Ridin' Solo

I'm putting this on a shirt tomorrow.

Thesis

If you haven't been able to wear your jean shorts in 10 days, it's okay if you wear them around in your room on a freezing cold day.

What a terribly busy week. Had to knock out a paper and read lots of pages of lots of books. Luckily, after such a busy week, I was able to unwind last night. This included the one-two punch of watching some excellent improvised comedy and winning the gold medal at the Urban Dictionary Spellin' Bee. The improv was performed by Awkward Silence Comedy. The spelling bee was created by Drew and Burger for their Q-Project, and hosted by the comedy duo Will and Stone. Fun stuff.

After a record-breaking (for this week) nine hours of sleep last night, I'm feeling all better.

Proposal

> On any given day, I will spend no more than one hour online.

- Blogging can extend past the one hour mark, but does count toward the day's total.

- I am still allowed unlimited tweets from my phone.

- Online research for class does not count toward the day's total.

I've come to some weird conclusion that I should severely limit the amount of time I'm online. It just occurred to me that I could probably be doing much more constructive things. And, as Lil B said, "The internet has ruined the human race." So, in accordance with my based lifestyle, I'm changing things up. Kill your laptop!

Stretching Yr Performance

I apologize to everyone living on this floor. The amount of singing I do in the shower is absurd, and the content is probably even moreso. I understand that no one but myself is enjoying these daily thirty-minute suites. I must point out, though, that there is nothing more affirmative and refreshing than acting ridiculously or witnessing someone act ridiculously.

For instance, today my floor heard Panda Bear's "Last Night At The Jetty," Ennio Morricone's "Il Trio," Weezy's "A Milli," and The Knife's "Still Light" strung together in a virtuoso a cappella medley. If you had to hear it, maybe you'd get a kick out of it! This is my hope. Whether or not I'm actually altering the course of my floormate's day, I'm at least enjoying the cuss out of myself.

Another great example - I just performed a seven-minute long (and naked) interpretive dance to Avey Tare's "Laughing Hieroglyphic." It was spontaneous, dramatic, emotional, and rewarding. So cathartic!

Perhaps more practical and effective for y'all is another new practice of mine. And that, fam, is stretching. Stretching is like the best thing that's ever happened to me. And this isn't some variant of yoga, or something that doesn't sound exactly like what it is. It's just touching your toes and stuff. Great! I do it when I wake up and I do it before I fall asleep. If you ever have trouble falling asleep, stretch! You feel like a million dollars. It allows me to get inside my headspace and chill, get an awesome endorphin rush, and get cooled down.

Why in the world didn't I figure this out sooner? It should be noted that stretching is a lot easier - and infinitely more fulfilling - when you're not surrounded by classmates in PE.

Art & Me

Yesterday I watched two great films. Each movie was Great in one of the two ways that a piece of art can be Great. Great Art, according to #METASWAG, can only be measured in terms of its effect on the objective individual. This is how I came to these two principles.

Great Art Makes Me Want To Either/Or

1) Sit somewhere alone and dive deep into myself (maybe without ever returning)

2) Go talk to someone (or better yet, You) about Big Life Stuff

Grave Of The Fireflies

Here is a movie that falls squarely under the first principle of Great Art. This one hits hard. The film tells the story of a brother and sister who are orphaned in the firebombing of Tokyo in 1945. Yeah. Prepare to cry a lot. It's a road movie in the vain of Badlands, but with an added dose of historical gravity and emotional bleakness. What it does really well is capture the emotion and behavior of children facing such difficult circumstances. It shows the simple joys of sibling relationships, and the huge love therein. There are moments of human relief amidst the overwhelming tragedy of the thing. Then again, there's almost no escaping the devastating conclusion of the film. The ending here is probably the most a film has emotionally affected me. Well, that might not be true. I've been made happier by some movies than I was made sad by this one. So, I can say that this movie made me more sad than any other move I've seen. And I've seen sad movies, fam. It's what I do. Also, it must be said that the animation is on par with the writing and music and performances.

Or, this movie is perfect - I'll crawl into my headspace now.

Before Sunrise

Richard Linklater has a track record up there with David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, and Terrence Malick. Here's a movie that perfectly falls under principle #2 of Great Art. This movie also follows a male-female pair, but the subject matter is a lot less daunting. The setup is hella cliche romance. There's a meet-cute and everything. But it doesn't matter, because the movie avoids almost every convention. The dialogue is hella believable and interesting. This is something Linklater nailed in his other masterpiece (Slacker), and inspires the sort of thought you'd wanna share with others. The couple's chemistry comes across as authentic and isn't contrived through plot. The lack of a plot is in itself a relief. It does not follow the usual Boy-Must-Conquer-Heart-Of-Girl routine. It's first and foremost a human flick, and explores all kinds of territory that a romance doesn't usually (but should) cover. And the ending! Hella well done. There's one sequence following the film's denouement that I'd love to discuss on #METASWAG, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie.

Or, this movie is perfect - let's talk about it!

Big Time

Not only is this a phrase oft-employed by my dear friend Drew, but it also serves as a quantitative descriptor of exactly how excited I am about April 12th. For those of you unawares, April 12th contains several amazing events [all of which, weirdly enough, are tied to music (this is Not a music blog)]:

> Tomboy is released

> The new TV On The Radio record is released

> The new Ponytail record is released

> It is Record Store Day

> Weezy, Nicki, & Rick Ross are performing at IU's Assembly Hall

Thank You Based God! What a day that will be.

Conclusions

Well, before I leave y'all, I'd like to introduce a couple blogs worth checking out. In other words, some more friends have entered the blogosphere! Excellent.

Blog Name Pending by Jacob

> A stellar and swagged-out collection of thoughts. Usually examines movies and music.

Reckless Ramblings by Will 1

> Not to be confused with Will 2's vegan blog, this is a space to read entertaining reviews of movies.

Oh! Another thing. The Oscar telecast is this Sunday! I'm going home for that one. There's this fun family tradition where errbody fills out their predictions and then the winner gets something or something. Anyway, it's nice. And, as I've noted, I haven't seen the Bro in like three weeks. That's not at all cool. So, this is going to be the week! And thanks to my newfound dedication to my studies, I won't have to stress out on Sunday night. I'll just be chill.

Another another thing - I will be going to California in like two weeks. SWAG. That most remarkable of persons who I will be visiting just blogged again. Check it out.

That's it for me, fam. Keep it real!

S-O-L-O

Or, how I happily spent some of last night