Daily Show viewers more educated than O'Reilly's viewers

This is not surprising at all.

Shows this past weekend

Saturday September 25th:
The Hideout Block Party featured such bands/artists as Archer Prewitt, Macha, Mouse on Mars, and Mahjongg. I got there right before Mouse on Mars started...for some reason they didn't want to headline, so Mahjongg were the headliners. Mouse on Mars were awesome, and they brought down the house. A definite "A" performance. It would've been difficult for any band to follow their set, but Mahjongg did their best. They seemed to be a little rushed, especially with Mouse on Mars going over their time limit. (The show had to be over by 11:00 because they needed to clear everyone off the streets by then, and Mouse on Mars ended their set at around 10:15.) However, they pulled off a good show, with the thousands of people in the audience very pleased with the set. Afterwards, Mouse on Mars went to DJ at Rodan.

Sunday September 26th:
The last night of the Adventures on Modern Music presented by The Wire magazine at the Emtpy Bottle featured Double Leopards, Noxagt, Xiu Xiu, and Ghost. Double Leopards, who I had never listened to before, were like a more laid back and dronier but scarier Wolf Eyes. Pretty nice stuff. Noxagt came out next and were fucking awesome. During the second song, this dude in front of the stage passed out and landed on his back. His eyes were wide open the whole time and he seemed really out of it. I'm guessing heroin? Anyway, some people helped him up, and a few minutes later he passed out again, and a bouncer and a few others carried him to the pool room. Noxagt just kept playing the whole time without missing a beat while looking at what was going on with the dude. Xiu Xiu came out next (it was just the singer and this hot chick playing some percussion and keyboards). It bored the shit out of me, and I went to the pool room and talked to my friend Jessica. Ghost played last and were great. However, during the middle of their set, I almost went home due to my feet killing me and how tired I was after this long weekend. But I stayed and I'm glad I did.

The Old Slim Shady

Recently on the Tavis Smiley show on PBS, he had Aretha Franklin on as his guest, and they were discussing her recent sold out shows in Los Angeles.

While watching them discuss her selling out every show, I started thinking about which present artists could pull this sort of thing off twenty or thirty years from now. There may be plenty of bands and artists that are popular today that might be able to fill up arenas thirty years later. But could rappers do this? I'm not so sure. Somehow, I can't picture Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg performing "Nothing But a G Thang" in a packed arena when they're 60. I can't picture 20,000 old people paying $50 or more to see that or Eminem or OutKast or other rappers. I don't think this has any bearing on the quality of the music, but hip hop seems so much of a youth thing, much moreso than rock or other genres of music in which "singing" is involved. Maybe I'll be wrong about this. But I just can't see it.

Misc.

Jesus, that last post was a little personal that I almost decided to delete it just now. But I won't.

Anyway, when I started this blog back in February, I sort of became a voyeur of other people's blogs, including those that belong to people I don't know. Now, I rarely read blogs produced by people I don't know. Mostly, I read friends' blogs that are linked on this site. Two of those blogs, I feel, should be noted.

First belongs to my friend, Fred: Explainer, formerly known as Hat and Beard. It's probably the most intelligent weblog, and with the recent name (and template) change, Fred has expanded the scope of his blog to more than political topics. I sort of see it as the "Harper's Magazine" of weblogs.

The second one belongs to my NYC-by-way-of-Kansas-by-way-of-Missouri-by-way-of-Baltimore friend, Tom. It's called The Ultracasual Lifestyle. Tom's blog is the best combination of intelligence and wittiness about everything he sees in the world - from politics to his personal life to whatever he sees out there that's amusing to him. He's a very talented writer, and the Ultracasual Lifestyle is my favorite blog to read.

Everyone else, I read your blogs everyday even if you don't post. But some of you really should post more often -- I'm looking at you, Tim.

In other news, I haven't bought a record or CD in over a month, which is the longest drought in about four years. I've been itching to go record shopping for a while now, but I can't afford to with no income and all. The only things I'm spending money on are: rent, bills, alcohol, and food. I wish I could add music to that, and it's killing me that I can't. Some of you need to send me burned CDs. I'm looking in your direction, Todd.

One last thing. This upcoming Saturday September 18th, 2004, I'm participating in the Light the Night Walk to help raise money for funds to cure leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. As of right now, I've raised $145 on my site, which is $120 more than I expected to raise (since I personally donated $25 to it - and another $100 to Maria's site - and I don't have a job!)...so I sort of didn't expect people to donate. But some people have, obviously. If you could spare some money for this good cause, that would be great. If not, I'll still think no less of you. If you want, you can DONATE RIGHT HERE.

Misunderstood

I had a slight feeling in the back of my head that my last entry (the one in which I took the personality test) would get somebody to reply, "You are not an introvert," or something to that effect. And I got one of those from my friend, Todd.

The thing is, most people, including my family, don't really know or understand me that well. I'm a very private person and keep 90% of my feelings and thoughts to myself. Even two of my closest friends, Ryan and Billy, I don't think know me as well as most very close friends usually do. Some friends, including many North Carolina friends, know one side of me very well - the one in which I'm silly, stupid, drunk, and says whatever the fuck I want to say no matter how politically incorrect I am. And that is me...but only a small part of the time and only when I get to a point in which I feel comfortable around those people. Let me give you an example: I was hired by WXYC in the summer of 2001; however, it wasn't until the next summer when I started to hang out more with XYC jocks...and grad school only had a part to do with it. The fact is, I was too shy and uncomfortable around most of the people I eventually became good friends with. Even throughout the last year I spent in Chapel Hill, there were many weekends I stayed at home and watched TV even if I knew of a party or people getting together at a bar because I'm so much of an introvert. People would say to me, "I haven't seen you in weeks," precisely because of that.

I had a similar "people not really knowing me" sort of thing when I was an undergrad at Mizzou. I had sort of established a reputation as a party animal. That was alright, I guess...but the problem I ran into was that some people never took me seriously because I rarely, if ever, acted seriously in their presence. They never saw the quiet, introverted side of me that I was most of the time. They just saw the "party" side of me, usually in bars or at parties (duh).

I've been an introvert all my life. I feel that I'm good at keeping friends, but it's a lot more difficult to make friends. That's why my first couple of years (especially the first year) in Chapel Hill were the hardest and unhappiest years of my life. Another really unhappy year was the year my family moved from Raleigh to St. Louis in the summer of 1990. I spent 8th grade with zero friends and didn't have any real friends until junior year of high school. Also, when I was in kindergarten, I didn't say one word in the classroom until sometime during the second semester.

I guess the reason for this entry is because people don't know me well at all, and it's really my fault since I'm not an open person. I feel that I'm way too serious most of the time...and that's probably why I let myself loose when around friends. I wish I could be more open, but the introverted side of me won't let me. But I'm trying, as you can probably tell with this entry. In the month and a half that Maria and I have been dating, she's gotten to really know me better than most people, and I guess she's sort of an inspiration for me to try to open up a little bit more to others.

I don't mean to imply that people don't know me at all...because as stated or implied above, most friends know one (or two) side(s) of me pretty well. But one thing I hope every friend out there realizes is that I love you all, and if you don't live in Chicago, you should move up here soon. (Awww.)

Now go eat a dick. Fucker.

Personality Test

This is me:

ISFP - "Artist". Interested in the fine arts. Expression primarily through action or art form. The senses are keener than in other types. 8.8% of total population.

Take Free Myers-Briggs-Jung (Short Test - 53 Questions) Personality Test

Light the Night

Dear friends, foes, and lovers,

On Saturday September 18th, 2004, I will be participating in the Light The Night Walk here in the great city of Chicago to help raise money for funds to cure leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

If you go to the link below (where it says "DONATE HERE!"), you'll come across my Light the Night homepage. There you can make a donation to support my participation. (You'll see that there are "suggested" donations; however, I'm sure you’re all on a tight budget, so feel free to donate as much or as little as you want.) If you choose to donate some money, all I can do is think highly of you. If you choose not to donate, all I will do is to continue to think highly of you.

DONATE HERE!

Side effect

For those of you who don't know, I quit my job a couple of weeks ago before it actually began. It's a little complicated and there were many factors to this decision, but I'll spare you the details partly because I'd rather not talk about it, especially on my weblog.

Anyway, besides the obvious like running out of money, another side effect of not working is that there are days and times I get really bored and restless, especially with everyone else busy with work or school. Last night was especially horrible. After this Labor Day weekend, nobody wanted to go out last night since everyone pretty much had to wake up early this morning. I say, "Fuck that noise!" God, last night sucked. The only thing that helped was talking on the phone with the ladyfriend...and I hate talking on phones. But now it's Wednesday. I need a drink. Let's go out tonight!

Despicable

Dick Cheney is absolutely despicable.

You know what, Dick? I'm glad your daughter's a lesbian. I'm glad for her for having the courage to come out of the closet with a father like you, and I'm glad for you and your wife because you are the perfect couple to end up having a gay daughter. I hope you and Georgie get fucked up the ass this November because you guys deserve it.

*By the way, I'm not a fucking Democrat, so by no means am I speaking on behalf of the Democratic party or any Democrat out there. So you fucking pieces of shit Republicans out there can go fuck yourselves. Jesus loves you.

Karaoke King

For those of you who know Luke Walters, he showed me last night what I've heard from others. Luke is the greatest karaoke singer I've ever witnessed. Not only can he really belt out the tunes, his showmanship is unmatched.

I'd like to see go him head-to-head with Jesse, who previously held the title in my book. I'll bill it as "The Windy City Wonder vs. The Chapel Thrill."