Recent Thoughts/Other Random Things

Just a few things that have been running through my mind or that I've run across today....

-I don't like being fully distracted or attentive all of the time. Sometimes just being bored or doing a mundane, repetitive task helps the creative process more than anything.

-There are rare days when my mind blooms and creative thoughts just keep pouring out. It's unpredictable and sometimes overwhelming but always amazing and beautiful. I welcome these days with open arms. Today was one of those days for me...and I was doing data entry in an office for eight hours. (see previous bullet)

-I find that sometimes to be truly creative you need to make yourself vulnerable in the places you guard the most. This lets your mind open completely. It's fucking scary to be so vulnerable and have so much stimuli pouring in, but I think it's a necessary part of the creative process--and to grow as a person.

-I've realized I feel the need to write down all the big thoughts and random musings I have, as if I'm afraid I'll lose them forever or I won't believe them anymore if I don't. Not a bad thing, but it creates a shell around a person if it becomes too great--the thoughts only become valid if they're written down, and eventually a person becomes only a function of the thoughts they write down. This is my main argument against people being too organized and having too rigid a structure in their lives. Spontaneity is a good thing sometimes.

-I believe in peace as an ideal, but even more so in action.

-Here is a quotation from a short story by Jorge Luis Borges I read recently called "The Garden of Forking Paths." I had to stop reading and write it down when I ran across it:

"I thought that a man can be an enemy of other men, of the moments of other men, but not of a country: not of fireflies, words, gardens, streams of water, sunsets."

This really personifies a lot Borges' writings and why he's one of my favorite authors. There's no question I take A LOT of my inspiration from him. Check some of his shit out if you get a chance.

Well that's about it, so I'll leave you with this final thought (also coincidentally one of the themes of a short screenplay I'm writing):

Can a person love too much?

Product Red

Just a quick shout out to Product Red. If you haven't heard about it, basically what they do is partner with some of the biggest companies out there to sell one of their products with the Red label. What this means is that at least part of the proceeds from the purchase of that Red product go directly towards the Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa by providing treatments.

Some of the companies include Apple, American Express, Gap, Armani, Starbucks and Dell. Apple sells a special Red iPod Nano which costs exactly the same as the regular iPod Nano, but in this case the funds go towards an amazing cause. Check out the site to see all of the partners and the products offered--they also list how many days of treatment one purchase can provide, and you might be surprised at how far a Red purchase can go.

So consider me an official supporter of Red and the Global Fund. If you read this and have your own website or blog, I implore you to go Red if you support the cause by going to this site and entering the code they give into the HTML of your own site.

I've been pretty busy lately, but I should have a new batch of posts coming before the end of the month so keep an eye out. Also, I intend to start working on the strip again soon--you might just be seeing some more of Mud in the next few weeks. Until then...buy a Product Red shirt!

Draaaaama!

*Personal note from Wednesday, September the 16th: First time I've been truly angry at someone in a long long time (where I felt like punching a window angry). Also the first time I've been directly involved in drama in a long long time. Coincidence? Nope. Fuck drama.

Stream of Consciousness

I did a free write for the first time in ages last night. Ended up going 5 single spaced pages til 3 in the morning. So liberating.

Where The Wild Things Are

So most people in the film/pop culture loop probably already know that the film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" is coming to theaters in October.

However, I just ran across this on the always great blog, Stuff White People Like:

#127 Where the Wild Things Are

July 13, 2009 by clander

"It is a guarantee that whenever it is announced that a popular book is being turned into a movie, white people will get upset. This is partly due to their fear that something they love will be made accessible to more people and thus enjoyed by more people which immediately decreases the amount of joy a white person can feel towards the original property. Yes, it’s complicated.

The other problem is that these announcements create a ticking time bomb where by a white person must read the book in ADVANCE of the release of the movie. This is done partly so that they can engage in the popular activity of complaining about how the movie failed to capture the essence of the book. But more importantly, once a book has been made into a movie, a white person can no longer read that book. To have read the book after the movie is one of the great crimes in white culture, and under no circumstances should you ever admit to doing this. Literally dozens of white friendships have imploded when it was revealed that someone read Fight Club after 1999.

So when it was announced that Where the Wild Things Are was being turned into a feature film, white people didn’t immediately get excited at the prospect of this film, in fact a great number of white people cringed when they first heard it was being turned into a movie. This was merely instinct. Immediately, those concerns quickly turned into an opiate-like peace when they found out that the film is being directed by white person favorite Spike Jonze and adapted for the screen by legendary white writer Dave Eggers.

Though the talent and the material has white people in a tizzy, the real excitement comes from the fact that this film is based off a book that is 48 pages long and made up mostly of illustrations. This means that white people do not have to re-read the book until the day they head to the movie theater. Thus freeing them up to watch The Director’s Series: The Work of Spike Jonze DVD which they bought years ago but only watched once.

Finally, and perhaps of most value to you is that the film has generously provided you with an excellent way to test out how many white friends you have. When the trailer was released a few months ago, you should have been inundated with emails, instant messages, and Facebook wall posts about how you need to see the trailer immediately. If you received no word that the trailer was available, then you currently are in possession of no white friends. If you received multiple notices, you should take note about who sent it to you first."

______________________________

*Pretty much right on the money, right? Still, I'm guilty as charged, although I can honestly say I was psyched from the moment I heard about this (Spike Jonze's involvement did help though...). Probably won't read the book again any time soon either. But man, you can't deny the truth in that last paragraph...so with that, I will fittingly direct you to the awesome trailer...only a month away--get excited!

MLK

I've been really interested in the life and works of Martin Luther King, Jr. lately. Currently reading selections from a volume of his collected writings which covers the years 1929 to 1951, including letters from his adolescence. Really really interesting to get a deep glimpse into the mind of one of the greatest champions for human rights as he grew into the man he eventually became.

You'll probably be hearing a lot about this subject over the next few entries. Post more soon.

Mos Def @ House of Blues Boston

Last night was the Mos Def (or Mo' Def, as pronounced by a scalper on Lansdown) Ecstatic Tour show at the House of Blues...so fucking incredible.

I wasn't on the center floor, but the vantage point we had was probably better anyway, considering the collective heights of myself and the friends I was with. Anyway, this may be the best hip hop show I've seen that didn't use a live band (i.e. some Roots concerts of old).

Missed the opener, but Talib started it off with a very solid set that covered a wide range of his material. It definitely pumped up the crowd--there was a ton of energy in the place by the time he stepped off.

Unfortunately though, there was long layover between Talib and Mos that I think kind of killed some of the hype and momentum. Regardless, Mos came on around 10:30 (I think?) and that changed very quickly. There was a drum set on stage, and he began with some of his songs from the Eclectic while rocking the drums also. The intensity only elevated from there.

This may have been the longest MC set I've seen, but even though I was pretty tired and physically spent coming in, I really didn't want it to end. After Mos covered a lot of his Eclectic material (including my two favs from the album--Priority and Life in Marvelous Times--back to back), he slipped in and out of some older stuff, mixing it up with the DJ on stage (who was great in his own right). Then Talib came out for a little Black Star madness, kicking in with Re: DEFinition. Black Star is one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time, so this was a pretty amazing experience for me.

I figured that they'd just do a Black Star set, maybe an encore, and that would be the show. Nope. After Talib stepped off, we were only just halfway. The second half of the show was the highlight for me, even though I was pretty drained. Mos covered EVERYTHING, including some his best from Black On Both Sides like Umi Says and Ms. Fat Booty (both of which got the crowd really hyped). And when Mos went into MJ's Billie Jean, that pretty much killed me. Sooo nice.

An unlikely highlight for me was the song "Quiet Dog Bite Hard" from The Eclectic, which wasn't one of my favorite songs on the album. Mos took up the drums again towards the end for that song, though, and he was ridiculous. Eclectic is right. One of the highest energy parts of the show, in my opinion, although I noticed the crowd was fading a bit by that point.

In the end, the show from when Mos Def came on was about two hours long. No encore, but even though I was absolutely drained (and the crowd too, it seemed), I would have welcomed another hour of Mos. Unbelievable.

The Last Seven Days

I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open, but if I don't update now I probably won't remember or have a real chance to for a while.

Long week. Weird week. I had to deal with a lot of somewhat stressful issues, in addition to work and helping my roommate move apartments. Currently I'm living on a couch at a friend's apartment, with just a suitcase, a pillow and my computer (basically). I haven't been running because of my leg, but I feel completely and utterly physically drained. I'm attempting to integrate regular online poker play into my daily routine, but it has proved to be difficult the past couple of days with all of my other activities (not to mention I'm still temping regularly).

All of these things have put my mind in a really strange place. I'm both excited and skeptical about my prospects for the near future, and this mental clash has never been more apparent and intense til now. This is certainly not where I want to be right now--it's definitely a road in the right direction, but I'm not completely comfortable in this situation. Sorry I'm being really vague, but this "situation" is kind of all-encompassing of my life and it's really hard for me to break it down into individual aspects.

Regardless, I'm hopeful that this unease is just an initial reaction to a very sudden change which I've had very little time to react to. I moved last Tuesday, worked on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, settled into the new digs on Saturday before going through the weekend motions (going out, friends, drinks, etc.) Saturday night and most of Sunday and Monday. The last seven days have been an absolute whirlwind, and I realize now I've had almost no time to get my bearings.

I'm taking the work day off tomorrow to recharge. I hate doing this, but it's gotten to the point where I've had almost no time to just sit down and refocus--I usually use the weekends for this purpose, but as I mentioned before this past week has not even left me those precious days. Thus, tomorrow I'm taking a self-proclaimed "Nate" day to get shit straight and try and slow things down a little bit. Hopefully after that I can start posting more interesting shit on here (as opposed to a bunch of boring rants about my current situation). So bear with me for just a little while more, there's more to come!

(P.S. Mos and Kweli at the HoB tomorrow night! Should be sick..can't wait)

Home.

I don't remember the last time I felt like I was home.