Day 1, "and we're off"

A selection will be unveiled daily throughout the month of December, in no particular order. we will have a wide selection of songs, and hopefully every tune will be available for download. Happy Holidays and enjoy the music.

December 1 You get two today, being the first day and all

The Temper Trap
"Sweet Disposition", 5oo Days of Summer Soundtrack


Kid Cudi
"Day 'N' Night" see also the Crookers remix, Man On the Moon

31 days of GOOD

With the help of my good friends Billy and Andrew, starting in december, and everyday through the entire month we will be listing the best songs of 2009, hopefully ending with the best on the 31st at our rocking new years eve party in Lake Almanor. any suggestions?
here are some teasers- just so you can see where we are going with this: Wale, Temper Trap, Jay-z, N.A.S.A., Phoenix, Karen O and the Kids etc- you get the idea. every genre is welcome and desired.

top fives: an homage to art i love

i've already listed my favorite blogs and online magazines, and you've probably already got your faves, but this is for everything else. this is opinionated, and im not claiming expertise. dont get offended when you realize my opinion is not the same as yours. and let me here your opinions too, because im sure there will be some that slip my mind. and if there are any categories that would inspire debate let me know...

desert island records: (that is, not the best ever, but the most enjoyable and long lasting; and yes guilty pleasures are ok)

1 Nirvana "Unlpugged"
2 Notorious BIG "Ready to Die"
3 The Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers"
4 Radiohead "Kid A"/"Ok Computer"
5 Michael Jackson "Number Ones" (if i only get one michael, its a greatest hits)

Honorable Mention: Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life", Mos Def "Black on Both Sides", Lou Reed "Transformer", The Beatles "White Album" disc two, not one, The Strokes "This Is It", and anything else that includes any solo project, side project or collaboration from either Jack White, Dave Grohl, or Mos Def.

movies: which may have to be categorized more specifically and dorkishly later


1 Rushmore
2 The Godfather
3 Inglorious Basterds (barely beating out Pulp Fiction)
4 Pulp Fiction
5 Sin Nombre
6 Adaptation

Honorable Mention: Jurassic Park, Fight Club, The Matrix, Notting Hill, Pans Labyrinth, Snatch, The Royal Tenenbaums, City of God, The Deer Hunter, Back to the Future 1 & 2, 28 Days Later, Closer, American Beauty, and The Prestige

Dishonorable Mention: anything with Eric Roberts (sorry Jake), Couples Retreat, Observe and Report, anything Michael Moore (except Roger and Me), Irreversible, and any Pierce Brosnan Bond after Goldeneye.

Books

1 Heavier Than Heaven: Kurt Cobain's Bio
2 Of Mice and Men
3 Guns, Germs, and Steel
4 Where the Wild Things Are
5 No Country For Old Men
6 American Psycho (in its intended tone of satire, not horror)

sillyness, debauchery, and the sexiest man in america

i had forgotten about this little video i sent to ABC after jokingly trying out for a reality show back in 2002. my coworkers saw it on youtube, thought it was funny. so here you go. its absurd, but incredibly well done by my good friend, director ryan pettey. he was in film school at the time of this video; and is now making making feature length documentaries. let me give a disclaimer, i was 19, and the show was "Are you hot? The search for America's sexiest People" so i obviously never won, but i did make quite a mockery of the vain reality show while keeping the producers of this cattle call pretty entertained on that fateful day in san diego.

correction: thank you copyright laws

i discovered that due to intellectual property rights, im not allowed to post, publish or link my former teachers thesis on this website. even though he is the author and mastermind behind the enormous project, he cannot release his own words to me. i can discuss it, but not post/publish his work. this is not to his liking i gathered but out of respect, i will not be able to show you his work. sorry, your missing out, hopefully it will be published and printed in book form someday.

a lil bit of rock-n-roll

this is an excerpt from a beautifully written master's thesis from a friend of mine and former teacher on the history of punk rock, particularly the american hardcore punk movement in the 80's. who says school cant be fun.

all jacked up on jolly ranchers and mountain dew

where the wild things are is flat out a beautiful movie: visually and thematically, not to mention it has one of the best and most fitting original scores/soundtracks since there will be blood or the life aquatic. (im guilty of loving anything wes anderson does) karen o from the yeah, yeah, yeahs along with carter burwell score the entire picture, directed by spike jonze, which opened to critical and commercial success a few weeks back. the score expresses the wide range of confused emotions that are experienced throughout childhood; and along with the cinematography, that captures max's point of vision through amazing hand held shots, really put you in max's shoes.

wild things, originally written as a childrens book by maurice sendak, had an enormous amount of hype and critical accolades despite negative rumors and speculation during the production process. this movie is every where but here in chico. a surprising amount of people never saw it despite being fans of the book-at least in the circles i travel in. i had been waiting for this movie for about two years and saw it opening weekend, and was hoping to have my normal movie-dork conversations about this film and havent really had the chance.

the review i read in the ny times summed up the movie perfectly, "this is not a movie for children, but a movie about childhood, for adults." which was fitting. wild things has a deliberately slow pace once max reaches the island but jonze, his cinematographer, and karen o formed a nostalgic and touching film that expanded on the short, wonderfully imaginative original. this film is worth seeing, but keep an open mind especially when it comes to the pace. i've almost enjoyed thinking about the movie in retrospect than i did watching it. the visuals were stunning and it put me in a thoughtful place remembering my childhood and my continued love for this great book.

go see it while it's still here and take yourself back to the days before the stresses of life consumed us and unplug for awhile and turn on your imagination.

a disclaimer concerning my place of employment

I work for Starbucks Coffee Company, and have for the last six years. In certain circles saying I work for a corporate giant is blasphemy and can polarize a crowd. I understand some of the complaints, and I like to support the little guy, the mom-and-pop shop, but Starbucks has been a great employer, maybe the best I’ve experienced. I hated Costco, car sales, retail, and manual labor. I was even one of those kids on his bicycle that did a paper route. So to the haters and naysayers; Starbucks is a job that pays the rent- I have stock options and both my wife and I have health benefits.

In the same vein, I understand how ridiculous some of the rhetoric, training and corporate lingo might seem. Once you’re in the inner circle it becomes even more apparent. Starbuck recently released, VIA ready brew coffee. It’s not instant, it’s ready brew. Phrases like this are just the beginning; Starbucks has a complex marketing scheme with millions behind it, along with years of coffee research behind this product. In all my years at Starbucks I have never seen the company push anything so hard, and I left sales jobs for coffee shops because I’m tired of selling and being sold. consumerism can be exhausting. I hate being pressured and I’m too blunt to even give the standard, effective, sales pitch.

Starbucks released little pamphlets to accompany VIA that were next to the register to inform the customer about this “amazing” new product. I should mention that Starbucks sat on this product for years because when building their brand, the corporate “big wigs” did not want to tarnish the brand, because we all know now, “It’s not coffee, its Starbucks.” On the cover of these small pamphlets, which resemble the readers Jehovah’s Witnesses pass out, was a silhouette of a man kneeling down with his arms raised as if praising something, with a title that states, “How Starbucks VIA ready brew can change your life.” This struck me as odd, extreme, and almost offensive to anywhere with a religious background. I was raised in the church aand went to Catholic school, and all bias aside, it is still just plain ridiculous.

Starbucks is considered the premier purveyor of coffee,so i guess the company can rely on the appeal of authority, and buys more beans than just about anyone, but I still disagree with the approach. The explicit and implicit rhetoric are obvious once dissected. Starbucks can change your life, right? That’s obvious, but the implicit is what concerns me. The religious resemblance is the there, maybe I read into this too much but implying that instant coffee will have some profound effect on my life is a stretch. It’s absurd actually, and the motives behind the marketing are incredibly entertaining. I could probably dissect this forever and I’m ranting, but I challenge you to observe what’s thrown at us on a daily, even up to the minute basis.

my first time

the information age has taken it's toll. is anyone else overwhelmed? i am, so i'm starting a blog. this is a small piece of the pie compared to the powerhouses like hypebeast, the huffington post, tmz, and perez hilton, but some sort of creative outlet is desired, and who knows maybe i'll have a million hits someday.

i found myself reading blogs like thehundereds.com, hypebeast.com, hypem.com, and thesartorialist.com, which are all centered around fashion, music, film, urban culture, and food. i recently moved back to small town chico ca and found myself missing the aforementioned "culture" that one would find in a larger, urban area; and blogs based in these cities were my connection. and if you havent gathered this already, chico is not exactly a cultural metropolis. but we do have one saving grace, which is the college. but in the same vain, chico state also attracts all the undesirable aspects of larger cities. i.e. douche bags from bay area suburbs ans hunnington beach.

so this is an attempt to bring a little bit of what i loved in cities like los angeles, san fransisco, and the VERY little i liked about san diego to our little town of chico. there are a few that get it right and know of the wonderful aspects of life outside this bubble. im not claiming to be an authority on art, music, fashion, food, or nightlife, but i know what i like- and being from chico and having experienced life outside it-why not try. besides, its 1:15 am, and im tired of doing history homework.