Saturday, November 26, 2005

leo mazzone- pitching coach for the atlanta braves; chess master

i decided a couple of summers ago that i would learn, that summer, how to ride a motorcycle. this has little to do with anything except to illustrate that i sometimes have ideas about things i would like to learn how to do. or sometimes i wish to be much better at things that i already know how to do. most recently, i've considered the possibility of playing chess by myself, which seems like a great way to get better. ok, once i saw a guy play chess against himself, and he played very quickly and efficiently, and it was really great. so i didn't exactly come up with this idea out of nowhere. but anyway, there is a guy sitting by me playing chess by himself right now. he is rocking and swaying back and forth in his chair to the point that i fear he will slip off and fall onto the ground. he is wearing a very long and very interesting blue jacket that might be considered a trenchcoat. he runs his hands through his filthy hair between moves and clearly is putting a great deal of thought into his task. he may very well be crazy. and now that i watch more closely, he is putting his hand on pieces and taking it off without moving the piece, and sometimes he makes a move, then thinks better of it and returns the piece to its original space. so now i'm considering how difficult it may be to observe the rules of the game while playing against yourself. would i favor black or white? would i feel a sense of triumph and loss at the end of each match? would i end up wearing a trenchcoat and nervously list side to side in front of complete strangers? would i get better at chess? god, life is really hard.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

The Greatest Favorite Band Ever

wow, this girl working at linnea's is sure in a mood to play weezer in any form that she can find it: b-sides, acoustic, import, plain old regular blue album, you name it. although, nothing of course after pinkerton. it hurts so much to hear 'only in dreams'. hurts in a good good way. i spent probably 90% of my high school career with that song either in my head, or laying on the floor of my room with a candle lit, staring at the ceiling, dreamily lusting after every girl who wasn't my girlfriend, absolutely caught up in the throw of adolescence. i imagine that rivers cuomo lives the same way now, may very well be rocking his fucking heart out to the soaring guitar riffs at the end of that song, feet pounding the floor, a sweaty hand reaching over to the repeat button to play that song again and again and again. god i miss that band.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Nihilism, Cynicism, Sarcasm, and Orgasm

it took only two months for me to purchase a computer and then get in trouble for illegal file sharing. i received an e-mail from cal poly as well as the legal team at hbo concerning the illegal downloading of curb your enthusiasm episode 6, season 5. what this means is that until i remove the episode and the program that i used to download it, i am no longer able to use the wirless internet connection at cal poly. i understand hbo's issue, but cal poly's restriction of my wireless account because i used it to illegally download something is absurd to me. i don't see how the university could be held liable. that would be analagous to ford motor co. being liable for damages because i used a ford as a get away car to rob a bank. it makes no sense. is the university assuming a moral stance that is opposed to file sharing? i do not understand.

i recently found myself driving around listening to music on a lovely sunday afternoon. i was listening to sufjan stevens for a little while and then i took out sufjan, in favor of a little john davis (formerly of superdrag). it then occured to me that both of those artists are christian musicians. john davis especially so. as a matter of fact, jody and i recently discovered that john davis is available at the parable. sufjan stevens however, is not. i never would have thought that i would be listening to music about the saving grace of christ, but there i was, back to back christian rockers. what does this mean? apparently it means that lyrics are either occasionally of secondary importance to the music, or that the listener needs not to relate to the songwriter very much at all to enjoy their songs. what do you think?