Super Broker Shuffle

I'm sorry, what's that you say? You say you want your mind blown today? Well sit right back there's no need to scuffle. I came here to do the Super Broker Shuffle!

25 Terribly Stupid Random Things About Me

As many have seen, these lists are rampant on Facebook at the moment. I thoroughly enjoyed learning new things about my friends. Here is my list. I hope to follow this post in the future with a list of things I have to be grateful for. Seriously friends, I don't know about you, but I feel like I have an awful lot to be grateful for in these trying times.

1. My spine is crooked like a question mark
2. In nursery school I copied the sun drawing of the girl sitting next to me and when pressed I said it was a spider
3. If I were a dude, I'd grow a full beard
4. I like the sound of church bells and distant wailing sirens
5. I have read Infinite Jest three times
6. I once fainted in girl scouts when we talked about giving blood
7. If I had the aptitude, I would have been an economist..or a marine biologist
8. It is extremely hard for me not to lovingly squeeze every dog I pass on the street
9. I am usually single and a bit of a loner
10. My dad was a Catholic priest and my mom a Kindergarden teacher
11. I relate best to funny people who've had a time of things
12. I have at least 100 little freckles all over my body
13. I spent freshman year at the University of Vermont
14. I played the saxophone in 4th and 5th grade
15. My first 45s were Believe it Or Not I'm Walking On Air (From the Greatest American Hero) and I Love Rock n Roll (Joan Jett)
16. I made out with a stranger on an airplane to London (heading to India)
17. I did a shot before my French exit exam in grad school
18. I hate the song "It's a Small World After All"
19. It is sometimes a challenge for me not to take on the accent of the person I'm talking to
20. I would like to do a documentary with my friend Laura on the New Jersey pine barrens
21. I had a huge purple poster of Jon Bon Jovi in my room that used to scare my grandmom
22. I love to make lists
23. I'm thinking of checking out the Unitarian church
24. I am a devoted fan of the radish
25. I could've been a contender

Funky Man

Um, what the shit, Joaquin? I'm pretty sure your latest career move is not a Sasha Baron Cohen hoax thing and instead evidence of a poor fellow who's snapped his cap.

Below--someone else who mayhaps should have rethought a rap career.

(Dee Dee King aka Dee Dee Ramone)

EVENING

The sky puts on the darkening blue coat
held for it by a row of ancient trees;
you watch: and the lands grow distant in your sight,
one journeying to heaven, one that falls;

and leave you, not at home in either one,
not quite so still and dark as the darkened houses,
not calling to eternity with the passion
of what becomes a star each night, and rises;

and leave you (inexpressibly to unravel)
your life, with its immensity and fear,
so that, now bounded, now immeasurable,
it is alternately stone in you and star.

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Good Girl

I really love this Philly-born artist, Agnes Montgomery. She makes these surreal, colorful fairy-tale collages with children, animals and random objects and sort of a vintage flair.

She's done a lot of album covers for Panda Bear including Person Pitch (see above) which is probably the most recognizable. (Side note: You can see a really big print of this next to the fireplace in the restaurant James in Bella Vista South Philly). She says her collages are "made by hand using found paper, small scissors and a magnifying glass" and then scanned and enlarged for canvasses.  

Check out more of her work at her site  http://www.agnesmontgomery.com. 

Update #2:

I deleted the fishbone posts because I didn't want all that vitriol sullying my blog. I will, however, continue to vent my extreme frustration with my Meme dining experience to every restaurant review site I can find.  

This guy...

has been MIA for the past two years. Deep in the Alaskan wilderness. Only to appear on our doorstep last night rocking a Lemmy 'stache. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr. Dave Kapla. I will soon be posting some amazing videos of his adventures in Alaska.

Update: 

On a completely unrelated note, I did indeed go to the emergency room this weekend. Let me advise you dear readers if someone offers to put a scope all the way up your nose so they can look into your trachea (even if they are a supercute ENT specialist, especially if they are...) you should politely decline.

The Selby

I think James read about this site in New York magazine. Todd Selby phographs and paints creative people in their homes.

It's rather addictive.

Check it out here:  http://www.theselby.com

No Gnews is Good Gnews

Important discovery made recently by me.

Jamison Uhler. NBC Philly anchorman and one of Philadelphia Magazine's "Sexiest Bachelors."

Jamie Uhler (w/rubberband on face). Boy in middle school who teased me and made me laugh.
Gary Gnu. Head anchorman on The Great Space Coaster. Conclusion: Are they all the same guy?... investigation to follow.

All of My Friends Were There

While visiting my friends Jill and Matt this past weekend, I couldn't help but notice this gem of a photo hanging in their apartment. Apparently if a family member was not present for a family portrait, Jill's grandmom used to cut and paste them into the photo. If only she had experienced the magical wonder of Photoshop! I suggested Jill add a small photo of her own head to her mom's belly on the far left.

(Can you spot the two additions to the photo??)

Democratic Camera

Went to this spectacular photography exhibit at the Whitney this past weekend in NY. According to the exhibit notes, William Eggleston "is credited almost single-handedly with ushering in the era of color photography." Eggleston, with his "democratic camera," captures slices of everyday American life and brings beauty and vibrancy to seemingly mundane scenes. He calls his camera democratic because he believes no captured image is more significant or less significant than another. I thought his vivid colors and clean compositions were so beautiful. Above are some shots from the exhibit. The first of the bunch is the cover of a Big Star album.

Stroll On

I was thinking of the movie Blow-Up today and the infamous scene where the Yardbirds play and Jeff Beck smashes his guitar. The movie is slow, but hypnotic and that scene is so great. It's timeless--could be any indie show in Philly, today. Bored hipsters standing around with their arms folded waiting to be entertained. A couple of weird kids dancing off in a corner. I love how everyone lose their minds and start screaming when he throws the guitar off stage. That part definitely brings you back and reminds you it's the sixties.

The Blow-Up performance was during that brief stretch in time when the Yardbirds had dueling lead guitarists--Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Two guitarists who both happened to be pretty incredible musicians. Beck was heavy into experimentation at the time and turned the band on to a more psychedelic sound.

Posted above is the scene from Blow-Up. Below is another one of my favorite Yardbirds' songs called "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago." The video quality kind of sucks sadly. Nonetheless, it is incredibly rockin, and way ahead of its time. Some consider it to be one of the first psychedelic songs ever. Beck shreds it in the end (uh sorry, did I just say shreds?). Ok, mostly I just posted it because Page looks so dang cute playing his guitar (0:45).

The Choice is Yours

Anything could happen and it could be right now

the choice is yours so make it worthwhile

-The Clean

I would look through the boughs and think I saw my lucky star...

New Year's Resolution #133: Get guitar restrung. Get rockin!

(Pictured above: The loverly Eleanor Friedberger--*inspirado.*)