Jeff S

push the button!

As summer rolls in on neon, 20 inch rims, a word which has spent some time in my mind is Formative. rather than copying and pasting Merriam Webster to show exactly how legitimate and scholarly I am, I will just talk about myself a lot.

1.every Friday, during the lunch break of my 6 hour class, I always eat at a specific pizzeria, Mercato's. it is not my regular stop, as pizza there is only good around 70 percent of the time, but because the routine has been established, some intangible essence circumscribing the whole situation has made every friday lunch transcendent. they have a great pop mix. really great. actually the best part is the setup of the pizzeria itself:

which means that not only do you not have to look directly at whoever you may be eating with, but it feels like you are eating with everyone together. and makes staring at someone odd potentially that much easier

2.America's official pasttime is wearing fake moustaches, and admittedly I do it whenever I can remember to. today I purchased a new one whose actual title is "the casanova."

while walking home, I passed (as I always do) one of the many antique shops which line 10th street, Eskandar. I looked into the window only to find Michael Stipe (of REM fame) smiling back at me, assumably chuckling about my absurd and simultaneously delightful faux facial hair. I threw him a peace sign back. (I believe that those who might scoff at celebrity obsession are probably not as interesting as they purport to be)

the routine and the eventful are both things I will miss. at this point it is difficult to tell if I will miss them more than I miss Omaha. going home this break is certainly different than others, due to the larger expanse of time. hopefully I have done alright in documenting my various exploits, and more is sure to come, from this summer and beyond to next year.

knock knock who's there

so last night was pretty big, first rap concert. given how much I purport to represent rap, it was a good thing. it may have been the most intense concert for me; yes, even hardcore concerts somehow didn't match some of the energy here. dizzee's performance was fantastic. it probably helps that he is the same age as Dave J and others. during one of his singles, Jus a Rascal, both the crowd and I went wild. jumping up and down yes, but also halfway through he rapped over the beat from "Hip Hop" by Dead Prez and also "Lean Back" by Big Pun and Co. just....too....awesome

this is relevant in a larger sense too. one of the few tasks left before the exodus to omaha, I will be writing potentially the most interesting essay of my life. it is about Beck (cheap, right?) but it is more far reaching, or should be if I put the correct amount of effort into it. here is an anecdote that is relevant:

I was writing a paper in French, I don't remember about what. I pulled out my newly used french/english dictionary, to look up the word ironically. it doesn't exist. and that is why I need to move to france.

to know me is to know how i am simultaneously fascinated and not (thus is the paradox) with irony, spite, post-modernism, self-awaredness, whatever you want to call it. this is related to dizzee rascal and Beck and a good deal of my cultural experience, or should be if I work it right. I made a shady promise in backroom corridors to figure this out for myself by like may 8th or something like that. and hopefully this wasn't too vague, I probably won't publish the paper because joel didn't have much success with that. but I might rewrite a simpler, less fleshed out version

koolaid

"My man is crushin."
He subsequently extended his grip, seal of approval. Alcohol was clearly on the ticket, yet this black man definitely seemed to embody some form of cool.
"This dude is crrrrushin. Check him OUT," he beckoned his accomplice, who was either too drunk or too tired to signal recognition. We stood in The Pizzeria, a place whose singularity is repeated in name and quality. I was put up in an all red outfit; a red corduroy suit-coat, a differently colored red corduroy pair of pants, and yet an even differently colored red polo t-shirt. A bright green tie sealed the deal.
"Crush a holic," he said.
"Crush o-matic," I replied, then added, "Crush city, USA."
"You are pimpin tonight, I know you are..." He followed, "He's like santa claus! What red and green and all."
"Yes, I try and give my presents all across the land," I said.
"How do I get that? I gotta get that. He's even got the Air Moses sandals with white socks! You gotta hook me up with this. Check out my shirt"
He pulled up his sweatshirt, revealing a black t-shirt with a construction sign, below which stood the words "Pimp At Work"
"We could trade I suppose?" I asked, but he didn't hear.
"Keep it crushin man," and that was all.

boogaloo

this is something which may or may not be a very large project. it is a funny/odd idea to think about, and one for which many examples have trickled in in the course of a few weeks. if you have any good ones, please submit!

I am full into semi-creative production mode. currently, this refers to music, but it really applies to all other genres of artistry as well. inspiration can be either found on the fly or after a series of pre-meditated and summarized thought sessions. then I go into production mode. this involves the transcribing of a beat, writing like a step outline or a paragraph or phrases down, or whatever might apply. then refinement. more refinement and so on

this is how it is seen as a linear process. but sometimes, maybe due to the weather or my blood pressure, all of these elements somehow encircle to form a massive creative nebula. for me, this is like happiness personified. moments like these have created things I tend to enjoy greatly (ilikenicethings, the christmas rap, cadillac's on 22's video, any number of other internet things, photographs etc). the great thing though, is the more skills you have even a slight mastery upon, the more benefits you reap. I don't know why, but I can only assume that when this sort of confluence of events happens, if I had learned the lute I would be producing the funkiest lute music since the greeks.

also last weekend I went to miami and got a lot of big sunburns, and my hair is growing long, and I shaved my facial hair. exciting!

An arguement against the personal bubble

The ipod's popularity is a well-documented success for my only favorite company, Apple. Anymore the ubiquitous mp3 player seems like a freshman-in-college requirement: it is not an exaggeration to say that 95 percent of my friends have one or one like it.

Though I do not take credit for its rise, I do claim to be one of the early adopters. I am still running the original 5gb iPod, though it is no longer unable to transfer music and thus handicapped. In nearly four years its novelty has mostly worn off, though it still serves a utilitarian, and even theoretical purpose. It has even helped me to realize that I listen to music chronlogically, because like my father, I tend associate memories with music (not an original idea).

Though it could be argued that my habits might change if I had a more modern, all-encompassing ipod, I am not at all a fan of the all-music-all-the-time philosophy. I am as much of a musician and music-lover as most, but something about isolating ones self in a wall of carefully chosen playlists irks me.

I bring this up because it is a declaration I have heard often, for whatever reason, recently. I actively prefer purveyors of old school boomboxes (maybe more of a New York phenomenon?) to those who would enhance their detachment by signing on the well-designed, white line. People reference "personal soundtracks," and this I feel is an interesting allusion to cinema, but these soundtracks are not formed to ones self. While there is an appropriate venue for Rousseau-style self-contemplation, this is not what will make you remember "Beautiful" by Snoop Dogg (cody fox used to sing this through the halls).