Bricktacular!

Today in class I made a website about brick printing.

Cycle-T apparently got arrested and I was the last person to speak to him before he got thrown in! Barbara called him first and he punched bees and then he possessed something, sped, and potentially arm-robbed somebody... then they arrested him. He said that there were four police officers chasing him.. weird. This may be linked to miracle spring water. His last words were: "I have to go."

Another thing we did today was estimate how much it would cost to cover Barbara in bricks... it would be $259 if we go with the 'king-size'.

Barbara has been playing tetris almost all day and now she's wondering whether or not class is over. It does not seem to be over considering that it's 8 o'clock.

Naz is on a quest for a placeholder. He loves placeholders and wants all of his designs to look like them.

JOEL types ever-so slow...

See you next time.

_Chris

PS: Barbara wants to show me something... it is funny (I hear).. she meant to e-mail it to me but she didn't know my e-mail... it is some guy reading a break-up letter. He sounds like a computer to me. I am ready to hear it.

Calculational

I am in class and totally bored out of my mind to the EXTREME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Barbara is eating and yelling, as is usual. I am downloading albums from the internet while logged in on my school account to see what happens. I almost picked up Barbara's phone but she was too quick and I think that it was no one but probably Cycle-T. Cycle-T did not come to class today and we all fear that he drank the miracle water. My calculator works but I don't wanna skin it. No way. This class is over. When do I get out. MODS are pointless.

Mix3

OK, here is the third mix.. I guess it's not weekly anymore.. this one happened really organically but I think all the songs seem to focus on either humanity's relationship with earth and humanity's relationship with spiritual... the first song is live but it still works as long as there is no separation in-between the tracks when played..

Animal Collective- Baby Day (live)

Akron/Family- Blessing Force (Meek Warrior)

Icy Demons- Icy Demons (Fight Back!)

Panda Bear- Bros (Person Pitch)

Tall Dwarfs- Two Humans (Fork Songs)

Danielson Famile- Southern Paws (Tri-Danielson!!! [Alpha])

Leonard Cohen- Master Song (Songs of Leonard Cohen)

Sonic Youth- Secret Girl (Evol)

The Beach Boys- 'Til I Die (Surf's Up)


Dig. http://www.sendspace.com/file/gejiox

Weekly Mix 2

So, it is time for my second weekly mix. I really appreciate those of you who gave me feedback on the first one. This one is quite different, which I'm sure they all will be. I stole the title from a Beach Boys record. This mix is about summer.

Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!!)

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - This Summer's Been Good From The Start (The Blue Trees)

Drive-By Truckers - My Sweet Annette (Decoration Day)

Jon Brion - Knock Yourself Out (I <3 Huckabees)

Half-Handed Cloud - oily... (Harp That's Hung-up in the Tree)

Islands - Jogging Gorgeous Summer (Return to Sea)

Kimya Dawson - Loose Lips (Remember That I Love You)

Gastr Del Sol - Seasons Reverse (Camoufleur)

Animal Collective - Sleeper Factory (Live Unreleased)

The Beach Boys - I Went To Sleep (20/20)

Super Furry Animals - Walk You Home (Love Kraft)

Four Tet - Tangle (Pause)

Wax & Wane - Eyes of Blue (Winter)


Download Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!!)

Enjoy + Stay Tuned...
_Chris

Presentation Day

Dear Blogger,
Today by 9AM, Barbara had already started struggling through virtual jig-saw puzzles. This troubles me, but for now I will keep it to myself. We are sitting in class listening to presentation after presentation. So far, nothing has been interesting. I did not expect much more because we are presenting process rather than finished work, which is really extra-lame. I just argued with Financial Aid until they agreed to sign my tuition grant forms; no one down there knows what's going on, however, it is not their fault because they are all new... they always are. On days like these, I begin to contemplate the rapid deterioration of our school, specifically their academic process. I do not wish to assign blame to one specific person, however, it is clear to me that this slide seems to have run parallel with Sean Brennan's rise to power. Rise Over Run, dig it? We are not learning how to create but, rather, how to think about creating. They are attempting to turn us into machines. This is no fun because I hate the taste of oil and most machines still require some amount of oil to run. None of my peers are looking forward to their short future on the desk of some high powered executive waiting for the next graduation upgrade to leave them obsolete. I need to break out of this scene because it is toppling. The foundation showed its' cracks a few years ago and they have only expanded. Barbara is getting better at these puzzles. Practice makes perfect...

_Chris

Weekly Mix #1

I've decided to begin posting weekly music mixes that I have curated for download on this site. This is the first. It had very little pre-planning other than the idea that The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack by Liars could fit curiously well next to You Still Believe in Me by The Beach Boys. I focused on what sounded good when played next to each other in the beginning and then towards the end I began to focus on songs about love and water... Hope you Enjoy.

Mix1: Land, Air, Water

Land, Air, Water

Amiina- Sogg (Kurr)

Deerhunter- Spring Hall Convert (Cryptograms)

Liars- The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack (Drum's Not Dead)

The Beach Boys- You Still Believe in Me (Pet Sounds)

Low- Like A Forest (Things We Lost in the Fire)

Mercury Rev- I Collect Coins (Deserter's Songs)

Cat Power- Sea of Love (The Covers Record)

Eugenius- River Clyde Song (Mary Queen of Scots)

Sonic Youth- The Diamond Sea (Washing Machine)


Hope you dig.....
_Chris

And then

I decided to vaguely ripoff my good buddy (and all around good guy) Jimmy (of James' Shelf and other music projects fame). I linked to his blog in the links section and it is well worth a click-through even though he hasn't updated in a really long time. Anyway, suffice it to say, he is certainly worthy of ripping off... he tends to post albums and I've decided to (for now at least) post a track that I'm really interested in. The track is: Avey Tare & Kria Brekkan – Sis Around The Sándmill (Reverse). It is from the now infamous album released recently entitled Pullhair Rubeye. In case you haven't heard, the entire album is reversed.. it's all backwards music. I like to hear it but I don't like to listen to it (many music fans, I hope, can understand that hearing and listening are two different yet equally important experiences.) Anyway, inevitably, many people (myself included) have reversed these songs digitally so that they can hear them the way that they were recorded and in that form I very much enjoy listening to them. Now the Tiny Mix Tapes review of this album points out the interesting philosophical ideas that are evoked through this exercise. Is the song backwards when it's frontwards considering that the artists released the track in a backwards form? Are the backwards and frontwards versions two different songs or extensions of the same song? Whatever the answer, I really love this song in its' frontwards (backwards) form.

Kria's voice gives it kind of a twee sound (which to me is a positive rather than a negative aspect) and the acoustic instruments evoke a mellow and friendly vibe. It almost sounds a little bit tropical in a disjointed kind of way. Avey's backup vocals don't sing words but rather act as a harmonic instrument perfectly complementing the lead vocals which have words (even though I can't understand very many of them). As the song reaches its' conclusion it begins to turn into a drone piece (which isn't too surprising since Avey is from Animal Collective and Kria is from Mum) however I think that this is one of the most organic sounding drones ever put to tape. Immediately, I begin to question how a drone could sound organic.. I mean the word drone tends to connotate mechanical images. However, once I listened to it again I was sure that it was an organic drone. After the track finished, I stopped the album from playing and contemplated the after-silence. Suddenly I was able to hear the wind blowing through the trees and the constant insect noises and the sound of my breathing: these were all organic drones. I think this track helped me to rediscover nature in a way. I am awakened and it's really very beautiful that music still has the power to awaken me. What's most interesting about this piece is that when it's turned backwards (frontwards) it immediately sounds like electronic music and turns the organic drones into mechanical ones as if to reaffirm my belief that being awake is what would happen if you were to sleep backwards... Enjoy.

download mp3

Short Story Idea

On a night filled with unexpected occurances, the world was suddenly confronted with an enormous happenstance dripping with predictability. The dark sky was streaked with the verdict of an inevitable: the assassination of summer. The night before the sun rose to light the first day of school, five accusations were hurriedly pinned on the supposed conspirators. It was in this atmosphere that we find a small dilapidated barn in the backyard of a retired accountant. This barn is to be the courthouse in which the conspirators will be tried at sun-up.

Inside the barn, a frantic meeting is taking place amongst the overseers and supporters of the trial. In actuality, there were very few people who possessed either the will or energy to oppose. An atrocity had taken place and the bottom line was that someone needed to be punished for it. The most zealous of the prosecutors was an unusually tall eleven-year-old boy who possessed a stern and serious gaze that was not usually attained until a much older and more serious age. Pacing the length of the barn, his powerful presence was absolute, the only sound that could be heard was the crunch of straw beneath his steady step and the droning song of the late august cricket. It was clear that anyone who opposed him would fall immediately. About twenty folding chairs were set up in preparation for the morrows' audience. In the fifth chair of the third row sits a nine-year-old girl at odds with her conscience.

Earlier that afternoon she received an urgent message delivered by a boy on a red bicycle requesting her legal expertise in what was to be the most important and scandalous trial of t he year. Having participated in the trial against the kidnappers of winter break not too long ago, the girl, who's name was Shannon, understood the importance of assigning blame and of doing so as quickly as possible, yet, she felt a tug on her conscience each time she thought of using her legal skills to convict people whom she knew were likely as innocent as she was.

....end of part1...

Barbara thinks this is awesome

Today which is the same today that was mentioned in the last post, Barbara, Naz and I ate Breakfast at What-A-Burger for the first time. Barbara almost threw up. She has drank a lot of energy drinks today although she still does not seem very energized. Go Figure! I ordered bacon but they gave me sausage. I was upset but I did not complain or cry or whatever.
By the way, Barbara is currently still working on the same puzzle as before. She has been doing it for 1:40:32. She just politely asked me to shut up.
After we ate at What-A-Burger, we went and jammed at guitar center. I brought my ukelele pick so I could play a 12-string with it because I don't like playing without a pick. I was not enjoying it for some reason.
When we got back to class everyone was gone. Immediately, Naz sprang into action! "Where are they?", he cried.

Barbara just finished her puzzle and then told Naz to shove it. It took her 1:42:12. She said Shut it not shove it, although I still kind of think she said shove it. She has decided not to do another puzzle. Oh, I was mistaken, she is going to do another. What a waste of time this day is so far.
Someone wrote, 'Gey' on Barbara's mousepad. Naz has vowed that whoever did it will pay. I think they should pay $5.33 for the cost of the ink removal on the mousepad.

This Morning in class...

Today in class Barbara was sitting next to me and she was working on a jigsaw puzzle begging for my help as usual. She spent a good deal of time meticulously picking out the edge pieces of the puzzle until she was down to two phantom edges. It was around this time that Naz sprang into action, he leapt over the chair, knocked me out of the way and shouted, "Barbara, You Must Use The Edges Button For The Good Of Humanity!"
It was at this point that Barbara, in fact, used the 'edges' button and she realized that she had wasted more of her time than she needed to waste while doing her time wasting activity. Around this moment, I began to wonder why Barbara is able to participate in so many time wasting activities during class. Perhaps, I thought, it is because the class is totally lame.
Earlier in class, Naz entered with a package of retro starburst. What does this entail, I wondered. He proclaimed the magesty of disco berry starburst and I knew right away that this was the flavor for Barbara.
Later in the class, Naz shared his retro Starburst. First I got strawberry but then he let me have disco berry as well which I mistakenly called 'grooveberry'. Barbara also had some retro berry and this once again proved me right.
Barbara began to get unnecessarily frustrated with her puzzle. She began ranting incoherently and announcing that she hasn't slept. While typing this I messed up, but don't worry I fixed it.
Now we are out of class and we don't know what to do because it is the earliest time in history. I think we should eat breakfast and then eat lunch afterwards. Barbara seems excited by this prospect. Naz seems rather indifferent. He is hurridly packing up his things. Barbara is not moving until she completes her puzzle but between you and me, she has a ways to go. She needs help (in the puzzle).

I am signing off now.
Type Faster Joel.