The Death of Enthusiasm

I noticed that many people have posted things they are thankful for, because well, it's thanksgiving. I won't do this. It's really none ya'lls business what I'm thankful for.

OK, my family.

Also, music. And books--more specifically, I am thankful for Chuck Klosterman. If I ever end up writing anything but technical manuals, I want to do what Klosterman does. He writes for magazines about music. And about dead musicians, 90's TV shows, the significance of cover bands, and sports. He has interviewed Thom Yorke, Jeff Tweedy, Robert Plant, and just about any other musician I would give my left testicle to meet. I just got "IV" which is another collection his essays and articles, and it is uniformly excellent.


I also have "Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs: A low Culture Manifesto" which finally answers the eternal question of the cultural significance of Zach Morris and the rest of the gang at Bayside high. Basically, he obsessively over-analyzes anything he is interested in (including terrible metal albums), defends his unpopular opinions (he hates the Olympics games) and gets paid to write (sometimes) mean things about impossibly cool people.

While I'm naming books I've read or am reading, "McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales" is just about the coolest collection of short stories I've come across. It consists of well known writers (Michael Chabon, Dave Eggers, Stephen King) writing "genre" pieces. It's great because at some point in the last 30 years, all literary short stories have lost any semblance of a normal plot, instead relying on an epiphanic moment that is supposed open up the reader's consciousness to some greater truth buried in our essentially unknowable human nature. Whatever. These stories are about killer circus elephants and time travel (to name a few), but they are not written by the usual genre hacks that would normally gravitate to this type of story. I highly recommend it.

Labels: books

OK, I found one more weird comic in my desk and I laughed pretty hard when I saw it. I think I drew this over a year ago and totally forgot about it. Just ignore the other two guys and the dumb watermark.



Two news items:

1.Tonight I volunteered at Logan's Sub for Santa program and interviewed Hispanic families to see if they qualify. It was pretty fun trying to use Spanish again after years of not really using it at all (except to make fun of people at work). Although, it was kind of sad to see some of families and how much they need. When a 8-year-old kid lists shoes as his "need", and then socks as his "want" things are probably pretty tight. I'm just glad the program exists.

2. It looks like State College will again be performing at a benefit concert. This time it's at a school (in Logan) and it will be on the 1st of December. I believe the benefit is for underprivileged kids or something like that. I will get more details later.

That's it. Now I've gotta go learn how to actually play the guitar a little bit...

Labels: drawings, state college

Well, I caved in and got a haircut. Not so much because everyone I asked told me to, but because I can't wear hats to work anymore and that is half the fun of longer hair. It seems like I got it really short (I like to get my $9.99 worth at Dollar Cuts), and my reaction probably is similar to girls who get about two inches cut off their hair, and then cry about it for three days.

Here is me trying to hide my shame with a bandanna:





Anyways, for some reason they didn't put my Carrie Underwood review in the online version of the paper (maybe I was a bit too rough on her, I mean a C+ is pretty harsh after all) so here it is in all it's unedited glory (bonus points if you can catch the Simpson's reference):

Carrie Underwood’s new album not so original


The fifth song on Carrie Underwood’s new album is called “Get out of this town” and it sounds eerily similar both in melody and content to “Work” by Jimmy Eat World. Both songs woo potential lovers with a promise to “get out of this town” (Jimmy Eat World warns, “While we still have time”) and both feature girly back up singers and catchy choruses propelled by fuzzy guitar lines. This similarity highlights what has been country music’s modus operandi for the past decade: slick production and a middle of the road pop rock aesthetic. While country pioneers wrote songs in a more simple folk inspired style, the music coming out of Nashville today is sometimes indistinguishable from current top 40 rock acts. (Can you barely make out a slide guitar in the background? Then it’s probably a country song.)

All of this doesn’t really matter though when it comes down to it, since Carrie Underwood is only the latest in a long line of blunt instruments wielded by the Nashville zeitgeist. While Ms. Underwood’s voice is undeniably strong, she tends to make for her lack of personality by blowing through the choruses with histrionic power when perhaps some restraint is in order. Current mega-hit “So small” reaches power ballad territory when Underwood hits the high notes, no doubt sending girls everywhere on a mad dash to set it as their MySpace song/make their boyfriends listen to it/burn a CD of it for their best friends/suggest it for their prom theme. Taken as an album however, “Carnival Ride” is fatiguing with its constant mountainous climaxes and Underwood’s tendency to belt out every other line.

It is hard to find fault with the song craft since Ms. Underwood (plus her team of song writers) have wrought 13 arena-ready songs with huge, soaring, choruses and crystal clear pop production. While she already sold 6 million albums with her debut “Some Hearts” there is no reason “Carnival Ride” can’t surpass this, making Underwood the most popular “American Idol” winner of all time. As it stands now, you will all be hearing this album incessantly for the next six months, so why not just give in, slide on down to the Wal-Mart, and get it over with. I for one welcome our new country-pop overlords.

Grade: C+

Just one more thing, I promise. I was talking to my roommate Chris the other day, about how 90% of the people I know who have blogs are married. It's just one of those things you do once you get married, like quilting, or learning how to use a stud finder. So then the following conversation took place:

Chase: Yeah, blogs are just myspace for married people. That way they can post pictures of their kids and weekend bridge parties and not feel like a thousand pervs are going to be looking at them.

Chris: Well, blogs are for married people and guys who think they are really funny and creative, and who really believe other people actually want to read what they say.

**stunned silence**

Chris: The truth hurts.

Chase: I don't think I'm that funny.

Labels: blogging, hair, music writing

At my current job, I have the responsibility of being the "queue manager" after the normal guys go home. This means I sit at a desk and watch all the calls coming in and I can also theoretically make changes in the system to handle the flow of calls.

This is not usually a high stress assignment, in fact I sometimes sit for hours without even moving the mouse. So, I started drawing cartoons to pass the time. Those of you who know me at all probably know that I have always wanted to be a cartoonist. I am not very good, really and I gave up trying to make funny comics a long time ago (mine were never "ha ha" funny) but I mostly just make them to show to my roommate Chris who then says, "That is so weird. Really, you need help."

So, I was cleaning out my desk today and found some especially odd ones. Forgive the crappy lighting of the pictures, I don't have a scanner.

Also, I put a reference picture for the 3 people who may vote on whether I should cut my hair or not. Check back Friday for my review of the new Carrie Underwood album (this is not a joke, I've listened to it 3 times already).

Labels: drawings