Tragedy In Virginia (revised)

(revised portion)
so there was a mistaken identity early on in this tragedy and we now know that the shooter was from South Korea. tomorrow our school has an assembly about the shootings and i wonder if they'll mention this information; in an international school setting they sometimes have to be really extra careful about things like this. about 20% of our student body is South Korean, about 50% is American and beyond that even more of our students spent a large percentage of their lives living in the States. but we have an awesome community of kids here and i think they'll handle the whole situation very well. (the South Korean kids are really wonderful; this isn't a reflection of their country at all!)

Buster wrote a little post about this over at his site. i majored in journalism and for some reason i'm pretty bad at putting together the right words in a post. so go check out his, articulate, blog post.
(revised portion)

i wrote this really fast so it might be full of mistakes...

i'm writing this b/c i know we're going to get emails about it (and i want to say something before i have class the next 4 hours); what happened in Virginia is CRAZY!!! and yes, it really freaks me out for two reasons:

a. i was in college a few years ago and picturing this whole thing gives me chills

b. this guy was within 15 minutes of my house when he left Shanghai

this also has a wider scope of affect due to the 'foreign student' aspect b/c a lot of our kids here are Taiwanese Americans that will need a visa to go to college and this thing might affect them. and i think that the seniors might freak out about going to college

Flickr Updates

i had some free time so i got back to updating our photo account. this is a very daunting task considering i've lived here five years and i've taken about 10,000 pictures.

things that just got updated at our photo site:

collection: Trip to the states; summer '06 - Florida and beyond

collection: China travel - Luoyang (October, 2004) and Zhujiajiao (faculty fieldtrip, 4-14-07)

collection: Random Photos (they got no other home) - Random - China '02-'05


things i'm still lacking:

all 5 trips to Beijing
all 3 trips to Yangshuo
our trips to America in 2003 and 2004

i'll let you know when those are done...

Faculty Field Trip To ZhuJiaJiao

yesterday we had a faculty field trip; i know, it's a strange concept to me too. we went to a river town, about two hours outside Shanghai, called ZhuJiaJiao.(Jew-jyah-jow) this place is touted as 'the Venice of China' so i figured i'd go on this free trip b/c Italy is more expensive... if this is what Venice is like, i'm not interested! (please understand that that was a joke) ZJJ is pretty boring but it isn't all bad; it's got some nice things to see, it's just that we've seen this kind of stuff a dozen times here.

instead of telling you why it's lame or boring, i'll try to point out the positive stuff b/c we actually had a fun day.

after a very ill fated trip, to the Henan province in 2004, i realized that when your stuck in a bad situation you just have to let go, embrace the lameness, and laugh it all off. so that's what we did; we walked around the town joking w/ our friends and had a pretty good time.

interesting moments in the day:

we shot balloons w/ bb guns
(maybe i'll get a pic of this from one of the other people)

a lot of dogs! this town could better be described as the 'mangy mutt' town. this one dog had a baboon butt and another was trotting around w/ a chain dragging behind it. but strangely enough, we saw three pugs, real pugs. it was the most common/most recognizable breed of the day. they weren't the ugliest pugs i've seen but they were pretty ghetto. i got a picture of the oldest and most haggard one of the day.


the force is strong w/ this one...


um

later we saw a kid being held by his mom, dropping diarrhea on the sidewalk. kids often 'do their business' on the street here in China but this one seemed a notch beyond. partly b/c it's a tourist place w/ lots of bathrooms and also b/c it was diarrhea. i'll spare you from seeing that picture...


other stuff from the day:


they're either lighting these to bring their husbands back or to keep them dead. i'm not sure


they act like they never seen a dude w/ a camera before


i'm not talented at a lot of things but i am very good at catching Bet w/ a funny face before she can stop me!


The Canfields were there too, but they'd been here before so they did their own thing. (L to R) front row: Mandy, Bet, and Channing back row: Jamie, John, me, Thomas, Laura, Dan, and Fawn


yep, it was exactly this interesting

(ok, there's a Flickr update. it's not much, a lot of it's right here, but i said i'd mention when there's an update and i'm a man of my word)

Band Of The Week (April 8-14)

ok saturday is now my official 'band of the week' day. (it's actually friday night here but i'll be gone all day tomorrow)

in my last post i shared a recent video and mentioned that The Black Keys would eventually make 'band of the week'. well tonight i looked around youtube a little more and found some videos that put that last one to shame.

so, after 40 minutes of video watching, this week's 'band of the week' is The Black Keys. it was going to happen sooner or later, so i decided sooner is fine.


photos by spiderpops

i started listening to The Black Keys around the time i came to China. i saw them on Conan O'Brien the summer before i came here and later copied their first album from a friend of mine. in less than five years this band has made it's way into my top five and they might be the band i listen to the most.

this band is not for everyone; they make up tempo blues rock w/ a lot of groove and a lot of soul. it's like 50's blues w/ the growl of a 90's garage band; like jimi hendrix playing blues' standards in double time through a fuzz-box. these days there's a tendency for blues to be extremely, for lack of a better term, cheesy. look no further than recent albums by john mayer and, sadly, eric clapton. the Black Keys are anything but cheesy; their music is fun and soulful w/ a great beat.

The Black Keys are from Akron, Ohio; not exactly the kind of town you associate blues music. the band is made up of two people, Dan and Patrick, bringing instant comparisons to the White Stripes. while the two bands do have a lot in common, the Stripes run all over genres and the Black Keys are a one trick pony. this isn't a knock on them; they do one thing and they do it better than anyone else!

i'll skip a long boring history lesson and get on to the music. they've put out 4 great albums and a couple EP's so there's a lot to choose from. here's a few of my favorites that you can try. it's good clean rock that you can tap your toes to.


The Big Come Up:
Do The Rump
Count Down
Heavy Soul

Thickfreakness:
Hard Row
Have Love Will Travel
Set You Free

Rubber Factory: (my overall favorite BK album)
All Hands Against His Own
Grown So Ugly
Act Nice And Gentle
10 a.m Automatic
The Lengths
Till I Get My Way

Magic Potion:
Your Touch
You're The One
Modern Times
Goodbye Babylon
Just Got To Be

most of these videos are live, so you may think they're a little too 'disheveled.' if so, try their studio recordings; you might like them a little better.

Your Touch (live in store, Nashville, TN.)

WOW...

Stack Shot Billy (on Letterman)


Set You Free (live on Australian TV)


Thickfreakness (live on Australian TV)


10a.m. Automatic (video)


Have Love Will Travel (live in Akron)


Busted (live in Akron)


Heavy Soul (live in Akron)

From the www, Vol. 2

this is The Black Keys and you can be assured that they will make 'band of the week' at some point. i think i listen to this band more than any other band due to the fact their songs are fun, up tempo, and rock my face off. (that last one was for MoGo)

but ya, this isn't a 'band of the week' post so i'll just get to the point; i came across this video today and it 'made my day.'

this is their newest single (off their newest album of course) but this version is live on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien'

the youtube sound quality leaves much to be desired but the performance is awesome! WHAT A BEARD! i'd love a beard like this; he looks homeless.

enjoy (there is no 'or don't')

Your Touch by The Black Keys on Conan O'Brien

For John and Dan

apparently it's not cool to mention when it's your dog's 1st birthday. two of my 'friends' (the senator and the gentleman) decided i'm lame for my 'dog blog', calling it a faux pas...

well guys; next time a 'D C' or 'confidence' joke pops up, I WON'T HAVE YOUR BACK!

THE REBEL HAS SPOKEN, KA-BLAM!!

(after posting this i realized that neither of them can comment on this post b/c they're also here in china where blogspot is blocked and you can't comment while using anonymouse to view this page. hehe)

Band Of The Week (April 1-7) (revised)

ok, so obviously i'm starting a weekly post called 'band of the week'. this is a 'dangerous' step for me b/c i tend to be neglectful in all forms of non-face-to-face communication, (telephone, email, blogging, skype, text messaging, instant messaging, telegraph, carrier pigeon, smoke signals, etc) so i fear this will turn into an 'every other week' type of thing. another dangerous possibility is the embarrassment of choosing a new band that later turns out to be a dud.

this won't necessarily be a 'new band' or even a band that's new to me. the idea is just that i pick a band that stood out that week; i.e. they put out a new album, i picked up an older album, a suggestion from a friend, i listened to them a lot that week, a concert experience, you get the idea. so that's how this thing will work. i'll play it safe for a while, choosing bands that i really love. for every 'band of the week' i'll give a few song suggestions that you can (legally?) download and check out.

(yes i'm aware that barely anyone is reading this blog and that i'm just talking to myself)

but moving on, my debut 'band of the week' isn't as much a band as songwriter. this songwriter has been in bands, a great band, and they're included here. this 'band' is a long-time love of mine but recently i've been listening to them alot more.

this week's 'band of the week' is...

Stephen Malkmus (of Pavement and solo fame)

i'll try not to bore you w/ too many details. Malkmus spent the 90's as the front man of one of the biggest 'indie' bands of all time, Pavement. (i mean real indie, old school indie. not 'i made this album w/ my parent's money' indie) since then he's been making solo albums and touring w/ various musicians as his 'band'. now, while i know that he wrote a lot more 'outstanding' songs w/ Pavement, i think he's been more consistent as a solo artist.

his music is like that really great plaid button up you bought at second-hand store; its held together by some 15 year old threads w/ a few 'replacement' buttons. but the shirt has character, its one of a kind, looks great, and makes you wish you could find 6 more kinda like it. that's like Malkmus' music; the songs sound loosly held together w/ lots of off key moments but the songs are fun, powerful, and straight forward. i wish i could find 6 more bands that sound like him.

try these on for size:

Pavement songs:
Range Life
Gold Sounds
Cut Your Hair
Stereo
The Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence
Harness Your Hopes
Summer Babes (for Mat)


Malkmus songs:
Us
No More Shoes
1% Of One
Baby C'mon
I've Hardly Been

videos:

Baby C'mon


Cut Your Hair


enjoy!

be sure to congratulate Stephen next time you see him...