MANSPACES! I WANT ONE.

TED talk about "manspaces"

Stop and appreciate the natural world that supports us.

"...no matter how complex or affluent, human societies are nothing but subsystems of the biosphere, the Earth's thin veneer of life, which is ultimately run by bacteria, fungi and green plants." Vaclav Smil

This guy made drawings in the sand--sweet aerial views

Check out the video of a drawing done in Nevada. Relaxing :)

YAWN MORE!

The therapeutic effects of yawning are finally being recognized

New Study: Parks are like Crack for Young Adults

Read this article

keep things.

Breckenridge, Colorado legalizes pot. yes.

Cats following me everywhere

Me n Dan get attacked by cats. they are mesmerized by us. Once on the walk home from The Graduate-- super soft yellow guy. followed us for a few blocks. 2 am. bit my fingers.
Then today at the Local 123-- fat cat on the picnic table. ate my fingers. and destroyed my pen.
Cats love us. they are so soft. Eeeee want to squeeze!!!!!

Unemployment sure is fun!

Parks = Ecnomic Stimulus

This article is great.

I Came to Berkeley to Find Allen Ginsberg, in a Supermarket

Allen Ginsberg the crazy beatnick hippie homosexual poet is one of the most badass humans ever to live. When he lived in Berkeley in the 50s and 60s he frolicked and maybe made love to little boys but he certainly loved life and found beauty in the small things. Passionate, real, honest, humorous, invigorating, revolutionary, brilliant, but not pretentious: this is why his writing has struck a chord with so many people. Its funny that being a Ginsberg fan I found a connection to him by working in a supermarket in California, the very subject of one of his most famous pieces.

Here are some lines from A Supermarket in California, which he wrote in 1955 in Berkeley, CA:


What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the streets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!
What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes! --- and you, Garcia Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons?

I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.
I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?

I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective.We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in an hour. Which way does
your beard point tonight?
(I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket and feel absurd.)

On The Way to Work

Pre-Work/Commute*: Some songs you might think are lame, by Andrea

1. The Game (ft. 50 cent) -- Hate it or Love it.

2. Dr. Dog -- Heart it Races.

3. Atmosphere -- Like Today.

4. Shakira -- La Tortura. this video also rocks.

5. Spoon -- My Mathematical Mind.

6. Supertramp -- Dreamer.

7. T.I. -- No Matter What.


*Also appropriate for beer in the shower time.

Ad Council: Where the Other You Lives

I saw a poster at the bus stop for discovertheforest.org, which read: "The Forest: Where the Other You Lives." I thought this was awesome. Promoting increased interation with nature n getting off the damn couch is the sort of campaign I like...much cooler than the anti-marijuana garbage the Ad Council's been pulling for way too long. The only problem with the Discover the Forest campain is that its geared for "tweens." We need this for adults just as much.

Another good weed commercial.
Another one: you will burn your guitar and your dad's expensive car.

Area Man

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/area_man_unsustainable_experts?utm_source=a-section

OH MY GOD. YEAH, SO WHAT IF I LIKE TO WORK FOR FREE!!

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/07/20/104-unpaid-internships/

OH MY GOD I'M A STEREOTYPICAL TWENTY-SOMETHING WHITE PERSON.

Berkeley Hippies: Squaredancing on a Sunday

Sort of Obvious

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=kids-smiles-predict-their-future

PBS

The Bay Area has a PBS TV Channel (KCSM) that has been airing some of the most tree-hugger programs I have ever seen. And I love it. Right now I'm listening to a student-turned-mountain man talk about Redwood tree growth rings and the significance of "ecotones." Before that a "master composter" from San Mateo College showed us how to make the best conditioning treatment for our organic farms. We learned how to make "peppers and prawns" using sustainably-harvested chiles. There was also a spotlight on eco-tourism in Hawaii, particularly traveling the countryside by horseback and creating "eco-friendly grafiti" along the Hawaiian highways by arranging white coral rocks on top of black solid lava.
Yes it might be over-the-top by your standards (and mine too)--but educational television warms my heart. think of the other shit that is infiltrating the brain of the average american. at least the bay area nutures the minds of its citizens. thank you.

Tony B.

One of the coolest mothafuckas on the planet. you will be missed.

Cesar Chavez Park

So I live in Berkeley, California now, and during one of my journeys out into my new world today I came across a bike pathway that took me over an 8-lane highway to the marina. The marina has a lot of attractions besides water and boats, including the Casar Chavez Park frequented by many dog-walkers and couples on romantic strolls. Its an odd landscape, scrubby and shrubby; dry bushes and small trees line the side of the hill facing the San Francisco Bay. On the other side, the hill is open, with mowed grass and picnic tables. There are young people and old people flying kits on top of grassy knolls. Thats when I realized that the scene looked remarkably similar to the ending of the recent movie, The Kite Runner, where the main character and his new adopted son are flying a kite. Its weird how I recognized a grassy patch of land, but come to find out, the last scene of the film actually was shot there. Pretty cool.

The Last Bastion of Sanity: Vestal's Shoe Repair Guy

He might talk your ear off, but at least its the most interesting conversation you have all year.   The shoe repair guy owns a modest shop on Front St. in Vestal, home of struggling storefronts and signs of economic downturn.  At first glance he is a strange looking man, tall with a full beard, overalls, and greasy hands.  When you walk in the place there are boots and leather bags hung around the walls and piled neatly on shelves.   There are old-fashioned looking tools in the back room that you can see through an open door.  Its hard to tell what year you walked into--it could be 1950.  It smells musty and leathery.  You sort of want to leave as soon as possible.

Until the shoe repair man starts to talk.  He makes you laugh.  He asks you questions about your life.  He makes you think.  It might be 30 minutes before you're out of there.  

The shoe repair man and I have one thing in common for sure: our disdain for Broome County.  We talk about how everyone is the same, believing any hype as long as its mainstream.  There is a complete and utter lack of culture and creativity.   Few people realize the importance of a simple life and few people think to reuse and refurbish their old things, like shoes for example.  No one knows how to get out and experience nature.  The area's infrastructure and economy is falling apart partly because it is such a lame, normal, and mainstream suburban craphole.  

The shoe repair man once wrote a book, he says, entitled "Fun things to do in Broome County." When I asked what was in it, he said each page read, "you're doing it, you're doing it, you're doing it."  i.e.  there is nothing worth doing except reading.  

I highly recommend paying the shoe guy a visit.  Maybe you'll walk out enlightened.  

I can't believe it was almost three months ago.

Hip Hop in Granada, Spain.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111534784



interesante.

A SONG FOR OUR TIMES

"SHOWER BEER" BY Bomb the Music Industry.
(I saw them a year ago at the Middle East Nightclub in Cambridge, Mass. Except it wasn't a nightclub at all because the show was a Sunday matinee for 14 year-olds).

The lyrics are as follows:

" I just got paid/lost my job so it's a heavy night of drinking.
You can smoke in the bar so when I come home I'm stinking.
The smell on my clothes is offending to the nose
But that's not the reason that I'm stepping in.
The only reason I take a shower is so I can drink a showerbeer. "

http://www.quoteunquoterecords.com/qur004/003.mp3

Cartoon on my August 2009 calendar (Union of Concerned Scientists)

To Those in Northampton, Massachusetts: Please Read

his post goes out to current and future students of Smith College in NoHo.

Don't be lame. Get to know your surroundings outside of the Smith College bubble.

Here are the places and things I recommend (you might need a car for some):

1. Ride your bike to Easthampton. Its only a few miles and I'm sure you've never been there, unless you got lost on your way to the car towing pound. Its a cute New England town. There is a small park on your way in with a picnic table and some trees. I sat there once after my ride and had a series of revelations, including the sight of jesus christ in the bark of a tree.

2. Drive to Williamsburg, MA. Along the way are winding streams, fruit stands, old mills converted into retail space, and the world's smallest library.

3. Bela Vegetarian Restaurant. Next to Woodstar downtown. Good food, good price, cozy, and best of all you can bring your own alcohol, i.e. pop that champagne.

4. Ride your bike on the Norwottuck Rail Trail. Travel on the awesome bridge over the Connecticut River, through farms, forests, and stop at the Polish restaurant along the trail.

5. Obviously go to the Book Mill cafe/bar/bookstore in Montague, MA. The bumper sticker "Books you Don't Need in a Place You Can't Find" will finally make sense.

6. Experience Triva Night at The Harp in Amherst. Interact with an interesting mix of locals, bro dudes, and hippies.

7. Get lost in the forest. I recommend taking 46 South (from Hadley) to Skinner State Park. Park along the street. Try to find the huge boulder.

8. Take a day trip to North Adams, MA. Drive through the berkshires, through Florida, MA, see a sign for Bear Crossing, go around the hairpin curve. Go to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MOCA). It will blow your mind.

9. TAKE A CANOE TRIP DOWN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER, for GOD'S SAKE!!! GET SOME BEERS AND CHIPS/SALSA/GUACAMOLE. Paddle North for a while until you see beaches, a rope swing, and people in motor boats tail gating. Run through the corn fields that surround the beach.

You can rent canoes or kayaks at the marina right across the river at the bridge going into Hadley.

My experience with Trivia Night at a Local Cafe/Bar

I must get something off my chest: trivia junkies make me feel inadequate.  During the last year or so, I've developed a habit of participating in trivia competitions at bars which has become a love/hate relationship.  

Last week I went to Trivia Night at the Cyber Cafe in Johnson City, NY, only to be thoroughly embarrassed by my team's un-trivial knowledge.  Every time I go to these events I feel confident that I know more than the average person (a fact which I'm standing by), but by the end of the night I'm bitter as all hell and almost thankful that I don't have a ridiculous ability to memorize pointless information.  

One of the worst questions of the night came in Round 3 when the announcer asked something about the animated movie Up.  I was initially confident that I'd score some points because I had just seen the movie.  Yet the question was absolutely absurd and I don't know how anyone guessed it: "In the movie Up, the two main characters want to fly to south america to see the falls of their dreams.  On the plane tickets that the husband buys, what are the seat assignment numbers?"

WHATTT.  THEY SHOWED THOSE TICKETS FOR LESS THAN A HALF OF A SECOND.

cyber cafe, never again.

AN INTRODUCTION

HELLO!  IF YOU'RE READING THIS, then you probably know who I am.  I just graduated from college (Smith College in Northampton, MA) and I currently reside in Upstate, NY with intentions of moving elsewhere.  I realized that I always have so much damn good commentary on life, and thats why I am publishing my observations.