A Koaly dilemma

Q: Why did the koala fall out of the tree?
A: Because it was dead.

Q: Why did the second koala fall out of the tree?
A: It was hit by a fridge.

Q: Why did the third koala fall out of the tree?
A: It thought it was a game.

Q: Why did the fourth koala fall out of the tree?
A: Peer pressure.

Q: Why did the fifth koala fall out of the tree?
A: I forgot, but I'm sure it was funny.

Q: Why did the tree fall down?
A: It thought it was a koala.

So I believe you all remember my koala joke, but a brilliant idea hit me: this is a joke with infinite possibilities. Maybe the koala passed out, maybe he was pushed by French camels in Antarctica. But only you, TASPers, can decide. So, why do you think the koala fell out of the tree? I want comments, this is important business!

From Me:
-The koala was romantically involved with a jealous leopard seal

From Matt S:
-it had epilepsy
-the other koala pushed him
-he had an inner ear disorder...
-koalas are cuddly

Jane Austen turns over in her grave

On Wednesday, my English class went on a field trip to see the new Pride and Prejudice (bringing back memories of our TASP trip to the movie theater en masse!).

*WARNING: Rant coming up.*

There were some nice moments, but as expected, it fell miserably short of the 5-hour Colin Firth version. In general, it focuses too much on emotion and not enough on dialogue. Sweeping, panoramic landscape shots, close-ups of tears running down Keira Knightley's cheek, and an overly loud and emotive soundtrack may lead to good production values, but they distract from Austen's focus on characters and dialogue. Jane was played nicely, but Darcy was too bland and Elizabeth was too emotive (I know I used "emotive" in the last sentence, but I need it here too!). Also, the dialogue was dumbed down thoroughly, and all the humor that remained was so blatant and over-emphasized that all of the zest of Austen's writing was lost. This cast/director/filming technique might have been effective for a more earnest novel, say Jane Eyre, but it killed all of Austen's irony. Sigh.

My top 5 songs of the past 2, 3 weeks (a la High Fidelity):

1. "Tornado Warning" - Erik Moll
Moll is a pretty obscure folk/swing/country/etc. guitarist (from Austin, I think). This song reminds me of Woody Guthrie's stuff; pretty simple, but a catchy melody and an upbeat, folksy feel.

2. "Heartlight" - Kenny Loggins
A nice, minor-key pop song. Discovered in my exploration of my dad's early-'80s CD collection.

3. "Mrs. Robinson" - Simon and Garfunkel
Hey hey hey!

4. "The Entertainer" - Billy Joel
Great cynically self-critical lyrics. I think I mentioned to someone during TASP that I dislike Billy Joel. Since then, I've abandoned my elitist attitude and I admit that I really do like his stuff. Although I still profess distaste for Elton John . . .

5. "Mood Indigo" - the Duke Ellington Orchestra
Smooth, languid, relaxing in a wistful sort of way. Listen to it after 5 PM for optimal appreciation.

Sam

TASPly facebooking

First of all, everyone ought to get a highschool facebook account, because it is a truly wonderful way to procrastinate. And once you've done that, join the TASP group! Actually, if a more facebook literate person could help me out, I'm afraid i made it a group that just people at my school can be in, and I'm not sure how to make it global, so ja. But please do join facebook. It's loads of fun, and I'm not even sure what a quail looks like.

*Busy cracking up*

Read this. Go ahead. It made my day.

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=99757

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

to the rebel Emma (not Emily)

it seems just yesterday that we would near sprint home from class all the while snickering to ourselves at how slow the others were and plotting ways to incapacitate Adam on his cheesy fat tired bike so that he would no longer be able to beat us to lunch. Now that you are seventeen, however, you have no doubt outgrown such foolishness along with snapping and bassoonicking. In your newfound maturity you walk at a stately pace, conduct all conversations according to Roberts Rules and never EVER allow people to rub your head.

right?

right?

May your every year be better than the last

-Bern

On another note--

what is this mine eyes percieve? is there really a little name that reads "Jenny" on our contributers list? Jenny, whether I am just unexcusibly blind and have missed you or you have just now decided to join the party, Welcome! I am sure that you will find our merry madness a welcome diversion from your otherwise productive existence in Canada.

to all the best

-b

A Funkadelic Date Indeed

Happy Birthday Emma!

To be certain, September 25th is a preternaturally funky day in the history of the universe.

I guess I'll continue Sam's tradition of listing some of your famous date of birth compatriots...

Will Smith, Christopher Reeve, Mark Hamill, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Barbara Walters, Dmitri Shostakovich, William Faulkner, and my favorite: Shel Silverstein.

Some pretty illustrious personages born on this date, they're in good company with you Emma. Have a fantastic 17th, I'm sure it will be outrageous and awe-inspiring.

Blargh and Best,

Isaac

Emmalee

Since we are rarely on speaking terms these days, for my sake and everyone elses let us just refer to the Birthday Girl as Emmalee. That way, we can make everyone happy, even the people we don't know at her stupid school who are cheering for the wrong person. I hope this becomes more of a promulgation than a suggestion.

Happy Birthday Emmalee, and may your 17th year be full of surprises and exciting encounters. I can imagine that jocund, head-bobbing walk of yours springing through the TV room. My memory, strange as it is, has your hair alternate from short to long in accordance with each bob.

From the looks of the recent blogs, Emmalee's trend setting of pride and prejudice has not reached my hands. I think, in honor of the Birthday, I should probably succumb to this Tasp-Limited Fad and buy it, or check it out, or something. Maybe read it in one day at a nearby bookstore and never buy it. HAH! You friggen commercial bookstores.

In Midd, I have a lot going on. I'm constantly behind schedule, in fact, I should be reading Notes From the Underground and Crime and Punishment right now (yes, simultaneously). That, and studying for an AP Calc test, reading 50 pages out of a huge AP World Text Book, preparing a letter to the administration in regards to the Compost Committee, filling in my Music Theory practice book, and prepping to run the next Calliope meeting (the literary journal in our school).

Soccer is holding me back.

So, as you can imagine, I'mtrying to grow a third arm here to get it all done, and it's not that bad, yet.

I never got a birthday calendar, i should get one, it would be cool. Who has the list?

Otherwise, I hope all goes well with you, and Sam is coming to visit! How aweseemereem (Midd slang).

The Herbinator

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMMA!

Oh, Emma, Michigander light of my life! Your beauty has matured one more year, radiant enough to act as a torch to bring admirers from near and far! If only you knew what devastation lay in living a life without rubbing your fuzzy hair! Prolix exclamation of woe!
But wait! Today is a day of joy, not of sadness, therefore I feel it only appropriate to bestow you with this:

These cake books contain plentiful odes to your timeless excellence.
I hope that your birthday was incredibly excellent.

Gefeliciteerd! and other items

Lang zal ze leven
Lang zal ze leven
Lang zal ze leven in de gloria
In de gloria
In de gloria
*Hiep er de piep, HOERA!*
*Hiep er de piep, HOERA!*
*Hiep er de piep, HOERA!*

That's the Dutch happy birthday song. I don't suppose this, like so many other Dutch customs, has survived in the pseudo-Nieuwe-Nederland of Western Michigan? In any case, gelukkig verjaardag, Emma/Emily!

TASP moments of the week:
1. I saw an Internet banner ad that said something like "Rock-bottom mortgage rates! Click here to Reify Now!" Sadly, when I looked again, it said Refinance Now.
2. Twice, I tried to sign into my school computer network using my UMichID and password.
Alas, gone are those golden days of yore . . .

The other day, I was doing web research for my big physics research project and came across an excellent website with large chunks of useful material about oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The strange part: when I got around to writing out a bibliography entry for this thing, I discovered it was a blog post, written by "Roaring Tiger" for the "Big Cat Chronicles" organization, entitled "Oh man . . . Thunder Horse oil platform is listing . . ." Not what you would normally see as a citation in a scientific paper. At least my bibliography will provide spicier reading than most. On a separate note, people could RIGHT THIS VERY INSTANT be doing Internet research on our blog! Ridley, maybe this is your big chance to be cited. Just imagine finding this in the bibliography of the new, groundbreaking sociological study that has rocked the academic world:
dancingbagel. "tattoos, piercings, and other academic things."
Blogger: UMich TASP 2005 Blog. 14/7/05.
Wow. Sends shivers up my spine.

I am reading an awesome book: Iron and Silk by Mark Salzman. Salzman, who is a martial arts enthusiast, taught English in China during the 1980s, and the book describes his stay there. Brilliantly written, utterly engaging stuff. More bulletins when I finish it.

Sam

EM DASH!

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

I hope you have a fabulous one, My Sister from another Mister.

And just for the record, I don't mind sharing my name.
However, if I had my way, the whole world would call you Em-Dash.


(The Other) Emily

P.S.
"Are you one, are you two...?"

I know it's still Saturday for most of you, but it's already Sunday the 25th of September over here, so it's time to say:

HAPPY
BIRTHDAY

EMMA!

I sure hope you don't mind me using Emma, because to me Emily is Emily, you're Emma, that's great, and things are going to stay that way. At least in my mind.

Jason

the anti-Kip

*sings* Oh I hate technology!

yeah so got this laptop a month ago and it definitely crashes two days ago such that I cant do squat on it. takes out the sound driver and everything. whats really cool is that it also manages to corrupt the install program so I cant repair anything on it. spent the last eight hours wiping the disk and then rebuilding the computer from scratch. about the most frustrating afternoon of my life.

the band played our first football game the other night. didn't do too bad (heck of a lot better than the football kids at least) opened up the paper next day to find a literally 10 inch high picture of myself conducting gracing the front page. took me by surprise.

went out BOWLING with some friends afterwards. rocked the high-top white socks. you guys would have been proud.

I went to a performance by the Oregon symph last week of the Lord Of the Rings Symphony. It's actually exactly what it sounds like. six movements built off the soundtrack. a bit unorthodox perhaps, but it was a nice change.

got my senior pictures done last wednesday. it was a barrel of laughs. no literally. a typical exchange between me and Dave (the photographer) went like this:

okay- lets have you put your foot up on that fence and do the 'tough guy' pose

uh...

no I mean like fold your arms

uh...

hmmm. the 'tough guy' doesn't seem to fit you very well.

well I'm not a 'tough guy'

well I can see that

it was a fun afternoon.
anyway I better go. I am running for a team in our town's annual 24 hr. relay tomorrow. it's always entertaining.

ttfn
ta-ta for now

-b

Jane Austen and Sushi

Heya!

Anybody thought of watching the new Pride and Prejudice? I'm wondering whether Keira Knightley could play Elizabeth Bennet even remotely as well as Jennifer Ehle. Judging by the inital critics' reaction... probably not... but then again who's ever trusted critics. Blech... I'll just remain content with my memories of the five-hour miniseries from TASP.

Yesterday in my English class we got to watch the archetypal '90's teenie movie: Clueless. The excuse? Well, I was very surprised to find out that the movie is actually a modern day adaptation of Austen's Emma. If you didn't know this already, watch it. The parallels are startling once you notice them.

On a more random note, here are two really fun ways I discovered today in which you can amuse yourself when confronted with lots of sushi (or at least passable pseudo-sushi which is all we get in Vienna):

1. Have a competition with friends to see how many pieces of maki you can stuff into your mouth without chewing. My current record is nine, so there's something to aspire to.

2. Consume increasingly large lumps of wasabi, without water, while trying to outstare someone else. Only for the extremely masochistic.

Oh and Charles, why does the third button actually have to be unbuttoned? Google is giving me unsatisfactory answers, to the tune of "just do it!" Maybe we should have a fashion revolution. Now there's a thought...

Enough babbling from me.

Till later everyone,

Jason

Friendly fashion advice

Sorry to call you out like this, jason, but you never button the bottom button on a three-button suit: http://photobucket.com/albums/a155/taspum053/?action=view¤t=GroupPhoto.jpg . Ever. Even if you're in a semi-compromising situation, like it looks like you are in that picture :-P Is all.

Continuing down the line...

Ok. Next up on Isaac's genially illegal leaked copies of exquisite music list:

Fiona Apple. Extraordinary Machine.

Wow. What can I say about this album?

In 2003 Apple apparently brought this before Sony executives who were unhappy with the album and so shelved it for the next two years. Extraordinary Machine was leaked to the internet in 2004 and has been circulating vigorously since then. Extraordinary Machine is Extraordinary! Go figure... Sony must be completely ignorant about music to have passed this up until now. The leaked version of the album was produced by Jon Brion, who interestingly enough assisted with production on Kanye West's new album, Late Registration. For the final album, both Mike Elizondo, who has worked with Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, and Eminem, and Brian Kehew, who has worked with such indie rock notables as Beck and Air, were brought in to co-produce. An eclectic assortment of musical influences to be sure. The final album will be released on October 4th, 2005. I cannot vouch for the full version, as I have not actually heard it, but I can tell you that the leaked Jon Brion version is phenomenal. Fiona Apple's vocals are surprising and stunning, the production is haunting and maniacal, pure mayhem. Check it out.

Take Care.

Isaac



P.S.

Bah!

Blackalicious is having their cd release show in San Francisco next Monday. Over 21 only of course. These kinds of things make me seriously contemplate getting a fake ID just to go see concerts... I'll be missing some great music in the next three years. Oh well, I'll have to find some way to con myself into places I'm not supposed to be. I reckon that's the nature of my life right there... a bear ravaging the townsfolk. I ramble. Goodnight.

Another Ridley? Not possible!

So I joined the Calvin College orchestra because they didn't have a second bassoon player, and my first rehersal was today. Lo and behold, the first oboe player (oboist?) was named Ridley! And more than that, she looked like Rid! Except her hair was almost as short as mine....I seriously would have thought that she was your older sister, save that you have the same name. Very odd. Very very odd.

Rehersal was fun though, other than the insane sixteenth note runs. And they gave me a nicer bassoon to use! I'm quite excited for that. The director is a lot of fun though; here's my best impression of his explaination of a section of one of the pieces we're playing:

Cello: You must pay the rent!
Basoon: I CAN'T [pronounced "Kant" because he's British] pay the rent!
Cello: You must pay the rent!
Basoon: I CAN'T pay the rent!
Trombone: I'll pay the rent!!!

Quite fun. Miss you all!
~Emma

Lamest Day Ever...

National Talk Like a Pirate Day???

Imagine my disgust as I woke this morning to DJ Steve Ocean announcing on Tiger 95.9 that it was National frickin Talk Like a Pirate Day. I could just picture Adam with that annoying sly smirk on his face and a patch over his left eye. Bleh. Like Sam, I am super pumped about the DAY OF THE NINJA! Doesn't it just sound cool?

Congrats on your goal, Enrique! I played a little soccer back in my prime (haha...7th grade) and lemme tell ya, I was FIERCE.

Show choir is slowly sucking the life out of me. My choir director has appointed me "Soprano Leader" and mentioned something about dance captain, which scares the living daylights out of me. I already feel overwhelmed, and it's only September. OH! DYLAN! You won't believe what song is going to be the opener of our show this year! "Eye of the frickin Tiger" (well, without the frickin part) I immediately thought of you when I found out.

Hate to disappoint you all, but my caffeine habit has been kicked up a notch thanks to my frickin AP Spanish teacher and her insanely lengthy homework assignments ( I swear the woman thinks her class is the only class offered at Auburn High). My leg won't stop shaking and my eyes are doing this weird twitch thing. I wonder if it's because of the large White Chocolate Mocha I had this morning or the 20 oz Diet Coke with Lime I had during lunch...no it's definitely the can of Red Bull I downed afterschool. Yea, that's gotta be it.

Love you all and hope all is well,
Emily

Arrgh!

Avast, mateys!

Sorry, my ninja allies, but today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and who am I to argue with the International Holiday Authority? You have to admit it is a pretty chill holiday. Although I believe I detect a bit of anti-ninja discrimination - where's Talk Like a Ninja Day? I guess ninjas don't really talk . . . maybe Be Silent Like a Ninja Day?

Two minutes later:
OK, I did some web research, and it turns out there is a ninja day! Wow, I'm so excited I'm about to start trembling with excitement! It's December 5 (incidentally, the same as St. Nicholas Day, a big deal in this neck of the woods - who've the pirates got for their patron saint, I wonder?).

Here's a basic info page on ninja day: www.ninjaburger.com/dayoftheninja

And here's another cool web hit I picked up - looks like some enterprising kindred ninja spirit at University of Illinois who writes for the school paper. http://www.illinimedia.com/di/opinions/564

So anyway, pirates, enjoy your day. But watch out for the Day of the Ninja.

Sam

Oh....my...gosh!

I was looking through the New York Times, and I happened upon an article about some college students sneaking people out of the convention center in New Orleans since the National Guard wouldn't. I clicked on it, and I read for a paragraph and looked and the picture. And I froze. One of the college students, David Hankla, is my friend's older brother. It's just realy strange to see somewhat that you grew up with out doing illegal things to help people. I just thought that was really cool.

the article

Looking Around

This seems to be the general response:

A collective blog/forum wouldn't work. So scrap that.

Some TASPers advocate isolation, others suggest limited commenting ability on both blogs, and yet others are really itching to um... fraternize.

In light of all this, I think it would be best if we just exchanged e-mails or soemthing similar - this is only for those who actually want to... Rid and Jessi come to mind. Having others comment on our blog would just be weird and rather pointless. Because if I think about it, how much could we really say to each other on a blog basis? We're linked by the TASP experience, but remember that the times we had in Ann Arbor or St. Louis were actually VASTLY different. And that will always separate us.

I'm now essentially advocating that we keep things the way they are, with the added bonus of knowing that the WashU TASP know about our blog. Inter-TASP contact would be for those who wanted it.

Moving on...

Meredith, threadless.com is simply awesome! The Nuts one involving the squirrel holdup and the Go Japan! relay running sumo wrestler are especially funny, but yeah... nothing beats the Loch Ness Impersonator.

That's all for now,

Jason

to everyone

Um, wow.
I really thought that the entire battle was in jest. That's how I intended my post to sound, facetious. So, sorry if anyone was angry or offended. I know you're all lovers, St. Louis. I really don't think we're better than the other TASPs, though I do think that we're pretty darn excellent.

Anyway, while I think that the pan-TASP blog might not work out, because my computer would eat me, I think it would be super awesome, as I think Ridley said, to meet other TASPers. I know we have common joys, because I definitely love postsecret and nataliedee.com, which I read on the St. Louis blog at some point. So I guess maybe we'd say where we're from and post a picture or something and maybe email so that you could meet other TASPers if they're in your area? I think that would be neat.

Alright, it's Sunday night, and I'm not feeling particularly articulate right now, so I think I'll stop.
Actually, that's a lie. Since I'm posting, anyway, one more thing:
www.threadless.com
Possibly the best t-shirts ever. I have the Loch Ness monster impersonator t-shirt. I just can't be sad whenever I see it.

TASP Applicant Pool?

I'm sorry to interrupt the inter-TASP peace accords, but I was wondering if anyone remembers the numbers on the original TASP applicant pool, and the total number of TASPers this year. And yes, this is for college apps.

-Charles

Congressional Snapping

I did this forensics activity called Student Congress this weekend in Lansing, MI which is a total college town and basically an ugly copy of Ann Arbor and also our state capitol. So basically a bunch of high schoolers get together and pretend they're the congress plus there's an executive branch (which does nothing), a press corps (which does nothing), and two lobby groups (which do nothing but act as congressional pages and get abused by the annoying power wielding house of representatives). I was on the human rights committee and sadly our bill did not pass, but it was a ton of fun. Charles if you have this in St. Louis you should check it out. I tried to introduce snapping to my committee, but it didn't catch on. Sad day. We got to sit where our state congress sits though, so it was really quite fun and made me feel speshal. But listening to some of those horrible narcissists talk made me feel very grateful for our wonderful discussions in TASP. One kid, "Rep. Kalesza, as I'm sure you all know my name by now," was nearly censured by the congress because he monopolized the microphone and was so awful. I was very grateful that I was at least a bit familiar with Robert's Rules, too, because we followed parliamentary procedure and everything. It almost made me miss our long house meetings. Almost. Congratulations on the goal Henrik! What position do you play, by the way?
-Emma

Happy happy!

Happy Mooncake Festival everyone!

OK, so this probably only means something to Charles, and OK, so maybe it's more commonly called the Mid-Autumn Festival; but Mooncake Festival is so much more descriptive and it's meant to celebrate the summer's harvest - TASP would work, metaphorically speaking - which is why I decided to mention it.

If you're from a Far-Eastern culture, these are the days when you get together with friends, stuff yourselves with exceedingly tasty and unhealthy (think masses of cane sugar and egg yolk galore) pastries, and try to catch a glimpse of the supposedly auspicious full moon. Done that.

I checked out the St. Louis TASP's blog and WOW they are mistaken. It's that simple.

Following up on Meredith's post, here are my top five songs of the moment, High Fidelity style:

1. Misirlou - Dick Drake - Catchiest chorus ever. The musical chair who added this to the Fourth of July Party Mix has my eternal gratitude.

2. Giuliano's Tune - The Duhks - Amazing acoustic bluegrass-y, celtic-ish song from a great Canadian band. Actually, they're from Winnipeg, land of Jenny!

3. Zombie Jamboree - Rockapella - Samyu if you haven't already, then give this song a closer listen. Caribbean calypso music. Performed by Rockapella. About Zombies. It really doesn't get much better.

4. Zelda Main Theme - Apocalyptica - Nintendo tunes performed by a bunch of cellos. So simple and so so beautiful.

5. Summer Breeze - Jason Mraz - It's astoundingly soothing. You can tell I'm not exactly my most hyper at the moment.

And Rid, I didn't realise that we'd been away from TASP for the duration of TASP. In retrospect, the time in Ann Arbor seems so much shorter and far more precious when compared to the past six weeks.

Till later,

Jason

AHHH!

God dammit, I just posted a huge blog and there were "errors". So to sum things up: Meredith I'm visiting you, Sam's visiting me, I scored a soccer goal, Wu and I had an interesting convo on verbifying instruments (if you can drum, you can violin), and uhhh...............I used reification in AP World and only the teacher knew what it meant.

Henrik

Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop the car!

Do you know why we stopped the car?
-"Driving Test," Parrapa the Rapper

Yes, Parrapa, I do know why we stopped the car: the St. Louis TASP seems to have not taken the path of the lovers, but that of the haters. And though I normally think of myself as a lover, I believe that a response is in order. I perused St. Louis' blog a couple minutes ago and discovered multiple posts professing superiority to us in things such as looks and group picture. I can only conclude that they perceive us as competition, incorrectly. How could they challenge us, when we have the power of Michigan, sexy t-shirts, really good taste in music and of course, are incredibly attractive? And that is all I have to say on that!

TASP moments! While I confess that not every single thing I do during the day reminds me of TASP as it did in the first week after returning home, some things did strike me.

I spotted "Seventh Generation" laundry detergent in Whole Foods("Whole Paycheck," according to John Sinclair) and am now using it. I couldn't resist, and I'm air-drying my clothing, too, like a good lover of the environment. Thank you, environment-loving Emma!
Also, on this same trip to Whole Foods, I spotted Brown Cow yogurt. I vaguely remembered Henrik mentioning the chocolate flavor being tasty at dinner one time, and so it picked up. I am now confirming it as more tasty than I thought possible.
Also, I saw a shoe abandoned on one of the campus paths and I thought of Ridley and the man who stole just the one shoe during the Turquoise Revolution. And then I told the story to one of my friends, who found it entertaining.

And last, so important that it deserves its own paragraph: snapping has taken off. I introduced it to the new kids in my dorm when they were impressionable about boarding school and I was in a position of power. I informed them that when they agreed with something, they were to snap. They duly complied when we had our first all-dorm meeting, and thus, snapping has spread through the dorm. We've kept our momentum with it in the dorm, especially at dorm meetings. While suffusing it through the entire campus may take some more time, know that the spirit of snapping lives on!

Top 5 songs of right now(High Fidelity, woo!):
1.La Tortura - Shakira The beat commands me to shake my booty, and I can only obey.
2.Catch My Disease - Ben Lee It's not an ode to STDs, I swear!
3.Galang - M.I.A. Dance...dance!
4.Teenage Graffiti - The Pink Spiders High energy, flip out and stop doing your homework so you can dance around your room type song.
5.Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen They really do make the rockin' world go 'round.

The Most Random And Entertaining News Ever On BBC

Listen up everyone, here's a little story.

On Friday the 16th of September 2005, Frank Clewer was making his way around the little Australian city of Warrnambool, on his way to a job interview.

He was clad in a nylon jacket and woollen shirt (and trousers, I assume).

As he entered a building, the freaking carpet ignited. Reason being, Frank had 40,000 Volts of static electricity built up in his clothes. After leaving the place, he even managed to scorch a piece of plastic in his car. Apparently the charge was building up to the point where things around him would have spontaneously combusted. Pretty cool, huh?

For the full story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4252692.stm

Now where'd I leave my nylon jacket?

Jason

In case you were wondering...

Blackalicious. The Craft. Album of the year.

No contest. No questions.

Burned a promo copy from a friend today. It's coming out on the 27th. If you like music, as I know you all do, you will like this record.

An undeniable Hip-Hop masterpiece and some of the best music I've heard in a long time.

My advice? Check it out and Rock out.


Isaac

Hey look, it's Harmonica Guy!

I stumbled on this while browsing The Facebook.

http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/09/23/4152a962522f7?in_archive=1

That's all for now,

Jason

Senior Photos

Hey everyone!

Till today, I'd never seen a wax seal on a letter before, and was suitably impressed when Emma's envelope arrived, seal and all. Thanks for writing! Strange that you ask about senior pictures because major coincidence - today was the day for G. 12 photos at my school.

Now, I don't know or pretend to understand what happens with senior photos in the States. Do you just send in your own, or does the school use a photographer... or both? Anyway, over here the school organises the whole shindig for the G. 12's. We just show up smartly dressed. Basically, today was fun (because everyone looked way more mature and intelligent than normal, plus the added bonus of about half the guys accidentally dunking their ties into various condiments or beverages at lunch time) but also uncomfortable. The weather decided to renege on its promise of rain, and so we had to sort of swelter through the day.

As you all probably expect, I was planning on going crazy with my camera. Unfortunately it decided to malfunction. And die. So most of the shots I managed to take came out rather crappy. However, here's one for now.















That's Pekka, and yes, his right eye is gazing to one side while the other is staring at the camera. It's impressive.

My friends are pooling the shots from all their cameras, so I should have more tomorrow - just check out the photobucket.

Till then,

Jason

new and exciting things

Hey, gang.

I've discovered the latest new way to interact online: http://www.last.fm
You hook up the thing into your music player w/ some free software and it'll create a radio station based on your picks. You can also check out what your friends are listening to. You can also form little groups (TASP group, anyone?). It's really neat. We've been playing with it at school.
I'm fallingup42 on it.
I thought it was relevant since we were, after all, the music TASP. Anyway, you should all definitely try it.
We're definitely fully back in the swing of things here at school. I'm captaining up JV volleyball this year, which is looking to be a lot of fun. Classes seem like they're going to be awesome, too, especially philosophy. Also! Netflix is magical.
I hope that everyone's well.
That is all!

Hey guys,

Sorry I haven't been too active, but I've been so busy ever since school started, it's hard to really keep up with the blogs. But anyway, I've been talking to a few people on AOL, and Chris, as some of you may know, has a 56k modem (By heavens! You don't mean... no it can't be) and his computer cannot load up this website. He just wanted me to let everyone know that he hasn't forgotten all of you.

Now keep in mind, if someone has already spoken with him about this and told all you guys on the Blog, my igorance is a mere lack of time.

Sam, you should look for the album Axis: Bold as Love by Hendrix, my personal favorite. The album art is not only psychedelic and intriguing, but the music itself just makes an incredible stance in the dialogical history of music, standing out like a branch on the tree of time, incredibly unique and all its own.

And regarding the Achebe article, I think he's wrong. Conrad used Marlowe as the second narrator for a purpose: so Conrad could show Marlowe's own hypocrisy. I could elaborate on this much more, but I'm a little too lazy and short on time. But anyway, you'll find in the instances that Marlowe stops telling the story throughout the book, you can find many hints and much symbolism of his own hypocrisy, thus reflecting the motif of whites claiming to practice idealistic imperialism, when in fact it's mere rascism and want of ivory and wealth. Furthermore, I believe the rascist aspect of Marlowe (not Conrad) is a minor part of the book. The main message I retrieved was the human condition that exists in every human being, and how different environments create different peoples (this goes back to another book I have to read for AP World, called Gun, Germs, and Steel, where Jared Diamond takes a marvelous stand on geo-determinism). I believe Conrad was trying to show the savage in us all, and how it can be released amongst us and how people can practice restraint.

Other than that, I've been chillin here in Vermont. I hope you all got the postcards I sent you, and I miss you all very much. Dylan, at some point I'm going to visit Sudbury Massachusettes to meet some family friends. They are also extreme liberals, and I think your family would love to meet them and perhaps we could get together.

Lata all

The Mercurial Mercury

Anybody know the Mercury Prize? Yes? OK, then I apologize if what follows is old news.

I recently heard about this rather prestigious award. Every year, it goes to the best album by a Commonwealth or British artist. Judging by various bbc articles, the selection committee has a history of making surprising (for the sake of being unpredictable) decisions, which I find both bizarre and strangely endearing. Case in point: this year, the Kaiser Chiefs were favourites to win, but weren't, if that makes sense, because the judges apparently hate to let the favourite win.

Another appealing thing is the vast range of talent that makes it to the Mercury shortlist of 12. One of the contenders this year was guitarist/fiddler/violist/vocalist Seth Lakeman, whose album Kitty Jay cost $500 to produce and was recorded in his kitchen. Another was Coldplay's X&Y.

So anyway, last Tuesday, the prize went to to pianist and singer Antony Hegarty. Others rave, but I don't like Antony's voice; it makes me shiver in a very unpleasant way.

However, each year's shortlist is definitely worth checking out. 2005's includes Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall who you should definitely listen to if you haven't already. Think along the lines of rock meets folk. And Emma will be pleased to hear that M.I.A.'s Arular also made the final 12.

Moving on...

A French reunion would be great, but I doubt I'd be able to make it. For Sam and me, May 2006 will be the month of craaazy IB Exams. Oh the joy.

Dylan, the Pirates vs. Ninjas club sounds freakin' awesome. Which ninja movie were they showing? I tried thinking of one and came up with a blank. Most Asian action films are about Kung Fu fighters (I still can't get over the fact that ninjas are Japanese... I mean... really?!), and I assume The Last Samurai doesn't count.

While I'm blabbering away I might as well urge you all to get Facebook accounts. Go to http://www.thefacebook.com and use you UMich e-mails. Then add me! (and Charles and Meredith and Sophie and Dylan and Rid and Emily - although Emily seems to have abandoned her account - did I oversee anyone?) .

Christina, Chris, and Jenny, where are you guys? If you're still having problems blogging, just e-mail me and I'll try and help.

That's all for now.

Till later,

Jason

We like the moon

It is up in the sky
It is very high
But not as high as maybe
Dirigibles or zeppelins
Or lightbulbs
And maybe clouds
And puffins i think also maybe
They go quite high too
But maybe not as high as the moon
Cause the moon is very high
We like tha moon

http://www.rathergood.com/moon_song/

Blergh.

Musings

Today I tried to introduce the snapping concept to my language class, and it failed miserably. But never fear, I will continue to snap alone until people catch on! I will not give up!

Also, you guys should pick up the book The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. It is a story about a man's involvement in Vietnam, but he expands to the power of language and even a version of modern-day poshlust. It is an extremely powerful book, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Huh?

so I'm sorry to have to ask this Meridith, but I am still clueless.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF GRANOLA IS A FACEBOOK?

this term keeps popping up and I don't have an earthly what it means. please fill me in.

-b

Paris, Hendrix, and some Vicious Post-colonialism

Howdy everybody,

Belated thanks to Henrik for the postcard. I'm glad you enjoyed Paris. I was actually somewhat disappointed when I visited. The city itself was wonderful, but there were all these other sweaty American tourists who formed long lines everywhere and got in the way. Beurk (French for "Bleargh!")!

This week I discovered Jimi Hendrix. Whoa. Now I can't wait till the 4th of July comes around again so I can blast "The Star-Spangled Banner" down the block. Or play it at a flag-raising ceremony . . . come to think of it, that seems a lot more authentically American than just having someone sing it, but people would probably get grumpy holding their hands to their hearts for three-and-a-half minutes.

Yesterday my bass teacher advised to practice my rhythm control by playing along with an electric keyboard's built-in drum-line accompaniment. "You and the keyboard; that's your band," he said. So now I'm a band leader. My bandmate is a good guy, I've decided. Although you don't see a lot of Japanese musicians out there on the popular music scene, Yamaha PSR-340 performs in a wide range of musical styles. 101 to be exact, including Funk1, Funk2, J_Ballad, 16RkBld, Happy, and No Data. Maybe his solos are nothing special, but I never have to go pull a hypodermic needle out of his arm right before a big performance (remember Iggy and the Stooges?). I still haven't come up with a name for the band. Suggestions are welcome.

A Word of the Day: flocculation - a delirious picking of the bedclothes by the patient, as in certain fevers. Not many situations in which this one could be used, but you need it, you REALLY need it. There's no real synonym. Plus it sounds extremely ill. OK, that was a weak pun.

I just read a great lit crit essay by Chinua Achebe on Heart of Darkness. Basically, he totally smashes Conrad and argues that he was "a thoroughgoing racist" (Dr. Dave gives his thumbs-up here). It reminds me vaguely of our Nabokov/poshlust discussion. Achebe vs. Conrad - any votes? Essay's called "An Image of Africa" for those interested.

I just compared De Moivre's Theorem to a deer-hunting rifle in a college app essay. If the goal is to get noticed, I think that should do it. Anybody out there offering scholarships for "Exceedingly Iffy Similes," I wonder?

Sam

seniors, yay!

Hello, all!

Today's my first day of senior year.
Now presenting me with my best senior friends on our momentous first day.


'06!

happy birthday guys!
may your photographicking and slamicking be a bold reification of all that is good in the world.

so I know that this will tick a few of you off, but it has to be said. due to the fact that I am taking all my core classes at our local college this year, and that college doesn't start up for another month, i currently have...band...and...choir. yes being a music nerd is fun, and yes, my friends are pissed, and yes, I miss no opportunity to rub it in--("enjoy the rest of your day! BWUA HA HA HA!") that concluding laugh, in case you couldn't tell, was picked up from adam the great.

In other news, I finished reading Pride and Prejudice!
I have but one comment

Mr. Bennet!!!!

my friends, when they say me reading it would either give their approval or question why I was reading a bona fide chick flick. strangely these comments seemed to be dictated by the gender of the commentator. hmmmm. I told my best friend when he looked at me funny that he was missing out on a great book, that included an equally great movie with not only hot girls, but hot guys as well. then he really looked at me funny.

I just got back from possibly the hardest backpacking trip I have ever taken. it included a day where we intended to walk this ridgeline for 5 or 6 miles, except there was no trail on this ridge, so we had no way of knowing that it was mostly razor edge sawtooths. cosequently it ended up being like 9 hours of free climbing with no rope and a thirty pound pack. at one point I had to jump ten feet down onto a six inch wide ledge. whee

I went to a free outdoor concert today put on to celebrate the end of the summer in our town. except it was like a barbershop quartet that you couldn't hear cuz the mics weren't working. a marimba band and a bluegrass family band that you wished you couldn't hear. how I miss the days when we would all go to totp and dance for hours before sliding off to stuccis on the way home
*gets all teary eyed before moving on*

moving on. I'm a little behind on my college apps. by which I mean that I really haven't started the essays. by which I mean that I don't even know which schools I am applying to. by which I mean that in all truth I really haven't thought about it one iota. HA! Lets see you beat that level of procrastination!

I'm trying out again for the school play. Its "the foreigner". never heard of it. let you know how it goes.

having trouble with one of my friends who wont speak to me at the moment. not sure why. think she may still be ticked that last year while she was in the glassy eyed stage of a new romantic relationship I made friends with a couple of other students who happen to be female and LDS (meaning no offense Sam). At one point she accused me of "boning Mormons". isn't high school great at times? ah well, I'll try and figure out whats on her mind.

and on that note, it is now 9:20 pm oregon time, and as you all know, that means it is time for me to hit the sack.

cheerio all

Berno

p.s. Im not entirely sure how to post it on hte rec page, so ill just tell you here. If any of you get the hankering for great jazz CD, XXL by Gordin Goodwin and the Big Phat Band is truly stupendous. for those of you downloaders, track 9 is the best.
-b

i'm a human pack mule

Hey, TASPers!
The last couple days have been really wild. I'm a dorm proctor, so I have to come to school two days early. My dad dropped me off at school on Tuesday, but we arrived too late for me to pick up my packages at the post office, so I unpacked and had the momentary illusion that I was somewhere near finished with putting my room together. I'll post pictures of a boarding school dorm room later. Now, I am too lazy.
So, yesterday was the day of the new kids. We have thirteen new people, which is more than a third of the dorm being new. They were all so tiny and nervous! But they compensated by having 80 pound duffel bags that I had to lug up the stairs to their rooms. One girl parked a quarter of a mile away from the dorm. It was like, "HURK! Why, prep, why?"
And then their parents stood there looking very, very nervous about leaving their precious children in the dorm. Anyway, we had a cookout. As a dorm proctor, it's my responsibily, along with my cohorts, to go get food from the dining hall that we can use for the cookout. My dorm head leant us her kids' red, Radio Flyer wagon. And you know what I did? I rode it all the way to dining hall, having one of my fellow proctors drag me along. I was going like 20 mph down a hill at one point. Kids were like, "Nice ride." Damn straight.
There was also an ice cream social for the new kids, which was just complete pandemonium and a teeming mass of sweating humanity carrying ice cream sundaes around. I snuck out quickly to go see my friend's new room, and returned to find that, despite instructions, new people had wandered off. Oh well, they were all there for 9 p.m. check-in.
Dorm meeting to get the new kids situated with rules of the dorm and school. It involved a dress code fashion show. I was the kid who showed up wearing pajama pants. None of that at our school!
Today is old kid returning day and sports try-outs. Also, I'm giving a campus tour. I gave a tour of town yesterday, but I couldn't walk backwards because of all the streets. But today, today at last I shall walk backwards, a-la-college tours.

Alas! I must away. Duty calls.

update on facebook

Just so everyone knows, facebook.com is now open to highschoolers.
I have a college and a high school account. For some reason, high schoolers can't interact with college students. Whatever.
That is all.

So, did anybody have a Whoa!-I-definitely-saw-that-image-somewhere-before moment? Because I certainly did upon arriving home and finding a version of it lying on the table. Thanks Henrik for the postcard! Have you flown back to Vermont already?

Thanks for all the "Happy Birthdays" (Meredith that is one awesome cake, and Henrik... legal porn photographer? Major crazy randomness, and it's all great).

Birthweeks. The idea? Me likes.

Being 17 is, well, exactly like being 16 except that as a number, 17's way cooler (sounds strange, but I have this thing with numbers, and 17 is definitely one of the best).

As for college apps (egads!), the deadlines are inching closer. Who am I kidding, they're actually GALLOPING TOWARDS ME!!! But that's being melodramatic. On a more serious note, Adam, where's the 2006 app. for Michigan Branch Telluride House? The one on the website seems to be the past year's. Speaking of websites, any idea when we'll get our UMich sites back online?

Till later,

Jason

Happy "Unbelated" Birthdays!!

It's a well-known fact among the U Mich TASP (or maybe just me and Lisa) that one's birthday is actually a week-long celebration, so

HAPPY BIRTHWEEKS ISAAC & JASON!

Spend the next five days wisely fellas, but don't do anything I wouldn't do!

Enrique! Muchas gracias for the postcard! I felt very loved. Oh, and I finally bought those Ben Harper cds for myself so don't worry about me stealing them whenever I come up to Vermont to visit.

It's been a very solemn week here in the Deep South, but I appreciate all of your concern. My town only suffered rain and winds from Katrina. How is your part of Florida, Ridley?

I hope all of you are doing well and are having fabulous Labor Day weekends!
Senior year has been a killer thus far, but I will do my best to post more and keep you all updated on what's happenin' in "the other A-town."

Much Love,
Emily J.

Capital! Capital!

Isaac and Jason, happy birthday buddies. Our little boys are growing up! (*sigh*) I'm getting a bit ferklempt. I don't mean to pester you two, but I think I'm going to have to bring up some 'childhood' memories. Oh, it's a marvel that these two gracious souls shall step out into the formidable world, without Chase!

Isaac, ahh, I remember when you were just a tiny lad, and on the firsat day you met us all, you went through the undenying trouble of stopping that car for us to figure out where the Arboreitam was. Oh, how pleasant a soul. Waving your arms to and fro, smiling like the sun shone forever that day. Then often times a morning I'd wake up, and little Isaac would be sleeping on the coutch with a potery book resting on his face, similar to a cowboy with his hat. The materialistic relationship is quite the same (and no negative connotations with that one, im serious). The poet, the insightful thinker, the individual. This philosopher will always remain in my heart, and his incredible thoughts within my brain.

Jason, yes you. From day one he would whip out his digi camera instinctively on any opportunity he could. I remember how nervous he was for his pubspeak, which was quite exellent in the end. The second or third dayhe already had his little star wars book, nose within, lying back in that rocking chair with no legs or arms. I can see him know scuffling around the house with a camera and that book in each hand. Oh, those were the days, when Jason was quite young.

But now these two accomplished chaps and chumps have totally come to age. Isaac will probably get some poems tatooed on him, while Jason will become a legal porn photographer. I mean, as we have seen with Adam, coming of age only sends you spiraling downward into the Inferno.

Happy Birthday you two. Henrik

Dear Isaac and Dear Jason,

Happy Birthday!

You two are both sterling performing artists and fine people--it seems only fitting that you were born on the same day.

Don't stop!

-Sophie

Happy Birthday from the Wikipedia

It's half an hour too late for Jason, but in Pacific Time, it's still 3:30 PM, so I think I'm still OK . . .

Apparently, no really awesome famous people were born on September 3. At least none that caught my eye. I guess there's Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols, so at least you guys have a musical connection. Anyway, the coolest thing about September 3 (after the fact that it's your birthday) is the stuff that happened:

301 - San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, was founded by Saint Marinus.

1958 - In Greece, police starts shaving the hair of youths called "teddy boys" to the skin.

1967 - Dagen H in Sweden: traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right


Wow! Full info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_3/. This page includes an interesting link to the Wikipedia article on wardrobe malfunctions.

Have a Flashy Birthday!

Sam

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WONDER ROOMMATES (PART II)

Now I'm not saying that you should, Isaac. I'm just saying that, since you're 18 now, if you wanted...



But please don't. Just have an excellent birthday.

And dearest Jason:



Yeah. It IS a cake shaped like a camera. It was a tough call between this one and one shaped like Austria(whose idea was that?!). Here's to hoping your birthday is as completely stupendous as a Nikon camera cake.

Liberian Labor Day

It's Labor Day weekend, and that means Liberian food! Hoorah! My family is going to DeMotte, Indiana for a Liberian celebration with a bunch of old missionary friends and Liberians living in the States. We eat lots of unhealthy (but wonderfully delicious) food, drive into the town--which has an astounding total of two traffic lights--lie to the people at the movie store because you have to be eighteen to rent a video of any rating in this town, rent a stupid movie, pack into our friends' living room and watch the movie with all the little kids running around and kicking soccer balls at one another's heads. It's very fun. I wish I could share it with all of you. Wish I could stop in to see you Chris, but we're spending the night at a friend's house in Illinois before hand, and will hence be going the other direction. I hope that everyone already in school has a wonderful long weekend and that all of you punks-and-a-half who haven't had to endure the pain of school yet will bask in the last rays of summer.

Technorati

It's a blog search engine. Didn't know these gizmos existed, but there you have it.

Anyway, I type in "TASP", and out pops basically every second entry from our blog. Woohoo! Additionally, you get something from the Austin '05 blog. I checked it out at http://www.livejournal.com/users/uttasp05/ Some girl posted a link to photos of them, so that's worth a distracting minute or two. And there are MANY photos of and references to lamb-mutilation.

Make of that what you will.

Jason

This poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital. It was sent by a medical doctor - Make sure to read what is in the closing statement AFTER THE POEM.

SLOW DANCE
Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask How are you?
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,"Hi"
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

HUNDREDTH POST!

Sorry, just had to.

^.^

Two Cows

Who knows the "two cows" jokes? Apparently they're classic. My economics teacher shared some copies with us. I can't resist posting them. Hope no one's offended.

TRADITIONAL ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies and grows.

AMERICAN ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You sell one and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You profess surprise when the cow drops dead. You put the blame on some nation with cows and naturally that nation is a danger to mankind. You wage a war to save the world… and grab the cows.

FRENCH ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.

GERMAN ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You re-engineer them so that they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

BRITISH ECONOMICS
You have two cows. They are both mad.

ITALIAN ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You don't know where they are, so you break for lunch.

SWISS ECONOMICS
You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you. You charge others for keeping them.

JAPANESE ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You redesign them so that they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create cute cartoon cow images called Cowkimon and market them worldwide.

RUSSIAN ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 17 cows. You give up counting and open another bottle of vodka.

CHINESE ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest anyone reporting the actual numbers.

INDIAN ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You worship them.

WELSH ECONOMICS
You have two cows. You think the younger one is rather attractive.

Marineralicious

Hello!

For those of you who have no idea what I'm trying to say with the title, it's just me referring to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in a way that only I would get. How pathetic...hehehe. Aaaanyway, I just finished writing my six-page explication of it. That's another sad thing: I really didn't get most of what I wanted to put in my explication in those six pages...I could've written a book on that poem. If you've never read it, check it out. It's beeeeauuuutifuuuulll...and you know what's even more beautiful? I used the word "reified" in the paper!!! Yesss....

You guys, you MUST check out this T-shirt. Do it RIGHT NOW. I am NOT kidding...you want to see this. Here it is:

http://www.jinx.com/scripts/details.asp?affid=-1&productID=357

And it's on a self-proclaimed GEEK site, no less! Yay!

Tomorrow I go shopping on Melrose with my friend Liz. It doesn't sound like she knows exactly where she's going, so pray I don't die or anything...heh....heh...*gulp*

I hope you guys are being the beautiful, fantastic people you are!

I LOVE YOU!!

Love,

Lisa

Are you Katrina-ed out Emily, or just drowning in school work?

Just wanted to make sure that you're all right, Emily. It was great to hear from you, Rid; I'm glad you're doing well in Milton. So if you see this, could you post or something Emily?

I Shouldn't be Blogging, but . . .

It is way too late for me to be starting this post, since I have to get up wickedly early, but I'm going ahead and seizing the carp.

From the news stories I'm getting here, the Greater New Orleans metropolitan area has become a world of its own. It sounds like something straight out of a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel. The hurricane alone was unbelievable enough, but the looting and the still-in-force evacuation order pushes it into the realm of the absurd. Apparently, Slidell, Louisiana, a bedroom community on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain where I lived for three and a half years, got hit by the center of the hurricane and is still under three feet of water. The strict enforcement of the evacuation order has turned it into a ghost town - while Mississippians are returning to the old houses and picking through the rubble, Slidell is empty. There are doubts as to whether Slidell will even exist as a town by the time the crisis blows over. People may have moved on by then. We've heard some reports from some of our old friends from the area; one family evacuated to Texas, where they will probably stay for the foreseeable future, and another family is holed up on the fourth floor of a bank building in New Orleans' central business district. It all still seems surreal to me. This stuff just doesn't happen in America, land of purple mountain majesties and fruited plains.

People, why aren't you posting recommendations? So far only four of us are represented on that slick new recommendations page. Don't you do anything besides slave away at schoolwork, skip class to practice your bassoon, and tour Idaho? Surely there are objects of art and literature that deserve to be shared with the TASP community; please do it!

I've been reflecting on Dylan's culture calculus game (see Dylan's comment to Sophie's "oh, lots of things" post). It has great potential. Is there non-differentiable culture, which is so simple that it is impossible to knock off? Sadly the answer is probably no, but, just for fun, any nominees? I would pick Dan Brown, probably. Now if you integrate Dan Brown, who would you end up with? Umberto Eco is somewhere along the line, but he's an integration or two further up, certainly. What about young Bob Dylan? If you differentiate him, would you end up with old Bob Dylan? That would be about too cool for words, but you'd probably get Simon and Garfunkel instead. If you integrate Dylan, would you get Woody Guthrie? Probably not . . . wow, that was pretty nerdy, but fascinating, you must admit. And it is incredibly late, so I only have time for one more point of interest, the report from the Misspellings in News Stories Detective:

A motorcycle lies buried in ruble from a home destroyed by Hurricane Katrina . . .

Sam

Happy September!

Wooooooooooooo!

Wooooooooooooo!

September sooooooooooong!

Oh no, oh no no no no. They should have locked me up while they still had the chance... this story is out of control, 100% pure MAYHEM! After a certain point I just lose it, and that point is long past. Posting privileges should have been kept away from Isack, straightjackets straightened and affixed on the proper appendages. Oh well... should've known, but its too late now. Seriously, oh man, wow, this story is carnage, like squirrels in a woodchipper, PURE LACERATING DESTRUCTION!!! If only I could stop posting to the blog it might go somewhere...

Happy September, I wish you all a fantastic month.

Goodnight.

Isaac

Bloggity blog blog

Hey, guys! It's-a-me, Mario...ehh, I mean, Lisa...

I've decided to post, since I haven't been doing it nearly enough...

Well, you guys, I read all your posts, and I looked at the new pictures of people now that they're home, and I almost started crying...I miss you all SO much!! I'm dyyying without you...

My life at home has become really...not great all the time. It's a bit dramatic, and I don't like that...

My mother is treating me like a child. She doesn't trust me to do my homework, and she wants to control what I do with my time and when I do it. I'm still not allowed to see Jeremy, and sometimes I feel like my heart is breaking...

I think I'll be okay, though. I have seen Jeremy since I've been back, and it was beautiful. We've said 'I love you.' He said it first. We give each other presents, talk on the phone when we can, talk on AIM, write each other love e-mails. I'm very much in love, and we know that we can make it until we can see each other freely.

I'm starting school next Tuesday...tomorrow I get my schedule and books and things. I have a really tough schedule; we'll see how it goes. I've been spending a lot of time with my best friends lately, and it's been really good. Today we met in a coffee shop that our friend Brandon works at, and we 'discussed Othello'...which means we went out to lunch, got smoothies, sat on the couch and drew on the chalk wall. I miss you guys bunches...I wish I could hang out with you all the time!

I find myself dreading the time when people ask me, "So, how was that thing you went to? Where was it, again? Minnesota?" I know that even if I try to explain it to them extensively, they'll just nod and continue on with their lives, never fully grasping the importance of this beautiful experience...

Hehe, this post is sounding super dramatic, but life really is pretty good. After I finish my summer homework, life should be pretty good...

I miss you all and I hope you're doing well!

Love,

Lisa

Short Story

I need to start a story for my fiction writing class. What will I write? The possibilities are endless... so I'm procrastinating by posting this post on the blog.

Here is an idea: A man who is afraid of being lost. He carries a GPS receiver wherever he goes and marks his place as he travels. He meets a girl who works at an urban circus/carnival/hipster freakshow and they get to know each other. They go hiking. Mayhem ensues. This has something to do with mirrors and images and perception and expectations. He wears glasses. I encapsulate all human experience in 12-15 pages. The End.

Any thoughts?

Blergh.

Isuck Killer

AKA

Isaac Miller

P.S. I need cool female and male names for these characters. I am taking suggestions. Limited Time Only. Suggest! I'm Lazy! Or maybe just Crazy!