The Stars, the moon, they have all been blown out

With the recent purchase of Bonnaroo tickets, I have been trying to listen to every band of interest on the set-list. One artist that I have been enjoying lately is Florence + The Machine and her album "Lungs," which has been a revelation.

Generally I don't even listen to female artists. It's not a sexist thing, I just don't enjoy the vast majority of it with a few exceptions (Janis Joplin, Lady Gaga, Regina Spektor, etc). This is one of those exceptions.

Many people will recognize her hit song "Dog Days Are Over," from various movies and alternative venues, but it's the songs "Cosmic Love," "Between Two Lungs," and "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" that really stand out.

Check it out for yourself and enjoy.

-Not very optimistic for the Penguins tonight in game 7. Then again, I could be pleasantly surprised. Either way I'm proud of them for making it this far, win or lose, without their marquee players.

-New Years resolution to start dressing like an adult has been a great success thus far. Getting a real job was a great excuse to better my wardrobe towards those ends as well.

-Paid vacation Bonnaroo? Yes, please.

-Roku box proving worthy of my money with streaming NHL playoffs, especially with the Hockey Night In Canada broadcasts. A breath of fresh air from VS and NBC. Also entertaining to watch foreign news broadcasts and funky movies.

Ch-ch-changes...4/22

The big news on the job front is that as of tomorrow I will officially be a "U.S. tax specialist," at the Bank of New York Mellon. Ironic considering my qualifications and the current book I'm reading (The Pale King, D.F.W. --about the IRS). Good job for the pay and benefits, not so much for any aspirations of a future in journalism. Still, one can't complain about these kinds of things and I am certainly pleased with the news.

-Tickets to Bonnaroo. Accomplishes two dreams of mine in one fell swoop: A road trip across the country, and going to the concert event itself. Might actually have to bust out my nice camera and put it to good use. Music purists can cry that the event has become too mainstream (doesn't everything eventually?), but it is still one heck of a lineup. It also gives me the excuse/pleasure to discover and download loads of new music in preparation.

-Currently listening to: The Black Keys' newest album 'Brothers.' They will be performing. I will be there.

-A real exciting NHL playoffs thus far. Unexpected teams putting up good fights (minus the coyotes and rangers) and great matchups. Anyone acting surprised that the Pens are still winning are either casual fans or unknowledgeable. Guys like Asham, Kennedy and Neal have been stepping it up big-time and are clearly just hungrier for the cup. Would be nice to see them take out the garbage come Saturday morning.

-Update of Roku Box: Spent the $100 on it, because I wanted to try it out. Once next hockey season rolls around I will spring for the NHL package, and stream the other games through Justin.tv. It is conveniant if you own a netflix or hulu account. Free will always be > cable, although if I could get a free DVR without a monthly rate I would be set.

-Go Pens
-Go Jesus

Caching in (4/9)

I finished the book, "The Social Animal," by David Brooks a few days ago, and enjoyed it immensely. The basic premise of the novel is a fictitious storyline following two characters and their lives throughout their careers. These two (Harold and Erica, respectively) are tracked from the womb onward. Interspersed in their stories though, are provided examples of the psychology and motives behind the decisions and feelings they witness.

If that description sounds confusing, you aren't alone. But trust me, it's worth the $14 (amazon), and is relatively simple to comprehend, despite the complex studies cited within. Giving anything else away would be spoiler-ish, and the book is better read knowing less.

The one concept that really piqued my interest was the themes of the "It's a Wonderful Life," VS the book "On the Road." In essence, a cookie cutter family, house and happiness contrasted with the unknown and adventuresome life of one. Is it a black and white concept that we can only live one of those two options? I'd like to think both could be ascertainable, but it would be hard to strike a good balance.

Other tidbits:

-Did my first Geo-Cache yesterday in a giant park next to my house. With the use of my droid app, it made it pretty fun. Could be the cure for the modern boredom. The best part is there are always new Caches to be found. Or you can make your own. If you've never heard of it, look it up. All you need is a GPS of any kind.

-Pens and Pirates both go the distance for their wins last night. But wins are wins. Especially when you are the Pirates striving for .500 and the Pens for home ice. Big wins.

-Eager to rip into David Foster Wallace's newest posthumous publishing of "The Pale King." The guy could write like no other, and it's a shame he cut his life so short.

-Thank you to everyone reading the blog, it's really cool to hear so many people are interested in the seemingly mundane going-ons and musings of my life.

"There are a lot of ways to practice the art of journalism, and one of them is to use your art like a hammer to destroy the right people...

...who are almost always your enemies, for one reason or another, and who usually deserved to be crippled because they are wrong."

My review of "Better Than Sex: Confessions of a Political Junkie," by Hunter S. Thompson--

One thing must be understood when reading Thompson's works -- he was almost always under the influence of some substance, but still remained a rambling genius until the day he decided to end his life.

This book covers the entirety of the 1992 election that pitted democrat Bill Clinton against former President George H.W. Bush. This includes (as does all the other literature in "The Gonzo Papers," series) articles published for Rolling Stone, letters, faxes, and hastily scribbled notes and musings. Sections of the book are primarily addressed to Clinton, referred to as Bubba.

"Well, Bubba -- you'll want to mix yourself a real stiff drink before you sit down to read this one..."

It is clear that in his older age, Thompson was content to stay holed up in his fortress in Woody Creek - Aspen, Colo. and spend maddening hours glued to CNN and his fax machine. He initially endorses Ross Perot for the sole reason of throwing a wrench into things. When it becomes clear that Perot is fading from the ballot, he half-heartedly changes camp to endorse Clinton with the rest of his Rolling Stone affairs staff.

The most humorous portion of the book is hands-down when Thompson learns of Clinton's admittance to smoking marijuana, but not inhaling it. He sarcastically makes reference to Clinton being upstanding by not inhaling multiple times throughout the book, all of which made me laugh to myself. Other endeavors include drunken escapades with political strategician James Carville such as accusations Carville stealing his wallet to buy women drinks, and Thompson faxing him hilariously awful campaign advice.

At the risk of sounding phony, my favorite parts were the back-and-forth interviews and faxes between Clinton and Thompson. Although they only officially interviewed once in person before the election, Clinton always took time to fax Thompson back and comment on his depraved drawings or advice (even from the White House). So did his eminent staffer George Stephanopoulos, in greater detail.

Thompson, at heart, had a natural and ravenous hunger for politics and everything that went along with it. Many people only know him from his debauched drug-addled journalist travelings through Las Vegas and unique style. This is a shame in many instances, but the fact remains that he was one of the most prominent and truly outspoken political journalist.

Easily accessible for anyone born in an era that remembers Bill Clinton, "Better Than Sex," provides an inside look at Thompson's motivations, passions and work. While it may never be the first literature of his people will read, it should be on the short list of follow-ups.



"When the going gets weird..."

Note: If you have a netflix account, or leech off mine, I highly recommend the recent documentary on Thompson's life "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," which is available through instant streaming. It is narrated by his personal friend Johnny Depp if that entices anyone.

Johnny lived a good life, you'll hear them say

Today's song of the day is brought to you by the artist 'City and Colour,' and is titled Body in a Box. For those interested - the entire album is available on amazon.com for only 3 bucks. Definitely worth a listen. Also, super easy to play on the guitar, but I broke two of my favorite pics strumming along to it for about an hour...



-For continued listening check out the song 'Sleeping Sickness'. If it sounds familiar, that is because CBC made an NHL playoff montage from it during the Pen's Stanley cup run in '09. Be warned -- if you are a fan of these types of videos this can become addicting.




-Finished the book 'Better than Sex, Confessions of a Political Junkie,' and I'll post a full review tomorrow. Suffice to say, it made me yearn for the 90's even though I was still putting my shirts on backwards and learning to tie my shoes during the span in which it was written. Still, I like my generation thankyaverymuch Tom Brokaw.

-Next book up on the docket to read is entitled, 'The Social Animal,' and should be an interesting change from my bookshelf. Rather than try and explain it, just read the synopsis on amazon.

-Big playoff preview vs. Tampa Bay tonight for the Pens. For some reason they don't worry me at all as a team. They just don't have all the pieces together to compete, and don't match up well against the penguins. Especially if Crosby decides to come back for the first round. If they make it out of the first round unscathed, Matt Cooke will be a welcome asset to the PK which has been less than stellar as of late in his absence.

-Buy the ticket, take the ride.

3/29

It's amazing how much of a difference a $5 stereo input cord makes. Now, being able to listen to pandora through my phone at night and my old Ipod, it has reinvigorated my passion for finding new music. If pandora isn't your thing (after a few hours, it usually isn't mine either) check out groove shark. It is a little harder to figure out, but if you're worth your salt, you'll find it worthwhile.

-Amazon with top-rate customer service. Book was supposed to have been delivered, probably went somewhere else, and they over-nighted me another copy for free. Earlier last summer my kindle shorted out and they over-nighted me a brand new one for free as well. --Update-- Some kind neighbor of mine threw it under my mailbox. I will now have two copies of the book 'Better than Sex,' by Hunter S. Thompson. If anyone wants the second copy let me know, otherwise I'll send it back.

-Amazon Cloud might be kind of cool. If you have a droid that is. They are giving away 5 gig. of free storage space for your music or files that you can stream from your droid or computer. I refuse to pay for anything music related, so I won't buy any more space but it will be nice to have music on my phone if I'm ever in a pinch.

-Spent $30 between a new checkbook and a Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness poster. Hard to tell which will pay bigger dividends. I'm learning towards the Pyramid of Greatness.



-Pretty sad that every single march madness pool I'm in is already pre-determined as to who the winner is. Great for the low seeds making it in, but not that much fun for everyone else.

-Sun needs to come out for summer. College football needs to arrive sooner.

All my old friends, they don't know me now

I can't stop listening to the newest 'Arcade Fire,' album 'The Suburbs.' I've preached about it already, but not matter what type of music you listen to, you need to be listening to this. Each time I think about singling out a particular song, I become attached to another. To make it easy I'll just embed one of the most popular singles from the album. Enjoy.




-Finished the book Methland recently (as referenced in previous posts). Kind of disappointing the author chose to focus only on three or four characters within their town. The D.E.A. stories and folklore was much more interesting. I wanted to hear more about how they combated and took down meth labs instead of a young councilman and his family troubles. The author still does great research and weaves a great true story about the town of Oelwein, Iowa and it's struggles with the drug culture.

-What did surprise me though, was the fact that meth in these towns has proliferated because it was allowing people to work longer hours at their factory jobs, or two jobs at a time. These people weren't shooting heroin in an abandoned house, but trying methamphetmine to support their way of life. It was fromt that point that things went downhill.

-Interesting that CVS and Target are shown as villains for not ID'ing or stopping people from buying multiple forms of cold medicine in which a vital component of meth is drawn from. Seems simple enough to track people in their computer databases, but they compain that they don't want to 'police' people at their stores. In essence, they are a big part of the drug trade.

-Currently reading a large book about Pearl Harbor. Eerily familiar how we a government and military knew both attacks (Dec. 7th, 9/110 were immenently impending yet were completely unprepared for both. Different situations to be sure, but same lack of preperation. The book made an apt analogy in saying america's attitude was that no one would be dumb enough to attack us, it would be as incredulous as "...a mouse attacking the cat."

-I'd like to retract what I previously said about Rebbeca Black. She was on Leno and was every bit as bad as one could imagine. Didn't help that her lip syncing track started before she could even get out of her chair.

-Barefoot running still a hit, still love the shoes. Nice enough out for the bike too. Exciting times.