these days

last night was a tv treat deluxe: suns vs. spurs on channel 12 and the miss universe pageant on channel 13. i was rooting for miss peru...until she tripped over her summer shawl during the bathing suit portion of the competition. i just knew that such a faux pas would not be tolerated by the celebrity judges. of course, who hosted the main event? none other than this asshole, billy bush--aka the cousin of george w. bush. curious how that family leaves its mark on so many constructed competitions. with the adventures of the current administration in mind, i'd highly recommend the film, THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS, to anyone interested in seeing a realistic interpretation of a "third-world," islamic country's struggle for independence against a western colonial power. depicting the "bloodiest revolution in modern history," the movie watches like a relatively objective documentary as it contrasts claustrophobic scenes of urban guerilla warfare in which insurgents slaughter innocent civilians with vivid images of torture at the hands of the imperialists. the film itself has had its own intriguing history over the years as well, being studied here in the us by both sides, so to speak.

it seems to me that f. scott fitzgerald's description of the us after the end of wwi--taken from the CRACK-UP essays--as being "cynical rather than revolutionary" also befits part of our populace today after 9/11, the start and continuation of the 2nd war in iraq, and bush's re-election. nevertheless, i know that i personally engage in too many worthwhile conversations with my peers regarding the current state of the union to not realize that certain latent forces lie within us, waiting to be liberated. those of us still residing anywhere near the "reality-based community" must, first of all, conjugate these forces into a new, critical language that illuminates rather than obfuscates.

of montreal and the nba playoffs, pt. dos

it's official: i don't have mono. huzzah! of course, i wasn't all that kind to my body over the weekend up in lawrence, engaging in various college endeavors. i did see of montreal again, though. a real treat. more dancing this time by all involved too. after the show, i talked to a couple of the guys in the band--frontman kevin barnes and the lead guitarist, not sure of his name--about the nba playoffs. they hadn't seen some of the recent games due to the demands of touring, which led me to try and explain steve nash's brilliance to them via smooth, swooping hand gestures, and big, drunk eyes. i guess barnes used to live in detroit, so he's a big pistons fan. i told him about how i think chauncey billups has the sweetest mustache in the nba; barnes nodded in approval.

status

i quickly found myself driving 45 in a 30 yesterday after leaving the doctor's office where i was tested for mono; perhaps the excess surged in response to the possibility of having a disease founded on lethargy. i'm still waiting to hear the results. since returning from michigan, i have visited my regular doctor twice, the dentist, the allergist, and the travel and immunization clinic. because i'm going to peru, the lady at the travel and immunization clinic prescribed some precautionary pills for malaria: side effects include vivid dreams and/or nightmares.

last night i started reading THE WAVES by virginia woolf. seventy pages into it, i must say that it is one of the most beautiful pieces of prose that i have ever come across. i figure someday i'll read it aloud to a young woman as a means of seduction. maybe i'll even play this song in the background as i whisper,

'all my ships are white,' said rhoda. 'i do not want red petals of hollycocks or geranium. i want white petals that float when i tip the basin up. i have a fleet now swimming from shore to shore. i will drop a twig in as a raft for a floating sailor. i will drop a stone in and see bubbles rise from the depths of the sea. neville has gone and susan has gone; jinny is in the kitchen garden picking currants with louis perhaps. i have a short time alone, while miss hudson spreads our copy-books on the schoolroom table. i have a short space of freedom. i have picked all the fallen petals and made them swim. i have put raindrops in some. i will plant a lighthouse here, a head of sweet alice. and i will now rock the brown basin from side to side so that my ships may ride the waves. some will founder. some will dash themselves up against the cliffs. one sails alone. that is my ship. it sails into icy caverns where the sea-bear barks and stalactites swing green chains. the waves rise; their crests curl; look at the lights on the mastheads. they have scattered, they have foundered, all except my ship which mounts the wave and sweeps the before the gale and reaches the islands where the parrots chatter and the creepers...' (18-19)

two high school girls sunbathe in their backyard next door. i noticed them earlier and told curtis about the scene. he quickly changed outfits and took to the trampoline in our backyard, performing flips and twists, yelling at mom informing her that he can now jump high enough for his head to hit the big tree's bottom branch. "curtis, don't be a voyeur!" i warned him. nonplussed, he responded, "what? don't be a lawyer?"

soccer movies

i just saw the new will ferrell movie KICKING AND SCREAMING with my mother and curtis. i thought it was a bad bad movie. don't let the previews or your soccer enthusiast friends fool you. ladybugs starring rodney dangerfield, jackée, and jonathan brandis was far superior. i am for real--as real as the mild case of pink eye that i possibly developed today.

new spoon lp

i just picked up GIMME FICTION, spoon's newest release. it sounds all right. anyways, i made a vow that the song "i summon you" (heard here in demo form--you must click on the "bonus" section first, though) will constitute a large part of the soundtrack to my summer, thus securing a solid spot on any mix i create as well.

a champagne supernova in the sky

nasa satellite captures birth of black hole. to quote a report from nasa's official website: "Scientists have detected a flash of light from across the Galaxy so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's upper atmosphere. The flash was brighter than anything ever detected from beyond our Solar System and lasted over a tenth of a second." an animated, artistic conception of the event can be seen here. big whoa

back in kc

after finishing a paper, spending a night in chicago, and driving across missouri with my lovely mother, i returned home to prairie village on saturday evening--my dad had some minsky's pizza waiting. along the way, though, i ate sushi at a byob restaurant in chi, saw a dude drinking a bud heavy while cruising down the highway, felt at one with the scenery while driving through rural missouri and listening to iron and wine's first lp, and stopped at a dairy queen with moms so she could get a root beer float and i a chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard. mother's day brought big meals: one at mission hills country club with the rest of the young and old suits; the other at la familia in lawrence with brother jay. today, i went to the doctor and bought $50 worth or records. now i go to shoot hoops with brother curtis and his neighborhood friend, jim. tonight, game one in the pistons/pacers and mavs/suns series. nothing super interesting here, but i'll leave you with a quote from the book i'm currently reading entitled SPEED AND POLITICS by paul virilio: "western man has appeared superior and dominant, despite inferior demographics, because he appeared more rapid. In colonial genocide or ethnocide, he was the survivor because he was in fact super-quick (sur-vif). The French word vif, "lively," incorporates at least three meanings: swiftness, speed (vitesse), likened to violence--sudden force, abrupt edge (vive force, arete vove), etc.--and to life (vie) itself: to be quick means to stay alive (etre vif, c'est etre en vie)" (47).

rising gas prices

the amount of money i just paid to fill my car with regular unleaded equals the current temperature here in ann arbor: 42. qué caro--qué frío. come friday, though, i'll start my drive back to the land of precious haircuts and curious dresses, otherwise known as lawrence, kansas, making an overnight stop in chicago. the next morning my mother will fly to chicago and, together, we'll drive the rest of the way from there. i'm feeling better, but the pain has not totally dissipated. in other family news: dog bites boy. yes, i guess our dog, abby, bit our homedog, curtis, yesterday evening on the cheek while jumping together on the trampoline. he's okay, but had to go to the er for some stitches.