The New Face of Music

The "Big Deal Band" in Britain right now seems to be the Artic Monkeys. Their new album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," sold 360,000 copies in it's first week. It's hard to tell what reaction us Yankees will have when the record goes transatlantic at the end of next month. However, I downloaded it last night, and while I wouldn't call it "the best music you'll hear all year" (after all, it is only January), it does seem to be "new" sounding. Although I haven't listened to all of it yet, it seems to be fast-paced indie post-punk with a pleasant ballad or two. Parts reminds me of Mclusky and other parts remind me of Franz Ferdinand. Nothing crazy though—no acordian-pedal or harmonium-saxophone. Unfortunatley.

American Apparel

A good idea. I mean, here we have a company in which everyone knows what is going on. They make the clothing they sell in one building (which is not a sweatshop). There are no logos on anything, they employ a wide range of bright colors, and everything looks remarkablely hip and well made. Supposedly, they don't let their workers unionize. This doesn't seem to be a large disaster because of all the benefits and services provided to employees, but they should at least have the choice. Yet, my real problem with them is that everything is so expensive. Hoodie—$50. T-shirt (keep in mind, everything is blank)—$16. Socks—$8. Ultimatley the products and store are very cool, but I'm not rich enough to buy into the idea of them yet.

I Bought Cacti!

Names (clockwise from the hairy one): Julius, Bartholomew, Xavier, Brick, and Fabio.

Sandman

Sandman was a comic in DC's Vertigo imprint that ran from 1988 to 1996. There were 75 issues. I recently read all of them. The art goes from not very good to fucking spectacular and the righting is amazing. It is not a superhero comic but it deals very heavily in myth. Neil Gaiman really surprised me. I read Neverwhere. I had to. It really sucked—I think I can say that objectively. But this goes so far beyond archetypes and is able to really explore characters that you never thought you would like or hate so much. From the man who never dies, to the 7 Big-D Endless family members, or even Lucifer, there are some remarkable entities here. Sandman gets two dreamy thumbs up. Check out some more pictures I've got for you here.

Crazy Woman

My friend sent me this link. OUTRAGEOUS. What a crazy, fat woman. Don't watch this whole thing, please. It might really hurt you. And you, dear reader, are my first concern. Watch out for my sake. Also I seem to have misplaced my Japanese drinks, so watch out for my sake. Tomorrow: a summation of my experience reading the entire Sandman comic series.

Transcendental Meditation (TM)

Last semester I went to see David Lynch speak. Besides discrediting Dune, he talked about how great meditation can be for students. Eventually I signed up to receive emails about a possible study regarding TM but kind of forgot about it. Today, I received an email that said this: "Rockin’ good news—well-wishers of humanity have stepped forward and have given enough money for 300 students at American University (and surrounding DC area universities) to learn Transcendental Meditation as part of a landmark study evaluating the effects of meditation on brain, health and behavior." Look at the website for it here. It might prove difficult with my schedule, but I'm excited.

Baid Is Not a Word

Scrabble. What a game. No picture because I'm on a friend's computer mid-game. Today I went to Utrecht's to get art supplies. I was impressed with the selection. They had everything from an eraser shield to a Bristol pad. Graphic design ended up costing me over one hundred dollars with a twenty percent student discount. However, I feel like an artist now so it's totally worth it. Even if everything I produce in that class ends up as garbage, I'll still feel like I accomplished something.

Bio

First college biology class today. The teacher is well organized and presented a logical explanation for why intelligent design has no place in the realm of science as an example of falsifiability. I agree. I really don't care that people believe in intelligent design, but it has nothing to do with science. Evolution may be a theory, but it's something that people have been trying to disprove for 150 years and not a simple baseless prediction. Plus the guy uses a powerbook. Should be a good class.

Tai-Shan

Back at school. Went to the National Zoo. This creature—this panda baby—is too cute for words or emotions, even. It was in a plastic bucket flipping around. An older panda was eating some bamboo like a rational creature. All this little thing could do is yawn and turn over; I'm not sure it was even capable of leaving the bucket. If he could talk there's no question he could be elected president. So darn...delicious.

Bikes Are Great

Gee-wiz. Seriously though, I just got a light for the back of my bike and I'm way happier than I expected to be. My bicycle is so wonderful. I'm really excited to return to the Land of Laws and with a little luck, there should be some good riding weather. It'll be really nice to relieve the stress of the classes. Also bought yesterday: A green lantern comic featuring...Commies. I love it. I'll scan in some of the hillarity upon my return on Monday. Stay tuned for greater things.

Commando

This is a brilliant movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays John Matrix, a retired government killer who inexplicably has a daughter played by Alyssa Milano. Not only is it an action masterpiece in which Schwarzenegger kills 81 people, it is also a comic masterpiece. Behold this image. He and and his daughter and feeding a deer. Yes, they really are. You might have missed it because it's in the credits, but they are feeding a fawn. If you haven't seen this movie I feel sorry for you. It must hurt. There must be a feeling of incompleteness knawing away at you. Sucks.


This movie is essential. It doesn't need to make sense. Hell it makes more sense than all the major religions put together. I'm so jealous of people living in California. His motorcycle was hit by a car and what happens to him? He gets a bunch of stitches on his lip. Why? That's the only part of his un-aging flesh not covered in muscle. Amazing. Last action hero INDEED.

50th post

Whew. Here we are. It's only been a few posts since I've resumed the blog. Right now I'm watching Grizzly Man. It's very good as I suspected it would be. Werner Herzog is an amazing filmaker. These bears have been fighting on the screen for a few minutes now. One of them just pooped while fighting. I mean, here these bears are, biting into each other's necks and poop just starts falling out of one. Now, afterward, Timothy Treadwell is sitting in it. I respect what he was trying to do, but he really appears to be a sad and troubled indivdual at times. His over 100 hours of film create some poigniant moments, but really with no biological background, he is just obsessed with the foxes and bears. He totally ignores the fact that predators exist, patheticaly pleads with God (pleading with God isn't always pathetic), and diverts streams so that salmon will run. He's also sadly misinformed about poachers in the region that he frequents. The grizzly bear population on Kodiak Island is and will be fairly safe. He's certainly no hero, but an interesting figure nonetheless.

Adventure Aquarium

Philadelphians: remember the good old Camden Aquarium? It was always a mystery how a place with some much water in it could be so dirty. Well, it has doubled in size and been renamed, get this—Adventure Aquarium. OOh, so...creative. At least it's alliterative. Anyway, it is a good time. There's a glass tunnel where sharks swim over you which was pretty good, but I felt like an idiot taking pictures all the time. Anyway, I did get some good shots. I'm trying out posting links to zipped archives of pictures instead of posting them on flickr because the man is trying to limit my uploads. The archive is here for 7 days. Let me know how it works out.

P.S.: Do me a favor and leave a comment or two. I'm always looking for feedback. For instance—I just got a $15 Itunes music giftcard but I download lots of music anyway, what should I use it on?

"It's hard to imagine any other artist, in any genre, with such a gift."

The above quote comes from the Associated Press and is about none other than R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet." If you really have to click on the link to that wiki you should be ashamed of yourself. This truly is a masterpiece of my generation. Last night I attended the first (annual hopefully) Trapped in the Fondue. As you might imagine, this is the holy union of the aforementioned DVD and delicious fondue. It was the first time I had seen episodes 6-12. This morning I watched the commentary remix, featuring R. Kelly watching the videos and smoking a cigar. Now I'm watching it again with my parents. I can't stop, but I'm strangely OK with it. Check out some more screenshots on my Flickr Account, download my favorite soundclip here, and don't forget Roxanne and Tina.

Liberality For All

This is pretty ridiculous. I read comics; I like them. This one suggests a future taken over by Liberals. In 2021—The army joins up with the UN Peace-Keeping Forces, the president is Hillary Clinton (with Vice President Michael Moore), there are anti-hate "Coulter" laws, Osama Bin Laden is a UN Ambassador and G. Gordan Liddy and a cyborg Sean Hannity fight against the apparent oppression. This is not left-leaning satire. It's a poorly drawn response to what the author believes is liberal bias in comics. Here's what I have to say—comics have always made it their business to expose social inequalities. I read the issue of Green Lantern/Green Arrow where GA finds out his ward Speedy (irony?) is addicted to heroin. It was hilariousus and pretty much made people realize that the Comics Code no longer mattered. This has some interesting ideas, but it's not even funny because it's pretty poorly done. Another thing, in the letters page on the back, someone complains about Superman: Red Son. This guy is just mislead and obviously has not read the book. Sorry to ruin it for anyone, but in the end, Lex Luthor makes America so great that it takes over the world and it becomes a utopia. I mean, seriously. The book is about a communist Superman, but he turns into a dictator. It is good though. In conclusion, Dude wants Superman blacklisted, and that just ain't right.

Call Me A Dork, But Let's MUM

I love Philadelphia and New Years. But forget Cheesesteaks and getting drunk, my favorite part of each is the annual Mummer's Parade. This year was the first year I went instead of watching it on TV. It really was a good occasion for taking the train. The view was definitely better from higher up, but there was a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes type stuff. The ingenuity and creativity of these people who spend the whole year planning to dress up in thousands of feathers and sequins is really impressive. Most are Irish and Italian families from South Philly who have been Mumming for generations. I love it. There were also some cops in these S.S.-like leather jackets. Not like the blurred woman in the foreground of this picture, but very rediculous-looking. I really like this picture because of all the things in it—blurred police woman, disgruntled cat woman, fancy streetlamp, and an assortment of colors.

I'm Back, Bitches!

It's time to take up the mantle again I suppose. Something else to distract me from the things I planned on doing this break. Let's cut the crap—I go to American University and I live in a town near Swarthmore, PA, outside of Philadelphia. It's too annoying to be ambigous in postings, so heres the deal: I'm going to say that I live in Washington DC and you're not going to stalk me. OK? Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, I should mention that the blog should be a lot better this time around. I've got a digital camera, a powerbook, and a shitload of anecdotes. I'm a studnet and I have a girlfriend, but I should find a little time here and there to do something interesting. After all, Ben Raab, former writer of Green Lantern gave me this advice—write everyday. And I might as well.

Most Sincerely,
Jesso Hackberry

P.S.
Here's a picture of a viking mummer. Explanation on this later, maybe.