RandomCha

“I’m tired of all this noise. I just want to play cool.”
–Lester Young

[ Current Clothes ] jeans, red t-shirt, black airwalks
[ Current Taste] coffee residue
[ Current Hair ] pseudo-fro
[ Current Annoyance ] none at the moment (hard to believe)
[ Current Smell] clean skin
[ Current thing I ought to be doing ] dishes in the sink
[ Current Desktop Picture ] close up of 50’s stereo speaker that says “HI FI” on it
[ Current Favorite Artist ] barbara kruger
[ Current Favorite Group ] talking heads
[ Current Book you’re reading] “where i’m calling from” by raymond carver
[ Current CD in CD Player] arlo guthrie: “hobo’s lullabye”
[ Current Refreshment ] filtered water
[ Current Worry ] future personal probable earnings

LAST PERSON:
[ You Touched ] andy
[ You Talked to ] andy
[ You Hugged ] andy
[ You Instant messaged ] nick
[ You Yelled At ] dario (the bar was loud)
[ You Kissed ] andy

FAVORITE:
[ Food ] chinese, chicken fried steak, chocolate
[ Drink ] coffee
[ Color ] green
[ Album ] yeesh, tough one … maybe talking heads: “fear of music”
[ Shoes ] black airwalks
[ Animal] cat
[ Movie ] “true stories”
[ Dance ] audrey’s dance in “twin peaks”
[ Song ] “summertime” by the gershwins
[ Vegetable ] potato
[ Fruit ] mmm smoothies … i don’t like the texture of fruit otherwise
[ Cartoon ] “space ghost coast to coast”

ARE YOU:
[ Understanding ] yup
[ Open-minded ] yes but no so much that my brain falls out
[ Arrogant ] taste snob to some degree
[ Insecure ] regularly
[ Interesting ] i’m fascinating
[ Random ] blishma!
[ Hungry ] yes
[ Friendly ] once i feel comfy
[ Smart ] brilliant
[ Moody ] of course
[ Childish ] about certain things
[ Independent ] yes
[ Hard working ] depending
[ Organized ] in a schizo sort of way, yeah
[ Healthy ] reasonably healthy
[ Emotionally Stable ] with ups & downs more or less
[ Shy ] at times
[ Difficult ] sometimes
[ Bored Easily ] sometimes
[ Thirsty ] yes
[ Responsible ] more than some other people i could name
[ Obsessed ] with a few things
[ Angry ] usually about something
[ Sad ] tendencies towards melancholy
[ Happy ] regularly
[ Hyper ] nope
[ Trusting ] depends
[ Talkative ] not by default

WHO DO YOU WANT TO
[ Punch ] george w bush
[ Look Like ] myself, but 5 lbs lighter & with more definition
[ Talk To Offline ] steven
[ Talk To Online ] john

You know what Andy did? He put together his own 8-CD compliation of the best 80’s music. 145 tracks. If you get in touch with him, he might copy it for you …

Everyone needs to bookmark Andy’s LJ … it’s far too perceptive for you not to read it daily.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/andystardust/

Nina Simone died today. She was 70. O I will miss her! I might have made fun of her sometimes, but it was only because I admired her. She did not compromise herself. Reading about Lester Young right now I see so many parallels in their lives, only Nina somehow managed to live longer. I think she was able to channel the anger caused by racism more effectively into her music than Lester was. Lester focused that in on himself and it ruined his health.

It’s sad that they never worked together; although they were very different, almost diametric opposites, I think deep down they had similar feelings about society. They just expressed themselves differently, each in their own way: Lester Young played “Stardust” and Nina Simone played “Young, Gifted and Black.”

Last night Dario and Ryan came over and we had some cocktails and watched “Lost Highway,” in order to continue Dario’s Lynch education. It was the first time I’d seen it so close to seeing “Mulholland Drive,” and now more than ever I’m convinced that the films are two sides of the same coin, “Lost Highway” being an exploration of male fantasy and “Mulholland Drive” an exploration of female fantasy. I don’t know how conscious Lynch was of that parallel; if anything, he was probably going more on instinct than anything else, as he always does. But they really fit together, and seeing them both side by side you can understand them better too.

It would be nice to have “Lost Highway” on DVD. You miss a lot of details on VHS, despite the fact that it’s letterboxed VHS. The soundtrack and sound design are so damn amazing. I was blasting it out of the stereo last night as we watched. Still gives me chills. I saw it three times at the theatre opening weekend when it came out in 1997. I guess I was a little obsessed. But it affected me deeply.

Read the new Eric Schlosser book “Reefer Madness” in ONE DAY it was so great. Run out and read it NOW. It’s probably the most well-written, concise examination of the marijuana issue that I’ve ever seen. On to the latest Lester Young bio which is very thorough. I’d rather have too much detail than not enough.

Good articles by Tim Robbins and Roger Ebert on alternet.org right now. We all have to remember that knowing the truth should not make us automatically feel helpless. It should give us the energy to stand up for the truth.

Hmm … draw yourown conclusions …

Here’s my humorous link for the day: http://home.attbi.com/~bernhard36/wwcards.html

We can all use a laugh. Hey, it’s Friday!

I just had a dream that I flew to NYC without telling anyone. I got to Nick’s apartment building just as David was leaving for work. We passed each other in the hallway and said hi. I went up to the door of the apartment and rang the bell. The door was unlocked so I went inside. Nick came into the room wearing a robe; he’d just gotten out of the shower. We walked towards each other and I threw the book and notebook I was carrying on a couch nearby, and we hugged for a really long time. I smelled that fresh just-out-of-the-shower smell on him, on his skin and in his hair, which was still damp from the shower. We just hugged for a long time, and that’s what I remember most. Then I woke up.

Last night when I was working out in the field, in Humboldt Park, I encountered a very friendly orange cat on the sidewalk. I’d seen him last week in the same spot. He came right up to me and meowed, as if to say hello, and I took a few minutes and pet him, let me nuzzle me and rub up against me. He was obviously a stray cat. He was a bit dusty, though not filthy, and one of his ears looked like it had been burnt on the edges or maybe crushed. He didn’t seem to be in any pain though. He purred really loud. Then it was time for me to get back to work and as I walked away, just as he did last time, he followed me for about half a block and meowed loudly. He didn’t want me to go I think. I wonder if I’ll see him on Saturday when I’m out that way again.

Andy is allergic to cats and does not like cats. He’s often said, half-jokingly, that I can choose between him or having a cat. I’ve wanted to have a cat ever since I’ve moved to Chicago, but something’s always stopped that from being possible.

The rain keeps coming this morning in waves: no rain at all and then big heavy sheets of it. What a cruel, stupid war.