Crazy new Beck video for "E-Pro"

click the link to watch a scary and very architectural video for "E-Pro", a song off his new album "Guero"... enjoy.

E-Pro Video

Boycott the Tender Crisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch

Hello friends. Hope this post finds you doing well. I've been ok lately, trying to not let the lousy job-hunt situation get me down. I've been having some fun lately, enjoying myself and making new friends, which has been cool. New friends are fun to make, it feels like you're starting over with a clean slate, cause they don't know shit about you. Try it soon.



All of you New Orleans folks out there should check out the movie Ray, if you haven't. If for no other reason, check it out for the New Orleans backdrops that appear frequently throughout the film. They chose to film in New Orleans for a large portion of the movie, believing that look of New Orleans would be appropriate, with its plentiful music venues and its southern charm. Many familiar visuals appear in the movie, including shots of the exteriors of the Half Moon Bar, and the Sandpiper Lounge sign on Louisiana. Here's an excerpt I found:

"Ironically, Ray is the best movie to feature New Orleans without explicitly naming it as a location in the film -- which is sad, considering his performances here in places like the now-defunct Dew Drop Inn. But Hackford, working on a non-epic budget, uses New Orleans' old age to great effect in an epic screaming with period detail. Old New Orleans watering holes such as the Sandpiper Lounge, the Half Moon Lounge as well as the Maple Leaf and now-closed El Matador (owned by Hackford's son, Rio) all provide marvelous settings for a variety of live-music performances. The glorious Saenger and Orpheum theaters provide the more upscale performance moments. Hackford also deserves credit for casting local musicians and actors (Clarence Johnson III, Fahnlohnee Harris and the Rev. Lois Dejean immediately come to mind). If this isn't a walking advertisement for New Orleans as a film-production location, nothing is."



In other news, Beck's new CD, "Guero", came out today. I've had it for a month cause I got it from a buddy here who got an early copy, so let me know if you want it, I can get you the files. Its pretty fucking kick-ass. I didn't know what to think about it upon first listen, but it grows on you like a motherfucker. Though its pretty unique as far as Beck albums go, its much closer to "Odelay" than it is "Sea Change". He's messing around with sweet hip-hop beats and bizarre lyrics again, which is refreshing. Though its difficult to pick favorites, my favorite tracks so far are probably "Hell Yes", "Earthquake Weather" and "Go it Alone" (which features Jack White on Bass Guitar). So check that shit out.



One last thing, the same dude who gave me the beck shit, my buddy Kyle, just gave me the new Stephen Malkmus cd, which is amazing cause it doesn't come out until the end of May. For anyone who doesn't know, Stephen Malkmus was the songwriter and frontman of "Pavement", my favorite band fo all time. So I'm always excited when he puts stuff out. This is his third post-pavement release and its called "Face the Truth". If you want it, just let me know, I'll hook you up.

Thanks for reading and have an awesome day/night!!!

New Song (its sad though)

I won't make this one autoplay, so click on the link if you wish. Been actually writing this one for a while, few months maybe. It comes and goes. I had been listening to tons of Elliot Smith when I began to write it, which I almost hope is apparent, cause that guy wrote bad-ass songs.

In My Dreams

the final hours of the weekend tick away

As I wake from a brief catnap to discover that "The Last Starfighter" is on tv. Some weird movie I used to watch when I was little. I've been in bummed-out reclusive mode for the most part this weekend, only leaving my apartment for survival supplies such as shampoo and food. Been in a real reading mood too, finished reading "Confederacy of Dunces" and started Hunter Thompson's "Hell's Angels", which rules so far. I also got this new rolling stone magazine that is entirely about him (Hunter S Thompson), and its really interesting. I always thought he just did a lot of drugs and that's all there was too it, but he was an amazing writer and possibly the most interesting person to ever live. I believe his utilization of drugs was his way of seeking some primal truth. (not a good idea for most people, but it worked for him) So I recommend checking him out. You can access some of the articles on the Rolling Stone site. I'll make a link.




Hunter Thompson in Rolling Stone

On tv, some little boy was spying on a young couple, and when they started making out, the kid's face knarls in disgust and he says "diarrhea." It was weird. Tomorrow I have to suck it up and go back into real public life, back to Ace hardware, which I hoped would be replaced by an Architecture job by now. Oh well, what can I do, I must move on and hope for the best. Cooked and awesome dinner ealier.. steak and bow-tie pasta with pesto. It was the shit.

Thanks for visiting the brain-douche.

The PostGraduationBlues

The Post-Graduation Blues

you can tell from his pulse that he's from miami

piano jazz and isolation are my present medication

Well, I'm kind of in shock right now because I just recieved a letter from SOM that read as follows:

Dear Al,

Thank you for coming in and meeting with our review team. We are interested in your credentials. However, we feel they do not meet our specific needs at this time. We will keep your resume on file and contact you in the future if a position opens.

SOM

ouch. there goes my backup. why is this so fucking hard? what the fuck am I doing wrong? goddamnit.


send me a hello and help me feel better, cause jumping of a bridge sounds pretty good right now.

i am the king of rejection

Rent "My Architect" if you haven't...

Just finished watching a documentary called "My Architect" about Louis Kahn. It was made by his son. It was pretty amazing. Not what I thought it was gonna be like at all. Very interesting and touching at times. Also might be some good information in there about how NOT to live. Note to self: don't impregnate so many women that you lose track of your children. Not cool. It bothers me that historically, influential architects have almost always been awful to thier families. If that's the price of being known, then I'd rather be a nobody.

That reminds me of part of a Brian Wilson song. In "That's Not Me" from Pet Sounds, he sings:

"I could try to be big in the eyes of the world
What matters to me is what I could be to just one girl"

got douche?

Hey dudes and dudettes. Nothing big to report. Pretty boring night, in sortof a good way. Just half watching some pathetic Blues Brothers sequel with one eye, and giving y'all a new post with the other. I can't stop thinking about that STL firm. They are so awesome. I hope and pray they decide to hire me. I would a good boy, God.. I promise! Either way I'll find out Monday. They told me to call then if I haven't heard from them yet. Seems like I've been waiting to hear from some damn firm constantly for the past six months. Its been a frustrating period. Oh well, I'm trying to enjoy it in the meantime. My boss hired two new employees at Ace... two HOT girls. So at least I have that to look forward to when I go to work for eight hours tomorrow. This one girl Karin is like an fair-skinned angel sent by God himself to operate the Ace Hardware cash register. I just looked up and saw John Goodman slapping his huge ass on stage, singing some terrible blues song. Unnecessary. REALLY unnecessary. Well, guess that's it for now. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day/night.

Fresh Air (1st movement)

Fresh Air (Part 1)

SOM or STL?

Hello out there, hope this entry finds you doing wonderfully. I'm doing well. My interview with SOM was the shit, and I'm pretty sure I've got the job, I should be getting confirmation from them this week. It was kindof a scary interview, but I did well I think. There were a couple principals there and they liked my portfolio. They had me fill out an application, which according to Elizabeth Bishop, who works there, is a sure sign that you're hired. But here's the deal. In the meantime, a firm called STL Architects called for an interview, which I just got back from. When I first moved here nearly six months ago, they were one of my lofty, dream-job firms, along with firms like Garofalo Architects. I mean, seriously, check this shit out. Its fucking awesome.

STL Architects


The office is the coolest I've even seen. Its located in a gutted old Chicago brownstone. Sleek-ass contemporary interior. Laid back as hell. A very young, energetic, small office. Its only 20 or 30 people, and they were all talking and telling jokes and shit while they worked. I'd be doing 3D computer renderings, building models.. whatever they happen to need. But they're all small projects, which rules. God, I hope they call me back. If not, its SOM for me which is ok too... but this place... damn.

So there's the news about my job situation. I know I'll be working at one of these two places within the next couple weeks, but which one??? Only time will tell.

...as for SOM, most of you are familiar with their shit, but here's a link anyway.

SOM

I'll keep you readers posted. I love you all and I'll post more soon as hell.

moment of truth

Ok, dudes, this is it. My scary interview with SOM is tomorrow morning at 9:30 am. I just found this out at 2 pm today. They sure give you a lot of warning, don't they? So I'm basically trying to stay calm, but wanting to violently puke and shit my pants at the same time. (but I won't I hope) So, I'm about to get out the dusty old walgreens iron I own and drag it across a shirt, pick out a slick-looking tie, toiletpaper-shine my sixty dollar shoes and get ready for a executive dick-sucking session. God, this shit is scary. All of the sudden I have all these fears about the wording of my resume, the amount of detail in my portfolio.. etc. Its like a mathtest, I can't really study NOW, its much too late. I just gotta go in there and do my best, pretend I have this shit in the bag. I'm overanalyzing every possible aspect of the situation right now, just like I do with girls. Its no fun. How many other applicants are they interviewing? Will it look bad that I don't have any autocad drawings in my portfolio? What if they ask me some stumper of a question and I choke and they talk later about it? FUCK!!! Oh well, when it comes down to it, I just have to do my best to relax and present myself as well as possible without being too much of myself, cause I'm not sure if they're into fart jokes yet. Pray to whatever god you worship for me.