

I then went through a series of tragic mishaps trying to make the base out of bronze, after two weeks I gave up and went with a much simpler design and switched to copper. A closer look:

The entire thing is made of only two pieces of copper, the vase and the rod base. The base is nailed into a wall with only one nail and cantilevers out to hold the vase.

Here is the other thing I made in the class.

It is a brass ring… AND MORE! The design is influenced by a very old Jujitsu weapon the Samurai used, and through the popular mystification of them, associated with the Ninja. The ring is used not as a punching aid, a sort of one fingered brass knuckle, but rather as an aid to joint manipulation and pain compliance with the spikes worn inward towards the palm.

The historical rings are ugly wrought iron things with needle like points, much more nasty and not as easy to wear. My ring is a more modern take on an old weapon. I have tested it out with a few of my martial arts friends and it is quite effective.

Song of the Day: Who Is He And What Is He To You, Bill Withers (Today's song has nothing to do with events in my life, it's just a kick ass song)

End of an era

2009-06-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

So today I did the last schoolwork of my life. It consisted of about ninety seconds of torch flame to finish up my metals piece. (pics coming soon). Tomorrow I will have two critiques, the last classes of my college career. w00t! Though, feels kinda bittersweet at the moment. I have spent the last eighteen years of my life in school. It is all that I know. "Life" begins now, dammit.

Song of the Day: Slow Fast Hazel, Stereolab

Beats

2009-05-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Erik directed me towards this brief video showing how Damu the Fudgemunk (I hadn't heard of him either) makes his beats. I've really been into producers and beat makers lately, such as J-Dilla, Pete Rock, RZA, and Madlib, to name a few, and liked seeing a very down to earth look at how it's done. Check it out:

Song of the Day: Coffee Table, Damu the Fudgemunk

I am moving

2009-05-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

Hooray!

On Wednesday I found out that some of my friends had a vacancy crisis at their house. Through cryptic facebook messages, and clandestine phone conversations, we came to the conclusion that I should perhaps move in with them. Alyssa is a former printmaking classmate of mine. She shares a room with her main squeeze, Dan; their friend Daniella is moving upstairs from a tenure living in the basement, and a new bloke by the name of Davin is taking up her subterranean quarters. The departing couple of Allison and Sean are leaving two rooms empty; I will take one, Daniella another.

As far as I can tell, The Purple Pee-Pee Eater (that's the house) is a pretty cool place to reside. Frequent trips to the Bins provides the house with neat and playful decor. Here is an unseasonal and poorly cropped picture I found of the house on the internet:

Song of the Day: Breakfast at Denny's (Remix), Buckshot LeFonque

School

2009-05-28T23:47:00.000-07:00

I am almost done with it. But I have one last big push. Today I was in the metal studio for nearly six hours, only to end up, through a series of mishaps, right where I started. *sigh* I then went to the print studio and drew a new image and started carving it.

yep. thrilling.

Anyway, I am more or less happy and having fun.

Song of the Day: Umi Says, Mos Def

Laurelhurst Market

2009-05-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

I swung by the new Laurelhurst Market today for lunch. 'Twasn't bad. The place has an interesting model: artisanal butcher and charcuterie by day, fancy pants, yet low key, steakhouse by night. Check out the dinner menu on the site, it looks pretty good, but kinda spendy. The menu is (obviously) rather meat heavy, so keep that in mind.

I had the Porchetta sandwich on a ciabata roll with pepperoncinis, red leaf lettuce, and horseradish Dijon mustard. I'm not a fan of mustard OR pepperoncinis, but I gotta say, this was a damn fine sandwich. The immensely savory Porchetta was delicious, but the first bit was a little disappointing; Porchetta has an obscenely high fat content, so when they cut it off a roll straight out of the chill case it was a little gelatinous. I simply waited a minute for it to approach room temp and ate it then. It was wonderful.

They wrap their sandwiches like it's a cut of meat. cute.

In all its glory.

Unless you are shopping across the street at Music Millennium like I was, Laurelhurst Market should probably be passed over for your midday meal. With only six sandwiches available on their lunch menu, it could easily not be worth the trip for many people. I am very excited about what they are doing for their dinner though, and you should watch this space for a revue in the future. Until then I will probably be seen shopping at their great butcher counter.

Song of the Day: Kon Karne, MF Doom - This is a killer track.

Word up

2009-05-27T00:30:00.000-07:00

Sean Nowland with an awesome cover of Word Up by Cameo. I'm pretty sure I like Shag's version better. Though, I think Sean could rock the leather jacket/codpiece look pretty hard.

This night

2009-05-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

The swish swish swish of my rolled up pant legs
reacquainting with my bicycle's top tube.
Neighborhood house parties
serenading the warm night.
*Snap/crunch* interjects a lone hobo,
morosely popping an Oly beer can.
My attention diverted by the distant mewls
of a local street cat, chasing an opossum.
swish swish swish says my rolled up pant legs
reacquainted with my bicycle's top tube.

------------------------------------------------------

Eli's guide to bicycling whilst drunk

° Front and rear lights
° Wear a helmet, habitually
° Always come to a complete stop at every stop sign.
° Choose a relatively low gear and stick with it. Do not bike faster than this gear will allow.
° Keep your fingers above your break levers.
° Enjoy yourself.

------------------------------------------------------

Giant Jenga

The Triple Nickel saloon has Giant Jenga! What fun!

Song of the Day: Moving in Stereo, The Cars - This a so-so live video of this song 'cause I couldn't find the studio version.

bữa sáng & Cena

2009-05-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

Breakfast:

Today Katelyn and I went to Pho Hung for breakfast before kung fu. I got the number one (Eye of round steak, well-done flank, fat brisket, soft tendon, and honeycomb tripe).

Dinner:

My family went out to Pambiche for our Sunday night dinner. I had the Camarones al Ajillo. Creole garlic shrimp, pan frito, arozz blanco, and a divine avocado salad.

Song of the Day: On Lock, Rench presents: Gangstagrass

Grilling meats. Reconstructing Babel

2009-05-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of partaking in a barbecue picnic this afternoon with some of my fellow printmakers. Amber and Alex hosted and made much of the food. There were delectable peanut butter cookies, refreshing dill coleslaw, some unseasonably juicy strawberries, Amber's home made ginger syrup that mixed delightfully into drinks, and the various meats on the grill.

Ben made some delicious chevre stuffed, bacon wrapped peppers. amazing

Tess then began to construct a twig sculpture, I followed in her lead and started adding sticks and twigs as well.

Soon, it reached higher

Ben, Alex, and Amber looked on encouragingly, sometimes proffering found twigs.

There was a strange, simple pleasure to this. We stacked and balanced, and no clear goal was ever contemplated. The action was the destination.

The wind, or our careless hands, would knock sections down, causing catastrophic domino effects. No matter. Build again

My camera freaked out and took this very cool picture all on its own.

Tess was the champion of the work

I swung by again, a few hours after we had left it to imbibe in Amber's beautiful apartment, to see how it fared. Still standing.

Song of the Day: Rapture, Blondie. - This was the first Rap song to hit number one on the US Billboard Chart, and the first rap song ever to play on MTV. Lee Quinones and Jean-Michel Basquiat both make appearances in the music video as the dancing graph artists. Way cool.

contentment(ish)

2009-05-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

I think this is probably one of the funnier pictures of me:

Anyway, I am rather pleased with life. This is one of my favorite times of year, when the days are getting longer, the weather getting warmer, and the atmosphere of Portland becoming a bit more relaxed. It's a state of transition, of flux; the weather is nice, but not yet the old hat of summer's back to back perfect days.

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh…

Song of the Day: The Art of Easing, Digable Planets

Sol

2009-05-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

This picture be blowin' my mind!

This is the space shuttle Atlantis in transit across the face of the Sun. Amazing. It was taken from Earth by Theirry Legualt with a 5" refracting telescope and a Canon.

Song of the Day: Cobbs Creek Great Skate Remix , King Britt - feat. Posdnuos & Trugoy

Cutest

2009-05-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Walter! He is the cutest!

Yes, I know this post is a cop out. I don't give a damn. LOOK HOW CUTE WALTO IS!

Song of the Day: Where Are You?, Zap Mama

This was fun

2009-05-14T22:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Tyler's parents are in town from Maine. They are wonderful people and now I know why they have a wonderful son. Tyler's dad, David, is a chef and thought it would be nice to cook all of his friends a nice dinner. This is what he was working on when I walked in:

hahahaha, awesome. Dinner was skewers of tender beef, spicy sausage, grilled shrimp, and juicy chicken accompanied by three types of melon, mango, pineapple, and guava(?). He made fresh pico de gallo, mango salsa, and raspberry salsa. Sangria made smiles dimple rosy cheeks.

This great dinner was made spectacular by wonderful people.

Song of the Day: Money, Easy Star All-Stars, Dub Side of the Moon

2009-05-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

I am having a very hard time keeping up this blarg lately. I made a promise to myself to post everyday, which clearly is not happening.

Oh well.

I will try to do better in the future. For now, watch this:

The first minute goes by slowly, but then it really picks up.

Song of the Day: Channel 1 Suite (Four Tet Remix), The Cinematic Orchestra

I have lost my mind

2009-05-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

Or that's what some people think (I'm looking at you Katelyn). I have made a challenging decision that will effect* my wallet, my waist line, my social life, and my sanity. Fortunately it will only last one month.

For the month of June, I will not eat out at any restaurant, instead preparing all of my food by hand.

For me, this is madness. I am at my happiest when dinning out with friends, marveling at the unique flavors, and quaffing lustily from pints of sable beer. I get equal delight from poring over a new and exotic menu as I do from ordering a known favorite without consulting the menu, like greeting an old friend. Whether it's swapping a fist of dollar bills for a sack of tacos with the woman high up in a grease truck, or listening, captivated, to the maitre'd orate the specials, I feel comfortable there.

So why make this decision? There are several reasons, really. Primarily, I am soon to be very broke. With graduation meaning the loss of financial aid and no real job prospects, I will quickly run out of money. Observing my current spending habits, I shell out anywhere from one hundred to two hundred dollars a week on food that is not prepared by me. I will save hundreds of dollars by not eating out in June. I see it as a mini stimulus package for surviving the summer. I do worry about the financial hit some of my most frequented restaurants will take, most of which will likely be bankrupt by July.

Too, I have not been cooking nearly as much as would like. It is one of my favorite pastimes, cooking, yet I have hardly put knife to block and pot to flame in the past month or two. Naturally, this plan will force me to be in the kitchen much more, which I look forward to. I will have to think about new recipes and ingredients so that I don't get bored. I am considering exploring the vast number of rice/bean dishes the world has to offer from just about every culture.

Those are the two main reasons for me to take on this challenge. Another, that is not quite as important to me, is the fact that I will probably lose some of these extra pounds I've put on recently. Controlling every bite that enters my mouth will, I believe, dramatically reduce my caloric intake, seeing as I don't commonly cook with the startling levels of butter, cheese, pork fat, and sugar that most restaurants do.

Luckily I still have twenty days of May to enjoy Wong's King, Porque No, Pok Pok, Kenny and Zuke's, Pine State Biscuits, Pho Hung, and all the other places I love before this takes effect.** Wish me luck.

Some pasta I made today

*Please help me, I haven't the slightest clue when to use Affect and when to use Effect.
**Again!

Song of the Day: Street Scene (4 Shazz), St. Germain

Sandwich

2009-05-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

So far, 2009 has been the Year of the Sandwich. Well, for me at least. It begun in January with my first trip to Kenny and Zuke's and my subsequent devotion to the Pickled Tongue Sandwich; It continued at Ping with the Ju Pa Bao, an amazingly simple pork sandwich; And all the while bolstered by my obsession with the Turkey and Brie panini at Crema, and healthy respect for the Portabella Mushroom Sandwich at the Gotham Tavern.

2009 continued to be efffing awesome in the sandwich department, yesterday with my regrettably late visit to Meat Cheese Bread. I have heard nothing but good things about this small shop on lower SE Stark, and yesterday found myself with a little bit of time for lunch and remembered this place. Boy am I glad I went.

I left my sandwich selection up to chance, telling the nice woman behind the counter to pick a number. "Three," she said, unwittingly choosing the Smoked Ham Sandwich for my lunch. At $4.95 I was already enjoying the sandwich before the ticket even reached the kitchen.

Let me say this (and please know that I say it without facetiousness or exaggeration, as I am wont to do): The very moment I bit into the sandwich I craved another. Instantaneously! The bun was light yet savory, the meat subtly smoky but not overpowering (as ham can sometimes be), and the Gruyere and Aioli delightfully lubricating the entire thing. Heaven.

Kenny & Zuke's

Ping

Crema

Gotham Tavern

Meat Cheese Bread

Song of the Day: So Far To Go (Instrumental), J Dilla

BIGFOOT!!!

2009-05-07T10:33:00.000-07:00

I have always said that there is more evidence that Sasquatch exists than there is that it doesn't. And you all have always scoffed! Weep now as the TRUTH IS REVEALED!

But seriously, holy crap that's bigfoot!

My next culinary goal

2009-05-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hand pulled noodles.

I first saw Chinese noodle pulling about ten years ago in the opening scene of Jackie Chan's Mr. Nice Guy. I have been fascinated with it ever since. Having done some research it seems that noodle pulling, like many skills, looks very easy in the hands of a master, is very hard for a novice, and through much diligence and practice eventually becomes as easy as it looks. I really want to start practicing this. Nothing is really stopping me, 'cept my own laziness. We shall see what happens.

Song of the Day: Barracuda, Miho Hatori

Gojira

2009-05-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Godzilla is my hero? Oh, yes! Godzilla is totally sweet. I mean, check Godzilla out:

A complete bad ass is what Godzilla is! Godzilla is completely unfuckwithable.

I grew up watching the old Godzilla movies. I would go to the neighborhood video store and rent several at a time, enough to fill my whole weekend. The above clip is the trailer for Godzilla vs Gigan, which I own and used to watch over and over. It involves invading aliens summoning the space monster Gigan and the three headed space dragon King Ghidorah to attack the earth. Godzilla teams up with his former enemy Anguirus to defeat the evil monsters while a small group of karate fighting humans take on the aliens. Way awesome.

For several years in early high school I had vivid Godzilla related dreams. Sometimes Godzilla would be my ally, and other times a terrible beast, wreaking ruin upon Portland.

Song of the Day: Godzilla Theme, Akira Ifukube

Grrrrr

2009-05-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

So, PSU is having a senior art show that I am putting some work in. Today I went to the print studio to print the pieces and had zero success. I am trying to print five blocks on one piece of paper, which isn't that hard, it just needs a few simple tricks and a little know-how. Anyway, it took me about two hours to figure out the layout, tear down the paper, round the corners (which is something I had to teach myself to do today), ink the five blocks, and prep the press. It's been a little bit since I printed a lino block, so I didn't have the pressure set right, which yielded a muddled gray instead of the nice brown/black I mixed. This made me a tad grumpy. I was really hoping to be in and out of the studio in time for dinner with my family, but this print was just not worth a damn. It did show me though that I was on the right track and that it had the potential to be a good piece.

I decided to try one more time, the template was already there, I just had to transfer it to the next piece of paper and tear it down instead of doing all the measurements first. I re-inked all the blocks, set up the press (this time relying on the pressure setting listed on the wall for the intro class), and ran it through. I could feel the press jumping off the blocks, a sign that the pressure was to tight, and knew that they had slipped. My suspicions were confirmed moments later when I lifted the felts off the bed and saw the print. The ink was the nice, earthy black I had been looking for, but the detail on three of the five blocks was smooshed to one side. completely effed.

I had only thought to buy two of the $8.00 pieces of paper, not expecting two failures, and was feeling tired, defeated, and hungry. I cleaned up, and went home. I will be getting up early to run to the art store, buy more paper, and head to the studio and hope for the best.

Song of the Day: Happiness Is..., Yungchen Lhamo

S F

2009-05-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

There is a new SF movie coming out that looks really quite good. District 9. It is made by South African director Neill Blomkamp, with backing from Peter Jackson. The movie is based on an early short film by Blomkamp called Alive in Joberg that you should watch.

EDIT: hmm, I can't seem to get the HTML to work on the second link, here it is:
http://ia300227.us.archive.org/3/items/ALIVE_IN_JOBURG/Alive_in_Joburg_compr480.mov

Song of the Day: Genius of Love, Tom Tom Club

oh well

2009-04-30T23:53:00.000-07:00

The blazers lost. Life goes on. Come Autumn we will have another exciting season.

P.S. I know that my blog posts have been sucking as of late, I will try to do better. It is difficult to produce engaging content on a daily basis.

Song of the Day: Build a Church with Your Fear , Animals on Wheels

Blazers

2009-04-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

WON!!! very exciting. Let's see if they can upset the Rockets in Houston on Thursday. The Blazers are becoming very distracting, keeping me from my school work. The games keep landing on dates and times that I have set aside for school, which means I have gotten little done recently. Oh well, it will probably be over on Thursday.

Song of the Day: No Quarter, Led Zeppelin

Camping trip

2009-04-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

Camping was a blast. Cape lookout was beautiful, if only a little drizzly at times. I made a very boneheaded mistake and forgot the propane stove and tarps which I had stacked next to the car but somehow had not loaded into the car. We made do by cooking directly on the camp fire. This proved quite fun and challenging.

We stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory twice (coming and going), walked on the beach, explored tide pools, played frisbee, made each other laugh, spent many hours struggling with the fire so we could cook, ate loads of snacks, laid in our hammocks, and in general had a good time.

The hike out to the point of Cape Lookout was beautiful and arduous. The first time I walked this trail it was shrouded in mist and fog, concealing all of these beautiful shots of the ocean you see here.

This is what my hair does without shampoo and a brush:

Song of the Day: Tanto Tempo, Bebel Gilberto

Camping

2009-04-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

I am going camping tomorrow! w00t! None of the places that I usually go camping are open yet for the season so we have to "settle" for Cape Lookout State Park. Here are some pictures other people have taken of the park:

This day FTW

2009-04-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Today was good. I got a good amount of work done in the metals studio and a little bit of printmaking done as well. I then met up with some pals and went to Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day at both the Pioneer Square location AND the Pearl location (which NEVER has a line). I had three cones which has proved too much for my frail, lactose intolent stomach. We then walked along the water front and across the Hawthorne Bridge to Roots brewpub where we watched the Blazers beat the Rockets. Unfortunately, my sore tummy cut the night short. The walk home in the warm night was wonderful though.

2009-04-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Good day. Much sun. Very tired. Studio work. Sun burnt. Tasty lunch. Taco salad. Tasty dinner. BBQ chicken. Frisbee lessons. Easy chatter. Two parks. One twice. Gross Slurpees. Never again. Fine ladies. Naughty dog. Blistered feet. Warm night. Brother Mexico. Airport pickup. Today relaxed. Tomorrow studious.

Mason Bees. and something else about thievery corporation

2009-04-19T18:23:00.000-07:00

My dad has created a happy little Mason Bee community in the tool shed in his back yard. Mason Bees are a group of species from the Megachilidae family that find there homes in reeds and other small holes, mortaring up the entrances with mud and clay.

As far as I can tell, we have two different species living back there. One is the Orchard Mason Bee and the other is…

WE INTERRUPT THIS MESSAGE WITH AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.

THIEVERY CORPORATION!

These folks put on one of the best live shows I have ever seen. When I first saw them three years ago I thought it was just gonna be two dudes standing behind their turntables and drum machines fiddling nobs. Boy was I wrong. almost every instrument was played live, there where a half dozen vocalists, and the music was nonstop. Tonight's show exceeded my expectations left over from the first one.

Tonight had fourteen performers on stage, all of them fucking tearing it up. There were Rob Garza and Eric Hilton (the founding members), two percussionists (one of which also sang), two horn players, a bassist, a guitar/sitar player, a french singer from Iran, a Portuguese singer from Brazil, an American singing in English, a singer from Jamaica, and two singers from different parts of Africa. whoa.

They played FOUR encores! my ears are ringing right now, not so much from the music, but from the deafening crowd. I know bands on tour always say that whatever city they are in is the best, but all of the performerd seemed really sincere about it. The crowds enthusiasm raised several eyebrows and parted many grins on stage. There was a reason they had to add a second night in Portland; Portland loves them.

My dad and I had loads of fun. They play again tomorrow night. If you don't already have tickets to the sold out show, try getting some from scalpers at the door, it'll be worth it!

Song of the Day: Radio Retaliation, Thievery Corporation

Taken out…

2009-04-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

…to the ball game that is!

Last night I enjoyed my second professional, local sporting event this week. The Weaver clan took me to see the Portland Beavers' opening night against the Fresno Grizzlies at PGE Park.

Papa Weaver, Mama Weaver, R-Rizzle, The Weava Weav, and Myself. From left to right

For all intents and purposes, this was my first real baseball game; something Weave Weav and I have been trying to remedy for over a year now. I found it quite enjoyable. Though, the pace was achingly slow after the stimuli blitz that was the Blazers game on Monday.

The stands seemed a little empty to me for an opening night with 6,834 fans:

The Beavers went on to beat the Grizzlies 4-3. Good for them!

Mama and Papa Weaver with Lucky the Beaver:

Song of the Day: Honey, Erykah Badu

Hands

2009-04-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

I am working on a series of prints that explore the form of functional hands. Most hands when seen in art are fairly posed and idealized. Nothing wrong with this, it's just not what the hands I see from day to day look like. I few months ago I was sipping tea and eating noodles. I noticed that the hand holding the tea cup (my left) was in a very interesting shape. Using my other hand, I lifted the cup from where I was cradling it, trying my darnedest to keep the left hand as it was when holding the cup. What I found was a very appealing shape. It was my hand, functioning as it is meant to do, i.e. completely intuitively and adaptively. I had not willed it into this unique shape, with the ring and pinky finger tucked beneath the base of the cup, and the thumb bookending the cup with the middle and index fingers. My hand had created this perfect chassis completely on its own, without conscious edict from the brain. I find this fascinating.

I became curious about what the right hand was doing. It was feeding my face noodles with some chopsticks is what it was doing! I was a little more familiar with this hand posture, having waxed technical in a knowing (read: annoying) manner about Princess Masako's instructions on proper chopstick form and official technique and how they vary from my own to anyone who would listen. Like I did with the cup, I carefully removed the chopsticks without disturbing the posture of the hand. What I saw looked something like this:

I began playing around with different objects and seeing what the "functional hand" (as I am calling it) looked like. It looked good. The appeal of the functional hand lingered but I wasn't sure what to do with it. But while packing my portfolio of prints to go to Chicago, I took a look at a print I made two years ago; The print is a 16 foot long scroll detailing the historical ninja (as apposed to the modern, fictional ninja). One of the sections depicted some of the Mudra that ninja used in their spiritual practice. Here is one from the scroll:

My functional hand idea immediately came to mind and I came up with the idea of presenting these hand postures with lino-cuts.

Here is the first (chopsticks):

I originally planned to have the black background, but then thought of maybe having a white background with a simple border to frame it in. Here is a bad photoshop mock up of what that might look like:

Which style do you prefer?

I have already begun compiling photos of my hands doing various things with and without objects. But I don't want to just show my hands, I would like to do yours too! let me know if you are interested. I would love to draw your hands!

Song of the Day: El Pueblo Unido, Thievery Corporation. Today I bought my tickets to Sunday night's show. w00t!

What the fuck is a Trail Cat?

2009-04-14T17:44:00.000-07:00

So I got a call yesterday from my friend Weava Weav who gave me the most exciting news: She had free Blazers tickets. EFF YEAH! Her mother in law (not really, it's complicated) had bought tickets for the last three home games and couldn't make it to the last one against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the tickets ended up in her paws. She is an awesome friend who thought of me to share the two seats with. Not only were they tickets to a sold out Blazers game, they were awesome tickets to a sold out blazers game. $140 tickets. Each. HOORAH!

When we arrived we thought we would have to go up some stairs to find our seats. An usher halted us and directed us down, toward the court. As you can see from the above picture, we were only a handful of rows back from the action. Amazing. Look at our glee:

We were right behind one of the baskets, which meant we were given some of those inflatable tube things that you bang together when the apposing team is shooting free throws.

These games are events far beyond what is happening on the court. Everywhere we looked our eyes were filled with flashing lights, twirling streamers, jumbo-trons, Blazer Dancers, Blaze the Trail Cat, and screaming fans. I was extremely over stimulated for several hours.

The game was a complete blowout. At some point in the second quarter the Blazers had above a thirty point lead and pretty much held it there for the rest of the game. The final score was 113-83 Blazers. Incredible.

After the game we went and ate meat and veggie burgers w/ Tatter-tots, drank beer, and played pool. What an awesome night.

Song of the Day: Halcyon & on & on, Orbital. This song was on constant rotation on my stereo when I was in middle school.

Phobias

2009-04-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Fear and phobia are not the same thing. I believe fear is a reaction, left over from our flight/fight days, that helps us deal with the threat of potentially real harm. Phobias are quite different. Phobias are often highly irrational fears of rather innocuous things. For much of my life my primary phobia was clowns, I just didn't like them ONE BIT. I refuse to watch any movie that involves a scary clown (IT, Poltergeist, Killer Clowns from Outer Space, etc.), I avoid them at Saturday Market, and the clown covered facade of the Wonderland arcade will always displease me. But over the years clowns have bothered me less and less. Don't get me wrong, I still hate the fuckers, but I no longer cringe away in fright.

For me, the absolute worst thing for me to encounter is the Common House Centipede

Just finding that image on Google made my heart race.

This is a completely irrational, unfounded phobia. I have never had any traumatic experience with these little fuckers to account for my extreme fear of them. When I see one I shriek loudly, leap in the air, and quickly get very far away from it. But I can't let my eye off of it! Oh no! Because if I take my eye off of it I will no longer know where it is. And the only thing worse than a terror is an unseen terror.

I have read up on this species of centipede (all centipedes I am phobic of actually, but these are the worst) and learned that they are an extremely beneficial pest control species, feeding on spiders, bedbugs, termites, cockroaches, silverfish, and ants. In fact, unlike house spiders, they are extremely unlikely to bite humans. I have no logical reason to be absolutely horrified by them. But I am.

So tonight, I am laying on the floor next to the fire place, the warm embers lulling me to a nice, sleepy state of mind. Suddenly, Walter comes along and shoves his nose up my right pant leg and begins to snuffle like mad. For a moment I laugh and let him because he is always doing hilarious things like this, but then his tail began to wave wildly, in the special way that he does only when he has found a small creature to chase and eat. For a split second a house centipede flashes across my mind as a potential denizen of my pants, the thought quickly pushed aside as something too horrible to be true. As this brief line of thoughts is running through my head, I stand up and shake my leg out.

A two inch long house centipede smacks audibly into the floor. Walter lunges at the writhing horror as I lose my shit and launch myself towards the other corner of the room. It vanished as quickly as it appeared into Walters gnashing maw, leaving a gooey smear on the floor. AAAAAAHHHH! IT! WAS! IN! MY! PANTS! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me.

Song of the Day: Great Gig in the Sky (Live), Pink Floyd. This version always gives me chills.

Pugilism part two

2009-04-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

Over the years I have studied many martial arts styles. Primarily Chinese Kung Fu such as Hung Gar, Choi Lee Fut, Lau Gar, Wing Chun, Bak Siu Lum, Yang and Chen Tai Chi Chuan, and others. I have also studied principles from various Japanese Aiki systems, striking arts, and grappling arts. These have all been pivotal to my understanding of the fighting arts, crucially so, but my skill lies in the principles that govern the Black Dragon Kung Fu style.

Black Dragon Kung Fu can be described with three concepts: Iron Hand, Poison Hand, and Dragon Tail. Yes, these may sound wankerishly esoteric, but this is how they are referenced. Iron Hand is the study and application of hard, external techniques. This means sharp punches, heavy kicks, gruesome elbows and knees. Iron Hand is trained with push-ups, punching the bag, breaking rocks, kicking poles; it is the hard, brawny side of martial arts.

Poison Hand is a little more cerebral. It utilizes "softer" techniques like joint manipulation, evasive footwork, and pressure point fighting. Poison Hand is trained with meditation, Sticky hands/Chi Sau, and Chi Gung. Poison Hand is viewed by many who see martial arts as hard and aggressive as an ineffective, wussy approach to the art. I understand this belief, but know first hand how effectively debilitating a well placed joint lock or Dim Mak strike can be. I am the first to admit that Poison Hand is far less effective at quickly creating an effective fighter, but that is not the point of it; Poison Hand allows a martial artist to have the greatest effect with the least effort, it just takes much longer to master than punching someone in the face.

Dragon Tail is a fanciful, old Chinese way of saying "Leg Techniques." But this does not simply mean kicking. The beginning of all martial arts, and I could say any physical activity, is in the stance, or the way you stand. "Stance is the engine that drives the waist, the waist is the engine that drives the hands." Dragon Tail training builds strength, balance, and suppleness in the legs/stance. All martial arts have the concept of the stance, whether it's the strictly defined catalog of kung fu stances, or the loose, dynamic dance of western boxing. Beyond stance work, Dragon Tail also defines kicks, the variety of techniques and ideas of which is staggering.

These three ideas, Iron and Poison Hand and Dragon Tail, is the lens through which I view the martial arts. They make up what is Black Dragon Kung Fu. The Black Dragon Society has a long and complicated history. I will concentrate it by saying simply that it saw its beginning in the early eighties in the mind of Charles Wilk under the tutelage of Isidro "Iron Hand" Archibeque. Charles taught hundreds of people throughout Washington and Oregon, finally settling in Portland. My dad began training with him in the late eighties/early nineties when the school was more focused on Japanese martial arts. Throughout the years the school saw its home in various locations, from garages, to the after hours of acupuncture clinic waiting rooms. I believe the school found residence in the former autobody garage on 21st and Division sometime around 1997. This space became the White Tiger Training Hall and carried the school through it's heyday; it is where I first attended class in 1999.

Charles retired the school to my dad and Sean sometime in the early 2000's and went his separate way. A few years later we all had a very convoluted falling out with Charles. This is regrettable, for Charles is an amazing teacher, healer, and friend, but one can't deny the recognizable pattern of him pushing away those who are near to him throughout his life. I cherish my time spent with him, but do not shed any tears over his repellent behavior. Our lives, and the school, have moved on without him just fine.

In the Summer of 2007, the building that housed the White Tiger Training hall was sold out from underneath us for millions of dollars. This was rather traumatic and distressing at the time, but the school found a new home in the garage and backyard of Tracy and Sean's house. This may seem like a downgrade to the outside observer, but in practice it is a healthy evolution of the school. The black Dragon Society has never been a public, profit driven school. Instead we are an underground, word of mouth institution. Standing outside our doors, an observer would be unlikely to finger us as a martial arts training hall. Our school, in a lot of ways, has a lot more in common with a club house than the Cobra Kai Dojo. We are a group of friends, brought together by the inexplicable urge to beat the crap out of each other on Sunday mornings.

And this is what is so appealing to me about my martial practice. The Black Dragon Society has expanded my number of family members by several hundred percent. Over the years the martial arts have turned casual friends into best friends (hello Katelyn, Robert, and Jesse!) and deepened my respect and understanding of people that are unlike me. I would not be, even remotely, the person I am today without the Martial Arts.

Song of the Day: Hip Hop Barrio, Up, Bustle and Out

Pugilism

2009-04-09T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago this month I went to my first kung fu class. I remember it well. It was a Saturday morning, and I was going to go to Sean's class with my dad. He recommended that I wear some comfortable workout clothes, I put on some sweat pants and a thermal top and we took off on our bikes. Along the way we passed my girlfriend of the time (Hi Whitney!) who was doing some sort of activity with her Girl's Science Club. She later mocked me ruthlessly for my dorky "Bicycling Garb." I have never again worn sweat pants to work out. Arriving at the Kung Fu school, we were greeted by Sean and Wendy. I remember feeling so awkward and feeble against these three titans of Kung Fu.

I was instantly hooked. I attended all of the classes I could. I soaked up everything my teachers said. I emulated the moves and techniques of my classmates. I watched Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies over and over. I gave it my all. At the time it never really occurred to me that I was thirteen years old in a school full of people in their thirties and forties, they were like my family.

I was soon allowed to participate in the black sash classes. This rocketed my practice, I was attending four classes a week under the tutelage of three masters. Not to mention that I lived with one of them, trading blows in the kitchen (leading to my mother's only rule: NO KUNG FU IN THE KITCHEN!) and sharing new techniques after dinner. I soaked kung fu up.

I soon had my black belt, a symbol in our school not of absolute mastery, but a sign of a practitioners commitment to the art and the community of the school. It is the beginning, not the end, of training. I wore it proudly for some time, but then gradually wore it less and less. It was important only that I knew I had it, and not so much that others did. It inspired me to train harder.

A few years later I was awarded my third degree black sash, symbolizing that, should I desire, I could begin teaching. In the Fall of 2002 I began teaching kung fu at my high school. It was after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I had it set up so that any student could earn PE credits through working with me on an independent study. I had expected perhaps five people to register for the class, a size I thought would be quite good. When I received the class list a week before school began my jaw hit the floor. Thirty people were registered for my silly little kung fu class. The registrar said that more had signed up but all classes were capped at thirty students. I had not expected this. The largest class I had ever taught was probably four people while substituting for Sean. I had never even participated in a martial arts class of that size.

The first day of my kung fu class, the people came streaming in. I had decided that I had to at least halve the class size to fifteen, which was still considerably larger than I felt comfortable with. First I begged and pleaded for volunteers to drop the class, which yielded low results. I then tried to convince them that the weren't XTREME enough by brutally tossing Jesse around a little bit, thinking it might dissuade some people from wanting to participate. This had the opposite effect, garnering oohs and aahs from class. Finally I had to pull the dick move and kick out all the Freshman and Sophomore students, Junior and Senior students having priority in classes. I was able to get it down to fifteen students eventually, which was very difficult to handle.

I learned a lot from this experience, mostly about my art and some valuable lessons about instruction. It is amazing how much you learn something at a deeper level when you begin to teach it, everything that has become automatic and subconscious must be dragged up to the surface and explained in full detail to inquiring minds.

The class only lasted six moths. I would say that only a hand full of people out of the fifteen were actually interested in learning martial arts, the rest just needed the easy PE credits or were there to just hang out with friends. To get anything done this meant I had to be a hard ass with my peers, and even students who were older than me. I didn't enjoy this, and I don't feel it lead to any real learning. It all came to a head when I was forced to ask one of my best friends to not attend any more classes because she was just not taking it seriously. This of course went very badly and I became burnt out in a matter of moments.

Oops, I've gotta go to class, I will finish this later.

Le Monde

2009-04-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

I am tired. Here is the song of the day:

Tomorrow I plan to write a more substantial post about something that is very important to me. Tune in.

2009-04-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

My current plan:

1) Graduate
2) Get a job
3) In September apply for JET program
4) Live life
. . . until August 2010
5) Leave for Japan(!)
6) Teach English in Japan for a minimum of one year
7) Become fluent in the native tongue.

I am so ready for summer

2009-04-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

as confirmed by today. It's still early in the term, which means I have things I could be doing, but nothing that I must be doing. So I took the day off. I mean, I did a few things that were required of me. But mostly I just slacked off in a glorious fashion. Tomorrow I hope to begin working on work. I have two back-to-back three hour classes in rooms with no windows. So, though I will miss the sun, I will not be dissuaded from work by the sight of it. This is the plan anyway.

Much of the Talking Heads oeuvre is, in my mind, synonymous with the warmer seasons (I'm listening to Little Creatures as I write this) So when I ran across this video today I threw up my hands and said "Yes!" It's a pretty sweet mix by some DJ I've never heard of before. Enjoy:

Song of the Day: See above video.

What a beautiful day

2009-04-05T23:16:00.000-07:00

I was happy to see the sun and feel the warm breeze.

Song of the Day: Everyday People, Arrested Development (don't make fun of me)

A list of things

2009-04-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

°A green candle stub
°A combination desk/chair for elementary schools
°The state of Kansas
°A house Plant
°The ring finger on my left hand
°The setting sun
°A bowl of stale candies
°Your mothers bra
°A dog's chew toy
°A steaming loaf of fresh bread
°The way my mouth tastes when I wake up
°A sleeping tiger in Siberia
°A snow globe
°The mole on your neck
°Electricity
°A string of Salami in a store window
°The landfill containing the rubble from the Trojan Nuclear cooling tower
°A cup of crushed ice
°Dryer lint
°Mother of Pearl earrings
°A dusting of gray hairs in a man's beard
°The flame in a chef's pan
°A flaring nostril
°An empty picture frame from the Goodwill
°HVAC duct work
°A fashionable hairstyle
°The last roll at the dinner table
°A Jenga tower
°His father's last tooth
°A discarded sweater
°A fine collection of folk records
°The droppings of a gull
°The asteroid belt
°Your dog's foot pad
°An analog alarm clock
°A piece of the Hindenburg
°Limited collectors edition Back to the Future Laser Disc
°Napoleon's tomb
°San Fransisco
°A Two-hole punch
°Doctor Who's robotic dog, K9
°My pocket spatula
°A thermos full of bisque
°The last Mastodon to die

Song of the Day: Many Moons, Janelle Monae

Spring Term

2009-04-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

I have finished the first week of the last term of my college career. I did nothing. I blame the flu. Mostly. I mean, the first day of class is always just spent getting the syllabus and that's it, which took up all of Monday and Tuesday. I took Wednesday off as a sick day. And today I had my metalsmithing class, which I felt totally out of place in. To get my degree I must take an upper division art class elective outside of my emphasis (printmaking), thus this metals class. All the other students in the class are advanced jewelry students who know exactly what they are doing and are familiar with one another. I spent the first hour today scribbling out some stupid ideas for a project in my notebook, keeping to myself, while everyone else was already bustling around, hammering copper, soldering silver, and raising brass. I felt in over my head. There was no work for me to do so I took off early.

I'm gonna do some thinking this weekend about all the projects I hope to work on/finish this term and make some game plans. My classes are all very self guided which deserves to be a good thing but could end up being a big slacking fest. I believe I will be motivated though, last term was lacking in motivation and I really didn't enjoy it. Also, I am a little pumped from the Chicago trip and that should light a fire under me.

Song of the Day: Movements, Roots Manuva

Influenza

2009-04-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

Good God Damn do I hate being sick. My 30+ hours without sleep on my return trip from Chicago started it all off. Since Sunday I have just been feeling worse and worse. Well, actually I think I may have plateaued around noon today. I took today off from school and lazed about feeling sorry for myself. I watched a lot of stand up comedy on youtube, which made me feel better, but also started coughing fits every time I laughed. Luis C.K. is a highly offensive man that I just couldn't stop laughing at. The man is goddamned funny.

Ooh! Katelyn just surprised me with some to-go house special wonton soup from Wong's King. She is the Best!

Anyway, don't get the flu. That is my advice to you.

Song of the Day: Your Koolest Smile, Flunk

Pics from Chicago

2009-03-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

I am going to post a link to the photos on my facebook account instead of loading them all here.

First Batch

Second Batch

Third Batch

Song of the Day: Respiration, Black Star feat. Common

Chicago

2009-03-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

I'M IN CHICAGO! w00t!

holy shit, either a bomb just went off or it's a surprise thunder storm.

Anyway, Chicago. I got in around 9pm and have mostly just been chillin' with my friend Kristi, waiting for the others to get in around midnight. We discovered that we both love hip-hop and have been trading favorite tracks via youtube videos.

Not much else to report. Tomorrow is the beggining of the conference, should have more to say then.

Peace

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow on the Big Screen

2009-03-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Snake in Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, one of Jackie Chan's first big films, is playing at the Hollywood Theater next Tuesday, March 24th, at 7:45. I won't be able to make it, for I will be in Chicago, but you should! This was the first movie that Jackie was given artistic control and one of Yuen Wu Ping's first blockbusters. The music is some amazing early German(?) electronic music that fucking kicks ass. Great film with awesome snake and eagle style kung fu.

bite sized blog #2

2009-03-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today has been thoroughly depressing. I have begun the process of packing up my belongings for the move. I decided to start with the closets. These I have hardly used in my two year residency here, filling them with junk. I don't have boxes to put things in yet, so mostly I have just been making different piles on the floor: garbage, recycling, goodwill, to be boxed up, etc. This was a slow process, like archeology, but instead of skulls and pottery fragments I am uncovering two years of life. The astonishing amount of detritus from my failed relationship with Amanda constantly giving me pause. To throw out a love letter written on the back of a small painting, crafted with great care and intimacy, once holding heavy emotion, is a strange experience. Too, I am leaving my home! Woe! I love my little apartment. sigh.

Ah, well. I am off now to drink beer and play pool. The balm of depression.

bite sized blog

2009-03-15T23:37:00.000-07:00

Once more I am writing from my iphone. In short, I just watched "In Bruges" again. What a great film. If you haven't seen it go to movie madness or netflix or whatever and get it. It's beautifully shot, funny, has a stunning setting, delivers good action, and is actually pretty smart. In a way it reminds me of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." Oh, if you haven't seen kiss kiss bang bang, pick that up at the video store as well.

That's it for now.

hiatus

2009-03-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna have internet readily available for the next two weeks. This week I am moving and next week I will be in Chicago. While in Chicago I hope to be live blogging the conference on the official PSU printmaking blog (I'll post the link later, I'm writing this from my iphone) and twittering the crap out of it.

That is all for now.