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Showing posts from March, 2012

The Great Omega Beast

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I finally figured out a way to incorporate the maximum level of vegetables and fruits into my diet: I bought a juicer. It arrived yesterday and I was so excited that I decided to record my trial run and share the experience with you. I edited the video and trimmed the entire process down to five minutes, that way you don't have to watch me grinding each and every piece of produce. I won't say too much about it, I'd rather just let the video speak for itself, so watch it and then I'll have more to say afterward: Haha, so that didn't go exactly as planned. Not surprising since I couldn't identify half of those vegetables I brought home, but I'm already becoming a pro. I have since made 5 other juice drinks that were completely potable and 3 of them were downright delicious. Like everything in life, it just takes practice. My ultimate goal with this juicer is not to radically change my life or my eating habits, I simply want those necessary micro nutrie

Snug Bug

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The whole point in choosing a cat over a dog is because cats are independent creatures, they don't need constant affection from their owners. Or at least so I thought. It turns out that I ended up with a Cog for a pet (a cat that acts like a dog). I guess that's what I get for rescuing an 11 year old cat who needed a new home because it's elderly owner passed away. Let me explain the weirdness for you, and while I'm doing that I'll also explain why I think he does it. First, let's meet Snug Bug : "Um, I ordered a white russian." The first and most obvious eccentricity is that he doesn't appreciate a gin & tonic. Whaaaat? Alright, but seriously, his eating ritual is so bizarre. He absolutely needs me to walk with him to his food bowl and stand next to him while he eats. If I don't do this he just sits on the edge where the dining room carpet meets the linoleum kitchen floor, staring in at his food bowl, meowing. I get perturbed

The Farmer

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the farmer (poem by Mick Tomlinson) some people bleed and loosen their hearts against iron stakes strung by barbwire, out there way out there in green pasture where the cows roam, the farmer works his hands to the bone. only dusk can save him, while crops sleep the farmer weeps and wanders alone, out there way out there in a town with a million faces, he walks backwards, finishes the race before everyone. who will tend to the meat parade? who will bucket the milk and pray to god more than a farmer who didn't love his life? some people need connectors, a means to an end between you and them. sentinels to stand watch when everyone else on earth is still sleeping, out there way out there in the middle of an egg-shaped ceremony, lost upon the face of mother nature. out there way out there his spirit still sings as the chow bell rings, all across the wide-open prairie. (R.I.P. friend, we will miss you)

Saturday Song Salute

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Today's Saturday Song Salute goes to the song Heaven by the band Live. As track number one, it kicks off their album Birds Of Pray (2003), the second to last album the band would create before their separation in 2010. Much like the other seven billion people on planet earth, I spend a great deal of time pondering life, religion, and god. I was raised by a Christian mother and an agnostic father and have made friends in life with people from all walks of faith. I have studied and read, experimented with psychedelics, listened to perspectives and ideas and philosophies, have gone to churches and prayed and felt currents of energy move through me that was labeled the "holy spirit". As I grow older I find myself taking giant steps away from organized religion, but I approach such a heavy subject with a very open mind and heart, always doing my best to keep all possibilities piled on the table in neat little stacks. That being said, I love the approach taken in this song. I d

The Bins

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I recently had the (dis)pleasure of experiencing The Bins (not to be confused with "the bends" which can kill a scuba diver). The Bins on Portland Road (which could possibly kill a shopper) was a unique shopping experience, one I'm not sure I'll repeat anytime soon. If you've never been, here's the gist of it: in every family there exists that one relative who gives the family name a bad reputation, well for the Goodwill Corporation, this place is that person. I love shopping at thrift stores, the regular ones. You know, those with stocked shelves and clothing racks and price tags and dressing rooms and check out lines, but at The Bins... no, no, no... that's not how they roll. Picture a large building with a wide open floor space, sort of like a roller skating rink, minus the disco ball and pop music. Now picture dozens of big blue, waist-high, plastic bins on wheels lined up in rows all throughout the area. These bins are filled to the rim with the disca

Cinema Sunday

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Unless you were an unfortunate recipient during the post 9/11 Amerithrax scare or the Unabomber's reign of terror, everyone loves getting packages in the mail. Me too, which is why I love shopping Amazon. There's nothing like opening that small metal door and seeing the USPS key inside that will unlock the bigger mailbox where I know a package awaits me. In the picture you can already see the opened PS3 game, Mass Effect 3, which is unbelievably awesome. So what's in the unopened box? Hey, nice package! A Frank Capra DVD set for 25 bucks + free shipping! This makes me very happy. And since it's Cinema Sunday I went ahead and watched one and will now say a few things about it. I chose the movie It Happened One Night (1934). The gist of it: A romantic comedy about a spoiled rich girl who marries a wealthy man against her father's wishes. Upon her father's annulment of the wedding, the daughter runs away (via bus) for New York City to be with her husba

Saturday Song Salute

Today I salute the artist Amos Lee, for not only making a song which I consider to be flawless, but for surrounding it with so many other great songs that I had a difficult time choosing. Amos Lee (Ryan Massaro) is one of those rare gems who burst onto the music scene seemingly out of nowhere. One day he's an elementary school teacher and part-time bartender, the next he's signed to a major record label and opening for the likes of Norah Jones and Bob Dylan while touring the nation. Four albums later, this guy is souring with success, and rightly so. The song I've chosen is El Camino, from the album Mission Bell (2011). It kicks off the album as track number one and then reappears at the end as a reprise duet with Willie Nelson. I didn't like that version nearly as much as Amos Lee's solo approach, I thought the guest singer's voice took away from it instead of adding something special (forgive me, Willie Nelson fans). Either way, El Camino is a finely woven m

Show Me The Way

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I've discovered some choice new music lately and while listening to it, I find myself thinking back to a blog entry I wrote many months ago. It was a list of my favorite albums, and in hindsight, I realize there were several albums that should have been included and weren't. So what I'm going to do is go back and revise that list periodically, eventually shaping it to the point of perfection. And while I'm on the subject, here's an album by an artist that needs to be listened to by everyone:   Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle Yes, this will be on that list. I've listened to it at least forty times now, with each new sitting bringing me even closer to the heart of what this album is all about. When I heard it for the first time I was instantly reminded of Mazzy Star. Both create atmospheric music that can easily put their listeners into deep trances, with or without the help of drugs. Where Hope (from Mazzy) gives the feeling of singing her

Lunch & Photo Hunt

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A friend asked how my shoulder recovery is going and I thought I'd use my response as the beginning to this blog entry:       "It seems with every passing day of nothingness, I become more and more unaware of what time it is, or what day, or even what month. A few weeks off from work, in my definition, is a perfect vacation, but a few months is just too much, I feel like I'm going crazy. If I didn't feel so stupid in this sling I would go out a lot more, but I hate wearing it at home, let alone in public. So I just sit at home mostly, reading, watching TV, trying to write. But when a person can watch the passing hours crawl across the wall in the form of slow-moving shadows, it creates a sort of madness that only prisoners can relate to (and surgery patients, and unemployed bums, and retirees). I guess that's my creative way of saying, I miss work. Physical therapy is excruciating and slow, I feel like I'm getting nowhere. I gauge my progress on whi

Saturday Song Salute

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I started typing this at 11:51pm, so it still counts as Saturday, which means I can squeeze in a Saturday Song Salute. Let's fly back in time to 1979 and give kudos to a well known band called Dire Straits. The album is Communique, the song I've chosen is Portobello Belle. I enjoy the way the song starts off acoustic and then kicks into electric, gradually building other instruments as it goes. Overall, you can't top a melody as catchy as this one, and the upbeat lyrics about a girl he misses are perfect lines to sing along to. I love this song. I listen to it with great frequency, it stays beautiful each and every time. If you are listening to Portobello Belle for the first time, you're in for a real treat. Stick those earbuds in and click play below: Portobello Belle by Dire Straits Bella donna's on the high street Her breasts upon the off beat And the stalls are just the side shows Victoriana's old clothes And yes her Jeans are tight now She gonn