Earthquake

I am slowly remembering all the topics given to us to blog about (Sowwy!)

I did ask my father the other day if he remembers the movie Earthquake, he said that he didn't remember, but that he took me on the Universal Studios Earthquake Ride when I was very young and how I got scared that we were going to drown inside a subway with water filling up around us. I guess I buried that memory deep down in my subconscious for good reason.

The Video Art pieces presented in class.

All the video art pieces presented in class today were equally amazing as they were unique. I personally enjoyed Elizabeth's video of her applying lipstick and then once applied, rubbed it all over the window with her lips. The dark tone and feel of the video both gave off a sort of "noir"-ish feel while the content of the video was all very sexual. The video also felt as if it was channeling influence from Piplotti Rist.

Another video I really enjoyed was Micheal's video piece where he taped himself for four minutes and thirty three seconds just because it was so simple to the point where one must ask if it is truly art.

Great Job Everyone!!

Electronic Music

By now that the class may know, and based around alot of my previous blog post(s) both for the class and personal, A good amount of my time revolves around writing and recording electronic music in my project Silent Ill back home in the Maryland/ DC area, which has been writing/recording/ for the past year and a half sending tracks back and forth over the internet for us to both tweak and and attempt to perfect.

I originally got into electronica many years back when I first heard many more downtempo acts such as The Postal Service (Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie's electronic Project) and Telefon Tel Aviv, which when I in early high school eventually grew into a love for other groups and performers such as Cocorosie, Bjork, Milosh, etc. Yet at this point in my musical career I was still more concerned with writing and playing heavier music such as metal,screamo/scramz,and punk/Hardcore.

As I graduated high school and went into my first year of college, I was listening to a wide range of music from death metal to ambient, but within my love for electronica specifically,I started listening to more aggressive acts which are easier to dance to such as Justice, MSTRKRFT, Daft Punk, Crystal Castles,and many more Dj's in general. I started to go to many dance parties in Boston when I could with friends who lived in the city and fell in love with the rush of it.

When I transferred down to the University Of Tampa, I quickly became apart of the crowd down at Czar with nights like Pulp (Whom I also do street team/ promotion for) where I was exposed to many more Dj's and producers such as Designer Drugs. Although I love dance music in general, I've always enjoyed electronica more, just based around the fact that although trance/house/ fidget house are enjoyable, but I feel that electronica specifically has much more song writing substance to it.

as of the past year and a half however, ever since I've been writing my own electronic music, I've noticed that electronic music has been a big hit with the youth who are more affiliated with (a word I hate to use) an "alternative" subculture. The subcultures of the indie/hardcore (or more ignorantly yet true to a certain extent known as emo/scene, depending on whom your discussing) worlds have also a few years back began to incorporate electronic elements into their music, as for example one of my favorite Post-Hardcore bands The Receiving End Of Sirens who meshed experimental Post Hardcore with down-tempo electronica and drum machines.

I believe that electronica has become so accessible within the past few years to these many different subgenres and subcultures working towards to mesh electronic elements with their own personal music preferences is due to the widespread availability of easy to use programs such as Apple's Garageband or the PC equivalent Fruity Loops, allowing users to easily create songs regardless of owning any musical equipment at all as well as once mastering novice level programs like garageband can move up to better and different electronic music programs such as Logic, Cubase, Reason, or Ableton.

Last semester, I took an introduction to electronic music class with Professor Blackburn (If anyone is interested in taking it do, its a lot of fun to take as an elective) where I learned about both the creation and theory surrounding electronic music as well as it's origins and history. A lot of the history that we covered in class crosses over into what we covered in Art In Technology, from The Futurists to John Cage to Wendy/Walter Carlos, etc. What we didn't cover in Blackburn's class though was the modern evolution of Electronic music for what people are listening to today, it gave me a interesting perspective to how Electronic music is written and created such as how a lot of it came from post punk and more alternative acts at the time. I really enjoyed how we listened to such groups as New Order and Depeche Mode, two acts who as of late (even before that class) I have been listening to quite frequently as well as other "older" groups such as the Pet Shop Boys among others. The new wave of electronica varies and there is no real definite sound one can give electronic music for the most part other than the instruments for the most part are all electronic.

Some more mainstream modern acts I do recommend for anyone who is interested in listening though:

Passion Pit ( a 5 piece live electronics band from MA, they've been blowing up since the summer and are still continuing to gain fans all over)

Junior Boys ( a 2 piece act from Toronto Canada, who I had the pleasure of seeing 2 months ago in Ybor, they are great who write very minimalist yet catchy and emotional songs)

Crystal Castles (Another 2 piece act from Canada, CC write songs that are as equally calming as they are sporatic and aggressive, they have also been remixing many other's music such as bands like Health and Van She. They have been blowing up for the past few years and if you haven't heard them yet, you really do not want to miss out)

Chromeo ( yet Another 2 piece act from Canada, for those who enjoy 80's Michael Jackson inspired electro who are as fun to listen to as they are technical with there electronics, there album Fancy Footwork has been in heavy rotation with what I've been listening to since it came out)

Projects!

I have needed to catch up on this. I am absolutely awful when it comes to updating my blog.

Here are a few of the projects I've done this semester:

My Grid Art Piece:



My Xerox Piece:



I was inspired to make a guitar with wings by the song "Atoms Smash" by Weatherbox based after the line " My strings grow wings and hands."

My performance art piece will shortly be up on the internet soon. It was a fun and interesting experience especially because of the Woman staring at me from the window of her quite posh and lavish salon with an excessive amount of tin foil in her hair and product on her face. I bet she thought that I looked really stupid.

I wanted to follow the assignment and show how I relate to technology, and I decided to use the vocoder on my synthesizer to communicate because as of the last year and a half I have spent a majority of my time writing and recording electronic music. I write music in general to express my emotions so I wanted to bridge the gap between that and actual communication, which is something I want to accomplish through my music by being able to "speak to people" and trigger an emotional response.

For my video art piece (which will also be on the blog soon) I decided to take a piece of electronic music that I have been working on for the past month, simplify it, and have it cued to a time lapse of the campus from outside my window to capture a few hours at UT from a high point encompassing as much as I could. Unfortunately, the tape in my camera only ran for an hour and a half, which I cut down to somewhere between 3:29-4 minutes, yet it was still able to capture a good amount of action. The track I put to the video originally had some auto tuned vocals (technology makes me a better singer, I won't lie about that) and a vocoder part as well, but didn't make much sense in context of the video so I ended up cutting that from the video.

This is how art and technology makes me feel!

update

1) I go back to School soon

2) Summer is obviously ending

3) Silent Ill has a myspace

Myspace.com/theyusedtosaythisplacewashaunted

CHECK IT OUT.

4) Chris and I also started our post rock- Screamo hybrid. It's called Komorov, named after the first man to die in space.

5) I'm adapting the Neil Gaiman story " How To Talk To Girls At Parties" for my narrative production class this coming semester.

6) Clint and I were asked to act in a short film that Tom Garret will be directing, obviously I'm playing the tall hippie and Clint will be playing the 14 year old jew. Great casting all around.

7) All I spend my money on are guitar pedals. Pictures of the toys soon to come.

8) I was also asked to work in the recording studio this year by my Electronic Music professor, I'll be learning a lot so I'm pretty excited

9) I also started my full length, a mixture of drama and fantasy along the lines of Pan's Labyrinth, but really nothing like that film at all.

10) The best movies I've seen this summer are : Drag me to hell, Inglorious Basterds, District 9, and Ponyo.

11)I love my dog, cupcakes, and cartoons.

Memories

I kissed the first girl I ever cared about at an arcade inside the Jurassic Park jeep game. I promised her I would protect her from the raptor’s fangs and Jeff Goldblum’s typecasting. It was the first honest promise I ever made and kept.

Goodnight sweet prince

Pay your respects.

And to the glorious past:

La Dispute was incredible as I had hoped them to be.
One of the most cathartic and honest band's I've heard in quite a while.








You still cross my mind from time to time.

And I mostly smile.

Michael Bay, Must your life constantly be a spectacle?

Phantom Limbs

So it's been about 2 weeks since the last entry.

Dear internet, I severely apologize for my lack of interaction with you. I have been very busy.

A recap!

I bought my new synth finally! It is a Korg R3, which I believe is an awesome synth and an incredible vocoder. Many new parts to songs are being written with it and I'm excited for the end product.

That same day on Tuesday, Mike informed me of an extra Passion Pit ticket that he had because Devon had to end up working. However, the will call tickets were under her name so before the show we had to drive out to Georgetown and get her id and credit card from her while she worked.

The show was pretty fun, and Passion Pit did a good job live but it confusing seeing a high number of bro kids at the show. Oh well, they still did a great job.

A few days later, Mike, Arian, Ryan, Mark, Devon and others all went to the Rock and Roll Hotel to see the Number Twelve Looks Like You and The Dillinger Escape Plan. It is very sad to say that The Number Twelve Looks Like You did a terrible fucking job live. They lost their ryththm guitarist as well as their second vocalist. The band is now only a husk of what it once was.

The Dillinger Escape Plan did an incredible job though. Stupidly, I was positioned in the very front and center of the stage, not remembering how much Dillinger tears clubs up. When the band came on, not only was I slightly impaled by the speaker by the pushing of other crowd goers, but the screen that the Rock and Roll Hotel has was pulled down by the singer and hit me in the back of the neck.
Ouch.
By the time I was able to make it out alive and to find my friends, I was covered in sweat and feeling gross.
I went outside of the venue to get some air and some water and I sat down on a set of stairs that upon first sitting down, I did not realize that at the top of these stairs awaited a homeless man deep in slumber.
An elderly ghetto woman (May I remind you that I am in North East DC) sat down next to me where we shared an interesting dialogue.

The only way I can express this dialogue is to write it for the screen:

Max(20) is sitting on a small set of stairs breathing slightly heavily looking through his Iphone. From half a block away, the club can be seen with people and a tour bus outside. Music can be slightly heard from where Max is sitting.

An Elderly Black Woman(50's) comes and sits down next to Max.

Elderly Black Woman:
Is that one of those IMachines?

Max:
Oh, you mean an Iphone?

EBW:
Your fucking high.

Max:
What?
FIN

I soon after that went inside and finished watching the show. Before we dropped Mike and Devon off in Georgetown, we stopped at quick pita for some Middle Eastern yum yums.

That weekend, Arian's parents went out of town so on Friday, Arian and I went around grabbing stuff for the party and we all went to Rio beforehand and ate Mexican yum yums. It was a pretty good night and time where I blasted electro from Arian's computer the entire night. Rohan had his Norwigian friend/ Frat brother and his friend's friend from Norway come to the party as well. Overall, it was a super fun time.

The next day, Arian's band You Should Be Dead played a house show in College Park so I went with him and the guys to help out and dance/ do merch for them. There was a keg of yuengling there which made all the shitty bands sound decent. I ran into some people I don't really talk to anymore and it shows that people never really do change and continue to surround themselves with mediocrity passing their lives off as gold, but I was friendly and kept having a good time.

You Should Be Dead played a great set and that night and afterwords we all went back to Arian's for another party. Most of the people there were Arian's sister's bro friends who I made fun and addressed them as 'Bra'. When I put on some music one of the bros cursed the gods and screamed "what the fuck is this?" Overall a very good night regardless of driving to D.C at 5 in the morning.

The next day, My brother and I drove 3 hours to go to Bethany Beach to meet up with my Mom and Sister where we played many rounds of mini golf and walked around boardwalks. It was a relaxing time. I then came back a few days later and enjoyed the house to myself for a few days as well.

I started working for my Dad last Friday at his office doing all kinds of stuff involving charts and organizing among other activities fit for an office slave, at least I'm getting paid and such.

Speaking of fathers, for Fathers day or as I like to call Pep Pep day, My brother and I got him a box set of Mel Brooks movies, Transporter 3( because he loves Jason Statham, lol), and a Matthew Mcconaughey box set collection as a joke with such critically acclaimed( ha) movies such as Sahara, Failure To Launch, and How To Lose A Guy in Ten Days.
Last night was sort of dissapointing. Chris and I drove out to Fredrick to see a show that La Dispute was having and we picked up Chris' girlfriend Stacy on the way only to learn that we missed La Dispute's set that happened earlier that day. :( :( :( :( :( :(

But hopefully their having another show tonight in College Park which I will be attending for sure. :)

I can't wait.

I must go now and find sustinence.

barfday

So I'm 20.
Cool
No longer a teenager

A little more wiser
A little more jaded
A little closer to the grave

Last night Colleen and Ana and I went to the cheesecake factory and to see Drag Me To Hell for a second time, not to celebrate my birth but just because and I wanted to hang out with Colleen before she left for Europe.
Ana and Colleen screamed "happy birthday Max Great Job!" when the clock struck twelve.
That was really nice of them. It made me very happy.

Today was kinda fun/ a little arduous but hopefully it's not over yet.
It was Kyra's graduation today so my family and I went down to D.C to D.A.R constitution hall where I had to sit through nostalgic bullshit "oh the memories" speeches from valedictorians and class presidents. The White House Press Secretary spoke at the graduation though which was pretty interesting. I am proud of my sister, good job Kyra.

Afterwords, we went to this really good restaurant near GWU called the Founding Farmers. It was quite delicious, yet most likely bad for my body .

I don't like throwing myself parties, so I won't have one. I think throwing yourself a party in my opinion a little attention seeking and fishing for complements, but I can also be wrong. But if someone wants to throw me a party that's more than amazing and cool of them.

Maybe I'll have friends who surprise me tonight.
Maybe
Maybe not.

Tattoo Idea?

On my arm perhaps?

Summer: a Recap so far

Summer has been going well thus far.
Much has happened since my last post.
I'll be brief.

Friends and family have been good. I seriously need a job, its actually my main obstacle as of this moment.

The detox from Florida has been doing well, yet I still miss all my Tampa friends and I really need to dance and rage. badly.

Ive also been to some GWU parties because Arian's friends are staying for the summer.
Apparently Joose and Loco exist in DC/MD as well.
Great.

Arian Is Not Passed out on Mike, just letting you know.

Sabrina and her roommate Jess and I saw Dan Deacon, it was a marvelous and surreal adventure.
One concert goer dressed as a shark.Another concert goer dressed as Space Ghost.

Silent ill has been recording, were working on a new song at the moment titled:
"Serif, Sans-Serif"
It's got some really cool vocoder parts and a chorus that will make the kids swoon.
Those who know me will know what this is alluding to.
Don't worry. I'm fine, this is the last you'll hear of it, promise.


Arian, Ryan, myself, and perhaps Giggles are starting a Party Metal band titled Skeeter Gabriel, which is a combination of Skeeter from Doug and Peter Gabriel.
Kids better be ready to dance.

The crew and I saw Terminator Salvation, it was pretty meh. The film looked cool, but the plot was kinda silly and convoluted.

Mike, Devon and I saw Holy Fuck at the Rock and Roll Hotel where we went to Sticky Rice before hand and ate yummy food.
Holy Fuck did a great great great job.

Chris and I went to the American Apparel open call this past Friday, I don't think we got the jobs but were crossing our fingers.
Silent ill needs money.

Yesterday, Arian and I saw Drag Me To Hell, and it was honestly one of the best modern horror movies I've seen.
Hands Down.
Sam Raimi delievered an incredible job re-creating classic horror films without being too over the top and rediculous while keeping it both equally funny and scary. I was very very impressed.

That night, Mike and I went to go see Isis and Pelican play at the Black Cat, who both played amazing amazing sets. Mike, Devon and I afterwords went to The Diner in Adams Morgan. I forgot why we don't go there on Saturdays anymore. It's way too crowded and loud.

I forgot how beautiful the District looked at 4 am under a light rain.
It was nice being alone for once.

Today was interesting.
My family brought back a dog!
A PUPPY!
A 10 week old Cockadoodle puppy :D :D :D
I am consumed by the cuteness. I am a slave to it.
My family agreed on naming him Jet. But that will probably change
I wanted to call him The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.
Jet is actually sleeping in my lap as I write this blog entry.
It's quite precious.

Tomorrow entails more jobhunting and running.
Maybe I'll take the dog on a walk.

The past few weeks + A farwell for now to Tampa

I am currently sitting in the Tampa airport with my father.

It is 1:21 pm. Our flight is not until 6:50, our attempt of getting on an earlier flight failed and now were sitting in the airport.

These past few weeks have contained a plethora of emotions:

some nights were great
some nights arduous
some filled with anxiety,
some filled with regret
some nights were drunk
some nights were empty
many nights contained dancing.
some nights filled with concepts and ideas
some nights contained confusion
all nights contained laughter


and most importantly,
Some nights contained triumph
and all nights contained friendship.

The people who I didn't want to see ever again resurfaced, and I reverted to being my old fashioned cynical self who told these people the things that they would never realize by themselves.

My words continue to be justified and I'll continue to stand by them.

Exams for the most part went OK, I'm pretty sure I did well for the most part.

Last night was a wonderful last night and final hurrah to kick off my 3-4 month absence from the city of Tampa.

Brittany, Kristen, and I all went to Czar, where we celebrated Brittany's conversion to real life the next day and her graduation as well as my last night. Congratulations Brittany, you will make us proud :)

It was nice to see my Czar regular friends, such as Michelle Housel, Black haired Michelle (sorry, I don't know your last name), Nolan, and George among many others.

In the end. Its just silly how things work out.

It's time to start detoxing from this state known as Florida.
I need to get on a normal and healthy sleep schedule.

These past two semesters have been filled with some of the most wonderful as well as the most terrible times in my life.

I am incredibly grateful for everyone who I have met, both who have impacted my life for better and for worse. Both sides of people from both emotional spectrum's will result in my transformation into the person I will continue to live my life as.

A series of letters:

To the closest of friends,
I love you all. Please remain the same for when I return, you are all the greatest people in the world and I cannot think of anyone better to spend my first year with. I must apologize for the weeks and nights where I was an emotional wreck, I apologize, I have a tendency to be dramatic. Please don't let the dance floor change without me, I'll be back soon enough. I'll miss you. Keep in touch.
With Love,
Max

To my enemies,
I hope you never learn to love, I hope you continue to swoon to an orchestra of cannons, bringing your wars and insecurities to the doorsteps of your lovers and families.
Lets see where these nights take you.
It's time to face yourself, and ask if your deserving of the pigmentation that your eyes hold.
I have so many things to say to certain people, as well as nothing to say to others.
One day, you will choke on your words and no one will bother to help you cough them up.
Sincerely,
Max

To the city of Tampa,
I need a break.
I need sleep.
I need to record.
I need to see my friends.
I need to focus on my creative endeavors.
I need to learn more.
I need to write.
I need to create.
I need to be more positive about more things.
I need to prove to everyone that certain concepts do exist, despite the cynical outlook that my generation has immersed itself within.

I love you, but promise me that you won't be completely immersed in salt water by the time I get back. I cannot tread water forever. But for now, I must save myself. Many wonderful and terrible nights have been spent with you, and you still continue to sing the same alluring songs that I'll continue to dance to. By the time I return, I will meet even more new people, and make even more friends than I have this year.
Even deep within in the District, I will still feel the urge to swoon to your swan songs.

Stay true to your decadent self,
Max

It's a miracle that I am able to function right now.

I'll see everyone in Tampa in 3-4 months!

Dear people of the District, I will be returning tonight!

Falcon Jab

This past week and weekend is proving to me things are looking up :)

It was strange though, both John and Clint went M.I.A which had Ciara as well as myself pretty worried.

I did find John on Thursday though which was a relief.
Brittany and Colleen and I went to the UT Drag show which was a treat, I saw my head RA do drag and one of my professors who I'm taking next semester show one of his videos of when he used to do drag. It was a really entertaining show. Good Job guys and gals.

Later on that night I went out to the Castle as usual with Brittany, Colleen, John, Gina, and Brittany's and Gina's friends Erik and Mikee who were both pretty chill guys.

As usual we all had a pretty good time and I ran into a few people I knew which was great as well. As we were leaving, I ran into Nolan, and he informed me of great news, that after the Ratatat show on Friday, they would be having a DJ set at Czar :) This made me so incredibly excited, being that I was already planning on going to both.

On Friday, many people went home for Easter, including Ciara which made me feel like an abandoned child :( I also registered for classes for next semester which consist of : Poetry Writing, Narrative Production, Screenwriting, and Art and Technology.

In other news, I was planning on going to Ratatat with Clint and John, but Clint was still M.I.A and John wanted to sleep so I was planning on going to the show alone like a loser, but in a random turn, Michelle (the girl with the sunflower in her hair from the past post) texted me and asked if I was going, and I met up with her and her friends who go to Ringling with her. They were all super nice and we all had a great time :)


Unfortunately, Michelle and her friends did not come to czar afterwords for more good times and dancing, but I met up with Stephanie, DJ, Deserae, Brian, among the other Pulp regulars.

Randomly wandering Czar, I see Mike Stroud alone, the guitarist of Ratatat and I congratulated him on a wonderful show and we started talking about guitars:) They played an incredible DJ set along with Autoerotique who were excellent as well.
This is us bonding with silly faces with our eyes closed.

Saturday was pretty boring up until the night for the most part. I did some school work, hung out, and then John and I got pita pit and saw my good friend Sir Bob Evans, the pita pit delivery man and we discussed our musical endeavors. John and I afterwords went to Starbucks to indulge in some coffee and to discuss literature. We were thinking about going to the Orpheum, but almost everybody who usually goes were either home or going home for Easter. John and I hung out for a little bit at campus before he went to bed and I just decided to have a night in and relax my body and mind with catching up on Lost.

On Sunday, Clint returned!! We celebrated with letting Clint lick Ciara's face.It appears that he was in New Jersey having a terrible time because there's not much else in New Jersey to do. It was good to see him because he kept sending me weird emails of busted shacks and himself in a surreal make up room playing his ukulele, which had me worried even more. That night, Ciara and Clint and myself all hung out and drank wine and I found my last sparks that I thought that I drank :) We counted down til midnight for Clint's birthday which was a marvelous time.

The next day after my Modern Art class, Palmer and myself went to the Dali Museum in St. Pete for class and met up with Juliana and we enjoyed the museum. Its always good to see some of
Dali's work, I've thought about incorporating some of his motifs into my lyrics/writing such as ants representing the after death and melting instruments and such. After the museum, we dined at Zurritos on burritos and conversed about life after college being that Palmer and Juliana are both graduating at the end of the semester.

When I got back, John, Ciara and I went out to the greenwise market to get Clint a cake and his favorite blueberry beer for his birthday :) John was a little upset because he couldn't find a cake with any banana in it because Clint is allergic to bananas. What a pal.

John also was in charge of decorating the cake in a festive manner, in which he succeeded by drawing a person pooping.

When Clint came over, Ciara, John, Kitty, Addie and Mom all surprised him and I jumped out of a box, kinda like a stripper but with clothing. We sang to Clint and had him blow out his candles and all indulged in the blueberry beer that we got him, or what I call it " brewberry." Emma then came over and we continued to hang out. For his birthday, Clint convinced me to come out to a place I'll refer to as MV along with John and Emma, where by the end of the night I was broke. Clint had a great birthday though and I was glad to be there for it.

On Tuesday, the weather was a bit morose and rainy, but I enjoy the rain as a nice change of pace. This state is way too fucking hot. Ciara being the nice person that she is took me out to buy a canvas for my art class and then to buy some new shoes because my other ones are too beat up and have too many holes in them.

I spent the night procrastinating and doing homework, waking up at six in the morning the next day realizing that I fell asleep editing my script for my Writing For Electronic Communication class with my laptop on my lap, only to be locked out of class and that the script isn't due until Monday. sweet.

That night, Brittany, Colleen, and myself were invited out by Kristen to go to the social for Verse, which is a recently new electronica/indie night at a place in Ybor called the social so I decided to check it out with them :) Clint and Ciara said they would come so we all met up in her room to hang out before hand where the girls bonded over prince and Clint showed me his awesome and goofy African pants that makes him look like DJ Jazzy Jeff. unfortunately, Clint and Ciara did not end up coming out being that they were probably doing other more important things. Don't worry. I still love you both. Social was actually a very fun time, Michelle came to dance as well and we all had a really great time all dancing together :D The dance floor was a bit crowded though and I accidentally elbowed Kristen in the head with my wacky dance moves. Sorry Kristen! D: I saw a bunch of people from the other nights I go out such Brian, Nolan, John, and I ran into Emma and Levi there too who are always fun to see :)

I need to learn how to stop sweating when I dance.
Should I cut my hair?
Should I dance not as hard?
Should I cut out all my sweat glands using a surgical procedure?
Should I wear a headband?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

According to Brittany, its Marathon Week, which means that we have to rage as hard as we can before finals consume us which means:

Castle tonight, Pulp Tomorrow? Orpheum Saturday ( and I might go see The Rise Of Science before hand too :D :D :D)

I srs need to do work.

A good weekend. Finally

Dear Internet, it's been a while, let me tell you about recent happenings.

This past weekend starting Thursday, I decided actually not to go out to the castle unlike my normal Thursday nights of drinking and dancing, but instead I studied for my art history test, which I had the next day. Clint and I still ended up going to Ybor for Alaskan Tacos and a bit of walking. It was nice, we ran into Jon, who was super drunk and with his friend, I'm pretty sure his name was Dan.

When Clint and I came back to Ciara's room, we found Ciara and Kat drunk and both rollerblading with a single rollerblade for each one of them. It was quite the site to see.



When walking back to my room at about 3 in the morning, which was not the time I wanted to be awake still, two typical UT girls ask me where I'm going through a drunken slur, one of them lives in my building, and they asked me to walk them back to one girl's dorm and the other back to our building. I'm not a bad person, nor an asshole in general, so I walked them back. Unfortunately, the girl who lived in my building was overly gripping my arm and was whispering in my ear about how she was feeling regret about making out with some Swede at the bar earlier that night and for the first time cheated on her boyfriend.
Believe me when I say that this was super fun.


On Friday after classes and such, I saw that Clint got his new beautiful electric guitar, so we jammed out for a bit and then stopped by Clint's work at Creative Loafing to grab some things and then to Tijuana Flats for the millionth time. It was still delicious. We saw the cute little hipster girl who I see at all the clubs and we had a small little conversation about dancing and the clubs. ( Go back a few posts to see how Clint wierded her out)

That night, I actually ended up going to Czar for drinking and dancing with Colleen and Brittany, who are both super nice and fun to hang out with, I had fun dancing as usual and saw the usual regulars. Unfortunately, someone broke into Colleen's car and stole her purse, strangely from her trunk :( At least she was positive about it all, which was pretty admirable in my opinion, other people would waste their time crying and what not. We waited for the police for about an hour and a half and then headed back.
Although unfortunate, nothing was bleeding, nothing was truly broken.

On Saturday, I went out to the Orpheum as usual with Colleen, Brittany, and their friend Megan and had a awesome night actually, other than the fact that everytime I go to the Orpheum, I overdress and end up sweating my ass off. So yeah, I was a drunk/sweaty mess. I did run into fun people as usual too such as Jon, Fidel, Vicky, etc etc. I danced harder than I usually did that night for some reason, well it works out in my favor overall. A girl with a sunflower in her hair said I owed her a dance. I also saw a guy in a Thriller outfit which made me pretty happy. After we left, the girls decided to go to the wall mart supermarket and then we nommed on meatless corndogs and hung out briefly at Brittany's room before walking Colleen back to her dorm.
Very good night.

Sunday was pretty routine, until I remembered that Mary's mother and Brother Matt came to UT to visit the school, unfortunatly since Mary is a huge tool, she couldn't come down, and I had a great time with her family I got breakfast with them and then later in the day after they saw the school and such they took me out for a super nice dinner where I basically convinced Mary's mother to kick out Mary of her family so I can have all of her stuff and her room when I get mad at my biological parents :D She agreed.
This is true.

In other news, I have so much work to start and for some reason, I'm writing about my weekend. sweet.

an overload of senses + laments. GGKTHNXBAI

Its 4:52 now, and I'm in Ciara's room working on a plethora of work that needs to be finished for tomorrow.
Procrastination wins again ( as shown by writing this post now instead of later when it should be done).
I guess I just need to vent.

Thursday: Castle was fun as usual, as a joke I wrote Silent ill on the request sheet, obviously they didn't play anything, it would be weird if somehow they managed to get one of our songs, but still, hopefully it will happen.
One day.

Czar on Friday was fun as usual, I ran into Laura and her friends there which was a surprise because they hardly ever go there. We danced a bit and hung out, it was a pretty routine night.

On Saturday, Ciara, John, and Kitty went to Sensory Overload at the honey pot that Clint and the rest of Creative Loafing was working, and we had a pretty good time. I met up with Jon, Cat, Addie, and Gina there. I also saw some of Clint's work friends who are also super nice. Unfortunatly I didn't see as much art as I expected to, but I still had a good time regardless. I was planning on going to the Orpheum, but I just wasn't feeling it by the time that Sensory Overload had finished. I walked back to campus from Ybor with John, where we had a good talk and he made me feel better.

I'd like to thank my friends again for helping me out during my frustrating times, and dealing with me complain about my life despite everyone's problems and frustrations.
I appreciate all the advice, even if it contradicts each others.
I love you all.

In other news, I'll try to be as brief about this as possible, yet I don't expect it to.
I know you read this.
I hope you read this.
And despite your intellect, there are more mature ways about going about this.
If I wronged you, I apologize, yet I would expect you to tell me like an adult instead of avoiding me like the little girl your making yourself out to be.
I don't want to come across as angry or bitter in this passage, but this venture was short lived, and hopefully for a good reason, that is still unknown to me.
Remember that I still stand by the words I said and will continue to say.
If you want to burn bridges between us, including you and my friends, then I honestly won't stop you. Enjoy your weekends, continue to party the hardest, and try not to drive yourself off the dance floor just because we crossed paths at some point in time.
Hopefully one day we can sit down and discuss this like rational adults who have ambitions and lives.
You will continue to speak in poetry, while I'll continue to sing in prose.

In need of getting my groove back

This weekend has been filled with a bunch of inconveniences as usual, but with some quite awesome moments.

But I've also been extremely grateful for having really awesome friends here in Tampa help me out immediately despite my inconveniences. Thank you : Ciara, John, Clint, Cat, and I apologize to whom I've forgot to mention.

Dear internet,
When re-reading my past first few postings, it sounds like I am a pretty negative person about most things who wraps things/events/people in sarcasm, but I assure you internet that I am not a negative person. You've just caught me at a somewhat frustrating time. I apologize. plz forgive me.
Sincerely,
Max.

On Friday, after doing a bit of drinking, Clint and John's friend JP and I went to Czar, unfortunately we could not get out there till the last hour, but it was still nice to see the regulars there and dance a little bit even though I had sobered up immensely and was unable to tap into my usual groove.

I must get my groove back.
Somehow.

Saturday: Saturday was pretty routine, hung out/drank with everyone
Meant to go to the Orpheum with Stephanie, Cat, and Desirae, but for some stupid reason it was specifically 21+ for the night so we couldn't get in. Which is a shame because I was looking forward to seeing people I know. The girls dragged me to Czar which was vacant, and I soon left them after that due to not having enough cash or any interest to go to Gbar.

I called Clint to tell him my situation, and without question he came to pick me up and I bought him some super tasty Lucky Strike Ciggerettes for being such an awesome friend to come pick me up, for some reason I've developed a strange tendency to buy ciggarettes when I'm drunk and then have one and then never smoke the rest. Is anyone interested in some lucky strikes?

We then went to that Alaskan Taco place where we dined on good food and I ran into one of my club regular friends which was cool and I saw Sir Bob Evan's girlfriend who worked there, who is super nice.

On Sunday, Clint and Ciara and I went to Sam ash, where we played on guitars and synths for a while. I played on my dream synth with an incredible Vocoder and it was quite amusing when Clint called his mother using the vocoder, she thought he was a robot.

After that we went to Petco where we played with ferrets and looked at kute animals and said that every animal reminded us of John.

We also tried going to the mall so I could get some new shoes that weren't beat up or had holes in them, but unfortunatly it was closed. This weekend will contain new shoes.

That night I departed from the gang for a while to do some work and then when I returned to Ciara's room, I brought my copy of Salo because Clint asked me to, but it was kinda hard to watch as a bonding experience being that the movie is about rape and torture.

Yesterday was also pretty routine up untill my phone fell, and had to go to the apple store to wait around a bit to constantly check facebook for an hour and a half before getting called to the Genius Bar because I didnt want to make Ciara wait with me and I thank her for being a great friend and driving me and such, I sometimes feel like a burden because I have no car here. After they "fixed" my phone, Clint and Ciara picked me up and then after we dropped Ciara off, Clint and I went to this incredible burger place that Clint was telling me about previously in the week called Square One Burger. Absolutly amazing, its a make your own burger place, but like with super interesting sauces and combinations such as wasabi and sun dried tomato mayo. It was absolutly amazing.

When I got back to my room after the incredibly satisfying meal, my phone started wigging out again. and now I have to bring my Iphone back again tonight. I'm honestly going to punt a child if this continues to happen.

First week back

This picture represents the many love triangles between a group of people that I am acquaintances with. I think CK was supposed to be the Tabasco sauce in the middle of it all.

This week has been a bunch of ups and downs for me I'm not sure if its more ups than downs, or the opposite of that, its probably an equal amount, balancing the pro's and cons of the week.

The first night back when seeing Ciara and Clint, somehow my keys fell off my carabiner and ended up getting locked out of my room at 2:30 in the morning. I then called Clint again and we hung out and drove around till about 6:30 in the morning and sang along to hillariously old corporate pop punk that Clint's mom had made a mix cd of in the car. We also ended up driving some dude to a hotel near USF who was trying to find a bus station at 3 in the morning. I passed out on Clint's bean bag chairs and ended up sleeping through both my Monday classes. It was quite the exhausting day which lead into the night.

I also created a trend that every time John is out of his room while I am in his room, I will change his computer background to a different picture of a cat in a sink from catsinsinks.com

Someone also stole my medication which is always respectful and nice.

Saint Patrick's day was a good time. Drank with the college famiy, it was nice to indulge in some good beer for a change. John's friends came down from Jersey to come visit him and they are also super nice as John is. I visited CK for a bit that night which is also great cause CK is a great guy.

Unfortunatly this week up untill now I've had the worst headaches and found it hard to collect myself mentally. But stuff happens. Misunderstandings also slightly bum me out.

On Thursday, besides sleeping all day in Ciara's room because for some reason I was a mess, not a emotional or drunk mess, but just exhausted. Later that night, I went to Castle to dance with Laura and her two friends from her hometown back in MA, they were both very nice and fun to hang out with. I had a good time seeing people that I had not seen in a while =)

Today, Clint being the good friend that he is, drove me around while I accomplished errands with Doctors and pharmacies and then we went to guitar center again we played around on banjos, synths, and guitars for another two hours straight. It was also goofy to see a carnival right outside guitar center which was super carny and over exaggerated many things such as chicken tenders and big prizes.

It made me smile to see a graviton.

My mom also sent me weird goofy shampoos in the mail.
Now I can seduce many while smelling like a Belgian Waffle.

Clint and I soon after guitar center went to Tijuana Flats where we got dinner and conversed which is always nice.

I hope that the weekend brings better things when we all go out to Czar tonight and possibly the Orpheum tomorrow :)

Being home pt.2 : The Empire Strikes Back

Today was my younger brother's birthday which was nice, earlier this week I got him the Criterion Collection edition of Dazed and Confused, a book called Brocabulary (which I saw and had to get it for him) and something else which for some reason escaping my memory. My memory isn't usually this bad, damn.

I picked my brother up from school today and brought him to the mall so he could exchange one of his gifts for a different size. I was looking at shoes aimlessly while he meticulously chose a different pair of sunglasses that fit him better.

Later on that day my family and I went to Houston's for dinner which is always amazing but for some reason I kept getting a headache. Oh well.

it also turns out that I was turned down for my internship to the Hirshorn this summer.

AWESOME.
I was super excited for it, and now I have to figure out what I'm doing with my summer.
Oh well. Its life.

I soon met up with Chris and had a wonderful recording session which ended not too long ago, where we talked some future plans over and started planning out and recording a new track =).
Bathrooms are apparently awesome for recording vocals.

We decided to take some pictures for fun/hype spreading?

I dance while I record. Don't judge me.

Chris and I have a lot to do for the future of this project and we are planning on releasing a full length album and we hope to have some tracks up on the internet as soon as tracks are mastered. :)

In other news, I return to Tampa on Sunday and I'm very excited to see everyone :)

Being Home

Being home for spring break is nice, yet a little arduous.

I was able to see a bunch of my friends before they went back to school which was nice. Arian, Lewis and I went to Rio which is always a highlight of my homecomings where we feasted upon Mexican food which is only meant for kings.

I heard some things a few hours later though from a contact back in Tampa that I'm not sure if I should take to heart or even believe. Shit is way too confusing for me to make a conclusion but for the meantime I'll think positively and believe that for the most part people are naturally good.

Later, to celebrate Lewis' birthday, we all hung out at Lewis' place and celebrated with him with wings.

The next day, I spent the day with my younger brother where we went to Louisiana Kitchen, which was nice and another one of my homecoming highlights to see Carlos and feast upon his delicious food.

Soon afterwords, my brother and I went to the comic store where I got the recent volume of Scott Pilgrim, and a copy of Black Hole, which is one of the most interesting graphic novels I've ever read. It's only inspired me more to write/create a film based around the horror and idea of an STD.

I'd figure that the most recent book of Scott Pilgrim would make me feel better and slightly less confused , but for some reason it made me question my situation more and left me in a state of flux. Scott Pilgrim always for some reason was a guiding light through dark days but ugh, now I'll just have to wait for the next edition. Yet, it was still good, and a super depressing climax to his story. Thanks Brian Lee O'Malley.


After getting some clothes, my brother and I then saw Watchmen, and Watchmen being a huge influence in my life as it is along with a majority of work by Alan Moore. I was a bit skeptical going in to the movie based upon the other piles of shit that have been poorly interpreted and adapted from Moore's work, but as much as I believed ( and still do) that Watchmen is the most faithful Alan Moore adaptation, as it was almost frame by frame, character by character, apart from a few things from the plot. I enjoyed the film and have alot of respect for it, but I didn't love it. It didn't bring me back to the first time I picked up the book in 6th grade. It didn't make me question society in the way I did upon first reading it. The sex/action scenes were a bit extended probally by pushy producers. The thing I did love about the movie besides Snyder's interesting visual work was how well the actors fit into their roles. The movie was so well cast and well acted to a point where they didn't make the roles their own ( which can be a good thing and a bad thing depending on how your viewing the film) but assumed the identities of these flawed heroes.
I just really want to see the original cut of the film, the way that Snyder really wanted it but was forced to edit it down (still long theatrically though) for general audiences.

Meanwhile, I am procrastinating alot from doing a plethora of research/homework I need to do for school, and I am also quite vexed due to not recording yet which I really need to do.

sigh.

Awesome Day/cuddlefest 2009

"Today was a good day."- Ice Cube

This past Saturday was one of the best days to happen in quite a while, it was a consistent series of events which reaked of victory.

After a somewhat successful yet uneventful night at Czar, I woke up at two p.m to go meet Catarina and her boyfriend for some breakfast. In the caf, I ran into Clint and CK who I asked Clint if he would assist me to drive me to CVS for my meds. He complied and after Cat left with her boyfriend I joined Clint, John and CK who were all glad to see me after a interesting night of tasty beverages.

After breakfast, I ask Clint if we could stop by Best Buy so I can finally pick up Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job season 2, and Clint asks me if I want to go to guitar center, a question which in which the answer is always "yes."

After Best Buy, we were at Guitar Center for a full two hours, playing on numerous guitars, banjos, synths, and drum machines. Some super cool blues guitarist commented on my fast fingers while I was playing a few death metal riffs and he showed me some of his incredible blues playing.

This blues-man wore a hat with the 813 area code on it.
I wonder if it was in case he forgot.

Once again, Guitar center failed me by not having the Korg synth that I've been wanting, but I played on a beautiful moog and I felt better.

Clint and I spent the rest of our Guitar Center time playing on this beautiful Gibson Firebird and talking to the head of the guitar department who drives a hearse and has a coffin in the back of her car. I wonder what she keeps in it.

After Guitar Center, we went to CVS so I could get my meds.
While waiting for the medicine to be ready, we found a collector edition Star Trek pez dispenser set and played with a really awesome bouncy ball in the aisle only to discover that both Clint and I are both quite bad at catching things.

I would totally eat candy that came out of William Shatner's neck any day.

After CVS, we went to Tijuana Flats where we both got tasty Mexican food :)
On the television, we saw the greatest invention re done.

The Snugglette: The Snuggie for children.

Now kids can be just as hip as adults=)

While we were eating, the waitress and Clint had quite an interesting dialogue.

Let me adapt this for the screen.

Clint(19) and Max (19) are eating and enjoying Mexican food. The Tjuana Flats waitress(19-23) walks confidently to the table.

Waitress
Hey guys, is everything allright? Do any of you need a refill?

Clint
(Creepy and staring)

Do You need a refill?

Max's jaw drops and the waitress's face turns from friendly to sheer terror.

Everybody laughs.
FIN.

After dinner, Clint and I came back to campus to go our seperate ways to change and shower. Then we went to Ciara's room to meet up with CK to partake in nightly activities.

Clint decided to be a good friend and drive CK and myself to the Orpheum for sink or swim.

CK drank.
I danced.

I ran into Stephanie and her friend Brittany which was nice and we all danced for a while :)

Then in a sudden twist of fate, on the dance floor I suddenly run into the waitress from Tijuana flats who served us tasty food only to receive a creepy question from Clint.

Awkward for her.
Awesome for me.

I then apologized for Clint's actions despite how awesome it was.

I then met this wonderful girl named Victoria, and she already knows that I think she's super awesome and adorable =)

After the club closed, I ran into another friend who I hardly ever see, which was also really nice. I then invited Victoria and her roommate/ friend Tami back to CK's room for more drinking and hanging out, Stephanie and Brittany also came to join us as well.

The night ended with almost all of us passing out in CK's room.

The next morning, Victoria gave me super Tasty potato and Zucchini pancakes that she had in her car :) and I brought some doughnuts back to Clint who passed out on the couch.

Many hours later, after breakfast with CK and Clint, I did laundry and hung out for a while until I saw Slumdog Millionaire for the 5th time with Victoria ( Still amazing after 5 times) and then we met up with John, Ciara, and Clint at Starbucks for coffee and conversation.

It was a wonderful weekend =)

It was the first time in a while where I had an honest wonderful day where every event was better than the last.

The WTF blanket, now making you a better dancer.

This past year since I've been in the city of Tampa, a good amount of my weekends have revolved around the activities of drinking and dancing . About two weeks ago at Czar ( a club in Ybor) I go to the bathroom to wipe my face from all the dance sweat to see this man in the greatest invention since the printer press, The Snuggie.

For those who are not familiar with The Snuggie, its directive is to be a blanket with sleeves, but it looks like a robe that you wear backwards (which for some reason reminds me of a Sith Lord) .The fact that this man was not dehydrated from dancing in a blanket made me a very happy and impressed person. Complementing him on his fashion style, I asked this gentleman why he was in a snuggie. With a drunken slur, he responded with a single word:

"Comfort"


He then, walked away onto the dance floor with his hands extended as the 8th MSTRKRFT remix of the same song played. I then had a daydream where Snuggies became the next big clothing trend, having them come in different patterns and colors, changing the history of fashion forever. People would wear a different snuggie for different events and times of the day.
Wouldn't you wear a snuggie to a bris?

Forget your ugg boots, shutter shades and keffiahs.
The snuggie is the future.

Introductions

I started this blog as a cathartic and personal rant so I guess its necessary to tell a bit about myself.

I'm a student at the University of Tampa pursuing a Film Degree so I won't have to work a real job as an adult. But on a serious note, Film has been a life long passion of mine and I have spent a huge portion of my free time researching and learning about films and the culture behind them. I have spent just as much time learning about music as I have with film and I think I can say that I know a good amount about it.My genre preferences range from just about everything, from death metal to Bjork, with electronica, hardcore, and post hardcore thrown in between.

I am originally from outside Washington D.C and I still believe it to be one of the greatest cities in the country, if not the world. It will always be my home.

I honestly have no idea what to say next. Hopefully you'll learn more about my interests and personality as this blog picks up.

Farewell