Chris meets A-ha

I'm still laughing... this has to be the greatest short I've ever seen in my life.


Click here for funny.

July 29th

Found this on TheOnion.com

Video-Game Character Wondering Why Heartless God Always Chooses 'Continue'


for more: theonion.com

In other news: Finished some rough sketches of what I'll be painting for this art show. Ready to paint finally.

Passing along the news

I'm a member of the NEA. As a member we advocate for the arts. This is a letter I received regarding funding for the arts. I would like to pass it along to make people more aware of arts funding and some of the programs it offers.

July 28, 2005

Dear David,

Congress has completed the final conference report for the FY 2006 Interior Appropriations bill, reconciling differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. We are pleased to report that funding increases for both the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) are included in this bill. Prior to applying an across-the-board rescission of 0.476 percent to all programs within the Interior bill, both cultural agencies received increases of $5 million each for next year.

A comparison of federal funding between FY05 and FY06 follows:

National Endowment for the Arts
FY 2005: $121.26 million
FY 2006: $125.66 million = ($121.26 million + $5 million) x .476 percent rescission
Net Increase: $4.4 million

National Endowment for the Humanities
FY 2005: $138.05 million
FY 2006: $142.37 million = ($138.05 million + $5 million) x .476 percent rescission
Net Increase: $4.3 million

The conference report specifies that approximately $3 million of the NEA increase will restore funding to the popular Challenge America program, providing arts grants to under-served communities, which the President's budget had originally cut by $6.5 million. The remaining $2 million of the NEA increase will fund the new American Masterpieces program, which sponsors presentations of great American works across all art forms.

The House of Representatives passed the conference report this afternoon and Senate passage is expected by the end of the week. The President has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.

Given the current national budget deficit and the administration’s proposed overall flat funding for the NEA and NEH, we consider these increases a victory for the arts. It’s clear that the strong support of grassroots advocates like you can make a difference in Washington. Thank you for your continued efforts.

Congress will recess in August and will come back to an aggressive legislative schedule after Labor Day. Please keep checking back to the Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center for the latest on other congressional actions impacting the arts, including funding for arts education, museums and libraries, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

###

We encourage you to forward this alert to friends or colleagues that may be interested in this issue. If you have any questions, please contact Justin Beland, Government Affairs and Grassroots Manager, at jbeland@artsusa.org, or 202.371.2830.

5 days, 5 paintings

I recieved a call from my friend Luke about an art gallery looking for art work. The only thing it's short notice. The show is under a week. So I'll handle it like I would any art final. Pump out a painting a day. I'll post my progress in the days to come. -wick

Recently Corey created a list of himself, a list spanning 100 or so descriptions. So in good taste, I will use his list and basicly "borrow it" to make it my own. If your looking for a deep list coming from an intelligent person, you can view Corey's. Here's mine in comparison.

1. I'm 23
2. I was born in St. Cloud, I currently live in Blaine, but I spend most of my time still in St. Cloud
3. I went to school to be a teacher. Still in progress
4. I attend St. Cloud State University.
5. I'm aboot 6'2'' and don't like to see myself in pictures.
6. I can't recognize the distinct smell of an ethanol plant.
7. No time for assholes
8. I enjoy baseball... if I'm intoxicated.
9. I never read Moneyball by Michael Lewis.
10. I plan on going back to school to get my masters in painting. I hope it works.
11. My favorite type of food is Mexican/italian.
12. My favorite movie is Forrest Gump.
13. My second favorite movie is High Fidelity.
14. My third favorite movie is Tombstone.
15. My dog’s names are Ruby and Daisy.
16. I have not visited the site where Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in 1170.
17. My favorite vacation spot, in the United States, is Big Sur, Cal.
18. Second was any where from St. Cloud.
19. I am not married.
20. I have not yet experienced my honeymoon.
21. i HAVE beaten every super mario game, even mario 64. 120 stars.
22. I've never been in a band. I was the roady for Air Supply back in the day.
23. I hate airports
24. I’ve never understood, and probably never will, what the big deal was about The Ramones. They’re not good. I agree with Corey.
25. I read a lot.
26. I received my drivers license when I was 16.
27. Frankly, I hate talking about politics with republicans.
28. I do enjoy reading about it...
29. I do not have a friend that lives in Ireland, and chances are (if you’re from the States) you don’t.
30. I was once a starting forward for the Roosevelt Middle School basketball team.
31. My favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
32. I’ve always thought about getting a tattoo of the RHCP logo, but I’ve never had the guts to do it. Or the money.
33. I liked News Radio a lot while it was still on television.
34. I’ve witnessed at least FOUR of my friends (or pairs of friends) get married, yet I’ve never been a groomsman (I will be next oct.)
35. I was never a Chicago Bulls fan.
36. I enjoy karaoke too much.
37. Even though I “slung” video games for the first three years of my working career, I bought more than three games a year. In fact, I bought more games before I had any sort of employee discount.
38.I never fancied myself a “football” fan, in the European sense of the word. I found later that I knew nothing about it; therefore I was not a very good fan.
39. However, I still consider myself a Liverpool fan, and I have zero jerseys in my closet.
40.

ahhhh this list goes on for ever,. I'll finish it later. - wick

41. I really prefer either Grain Belt or Pabst, though, to give the illusion that, in some way, I’m “keeping it real.”
42. I’m a vegetarian that eats fish.
43. I’m oblivious to the allure of Vin Diesel.
44. I took Spanish for two years in high school, but can remember none of it.
45. I almost took French in college and then stopped myself before it was too late.
46. I enjoy certain Hugh Grant movies.
47. I didn’t start playing Hold ‘em poker until it was the popular thing to do…
48. …and I’m better at it than I should be.
49. Olives make me retch.
50. I don’t like “big box” bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders, though I’m not afraid to shop there and buy the books elsewhere.
51. I actually like Fat Tire beer, and I don’t just drink it because it’s “cool.”
52. I’ve interviewed for teaching jobs in three states – and was never hired.
53. Aside from teaching jobs, however, I’ve never been denied a job I’ve interviewed for.
54. I had over 50 cover letters on file from teaching jobs that never bothered to even send a rejection letter.
55. If I could have dinner with five dead authors (and watch how this takes up five spots!) they would be: Geoffrey Chaucer
56. Aldous Huxley
57. Winston Churchill (which is kind of cheating, I know, but he is an author.)
58. Arthur Conan Doyle
59. Mark Twain
60. I secretly enjoy “Prairie Home Companion.”
61. I talk about sports too much.
62. I used to watch professional wrestling. A lot.
63. I actually created my own professional wrestling simulation league and included all of my friends.
64. My favorite wrestler was Chris Benoit.
65. I don’t get visual art.
66. The first real concert I ever went to was Metallica at the Sioux Falls Arena.
67. In saying this, I don’t count my first Sioux Empire Fair concert: The Monkees and Herman’s Hermits.
68. The first professional sports game I ever attended (that I remember) was a Chicago Bulls game (at the Target Center against the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves.)
69. However, I do know that I went to numerous Cincinnati Reds games when I was very young.
70. I used to tell people I was from a small Canadian city that I had made up. Many believed it.
71. This spawned one of my friends’ band name: Three Sisters, Manitoba.
72. I’ve created three websites in the past. None still exist.
73. It took me a long time, but I have finally come to the conclusion that Bill Murray is the greatest comedic mind of our generation.
74. I’ve been to England and France, but I had never stepped foot in North Dakota until two weeks ago.
75. I’ve never been in a car accident.
76. I have, though, been in two bicycling accidents.
77. One of these bike accidents left me with a scar on my chin that my beard won’t grow over.
78. I have no respect for certain types of media: tabloids…
79. …Fox News…
80. …and reality shows on cable.
81. I believe in brand loyalty.
82. For example: Sirius over XM
83. I vote Democrat, though I did vote for Nader.
84. I’ve only voted for one winning President: Bill Clinton, in 1996.
85. I was 18 when I first remember seeing Star Wars, though I’m sure I saw it as a child.
86. I used to have problems with my eye, requiring me to wear an eye patch to help ease the problems. I don’t remember what the problem was, but I remember the patch.
87. I spent every summer for many years in Jackson, Wyoming, and I don’t care how touristy it has become – I still love it.
88. I believe radio is better than cable.
89. I think Nick Hornby books make the best movies.
90. I still contend that giving college players money to play college sports is pretty stupid, so it should never be considered. Please – don’t give me the “athletes should be paid because they bring money into the school,” or the “interns are paid when they train for their jobs.” First of all, interns are paid very little – and they’re actually working, not playing a game. Second, the universities are making money on the bookworms too by hyping their school’s testing scores and alumnus – you’re no different just because you’re an athlete. If you’re good, you’ll get yours soon enough. I hardly think the life of a college athlete is that hard.
91. Sometimes I get worked up over miniscule things.
92. I buy my clothes on the clearance racks of expensive stores.
93. My first car was a Volkswagen Beetle.
94. My first CD was the Wayne’s World soundtrack.
95. I’m a cherry-cola drinker
96. I’ve only worked in the food business once, and it was a sub shop in the bar district.
97. I hated that job at the time, but I look back fondly at it now.
98. My favorite part of London was the subway.
99. I don’t understand poetry very well.
100. This post took seven days to complete (off and on).

FOO FIGHTERS AND WEEZER UNITE

Foo Fighters and Weezer have just announced a North American Co-Headlining tour! The first confirmed dates are:

Sept 08 - Atlanta, GA - Gwinnett Arena
Sept 10 - Sunrise, FL - Office Depot Center
Sept 11 - Tampa, FL - St. Petersburg Times Forum
Sept 13 - Houston, TX - Woodlands Arena
Sept 14 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
Sept 15 - Dallas, TX - Smirnoff Center

It would be great too if they would come to Minneapolis, and by Minneapolis I don't mean Chicago.

Audioslave: some of those who want forces are the same that want crosses

LIVE 8 is over with, but you can view footage of it via AOL. On note, Audioslave played with many of the band members previous "hit" songs prior to forming Audioslave. Some Rage and some Soundgarden. Acoustic renditions to "Black Hole Sun" and Cornell lead singing in "Killing in the Name Of". -video

On further note: You can catch Audioslave on FUSE this month.

100% Audioslave
Wednesday July 27th @ 9:30pm EST
Thursday July 28th @ 3pm EST
Friday July 29th @ 7am EST
Saturday July 30th @ 3:30pm EST
Sunday July 31st @ 9pm EST

Audioslave: Live in Cuba
Friday July 22nd @ 12am EST
Saturday July 21st @ 9:30pm EST
Wednesday July 27th @ 9pm EST
Sunday July 31st @ 9:30pm EST

'Musicapolis'

40 years of the Minneapolis music scene in photographs.

Musicapolis: Scene and Seen, 1965-2005

• What: Exhibit of 200-plus music photos -- from the Beatles to Babes in Toyland -- shot by Minnesotans • Where: Minnesota Center for Photography, 165 13th Av. NE., Mpls. • When: Sat. through Sept. 3 • Tickets: $10 for Saturday's opening event with live music, 4-9 p.m. Thereafter $3. 612-824-5500 • Website: www.mncp.org.


Brief synopsis of the show through the trib. Slideshow included!

I'm in St. Cloud Today, July 20th 2005

I'm spending the whole day up in St. Cloud. I have some papers to write and prep for a presentation tomorrow. Let me know if your in town. Beer will probably be involved later.

Back to School

Back to school today. I'll be at St. Cloud State from now - Aug. 18th for summer school. Of course I won't be living there. I'll commute an hour back and forth, which will suck. So if your in the St. Cloud area and want to do something let me know. I have speech class from 10 - 12 mon - thur. Yea!

Bill Murray

Bill Murray is back in
Broken Flowers. Murray is apparently a Don Juan of sorts and decides to find all the bastard children he has created, or only one of them. You decide from the movie trailer. Looks pretty good.

Garrison Keillor: When we were cool

"The mansion on Lowry Hill whose backyard the Guthrie sits on did not last long either. Thomas Lowry arrived in town after the Civil War and made his fortune in the wake of the crash of 1873 when he snapped up real estate at bargain prices and then came the boom and suddenly he had a mansion on a hill that was named for him. He was the president of the Soo Line railroad and a staunch Republican who bought and restored the railroad car that carried Abraham Lincoln's coffin from Washington to Springfield in 1865. Lowry died in 1909 and two years later the Lincoln car, which was kept at the Soo Line yards in Columbia Heights, went up in flames." -Garrison Keillor, Star Tribune July 15 2005

For more about Lowry Hill and the Walker Art Center Click Here

USA Cup

Soccer. America's greatest past time. Full of fast paced action and non stop scoring. In my mind, the greatest thing man has ever created. Thus he has bestowed upon us the U.S.A. Cup. A cup like no other that drips the nectar of the Gods.

The tournament of tournaments sits at no other then the National Sports Center in Blaine, MN. Some have compared it to the roman coliseum, some haven't. 14,000 global warriors will compete for all the glory, that is, the U.S.A. Cup.

Why the hell you would choose to hold any global soccer tournament any where in the United States of America is beyond me. All of you freaks who believe in conspiracy theories try to figure that one out. Here is my only explanation. The city of Blaine, MN used to be the land of sod fields. Sod fields that went on for days. You would believe the world is flat if you lived in the center of Blaine. So some genius decided to buy up the sod fields and convert them all into soccer fields by simply placing two goals on a lot. 20 some odd years later you have the largest soccer tournament in the country. Go figure.


Why do I care? I don't. Except for the fact that from July 15th,-25th my town will be invaded by even more crazy soccer moms, foreigners, and soccer fanatics, i.e. hooligans. Nothing against foreigners though, but when I have to serve you and you don't speak my language things get testy after the 500th French customer.


I just don't want to deal with the congestion it brings. Soccer is an alright sport, I just wish we had something cooler in Blaine. Our next big event will be the 3M senior classic golf tour at the TPC right next to my house. I can't wait for that one. I couldn't even drive my own car down my street without being stopped by a cop asking where I lived. Given I have respect for how difficult golf can get, but to be honest it's a god awful sport. I dig the concept, but the attitude golf brings just makes me want to vomit. Maybe that's what I'll do, every time a cop stops me I'll stick my finger down my throat and vomit all over them. I'll probably shoot golf balls off my roof too, just to throw them off. -USA Cup link

Last Days

Last Days is a fictional meditation on the inner turmoil that engulfs a brilliant, but troubled musician in the final hours of his life.

I just found out about Last Days today. It comes out on the 22nd. Besides it taking a stab at Kurt's actual final hours, I find the whole idea of how people perceive suicide and depression very interesting. I myself have experienced such, and have met many people since who share the same. In discussion of it since, many friends have even spoken to me about it. It can be a very taboo subject to many, which I find very frustrating but understandable. I'm not sure how this movie will portray his last days, but maybe it'll bring the topic of depression more to the fore front. - movie preview

Summer Night Special

It's happening again. Mid-summer boredom. I don't know why I'm complaining though. In less then a week I'll be re-taking a class at SCSU because the grade wasn't satisfactory enough for them. A C- instead of a C. So it's back to speech class for me. By the time that class is overwith, my student teaching will begin. I have a part-time job at a deli, it's a job, it pays the bills. Maybe I'm just bored with life right now. Nothing really happens around here. Nothing fun that is. I rarely get to see Laurie who lives on the other side of town. All of my friends from my hometown no longer live here. My college friends still live in St. Cloud.

I had a great time with them last weekend though. I guess I just want more. Just bored. I can't even do anything creative my head is so numb and full of nothingness.

I'm sick of a lot of things too. #1 on my list: SCSU. Just let me graduate. If I get my application for graduation back again saying I haven't completed the following I think I'll just combust on spot. #2 People. The more I interact with people at my job the more I lose respect for them. Common sense is at an all time low. All that goes through my mind is I wish I could win the powerball and get out of this hell hole I call work.

I need motivation, initiative to do something... I have none of this right now.

Another list, another rebuttal:Top 13 Most Overrated Songs

Time to take a look at another list of songs to kill some time. This time it's the Top 13 Most Overrated Songs off of some blog. After viewing the list I would agree with 75% of it myself. That is I may be partial to one song but agree with the overratedness (if that's a word) only 25%.

The only one I agree with 100% was #5. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” - Def Leppard. Almost every "glam rock" song that came out of the 80's I believe fits this category for me. The rest of the songs I can live with. Stop fucking moaning if you hate it so much and go produce your own record. - list

Behind the fake hype

View some great video and images created by an artist who fooled us in believing what were the first shots of the Nintendo Revolution. The artist has some really great stuff. Take a look.

Congrats to Godwin

Analysa Adachi Alaike. 6 lbs 3oz, Born 5:13 AM to this proud father.
Congratulations on your new family Godwin.

God Bless America

John Daker - Weird Singing Man, would like to wish you a happy 4th of July!


Video One Video Two

July 1st 2005

"God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny."
-Garrison Keillor

Stories of note:

Movie preview: King Kong, Dec. '05

Half-Life 2 Aftermath Q&A - The Skinny on Aftermath - Gamespot

Fishermen in northern Thailand have caught the biggest catfish on record -- a 646-pound - yahoo/Reuters

The rebirth of McCarthyism - The Seattle Times

Bored? Read this dissertation on the Daily Show critiqued by some asshat art phd

I don't why I found this so amusing.