Bay Area

Right now, I'm in this little cafe called Sundance Coffee in San Fransisco, just exploring this wonderful area as Isaac is chattin it up with some other youth poets of the area.

Did you guys know that our beloved Isaac placed 1st in a competition that earned him a title on the Youth Speaks team? Pretty soon, he's going to be competing at an international competition (it's mostly U.S., but still). Let's give a nice round of snaps for our friend...

Isaac seems to be busy these days, as we all are, but nonetheless he calls Berkley his home with satisfaction in his brow, confidence in his eyes, and humbleness in his mouth. I'm sure you know that expression Isaac makes when he's talking of his marvelous pursuits.

Man, o man. This place is GORGEOUS. I love the Bay Area - oh how sweet the air smells, even in the midst of some ongoing traffic. I like it a lot here, I can see how my parents fell in love here, back in those days of progressive counter culture paradigm and transcendental interest. In my opinion, perfect location for a reunion. But then again, is this really going to happen? I mean, we were supposed to get something going, but I can't get a hold of Lisa or Christina, and Sam couldn't make it. WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING GUYS. Our blog is seriously on the downturn, a hige lack of posts these days. I feel like we're getting to that point in our lives where TASP has happened so long ago that we've all forgotten how wonderful it was. It's really easy to forget, isn't it? With this free time that I've been having, I have been looking through the blog entries, all the photo archives....I really miss you all. It's such a blast to see Isaac. I really think that we need to start makiung more effort to stay in contact. It would be a blast to see more of you all in your respective homes as well. I mean come on, let's switch this blog once and for all. Let's get the SHIT ON THE ROAD! Move it!

Enjoy your breaks. And if they've already fizzed into the unclear, foggy parts of your memory, I hope they went well.

Henrik

Speaking of Sam Jackson

This song is based on Snakes on a Plane which is its namesake as well - by Cobra Starship, who played at an Atlanta club recently, and they were amaaazing!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zJhuwihy7FE

Check it out!

Getting people back on the blog

It looks like Blogger's trying to force us into using the new version. In order for everything to get updated and enabling people to post comments, again, the original creator of the blog needs to move it to the new Blogger. Jason?

After that, it will ask everyone to move to their new accounts, and we should be back in business.

-Meredith

Sam Jackson: Renaissance Man?

Leonardo da Vinci, step aside. The man of this century is Samuel L. Jackson. After a few well-publicized adventures as Jedi, snake tamer, and overall badass motherfucker, we find ole' Sammy in the movie Black Snake Moan, which has one of the more ridiculous plotlines of the recent past. In short, the diminutive and very topless Christina Ricci stars as a nymphomaniac in Deep South Mississippi who passes out in front of Sam Jackson's house and wakes up chained to his radiator, to be cured of her "sickness." Hilarity ensues. But, my dear hearts, that would not be enough to write a trite entry, so I really come to tell you of Sam Jackson and the blues. Imagine any Sam J line from Pulp Fiction. Now imagine that same voice singing in a low growl over blues guitar. It's really magnificent, and some excellent music from the swamp, profane, dirty, and organic. There's a scene of Sam Jackson jamming in a crowded bar that's worth the price of admission alone. What starts as a movie about the lonely life of a nympho is really a vehicle for the musicking debut of Samuel L. Jackson. Who knew?

-Charles

A server update

So I've been completely swamped by work these days (just ask me about differential equations; I dare you), but I've also been putzing around with the media server. I've now set it up so it will stream directly to you in high quality through winamp or itunes or whatever program you use, so you can open and play files really really easily. Emma, this is just the thing for you :) just open up http://blacktie.mit.edu:8888 and the rest should be self-explanatory. It even has search and playlist functionality, if you want to press some buttons. I'll try to write some more when I don't have coding to do, but enjoy the sweet sounds. And really, upload some stuff.

-Charles

Also, as I have mentioned, we might be forced to switch to the "new blogger", lest we lose people to technological difficulties. Bleh.

ALSO

How would people feel about my changing the template of the blog? Spicing things up a little?

-the girl who thinks that this question may not merit a separate post, but is giving it one, anyway

BLOG UPDATE SOLO!!! Bwananabwananabwanana...And in that mighty moment, she let the blogging rip

Dear Those Who Have Shown Justine Timberlake Was Wrong by Acting as Living Proof that Sexy Never Went Anywhere:

I think that everyone should give at least brief life updates, no matter how boring. Even if it's short and along the lines of the Marquis de Sade: "We eat, we shit, we kill, we die."

So, I saw Sin City for the first time last night, and it was wicked good. I was skeptical when it came out, but I was pleasantly surprised. Also, tonight my dad and I went to this new Korean monster flick, The Host. If it's playing near you, it's totally worth seeing. It toes the line between horror movie and dark comedy, and very well. It's like an updated version of Godzilla and Mothra and other movies of the like: the personification of our modern fears as a monster wreaking havoc on a major Asian city with political under- and overtones coming out in the response of the government to this crisis. Where Godzilla reflected fear of being annihilated by an unstoppable force much like the atomic bomb, and Mothra reflected fear of being punished for our all-consuming love of capitalism, the oozy, snake-fish thingy living in a river in Seoul reflects the fear of being killed by a virus (SARS, anyone?) and being swept up in a pandemic while the government panics and the US interferes in its usual here-we-come-to-save-the-day, self-important fashion, doing little good and obscuring the issue. Meanwhile, the everyman who knows what's going on is ignored, and forced to take action with no help. So it's fun both as a movie and as an update of one of my favorite genres.

Also, Stacyann Chin, who was a performer in Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam, came to Yale, and she was awesome. She had these great little haikus that she'd sprinkle in at lightning speed, and she read excerpts from this new book she's working on.

And on the music front, Hanson came to New Haven. How do you like your washed-up boy bands? Blonde-haired, pop-rock brothers with a side of one hit wonder, please! They came to a master's tea (the masters of the twelve residential colleges bring various interesting people, like Art Spiegelman, Dr. Ruth, Meryl Streep, etc. to sit down and talk and drink tea and answer questions with a smallish group of students). The room was packed, and despite their best efforts to steer the conversation to questions about the music industry as a whole and the problems with major record labels, people just sort of nodded, smiled, and then asked about the lyrics to "Mm Mm Bop." It was lots of fun, but unfortunately I wasn't able to go to the concert later that night. It was sold out. Bah!

So I'm on spring break now, and I've been bumming around, catching up on pleasure reading. I just finished The Mists of Avalon (feminist retelling of Arthurian legend), and I'm working my way through the new Dave Eggers novel, What is the What, which is a fictionalized retelling of a man's escape and subsequent life after the genocide in Sudan. Oh, and you should all check out this short story writer, Clarice Lispector. She was a 20th century Brazilian writer, and her stuff is basically one, big, eloquent middle finger aimed at patriarchal society. Even if you're not particularly interested in the feminist element, her stuff is still worth it for the writing.

Finally, my Top Five Ska Songs:
1. Ban the Tube Top - Reel Big Fish
2. The Impression That I Get - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
3. Keasbey Nights - Catch 22
4. Bumble Bee Tuna - Mephiskapheles
5. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - Relient K

Still a jack-of-all-interests, major-in-none,
Meredith

ARRRGH! Stupid Blogger!

Blogger forced me to switch to the new Google version (maybe if I'd been sneakier, I could've evaded this, but I unwisely submitted). Now I can't comment on anything - whenever I sign in, it says I am not a team member of this blog. Can someone with more Blogger-expertise than I help me?

Commentless,
Sam

Interesting anecdote: I recently signed up for MIT's prefrosh visit program, and the form had a place for "top five interests." Not content with such a shallow representation of my personality, I instead wrote down a like of my favorite Beatles songs. Here it is:

1. Day Tripper
2. Eleanor Rigby
3. Let It Be
4. Lady Madonna
5. Honey Pie

I'm in love but I'm laaaaaaazy,
-Charles

use your suffrage guys!

Hey, I just found out that the seven wonders of the world are being relisted on July 7th this year (get it - 7/7/07), and the manner of selection involves US voting! (haha that's "us," not America -- psps I love that video!!)

Anyway, someone sent me the link to the voting site -

http://www.new7wonders.com/

You can apparently vote by a number of mediums, but this is the internet way.

You should vote! But even if you don't it's still pretty neat to check out the contenders. They're kinda magnificent. =)

Sanju