Boston happenings

So I gather that many people are in the process of moving into college and/or getting acclimatized to college life. So, while the lull in blogging is understandable, it will not be tolerated much longer! Ummm, I'm kinda part of the problem, so here I am. My trip up to MIT was rather eventful in itself, as we drove, stopping in Baltimore, Delaware, Philly, NYC, then Boston. And it freaking rained just about the whole way there. Believe you me, bouncing along in a very loaded down car when visibility is about 2 inches is not so fun. Since MIT's orientation goes for so long, every dorm blows out the stops to put on a show and attract people. My particular dorm really likes destruction, so much sodium was dropped into the Charles River, about 20 monitors found their way five stories to the ground assisted by gravity, and much coffeemate was destroyed in a huge fireball. So it's lively here, though the first week is misleadingly so. I'm pretty well settled in to a very yellow room (that color is changing as soon as possible), and I saw Jsn, of all people, today in Harvard Square and MIT. Dylan, you'll have to remind me of the good restaurants in Cambridge (we went to Fire and Ice), and I'm gonna have to let Jason do the writeup of our minireunion and pics and such (of course he had a camera!) Also, to clarify the role of George Washington on the quarter, here's some 100-percent-true American history: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc9y5ayeeb4

"A fierce backlash has begun against the decision by astronomers to strip Pluto of its status as a planet."

Um... why the strong reaction? It just seems a little silly to me.

In other news, I'm flying in less than 24 hours! Leaving is a little depressing, but on the other hand, I can't wait to go. Conflicting feelings are confusing.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Jason

Holy Shenanigans!

Dearest TASPer Lovers:

It's been far too long since I've posted something. I've been doing some musicking.
My parents and I went to the Wolf Trap Opera Company's production of Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). It's sort of the sequel to The Barber of Seville. I don't know if I revealed this at TASP, but I desperately love opera. The Wolf Trap operas go on during the summer, and they invite new singers whom they think are up and coming, and they get to showcase their talents in this great, massive, outdoor theater. Le Nozze Di Figaro's got some pretty famous pieces of music, including some amazing arias. The opera's got a sense of humor, and the younger cast was willing to ham it up a lot; it was rather lewd, actually. It was time well spent.

Unfortunately, I was sitting next to the couple. You know the ones. Someone's always touching a leg and muttering something about love or the show or whatever. Anyway, I'm always the person next to them, and everyone else gets to enjoy the opera/movie/play in peace as I wish Chuck Norris would come to my aid and kill them.

Which brings me to my new favorite thing: Chuck Norris. It's sheer genius. When the show Walker: Texas Ranger was on, people regularly thought that my uncle was Chuck Norris. I didn't appreciate in the 4th grade how much cooler it makes me to be related to someone who looks like Chuck Norris. I didn't quite get why there were so many facebook groups devoted to him, but then I watched a couple of this movies. Another piece of sheer genius is Chuck Norris Facts, which tells you everything you need to know. Some choice pieces of knowledge:

"Chuck Norris's tears cure cancer. Too bad he never cries."
"What was going through the minds of all of Chuck Norris' victims before they died? His shoe."
"Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the chin. Its decendants are known today as giraffes."

For some reason the second one reminds me of Charles. Perhaps something to do with the infamous koala jokes?

I've been procrastinating from packing like it's my job. Four years of packing for boarding school, and I still can't seem to get it right. Such is life, I suppose.

Oh, and despite my better judgement, I saw Snakes on a Plane on Friday. It pretty much changed my life. I'm sorry Dylan, I know you thought it would be the hands-down worst movie of the year, but just as Chuck Norris is not a man, so is Snakes on a Plane not a movie. It's on a different plane of existence. The plot is in the title. There's only twenty minutes of flimsy buildup before the snakes begin attacking, and then you get out an hour and ten minutes later. It was almost too gory to be funny, but then Samuel L. Jackson declared, "I'm sick of these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!" and, earlier, something about snakes on crack, and I decided it was just right. I made to sure to see it in the city, because audiences are more enthusiastic there than in the suburbs. We threw rubber snakes, we screamed together, and we laughed hysterically immediately afterward. Nothing was terribly scary, just sort of gross or surprising. For me, at least the movie lived up to all the hype; I think it's definitely in the running for a cult classic. It is worth noting, however, that I would have hated it if I'd seen it alone or on television for the first time. It's a group experience.

And if nothing else, I learned that Da Ali G Show is being turned into a movie. The question isn't, "Am I too smart for this movie?" The question is, "Is this movie too smart for me?" It looks just as irreverent and hilarious as I found the show to be.

Given that this post has had little to do with me and more to do with cult/pop culture phenoma, we can gather that there's nothing really happening in my life right now. I like the thought of taking it easy before being thrown into the college world. My parents plan to drop my stuff off and be gone within two hours. They were like, "Why are there three days of parent orientation? The kids don't want us here, and we're not the ones going to college." Does anyone else have that amount of touchy-feeling parent orientation type stuff?

Stay classy, TASPers.

Happy Birthday Adam!!!

another year closer to world domination.

including skunks.

Happy

Birthday

Adam!


And what are you doing in Hungary?

The one and only Marcus Miller

Yesterday I saw Marcus Miller live at the San Jose Jazz Festival. Marcus Miller is my new hero, yes, even better than Zidane. He was getting an amazing range of sound out of his bass, doing all sorts of crazy slap work, and still anchoring the rest of the band rhythmically. It was sweet. The whole jazz festival was pretty chill - Dr. John was also playing, and there was a great big band and a lively salsa group. Jazz festivals are on my list of good things right now (although I guess they were probably there all along).

So the Berkeley trip is tentatively on for next Sunday. Isaac, Christina, are you guys free? Don't bother scheduling around it at this point - we still have to work out transportation, etc. But if you are available to do something or just to hang out for an hour, let me know please.

1. Fish-Eyed Fool - Papa Grows Funk
2. Out-A-Space - Billy Preston
3. One Trick Pony - Paul Simon
4. Intercontinental Git - The Diplomats of Solid Sound
5. Thug - Annakonda

Groetjes,
Sam

I tripped on my shoelace and discovered something.

I just got a laptop, and I was transfering all my music from my CDs onto it when I noticed that Shel Silverstein wrote Johnny Cash's "Boy Named Sue." And apparently, the idea for the title comes from the name of the lawyer who defended John Scopes whose name was Sue Hicks. Oh, and there's also a version of the story from the father's point of view that Silverstein wrote. Just know before you read it that the last stanza might make you "get sick to your stomach and throw down."

Mission: Accomplished

Ok, I went up to the pickup site today, and I got a CD of the infamous Jenny Bellydancing video. As a public service, I present it to you now:

Bellydancing Routine (73MB)
Swing Dancing with other factotum (35MB)

Dialup users beware! All others, enjoy

We still rock

Hey,

It's been way too long since I posted anything. I feel sort of like a blog-murderer, especially in light of the fresh, flowing '06 TASPer blogs. *hand on chin*

Right now, I'm at Stanford Summer Engineering Academy, which is a summer program for incoming freshmen at Stanford who are prospective engineering majors. It's a little weird to be at a summer program that is sort of like the beginning of college instead - I keep on thinking, a la TASP, "Quick, we have to do this before the program ends in September!" and then remembering that I will be with these people for four years. I'm not sure what to think about that. I've never lived in a single place for four years since my ninth birthday. Maybe I'll go crazy staying in one place for so long and have to transfer . . . but I doubt it. I think Stanford is going to be a bit like TASP: e.g. I played Ultimate (!!!) for the first time since I was in Michigan. And I think we're probably going to watch Napoleon Dynamite (yess!), since there's a kid named Pedro here from Mexico who has never seen it. Plus we're already developing a sub-culture of inside jokes that are weirdly duplicative in spirit to musicking, reification, John Sinclair, squirrels, etc. But I still love you guys! TASP '05 rocks.

Speaking of remaining strongly united despite our geographical disparity (is that a correct usage of "disparity"?), some people here at SSEA want to make a trip up to Berkeley later this month to see their friends who are Cal students. Isaac and Christina, any chance you'll be free at some point the weekend of the 26th and 27th? Or the weekend after that? It's actually unlikely that I'll come, since they're probably going on Sunday and that will likely conflict with my church meetings, but I'm keeping my options open. And if it doesn't work out, we have four years. : )

1. Late in the Evening - Paul Simon
2. Black Capricorn Day - Jamiroquai
3. Something So Right - Paul Simon
4. Raise Your Fist in the Air - Ozomatli
5. Manteca - Dizzy Gillespie

Groetjes,
Sam

Summer Read and Rock.

Remember Harry and the Potters (scroll down about half way)? Seriously Meri, I don't know why your school didn't invite these guys, because the girls at the Los Angeles Central Library went crazy for them. ^__^ Man I love public radio.

In other news, the local hardware store burned down last night, and I feel sad.

Not feeling quite so emo as the '06ers,
Emma

Perhaps not quite so distraught and emo...

... but then again, I've only had time to skim. Because they write a lot. And I'm in a hurry.

The remaining '06 TASP Blogs:

UT Austin TASP

WashU TASP

Cornell TASP

Hope everyone's having a great time!

Jason

I'm told via one the '06 TASPers that there exists a video of Jenny bell dancing. I will confirm soon, and post. And all the land will rejoice.

Economics for Dummies

So, I just read a little bit about the Federal Reserve, and how they've discontinued (at least momentarily) their streak of increasing interest rates and leaving it at 5.25%, in the belief that the economy will "settle down" and land "softly on both feet". They believe this will reduce the rates of inflation...correct? Oh lord, help me, as I am completely yet curiously ignorant of this whole process. Anyone willing to give me a simplistic, introductory rundown to what this all means? Anyone approve or dissaprove of the "Fed's" decision?

In a rush of punny inspiration, I have decided that we need a TASP '05 recipe book.

Included:
Reified beans
Music-king cake (Small baby inside)
Guthrie Juice

Ok, new ideas anyone?

Seem familiar?

UMich TASP Blog 2006

Word of the whenever we feel like it

Gobbledygook:

Unclear, wordy jargon.

Man, that word would have hit the spot in many of our Telluridean arguments. I stumbled upon it in an introduction to a collected works of Henry Dave Tho. So, if you ever stumble upon any jargon that's particularly wordy or unclear, there's the word.

Decisions, decisions

I just got a $50 gift card as a graduation gift, and I spent a whole day yesterday mixing and matching items on Amazon before I clicked the little "order" button and figured out that I didn't have enough to ship it all. How can you make me choose between shiny new books? Anyway, I have a dollar left on this card, so what should I buy?