Passages: The Will Gong Journal

Update: WillisRoadReviews

2011-09-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

So I'm not really doing much blogging these days. There was a time and a place for it, and unfortunately that's not right now. But one day it might be. BUT! There are some aspects of blogging I really like, like writing about music and films and posting funny stuff. So I have created a new blog. If you like reading that stuff, this is for you. (Although, I'm not trying to put too much expectations on me to keep this up. But it's fun.)

Ok, really, I couldn't sleep last night and I thought it'd be fun to set this up. So I did it. Yay! And I can see this being really cool for working on it a day or two a week. So here it is...

https://willisroadreviews.wordpress.com/

Music Beat: Fall 2010

2010-10-20T10:49:00.002-07:00

Insert Intro Here: Cutting to the Chase.

1. Florence + the Machine "Lungs"
This is my most recent CAN'T STOP PLAYING. I knew about her, and I knew that she performed at the VMA's this year. So I was creating a mix for Rachel, when I decided to download a few of her songs, which I didn't use, but a few weeks later, I actually LISTENED. Wow. This is a really solid disc. It's Retro, but new sounding (unlike Midlake.) And man does she sing. She wails in the most ridiculous theatrical way ever. A Lot of times when you listen you aren't actually compelled to envision how she's actually moving and physically singing, but that's almost impossible here based on her performance. It's strong. And the songs are strong. The Sequencing is Great. It's a full listen.

Check out: The Dog Days Are Over, Cosmic Love, Rabbit Heart (Rise Up)

2. Beach House "Teen Dream"
When I first came upon Beach House, I thought a few things. How could this be new? And Secondly is this a Guy or A Girl Singing. I had to go to youtube to confirm that it was absolutely a Woman. So, this was a Coachella Band that I really wanted to see because I had liked 10 Mile Stereo, it was very anthemic in a very non anthemic way, I really think it was the drums in the piece. (Edit) And wow I finally got around to listening to the whole disc and was wowed, by how powerful the songs are. I still don't know what she says most of the time, but there is something about the way the guitars, keyboards and her vocal blend and wash over you that is absolutely captivating. As a friend of mine said, this is the kind of music that teenagers might put on and listen to at night while they go to sleep. I think of it as Dreamy California Pop for all ages.

Check Out: Zebra, Used to Be, 10 Mile Stereo

3. Vampire Weekend "Contra"
I'm not gonna lie, I came to the show late. Way late. Not just figuratively, but literally. They were a Coachella band that I didn't really want to check out, but I got caught in a People Wave and ended up catching the end of their set and I wasn't necessarily sold, but I was intrigued by them enough to check this disc out. The reason for my hesitancy are so "Classic Will"; on their first CD I found the lead's singer voice obnoxious and the songs lyrically pretentious, and their combination of New York Indie Rock and World Music sounded fake to me. Even though, everyone I knew loved them. And then this CD came out and their first single was freaking "Horchata." Cheeky, hipster music. Humph! Either way after seeing how happy people were singing and dancing, and spinning in half naked daisy chains to them, I gave them a go. And I finally listened to "Horchata." And Now I love that stupid, cheeky, hipster, world music song. (Edit, Will goes on a bla bla bla rampage.) So on this disc, they take their world music to a ridiculous level of weirdness. And the lead Singer channeled his inner Paul Simon and really comes off like a great singer. Blast it! It's awesome stuff.

Check Out: White Sky, Horchata, Run

4. Chiddy Bang "The Preview"
Finally a New Rap Artist worth mentioning! And most amazingly they haven't hurt anyone's feelings yet and have on their first EP sampled Passion Pit & MGMT and have a song co-produced by Pharrell and one featuring a Q-Tip sample. So their weird and not afraid to try new things, some of it obvious cliche shit, like "The Good Life" (the Pharrell one) but then they also rock out to a FREAKING SUFJAN STEVENS sample from CHICAGO on "All things Go". Seriously SUFJAN STEVENS. And while this may not be that surprising if you've checked out Sufjan's latest "The Age of Adz" with it's weird techno beats, but I digress, back to Chiddy Bang. Lyrically, they have enough character to not make it just about the beats, and their chorus hooks totally rock. "Opposite of Adults" remixes MGMT's "Kids" with a new chorus that is Kanyelicious with it's ridiculousness, but also uplift. Check out the Preview if you like Rap/Hip Hop and weird experiments with the medium, or if you want a few tracks to shake it to.

Check Out: Opposite of Adults, All Things Go

5. Mumford & Sons "Sigh No More"
Gotta Mention Mumford & Sons, cause I find myself so torn on liking them. I love like 4 of their songs, maybe even 5, but everytime I turn this CD on, I have to skip around, because I know that if I get like 5 songs in, I'll turn it off before I get to some of the later tracks I really like. The reason for this is that almost all the songs are structured the same way, vocal with acoustic instruments, build to strong chorus, bring in the drums, louder chorus, bring it down, build it back up, and loudest chorus. Now they deviate a smidgen throughout, by mixing these elements, but after a while I get kind of burnt out on the anthem redundancy of their music. But these songs are really really good, so I have to talk about it. "The Cave" soars and grows into an all out church choir rocker with lyrics about not giving up and committing suicide? I think, but damn if you don't want to sing at the top of your lungs with it. "Little Lion Man" is everywhere, because it's nu-folk for the masses. I mean like I bet your parents and their friends could get down to this. The songs are super well produced, the musicianship is excellent, the vocals are personable and relateable across the board. Who doesn't like hearing a raspy brit sing tell you that "You are not alone in this" (in Timshel). Geez, on a cloudy day like today that's a nice message to hear.

Check Out:Little Lion Man, The Cave, Winter Winds

Other Notables:
Band Of Horses "Infinite Arms.
Arcade Fire "The Suburbs".
Big Boi "Sir Luscious Left Foot; Son of Chico Dusty"
Brandi Carlile "Give Up the Ghost"
Laura Marling "I Speak Because I Can"

Insert Closing Text Here:

Chiddy Bang 'Opposite of Adults' from LOOSEWORLD on Vimeo.

A Bag Lunch Life

2010-10-20T10:49:00.001-07:00

I sometimes feel like the Biggest Fool is the one with the Biggest Dream. And right now, I feel like a moderately big fool.

For instance, I haven't worked Full time in two months, because I've been writing like a mad man, because I want to be a writer. But in following this dream, I had to plan to start sacrificing the free wheeling luxury lifestyle I've lived so thoroughly over the last 3 years. That meant, means no more crazy meals, no more eating out lunch, no more helping out family, no more vacations. I've been in lockdown mode for months leading up this and will be in it for months following this, when I have to go back to doing something stable for a little while, but knowing that I have to prep another intense writing period.

Seriously, from now on out, It's a Bag Lunch Life.

People talk to me of the stress and the pressure of not having full time employment, but what people don't understand is the stress and the pressure of not following your dreams. It's like having a volcano in your gut, a fire that will never go out, it just burns and burns until you do what it's telling you to do. And right now, it's to write now, and to worry less about the money thing and the security thing and just ride it out.

And maybe one day, soon or not, a fire with a different flame will emerge and make me change my ways or push me into a new direction, and when that day comes, I'll change my ways.

London with Palm Trees

2010-10-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

As I drove down the road on this dreary morning in Los Angeles, I came up with the Phrase London with Palm Trees. I thought it was kind of funny. Why would anyone ever think that way in Los Angeles. But with it having been dreary and rainy and kind of cold for a full week, I feel like it makes sense. It's the closest I've felt to the FALL season out here in years. I know a lot of people who say things like, "If I wanted to feel FALL I never would've moved to Los Angeles." And my only answer is, um, "Did you actually move to LA for sunshine. Like really?" And I'm sure most of them would say, "No, but it's NICE!" And so is change.

Ah. Change...

Well, I'm back after some time off. I've got a lot of blogging to do, if I'm going to hit my yearly quota. So just hold on, because if you have a RSS reader or something, I'm going to try to fill up your inboxes. Key Word: Try.

The Book Shelf

2010-06-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

I have this book shelf and it's overflowing with promise and books. It's all the books I have yet to read or started and finished. It's prominently placed in my living room, so I can get easy access to books whenever I want to. And to remind me that they are there when I get to wrapped up in watching TV or working.

When I first conceived this book shelf, I looked at it with such delight and hope. It's my shelf of Books to read! All the books I want to read and all the books I feel I should read. You know, so I could be a good cultured man of the 2010's.

And through time, the book shelf has filled up with so many books; books were squeezed in and books were stacked on top. All kinds of great books have landed on this shelf; some are fiction, some are non-fiction, some are books on Gods and Man and Myth. Sometimes I will pick one up and skim a few pages or read the back or look for the chapter that I stopped reading and see if I remember anything. Then I'll put them back down.

But now I look at it in fear, and disgust with angry eyes. I hate these books, why won't they leave me alone. Why do they ask me to read them? And why I can't I just pick one? Why I can't I just sit down and start reading one? Is it that damn hard? Won't I keep reading if I start it? And everyday they just sit there, staring at me, taunting me. They keep asking me what's wrong with me, is it so damn hard to pick a book? And sometimes they call me a coward.

I hate that stupid book shelf.

MY TV FAMILY

2010-06-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends & Family

I’m blogging to you from my couch this lovely Sunday afternoon, not feeling great, think I’m fighing off a sinus infection. Friends are out Cherry Picking, or going to the beach or having yard sales, and well, I’m watching TV on the couch. But I’m making the best of this weekend and have caught up on some of Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and also some Mad Men Season 2 and I also watched 2 episodes of Alias as well. And I decided I wanted to blog a little about my Favorite TV shows of all time.

A Little Preface before the list. What is it about TV shows that make it feel so different from reading novels or going to see the movies? Is it its weekly format? Is it the sitcom format, the weekly format, the highs and lows, the feeling that there are like 500 channels but really only like 5 things on that you want to watch. IS IT a good way to gather the entire family together. I don’t know… I do know you can tell a lot about somebody and where they are in their life by what shows they are watching?

A little background on my TV watching experience:

I have a lot of memories of watching TV with my family as I grew up. I remember getting home from school and watching cartoons and ridiculous live shows like the MICKEY MOUSE CLUB and MTV and then getting dinner and then TV with the family until it was time to sleep. Was this how it was for other people? Then I remember realizing one day I wanted to go watch my own shows at night, because I wasn’t interested in what my family was watching. I’m pretty sure I was kind of into doing my own thing even at the young age of like 8. I remember eventually getting like a little portable SONY TV and then breaking the antenna and sticking the CABLE jack into the Antenna and getting Cable in it. Amazing, and I would watch a Lot of sports and a lot of VH1 and MTV and anything else I could find, like bad tv shows on USA like Silk Stalkings and stuff, I was like a SPONGE for TV, little BJ staring at the TV. I remember having this meta moment while watching HBO'S Dream On, about a guy who watched so much TV as a kid, he can only relate to life through TV, and realizing oh god I could turn into that, maybe that would be terrible, but maybe not.

Eventually, I remember how TV became a community event. My buddies would come over to watch weekly shows like X-FILES and we would scare the bejeezus out of each other and stuff. And some other show became events, and even now can be a good time to watch some shows with others, when it's not too emotional or important to the arc of the show. But the TV watching cycle went on and on, until around 2000, where I stopped watching TV shows, and then watched a ton of movies… I mean I still watched some shows like Friends (really, wow, Friends?) but I had nothing to be invested in, nothing to set my week up around. Anyway….

So I guess what I’m saying, in a haphazard way is that a lot of my life has been spent around a TV, watching television shows, and maybe that’s why I only reserve TV time for sports, movies and specially chosen programs which I will run down here in a bit. And maybe that's why I'm not kind of not sure if TV is such a good thing, but whether or not it is, I think it's something we all kind of need, the serialized story telling, I mean. Like isn't Homer's the Odyssey like a long ass tv show, just told over a few nights...

In answering my question, from earlier, here’s what I have loved about TV which made it different from some of my other forms of entertainment. (God I need an Editor. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I kind of have a headache.) I let these characters into my lives. I see them more then most people in my life, which is why I’m really picky about what I watch, if I don’t want to hang out with these characters I will not watch the show, and which is why MY List may have shows your list won’t, with a lot of overlap.

I don’t know, I, you, maybe you, develop a sort of relationship with them (see also Serialized Novels, Comic Books.) I mean, I feel kind of lame saying this, but like I would be really pissed if someone ragged on Buffy, you know… Really. Really. Pissed. And this is why I feel like you can learn a lot about someone by their shows. Do they crave romance, adventure, the humilation of others, a family they never had, the life they never had, is it all escape? Think about your shows? Hmm…

Here is the list of Shows that I’ve loved, cared about, and you know, think are worth giving your time, because they were definitely worth my time. I some order, but not really, other than Buffy, you know… And then there are all the other shows that didn’t make the top 10. I love them, well some of them, but you know… this is a retrospective look, how can I put some that are new or fresh in, when I’m not sure if they’ll hold up, or if I will forget about them.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

- Like a stupid shining star. My brother likes to tell about this one time, he was just chilling in his room and then I came roaring in like a Mad Man, raging on and on, without making any sense, until he realized that I was talking about how HE turned record off on my Buffy Episode in the last 10 minutes. Then he started laughing.

- I thought the X-Files was good until I ran into a bunch of kids my age taking on Vampires & Demons while growing up. The relatability factor was way high. And it was so moving and not in a cloying way. It was never “On a very special episode of Buffy The vampire Slayer, Buffy deals with Sex.” No, every episode was a very special episode, but you didn’t know it. It was written for teenagers, it was written for everybody, and at the time I had no idea How Incredible this show truly was. Maybe it wasn’t until I realized that like all the other WB shows weren’t really this good or half as good, maybe that’s when it kicked in. Amazing.

- I stopped watching after Season 4. My life and their lives became so drastically different, it stopped meaning much to me. But now that I’ve gone back and watched it all, I can safely say, “My Bad.”

- I remember having Buffy & Felicity evenings with my friends. Amazing.

How I Met Your Mother

- This is my “Friends.” These are the people that remind me of who I hang out with and of my life as a late 20 early 30 year old. I bet I’ll be able to look back on this show when I’m like 40 and say, oh my god, my life was sooo much like that…

Veronica Mars

- This show made me want to go back to highschool in a bad bad way. It was like if I had been a mid-twenty year old watching Buffy at the time it came out. It was so well written. The characters were so so awesome and relatable. I think everyone could use a Veronica in their life.

- I speak only of the first 2 seasons. After that you’re on your own.

Bones

- The First 3 or so Seasons of Bones is fabulous. Wrenching, suspenseful, funny, great stuff. A little bit of something for everyone. Not like other procedurals, this show was rooted in character. The Team on this show feels like such a fantastically well rounded family, its like being at the best/worst job you could ever have. I will rewatch these seasons again at some point. Such good stuff.

- Of course now it’s just weird, weird with good ratings.

- Oh Bones. To see you lose your shine, is well, heartbreaking. Hopefully, you will return next season.

Battlestar Gallactica

- Damn You Battlestar. For being so good and sneaky. You started off as this bleak, adventure show that had a little fun and a lot of twists, and you ended up being ONE OF THE MOST DEPRESSING SHOWS ever, but I was hooked in, because if I had known, if I had known. The topics this show hit up, actually made you think. It was really really solid. A Show built on black and white that bled into grays, lots and lots of grays.

- For all of you who had problems with Season Four. Please rewatch Final Episodes of Lost and then rejudge the end of Battlestar. Just saying.

Arrested Development

- If you ever think your family is weird and fucked up, please see this show for something more. If this show wasn’t funny, it could have made the most heartbreaking, ridiculous soap opera ever. But this is hands down the Funniest 3 Seasons of Television, I’ve ever seen. I have never laugh/cried at a show as often as this one.

Firefly

- A Show about a rag tag of Space Cowboys going through time. I passed on it, when it came out. I’m A MORON. I truly believe that this may have been the synthesis show for Joss Whedon. The show he took everything he learned from Buffy & Angel and put together into a Haven of Awesomeness. But science fiction cowboys & girls was not something Fox or the mainstream public was into and so it died.

- Now OF Blessings and Curses, and the inability to change the past, I am in the camp that it’s a Blessing that the show ended after 13 episodes. Because there are an AMAZING/MIGHTASWELLBEPERFECT 13 episodes. They are so rewatchable its sick. I’ve watched them all like 3 or 4 times. And Serenity. Do I care that it’s flawed, no. Do I care that it tonally is different from Firefly, no. I just feel incredibly grateful that Universal is stupid enough to have made it. J

Alias

- The Show that brought me back to watching Television Shows.

- I have never devoured seasons of tv like Alias. I watched 22 episodes in 30 hours once. It was devouring done only on a level of New Harry Potter books.

- It’s a blessing and a curse that Season 4 started off with it’s own jump the shark moment. Because if you had loved the show through the first 3 seasons, you could instantly see and say to yourself, “Nope that’s it. I’m out.”

The X-Files

- The first show I really really liked. On my Own. In my Own way.

- How bad would this show have been without Mulder & Scully. Just think if it had been those other agents who took over late. What if they had been the agents at the beginning?

- For those who think that then end of Lost was terrible, please see the end of the X-Files and reconsider what Bad Is…

30 Rock

- How I love the ridiculousness of this show. It’s so weird. And yet oddly relatable. From the genius of Season 1 Tracy Morgan, to the sustained awesomeness of Alec Baldwin, and the adorable, weird, and uncomfortably similar thought processes of Liz Lemon. I hope they keep coming and never slide into the abyss of well that dark place Tv shows can go. You know like… well… there is no need in being bitter, but suffice it to say, if the show goes to hell, I’ll still watch it.

So that’s it. If you have any questions about the shows, cause I’m super vague about what they are about, feel free to hit me up, or if you would like to add some of your favorites, post them up.

I’m gonna take a nap now…Hasta!

Two Boys on a Hill - 3 Vignettes

2010-06-23T19:04:00.001-07:00

It is night and a full moon sits above two Thirteen Year Old's sitting on a hilltop surrounded by trees.

The first boy is Sean. The second boy is Jerry.

They discuss important things.

Sean - Favorite name for a fictional porno?

Jerry - Zombie Porn.

Sean - A Beginners Guide to Zombie Porn.

Jerry - The Zombie Porn survival guide.

Sean - Your Momma fucks the Zombie Porn.

Jerry - Your Momma um... shit. I'm out.

Sean takes a swig of the bottle off his Mother's 12 dollar vodka and looks up at the stars.

Sean - Man, I can't wait to leave home.

Jerry - Dude, we are never getting out of here.

Sean - No way, as soon as I'm eighteen, I'm leaving and never coming back.

Sean - Fuck this place.

Sean - A lot.

Jerry - I don't know. It's not so bad.

Sean - It's not so bad, because you've got a girlfriend. You won't leave her, or anyone woman for that matter.

Jerry - No, I'd totally leave her. We're not having sex.

Sean - Nah, you'd stay. Know why?

Jerry - Why?

Sean - Because of the promise of it.

Jerry - You know everything doesn't have to be about Sex and shit.

Sean - No It Is. Life is all about Sex and shit.

Sean - And war. Life is about war too.

Jerry - Dude, you are being really negative right now.

Jerry - And can you pass me the bottle?

Jerry takes a bite off of his sandwich.

Jerry - Do you think Transformer's 3 will be any good?

Sean - I don't know. They drop kicked Megan Fox to the curb, dumped her ass in a ditch, slammed her trailer park door behind her and she was the only reason i watched the first one.

Jerry - But the robots are cool.

Sean - The robots are always cool, but they might get boring in it. If they don't do something RIDICULOUS.

Jerry - Well that other girl was hot.

Sean - Who? Robo-Tongue? Shia's Mouth Raper? Only YOU would think that she's hot.

Jerry - Whatever, at least I've got a girlfriend.

Sean - And I've got the internet, which is better?

Jerry - Well. Shit.

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

From Wikipedia:

"Father's Day is a day honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. It is celebrated on the third Sunday of June in 55 countries and on other days elsewhere. It is a widely known celebration."

Never really looked this up before, or even thought about it, for so long I really viewed as the day you bought your dad socks, or made him breakfast or gave him a phone call or so on and so forth... but really I think it'd be better to take your Dad, Granddad, brothers out to the bar and buy him a few brews or a share a cigar or go fishing or hunting or um something else like manly, and while you're doing it you can appreciate and honor the man who helped bring you into life and keep a roof over your head.

I would be curious about perhaps renaming this day, Man Day (and then everyone could go watch "The Expendables" together), because it does involve all Father's and Son's, but then that would leave out all the Daughters. And there are a lot of daughters out there and they might equally be interested in beer, cigars, hunting and Sly Stallone, and that would just not be fair. So it must remain Father's Day.

And also, until you join the bonds, the brotherhood of Fatherhood, you really don't have an idea what it means to be a Pops. Like for Reals, i don't even have a dog or a fish to be able to say I'm a big Poppa (Can anyone else see me walking into my place, feeding my fish and saying, "Who's your Daddy?"). NO IDEA.

So let me give a shout out to my own Father, because Father's Day Cards just don't really nail the sentiments I hope to express.

Dad, You got a Great Heart! You look to live a life of love and seek joy and contentment, and I have nothing but the upmost respect for that. I learned a great deal about the world and how it worked from you. Being a Father is no joke, it's hard and fraught with pitfalls and tough tough decisions. I wouldn't be Me without You, and I wouldn't take that back for all the world. Love, B.

And since we are honoring Fathers I'd also like to give a Shout out to my Brother.

Joe, you're the shit, you stupid git. You and your awesomely ridiculous jet Ski. Been thinking all weekend about how you took Friday off to go up to the lake. That is totally rad. Um, I should probably get to the Father's Day bit. As far as i can tell you rock as a Dad, your kids seem really happy and balanced and you seem to be disciplining your kids with a strong, yet fair hand and I can't wait to see how the kids turn out, cause I'm pretty sure they'll be something special. (Just remember to share that Jet ski when they're old enough.)

And on these terms,Father's Day, you know, I think I like you.

How was YOUR Yogaing?

2010-06-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Morning.

I'm talking to a friend of mine after Yoga class and I notice this older Man standing by a building eyeballing me. I'm like, what's so interesting about me?

Anywho I get done talking with my friend and start walking home, when the Man calls out to me.

"Hey, how was the Yogaing?"

I stop and look at him hesitantly and think, did he say Yoga-ing? "It was good."

Now he's in, so he goes for it, "So I have a question for you?"

"Um, okay."

"Do Yoga make you skinny?"

OH NO, I think, not this question! I hate this question, it's always more complicated then yes or no. So I make a few "Uh, hmmm, um... well..." noises and then finally start rambling. "Well, not necessarily, I mean it is, er, can be a like cardio cause you can sweat a lot, but it's like not the best way to lose weight, and I mean if you really want to lose weight you should like, um, eat better and do like cardio at the gym."

After that, he looks at me confused, and then says, "But I always see Skinny People coming out of there." There being the yoga studio.

And I respond, "Yeah, well, okay, see, if you do Yoga a lot then you might want to get in shape so you can get better at it. It makes it easier."

The man smiles, he got his answer through my roundabout babbling. "Okay, thank you, thank you."

And I'm like, "Cool, well have a great day."

"You too, my friend." And then I walk off...

And I think, dammit, why couldn't I have just said, Yes Yoga makes you skinny, and then I'm like, well Yoga didn't really make me skinny, but it eventually worked it's little way into my head and then helped me, but I mean if I hadn't stopped eating crap or decided stupidly to train for a marathon, or gotten really sick a few times, that I may not have lost some of that weight. See, it's complicated... Okay, enough babbling.

Happy Saturday!

Can You Feel That?

2010-06-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

Can you feel the music flow through you?

Can you feel the heat run over your skin?

Can you catch her eye as she passes by?

Can you ride that fire all night long?

For those of who can, there is only one choice: Courvoisier.

Now in three flavors, the Crib, the Club, and the Hotel Parking Lot.

Because a gentleman is never satisfied with just one.

MY 30th BIRTHDAY PRESENT, TO MYSELF

2010-06-02T23:29:00.000-07:00

So for many of you, er, for those of you who were at my fricking awesome 30^th birthday party, you know that I’m 30. So in honor of turning 30, I thought I would do something special for myself; so I’ve decided to get Health Insurance.

Is that applause I hear? No, actually it’s silence, and questions, especially the most popular, “Wait, you don’t have health insurance?”

“That’s right,” I says, “I don’t got it, don’t need it.”

And then I hear back, “You playin’ with fire boy.”

And then I look back at them and say, “No, I’m playing with house money.”

Okay, I’m done with that.

Anyway, I’ve decided to get it, and I have a few plans, well the most important decision, I’ve had to make was to get Physical Therapy included. So I did some research and found a recommended Physical/Sport Therapist nearby named Dr. Mike.

And what do you know, he’s not unaffordable when you don’t have insurance. Dr. Mike is kind of the bomb in that way, (he’s kind of NOT THE BOMB, in his pushing you towards a healthy vegan, exercise 1 hour everyday, and do everything good for yourself and nothing bad, even the bad things that you really want, like the Rice Dream Mocha Sandwich, I will eat as soon as I’m done with this blog.)

After meeting with Dr. Mike, I have found that my hip bones are not balanced (because of my back pocket wallet?) and that I have a nerve going the wrong way in my lower back, which he was shocked to find out doesn’t really hurt me that much, but might be THE PROBLEM with MY KNEE!!! And also, I discovered that my lower spine bone seems to be a little misformed which was something that happened when I developed in the womb or some kind of trauma to my tailbone I don’t remember, although I kind of feel like I have this lingering memory of excruciating tail bone pain, but I have no idea if that is real.

So Dr. Mike adjusted me today, and hopefully I will be able to run again, which would be the best 30^th birthday present I could ever gotten.

And because of all this, this weekend I will apply for insurance without Physical Therapy but does have better Hospital and more Dr. Visits per year, but is 50 dollars cheaper a month. (I still don’t get that works, but whatever.)

So family, Grandma, you can relax, I’m gonna get covered.

~Will

I Don't Know About This. Life...

2010-05-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

(Um, so this was going to be a list of random thoughts, you know like the old days, but well, I came up with one stupid rhyme and that led to another and another, and then I was trapped, and I was RAMBLING!

- So in essence, I dedicate this to me, to life, to no one in particular, and well, maybe everyone....)

"I Don't Know About This. Life..."

It's funny business being a human being,

Always trying to figure out what life's supposed to mean.

There's so many answers I'm supposed to work out on my own,

All these things I'm expected to know now that I'm grown!

Well maybe I'm not supposed to know what it's all supposed to mean,

Cause, I swear it can't be a good thing to nail down your life's theme.

And how are all my dreams supposed to figure into this part,

I wish I could tell if they were coming from my head or my heart.

And sometimes,

I think I'd rather be heartbroken then heartless,

Which makes a lot of sense if you feel like me.

And if you're you and you're wondering why I let myself feel that pain,

Know that I can't help, I need it, it helps me numb my brain.

It helps me hide my insecurities about the things I don't understand,

Like the part I'm supposed to play in the great scheme, in the plan, man.

And maybe that's a waste of time, but it's better for my mind.

Maybe everything is a waste of time, but thinking like that is the real crime.

And sometimes,

I don't think it helps me when you look me in the eye,

Cause our souls might connect, and I might start to cry.

Because your eyes are like a two way mirror,

Revealing to me all the hidden pain and all that fear.

Cause I don't know if I'm ever going to get my shit straight,

And I pray and I pray and I pray, that when I do it won't be too late.

I know, I don't want to be like you, but I don't want to be like me,

Do you think maybe you and I could find something in between?

Music Report Jan-May 2010: CDs

2010-05-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Music Fans,

What a big year for music it's been so far. And there is so much more to come. It's daunting to even begin to start this. Daunting, knowing that I'm not even going to write about Coachella in this one. Not here, we'll just start with some good CDS.

As always, this is more of a journal of discovery then a rank or a list.

Frightened Rabbit "The Midnight Organ Fight"

Holy shit. This CD is good. I mean like hella good. This CD came out in like 2008, i think, and of course I missed it. I only found it because they put out a new CD this year, which is like alright, but has nothing on this one. There are so many stand out tracks. This CD is about a guy who is just a dude, a dude trying to find love or something like it. Each track pretty much is about relationships, and really about relationships gone wrong. He's a dude in love, he's a dude who is really mad at a woman, he's a dude who doesn't care if she's really drunk, he just wants to feel the warmth of her. Now, for me it's not the depressing words or thoughtful contemplation on the multitudes of relationships, it's the power of the music, the songs, and the singing that keeps me coming back to this CD. This might be the best british rock cd of the second half of the decade. Might, but then again, I'm still finding things.

* Must Tracks - The Modern Leper, Good Arms Vs. Bad Arms, The Twist, Heads Roll Off.

Janelle Monae "The ArchAndroid"

So earlier in the year, I discovered that Big Boi (of Outkast) had rapped on this girl's song called "Tight Rope." And i was like oh shit, Big Boi, and then i was like, man when are they going to put out his CD, and then I was like, well I better give this a go. And I listened to it, and well, I wanted to cut a rug. (i don't even know how to do it, but I wanted to.) Now that the whole CD has come out, and I've listened to it a few times, I urge you, to check it out. This girl is musically talented. She's like this crazy awesome combination of the Amy Winehouse scene and the Lady Gaga Scene. She can sing, her music is funky, but classic, but she's weird. Really weird. But regardless of that the songs really hold up, she's a fricken stylistic chameleon. And she's in it for keeps. THIS IS NOT A CD YOU WILL LIKE FOR 1 YEAR. To give up on when the next BIG thing comes along. If you like this one, you will like it for a long time.

*Must Tracks - Tightrope, Come Alive (the War of the roses), Oh, Maker, Faster, Cold War.

Jonsi "Go"

Let me start this by talking a bit about Sigure Ros, the excellent band that Jonsi fronts. Sigur Ros, I can't pronounce you, and I've given up trying. I appreciate the shit out of them, but I can't really listen to them, not sure if it's the made up language or the length of the songs, but they don't draw me in. I really do want to try to write to them.

Back to Jonsi, so I found out that Jonsi was going to put out a Solo CD this year, and it was getting pretty good buzz, and I heard that it was going to partially in English. So i figured I'd give it a chance. None of that prepared me for how much I like this CD.

"Go" is simply beautiful, tender, happy, joyful, and powerful. It's songs are far shorter then any Sigur Ros songs, fulfilling my ACD requirements, but what that does is focus the songs around the core of what makes each song awesome.

Experiment 1 - If you've never heard any of them, get it, download, don't listen. Get in your car, get onto a back road, or a highway by the sea or through the mountains, you have to go at least 4o miles per hour. And then, only then TURN IT ON and TURN IT UP, and FEEL it, FEEL ALIVE, feel awesome. If you don't, and you come back and tell me you don't, I'll smack you up the side of the head. (That'd be even worse then me not loving, but Only liking "UP") And if you can start on track 2 "Animal Aritmetic" even better, but the experiment applies either way.

Experiement 2 - If you've heard it and you're luke warm on it, try the above and see if that changes your mind.

* MUST TRACKS - Just get the whole damn thing, it's pretty short. (Okay, I think the essentials are 1 through 6)

Passion Pit - "Manners" "Chunk of Change"

Wow. Okay, so Passion Pit. Passion Pit got me through a remarkably hard/bad few days a few weeks back. I think i listened to their 2 cds like 3 times a day, and you know they really helped me out.

Let me flashback though, three months ago.

My buddy Abby Lance from work, recommended them because they were going to be playing at Coachella and I was like cool, I'll check them out.

A month later she asked me about it, and I confessed to not getting around to checking them out.

Then I downloaded two of their most popular songs and was like, wow, this is some ridiculous music, all falsetto and dancy, but like in a way that seemed to have been created for toddlers.

Then I caught most of their live set at Coachella and they were really good, the girls in particular really liked their music and sung every word and danced around. Now, i must say that they also do pretty much every band, but there was an energy to it, that made feel like they really cared about it, about the songs, it meant something to them.

So then, I was like having this hard crappy week, and so I had all this really tricky hard technical work to do, but I could listen to music, so i grabbed their cd and gave it a spin, and it was FRICKEN. AWESOME.

I can turn on their EP & their LP and just listen to them over and over, and that is a testament to the diversity of music and the sequencing of the songs.

Passion Pit reminds me of when I was like 8 or 9 and would like ride my bike around the neighborhood listening, singing along to cheesy eighties songs all summer long. That's what they are packing in here. And when they don't bring that they bring a certain romantic longing/wistfulness that I really like. Some reviewers have noted that there are songs on here they could imagine teenagers first rolling around in the haystack to, and I don't think this is that far off from true.

I could keep going and talk technical, but i think I've spent too much time on them.

*MUST TRACKS: Little Secrets, Moth's Wings, Sleepyhead, I've got Your Number, Cuddle Fuddle, yeah... I'll stop now.

Matt & Kim "Grand"

Matt & Kim are so much fun. This is another good drive or road trip CD. They specialize in quick fast songs, built on marching band drums and one keyboard, and the GIRL Kim, plays the DRUMS. But they are always melodic and great to sing along too. They can just bring out the good in things and make you feel like it's gonna be alright. And They Epitomize Do IT Yourself Music. And their video to "Lessons Learned" has them stripping and getting chased by Cops in Time Square. Awesome. And when they are inspired they can put together amazing melodies with thoughtful lyrics.

*MUST TRACKS: Daylight, Lessons Learned, Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare

Hot Chip "One Life Stand"

Have you ever "Over & Over"? The one about the "Monkey with a miniature cymbal." Damn song is so REPETITIVE that you like the hell out of it, but have to turn it off before it finishes cause it's driving you crazy! Okay, so they came back this year with "One Life Stand" and I got mostly because i liked the title. And you know, the whole thing is pretty damn good, totally full of sound, great harmonies, good melodies, very Now. Great combination of Dance/Techno & Rock. Doesn't really make you Dance but it does get the blood moving. Huh, this CD would be fantastic to play in gyms or cardio classes. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing. Either way they are the real deal, not posers, like One Republic (and you know i like them sometimes) but listening to Hot Chip makes me realize on an intellectual level how High Fructose Corn Syrupy One Republic is. Anyway, enough ranting, if you don't believe download "I Feel Better".

*MUST TRACKS: Thieves in the Night, Hand Me Down Your Love, I Feel Better, One Life Stand, Take It In.

Los Campesinos! "Romance Is Boring"

When I listen to this CD, I can't help but think that this band is like the British Cousin of Blink-182. I know that a lot of Los Campesinos! fans would probably strangle me if they read this, but think about it, is that such a bad thing? More thoughtful, more british, more open, still emo, more band members, real british accents, they love to put obscene things into their songs, which are all about romance sucking and girls sucking, and boys sucking. The songs can be punky like "Straight In at 101" or slow and longing like "The Sea is a Good Place to Think about the Future." And like Blink -182 you have to either be teenagery in years or teenagery in spirit to really get them. God, I'm so screwed up musically.

*MUST TRACKS: Straight in at 101, The Sea is a Good Place to Think About the Future, Romance is Boring, There are listed Buildings, A Heat Rash in the Shape of the Show Me State; Or, Letters from Me to Charlotte.

And to close this blog, I present you:

LCD Soundsystem "This Is Happening"

I wasn't so sure about this one.

Before it came out, I wanted to name it, "HIGH HOPES, BIG LETDOWN." I just couldn't get behind the idea that James Murphy putting out a CD as good as "Sound of Silver". So I spent time lowering my expectations. Lower and Lower did I send them. Even when the positive reviews starting coming out. I listened to some of the songs and was like "Eh..."

But I bought it when it came out, and now I am seriously addicted to it, with the exception of one song (Somebody's Calling Me.) It's not as musically focused, er tight, as "Sound of Silver," but it's not as all over the place as "LCD Soundsystem" their first CD. And if it's their last, well they go out Aces. And it's their strongest CD in terms of Theme and Lyrical interplay.

It's just like Sound Of Silver in a sense that its Pop/Rock/Dance fusion, and yes, you will want to dance and jump around to it, but this CD is much moodier, not as happy nostalgic, it's about a lot of Not Happy Things, it's pretty close to life, its about being realistic, and its about the things you think about when you are alone or ranting drunkenly to your closest friends as another year has gone by and you still feel unfulfilled.

In this CD he writes songs about all the things you really don't want to hear about. He rants about Friends who suck and are mean, but you put up with it anyway, because you are Supposed to (Dance YrSelf Clean). In the party song, "Drunk Girls" he puts out one of his catchiest songs with it's stupid title, but makes it smart about drunk boys and girls, who go out get drunk do stupid shit, expect stupid things, but don't get what they want and then

All the built up expectations of intimacy and it's inevitable let down ("One touch"). And "Home" I think its about, HOME being a safe place outside of the awful confusion of life, I think, because it could also mean that home is an illusion we hide behind. "You Wanted A Hit," is catchy song that is a middle finger to the music industry.

And then there are is "All I Want" and "I Can Change" the two stand out tracks everyone is writing about.

I can't make out all of the words to All I Want, because it is mixed low and that pisses me off, but whatevs, it means if you want to know, you have to listen again and again or go read it, which I guess is kind of smart, but annoying. So I went and read the words and listened at the same time and damn if this thing isn't straight up heartbreaking, its about not being home a lot and kind of living with your love who is a stranger. Musically its excellent, especially the Casio riff in the middle, damn that thing rocks, modern day Beatles shit.

"I Can Change,"is like the shit, it's the track that hit me straight up the first time I heard. It's Eighties, it's today, it's Beautiful. James Murphy sings it amazingly. It's about Falling in Love with someone and never wanting them to change, and at the same time it's about Changing so that they will fall in love with you. It's the modern singleton conundrum. SERIOUSLY.

To Recap:

Earlier, I mentioned that a casio riff in "All I Want" is some Modern Day Beatles shit. Well, I will close that after multiple spins of "Sound of Silver" cd, it kind of hit me that this very well could be the kind of Music John Lennon might be making if he was around still. And that sentiment applies even more to "This Is Happening." It's bold, catchy, real, not afraid to piss people off, seriously sentimental, and it's pretentious in a way that people can get behind. James Murphy really is a "cheeky bastard." Well Done, I love it.

*Must Tracks: Dance Yrself Clean, Drunk Girls, I Can Change, All I Want

_________________

Ok, that's it, no mas for today. Later this weekend, I'll report on some singles not mentioned in here that are pretty rad.

Happy Trails!

Announcement May 20th, 2010

2010-05-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

Will steps up toe the podium. He has a few words he'd like to share with the reporters, members of the media, friends, family, hanger-ons, well wishers, and pets.

"I hate blogs." Takes a deep breath. "I hate blogs, but I think I need one, so I am here to announce my imminent return to blogging. I have a few scheduled blogs for this weekend and hopefully for the months beyond."

Will looks down at everyone looking up at him, the cameras flashing, the smiles, congratulations, looks of confusion. His stomach rumbles, nervous. He pulls himself straight up and mutters, "Well, that was the easy part."

CHANGE

2010-02-20T00:55:00.000-08:00

CHANGE.

12 years ago, I sat in a friend’s minivan. She was going off to college the next day and it was probably going to be the last time we would see each out for months. 2 lives about to spiral into two completely different directions, for one it was collegiate life, for the other it was living at home, hitting up community college, and serving cheese fries. I think you know which one was this here writer.

My friend looked me in the eye, a little anxious, just as I was about to leave her van, and said, “Do you think things are going to change?” And I responded, “Yeah, everything’s going to change.”

Then we hugged, I left, and everything changed. It always does.

And I’m not going to lie, at the time, I don’t think I even believed it. It could have been some unknown insight, or I could have just been trying to sound cool. It was a long time ago. So much has happened since then.

The other day, I sat across from another friend at brunch, and I told her, “I don’t think that every one can change. Some people, I don’t believe can change.” She responded, “I don’t believe that at all, I can’t believe that. Everyone can change, they just to have really want to.”

I, then, cited my Mother who, I didn’t think was capable of change. My friend gave me this face, and then my mind blew when I realized that I was being Supremely stupid, of course my Mom was capable of change. Because for better or worse, everything is changing, always, even if it’s just a little, even my Mom. I just don’t want to deal with those changes, and I don’t want to deal with people who refuse to change the way you want them, the way you think they should. Of course, you can’t control change.

Change is a cruel bitch for sure. From the minute we’re born until the moment we die, and even far beyond that day, we are changing. It’s just that it’s so hard to deal with it, because change is nearly uncontrollable. It’s like when you’re in a sailboat out at sea. You’re always going somewhere, and yeah, you can try to control it, but damn if those winds and those waves aren’t going to sometimes have a mind of it’s own. And when they decide to take control, all your plans are screwed. They change your life and you change with it.

CONTROL GETS SLAPPED IN THE FACE BY CHANGE

I sat in a theater with a 22-year-old graduate that didn’t know who Warren Beatty was, and we were chatting. He asked me how I had made it. Mentally, I said, “Who said I made it?” I responded to myself, silently saying, “Oh right, I’m still here, so maybe I did succeed. Somehow.” Either way, I looked over at this kid, because he wanted advice, and I gave him my Blinko analogy.

For those unfamiliar with the Price Is Right’s Blinko game, it is this fantastic game where you climb up to the top of a giant board that is lined with spikes. At the bottom of this board is like five options for prizes, and you are given a disc to drop into the top of this spike maze. Once you pick your starting point, you drop the chip in and it goes off hitting all these spikes and switching directions until it gets to the bottom. The sad truth of Blinko is that it doesn’t matter where you put the disc in, it’s going to go wherever it wants to. No rhyme. No reason.

I told this 22-year-old dude with a weak handshake, “Getting into the film industry is like blinko. You come out to LA, you put your disc in, thinking you can have some control over where it’s going to go, where you are going to go, and then it just ends up going wherever the hell it wants to. And then you get to the bottom and you’re there. Life just happens.”

He responded, like most people, “Huh, that’s an interesting analogy. So you’re saying that you really don’t have any control over what happens out here.” And I said, “Yeah, but (And then came some simple realistic advice) if you do want to try to control things, you could do this, this, and this.”

I think he liked this, this, and this more than the Blinko analogy. And you know, I don’t blame him. Feeling like you don’t have any control over what happens to you can be awful, horrifying. But I’ve been around the block long enough to know that you can start out wanting to be a writer and you end up a Producer, or you can start of wanted to be a Producer and you end up a Sales Clerk, or you start out wanting to be a Production Designer and you end up Director, or a Mother, or sadly or happily, you don’t end up being anything at all.

Being alive means changing. Life demands it. His dreams may change. They may not change.

My dreams have and they haven’t all at the same time. And sometimes I think that my dreams really aren’t even what’s important, sometimes it’s just being alive, just being on the Blinko board that really matters.

TRAVEL YOUNG MAN, TRAVEL, AND LET ALL YOUR THOUGHTS AND CARES BE FREE

Oh if I could do it all over again, I might, the road trip I mean. But you know what, well, if I hadn’t gone through that trip, I might not have been inspired to have these thoughts that I have now, which I relate to you in a moment.

At the beginning of the road trip, I sat in a friend’s room, staring at Tarot cards, and I asked her a question about a recurring dilemma that I had in my life, which I will unfairly not share with you, and those cards said, “TRAVEL.” I said, “Um, what do you mean?” And the Tarot cards, because they can’t talk, really, responded again, “TRAVEL.” And I said, ah for the love OF GOD! This is so not fair. I wanted a damn answer.

On my trip, every town was a destination and at my worst moments, getting there was all I could think of, and at my best moments I didn’t care at all about getting there, I was careless free of everything, just me, my music, the wind, and what lay before my eyes. It was beautiful.

I would say that about 1/4 of my trip was living in these moments. Moments of pure living. Of bliss. Of freedom.

Most of the time, I wanted a coffee. I wanted to go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted to be alone. I just wanted a bed to sleep in. I just wanted to be home.

Of course, I was always home. I had everything I needed. I just couldn’t see it. I spent 3/4 of the time wanting something I didn’t have. Silly me.

Near the end of the trip, I was in a New Orleans Voodoo shop. Real Voodoo shop and I was finishing up getting a Voodoo Tarot card reading and all the cards had eerily reflected my adventures and in the order that I had taken them. Or maybe they represented the future. Or maybe my entire life. You never know with the cards. Either way, a Gentleman was there, he was wearing all black, and had a long ponytail. He was kind of like a ponytailed, black clothes wearing, Nathan Fillian (I shit you not). Oh and he was psychic, or at least claimed to be. He and the voodoo priestess had a little repartee about their different powers and I just listened, amused.

After their playful ribbing ended, he asked me how the voodoo tarot card reading went, and I told him that it was really cool. Then he asked me if I would mind letting him inside my head, or spirit or something, and I told him, “Sure.” Then he made a funny face and kind of got theatrical and said, “I hear this noise, this buzzing in the back of your head. It’s like you’re always thinking, there’s always something going on in there.”

And I responded, “Oh.” Internally, I responded, annoyed, “Who the hell is this guy?”

He continued, “That voice is going to take you down, man. It’s causing you a lot of stress. You don’t always have to listen to it. It doesn’t have to be there.”

I told him, “A lot of what this trip is about is that. Getting away from that voice.” And he nodded his head, like I hadn’t really achieved that. And then I probably made a face, because I was supremely annoyed.

So then he smiled and said, “You know my advice to you is to go get a Hurricane (Iconic New Orleans drink) and sit down by the side of the Mississippi and watch the sunset. It’s beautiful. Just kick back. Take it easy.”

I nodded and said, “That sounds awesome, but I have a dinner and a Ghost Tour I have to get to.” All these plans.

And he nodded and said, “That Ghost tour is going to be terrible if it’s not wit this one person, so and so.” And it was not with so and so. And I never made it to that Ghost Tour because of an upset stomach.

I get him now. I wish I could have had more chill out moments on my trip. Not made so many plans, and destinations. But if I had, maybe I wouldn’t have learned what I learned on the trip, and maybe I never would’ve gone on the trip in the first place.

Flash back to New Orleans, fifteen minutes before my talk with the Pony tailed Psychic. I’m getting my Tarot cards read by the Voodoo Priestess, who looked like a normal woman with a New Orleans accent. She asked me what my astrological sign was. Taurus, I said, but I have a lot of Leo in me. The Taurus is stable, chill, stubborn, and perhaps a smidgen lazy. The Leo is all about fire, taking charge, devil may care attitude. She looked at me sympathetically said, “I’m the same way. Those two are really hard to balance. It gets easier with age.”

I hope she’s right.

3 years ago, I sat with my Grandmother on a park bench and she looked over me and said, “B, you never stop going do you. You just keep going and going. Even when you’re on vacation, you always have to be doing something.”

In response, I said, “That’s just me. I’m always going. I like to keep going, doing things, always gotta be doing something.”

She said, “That sure must be hard.”

I ended that conversation by saying, “I’ve just always been this way.” And she smiled.

I’ve accepted that I’m never going to be totally chilled out, “dude… life is beautiful, lets just sit here, drink a beer, and appreciate everything.” I’ll never be a Nascar guy, I’m a basketball guy. There is always going to be the voice that is causing me to strive, go forward, take on life, fight through everything, get it done, make it happen, pay the bills, force change, for change to stop. It is never going to go away. It is part of me.

But on the other hand, it doesn’t have to be all of me, all the time. I can find that balance. I am finding that balance. If I don’t take a moment, breathe, focus on the leaves in a tree, listen to a song, SING MY LUNGS OUT, dance, move, be creative, do these things from time to time, I’m going to go crazy and then I’m going to get sick, and then well… it all happens again.

THE CALM PRESENCE OF THE SEA

Last weekend, I took a drive down Santa Monica and went straight to the sea. I’d been having these recurring pictures in my head of me sitting and watching the ocean. And I realized that morning that I absolutely needed to get out of the house and go to the ocean.

Everything that day had worked out for me. I had done all these things I wanted to do. And now I fortuitously arrived at my parking spot, 15 minutes before the sun would disappear into the ocean.

I ran towards the cliff over the beach, passing all the tourists, cars, and shops. I was out of breath when I finally was able to see the ocean. The sun was burning down into it. Just above it. It was beautiful. The sun had disappeared by the time I got to the water’s edge, but it was still day. The colors of the sun and sky, made the water look like a pearl. Everything was so clear. I walked into the water. It was a transcendent moment.

I was alone, but you were all with me. Every one of you sat there beside me, past present, and future, on that beach and watched the sky turn from blue to black, as the Carousel on the Pier spun with it’s ever changing light show. It was amazing.

And it crystallized everything that had been running through my head recently. All my thoughts of change, of control, of chilling it out, of changing my careers, of dreams all came front and center, and I realized that none of it mattered. Nothing but this moment. I had never watched the sunset over the Pacific, at least not here, not with the sun, not with my eyes, not with intent.

In those five years, so much had changed. So much. And I felt really good about it, even the things I hadn’t wished for or didn’t like. Everything was all right. It was all good. It all got a pass. All the stupid things I did, all the stupid things other people did. All the smiles, all the tears, all the mistakes, all the friends I made, and all the friends I lost, the family that was still here and the family that had passed on, everything got equal footing on this night. This was all a part of my beautiful, crazy life. And it would have totally stunk if nothing had happened.

I wanted nothing but this night, this feeling to go on forever. But it couldn’t. And when I was ready to go, I was ready to go, I knew that it was time for things to change. And I smiled because I realized that I welcomed it, with all my heart.

My playlist for this amazing sunset, night, beach trip was:

Los Campesinos! – The Sea is a Good Place to Think of the Future

Los Campesinos! – Coda: a Burn Scar in the Shape of the Sooner Shape

Death Cab For Cutie – Bixby Canyon Bridge

LCD Soundsystem – Someone Great

LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends

U2 –Bad

As I got up, I turned on LCD Soundsystem’s song “North American Scum” and danced across the beach back towards the street. No worries, no cares, it was that kind of a night. Don’t tell me there’s no such thing as magic. This was a perfect day.

WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR LIFE TO STAND FOR

I recently spent hours and hours helping my friend/yoga teacher set up her Yoga studio that she was opening up. I got cut. I got a headache. I might have gotten sick. I also missed a banging 80’s party. An 80’s party!

Many people wondered why I did it. They asked me if I was going to get paid. I said no. They asked if I had any romantic interest in her, which I answered no. They asked if I was getting free yoga. To which I answered, “Yes.” And then my friend pointed out, “But you’re already getting free yoga.” And I said, “true.” So they wondered why I was doing it. And I had no good answer.

It really wasn’t until tonight that it dawned on me, the correct way to describe why I felt compelled to help her out, even though it was stressful and hard and challenging, and the last thing in the whole world I wanted to be doing, I did it because it’s a friend following her dream. Going for it. She’s starting her own yoga studio, and who knows how it’s going to turn out, and if it’s going to be successful or whatnot, none of that mattered. She was going for it. And I could help her.

I may not get anything physical or tangible out of it, but dammit, I’d rather be doing something in the service of someone’s dream. So what if it’s not my dream. It’s someone else’s passion, and passion can ignite passion. I think that’s something I can strive for.

I realize that this isn’t always possible. Life gets in the way, change gets in the way, and hell, most of the time I don’t know what I want anyway. But until I do know what I want, what I want to make life be about, I’d like to at least do things in the service of a dream or a passion. This would be a good thing. I’m still figuring this out.

CHANGE2.

Heraclitus the Greek Philosopher ~ “The Only Constant is Change.” I hate this guy.

I looked at myself in the mirror and I said, “Well Will, do you think everything is going to change.” And I responded, “Yeah, I think so. I think everything is going to change.”

Things have to change. My life has to change. We’re always changing, but I mean big change. And now is the time for that change. I don’t really even have a choice in the matter. Sometimes, I don’t want to change. Sometimes I want things to stay the same. I don’t want to be brave. I don’t want to do anything. I’m afraid of the future, of change. BUT there is this constant tug in my stomach, pulling me somewhere, so hard that sometimes it makes me sick.

And I say this to you right now. I have no idea where this change will take me. I never have, never will, I guess none of us do until we take a moment to look around and see how much has happened. I just have to be ready for it, because the wind is kicking up, and if I don’t stick the oar into the water and change direction, the wind is going to kick my ass and make me do it anyway. I just have to remember to breathe, smile, sing a little, and watch the sun set from an idyllic location.

Preface to Change:

2010-02-20T00:46:00.000-08:00

I preface this next blog by saying - I've had a lot on mind. This one's a long time coming. And it's really long, so you know, no rush in reading, and oh yeah, Enjoy!

Under-appreciated: Great Scores

2010-01-14T09:15:00.001-08:00

Hello ALL!

So up until recently, like the last 2 years or so, I hadn't really given much thought to how Scores/Soundtracks actually enhance movies. I'd always recognized them for being great, but I'd never really given them credit for making or breaking films, or for taking a good film and making it great. But recently, I've had the privilege to see films before they had their finished score in, and seen how ugh, they are. And then seen how much better they are with them.

Just think about some of your favorite movies and think about if they have really good scores and what they would be like without them.

Some of my favorites for listening, or writing, or driving really fast have been, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Dark Knight, and Star Trek.

Do any of you all have favorites? Post them in the comment section if you're up for it.

Hasta!

THE NETFLIX ATE BLOCKBUSTER: 2009 MOVIE RECAP BOWL

2010-01-02T19:17:00.000-08:00

Wow. Okay. Here we are again. Another year, another hour, another list.

Star Trek - The Most watched film of the year. 6 Times! 6 Times! Nice Work from the JJ Abrams factory and ILM. Really has a chance to be the beginning of a great great thing, ala, Batman Begins. We'll see how it ends.

Avatar - 4 Times. Most Wow Film of the year. The movie that turned everyone into Keanu Reeves saying "Whoa..."

You know in 15 days, it almost passed Transformers 2 for the highest box office of the year.

I have deemed Avatar a modern day Kurosawa film. No one is making epic movies like Cameron. Not right now. Peter Jackson did it, but he had a source world, and he hasn't nailed it since. The scale of it, the bigness of it is like incredible. I don't want to say it's the best movie ever, because it's not, not even close, but it's definitely awe inspiring and makes everyone have to raise their game, everyone in the action, epic field. I have to wonder how many filmmakers who have a movie coming out next year, saw Avatar and just went "FUCK!" hehe. I bet there's a lot.

Zombieland - Funnier then the Hangover. And deeper too. What a good movie. I love the Woody Harrelson renaissance.

The Hangover - Awesome the First time. And awesome 6 months later. But do I feel like I want to see it again, maybe in six months. Kind of like a hang over.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Great Adaptation of a great book! Yeah, it could've been more awesome, but it would've had to have been like 3 & a Half hours long.

2012: A great film experience, with some awesome guys, watching this big monster of a film, that I can't say is good, but totally entertaining!

District 9: Bold filmmaking here. I hate the ending, but I loved it. An out of nowhere experience that lived up to it's marketing and hype as a great experience. Frightening, fascinating and awesome.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Most fun I've had after watching it. Thanks to all of you who hate it and amused me with your hatred/mock hatred as I gleefully embraced this terribly fun movie.

I love You, Man - The movie everyone tells me to see, which makes me not want to see it. Totally illogical of me. I need to rent it and have fun.

(500) Days Of Summer - What a movie! Some people weren't sold on it, I was sold in the first 30 seconds with just a little bit of perfectly timed text. You KNOW what I'm talking about.

Drag Me To Hell - Sam Raimi makes up for Spider-man 3 to his fans by giving them what he's great at. Blood, guts, gore, comedy, and zany hijinks. Drag me to Hell is a great time!

The Brothers Bloom - Good Movie. Good Times. A deceptively deep, comic gem of a movie that knew what it wanted to do and did it perfectly. TOO BAD NO ONE WENT TO SEE IT! Gets the award for "Best Male Costumes." I wanted to own every outfit those guys wore, well not the whiteish cream suit. But EVERYTHING ELSE. The Runner up for "Best Male Costumes" was Sherlock Holmes.

The Hurt Locker - I never need to watch this movie again, but while I did, I was fricken mesmerized. Serious On Your Seat Suspense. A great war movie that took you into the head of damaged soldier, and while you didn't understand him too well, you experienced what he did. Well. Well. Done. And thank you Kathyrn Bigelow for making the comeback you needed and solidifying your place as a filmmaker again. Now if I could just get people to go back and rewatch Strange Days. What a good year for you and your ex hubby James Cameron! And speaking of Strange Days, that movie, co-written by James, is another pointer to Avatar. Anyway...

Up In the Air - What did you think of Up In the Air? Did you like it? Did it make you feel bad? Did you talk about it after it was done? Filmmaking, as in all forms of Art & Entertainment comes in multiple types and has a million different intentions. Up In The Air, wanted you to think about life and talk about it. And in that way it was successful. YOU are given the opportunity to think about what is going to happen to the lead character after the events of the movie. This is a funny, sad film, that hems closer to life then a lot of people feel comfortable, more then I feel comfortable with, but in that way, it holds power over the viewer. I'm rambling right now. I liked it. I related to it. I was bummed that it didn't have a nice neat bow on it. But I think it made it a better film.

One more thing on this film, how many Adult movies did you see this year? Movies that weren't trying to bring in that big teenage cash. On this list I have, maybe The Hurt Locker, Brother's Bloom, kind of (500) days, but not really. This was one that held it's grownupness on it's sleeve and declared itself for Adults, looked like a film for adults, and a had message that people who have had a few years under their belt as adults could really relate too and take in. Hell, I might even be too young for that movie.

Nice Fluffy Animated Kids Fair

Ice Age 3 - Lots of fun. Simon Pegg can make it anything fun! Not good, but fun!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Fun for everyone. Great Mister T supporting role.

Not Fluffy Animated Kids Fare

Where the Wild Things Are - WTF? Is it good? Probably. Did I enjoy it? For about 30 minutes. Not for children younger then 8. I repeat. Not for children under 8. And if they are sensitive. Just skip it.

Disappointing Films

Terminator Salvation - What a terribly plotted film, bad storytelling, nice effects, too much 1 dimensional screaming. Thanks Christian, but it's really McG's fault. I mean for real, Christian brings nuance behind a mask. He should be able to do it as John Conner.

GI Joe - It was fun, but I'm not sure if it was just fun because it was marginally better then Transformers, or well, just because it was seen after Transformers. I think in the long run, Transformers is a better movie. Like GI Joe is a 1.5 and transfers is a 2.

Public Enemies - Blah. Blah. Blah. God I thought this movie could have been good. Maybe if I rewatch I'll understand, and maybe that is a load of crap. 1 out of 10 people like it. It gets the award for "Fell Asleep the Most Times"

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - So bad, I didn't even want to see it. Didn't even want to see it.

The Time Traveler's Wife - Blah! Less said on this movie the more. Not the best year for Rachel McAdams.

Notorious - Not a bad movie, well it would've been a good VH1 Movie, but Biggie deserved more. I mean they let Tupac upstage him in his own movie. HIS OWN MOVIE!

Inglourious Basterds - Any Tarantino movie I don't love, or uniformly believe is awesome is a disappointment. And I don't feel that way with this one. I'm sure it's great, and it has great great scenes, but overall it didn't connect to me, and that makes me sad. I guess we just can't predict what we are going to love and what we don't love which leads me to---

THE Ronald McDonald's Snack Wrap - WRAP UP

The big budget money making machines win! Little films got stepped on. I mean, look at what's going on right now, all the talk is Avatar, while some supposedly (not seen by me movies) like Precious, A Single man, An Education, are really really well reviewed, no one's going to see them. It's like that whole A Tree in the Forrest, if it gets knocked down, but no one hears it, did it really happen. And the list below of films I still want to see, the Dramatic Ones didn't ride up a storm. Nope. The only one that did was Up In The Air, and that movie hasn't made the kind of money people were hoping it would. Nope, it's all Avatar all the time. And like it or not, Avatar hands down represents the money making machine. What will this signal for the future? Will the Studios keep trying to cut down on it's low budget, medium budget films, so they can continue to make bigger and bigger films, that for the most part don't mean anything to people (Transformers, Terminator & GI JOE) but make pretty good money? Let's hope not. Let's hope that a balance can be struck, because I think the movies are best when there is something for everyone. Even if that means Sandra Bullock just became the first leading lady of a leading lady led film, to have her film gross over 200 million. What a year!

A few films that premiered before the end of the year that I'd like to see, like: Invictus, Nine, Away We Go, The Fantastic Mister Fox, Jennifer's Body (Don't hate me, I'm just being real) The Road, The Informant!

The 2009 Music Recap

2010-01-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

I have a problem with Music. I tend to either be way ahead of the people or way behind the people. It's never like right there in between. I almost never discover songs on the radio or on TV. So when I attempt to do a year in review, well I tend to either write about stuff that people have no idea what I'm saying or I write about things that were like, so last year. I had to go back and look at last years list to remember what I was into then, and some of it is the same, and some of the CDS on this years list were on last years, and when I write them, well I'll explain why they appear again.

This is ranked in no order, because how can you put an order to music? I mean, for many people the best CD of the years was, uh, Black Eyed Peas CD "The E.N.D." but for someone else, they may have liked the Girls CD "Album" but for many people over 40 they're totally loving Susan Boyle's "I dreamed a dream" (Really??? It's, like the Avatar of the music industry right now. I fear listening, what if it's good? I can't take that chance.) So top 10 lists just rankle people, and then make you feel really stupid as soon as you publish it, because you forgot your obvious favorite.

Anyway, to Will Gong's 2009 Musical Journey. I hope you check out some of them when you have time or are bored, or are just like staring at your Facebook page waiting for something to happen. If you're doing that, just stop. It's not worth it.

- Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

Oh 2009, how could I have made it through without Phoenix. I was just a sad young man, making a music playlist for Jorge, when I accidentally discovered you. The minute I heard "If I ever Feel better" off your almost decade old CD "United," I fell in love.

And then I found you had a new CD coming out with the cheeky title "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" and I clicked on a streaming link of "Listzomania" and had my MIND BLOWN. Best POP Song in like forever. Straight up POP. I mean, I can listen to this song everyday, and I think I have. It never gets old. Okay if you listen to it 4 times a day it gets a little old, but it's still fun. AND YOU AREN'T ON THE RADIO. So I can have it to myself, unlike "Hey Ya!". And you gave Radio and Commercials the song "1901" which is as good and maybe better, but not as poppy as Listzomania.

The rest of the CD is golden. It gets a little repetitive eventually, but never bad, and damn if it doesn't make you feel good, and bop your head, and sometimes get up and do an IPOD AD Dance in your kitchen, or in your car.

For those intersted, Phoenix did a really cool live set through Paris. Please Watch. It's at the bottom of the post and It's sooooo goooodddddd.

BON IVER - For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)

So I suck, and here's why: Last year, I put this on the list, because I could consciously understand how good it was, so I'm lame. But I was trying to bring the music to the people. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THIS YEAR, that I really fell in love with the CD. It took like 5 to 10 listens, before it sunk in and was like WHOA. It's deep, but on a deep level, because I still don't know what he's saying, a lot. But listen to "The Wolves" or "Creature Fear" and feel, just feel. The harmonies, the gently guitar strum, the occasional Auto-Tune. It's amazing. And Powerful.

GIRLS - ALBUM

First few lines of the Album from the Song "Lust for Life"

Oh, I wish I had a boyfriend
I wish I had a loving man in my life
I wish I had a father
Maybe then I would've turned out right
But now I'm just crazy, I'm totally mad
Yeah I'm just crazy, I'm fucked in the head
And maybe if I really tried with all of my heart
Then I could make a brand new start in love with you

I mean read it, You know, Nuff' Said, and I don't really think I need to tell you why I like the CD, but I'm going to anyway. Ths guy is crazy, but relatable. I mean those lines, right there, he basically laid out his craziness, and you know it's a FRICKEN LOVE LETTER TO A GIRL. I think.

Anyway, other than being crazy and relatable. These two guys, have actually crafted a really beautiful like classic 60's POP album, and did with a whiny guy voice. It's the music. It's good. And catchy. And kind of fucked up. See "Lust for Life" "Laura" "Ghost Mouth" "Big Bad Mean Mother Fucker" and "Hellhole Ratrace".

Weird and beautiful :-D

The Beatles "Remastered Complete Collection"

Wow. I mean, everybody gives props to these. Because they are amazing. I mean, I don't need to go over again, my love for The Beatles, but fuck it. THESE SONGS ARE AMAZING and everytime we, fans, have a reason to go back and rediscover them, we are going to. It also helps that I read the most indepth accurate Biography of them ever "The Beatles" at the beginning of the year. AND It's amazing they made music like this, especially JOHN. That dude was nutz. I mean, Paul, had music coming out of his pores, but John had rage, jealousy, drugs, attitude, and a slew of other mommy problems.

Anyway, if you get the remastered and listen to them, you will hear them anew, you will hear all the shimmers, every guitar stroke, the harmonies are stronger, and best of all, YOU Can actually hear a lot of what Ringo was doing (For all those that shit on Ringo.) He keeps it simple, but with eloquence and propulsion. I mean like The Beatles were never going to need a batshit crazy drummer. Sorry Grandma for the profanity. Moving On.

BLIND PILOT - 3 Rounds & A Sound

Thanks Tracy. Okay, how do I describe the Sound of Blind Pilot. Itunes has them listed as Indie Rockers playing Folk Music or as Folkies playing Indie Rock. I think that about sums it up. These songs are beautiful, and have a great lyrics and stories that really get to you. I saw them live and they were just a great time, and they had really awesome fans. LIVE their music really pops, but I think that's because they've added band mates. But still. This is a must LISTEN CD. I dare you to listen to the songs "The Story I heard" and "3 Rounds & a Sound" and tell me these guys aren't good and have a great future.

Another year spent trying to love Bruce Springsteen. Another year, I fail. Sigh.

DISAPPOINTMENTS - Better Than Ezra's "Paper Empire" boring, old, uninspired. - Ryan Adams may have given up making music. - The Final Curtain Call of Michael Jackson. - Mariah Carey's "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel" totally flat and self indulgent. - Franz Ferdinand "Tonight" is it their now horrifying inability to craft new hooks that is so painful, or is it that I find the music to now be impenetrable. - Everyone else finally figuring out how Crazy Kanye is. I mean come on people, wasn't it obvious. OBVIOUS! Although, I gotta give props to some people for defending Kanye's statement, not the action, just what he said. Poor Gayfish. - My giving into Katy Perry, sigh, I wish I could just turn it off... - Miranda Lambert's "Revolution." I don't know why I don't like this CD more, it got great reviews. Made best of lists. I just can't get it now, maybe 2010. - Timbaland talking up how great Miley Cyrus is and then making a not even Craptastic Song. Ugh. You Are Better Than This. -

END DISAPPOINTMENTS - BACK TO BEST LIST

BAND OF HORSES - CEASE TO EXIST (2007)

After spending a Day with this backpacker, traveler, fellow hostel mate, Frank, from Portland Maine, he said "Dude, I think you should try to listen to Band Of Horses, I think you might really like them. I said, "Right on."

Shimmery Guitar Pop, lush orchestration, a voice that can occasionally reach to the heavens. Listen to "Is There a Ghost" and "No One's Gonna Love You." Wow. The whole CD is great, really mellow. But not as mellow as their first CD, which some people like better, but it's just too low for me. They're like if The Shins tried to go for Coldplay, but before Coldplay's self importance U2NESS! It's good stuff and worth a spin.

Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted

I wrote an unpublished blog on the ever expanding multiple meanings of "My Life Would Suck Without You." But I just couldn't publish it. It's like just not worth the flack. Well, Kelly came back with a satisfying CD of great pop songs. Illustrating her talent of going to multiple genres, and mastering them, but making them all sound like Kelly Clarkson songs. But I will forever remember this CD as being the CD I was listening to when I busted my Leg and couldn't run anymore. I still need to get that fixed, hmmm... 2010 resolution maybe. Yeah. Well, other then the radio songs, you should definitely check out, "I Want You." Super cute song, I think all the other ones actually did get on the radio somewhere.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM - SOUND OF SILVER (2007)

So I knew one song of this CD for the past 2 years, the magnificent "All My Friends." Which Rachel calls one of the most unlistenable pieces of repetitive music ever made, and although she may have a point about it's repetitiveness, I don't think that was the point. The point was that the repetitiveness illustrated how life was, but they kept layering it, it kept getting stranger, and more full and beautiful, and the song was about growing old and missing your friends and finding your friends again, but then looking for them all over again, when you REALLY NEED THEM. It's powerful stuff.

Anyway, it wasn't until my road trip, driving through the Pacific Northwest on my way to Montana, that I Hear another song off the CD, "New York, I love you, But You're Bringing me Down. " It made me laugh, and was also kind of deep. And then months later, I discovered another GEM "Someone Great." Which may be the best SONG on the CD. And it's about losing people. So after that I finally gave in and listened to the rest of the CD.

And it's Great! IF Sad, lonely, Dance, ROCK, music, for people who might be getting old and are totally freaked out about it, is your cup of tea. And I guess it is mine. But I'm not that old yet.

Miike Snow - Miike Snow

Okay, so when Jeremy Foley (thank you, thank you, thank you) said I might like this CD and gave it to me, all I knew about them was "They're like Music producers from Sweden". I started listening to it and was like oh, wow this is weird, it's like a mix of Blur, Gorillaz, Peter Bjorn & John, and Goldfrapp. And I really liked it, because it was like Sad Dance Music, but with the occasionally Happy, Weird Dance, song, like "Animal" but its the sad, deeper tracks that make a deep impact, like "Sylvia" and "Burial" and "sans soleil".

THEN I FOUND OUT THAT those Swedish producers made "TOXIC" That's right TOXIC. And many many other Britney songs. Crazy. Toxic.

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Uh, It's good. I know it is. I love "This Tornado Loves You" and really love "People Got a Lot of Nerve" (She is a MAN-MAN-MAN MAN-MAN-MAN EATAAAA!!!!!) But it's a Neko CD so it's dense and deep, and can really burn you. So i fully expect to discover more tunes on here as the years go on.

Of Montreal - A Little Bit of All Their CDS

So when I was making that Jorge's Mix earlier in the year, when I discovered Phoenix, I also discovered Of Montreal. Was this the year of discovering, weird, poppy, folky, dancy, bands with singers who were slightly WHINY. I think may have been. Ugh. I should probably make that the headline, whatever.

I digress. I found these guys and fell in love with the line "Let's pretend we don't exist, let's pretend we're in Antarctica. Let's have BIZARRE CELEBRATIONS!!!" from the song "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and other Games." But the real keeper song for me was, "First Time High (Of Chicago Acoustic Version) a remix done by Jon Brion. He turned a weird, electro rock song into an accousti James L. Brooks trailery, Sufjan Stevensesque Masterpiece.

So Weird. So Good.

I'm going to take a moment here and send a Shout Out to Regina Spektor. "What up!"

TV On The Radio - Dear Science (2008)

I think this was almost in every top 10 list last years, so of course I got to it this year. Just start it off, and you know you are hearing something special musically. It's like if you mixed Talking Heads, Bloc Party & Something Awesome. I can't explain it. It's like Magic. Start off with "Halfway Home" slow building and then exploding but in a way you don't expect. And that's what this CD does, it does things you think it might do, or uses an instrument you're familiar with, but does it with a twist so it comes off in a whole new way. I MEAN THIS CD HAS the BEST USE OF A SAX, like in forever in "Dancing Choose."

Oh and the words are great in the CD. It's like hmm... maybe the more Adult, or less jokester version of MGMT's Album. Not to discredit those guys, who when the hit, HIT SO GOOD and powerful, but i think this CD is just more over and all sound. But it's also like their 2nd or 3rd cd, so I guess it's not fair to compare.

U2 - No Line On the Horizon

Notable, for being great and terrible at the same time. Kind of like "Avatar," but not in the Susan Boyle Money making way. But interesting and experimental, and fearless. I had a lot of great moments this year with this CD. I even came around to like I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

Which I know is not good, but dammit. I'm programmed to like these guys. And you know what, they aren't Oasis (who broke up by the way). Give it a chance, it'll surprise you, or make you puke on yourself. :-D

Really Great Songs that didn't make the BEST OF CDS of the year to listen to: MGMT's "Kids" & "Time To Pretend". Dead Weathers "I Cut Like a Buffalo". Death Cab For Cutie "Little Bribes". Doves "Jetstream" "Kingdom of Rust". Julian Casablancas "11th Dimension." (If I just put this song on a CD, it would be the most perfect Jorge's Mix.) Kings of Leon "Sex on Fire" (I feel stupid putting this on the list, because it's so obvious. And although I like "Use Somebody" I've decided that it feels too much like an unfinished song, and if they had finished it, it may have sounded like warmed over U2.) Mos Def "Quiet Dog" "Life in Marvelous Times" Temper Trap "Sweet Disposition" "Fader. Our Lady Peace "Paper Moon" Rhett Miller "Like Love" Weezer "(If You're Wondering if I want you to) I Want You To." Hall & Oates "You Make My Dreams" hehe. Mr. Hudson & Kanye West "Supernova" One Republic "Secrets" Grizzly Bear "Two Weeks"

Well, that's it for the year. So much good music. and so Much I forgot. So much I'll regret. And so much to Discover.

Keep Listening. Keep Dreaming. Keep Living.

Phoenix - 1901 - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Most Important Events of the 2000's and More!

2009-12-31T18:08:00.000-08:00

The Most Important Events of the 2000’s…

- I fell in love with a stupid smelly lake surrounded by Palm Trees and decided to go to the University of Miami.
- I changed my name/moniker from BJ to Will.
- I drove some guys on my dorm floor to a club, (scaring them half to death, because well it was fun) and through them made some of my closest friends of the decade.
- I switched from Journalism to Motion Pictures.
- My brother had a baby and got married.
- My Grandparents let me live with them for a year. Worked at the Cheesecake Factory.
- My Dad told me he had another family.
- I traveled to Foreign Countries. Italy. Peru. Bolivia. Argentina. Singapore. Thailand. Hong Kong. And Canada.
- Gabe invited me to live on his floor in Los Angeles.
- Corey got me a entry level night job at Herzog.
- I bought the new guy on the night shift from Maine a McChicken. Who said McDonald’s couldn’t change your life in a positive way.
- I sold out and jumped onto those crazy Pirate Movies and watched myself climb up the corporate ladder. (Sounds kind of gross when I put it like that.)
- I decided to fill in for Lindsey on her Maternity Leave.
- I started doing Yoga, because I thought my mind and body weren’t in sync. Found a great teacher.
- I permanently left the Night Shift and decided to take more control of my work career.
- I went to my 10 year high school reunion and realized that I was perfectly happy being single, and happy that I had not forced myself into some situation that didn’t fit what I wanted in life, or did something because I thought I had to.
- I accepted a job overseas and had one of the craziest adventures of my life. Thanks Sandrine.
- I tried to cultivate an attitude of never saying no, no matter how mad I got about it.
- I decided that you really are what you eat, and I felt really shitty about it.
- I went to a psychic who kind of told me some really important things about my life, that I needed to work on.
- My Brother had a second baby.
- I traveled across America, and took my time, for the most part.
- As my brother has told me, I became West Coast.

I had a lot of fun in the 2000’s. A LOT OF FUN. I had a lot of hard times, too. I lost two years of my life/memories to Night Shifts, although I’m still hoping to do a data recovery. I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I gained weight, I lost weight. I had my Wisdom Teeth removed. I ran a lot and I busted my knee. I DID A LOT OF STUFF. I spent a lot of time doing nothing. I made almost nothing. I made a lot of money. I bought a lot of stuff. I got rid of a lot of stuff. I painted walls and I put down my stake and declared this my land. I made a lot of friends and I lost a lot of friends, but I made sure to keep the keepers.

I learned a lot, about myself, about the world.

My problems, my worries, and my hopes are pretty much the same as they were at the start of the decade, but I’ve learned so much, about myself and about the world, that I consider myself on top and ready to tackle the next decade.

If I spent much of my teens, the 1990’s physically growing up, then I spent the 2000’s my twenties psychologically growing up. Learning the hard way, by doing, by feeling, by being.

What can I hope for in the 2010’s?

To keep learning. And I hope this might be the decade where everything, er most of it, well at least a few parts of my life really come together. And if it doesn’t then I guess I have the 2020’s to look forward to.

But I can tell you this, either way, I’m going to keep “Kick’n Ass,” because you know, I have nothing else to do with my life.

Or more poetically:

“Oh mistress of fate, sweep me up into your arms and let us dance the night away.”

QUOTES from the 2000

2009-12-31T17:15:00.003-08:00

Some Amazing/Slightly Revealing Quotes from my Journals from 2000-2004.

Well, I am now Will ~ BJ Gong 2001

I hope you never feel this shitty ~ Will Gong 2002

We are our own answers ~ Will Gong 2003

I hate Avid ~ Will Gong 2003

Women are meant to be loved, not understood ~ Oscar Wilde (A Long time ago)

Listen to the Dead ~ Mike Smith 2003

Last night, I sunk to a new low in Compound Misery ~ Will Gong 2003

I almost died on a Rugrat Vitamin ~ Will Gong 2004

Why do we have to make order out of things immeasurable? BLAH!!! But I’m happy to be alive, because I have nothing else to do. ~ Will Gong 2004

A Look Back at 1999

2009-12-31T17:01:00.000-08:00

So a little history, at the dawn of this decade er 1999, I was a:
- Community College Student
- Waiter. Lifeguard.
- Living at home in Virginia.

Today I am a:
- Occasional Part time Student.
- Writer/Producer/Editor thing
- Los Angelinos.

Huh. Okay, that seems pretty interesting, but it’s not really painting a very clear picture.

Interests in 1999.

- Movies & Music & Books.
- Frappachinos.
- Weight Lifting.
- Girls

And here is a list of my favorite things from that time period. (Another choice journal entry.)

A List of Favorites from 2000.

Spinning Fast on things in parks; The Rock Cliffs in Nahant, MA; Skiing; Waking up in a tent covered in Snow
Being on stage, Sailboat Wars; The Ocean; Driving to new places; Finishing Stories
Fight Club; The Matrix; The First 3 Star Wars
The Prydain Tales; Clive Barker Books; Persuasion – Jane Austin; The Count of Monte Carlo
Surviving Car Accidents
Discovering the Beatles; R&B, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Dr. Dre, Tim McGraw, Oasis, (What did I disown Shania at some point?)
Making 200 in a day at Glory Days
Les Miserables; Singing
Playing in Freshman Football Games; A Killer hot streak shooting the Basketball
Young Life Summer Camps; Camping; Hot tubs; Sneaking out at night
Being Pulled over is Fantastic
Starbucks!
The Pool.
Women.

All right, that helps fill in a little bit, but you may want some historical context. So, let Me Take You Back. Way Back.
Back into time.

In 2000 there was no, Kanye, no White Stripes, no Kelly Clarkson. There was really no Coldplay. Think about that, a world without Coldplay, and for a second when you think, hey maybe that’s not bad, remember, it was a world of the Backstreet Boys, of Creed, of Limp Bizkit. LIMP BIZKIT!!! I mean, hell, I still had hope Oasis might make a good record again. Oh, and I was obsessed with Shania Twain.

In 1999, I was making fun of Harry Potter! Making fun of Harry POTTER.
In 1999, I was bench pressing 160, and feeling really good about it. Most of my meals consisted of restaurant food, fast food, and frappuchinos.
In 1999, I was chasing after a lot of girls, especially the unavailable type of girl.

I was working at Glory Days Grill, deciding what college to go to, and doing a good bit of underage drinking. I was going to Northern Virginia Community College, and my GPA was stellar, so I could pretty much have my pick of schools, at least the ones I wanted to apply to.

At the same time, I was really uncertain of where my life was going; I knew I had to go, but I didn’t really want to. I didn't really have any life ambition, other than to probably hook up. My Dad was going to foreclose on the house and my Mom was going to get the boot. I had no idea what my brother was gonna do, but he was annoying. But on the other hand, I was a big fish in a small pond at the restaurant. I had a great group of coworkers and we had a great time. How was anything going to compare with that? And at the same time, I didn't want to get stuck. I wanted more, I just wasn't sure what more.
It was a crazy time for sure.

So what happened between then and now? Well, I’m glad you asked.

The Most Important Events of the 2000’s…

The B.J. Gong Journal 2000

2009-12-31T12:54:00.000-08:00

An Journal Essay from Jan. 2000. I have no idea what this was for.

“Over the last year and a half at Northern Virginia Community College, I’ve seen a few things. I’ve seen a man watch his life and dreams fall away in the wasteland of a mall booth. I’ve watched underage athletes drink themselves into being fat men by 21. I have seen women destroy lives by getting pregnant and vice versa, just to give their lives meaning. And I have seen men, women, and children lives who are so stuck in self imposed misery that they have become soulless vessels.”

“ What I’ve learned from all that I’ve seen is that there are no guarantees. No faith, belief, religion or institution will guarantee happiness. It’s all how you live it. But what separates most of the successful people I seem to know is a college education.”

Hmm… I feel like this is missing a conclusion. What did I think, oh well, I guess I’ll have to go get a college education now. Okay. Weird.

Well, let me respond to myself here.
“Over the last ten years, I have seen people’s lives destroyed, but I have also seen people’s lives reborn. I don’t think you need a college education to be successful, I think you can do whatever you want as long as you’re willing to fight for it. So Fight.”

The End of Decade: The Blog Returns for now

2009-12-31T12:53:00.000-08:00

END OF THE DECADE: 2000-2009

So I’ve been told (Hutson) that the decade does not really end until 2011 begins, well, you know, when a new number rolls in I can’t help but get nostalgic, especially since, I pretty much enter a new number at the same time. So, alas, My 20’s, we have a little under 5 months left together.

So to commemorate this, I’ve decided to get back onto the the blog and write up a few on some of the things that have been going through my (now) old head. Because, really, what better time to look back on who I was and see who I am.

Nutz! The End of Hulu?

2009-10-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I remember about two Years ago, I heard of this wonderful little idea that someone had called "HULU" I remember signing up for the beta testing version of it, and watching old Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes and some Burn Notice. But then I got real busy, and then Hulu really launched and it became the SHIT! Everyone loved it, and it was the toast of the people's people. And subsequently, it might have started killing TV stations and TV shows.

Well, it's all done now. In 2010, Hulu Starts charging. The Networks have had enough, they need more money so they can make more bad shows, and bad reality shows. So, Hulu, Adios.

The Dream Box

2009-10-20T20:17:00.000-07:00

One day, her Father presented her with a box,
Glittering of Gold and sparkling of Emerald.
He said, Daughter what I give you today,
Cherish forever, for it is a Dream Box.
Daddy, what is that? As she held her hands out,
Her palms barely big enough for a platform.
It is a place for wonders, it is a place for desire,
For all the things you will ever ask or ever wonder.

Daughter opened the box, and a fairy came out.
She spun and she danced and off the girl pranced.

And as his little Girl ran off, a tear formed in his eye,
For he knew that the Dream Box was a lie. The box
Was a box, but it's four walls the life about her.
A magical dancing fairy, spinning through a lifetime
Of fantasies she would conjure up to thrive.
Fighting the cruel hand of fate, for her to survive,
Sometimes those dreams would have to die.

Have I Returned?

2009-10-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged since I was in Toronto. I kind of made a decision that if continuing the blog was too draining or became too big a deal for me to do, I'd just drop it, and that happened. And it happened right around the time I got to Montreal. At that point everyday became an adventure, wrapped up in events that I wasn't entirely in control of.

And once, I left Montreal, I kind of felt like I'd gotten everything I wanted out of the trip and that I was ready to go back, of course I still had three to five more weeks left. And hopefully, I'll get to recapping some of what happened during those few weeks. But for now, I will leave you with this.

Home

Home is a funny thing, conceptually, and like so many words and concepts, as you separate from what you know and fling yourself out into the world, meanings and beliefs twist and reshape, but here’s what I’ve come to think about when I think of home.

Home is home; you know what it is and what it isn’t. Home is where you rest. Home is not just the place you pay rent, it extends out from where you are temporally to where you are spiritually. Home is where your friends are; it’s where your family is. Home doesn’t mean you’re happy, it doesn’t mean you’re comfortable, it doesn’t even mean you have to feel anything. Home is where you can go into the kitchen, pull a cup from the cupboard, and make yourself some tea without ever having to ask. Home can live on in your imagination and live up to your dreams. Going home can be like getting a hug and then getting slapped, or vice versa. Home is a place where you can find love, a place where you can be a bastard, and a place where you can make a huge mistake and still hope to be forgiven, which is why you made that decision in the first place. Home is to be taken for granted, although people are not to be.

A Modern Spin

2009-09-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

Falling backwards onto the bed, plugged into the newest sound,

We celebrate the comings and goings of our age.

For you let the guitar strings pluck your heart and soul,

As the beats pump the blood through ya' veins.

While, the piano sweeps from side to side caressing your brian,

All the Neurons dance to the sound from those tiny speakers.

Thoughtlessly, you open your mouth, singing along to the

Words that hold no meaning but mean everything, all at once.

Never Alone, we do this together, night after night. Passing out,

To the UpsandDowns and joys of life forever and ever.

Bojangling in Plymouth

2009-09-21T06:39:00.000-07:00

Today is a quintessential Ryan Adams day. Dreary, misty, rain is a certainty and I know that the Sun isn’t going to come out and save me. I couldn’t sleep last night, body tired from too much, and too little, and from slipping in and out of time, and I couldn’t do anything. Sleeping in the suburban hidey-hole that my friend has crafted for his life.

So now I’m just kicking it in this coffee house, where the bathroom is painted like a tree house. Such a cool coffee house, makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with Los Angeles for not having anything so conceptually interesting yet simple, intricately crafted and at the same time so funkily bohemian. This is Plymouth, Michigan. Just chalk it up to one more thing that is wrong with Los Angeles.

I know I’ve got to go to Toronto, cause I booked housing, but I really don’t want to go anywhere or do anything. This feeling is hard to pinpoint, the effect is moodiness and the cause, I’m only half able to understand. It’s more that I really don’t want the present to propel me into the future, cause I don’t feel anything is really worth going towards. I know this moment will pass, and I’m not bummed by it, I just don’t want it and don’t want to do anything. I feel no excitement and I have no idea what might snap me out of it.

See a Ryan Adams day ain’t just about listening to Ryan Adams songs. It’s really about being locked into the mindset that so many of his songs take place in, and then his songs actually become uplifting, even the depressing ones. It’s not that I’m not excited about all the amazing things I am going to see, experience, it’s just that I can’t feel a damn thing. No Matter how much coffee I drink. It’s not that I hate all of the Los Angeles Coffee shops, it’s just that nothing is good enough when you feel like this. And even if I could muster an intention for today, I wouldn’t feel good about it, it’d just be, “meh.”

But I don’t feel too bad about this, because I know it will pass, in an hour, a day, hopefully not much longer, but it will and I’ll feel the inverse and it will be amazing. I think that’s just how it works. So just know, that right now, in this coffee house in Plymouth on a rainy Monday morning, I’m smirking.

So Close to the Sun

2009-09-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

When you’re so close to the sun and driving high,

You don’t see that the wheels are falling off.

So Long as you keep moving you feel free,

But you can’t fight mother Earth, for her

Bountiful Clouds drown out the sky.

And I can’t slow down and I can’t see,

I want to be lifted up, taken from here,

To dissolve into the atmosphere and take my last breathe.

Where possibilities are endless because there is nothing.

Yet my old friend the sun brings me back.

He hates being alone up in these mountains,

Washing over the same rocks day after day,

So I ask him the questions of just this day:

Can there be freedom bought from this hopelessness?

And can you find something without looking for it?

And in his light I find the questions. And in his warmth,

I feel love, and his gaze I find the pain. And in his

Endlessness I find an answer.

Elizabeth, Put Down Your Bible

2009-09-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

The waves crash down around you on this beach.

Those electric cracked, gray skies reflecting your lost dreams.

Where you’re at, is a crossroads of thought.

The sorrows set in; your next step might be your last.

Soaked in salt; your dignity lost, you approach.

Your voice is strong, but your heart is weak.

I watch you hide behind those circled blue sunglasses,

The ones that make your tears look all that more beautiful.

He left you, a single parent caring for a table of two,

But He left you a hole that you can’t fill with…

So, you’ve been cradling that Bible for 14 months now,

Your eyes run the pages, but your heart’s dropped the race.

Let the water rush over you and take up your pain,

Isn’t that why you came here in the first place?

Can you forgive yourself for the sins that you

Did not commit, but the ones he made you feel?

Oh Elizabeth, put down your bible.

Don’t let your year be measured from Romans to Romans.

Oh Elizabeth, put down your bible.

I know he broke your heart, but does he get to take your life.

Oh Elizabeth, put down your bible.

Know and take solace, for your journey is mine and we do it together.

Ameritrek Watch 2009 - Breaking News

2009-09-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

News Night In America Jingle:

Fade to:

Good Evening America, this is John Johnston Daniels the Third, with breaking news on Ameritrek 2009. I send you to Kansas City, Missouri with our girl on the Jo Jo Rawlings.

"Hi J.J.D, I'm standing on the corner of 54th and Leavenworth Lane, where Eyewitnesses have reported spotted Will Gong jumping out of a 2001 white Ford Escort to vomit, or throw up on this lawn. The Lawn's owner had this to say:

"If I had seen him puke up on my yard, I would've come out here and shot him. Just terrible. No worse way to disrespect a man, then to disrespect his lawn."

Jo Jo continues, "I've also talked with forensic expert, Jerry Long, who had this to say:

"Uh, well, you know I've never uh, been interviewed, well, uh, you know, actually, there's really nothing here. Uh, I mean, we'll have to run a DNA test against this carrot, but that's all we've got."

Jo Jo continues, "So there you have JJD: was Will Gong here? Did he vomit on this man's lawn? And why was he in Missouri in the first place?:

Back to John,

I guess we'll have to find out and see how this all plays out Jo Jo. And now back to real news. Did you know Cell phones can give you cancer? Find out after the break.

Ameritrek: Best Sign So Far

2009-09-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

The Coffee Shack:

Best Coffee.

Best Girls.

Best Service.

So when you're next in Northwestern Montana, you should look it up, because I was not abel to validate their points. And if you can't make it up to Glacier, you should just hit up one of the thousand Coffee Drive Thru shacks in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains!

The Lord of the Road in the Kingdom of Hay

2009-09-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

When you’re the Lord Of the Road,
You’re always leaving something behind,

A lock of hair, a trinket, a memory, or something
Deeper that was meant to be forever.

But you can’t fight your own nature, and I feel,
I feel the rush of the wind that blows my hair gray,

The change of scenery, from mountains to sea,
And the knowledge that this life is mine, all mine.

With that said,

You can always smell it before you see it.
There is no sneaking up on me, not the hay.

The land grows flat and green, those long stalks
Beg me to stop and stroll, but before I respond,

It’s gone. The machines have ripped them out,
Rolled them up and stacked them miles wide.

He comes out to greet me, hand in the air.
The Ruler in the Kingdom of Hay.

I pay my respects; for all that he stands for,
A long life lived well and the cares of a Wife.

Her golden flowing hair blows in the wind,
And her scent fights the grass to whisper to me.

The king smiles, remembers what it’s like to be young,
And to wander the Earth before he settled on a life.

They turn from me and walk away, they’re hands entwined,
On the way home. To creature comforts and childish delights.

I see myself through his eyes, and feel his sadness,
His sameness. Too bad. That’s his life; it’s not mine.

Poems

2009-09-12T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, as everyone knows this trip has been something interesting, maybe something special.
So i thought I'd try to capture some of it in a way that might be more artistic, maybe lay down a
few poems that come to me through this trip. I've got two planned so far, and we'll see what comes after that.
I haven't written one in like 6 years, so this should be fun!

A Matter of Choice

2009-09-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

Sitting in a quaint Portland Café, in the hippie/trendy neighborhood of Hawthorne I stumbled upon an intriguing idea. I stumbled like this
- Why do I live in Los Angeles? I hate Los Angeles. Okay, I don’t hate Los Angeles. There are a lot of worse places to live. But either way, why?
- Because I have to live there for work.
- Because I can’t work in the movie business anywhere else.
- Where else could I make enough money to survive.
- The battle of the back and forth between liking and hating where I live and etc, etc, etc.

But where this led me was that I have so many excuses for hating it and yet for staying, wouldn’t it be amazing to make it a conscious choice. How many of my decisions are actual powerful, conscious decisions? I don’t know.

I’ve spent a lot of time, over the last ten years, particularly between the ages of 22 and 27 talking a big game about “Going wherever the roads of life take me.” And they’ve taken me pretty far, but I think it’s easy to forget that you are the one actually making those decisions when you reach a fork in the road, you’re the one who is taking the steps. I forget that constantly, especially in my head, and I play the excuse game, which is ridiculous.

Now, I do know If I am going to continue to live in California forever, but I would rather say that I am living there because I choose to do so, rather then being like, Well, I don’t have a choice, or my work is here (and that coming off as an excuse.) I’d like all my choices to really come off more like decisions and less like I fell into it.

It just seems so much stronger to take control of my life, and really more to the point, I think it’s about damn time that I become responsible for all of my decisions; actual, real internal responsibility for all of them. There are only so many outward/external factors that can really make us do something that we don’t want to do.

We’ll always be on this road of life til the end, so until that day, I’m gonna try to remember that I am the one making the choice when I see a fork.

Ameritrek Watch 2009

2009-09-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

News Night In America Jingle.

Fade to:

Good Evening America, This is John Johnston Daniels the Third.

In tonight's special segment on Ameritrek, we'll bring you all the relavent information on Will Gong's Trip Across AMERICA! Stay Tuned.

Commercial Break: A Skinny, Bald Asian Man walks through a room of practicing Yoga Students. His Smile is spiritual, but warm.

"I've been a Yoga teacher for five years now, some of you know me as Marisha NakaDu Kwan, but you can call me Kwan. As a yoga teacher, I can't tell you how excited I am about so many Americans picking up Yoga."

The Class moves together through a Vinyasa.

"But I'm here today to tell you that Yoga isn't safe."

A Man Cries out and reaches for her Lower back.

"You have to be in amazing shape if you want to do this."

A Woman balances solely on her head.

"And sadly most of you aren't."

Another Woman crumbles to the floor.

"This isn't to say that you will never be able to do this."

A Man holds himself in handstand as his legs fall back into scorpion.

"But most of you are going to look like this."

A Man's lays on his mat, barely conscious

"So please, keep coming, cause we love our money, and please keep buying our insanely marked up eco friendly mats, because it's good for you and it's good for the world. Namaste."

Voice Over: This public service announcement has been brought to you by the "Friends Of Rachel."

News Report Returns:

We're back, I'm John Johnston Daniels the Third. And this is Ameritrek! 2009!!!

He's been seen in Seattle, Washington smelling fruit at a Market. He's been seen in Olympic National Park, talking philosophy with a group of Germans in the Sol Duc Hot Spring, and worst of all is the picture that Paparazzi grabbed of him sneaking into a Twilight themed Gift Shop in Forks, Washington. And now it's been reported that Will Gong has been spotted driving along Going To The Sun Road in Glacier National Park in Montana.

What is it that Will Gong is doing up there, well that is exactly clear? Jo Jo Rawlings is in Montana.

"Hi J.J.D. According to local eye-witness witnesses, Will has been hitting up the saloons, spending thousands of dollars on girls and booze.

Another EyeWitness says and I quote, "He sleeps all day and only comes out at night, and then he runs out of that hostel he's staying at naked, and I swear I can hear him in those woods, but I really can't say what he's doing."

And a third account comes from Cody, a Physics student coming from Portland Oregon. He says, "Will Gong you say. Well, I don't know about the Gong part, but we did run across this guy, all by himself, sitting on a rock on the hike up near the chalet. Yeah, he joined our group as we headed up to the mountain pass to see the glacier. Cool Guy, except for his weird third person expressions. I don't really understand that. Oh and he worked on Pirates 3. Nobody liked that movie."

When it comes down to it, any of these could be the truth, your guess is as good as mine. Back to you John."

And there you have it. Will Gong. A Man of Mystery. What will he do next? And what is he doing right now? You be the judge.

And until next time; this is John Johnston Daniels the Third. Good Night and Buenas Noches.

Three Sunrises

2009-09-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

1.
The phone rings, but it’s not a call, it’s an alarm. It’s 5:00 AM and freezing in this tent on a campsite on Crater Lake, Oregon. Why is the phone ringing? What time is it? Did I actually sleep? I hit snooze, blink a few times, and suddenly realize that I have to pack up, clean, and drive up to Watchman Overlook to watch the sunrise. And why didn’t I wear my longjohns to bed! SO COLD!

And after a quick cleaning in the bathroom, (God, I need to shave) and the most organized pack of my life (I stumbled into how to fold my tent, amazing!), I booked it at 25 mph up the mountainside to Wathman’s Overlook.

I kept stopping to catch each angle of the lake as the blazing flames of the sun began to sneak over the mountains. How many pictures can one man take? And then straight bolted from my car off the side of the Rim Road and up a pack of stairs and out onto the rim of the deepest and cleanest lake in the United States. You can see the sun in the sky and reflected in the water. It’s incredible.

2.
Hours later descending from the Willamette Pass Mountain, on the road to Portland, Oregon, they sky was shrouded in fog. Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, whined out of my speakers. Ryan - being my choice for sad depressing morning drives, or extreme hangovers, and heartbreak of all kinds.

The roads were slow, the logging trucks and 12 wheelers were even slower. Ryan was doing his thing, while I pitifully mumbled along. And as I passed through a creek surrounded trees and thick leaves, magically sun began emerging in beams through the fog, bouncing brilliantly against the leaves. Beautiful.

There is something extremely powerful about the way that the sun breaks through the clouds, the fog, and ultimately, the darkness. Internally, I believe that this might have to do with our need, our inner hope for the hardest, darkest, deepest fears and anxieties we have to be overcome by something in the world, some blinding light that will champion for us, harkening back to the creation of Myths, Gods, and today’s Super Heroes. Or maybe it just a cool visual trick.

3.
1993
There was no way I was going to school today; I had had enough of it. The embarrassment of being a teenager and daily humiliation of myself and everyone else had driven me to complete avoidance of people. I had retreated into days of playing with the fireplace, watching the same 10 movies over and over again, and reading comic books, constantly. Oh yeah, and sometimes I went to school.

One morning, my Mom rebelled. The usual pattern was that I would stumble down the stairs and act my way into a sick day. I would be all woozy, dizzy looking, I’d warm my head by the lamplight, stir up a bunch of flem, which was easy, because I had a mild Lactose Intolerance, that I wasn’t even aware off yet.

So, given all that, one day My Mom had had enough of it. I have no idea what her reason was. Perhaps, maybe she’d had enough, was my acting not up to snuff, would I have to force a visit to the doctors? (Thank you Flem! I think I could get the world record for most Sinus Infections.) And then again, she might have been looking out for my best interest.

Whatever the reason, she’d had enough and believed that I could make it to school. So she sat me down at the kitchen table, looked me in the eye, and said “I want you to try something for me.” And I said, “Cough, what?” “ I want you to drink some coffee, and if you drink and still feel like not going to school, then that’s fine.”

This sounded like a fair deal to me. So she poured me a cup. She filled it with Vanilla Coffee Creamer. I sipped it. It tasted like Death. I was mortified. How could anyone drink this, goopy, oily, muck. I could literally see the milk and oil swirl on the top of it. I took another sip and proclaimed, “It’s Killing me!” and then I went back up stairs and pretended to sleep and read comic books.

I was 13. And maybe if I had started drinking coffee before the end of my Senior year of high school, I might not have ended up where I am today, I might have become a lawyer, a doctor, or maybe a politician, but I waited unaware of the energy, the power that was waiting to be unleashed by that small cup of black oil.

But no, it’s September 1, 2009, I’ve been posing as a Writer/Producer/Editor/Whatever in Los Angeles. I’ve lived an awesome life with some truly remarkable memories, but now I don’t know what the hell to do with it, and I’m on a road trip to “Fill in the blank.”

And I’m tired, I’ve been driving for only three hours, and I’d tried to get a latte from McDonalds, but it’s all sugar and milk, and it’s making me gag. So I pull off and search for a Coffee Shop. I’m 70 miles out of Portland, I swear I’m going to find a coffee shop, like a real coffee shop somewhere. Ten Minutes of searching lands me at Safeway’s Starbucks.

I grab an Americano, light on sugar and cream, and get back on the highway. Drinking this black oil, which is really black gold, I suddenly don’t care about all this muck in my life, all these thoughts, fears, and anxieties. Where am I going? Who am I? Fuck it.

They’re all gone, like the fog in the sky, like the dark of the night, burned from my brain, driven away by caffeine. I kick Ryan Adams off the radio and turn on Journey, “Don’ Stop Believin’”. I’m cheesy and I love it! With clear mind, I kick it into top gear, and hit the fast lane. “It’s time to get Busy up in the MOTHA! Portland meet Will Gong.”
Too Bad the Coffee wears off.

The Ameritrek Route

2009-08-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

View AmeriTrek 2009 in a larger map

Like a Bullet through a Burning Sky

2009-08-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

I don't have to tell you that I was ready to go, ready to leave behind Los Angeles for a few months and get away from everything I know. This "Getting Away" from everything I'd known and believed had been a big priority for me in recent times, for I felt that it was time to take a step back from my life to see what really matters and what was a real, true part of me, or what was something that had been imparted to me from society or family and was something that i might want to let go off.

This trip, which was devised over half a year ago, I realize, had been in the works for years, many things had been leading up to it. My restless nature, my dissatisfaction for parts of my life, like where I lived, like what I do, and the direction that I felt I'd been going. I'd been close to this trip, dipping my toe into the idea of it while going through Asia, but I hadn't gotten my footing under me, I didn't have clear through line then, I was wondering, unfocused, not ready. This time, I was setting the intention before I got going, and I would follow it to the end of the line, and maybe it will change, evolve as the trip goes on, but it would be there from the start.

And so I waited, I waited at work, I waited at home, I waited at the beach, although more pleasantly at the beach then at work. I half heartedly packed, shopped for goods I might want to take, but I knew that it didn't really matter what I brought, because as long as I head my head about me, I could get through any scrape. I took long walks, tried not think about anything, I played video games, because they are an excellent time killer. I started to read at least three books, anything I could do to kill the time before the trip finally began. I was like a bullet in a gun, just waiting to go off.

Excitement was an issue, excitement has always been an issue for me. I can be either manically enthused or completely unemotional, before settling into my normal go-getter state. So before Friday, when people asked me about it, I was un-enthused, I would say all the rights words, like, "oh yes, I am really excited about the trip. Can't wait." But I wouldn't give the appropriate emotion to back it up. And that wasn't necessarily the truth of it. I was excited about the trip, but it was just that I knew once it had started it would be akin to starting a new life and I didn't want to tamper, color it with possible false, unreasonable expectations, and I also didn't want to set myself for any kinds of disappointment. I felt like it would be better just to go in without expectations and be open to anything.

Of course, Friday came, and feeling it coming the next day and feeding off the excitement others had for the trip, I bounced and bounded upon the city, the streets, and stairwells with extreme glee, you know, like Tigger might. I celebrated the night of leaving with some of my closest friends and said goodbye to many others

And like the the gun that had been sitting in the cabinet, loaded and ready to go off, Saturday morning arrived and the metal crashed together, the flame was ignited, and I was shot out of city of Angels; past the fires and smoke that burned the skylines and mountain tops of the valleys; past the desert plains and signs screaming "Congress caused the Dust Bowl;" past the gas stations, Starbucks, mini-malls, and Outlets that line our better known freeways; and out of my mind and body, just a clear voice singing my freedom out to the whole world.

And that's how the trip begins.

With a Sigh of Relief

2009-08-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Apparently, news is filtering in that Noel Gallagher, leader, songwriter, guitar player of the rock band Oasis has finally quit the band, while on tour, killing the tour, he states that "he could not go on one more day working with Liam," his brother and singer of the band.

For those long time readers of the Will Gong Journal, I can say that you understand that I take this news with a sigh of relief, because I will never have to spend 10 more dollars on a subpar Oasis CD, again. I hope.

Oh and in other news, Rachel is indeed recovering from her dislocated knee cap. We have confirmed that she did not hurt the knee cap after class, it was after the harder section of the class, so her status as a pansy has now been dropped. Good day!

The Immortal Words of Marsellus Wallace

2009-08-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

In the classic film "Pulp Fiction," Marsellus Wallace talks to Butch before a fight that Marsellus is paying Butch a ton of money to throw. Marsellus tells him.

"The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps."

As most of you know, Butch does not throw the fight. He ACCIDENTALLY kills the other fighter and then has to escape Los Angeles, Marsellus, Zed & the Gimp. All this happens because he didn't listen to Marsellus, his pride wouldn't let him.

I think back to this quote quite a bit. Mostly because, these days, in life, I've gotten to a point where I'm really good at some things, and there are other things that I'm not good at, and the idea that people may see me in a weak position is absolutely terrifying to my EGO. And in order for my EGO to be completely satisfied it doesn't even want to be close to a potentially embarrassing situation, so I'm steered away from them by the most ridiculous excuses. I can magically just not appear places, or suddenly get sick, or freak out, or go cold, and robotic.

Ahhh.... If only Marsellus Wallace could come up to me before I'm near a potentially embarrassing situation and repeated his immortal words. Could Marsellus get through to my Pride/Ego? Could he slap some sense into him?

"Will, the night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you."

"I don't know Marsellus, I think that the fight be more painful then giving into Pride."

"Fuck Pride."

"No Marsellus, I don't think you understand. Let me break it down for you. If I go through with "the Fight," I will be embarrassed red faced. I'll lose my reputation. I'll be a laughing stock. Ya hear?"

"Pride only hurts, it never helps."

"That's easy for you to say, You like have a bajillion dollars, a hot wife, and the respect of god and the Devil. We are

just not on the same page." Marsellus shakes his head.

I guess if Marsellus can't help me, I'm just going to be strong. No Fear.

What would life be like if we weren't afraid? We'd be invincible.

Summer Movie Report 09

2009-08-22T10:26:00.000-07:00

What a Weird Summer for Movies? Summer, year, weird. Movies, I wanted to be good, were terrible (Terminator) and movies I didn't think would be good were great (Ice Age3 really? It's probably just the 3D). Good movies made some money (District 9), bad movies made A LOT OF MONEY (Transformers.)

This summer, I have so many examples of how Audiences were smart and stayed away from really bad films, but then there's Transformers, (oh wait, I kind of enjoyed that.) So anyway, audiences on some weird subconscious level, seem to be getting smart. YAY!
I swore that I didn't see that many movies this summer, until I started looking at the list of films that came out and was reminded. I've seen SO MANY MOVIES THIS SUMMER. Anyway, lets do the rundown.

Awesomeness

1. Star Trek - Do I need to say anything else other then, I've seen it 4 times. Ugh. Science Fiction, if it's too scifi, I get turned off, but if it gets more whipcracking action pop culturally savvy, I'm all in. I just can't help it. This movie rocked! I watched all the old Star Trek films leading to this one, and there was not one I could stay awake in, not one, until I saw the new one.

I'm going to have think about my scifi street cred, because uh, I don't think I have any.

(500) Days of Summer - Awesome. You take my brain and personality. And you put it into a movie, and it probably looks something like this. I know a few people who didn't like it that much, or didn't get it, but damn if it didn't work for me. Casting a magical spell over the trials and tribulations of love and dating today. And this is all purely subjective because everyone is different, but this one was for me.

District 9 - Whoa. If you haven't seen this yet, DO NOT WATCH THE TRAILER. Just go to the theatre and be prepared to be blown away. Not for the faint hearted. This movie just rocks.

The Hangover - Come on. This movie had an amazing marketing campaign, and it almost lived up to it. It was HELLA funny. Was it hella good. Doesn't matter. It sacrificed goodness for awesomeness, and sometimes that's all you can ask for. I know that Los Vegas was glad this movie came out, because it reminded all the youngish to middle agish guys that they should be in Vegas. (ugh. my head already hurts.)

Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince - I thought The Hangover was the funniest movie of the year hands down, til I saw this. This damn movie had me rolling. Well made, beautiful, a little slow, but speedy towards the end. Potter films are great to see to visit their world. Yeah, they're not anywhere near as good as the books, but hey, fuck it! I'm just glad to be there and see it. No matter how much they change the story.

Up - It's pixar! But alas, the magical spell did not work on me quite as much as others. Awesome. Structurally Sound. Well made. Beautiful. But something in it left me a little cool. It's the whole father son complex thing (yeah, like my, not loving nemo thing. I'm an outkast I tell you.)

Drag Me To Hell - Totally Gross. You laugh, you cringe, you turn away, it was like Inglourious Basterds but tighter(thankgod) and made on the cheap. For anyone who loved Sam Raimi before Spider-Man, this was like a gross out love letter.

The Brothers Bloom - Funny, beautiful, well told, well acted. Such a solid movie that was not for everyone (well almost no one saw it), but really good nonetheless. Who knew that the Maker of "Brick" would create the movie that Wes Anderson just can't seem to make anymore.

Great to Enjoyable with some Reservations

Ice Age 3 - A Movie for kids, but a lot of fun nonetheless, I really wish it could be in the top tier, but it's Ice Age, I just can't. But it was sooo muchhh funnnnn...

Inglourious Basterds - Ah, Tarantino. I wish you could separate the Writer from the Director. Such a beautifully made film, but perhaps not crafted well, no oversight from anyone other than Tarantino. Too Long. Too talky. Too Lazily shaped. I mean really, do all of his films need Cards. It's LAZY! (some will say it's his style. Whatever. IT'S LAZY!)

But then again, It's amazing. AMAZINGLY Acted. AMAZINGLY shot. There are scenes in this film that blow away anything in theaters today. Like really. Without even breaking a sweat, this guy creates riveting and powerful scenes that will like haunt you for days. Ah, just if the damn connective tissue was better.

So as it is, Tarantino gets BETTER and WORSE as he continues his career.

The Hurt Locker - Some might say that the measure of a good film is it's escapist aspect, the fantasy element, leaving the theater feeling good. And then there's The Hurt Locker. For those who want to get a little deeper, but not too deep than your typical action movie. It's looks like a character study that doesn't really want to give you too much details about the character. It wants to let you fill in the blanks. But what it really is is an exploration of the very realistic idea of the ultimate adrenaline junkie in the ultimate job. But if you want to dump all that psychological crap, it will also thrill and shock and leave you on the edge of your seats.

GI Joe - Hehe. This is what Transformers 1 shoulda coulda been like, oh without Steven Spielberg to want it to have a little substance, and without Michael Bay to want it to be Bay-Riffic. Stupid, but fun as hell. Great scenes. Bad Scenes that make you laugh without taking you out of the film. Yeah, there were some missed opportunities and it's derivative as hell, but you smile the whole time.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Oh, How could such a terrible movie make so much damn money. Hmmm... let me count the ways.

1. It was enjoyable. I've been flogged so often for this statement that your picks cannot hurt me anymore.

2. Robot fighting. Good, bad, doesn't matter. We love it.

3. Hot girls. Megan Fox, and the other one with the frightening tongue. Pointless Hot Girls.

4. A consolidation of what people seemed to like from the first one. No one cared about the story of a Boy and Alien robot. Weak. So they didn't really create a story. When you have alien robots, does logic matter. Nah, fuck it. Does anyone care about anything other then Megan Fox running around. Nope. So we can just focus on nothing but... Megan Fox running around and Robots beating the crap out of each other. Oh wait, but that's like an hour of the film, okay, well add in some other shit. Bay has a bunch of great ideas for things that would be really really cool. Great, add them in. Oh, and you know people complained that it wasn't like the TV show, okay, we can steal from that too.

Adios Spielberg touches, hello more Michael Bay + More Transformers the TV show.

This was Bay's opus. His epic. This was ALL BAY, ALL THE TIME. No more then during this movie, did we see why his teaming with Jerry Bruckheimer was a good thing. Bruck cared a little about story and what the audience might want. Bay only cares about himself and his own sensibilities. This was like that scene in Being John Malkovich, when he goes into his own head.

Now as far as audiences cared, if you look at items 1, 2 &3, that was apparently more appealing then the downside of Baydom.

Side note: This movie was horrifically racist, down t its bones. It was done to be funny, and to me and many many others, some of it was funny, but it was funny to me in the same way that when you watch Borat, or any of its lets bash all cultures ilk, you laugh, but then go home feeling dirty.

Turkeys (And not in the bowling way.)

Terminator Salvation - There is a good 30 minutes in here. And they come before the mid-point. That left a lot of time for bad movie. There were some good ideas in here, then again there were some real stinkers. Did I miss Arnold? HELL YEAH!!! No one can set the Terminator tone better then he can, and this movie was bleak. It looked good, but that ain't enough. Although, it did have Sam Worthington, future star of tomorrow today in it, so i guess it wasn't that abysmal. Speaking of Abysmal ---

Time Traveler's Wife - I was bamboozled by a really good trailer. There was more emotion in the trailer, because of that damn Lifehouse Song "Broken"(99centsItunesplug) then there was in the damn short 90 minute movie. Don't see the movie. Buy the song.

No, but seriously, I really really liked the book. This movie doesn't even make me want to read the book. If I saw it without reading it, I'd be like why the hell did they make this into a movie. FOR ALL THOSE WHO WANT TO ADAPT a BOOK INTO A MOVIE, see the film and see how IT IS NOT TO BE DONE LIKE. You take a book, and you reshape it into a movie, this movie took paragraphs and dialogue and just cut and pasted it into a script. And then it was over. Story doesn't work like that! ACK! Twilight is a better movie then this!

But! in its defense. It is a beautifully shot, well acted movie.

Land of the Lost - What a bad idea for a movie? A 70's tv show no one remembers and Will Farrell comedy. Really? Universal? Someone needs to get punished for this film. When you advertise a movie to be the biggest, biggest, biggest thing ever, you have a recipe for Big Flop!

Public Enemies - I fell asleep 10 times. That's all I'm gonna say.

So that's it. That's summer. Next summer might be good, it might be bad, it will be less due to Hollywood cost cutting cause of the economy and dvd sales. But it will always be FUN!!

Keep on Truckin!

Will Gong Journal - A New Look: A New Mindset

2009-08-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

So recently I've been thinking a whole lot about patterns and change. Patterns in my life, in my head, roads I've taken, the things I think, and whatnot. Which is probably why I blogged about schemas a little while ago. And then change, not just for change sake, but for your life's sake.
And what I've decided is that, like, we really do have control over our lives and if we can find focus we can change some of the patterns that we may start to feel like we've outgrown, or are holding us back from going towards what we need and what want. I think I've waffled on the issue depending on my mood, but I've definitely decided that we can change our patterns. Life isn't hopeless, no matter what we think. We can go after what we want, and we can let go off what isn't serving us. We just have to focus, and really, really want it, because the path of the new can be potentially painful, especially during setbacks.
I figure, I just know so many people who have broken free of painful patterns and strived for what they really needed recently. It's awesome and it's inspiring, to be reminded of the fact.

Beatles Mania 09

2009-08-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

Hello FRIENDS!!!

Well, you know, here we are in 09 and suddenly it seems like the Beatles are IN again. At least the marketing & media of the world are making it seem so. Let me show the ways.

1. All of the Beatles music is being remastered for all music outlets.

2. The Beatles catalog will make it's way to Itunes.

3. Beatles ROCK BACK!!! Crazy!

And what inspired this little blog was that Robert Zemekis and Disney are going to remake the Yellow Submarine! (with Motion Capture, you know the weird CGI where the characters almost look human, but also have the dead eyes. DEAD EYES!)

I'm just curious Why? I mean, I guess The Beatles are big business no matter what. But the thing that I'm really curious about is if people actually care, if all the kids and humans of the world are suddenly re-listening to their music. (I know at one point I did.) And you know what, i think their rock band will be a big deal. I will try to embed the trailer below. IT IS A MUST CHECK OUT!

UPDATE: Okay it's too big to embed. :(

So here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSLLxRmR3nY

A Possible Retraction:

2009-08-18T23:13:00.000-07:00

Voice Mail Message:

Rachel: Will, you got it all wrong. I didn't dislocate my kneecapp when the class was over, it was still going on, well, it was towards the end. I'm not an old lady... okay, I'm not that old. Sigh... Call me back!

Dear Readers,

Please stay tuned as we look into what actually happened to Rachel's knee. And at the same time, we here at the Will Gong Journal will try to find out the current condition of said knee. We all hope she's alright.

For now, good night.

AMERITREK 2009: Pre-Production Blog 2

2009-08-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

10 Days Left! 10. 10 IN BOLD. I’m that serious.

I feel like in TV show land, Season 4 of the “Will Show”, and the “Herzog Show” have ended, and now I’m just waiting for Summer Hiatus to begin. But I STILL HAVE TO WORK!!!

Oh, and I know some of you already know this, but I’ve called the “AND” Credit on the Herzog show. (You know the Herzog Show stars, “Mark Herzog, Chris Cowen, Matt Goldberg, Jack Kney, Lindsey Bogard, Aaron Skotland, Joy Lissandrello, Jeremy Cook, Corey Reeser, Hutson Hayward, Brett Jacobson, Josh Rosenfield, Morgan Hanner, Leanne Crowley, Lauren Woods, AND WILL GONG, with Barbara & Jerry, introducing Leya Oakley. Also an incredible slew of SPECIAL GUEST STARS – YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!)

Anyway, this whole trip thing is starting to really get close. And I’ve officially booked my first Hostel. In Portland Oregon, WOO HOOO!!! And I’ve gotten AAA membership. And also I’ve emailed a few friends about when I’m going to meet up with them.

Sadly, I’ve had to cut a week from the trip. SO OFFICIALLY I COME BACK NOW on the Oct. 20. Of course, this could change if there is no work for me, and then I’ll just continue my trip, because that’s the UTAH parks section, so that ain’t going to cost too much.

This stupid Economy! I’ve also been struggling to figuring out when to stay in Hostels and when not to. And if I do stay in one, will do one of those Dorm Rooms with like 6 to 8 people in it. The last time I stayed in a Hostel was in NYC and I swore I would never do it again, and now I’m doing it in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, for sure. But you know you do what you have to do. DUDE, to stay in Chicago is EXPENSIVE!!! Expensive. And it’s not like I can camp there.

Ugh, after doing a little more research today, I can that I haven’t a clue where to stay in Denver or New Orleans. The two things that are really messing with me are, Location & Reviews.

Let’s take a closer look.

Location – How close to you want to be to the action? Do you want to be driving all day to just get somewhere? But if you get too close it’s too expensive. And then that really sucks. But then you know you have to consider if the neighborhood is good. AND THEN YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER THE REVIEWS.
Reviews – They totally suck. How the hell can you tell what place is good if like everyplace has like 3 good reviews to 1 terrible review. And most are like this!!! It’s too much for someone’s brain to try to process. And of course somebody is going to mention the dreaded BED BUGS!!!!

So I’m going to just have to use the force on this one. With so many places and so many hotels/hostels/prices/deals, choosing where to stay will be the real adventure.

August Music Update!

2009-08-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

THE AUGUST MUSIC UPDATE:

So, I was going to write an entire Blog about The "Third Eye Blind" Conundrum, but I couldn't get around to it, so I'll touch on the subject, but also talk about some good music too.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT MY RAMBLINGS ON THIRD EYE BLIND SKIP TO THE NEXT ALL CAPPED LINE.

To Begin, Third Eye Blind has a new CD coming out on Tuesday. So, I have to ask does anybody care? NO. Yeah, it's true. I wish I did, Third Eye Blind's first CD was so solid and important to the 17-18 year old B.J. that like I always want their new music to go back there. But really, this is only their FOURTH CD in like 12 years. HOW THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP FANS if you never put out new music. And then, you know LIKE WHY THE HELL DID I EVER LIKE THEM.

I guess here's the thing. Their First CD is really awesome and was like a big old synthesis of 90's rock, but coming at the peak and being the synthesis, you really don't have anywhere else to go, so you have to evolve and evolution can kind of be a bitch for a rock band. But you have to do something, at least right good lyrics.

So then comes their Second CD "Blue", and for anyone that has ever listened to Blue. The first half is really good, very strong, lots of great hooks, good guitar playing, interesting instrumentation and odd but relatable lyrics (It's third eye blind, you know). And then second half comes and you're like what the fuck! Is this even third eye blind? Why the hell can't I hear what he's saying. This totally sucks. IT all falls apart.

After this CD, the lead singer/songwriter, whathisface, fired his lead guitarist and co-writer, it was an EGO thing. And this EGO thing is A BIG DEAL. Because on their third CD "Out Of The Vein," is really self important, but musically SO MUCH LESS INTERESTING, like they can't create new guitar riffs or sounds, so recycling comes in. THEY RECYCLED ON THEIR THIRD CD, and is it coincidence that they fired their Lead Guitarist. Hmmm... "Out Of the Vein" Plays more like a CD that should have come out before their first CD, except for the strong feel of rock star self importance. Aparently, Whatshisname, was having a really hard time getting over Charlize Theron. Geez.

Well, next week their fourth cd comes out, it's called "Red Star." And I've heard some of the tracks and the most interesting, catchy one, is ruined by terrible lyrics, it's called "Non Dairy Creamer." I mean for christ's sake the first Line is "They Call it KFC, cause it's not really chicken, HA!" But it has that classic third eye blind guitar riff, and you really want to like it, but I don't think you can. They actually chant. "Young Gay Republicans." Where the fuck is this guy's mind.

So, I guess people will buy like One or Two of the songs on Itunes or download it illegally, and you know that kind of sucks, because I really did love that first CD.

START READING

Now, if you want to hear a really solid, well constructed, relatable rock cd, go and check out Our Lady Peace "Burn Burn." Some really good songs in their Our Lady Peace type mode. Big bold simple songwriting sung passionately, with good hooks.

Also, it came out last year, but I haven't brought it up. TV On The Radio "Dear Science." This CD is like what you'd get if MGMT were a real band. Not that they're bad, but you know until they put out their second CD they really seem like two really musically talented kids who really nailed 2 SONGS. But TV on the Radio, they're for real. They're what you'd have wanted Bloc Party to evolve into. Well, if Bloc Party was American and from New York they may have, but whatever they're Londoners. Check out "Dear Science." You won't regret it.

For those that want a little more Pop, but in a weird way, you should look up Miike Snow's self titled first CD. Their Songs sound like if you crossed Gorillaz with Peter Bjorn and John and Reading Rainbow. The First Four Songs are STELLAR!

And just for the hell of it, I'm gonna bring up The Dead Weather, another Jack White side-project. If you ever listened to the White Stripes songs where Meg sang, imagine that, but with MUCH HARDER GUITARS and a Girl that can actually sing. The guitar work here is amazing, and the songs intense, in a grungy, dundgeony kind of way. Great for, I have no idea what it's great for, but it's cool. Check out "Cut Like a Buffalo."

Well, that's it. Not bad, if ya'll have any new awesome music you'd like to share, please put it in the comment section or drop me a line, I'm always trying to be open to new music.

A Rachel Update

2009-08-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

Readers!

I just wanted to throw it out there that our Dear Friend Rachel, has dislocated her knee cap. Please wish for her quick recovery.

Uh, I guess you probably want to know why. Well, after a Yoga Class, when she was packing up, I believe she stood up and it went POP! (That's where you cringe.) And she's been trying to take it easy ever since.

Rachel, we hope You'll back to full recovery and kicking ass soon.

Fight Club on Blu-Ray

2009-08-14T12:31:00.001-07:00

FINALLY!!!

Daily Horoscope 8.14.09

2009-08-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Today's real horoscope says.

Dear Taurus,

If things start to get rough, remember that you have the ability to keep your cool. Not only is this an extremely important tool, but also it is essentially vital to maintaining any sort of stability in the situation. Keep your footing at all costs. Your Sanity Depends on it.

Now over the past few days, I've written some funny ones, but then this comes in. I would NEVER have been so dramatic to have written the "Your sanity depends on it." Crazy. Anywhoo, hopefully today isn't as dramatic as this line and that perhaps this horoscope isn't really accurate.

We. Shall. See.

Daily Horoscope 8.12.09

2009-08-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

Dear Taurus,

Today will be filled with many mixed blessings, keep your head above water and don't let your hard luck press on your sunny disposition.

Dear Horoscope,

I don't know what to do, I'm so confused, and I just need something, something else.

Dear Taurus,

I'm not your psychologist.

Dear Horoscope,

I hate you.

Herzog Featurette Online

2009-08-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends,

Here below is a little Featurette that I helped out on. What did I do? Well, I did some research, found some good soundbites, and helped find ONE of the interview subjects, my man Professor Kazerooni. And I finished, like made it look pretty, but not super pretty, someone else did that.

ANYWAY, may I present to you "The Surrogates" - The Futurist.

http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=27966

Uh, click on the link or copy and paste into browser. I would love to embed, but it's not anywhere I can embed it yet. And yeah, I know you have to sit through the stupid commercial, but still.

Daily Horoscope

2009-08-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

Dear Taurus,

Do not be afraid, for today you will be emotionally volatile, combative, and struggle with taking orders. Stay Humble. Also, your daily routine will be thrown out of whack. Embrace it!

Dear Horoscope,

You know where you can stick you and your wisdom...

Dear Taurus,

Suck it.

Celebrity + Young Women = Naked Pictures on the Internet

2009-08-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Howdy Folks,

So as I sit in my bay watching the day fly by, I was again presented with the TOTALLY THRUTHFALL FACT that so many young Actresses' Singers' who are about to break out tend to take naked pictures of themselves, and then AFTER they make it big, said pictures are revealed, usually on that sleazeball Perez Hilton's website. Today it was one of the Vampire Girls from Twilight the one who plays "Alice" (no I will ot post a link to these, because that would be raw) But this seems to happen, and now the girl Ashley Greene is threatening a lawsuit, and will probably make a big deal of this, because well, she may have lost her movie career, because the BRAND of Twilight is being so carefully watched and controlled. BUT, BUT on the other hand, they could have actually leaked these pics in attempt to get more Male Viewers into Twilight. So I guess the morale is, anyone, actress or not, should probably not take Naked Pictures of themselves if they do not want it to end up on the internet. EVER.

Schemas

2009-08-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

sche⋅ma [skee-muh] Show IPA
–noun, plural sche⋅ma⋅ta [skee-muh-tuh or, sometimes, skee-mah-tuh, ski-] Show IPA , sche⋅mas.
1. a diagram, plan, or scheme.
2. an underlying organizational pattern or structure; conceptual framework.
3. (in Kantian epistemology) a concept, similar to a universal but limited to phenomenal knowledge, by which an object of knowledge or an idea of pure reason may be apprehended.

Recently the conversation of schemas has been brought up and discusses along with how scary and painful it is to have them challenged and all, and I couldn't really remember a time when I was seriously on the fence about changing them in a way that was scary, but I could totally remember a few times when Rachel has called out my schemas, and you know like shattered them. For an example, see below:

One day, a long time ago.

Will says "Something incredibly stupid."

Rachel says, "Will, do you know how incredible stupid and moronic, one sided, unthoughtout, ridiculous, and in some deep down way, utterly frightening, what you have just said was."

Will says, "Uhhhhh....."

Rachel says, "Let me, uh, break it down for you, see the problem is you didn't think of this this this and this, and because you probably think this and that, and that's stupid and etc, please see above."

Will says "Schema shattered."

Will cries a little.

Rachel laughs a lot.

So, I have no choice but to wonder if it would be more painful to question my own schemas then to have Rachel or someone like her shatter them for me. I guess I'll never know.

The New Phone

2009-08-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

I believe that a few of you, nearby know that I got a new phone recently, and I Love my new phone. I asked them to give me the best phone possibly that was not a smart phone and did not intuitively want E-Mail. And again, it's great. The ONE thing that I do not like about it, is it's uncanny ability to do things on it's own in my pocket. So I've made numerous accidental phone calls, and also activated many of it's features or had it talking to me. No Bueno. So, if I accidentally call you and you just hear muffled sounds and my voices, I apologize. Hasta!

Ameritrek 2009: Pre-Production Blog 1

2009-08-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

With Pre-Production beginning on Ameritrek 2009, I have 25 days left to prepare for the big day. And the amount tasks required to go is daunting. Mostly because work is so hectic right now. I'm working on like 3 fracking projects right now! And just trying to get some good sleep in is hard, but you know some things need to happen, like for instance:

- Getting a good pair of sunglasses.
- Getting my Car's AC working, and getting a pretty good check up.
- Seeing GI Joe, Inglourious Bastards, District 9, and probably (500) days of Summer (again.)
- Getting a new backpacking pack (Damn Straps!)
- Figuring out my budget (this is not a feature film where you can go WAY OVER BUDGET and just not tell anybody, alternatively, I'd hate to fire myself and never beable to work again, and yeah, I know I combined be and able, but I'm just way too lazy to go back and fix it.)
- Getting a new laptop battery. (I'm getting about 20 minutes of battery power at this point.)

But, on the bright side I have a schedule now. Here's some of the highlights.

- 20 Locations in 2 months, including 12 days in the East Coast.
- Seeing many friends I have not seen in YEARS!!! (And some friends I saw last month.)
- Blog updates about the different kinds of yoga that I plan on hitting up.
- Scheduling in a good 2 or 3 hours of writing every day, and sometimes in extremely beautiful locations.
- Singing in the car at the top of my lunges, in the most beautiful locations (See the pattern.)
- Being with my Brother when he has his second child (he would probably say, showing off his new jet ski.)

Next up, I need to mail out my Calender to a few friends that might be interested in hitting up a leg or two of the trip, (if I were you I'd do the Nashville, New Orleans leg, (seriously. For Real.) )

I also have to tell my roommate that I just don't have the energy to sublet the place so he's going to have the whole apartment to himself for 2 months (there is something criminal about it, I almost want to saddle him with a 45 year old divorced male actor moving here from Wisconsin, but you know that would be spiteful, and I'm just too tired for spiteful right now.)

It's a Crazy Crazy World

2009-08-02T13:39:00.001-07:00

So... if you were like a vampire, don't you think right now would be the best time to come out. The world loves you right now. The media loves you right now. Teenage girls LOVE you right now. And Teenage Girls kind of RULE the world, or at least that's what the media kind of believes. I mean, Titanic kind of proved that.

All I'm saying is that, if there is a secret WORLD of the Vampires, a Vampire Nation, don't you think that they are probably having internal high-level conversations about if they should reveal themselves to the world. I mean, can they stay hidden forever (well, okay they probably could.) But they should at least consider it, because now is probably their only real chance of finding some kind of acceptance. (Which would probably change, once massive amounts of Teenage Girls lined up to stay Teenage Girls forever along with their older, but equally romantic loved starved cousins and mothers, and then there would be a witch hunt to kill the vampires and the Girls/Women, and that would totally suck, because then there would be a worldwide sausage party, which nobody wants. NO BODY WANTS THAT.)

But you know, in this over-saturated Vampire world that we live in, I kind of long for the days when liking Vampires was something you did secretly, a time when it was dark and lived in the darkness, because it made you feel special, it made you feel like you weren't with the popular ones, and you weren't a loser like those people who worshipped Marilyn Manson.

But now everybody's into it. And it acceptable to everyone to dig the vampires, kind of like, but worse then the Capt Jack Sparrow, making Pirates cool, but on a whole different level, because you know, Pirates are still kind of not cool. Anyway, Thanks "Twilight."

I wonder what those loner high school students are into now? Where do they go when they want to be alone, when they want to identify with other iconic loners? Do you think they can join in with their popular, cheerleader cliques, and scream when the "New Moon" trailer plays. Do they all get in be at the party and get along, holding hands and stuff? I don't know, but I think that I don't see this ending well. We shall see.

Back from the Depths

2009-08-01T18:13:00.001-07:00

Cough.

Cue the Dramatic Music with Japanese Taiko Drums.

Voice Over Guy, "Deep within the jungles of Los Angeles..."

Random people's voices ---

"Will, are you ever going to blog again?"

"Hey Will, why aren't you blogging? WTF?"

"Dude, whatever happened to your blog?"

"You know what, Fuck you, and your blog."

Voice Over Guy "Stood one man. Alone."

In a bar, after 5 whiskeys, Will looks out, bloodshot eyes, "I can't do it. I can't keep blogging. I've got nothing to blog about. All I think are negative things, things that would make people sad." He breaks a glass in his fist.

Cut to: Will stares at his bleeding hand in the shower, "Dammit, I keep starting a blog and it gets all negative and then I stop and erase, I CAN'T DO IT!!!" A tear is shed, but no one can see it because of the shower.

Voice Over Guy, "And day's passed, and months passed, but one day..."

Will looked out through his eyes, through his car window, and into the sky and he said, "I can blog again. I can do this."

Voice Over Guy, "Faster. Stronger. And still Crazy. Will Gong is back!"

Yup, it's true. I'm back and here to get ya'll prepped for the Crazy Trip I am planning, but more on that tomorrow.

Cough, I hope.

Awww... Hell No!!!

2009-05-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

Look, I can understand my man Ebert not liking "Star Trek" (okay, I really can't, but that's beside the point.) BUT TO GIVE "NEXT DAY AIR" a better rating then "Star Trek" is ridiculous. RIDICULOUS!!! just saying...

Random Thoughts #17

2009-05-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

2 Thoughts:

The No Doubt Reunion Makes me feel older then turning 29.

And I think that Nicole Kidman is starting to look like Candice Bergman. (Sorry Candice.)

Pro Basketball. I'm loving It!

2009-05-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

As you can tell I haven't blogged much, and this has much to do with the fact that this time last year, the Wizards were getting knocked out of the first round by the Cleveland Cavs again, and I had much hating on Lebron to do. This year, the Wizards didn't make the Playoffs by a long shot and so I have not blogged.

Not that I'm protesting, but you know some times we need things like the NBA playoffs to make us Blog.

So this year, I wasn't even really interested in the playoffs until the Bull Vs. Celtics turned into a boxing match. These to teas are putting on the most intense, amazing, brutal, mind blowing series ever! They've had like 7 overtime periods in 6 games. Everyone is playing out of their mind. This is where superstars are born. This is where Rajon Rondo "RONDO!!!!" can become a star, and as one of the smallest players on the court, beat people up and not get kick'd out "HELL YEAH!!! Short Mischievous Bad Assses." Where Ben Gordon, can run around and just throw up a giant piece of crap and the ball goes in. Where the guys who no one knows are becoming legends (BIG BABY DAVIS!!! Who does HE Happen?). And Ray Allen is the Man. DUDE IS SO CLUTCH!!! Him going to Boston is like the best thing HE could have ever done for himself and for basketball.

IF, IF you don't respect Professional Sports for being a bunch of spoiled rich selfish millionaires, you should a get a tape of GAME 6 and watch these two gritty teams duke it out for Four Hours. FOUR HOURS!!! I can't wait for Game 7 on Saturday Night. Who knows what will happen? WHO KNOWS!!!

Pulling a VC

2009-04-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

You know friends, in life we all go through some hard times, sometimes externally brought on, sometimes internally brought on. And it's hard and trying, and you wonder jeez how am I ever going to get through this. I just want it to stop. I want a new life, a new world, this old one sucks.

And at this crucial juncture point, you may be tempted to "Pull a Vince Carter."

Named after Vince Carter, because he so fabulously admitted to playing like complete shit in Toronto in order to get traded, sent out of town. This guy was loved. But he hated his town. He hated his job. He hated his team, but he definitely loved himself. Dude, betrayed his team, his friends, his fans, and then went back to being Vinsanity when he got to the Nets. I still can't believe he admitted to tanking himself. Who does that?

Anyway. When life is in the shitter, don't go to the darkside. Don't "Pull a Vince Carter." You'll be happier later, and your fans won't throw shit at you. (And yes, we do have fans, although you probably shouldn't call this to their faces, or you'll get slapped, like a lot.)

Open Letter to the Editor

2009-04-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
"You do not write on your blog in weeks. I open
my Google reader this morning and see that you
have written on said blog. With some interest, I
open said blog reader and then I am sadly
disappointed in said blog. It says nothing important.
It's not funny or profound or thought inspiring or
interesting - it's just words - Boring! I stopped writing
my grant proposal and wasted 30 seconds for that.
Note to Will: a take two on writing said blog must occur
soonish.
Rachel"

EDITORIAL RESPONSE:

John Madden Retiring is a big deal. Big Deal. And now it may take me weeks to write again, because god only knows how hard it is to find something interesting to write about. Sheesh. Now I feel pressure. Thanks.

A Sad Day

2009-04-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

No, it's not sad because I've finally decided to blog again.

It's a sad day because John Mdden has retired from broadcasting. I've been busting his chops for a few years, because his announcing skills had gone down to the point where he was almost a caricature of his old self, but I still loved the old guy.

Adios John Madden.

My Essential Album List (2009 Version)

2009-03-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

I recently asked an Intern at work to put together a list of her essential albums, because I was curious about what a 20 year old would put down. So in all fairness, with a couple of hours set aside, I decided to work out my own list.

Putting together a list of your most essential music albums is like take a trip back through space and time. It's about finding the CD's, records, tapes that during a point in your life you could not live without, they are part of you, they help define you, and forever, no matter how embarrassing, ingrained into your DNA.

Each track, or single are the dishes that help create a meal, and when you come across a dinner where everything from the wine, to the entree, to the dessert is top notch (or riddled with delicious fat product) you remember it forever. Sadly, most dinners/records are just eh, or mass consumed and forgotten for the upcoming trip to Taco Bell.

The albums on this list are not Taco Bell albums for me, but they might be for you, which makes all list reactions exciting, curious, and intensely nerve racking, like the placing of two souls up against each other looking for some semblance of similarity. If someone doesn't get your music, then they don't know you, they only get you, and in time might understand you, but it's not that Moment when you're driving and suddenly you both hear a song that you love and it might inspire you to shout that "YOU LOVE THIS SONG" and then the other person reacts the same way, and you look at each other and you know that you are two of the same at least in that Moment.

But life moves on, and you don't forget those moments, those songs those albums, but you grow and change and so does life and so does music.

The List (2009)

- Michael Jackson - Thriller (Helped Define my childhood, )
- Billy Joel - Greatest Hits 1&2 (also helped define my childhood, Loved it in the backseat, loved it when I rediscovered it)
- Madonna - The Immaculate Collection (Songs I made my family listen to, no matter how much they hated it), Ray of Light (might be her best album, introduced my brain to all kinds of new sounds, may have led me to yoga.)
- Paula Abdul - Forever Your Girl (who didn't love her back then, this CD is like a greatest hits album)
- Boys II Men - II (amazing for a teenage boy in love with everyone and I wanted to sing it to all of them)
- Jodeci - Diary of A Mad Band (I was a teenage boy in love with everyone, and I wanted to well... just listen to it.)
- Aerosmith - Get A Grip, Pump (awesome songs, awesome guitar work, awesome music videos.)
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits (One of the best greatest Hit collections of all times, powered by the Unforgettable Greatest Hits single "Mary Jane's Last Dance." (probably pointed the way to country music)
- Stone Temple Pilots - Core_ Purple (great music to get mad to, or happy to, or to pretend that you could headbang)
- The Rembrandts - L.P. (God this is embarrasing, but damnit those songs were catchy)
- Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle (I've bought this damn thing more then I have any other tape, cd, because I love it, and it had a profound effect on my development as a teenager, eventually destroyed by Shania)
- Tupac Shakur - Strictly for my Niggaz (Listening to Tupac made me feel strong. I can't really explain that.)
- Sting - Ten Summoner's Tales - (Dude, fields of gold, might have made this whole thing worth it, but really the cd takes you on this strange trip.)
- A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders (wow. So smooth. The whole thing. If there was a rapper that I could totally get behind, it would be Q-Tip.)
- Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (I was really really mad at the world, and this CD captured that), The Fragile - (One of the best headphones CDs of all time, It was The Downward Spiral mixed with the Wall.)
- Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (revelatory)
- Seal - Seal 1, Seal 2 (before he was a soul singer of adult ballads, he was kind of cool and awesome and edgy, and a soul singer too.)
- Hootie & The Blowfish - Cracked Rear View (who didn't i ask you. who didn't!)
- ALL BEATLES (I disappeared from the Music world for 18 months because I had so much Beatles to digest)
- Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory, Definitely Maybe (I made it a point to hate these guys, until i couldn't. really couldn't, and today I wish I had stayed that way)
- Janet - Janet (If? Every song? If?)
- Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (those cracked people made some damn good songs.)
- Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow (Sometimes you need sheryl crow)
- U2 - Achtung Baby, The Joshua Tree (I don't need to explain these)
- Shania Twain - The Woman In Me (The CD that officially said i liked Country) Come On Over (oh man...uh the perfect pop cd, maybe, the CD that made me lose all street cred, yes. All Street Cred.)
- Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind (The Soundtrack of my senior year of highschool)
- Semisonic - Feeling Strangely Fine (Time, People, Experiences, life)
- Barnaked Ladies - Rock Spectacle, Stunt (perfect cds for that time.)
- Tim McGraw - A Place In the Sun (The Rabbit Hole was always a girl)
- Go - The Movie Soundtrack (Techno? Cool.)
- Pink Floyd - The Wall, Darkside Of the Moon, Wish You Were Here (I can actually say these records changed my life. I mean REALLY changed my life.)
- Radiohead - The Bends, OK Computer (amazing. Discovered the bends way too late, but it's my favorite because it was needed when I Found it.)
- Guster - Lost and Gone Forever (bongos suck. Wait, bongos are cool!)
- The Strokes - This is It (Listening to this CD makes you feel cool, no matter who you are.)
- Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American (Yes, an EMO album I could love!)
- Blink 182 - Take Off Your Pants And Jacket (The solidified their sound and their songcraft with this song for song awesome field trip through high school emotions)
- The Vines - Highly Evolved (So weird, and so cool, and so derivative, I loved it.)
- Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker, Demolition, Rock N Roll (And other stuff of his) (For years and years upon discovering all of this guys music, It was like I found someone who made music like we were on the same page, his influences, his tastes seemed to mimic mine, that is a little different now, because I think he's sober but I've found so much comfort in his music.)
- The Streets - Original Pirate Material (A revelation) A Grand Don't Come Free (another revelation)
- The Police - Very Best (Could never listen to any of their whole cds, but this was perfect.)
- Liz Phair - Liz Phair (I am universally hated, and mocked for loving this CD. Whatevs)
- Basement Jaxx - Kish Kash (YES!!!)
- Fountains of Wayne - Welcome Interstate Managers (wow, they made the best follow up Oasis Cd that was never made. But one I could relate to, because there not conceited brits.)
- Outkast - Stankonia (Dude, it's rap for Rock fans, er, the other way around, I don't even know), Speakerboxx/The Love Below (how much did I love this before everyone else did, I made it a point to get the cds on the day they came out, loved them for a month, and then Hey Ya! killed The Love Below, but at least I still had Speakerboxx)
- Stevie Wonder - Music of My Mind (the album I really love, but other Stevie work is equally powerful
- Prince - (Greatest Hits Collection 1&2) (Wait, why did I hate Prince in the 80's, oh my MOM hated him, ahhh.... this guy is AWESOME!!!, his 80's output was sick, he can play guitar, he doesn't always sing in falsetto.)
- Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
- Kanye West - The College Dropout (What's with the Teddy Bear, oh that's a joke, wait a moment, OH MY GOD THIS IS LIKE THE BEST CD EVER!!! oh man, what's with this terrible 8 minute diary entry with him and Jay-Z, boooooooooo.... excess.... booooooooo DAH!!! He's insane, and I like him much the better that way), Graduation (not as good as College Dropout track for track, but powerful and danceable, and Hennessy Drinkable.)
- Green Day - American Idiot (really? Yeah, so much better for me then anything else they made.)
- Nickel Creek - Nickel Creek (Wait, do I like bluegrass music? Wait, what is bluegrass music again? oh, it's country, wait I'm confused)
- Pete Yorn - Music for the Morning After (Nailed my mood, hopeful, pessimistic, well made.)
- Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand (I got an Ipod, I danced to this album while cleaning.)
- The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow (perfect)
- Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (felt important to me, and then I realized I really liked the whole damn thing)
- We Are Scientists - With Love And Squalor (not particularly well crafted, but really strong hooks, and the lyrics are good to terrible to great)
- The Old 97's - Fight Songs, Satellite Rides, Too Far to Care (Exactly the records I needed when I found them, thank you Rachel.)
- Feist - The Reminder (wow... she's so cute... these songs are so mellow, maybe I can like music like this. love music like this)
- Rhett Miller - The Instigator (perfect pop rock songs.)
- Bon Ivor - For Emma, Forever Ago (I heard the first track and fell in love with it.)
- Zox - Line In the Sand (New, but awesome.)

AND MANY MORE, SOME FORGOTTEN, SOME UNRECORDED

Another Year, Another Jorge's Mix

2009-03-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

Hey kids!

So every year or so, (Okay there was one point where I took almost 3 years off) I put together a Jorge's Mix CD. And the only prerequisite for a Jorge's Mix is that Jorge should like the songs. One year, I think it was Jorge's Mix 3, I put too much rap on it and he didn't like it, and I had to make some changes.

Anyway, This morning I began work on Jorge's Mix X (not 10, because well my numbering for these things is all messed up, and would probably need a total retcon at some point).

And I worked furiously, and I think it's done.

It's funny. I think this is the most Electronicy of them since the first one. But this one also kind of has the most Retro-80's synth music attached to it. And it also might be one of the darkest in tone and lyrics, uh, but you don't actually have to listen to the lyrics and you can just ride the wave of sounds. Anywho,I Like the shit out of it. So whatev's. If anyone wants one just give a hoot and I'll send you a CD.

Jorge's Mix X - All My Friends

Featuring Songs from ---
Bloc Party
Madonna
LCD Soundsystem
MGMT
Lady Gaga
M83
Phoenix
And other fabulous Artists you've never heard of... uh like Kanye West (right. Like no one's ever heard of him, fricken sellout Will)

Damn.

2009-03-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

So Today, I was ichatting someone and could not remember how to spell

soiree

So I googled what I thought might be the spelling but kind of thought it was totally wrong. I typed in

Swaray

And then the first hit was Urban Dictionary. And it said this:

1. swaray
How stupid people spell soiree.

Random Quotes#14

2009-03-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

AFTER SEEING the film "The Watchmen", Rachel remarked:

Oh my god, I would have rather stayed home and dealt with the smell of a skunk spray under the house, our toilet did not working, and having no electricity then watch "The Watchmen." I've lost three hours of my life.

Right On#02: No Line on the Horizon-Review

2009-03-05T18:20:00.001-08:00

A little perspective.

There are few revelations when in it comes to music. Moments of clarity. A few for me.

- Realizing that The Beatles sang ALL of those songs. (And in less then 10 years)
- That I loved Rap Music.
- That if I actually like Country Music for reasons more then that Hot Girls liked it too. (I’m still bitter about this.)
- That Prince was kind of important and that I really should’ve back him in the 80’s other then that other guy. (I was a kid. Okay. I didn’t really understand Michael Jackson.)
- And this is the important one for the blog. When I was like 15, I figured out that the same people who sang “Mysterious Ways” also sang, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”.

After realizing that U2 was U2, I did some back tracking. There were albums that I liked most of them and their albums where their were 2 or 3 awesome songs and bunch of ehhhh… But I did realize that they were kind of awesome and special, but you know also that I kind of missed the WORLD WIDE LOVING U2 bandwagon. I mean they had already put out Zooropa, been through the most of their rockstar excess, and would soon put out Pop. So a lot of hating had started.

So I’ve only been able to really get excited about some of their least Awesome Cds. And after How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, I was kind of like, ok, good stuff guys, but please next time, make a real album. Not just a CD, front loaded with some good singles, or crap about peace and some not so great songs at the end.

I mean it really is The Joshua Tree’s fault. They were following the formula of that album, without recreating a whole cd of great songs. So be it.

No Line On The Horizon takes a lot of steps in the right direction. And it takes a few in the wrong direction. It’s nowhere near the Masterpiece a few reviews have called it, but it’s not a terrible blunder of crap that some have called it. And the biggest problem in most cases is that you really can’t compare it to their other work.

I mean, I mean this in the least abrasive way possible, they kind of are our generations Beatles. (Radiohead, could also claim this, but really, they don’t give a shit enough about what people think of their music to really qualify,) And we’ve kind of entered the period that the Beatles never got to, because they broke up. So basically, we’re in the 70’s solo years. And this album feels that way.

It’s not a greatest hits album. It’s not a pastiche, but it’s like on some songs they’ve decided to revisit certain interests and other songs they hit up some other interests and in the middle, they dumped a bunch of songs they hoped could be rock radio hits (which they probably won’t be, but I never really liked “The Sweetest Thing.” So what the F do I know.)

So let’s review. And I’m not going to compare it to their other work. I’m going to go at it like if I was like 12 or something, or a Killers fan. (which is really an impossible task, because you either Like U2 or not, and if you are the kind of person to like them, you probably really like them and their songs, whatever.)

Things I liked.

- I liked how much of the theme was being lost in your world and how you need to feel. But sometimes it’s hard to feel anything.
- I also liked how much of the album was about letting go, not fighting and breathing, which are very yoga like concepts. Live in the Moment.
- I liked all of the minute long intros to the songs. They kind of wash over and then all of the sudden the song kicks in, and you’re like HELL YEAH. (In a kind of mellow Hell Yeah way.)
- I like that it really is a head phones album, but that it also works when you’re driving, especially if the weather sucks, or you’re depressed.
- Liked that they didn’t fear failing on some of these songs, or tried to write some of the lyrics with character.
- You actually might be able to do yoga to this cd and not feel bad about it.
- Much of it is weird.
- I liked how they didn’t front load the cd with the best songs. Means I’ll listen to the whole thing more.

Songs I liked.

- “Magnificent” Really Good Song. Gets you really into the album in a way that “No Line On the Horizon,” kind of doesn’t. I mean it kind of is pretty standard U2 music. But it’s really well done. “
- “Breathe” – Wow. U2 makes a song that tells you to Breathe, and live, because that’s the most important thing, it’s like “Beautiful Day” but about something else. But the verses are really dense, but it works and he says “joojoo man, joojoo man.” It’s great. Great singalong.
- “White as Snow” Simple, Pretty, Deep lyrics that don’t feel like Bono tried too hard. Not the kind of song that you expect from U2. It’s like a lot of those not so great songs at the end of All That You Can’t Leave Behind, or How to Dismantle, they finally figured out a way to make them work with this song. But it’s a grower.
- “Unknown Caller” I thought I was going to hate this song, with it’s weird Computer terminology shouts during the chorus. The thing is if you just get used to it, there is a lot of awesomeness to appreciate. And damn if the opening doesn’t lead up to a pretty great song that nails it and is pretty inspiring. And a great singalong.
- “Moment Of Surrender” The idea might be better then the song. It’s kind of slow, and dark. But the lyrics are good. And again, when you’re depressed you’re there with Bono and it works.

Things I didn’t like.
Some of those lyrics that give the songs character are terrible. (“Get On Your Boots.”
- That you can really feel the differences between the quality of the recordings. I know they recorded this in many places, but dammit there needs to be some sound quality consistency. It’s not that any of it is bad, but in the middle, suddenly the Open Sound texture earphone space is shut down for a WALL OF SOUND attack, squeezed compressed feel, and then it goes back to open sound.
- The BABY BABY BABY middle eight of “I’ll go Crazy if I don’t go Crazy Tonight.” It kind of screws the song up, and the chorus never really reaches the point the lyrics want to take it, but it’s a happy song, so I don’t dislike it.
- Again they did not nail the sequencing of the CD.

Songs I didn’t like.

- “Get On Your Boots”. It’s really the worst song on the album, thank god. There really is not a whole lot of change up in the song. The chorus sucks. But it’s ok background music, and I do like the Meet Me In the Sound bit at the end.
- “Fez- Being Born”. This is not really a song. It’s more like the B-side of a single or a 5 minute Outro to another song. (But it’s alright for like background.)

The Others in order of liking to ehhhhh…kind of liking.

- “No Line On the Horizon.” Good Beat. Nice Moments. Chorus breezes in a way I do like. Pretty good. Just don’t love.
- “I’ll crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight.” Damn it. It’s a happy song. Just not as awesome as it could be. Kind of seems like a sellout single.
- “Ceders of Lebanon.” Not bad. But not memorable. Kind of a solemn close to an album.
- “Stand Up Comedy.” Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t.

OVERALL WRAP:

I really like more of the songs then the ones that I don’t like or don’t care for. And that’s kind of a big deal. It’s better then their last two albums and might be as good as Pop and Zooropa. I think I like this CD more then Coldplay’s. But I might not. And I’m kind of okay with that. Because no matter what Coldplay does they don’t inspire. They don’t make one of my shit days a little better. I don’t hear their songs and say, yeah, Chris Martin is really speaking to me. And that’s what U2 can do. And on this album they’re really doing that. So it’s special.

Marathon: 26.2

2009-02-22T14:40:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends!

Let's chat. I'm going to run a Marathon.

Let's go back a few years. November 15th, 2005. I had just gone to Miami to see a U2 concert and had bought a UM shirt. It looked like it should have fit me, so I didn't try it on. I went to Michelle's house and tried it on. It hardly fit. I looked like a fricken snaussage. I was like really? Was I really that big that I couldn't fit into this shirt. And then I thought about all of my other clothes. Baggy button up shirt. Hoodies. Baggy Button up shirt. More hoodies. And I was like oh man that's no good. I'd been working night shift for a year and 3 months, eating cheap crap, occasionally working out and actually losing my mind, and I was like Well, I suppose I'm going to have to make a change (and you know because Rachel told me I'd be really ugly if I got fat).
I sat down on the airplane ride home and made the November 15th resolution. I resolved to make it a priority to get into better shape, and I'd love to be able to say it was because of my health, longevity, life, not having health insurance, all of the above. BUT NO. It was because I couldn't fit into a T-shirt.

So for at least a year a half, I worked out because I wanted to look better in T-shirts. You know at some point in the last decade they changed how they made t-shirts, so they no longer had any rigidity, no they just hang off you. Terrible.

And then I discovered Yoga, and realized through that Excercise and Yoga could be used for something other then looking good in t-shirts, they could provide you with peace of mind. Or at least help you chill the fuck out. So when I would go on 4 miles runs or run up the hills, I would think to myself, "Will this is the hardest thing you are going to do all week." And that made other things not seem so bad, or tough. It gave me perspective.

So I write to you all today to say, I am going to run the Los Angeles Marathon on May 25th, of the year 2009.

Why am I going to do this? Well, I have lots of reasons. Lots of inspiration.

- Close friends who ran the Marathon.
- The Challenge.
- People believing I can't do it.
- Making sure I can still fit into my t-shirts.
- The Adventure
- Because I never believed in a million years that I would ever do it.
- Because I feel like I have to prove that I can do this, because I want to believe that anything is possible.
- Because working nights broke something in me, and I'm not sure that that's a bad thing.

And mostly, because as I've gotten older, I've tried to learn more and more about myself and I think that now, NOW I am the kind of person who would do this. And this is only the beginning.

The Perils of Running

2009-02-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

So today I got hit by a car. But I'm okay. I was running down Franklin, crossing a little street with a light. I had the walk sign. And this car stopped in front of the cross street, this frickin Prius, he stopped and then decided to try to SPEED through the red light to make a right hand turn before oncoming traffic stopped him. He looked left, but did not look straight or right, which was where I was.

Now, I don't know how many of you have run like 5 miles or so, but when you do, you start to bug out a little, and when cars are coming towards you, you start to think, what would you do if they actually came at you. And many times I've thought, well I would just jump up and try to run on their hood.

A few months ago, I almost had to do this because this lady charged at me, but I was able to jump away before it hit me.

Today, I was not so lucky, this Prius, this frickin Prius, roared to life from it's stopped position and as it came towards me, I jumped up, planted my hand on his hood, ran over it and jumped off.

The Dude, freaked out, total panic stricken. He was totally shocked and like waving his hands all over the place, which I think is the universal sign for "OMG I DIDN'T. I DON'T. OMG. WHERE DID YOU COME FROM? ARE YOU OKAY? PLEASE DEAR GOD DON'T SUE ME."

I kind of stared at him, smirked, but not happily, shook my head, put my hand up and screamed, "Dude, you HAVE GOT TO LOOK BETTER."

He nodded and drove off.

And then I thought, wait, did I really just do that. Fuck. And then I thought, did you know that the car was going to come at you, and I thought, well I thought he might come at me, and then I was like, dammit, you really are a moron...

Anyway, I pulled my groan a little and went on running, I had another 7 miles to run. Which I did run.

Random Thoughts#016

2009-02-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

It's 5:30 PM and I just had a thought, I think I had a dream last night where I was attacked by a small creature, like a possum, or a squirrel, but I remember praying that it wasn't a skunk. And it wasn't. I just can't remember what it was.

Right On# 01 Music Wrap Up 2008

2009-02-16T17:16:00.001-08:00

2008 was not the best year for Music. I think most of us can agree with that, but there were a few standouts for me.

Uh, like:

Mariah Carey - E=MC2 (I mean, it's so listenable)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (It's Radiohead, but dammit, I wish they could make music I could understand again.)
Old 97's - Blame It on Gravity (quite good)
Taylor Swift - Fearless (yeah, it's good, and yeah, its songs for 15 year olds. Whatever.)
Girl Talk - Feed The Animals (First 6 songs are amazing.... then you start to tune it out)
Coldplay - Viva La Vida (Dammit, WHY!!!!! So much goodness, so much that drives me bonkers. Separate your F%&^*&NG songs.)
Sugarland - Love on The Inside (Good stuff for driving. and life.)
Zox - Line In the Sand (wow. Really good CD came out of nowhere. It was like the perfect CD to listen to at the time I found it.)
Ne-Yo - Year or the Gentleman (R&B I can support. Song for song.)
Joshua Radin - Simple Times (great music for a rainy day)
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (otherworldly folklike songs that is a great listen.)
Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns (Because they're snow patrol. I mean really. No, actually the cd is quite good. It's a grower. You know.)

And there were some disappointments, uh like:

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul (I would ask them that same question. I mean I'm so used to mediocre shit from them that they should just be taken off this list, but then I'd only have like 3.)
The Killers - Day&Age (I tune out when the Springsteen sax solos begin.)
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cardinology (like boring.totally.)
Guns 'N' Roses - Chinese Democracy (I don't even want to listen to it.)

And then there was:

Kanye West - Heartbreaks & 808s (which could be on both lists, because who wants Kanye to sing and make songs that seem like a cross between Electric Boogaloo, Radiohead, & Phil Collins, but... some of those songs are amazing.

So I wish I could have remembered more disappointments, but the truth is that you just don't listen if you don't like, so that seems to be the case.

OH MY, I totally forgot Janet Jackson put out a CD last year, Discipline. And yeah, it sucked too. I mean really if Mariah can do it, I think Janet should, I mean Mariah doesn't even have the same chops, but I guess Janet does sound like Kanye when she sings these days, so that's not very good, and at least Mariah keeps her crazy shit in her head, unlike Janet whose songs make you feel dirty, and not in a good way. Oh yeah, and Fall Out Boy put out a Cd and I never heard a peep of it, cause I was done with them, so that's kind of sad. And then there was Britney's supposed return to music, and yeah the CD is okay, but it's like as Okay as the rest of them, until she does something inspiring, I'm tuning out.

Things I like: 03

2009-02-16T17:15:00.001-08:00

Hmm... I don't like the title of this series. I think I'm going to change it... but to what.

Hell Yeah! hmm...

ohhh how about

Right On. Yeah. I like that okay. Here we go

Random Conversations: 06 Aka: That is so Gong.

2009-02-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

My Computer died again. I think some of you know that. So today I was getting all of my emails back into my Mail program and I decided to email a friend I met on the shoot of Sutasi in Asian. Her name was Beth and it kicked off this random/wacky/ridiculous conversation. AS FOLLOWS:

Will Said:
What's going on Miss Beth? U still on safari?

Beth said:
hiiiiiii willllll :)
i added you on facebook...im in london, dying with no work, looking at NYC as a possible destination next...

Will Gong wrote
Hey Beth, what do you do again? Other then make DD think things he probably shouldn't? Does that go on your resume?

Beth Shulman wrote
Can you find me a job with that? i can perform the same act on other people ;)
...that and production coordinate at the same time....yes, im a complete multitasker.

Will Gong wrote
I'll look into it... and definitely give a glowing recommendation if anyone asks.

- Rebecca was video chatting with Beth and decided to join in.

Rebecca wrote on your Wall:
"we are talking about you Wiiiiiiillllll! What is up? How is life in LA?"

Beth wrote on your Wall:
"hiiiiiii willlllllllllllllllllllllllll becca and i are video ichatting at the moment- we dont live together as she has a husband and he doesnt like me much, but maybe thats because we act like we live together :)
Come to london for a visit! better yet, find me a job in nyc!"

Beth wrote on your Wall:
"im so glad we can have a 3-way with Becca. Gong, there is always next time for a bit of adventure. promise :) did you at least have a good time?"

Rebecca wrote on your Wall:
"We definitely think you should come and visit London, although it is a bit chilly and you can't get much for $10.....I think you are better off with a $10 "spa" treatment in Thailand. We have a zoo though...although they don't unfortunately let the elephants run wild in town.
So what did you do on your adventures?"

Beth wrote on your Wall:
"Willlll...we've just created the expression "oh my god thats SO gong"...e.g. "wow that guy wearing the cool sunglasses and bill cosby sweater is SO gong""

Beth wrote on your Wall:
"My gong- becca and i have had more enjoyment from you in the last 15 minutes than we've had in weeks! so glad you've gonged your way back into our lives.:)"

Will Gong wrote
Whoa. Hold on. Expressions with my name really need to be approved by a Gong. What does that even mean? Bill Cosby sweaters. Humph.

Will Gong wrote
Oh right. Yes I did have a good time in Thailand. I got to meet bunches and bunches of people. Some like me, and some that were looking to recruit people to join their spiritual journey's and teaching and whatnot. I also stumbled upon a street filled with massage parlor prosititutes. That was awkward. And generally had a good time when it wasn't raining. Did you enjoy your trip?

Beth Shulman wrote:
oh Gong, i thought you'd be so gonging proud! PLEASE- just think if we use it enough it could be come a term of endearment the world over! BIll Cosby- you know, loveable bill cosby! pretty pretty pretty gonging please...

Beth Shulman wrote
and yes, of course- justin and i attempted to get married while drunk which is a story ill have to tell you sometime...dont worry, he's safe back in new york and well away from the danger that is me. By the by, if you pay more than $10, i heard they do a better "job"...

Will Gong wrote
U almost married skinny jeans? I can see why you'd want to go to NY. Lots more skinny jeans where that one came from. I can see your self esteem has steadily improved since we last talked. I wished that there was a way that you could have more happy times in your life, more GONG really... but alas you're just not good for people (so you say, which is really quite a shame because you are such a good time.)
Oh yeah, if you pay them 30 they'll give you the boom boom. What does Boom Boom mean? Not really sure, but I can guess it has to do with the Big Bang, which supposedly birthed our universe, so the Boom Boom could birth at least a chitlen.

Rebecca wrote on your Wall:
"You have cheered up our whole week!"

Will Gong wrote
I'm so glad I could have cheered up your week. You all have made me laugh (which for some reason I don't think I do that often, I feel like I laugh more at myself then others, is it because the people I'm around aren't funny. do I make it that way? Ack.) but I particularly liked Beth's "Bill Cosby sweater line." although I don't think I dress like Bill, but there are worse things, like having your name turned into an expression.
Hmm... on my adventure. I went to Hong Kong. Stayed in the cosmic guesthouse room, that was the size of my bathroom. Took a shower where I was supposed to poo. Got a lot of cheap massages. Went out drinking until 6 am one night, almost hooked up with a girl, slept in the Bangkok airport. Took a ton of pictures. Went to the Thailand spa. Sat. Watched the Rain. got cheap massages. Stumbled onto the thai massage prostitute street. Watched old men pick up girls. Talked with people. Talked with crazy spiritual people. Talked with crazy people about 2012. Got food poisoning.
I also discovered a love for Lime Juice. And other fantastic things. :-D

Rebecca wrote on your Wall:
"Your trip sounds great and full of all the things a young man should enjoy in SEAsia..... add in a ping pong show and you have done it all! Glad you did not end up in a cult. Be Gongful out there!"

Will Gong wrote
Thank you. And may the Gong be with you. Always.

SALVATION FOR SALE!!!

2009-02-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

Okay friends, the thing we've all been waiting for is back,

New York Times "The announcement in church bulletins and on Web sites has been greeted with enthusiasm by some and wariness by others. But mainly, it has gone over the heads of a vast generation of Roman Catholics who have no idea what it means: “Bishop Announces Plenary Indulgences.”
"church leaders bent on restoring fading traditions of penance in what they see as a self-satisfied world."
“Why are we bringing it back?” asked Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn, who has embraced the move. “Because there is sin in the world.”

I think that MC HAMMER should make up a song about this. THERE IS SIN IN THE WORLD. SIN!!!! Oh wait is this a NINE INCH NAILS song. Ohhhhh...

Things are really starting to heat up. I've taken quit a few steps into a greater spiritual world over the last few years, but you know what, THIS MAKES MY PROTESTANT BLOOD BOIL! It really does.

Soon, you'll be able to buy indulgences off of Amazon.com, maybe they'll EBAY the Super Pope Special: with a signed picture of Pope Bennedict "Th Rat" frowning. This offer only for Catholics, meaning it excludes the Excommunicated, Jews, Muslims, Spirtual, Witches and all other non-Catholic Entities, especially The Protestants.

The Grammy's: An Odd Pairing

2009-02-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

Yawn... Oh, right I'm supposed to be fast forwarding through the Grammy's. Wait, are the commercial's more interesting. Oh geez...

Okay. Some Thoughts.

- U2 Perform "Get on Your Boots" - Hmm... Maybe Rachel is right?

- Coldplay - Chris Martin is doing "Lost?" by himself. Cool. Good song. OH NO... And here comes Jay-Z to ruin in it. Ok. I think I need to make a protest. Whenever JAY Z raps on something that doesn't belong to him, it's crap. His words are terrible. He compares Chris Martin to Michael Jackson. (well if I think about that it might be funny, I mean he was dressed like Michael last night.) but really, really, other than the memorable speed burst on that Linkin' Park mashup, Jay-Z has crap to say on other people's records, damn those lyrics weren't even that good. i think the only guesting I really remember liking was his work on Beyonce's "Crazy in Love." And I'm sure he was feeling really inspired for that one.

- Coldplay Part 2 - Watching Chris Martin sing "Viva La Vida" was slightly painful. First off. It was like he was karaoke-ing his own song. He sounded terrible. And he was moving around like a Worm. Again. Chris Martin is not cool. And sometimes I think he thinks he's cool and sometimes It looks like he's reveling in his uncoolness and it hurts me. It's also weird to see how the BAND was playing really well and he just didn't seem to match them. He couldn't even harmonize with them.

- The Jonas Brothers with Stevie Wonder - Okay, so I make myself clear, for ANYBODY who thinks that the Jonas Brothers have REAL Talent, please watch this performance and take note. When Stevie Wonder plays Piano, Sings, and uses the awesome Vocoder THE SONG REALLY ROCKS, but when you watch The JONAS BROTHERS TRY TO SING "Superstition" The SONG BECOMES CRAP. I mean do the math people. REALLY! And I'll at least credit the youngest and oldest for playing instruments and kind of singing at the same time, BUT THE YOUNGEST. For real, his talent, along with only being able to kind of sing, is fitting into skinny pants.

Steve Wonder deserves better then this. (I think, well at least his songs do.)

- Paul McCartney. Go. Home. I'm not buying.

- And the award for the most painful pairing of the night. Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift. Now on paper, I can see how this might seem like a great idea. OMG. Like how cool would it b? OMG. No. Taylor Swift sings like she's standing on her balcony under the stars, and Miley sings like SHE'S on VH1 DIVAS 2015. She even does the hand thing, and she makes that pained face when she's not really trying to hard so she just looks stupid. Like anyway if you listen to their music, they stand so far apart, beside genres, they like Stand for everything the other seems to hate. So odd. And then Miley tries to high five Taylor afterwards and Taylor kind of looks at her hand and then thinks oh yeah, I'm supposed to high five her. Right. And then she does it. Awful.

-Sugarland - YAY. They are awesome. Oh, but damn, Jennifer Nettles is doing the pained face thing. Dammit. Whatever. YAY

- Justin Timberlake & T.I. Uh. Okay. This is boring. Skip.

- Oh no. The attack of Jaime Foxx's Sunglasses. AHHHHHH. Skip.

- Katy Perry - Uh. Wow. She sucks at singing live. Uh. But. Well, did those girls just pull of their jackets. Whoa. The camera cuts to the Jonas Brothers in the front row. They all look like they have to go to the bathroom.

- RADIOHEAD!!! with the USC marching BAND. "15 Steps." Wow. This is what a real rockstar looks like. A Spasmatic Gypsy Witch. Thom Yorke is possessed and loving it. The USC marching band is loving it. Johnny Greenwood play guitar good. Wow. That was awesome. Why haven't I seen them live. Suck it Coldplay.

There were more performances that night, but I just decided to stop after this. I'm sure I forgot something, but I just usually skipped it if it was boring. Oh yeah. Carrie Underwood. Boring. Skip. There. I think that wraps it up.

Skip.

A Special Message from Rachel

2009-02-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

Excerpts from a Rachel's phone conversation with Will this evening.

All Rachel:

-- I'm glad I could entertain you.

-- No, everyone is going to think I'm this terrible person, and I'm not.

-- I only speak that way to you, because you tend not to get things when I tell them to you nicely.

-- No, I don't think you're a moron.

-- Oh god, don't put that on your blog.

-- Oh whatever... fine..

-- And that song is F%*&&ING terrible.

Will & Rachel Conversation# 06

2009-02-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

The phone rings.

Rachel - Will, the new U2 SONG IS TERRIBLE.

Will - Uh. Hi.

Rachel - HI.

WIll - So I guess you ---

Rachel - Yeah, i was reading your blog and I was like oh hey, why I didn't I listen to it and it's like this terrible thing that's part Radiohead, Third Eye Blind, and some other crap.

Will - Uh yeah, I didn't like it at first.

Rachel - No Will, IT'S TERRIBLE. AWFUL. The lyrics are completely garbage. I mean what they hell are they telling you to go put on your (insert science jargon) boots and go out in the mud.

Will - Wait, so how does any of that make it Radiohead?

Rachel - You know they do that high singing crap.

Will - Uh, doesn't everybody do that.

Rachel - Yes, and I hate it.

Will - Well, I didn't like it first, but you know the rhythm and guitar work is pretty good.

Rachel - Yeah, I guess if you take away all that other crap it's not bad.

U2 Puts on their Sexy Boots - WTF?

2009-02-05T13:41:00.001-08:00

Alright, so for a few weeks now I've been wrestling with U2's new song "Get on Your Boots".

Link below

http://goyb.u2.com/

It's weird and on first CLOSE REALLY CLOSE MICROSCOPIC INSPECTION. Absolutely Terrible. Like, WTF? is U2 thinking. Like really. Even when I'd read, it gets better with time, I was like but "IT'S TERRIBLE." Even Mike, my U2 compadre was like, "Dude, they should've left this off the album. WTF?:

So of course, a few weeks later, I'd be turned around on this song. It was during the Super Bowl, and this song was playing under some commercial and I was like, well, ok, it's alright, and today, I've been just chilling and was like let me put it on and see what I think again, and I was reading while it was on and I was like you know what, this isn't too bad, it has it's thing going. And it is definitely different from other U2 songs.

And I mean really, is it worse then "Elevation" or "Love And Peace or Else." And I'm like NO, it's not. It's better then those songs, it's not "Vertigo" but it's also not the first SONG on the album, like Vertigo, it's the 6th song, so it should at least be as good as 6th song on their last album, which was "All Because Of You." And "All Because of You" is a decent song, with an absolutely terrible Chorus which makes me cringe (although it is much better in concert.)

So "Get On Your Boots" is at least as Good as that, and it might be better, but it does point to do a different sound for U2's next CD. Then the real question is known, Will we like this new sound?

Things I Like # 02

2009-02-04T12:49:00.001-08:00

Okay, I tried to not like it, and I was like this is stupid. Or I was like, it sounds identical to "Since U Been Gone." But dammit, it's official, I do like "My Life Would Suck Without You." Kelly Clarkson attempt to win back her fans, after her failed attempt to write all of her own music and successful attempt at pissing off her record studio. And it absolutely does just that. It's also the NUMBER 1 single on Itunes and the Billboard Hot 100, after 2 weeks on the chart. Sheesh.

Another thing. Slumdog Millionaire. I really liked that movie. I could almost love it. It's crazy, it's filled with energy, it's pretty badass. I mean it's great. If it wins the Oscar, I'd be shocked, because it's like a lot of fun, and people really like it.

3D. I'm so stupid, but everything that is 3D I end up liking. It could be terrible. Sometimes they are terrible, but when I put on those damn glasses and things pop out at me, I'm like... ooooooo aaaaaahhhhh.... maybe it's because I'm half asian.

And for real Battlestar Gallactica season 4.5 episode 3 WAS INSANELY AWESOME!!! I'm going to have to rewatch it before Episode 4. The sight of Adama and Tigh holding out two guns each is permanently embedded in my head. Awesome!

On Writing: Grimacing

2009-02-04T12:43:00.001-08:00

I've been finishing up the latest draft/version of HTLG and I decided to go back and look at the original version just for shits and giggles. And some of my reactions were, uh, um, eek, wow, ouch, gosh, oh no, head shaking, oh that was a a funny line, oh really, REALLY? , Will What is Wrong With You!.

So For those of you who did like the original version, thank you, LIKE SERIOUSLY THANK YOU, and please never reread it, or you will see, what I saw, and it was a little painful. It's like re-reading old love letters you sent to a girlfriend who you really thought you were in love with, but you really weren't, and you really kind of new it the whole time. Lots of grimacing. Lots of grimacing.

But in the end the good news is that for the most part, there is nothing I would have done differently, and all my favorite parts made it into the new one, which were like 4 pages, and Justin is the same, yeah, Justin is the same. Except no cowboy hat.

Random Thought #015

2009-02-04T09:26:00.000-08:00

Is it just me or does Coldplay's song "Viva La Vida" sound like the best Annie Lennox song she never made? Like I feel like it would be that 1 new song on her greatest hits album.

Disrespected

2009-01-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

I'm just saying, if I was part of the Arizona Cardinals or the Pittsburgh Steelers (Especially the STEELERS), I'd feel a little dissed, disrespected, and possibly angry about how the week before the SuperBowl, neither of the team is on the Cover of Sports Illustrated.

No Sports Illustrated has decided to put Lebron James on the Cover entitled "THE POWER OR LEBRON." I feel sick... Excuse me...

Things I Like # 01

2009-01-28T11:51:00.000-08:00

Neko Case has a new album coming out in March.

Don't know who Neko Case is?

Uh, she is a singer of songs and she has one of the most amazing voices, like ever. Her voice sounds old, but it sounds new too.

Here is a link to her new single "People Got A Lot of Nerve." There is a free download of it as well here, and it helps some kind of Animal Society, which you know is a good thing.

http://www.antilabelblog.com/?p=1301

Also on that front, of things I like. I like the most recent "Battlestar Gallactica" episodes, as well as the "Lost" ones. And I don't care what David Holland says about how "I would trade the entire run of "Chuck" to get more "Veronica Mars," I would not trade "Chuck" for that. I would trade "Chuck" for say, remaking about "Veronica Mars Season 3" into something worth watching, but like Daniel Faraday from "Lost" keeps saying, "you can't change the past, what happened, happened," and so, unless I am Desmond or Bishop (From the X-MEN) there is no going back and remaking that terrible terrible Season of "Veronica Mars." (Although seasons 1&2 are like the best thing ever.)

Random Conversation #05

2009-01-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

Will, Mike, and a random lady ride a lift up the Tahoe mountain.

Will, covered in snow from falling and flipping over a mogul, said, "You know, I think sometimes we need to fall down to learn."

Random Lady, "I think you might regret that."

Mike laughs.

Minutes pass.

Will, "Alright, let me try that again. Sometimes I think that we have to attempt to go down a slightly more challenging ski slope, which might incur a fall, so that we can learn how not to fall."

Mike shakes his head.

Random Lady, "Okay, I think that makes more sense, taking the harder slope, will let you know what you are and aren't good at."

Will, "Yeah, exactly."

Random Quote #013

2009-01-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

Arizona Cardinal, Edgerrin James, ex University of Miami Player, was asked if he likes being the underdog.

His response, "It doesn't matter,'' he said. "I'm an African American. I'm always the underdog.''

Hmm, He should try being Half-Asian.

And the Nominees are!

2009-01-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

Hey Friends,

So check it out..... the Oscar Nominations are in...

http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/and-the-nominees-are/

If you don't know the list check it out before I go off here...

GOING OFF:

Now look, I love the Oscar's. I remember them vividly as a child. I remember them as vividly as I remember watching Entertainment Tonight. (I probably should take that back.)

Anyway, as I've gotten to take a close look at the Oscar Nominees this year, I've come to a few conclusions.

1. Miramax & The Weinstein Company still have it. They can still hustle and show off their movies to no end and get a hell of a lot of nominations.

2. Great scenes get you nominated as an actor, maybe not great movies though. (See above for how those films get nominated.)

3. The Oscars love giving all the technical awards to Blockbusters, but hate giving Blockbusters the Best Picture awards, unless it's an Epic. (You know the films I'm talking about.) I will not rant about The Dark Knight not being nominated. I will not. Best Cinematography, art direction, editing, makeup, sound editing... (I swear the minute Christopher Nolan makes a serious dramatic artsy fartsy movie for Miramax or the Weinstein Company, that is as good as The Dark Knight, he will win every fracking award there is... Everyone 1!)

4. WHAT I WILL RANT ABOUT is the mother^($&*$& Best Animated Film Category. Okay, look, I understand why it is there, but it seriously handicaps GREAT ANIMATED MOVIES that should be nominated for BEST PICTURE, like WALL-E. WALL-E is amazing!!!! A-MA-ZING!!! I mean seriously, GROUNDBREAKING, kind of like The Dark Knight (not ranting about it.) BUT LIKE "WHO DIDN'T LIKE! CRY! TEAR UP! BE AMAZED! at the movie. And hell it feels live action for long bits. Whatever. If voters can say to themselves, oh well WALL-E can get the BEST ANIMATED AWARD, I'm not going to vote for it for BEST PICTURE, they can, oh I'm just not going to say it, but you know what I'm thinking.

Biography Titles?

2009-01-21T07:26:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I think I stumbled upon my own Biography title, "Fuck this, I'll find my own path."

What do you think your Biography's would be called?

Super Bowl Hype

2009-01-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

After watching the Arizona Cardinals miraculously beat the Philadelphia Eagles, this thought popped into my head.

Oh My God, if they Win the Super Bowl this is like "Slumdog Millionaire".

And then I had this thought.

Oh My God, if they lose the Super Bowl this is like "Major League."

Now in the later scenario, we've already seen the whole movie, and them losing would be like what happened between "Major League 1" and "Major League 2."

Just saying.

Vacation Update

2009-01-20T12:17:00.000-08:00

Vacation to me is being able to watch as many TV shows as possible without someone coming in to ask you to do something.

Vacation to me is being able to do yoga whenever I want to and then soaking in a spa hot tub.

The only thing that could make this vacation better would be to NOT have a stuffy nose... and if that police officer hadn't been fucking with me, although he didn't give me a ticket, so that's nice.

Okay gotta go pick up Mike from the airport.

Laters!

What is it about "Pop"

2009-01-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

I think that many of my readers, er, friends, know that I'm kind of a pretty big U2 fan, like BIGGGG FANNN!!! I like U2 better then Star Wars.

So like in the Year of 1997, U2, after triumphantly taking over the world with Achtung Baby!, decided to do something way different, the decided to update their sound, which for them wasn't all that different, I meant they did that when they made "The Joshua Tree" or when they made "Achtung Baby" and then their experimental album that had The Edge rapping, you know "Zooropa."

What they did was put out an album that they had no idea if it was even good, or as their drummer Larry Mullen, keeps saying "was not done." (He really needs to stop rambling on about finishing it.") They put out an album that had NO SAFE songs on it, nothing anthemic, radio friendly, MTV friendly, nada. Now, maybe this was out of hubris. They had just become the biggest thing since sliced bread, would call the UN during concerts, Bono wasn't even sure if he was Bono anymore, or the Fly, or McPhisto, and The Edge had their last big hit, but damn it was a great music video. And if it wasn't hubris, it was U2, it was just a bunch of guys trying not to do what they had done before, so they jumped onto Electronica, made that they new idea to wrap their minds around with an album that was most definetely not U2 ish. Oh and they named it "Pop."

So what does Pop have going against it. Why is it that people are always like, blag, "Pop"? Well, hmmm... maybe it was Discoteque, sigh.......... Oh Discoteque, so much fun.... so stupid. The music video... even stupider... like really stupid. (some people liked it.) Like, if they had released a better more U2 esque single first, maybe that would've made starting the album off with Discoteque more forgivable. And there are quite a few great songs on this album.

Well, okay Will, what is so great about this album --- Well it was the last U2 album that I felt was completely solid through and through. Look, "All That you Can't Leave Behind," I'm just not that thrilled with. I love Beautiful Day. I really like Stuck in A Moment. Elevation annoys me. I like the sentiment of Kite more then the actual song and Walk On, well it tried too hard, and then there is the rest of the CD which is better as background music. Then there is "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." I think its a better album then "All That you Can't Leave Behind," and yes I still like Vertigo, yes it's stupid, but it's Stupid AWESOME!!! And yes I think the second half of the album gets a little not so great, but I really think it would have been better if it had been Sequenced better. So for number 2.

"POP" is almost perfectly sequenced. It just flows really well. They had that going. That was their thing, and I think the unequality of the music on their last two CD'S, (Great songs, not so great songs, whoa WTF is Bono thinking songs, all mixed together) has really weakened their sequencing. But "POP" is strong.

Which is why it's so great. It's STRONG! It's way deeper then Discoteque made it look. It's like BONO got all fucked and saw that the world was all fucked up and then was like DUDE, (as in Jesus) WTF? And he made a whole CD. The songs fluctuate between messages of personal & worldly. Most of it diseased. Self Corruption. World Corruption. And then IT ENDS WITH BONO PLEADING (PLEASE) AND BEGGING JESUS TO COME BACK AND DO SOMETHING (WAKE UP DEAD MAN.) And they called this "POP".

So yeah, this is U2's WTF? album. But it's important. It's a statement. It's cohesive, strange, wonderful, powerful, and filled with wonky U2 experiments. It's well written, well performed (even if they don't like it, or were actually able to perform the songs live in their disastrous POP-MART tour) meaningful, and great to sing along to. It was challenging for them to make, and it should have been, because their last two albums seem like they were U2 on auto-pilot, which is still pretty damn good, but what made up for the albums, were their awesome tours.

So "POP" it's good. It's 12 years later good. And we'll see what U2 can still do in 2 months, when "No Line on the Horizon" drops.

Random Thought #014

2009-01-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

If Samuel L. Jackson wants too much money to come back for Iron Man 2 & Avengers, I say fuck him, go get Avery Brooks, that dude from Star Trek Deep Space 9. That dude kicked ass.

Notes on the Blog

2009-01-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

On Will's last blog
Gabe -What the fuck was that?
Will - I was in a weird place.
Gabe - It was look some wacked out goodbye love letter to herzog.
Will - Yeah, I'm fucked up. I don't know what's wrong with me.
Gabe - Yeah...

Not Just a Job

2009-01-13T08:23:00.000-08:00

Work is Life? Is this the truth? How many of us spend most of our hours at one place, with one group of people? Do you feel like you have 2 lives, one at work and one at home? Or is your house just a place to sleep? These are just some questions you hear from your friends, your family, songs, movies, TV.

Looking back at 2008, has made me a bit more reflective of the ebb and flow of life and what I've found is an overemphasis of life at work. Outside of it, I don't appear to have much of a life, but in honesty outside of that little mocking voice in my own head, I don't really feel to bad about it. Because what I've found is that so much of my personal development has stemmed from what I've learned at work and from the people I work with, and for all the world I wouldn't take that back.

We can complain about our jobs and our lives and the things that we do each minute of every day, but if we take a moment and look at where we are right now and what it is we are actually doing, it's up to us to make a change and I feel that so long as we are longer new things and reaching towards what it is that we truly want to achieve then our hang ups can disappear, but its on us to let go of them.

I've been known to fight life, to go against the flow, and I'll probably keep doing that, because I keep thinking (Not knowing) that I've done all I can at Herzog & Company, but every time I come back there is something else to learn, some nugget of experience that can be gleamed if I just keep my eyes open. I've done almost every conceivable job at this company (I won't list them off), but every one of them has raised me up a level professionally and personally and each job has had a mentor or teacher, even if they did not know it, and I believe they've made me a better person, because that is absolutely achievable at this company, and as I've heard and seen for my self, most places are not like. For me, Herzog has not been a job, it's been a journey.

So here's a toast to Work Life, to Herzog & Company, to the people I work with, the ones I interact with every day, and the ones that no longer walk those halls. You're all in my thoughts and my heart, because you all have made a difference for me. Thank you.

Previously on Will

2009-01-10T12:44:00.001-08:00

PREVIOUSLY ON WILL:

Will begins a blog.

Will decides he is going to take the writing world by storm, he planned to work for free, take classes, and write, write, write.

He gets sick a lot in January, decides regularly getting sick is a good way to lose weight.
----------
THE VERY SPECIAL SKI ADVENTURE:

Will & Mike stayed at Tahoe resort. Will had a spa tub in his batch They got to experience the joy of staying right next to a lift that leads to ski slopes. They were amazed and they were very, very tired.

Mike leaves, Will gets a hot stone massage and talks with the Masseuse about life. She tells him not to lose the light inside.
--------
Will begins investing in an IRA, because he wants tax breaks. Later that year the stock market would fall like dominos, and enable the first halfie president. And Will said, “ahhh shit.”
-----------
Will begins work on writing, writing, and more writing. Gets about half way through a new script. Then his computer dies. He loses all of that work. Devastated, he tries to not let on. Shows brave face.
----------
Will chats with Lindsey, his boss/friend at Herzog, “So do you think I have any work to do in March? Lindsey responds, “I don’t think you do.” Will says, “Okay, I think I’ll get an internship.” Lindsey says, “ohhhhhh kkkkaaaayyyy. You know you’ve tried this before.” Will responds, “uh huh, but this time it’s going to be different.” Lindsey chuckles.

Will begins his internship. It’s hard, but he’s learning, he’s adapting, and he’s slightly miserable.

Will gives a hitchhiking girl a ride, “So do you want a ten dollar fuck.” Will realizes this is a prostitute, looks out through the windshield, and says “Ahhh, hell no!”

At the middle of the second week of the internship, Will gets a call from his mom, turns out her teeth are rotting. Will looks around the production company, all sneaky like, and says, “How much is this going to cost?”

Will quits his internship and is back at work at Herzog.
---------

A VERY SPECIAL LAS VEGAS ADVENTURE:

Two weeks earlier, Will looks at Hutson and Tracy and says, “Who wants to go to Vegas?”

NOW 4:45 AM. Will is in a Taxi cab saying, “Sorry sir, but I’m not interested in going to the brothel.” “But the girls are hot, clean, any kind of girl you want.” “No thanks.” CRASH! The taxi cab is hit, and the car runs off. Leaving Will stuck in that damn taxi for another hour. He tries to remember, that he had such a great time, watching people gamble, chilling, eating a good meal, hanging at the club where the girls danced in cages. He tries to hold on to that happy feeling. Passes out in the cab.
-------
Will takes a career step, does his first interview. He interviews an Academy Award winning Production Designer. He’s totally nervous. Jumping about. Sits down and begins the interview. He can hardly talk. He knows the loggers are going to hear him. Starts to panic. Then HIS PHONE GOES OFF. The sound guy looks over at the camera guy and says “I can’t believe this is happening.”

A TIME FOR A CHANGE: 2 PARTS

PART 1: Will is moved like a Chess Piece by Lindsey into the role of Bay producer for the DEMANDING DISNEY CLIENT GUY. Will buys candles. Hangs out with Josh Rosenfield. Handles it quite well. Frightens client with his “I look forward to feedback” positive attitude. Bored, Will embraces the role, starts iChatting.

PART 2: Will tells Gabe one not so special morning, “Dude, I have to leave this place. I have to move. You coming with me?” Gabe says, “Nawwww….”

One week later, Gabe says, “Okay, where are we moving?”

Will and Gabe find a place in cool area Los Feliz, guarded by Russian mobsters. Will begins his second job as Interior Decorator. Will overworks himself into such a tired state that his eyes become permanently blood shot. Begins to get angry and irrational. Decision making takes a hit. And he buys a HONDA FIT.

Excerpt from Gabe, Will & Honda salesmen negotiation session.

Gabe – I think we can get it lower.

Salesman – That’s not going to happen. Sorry.

Gabe - I don’t think you’re very interested in selling a car.

Salesman – Look you guys seems like good people, and I like talking to you, so here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to give you like 10 minutes to work out a number that you think will work for both parties. When I come back, I’ll look at it and if it doesn’t work out for us, then we’ll shake hands and part ways.

He gets up and walks off. Gabe is floored.

Gabe – Who the fuck is this guy?

Will – Whoa…

Will finally finishes the apartment, throws a big party, everyone gets drunk on Hypnotiq and Hennessy, and then they get a free water bottle for coming.
-------
Will takes Tracy to see The Old 97’s in concert. They were awesome. He ran into some of Rachel’s friends at the concert and proceeds to jump around. Oh and earlier that night Rachel called Will to tell him that if he got fat he’d be really really ugly. Will thinks, “No shit, Sherlock.”
--------
A VERY SPECIAL EAST COAST TRIP:

Will goes back to the East Coast. Realizes his childhood is coming to an end. Looks out and sees the endings everywhere, and wonders where are all the beginnings. He visited Teal, saw a family, saw a baby, wondered if baby and family were in the future for him. Was this the new beginning?

Will went to his 10 year high school reunion. Everyone looks older, but nobody thinks older, even when they were talking about their kids. You put that many people together and you get mental time travel.

Will comes back to California, chats with Teal about the experience of the 10 year reunion. They talk about the highs and lows of life, all the underlying sadness in so many people, and how dreams are crushed and lives are ruined and yet people try to put on a brave face, and amidst all of this she says, “You know, Beej, you’re just going to have admit it, you’re life ain’t so bad.” “I guess so.”
---------
Will meets Sarah Palin on the television. Is horrified, shocked, and appalled, joins the fight against the Republicans. Calls Joe Lieberman a Punk Bastard.
--------
On a not so sunny day in California, just an ordinary day, Will gets an ICHAT from Sandrine, “Do you want to go to Singapore?” Will responds, “Sure, why not.”

THE ASIAN ADVENTURE:

2 WEEKS LATER:

Will runs through the streets of Little India, following an Indian Band called “Swarathma.” His CameraMan Chris yells at him, “What’s going on? What happened to the plan?” Will looks at him and says, “Fuck the plan, we’re adapting.” Chris tilts his head to the side and thinks, “Crazy American, here we go again.” Will says, “Shoot everything.” The band plays music for a growing audience. Runs around. Causes problems. Do their own interview with Singaporean Indians, and Will thinks, “This is the best work day of my life.”

Amidst the chaos of the SUTASI shoot, Will remains calm and collected. He and his awesome team take the artists and bands out into Singapore to get video footage of them having fun, playing music, and generally getting an insight into who they are. He attributes his clear focused mind to his steady diet of cappuccinos, and baths, and getting a good 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night, oh and being half asian.

Liked by the crew and the bands, treated like one of the popular kids, he befriends everyone. He is inspired and awed by his Production Coordinator, ex model, but totally professional and fun Melanie, he sees a world of work that he could have, if he had the courage to give up writing and decided to start his own company. He also learns to appreciate the pain and pleasure of foot massages.

And generally feeling great, feeling like he’s really hit an peak in his working career and seen what he is really good at, the shoot comes to an end. Will stays in Asia. And going from chaos and fun to being alone in Hong Kong, something dies in Will. He becomes depressed and lonely. One day later he is a little better, sees a big Buddha in the hillside. Gets tons of cheap foot massages and thai massages.

Will goes to Koh Samui Island in Thailand, stays at spa resort in the hillside. Does very little. Talks to people. Tries to get spiritual. He fails. Can’t do it. It turned off. Encounters crazy spiritual people. The extreme side. Will is shocked. Frightened. He does not want to become one of these people. He also can’t feel something inside.

After spending too much time in airports, he finally takes the 17 hour flight back to the United States.

Will returns disillusioned by the experience, disenfranchised by what he finds, lost in the present, upset with his past, his family, his everything, he is driven to drinking copious amounts of wine. Lashes out at everything around him, nicely…. And wonders ---

WHO AM I?

One week later. Will gives up drinking.
-------
Britney comes back for real, Will’s not impressed, except for the sauna scene.
-------
Will still feeling angry and dead inside, decides that all this is coming from him wanting to do more with his life. He’s just not doing enough. He wants to do something important, something special, and life isn’t letting him do that. He calls up Rachel and she says, “Oh yeah, you’re going through that Saturn or Jupiter returning thing.” Will looks it up. He seems to have all the symptoms of the astrological condition called “Saturn Returns.” He feels much better, like a weight has been lifted of him, and for once he thinks, “Yes, it is good to be like everyone else.” Because he realizes it makes him feel less lonely.
-------
A SPECIAL COLLEGE REUNION:

Michelle emailed Will, Rachel & Corey a few months earlier and said they should all get together and hang out. They got together, the got drinks, they ate out, they went to club, danced and acted generally ridiculous. They went to San Diego and they ate desert, hung out in a spa, and everything was the same, and it was… and even thinking “Gosh, wouldn’t it be great if Jorge was here,” was the same.

Later that weekend, Will talks with Michelle and wonders if he should give up his career to help the world. He shakes his head, not sure if he can. Then Michelle makes the mistake of watching “Wanted” with Will. He snickers and thinks, you know, if I could help the world by killing bad guys that would be awesome.

---------
As the holidays approached, Will and some friends went to see “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He was scared the whole time of this frightening depressing tale. Afterwards, Leanne remarked that the town in the film was like Herzog for Will. “You keep trying to leave, but you just can’t get away.” Will was unsure if she was trying to make him feel better.

A week later, Will watches “The Shawshank Redemption,” and thinks to himself, this is a better analogy for my life, I’m like Andy and I just need to hold onto hope. Will looks life in the eye, pumps his fist and says, “Get buys living, or get busy dying.”
------
Will gets a massage, relaxed, he asks God for advice, and a little voice whispers back, “Write.”

Will finishes a draft of Hot Teen Lifeguards.
---------
Will gets on the plane, thinking about the New Year, thinking about life, and thinking about how he has no idea what the future will bring, he orders a water….

FADE OUT:

NARRATION: Now that we’ve caught you up on Last Season, here’s a sneak peek at the New Season.

SERIES OF SHOTS:

Will runs up to the top of Griffith Park looks out and screams, “Ahhh, hell no!!!”
-----
Will runs in a marathon, barely makes it across the finish line.
----
On the roof of Herzog, Hutson looks over at Will and say, “Dude, now you’ve got the juice.”
----
Will has meetings, work meetings, life meetings, relationship meetings, and everyone looks younger then they really are.
----
Will makes out with a mysterious girl.
----
Will runs from a bear.
----
In the darkness, a match is lit, illuminating Will as he lights a cigar. He looks out and says, “Okay God, what’s next?”

Darkness.

And Will’s close friends & family walk away from the camera, talking, “When is he going to just get real.” “This whole self mythologizing gets really annoying.” “He really just needs to move back to the East coast.” “Maybe he should go to church.” “Why doesn’t he just go see a psychic.” “He really just needs to man up, everyone goes through this shit.” “People really don’t like the third person talk, constantly.” “I don’t know, maybe this will be the year that Will…”

Coming Soon: Will Season 4

2009-01-10T11:28:00.001-08:00

In order to market the new season of "Will", the CW has just announced a special recap episode of "Will: Season 3." It will air on January 10th.

Is Katy Perry a Human Being?

2008-12-16T16:03:00.001-08:00

I wondered this question a few weeks back, and I thought it was kind of funny. All over the musical world, there were photo shoots, interviews, biographies written about this girl who rose to fame based on a song called "I kissed A girl." Now I listened to it, like twice, and was not really impressed. It totally seemed manufactured. A good beat. Fun guitar riff and a bunch of crap to get guys interested and have teenage girls dance against each other at prom or cast parties. So today, I was like going through a bunch of best of lists, and Katy Perry's damn song Hot N Cold kept coming up. And I was like whatevs. But I'm writing and I needed some music, so I got it. And I listened to it. And I had to admit, it's pretty damn catchy. But that still didn't answer my question. Was she a human being? or some created doll type corporate thing. So I went to youtube and watched the video. Ummm... yeah she's a real person. The video is awesome. She comes off as a really quirky adorable yeah hot girl that just happens to be able to pipe out some really good material... kind of like that hot best friend you had, but didnt' realize was hot and then was a singer and you were like whoa, like whoa, like really? (although this could still be a projected image, and she could just be totally full of herself) AND she kind of sucks at singing live, but is still so awesome and quirky, you kind of just don't care...
So yeah, she's a human being, and "Hot N Cold" is a pretty damn good single.