This is a "Must Read"

Ralph Waldo Emerson's intricately wrought, twenty-page tour de force, "Self Reliance" (a disquisition on the importance of following one's conscience rather than conforming to the dictates of society) should be read by everyone. Check these quotes out...

God will not have his work made manifest by cowards....

Whoso would be a man, must be a non-conformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness...Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind....

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude....

I suppose no man can violate his nature.... A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza; — read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing.... We pass for what we are.... Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment....

Life only avails, not the having lived. Power ceases in the instant of repose; it resides in the moment of transition from a past to a new state, in the shooting of a gulf, in the darting to an aim....

So use all that is called Fortune. Most men gamble with her, and gain all, and lose all, as her wheel rolls.... A political victory, a rise of rents, the recovery of your sick or the return of your absent friend, or some other quite external event raises your spirits, and you think good days are preparing for you. Do not believe it. It can never be so. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.

Let me applaud the hero who is Ralph W. Emerson. This has motivated me to set the world on fire and make it right.

I do what I want

I have some friends who don't enjoy drinking (alcohol, that is). Some have good reasons. Some have absolutely terrible reasons. And then there are some that make me feel guilty about doing it myself (and coincidentally, they are usually the ones with terrible reasons). But I was raised catholic, and their guilt isn't going to affect me!

Hammered, trashed, shit faced, plastered, buzzed, polluted, pickled. Regardless of the terminology, I love to get intoxicated with good friends. I enjoy most everything about getting drunk, in fact: the sound of the beer going blub-blub-blub into the glass; the shedding of cares; the heightened sense of interpersonal connection; the swelling euphoria; the way it causes music to bore a hole through one's skull; the giddy, fleeting glimpse it seems to provide into the deepest mysteries of the cosmos.

I love throwing my head back, eyes turning into little slits, and letting loose booming laughs. I love being surrounded by laughs so infectous that you'd be laughing too. And when accompanied by those not happy about the current state we're in, I love shooting off looks that say "I have no idea why you aren't laughing, too, because this is really fun."

So go out, and have a drink. This one is on me.

The Little Willies

I might be a little late on this one, but check out this band called The Little Willies. Norah Jones is the vocalist and they are outstanding. They have a more country feel than Norah's normal stuff, but its good none the less. Check out the youtubes at the bottom of the post.

By the way, is there anyone who has increased their sex appeal with their music more than Norah Jones? Now I will admit that she is beautiful regardless, but with her music, I think she is one of the most attractive people in the biz.

Fans I hate...

I like to think I'm a pretty good fan of any sport I watch. I try not to hate on teams and I try not to gloat when my team succeeds. But there are two fan bases I cannot stand, and for completely different reasons.

Before I get into this, I would like to say that I am an OSU fan and as such, I realize that we too can be quite arrogant. I think the recent past has humbled our fan base significantly, but we surely aren't the ones to be modeled off of. I try to be a good ambassador for OSU by not heckling our visiting fans, offering them drinks at our tailgates, and just being friendly.

So, my first worst choice is .... the UK basketball fans (sorry Murr Nation -- you might be the exception). You know how UC football fans have been obnoxious this year (especially towards OSU fans), but you are willing to let it slide because this is the first time they are truly in the national spotlight? Well thats how UK fans act EVERY YEAR. And they never stop talking about UK basketball, no matter how apathetic you try to act.

My second most disliked fan base .... Xavier University. This fan base surely parallels the GCL fan base of high school sports. But I find them to be snobby, arrogant, and extremely condescending. When they win, they act like they are better than you because of their team. When they lose, they act like it doesn't matter because they are better than you. I don't get it.

I realize this is stereotyping, but..... its true. OK, maybe not, but it certainly feels that way.

Sweet Tees

I stumbled upon these two really awesome tee shirt companies. Christmas gift anyone?!?

The first one, No Mas Apparel, is a New York based company that makes shirts inspired by old boxing tee shirts. They also have some pretty cool baseball shirts, including this one, which shows the Reds some love. I'm not even going to point out my favorites because there are too many.

The same designer also has some great boxing paintings in the "Rumblevision" link under the "Artwork" heading. But perhaps my favorite thing from this guy is his animated film on Doc Ellis' no hitter. He has it on his web site, but below is the youtube version.

The second designer I found, Homage Clothing, is from right here in Columbus. He naturally has a lot of great Ohio State shirts (like this Archie Griffin design), but I enjoy his tribute to NYC's Rucker Park.

Sample Junkie

Some of you might remember the DJ Funktual, from his role as the Sample Junkie. He is that 40 year old DJ that picks modern hip-hop songs and points out the old school song they stole the beat from.

Well today I am my own sample junkie, granted he probably put this on one of his videos, its just hard for me to know considering he has posted over 320 songs on his youtube channel.

Check out this Black Eyed Peas song, especially the guitar riff in the background from 0:38 to 1:07.

Ok, now check out this jazz standard being played by the Wynton Kelly Trio. The riff is right at the beginning.

Another reason why I love jazz.

A Little Lemon Jelly on your Toast

I've been diggin this duo, Lemon Jelly, lately. They have great grooves and I'm all for it. My favorites are below.

The second video comes off of their concept album '64-'95, where they sample various songs from that time period and turn them into their own brand of elctronica. Its a pretty cool album from head to toe. The song they sampled in '76 is here. Its a pretty funky song in its own right.

Check 'em out.