Get UR Tea On

If you’re like most people my age, you thoroughly enjoyed Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

I’ve been waiting quite a while for info and a trailer for Anderson’s newest perfect-colors, perfect-soundtracked movie to come out and here it is: The Darjeeling Limited.

Doesn’t hurt much that three of the best and most handsome actors are starring: (in my personal order) Adrian Brody, Jason Swartzman and Owen Wilson. Angelica Huston made her way in as well, and one can only hope she’s some sort of gorgeous Indian spiritual healer (with a dark side).

THIS JUST IN: Flaming Lips News!

As reported earlier by Rosey, THE FUCKING FLAMING LIPS!!! Will be headlining the SoCo music fest. In case you’ve been unfortunate enough to have never experienced the Lips live show, please mark this date in permanent ink: August 25th.
Even if you hate their music, don’t know it or simply have hummed along once or twice to, ‘Do You Realize’, everyone needs to see the brightly colored, confetti-laden, spaceship donning, giant-hand wielding, nun puppet dancing-est show on earth!

Check out a shitty Youtube video from their New Year's Eve show in LA (I was 10 feet from the stage for this insanity)

Tokyo Police Club: Pre-Show Info

Okok, so these guys are pretty damn good. They remind me a lot of The Unicorns, but take themselves a bit more seriously than those goofballs did. Some say Strokes as well.

Just signed to Saddlecreek yesterday. Congrats!

I interviewed them for City Beat-Check it out on Wednesday.

The Canadian rockers play the Beauty Bar on Thursday, the 26th.

Here’s their myspace.
Here's an article.
And another one.

Sad but True?

Please Vote: Impeachbush.org

Impeachbush.org

Remember when you used to read about Hitler or watch 'Triumph of the Will" and almost not believe it was true? How could those people have faith in him? How did that happen so recently?
Watch this, and I swear its nearly as powerful. Do we have to wait until our government starts eating Asian babies on live television?
Please vote!

Be There

Date got cut off, its saturday! $5.
Myspace Page

I Don't Care if You've Seen This

Watch it again.

If you've never seen this-aka the best youtube video ever-watch it at least 3 times until it starts to make/not make sense.

Chuck! Palahniuk! MOVIES!

Its been about 90 years since Fight Club was released, watched and changed young men and women everywhere (at least until they realized that, they too, could not afford anything better than Ikea furni). And though the Pixies played over a genuine hand-holding whilst the economic infrastructure of America is demolish is probably an ending that shaln’t be topped, we have room to hope…

For…

CHOKE and INVISIBLE MONSTERS!!!

I’ve been hearing round these net parts that these movies were going to be produced sometime in the distant future, but the geeks at IMDB are now abuzz with some details.

"Choke"
Will star Sam Rockwell as Victor, Angelica Houston as his sick mommy and a few others that need not be mentioned at this time. I wish there was a movie poop shoot for this one.

Summary (in case you have not read the awesome book):
is a black comedy that follows Victor Mancini (Rockwell), a sex addict who works as a Colonial War re-enactor and runs a con scheme that involves deliberately choking in restaurants and attaching himself parasitically to his rescuers, all to fund his mother's (Huston) care at a private mental hospital.

He is forced to address his intimacy issues when he falls in love with his mother's doctor and discovers that he is unable to perform with the one woman he actually likes.

And even better: INVISIBLE MONSTERS

No word on actors for this one yet, but a few years back it was rumoring that bootylicious fallen angel Jessica Biel would play the morbidly deformed former model lead chick.

And will Brandy be played by a man or woman? A woman as a man as a woman?

This book is definitely my favorite of Chucks as the concept is quite interesting: what happens when the “pretty girl” loses her entire identity-her beauty? What did she do to the people around her when she still had her all-empowering beauty? Who shot her face off? Why did birds eat it?

Libraries are for Dorks (like me)

Since 2000, I’ve owed the San Diego Public Library system about $40. Granted, you say, that’s not too much dough when I’m making like fifty thou, but that’s also one night at Casbah and one night at Livewire (IF I get in for free, that is).

So, just as I was about to suck it up and pay-so that I could check out photoshop books and titles somewhere along the lines of “Indie Rockstars Guide to Music Management”-I see this thing about Open Library (demo).

It’s just as it sounds-finally a wiki where you can look up (someday) all published books, and hopefully, read them. For now, it just gives you info on most popular copyrighted ones and lets you know where to check them out. But I searched quite a few that I was able to read.

iPhone+Open Library= no more paper for me.

The downside: one less public place to pick up on dudes or chicks. Damn.

Gotta Love the BBC, Gotta Not love Scientology

I truly mean this when I say it: I'm in fear for my life when I post this blog.

This morning I just got thorough watching the ever-witty BCC Panorama report entitled Scientology and Me. Aging reporter John Sweeny was on a Mission:Impossible (anything for Cruise thwacks) to uncover whatever he could about the very private "religion" of Scientology.

What he found, and what he absolutely could not find, was breathtaking. He interviewed a few mothers that had literally lost their children to the church. One day, one of the mums received a letter of "disconnect" stating that her daughter would have absolutely no contact with her in the future.

Another couple, who spoke boldly about their previous 10 years and $1 million spend on the group, said that there were still 6 children involved that refused to visit their dying father due to their disconnect.

The funniest/saddest part of the report is how Scientology leader and Cruise look-a-like Tommy Davis just SHOWS UP anywhere the reporter is trying to have an interview. At one point, he runs out of a black SUV on a private rooftop where Sweeny was interviewing a dissenter. Large file folder in hand, he begins to rattle off the legal trouble that the interviewee has had in the past, trying to defame him on the spot.

This guy is seriously out of his mind. Apparently the church has a method called "fair game" in which they dig up even the tiniest detail of someone's life, should they choose to criticize or even question the church in any way.

So, therefore, I'm going to stop here. This is America and you can believe what you'd like. I just don't want to have to spend $500,000 before I can become a 3rd Level Thetan.

Good Ole Wis.dm

As if we don't have enough of those pesky social networking-majigs out there, here's a new and kinda fun one.

Wis.dm (notice there is no .com, just type in wis.dm into your browser)

It's basically a place where you can go to ask a question and see what everyone thinks. You can leave comments and begin to get some ideas about what you'll ask, once you sign up of course. Sounds simple and not terribly interesting, but stop by anyway.


My favorites so far are:
"Is forced oral sex still rape?" (no, its called "super fun mouth sex that does not take your virginity")

"Do you ever question the validity of your memories?" (uhh, like every morning)

"When you drink alcohol, do you drive around the room with a pretend steering wheel?" (gotta try this)

---m

It's All OK: 10 Years After the Release of Radiohead's OK Computer

July 1st marked 10 long years since Radiohead released it's universally and personally-acclimed record OK Computer. Today I'm taking a look into why this album has been a friend, an emeny, an inspiration and a life-saver.

Part1: We're All Going to be OK

The Beatles’ “Yesterday” is not merely a universal favorite because of its tender melody and sing-a-long lyrics. It both adequately and simply sums up humanity’s constant longing for good, or better, times. We are trapped by this nagging notion of time, constantly looking back-or occasionally forward- to the times that we identify as happy. How often have we been in the middle of one of these moments, only to notice that the first thought that comes to mind is, “I hope this lasts forever”, and thereby admitting that time has destroyed the moment?

I bring up this point not to depress, but to ponder: what is it about sad songs that make us happy? When you’re freshly in love, all love songs whether from Kelly Clarkson or The Temptations, explain the way you feel as if the artist were writing your story. When you break up, inevitably, you suddenly notice songs about heartbreak that, again, run eerily along the lines of your life.

Radiohead has done an incredible job of walking the line between admitting and expressing a near-defeated, nihilistic view of the cold, “professionalism” of the 1990’s, while still letting in enough light and understanding to bandage the wound that has just been opened.

A perfect example of this dichotomy is portrayed in “No Surprises”. The title alone suggest a closed-case attitude toward, well, everything. It’s always the cynic in us that utters, “that’s no surprise”. But when the music starts, we enter a soft xylophone-driven landscape, safe enough for even the most anxious, worried and scared child in all of us.

Just as we’re getting comfortable, Thom’s voice prances on top of the melody to remind us of what we’re really made of:

“A heart that’s full-up like a landfill. A job that slowly kills you. Bruises that won’t heal.”

And with this bruised heart in hand we supplicate, defeated, and desire only:

“A quiet a life. A Handshake. Some carbon monoxide. No Alarms and No Surprises.

Silence.”

How many times have we sat at our desks/coffee/bars/prison cells and uttered “this job is slowly killing me” and then inevitably, “but you have to work, I mean, you have to. You need money. Can’t sleep on the streets. Can’t live at home with mom forever. Gotta grow up. This job is secure! This job will lead to other things. I kinda like that one guy around the corner. Traffic isn’t that bad…”

These feelings come from a complete disconnect of our job directly impacting anything tangible. There are a lucky few that actually know where their time and efforts are going toward, other than a pay check.

Before the industrial revolution-and I promise I’m going somewhere with this-most avenues of making a living were direct and easy to comprehend. You woke up in the morning, you milked the cows which was then packaged and sent to the families around you because they needed milk. And you gave them milk. And they gave you a shirt on your back that protected you from the sun when you were outside milking the cows.

Now this notion of simplicity vs. complex modern society has been hashed over in music, literature and, most likely, your upper-level college courses until it has become passé and vacuous-a problem without a solution.

But I bring Radiohead into this discussion because I believe they were some of the only artists to truly capture, through music and lyrics, the spirit and sadness of this disconnection with nature, work and even other humans. Sure, we have to work in a workplace in order to make money in order to buy our milk. But this modern idea of polished professionalism and policy has truly degraded our ability to connect with, well, anything.

Except that, at the end of the day, there is one place we can still escape: music. Why does listening to songs about a desolate future and placid present make that present seem just a little better? Why does singing songs about yesterday make today a bit easier to get through?

Maybe the only thing we, as humans, have left to connect with is our shared sense or sorrow and desire for a world we can’t even begin to imagine or define. As Paranoid Androids we cry

“Rain down, rain down. Come on rain down on me. From a great height.”

A computer can never be OK. A computer can’t be sad or happy or grateful or lonely. It just is. As we are.

Part 2: In Desperate Attempt to Express Gratitude

In the 8 years that I’ve been religiously listening to Radiohead, and I say 8 because those were the times that I’ve concentrated most of my efforts, I’ve considered these tributary signs of love for the band:

1. tattoo of parts of the OK Computer album artwork.

2. a dissertation on how the album brought about both the resurgence of atmospheric, emotional, well-executed rock (i.e. “saved rock-n-roll) and, sadly, the less-impressive and more derivative modern and overly commercialized indie/emo landscape.

3. Writing Thom York (or Jonnie Greenwood, depending on the day) a letter in which I profess that simply listening to their music is not enough for me. I wish him a swift and painless divorce coupled with an equally lithe and well-executed exodus of me, my dog and my best friend over to England or wherever he chooses to be. I’ll inspire his next 10 albums with my youthful vitality and muse-like genius. (actually, this has been my dream with all the musicians I’ve dated.)

4. Killing myself during the last 10 seconds of “Lucky”. “We are standing on the edge?” How dramatic of me, and what a way to go.

Part 3: Ways That Others Have Reacted

Recently Stereogum. com quickly put together the first tribute to OK Computer that, in my opinion, does the least bit of justice to the record.

Standout interpretations on OK X: A Tribute to OK Computer include:
-Sweedish band Slaraffenland's take on "Paranoid Android"
-The Twilight Sad's really, really sad "Climbing Up the Walls"
-Personal Favorite My Brightest Diamond's "Lucky"

Check out the entire *FREE* album here.
Read Pitchfork's take here.


About a year ago, a select group of musicians, producers, and critics got together for OK Computer: A Classic Album Under Review. If you really want to go deep with chord structure, Beatles comparisons, albums release history and brilliant anecdotal passages that cover every minute detail of the album, its artwork and its place in history-then this DVD is for me, err, you.

Don't miss out on:
- "7 Television Commercials"-7 Select music videos that are varied, intense and original
-"Meeting People is Easy"- a documentary on the band that shows a deeper side of their personalities, inspirations and frusterations with the modern music industry
-"Radiohead: Back to Save the Universe. The Stories Behind Every Song"-not terribly in depth but a good beginner's book on the history of most of the songs.
-"

What Do We Do? The Decemberists Know

Considering I’m only 25, I’d say there have been about 10 experiences that have changed my life. And the people who have these experiences, and claim to have had them, know how I define life-changing. It's not a new take on your destiny, it's not necessarily a movement away from your current situation, it's not even that you realize that you need to “be a better person”, or anything unnecessary like that. It’s that the moment itself makes you utterly grateful. You are, more or less, impressed with the idea of being alive. You move on from these moments with a newfound ability to get through all the shitty days in the hopes that sometime in the near future your life will change again.

Radiohead at Embarcadero. R.E.M’s Monster Tour, Arcade Fire. Parque Guell in Barcelona. Kissing a lover in Berlin. Extra Action Marching Band at the Casbah, The Flaming Lips everywhere I've seen them. These, though mostly music related, are my most recent memories that involved times of transcendence.

But I have a new one. Saturday night, 7/7/7, Heather and I were lucky enough to witness possibly one of the most magical moments in my personal experience with music. I feel that even typing the word music is near blasphemous because it is all too common and vulgar. A longtime favorite band of mine, The Decemberists were playing possibly the most beautiful venue in the world, The Hollywood Bowl. On top of these facts, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra was finally setting their music to its full potential.

At one moment during the show, faithful leader Colin Meloy quipped that his music was always written and intended to be heard the way that he was hearing it that evening. If you listen to any one of their albums, especially Castaways and Cutouts & Her Majesty, The Decemberists, you can tell that they did not have the budget to afford more that a few violins, guitars and banjos. So after years of patiently listening on shitty speakers, ipod buds or (ekk) my computer, I too was able to experience that fruition with them.

I don’t want this to be a regular concert review. Yes, they played personal favorites, The Bagman’s Gambit, We Both Go Down Together, and Los Angeles I’m Yours (to ironic cheers during the line, “but oh the smell of burnt cocaine, the dolor and decay”). But the song that made me nearly fall to my knees in anticipation was the epic Odalisque. The arrangement of this song was taken far beyond even its regularly impressive minor-key chord progression. The guitar solo sounded even more like The Beatles “She’s So Heavy” and the orchestra was simply on fire.

The chord progression and final payoff during, “And what do we do with ten baby shoes, a kit-bag full of marbles and a broken billiard cue?” sent my soul (yes I said soul) to a level that no man, drug, friend, place or sound has ever taken it. For so many years, these lines have epitomized the empty feeling of having no money, no possessions and no clue of what the FUCK to do with life. What do we do? What do we do?

What we do is make music. What we do is try desperately, in any way we can think of, to express this all-too common emotion to others that we are sure know how it is.

There was nothing I could do to stop the stream of tears falling into my glasses and onto the concrete. Heather was feeling the same way, I can only imagine, and so were a few people right around us. There were a few seconds I really thought I was going to completely lose it, but thanks to the antics following the end of the song, I was able to be distracted. I know a lot of people that for one reason or another claim to not be able to, or not “choose to” cry. From the bottom of my heart I feel sorry for these people because when something gets inside of you that deeply, there is hardly any other way to express it.

While I do have a love affair with the Internet and all things Youtube, it was a tough decision of whether or not to post the following video. All I ask is that if you watch it, you please also buy/watch the (HOPEFULLY!!!) forthcoming DVD of the entire show.

Thanks for listening…


The Master


The Cell-Phony Crowd

Weekend Rhymes with Drinkend

Saturday:I have been patiently awaiting The Decemberists, Band of Horses & Andrew Bird concert for about 4 months now. They are teaming up with The Los Angeles Symphony for a Metalica-esqe romp in the Hollywood Bowl. That is, if Metallica sung about Courtesans, Petticoats, Edith Piaf and the fall of the Reich.

The Decemberists have been a favorite of mine for about 4 years now, but their newest release, The Crane Wife, left much to be desired. I do realize that as bands “grow up” they tend to shy away from 6-part harmonies, 15 guitar tracks and over-the top lyrics that are just plain fun. But these are the things that I truly loved about these Portland natives. It’s great when you can listen to an entire album and then have to read about 4 history-bookish websites to fully understand what the musician was talking about.

I’ve also saved up about $200 to be spent solely at Amoeba. That place is giant and makes me smile like a 6 year old. I’m still hoping to find Dio’s “Dream Evil”, but have had no luck thus far in San Diego, Barcelona, San Francisco, London or Dublin.

The one problem with Amoeba, other than looking around and feeling like you have no style, is that just when you’re done picking out all your records, used CDs and some random dub album, you remember that there are DVDS!! Upstairs. Shit. Not only DVDs, but really good, hard to find, and brand new music videos, concerts and boxed sets to die for. Last time I was up there I left with Bjork, Super Furry Animals, and Radiohead DVDs.

Should have saved more.

This picture reminds of myself:

Commap Da Showden

A few years back, the Best Guy in the World (aka Mark D) introduced me to the minimalist music of Steve Reich. We had been going through a major 60’s music period, which happens about every 3 minutes in my life, and had discovered something terribly interesting, different and impressive.

Steve Reich, along with contemporary and sometimes partner Terry Riley, is credited with starting up the minimalist/modern classical music genre around 1966 in NYC. By using tape loops to make phasing patters, or repetitive speckles of grungily recorded speech, he creates a sonic universe that is weird at first, boring at second, annoying at third, and blissfully meditative from there on out.

One of his best known, “Come Out” is basically a clip of a man saying something along the lines of “come out da show dem”. The songs beings like you might expect many of his experimental/electronic followers to start: a rhythmic repetition of a single phrase. There are 2 things you can do from here: pay extremely close attention to how slowly and methodically the beats and phrasing is changing, or just relax and begin to hear all kinds of wack shit:

Come Map the Show Then
Cum Opta Showden
Commapta Snowden
Come Out There Shorty

It’s so impressive that this guy was doing this before drum machines and modern technological help. The Books' album "Lemon of Pink" as well as The Notwist's "Neon Golden" are very similiar to some of the stylings that can be heard on 2006' Reich Remixed, especially the Books' "A True Story of a Story of True Love". Four Tet’s drum and Xylophone-heavy working of “Drumming” may be quite a departure for hardcore Reich fans, but I love it.


Apparently, these kids do too:

Lotsa Movie for the Kid's Price

If you'll just take my simple 4 step advice, I can guarantee you'll be in cinematic bliss for 4-6 hours on any given night of the week. Money back guarantee! Act now and receive a free Child's admission ticket and Kid's pack popcorn. First one to email (reelmandy@gmail.com) gets to see how I do this first hand.

1. Become a Scheduling Genius.
You can't exactly see Transformers at 4:30, Die Hard at 6 and Joshua at 11. You'll miss the important plot points in Die Hard (har har) and have to spend 3 hours in the restroom waiting for the newest evil-in-childcarnate flick.

Best advice: Choose theaters that have no choice but to space their movies so that there is between 10-30 minutes of wait time. If you've only got 5-10, skip the popcorn and credits from your first movie and just walk right into the other one. If you've got a longer time to wait (I say 45 mins max), get in line for a drink which both shows the theater workers you're supporting their main source of income and, who the fuck is going to kick out someone who's just purchased a 76-ounce soda for $6?

Mission Valley and Landmark Hillcrest seem to be the best theaters to do this at.

Check Rottentomates for a easy way to figure out your own perfectly-preplanned schedule. Soon, there will be a widget that can do this for you. ohh, ahh!

2. Never Let them know you know anything.
This is brilliant advice for sneaking into concerts, movies, the ghetto, you name it. Its easier when you're a girl because bitches tend to ACTUALLY not know anything, but men can pull it off too. If you're nervous the first time you do this, wear something especially dorky and lame looking as to add to your perceived ignorance. I've had some friends get really scared that someone is watching us as we move from theatre to theatre, but in the history of this plan-at least 9 years-I've never once been found out or thrown out. Be nonchalant. Be friendly and normal.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS: tell the anal worker that you ALWAYS watch two films and that you bought 2 tickets. They will get embarrassed for calling an adult out for movie-hopping and won't stick around long enough for you to root through your pockets for the correct stub.

3. Eat a meal before you go, popcorn in between the shows.
Could not help myself with that one. Ok, so 6 hours in a theatre is no joke. You might need caffeine, you might need a sub. Only you know yourself, but prepare like its Coachella. Bring water in your bag, and gum. you never know if there's going to be someone you might want to make out with during an especially long-winded scene in Ocean's 13. Like I've stated above, the best time to buy any snack is in between shows. It makes you look like you just got there and makes you look like you have money to spend there-which you obviously don't because you're seeing 3 movies for $7.

4. Buy your tickets online. Child's price.
I think by now you've discovered that I don't have much morality (period) or respect for major motion pictures. I do, however, spend a lot of my money on the movie industry-Hollywood Video, books about directors and French cinema, my $100,000 "film" education from Point Loma. So I don't feel bad about any of this. Visit Movietickets.com, fandango or rottentomatoes to purchase your tickets before you go. Choose the child's price. Again, no one ever notices this. And if they do, just follow rule #2, play dumb (that darnd Internet thing-a-ma-jig is so confusin').

Quick Stop Movie Reviews

I'm thinking of doing a weekly part of my blog for the Quick Stops. Might contain music reviews, restaurants, plays, or tuberous nights at the Casbah. But always Quick.

Ever since I discovered the magic of film and the grandeur of seeing the talkies in a big, dark theater, on average I've seen about 3-7 new movies per week. I usually go alone because I don't have too many friends that can stand to watch 2-3 movies in one sitting. Read below for expert advice on how to do this, unfailingly well, for the price of one child's ticket.

Onto the Quickies:

Once-
This is probably going to be my favorite of the summer. I saw it twice in one night, just to listen to the music again. The story is more than simple-Irish Musician Boy meets poor Czech musician Girl with complicated past and present. They don't necessarily fall in love as much as discover their unique bond through music. And as someone who is musically-inclined and has been singing most of my life, yet has never fully been a part of a true-to-life band, this movie is equally heart-breaking and inspiring. We get to see the 2 put together a street-musician, ramshackle band and practice one evening before heading into the studio to record. If the official soundtrack is any indication, they did a hell of a job in 2 days. If this one cant make you believe in "good" in the world, not much will.

Moral of the story: If you possibly can, do what you really want to do, with someone you really want to do it with. Might only happen once.




Knocked Up-
If you're at all in the Apatow camp (Anchorman, Freaks and Geeks, 40 Year-Old Virgin), you know what you're in for. Grungy stoner jokes that somehow come from ultimately sweet, gentle people with Hearts of Gold. Doesn't Judd get that some of the loser/stoners out there really are assholes?

Comedy aside-and see it for the well-timed lines from Rogen, Rudd and Mann-there is a major problem with this movie. Utter and total lack of social responsibility in our over-populated, quickly crumbling world of 2007. Heigl's character hardly even considers abortion or adoption, even though she is a very successful, happy, beautiful single girl who's about to have a baby with a guy that like fart jokes, his bong, and his "($900) that will probably last about another 2 years".

As you already know, I'm completely biased when it comes to the life-threatening decision of having children. I know movies are supposed to get us to suspend our disbelief and all, but COME ON, I can't believe the

Moral of the Story is: No matter your situation, no matter the father, no matter the consequences for the child, babies are cute and cuddly and everything will work out just in time for the little nubby to pop out. Life is great. Life is simple. Irresponsibility will eventually turn into success and happiness if you just have a few rows and then make up.




1408
Oh god, its scary to even begin to write about this one. I'll be brief cause the Knocked Up review was bitter and lengthy. I love John Cusak and so should you. Though he's won my heart in many previous films, High Fidelity is still my favorite. It makes me believe that there is some good in the world, and some good taste to go along with it.

Anyway, John holds together this somewhat shaky, spooky film about a bitter man who is desperately seeking any shred of evidence of the after-life. He's lost his young daughter to cancer?!? and we discover the details of her life and death throughout the film. The best part of this movie is the pacing and the audience's ability to live through the experience with the character. Some horror films you're just a voyeur, watching the teenies getting picked off one by one. You might even have the satisfying view from the killer's side. But when you check into apparently haunted room 1408, you're discovering the story and the gory right along with him.

The one downside was that this film brought up some bad memories of when I used to believe in hell. Christians would be happy to abuse their child's mind by taking them to this movie and then saying something like "see, aren't you glad you accepted Jesus and never have to go through any of that?" Bastards.

Moral of the Story: Its ok to be live in things, sometimes. Atheists are bitter people who just can't seem to accept anything (lame, lame, lame). Sometimes movies don't need morals, just spooky fun.

Battles/Skullz/Tower Photos

Don't think this night needs any review:

Weekend Review-OR-FUCK! tomorrow is Monday

"I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues."-Dr. Suess

Here is what the trees of Mt. Laguna told me over the past 2 glorious, party-free days:

1. No matter how cool nights are on the weekends in San Diego, you gotta get out of dodge now and then. And just look at us-the trees.
2. You can hug us all you want, no one is looking.
3.You are smack dab inside of one of the best years of your life. Enjoy it.
4. People change.
5. Corn is best in salsa.
6. Bizzy Crizzy Camping Trizzy.

Lucky for us, getting out to the Cleveland National Forest can be done with about 2 hours of planning at 4am the night before departure. La Posta burritos are always a good start.

After quasi-brief stops at TJ's, Rite Aide and OB (duh), Heather and I took the good ole Shark on a trip out to the trees. One hour and one stop for overheating later, we were there. We usually camp at the Laguna site with its perfect access to the Pacific Trail, a small lake and a giant hikeable view of the canyons, but it is June and that place was packed. Instead, we tried Burnt Ranchiera's equally large site. After 5 rounds scoping the best, most secluded spot, we found #100. Tent up, my new airbed full, beer chilled, and Mia running around like the little nature dog she is; perfection.

The details of the trip are lost on the overall feeling: rejuvenation. Our plan was, as stated so perfectly to Michael Bolton in Office Space: "I did nothing. Michael, I did nothing at all it was everything I hoped it would be."

We solidified our next few weeks of absolute insanity-literally something fun to do every night in the next 2 weeks. We'll be in LA next weekend for Band of Horses and The Decemberists, Long Beach the next day for Sunday Funday with my crazy cousin Liz. By next Thursday we'll be up in San Francisco hanging with The Prayers, Vultures, Skullz in general, Chow Nasty, Encyclopediapictura Boys, and Naan-n-Curry.

Here are some pictures from the weekend: