The Future is Here

i-Theater Video Glass

The Video glasses represents the next big move in personal entertainment technology. Watch your videos in complete privacy and at the equivalent of viewing a 50" big screen (230,000 pixel resolution).

Father to a Sister of Thought

Yo, I just passed my oral exams.

I'm now a PhD candidate!

Josh: I'd like to order a Brooks Thomas effigy for immediate burning.

FYI: Bear Mountain Picnic is playing at a party Saturday night in the Ypsi area. There will be burning of Mussolini effigies.

Also playing Sunday afternoon in Depot town. Free pancakes!!

Big news for GORO: we are now Myspace friends with Electric Wizard!

Have fun at graduation everyone!!!

Graduation

I would like to give a shout out to my brother Chris who is graduating from Michigan, along with Josh, Vlad, and Eddie Fletcher. Chris studied Philosophy with a Minor in Film. Bill Clinton's giving the speech. I'm going to be in Michigan for the next few days.

It just gets better and better.

India May Arrest Richard Gere Over Kiss.

Click and enjoy.

Gere and Shetty ''transgressed all limits of vulgarity and have the tendency to corrupt the society," says an Indian judge. Well, he's corrupted our society too! Where's the warrant?

If you liked "Humps..."

Around and around it goes: this guy did a pretty convincing acoustic version of "You Oughtta Know". Of course nothing compares to my not-so-secret and only-once-revealed ability to sing this song like a karaoke expert, which I am not. Only in dorm rooms with open doors.

Boris Yeltsin Passed Away

Here's the obituary.

Birthday Request of my New York Friends

I would like it very much, if finances and opportunity allow, for those of you living in the New York area to attend on my behalf at least one of the two recently announced Jesus and Mary Chain reunion shows, on either May 21 or 22 at Webster Hall. I would prefer if it could be the 21st, because that is my birthday. If it were feasible, I would request of Mary Jane that this gift come in the form of my own attendance to one of these shows, but I know that we can't really afford travel right now. So instead I seriously hope that one of you will make it there so I at least have someone to tell me about how awesome it was.

Excerpts from Dax's Life

Tristan graciously lent me his digital camera so that I could take some pictures of my daily routine.

Here is Lissette the intern talking to her boyfriend on the phone. In the foreground is the book of menus we order lunch from.



Here is John the editor working hard to assemble the billboards. On the screen you can see an example of one for Chili's.



Here is a piece of performance art on the roof of Flux Factory. I think too much art around here lacks any real conceptual underpinnings.



Here is Marcus looking for the subway train. I transfer at this place (Court Square) in my daily commute.



Here is Russell, who I sit next to. He has been showing me the ropes, though he explains things in ways I don't understand.



Here is my roommate Brian standing in front of the curtain that divides his room from the kitchen. We've gone to a few shows together, and when I ask him questions regarding bar protocol he seems perplexed by my lack of nightlife savviness.



Here is the living room. On the left is the massage chair I sit in when talking on the phone. Spontaneous messes like this appear from time to time.



Here I am this morning (lacking a few conceptual underpinnings myself). My room has no windows.



P.S. Congratulations to Vlad and Tarek!!! Kick some effete self-satisfied pedantic grad student ass!

Brendan Fraser Protest Rages in the Streets!

Richard Gere in India

Read this if you haven't hear about the Richard Gere incident yet:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/18/india.gere.ap/

Here's the important part:
"The complaints filed Tuesday came a day after angry crowds in several Indian cities burned effigies of Richard Gere after he wrapped [Bollywood actress Shilpa] Shetty in his arms and kissed her several times on her cheeks during an AIDS awareness event."

Burning effigies of Richard Gere! For some reason I find that incredibly satisfying. I'm not sure why, though. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

I'll Be In Berlin

First, I'd like to apologize for hiding in the shadows. That's the way things turn out sometimes, and I hope nobody has taken my unwillingness to maintain even a modicum of communication too seriously. I hope to be in touch with everyone over the next month. On May 28, I'm going to Berlin for two months. Ian and his girlfriend will join me for about two weeks in June. I'll finally finalize my German. I'm going to try to make a stop in New York before I leave, probably some time next month, and hopefully I'll get a chance to see everyone.

I'd also like to congratulate Vlad for finally selling out to the Ivory Tower. We've been patiently awaiting your arrival, Vlad. Welcome.

NYC Living

This past Saturday a club/music venue called Tonic was closed because it couldn't pay the raising rent on the Lower East Side. A huge mega-condo moved in next door, and I guess that might have something to do with it. Condo on the left, Tonic on the right:

For the past decade or so (I think) it was a premiere venue for experimental-type music. John Zorn played there Friday night, and on Saturday a bunch of musicians went in and played until they were literally thrown out by the police. Here's a picture of Marc Ribot (plays guitar on a bunch of Tom Waits albums) being arrested for refusing to leave the stage. It's no big deal, he's not going to jail or anything, but it kinda makes you groan when you see it.

Apparently, when it was announced that Tonic would close, $100,000 was raised to try to save it. But I guess this wasn't enough or it was too late. I saw one show there, Petra Hayden. It was a good show, but there were only around fifty people in the audience. I expected it to sell out, so maybe part of the problem is people can't even afford tickets to these kinds of things.

Last week I saw Shortbus, which isn't a great movie, but there was one scene that was really affecting, where this woman breaks down and cries because she doesn't think she'll be able to afford living in New York any more. It's corny, but it's a feeling I've had a couple times since moving here.

My semester is wrapping up in about a month. This summer I want to do an internship at an independent film production company, which means I won't be paid. It sucks, because even if NYC had Ann Arbor-level rents I'd feel confident that I could pull it off, but it's a little scary with our insane rents we pay for out tiny studio in Harlem. What the deal? Who can actually afford this city?

inertia and other difficulties

It's official. I'm staying in Ann Arbor for next five years. I've been accepted to the Slavic department PhD. program. Herb Eagle is the chair and engineered it all.
The law of inertia demanded it. I complied.
Need of money, cigarettes, my temperament and Mayakovsky....

"Time!
You lame icon-painter,
will you at least daub my countenance
and frame it as a freak of this age!
I am lonely as the only eye
of a blind man on his way to the blind!" (1913)

Goldfrapp - Strict Machine

New Layouts

I figured out how to change the input locale on my computer's keyboard layout.

Я могу по-русски писать.

Auf Deutsch kann ich auch schreiben. Und die Umläuten nützen!!!

It's pretty exciting for me.

"Finish each day
And be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and
Absurdities have crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can."

This is how I live my life, but unfortunately, having no regrets ever can be pretty detrimental to progress. Cause like, I never try to fix my mistakes. Or really improve in any way. But hey! Who cares that I still don't have a job and still haven't finished my degree! I feel great when I wake up!

Tiny Tim in Heaven

I dream that in the next world I'll be able to be with all the women I want. I don't want men around, except maybe my poor father, and Al Jolson. I will own them, all these beautiful creatures who never get old, and do whatever I want with them. There will be no body odor, and making l-o-v-e will be like it was in the Garden of Eden before the fall. I will never get tired, and my s-e-e-d will flow out for hours, like water out of a hose, in a stream of ecstasy.

Kurt Vonnegut, Requiescat In Pace

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2055623,00.html

He passed away.

While we are having a youtube fest

This was my final project for a film class last year. It turned out pretty well.

wtf

so it's come to this

Turn down the volume before you play this. Made this with iMovie on a Sunday morning a few months ago. Never finished it...

Services - Element of Danger

BONUS: this is my roommate Brian's friend's band. They're not half bad.