Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Stream of Self-Consciousness

Here is what's happening.

With 2010 coming to its close, my plan was to revisit the past year and recall some of the key events. You know, like weird stuff Scott has done and things that annoyed me. However, as I thought back on the past 12 months, I had a difficult time recalling worthwhile happenings. That disappointed me. Cool stuff HAD to have happened this year. I only remember being depressed like 250 days in 2010. What happened to cause the holes in my otherwise perpetual melancholy?

In lieu of not remembering what the F went down this year, I choose to repopulate the gaps in my memory with visions of athletic glory, comedic prowess, suave gamesmanship and professional satisfaction. In other words, pure fiction.

To rectify this problem for 2011, I plan to keep a log of humorous, memorable, life-altering, minute, and general teaching moments over the course of the year. Yes, one of my 2011 resolutions* is to keep a journal. Keep the comments to yourself please.

*Other 2011 resolutions include, but are not limited to:**

** Central Catholic High School handbook language is not as annoying when used to your advantage.***

***Yes, I'm stealing this from Joe Posnanski. Sue me.****

****Joe, please don't sue me.

Take more photographs. This handsome mug of mine won't last forever. We must capture it for posterity so my forthcoming children will know where their own good looks originate from.

Do more stuff that does not involve sitting in my chair. Don't ask me why, it seems like a good idea.

Play a cruel, yet classically hilarious practical joke on Mike. Consider this a warning. You know it's coming, but you won't be able to stop it. There is no worse feeling.

Go to the gym more. HAHAHAHA. I have a better chance of actually keeping a journal.

Mainly, my goal is to give semi-consistent updates on recent events if for no other reason than to remember them (MEMORIES! I feel like Melissa Joan Hart), hopefully with some witty, biting, yet perspective-laden commentary.

Though this won't have the widespread appeal of previous iterations of this blog (sorry female Irish gardening enthusiasts), I feel that at the very least my core audience will have some nice fodder with which to ridicule me. Given my general awesomeness and inability to make a fool of myself regardless of situation (thesaurusize my name and the first things you'll find are: "cool customer," "smooth operator," "sharp-shooter," and "disconcertingly handsome intellectual with a heart of gold and nerves of steel, think Indiana Jones"), I think the market is thirsting for something, anything that shows vulnerability in my seemingly chink-less armor. Settle down Scott, this is what I meant: Click If You're Confused, sponsored by Scotts toilet paper.

Enough jabbering. As a jumping off point, here's something of a game reset to set the stage for the pending endeavor.

School Update: I am now a master, please refer to me as such. (Though my reaction upon completion of my graduation requirements had elements of many parts of the previous video, my feelings were probably most embodied by the gentleman at 1:40 of the clip.)

Work Update: I still have to go every day.

Romance Update: NATALIE HAS BEEN CHEATING ON ME! Luckily, I have been ready to move on from her to Emma Watson for months anyway. What's that? Crap!

Last 5 songs I listened to on iTunes:

"My Baby Left Me" Rox
"Shell Games" Bright Eyes
"Kindle A Flame In Her Heart" Los Campesinos!
"Kaleidoscope Eyes" Burnt Ones
"Younger Us" Japandroids

Book I am currently (re)reading: The Hobbit. Decided to break out this nerd-classic mainly because I fell asleep the other knight (see what I did there) watching The Fellowship of the Ring and was in the mood for some Middle Earth adventures. Reading any J.R.R. Tolkien will really make you reevaluate your thoughts on Led Zeppelin. Also, I'm psyched to rewatch this movie that I vividly remember watching when I was little.

Classic (loosely defined) hip hop song I am jamming out to right now:


Finally, a few of my associates and I recorded a podcast a few weeks back. While the production is not yet ready for mass distribution, meaning we have to bleep out some swears, remove names to protect the innocent and probably do the whole thing over because it sucked, I would be willing to share this rough draft with anyone who is interested. Feedback is welcome so long as you tell us that it is the funniest, most groundbreaking piece of audio ever created by someone who isn't Prince. Please note, you can probably only listen to it if you have a Mac and/or Garage Band. I'm not advanced/motivated enough to learn how to convert it into a different file type. Enough techno nerd talk, leave it in the comments if you want a copy.

Peace.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Allow me to reintroduce myself...

At long last I return, triumphant and saturated with ideas, poised for a dispersion of knowledge so profound it would make even Sting lose his mind with awe.

Yeah, not really, I'm just gonna post random thoughts that no one but me cares about. Proceed at your own risk.

To (re)start things off with the proverbial bang, it's a post I've been meaning to drop for a while and hope to make it a recurring feature in this space. I cheesily call it "What are you listening to" and its purpose is to spread some musical interests between the 4 people who read this.

I have a tough time stumbling across new music, despite the fact that I constantly yearn for it. Since I'm willing to bet that the aforementioned 4 readers face a similar conundrum, I thought I'd share my current favorites and would hope that the readers follow suit.

Often I will simply list new songs/artists that I've stumbled across or hidden gems from yesteryear. Some songs are radio hits that I'm not alone in enjoying (I can't promise that a Miley Cyrus song won't eventually be included), while others will be songs that only I could possibly enjoy (think this one but less popular). Listen to them all. Pick and choose from artists you've heard of and have been meaning to check out. Completely ignore all my selections and use this space to flaunt your own musical elitism (cue: Maddalo, Matthew). It's up to you.

Mostly, there will be no rhyme or reason to the configuration or order of the tunes, but there is no way I can promise that I won't occasionally get ambitious and create a playlist for the purpose of showing off my mixtaping skillz (unconfirmed).

When it comes to posting your current "jams" (that's hipster slang for "favorite songs to dance suggestively to"), don't be shy. All genres are welcome and it is no one's obligation to like any of my, or others', suggestions. Try to keep all haterade of others' music to yourself, unless Friday suggests going to an STS9 concert, then proceed ridiculing him mercilessly. Also, I'm well aware that I myself will take a fair amount of abuse for this quasi-corny, idealistic idea that probably won't work, but just know that I'm only trying to improve everyone's lives. (That is, in addition to the comedic genius and keen sense of fashion that I already contribute. You're welcome.)

Let's get down to business. Here's what I'm listening to, post yours in the comments.

"Spaceman" The Killers
"The High Road" Broken Belles
"California" The Kooks
"Jenny" Stellastarr*
"For Us" Pete Yorn
"Paris Is On" Paul Brill
"The Funeral" Band of Horses
"You'll Find A Way" Santogold
"Bulletproof" La Roux
"1901" Phoenix
"Tangerine" Led Zeppelin
"In Your Eyes" Jeffrey Gaines (Peter Gabriel cover)
"Barely Legal" The Strokes
"Gold Lion" Yeah Yeah Yeahs
"Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" Florence and the Machine
"Airplanes" B.o.B. (featuring Hayley Williams
"Stadium Love" Metric
"Hollywood" Stefani Germanotta (couldn't resist)

Unless this is a rousing success and my adoring fans decide to go all "Betty White," I'm not linking to YouTubes of all my songs again, that was an unforeseen pain in the backside. And seriously, if you're going to make me a meme (which I'm ambivalent about), at least get me an SNL gig, I just want to be in Scared Straight with Kenan.