I don't think we watch the clouds enough. They're awfully pretty. After my run this evening I laid on the grass and watched them for a bit.
Bought these:
And made this, yumm:
Alice in Wonderland Teaser. One of the only things I wish I was getting to see at Comic-Con this year is Tim Burton speak about this movie. Anyways here is the teaser. Looks revolutionary in film design. Excited much? I am.
Jeffe just notified me of Music Fest NW of which will be occurring the first week I am in Portland a few minuted later I also recieved an e-mail stating I only have to be on campus for one little part of the festival.
Some people I'm excited to see: Sunny Day Real Estate, The Get Up Kids, The Arctic Monkeys, Explosions in the Sky, Passion Pit, Frightened Rabbit, Blind Pilot...
I love music and I can't wait to move. What a welcome.
In this media circus we have lost the focus of what needs to be remembered. I am so sick of the MJ coverage. It's all over, leave the man alone. But still, I was inspired by him. His music is fantastic, and the dancing, well there are no words for it. I've wanted to say something to speak of the great things he did, not denying there were likely bad things too, but was afraid of sounding cliche. My delightful and lovely little sister Cheyna wrote this on accident and my mom encouraged her to send it to the family. I thought it was honest and beautiful, she said the things I was looking to say and she said it better, so I wanted to share it with my favorite picture of him.
Something to Remember ~ June 26th, 2009 .....
It's a lovely sunny day down here in Cali. Just debating what to do with my day until work at 1. I've had a bowl of cheerios with banana slices, delicious indeed. Been watching Michael Jackson on every channel all morning. Driving back from getting the truck this morning, I had a run in with the water works. Silly isn't it? I don't shed a tear for just any reason, and try to hide it when I do. Listening to all the tributes (which I think I could do better than half the dj's out there) was interesting... but that's not what made me have a moment over MJ. It was listening to the words, over and over, of every song playing on the radio. The greatest impact of his passing, I think, is the greatest impact he had 20, 30, 40 years ago. His music. His songs. The lyrics. The messages he was trying to send to the world. The overall message: love everyone and help those that really need it... the children. Black or white, male or female, it's time to make a change... which starts with the man in the mirror. Yourself. If anything his message has just been put in BOLD and underlined with his death, life is short-the change is now.
He paved the way for a new genre. Danced the way he felt, and wore whatever the hell he wanted. He never gave up his style or himself TO BE famous. Fame was something he encountered from a greedy money grubbing father who put his children in a band, whom he abused in ways that are beyond our own grasp, traumatizing, bewildering, and just plain sick. A bittersweet luxury for Michael. A way for him to escape his problems, but not the scars left behind. A way for him to spread his message and make a change, while sacrificing his own life to the ugly world of the media skeptics and public scrutiny. He was a gift put on this planet to help spread an easy message, which is something people lost light of the last fifteen years: Peace & Love. Never did he exploit his fame or see himself as better. He couldn't see himself as his fans did, he couldn't love himself as his fans did and do. I don't believe that was ever a focus of his.
My mother and I had a discussion this morning, and a few of her remarks talked about his crazy publicized stunts. I replied back with my own interpretation of a man whose life has been put into recluse due to his fame. When was the last time MJ could go into public, the grocery store, anywhere without a thousand person mob and fifty cameras in his face..? 1995? No. 1988? No. 1968? No, because that's when little 13 year old teeny boppers screamed his name from miles away as he made his appearance on bandstand as an 11 year old star.
With thousands of people screaming your name outside your hotel room for hours and hours and hours and hours in a foreign country, wanting to see your child... would you not finally do something? He did not dangle his son out of a hotel window, he gave the people what they finally wanted after hours of commotion. He showed the people his baby boy without jeopardizing his sons right to personal identity thus holding a towel in front of the child's face. No one can understand his loneliness and troubles. I feel for the man, and am glad to see tributes showing what Michael Jackson truly was, a goodhearted man who wanted the world to love everyone, especially the children. He wanted to protect the children from a childhood like his... among the other negatives in the world: starvation, war, sickness, etc. Music was his way of making a change, getting a message out to the world. The gathering of herds in L.A. and worldwide are once again a remembrance of MJ, and hopefully they take his message with them.....
(written by Cheyna Swartz)
In all, great chill summer music.
We went to Pokez and then to the House of Blues for the Xavier Rudd show. Now, I am going to preach the gospel about this man because not only is he PETA's hottest vegetarian of 2007, but he is an incredible, under appreciated musician and person all-around. I wouldn't say I hate PETA, as they do a lot of really great things, but extremist groups like them don't usually appeal to me since they do ridiculous stuff that unravels the things they accomplish [all the f-ing time].
Regardless PETA likes Rudd and I like Rudd. His records are great, but live, well... His music rips at you, just pulls at your soul and your mind. It's the kind of music that you can see, swirling around you in a multitude of colors. During Xavier's set, I noticed two things: a large Sea Shepard flag and the Aussie Aboriginal flag (thought by some to be Australia's true flag). His website and myspace page is full of causes and his lyrics are simple but powerful with the constant underlying message: individuals change the world, for better or worse. He holds no prisoners in his lyrics, criticizing and applauding humanity in turn, but there is always an underlying positive message.
Jeff sent this to me this morning. Like I need to spend anymore time on FLICKR. The programming alone I think is awesome.
http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr/
