We drove 1500 miles in two days, listened to 26 CDs, 2 songs, one tape, and one baseball game.

1. Jawbreaker - 24 Hour Revenge Therapy
2. Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes
3. Cardinal - Michael Winslow
4. The Spinanes - Manos
5. Racetrack - The Distance EP
6. De La Soul - 3 Ft. High and Rising
7. Modest Mouse - Interstate 8
8. The Pixies - Doolittle
9. The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site
10. Quasi - R&B Transmogrification
11. Hey Mercedes - Everynight Fireworks
12. The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
13. Of Montreal - Cherry Peel
14. Superchunk - Come Pick Me Up
15. Ben Gibbard & Andrew Kinney - Home
16. Jonathan Richman - Her Mystery Not of High Heels & Eye Shadow
17. Karate - Some Boots
18. The Lucksmiths - Staring at the Sky
19. The Lucksmiths - Mix CD
20. Jawbreaker - Dear You
21. M’s VS. A’s - Static (WIN!!)
22. Rat Cat Hogan - Don’t Call me Twaddy,
    Eet is too koldt to go swimmingk.

23. Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
24. Ted Leo - Sword in the Stone
25. Circus of the Stars - Sierra Madre
26. John Vanderslice - Life and Death of an American Four-tracker
27. Braid - Frame and Canvas
28. Braid - Lucky to be Alive
29. Blackalicious - Nia
30. Death Cab for Cutie - Photo Album.

i’m sitting outside the DOL here in bellingham now, waiting for brandon to pick me up. i got my new license and should be getting it in the mail in about a week, though i didn’t take into account the fact that the license will be going to an address i don’t live at and won’t be there for a week. regardless, it’s going to brandon’s so unless they throw it away or something, i should be okay.

last night, the mariners won, which was nice for my b-day. we went to johnny’s and played some pool and drank beers. there’s some gross big-ass ants crawling near the steps i’m sitting on, and it’s starting to freak me out, so i’m moving. more pictures of racetrack and a symmetry coming up.

on the sidewalk now, anyways, i look like a big shaggy dog in my new picture, since i haven’t had an adequate haircut in a few months. i’ve also stopped shaving a little, so i look like a big bear. big bear, shaggy dog, whatever.
:s
it feels so odd not to have internet access and be on a computer everyday, but it’s refreshing, in the fact that i’m doing things instead of reading about them. i got my train ticket back down south and am a little worried about my temporary license allowing me to board the train. regardless, i return to los angeles on a tuesday morning train and will be back there by the next day. oddly enough, i’m pretty worried about someone stealing something from me on the train, in fact, i’m a little paranoid about it.

and though i’ve been saying this for days, i think that’s where the redesign will be finished up, because i’m tired of looking at this bleak blue and grey thing.

played some birthday pool and drank some birthday beer last night, now we’re headed downtown to hang some fliers for the microphones show tomorrow. internet is more intermittent than i thought it was gonna be (namely because brandon’s house has nothing more than a dial-up), but i’m taking every spare moment for this. out.

i’m outside in bellingham right now, apparently 2 years ago it was voted one of the country’s most connected campuses, and judging by the wi-fi coverage through red square and over by the vu, i have to concur.

we got to bellingham last night had some nice soup, went to bed early. it’s my birthday today, by the way. i went running this morning about 8, here to see racetrack, a symmetry and some other bands. who knows what tonight holds. more interesting information as it becomes apparent. here’s some more pictures (thanks to my sister, digital pictures are more abundant):

hex! hex, hex, hex on the oakland athletics!

we left l.a. around 520am yesterday, it took us roughly 14 hours to get to eugened, all in all, not a bad drive. i-5 is so desolate and boring, though. we stopped for lunch and that’s all, aside from the numerous stops for gas every 3 to 4 hours, because brandon’s car gets shitty gas mileage. taco bell in weed, bothersome california taco bells do not have mexi-nuggets, preventing burrito surprises, but there was a family there that was baffled by brandon’s staring, bouncy ball parking lot chases and stock car window entry.

we got to eugene and everyone was celebrating. eugene. everyone was celebrating eugene. had some wicked burgers at a mcminniman’s and finally got my hands on the painfully absent in california– a microbrew ipa. there’s three mcmin’s in eugene, this one was full of people either taking a break from celebrating eugene, or getting ready to celebrate more of eugene. we celebrated eugene, too, drank a couple pitchers, ate some food and then gorged on cake at the sweet life.

came back to brian’s and watched him spin some records on his sick turntable setup, shined fiber-optic lights in brandon’s face so he couldn’t sleep, then passed out myself on the floor. off to portland, richland, last stop seattle until tomorrow night.

well, bush went on record saying that there is no proof of a saddam role in 9-11, but damn if this article wasn’t a torrent of mixed messages from the admin.

A recent poll indicated that nearly 70 percent of Americans believed the Iraqi leader [Saddam] probably was personally involved. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday, “I’ve not seen any indication that would lead me to believe that I could say that.”

and later in the article:

“There’s no question that Saddam Hussein had al-Qaida ties,” the president said. But he also said, “We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th.”

so the party line is he had ties, but there’s not proof he was involved, and these ties are enough to say that hussein was an imminent danger to the US. i’m glad that’s clear now, because i’d hate for them to imply certain things when they didn’t mean to.

out of all of bush’s posse, the one i distrust the most is rumsfeld, and the thing that tipped me on that sucker is the press conference he held where he was whining about how the media was only covering looting in iraq. whining on national television that the media wasn’t tipping their hats to the administration’s (second) self-proclaimed victory. meanwhile, the casualty count (civilian and military) escalates.
:b:
the live-action tick comes out on sept. 30th, and here it is, pay attention: newsradio is set for release in early 2004, first 2 seasons (28 episodes); the official news release from tvshowsondvd.com. i just saw david puddy in action on seinfeld yesterday (high five!), and am amazed by patrick warburton’s resume (though there are some spotty parts). but newsradio, the tick, seinfeld, and even his role as kronk in the emperor’s new groove was good.

the first time i saw the tick my sister brought home a tape of it from work and i was sick and watching it in bed. i didn’t think it was funny at that time, but i worked on it here at work and it changed my whole opinion of the show. the ron perlman episode is good. go get it on sept. 30th.
:b:

we saw lost in translation on saturday, and at the time, i thought it was just okay. afterwards, i talked about it, and i wanted to like it much more than i did. now, looking back, i feel like i actually do like it much more than i realized.

despite the narrow view of japan and the cheap laughs they get from some of the cultural differences, i’m willing to overlook that because of the absolutely golden performances from murray and johansson. i need to see it again, because as i think more and more about it, there are certain points in the film that are so simple and poignant (much of what bill murray does seems to be improv’d), that they make up for the slow navel-gazing scenes. it is beautifully photographed, but some parts just seem like filler.

when i got out of the movie, i felt like i was into it for 20 minutes, then out for 20, then back in for 20, etc. but now, the more i recall the more i like it, and it could quite possibly be that the 20 minutes i was out of it was responsible for the 20 minutes in– AND vice versa.

really, though, i could just watch the karaoke scene over and over again, and that’s not just because of bill murray’s rendition of elvis costello, but also because it just feels good, the interaction between him and johansson just reminds me of having moments with someone in a room full of people. ah, fuck it, i can’t explain it, just go see it you bastards.
:b:
all right, tomorrow, on the road again.

gone for two days, no links, no posts, no explanation? well, here’s the explanation, mixed on the fly, written and recorded with brandon in about 3 hours:

circus of the stars | sierra madre.mp3

the mix is awful, but enjoy it anyway.

i’m taking it easy this week, as i actually have a lot of work to do, and come this friday, i’ll have more time to do stuff, as i’m on hiatus from work for a month, in which i’ll take the time to catch up on reading, writing (here, script stuff, songs, and other ideas, too) and maybe even some arithmetic, seeing as i need to study for the GRE i’m planning on taking in november. also, i’ll do some touching up on the redesign, which is going to be a major ramping up from a weblog to a website. two other design projects are on the backburner that hopefully i’ll get under control at that time, too, some side work for imdb, lots of traveling, and lots and lots of recording in bellingham with brandon.

so yeah, eugene on friday, seattle on saturday, bellingham on monday. i’ll get to the internet, so yeah, don’t think i’m gonna be neglecting this space. exempting this week, of course. i’m pretty stoked, though kinda sad i’ll miss owl and the kitties. but stoked, nonetheless.

in a related pixies note: Disney Animates Dali’s Flick. slicin’ up eye balls! ohh-ho-ho-ho!

(last night) it’s really late and i should be sleeping, but since i missed posting today, i figured i’d actually get something exciting up for today, which is what i’ve done.

two things (well, three, kinda), first, a preview of the new redesign that i’ve been working long hours for. it needs to roll out soon, otherwise the whole motif will be lost and pointless:

hope you like it, expect it soon. hopefully. and when i say hopefully, i mean, really soon, hopefully.
:b:
here’s the rest of it:

circus of the stars | structure of prescinding
now that my ears aren’t so fatigued, i can see i seriously miscalculated the levels on this, the guitar is way too low, and the main vocals are too high. i’ll have to re-mix it, and i hate re-doing things. obviously.