Borrowed Time
So tommorow I'll be doing another world famous 8-page book report. I have to finish reading today. Bleh. I still find it fair absurd that on top of any writing(whih can be substantial) I do for the paper each week I also have to write these reports, and a weekly reaction paper. All told thats ten pages for the weekend. what ever happend to "The weekend is for not-work?" Ok so this is me bitching, but I still have a dream internship. I could be like poor Will and be writing about green-contructed matresses. However he may ahve advantage in the sense that they've promissed him a freelance position at the magazine when he's done. I on the other hand will simply havea ton of clips when I'm done. We'll see how it works out. So here's a really long rant on nothing in particular.
I haven't had a story that I've been super excited about in a couple of weeks. I've just sort of been grinding on pretty mundane, dead-end stuff and I'm getting annoyed with it. I think my editors see that too, but they don't really step in, its not their job. I just need to dig a bit more. I'm a little dissapointed because my crappy roomate has landed the Joe Bruno trial story. Its arbitrary really. He wasn't busy and the trial was starting the next day.I had four stories that week. Still, this is a major story, and could be something important for a young writer's career. It's also the kind of story that he'll keep following and will have a definite end. As a journalist that looks really good. I guess it bothers me that he got it partly because he bothers me. Thats a shitty thing to say, I know, but in truth he's just so immature about the most menial things that it makes him ahrd to live with. I will say he's inteligent. and can be quite well spoken when he want's too, but very often his response to and argument or situation amounts to "Fuck that!" or "Thats Fuckin Stupid."
So, yes it bothers me a bit that he gets a good story handed to him and I get to keep digging. It's funny because I found out that a lot of the other writers are put off by my dear roomate also. He apprently takes to just circling whole paragraphs and putting 're-write' next to them when we're editing, but doesn't initial them. Again this sounds childish for me to complain about, but allow me to explain. If he were to, say, point the offending paragraph out to the person and ask them why they had done tha,then thats fine. We all do that, question each other's choice of wording, sentance structure, all that jazz.. It's a process that is constructive without being offending to the writer. My roomate doesn't do this, he doesn't even talk to the writer(which is often me or our other roomate bob) he just circles it, says re-write and leaves it to the imagination. This I see more as a passive agressive attack than a constructive critisim. Our editor even called him out on it last week, he came back into the room and pointed out my roomates mark and asked who it was who did it. When he finally spoke up our editirot said "Well, did you talk to the author about it?" to his emmarasement he had to answer no, to which our editor said "Well it stays, don't just write 're-write anymore' ." So yeah it's nice to know that it's not just Bob and I who are getting sick our our roomate.
Well spewing bile is fun isn't it? I wish I had more to talk about other than my dislike of people. Really when all you do is report news everyday other things fall by the wayside a bit. I have been digging some albums lately. I really can't get enough of the album Into Lake Griffy by Good Luck. It's well, kinda nerdy/emotional/hard/ fast music. To say it's just pop punk isn't giving it enough credit. There's something about the midwest that seems to be producing a very vivid range of music right now, and it makes me happy. I think NY has gotten stale in terms of knowing whats new and interesting. The people down in Brooklyn are so wrapped up in the idea of being on the edge of 'hip' that they are completely missing the point, like art for art's sake you have new for new' sake. There's a substance to Music that I think a lot of people in NY are missing right now.
Ok, a bit off target there, but lets continue. The most recent Star Fucking Hipsters album has really grown on me. I still don't think it flows as well as Until We're Dead', but then again that became my fall back album last spring so I'm a bit biased. That said SFH manages to pull out more songs about how our world is screwed and our government is corrupt and disgusting quite well. i do enjoy their work. I also like that they arn't trying to act like they're all still 20, because quite frankly they're getting old for punk, old being 30's. It doesn't mean they have to stop playing, just I guess recogize their age pretty much. I need to better flesh out this concept, because maturitiy isn't a proper description of how this band acts. Anyway a solid album, and no songs I hate. All and all I'm glad I got it.
I listend to the first Lush album yesterday, and also recently heard the latest Mission Of Burma album. I throw them together because a lot of folks I heard from said I'd really be into these albums. To them I say, meh. I don't hate them really, and infact I may give the Lush album another shot. However I was sort of expecting that "oh damn, this is amazing and will be forever part of my life" feeling, ok that was a bit descriptive. Anyway that did't ahppen. Mission Of Burma was loud and a bit chaotic, but npnot so much in a natural way. it feels like they're pushing themselves to be that way instead of just playing and sound like that, and that is never good. Lush on the other hand is really going for something. I can see why people think of them as a major shoegaze band, but they arn't on the order of my bloody valentine.
It's also the time of the year where I'm not as interested in upbeat music. The cold weather brings that sort of creative melacholy I like so much. Thats an oxymorn I suppose, "Oh yes I just love a good melancholy!' but then I've never been quite right in the head. Anyway my desire for an upbeat sound and fast tempo wains a bit. Instead I'm more in the mood for heavier, introspective stuff. It gets darker earlier, so does my psyche. So it's been an explosions in the sky sort of week, with a spot of old Poison the well. oh thenk you November. Not much else to say, except that if you've read this entire strange rant I'm sorry. I have no one to talk to this weekend, and this is what happend because of it.