alecia: have you ever been sky diving? did you love it / why haven’t you

because the world is so bizarre, and because life is wonderful, did you know that skydiving or something spiritually close to it was the actual last temptation of Christ?

Satan had Jesus strolling through the desert. they were alone. Jesus hadnt eaten. and Satan busts with two temptations real quick. then the third comes:

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
” ‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'”

And Jesus answering said unto him, “It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

(i know i changed translations, but how do you gloss over the King James version of that last line?)

anyways, i know that hanggliding (which id like to do) or parachuting (which doesnt seem that interesting) isnt really the same as jumping off a cliff and waiting for the angels to catch you, but its close enough. so instead i’ll just try to find something interesting while on planet earth.

Kim: Do you ever want to just cry?

emotions get in the way oftentimes. theyre distracting. they also lead to impulsive (and bad) decisions. so i do my best to shut off all the lows. sadly it tends to shut off many of the highs too. but every now and then something super bizarre will happen and a wave of emotion will flow over me and a brief tearing up will commence. it usually happens while at the cinema. but no crying till the cubs will the world series.

Derek: What should I do for my 30th birthday in Chicago at the end of next month?

halloween in the Windy is like no other. the leaves, the cold, the little kids in their costumes. but me, id get a hotel on rush street. id eat pizza at ginos east. id drink at every bar that would let me in. id puke on navy pier. and then see Da Bears destroy the hapless Browns at soldier field. i wouldnt drive anywhere. cabs. old style. stogies. layers.

Urban H: Why are you not speaking at Blogworld in Vegas this weekend?

little known fact: im terribly shy. i really dont like speaking… anywhere. i’ll do it for work. i’ll do it maybe once a year. but if i have to do it twice in a year the second time is under protest.

blogworld, and all the other non-sxsw conventions, to me, are just glorified networking schmoozefests. not so little known fact: i cant stand schmoozing. sure i admire the giants in the fields of the internet. and sure i admire all the up n comers. but if they cant figure out a way to cross my path once a year in austin, then fine, i think we’ll both live.

meanwhile, if people wanna know how i feel about things, or if they wanna learn a trick or two from me, they dont have to rush out to vegas for a week and get bombarded with 20 “keynote” speakers (most of whom dont even have halfway decent blogs), all they gotta do is ax tony a question on a friday on the busblog.

g/d: beat generation, generation x & ,,,,,,,,?

even though i got to interview ginsburg and creeley in college, there was something that i hated about the beats. they seemed comical to me. not hardcore enough. bukowski only did one or two city lights books and i was happy about that. meanwhile gen x was the last great generation. so if we are to agree that the beats were meh, gen x was sweet, then the next in line has to be another meh generation, which is where i guess gen y and their complete lack of any great rock comes in.

keir: Were those Stormtroopers really drinking slushies?

most nerds agree that the favorite drink of Stormtroopers is a mix of

2 oz vodka
2 oz coconut rum
6 oz milk

sounds disgusting to me, but then again i use the Force.

adriel: what do you love the most about one of your best friends?

i love that Jeanine makes some of the best jewelry in all of america. i love that when i met her she had taught herself guitar and soon was giving guitar lessons to every would-be metal star, and then about 10 years ago she taught herself jewelry, then went to school, then got GIA certified, and now even though she doesnt do it professionally any more she still jewels. in fact most of our friends who have gotten hitched got their wedding rings done by jeanine. the latest being scott “the fat man” who was married last month in brooklyn.

zona: how would you describe the color blue to a blind man and the blues to a deaf man?

i would tell the blind man that blue looks the way a well shaped bottom feels. and the deaf man wouldnt be able to hear me if i said anything so i would just show him a the scene of John Lee Hooker in the Blues Brothers singing “Boom Boom”. or a close facsimilie.

4rilla: What are your thoughts on Tumblr? Seems all these high school kids consider reposting photos and quotes to be a legit blog…

any form of communication, to me, online, on a blog, of any sort, where the writer is expressing some sort of anything, is ok with me. if its just re-blogging, or re-uploading photos, or quoting, is fine.

its fine because eventually something original will be made. look at Warhol. hed take pitcutres of stuff and then put it through a silk screen. after a while it wasnt his photos any more, it was other peoples photos. then hed blow em up huge. then sorta paint on em. then distort them. tell me thats not a close relative to Tumblr?

let the kids do what theyre gonna do because it all leads to communication and creativity. the busblog’s number one inspiration is photos and videos found online. so who would i be to knock tumblr blogs like mark lisanti’s who clearly have similar inspirations.

jackassjimmy: What do you make of this?

i think its fake. ive tried to shoot video while driving, and rarely have i been able to keep the subject center in the frame while doing 30-35 mph. so, fake.

David: 1. how do you tell someone you love them? 2. if you had to choose, beer or wine?

1. you should do it early, often, and in as many creative ways as possible. but ultimately the best ways is through the most valuable means: your time, and your money. some guys have no problem showering the one they love with gifts, but they dont wanna get torn away from their friends or their work or their hobbies. if you really truly omg love someone, give em everything.

2. i’ll drink wine like hemingway all night if you want me to, but id prefer to pound beers like a man.

Casey Kasum: What is the best song of the Aughts?

Hands down, Flo Rida’s “Low”. i really dont think theres anything that has come close, no matter what Kanye may say.

monkey: how soon is too soon?

because life goes soooooo quickly, its probably never too soon. go for it, if youre rejected, move on. quickly.

photo of alecia by alecia; photo of me at sxsw by preppypunk via flickr