woo-hoo! (as damon albarn might say.)
11/22/2005 06:04 a.m.
you may be wondering what the hell is going on in this event known currently as my life. well, allow me to explain. i've spent a good chunk of my last few months wallowing in a cesspool of creative squalor; that is to say, i'm in one of those creative funks. it happens where i just stagnate, and i end up listening to a lot of pop music while at the same time becoming horribly depressed at the notion of anything in the future. i have two jobs now, and they both kind of suck.
in one corner, i am andrew, the name-tagless shift leader of hollywood video, where i make an obscenely small amount of money for an obscenely large amount of work. work that, granted, i enjoy perfectly fine- but still, low-wage jobs suck, espescially when the object thereof is to save money for school (more on that later). it is incredibly difficult to do at $7/hr. which led me to find myself in the employ of one marshall fields' corporation, a division of federated retail holdings, which more or less owns every department store that you'd ever shop at. long story short, their corporate structure is the most faceless thing ever. i started there last month in merchandising, which involved heavy lifting, an absent boss, and rising every morning at five AM. needless to say, i was not cut out for the work; and thus, i am currently in the process of transferring to foods, where i'm told the suck-factor is significantly less. the $8.25/hr is better. much better. still, i need to make more. not because i'm a greedy fuck who can't control his spending (the latter half of that statement may be true, but that's beside the point, really)- but i'm going to school next semester.
for those of you not really informed about my life (which i would expect comes to just about everyone), i do not currently go to school- but will be enrolling in the prestigious minneapolis community and technical college. (it's a start. i'm going to transfer later).

upon the music front (as it is a particularily large part of my life), i'm still madly in love with sleater-kinney's album, the woods. we're in the home stretch of the year, and it's been a pretty decent year, music wise. i'm going to withhold my list until the clock strikes midnight on dec31- but there have been some damn good albums this year. it seems so weird that music is such an integral part of my life; yet when you think about it, it's this completely benign entity. it's background noise when i'm not making it, and it's the most passive hobby one can possibly have. listening to music is not doing something. it is something that happens. and that is not to make music seem trivial or anything like that, i love music to death; it's just never much on it's own. at least, pop music. jazz and classical are completely different fields; but i don't nessecarily consider them music so much as i consider them a separate art form. pop music is a science. anyone can write a great pop song if you know two shits about theory and have any sense of musicianship (when i say pop, i am speaking of all forms of popular music, from rock [independant or otherwise] to rap to soul to standard top 40 pop). that's not to say that it isn't interesting, because it is easily the most interesting science there is. innovation comes at a snails pace; i'm not jaded enough to believe that pop music hasn't done any evolving since the beatles, though they were without question the last large step forward we've had. but progress has been slow. I think that this is out of necessity as much as it is has been out of lack of creativity. because to write a great pop song, you have to understand that no matter how much you think music is your own, it is always everyone elses. and music is, as much as anything else, a business. basically, you've got to understand that it doesn't matter if you write the greatest song ever if no one is going to hear it. this, this necessitates the slowness of progress; you can change peoples' attitudes over time, but a populace is, generally speaking, not going to accept it. the upswing of this whole stagnation is that, it makes it very easy to dissect why some things work and why others don't, which is why i both love and hate pop music. it's so easy for me, so i don't think it's worth much, but at the same time it knows how to push my buttons, and in doing so keeps me roped in. it's like the best enigma that has ever existed.
i'm going to shut off the music, but before i do, consider one of my favourite choruses ever:

woo hoo
and i feel heavy metal
woo hoo
and i'm pins and i'm needles
woo hoo
and i lie that i'm easy
all of the time and i'm
never sure why i need you
pleased to meet you.

it doesn't make any fucking sense, but it's perfect.

i listen now, to the silence so maybe i'll hear something brand new.
no one has ever heard the silence.
i'll leave you with that.
I am currently Random
I am listening to fiona apple:criminal

Comments (0)

WOO
10/27/2005 03:54 a.m.
I am still logged on at my girlfriend's dorm becuase I'm too trusting of a person.

She will not marry me in the near future (I was hoping for a Friday 10/28/05 wedding), and that made me so sad.

One time I was on the bus, and I fell. And people laughed. especially my friends.
I am currently Affectionate
I am listening to my brother singing in the shower

Comments (0)

the list, fresh and updated.
08/07/2005 07:52 p.m.
since i'm obsessed with lists, and music, here's my new and updated list of favourite albums this year. the ratings are calculated by taking the rating of each song (1-5, 5 being great, 1 being bad), and then adding an 'album' grade for cohesiveness, and then dividing the total by number of tracks +1. yepp. here'tis. (i'm only including things rated 4 and above)

01. Sleater-Kinney- The Woods 4.43
02. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- Howl 4.32
03. Sufjan Stevens- Illinois 4.34
04. Spoon- Gimme Fiction 4.29
05. Hot Hot Heat- Elevator 4.25
06. The Ravonettes- Pretty in Black 4.23
07. Sage Francis- A Healthy Distrust 4.21
08. Iron and Wine- Woman King EP 4.21
09. Louis XIV- Illegal tender EP 4.20
10. Okkervil River- Black Sheep Boy 4.18
11. Wolf Parade- Apologies to the Queen Mary 4.17
12. Maximo Park- A Certain Trigger 4.17
13. Sigur Ros- Taak... 4.16
14. Death Cab For Cutie- Plans 4.16
15. Nine Inch Nails- With Teeth 4.16
16. The Decemberists- Picaresque 4.10
17. The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex- Life Begins Again 4.10
18. The National- Aligator 4.09
19. Royksopp- The Understanding 4.09
20. Hard-Fi- Stars of CCTV 4.08
21. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah- s/t 4.07
22. Trail of dead- Worlds Apart 4.02
23. Ben Folds- Songs for Silverman 4.00
24. Electrelane- Axes 4.00
I am currently Bored
I am listening to death cab for cutie- different names for the same thing

Comments (0)

woooh!
07/01/2005 01:14 a.m.
sometime yesterday or today, i surpassed 40,000 reads on my library. crazinesss.
I am currently Triumphant
I am listening to bright eyesi believe in symmetry

Comments (0)

black rebel motorcycle club
06/27/2005 07:01 a.m.
i know their new album doesn't come out for a bit now, but i've gotten it anyway (thanks to the magic of newsgroups and filesharing)- and i must say, it's quite the record. it's mellower than their first two records, it is sonically georgeous. a lot more bluesy than before, it's really something quite good. the record is called 'howl'. it's brilliant, it really is.
I am currently Random
I am listening to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club- Weight of the World

Comments (0)

in case you're wondering what to read..
06/23/2005 06:50 a.m.
so, i keep a ranking list of my favourite poems in my library... and basically, in case you wanna know what i'd reccomend to read of my stuff, i thought i'd post it (at least, part thereof)... all of these can be found in my main library.

01. smoke and mirrors
02. *evolve
03. *man as god
04. *a butterfly effect
05. only in
06. (crashingthroughprisms:
07. Birth
08. titanic
09. Vanishing Point
10. new years eve, 24 time zones
11. *6708 cahill
12. turn on the bright lights
13. *x is y
14. salud

*published

yep. that's that. enjoy... lol.
peace:a

Comments (0)

prom!
05/10/2005 04:12 a.m.
well, hello my friends... i am now here to elaborate on the going-downs of prom. this entry may contain many pictures.

first off, my wardrobe was freaking awesome. to the maximus. i lookd, well, awesome. that's all i have to say about that, because really, that is that. and further, amelia's dress was muy cool. yeah.


pictures were an arduous experience, there was probably a good hour's worth of photos being taken. but, it was pretty neat. so yeah. um, the limo. wow, the limo, that was some cool shit. the driver's name was don (or ron or something like that) and he was a pretty swell guy.


we eventually made our way to matts house (after a quick stop at sheri's, who has one of the coolest back yards ever..) and were in hard-core photo mode.


(amelia didn't join us til we got to matt's house, in case you're like, 'andrew, what's the dil?'... annyway.


and now a few final shots from inside le limo,






that's all the pictures i have, cos i didn't bring a camera to the dance... but. i'll describe in some detail the best i can the rest of what went down..

before we went to dinner, we went to jerrys to get some sparkling grape juice. we went to a supermarket in full prom get-up. it was amusing, and really, really, really fun. so yeah, that was pretty rad. we got what we needed, and then proceeded to benihana.

oh my god, best dining experience... ever. it was delicious, and the show they put on.. man. that was just so cool. and it was less expensive than i thought it'd be, so that was awesome, to the max. i'll have to eat there again sometime.
then, the dance.

well, anyone who saw me for five minutes has to have known i was having a great time. i was going freaking insane on the floor, what you might call a dancing machine. indeed, i machine danced all the night long, and it was awesome. and yeah, i may have made an ass of myself, but hey, at least i had fun doing it. and all the shitty rap music didn't really bother me this time.
oh yes, this my shit.
haha... it seems like a good time was had by all, at least i hope so. everyone there was so georgeous, it was surprising how awesome everyone looked. it was just fun to let loose.... i hope others involved felt the same way, because i really, really had fun.

eventually though, we left the dance to go see rocky, which was brilliant as always. people there seemed to think it was pretty cool that we were going to rocky for an afterparty... haha. man, what a damn fun time, damn fun... amelia won a magenta doll by faking an orgasm.
'a little to the left...'
yes. well, and in grand, anti-climactic style (haha, that's a good pun, if i can say so myself), we got a ride home in a taxi. it was funny, and really, quite a nice little way to end the night (besides hitting my head on the door as i got out of the taxi... haha..) so yeah. that was prom, in a nutshell.
and kids, remember... 'morp' is 'prom' spelled backwards.

peace:a

I am currently Upbeat
I am listening to weezerthis is such a pity

Comments (1)

suhweeeet.
05/01/2005 01:13 a.m.
once upon a time, i had near 1500 comments or something absurd like that. then i deleted a significant chunk of my library about a year and a half ago, and almost 500 comments went with those deletions. well, it's taken me a while, but i am now back up to 1200 as of right now (though, i don't expect that to last, as i lose comments every other day from inactive folks...) but nonetheless, it's pretty spiffy. the 1200th came from kyle anne kish on 'invisible victorious infinity'... so woo. i feel like celebrating. *celebrates*.
I am currently Good

Comments (0)

Music For the year... so far..
04/29/2005 09:54 p.m.
la la la, here's my list of favourite releases so far this year. yep. do do do.

1. Iron and Wine- Woman King EP
2. Okkervil River- Black Sheep Boy
3. Sage Francis- A Healthy Distrust
4. Trail of dead- Worlds Apart
5. The Decemberists- Picaresque
6. Hot Hot Heat- Elevator
7. Louis XIV- Illegal tender EP
8. Thievery Corporation- The Cosmic Game
9. Spoon- Gimme Fiction
10. Aesop Rock- Fast Cars, Danger, Fire and Knives EP
11. Nine Inch Nails- With Teeth
12. The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex- Life Begins Again
13. Bright Eyes- I'm Wide Awake, it's Morning
14. Weezer- Make Believe
15. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings- Naturally
16. The Mars Volta- Frances the Mute
17. Bloc Party- Silent Alarm
18. M. Ward- Transistor Radio
19. Architecture in Helsinki- In Case We Die
20. The Kills- No Wow
21. Ben Folds- Songs for Silverman
22. Ani Difranco- Knuckle Down
23. Bright Eyes- Digital Ash

I am currently Bored
I am listening to okkervil river- get big

Comments (0)

FINALLY.
03/12/2005 03:41 a.m.
well, after a long time of not doing anything about it, i finally tackled my 'unsorted' folder, and went through about 80 poems that i never bothered to put into places. i found a few poems that i liked enough to put in my library. so yeah, that was pretty good. it's amazing to look back on how i've progressed as a writer, particularily in that period (2003)- that's really when i started to find the voice that i use today. at the same time, i miss certain things about my old style- there was some warmth, for one thing. i now only seem to write of human interaction as being an emotionless exercise; i don't nessecarily view the world that way, but i think it allows the reader to paint the emotions themselves. i suppose that's the main change that took place; i used to write to share my feelings, now i write for people to realize their own.

my poetry is also A LOT less personal than it used to be. now i write by using a collection of images, and stringing them together- images that have largely replaced the feelings.

i don't know what i want writing to be to me, anymore. i don't know if i want it to be fun (i relish the prospect of writing, but most of the time i have to force myself to do it), if i want it to be emotionally cleansing (like i said, this hasn't happened for a long time), or if i just want it to be something that opens up new parts of myself (which it hasn't done for me lately)... many things to ponder.

so anyways, that was kind of a can of worms. anyway, i reorganized... so yeah. now i have to tackle the 'selected' section, because it is quite the mess now.

have a good night.
peace:a
I am currently Scattered
I am listening to De Facto mitchell edwards kilk enters a dreamlike state..

Comments (0)

Next 10 Entries - Previous 10 Entries