Life and All That Bullshit

I'm pretty down. I think that is an understatement. I'm lost inside myself. I haven't been writing as much (as you faithful readers can tell) and I haven't painted in a long while. I guess I'm depressed. No, I am. I am depressed. Saying it does't make me feel any better. In fact it makes me feel worse.

At The Online Coffee Company "The Police" is playing and that cheers me up a bit. Then I think again about the state of my life. I am no longer cheered. I have not filed my paperwork for my intership. It's so long ago that I finished that I fear they will not accept it. So I don't fill out the paper work.

I think about my work, how much I dread every day I go to the Red Lion. I do a job any idiot with half a brain could do. At least I do it well. . . at least above mediocre. I was offered more hours by my new boss, Alex. "No thanks," I said, "I'm in a big enough rut as it is." And that is where I am at. The Rut.

I am happy that I am doing sound design on a film. I will be working on it from today to Friday. There's the smile. A little crooked, but better than nothing.

I don't even want to go into my relationship right now. Too soon, too uncertain. At least we love eachother. There's always that.

Guh.

Market Spice Tea

This is quite possibly the best tasting tea I have ever drank in my life. Loves it. AND it has a picture of the Pike Place Market. I hope they make a Golden Age Collectibles blend. It should be made out of green tea and broken dreams.

Humboldt County

As a complete film nerd I tend to watch a lot of movies I know little to nothing about on the hope that I will find a indie gem. More often than not I find above mediocre movies that are missing one or two elements. Lately, there seems to be a slew of more good movies, or maybe I'm just watching the right ones.

Either way, "Humboldt County", is one of these right films. Peter, a med student who receives a great residency only to fail his last class is whisked away (by Faruza Balk) from Los Angeles to northern California's Humboldt County. He is left stranded by the quirky Bogart (played by Balk) and now must cope with her "extended family" of pot growing philosophers and eccentrics.

The film is really good. I mean, really good. It meanders along at just the right pace, and mixes the Utopian idealism of the urbanites who have escaped to Humboldt to grow pot with the ever present threat of "The Feds;" this contrast used to anchor us to the ground while our head is in the sky. All the while, Peter, (as it goes in movies) is growing into a better, wiser, and less wounded person.


The film is neither overly dramatic, nor pretentious. It seems as though someone just had an idea and loved it very much. This love comes through from the superb and subtle acting, to the sparse cinematography that allows the nature of Humboldt to speak for itself.

I would recommend this film, if you have On-Demand you can see it before it comes to theaters (for the low price of 9.99) or just wait till it comes to the local Indy Art House. . . which is where I will be seeing it again; the best way to keep good movies being made is to support them in the theater.


As a side note, The Red Lion in Eureka, where my buddy Justin is a manager, is thanked during the end credits.

Middle Sex

What's better than Detroit's Race Riots, Hermaphrodites, and Grecian incest? The Book Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, which contains all of the above.

Middlesex is the story of the Stephanides family, from Lefty and Desdemona Stephanides' escape from Bursa in Turkey (though they are ethnically Greek) to Calliope Stephanides, Lefty and Desdemona's grand daughter, growing up in 1960's Detroit.

Eugenides uses language well, frames the story impeccably and makes the reader really care and understand the characters. The unusual subject of hermaphrodites in the story only helps to draw the reader in. The main character, and said hermaphrodite, Calliope is both tragic and inspiring. Many of the problems she goes through as a teenager are typical problems with an interesting twist.

The book does not stay centered on Cal, though, and often brings up Race and Ethnicity as a main theme. Whether it is Detroit's communities being unaccepting of Greek immigrants or race relations between whites and blacks in Detroit.

The book isn't just about race relations, hermaphrodites, or immigrants. The book is about Detroit, about life, and about the problems people have in love. It is a great read and Eugenides deserves the Pulitzer Prize that Middlesex won.

Rubiks Cubes are Awesome. . . AND Retro!

My job at the Red Lion is boring. Anyone who follows this blog long enough will learn that. In fact it is so boring I have learned the subtle arts of Sudoku and how to solve the New York Times Crossword puzzle (at least once or twice). Now I have mastered another useless and ridiculous and brainy task. The Rubik's Cube.

It started when the new bellman, Raleigh, came in with one of these evil devices. At first I refused to touch it. I had always though that these were the puzzle boxes from Hellraiser, and if one solved it one would be transported instantly to Hell.

So, it turns out I was wrong about that. But not by much. After watching Raleigh solve this beast of an 80's plastic cube, I had to try. "I'm smart," I thought, "I can do this." After a few hours of maddening click clicks of the cube I gave up.

Raleigh came back and gave me a few hints and I was back in the game. This continued over the next few days. I'd get a bit farther in the process, Raleigh would give me a few hints, and then scramble the cube and make me do it all over again. Until, on the 2nd I finally did it. I solved the Rubik's cube. In the days that have followed I became obsessed. I started to have anyone and everyone mess the cube up, I walked to Drew's house completing the puzzle, I timed myself (my record is 2 minutes 19 seconds).

I have decided to put the cube down, now, as it is the Devil's Plaything. One day I may pick it up again, try to get the world record, but for right now I am satisfied with it being a silly bar trick.