Madness

On the train I met a woman
I never did catch her name
She'd got on at Reno
Had seen all there was to see
Knew the crew by name
She had an odd magazine
An Italian one named "Colors"
But it wasn't about color
This issue was entitled "madness"
And she showed me the stories
Of people who lived in a slightly
Ever so slightly different
Dimension

Yes, I am getting taller.

I delivered cookies today
To neighbors on my street
Enjoyed some small talk
About the weather
The future
About how much I've grown
Despite the fact
I haven't grown taller
For at least two years
But I don't have the heart
To tell them they are shrinking
So I agree and laugh
And wonder when my prime will peak...

Oddly Inspiring

I have recently been thinking about the odd phenomenon of being inspired by commercials. This is an odd concept because as a whole I am put off by commercialism, and thus the idea of an advertisement for something having any true value to me is foreign. But I recently saw a couple ads that I find more inspiring and worthy of attention than advertisements normally are.

First up: The latest Adidas commercial for their "Originals" collection.
The ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT3Jj9OGMA0
Now, this is a piece of art. Granted, it was directed by Spike Jones. Yeah, he's apparently now directing Adidas commercials. This ad is a dream come true: take all the creative crazy people out there and throw them into a big house party. GENIUS! Another reason I like this is the music - commercial music is the new soundtrack music and I'm not ashamed to admit that's where I found a lot of my favorite artists: Iron & Wine for example. I am also in love with this commercial because Spike Jones appears to be the best dancer ever (I exaggerate, but still, he looks cool). Lastly, I think Mark Gonzales should be available at every party EVER just so that he can powerslide amongst the dancers.

Next up: An Apple advert titled "Here's to the Crazy Ones"
The ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvn_Ied9t4M
I read this quote online and thought it was the work of some great thinkers of our time: Einstein, Vonnegut, etc. Turns out, it is an ad for Apple computers. It is narrated by Richard Dreyfuss, whose voice at first surprised me because he doesn't sound like the normal "inspiring quote" voice (you know the one from the movie trailers and such) but the more I watched, the more perfect I thought it was. If this doesn't inspire you to go protest something or make some art, I don't know what will.

Lastly: A Discovery Channel ad titled "Let's All Discover"
The ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQxrolGUdk8
OK, this ad literally gives me chills. I think the overarching reason for that is that I absolutely ADORE the toy piano. Is this because I had one as a young child and the sound of one gives me a sense of childhood innocence and safety? Perhaps. But more importantly I love this ad because it strikes at the core of my humanity: my desire to push the boundaries.

Am I exaggerating the value and/or meaning behind what some may say are simple advertisements? Again, perhaps. But I dare you to watch those three videos (totaling no more than 3 minutes) and not feel inspired. On a side note, I have a Macbook, I wear Adidas shoes and though I don't watch a lot of TV, when I do it is usually the Discovery channel... so I guess it worked.

Pink Moon

http://www.amazon.com/Pink-Moon/dp/B000W1W9EW/

This is perhaps the most beautiful album I have ever heard. In October 1971 Nick Drake spent two nights making this 28 minute album with himself, the sound engineer and a couple guitars. He left the tapes on the front desk in the lobby of Island Records and then retired from the music business. Three years later he was dead.

With literally just a guitar, I think Nick Drake is just as moving and elegant as a full fledged orchestra.

Intentional Mistakes

I didn't write this with the intention of it becoming a limerick, but that's pretty much how it turned out.

I know the consequences and I don't give a damn
Lead me to the slaughter like a righteous lamb
When the feeling's gone and the pain's in sight
I'll probably look back with a curse for tonight
But right now I just don't care.

Supply and Demand

This poem was actually inspired by a Mitch Hedberg joke, though I thought it out with darker implications.

The rows of bleachers lie unclaimed
As silence rules the hardwood floors
While miles away children stare
As the cement courts are stained crimson
And gunfire fills the night skies
On the highway two lumber trucks pass
But no one stops to wonder why

I am the Grinch.

I think I might be the Grinch. I was at home this Thanksgiving and had a lot of time scanning the local radio stations and I noticed that every time I came across a Christmas song I skipped right over it. I'll try and run through some of the reasons that I am not yet (for an unforeseen period of time) in "the Christmas mood."

1. Consumerism. I'm a hypocrite when it comes to this, but seeing consumerism makes me sick to my stomach. Did you know that someone was trampled to death during the Black Friday opening at a Wal-Mart in Long Island this year? If you don't get why the rest of the world hates the Western powers and especially America, take a long, hard, objective look at consumerism and things should start to clear up a little. And what is the big granddaddy day of America's need for more stuff? Christmas. I think Jesus might feel a little sick to his stomach too.

2. Lies to children. I know, you're expecting me to talk about Santa. I'm not; at least not in this paragraph. Here is the lie that you (parents) tell your kids: "Christmas is about giving, not receiving." And what do we do to reinforce this idea? We give the brats a boatload of toys on Christmas Day and then buy a tie for Dad and put a label on it that says "To Dad, Love [Insert Children's names here]" What did the kids do? They put a ribbon on it, maybe. You may say that Christmas is about giving, but when you shower gifts on them all they hear is "Christmas is about giving TO YOU!"

3. Christ. I wish I knew how the originators of Christmas celebrated it. All I know is that Martin Luther invented the Tannenbaum by trying to light a pine tree on fire, or something like that. I know that my parents have always had us sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and then read some verses from the book of Matthew, but that's the most I've heard of Christ getting into Christmas. Some people use the whole "but it's a great time to tell people about Christ!" argument. As if all the other times weren't good enough. Sure, it's a great time to talk about Christ, but do you? And no, your Church's Christmas Special where the pastor tells the gospel story doesn't count.

4. Gifts. If you haven't seen the Advent Conspiracy video, you should: www.adventconspiracy.org. They claim that the total cost for giving the WORLD clean water is about 10 billion dollars. (In fact there are estimations between 9-30 billion, so let's say 30 just to avoid confusion) Compare that to the 450+ billion dollars in "holiday spending" by Americans alone (http://www.nrf.com/content/default.asp?folder=press/release2006&file=holidayforecast0906.htm). I don't know about you, but that statistic leaves a bitter taste in my mouth when I try and take a swig of eggnog. And what are those gifts that we Americans buy with our collective $450 billion? Plasma screen TV's and the latest iPods of course. I think maybe there should be a tax on the word "need" because it seems to me that the people who use it the most are the people who have no idea what it truly means. I think I might have accidentally made two paragraphs about consumerism, but just in case you didn't get the point the first time around, hopefully this helped.

5. Saint Nicholas. If I need to explain why Saint Nicholas might be offended by his modern day counterpart then you should research what "Saint" means.

I'll try and post another blog entry about why I DO like Christmas soon, but right now I'm just not in the mood.

Now with pictures!

I've decided that this is the best place for me to post my pictures seeing as how I don't plan on taking a lot of professional quality ones anytime soon but I'd still like to be able to showcase the ones I like. Without further ado, I present a picture from my time in Guyana. Enjoy.

Why so serious?

"I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how... pathetic their attempts to control things really are... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go 'according to plan'. Even if the plan is horrifying! If tomorrow I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!"

I saw Batman: The Dark Knight this past Tuesday. I didn't see it when it first came out for a number of reasons. I think part of it was that all the hype made me care less, but I also think they could have done a much better job with the trailers for the movie. This isn't what I want to talk about, though. I enjoyed the movie a lot in large part due to the dialogue of the Joker. I think there is a lot of what he says that deserves thought and we shouldn't overlook it just because he is, in fact, a raving lunatic.

Specifically the quote above stuck out to me above anything else in the film. Why? Sadly, I think it is because I agree with him. It is a reflection of our selfish nature that we are constantly scheming and doing our best to prosper ourselves. To be perfectly honest, I think a lot of people do need that wake up call, that reminder that their attempts to control are indeed... pathetic.

He makes another good point in that it may not be necessarily the death or murder that is upsetting people, but rather the change from the plan. When things seem to be under control it doesn't matter what the casualties are, but when control is lost, every death is a horrifying thing.

Now, I don't condone the actions that the Joker took, but I don't think that makes what he said any less true.

Call me Nelson.

I would be remiss to start this blog without giving a nod to the inspiration for its name. The Trapeze Swinger could very well be my favorite song of all time. Unfortunately it is only available on the In Good Company Movie Soundtrack. I would highly recommend the song, though you may not enjoy the whole album. For now, be appeased with this video of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raVzi_y6XWI