disinformation.

Summer vacation, Crete style.

2006-08-02T22:23:00.000-04:00

Here are a few of my favorite photos taken in Crete.

I've finally begun getting with the times and I'm finally managing my photos correctly with flickr. Here is a complete photo collection of my trip.

travel day

2006-07-03T12:23:00.000-04:00

The time has arrived, if everything goes according to plan I will be in Crete in twentysomething hours. I'm excited to make it to europe for the first time in two years.

Marathon training has proved challenging. For interested parties, here is the training schedule I've been sticking to and plan to stick to until October.

I have a new director whom I enjoy, namely Lars von Trier. Five Obstructions and Dogville are both quite good.

On the first rainy day after my return, I plan on a. totally redoing the formatting of my blog to make it less templatized and more low key in terms of formatting. I also plan on moving the day of the flickr, my current system of file storage is very geocities, for those of you old enough in internet years to know what that is. Ah yes, as my final act of getting right with the blogging world i'm finally going to get a card reader so that I can actually transfer photos with ease. So, next update, plan on a better looking blog with some pictures from crete and some flickr usage.

my day, today

2006-06-18T21:35:00.000-04:00

Today my friend Kathryn and I rode our bikes up to Mystic lakes. We conquered the hot elements, and a wheel getting stuck against the frame after a swift fixed gear stop. It was a great first warm day in Massachusetts.

Oh yeah, and some life guards tried to give us static about a rogue swim from the unmonitored shore to the silly roped in area. What do you do when large kids start yelling at your that you can't come inside the ropes and older kids start yelling that you can't go outside the ropes? It's best to avoid pools, and life guards.

The actual map from the adventure:

Here is more photographic documentation of my day.

I'm reading a good book right now. Fermat's Enigma. It's about the history of people who tried to prove Fermat's Last Theorem. Check it out, it's a very interesting read.

rain rain, won't you please go away?

2006-05-14T18:55:00.000-04:00

It has been raining in boston for what feels like a solid week. I would like for the sun to come out soon.

Once it stops pouring, I plan on riding my bicycle more. For anyone that doesn't know the google maps pedometer, you should try it out.

Also, if you drive a car in the city and you are a nice person and want to yield, please come to a full and complete stop. I can't read minds and your multiple thousand pound steal box sure would hurt if I guessed wrong.

spring fever

2006-04-29T01:05:00.000-04:00

I can't sleep, I drank nighttime coffee before going to see Dave Chappelle's block party. The movie was filmed in 2004, and brought me back to spring days spent in an engineering lab, listening to Kayne West college dropout and nodding my head to beats while writing my thesis and catching odd looks from kids trapsing through the hall. Apparently there was something comic or uncouth about a my engineering student slash hip hop fan that spring. Anyway, quality film and I enjoyed Dave Chappelle's humility and honest appreciation for his favorite musicians. There was a bit of black panther militancy that I can't claim to understand given my cultural upbringing, but I don't have a problem with it either.

Which brings us to our next subject. I just lived every 26 year old urbanite male's dream on a friday night and watched "What not to wear" on TLC. And...i developed a crush on a mormon artist girl from Provo, Utah during the course of the show. One: I need to be out next friday night (and i will be, i'm going to a party in brooklyn). Two: let's reflect on being engrossed by both a hip hop fueled block party and a mormon girl shopping for skirts in the same evening.

I need to kick this terrible terrible addiction to motion photography and read more at night: I feel there is probably more to gain from literature then learning about "a cute wide legged jean".

need purpose, will travel

2006-04-27T21:15:00.000-04:00

So, this spring has found me much more restless than I can remember being in quite some time. I'm fighting the urge to travel, hoping to find comfort in boston this spring before I begin to change surroundings.

To that end, I'm trying some new things. I finally made it to one of the films in this year's Boston Independent Film Festival. I caught Not a Photograph: A film about mission of burma. The documentary was great (and funny), and cemented a need for me to catch burma before they go back into hiding.

As of this evening, I have signed up to run the 2006 Chicago Marathon. It was between Chicago and the Washington, D.C. Marine Corps marathon. I wanted a race I could run in without a qualifying time and in a city I enjoy. Chicago is a charming city, and I don't have to deal with the whole "show your patriotism" theme of the marine corps marthon.

My friend Pete's podcast is worth a listen. He's in the process of making his own noise making devices out of electrical components and breadboards. If you're into experimental music, noise, or mid/late twenties urbanite angst, the heard world might be for you.

Friends, the thaw is upon us. I wish you a happy, productive, and meaningful Spring of two thousand and six.

summers gonna hurt you

2006-04-08T19:03:00.000-04:00

Today marks day one in my visit to florida. I give it a B. I was rained on at the beach, followed by a mini sandstorm as the winds picked up. Still, as I pondered a brown belt suduko and read my book, I realized that the sound of the ocean and the feeling of warm air over my skin is something I need desperately at the moment.

Life in cold boston has left me a bit anxious and much in need of some relaxation. I'm hoping to return to icy boston with my heart beating a little slower. I had forgotten that there are placed in america where wide arrays of ethnic food and fixed gear bikes are not the norm.

I saw Juan MacLean do a DJ set in Cambridge the night before I left. He was skilled on the wheels and his disarming ways forced me to break my strict rules against talking to musicians: I must report that both him and his sister are very nice people. It was really fun dancing to music that isn't tired 80s pop and electro. Thanks Mr. MacLean.

volvo fan club

2006-04-06T09:05:00.000-04:00

This made my morning. Apparently volvo made hearses. Behold this stylish creation:

hearses for the people.

the wizard.

2006-03-23T08:20:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, I had my ipod setup in dual boot mode with linux. It didn't work very well (as in, a lot of my mp3s wouldn't play on my mp3 player).

But, if I had a color iPod, I'd now be tempted by iNES. Megaman? Most def.

write something, anything.

2006-03-06T17:19:00.000-05:00

Target audience: single computer nerds.

much needed update

2006-02-10T14:16:00.000-05:00

I've been horrible about blogging lately. I've been busy changing my employment situation, and i'm very pleased that as of February 27th, I will be a UI developer for the Image Processing Toolbox at The MathWorks. I'm very excited and happy to get a chance to excercise my creative muscles a bit.

Since we're talking about computers and such, I assume people have been following the Apple switch to Intel processors. This opens up some interesting cross pollination of computing technologies: 1) running Windows on Apple hardware. 2) running OSX on non-Apple hardware. I am a fan of those sleek powerbooks carried around by coffee shop hipsters and laphop bitjockys. Regardless, I don't think I could justify the cost. I definitely can't deal with OSX. Anyway, here are some people's thoughts on the matter: She Loves Me + She Loves Me Not

Musique. I really like Dabrye: One/Three and i'm getting into some Massive Attack and Kraftwork at the moment.

year in review

2005-12-29T10:54:00.000-05:00

Favorite record: Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise
Favorite book: Herman Hesse - Narcissus and Goldmund
Favorite beverage: Someday Cafe coffee (close runner up, vitamin water)
Favorite new discovery: This American Life
Least favorite event of the year: It involved a vespa
Most important lesson of the year: Meeting people is easy. Meeting good people is more difficult.

I'd like to wish all of you a prosperous, successful, and enjoyable two double-O six. Two thousand six, a year of transcendence, a year of the leap second , a year of even smaller ipods!

broken record

2005-12-19T08:26:00.000-05:00

mr. bush, stop using the phrase "my fellow citizens" as you continue to bombard us with your lies. i am not a rich son of texas oil. i am not personally responsible for the death of 30,000 civilians. i do not hide a life of sin, privilege, and violence behind a veil of christian fundamentalism. you and i have nothing in common. do not ask me to play along.

gimmie shelter

2005-12-14T22:16:00.000-05:00

wow,i had forgotten how cold boston gets in the winter. it is definitely at that point in the year where i feel as though however much i pay for rent to live in the city, i'm thankful to have a warm place to rest my head.

i discovered about a month back that i was given a portion of my family's vinyl collection when we moved from our old house. as a result, i've broken my turntable back out and have mostly been listening to old rock records and some of my 7" collection of dc indierock/hardcore records. i'm really into the rolling stones these days. old rolling stones, that is.

a current technology interest of mine is wikipedia. this is an open source approach to an encyclopedia, strengthened by the watchful eye of a large number of users who are encouraged to correct mistakes as they see them. i find it interesting that humans are beginning to move away from the paradigm that a products such as software and reference books are not trustworthy unless they are produced by a corporation. it makes one wonder how many other types of products can be produced and overseen by a community of people for the common good.

as for me, i probably have a little more time to contribute to something. i recently got rid of cable. as a result, i had a few nights of crazy crazy dreams that woke me up every few hours. perhaps my brain was reconnecting with an imagination lost to too many evenings spent in front of a cathode ray mind control device.

green machine

2005-11-17T08:46:00.000-05:00

I had heard about this a few months ago, but it recently came to my attention again. The green machine project is continuing. The green machine laptop runs on linux, has flash memory instead of a harddrive for durability purposes, includes wi-fi, and to top it off has a windup crank to provide power. The green machine functions both as an ebook and a laptop. With a $100 pricetag, people in developing nations can learn the technology skills they will need for the jobs of tomorrow (and look stylish doing it). Well done MIT media lab.

i am the bow, my soul is the aarow...

2005-11-13T17:55:00.000-05:00

It is interesting when seemingly obscure musical instruments find wide acceptance within independent minded music circles. take for example the typewriter used as a percussion instrument...I saw a manual typewriter used as a percussion instrument by the bell orchestre a week or so ago. a few days ago, i checked out Chris Richard's (of q and not u) solo debut: Ris Paul Ric: Purple Blaze which also contains a manual typewriter piece. last night i was at a favorite watering hole in cambridge and saw a sticker advertising the boston typewriter orchestra. apparently this is the fall of the typewriter.

I was out a lot this weekend. here are a few pictures i took during my adventures:

downlink

2005-11-09T09:40:00.000-05:00

This is funny: unfortunate domain names

Currently listening to:

1. el ten eleven - el ten eleven. Two people, with one guy playing a double necked guitar/bass ala cheap trick. If you want to hear some good shoegazy instrumental guitar music, look no further. I've been listening to this daily for a over a week.

2. Cage - hell's winter. Def Jux label, El-p producing, you know what to expect. El-p shows some restraint in the level of sonic assault in the production, so there are more pleasant head nodding moments than in some past def jux releases. Favorite lyric: "...Dress like I'm from the hood, hair like an indie rock band."

3. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise. Strangely, I really feel that Michigan was a better record. Having said that, I probably have listened to Illinoise more times, it's also been on the daily list for over a month now.

my office habitat

2005-11-07T08:37:00.000-05:00

I took a few photos this summer of my office that I enjoyed, but never took the opportunity to post. Lets start this monday at work with a remembrance of warmer, brighter days. I'm happy its fall. I can deal without all the expectation of spring/summer. Hears to a little less twinkle in the collective eye, crisp air, and better clothes:

bonsai!

staples at work: french press, ipod, code printouts

just a few things that have been running through my head

2005-10-27T08:53:00.000-04:00

I was driving home yesterday listening to NPR, and a very interesting view of the connection between urban living situations and the evolution of modern music was discussed in a piece by Ian Svenonius (of DC fame: The Make Up, Nation of Ulysses, et al). Find out why the kids are listening to electroclash: here.

I'm going to experiment with a new music player for my computer/ipod: yamipod.

Want to hear some glitchy electro stuff: alva noto.

odds and ends

2005-10-20T08:44:00.000-04:00

1. A friend informed me about this site, a mind blowing collection of model city scapes.

2. An interesting blog

3. I'm excited to attend the bell orchestre show at the MFA in early Novemeber.

4. A hot looking bicycle

5. Goal of the week: learn more about the podcasts that the kids are talking about.

Humanity to others

2005-10-03T22:37:00.000-04:00

I finally made good on my threats to eliminate the plague of windows XP home from my home computer. In its place, I have installed ubuntu. I respect the ethos of the ubuntu community so much that I am willing to continue working on my computer on my kitchen table until I get my wireless setup working again.

I have some cool pictures to post, but again, that would require getting my digital camera working...

Album of the week: The New Deal: Self titled. Think fever-pitched techno/break-beat stuff mixed with more chilled out electro-dub. They fess up to some sort of Phish connection on their website, and i'll admit, things to get a bit trancy at times. Despite this, this album rocks and you'd do yourself a favour to load it on the ipod for morning coffee and rides on subways. I'm bummed I missed their show a couple weeks back. Its fine, I don't like the roxy anyway. Much respect to my friend for pointing out the new deal.

no direction home

2005-09-29T21:02:00.000-04:00

In the past few weeks I've been a busy bee. Three weekends ago I was in chicago. I had a great time, I caught an art festival in wicker park called around the coyote. There was a wide assortment of paintings, photographs, etc. in this large artist loft. I enjoyed catching some local chicago art.

I caught an impromptu performance by some sort of loosely organized group of misfit marching band kids the same day: A kid with a guitar and an amplifier attached to a hockey helmet, an awesome crazy bearded drummer guy, some shaggy haired kid with tiny symbols, a couple accordians...you get the idea. they were just marching around wicker park and brightening people's days. well played guys!

I took the following picture of bright bed of flowers in some gallery filled neighborhood in Chicago (that also had an excellent Indian buffet):

The following week I went to Blacksburg, Va, my college town. I hiked a lot, finished the book I've been reading on and off this summer (Narcissus and Goldmund), and caught up with some good friends.

I caught night two of the Dylan series no direction home this week. It was great. I missed night one while attempting to attend a red sox game that got rained out. I guess i'll have to rent the DVDs.

That's all I have for now. I have a photo series capturing the essence of reality as a software engineer comming later this week. Stay tuned.

ipod autopsy

2005-09-07T22:28:00.000-04:00

Two summers ago I bought a shiney new 3rd generation ipod right after they came out. Two years later, my ipod would barely play for an hour when fully charged. I finally became fed up and bought the d.i.y. battery replacement. Below are a few pictures of the autopsy process:

I also recently went into some pretty extreme ipod nerdery and attempted to set up linux on my ipod with a dual boot setup. I must say, the mp3 playing capability sucked under linux. All my mp3s (which are VBR encoded) skipped constantly. I can do without the mashup of illinoise.

Another point of interest for people with colour ipods: subway maps

So, long story short, my ipod is almost back to its original state: charging with a brand new battery, no crazy linux setup, and a lot of scratches after being banished to the bottom of my messenger bag these past few months of poor performance.

views from atop the allston footbridge

2005-09-04T14:57:00.000-04:00

slingshot!

2005-08-31T17:01:00.000-04:00

I'm at work in my recently acquired window office, looking out at the dreary whether that has apparently been brought to Massachusetts by hurricane katrina.

Last night I caught engine down on their final tour through the US at the Middle East. It was a trip down memory lane, I was reminded of my undergraduate college roommates and doing engineering homework through the entire set. I noticeably picked up and was doing the old man rock back and forth "i'm so 1998" thing when engine down broke into the first half of slingshot off of their first record, before retreating to a non-screaming song.

In other news, I'm done working on a small little project to show that I know a thing or two about MATLAB. Behold, a screenshot of my uno game, in its full object oriented glory:

everything ends.

2005-08-23T22:47:00.000-04:00

After a few days of waiting for the right moment to say goodbye to my favorite TV show, I finally caught the final episode of six feet under this evening.

I thought the final scene in which Claire drives across the desert in search of her new life in NYC was very well done. A final montage carries you through the course of each characters life and the circumstance and year in which they die. Seeing each characters life end in an artful and beautiful way with a year attached to it over and over again really hammered the point home: we're all going to die, some of us will accomplish more than others, some will die happy, some will die getting held up by armoured car robbers. Thank you Alan Ball for creating a TV show that actually had something to contribute.

My favorite quote from the episode is at the end of the episode right before claire gets in her shiney new blue prius and drives away. As she starts to take a picture of her remaining family, Nate appears and tells her, "You can't take a picture of this, it's already gone."

Also, may I say that the song played during the final scene: Sia, Breathe Me was heart wrenching. I'm going to listen to it again and see if it stands alone.

Oh yeah, I've taken a couple pictures lately. Not of claire fisher quality, but hey, i do my best.

x/9 lives remain.

2005-07-31T21:52:00.000-04:00

so, tomorrow (august 1st) marks my one year anniversary of moving to massachusetts. last year at this time i was having drinks with my friends steve and kimmy in queens, nyc with half of my possessions stored in my trusty blue volvo.

this past week has been very turbulent. i hurt myself badly after an ill-advised first attempt at riding a motorscooter. i fell off, wearing nothing but a swim suit, a t-shirt, and a pair of sandles. that was one week ago, and i'm just starting to feel human again. i actually feel really lucky, minus some torn up skin and a bruised/sprained/wonky foot, i'm alive and i'll heal in the coming weeks.

it would have been nice to celebrate my year anniversary atop my trusty fixie, smiling as a tore through the streets of boston/cambridge/somerville. but, perhaps its fitting to celebrate my year anniversary as it began: sitting around alone in an appartment (that now actually has a bit of furniture) wondering whats in store for me in the coming year. i have to say that the past year has treated me well and that i'm thankful to have good friends in my new home and a supportive loving family.

thanks everyone who checked with this week to see how i'm doing. i'm fine, thanks.

doin it real big

2005-07-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

so, its been a seriously long time since i've posted anything. there have been a series of inspired evening photo sessions that haven't turned up much. anyhoo, this past weekend my company had an outing at the mount washington hotel in bretton woods, NH. my good friend pete took some good pictures of the weekend. i'll take the liberty of publishing a few from his blog.

new hampshire was really beautiful and reminded me of how nice the appalachian mountains are. i really need to take better advantage of owning a car and drive around up in the north country more.

in other news, google earth is insanely hot and anyone that has yet to try it should do themselves a favour. i noticed that the satellite data in davis square is unusually good. i can view my appartment from about less then 200 feet above the ground without pixelation:

this is my first summer without a students notion of summer vacation in 20 years. i've been feeling a bit restless with the coming of warm weather combined with a lot of time spent in an air conditioned office environment. i've been riding my bicycle and running a whole whole lot this summer, which has been nice.

i've been going out to a lot of weekly type events in boston thanks to pete (cited earlier). dispite my love/hate relationship for indiekid culture, spending time with friends and dancing to good music has been enjoyable. for out of town people, i'm speaking mainly of the pill and 80's lovenight, both of which are held in allston. i know i haven't been in boston for that long because i still find the "This is L.A. not Boston" shirts at the common ground confusing until my brain reminds me that the joke is Lower Allston, not Los Angeles. oh those crazy allston kids.

no one can ever take from me the things i've seen

2005-04-24T22:32:00.000-04:00

today was a welcome long spring day. i slept a lot, went for a long run from park street to davis square, and went for a breezy evening stroll through cambridge. on my walk, i came across the title to this post on some persons bumper. i believe it was in memory of someone. usually, you don't see wisdom outside of "these colors don't run" on people's cars. thanks for the wisdom car person.

blue sky railroad sign

cambridge conglomerate, international

paging dr. frank gehry, no?

listening to WBUR on friday, i heard about the basquiat exhibit thats at the brooklyn museum through early june. i'm going.

just because we don't care....

2005-04-21T21:42:00.000-04:00

while reading up on a long time favourite DC music collective, current assembled in the form of decahedron, i came across the following:

b.a.n.s.k.y.

The best part of this, outside of the really clever blend of protest art masquerading as defaced classical work was bansky's quote. "They're good enough to be in there, so I don't see why I should wait." amazing.

spring has sprung

2005-04-19T22:32:00.000-04:00

man, its been at really long time since i've written anything. i've been super restless with the return of warmth and the sight of human skin below the neckline. i've spent my time writing MATLAB code, listening to music, running, and anticipating the summer and what it will mean to have lived in the glorious bay state for close to a year.

i've been really bad about collecting interesting things to share. i've been listening to a lot of hollertronix of late. i have the doin' it real big album. i've heard never scared is better.

i watched the boston marathon yesterday. i was very inspired watching the lead runners tear through downtown Natick, Mass at mile 10something at about the 51:00 mark. a kenyan runner had a ear to ear smile and gave a heartfelt thumbs up at the sight of a kenyan flag being displayed proudly by someone in the crowd. watching the sheer will power and strength of the runners passing by filled me with a very large desire to run via charity bid next year. to be continued...

missing in action

2005-04-03T22:45:00.000-04:00

today i bought a CD without previewing it first, something i haven't done for at least a year or two. M.I.A. - Arular is a perfect record to celebrate the special gift of an extra hour of sunlight (props to north american daylight savings time!). anyway, that evil evil beatmaster diplo lends his production skills to M.I.A's dancehall vocal stylings, the result of which is explosive.

i'm probably going to have to hit the LCD soundsystem/M.I.A. show at avalon in july. the real question, will it take a nation of hipsters to hold down what should be a dancy good time? we shall see.

this fine country of ours

2005-03-21T21:18:00.000-05:00

While listening to WBUR on my way to work this morning, i sat and reflected on the Terri Schiavo case in Florida. The power of the republican right has grown to unimaginable heights. I simply cannot believe a special bill has been passed by congress to prolong a single persons life who has been in a persistently comatose state for 15 years. I would like to know how many members of the US congress are knowledgeable bioethicists, i'm guessing not enough to justify overturning the judicial branch of the florida government.

All this while Jeb Bush is speaking openly on his desire to eliminate the right to die of all patients in a persistent vegetative state. Its really tragic that a husband with best intentions should have to spend what should be the last few days of his wife's life in a battle with the US federal government and her parents. The ego with which the powers that be are protecting a natural right to life created by a feeding tube sickens me.

a very boston march 20th

2005-03-20T20:37:00.000-05:00

Today I had the occasion to attend the south boston saint patrick's day parade. I had heard of the parade before comming to boston and I must say that it met and exceeded expectations. It was good to see the irish pride of boston expressed in a tangible way. I have a few pictures to share:

Irish people on homemade cycles. Whats not to love?

The friendly sons. Note the Ireland unfree will never be at peace mural in the background.

Irish Mardi Gras. These people were trying to get some green beads from the Boston fire department.

The Philly PD drum bridgade on a business trip.

On a separate note, I walked home from southie to avoid a long wait on the T. On my way home I happened across a peace rally that was taking place in the common. I'll leave you with a picture I took in the common. Forgive the mixing of tones.

4.13.2005

2005-03-13T20:51:00.000-05:00

Killington, VT was a most enjoyable respit. I got to ride my snowboard for a few more days this winter and was greated by the state of Vermont with 12 inches of new snow on which to recreate.

While in a bar bathroom in Vermont, I ran across a website that summarizes the staggering loss of life that has resulted from the war in Iraq: iraqbodycount.

I also should share a summary of a story i've been following from Belfast involving the killing of Robert McCarney. First, the IRA was linked with a £26.5 million bank robery in Belfast a few months ago (read more). Now this. A recent poll shows that 6/10 Northern Irish Catholics believe the IRA should disband: poll.

this just in

2005-03-07T23:18:00.000-05:00

I am very excited to announce that a little bird hummed the new out hud record to me today and its really excellent. its been a solid 2 years since their epic S.T.R.E.E.T.D.A.D, and the new record represents a good new direction. This record has a lot of vocals from the female members, and the vocals are surprisingly good for a band that made its name with instrumental works. Before anyone gets all up in arms about the ethics of me having heard the new record, I should tell you that (a) I already have a ticket for the show at TT the bear's on 4/6 (b) I'm going to buy the new record at the show.

On a related note, my good friend shared a pretty useful internet tool with me today. Dropload gives away enough space to coveniently share large files (100 MB) for a week at a time.

I'm thinking of running another 5K in Somerville. This time, Ras na hEireann. I'll admit it, I have a weakness for just about anything in irish language (with the exception of bad american irish pubs).

bringiton.com

2005-02-22T22:11:00.000-05:00

This weekend was busy. I was entertaining guests, so I had the chance to wander around parts of boston that I don't normally visit. On saturday, I took the redline to Broadway and checked out portions of Fort Point. Fort point has some really neat looking old factory buildings. Here is a picture I took near the channel:

Interesting cross over spanning an alleyway near fort point channel.

Walking along the boardwalk in hopes of doing some super touristic boston tea party action (i never actually saw the boston tea party museum), I ran into this:

ye olde falling over house on the docks

I have another random picture to share. This one is taken around beacon hill at night. The building isn't particularly memorable, I just like the way the sky looked.

some fun clouds in a non-black-and-white black and white looking picture.

i.a.n.n.r.n

2005-02-13T21:14:00.000-05:00

This weekend I decided to change my scenery a bit and take a trip to NYC to visit a friend who lives in Astoria. Here are a few pictures taken from his fire escape:

rooftops in astoria, queens

a partially obscured view of the manhattan skyline as seen from astoria.

While I was in NYC, I had a chance to checkout the gates, the latest work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. I will go ahead and admit that I had not heard of the artists until seeing the gates. I was impressed by the scale of the installations and I thank Christo and Jeanne-Claude for giving everyone a good reason to get outside and walk around central park. Here is my humble attempt at taking a few photos of the gates:

a lonely lonely gate, all dressed in orange.

mousetrap?

a distant place

2005-02-10T22:10:00.000-05:00

of late, i must admit that i haven't been keeping up with the onion. however, today, a co-worker informed me of one of the funniest things i've ever seen on the onion: finalgoodbye.ppt.

during an instant of work low, i stumbled across asdf. i can't wait to meet jkl;

time to go, i must get ready for a trip to NYC that begins tomorrow. ¡viva astoria!

the st. valentines day valentines day massacre

2005-02-08T08:09:00.000-05:00

i have talked for a while with my friends with the need to bring back the gigantic 80s cellphone. with our nostalgia for the unremembered 80s, it only seems fitting. well, after talking to my friend pete, i realized some people have already beat me to the punch: rotary fun + low-fi office phone

second, a friend pointed me to Bjork's Vespertine album. its really really good. something about iceland gives people otherworldly singing gifts.

i haven't taken any good pictures in a while.

1.28.2005

2005-01-28T08:57:00.000-05:00

A few random thoughts...

1. Album of the week goes to Lali Puna: Scary World Theory. Silly lyrics about cookie monsters have never sounded so good.

2. A movie on the life of Ian Curtis based on the book Touching From a Distance by Deborah Curtis is comming out. I've read rumors that Jude Law is going to play the role of Ian and I'm not sure thats a very good idea.

3. This monday I waited for the MBTA commuter rail to come for 1+ hours with no luck. You know those LED signs they have hanging on the train platforms? It would seem that they could be used for a better purpose than just stating "Expect delays due to weather." In this era of GPS and networked computers, it seems like it should be possible to notify passengers exactly how delayed trains are.

infiltration

2005-01-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

over my saturday coffee this week i did a mini research project on the topic of urban exploration. i came across a few interesting links that i think my friends from school might enjoy.

jinx magazine has some excellent pictures of the NYC underworld. the photo of the year of the guy sitting atop the rafters of a bridge is amazing. i'm tempted to purchase the invisible frontier.

i've also looked into information on abandoned subway tunnels in Boston. someone at abandonedsubwaytunnels.com certainly has their act together. although, i must say that its not obvious in the majority of these photos that the tunnels are actually abandoned. another site i found shares a lot more information as far as tunnel entrances, history, etc.

mantra

2005-01-18T19:01:00.000-05:00

During an extended trip i took to NYC in the summer of 2003, i was lucky enough to notice the work of street artist James De La Vega, aka De La Vega, while riding through harlem on 125th street on the M60 bus. The work I saw consisted of simple chalk cartoons with really powerful captions. One of the captions became my mantra during the remainder of my time at graduate school:

My mantra during 2004, the year to be awesome. The street version of this piece was more similar in style to the fish bowls in the foreground of the 4th piece in the series of the above link.

During a lunch break, I had time today to ask google what de la vega has been up to. It turns out that in April he arrested for a piece done in Harlem, and that he's eyeing a senate seat.

I am excited to learn that dance punk phenoms out hud are finally releasing a full length album. My favorite song title from the new album: Dear Mr. Bush, There Are Over 100 Words for Shit and Only 1 for Music. Fuck You, Out Hud. Compared with The L Train is a Swell Train and I Don't Want to Hear You Indies Compain, I'm not sure which title is better.

While looking at clearchannelsucks.org, I came across an issue involving project billboard. It is really sad that something as fundamentally american as project billboard could be a battle ground for corporate america vs. the 50% of us who are not blinded by "morality". It would seem that 2001 was truely the year that dissent died. With two days remaining until the inauguration, I tip my hat to the good people of turnyourbackonbush.org.

disp('hello world');

2005-01-17T20:12:00.000-05:00

last night i had the pleasure of going to my first hardcore show in at least a year, probably two (i believe the last was darkest hour at the solar haus in blacksburg, va). The show was at the Great Scott and represented the first actual good time i've ever had in Allson.

the first band, ALAWALWAD, had some pretty key riffage and double bass. i think its probably time to bring some of the old hardcore stuff back onto the ipod. noise, oh how i miss thee. the second two bands were pretty boring. it seems that in my absence, hardcore kids have started listening to slowcore and crescendo-rock. unfortunately, if you start out really loud and heavy, and don't deviate much from there, there really isn't a wide range of dynamics to play with. you can only build to a crescendo of boredom. mission accomplished Disappearer!

i took a few snowy winter pictures on the way home last evening in Davis Square. here is one taken looking down my street.

i think combination of the flash and snow gives this picture a photoshopped look.

last, has anyone ever played with the google suggest search tool? i think its pretty neat. check out how many people have searched for the arcade fire.

notes from the domestic front

2005-01-13T01:08:00.000-05:00

During this latest phase of gross weather, i took it upon myself to harness the power of the sun in my humble apartment:

(ok, actually, you're looking straight down at a candle in a dark room)

and so it goes...

scatterbrain

2005-01-08T18:18:00.000-05:00

I'm back from my winter holiday with some random thoughts stored up. First, British Columbia is a beeaautiful place. Don't just take my word for it:

Whistler, BC. Taken from back face of Whistler.

Stanley Park right around sunset.

Looking at Vancouver from Stanley Park.

Creepy looking angel placed in a pine tree in a park near Gastown.

Taken inside the Naam, an awesome 24 hour vegetarian resaurant in Kitsalano.

I learned a few new words/expressions in BC that i'd like to see used in the usOfA. Among them:

1. toque n. a stocking hat
2. choked adj. upset
3. pist adj. drunk (i know this is an english/irish/scottish thing, but i heard lots of canadians use it).

A kid that I went riding with at Whistler brought the following website to my attention. pong is sweet.

I'm considering ditching my old messenger bag in favour (thanks canada) of a new security blanket. Contenders include pac, chrome, and baileyworks. I enjoy giving myself secular winter holiday presents.

bye bye 2004

2004-12-23T13:25:00.000-05:00

Seeing as how the year is coming to a close I thought I'd make one last post before I get on a few planes and say goodbye to 2004. Since my friend craig took the liberty of doing a music year in review, allow me to do the same. I'll do a much less exhaustive top 5 list. (Note, I am discussing my favorite music listened to over the past year, not necessarily records that were released in 2004).

1. The Arcade Fire: Funeral hands down my favorite record in a year, probably more than that. I grant that they are very hyped at the moment, and usually that scares me off. However, seeing them perform at Tufts a month or so back really cemented for me why they are that band that everyone is talking about. Such passion and energy combined with a really quarky and unique sound, they won me over. They have some pretty mean outfits too.

2. Diplo: Florida A guy at the liquor store near my house is way into hip hop. One day I heard this crazy mashup with DJ Shadow fading into Radiohead fading into Ludacris. When I asked what the deal was, he told me I should come to the Diplo show next month and that "Diplo is a bad bad man". Thanks liquor store guy!

3. MF Doom and Madlib: Are MadVillain/Madvillainy Both versions of this album are great. The production work is exactly what I look for, low fi with enough quarks to keep one captivated. This album was played a lot during the completion of my thesis earlier this year.

4. Jay Z: The Black Album Despite that 99 problems song which i'm not huge into, this album has some really fantastic moments that finally let me understand how Jay Z has taken on such a demigod role in the major label hip hop world. Interlude, Dirt off your shoulder, and Moment of Clarity lend cred to his jehovah monniker.

5. M Ward: Transfiguration of Vincent Ok, so this record came out in 2003. I have been soothed so many times by this record over the past year. M Ward has a great feel for how to play rootsy westernish music without turning into an alt-country circus music disaster.

I don't have much else to say for myself. This year has been great, my thesis is finished, and I've fulfilled my dream of moving to a new city.

I'm headed back to Virginia, then to Vancouver, BC over the winter holidays. See you all in 2005!

two weeks

2004-12-14T21:53:00.000-05:00

so, have you ever been told about a movie that sounded interesting in its premise, but didn't live up to expectation? well, for me, what the f*** do we know? was that movie. i think one of the most dissapointing things in life is when someone tries to explain things you believe in (at least partially, maybe?) a way that you don't agree with.

in more positive news, two weeks until i visit our peaceful brothers and sisters up north in glorious vancouver! i can't wait. i'm also excited that i'll finally be visiting a snowboarding mecca in the form of whistler. i promise to take lots of pictures to make up for the current lack of visual content in my blog at the moment.

and lastly, has anyone been paying attention to the current discussion of moving the T green line into somerville? read the following and hope the MBTA decides to make union square accessible

winter break

2004-11-29T08:32:00.000-05:00

Its been a long time since my last post, as my place is currently in disarray and I have no computer with which to blog at home. a bunch has happened in the past few weeks. i guess one memorable thing is that I caught the arcade fire show at Tufts. It was without a doubt the best live show i've seen in at least two years (!!! and outhud new years at the empty bottle a few years ago sticks out as the closest rival). Despite a completely lame mid 80's fake wood panel student union motif and some pretty bad opening bands, the arcade fire completely destroyed. Thanks to the arcade fire for providing me with something I haven't felt in a long while: complete obsession over an album.

I also checked out Sufjan Stevens and Menomena that same week. Little known fact I can share: the title of the first menomena record, i am the fun blame monster = the first menomena album if you rearrange the letters. other point of note, Awry of Sufjan's Michigan Militia has a great voice.

I had the chance to go to NYC the weekend before last. I love that town. Wish I had some pictures to show.

Thats about it for my late november update. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday with their family.

Before I go, this is pretty cool in a "hey man" kind of way: like, whhhooo

furniture

2004-11-07T01:07:00.000-05:00

I've just spent a saturday evening putting together a chair. It's definiately one of the more stellar evenings I've had since coming to Somerville. At least I have amores perros to curl up with. Before I get to some saturday evening viewing fun, I'll leave you with a little photoshopery that has been circulating around the internet.

the empire strikes back

2004-11-03T18:32:00.000-05:00

I am presently at the workplace so i will keep this brief. I am very disheartened by the re-election of George W. My dissapointment does not stem from how I or other minority minded people will deal with the next four years. I am much more concerned for people in other regions in the world who have to deal with and be influenced by a president who displays a complete in ability to think on any scale beyond his fundamentalist texas microcosm. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a non-scorched earth at the end of the next four years.

election day jitters

2004-11-02T22:56:00.000-05:00

As I sit here watching the coverage of the election, I figured I'd take my mind off the state of the nation by sharing a few random pictures I've taken over the past few weeks.

Standing in line to vote, Davis Square

Every celebration needs a guy in a gorilla suit

People hanging out in Davis Square after the Red Sox won the series.

Photo of the Irish potato famine memorial in Cambridge Common

Spooooky halloween parade for the little ones, Beacon Hill

Picture of some pretty sweet dudes hanging out pregaming for a Jimmy Buffett concert. Lansdowne Street, Boston.

10.25.2004

2004-10-25T18:59:00.000-04:00

Last night I was entertaining a guest and had the good fortune to take a few pictures on longfellow bridge during the mist. They turned out pretty interesting, one of the better pictures had a raindrop near the lens. Check out the results.

rainy nightime picture of the downtown skyline

another nighttime photo.

I've taken to listening to a local Boston College radio station WZBC who operates straight outta Newton. I'm really into this hip-hop show 6-8 pm on Mondays. If you're in the area check it: 90.3 FM.

For those of you who have yet to see it, John Stewart's recent appearance on crossfire was absolutely amazing. My favorite moment: "I'm not going to be your monkey."

take me home, to the place, i belong.

2004-10-13T22:47:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I had the good fortune to have the opportunity to attend the wedding of two really great neighbors of mine from my former college residence of Blacksburg, Virginia. The wedding was outside a town called Newcastle, and it was absolutely beautiful being out in the mountains and surrounded by trees. I have a few pictures of the scenery to share:

I also randomly ended up in good old Blacksburg, Va, which for those of you not up on your virginia geography is located in the southwestern corner of va and is the home of Virginia Tech. I took a nice picture on a street i used to travel frequently.

My laptop DJ duty at the wedding went pretty well. Aside from some people asking for a bit too much 80s cheese metal (i'm comfortable playing some, don't get me wrong), and me having to put my foot down on not having/wanting to play the Grateful Dead, things went well.

Five good wedding songs:

1. Billy Bragg and Wilco: Airline to Heaven
2. Temptations: The way you do the things you do
3. Marlena Shaw: California Soul
4. The Clash: Lovers Rock
5. The Beatles: I saw her standing there

Not listed: Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding songs. They're all good for weddings.

(thanks to my good friend Scott for supplying me with number 3, as sampled by DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist)

constant comment

2004-10-03T23:31:00.000-04:00

I ran in the somerville 5k today. it was a very nice day to run and it was a very well organized event. it was my first competitive race in at least 8, probably closer to 10 years. Its disturbing to me that I have become sufficiently old where it is possible to have not done [INSERT ACTIVITY] for a decade. Alas. I ran pretty well all things considered (18:25), which I believe put me in 4th place. I didnt really care about what place I was in though, it was just nice to get out and run and feel good for the rest of the day.

I have a few thoughts on the debate I witnessed last week. I think that its really tragic that the american broadcast media feels the need to watch a clearly lopsided debate and conclude merely that each candidate 'captured their own base'. I wish i could cite the source, but i believe on CNN.com the day after the debate it was stated that bush was successful in demonstrating his convictions. Since when does conviction have anything to do with who wins or loses a debate? Apparently our media has left the job of judging the actual logical content of the debate to someone else. Perhaps its with good reason. If a channel declared a winner of a debate, i suppose the masses could blindly accept the opinion of the networks. Still though, what exactly are network journalists paid for?

up down turn around

2004-09-27T19:47:00.000-04:00

Today I heard a pretty hot song that was new to me: The Perceptionists-Memorial Day. Akrobatik and Mr. Lif, you can't really lose. My favorite bars? "...But would Donald Rumsfeld back me up with the chrome? Would Tom Ridge fight or would he stay secure back home? And would Condoleeza Rice come with grenades in the foxhole? I'm starting to believe what i was told is not so."

So yeah, definitely hoping on hitting the perceptionists show at the middle east this friday. Other than that nothing too much is going on. I plan on going out this evening and taking some pictures around Inman square. I was down there yesterday and I enjoy its status as the secret squirrel square of cambridge. Yeah alliteration.

Everyone keeps talking about that Garden State movie. Perhaps i'm going to have to take myself on a date to dinner and a movie sometime this week.

Oh yeah, and one more thing. The somerville 5k is happening this sunday, october 3rd at 10 am. Registration is $15 and all proceeds go to the somerville homeless coalition. read more. I'll be running.

must have slack

2004-09-26T23:50:00.000-04:00

i have been really bad, no posts for like two weeks. the really sad thing was that i resolved that id wait until i came up with some cool pictures to publish. ive done so much in the past two weeks, yet all my pictures have proved disappointing. maybe i'll throw a few up by the end of the post. in the past week i've devoted a fairly ridiculous amount of time to putting together songs/mastering DJing software for a little wedding laptop DJ job i have coming up in the next few weeks. i'm learning this program traktor that provides a pretty intuitive mixer styled interface. i'll try to keep the digital scratching and other such wankery to a minimum.

I've finally rekindled my obsession over music. i have some old and new pics on the early fall playlist:

Velocity Girl-Guilded Stars and Zealous Hearts
Ryan Adams-Heartbreaker
Akrobatik-Balance
Diplo-Florida
The Dismemberment Plan-Is Terrified (i'm waiting to see how accurately the ice of boston captures the winter here)

what else is going on? well, so, this past friday i was out with a friend around downtown crossing checking out the bars down there. i wasn't really feeling it down there (i havent actually found ANY bars in boston proper yet that i'm into), so, i decided to walk home to davis. anyway, i was having a long contemplative walk home, minding my business, when some girl that looked and dressed kind of like shirley manson from garbage asked me to escort her down the street to meet up with her friends. a few arm in arm blocks later we met up with her doOd friends and she gave me a kiss on the hand. random? yes.

exciting upcoming events:

1. 10/1 The Perceptionists at the Middle East (downstairs)
2. 10/4 Rilo Kiley right down the street at the somerville theatre
3. 10/12 TV on the radio and the faint at the avalon (the clubs around the avalon look pretty beat. i hope it's at least ok there)
4. 10/18 Mclusky at TT The Bears

According to some rich guy who talked to me after i took this picture, this is a picture of the oldest private library in north america. he would know, he's a member.

Looking towards cambridge over the mass pike.

red line zen.

09.14.2004

2004-09-14T21:18:00.000-04:00

so, a few weeks ago a good friend wrote me to inform me that he was checking out refused: the shape of punk to come well, this morning i decided to break out said album. what a nice surprise. usually, when i listen to my old punk rock/hardcore records, i enjoy them, but mostly on a nostolgic or emotional level. i actually still like the shape of punk to come. its a better record than i ever realized. granted, i'm not sure how well i fit into the refused party program en route to my cushy engineering job.

pedal power

2004-09-12T22:54:00.000-04:00

i'm tired and i don't have a lot to say. i went on a lonnnnggggg bike ride today from davis square to jamaica plain with some detours in between. it was great. here are a few things i saw:

frattastic

2004-09-11T17:46:00.000-04:00

ok, so i went running today from the charles MGH T stop to my home in davis square. crossing the mass ave bridge, i finally asked myself, so what exactly is a smoot?. given that i knew i was running towards MIT, i pretty much took it for granted that there was some sort of nerdy undertone to whatever a smoot was. well, i went home and looked it up. it turns out some frat dude was named smoot. that's it. i'm really dissapointed. it does beg the question, what is an MIT frat party like? as a southern virginia public university kid, i can't comprehend it. combinatorics and keg stands? rufies and reiman sums? you get the idea...

note to any bored MIT frat kid who somehow came across my blog: just because i don't understand or like the graf on the mass ave bridge, don't mess with my blog. just go back to playing starcraft.

and so i take it with a grain of salt

2004-09-09T23:10:00.000-04:00

tonight i did one of the dumber things i've done in a while. ok, so you know those locking ATM rooms that the banks have devised to keep us safe while withdrawing funds? well, guess what happens if you walk out of the room with your card still in the atm slot? you guessed it, you get to lose your card. pretty sweet right?

in less me related news, i finally took the initiative to look up some information on the big dig after being stuck in traffic for about an hour trying to drive 10 miles on the newly narrowed route 93.

i had a chance to listen to the prerelease of the new interpol record, antics. a few of the songs bring out a new high hat rockin sound thats novel for interpol, while not particularly novel for their NYC brethren.

so i don't sound entirely negative in this entry, lets talk about something i really like...menomena. their ridiculously addictive new record, the fun blame monster, has been on daily listen on the IPOD for about a week now. i expect this record to be playing in cafes and enlightened watering holes everywhere in a matter of weeks.

one last positive thought. i finally am in a position to support an artist i have appreciated since the tender age of 15. details are still be worked out, but i am acquiring a painting i have liked for years from the mind control. More details to follow...

Manchester by the Sea

2004-09-08T15:48:00.000-04:00

So, all and all i had a really great weekend. Friday night I went out with a coworker and some friends and finally began to understand why people like Harvard Square. Don't get me wrong, i still half view it as an outdoor shopping mall, but I never really realized how many bars/restaurants are tucked in alleyways and weird twisted roads. It actually is pretty fun around there.

Saturday night I had the pleasure of being invited to a small gathering in a loft in the North End. I hadn't really seen the North End until that night. It was appealing at night, as the food smells on the street were unbelieveable. I know that the North End is well disliked among cool kids in Boston, but it seemed ok to me walking around at 11 pm. Maybe the tourist density is lower? I really found the landscape of the area interesting, the streets are so narrow and the buildings are super pressed together. The landscape of the north end kind of reminds me of Florence.

Sunday I went to Manchester By The Sea, which is this very quarky Massachusetts beach. I swear, Mass. people are so proud of their beaches, yet the sand is really rough and the water is cold and it just really doesn't fit into my model of what a beach looks like, which is derived from summers in southern florida. Having said that, I very much enjoyed myself and had some good conversation and just layed around and enjoyed the ocean sights, smells, and sounds. I wish I had brought my camera, it was out of batteries. But, I do have some pictures I amased over the weekend.

Walking by the rosebud everyday, I had to take a picture sooner or later. The Rosebud Diner, Davis Square.

The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge as seen from a balcony in the North End.

The Vilna Shul, Beacon Hill

Low light picture of the north end skyline illuminated by the moon.

one month anniversary

2004-09-03T18:37:00.000-04:00

The month long anniversary of my relationship with the Boston area came and went this week. In the past month, I have started to get comfortable at my job, have started to get a lay of the land, and have met a few people. I'm very content. But enough of my rambling, its a lonnnngggg weekend, and i'll depart now with 4000 or so closing words:

A quiet night in the hallway of the Downtown Crossing T stop

Looking at the outbound orange line platform from the inbound platform, Chinatown

Some neatly illuminated building downtown, shaky camera operator

Chinatown at night. Wow, that sneaky one way sign sure did reflect!

automatic

2004-08-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

Its kind of frightening how fast nine to five world becomes automatic. Today I woke up, went to my car, drove to work, came home, parked in the exact same street spot, and had the same leftover vegetarian lasagna for dinner. I think its really important to do something personally important everynight to help break the cycle.

In other more exciting news, I'm working on planning out seeing some live music in cambridge/boston over the next month or two. I still haven't seen bands perform here yet, but i am determined to buy in advance and see something for once. From my limited knowledge of the middle east site and the weekly dig, here are my planned stops

9/4: The Wrens
9/8: Les Savy Fav
9/17: rjd2, diplo (i heard diplo in the local liquor store, he/they? mixed and mashed tv on the radio into dj shadow)
10/5: rilo kiley
10/7: explosions in the sky
10/12: TV on the radio, the faint (maybe, the roxy looks a little baseballcapish)

where have all the counters gone?

2004-08-30T12:16:00.000-04:00

So yeah, remember back in the old days when people used to have those stupid counters on their websites? I was just thinking the other day, where have all the counters gone? (thanks ted leo). Well, never fear, some people in the united kingdom have come to rescue us from the despair of not knowing how many times the same 5 friends have clicked on our sites. Ok, well, actually, they have developed the anti-counter:

Which displays a totally random number each time and means nothing. But, it was reassuring to see that counters do still exist, i guess.

thank you boston

2004-08-29T18:21:00.000-04:00

This weekend treated me very well. Any doubts or reservations i had about my relocation went away over the past few days. Friday i went out with some co-workers to Tonic in allston. The bar itself was sort of cool, kind of going for that whole NYC hip quasi-future bar thing with neat lighting and some smartly dressed kids mixed in with some frat boy meathead types. I enjoyed myself though and dansed and drank and was merry.

Saturday night I had the good fortune of having my solo exploration of the fairly touristy north end cut short by a call from a friend-of-a-friend who invited me to come watch ted leo DJ at ZuZu in Cambridge. Ultimately, that sold out (shows sure do sell out a lot around here), so I just sat down with said friend-of-friend and her boyfriend and some other clever indie guy. An hour or two later I headed home, and thus ended my Saturday.

Today, I wandered around Cambridge. I took some pictures, which will follow. I acquired some new headphones (i bet anyone reading was just dying to know that, ahem) and I wandered through some sort of african culture festival around Central square that was pretty cool.

And so it goes, end scene, fade to pictures...

Factory building near kendall square

The light at the end of the tunnel

The red line headed northbound towards Kendall

Someone finally acknowledging the true purpose of alleyways, Davis Square

symphony of the deep

2004-08-27T01:08:00.000-04:00

Today was a long day. After doing the working thing, I went to do battle at ye old Massachusetts RMV. An hour and a half later, I left with a temporary drivers licence printed on a piece of paper that I have a feeling would be laughed at by any bartender who would ask for an ID. All of this left me with a final thought. With the inadequate roads, complete lack of street signs, and hoops you have to jump through to get a Mass licence (weekday hours only), why doesnt Massachusetts more fully imbrace public transportation? I mean, I ride the T and its cool and all, but no all night public transit in a city with industry and night shifts? come on now. Bad Transit has some good thoughts and reasonable complaints about the T. Among them, the glaring lack of a night train .

My ode to boston public transit, the mobile in front of the porter station on a cloudy day. The stations here sure are pleasing to the eye, if they'd only leave them open...

question the question

2004-08-24T00:52:00.000-04:00

Today marked my most stressful day of work thus far. I don't deal well with people who i perceive as being hostile, so it would appear that i have some adjustments to make before I will be able to remain emotionally uninvolved during my helpdesk duties. Actually, emotionally involved is a good thing, losing my cool is not.

I'm mainly writing because i got intrigued by my friends challenge of including a summer play list of summer 2k4. Also, thanks for the plug, I can rest on the monumental laurals of fueledbycoffee bloggerdom.

so...in no particular order.

1. Rjd2: Since 76
2. Decemberists: I was meant for the stage
3. Prefuse 73: The end of biters
4. New Order: Temptation
5. The Owls: Air
6. Gillian Welch: I want to sing that rock and roll
7. Rilo Kiley: Portions for foxes
8. Bob Dylan: Its alright ma, i'm only bleeding
9. Dismemberment Plan: You are invited.
10. Sleepytime Trio: Like my plain.

thinking to yourself, man, that kid sure isnt very down? you'd be right, i guess. i haven't really updated my ipod since before i finished my thesis in may.

the last few rays of somerville sun.

...and from the floorboards to the flies

2004-08-23T03:35:00.000-04:00

So, i've been very bad in the past week about keeping my personal commitment to regular blogging. A lot has been going on in the past week. I had a very welcome guest from out of town. I managed to make my first pilgrimage to Fenway. Being at fenway met and exceeded expectations, the only problem being that the redsox lost.

This weekend marked my first weekend without guests since my move. I attended a pretty fun party last night with some new friends. It was pretty cool, there was a nice video projection/dj setup in the backyard...then the cops showed up (shameless jawbreaker reference).

I made good on a personal goal to take some pictures today. I found myself this morning unexpectedly being in Charlestown. It was pretty neat looking there, a little more hilly (i.e. bunker hill) and more industrial in parts than other neighborhoods i've encounted thus far. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera then. But, here are some lovely parting gifts:

Looking towards davis square on a sunny day

Artwork hanging in davis square T stop

Kids and parents playing in wading pool in boston common

Looking east along the charles

Intense stencil on mass ave. bridge

Mural near central square, cambridge

thanks for the warm welcome, cambridge.

Day one.

2004-08-13T21:50:00.000-04:00

Today marks the first entry in what will hopefully be a regularly updated blog. Go easy on me, this is my first blog entry ever and i think it may take some work to polish my blog writing skills. The bar has been set high by friends like Craig, who has a really great blog: Fueled by Coffee

Two weeks ago I moved to the Boston area after living the last 23 out of 24 years of my life in Virginia. I have moved to the Davis Square section of Somerville, Ma. I like it here a lot. Its a restful neighborhood compared to the other squares of Cambridge/Somerville, and everyone around here is pretty friendly. My few experiences in Davis Square have been comprised entirely of gluttonous eating. So far ive discovered this amazing Indian resaurant Diva. Diva gave me some much appreciated love for being on a date with myself.

I've also done a little walking/exploring around Boston proper. Allow me to leave you with a picture I took last week during an evening stroll across the Charles atop Harvard Bridge.