new music

dalisoul - chipyango
ms. salley cessna a peacecorps friend from zambia brought this blockbuster from africa to my attention. apparently its a song about sweeping your house correctly and proper brooming techniques.




chemical brothers - do it again
this came out when i was in peacecorps its actually a pretty good portrait of morocco




band of horses - laredo
of their new album "infinite arms" (2010)




im going to go see the railroad revival tour, with edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, mumford and sons, and old crow medicine show tonight in new orleans. the revival tour is a cross country tour with stops along the way at railroad towns culminating in new orleans tonight and leading into new orleans jazz and heritage fest (jazzfest).



edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros - home
super hippie-dippy but very groovy dudes!!!




mumford and sons - winter winds
not a huge fan but these song is exceptional

testing

i heard about this test on npr it was created by a linguistics professor at unc chapel hill. the quiz asks you to answer questions on pronunciations and word usage to determine whether youre a damyankee or a good ol southern rebel. its fun and i reckon yall might just learnt sumthing 'bout yo'self. i scored a 93% southern beat that!!!

are you a yankee or a rebel?

this one determines what level of white you are; from pasty to translucent

stuff white people like

im reading this book by malcolm gladwell, 'blink' about the importance of our subconscious in making decisions. he and the authors of 'freakonomics' have taken a scientific approach to explaining phenomenon we rarely think about consciously. there a link to a series of tests that expose unconscious preferences to everyday interactions; race, gender, sexual orientation, weapons etc... its interesting

harvard unconscious preference test

The art of art: arguing with idiots

Though a life at sea can be peaceful and enjoyable, providing plenty of time to think and reflect while staring out over a vast ocean for hours and hours and hours and hours. It is also an opportunity to work with a demographic that I don’t typically interact with in daily life at school. Guys that wear shirts like ‘january 2012; end of an error (with the o being the Obama logo)’ or ‘Change that you cant get a refund from’ or ‘Obama is a big dumb stupidhead guy.’ Our meals are accompanied by fox ‘news,’ discussions about which country we should ‘nuke’ next, and how obama is a “moooslam” (apparently a sect of muslims and islam). Recently I was trying to remember the name of a film about a graffiti artist named banksy, who is an anonymous artist that stencils controversial, social commentary images on the streets of London, things like guns with smiley faces and anarchists throwing molotov cocktails that are filled with flowers and replaces paintings in famous art museums with his own satirical work and watches as people admire them. I was stumbling with the title when one of the mates jumped in “was it called ‘exit through the gift shop?”

“yeah that’s it. have you seen it?” i asked surprised.

“yeah it sucked.” he said.

“why?”

“that guy aint no artist. Any ol’ jackass can spray-paint some crap on the wall. I got a buddy that can draw a picture so good you caint tell it from a photograph. Now that’s art.”

“Yeah but hes making social commentary on what we find normal in the world.”

“yeah but you can tell it’s a drawing, not like my buddy.”

“but isn’t art a way of portraying emotion or making a statement that makes people think?”

“yeah but my buddy can draw good pictures”

“what about the composition of what hes drawing?”

“compo-what?”

“or how about the other forms like symphony, theater, poetry, or ballet ..er bad example.”

“baalet? Are you one of ‘em pillow-bitin’ queers er sumpun?”

“no” I answered dejectedly “but youre right, obama’s a queer and banksy aint no artist. Hey by the way does your buddy sell any of his artwork I’d sure like to see them.”

I tried.

my worst job/best late night drinking story

THIS IS A VILE AND DISGUSTING STORY: READER BE WARNED

ive had enough bad jobs over the years to make mike rowe proud; bojangles chicken ‘n’ biscuits cashier/toilet janitor (fired twice), bat guano (poop) scrapper in massachusetts, trash can cleaner at the Poor Hygiene and Hard Drug Music Fest 2009 in florida, RV toilet emptier extraordinaire in Alaska, bird butt q-tip swabber in alaska, waist-high-swampy-mud bird nest checker in florida, and most recently dredgeboat sludge sea turtle part sorter in Louisiana. But by far the worst was as a deckhand on a whale watching boat out of bar harbor, maine. I went with the impression that I would be a naturalist on a boat explaining marine ecology and identifying birds, whales, and other wildlife. Reading over the position description in small letters it read ‘assisting seasick passengers’ “oh I thought handing out dramamine and calmingly telling people it will be ok.” In reality the position was something far more ‘hands-on.’

Our ship was a 3 level, 140’ catamaran with a capacity of 300+ passengers. Every morning I would rise early and make my way to the docks, passing a line of cheerful customers from exotic places like tickhaven, iowa, mooseknuckle, south dakota, babyblanket, Alabama, skidmark, texas, and myrtle beach, south carolina. Since we guaranteed* seeing whales (*or the 20 dolphins loophole) we were the most popular game in town, meaning we had bucktoothed families, senile grandparents, math book wielding Asians, sullen teenagers who were told they were going to Disneyland maine, and the parents of the rock group Live! (true story). After taking their tickets the giggling customers would pile on and inevitably head for the galley and immediately stuff their faces with nachos, chili cheesedogs, pizza, cocoa, and any other diary based products they could carry. As the passengers came by our crew we placed bets on the outcomes of certain guests. Occasionally a cute girl would give you a smile, oblivious of her soon to be discovered fate. After safety announcements of “shut up, sit down, don’t run with scissors, don’t tattle-tell, and don’t touch your sister/brother or I’ll turn this ship around” we were off. Our troops readied themselves for the initial assault: rubber gloves; check, paper towels; check, barf bags; check, disinfectant spray; check. Outside the harbor the first light swells began to roll in gently and ruddy faces magically turn to a greenish hue and then it’s on. Like a herd of wildebeest its always the young and the weak that are first to go. “we got bogeys!! Keep in formation boys!!” a coworker screams “watch your right flank, two coming in hot and heavy!” I yell as a large man reexamines his breakfast burrito and double chili bacon cheeseburger with relish on the table in front of him. passing him a barf bag I ask “please go outside sir the fresh air helps.” At any given time we would have ⅔ of the boat puking their guts out. Im not good at math but that’s 200, previously happy people instantly at the depths of humanity and begging for death. Oh yeah and that cute girl, she pulls her head out of a barf bag long enough to try a fainthearted grin exposing a piece of spinach from her morning’s omelette. “only 4 more hours guys!” I said cheerfully. People offered a thousand dollars on a number of occasions if we would return to shore.

My worst experience came when an elderly woman motioned me over to the booth where she was sitting. Wow, it smells really bad over here. I thought as she looks up at me and mouths something barely intelligible. “can ‘ou ‘elp ‘e find my ‘entures?” she says. “holy snikees!!! You lost your dentures? Where are they?” I ask. “’n a ‘arf ‘ag ‘n da ‘rash can.” I reluctantly move over to the trashcan and begin to squeeze a 55 gal rubbermaid trashcan worth of barf bags. “da da” like timmy in the oatmeal pit who gets to drink from the fire hose (UHF ala weird al) I produce the winning bag and deliver it to the grateful old lady. She immediately gets up to go to the bathroom when I notice the source of the malodorous stench; the old gal had it coming out both ends.

Free advice to all landlubbers: take Dramamine for your benefit and that of the crew.

I warned you it was a vile and disgusting story but you read it anyway. May you have horrible nightmares tonight.