A great quotation.

I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.

~Helen Keller

Rolling Stone poll for album/song/artist of the decade.

Rolling Stone Decade End Reader Poll

My picks:

Album of the Decade: White Blood Cells by The White Stripes

Song of the Decade: "Fell in Love With a Girl" by The White Stripes

Artist of the Decade: Jack White

This song and this album hit me like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Nevermind did in the early 90's - it totally blew me away. The sweet cherry on top is that this band came from my hometown of Detroit.

The financial woes of being a writer in our current economy.

Here's a fascinating post from science fiction author John Scalzi on writers and how they're being hit hard by our current recession.

Albums added to the iPod in September.

Richard Searles, Scarborough Faire
Black Flag, The First Four Years
Various artists, Exotica Fever compilation
Miles Davis, Kind of Blue and Bags' Groove
John Coltrane, Lush Life
Pearl Jam, Backspacer
Blanche, If We Can't Trust the Doctors...
Various artists, Halloween A Go-Go compilation

KISS concert review, Cobo Arena, Detroit, September 25th.

The set list:

Deuce
Strutter
Got To Choose
Hotter Than Hell
Nothin To Lose
Come On And Love Me
Parasite
She
Watchin You
100,000 Years
Cold Gin
Let Me Go Rock And Roll
Black Diamond
Rock And Roll All Nite

----Encore----

Shout It Out Loud
Lick It Up
I Love It Loud
Modern Day Delilah
Love Gun
Detroit Rock City


They played nearly all of their Alive! album, with a few changes. Gene Simmons breathed fire during “Hotter Than Hell,” and spit blood during a bass solo between “Lick It Up” and “I Love It Loud.” He sang “I Love It Loud” from way up in the lights over the stage. For “Love Gun” Paul Stanley flew out over the audience and played from a small stage on the main floor, but his microphone wasn’t working properly. Tommy Thayer shot fireworks out of his guitar during the solo on “She.” Eric Singer’s drum kit rose up and spun around during his solo on “100,000 Years.”

Needless to say, it was a pretty awesome show.

The worst 100 movies of the 00's.

Rotten Tomatoes has posted a list of the 100 worst reviewed movies of this decade. I read through the entire list and honestly, I don't think I've seen any of these. It's definitely worth a look, though.

Farewell Summer.

We hardly got to know you this year.

Preview of the new Kiss album "Sonic Boom."

It's very classic sounding. I like it. Can't wait for the Kiss show in Detroit Rock City this Friday!

Currently playing.

Sometimes I really love the sequence of songs I get on total random shuffle play. Here's my playlist from the last hour:

Miles Davis, "So What"
Josephine Baker, "Haiti"
Tom Waits, "The Last Rose of Summer"
U2, "Acrobat"
Creed, "My Own Prison"
Morrissey, "Hairdresser on Fire"
Voivod, "M-Body"
Tool, "Eon Blue Apocalypse"
Prince & the New Power Generation, "Sexy M.F."
Green Day, "American Idiot"
Circle Jerks, "When the Shit Hits the Fan"
Glenn Gould, "Variato 30 A 1 Clav. Quodlibet"
David Bowie, "The Jean Genie"
Robert Plant, "Sea of Love"

Jim Carroll, RIP.

Poet and punk rocker Jim Carroll, whose life story was famously documented in his autobiography The Basketball Diaries, died following a heart attack on Friday, September 11th in New York City. Carroll was 60, the New York Times reports.

The hottest band in the world...KISS!!!

I'm going to see KISS in concert on the 25th this month, my first time seeing them perform live. I don't know why I never saw them sooner; I loved them as a kid, even had my own Ace Frehley doll. Last night I watched KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, a cheeseball gem from my childhood years. This made for TV movie falls under the heading of "so bad that it's good." You can see the whole thing on Youtube in nine parts, and it is a real howler.

Here's part one which has the band making a grand entrance on stage to perform "Shout It Out Loud."

A great quote from the book I'm currently reading.

Biologically it should be easy to understand that you are physically part of the earth and everything within it. You are made of the same elements, you breathe the same air. You cannot hold the air that you take within you and then say, “This is myself, filled with this air. I will not let it go,” or you would find out very quickly that you were not nearly so independent.

You are biologically connected, chemically connected with the Earth that you know; but since it is also formed naturally and spontaneously from your own projected psychic energy, since you and the seasons even have a psychic interaction, then the self must be understood in a far greater context. Such a context would allow you to share in life experiences of many other forms, to follow patterns of energy and emotion of which you barely conceive, and to sense a world-consciousness in which you have your own independent part.

~From Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts

Music for Primates

Music for Primates, originally uploaded by jrpopartz.

Check out some cool, free music courtesy of jrpopartz!

Track list:

1) Tiger Shake - The Hustlers
2) Casbah - Sandy Nelson
3) Bi-Aza-Ku-Sasa - The Mogambos
4) Gorilla Hunt - The Altecs
5) Pintor - The Pharos
6) Christine - Miss X
7) Singapore Sling - The Invictas
8) Tango Bolero - Bergendy Együttes
9) Zoologico Negro - Orquesta Aragon
10) Sabada - Johnny Williams
11) Kookie Little Paradise - The Tree Swingers
12) Massacre Stomp - The Denels
13) Gorilla Walk - The Blockbusters
14) Oriental Rock - The Quarter Notes
15) The Angry Desert - The Sound Offs
16) Marabunta - The Tielman Brothers
17) Lion Hunt (Part Two) - Walter Bolen
18) Tarzan (Tarzan's March) - Marty Manning & the Cheetahs
19) Tarzan - Sonny Day & the Rare Breed
20) Sabre Dance - The Playboys
21) Egyptian Nightmare - The Glenrays
22) Bouddah - The Cousins
23) Vot's Going On There? - Bradley Mundi
24) Rasal - The Morgans
25) Voodoo Mash Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 - Shalimar & his Friends
26) El Twisto - The Peppermint Stiks
27) Night Beat - The Phantoms
28) Goldfinger - Xavier Cugat
29) Sado Okake - Takeshi Terauchi & the Bunnys
30) Voodoo Drums - Akim
31) Jungle Stomp - Four Playboys
32) Holy Mackerel - Fields-Madera Orch.
33) Un-Gowa - The Rimfires

www.mediafire.com/download.php?1hzdnmzj4xm

Uploaded by jrpopartz on 31 Aug 09, 11.25AM EDT.

The logic of dreams.

One of my favorite blogs to read is Erin Pavlina: Spiritual Wisdom for Conscious people. Today's post talks about meeting other people in your dreams, a subject that I find fascinating.

She writes,

Most of the characters in your dreams are going to be constructs of your own subconscious mind. There will be no other consciousness in your dream except you, so anyone else you see there is just a manifestation of your subconscious.

However, dreams are an excellent place to meet up with other conscious beings including your higher self, your spirit guides, angels, ascended masters, celestial beings, and even deceased relatives. You could also meet up with your friends in a dream, but this is extraordinarily rare as it is extremely difficult to sync up your dreams and brainwaves, and most people lack the skills necessary to share dreams with other sleeping people.

In the recent past I've had dreams where I was visited by the deceased (first my grandfather, and then a friend from high school), and both dreams left a strong impact on me after I woke.

Albums added to my iPod in July and August.

Dinosaur Jr., Farm
Aerosmith, O Yeah! Greatest Hits
Various, We're A Happy Family Ramones Tribute Album
Hoodoo Gurus, Stoneage Romeo
Cheap Trick, Authorized Greatest Hits
Kiss, MTV Unplugged

New Radiohead track.

Check out "These Are My Twisted Words" which Radiohead is offering as a free download.

Something to think about.

What we know of the world comes to us primarily through vision. Our eyes, however, are sensitive only to that segment of the spectrum located between red and violet; the remaining 95 percent of all existing light (cosmic, infrared, ultraviolet, gammas and x-rays) we cannot see. This means that we only perceive 5 percent of the “real” world.

Amos Vogel

The trailer for "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus."

I can't wait to see this one.

"We're A Happy Family" Ramones tribute album review.

This is a good, solid tribute album with a diverse roster of superstar bands putting their spin on the Ramones: U2, Metallica, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and the Pretenders to name a few. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam is here in a solo capacity to sing “I Believe in Miracles,” a stirring testament to the power of the human spirit and the will to survive. He keeps it pretty close to the original, as do Green Day and the Offspring with “Outsider” and “I Wanna Be Sedated” respectively. Rancid somehow manages to play “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” even faster than the original.

Metallica and U2 both come off as flat, hampered by song choices that don’t really suit them. While initially interesting, U2’s “Beat on the Brat” just doesn’t work because they just aren’t angry enough to make it believable; “I Remember You” would be a better match. I don’t believe Metallica for a minute singing about being a street hustler on “53rd & 3rd.” They should have been the ones to sing “Beat on the Brat,” or perhaps “Commando.”

I like how Marilyn Manson puts his decidedly creepy spin on “The KKK Took My Baby Away,” but my favorite track on the collection has to be Tom Waits’ “The Return of Jackie and Judy,” which he makes his own. I can’t help but think that he’s returning the favor for the Ramones covering his song “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up.”

It still makes me sad to think how the Ramones are no more, that Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone are all dead and gone. Their music lives on though, and will continue to do so as younger fans discover them for the first time.

Hey ho, let's go.

I've been listening to the Ramones all day today.

John Hughes.

Like most people my age, I grew up on the films of John Hughes. They really did help to define Generation X, and I'm sad to hear that he has passed away.

Why I'm not going to see Tori Amos this weekend.

Tori is going to be in Detroit on Saturday, but I've decided to give her a pass this time around. I've already seen her play live nine times before, and her new album left me feeling very "meh." I still love her and her music, and I'm sure that I'll be seeing her again before too long. I suppose I've come to take her for granted, which isn't a good thing, I know. I'm just not the superfan that I used to be.

Just like starting over.

Things have been pretty quite here these past few months. After many years of devoted blogging, I hit a big dry spell. I just haven't felt like I've got anything to say. I need to change that. I got out of the blogging habit, but I'd like to get back into it. I'm grateful for anyone who takes the time to read this blog, and I know that during my period of blog silence I've picked up a few followers via Blogged. If any of you happen to read this I say hello, and thank you for adding me to your reading list. I'm going to try to make this blog a little more lively going forward, posting something of general interest at least two or three times a week.

arthur hawkins cover, the man without a head

arthur hawkins cover, the man without a head, originally uploaded by A Journey Round My Skull.

eye hazards in industry

eye hazards in industry, originally uploaded by A Journey Round My Skull.

Amazing set of book cover art.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajourneyroundmyskull/sets/72157602435138527/

Albums added to iPod in April.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Chronicle Vol. 1
Butthole Surfers, Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac
Cocteau Twins, Singles Collection
The Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs Vol. 1
Arvo Part, Tabula Rasa
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, I Love Rock and Roll
Willie Nelson, Willie & the Wheel

Chain the Sun

Chain the Sun, originally uploaded by Manxom Vroom.

Starburst

Starburst, originally uploaded by Manxom Vroom.

Point of Entry

Point of Entry, originally uploaded by Manxom Vroom.

Random thought.

I think I may have had the best day of my life yesterday. I hope it never ends.

A quick note.

I feel so very good and mellow today. Kurt Cobain is speaking to me, but in a good way...such a beautiful man he was. I wish I could give him a hug.

Anyway, I have a special post planned for today, for April Fool's Day. I'll put it up after I do a few work-related things that need my attention.

The Rocky Horror Youtube Show!

Albums added to iPod, March.

Leonard Cohen: Dear Heather
U2: No Line on the Horizon, War, The Unforgettable Fire
Aimee Mann: The Forgotten Arm
Uakti & Philip Glass: Aguas da Amazonia
Bob Dylan: The Best of, Time Out of Mind
The Von Bondies: Lack of Communication, Raw and Rare
The Lords of the New Church: Killer Lords
Land of Kush: Against the Day
The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love
Beck: The Information
various selected tracks from Have a Nice Decade - The 70's Pop Culture Box
Van Morrison: Tupelo Honey

Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must.


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Flying First Class

See the complete set here.

Flying First Class, originally uploaded by wackystuff.

Lassie: Lackey Imperialist Running Dog, originally uploaded by wackystuff.

The Sweet Look of Sucess, originally uploaded by wackystuff.

Random thought.

Life is turning into a James Joyce novel
Ulysses, mostly
faster and faster
every minute of every day

Ones & Zeros

Ones & Zeros

Everything in this world
Everything we see, touch, taste, smell and hear
Is all nothing more than binary code
A series of on/off switches
Black and white,
Yin and yang
It is growing and increasing in complexity
Every minute of every day.
The world around us is empty, meaningless
Existing in a state of pure potentiality
We impose meaning upon it, deciding if it is good or bad
If we like it or don’t like it
We are weaving a tapestry with our thoughts and perceptions
We impose meaning on that which has none
This process is called love

Love brings objects together in a way that is harmonious
Pleasing, a one instead of a zero
Pain and hatred are the zero
Void, anti, against
The closed door

I will chose love
I will open the closed door
I will let in the light that negates the darkness
Just as the ocean tide rolls into the beach and then pulls back
Ebb and flow
Wax and wane
Summer and winter
Give and take

I am small in a web of expanding complexity
I am starting to wake up
This process is painful
But for now, the pain is necessary
The pain is transient, fleeting
It will pass as all things do.

I love life
I love complexity
I embrace paradox, having faith that there is an answer
I am not afraid to die
But I fear it arising in others
In those whom I love.
What kind of world would we live in
If nobody feared death?
Death is not the end
All things show this:
Why are we still afraid?
Why am I still afraid?
Am I brave when I look in a kaleidoscope and turn the wheel?
Of course not, that’s not bravery
It’s a child’s toy, a playing.
So why chose fear?

I want to write fearlessly
I want to live fearlessly
I want to be someone who embraces change, ride it like a wave
Wherever it may take me
I want to channel love
And weave it like a tapestry
I want to make my life more beautiful

I will let go of the things that cause me pain
And hold fast to those that bring me pleasure
I will ride the wave, just as I am doing right now

I am free
Because I choose to be so

"Watching the Watchmen."

Watching the Watchmen by Dave Gibbons


A behind-the-scenes tour of the making of "Watchmen," provided by Dave Gibbons. There are many pictures, rough sketches, and reproductions of Alan's Moore's typewritten script pages.

This is probably a must for any true Watchmen geek. It made me appreciate the artistry of the original series even more.

"Where the Wild Things Are" movie trailer.

Reflecting on what's happening in the news lately.

A I G

American International Group
Abysmal Instincts Guide
Assholes In Gabardine
Adventures In Greed
Accursed Infernal Ghouls
Abuse Intended Goodwill
Atavistic Immutable Graft
Antichrist Is Growing
Automatic Insanity Gains
Avarice Is Good
Abscond Ill-gotten Goods
American Institutional Gangrene
Acrimonious Intervention Government
Attorneys Involved Gruesome
Affidavits Inflame Gout
Air Internal Grievances
Attack It Gladiators
Abolish Inferior Godfathers
Admonish Insensitive Gurus
Admit Ignominious Greed
Adulterated Imbecilic Grime
Always In Gobbledygook
Abnormal Infected Goblins
Accelerate Illegal Goldbricking
Another Impetuous Grab
Adam, It’s Ghastly
Abdicate Inherited Gold
Addicted Ingrates Grovel
Anger Intensifies Greatly
Absolution Is Gone
Advocate Instant Gunplay
Abattoir Idiot Ghetto
Adios Investment Gobblers
Abhorrent Icon Gone
Affix Imaginary Grief
American Illusions Graveyard
Actions Illuminate God

…

In Need of a Funeral

It seems to me that
the United States
and the world at large
are going through a huge, painful change
right now
economic meltdown brought on by greed
is this the death of capitalism
that the communists used to predict?
Kruschev said “we will bury you”
but he died first
too bad he’s not still around
our American corpse is lying out in the sun
being picked apart by vultures
we’re stinking up the place
somebody please bury us
so that we can be reborn
into something new

Just a few more pomes.

Rib Cage

Sometimes I feel like the sun burns within my chest
It burns and yearns to shine so brightly
so that everyone can see
I want to melt this body like a candle
drops of hot wax
splash
then cool
and congeal
that’s not me, it’s something else.

But my ribs are a cage
a cage around the sun
no matter how hard I try
I cannot melt the bars
and so I just sit here and burn
Nobody knows
Nobody sees
How could they?
I won’t let them.

…

a bug’s life

why must i be so small?
why must i be hidden
right here, in plain sight?
why did i choose this?
what the fuck was i thinking?

I want to break free
I want to roam and fly
I want to be worshipped and loved
and do so in return
I I I
Me Myself and I
Yes, it’s all about ME
I’m sick of living under a rock
like a bug
touch it and it
contractsintoatightlittleball

F U C K T H A T
I’m not a bug
I’m sick of obscurity and anonymity
I’m not afraid
I want to throw rocks
not live underneath them.

Creme that egg.

I heartily salute whoever put the time and effort into making this. This really is kind of amazing.



(Via The Swivet)

A rare Aleister Crowley first edition.

crowley title 1, originally uploaded by Pagan555.

crowley title 2, originally uploaded by Pagan555.

Is copying stealing?

First, check out this delightful little video I saw via Boing Boing:


Nina Sings "Copying Isn't Theft" from Reel 13 on Vimeo.

...

This article here that questions the goodness of "free libraries" makes an interesting counterpoint to the video:

I do not argue that free libraries should close, but merely wonder about their legitimacy in the 21st century.

Aine wrote: "Public libraries do not compete with the local bookshop, they offer a lot more than the bookshop can ever offer." I see. Not just competition, but state-subsidised uber-competition.

"Where else," she asks, "can you get access to high-speed broadband internet access for free, or for a small minimal charge? Where else can you get access to books on CD, or on tape for the cost of your annual library membership charge, or in many cases, for free?"

That f-word appears three times in her next paragraph about library services for children. Of course, they're not free, but are all paid for by a creature who finally makes its appearance in the last word of Aine's letter: "The benefits of a public library to a community are enormous, and far outweigh the cost to the taxpayer."

The entire article is worth the read, although I found the writer's style to be rather convoluted and blowhardy at times.

Now I have a confession to make: I've copied a lot of music from compact disks that I've checked out from the library. A LOT. Yesterday I counted the number of albums on my iPod I've copied and came up with more than 200. Most of the titles fall under the heading of classic rock and alternative rock. I've also cherry-picked a lot of songs from numerous "greatest hits" and "best of" anthologies. I've freely copied more music from Johnny Cash than any other artist.

So now I ask myself: am I a thief?

I do believe that artists should be compensated for their work. In many cases I've bought the CD or legally downloaded music that I first copied from the library, especially if the band or artist is still actively trying to make a living in what they do. I have no intention however of trying to do this for every single title on my list - it just doesn't seem necessary.

The "Copying Isn't Stealing" song is so delightful and charming that I can't help but be swayed by it. How could it be wrong to discover and explore so much new music that I would otherwise never hear? Am I ripping off these artists by copying a CD from the library? I'm just a regular guy who loves music and wants to do the right thing.

If anyone has thoughts and opinions about this I would love to hear them.

Free music from NIN, Jane's Addiction and Street Sweeper.

I bought my ticket yesterday, and I'm totally psyched for this show. I never did get a chance to see Jane's Addiction, either back in their heyday or during one of their previous reunion tours.

http://www.ninja2009.com/

(Via Rolling Stone)

Just some pomes.

Last week during my yoga class I discussed a few things that I had experienced during meditation with Brian, my yoga instructor (I sit and meditate for twenty minutes every morning after drinking some coffee and reading a bit of the newspaper). Brian suggested that I try writing some poetry about my thoughts and experiences during meditation as a way of exploring them. I liked this idea very much, and immediately starting scribbling away in my little black notebook.

My first inclination was to keep these poems private, but I asked myself "why?" Why not put these out on the blog? I haven't written much fiction lately, but the thought of writing poetry, of doing something very quick, very personal with no expectations of seeing it published or trying to make money off of it is immensely appealing to me. It's writing for the pure love of expression and nothing more, which is the best kind.

I can't quite bring myself to call this "poetry," because when I hear the word poetry I think of John Keats and William Shakespeare. I have no pretensions to literary greatness. These are "just some pomes." I think that Jack Kerouac may have used the term "pomes" for his own work, but I'm not sure. Looking it up on Wikipedia I see that pomes are, "In botany, a pome (after the Latin name for fruit: pomum) is a type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subfamily Maloideae of the family Rosaceae." I like that. It fits.

On this first day of spring I give to you, gentle reader, a new category of blog entry called "Just Some Pomes." Here's my first fruit, straight from the mind of Manxom Vroom.

...


The Music Never Stops

Many thanks to god for the gift of music
My iPod has so many peas, all sweet and delicious
Some I have paid for, some I have plucked from the library of natural abundance
Songs flow freely like milk and honey
I am never without my music

Leonard Cohen dances with Aimee Mann to the Lords of the New Church
Philip Glass gurgles down the Amazon with U2
Led Zeppelin and Robert Johnson perform together on the same stage for the first time in history
Glenn Gould and Tori Amos share the same piano bench

My entire life as a lover of music rests within the palm of my hand
I must remember to give thanks more often

...

Still Waiting

I’m still waiting
for the email
for the link
for the brief encounter
for the furtive look across a crowded room
for the gut feeling
for the word
for the one small thing
that will change my life forever
it’s out there
somewhere
in one space
and one time
as yet unknown

...

Eternal Question

Have I lived before
in another life?
Will I live again
in another life
Who the fuck knows?
I do

"Everybody must get stoned!"

Driving into work this morning Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" came around on the iPod. I can never remember the proper title for this song, which I'm guessing that most people know as "Everybody Must Get Stoned." I had a blast singing along at the top of my lungs with this one, reveling in the fact that today is the first day of spring.


Lyrics | Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 lyrics

I can remember hearing this song once when I actually was stoned, way back in my pothead days: it was the funniest, best song ever written in the history of the universe(!!!).

Anyway, happy first day of spring to everyone. God knows I'm happy about it. Feel free to sing along, too.

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