It's been a while

I really haven't had much to write about the past few weeks...........actually that is a giant lie. I've had a truckload of stuff happen in my life. All of it good of course :) But none of it I really felt like writing about. But today I have something to write about. What follows is really just a tiny little rant......so feel free to stop reading now.

Don't act like a smart ass then turn around and mispronounce the name of a very prominent journalist who has been on multiple news shows that have pronounced his name correctly.
Backstory:
I am currently in a Political Science classes full of crazy, annoying people who think they know everything. There are several kids in particular that I get annoyed with but one of them struck my last nerve today....I almost wanted to open my mouth to correct him...but then I just would have looked like a bitch. So this kid thinks he is Gods gift to PolSci classes...well today during current events this kid brings up something a very prominent journalist who is also an editor of Newsweek wrote. The name of the journalist is Fareed Zakaria...well the moron called him Fareed Zakary (pronounce the "y" like an "i"). STUPID, MORON, IDIOT, STUPID!!!!!!!!! That was all I wanted to scream at him.
Who honestly....who claims to pay attention to the news and pronouces his name wrong.....what person who watches The Daily Show on a regular basis pronouces his name wrong, i mean he's only on about every 5th episode.
I wish someone had corrected him....this kid is just do damn full of himself. Someone needed to shove him off his high horse, bruise his ego a little.
You can't do that.....you can't act like a big shot but mispronouce this mans name!!!!!.........

Thank you for reading....if you made it this far. Next time I write hopefully it will be more interesting.

Poetry

The following is a poem I read as an assignment in my English class. I think it might be my new favorite poem.

Daybreak by Galway Kinnell

On the tidal mud, just before sunset,
dozens of starfishes
were creeping. It was
as though the mud were a sky
and enormous, imperfect stars
moved across it as slowly
as the actual stars cross heaven.
All at once they stopped,
and, as if they had simply
increased their receptivity
to gravity, they sank down
into the mud, faded down
into it and lay still, and by the time
pink of sunset broke across them
they were as invisible
as the true stars at daybreak.

insanity

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

VMAs

So on the eve of starting my senior year of college I'm sitting relaxing with my housemates watching the MTV Video Music Awards. Instead of driving everyone I'm sitting with nuts, I'll critique it here.
Let me start off by saying, everyone who listens to music knows MTV has gone downhill, but I think this year they have hit rock bottom. The first shot of the awards was in an area that has clearly been significantly downsized from previous years. The stage is tiny and the audience has been reduced. There is no center area where the crowd gather for the performances. Oddly enough, as of 45 minutes through the show the best part is Russell Brands intro and jokes about George W. and Republicans......which wasn't anything the Daily Show hasn't said before.

The introductions to performances are lackluster, everyone sounds exactly like they are reading off a teleprompter, which granted they are, but at least try and sound better. The entire show looks like it was thrown together. Winners don't know where they are supposed to go, people have to scramble for mics. The audience doesn't even look like they want to be there.

The performances thus far are sub par, Rhianna can't sing live, Katy Perry can't sing in tune to her own songs and T-pain needs to pull his pants up. What happened to the VMAs of many years ago. Memorable performances by NSync and others are past. Instead we get Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.

Pop music really has gone down the crapper. My housemates made the observation that we have no idea who most of these people who are up for awards are. Even I, and I'm pretty up in the music scene, have no idea who some of these people are. Where is the creativity? The showmanship? The experience that pop music used to be. Paramore thank goodness wasn't completely terrible. They know how put on a show and Haley is a pretty fabulous live singer.

But even after that, I'm still not sure why I have watched just over an hour of this show. I think I keep hoping it will get better, even while secretly knowing it never will. I keep being told "things aren't what they seem" tonight....but so far I haven't seen that to be the case.

I had hope for the Best Rock Vid category with the Foo Fighters in there and Paramore, hell I might have been okay with FOB....instead it was Linkin Park, while not awful, not amazing....they are slightly washed up and a little bit sissy now.

Oh hey, Pink is still around.....shes decent enough....So with 45 minutes remaining I give up. I'm off to watch House and listen to Jack's Mannequin.

hmmm

Oh goodness why is Jon Stewart the only one who points out the ridiculousness of all this.....

Clip 1: Karl Rove on Tim Kane as Obama's possible VP pick



Clip 2: Karl Rove on Sarah Palin as McCain's VP Pick


America please don't let there be 4 more years of this....

Bumbershoot

This past weekend I spent two days at the Seattle music festival called Bumbershoot. It was fantastic, the weather was wonderful both days and the music was great.
August 30:
First day of Bumbershoot, arrived around 2/2:30ish just in time to get my bearings and head over to the Starbucks stage to catch Seattle musician Ian Moore. Recently I've started listening to more mellow music and Ian Moore was a perfect example of that. It was a perfect mix of rock and soft guitar. After the show I made a quick stop to let him know I was a fan...it was my first time ever hearing him.


Next was some wandering before a meet and greet with Anti-Flag, who as it turned out are not only a great band but really nice people. We talked for a bit and joked about the election and the candidates and had a little bonding over our home state of Pennsylvania. I got asked if I was amish after telling them where in PA I was born....Next was a set by The Walkmen. Today was my day to discover new music. I had only heard a clip from them on iTunes, so I decided to check it out. I wasn't dissapointed. After that it was off to see Anti-Flag perform and of course they didn't dissapoint. I don't think they know how to put on a bad show. Chris got everyone to throw up the peace sign and had everyone singing along "so loud that the mother-fucker Beck can hear you" (Beck's set at the mainstage started during Anti-Flag). Their set even contained a cover of "I Fought The Law."

Instead of following the crowd to the mainstage for Beck I wandered back over to the Starbucks Stage to see Nada Surf. A wonderful set with the Space Needle in the background behind the stage and a brief conversation with the band after the show provided a wonderful close to the evening.

Sept. 1:
Final day of the festival, second day for me. Started out with back to back mainstage performances by Paramore and The Offpspring. Which had a strange kind of contrast. The scene newbees Paramore put on a great show but it struck me as odd. It was only 2 years ago that I was seeing this band open for other bands at small clubs. Now they are playing for hundreds of people on a huge stage. Their performance was followed by "punk-rock" veterans The Offspring, a band which I have been listening to for years. The never seem to want to quit. Age was not slowing the band down, singer Dexter Holland's voice sounded as good as ever. To my excitement the set contained a good number of older songs and as the set concluded the band encouraged as many crowd surfers as possible to "break the record of 999."



After both sets there was a few hours of downtime before the mainstage opened back up for Death Cab for Cutie. I used this time to explore everything else at the festival I hadn't seen on Saturday. This included spending far too much money on a new pair of sunglasses and a new purse. Then I headed back over to the Starbucks stage (which in addition to having really good music all weekend, seemed to be my default if I didn't know where else to go). I heard the last half set from X Levitiation Cult who were quite good too. Then I decided instead of coninuing to wander I would stake my claim to a decent spot for Death Cab. Somehow I ended up being lucky enough to be right on the front barricade on the left when the crowd finally stood up. I was stoked. I've never seen DCFC live and I got a perfect spot. The "opening" band was Superchunk who no one had ever heard before. No joke the conversations before the show were "so what does superchunk sound like?", "who is superchunk?" After being told the name reminded someone of vomit I was aprehensive to see the band. Luckily they were good and provided good entertainment before the final act of the night.

Finally it was time for the final act....Death Cab For Cutie. The stadium was packed and everyone was antipicating a good show. They certainly didn't dissapoint. The set consisted of songs off "Narrow Stairs" including "No Sunlight" and "I Will Possess Your Heart." It would be really hard to imagine a more perfect ending to a weekend Seattle festival than a thousands of Seattle-ites gather to see a local band.


Thus concludes Summer 2008.....one for the history books....or at least my personal history book.