| (no subject) |
[Sep. 10th, 2009|12:19 pm] |
I'm taking a short break from Kalabama to return to Chelsea tonight. I'll be arriving in Ann Arbor by train around 6ish, and I'll be around in the area until Saturday. Plan is to rush around trying to fit numerous plans into three short days. Mainly, I'll be helping my mom throw away years and years of useless stuff she has accumulated, painting a bathroom for my Dad, and seeing whichever brothers and friends (and brother's and friend's new places) I can possibly see on this short notice. If you'll be around and want me to attempt a highfive, you'd better let me know... plans in the works for a bonfire tonight. Anyway, I gots to pack some stuff. If I don't catch you, at the very least you can enjoy this bad ass poem excerpt:
Who has ever stopped to think of the divinity of Lamont Cranston?
(Only jack Kerouac, that I know of: & me.
The rest of you probably had on WCBS and Kate Smith,
Or something equally unattractive.)
What can I say?
It is better to haved loved and lost
Than to put linoleum in your living rooms?
Am I a sage or something?
Mandrake's hypnotic gesture of the week?
-Amiri Baraka (In Memory of Radio) (He's a bad ass sage and poet. Check him out.) |
|
|
| Last time I ever walk down that road... |
[Aug. 29th, 2009|11:56 am] |
|
So I'm walking my dogs, and a kid asks to pet them. I let him, all the while making sure Neva won't bite. Then, the kid's mom brings out THEIR dog while their LANDLORD simultaneously pulls up in a van and starts heckling me about whether or not I clean up after them. "No," I tell her. "I have more than a handful with two dogs, and I'm careful not to let them go in people's yards." As she disgruntingly pulls away, the three dogs get into a fight (luckily the kid had lost interest). Attila then promptly poops as I attempt to get them the hell out of there. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jul. 6th, 2009|11:09 am] |
Qdoba called me back; wants to give me an orientation.
Fuck yes. |
|
|
| Happy day of closed stores and bombs. |
[Jul. 4th, 2009|06:11 pm] |
Tonight I'm watching Will Smith's greatest acting role as the pilot that rescues Bill Pulman.
Tomorrow is a day for the beach! |
|
|
| Dad's Day |
[Jun. 21st, 2009|01:00 pm] |
Happy Father's Day, to all. I've got a day planned, and might just tell ya'll about it later. In the meantime, what are you doing for/with your paternal pal?
Note: Those of you without a father, or without good relationships with your father... feel free to write a bit about how you feel about the day, or ya know, comment on anything at all. It's a pretty nice Sunday in general, as well. |
|
|
| The doors of optimism must be forced. |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|04:16 pm] |
The truth is I'm not optimistic. Not right now. It's a rainy June 16th, and what to I have to show?
-Roughly 21 years and 8 months life experience.
-A high school diploma. (no physical proof of this, I might add)
-Three semesters of college, with its associated debt.
-Some-12-odd months, work experience.
-$124.16, available balance.
-A pending application for unemployment benefits.
-Four wonderful housemates, living and breathing and burning utility bills.
-A loving and beautiful girlfriend, as un-optimistic as I lately.
-A bittersweet promise from my father that if I ever need to, I can always come back home.
Impressive? Well, an optimistic eye would undoubtedly say so.
It's times like this, when I must kick my own ass. Optimism or no, there's no sense in not trying.
And that's when I realize, it's 5:26PM. And I think to myself:
It's Tuesday night. I've done enough today (have I?). I've put a resume in, I've picked up job applications from businesses that aren't hiring (must remember to fill them out and turn them in tomorrow); all in an effort to restore my old cash flow.
Cash flow. Pah! Is that really all I need to be myself again? Life is a crazy and wonderful journey, and restoring my income to what it once was has been (and continues to be) an important part of it.
Should I search for the hope and optimism I need along my present course, or should I take comfort in the fact that, once I'm getting 100-bucks-or-so-a-week again (assuming this can even be done), I'll be right back where I was six months ago?
And what of all this talk of the economy? Should I let the declining value of the American Dollar dishearten me, and ultimately lead me down an altogether different path? Should I grab my brain of a car by the steering wheel, slam on the brakes and turn 180 degrees towards something different altogether?
At the moment, I'd say no. But lord knows. Striving for self-sustainability has never been wrong...but could that even be done, without money?
Too many questions. I'll close with a quote.
"You need something special all right
You need something special to give you hope
But hope's just a word
That maybe you said or maybe you heard
On some windy corner around a wide-angled curve
But that's what you need man, and you need it bad
And your trouble is you know it too good
Because you look and you start getting the chills
Because you can't find it on a dollar bill" |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jun. 13th, 2009|01:03 pm] |
We are all erotic politicians. We have to be. Physical democracy must be the new dance craze. The dulling of our public voice is so much the only question. That unnameable thing that is made from our human bodies making sounds and images in public space – democracy becomes mere marketing without it. If we don’t bump and grind in some startling new way – we’ll keep floating in this sea of ads that expertly mimic freedom. It’s come down to this: communicating in the present tense, the simplest thing we can imagine doing, is our key to survival.
I miss the arts. Where did the art forms go? Last weekend a famous singer walked into the park near our home, took the stage. 10,000 fans crushed forward, trying to capture an authentic memory from their younger days. He stood there in a vortex of logos. His band hit the hooks of his hits and people were high on memories of love affairs, the sexy moments of innocence lost in the story of their lives. The whole thing was excruciating because we’re running out of time. The earth is over-heating from golden oldies. If we can’t sing to each other in the present tense, the oceans will keep rising.
The corporation in human form, Mayor Mike Bloomberg of New York City, arrests the town criers. My definition of “town crier” is: a citizen who shouts in the present tense without corporate sponsorship. Mike’s police patrol the parks, stalking the present tense. Then he pours 6-color glossy landfill into our mail boxes every morning. Silence the democracy and crank up the ads. This is our American way since Ronald Reagan. This is the long backlash against the rise of the Other. Mike, you can stop and frisk all the African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans you can find. You can beat up all the immigrants – but there is a difference this time. You can’t put the Earth in jail.
We will flood you before the ocean does. We are the vast crowds who are moments away from entering your local Tiananmen Square. We know what corporate marketing is. We’ve built up immunities to its personality. Advertise all you want to, Mike. Spend a $100 million. Leave your carbon footprint on the sky with your Falcon 900 jet. At this point in our history, gradualism is corruption. The voting has started and it snuck up on you. All it took was a walk in the park and a rude shout.
-BT |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jun. 9th, 2009|06:55 pm] |
|
Well, everything sucks again. Time to open the doors of optimism... |
|
|
| Science vs Religion as told by Poetry. |
[May. 13th, 2009|12:35 pm] |
Infact, all facts aside.
The tracks lead straight to the tide.
And what's whack is what's pride,
And what's whack is what lies.
Heavily implied, when heavenly applied.
Heaven brings minds, and what do they find?
Heavenly binds, Not measurably finds.
Not on my watch that winds.
Not by any logical signs.
Rewind: What has heaven resigned?
No sound of mind.
No sound of mine. |
|
|
| updates |
[May. 3rd, 2009|03:59 pm] |
First things first, my day off tomorrow will be the day I get somebody (probably a student in training doing it for free) to look at my tooth. It has been killing me for about 5 or 6 days now, and I'm sure it's either being forced out by other teeth or is a simple cavity and a swollen gum that has prevented me from being able to swallow.
All while I've been working like CRAZY.
Working like crazy is good though. We're getting tons of new stuff, beginning talks about opening a browsing area in the back room for another set of bins of our expanding selection of titles, as well as some new stereo equipment. The owner has been making daily visits to oversee the whole process, and we're doing a complete 180 in the business perspective down a path that's both better for the customers as well as the store. If it weren't for the tooth, I'd feel perfect.
There's more going on, but I'd just as soon tell you people about it when I see you in person. Let's all have a fucking picnic in this nice weather on my next day off. |
|
|
| My pick for Mayor of NYC |
[May. 1st, 2009|12:54 am] |
For those of you who haven't heard, Reverend Billy Talen is running for mayor of New York City. If you don't know who Billy is, he's the spokesperson for the Church of Stop Shopping, which is famous for traveling around the country on a Mission to save the Earth from the "Shopocalypse" (you might have heard of the Church from the documentary on it called "What Would Jesus Buy")
Anyway a while back I managed to friend him on facebook (I assume he adds every request for political reasons), and ever since I've been getting messages in my inbox from him. He's a really awesome guy, spreading tons of good ideas about how to help the neighborhoods of new york city. Sometimes his comments (and things he has said to me in facebook chat) are a little abstract, stream of consciousness. Really cool sounding guy.
"What’s the success of a political campaign when your political party has never won? It is a good life. What is your spiritual life when you have left organized religion? It is a good life. What art are you creating when it’s beyond the art forms? … a performance so powerful that you forget the word “art” altogether? Oh, that is living good!
What is the success of the people around you when they don’t care what they are named? It is a good neighborhood. What is the worship we attend together when no gods are invited? It is a good neighborhood. What art do people create without money, or critics, or careers? I love my neighbors – it’s like they are brilliant comic actors, the curtain going up on the sidewalk in front of the deli.
Living a good life in a good neighborhood – does that mean your politics are successful? Yes, but don’t get lazy. Living a good life but with no neighborhood, what kind of life is that? That’s a little lonely for me. What happens when you offer your life to your neighbors and they offer their lives back?
It’s a funny stand-off of artless beauty. It’s good politics, good religion and good art – all on your own street."
-Billy Talen. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Apr. 28th, 2009|03:56 pm] |
Well I'll just keep it real then, since nobody seemed to find that interesting.
Work: Probably not a good idea to go around posting the specifics of what has been going on here. It'll just have to be enough to say I am (so far) pleased with the impending result of a large dispute between the two owners. For me the big points are that I'll be keeping my job, and that it'll stay at its present location in Kalamazoo. Other good things are the fact that there won't be any name changes to the store, I'll still be able to work with Jayson (whom I owe gratitude for almost everything I've learned), and also the free weekly shows are here to stay. So good for me, good for Kalamazoo customers, and good for the bands.
Other than that, there will certainly be other changes. I won't risk speculating when the rest is unclear, but I will say more when there's something more to say. |
|
|
| On Free Will |
[Apr. 21st, 2009|06:34 pm] |
I've been having conversations with some friends lately on the topic of free will. At a loss to make my understanding of such a complicated issue clear within the context of a few brief spur of the moment conversations, I thought I'd take a moment to organize my thoughts for these people (and of course any others) to read and mull over.
So here it goes.
When we perceive that we have a choice, we do one of the following: We weigh advantages/disadvantages; we draw from past experiences; and/or we just do what "feels right." Am I missing any? I think the latter covers quite a bit.
Let's get the first two out of the way first. It's easy to see how both the disadvantage/advantage weighing, and the process of thinking to past experiences, are methods reinforced by our external environment in which we have no control. Simply put: the past and how we understand right and wrong are both completely out of our control. Therefor these could not contribute to free will.
Now, let's examine what feels right. Theoretically speaking from an evolutionary standpoint, there isn't any part of us or our behavior other than what the process of evolution has deemed fit for survival... or at the very least we wouldn't last long enough to reproduce if we carried "unfit" traits. Point being: If you apply science (matter is neither gained or lost, it only changes form) or mathematics (nothing appears on one side of an equation that isn't represented on the other) to evolution, everything about us is or was at one point 100% necessary for human survival. The only way out of this is to say that there is a part of us (call it a soul, a conscious, or whatever) that influences our decisions from outside the realm of natural law. This is entirely unscientific, and contrary to mathematics. It also raises more questions, and we still haven't really attributed the what and the how of our feelings to anything.
The question that needs to be answered is have our feelings and approaches to certain decisions changed with the drastic changes to the environment, the way our physical adaptations do?
I think the answer is yes. I think our behavior is determined by the evolutionary laws of nature, and not by anything known as free will. This however, does NOT mean that free will is completely nonexistent. We know it does, because we perceive the ability to make a choice. Think of it as an illusion, but a VERY convincing illusion. I don't know of anyone who (with the exception of perhaps a Buddha, and I personally don't know with certainty what those guys have done or what exactly it is they're calling "nirvana") has been able to escape seeing the world through free will's terms on a daily basis. This makes sense, because I see our perception of free will in of itself is an evolutionary adaptation.
[[Note: If you don't understand that, go back and read up to this point all over again. I even did and I wrote it, probably 10 times now. If you still can't get it, ask me to elaborate. I really need to rack my brain more to figure out the most logical and succinct way to put this down in words, and people may need it explained to them in a way that makes sense to them individually.]]
The scary thing about this is, if behavior is evolutionary, then how do we account for all the seemingly nonsensical and evil behaviors of humanity? Did Hitler's "decision" to try and kill all the Jews and invade Europe help humanity adapt? From my point of view, I can't argue that it didn't. And there is a strong argument that the world has become a better place in some ways since then. See my point? It's an alarming thing to consider, but important nonetheless.
Anyway, as it stands for now, there's pretty much nothing we can do about all this. Except understand it. If we do, does understanding this concept allow us to manipulate it? Or does the fact that we can evolve to the mental capacity of understanding how this works simply mean that evolution is simply granting us more knowledge necessary for survival? If the latter is true and the former isn't, what are the implications of a world where our ever changing environment is gradually filling us in more and more to how it works? Are there any? Does the environment even work in the way we're evolving to look at it?
We never could have figured out enough to even ask these questions on an earlier link of our evolutionary chain, so maybe someday we'll find a way to answer them. That's encouraging. These are in no way easy questions, and one of possibly infinite answers is that God (or something, anything really) is planning to grow us into highly intelligent creatures so that we may be of better use to him or her or it. Maybe we'll meet God someday. On the other hand, maybe life and free will is simply just a phenomenon that's impossible to ever fully understand. Nobody really knows.
And that's what it comes down to, nobody really knows for sure anything about this stuff. I admit that this is all belief and theory, so for now this is simply an explanation of free will's (or the lack therof's) implications. Obviously I'm still experiencing life and learning from it, so perhaps what makes sense to me now won't later. For now however it makes sense to me, so my question for you is first and foremost does it make sense to you? If not, what about it do you disagree with? I'm all ears. |
|
|
| INDEPENDENT RECORD STORE DAY HAS BEEN STOLEN. |
[Apr. 18th, 2009|10:05 pm] |
I may be the first to post about this, but word has already spread.
Record Store Day is a day to celebrate independent record stores across the country. It is April 18th. It's a day for independent stores to say "hey customers, come look at what artists are giving to you." We don't make a profit off of this day, other than in exposing customers to an event.
Artists released and re-released new collectible vinyl for the event, and it was all shipped. The problem was, it was not shipped to ANY independent record stores.
The website features a paragraph in the "about us" section, that says:
"A Record Store Day participating store is defined as a physical retailer whose product line consists of at least 50% music retail, whose company is not publicly traded and whose ownership is at least 70% located in the state of operation. (In other words, we’re dealing with real, live, physical, indie record stores—not online retailers or corporate behemoths)."
So where did this vinyl go? Best Buy, Borders, CD Warehouse, and who knows what other chains. I am speaking from the word of the owner of Grand Rapid's Corner Record Shop, Steve. Nobody selling %50 music retail and had 100% of their ownership in the state of Michigan got their records. We have physical proof, and the receipts from Best Buy and Borders.
Read about what record store day was supposed to be at the website: http://www.recordstoreday.com/CustomPage/614
Show outrage, make your voice heard. This is being talked about, yet the website has not reflected this failure. This day was STOLEN from us. TAKE IT BACK!
**EDIT: Many Michigan independent record stores DID get their promotional records, as did indie stores across the country. However, many still did not. I work at one, and know about at least 6 others. Best Buy did. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Mar. 29th, 2009|04:50 pm] |
We're at a point in our booking schedual, that the bands that I've started to book have been starting to play shows. It's nice to meet the bands I book. Some of them are really sweet.
That's all for now, back to werk. |
|
|
| On the Past |
[Mar. 12th, 2009|01:49 pm] |
When a subdivision is built, many trees are chopped, uprooted, and destroyed. Oak, Maple, and Birch. Ever been on one of these streets? Each are uprooted, so that human families can live lives driving cars named after Native tribes and Greek gods, on roads named after the very trees killed.
In this, there are different viewpoints. Someone may say it is atrocious for companies such as Jeep to sell people a Cherokee, using wide open country in their commercials to sell an "Indian feeling," along with their earth killing "necessity". But as the tree's names live on the path that has buried them, we merely build upon and connecting to past names. We are building upon an idea, a human need, and connecting with past generations.
We long for it, and there are entire markets of books, videogames, and films that seek to "entertain" by allowing us to feel as if we were part of these different times. This drive towards this particular entertainment describes a longing to understand and feel as the natives did, or of any other past culture.
We drive our Saturns, and we play medieval war games, because there is nothing new under the Sun. We simply build upon what exists. Right? |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Feb. 28th, 2009|07:56 pm] |
Coolest effing job in the whole world.
Damn if my boss didn't buy me a record player fo' free. I hate to brag, but damn son. I'd be a fool to think I wasn't lucky.
The only thing is I just don't know shit about equipment. Time to start educating I'm thinkin' |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
teleri_moses's journal