md deathfest

this weekend cory, mel and i roadtripped to baltimore for maryland deathfest. BRUTAL.

we left friday morning at some ungodly hour. while i was outside waiting for cory to pick me up i saw wheeldog. from the space machine we drove to brookline to get mel and peaches and were on the road by 7 or 8. we got into philly early afternoon got some food and then went to park to play bocce ball. i scored many points and everyone was oh so jealous of my athleticism. that night we went to a bar, played some wii and passed out relatively early.

saturday morning we left for baltimore and got there in record time. we got our wristbands and then checked into the hotel, and i took a much needed shower. we went to the lexington market, home of the world famous crab cake. like these crab cakes were ranked by the omnipotent GQ mag as one of the 10 best dishes in the entire world. i got the cheapo $5 crabcake and it was still bomb. from the market we went to the beer store and then had a few drinks at the hotel before heading back to deathfest. brutal truth, beer, immolation, atheist, beer, beer, napalm death, beer, pizza, beer, BOLT THROWER, beer, beer, beer, wolves in the throne room, beer, beer. after wolves in the throne room we went and partied at a hotel with some of mel's friends. it was really awesome, i encourage all of you try to go next year.

sunday morning we got food, and went to a really amazing book store. like, we all spent way too much money on books. i picked up a super sweet graphic history of the SDS, and a crimethinc book. after the store we drove back to philly. i was able to finish the book i was reading, and peruse some of the books that mel picked up in the car. we got back to philly and went a brazilian bbq. lots of meat wrapped in meat and surprise meat (in the mashed potatoes). then we went to a bar and drank lions head and played bullshit. we brought all of the candles from empty tables over to our table and mel told our fortunes (turns out that cory probably wont marry waiter who was serving us, but all is well, the cards told us the waiter eats his own poop).

cory and i went to get cheese steaks in the morning. we went to pat's, since geno's is a racist shithole. seriously, they have a sign that says "if you can read thank a teacher. if you can read in english thank a marine". uuugggghhhhh. it is really mind-boggling that tourists and locals go there. after cheese steaks we went to met up with mel and peaches at a mexican place. i got a drink that tasted like a dozen roses, it was beautiful. there was even a dead rose in my drink, which is, um, cool i guess. after our breakfast drinks we started driving back to boston. we made it pretty quickly and didnt hit any traffic. when i got home i went out in davis with logan, kallen and laura to celebrate kallen finally going away. no, it's actually sad the space machine is down to logan, kyle and myself. not quite what it was at it's prime. anyways, it is already wednesday, and that is great. my friend mike fish is in town this weekend, following phish like the dirty hacky-sacker he is. regardless, our reunion shall be glorious.

Changes!

Ok kids - I made the blog a little wider in order to accommodate videos a little better. However, I feel like it might be _too_ wide. (Scroll down to some longer posts, see if they are hard to read.) So, let me know. I can change it.

I am in California right now, at a non-profit mobile technology conference. ::makes jerk off motion:: It's okay, but it's not even half over and I'm already ready to pistol whip the next person who says "twitter". Someone asked me for my twitter feed in a workshop today. ::vomits in mouth::

Other than that, it's wicked fun. Much needed break from New Orleans, though I am missing most of Tedley Bowmantonshire's visit to NOLA. I think I will catch him for about 25 minutes on Saturday night, after a three hour layover in Vegas. (They have slots in the airport there - bad news for Drew.)

Long conspicuous absence from Sir Not Appearing On This Blog, I know - I've quit smoking, haven't been getting drunk every night, and am busily entering the ranks of developer douchebaggery in the Silicon Valley. WTF?

an ode to awesome

My favorite story growing up Where the Wild Things Are is coming out soon and I am very excited.

To begin, here is the trailer:



1. Directed by spike jonze

(one of my favorite videos ever. dinosaur jr - feel the pain)




songs written by karen o with something to do with the Arcade Fire that I dont entirely understand


co-written by david eggers who you might have heard of



...sorry i just learned how to embed videos.

But I am very excited and will be dressed as a monster at midnight the night it appears. Probably not but just saying

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SOMEONE GET THIS TATTOO IMMEDIATELY

Recession recession blah blah blah

I know its real but I'm sick of it being the reason for everything lately. It seems like everything that happens whether it's the weather or bad public schools is because of the economic downturn. However, I recently read an article from the Baltimore Sun, "In Families' Tragic Deaths, a Hint of Paternalism" and it caught my attention since what does actually seem to be happening a lot lately is men going down in financial flames and subsequently brutally murdering their families.

What interests me even more is that in the past month and a half I have witnessed three instances of domestic violence. Not that this abuse doesn't happen all the time but I find it weird that all of a sudden these situations are so blatant and public. Which brings up a whole other set of issues since every time I intervene I'm so worried that I will be making it worse for the woman, in the moment or later.

Last night as I sat on my porch reading, my neighbor pushed his partner out of the front door screaming at her, twisting her wrists and shoving her nearly to the ground. She was asking him to stop and trying squirm out of his grip.
A) I really don't want to say anything that is going to make him later beat the shit out of her, blaming her for drawing attention
2) I can't just wait to watch her get punched in the face
C) But I also don't really want to get punched in the face

I just went down there and walked up slowly and said, "Umm hey, how's it going?" He let go of her and started telling me how he would never put his hands on her but she's a goddamned ho who isn't worth anything. Meanwhile she, who is a sheriff btw, is threatening to call the cops. (Knowing her job made this even more complicated to me. I have considered her strong and smart not only bc of her profession but also her personality. Also one time she helped me break into my house after I broke the front door. I had the thought of, she can handle herself, right?) When he went inside she told me they'd been together for nine years but weren't married and that he'd been drinking. That she could but wasn't going to have him arrested, then she went to the neighbor's house and stayed there. He came out a minute later, drunkenly yelling more insults till he drove off.

All this is not to say that murder/suicide by a patriarch and increased public domestic violence in my life are related, but maybe they are? Is economic stress making people flip out in their private lives to the point of assault? If so, is this going to continue to be terrifying for women whose husbands/partners see them as a responsibility and even as their property? What do you guys think? How do you men feel about this? How do you women feel about this? Seeing three women abused by their partners in the past couple weeks has made me fucking furious but also really freaked me out. Partly I'm worried whether or not I'm handling the situations correctly. Mostly it just scares me to witness these violent and belittling outbursts by men directed towards women they clearly feel like they're entitled to treat in such a way. Thoughts?

May Day Mayhem

Things got a little messy in Berlin this past weekend. May Day is generally when the most cars are burnt, stones are thrown and the police get to try out their favorite pepper-sprays.

This year the district of Kreuzberg, where things get the ugliest, hosted a "May Fest", to counter the normally violent demonstrations. The rationale: with enough live music, good food and good people, there won't be any room for violent protests - I like it. Great things from the day.

One Euro tall boys
Fem-metal band, covered in body paint and various types of tape.


Street performer who spontaneously stormed through the crowd with a bull-horn and flaming stick.
Turkish toddler who made all the girlies weak in the knees with his seamless electric-slide (look close, little guy in orange).


I took a short break at a local beer garden, and returned after sunset to what felt like a war-zone. During anti-fascist and anti-capitalist demonstrations, small groups started to throw stones and bottles at the police. As a result, the entire square (Kottbusser Tor) was sealed off.

I went one street over and found a way in. Even with the visibly heightened police presence, the festivities carried on in good spirits. But, when bands of 10-12 riot police silently walked through the crowds in a box formation, the nervous tension rose.

They would spot a 'suspect' and, without warning, storm them with an unusual degree of force. This did not go over well. The crowd would chant 'let go! let go!' while the police set up a loose barricade around the scene. At times, one or two riot police would break out of formation to chase down those that provoked them. This back-and-forth would repeat itself every 5 to 10 minutes, it was chaotic.

Fortunately, these actions were isolated and didn't affect the wider party. After a few more minutes of watching and taking photos of these shenanigans, I returned to the one euro tall boys and street parties.

On a side note, here is a website that tracks the location and number of cars that have been set ablaze in Berlin over the years. Crazy.