diego's umbrello & the quiet americans

thursday night an intriguing little show hits audie's olympic.

local favs, and up and comers (as much as an up and comer group with all road tested, successful musicians can be) the quiet americans are taking the stage @ audie's.  i dig 'em a lot, and if you haven't seen them, you should.  and buy a cassette.

they'll be joined by a band named diego's umbrella.  i haven't heard of them, but apparently they have a bit of a name to them.  and, i like their sound, which sort of reminds me of a little more electric ska el olio wolof.

check some vids from diego's umbrella






okay, i definitely like the quiet americans better, but it should be an intriguing show.

lemur thanksgiving

i love the san francisco zoo. seriously, it's my favorite zoo.

thanks

at this time of year, of course we think of what we're thankful for.  i mean, it was thanksgiving yesterday.  so, i started thinking about what i am thankful for, from trivial to actually important.

1. family - here and abroad. i'm thankful for heather and all that she has to put up on a daily basis with me as her husband.  my mom has been enduring some change in life that i don't know i would go through as gracefully.  although it's at a distance, it's great watching my brother and sister raise their kids via facebook.  and, up close we get to see heather's brother & sister in law raise their twins.  good stuff.

2. friends - again, near and afar, it's good to see you all growing and changing as a part of our lives.  some settle down, others don't, and it's all good because it allows us to be different things at different times. and, we're excited to meet an addition or two to the friend group family.

3. pub quiz - dang right. every wednesday i have a blast as a part of the team doing pub quiz. some weeks it's stressful, or we get annoyed with people, and some weeks we really bone it on a question or three, but it's still a good time.  i would have never imagined when we started that we would average 100 people a week.

4. soccer on the television - the US men's and women's teams gave us plenty of good watching in the last calendar year.  arenal gives me fits, but i love tuning in, and the galaxy had the best record this season and won the mls cup.  good stuff.  and, it was great watching all these games with friends.

5. home - as i type this, i watch leaves falling from our tree onto the lawn i raked this morning. dang it! but, others don't have this luxury.  we enjoy our place, and are actually trying to get stuff done around the house.

6. work - i choose to work a few different jobs because the one or two i would really like aren't full time options.  but i'm glad to have freedom to teach subjects i really enjoy, and to coach students.  like any teacher, i have my share of complaints, but it's generally good, and steady, work.

7. art - dang it, i am such a rare painter that i wouldn't call myself an artist right now.  but, i still have a mural looming off in the distance, and when that gets going it'll really push me to do more and to make a bigger impact.

so, there are some things that i'm thankful for off of the top of my head.  what are one or two (or more) things that you're thankful for?

movember on the news

no meat november update - first thanksgiving

so, last sunday was our first family thanksgiving of the season.  i knew thanksgiving would take place this month, but with all the foods available, it's actually not that hard to avoid the meats.  what i hadn't accounted for was random meats.

this sunday, tri tip was there, along with turkey.  now, don't get me wrong, i like turkey.  i expected turkey.  i was ready to avoid turkey.  but tri tip?  dammit.  i held strong, and avoided the meat.

what this really makes me want for the remaining thanksgiving feasts i'll attend: people to step their game up on the mashed potatoes.  really, i've had a lot of weak, mushy, watery mashed potatoes in the last few years.  doesn't seem like it would be that hard to me.  we've made them at home during the years, and haven't had much problem.

mustache 11/16

mustache coming along nicely. thanks those who have donated.  see the link on the mustache post below if you'd like to donate.

no meat november

so, i haven't eaten meat in a little over a week.  it hasn't been difficult.  i mean, it's not like i was addicted to meat or anything.

there have been a few little snags. i knew that i was eating a bunch of fast food, but i didn't quite think about how frequently, and convenient, it was.  eating is requiring a little bit more planning.

another issue is that there is meat in a lot of things that i didn't think about.  we went out for thai food the other day. i knew i'd be okay on my meal because they have tofu as an option.  we ordered an appetizer, the money bags, which are these little delicious little fried deals. i knew they had potato and peas in them, but didn't know they also had chicken in them.  damn, those were out.

for some reason, i really want tacos.  this is a little odd to me, because it's not like i eat tacos regularly.  but i really want to have some asada tacos right now.  and , it seems like i notice taquerias more.

i have discovered some nice vegetarian options. for instance, bobby salazar's has a nice veggie burrito.  i think i prefer thai food without the chicken, shrimp or beef.

mustache update week 1

here's me looking slightly handsome, with a week's worth of whimsical mustache.  also, this picture looks very orange for some reason. (i think it's because i didn't use a flash.)

as i mentioned in the movember post, i'm a part of a local team, growing mustaches and trying to raise some $ and awareness about male health issues, particularly prostate cancer.  if you'd like to donate, you can click here.  i'd appreciate any support, but now pressure.

as the mustache thickens up a bit i intend to try some goofiness.  we'll see.

movember

so, along with everything else that i'm doing this november (no meat, paint more, blog more) i've also joined a team.  a mustache growing team.

last year, i grew a novembeard.  it was handsome.  this year, i'm taking part in movember.  movember is a movement trying to bring about awareness about prostate cancer and other male cancer issues.  from their website,

"Once registered at www.movember.com, men start Movember 1st clean shaven. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

At the end of the month, Mo Bros and Mo Sistas celebrate their gallantry and valor by either throwing their own Movember party or attending one of the infamous Gala Partés held around the world by Movember, for Movember. 



The Movember Effect: Awareness & Education, Survivorship, Research
The funds raised in the US support prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. The funds raised are directed to programs run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Together, the three channels work together to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programs in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research."

so, if you would like to, find my profile, it's under my name, and donate. any donations help and are appreciated.   or, you can donate to anyone on my team, team fresno.

questioning westboro baptist

i am not a fan of westboro baptist cult and their weird family. i remember hearing them frequently on adam carolla's radio show, and it always bugged me that these wackjobs were given any time or opportunity to spout their crap.  generally, i'd like to just ignore them.

however, sometimes comedy happens, and it's worth checking out.  brick stone, a fake personality that interviews people,  did an interview with some westboro folks in las vegas, and it's funny enough to share.  enjoy.

swede fest 8

good times to be had this saturday

swedefest returns, and it'll likely be packed since the avengers trailer swede done by the dumb drum has blown the eff up. should be a good time, and for those of you over 21, enjoy a beer. and, there will be tacos!

the god who loves justice

take 20 minutes, if you can, and hear a sermon that i wish was being preached more frequently



preach it!

happy halloween

565 pieces of candy. gonzo.

start time: 6:07
ran out of candy time: 8:20

i'm actually surprised it made it that long.

birthday month

getting older is what it is.  in fact, i really don't mind getting older, and don't get weirded out by numbers.  this thursday, i'll be turning 36 (oops, typed 37 first).  i'm going to use this day as a starting point for a couple of things.

the first thing i decided was to try being a vegetarian for a month.  i watched a few short videos recently about the meat industry, and it did bug me a little. one of them challenged people to try to be vegan for a month. i'm not going that far, but i did think that i could try to be a vegetarian.  for me, this is about discipline.  can i eat a little healthier, and a little less conveniently?  honestly, a large portion of my diet now is because i'll have limited time at meals, especially lunch. so, i'll eat a hot dog or two, or grab some fast food.  not so good for me. hey, i'm getting older, and the lbs don't just fall off any more.  now, i'm not totally becoming a vegetarian, as i'll actually be more of a ovo-lacto vegetarian, which means i'll be eating eggs & dairy. frankly, there's no way i'm giving up cheese, and i've yet to enjoy any of the faux cheeses i've tried.

the next thing i want to commit to is painting more.  man, i used to paint most days, and my art was coming along nicely. for whatever reason, i stopped, and really haven't painted much in over a year. i need to force myself to work on paintings every day. i won't say i'm committing to every day, but i do want to at least work on something four out of seven days in each week.

i think these are two pretty good challenges. hopefully, by december 4th i'll have stuck with them, and will be able to reflect back on the experience. i'm also going to try to blog frequently about the experience over the next month.

gone, baby, gone

do you remember this mural?

well, i hope you do, or that you have some photos of it because here's what it looks like now.

maybe this adds some credence to the fresnan's story about rumors of palominos closing.

UPDATE:
couple of things to add
- my friend adam actually texted me and let me know about the mural being painted over and i ran with the story.
- the bee has been working on the story since, and has dug up a lot of great info. see here and here. i don't advise you read the comments on the bee version of the story.

i'm interested to see how this continues to unfold, and a little discouraged by the tower district marketing committee.  also, when i begin my mural downtown for creative fresno, i've got a lot better idea of what needs to be spelled out in the contract.

red state review

months back, i remember hearing about kevin smith making a new film, and it was definitely floating under the radar.  it was called red state. it wasn't getting a ton of press, although it seemed to have buzz from the film festivals. i saw smith on talk shows, and he was pretty vague about what the movie exactly was.  he was asked about the political connection to the title, and he sorta played it down, and played up how this movie was sort of a horror film.  outside of those initial press junkets, i didn't hear much about the actual movie.

flash forward a few months, and the movie has had some limited release, and i'm pretty interested to see it.  today, netflix announced that red state was now streaming and so i popped it in our instant queue.  we decided to watch it tonight.

now, i'm not going to tell you much about the movie, because it seems that smith has worked to keep it sort of a secret, and i'll respect that and not put out a lot of detail in this review.  if you want to talk specifics in the comments here, i'm game.

here's what i will say: this movie is not compelling at all.  i didn't find it that well made.  i barely even found it interesting.  i kept waiting and waiting for the movie to take me somewhere different, and it never did.  maybe i'm expecting too much of kevin smith.  for the life of me, i can't figure out why this movie is being billed as a horror film.  it's not eery, it's not frightening, the only horror is that the scenario of the film could be real.  and heather pointed out how much you ham-fistedly coming through a few characters at the end of the film.  real novice level writing there.

watch this film if you want.  just don't invite me over.

installiday

today was a good day around the house.

• installed hand towel bar
• installed towel bar
• removed shower doors
• installed shower rod
• installed shower curtain

what will i get into tomorrow?  i don't know.  i doubt i'll install anything else.

gatorade hangover

um, yeah.

tom morello, this land is your land

i've had some interesting discussions about the occupy movement, and i'm still not sure i would say that i endorse it all, mainly because i don't know what the all is.  that's alright, i do love that americans are waking up to the class struggle that exists in our nation.  i hope people see the inequality in wages, the injustices going on in our government and society, and that change happens.

today, i saw this video of tom morello, of rage against the machine fame, playing arlo guthrie's "this land is our land."  pretty damn cool.



nice use of the people's microphone

straight outta dunwoody

so, this is a pretty humorous video about living in an atlanta suburb.  i really appreciate how well they copied straight outta compton with some very similar cadence and vocal tone.



i'm going to have to check out some more vids from dormtainment