Blog

  • After Thanksgiving

    I have never really understood the excitement of Black Friday. I understand that there are people out there who love to hunt for a bargain, and who treat shopping like a sport. Fine, that’s your bag, and go to town with it.

    Since the advent of online shopping, which I guess was the late 90’s, it now feels like we have this almost week-long celebration of consumerism that is covers Black Friday to Cyber Monday… 4 Amazing Days of Shopping!!! There have been stories in the news for over a week of how much money will be spent, and how to find the best deals. I would not be surprised that in 50 years we will have a new holiday that comes out of Thanksgiving and is all about shopping. The government shuts down, and there will be no taxes, and it will be like the Purge, but for capitalism.

    A friend of mine from college, Lori Fox who is an artist and jewelry designer, put the following picture up on her Instagram page…

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    Her statement that accompanied the image is as follows:

    “Think before you buy- it’s not a “good deal” if you don’t need it. Thanks @adbusters.magazine and @makesmthng for helping raise awareness about our often mindless consumption that leads to so much environmental waste and pollution. Be aware this holiday season 👀Have you started any new holiday traditions in your family that don’t involve buying loads of new stuff?”

  • The Thanksgiving Blog

    It is Thanksgiving-Eve, and we have started the preparations in our little California home. I started cutting up vegetables and getting the dips and sauces ready. Tonight, my wife will start making the pumpkin pie.

    In the morning, whenever we decide to get up, but it should still be early. We do have a kid after all. So, when we get up early, we’ll watch the Macy’s parade with the kid and then after that, we start making everything for the meal. It takes however long it takes us. Sometimes we eat at 1pm, sometimes we eat at 8pm.

    Our other tradition is that we stay in our pajamas all day. We go out shopping earlier in the week and everyone gets a new set. Holiday theme is preferred, but not mandatory.

    The goal for the day is that we all take it easy, stay relaxed, and enjoy being with each other.

    All of that is good and well, and fun and silly, and the way we celebrate the holiday.

    But what has really hit home with me recently is that I do have so much to be thankful for. With all of the changes that have come into my life this year, some planned others not so much, I now see with clarity the importance of friends, and family; the people we choose to share our lives with. That these relationships are what truly brings meaning and value to life. I am thankful for them.

    And with that…

    May it be a wonderful day for you, and Happy Thanksgiving to All!

  • DMV And Mass Weed

    So, if it has DMV in the title, I bet you can see a cliché story coming about waiting in line for hours.

    And you would be partially correct.

    I now live in California, and I needed to go and get myself a California drivers license. To speed up the process, California allows you to fill out forms online, and have them waiting for you at the DMV. They also let you sign up for an appointment, this way you don’t have to spend hours waiting in line. I took advantage of this and filled out the form and requested an appointment. The earliest I could get into my local DMV was January 24th, at 10am. I love the irony of how they created a system to cut down on the waiting time, which has a two and a half month waiting time.

    I went to the DMV this morning and waited two and a half hours just to be seen by someone. It turned out well, I have acquired a California drivers license, am registered to vote, and am an organ donor.

    While I was waiting for two and half hours, I scanned the news and tried to catch up on my reading. A story that caught my eye was about how Massachusetts legalized the sale of weed today. They are now the first east coast state to legalize, which is cool, and I think also shows that it is only a matter of time before it is legal everywhere.

    The aspect that I found interesting was the timing of all of this. Massachusetts allowed sales to start two days before Thanksgiving; a holiday that revolves around food and family. I mean, being high does make you wanna eat, and most people I know need to be high to deal with their families.

  • Job Hunting

    I have now been in California for two and a half weeks now, and the job-hunting fear has set in. I have been sending out resumes and applications, and I haven’t got one interview yet. The first week was no big deal, the second week was a little annoying. Now, that we are on week three, and it is a short week with Thanksgiving, which means my search will continue into a fourth week. The fear is setting in. It is possible now that I will go a month with nothing.

    That’s a problem.

    As we planned this move to California, me finding a job wasn’t that big of a concern. I had worked my way up in arts management, and from that, I thought I had many marketable skills.

    I am beginning to have second thoughts about that.

    Also, it has been almost 15 years since I was last out of a job, and the instability and insecurity that this situation creates has caused more than a few self-doubts. There are a few anxiety triggers that are firing up now which also makes me spiral/fall into thinking that everything will blow up in my face. That I won’t be able to provide…

    And then I have to remind myself that I need to relax.

    Take a breath.

    I’m not at the panic point yet, though I can see it on the horizon.

  • The Beatles (The White Album) Super Deluxe Edition

    I listened to the 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition of The White Album yesterday and today. I have been waiting for this to come out for some time, as I am a super Beatles fan. Over all, I am very happy with what they put out in this edition.

    My first impression is that the remixing of the original album is great. The music on this mix is much sharper, clearer, and also, they pulled forward sounds that had been lost in the background due to the use of a four track in the initial recording.

    The other treasure is the Esher Demos on the third disk, which were recordings made at George Harrison’s house of the songs that John, Paul and George had been working on for the new album. Some of these tracks had been released on the Anthology Three way back in the 90’s, but on this edition, 27 tracks were included. In these demos, we are given an amazing insight to the first drafts of some of these songs; some songs evolved, while others were pretty much complete and ready to go.

    The final three disks are outtakes from the studio, a few jams, and instrumental tracks. It is interesting to get a glimpse of the building of these songs, but in this presentation of this material, a false reality is created. These outtakes leave one feeling that The Beatles were having a great time recording in the studio, when the reality was quite different.

    Of the 30 original songs on The White Album, only 16 tracks had all four playing on them. The real sessions had arguments, and walk outs, and lots and lots of tension that would start the process of the band’s eventual breakup. I know the recording exists, as I have heard stories about it, and I wanted to hear the tape where John calls Paul a “fucking idiot,” because they were a band that was making great music while they didn’t like each other. That is an amazing accomplishment as well, and I want to hear how they did that, but that is not what is being presented. What we have is a celebration of a great album, and not a historical document.