Movies, Music, and other Blogs but mine....

So what does one do during the winter when the only free time he has is pretty much from 7 at night to 10:30 in the morning? Watch movies, listen to music, and find entertainment in blogging, not in his own, but in others...oh and sleeping (losing sleep)

Lets get the easy stuff out of the way, and leave the funnest...funnest for last. Well its all fun. Its all the funnest, i mean.

So, there are two blogs i have been keeping up on daily. BSNYC: BikeSnobNYC.blogspot.com Ridiculously audacious and funny. This guy takes swings at anything and everything having to do with the bike culture. From cyclcross, fixed gears, to even recumbent cycles ( even though i think thats the reason why those things were made ). He makes fun of the parts, the prices, the clothes, and the riders, and everything in between. Unfortunatly i think this is one of those things that if your not that fimiliar with the culture you might not think its as funny as i do, i have found myself cracking up (LOLing) by myself, at my house, at 3 in the morning while reading this guy.

The second blog is Troutsandtrees.blogspot.com. This blog is similar to Bike Snob, but hits a lil' bit closer to home. Its all about Traverse City GOSSIP! woop woop, and you know me, im all about that subject, Traverse City that is, not so much the gossip.....clearly.

Gee, remember when i didnt even know what these blog thingys were?

Alright, now we get into more substance. Let me list you ll the movies iv watched in the past couple weeks.

O' Brother Where Art Thou
Batman: The Dark Knight
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Lord Of the Rings (Trilogy)
Burn After Reading
Jackie Brown
28 Days Later
Dazed and Confused
the Black Dhalia
Katt Williams
Gangs of New York
City of Men
Mash (Fixed Gear video)
Pi
Pauls Last Stop
Darjeeling Limited
V for Vendetta
Gladiator
Son of Rambow
There Will Be Blood
Sweeny Todd
Paris, Je T'Aime
Slumdog Millionare

All the movies are pretty good and the staff at Family video still cant remember my phone number...i need to start going to the library to get movies.

Next is music. With the inventions of computers and ipods, it is so much easier for me to make sure that no moment is gone in silence. The artists i have been listening to the most has been:

Benga
Whitest Boy Alive
Animal Collective
Fleet Foxes
Dungen
Architects
Beirut


Now that is what i listen to the most because i am either just discovering them or they have released something new. There are however alot more artist that i have gotten into that just wasnt able to keep me away from those artist up there^^ and i am just keeping them on the back burner....if you know what i mean, Or just artsits that have made it to my ear in the past couple weeks, could be first timers or long timers making a come back.

Grouper
Mr. Oizo
Von Bondies
Para One
J. Tillman
Delfonics
M. Ward
Victims
From Ashes Rise
Telefon Tel Aviv
2562
Erykah Badu
The Very Best
Ola Porida
Savath Y Savalas

And some more probably.

So clearly i have been a very busy boy. When i am not working at Oryana, sitting/doing reviews/testing equipment/unwrinkling clothes at the Fixed Gear Gallery, or doing promotion for Porterhouse Productions, i am either walking, listening to music, watching movies, or reading blogs, or doing a combination of any/all of those.

I have also begun to oversee the completion of my new bike, i have the crankset/chainwheel (Miche), bottom bracket (Phil Wood), handle bars (Soma Major Taylors) and bar grips (oury) so far. I already have my frame (Alien) and saddle (Soma) picked out, all iv got to do is pay for them. I still need to decide which set up i want for my wheels and pedals though, and i need to figure out the length of stem i need. I also need to find me a cheap, nothing special, seat post. Some of these things iv never really had to deal with before, like buying a seat post, most of these things i have either already had or it was just given to me, but now that i am actually having to deal with actually looking into the specs and details of this stuff, its quite shocking. I am asking myself quite often "wow, why does this small piece of steele cost so much?" or "Really, whats the differance between a $50 seat post compared to a $150 seat post?" or "Why does a seat post even cost that much?". And Im still not too sure about the seat post situation, thats why i only want something plain and simple...im hoping that plain and simple also means cheap and durable.

What to do?

So Casey moved out of the apartment this past week. This is the first time iv ever had a place to myself. Its pretty wierd. I dont know what to do with myself, iv been watching alot of movies...well, not alot of movies just a couple movies but i'll watch them alot. I watched the the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy about 4 times in the past 2 weeks...didnt know i was such a big fan of the series. I watched half of Cast Away with Leah today after we went and got her nosed pierced. Then i just got done watching O Brother, Where Art Thou. Iv watched that once everyday for the past 3 days.

My sleeping pattern has been thrown off too...pretty bad. Since New Years Eve basically, i literally dont think iv recovered yet from New Years Eve! I worked at the opera house from 9 in the morning to 4 in the morning, then after that i went and hung out at Serenity with those boys for an hour.

Since this summer i have been working on this tattoo on the side of my body, i finally got it all filled in. Its a solid black line, about an inch and a half wide that goes up from my ankle to just under my arm pit. Its taken over 4 months to complete and ALOT of pain. But its done now. The reason why i did it was pretty much for self discipline. I have found that self discipline has slowly crept into my lifestyle over the past year and has made itself a pretty important aspect of my lifestyle, being vegan and straight edge and all. My definition of fun isnt going out and drinking my nights away, iv got to find better, more productive and more creative things to get my endorphins moving. I cant just go to burger king or any ol' resteraunt and order the special of the day, iv got to find food that doesnt have ANY animal bi-product in it and that includes milk, eggs, and cheese. These are all my choices that i have made and i have to follow through with them as far as i can and I do not see an end in any of choices. So therefore one of my best friends is a lil something called Self Discipline. I jumped into this tattoo on the side of body basically saying that if i can get through the pain and time of doing this then any of my future endeavors that may seem to tough or too exhausting may come to me a little more easier than what one would expect.
Now if you were to ask me though what the line meant, i would say "So i can look kinda cool when im riding my bike through downtown...naked." But thats the quick and suprisingly more accepted answer.

That was also a reason why i took on the challange of preparing my self and following through with a two and half month back packing adventure throuhg Europe.

Well enough about that.

The future is now and now is when i have to plan for...

Dont know what im doing now, or next...im just kind of chilling and trying to get back on track here...still.