It's been awhile.

My initial motivation for having a blogger is to inevitably write more and to follow friends I don't see on a daily basis. I've been slacking, like most do with these things.

Let's begin here.

I saw Gang of Four at Metro last night, whom I've admittedly been drooling over seeing since I bought tickets in November. Metro opened in 1982 and has become a hallmark venue for housing early punk and alternative artists such as Big Black, Sonic Youth, Ramones, and Butthole Surfers. Metro's collaboration with Jam Productions has allowed the independent music scene to flourish--but not so much anymore. Metro used to house bands before they blew up, which still holds true, but now they fill the place to the brim for sold-out shows, causing everyone to smash together on their tiptoes to catch glimpses of the performing band.

Metro is known to be particularly punctual, so I made sure to arrive a half hour before the scheduled set time. I scurried my way to the front right of the stage as quickly as I could, probably annoying everyone I passed while doing so. Overall, the show was pretty impressive--for a band that has existed since 1977, their on-stage presence and popularity prevail. Jon King and Andy Gill have hardly aged, but the apparent tension between the two was obvious. Gill played his guitar steadily with a pissed-off look on his face throughout the performance, while King threw his arms around, pelvic-thrusting around the stage, stopping occasionally to playfully abuse and flirt with their current bassist. I'm surprised that the two are still able to collaborate on and off stage, as their relationship is portrayed as being far from friendly.

autumn nostalgia

I'm looking forward to making spinach no-bake manicotti and eclair cake. I just may throw in some dogfish head punkin ale or great lakes christmas ale. yums.

apparently, I'm a romantic

all the way.

roll the dice
by Charles Bukowski

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start.

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.

go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or 4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine.

if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the gods
and the nights will flame with
fire.

do it, do it, do it.
do it.

all the way
all the way.

you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter, its
the only good fight
there is.

I wish I had a camera so I wouldn't have to remember.

nobody's in love in this god-forsaken city. we just keep learning about each other. we just share stories, becoming a story along the way. and this story may end at any moment.

chicago is turning me into an asshole

what I've come to expect every night after work riding home on my bike from downtown: an invasion of drunk fratastic bags of douche cutting me off (this includes girls and guys) and driving around recklessly (even more so than the general population of people who operate motor vehicles in the city of Chicago, who just may be worse drivers than those in Northeast Ohio, which is arduous to imagine, i know). a girl, who was adorned with a hideous black sequined top and seemed to have rubbed her face in a pile of orange clay before going out, attempted to pull out in front of me, in her lexus, while I was riding in my bike lane and came about 5 inches from my bike. This caused me to screech my tires, almost ruining my breaks. She looked at me as if surprised to see me there. What I wish I would've done: carved something completely offensive and revolting on her pretty black lexus, while punching her in the face. Actuality: gave her a look of death and rode away.

inglourious basterds

Even though I considered the film to be pretty decent, I don't think it was Tarantino's best. After some discussion, Dan and I expected it to be more, what he termed, "hyper-realistic," as this is what chapter 1 and 2 implied. From then on, the remainder of the film was more of a comedy than a dark, emotionally driven drama--even Brad Pitt's character Lt. Aldo Raine seemed like it came straight out of a comic book. Even though I still praise Tarantino as a brilliant, witty writer who has a way making of his audience laugh at 'serious' subject matter, he most certainly pushed the boundary of a typical war film by creating his own ending to WW2. I'm torn--I respect Tarantino for taking the idea of a typical war movie in his own hands and completely altering it into a revenge-sought, comedy-driven film revolving around the events of WW2, but I also can't help but drop my jaw and not feel some sort of emotional obligation to how he turned this horrendous, traumatic historical event into a spectacle. There are other tedious things about the movie I could point out, such as the music (spanish fender guitar during a 1940's German and French war film?) and the filming (this is me probably being too critical of Tarantino's obsession with incorporating old spaghetti western-type, as well as pop-culture referenced scenes and behavior in his films, which I've never criticized, and have instead praised, up until this film). Alas, this is what Tarantino does best: brings casualty and macabre humor to his depiction of violence, even if it involves rewriting history.

dear chicago

besides looking for jobs, I haven't really had the time or money to indulge in what this city has to offer. biking is my only means of transportation, which I don't mind at all because it's so much easier (and practical) to get around here. and why wouldn't I bike? it's summer and I may as well take advantage of the weather before the dreaded chicago winter. once i'm financially settled (which may be awhile), i'm going to travel. I hear people talking about traveling all the time, and usually, don't follow through with it because of money, lack of familiarity/comfort, et cetera. hopefully, i don't fall into this category. for the time being, however, I look forward to experiencing and learning about this city as much as possible. regardless of how familiar i think i am with my surroundings, there's always something new to learn. woot.