Thoughts, June 17, 10:45PM

This summer feels like no summer I've summed before. It's good, albeit confusing in its unidentifiability. My body was dragged home after work by my soul, not because it didn't belong there, but because it was simply too exhausted to move. I plead guilty to not having the energy I should have during a wonderful dinner with my dad to properly celebrate the hero he has been to me, and promptly afterwards I moved myself to the hammock for a warm nap. Waking up 20 minutes letter, I decided the Spirit told me to move inside, and two more hours of dinosaurs, flying, and interesting mashups of friends visited me in my dreams. And when I woke, there was much rejoicing. And thus I've been sitting on my bed, catching up on blogs I've let pile up in that digital cloud. I'm ingesting some incredible chocolate cake that my mom made for my dad today alongside a trusty glass of my skim milk, and come to think of it, metaphorically speaking the cake is actually icing ON the cake of the horrid diet I have graced myself with today: 2 slices of cold pizza for breakfast, an ice cream oreo pie from The Chop House for lunch, and a feast from the good ol' Famous Dave's for dinner. Perhaps it will help as tomorrow I yet again will lift a little bar over and over again in hopes of making my wee arm a little less wee-like. I had no idea how hard it was to gain weight. Jeez... But no worries now, I am indulging in the gift of new music that summer has bestowed -- Ryan Adams, The New Pornographers, Immaculate Machine -- letting the notes gracefully flood my ears. And I am wondering if I have enough of that creative juice, energy, force, whatever you would like to call it, etc. to actually start AND finish one of the creative endeavors that are spinning around between those neurons and synapses. I have a nagging tendency to get halfway through before that aforementioned "stuff" runs out. Hmm... Perhaps we'll see. Looking at my list of "Summer To Do's" I made the last week of school is depressing. I'd rather blog instead. Or watch another masterpiece of this man:

Wes Anderson, release your next one already!

The Trusslah

This is Mark.



Mark also goes by T.Russ.



Mark is one of my good friends at Belmont.



I posted some of his music here on my Semester 1 Playlist. He really does make good "normal" music too.

Well, Mark is at it again. Him and a friend have been working on a project they call Whitehouse Productions. Being home at Memphis must have done something to him, because he now thinks he is a rap artist. Check out their myspace for some amazing work. I doubt you will regret it. And I'm sure he would love it if you left a comment of appreciation as well. Do it for Mark...he's a pretty swell guy :o).

Andrew Osenga's Newest

Andrew Osenga has a new EP out, "Letter to the Editors, Vol. 1," and it's up for a free download here on his blog (though a paypal donation is strongly encouraged). I'm listening to it right now and it's some good stuff. I love the guy and all of his projects (The Normals, Squarepeg Alliance, Caedmon's Call), and I can honestly say I never fail to thoroughly enjoy what he has to say on his ol' blog. So if you're looking for some great music or reading...look no further.

The Day Before...

WWDC07, one half of the two conferences that make a Mac-nerd's heart beat a little faster every year, is almost here. Tomorrow, during the Stevenote, as it has come to be called among his cult followers, there is much that is to be expected: news on the new iPhone, all the details on Leopard (the OS X update), new iMacs, new thin notebooks, Google and .Mac integration, and possibly even movie rentals from iTunes. There's a lot to hope for...

But make sure you check out the keynote bingo tradition that has started. First one to shout "Bingo" loud enough for the audience at home to hear wins...

For more links and info about how to keep up to date with the updates coming from the conference tomorrow, check here.

Enjoy!

What Are You Eating?

Normal Rockstar has an incredible post. Lend me your thoughts on it, if you don't mind :o).

Colbert On Candidates' Faith

Dissension Between Pro-Life Groups

As pro-life groups gear up to take on the new Supreme Court and try to change the Roe v. Wade decision, it seems there seems to be some dissention among their tactics and money. It's an interesting argument: should they take the incremental, saving more lives by slowly making it harder to have abortions route, or should they take the all out ban on abortion route. Before you pick your camp, I suggest you read this article, it may just make you take some things into consideration that hadn't crossed your mind.

Either way, I, for one, think it's pretty apalling that 1 in 5 pregnancies in this country end in an abortion, which translates to an estimated 1.3 million abortions a year.

AIDS Pandemic...Still a Pandemic

"For each sub-Saharan African who was placed on anti-AIDS drugs last year, experts say, five more were newly infected. The region’s rate of new infections has not budged since the late 1990s, experts say."

Full NY Times Article here

Worth a Gander (possibly two?)

hometown lovin.

gracias amigo tyler

Here's to the Crazy Ones!

A reworking of Apple's "Think Different" Ad:


Here's the original:

Bah!

Things that are utterly unfortunate, as experienced by Tim:

1) Uncertainty.
2) Adults acting more immature than their kids.
3) Yellow stuff pouring from a limitless (and quite efficient) factory somewhere in your nose.

Well, thats all I got.


Sleep well, blogosphere.

Invisible Children Screening at Rcktwn

Saturday, June 2nd, I will be on hand at Rocketown during the Southern Hospitality Jam to screen the documentary Invisible Children: Rough Cut. I know most of you have most likely already seen the moving documentary that without exaggeration changed my life, but if you haven't, I urge you to make it a priority to be at this event if you are able. It's an all day thing, but we are screening the movie at 5:30 pm. All details can be found at the myspace page I linked above. Or, if you merely want to lend a brother some support, it would be much appreciated! Seeing as the festival features graffiti artists, freestyle rap-offs, and pro skateboarders, I think I may be a little out of my league... I may need all the familiar faces I can get!