what the shit!! i don't understand

ok seriously. what the fuck is this. i mean it's totally awesome but they stole my name

no, i don't feel any different - turning 30 hasn't yet given me any unique insight into life or the universe or new deep philosophical truths. what i know i knew when i was 29 - that my life is probably the best it's ever been, and is getting better every day.

i'm going to be in new york for the summer, putting my "new journalism" skills to work for the human rights watch. objectivity be damned; at least i'll be working for an organization that promotes social and economic justice, all the while helping to solidify the already pervasive (and ostensibly well-founded) sense of liberal-guilt (i'm pretty sure that's today's american dream.) hopefully while i'm working there the rate of middle-aged people committing suicide won't go up any further (it's already at a record-high.)

i'll be living in the bronx, a borough that in some aspects is arguably very similar to my current somewhat-permanent home of oakland: a past of bad publicity, a diverse population, descending crime rates, increasing gentrification. i'm going to visit 1520 sedgwick avenue, although if there's no cast-in-bronze sculpture of grandmaster flash, i'll be sorely disappointed.

it's ironic or coincidental that i'll finally be seeing new york just in the wake of both robert rauschenberg's death and the tearing down of the cgbg. for a long time, both for me represented the fantastic heaving metropolis of always-on lights that i imagined glowing in my head.

i will mourn the loss of both.

best birthday present ever: jonnie got joss to sign this for my birthday.

READ THIS SERIES!!! the first 4-issue arc has just completed, and it has everything and more you could ever ask for if you watched the show. the same characters we love, plus some new ones. plus, joss signed mine so you should read it. AND come to the serenity screening on june 22nd, the day before joss' (and jonnie's, coincidentally), birthday. at the hollywood theater. do it!

for anybody who hasn't heard, i've been accepted to the master's of journalism program at uc berkeley, and will start there this fall. jonnie and i are moving there in august.

so, we're looking for a place to live. probably in oakland or maybe in berkeley. shit's expensive, so if anybody has any leads on a good inexpensive neighborhood or somebody who's looking for new housemates come the fall, we'd love to hear about it. any tips on commuting in the bay area would be nice as well.

spike and mike review

i've be so unmotivated to blog here. but one of these days, it will happen again.

i know, my blogs suck. here's more merc reviews:


the conformist

the passenger

another mercury clip:

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=35400&category=22133

last one on the page.

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=35135&category=22133

AND

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=35074&category=22191
(dreamer, mid-way down the page)

this is gay (as in film festival)

i also saw the most amazing movie last night, and didn't even have to pay for it. seriously, if it cost $10000000000 to see Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story, then i would have paid it. dakota fanning is worth every penny.