Sunday, November 20, 2011

TEACH ME TO FORGET

I started this tape at the beginning of September 2011 because I had already gone months without making a fun mix tape, but at that point I was not comfortable with making tapes around any other people so I waited... and waited even longer.  On November 1st songs were removed and added and removed again until I had enough wine that I just went with it.  Most of these songs are a bunch of favorites, which is quite unusual for me.  This tape has some funky transitions and I wouldn't expect anyone else to like this, especially for the random songs of deep heartbreak, but that's OK because I made this tape for me. I'm funky, heartbroken, & I've always been a fan of bad transitions in music.

I DJ-ed the Olympia Record Show last night and found Juju by Siouxsie & the Banshees, as well as the SON OF DRACULA soundtrack by Harry Nilsson (even came with the iron on!  BITE ME!) which has my favorite song by him, "Daybreak."  I was happy to add these songs to the B Side.  I was supposed to get a lot of reading done on my GYPSIES OF EASTERN EUROPE book that I have to write a paper about, but instead I just distracted myself with something that's far more important to my well being.  Making tapes is an important therapeutic event in my life.  I hope I never stop.

I just got the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook in the mail!  So many pastas, soups, salads, stews, stir-fries, etc!

Tonight I made my 3rd batch of pico de gallo in 2 weeks.  I'm obsessed, ritualistic, and rather healthy living this way.  I feel my body beating all the sickness I see in Olympia.  This is the cure, the answer, and the future.  Maybe I should make pico de gallo commercially?  What else am I going to do with my life?  Professional cat-petter?

This Sunday makes two weeks of zero social networking in my life & I already feel a lot better, more curious, and more optimistic.  Now I just need to get back into running, stretching, & doing my push-ups and stuff again.  I went swimming at TESC and that was pretty nice.  Routines!  The ROUTINES!

Prepare for: Presentation on COMMUNIST ALBANIA!


Saturday, November 19, 2011



It's nice to find an article about lovely owls in the news a midst dozens of articles about various occupy movements and seemingly constant police brutality against free speech.  Elderly women, college students, & a young woman in Portland all caught on film getting a blast (from what looks like a fire extinguisher) of pepper spray in the face.  Who knows what kinds of things photographers aren't capturing that cops are allowed to get away with.  Even when the cops are handed consequences, it's usually something like losing vacation days.  Vacation days!

Friday, November 18, 2011

These are 2 scenes from the 1960 documentary film JAZZ ON A SUMMERS DAY, filmed in at the Newport, Rhode Island Annual Jazz Fest.  There are lots of greats in this movie that were nice to see perform, particularly Big Maybelle, but I  was most excited to learn about the Chico Hamilton Quintet by this one scene below.  Chico is the drummer & that's Eric Dolphy on the flute.  At the 2:00 minute mark the guitar section makes this some really interesting jazz, especially in 1960.  The precision and delicacy all the musicians create envoke a quiet power that builds and builds on the circular and constant rhythm section.  I was completely moved & my cats were licking each other.  It's also humorous that this scene is right after a pretty rockin' and off-key Chuck Berry tune.  This movie is so relaxing. I've been watching it over the course of weeks now, bit by bit.



I was surprised to find that someone had uploaded this Nathan Gershman clip from the film as well, a really nice interlude in the movie that is away from the bop & rag jazz, in the neighborhoods of Newport, & just really beautiful at the end.  This style of film-making must have really inspired people like Les Blank & D. A. Pennebaker.
  

Tuesday, November 15, 2011



Something amazing is happening in Ghanaian cinema.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

I made this tape May 3rd, 2009 in an attempt to make a tape that is completely lovely.  There are many more tapes I would like to make with this theme.  I never had a tracklist or sleeve for this tape so I just made it.  Obviously not all the songs are filled with romance, but I do love every song selected.   Love can go in many directions.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011


This picture really blew my mind.  A young Kevin Stanford back home from college (Denver) on his mother's east Jackson Ranch, myself about age 10 (?), & Dad with dark hair & a fresh face doing what he does best.  Around this time my Dad had rebuilt Nancy Jackson's house & lived alone on her 700+ acres.  The boulders on this ranch down in the draw are so enormous.  That live oak behind Kevin makes me really homesick.  I miss those trees.  I miss this day, & these feelings.  I'm so happy my Dad is still alive & that we get along better than ever.  I feel so lucky to have such a strange family.  I love steak.

Thursday, August 04, 2011









Thursday, July 14, 2011

Why does this remind me of David Weinberg?
There are some people that do not look real to me.
Some people on 5th Ave.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

BEST GET WELL MESSAGE EVER:

J.B.!
Get weller, please.
I hate the fucking Eagles,
Calvin

Tuesday, July 12, 2011


Today I woke up at 9:30AM to a dream that found me stuck on one-way bus that wouldn't return to the old hotel by the sea where I was trying to get a room. I was carrying about 100 tapes in an open-faced cardboard box that was really difficult to dream-hold, & everyone on the bus kept trying to take them.

Last Friday, I went out to CCI Solutions in Tumwater & bought 100 blank PC092's & then Sunday at my co-op shift I went out side & found hundreds of free casssettes that were all part of various books-on-tape. Overall I gained hundreds of tapes, which is great because I had been buying new tapes at Rite Aid/Walgreens for years... why am I so lazy? But anyway, back to the bus...

....uhhh I wanna say there was some fighting involved on the bus but really all I can remember is the incredible pain I felt when I woke up. Something had happened & I couldn't move because a vertebrae in the upper-right part of my spine got twisted & I also thought I would vomit on my bed... so I went back to sleep. Wait a second, this story just gets worse & gross so I'll just stop right there & say that I've been watching Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation & I realize that I'd never seen it before, because I only watched "TNG" when it was on TV when I was a kid because my ex-step-Dad Russ loved this show when my Mom first married him. I remember him laughing all the time, especially at Data & Picard & I never thought it was funny. Maybe I just didn't like Russ. But now I'm laughing right along w/ my memory of Russ at all of the antics in this show! What a show! & the costumes are so bad for all the "aliens!"

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Last February, I broke my right pinky toe while walking back to my room in the dark while watching DR. ZHIVAGO & I was out of the running game for a while. Last night, I was watching S:1;E:4 of Star Trek: The Next Generation when I was walking back to my room w/ some juice and chocolate corks when I ran into a crate full of records on the floor and nearly broke my left pinky toe! Luckily, I don't think it's broken... maybe fractured though, it's not feeling too good. Anyways, I couldn't fall asleep because I didn't have any pain killers so I decided to watch the "most romantic movie of all time," according to the American Film Institute. AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER really was a nice movie and I was surprised to find that it was in color. I watched the whole thing & didn't go to sleep until about 3:30-4AM.

But, this morning the last bit of my long & horrible dream consisted of me loading up a 9MM pistol to fend off some intruders in a "house" when my gangster pal tossed me a solid white Colt .45 & I fired at the first person who walked through the door. That person happened to be my father & I hit him first in the neck, the gut, and then the right arm before I realized who he really was. I started flipping out & rushed him to an emergency room in some crazy future city hospital where elevators and were made of glass & my Dad just walked around behind me slowly bleeding out... until I woke up. I was extremely angry when I did wake up & when I called my Dad up he said the night before his ladyfriend had broken up w/ him over the phone because she was too afraid of the wonderful times they had shared. I'm not sure where a rendezvous at the Empire State Building & a crippled woman factor into any of this... so I think I'll hobble my freshly smashed toe over to the co-op & cut some cheese before it gets too late in the day to do anything else.

Padre also said that almost all of the ranchers out in West Texas had sold off ALL OF THEIR LIVESTOCK. Floyd West had been spending $500 a week on feed before he sold all of his cattle & goats. When my cousin Scott was visiting the ranch a couple of weeks ago he shot a bobcat that had wandered over to smell the BBQ cooking in mid-day. The cat walked up on them & was standing only about 50 ft. away, the poor thing. All the fauns this year have died because of the drought and all the does & bucks are starving to death. Texas is already seeing signs of the apocalypse.

Yesterday I went to Mt. Rainier w/ Rhett & Harper Jean, and it was very pleasant. Harper loves throwing snow balls at her Dad & hiking with a stick. It's hard to imagine moving back down to Texas after enjoying the NW summers for 8 years now.

Two days ago I bought 100 blank cassettes at the Olympia CCI Solutions. If there are friends who want a cassette w/ music on it please send me a message. I can't keep all of this music to myself.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Nilsson's "hit" from the film he made w/ Ringo Starr called SON OF DRACULA.
I really need to see this someday.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I feel like I've lost my mind, not that I ever really had it though?
But all the same, I like myself just fine.


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Finished THE WIRE last night.
Oh, indeed.

SOUL CITY!

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

"That's some Spiderman shit there" - Marlo

Sunday, June 05, 2011

Is there's something wrong when Travis Bickle is a big inspiration for you?

Friday, June 03, 2011

WHOA I got a copy of thee "Jump & Run" 45 by Commonwealth Jones (aka Ronnie "The Blonde Bomber" Dawson from Ft. Worth, Texas!). Banner label & everything!!!
"Her Daddy's got a big shotgun!"

Thursday, June 02, 2011

▲ This school year just came to a GRINDING HALT!

SPRING QUARTER 2011 - A PEOPLE'S GEOGRAPHY OF AMERICAN EMPIRE
MOGADISHU, SOMALIA - ENDLESS CIVIL WAR

WINTER QUARTER 2011 - REALITY CHECK
TSE-WHIT-ZEN VILLAGE & LOWER ELWHA KLALLAM

FALL QUARTER 2010 - GENDER & CULTURE
PRESENTATION ON SAMURAI CULTURE
▲ It's important to note that my presentations rely on visuals w/ speaking notes which are not included here. But I thought it might be nice to post the slides anyways.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

"Contra Commandos from FDN and ARDE
Frente Sur, Nueva Guinea area, 1987"


Saturday, April 16, 2011

This song fucking rocks!!!
§Thanks to the Peaking Lights podcast that Benny e-mailed me, I heard this killer jam from The Firebirds (recorded in 1969) which wasn't actually a band.... apparently a group of studio musicians getting together to throw down some Blue Cheer-esque howlers that turned into an obscure rarity.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

I'm in this program at TESC called A People's Geography of American Empire, and it's both amazing & kicking my ass (physically & emotionally). We watched HEARTS & MINDS yesterday morning, and it had an intense effect on me. See this film if you haven't already.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

This is how today felt for me:

In depressing times like these, it's nice to just sit down and watch a video of a cat & dolphin giving each other love.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

2011 is a VERY delicious year.
Our XMAS Cactus finally bloomed in early February, yielding 2 beautiful flowers.

The picture below that is of the Valentine's dinner Ness & I made w/ tri-tip steaks + sauteed onions & bell peppers, salad, and fingerling potatoes.

The next photo is a random dinner from a couple weeks ago (thank you Bon Appetit) chicken stuffed w/ prosciutto & gruyère, spinich 'n' onions, and of course potatoes. Where would we be w/ out potatoes?

The following 2 photos are at Ange's house in the woods, where he whipped up his famous French stew w/ brisket, carrots, potatoes, and a whole mess of other stuff.

More recently, I had 2 fantastic meals at Amber & Benny's house:
Bacon Cheeseburgers (the beef came from the Parrish farm and the cow that we ate was named "Obama" & BP rubbed Obama in coffee grounds) w/ sweet potato fries, green apple coleslaw, grilled zucchini, & a bunch of other deliciousness + tasty beers and sweet jams like this:

Breakfast was really killer too: buckwheat pancakes, huge slabs of bacon, mango + banana, blueberry compote + whipped cream, w/ roasted home-fries!
BP & AS are the #1 hosts in the nation.






Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A crappy stencil I made of Conrad Veidt from the film THE MAN WHO LAUGHS.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Friday, March 11, 2011

"This guy doesn't like George Michael!!! BOOOOO!!!!"

Thursday, March 10, 2011

It's Time for... More Great Quotes by Benjamin Parrish:

- "Eat Shit"
- "Pass the cat nip to the left paw side."
- "Framed for a meow that they didn't commit."
- "Noooooo problem" - (courtesy TCLandos)




Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Sunday, March 06, 2011

Friday, March 04, 2011

Dear Joel

It is Black History Month

How about some Olympia Black history for Photo of the Day?

Calvin


------ Forwarded Message
From: Bret Lunsford
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 16:06:48 +0000 (UTC)
To: Calvin Johnson
Subject: Re: rock vs. reagan 1969

Here's the caption for the Capitol steps image attached.

Image shows several armed members of the Seattle Chapter of the Black
Panther Party for Self Defense standing on the steps of the Washington State
Legislative Building, February 29, 1969.

Notes: #4076. On February 28, 1969, a group of Seattle Panthers led by Lt.
Elmer Dixon gathered on the steps of the Capitol in Olympia to protest a
bill that would make it a crime to exhibit firearms "in a manner manifesting
an intent to intimidate others.?ǥ In contrast to a California demonstration,
they did not enter the building and they were not arrested.

(click to enlarge)

Here are a few photographs I took in 2007 with slide film.







Monday, February 28, 2011

I just heard this fantastic song "No One Wants Me" by The Actioneers on one of the many Teenage Shutdown comps that Calvin lent me called She'll Hurt You In The End. Dig the cool video!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Holy shit! This is the best movie I've ever seen about the border in Texas, or the border in general. It's set in El Paso, TX and represents the city and the people so realistically it almost seemed like a documentary at times, but then you hear Harvey Keitel's hilariously bad impression of a Texas accent. Warren Oates had a smaller role in the film, but was really great as the corrupt Chief of the Border Patrol. The film pointed out some hard truths about the ridiculousness and violence of immigration and it seems like things have only escalated since 1982. This is one of the best roles I've seen Jack in since I saw Warren Beatty's film REDS.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

I love this guy.

I love the middle section of this song at 1:23

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

"...the world's increasing descent
into cruelty and darkness..."

Monday, February 21, 2011

2 Jack Nicholson movies (one he directed) that I've seen recently that really SUCK:


Sunday, February 20, 2011



Saturday, February 19, 2011

Today I attended the Squaxin Island Tribe Pow Wow & it was beautiful. The dancing and regalia were amazing. While I didn't take my camera (out of respect), David Erde took this photo of me before I ate my "NDN BURGER" which is a giant piece of fry-bread, 2 beef patties, green chili sauce, lettuce, tomato, onions, etc. I am not sure why I actually ordered this burger, especially since I ate a burger last night (a bad one too)... but being the burger connoisseur I like to think I am, it had to be done. & it turned out to be a great success! The meat was not the best quality, but the fry-bread countered that and in the end I was incredibly full.



"Walls and Bridges is an album by John Lennon, released in October 1974. Recorded and issued during his estrangement from Yoko Ono, the album caught Lennon in the middle of his infamous "lost weekend", a period that lasted some eighteen months. It was the last album that Lennon released without input from his wife. Apparently, it was originally intended to be an acoustic, downbeat album, in the style of Bob Dylan, but continued influence from friend Elton John inspired Lennon to add a decidedly more upbeat feel to many of the tracks (although some of the original feel is still prevalent in some songs).

In the fall of 1973, as Mind Games was being released, Lennon decamped with his assistant-turned-lover May Pang to Los Angeles to record a cover tunes album with Phil Spector. After the sessions fell into disarray with alcohol, Spector disappeared for some time with the session tapes, requiring Lennon to re-record the bulk of the album later in 1974, eventually titled Rock 'n' Roll upon its early 1975 release.

John Lennon spent most of the first months separated from Ono carousing with Pang and various old friends, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Harry Nilsson in particular. He contributed to Starr's Ringo and Goodnight Vienna albums (the latter recorded with Elton John) and also produced Nilsson's album Pussy Cats. But by the middle of 1974, Lennon began readying material for his own album, and headed to New York City that June to rehearse and record with his chosen musicians, including friends Jim Keltner on drums and Jesse Ed Davis on guitar.

Produced again on his own, Walls and Bridges has a decidedly more upbeat tone than Mind Games, although many of the lyrics make it clear that despite the enjoyment of his freedom, Lennon missed Ono. "Going Down On Love", "What You Got", "Bless You" and "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)" are a testament to Lennon's heartsickness during this period. "Steel And Glass" and "Scared" were the latest in Lennon confessionals, especially the latter where he prophetically sings: "Hatred and jealousy gonna be the death of me; I guess I knew it right from the start".

On the upside, some of Lennon's most uplifting songs, namely its two singles "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" and "#9 Dream", appear on Walls and Bridges. The former, which features Elton John on piano and backing vocals, reached #1 in the US the same week that Walls and Bridges hit the top of the LP charts. Losing a wager he made with Elton about the single's commercial potential, Lennon appeared at John's Madison Square Garden show on 28 November, performing Lennon's current #1 hit together. In addition, The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", Elton John's new single with Lennon on backing vocals, were also played to an uproarious audience, among whom sat, in a startling turn of events, Yoko Ono. While it proved to be John Lennon's last ever concert appearance, the backstage meeting with Yoko sowed the seeds of their imminent reunion.

During one of his sporadic visits from England to see his father, eleven-year-old Julian Lennon helped record a casual cover of "Ya Ya", which Lennon tacked onto the end of Walls and Bridges with the credit: "Starring Julian Lennon on drums and Dad on piano and vocals". May Pang recalled later the younger Lennon was disappointed when he heard the recording would make the album, telling his father "If I'd known, I would have played better".

Aside from its #1 gold-selling US success, Walls and Bridges was also a UK hit album, reaching #6 there. As with Mind Games, Walls and Bridges is not as highly regarded as John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band or Imagine, though it does indeed have its devout followers. One of them, Elton John himself, has gone on record declaring Walls and Bridges the best Beatles solo album. Also, despite the album being recorded during their separation, Yoko Ono has cited the album as her favourite of John's solo work.

Walls and Bridges was released in a remixed and remastered form in November 2005. The remastered version featured an alternate cover. This new cover retained Lennon's signature and hand-written title, but used one of the portraits Bob Gruen took for the album instead of Lennon's childhood drawing. The bonus tracks for the reissue include "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" performed live with Elton John, a previously unreleased acoustic version of "Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)" and a promotional interview with Lennon." - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8hZLu255Mw&feature=player_embedded#at=236

THANKS AGAIN YT!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

THE SCENE! Funky times in the Motor City!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Thanks JAD!





Thursday, February 10, 2011

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

I'm sick of this shit! I'll drank a bottle of rescue remedy. What's it gonna take? There are way too many bad ((((vibrations)))) in the world right now. I don't even feel like I have the right to complain. One of these days I'll close the gate to the east pasture & never come out. Fuck all y'all!


Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Dear Bat Cave Party People,

The 1st Fela Kuti box set came out, & I couldn't be happier. Fela is #1!

love,
JB



I'm so very happy about this 2xLP!

"Spending the greater part of the last decade assembling this masterpiece while tracking down most of the musicians in the process, Stuart Ellis of Radiodiffusion Internasionaal has compiled a mind-blowing set of Pakistani instrumentals spanning the period between 1966 and 1976. It’s all here: rock and roll beat, surf, folk traditional mixed with pop, film tunes, electric guitars, sitar and organ solos, brilliant percussion and arrangements crafted by the grooviest bands of the period: The Panthers, The Mods, The Bugs, The Blue Birds, The Abstracts, The Aay Jays, The Fore Thoughts, Nisar Bazmi, and Sohail Rana.

Situated between Afghanistan, India and Iran, the collision of cultural influences in Pakistan gave birth to music that was, and still is, unlike anything heard anywhere else on the planet. By the late 1960s, previous restrictions on musical expression began to soften and bands that were playing American and British pop covers became popular in Karachi’s burgeoning night club scene and at private dance parties. Long hair came into fashion among young men and hashish became the popular drug of choice on college campuses across Pakistan. Soon, hippies from both North America and Europe began flocking to Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar. Very few of the bands that formed during this time actually got to record. Like their neighbors in India, the Pakistani record industry was more focused on releasing “filmi” music, which had just started to incorporate the electric guitar and electric sitar.

Pakistan’s musical revolution ended in June 1977 after a coup d’état and the establishment of a pure Islamic state governed by Sharia law. This marked the end of the “Swinging ‘70s” in Pakistan as night clubs and alcohol were banned throughout the country. Television and cinema, as well as popular music, were now subjected to government censorship. After the clamp down, many Pakistani musicians left the country and moved to America, Canada and England.

The audio quality here is top notch, sourced straight from the original EMI Pakistan masters. This limited 2-LP set is housed in a heavy duty full-color gatefold jacket with superb photos of the musicians and extended liner notes by compiler Stuart Ellis." - Sublime Frequencies
There's almost nothing funnier than Jack Nicholson playing a character named "Stoney," and playing a rip-off tune of "Purple Haze" backwards. PSYCH OUT is a really great San Francisco hippie movie and Bruce Dern plays a crazed & wild "seeker" of God. There is also a really great scene of a fake funeral in Golden Gate park w/ The Seeds! RIP Sky Saxon.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

My final project this quarter is about Tze-whit-zen (the video has this mis-spelled), the ancient village and cemetery that was found during construction of a graving dock in Port Angeles, Wash in 2004. This village is around 2,700 years old - around the same time Rome was founded. There is a lot of controversy w/ the Washington Dept. of Transportation now and this story is just really interesting.



Monday, January 31, 2011



The CLASS OF 1984 is a strange hybrid of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS, & THE WARRIORS. I've really never seen such an evil representation of punk rockers, & Michael J. Fox plays the young band nerd, his first movie!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

I finally saw GONE WITH THE WIND, & I never expected it to be such a racist, misogynistic, and twisted movie. The colors were real pretty though!
A while back I developed a rule that was supposed to discourage me from buying records that I hadn't intended on buying before getting to the record store, in an effort to save money & to not end up w/ any stinkers (which had happened one too many times).

Luckily, I am not known for my self-control and I ended up buying this record by the late 60's group Los Robbins, from Honduras. Even more than the rule, the fact that this record is a 10" made it even weirder that I was walking up to the cash register with it (I have very few 10" records because they don't fit w/ the 12" records and I never think to listen to them because they're at the very end of the shelf)... but I did give it a quick listen, and it had elements of rocksteady, flamenco, garage rock, and weird Joe Meek sounding synthesizers... and what the hell, I've been going batty for all this South American Pop & R'n'R lately & I figured I love to hear what Honduras' most famous band was all about. Los Robbins were the first band to put out a 45 in their country, and most of their recordings were done in El Salvador.

I guess it helps that I've always been curious about Honduras because my Mother's family lived there for a few years after my Uncle Daniel was born. My grandfather Wesley Simmons II was a scientist working in the banana fields... testing stuff. I've always tried to figure out exactly what he did there but he's the hardest person to get answers out of so it's always been a mystery. Even my Mom & Uncles thought he was a secret agent for most of their lives, when in fact he was worked at a cancer research center in Maryland and often was traveling around the world. Anyways, my grandparents split up in Honduras and that's why my grandmother caught a boat and decided to move to Fort Worth with no money & three kids. To make a long story short, I'm so glad I forgot about that stupid rule and bought this record... because it's golden.

Friday, January 28, 2011

These kids covering Ariel Pink's "Round & Round" is so heart-warming I can hardly stand it.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

The GUITAR MOOD 2 LP that I picked up last week has this incredible cumbia by my personal favorite Peruvian all-stars Manzanita Y Su Conjunto!!! The guitarist on this song is amazing, and I really enjoy his work starting around the 2 min. mark. Also, the picture of the band members as old dudes hangin' out next to the BBQ grill is pretty rad.

Today was my group's scheduled seminar to facilitate and provide activities & entertainment in what is called "First Words." I think it went over rather well, it was especially easy since it was about Nanook Of The North by Robert Flaherty, which claims to be the "first documentary" but is actually just a big phony staged lie (but it's a beautiful film!). It was also about the mis-representations of Eskimos and Inuit people as well as the tragedy surrounding the American Museum of Natural History and the Polar Eskimos of Greenland. In particular, the young Minik. Going Native by Huhndorf is a really interesting book and it's hardly repetitive, which is a nice change of pace from the last couple of assigned readings.

If you've ever been the the A. M. of N. H. in NYC, I recommend researching this part of the museums history, because it might give you a different sense of the darker sides of Anthropology... and museums.

In seminar today, I had the idea to experiment with an activity called "The Snowball Effect," something I had never seen in seminar but read about on the world wide web. You ask everyone to anonymously write a question, statement, or quote (& I asked everyone to push boundaries (this is Evergreen, after all)) and then everyone crumples up their paper into a ball and at the sound of "GO" throws their snowball at someone across the room. I figured it was way too dumb of an activity to pull in a college setting, especially with the strictest prof. of all times, but it seemed to go really well and filled the complete 2 hour time allotment, and F. V. Rains really liked it! Not everyone got to read their paper because discussion was so lively, and we had to go around just reading out the papers, allowing everyone to get a chance to speak... it's amazing how many people never say anything.

I hit my head really hard on the bathroom mirror a couple of hours ago and I'm feeling really loopy, and doing everything I can not to fall asleep because I heard when people want to sleep they never wake up! Not that I like waking up or anything... but I'd like to continue to wake up for as long as possible.

On a completely different note, for some reason I got to thinking about all those Louis Malle documentaries that I watched about 4 years ago that the Eclipse series put out in that box set. Most of them are about India or France, but GOD'S COUNTRY was filmed in Glenco, Minnesota throughout the mid-1980's and is soooo good. I like Malle's films, but his documentaries are so much better in my opinion. They're so beautiful and the way he represents his subjects are (seemingly) completely honest. This one is especially interesting because Malle's accent sounds so funny in the upper mid-West. Anyways, the entire film is on youtube... but I recommend renting it from the library.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Oh Batman, you don't actually believe that anyone is funnier than the Joker!

Joey & I are gonna watch some ALF this weekend.

As of today, I am starting research for my final project studying Coast Salish! I am going to a Pow Wow in February! Potlatches in summer time on Vancouver Island!