so over it

just got back from a perfectly fine but strangely disjointed concert, that may have turned me off to the concert experience for a little while.

it was activisions E3 party. you may recall last year Ali and i went to the wiltern and saw travis barker and dj am, jay-z, and eminem do their collective things.

turned out they sold a bunch of guitar heros cuz this year it was at staples and it was usher, janes addiction, chris cornell, maynard doing bohemian rhapsondy, n.e.r.d., eminem with special guest rihanna.

on paper it was spectacular, but america thats why they dont play these games on paper.

in person it was fine, free beers, free snacks, only half of staples was filled so everyone had a good seat. but it was so disjointed and awkward with weird pauses inbetween sets, and the people only got to play a few songs.

no mc, no host, just this weird dj up in the stands trying to fill the gaps with popular tunes.

i drank. the girls next to me laughed and took pictures of themselves. i took a picture of them and when they got back from the powder room they handed me two beers. so i was content.

but bored.

is this really it for me? can one big band after another not satisfy my attentions? usher danced. eminem stopped around. maynard was vulnerable and powerful. rihanna looked super hot.

and janes addiction was finally able to air out their old classic mountain song in a proper arena whose echos perfectly matched the psychedelia of the twenty year old monster.

but still i got home barely buzzed and hungry for more than just cold chicken in the fridge.

am i at the age where the only music that would please me are my kids doing some super cute recital for grade school? if so just kill me now.

and i always will

blogger, wine guy, and fantastic artist MacLeod writes of this piece:

Having learned about the African Slave Trade and all its horrors back in school, it’s easy to forget that not all slavery is like that.

A hundred and fifty years after Lincoln, my peers and I have a different kind of slavery to contend with, the slavery we impose upon ourselves.

Enslaving ourselves to the jobs, careers and lifestyles we hate, just in order to pay the bills. Just in order to buy fancy stuff that makes us look good on paper.

It never occurred to me when I was younger, that this kind of slavery has an element of complicity to it.

We got ourselves in this situation, partly because we willed it. We WANTED that outcome. We wanted the fancy stuff. We didn’t want to do the hard work work that would keep us away from it. We just wanted an easy life….

Mediocrity seduced us. Mediocrity won.

It’s never too late to break out of this cycle, luckily.

It all depends what you’re willing to give up. Only you can answer that.

buy all his prints. make him richer than Lady Gaga

find themselves in what chicago now is calling a catfight

all i see are midwestern girls being midwestern girls.

and for once im enjoying that incessant fratellis song

i know this is the day of rest and i should be reading the bible

or taking a leisurely stroll around my neighborhood

or planting a garden in glory of the Lord

but none other than Amy Collins Langfield just tweeted this video at me and i need to share it with you and expound on its excellence.

first off: you have Ice Cube sitting in with the Roots led by the great drummer ?estlove.

next: you have the classic title track off “Straight Outta Compton”, N.W.A’s breakthrough album which many forget came out during the height of Grunge.

the challenge: you’re televising this on network tv. and even though no one likes or watches Jimmy Fallon’s show (of which The Roots are the house band), and even though the telecast airs in the wee hours when children are fast asleep, and even though this is just a jam for the studio audience during the commercial break, due to draconian laws the vocalists CANT CURSE despite the fact that the original has a swear word or offensive term in nearly every line.

the result: an awkward but beautiful tongue-twisting tapdance around lyrical landmines

the grade: A+++++++++++++

the bush in question is young Barbara Bush who after she traveled to Africa with her parents was moved and inspired when she saw how differently her accessibility to quality heathcare is compared to the very poor in deepest darkest. the result, she founded a non profit to help: Global Health Corps.

shes certainly come a long way since being popped for underage drinking in Austin, and then caught using a fake ID all within a few weeks. ah kids.

hats off to barbara, not because of her opinion, but for the courage to so publicly break away from the politics of her father and grandfather. and moreso for putting her time and efforts into the causes that she believes in. selfless causes that really will help people.

what do you credit for her empathy, idealism, and maverick stance to defy what would be easy and replace it with what brings the greater good to the world as a whole? the answer can probably be found in her middle name.

personally, i thought that game was boring.

what i learned is real soccer fans have no sense of humor. nil!

and once again the Simpsons are visionaries – check out that score.

via Ali and Sarah

some how.

sass asks: Why does a boy I like read my blog but not talk to me?

todays youth, especially the shoegazing skinnyjeans wearing manchildren that you go gaga for have no courage.

if they did they wouldnt listen to that nonsense you people call music.

its not really their fault, its a worldwide dilema. youve been given too much. plus this is the byproduct of the feminization of american men thats represented in emo, metrosexuality and the celebration of Coldplay.

Girl Power has won but its only made way to the Age of the Douchebag.

id highly recommend that since todays woman is so comfortable demanding whatever it is that she wants, she needs to reach out and pull the men on her radar into her personal space.

its the only way to deal with these sheep.