JANUARY 03, 2004

right then was all about.. pirate supply store gallery of signs, seriously indie bands get their cook on filing explore these comics jenny of rilo kiley watches paris of.. uh. hilton

i left some questions unanswered sevearal months ago, so quickly now..



q. did you meet dave eggers?

a. i played bingo with dave eggers

q. fair enough. the black guy rapping over mates of state? how'd that work out? i mean, did that really happen?

a. i did not witness this event and am sorry, but REALLY. around 5 in the morning my intoxicated roomate (a very polite young man) invited a "script-love," (rap moniker; not his actual name) into my apartment. there was a point where rapping was done to those cutesy little organ kids. their new album isn't bad, by the way.

q. team boo? yeah, they have their charm. how's iowa?

a. it is exactly like iowa.

q. what was that deal with your car?

a. it died a couple times but i think we're alright now.

q. but wasn't there..

a. -- oh yeah! it slipped out of park and rolled into a busy intersection. it was pretty incredible. there were no accidents, however, because god loves me very much.

q. do you believe in god?

a. i believe in you.



and thank god for music. i don't really know what i'd do without it. i would be an impossible person to deal with.

here's an exhaustive breakdown on music that mattered in 2003. not necessarily, underline, what was released this year.

key: bands. "albums". songs.



AND AS I RECALL, the first time i really listened to iron & wine was on a deserted 2-lane highway, 12am in backwoods kentucky, after being on the road for about 12 hours. i had the disc on repeat, and it carried me all the way to southern indiana. i spent that night on a small farm.

listen to faded from the winter with that sort of imagery in mind. he's pretty fucking incredible.

iron & wine = sam beam, and thats about it. there's slide guitar. there's the deliberate 4-track hiss. "the cat drank the cradle" came out in 2002, but he wasn't much talked about until the past year. "the sea and the rhythm ep" came out 2003, and some very good covers (flaming lips, postal service) showed up on mix tapes. and he has an awesome beard.



AND I STILL like the postal service record.



BACK TO BEARDS: i don't like the term alt-country. but there was a pack of bands beyond iron & wine that picked up where wilco left off for me last year.

my morning jacket. i choose to label their sound echo-country, a subgenre of beard-rock. they obviously lay tracks down inside grain silos somewhere outside louisville.

i somehow missed them when "at dawn" came out a couple years back, and "it still moves" came in 2003. tracks lowdown and golden make me want offer my services as a jug-blower.



ALSO IN THAT VEIN:

songs:ohia
"magnolia electric co."
almost was good enough

bonnie "prince" billy (will oldham)
"master and everyone"
wolf among wolves



BUT THERE WAS clean-shaven pop music too, and lots of it. too much in fact. and i deem ted leo & the pharmacists king shits of fuck mountain. "hearts of oak" and "tyranny of distance" mattered perhaps more than any other 2 records for the first quarter of 2003. whichever album has a whale on it is just a bit better than the one with band in soccer jerseys.

they were one of those bands that rocked my lame ass live, and they do play biomusicology and where have all the rude boys gone so you're going to have to see them. it's the law.



LIKE MANY OF YOU i was hungry for perhaps nothing as much as pirate-music this year. maybe it was johnny depp's brilliant pirate portrayal in pirates of the carribean. maybe it was the dave eggers pirate shop (link above) that got me riled up.

the decemberists sing about pirates. they're instantly likeable, feeding off my neutral milk hotel obsession i've had for quite some time. "her majesty" is good, and "castaways and cutouts" is my choice as record of the year 2003.



VETERAN BANDS with very acceptable 2003 records:

belle & sebastian
"dear catastrophe waitress"

enon
"hocus pocus"

death cab for cutie
"transatlanticism"

beulah
"yoko"



SONG OF THE YEAR THAT WASN'T HEY YA: maps .. yeah yeah yeahs

AND LETS NOT FORGET rapture, broken social scene, tv on the radio, atmosphere, sufjan stevens, and cat power

I HONESTLY haven't heard the new shins, radiohead, or strokes yet.

2004 RECORDS that will matter a whole lot include the new mountain goats, john vanderslice, liars, and modest mouse.

SUMMER 2003

right then was all about.. kimberly marie 16 e-propz!11! m. goats on r. kelly only 100? believer is cool i would assume 5th graders on radiohead street spirit is essentially about aladdin

i saw the dismemberment plan on june 18th. i was in milwaukee. it was the day before i caught a ride with student/teacher couple down to st. louis for my cousins wedding at a nice outdoor ceremony with open bar. this was around the time it got complicated.

this was a month before minnesota. but wait, let me start earlier.



may 23rd 4am, i leave jacksonville. i catch a flight to moline, illinois via atlanta, georgia. i have 3 suitcases. i'm moving to iowa city.

wait, cedar rapids iowa. the apartment in iowa city for the summer is more complicated then one might think. not the sublease i was let on to believe but a lot of form filling and credit checking. i owe the university of kansas $150.00. i'm not to live in this apartment, but a series of residences in the state of iowa. "a place to grow," by the way.



i drink. i'm no alcoholic, but after a summer of drinking (the bulk of it in a homestead on the edge of farmland, just outside cedar rapids) you may begin to wonder.



in this month (we'll say june) there's:

a birthday of the girl i like, there's the graduation party i missed of the girl i like, there's the cabin, the marijuana, the frequently attended and quite sub-par diner with people i know and the people they know, there's alcohol and milk drinking contests in a trailer with a black indie rock kid

and i definitely do not have a car.

the cliff jumps, the possession charge, the campfires. the asian sisters, and the sisters who cut the hair. the brothers who smoke the pot, and the semi-british brothers who own the apartments you want.

my 3 suitcases are spent. let's go back to june 18th.



catching a ride to milwaukee for the dismemberment plan. a man named chaz who insists operating under the facade his name is charles attends a dismemberment plan show with 3 others and myself. they played the city, and the face of the earth, and travis wore cute checkerboard pants. that's all i wanted.

there was the bitter game of hearts, and the bitter GAME of hearts. iowa companions and chaz are not invited to st. louis, but my sister and i catch that wedding-route nevertheless.

AND THEN after some of greatest dancing, drinking and dressing you have ever fucking seen, me & the kim rendezvous with my parents and shuttle a few hours west to kansas city. one hour further west with becky and i can pretend i live in lawrence again. there's the couches (3) and the beers (3) with the pakistani men. more beer with friends i haven't seen in a couple. loose park. westport flea market. the jazz. the third watch. some mexican place.

food, drink, food, drink. notice i don't mention sleep, and i want to. so bad. maybe in jacksonville. let's fly to jacksonville!



AND THEN i sleep. really well, in my own room. i swim and i drink, and its nice. not like it was, but nice.

oh right, but one time it was like it was (?). at a bar dancing to radiohead's idioteque after several drinks on $1.50 rolling rock night i throw up in a parking lot. i'm kicked out of a girls apartment at 7 in the morning, hung over with thom yorke still reverberating in my ears. i fucked up in jacksonville. jacksonville was supposed to be a break.



break is over, and me and the omnipresent kim drive to st. louis with a car filled with everything. waking up the next morning in st. louis, a long haired ceramics major sculpts the most beautiful blueberry pancakes you have ever seen.

6 hours drive later i'm back in the place to grow (corn). the iowa. things are not complicated anymore. i'm moving to iowa city. i mean, first i have to spend a night in a cabin with a dozen or so other people, but i can deal with that.

the sister is dumped in the worst city to live ever, mt. pleasent, the next morning. her story ends on my site here, but resumes on her own website (see link above). i don't know what she did after that. probably watched the fireworks with a bunch of dudes who just dropped acid, saw wilco, the usual.



fireworks, ah yes. this brings us to the 4th of july. a mad dash to the top of a parcade in downtown cedar rapids and we are rewarded with pyrotechnics set to patriotic music. july is pretty uneventful until she told me to put in her mouth.

chorus:
she said put in her mouth (mouth)
put it in my mou--SHE SAID PUT IT IN HER MOUTH

this song (which is about blowjobs, and does indeed exist) is essentially the soundtrack to minnesota "fun". by no exaggeration i heard it sung along to, shamelessly, 50 times. not just sung, but sung the way the carpteners or sonny and cher sung together. except this song is about sucking dick.

so it's minneosta. it's another cabin, a longterm one, where there is gambling at native american casinos nearbye, and some of the worst drinking you have ever seen demonstrated by all. you know, the kind that ends in tears and telephone calls.

bright spot: the grand finale is a drinking contest. THAT I WON.

the rest of the MN soundtrack, for the record, is:

- tainted love, soft cell
- no lies just love, bright eyes
- postal service, such great heights
- blackalicious, alphabet aerobics
- turtles, so happy together

whether you choose to lick.. pussy or dick. people of the world, its your pick. (repeat x10)



it's now more complicated than ever, but it can always get worse.

we have to be out of one apartment july 31st by noon. not allowed to move in to another one until august 1st at noon. this is a hard operation to pull off, especially when you're very ill, drained in every possible way.

i don't feel like reliving this experience by typing it out, but it was the most stressful 1-2 days of my entire life, by no exaggeration. i mean, its not anymore. it's probably third on the list now.



my landlord likes ecstacy. his tenants like crack. i like cool breezes. we get along very well. i used to be a secretary, now my girlfriend is and i am a delivery driver. i'm more broke than ever and rent is always due..

i wouldn't trade any of it for a leisurely job at an antique store where rent is due never and trips to the grocery store at 1:30am are made for a couple beers and a pack of cigarettes. i smoke cartons now. i have to shop for alcohol in a shopping cart.



"i just made a duck go poop."



more pictures >>

MAY 23, 2003

right then was all about.. jerkin it to sade death cab reveals all! new wes anderson your typical owen wilson nautical movie standardized testing impressive kim jong il best livejournal ever

gotta go. game of high stakes canasta.

APRIL 22, 2003

right then was all about.. seven nation army please watch this card to you (inside) naaaaaaaaaaah! playboy ranks indierock girls ..uh, finally

jeremy didn't update my site. he didn't know how. and now it's done, too late. and it could have been special.

he basically does nothing but make crazy nerf guns all day and have visitors from kansas city crash on his floor. i have an idea, though. he will be interviewed, by me, to the delight of all. study your dave eggers meta-style brotherly interviewing methods everyone, it'll be a doozy.

also: brother, fix my goddamn headlight.



dreamjournal alert:

mannn, the only interesting thing about my dreams are the way the structures i'm within are designed. like, seriously. i dream up some pretty killer houses and yards and hallways and such. generally abstract mixtures of childhood homes and streets and schools. but yeah, beyond that i only dream about being chased, being ignored, and having sex. in REALLY cool buildings.

i dreamt i was an architect.



livejournal alert:

i avoid the name shoutout thing on my website. always. why? it's boring. unless you're that person. i'm writing this website for the people i don't know. the swedes. denmark. northern-europe, mostly.

vaguely hinting at people is much hotter. outright and explicit name mentioning reminds me of livejournal. and we all know livejournals can't be good, just by the nature of them being a livejournal.

so even if you ask nicely. and your name is katie miller.

i think i'm secretely jealous of livejournalers. i keep bringing it up. i'll stop that now. until the end of this update where i will start again briefly - to create a mock list of interests in the livejournal style - then stop again.



you heard this already, but the white stripes are on the good ol' obrien show this entire fucking week. they're staying in conan's apartment. seriously. outfitted in a hip color-coordinated ensemble, this faux-brother/sister duo is gauranteed to show you and your friends a "rocking" good time.

sorry, slipped into press release mode there. april 22nd-25th if you hadn't heard.

i'm goin to whichita'!



on music:

- i still haven't listened to that radiohead album with the awful title yet. just to be totally goofy, i have included a song from it at the top. just to prove my discipline i will not listen to it, yet offer it to you. i suck and rule

- the postal service were adorable for about a week, but now i'm just wishing all the songs were done by iron & wine (example).

- iron & wine's cat drank the cradle album is pretty great. i can tell this dude lives on a farm. in a good way, though. (edit: hometown.. miami, florida. so dissapointing)

- i don't know about elephant on the whole, but the first 3 tracks had me declaring BEST WHITE STRIPES ALBUM-- NO, BEST ALBUM MADE BY WHITE PEOPLE. ever. yeah, so the rest didn't live up to that, and the last track just makes me stare at my speakers with horror, but it is pretty wonderful. b+

- the decemberists are my favorite neutral milk hotel tribute band ever. no really, even the lyrics read like some bizarro period piece involving babies dying in childbirth and the year 1842. we're still scouring this album for traces of semen(-lyrics), and will report back.
(ps: listenlisten)



on live music:

yeah, so i saw the mountain goats. there was free pizza. he closed with cubs in five, going to georgia, and some goofy singalong shit called the "terror song."

its lyrics are as follows:

dad's got a knife..
..he's stabbing his wife
mom's got a saw..
she's sawing off her on jaw
mom without a jaw..
dad without a wife..
they're making awful plans!
you'll get cancer in your hands!
TERROR SONG!

these lyrics were sung over and over until everyone was very familiar with them, and only then was the song complete. how great is that. all to some bad-to-the-bone guitar th-- look, just download it.

that mp3 is even from the show i was at. someone apparently rules at recording things live in orlando.

also, i accidentally saw the thermals again. they're following me around the country. it's worked, apparently, as i now enjoy one of their songs. all their songs do sound the same, so one might assume i'm a thermals fan. they'd be wrong though. dead wrong.

next up: les savy fav with two bands i don't care about in early may. IN the fucking jacksonville. inside of it. like.. within this actual city!

in!



not in the J (okay, no one calls it that) for long? me. gone.. like, 9 months past schedule, but nontheless. i return to the high plains, but this time they're higher.



interests: architecture, dancing dudes with beards, decemberists, iron & wine, mountain goat lyrics, nerf, outdated conan o'brien news, self-deprication, those adorable pale irish people with the (at times) freakishly blue eyes who do those (at all times) cute things with their mouths and want mentioned on some lame website (twice), yeah those people

MARCH 16-27, 2003

right then was all about.. minus the bear 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 pinback 1, 2, 3, 4 the velvet teen 1, 2, 3 death cab for cutie 1, 2, 3 sigur ros 1, 2, 3

sunday, march 16th:
leave at 10. on 4 hours sleep driving north, pulled over by cop a couple hours south of atlanta. 88 in a 70. buy an awful hamburger in valdosta. hit bad traffic in atlanta even though it's only 3pm. get through, just outside of nashville pull over and get free fireworks from a metal fan who likes my hat. in nashville i realize my bank card was left some place backwards, probably that first stop in georgia, and have nothing left but a checkbook. pull over in nashville in the most ghetto area while my car blasts pulp's common people (har har) and look for some place that takes checks. eventually buy $10 of gas in change i have. drive to evansville, IN and spend the last of my pennies on denny's coffee and stay the night at family's

monday, march 17th:
st. patrick's day. drive to st. louis where i arrive as the parade is rapping up. the natemobile is pumping some "lost and naked in the city again" (naturally) as i look for an available parking garage. i have no money to pay my way out of the garage, so finding a bank of america to cash a check is vital. banks close at 4, it's 3:30, and all i can find is the fucking "u.s. bank". i ask them if they can take my check.. they can't, but point me down the street to a giant building that says, yes, bank of american on it. i run to it, withdraw $200, take a picture of myself at the arch, realize i haven't eaten since valdosta, and eat massive quantities at a chinese buffet. find the trendy st. louis area and buy tigermilk and disentigration at a "vintage vinyl". at 10pm, go to rocketbar and see pinback. lead singer takes a song request from me, makes my voice echo for a solid minute while he adjusts intstruments, and launches into the nate-request. this gives me an erection. leave st. louis after 2 good bands and 2 pinches and drive onward to lawrence kansas

tuesday, march 18th:
arrive at 8 or so in the morning and wake my friend up and we say "hey" then.. fall asleep for a few hours. in a gay embrace. wait, no. wake up and eat at some mexican place where the waiter makes fun of my french kicks shirt. then walk down manhattan and buy rome-upside-down at the love garden. leave lawrence to see death cab for cutie in omaha. check into motel, wait in line forever, and see velvet teen and the thermals open for like, my fourth favorite band. dcfc plays every song i want them to play. it is good. afterwards it is discovered there is no alcohol sold in nebraska after 1am. i sleep sober in a super8 motel while steve miller band blares in my left ear

wednesday, march 19th:
wake up and eat an overpriced pastry at some starbucks wannabe. drive back to kansas city proper, and am bummed to discover 7-11 by my old house is out of business now. weak. see people i haven't seen in awhile in the city, and they are very weird now. drive back to lawrence, stop at burrito place and have greatest burrito of all time. try the "self check out" thing with my friend at a grocery store while slightly drunk and fail miserably. eat pretzels and pizza bites and drink some more and remember nothing else of this evening except a lot of iraq talk on the news. shits blowin up

thursday, march 20th:
woken up by garbage collectors at like 10 in the morning. eat breakfast at a perkins where the waiters take literally one hour to bring food. leave that noise, and see some people i haven't seen in awhile. they are very fat now. go back to my couch and take a nap. wake up, drink some, and see "old school", a funny movie. not much else remembered about this night, but the drink played a part. fall asleep while watching swingers

friday, march 21st:
wake up later then i should. leave later than i should. incredibly hungry and sleepy, but in a hurry towards chicago, and stop only for a soda in des monies. oh yeah, and i stop at an outlet mall and buy a scarf. sorry guys. arrive in destination iowa, park my car, and do not have to worry about driving for awhile. arrive in chicago 4 hours later. wait no, aurora. arrive in aurora and unpack in a basement. rendezvous with my sister and eat some okay pasta at a tgi fridays. somehow a semi-fast paced car chase with t a cop transpires next. we hide out in an apartment complex and watch a bunch of people make out in a chevy tahoe next to us. afterwards, failed alcohol hunt reduces everyone to shots of vodka. sleep drunk and fine on the floor, but awake horribly

saturday, march 22nd:
split a pizza at uno's. the television says that yes, indeed shit was blowin up in the middle east. new york looks awash in dirty hippie protestors, and i hope the same for chicago. park at aurora train station and commute into the city, yeah, finally in chicago. a lot of walking up and down streets. record store. called gay by a preacher. hung out with the war-protestors, though they are not as rambunxious as hoped. eat hummus at a diner off michigan. find that wilco building from the cover of YHF and take like 20 pictures of it like a dork. drop my sister off at the station and continue up the sears tower. not as bad a wait as predicted, and get to see chicago at night in a very tall building. it is pretty, and i hum a spoon song to myself. back to the station, just having missed the last train until 10:30pm. others eat horrible cheese fries and hotdogs, and i buy cigarettes. train finally comes but we get off at the wrong stop like retards. run across the tracks and hop a fence just as a train dramatically almost kills us all. jump into a taxi and go back to our car in aurora. find (real) alcohol this time, find a motel this time, find comfortable sleep this time

sunday, march 23rd:
impatient for the train, driving is done straight into chicago. park at lincoln (park), and eat soup at a diner in wicker. the idea to ride that giant ferris wheel down at navy pier is posed, and the rest of the day is essentially a long bitter struggle towards the pier, discovering the wheel is closed, and eating appetizers at a forrest gump themed restaurant named "bubba gump". this restaurant is surely within one of hell's circles, i shit you not. i say a prayer for all of its employees and leave essentially out of my $200. fireside bowl was a place on the visit list, but it of course is also closed tonight. return to the cold affordable basements of aurora and watch waking life

monday, march 24th:
lunch at white castle on the way back to iowa. no really, white castle. 4 beastie burgers later and want to die. in iowa, reintroduce myself to my car, watch a jewfro cook rice, make fun of the hipster's handbook at barnes and noble, and eat barbecue at 10 o'clock at night. afterwards, well, obviously i went to a campfire held by 16 year olds. three 40s of miller high life later, and they're planning to burn down the government. it was convincing at the time. sleep in the first bed i haven't had to pay for in over a week. i sleep many hours. oh, and one more thing. white castle fires? "one size"

tuesday, march 25th:
steal hy-vee sandwiches. go to a couple goodwill/salvation-army type things and get a jacket. drive to iowa city. go to "ragstock" and a cool record store, but buy no records. i'm broke, remember? go to an apartment, look at a lizard and a girl's homie collection. eat soup at the village inn. back to cedar rapids and watch KIDS for the first time in years. realize how lame and aids-free my past week and a half has been. hungry for a corndog

wednesday, march 26th:
leave iowa. not before dressing up in patriotic clothing and taking some photos against terrorism. don't ask. manage to find $20 before i leave, which should get me through on gas until i see a bank of america. i try and find one in peoria illinois, but it's closed. i walk around downtown looking for a restaurant, but everything closes at 4pm. what in the fuck? i give up on that, and take a huge dump at a bar. it woudln't even flush. why am i talking about this? anyway, i find some chewy runts at an old woman's candy store. if it's weird that the main thing i remember from this trip are meals, shut up. these were some fucking good meals. i sleep in evansville again

thursday, march 27th:
i'm going to find that bank of american in nashville, i tell myself. it must be done. i get in nashville at about 3pm, park, and do find it. i withdraw $100, am so hungry i can barely walk to the best goddamn gyro restuarant ever, and jump back in the car towards atlanta. arrive about 7pm. i find "the tabernacle" where my BROS in sigur ros are preparing to wow us all with some hot bow-on-guitar action. the opening band is boring though, and i leave to get cigarettes. upon coming back i discover the show to be no re-entry and i literally beg a bitchy blonde woman for 10 minutes to get back in. some dork has my awesome (2nd row, middle) seat as well, so i get an usher to kick him out. finally i watch some icelandic men break it down old school. 10 songs of hopelandic gibberish later, and i'm ready to try to make it home without staying in atlanta. i arrive in jacksonville at 4 in the morning, no longer know who i am, and feel like the shadow

of a dream

MARCH 10, 2003

right then was all about.. disturbing auctions the dolls especially cereal cereal cereal sir iron face disturbing puppets saddle creek style

that little boy in the 'the ring' was pretty creepy.

hi.



i saw interpol. someone forgot to tell me that everyone in the fucking world listens to interpol or something. the scene creamers (not the band, but the creamers) represent at interpol, true.

curly afroes blocked flashes, but i still dorked it up enough to get 3 awful pictures (and a hilariously ill fated attempt at video-with-sound that we need not share).

01, 02, 03



i really like that last ted leo and the pharmacists album. ted's a swell guy. even if he did sort of cause me zone out while listening to his record and miss my turn off. (track 3)

and then i had to take a long way to where i had to go. (track 4)

and along the way traffic stopped (track 6) and i drove slowly by a bleeding motorcyclist. (track 9)

then i had to stop at a gas station, and there was this asian guy there - dressed in a nice suit - who seemed sort of crazy. and he wanted a ride, but only like 150 yards away which made me nervours for some reason. because, well, i just watched a biker die to the tune of "bridges, squares". it was some fucked up shit.

it was just a chain reaction from there and it all ended with me seeing further seems forever live. fuck you ted leo/Rx.



read the following paragraphs in grampa simpson voice, if it helps:

scoop chips: pretty good in theory. they're miniature bowls made of chip alloy. easy for collecting salsa into, you can imagine, but i found them extremely awkward to eat.

also dangerous: these chocolate chip cookies by keebler industries called "cream fillers". two cookies stuck together with the brown fudge paste. similar to the bowl-chip, i thought these to be a fine idea before i put them in my mouth. they are rather large to eat without seperation (thereby elliminating the need for fudge stucco to begin with). they also sort of hurt my teeth.

matlock.



NME released their top 100 albums of all-time list. don't let the passable top 10 fool you; it also includes the vines & andrew wk. i shit you not. in true music-nerd response, me and some music dorks made our own top 100.

uhm, yeah. "the coast is never clear" is one of the best 10 albums ever made; higher than the white album. you didn't know that? ... okay, what were we thinking with hot hot heat ... yeah, well, nirvana sucks anyway



i don't do the "bro, i was so drunk" story things, ever. but i swear bro.. i was so totally drunk i swear i saw dave attell at a bar. i was looking for the insomniac camera crew for like a half hour, telling people i saw him. i was very exciteable.

don't we all want the stately bald jewish party animal to come to our cities? to take our pictures?

bro.. i was so drunk.



okay, enough. sorry about that.

i had a stat program at my site for like a week. it like, tells how people find your website. anyway, it's trial ran out or something, but in that period i got hits from this site. this (that) site (girl) is all about mr. show or sonic youth... kids in the hall and sloan and god knows what else from canada - so we gotta link it. cause that is hot.

feel the e-love.

oh, and i need another one of those stat things. where do people find those? they're fun.



if you live in florida and it's spring break, well. you don't do anything. you're already there, i mean. right?

.. nah dude. haha. not florida.

not for nate.

try THE MID-WEST, motherfuck! yeah motherfuck!

- woo. anyway, in a week, i'm visiting every city in that region at least once. totally. i called everyone, let them know. (".. 7 days. *click*"). i get to see death cab for cutie in omaha .. pinback in st. louis. oh, and some people, too. it's all nerdily orchestrated.

squagels!



"hey, did you cut your hair or did you just wake up?"
"fuck you."

the votes are in, the pro-newhair people won. sorry katie.



i'm going to try to get my brother to do my next update as some sort of experiment to prove that updating a nateblog is a tiring procedure that no one else could possibly ever do.

i will require of him that he be funny. it must be long. it must change lives. his name is jeremy and he loves you.



and that's how i choose to remember it.

JANUARY 26, 2003

right then was all about.. i updated! excitement! found magazine kempa-stolen show and tell music your new favorite site AIM's new smilies i can hope

someone called me "sitey mc-no-update" the other day. so harsh.

this is the top 5 issue of /nate. let's go.



top 5 songs of the year:

1. flaming lips, do you realize
2. sleater-kinney, oh
3. spoon, paper tiger
4. streets, lets push things..
5. badly drawn boy, you were..

i did the top 5 albums last time, but i'll add q and not u, liars, basically everyone at def jux records, sondre lerche, enon, walkmen, french kicks.. shit, i'm getting carried away. there was a lot of good music, though.



my boss is drunk a lot. actually, he hadn't drank or smoked in 5 years when i started working, but now he's pretty excellent at doing both. top 5 things said by boss, in a southern accent.

1. homeslice.
2. titties as big as your head, nate.
3. i wouldn't piss in her ear if her brain was on fire.
4. (via cellphone at random time) who played emperor commodus in the gladiator movie? i've got some money on this.
5. are you fucking her?



here is the lame personal part of the site.

my dreams are generally filled with people of the moment who i find particularly interesting and/or attractive, as are most people's i assume, but the supporting cast is always the same.

tired, tired characters, played by people from highschool or places i used to work. they don't have much to say, but they're there all the same. i'd like to thank the people who do walk-ons in nate's dreams. thanks guys.

i would like to visit people in other cities. i will visit kansas city soon. hold me that, midwesterners.

2002 was an alright year. i give it a 7.5 out out of 10.

for no concievable reason, a top 5 of specific dates in 2002:

1. sept 18
2. june 2
3. sept 28
4. dec 3
5. march 21

thank you.



obligatory magnum/neutral milk hotel shit. the last thing i heard from mr. jeffery magnum was in a pitchfork interview many months ago (ps, pitchfork redesigned, ha). more recently, that he's doing some ridiculous college radio show. anyway, i've exhausted his entire catalogue, even the live stuff, but here's a cute cover the mountain goats did of two headed boy. it's cute because he fucks up the words, you see.

the mountain goats are from iowa. like tyler!

oh, and beulah broke up. or will break up. or won't. dismemberment plan is breaking up too, sorta.. joe strummer died, though. that much is certain. bad things, bad things.

.. and i heard the walkmen in a saturn commercial. it was weird. shits blowin up?

top 5 songs by the milk:
1. holland, 1945
2. naomi
3. two headed boy pt. 2
4. everything is
5. where you'll find me now
    a baby for pree (tie)



there's a well done spike jonze videography/interview in the latest issue of "res". if anyone cared. it's got video clips and stuff. nerd-cool.

.. so i will also mention that i saw adaptation. so brilliant it pains me.

i was thinking it would have been a lot funnier if this film ended while he was at the screenwriting workshop where the old man was yelling at him. when he said something about his movie not having anything really "happening" or not having a "big ending" - like, bam. it would end right there. that would be funny.

what? oh, top 5! movies of 2002:

1. punch-drunk love
2. adaptation
3. bowling for columbine
4. human nature
5. y tu mama tambien



i own black hair dye. what else can be said there.



suicide girls! at last, pale girls who live in oregan, and who are cooler than you. naked.

a short interview, for the confused. a long interview for something only slightly related to this (erotic PORN orgraphy).

top 5 suicide girls, go.

1. mary
2. linz
3. bijou
4. victoria
5. eris

i apologize.



top 5 promotional currencies:
1. kool-aid points
2. disney dollars
3. camel cash
4. healthy choice pudding
5. subway stamps

top 5 t-shirts:
1. homophobia is gay
2. i fucked chloe sveigny
3. the socialites
4. i see portapottys
5. creepy mannequin

top 5 things of anything:

1. hummus
2. chap-stick
3. notwist
4. man vs. beast
5. "transmission" by joy division



my computer is breaking. it's falling apart in my hands and it's old and noisy and i want a new one. it's gonna be a mac.

please, please don't leave me.

DECEMBER 14, 2002

right then was all about.. you are my friend insert friends name, send, fun for all steve burns cognitive dissonance gonads and strife! so good it's good

if you sent me email in the past week or so, i may have not recieved it. because.. something to do with a server. my site was even down an entire day.

sorry! dave's sorry (dave's british). so yeah, re-send your thespark quiz results to me, everybody. thanks!



first off, okay, so THE WRAP. this mtv news show starring the fat metal dude and, the guy who sorta reminds you of someone you sorta know who probably needs a good cock punching, gideon yago.

.. and that's it. OH - why do i like the wrap? they showed a small clip from christmas on mars. the most anticipated movie of 2003 that stars the flaming lips and steve from blues clues.

i think i'll go ahead and put steve's web site on the right-hand links, too. it's seriously what every personal website strives to be. the greatest site ever.



i've worked out what it is i do at work. and it does indeed involve me pretending to know how to answer people's questions concerning furniture and that.. sculpture.. of the frog, and he's playing an instrument, a flute maybe, and-

oh, but once a week on average, and this is the best, the most italian looking guy i have ever seen in my life enters our shop. he indeed speaks very italian-y as well. he is referred to as "that fucking wop", and he does not mind, he smiles, and he is all about selling fruit.

his fruit is not very good, and a very italian man in north florida, letting himself in with a bag of assorted fruits and clammoring.. "HEY. LOOK AT DAT JUICE" - as you try your sample tangerine. i mean, what the fuck is that?

but yeah, of course we buy the $3 of sort-of-okay fruit. we want him to come back and shout in pain as we try his orange: AH LOOK AT HOW JUICY DAT IS.



i am still nate from the block (in that i always remember where i came from).



i heard the entire david cross album. how was it, you ask?

i don't know, FAGGOT.

ha! it was good.. great. but it is a double album, and even though i'm a pretty big fan.. yeah. i'd split it into at least two listenings if i were you. also, i'd steal it off the internet. because you don't have much money and you have to buy some gifts for people. and really, 5 years down the line who the fuck is going to want a comedy album.



adaptation came out, i think. i gotta force some people to go now.

i almost made a spike jonze web site dedication once. this sorry site is the best one out there. he needs an all-out shrine.

.. dork!

yeah, i know, but the guy is just associated with every guilty pleasure you can think of. music videos, jackass, the beastie boys, skateboarding .. john malkovich.

and he's married to francis ford coppola's daughter! she's like.. all awful in the godfather 3 as the cousin that one guy fucks, and she herself is directing okay movies that have cool french techno scores. and shit man, i could go on. but yeah, spike matters.



i was disbelieving of florida's ability to get cold until one night, a city away, i am without a jacket. i have to wear a girls jacket that is clearly a female jacket and i am too cold to care.

i believe, now. i bought a sweater. i'm afraid to wash it. it's gonna dissapear.



i think i'm going to start updating everyday. just like, one or two words.

like this.
                   -dec. 14, 2002

this every couple weeks bullshit, it's tough. i don't remember anything that happened to me since we were here last time, so i end up writing about fruit salesmen. or worse, i just start making outlandish claims, like..



i'm starting an electro-synth art-post-punk band

..

jazz times 10, take us out.

NOVEMBER 18, 2002

right then was all about.. blowjobs harharhar black people love us our white friends just don't get it! if you still temp check that out for fun

you know, the world is cold and hard in the morning.



hey, i got no fast ass connection for the moment, so i upload no mp3s. meantime, here are some direct links to a few nice songs:

rainer maria - artificial light
electric 6 - danger! high voltage
cornelius - point of view point
interpol - the specialist



dress shirts are packed far into the back of the closet. rush hour is a feature film starring jackie chan and chris tucker. i skip dilbert in the comics section. office humor? fuck that, bring on marmaduke.

office work is for losers. office temp work is for losers. super losers.

i was close to giving in. registering with another agency. happenings related and unrelated to the job market had left me very weak, very eager to work, many many hours. can i be your night janitor, too?

so i'm on my way to one of them, the staffing professionals. i have a psuedo-interview at 3pm, where my resume will be glanced over and typing tests will be done.

i turn into the business park where the agency resides at the scheduled interview time, and "..STAFFING PROFESSINALS HAS BEEN BOUGHT BY.." reads a sign taped to door that is locked ".. WE HAVED MOVED TO.." an address across town.

1) congratulations to this company for being somehow bought out moved within like, 2 days
2) thanks for the call
3) JOHN CASSABLANCAS?!

their sign went on to say that it was "..SOON TO BECOME A JOHN CASSBALANCAS TALENT AGENCY..", hahahah, fuck. ending just a horrible week of temp job hunting, it was a sign that temp work had to stop. and it was a sign that i needed to find my strokes cd and play it. i did and it is still great.

but i now work at some random antique store. i take pictures and pretend to know things about antiques. aol instant messenger and streaming radio stations also play an important part.

today, marmaduke had a suprise birthday party thrown in his honor, and i have no idea what dilbert is doing.



but before any of that, there was this:

i got me an $86 unemployment check. i have.. one leg, and i'm totally ready to party.



(dude,) it's still november, but the top of 2002 may very well be:

1. flaming lips, yoshimi battles
you have the most beautiful face

2. trail of dead, source tags
i never said that i would quit

3. interpol, bright lights
i'm not impressed, but new york cares

4. spoon, the moonlight
i will be there with you when you turn out the light

5. wilco, hotel foxtrot
you were right about the stars



scott baio is hosting charles in charge airings on the nick at night channel. i will keep you updated on terrible cable television as this update progresses.



driven to talahassee 2.5 times in the last month or so. about died one of these times.

the shows are cheap as shit. gas isn't. it evens out. its worth it. i think.



the mcdonalds dollar menu means terrible chicken sandwhich eating for you and i. $1.06



terrible cable tv update: vh1 aired a "hottest bachelors in rock". vh1 loves their lists, but just to let you know how great this one was:

julian cassablancas, the hives singer, rivers cuomo, jack white. all on the list!

listening to a correspondent from people magazine tell us about how one might become MRS. CUOMO is great. be asian?

TCTV update: julian likes to cuddle.



!

OCTOBER 22, 2002

right then was all about.. rejected the really funny movie file of the moment splash pages web designy waste of time link thingy mtv's the state i'd like to dip my balls in that welcome to art class hot lava - hot lava

"you know, i've never been a big fan of alternative music, but these guys rocked the house!"

- steve sanders on a 1992 episode of beverly hills 90210, following a special guest appearance by the flaming lips.

i need to find a tape of this shit.



the midwest was a blast. i visited the brewery, saw a green bay packers game and went to the top of the sears tower like a god damn king.

or was that.. watching trading spaces, galleries and museums, the gap and starbucks? but no, good times were had. good.. heterosexual times.



cold weather reminded me.. everyone looks better in winter clothing, cooler. its true, 90% of people should not be wearing shorts. coffee and cigarettes don't seem quite as ridiculous either.

also, i'm moving to a city. THE city. it's been decided. and not this one, one of those real cities. we love the city.



on cities: if your city currently shows the film "punch drunk love", then rejoice, for your city is a very cool city. if it does not, it is a terrible horrible place.

really, most everyone i know in other places have seen this film, and all news has been positive (or at least confusement, but i like that). also i'm hearing the word "lynch" when comparrisons are being drawn.

so yeah, that needs to come to natetown soon.

to continue the pta circlejerk..
- sun, oct 27 11:30pm: bravo will air a "the making of punch drunk love"
- rotten tomatoes
- about the movie's swirly color artwork shit
- word

and i fucking swear: when i see it i'll try to never bring up this shit ever again.



so jeremy, this little peckerwood, this stupid little weasel. this goofball travels to lawrence kansas. this bastard returns with ugly cassanova and belle and sebastian records. vinyl!

imagine this ridiculous little kid at the store buying records. that stupid stupid little sucker. trying to out do you. the fucker.



-- why am i verbally berating my younger brother jeremy? for absolutely no reason? i like his records. but i've read "choke" again recently and decided i need an excuse to mimic one of the palahniuk threads that runs througout the book.

if you read chuck, you notice these often. they're fun, he has a few per novel. yeah, in fight club it was "i am jack's ___" .. in "survivor" it involved a lot of random factoids about how to get stains out and so forth.

i am jack's complete enjoyment of literary gimmickry.



i never understood the idea of amazon wishlists on personal sites, except for cross-country friends i guess. but most of the readers here who i know well wouldn't even use it as a guide to nate giftgiving anyway, which leaves.. random strangers. who of course buy me things all the time. (thanks for the kitchen set, sergio!)

but i was browsing someones today, that i totally didn't know, and i kind of enjoy seeing what other people want to buy. its good for ideas. so here's mine.

you should check your own amazon accounts out. you haven't in awhile.

it's probably all outdated and embarassing. weezer's green album on your wishlist. or what about that wack top album list you made awhile back.



just in case i told you i was going to the flaming lips and beck up in chicago.. i lied. because those tickets were expensive. because chicago is expensive. because, fuck, i needed a coat.

wilco, pretty girls make graves, les savy fav, ben folds, pedro the lion. all in the general area over the next couple weeks.

shits blowin up.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2002

right then was all about.. the situation PLAN with the best damn top 10 song lists ever flags being all flaggy and shit ..and you will stream the trail of dead

posted by: nate
music: neutral milk hotel  

current mood:   heterosexual



i keep forgetting to take pictures of things, or i take pictures of things and they come out really terrible. which is pretty bad if you're using a digital camera, i'm guessing. that and i don't notice many pictureable things. what is there to photograph in florida? beaches and shit? that's right.

but i photographed spoon. so begins my foray into bad band photography. they opened with fitted shirt. closed with jonathon fisk. it was pretty great.

nice set of photography from someone who goes places. that picture. hah? that is great.



i've encountered more homeless people than usual lately. here's what the homeless population of jacksonville wants:

- me to roll down the window
- just to chat, sonny, if i could
- to apologize for their race, let me know they're pregnant, that someone tried to steal their clothes, and that they could really use a nice tasty sandwhich!

sandwhich! they want sandwhiches. and i prepare one for them on the spot, and thats the end of that.



go see the good girl. before the good girls gone, go get it. in theatres. jake darko, rachel aniston, delmar, zooey, all your favorites are in it doing their best southern accents. its really funny and-

wait. i just got word its not in theatres anymore. nope, nowhere. so nevermind. you fucked that one up.



you shall know our velocity came out on the 20th guess. i haven't seen it in a store yet. lullaby, however, dat be everywhere.



coldplay: gonna need a date on a new radiohead album. quick. or.. i'm going to go buy that coldplay disc with the melting head illustration thing. i'm serious.



is nate coming to your city? if you live on a sad stretch of highway between florida and wisconsin, nate will be seeing you on his october 11th or 12th or thereabouts tour. on guitar will be buckethead.



at the top of this page - that was totally a joke, the header - the livejournal mockup. you got it right?

but the music was no lie, the band of the moment is neutral milk hotel. they, or he, came out with this great album 4 years ago, but i was too busy listening to shitty weezer demos or something.

album name: in the aeroplane over the sea - you can download the title track by clicking the bold text 14 words back. it's just nice acoustic-y fuzzy orchestral soft silly music meaningful magical - the movements were beautiful all in your ovaries all of them milking with green fleshy flowers while powerful pistons were sugary sweet machines smelling of semen all under the garden was all you were needing when you still believed in me.

know what i'm saying?

SEPTEMBER 03, 2002

right then was all about.. hidden camera advertisements somehow trying even less than before fellow tacomats italy; a festival of reading history of rock informative know-it-all guide your 5th mp3 i am steve burns

lets get back to the basics of personal sites. what did i, personally, do since august 10th?

i'm going to combine everything i did into one super-day. we'll say this is what i did yesterday, labor day.

i awoke at 10, i watched family feud 15 times. i worked and then that work ended. so i drove and i drove and i applied to about 12 officey places. i was called back by a couple, i think. my caller ID seems to think so. but my phone likes to hang up and not take messages.

i ran like 30 miles or something (but to where, and why?). i swam for 10 hours. i lost 2 games of basketball to children. but i beat an old man. i read 2 books, watched a dozen movies, and drank like 200 fluid ounces of gatorade. then i ate 10 fish and a box of cheese its. and masturbated..

..

just kiddin. about the cheese its. oh hell yeah, august kicked ass - and you were there too. we all were.



in the bedroom, fast times at ridgemont high, clockers, do the right thing, la femme nikita, another day in paradise, storytelling.

great, great, good, good, good, hm, !



if you gave up on mtv when you were 15, you fucking suck. at least watch CRIBS. treat yourself.

besides, you miss out on bizzare mtv award moments like..

jack white: "thank you mary kate.. ashley."

so. so. great.

bonus: open mouthed kiss with TRIUMPH.



the flaming lips. i've hinted at their supreme awesomeness in the past, but now i am certain. their album is the very best album.

they even made some classy blips (think radiohead).

but don't think i forgot about interpol. interpol make the good music, much like their fellow new york bands do. sample that mp3.

and i'll add that spoon, les savy fav, magnetic fields and rjd2 are pretty excellent right about now.

i'm sorry mama.



pudding.



as part of the anniversary of september 11th, lets reflect on what i had to say a year ago.

center-stage is the best movie about a group of teens vying for spots in the nations most respected dance company that you will see this year.

mmmm. i think we can all say amen to that.

have fun at school.

!

AUGUST 10, 2002

right then was all about.. old white people can they be stopped? eggers alive; writing sept 20th release date strokes vs. gbv be good to your families

they told me that the classics never go out of style, but.. they do.

they do.



benicio del torro + michael mann = fake movie.

downloadable here. cars and stuff. check that out. especially if you're dave.



i saw mulholland drive again recently, and i'm proud to say i almost totally get it now.

except for billy ray cyrus.

i read once david lynch builds his scripts off dreams he's had. i believe it.



in the city the other day, a man who looked not unlike montel williams tried to run me off the road or something. comparrisons to our favorite black daytime talkshow host stop at appearance, as this man was a complete cock and balls.

i had changed over to his lane with plenty of room between us. but man was bent on pulling the "i'm going to speed up.. ride your bumper.. and pretend you caused me a great disservice" routine.

after he insanely followed me around and intimindated me with his slightly newer model of nissan, i escaped across a drawbridge which was about to.. draw.

it was like a movie. except he didn't like.. jump the bridge or some shit. that and we were both driving nissans.

my only regret is i did not have my digital camera present. this shit is what the movie capturing feature is all about.



do you like to draw.. or paint? or maybe just sketch or doodle?

well if you do, chances are you have the interest needed to become a serious art student.



also the:
dismemberment plan makes videos now. 'time bomb' for download

and did you:
know punchdrunk love's release date was moved up to oct 11th

but see:
i added the "and" page that everyone found already somehow.

and do you realize:
we're floating in space.



i have a job now.

JULY 22, 2002

right then was all about.. how fucked is you avoidance HIGH quarlo photography ben brown plugging it in

sorry to make anyone revisit this site daily to check up on my blossoming photography skills (CHECK THAT MOUSE). feel free to just browse the tacomat.com/nate/p directory to get caught up on the lameness.



i want to get free. i want to get free. something something, yeah YEAH.

thats a great song i just wrote there, but really, why is this played on the local terrible radio station on the quarter hour? did you know the vines were australian? no one did. where the fuck did they come from in australia? i'm getting nostalgic for the strokers.



soulseek.org. i've got some people into it. some will never accept anything but audiogalaxy. just reloading their pages, hoping those little sattellite icons and glowing green bars will reappear next to the band someone told you to check.

why cannot someone copy audiogalaxy's software?

anyway, soulseek was apparently all about hiphop/electronica before audiogalaxy kids started flooding in, so now its got pretty much everything. but if you like your undie and trance types, its got a lot of that especially.



as always, some movies were seen. there are also movies to be seen.

stranger than paradise.. b/w jarmusch film from the early 80s. i expected nothing really. i was pleased.

donnie darko.. a look at the box art might suggest it wasn't a great psychological drama/comedy/scifi. but it is.

the punch drunk love movie got a site. features 8 short 'clips' which are sort of edited together bits of film, score, and.. some swirly color shit.

but adam sandler, emily watson.. both clearly show up. adam sandler talking about pudding. emily watson kissing adam sandler. philip seymour hoffman in lester bangs mode. december release date.



some interesting trailers if you didnt want to actually sift through all the upcomming films..

cq coppola jr directing a movie about directing a movie twin towers nerds dangerous lives of altar boys catholic kids, comic books, jodi foster full frontal soderbergh makes too many movies 24 hour party people brit film about start of new wave/rave culture the good girl john c. riley, friends chick, donnie d. simone al pacino invents virtual star actress

oh yeah, and royal tenenbaums is on dvd.



admiring all of wes andersons crazy-ass art and production design, i had to know what was up with the paintings seen around owen wilson's (cowboy) house.

some ridiculous article about the artist from vicemag.



the most productive thing i have done in the past month was writing this*. that sentence. i'll have a job at the end of this next week - the plan.

i'm going to actually try for something i might enjoy. some web work, some design? wish me luck on that.

but safe bet i'll be breaking out the dockers and complaining about some dudes's fax machine before july is through.



some b/w pictures:

a life guard chair, tracks in sand, the street nearbye, store on that street, the storm at home

JUNE 28, 2002

right then was all about.. rivers cuomo with 4 asian girls pfm's movie reviews seeing him some star wars movie title screens impressively worthless

i am no dentist, but this may be a cavity.

i don't have a dentist, not for awhile. eye doctor? whew, i don't know. i'm on my last pair of contacts. health insurance? i fell and put a gash in my head last week. when i swim the salt water makes my head burn.

but look at all this motherfucking sand and these strategically planted palm trees. this lame tiger striped wake-board, the life guards doing ridiculous stretching exercises that look like a mix between jumping jacks and masturbation.

even the homeless people have to know: you live in fucking florida.

you picked the right state to be bum in.



death cab for cutie's "movie script ending" was played during 120 minutes. entire video here. of course i'm still looking for better quality without a stream.

m2 surely won't play it ever again, but it might be on an upcomming DCFC tour-diary DVD barsuk's putting out.



on the splash was indeed a cross country road map depicting what music was listened to in what order during a long trip.

the sloan-portion through backwoods tennessee was a highlight.

hillbilly getaway music found on the radio during the columbia-stlouis stretch went undocumented.



say JAX instead of jacksonville. JAX! JAX BEACH! JAX JAGS!

a nearbye business park named JAXOFFICES has been dubbed 'jacks off feces' by the great jeremy.



movies.. the majestic was boring. i don't remember it all. the man who wasn't there was good. worth it alone for the fantastic b/w cinematography. ali was so-so. 1/3/2, respectively.

minority report gets an award for .. movie that me and everyone i've discussed it with agreeing unanimously on how we would have ended it.

not a bad film. 2 out of 4. FAIR.



rocketsauce died i guess. i'll leave the link up until audiogalaxy officially shuts down or changes business models or whatever.

WAS allows you to steal music. IS mp3.com wannabe. haven't even bothered to download their new software.

4 new songs still appear at the top of the main page here every update. i try and include something for everyone. and by everyone, i mean everyone that likes wuss rock.



on BLACKSTARZ, evidentally a movie channel geared towards an african american audience, tonite:

8:00PM - breakin' 2: electric boogaloo
9:40PM - house party 3
11:20PM - watermelon man*
1:05AM - car wash

watermelon man - a bigoted insurance salesman wakes up one day and discovers he is no longer white.

so yeah, i'm pretty booked until around 3am.



i have a digital camera. until i figure out a good way to organize and display pictures, i just put some of them in a directory. i'm a beginner.



dude who signed my email address up with 'makeoutclub' - seriously needing the death.

JUNE 01, 2002

right then was all about.. LAX something about airplanes CEX everything about this album cover is good this gremlin playing this keyboard old advertising men's hair-care ads from the '50s rule

if you're reading this in like a week or something, i live somewhere else now.

if it hasn't been a week, call me up. we can cook a lot of meat or drink a lot or both.



i saw trail of dead. the drummer and lead singer changed places a lot. they opened with 'it was there that i saw you'. they closed with 'totally natural'. they made fun of jimmy eat world. i got a shirt.

it was pretty good.



those nice blank white cd-r's are only available at sam's club, it would seem. 15 discs were made for a long car trip, and i couldn't have done it with better timing; audiogalaxy is getting sued.

you can no longer send 'groups' copies of songs that they block. which is half the point of groups. many bands are being blocked to an insane degree (BREEDERS?!).

obviously, something new will spread if AG goes to complete shit, but it's a shame in any case. truely the the best music sharing software by far.



some more stuff on lullaby, and the official site for the book. will you laugh aloud at a book about SIDS?

related: chuck on memento.



nate on memento: it's really fucking good. still. it's got a new and better dvd out, and you're going to want to pick that up.

also: star wars, clones. not bad. 2 out of 4 white leotards.

insomnia gets 3 out of 4 original norweigan insomnias.

man that "out of __" is getting old (and confusing), huh?

about a boy. solid film, better soundtrack. 3/4.



the white stripes are performing at the mtv movie awards. mtv is auditioning white-and-red clad dancers for the stripes performance. there's a weird-ass white stripes tribute. rolling stone magazine put them on their "coolest 50 albums" list. your little sister knows the words to 'fell in love with a girl'.

all true. terrible tragedy.

jack black hosts the mtv freak show on june 6th.

i have 5 of RS's supercool albums. rollingstone.com's version of the list was not linked to, because you have to go album by album. totally fucking ridiculous, even on a cable modem.



FINALLY FINALLY

- i invented the greatest game ever. it requires two people, three tennis balls, and a large plastic green cylinder.
- baby alligators in the sewers grow up fast.
- i'm the fastest. since thomas left, i'm the fastest.
- someone bought our fucking house.
- vanilla coke tastes like a&w cream soda mixed with a&w cream soda.
- see you on the other side.

MAY 16, 2002

right then was all about.. bootsy collins bootsy matters frontier house because rich people starving is funny renting waking life you've already seen oceans 11, fuckface the next palahniuk out in october

this is a brand new song.



stop naming your pets sassy.



in 16 days:

i have moved boxes from large vans into climate controled buildings. i have carried couches up stairwells. i have ripped up fucking carpet. recliners and a pool table have been delivered into the waiting arms of two young black men. i bought some cds. i acquired large checks from visa, the u.s. government, and my latest employer. its raining every day. nothing else has been done.



i like that. i like mixing them all up like that.

even the diet?

yes.

what do you call- do you have a name for this drink?

all-mixed-together drink.



badly drawn boy figures prominently into this weeks must see film. that film (that you will no doubt be lining up for first screening at midnight) is 'about a boy'. based on the nick hornby (high fidelity) novel, and BDB did its complete score.

the two singles i know of - "something to talk about" and "silent sigh" have sort of ongoing story about a duck in their music videos that i find very neat for some reason. watch silent sigh.



pta news: that comedy with adam sandler and emily watson finally got seen. a bunch of french dudes will be seeing it at cannes soon as well.

of note: on adam's web site there's some clips involving his dog 'meatball' and members of the cast. adam sandler's dog needs to be in this movie.



it seemed inevitable, and yes de la soul is finally touring with modest mouse.

wait, what the fuck.

yea, this 'unlimited sunshine' shit is going down with flaming lips and cake as well and we're all going - see you there.



when people want to buy your house they want to get a good look at the the square footage, fixtures, paint. a good look at the carpeting, and definitely - most of all - they want to get a good luck at a guy eating applejacks while watching sportscenter.

and of course you gotta get a good look at the dog, who is barking like you're trying to smuggle cocaine into the premesis.

but people really don't want to see the son or the dog at all, even when the dog just wanted a good petting. so we are gone quick. out the back.

what me and my 80 pound golden retriever and a 1996 dodge neon lack in speed we make up for in cunning. those silly fuckers never see us leave.

i'm selling my dodge neon by the way! $2500, man. if you've read past slash-nate's you'll know its a great great car.

APRIL 30, 2002

right then we were.. watching interviews of some bands that appeal to me and you buying some white globes at the wal-mart rethinking careers internet ceo .. chairman .. mcdonalds counterperson masturgating complete with a swing tag and naughty character poem

we do what we like and we like what we do.



averaging about a month an update. truely a below satisfactory average for the amount of volume contributed here. what is that about a word a day? but you weren't really visiting more than once or twice a month were you?

less than that? first time?

my name is nate, and i mean well.



i should just have other people update this. we could all contribute, all of the visitors cooperating could make /nate better than before and updated twice weekly.

our first submission is obviously a drawing carving of a rat (in wood!). it's from my sister.



pretty motherfucking impressive. lets see you do a rat. seriously try and do one.



that? that is fucking terrible, dude. you obviously have no business trying to contribute anything.



'late world with zach', a good show that no one watched, will air its last episode thursday on vh1.



gap.com has a bunch of commercials directed by famous people. the coen brothers' portion has christina ricci and dennis hopper playing chess. quirky!



at about the halfway point of 'mullholland drive' two women find another dead woman in a house. so there's three women.

wait, there's one woman -- no definitely 2.

and they're having sex.

there is a director, there's people threatening the director, there's a woman the director has to put in a movie. he is being threatened by a cowboy.

and then there is THE director, david lynch. he has removed about an hour of this movie to trick us, it no longer makes sense, or maybe it never did. i want to watch it again. 4/4, and can someone who is smarter than me please explain this film.



thanks to dave wardle for the domain space. in dave's honor lets talk about dave, then sort of stop talking about dave.

i've never met dave. dave lives in norwich. norwich is in england. i have no furniture. that place i worked a couple weeks ago still hasn't paid me. the chicken whopper is the bk broiler in disguise. it's all about putting everything you own into three boxes. spiderman. spiderman. doing what a spider can.

APRIL 09, 2002

right then we were.. eggers watching gossip on semi-famous authors' sisters. how pathetic that i am intrigued trying to convince people to see that gondry/jonze/kauffman project in training ninja's are totally awesome and that's a fact

intrust bank

AND ON WHY IT IS A TERRIBLE FINANCIAL INSTITUITION

i estimate they have taken over $600 from me in just the past couple years.

one time i made them feel so guilty about it they actually gave me $100 of a $150 fee back. small victories like this keep me from throwing my feces at intrust bank.



dogs wearing bandanas.



i left a piece of wrapped american cheese somewhere. i was carrying it with me, planning on eating it very soon, but lost it. i cannot find it and it will smell very badly in one to two weeks.

unless i find it first, and then it will be very tasty.



this update is not very serious.

serious: we're leaving lardlad.com.

people who own this server (not adam wolf, NO) were nice, caring people. they stopped being nice caring people, deleted all our music and we'll just need to move before we throw feces at them.

tacomat.com/nate

don't go there now though. in a week or so, people will come. a link left at lardlad.com/nate will remind the people to come.

thank you to adam for his space.



if we were asked, "what is the only good album to come out in our current year, 2002?" - well obviously we would say 'source tags and codes' by trail of dead. we can all breathe easy as pitchfork agrees with us more than we agree with ourselves.

the trail was also on kilborn. watch it. audio-wise, about as good as television talkshow appearance i've seen. which is still not very good.



the panic room is about jodie foster and a large house and rules. i give it 3 out of 4 finchers.

big trouble is a strange sort of movie. it has about 10 actors i enjoy in it, including janeane garofalo, 2 andy richters, and a bag of fritos eaten by jason lee. i can't say any of the plot really worked, but the characters all sort of made me smile.

so that's my review i guess. i did a lot of smiling. 2 out of 4 jason demottes.



remember that pete & pete where older pete wrigley was a rangeboy at his dad's golf course and wore the bear suit out of embarassment? neither did i, i had forgot and was ashamed but they're all being rerun on the NOGGIN cable channel 3 times a day now. i probably already told you this excidedly in an IM last week, because i am a nerd.



i have a dumb story in my head about a bowling alley and a black man's chinese girlfiend i need to get on paper. i'll put this on an update in a week or so.

at tacomat.com/nate. REMEMBER.

MARCH 25, 2002

right then we were.. planning our �caribbean getaway explaining things only at the drive-in fans need click buddyheading new issue

belle and sebastian did a soundtrack for mr. soldonz's latest fucked up opus, which stars skinny girl from cruel intentions, the virgin-fucker from KIDS, john goodman, lola (who runs) and some other people i don't know. it didn't even make it out to kansas city, but reviews and the trailer have me looking forward to a viewing on dvd.



comedy central has been blowing it for a couple years (ever since it thought battlebots and the man show were better than dr. katz and upright citizens brigade, maybe) but a couple things:

this puppet show will apparently be having tenacious d, WEEN, and others as musical guests, IN puppet form.

comedy central will also be airing conan o'brien repeats from the night before at 7pm or so starting in september.



but what have i been up to? blood piss, and shit. IN the haiku tunnel.

computer's can't read your handwriting. doesn't matter how well you write, so don't try. 24cy 916zoh is not very close "zach gibson".

zach gibson peed in a cup. some 26 year old from tacoma washington gave his urine, and gave his blood. he filled out some forms. there are a lot of people bleeding and pissing and everyone has a form.

i had to correct handwriting. yes, that was what i did for 24 hours last week. not 24 in a row, 3x8 hours in the first office i've had to have security clearance to leave. badges to get in are the drill, but to leave is pretty creepy.

if you ever get out of the building, maybe you smell johnson county's shit. the land fill is nearbye. fuck i would kill to work there again.

it paid alright, but more importantly fufilled all the usual requirements. the things you need to totally cut yourself off from everyone and become immersed in the tunnel.



haiku tunnel is an excellent film that you should go rent if you can find it.

well, don't rent it. first thumb through your classifides, find the word 'temp' in a job description, and join a temp agency. you really need to work at these to totally understand. to totally enjoy.

"you know, as pathetic as it is to be one of those self-satisfied swinging capitalist trader dudes. perhaps the only thing more pathetic is to be their temp."



- no one should know your name
- no one should be keeping track of when you actually come to work, leave, or lunch
- you should be wearing headphones
- you should have one task and it should require no movement or talking
- this task should should be one continuous project that never runs out during your tenure
- it should kind of scare you how fast the day went. it is a bit dehumanizing though, isn't it? your hands hurt a little. wouldn't robot hands be cool?



12:15 press return

FEBRUARY 28, 2002

right then we were.. just doing it latest nike commercial is better than most shows watching the ben brown show. better than most nike commercials smoochy actual image from upcoming ed norton film reading two books simultaneously. like fuckin superman. or maybe just an above average robot

/nate wasn't here for the end of the year lists. so i'll get that done with right now because i really can't stress how much i enjoy lists.

best films..
vanilla sky, ghost world, waking life, moulin rouge, royal tenenbaums

top 5 bands i discovered that year..
death cab for cutie, sloan, velvet underground, yo la tengo, dismemberment plan

and rediscovered..
portishead, harvey danger, de la soul, sonic youth, nada surf

best songs..
bjork - cocoon, jimmy eat world - praise chorus, the shins - new slang

best tv..
undeclared, oz, family guy

books..
dave eggers, palahniuk's choke, jimmy corrigan, motherless brooklyn

also of note..
i'm a nerd. i saw lord of the rings 4 times. enjoy alien ant farm and wish to find their cd when they go away and the CD is in a 1$ bin somewhere. i worked at a total of 5 different places. i was just starting my car at 9:05am on the 11th of september. this was the year i stopped caring. i now drive a '94 white maxima. i may not live in kansas much longer. i did get to see tenaicous d at last.



i am trying to go down snow covered hills on a skateboard without wheels.



startup.com is quite a good film. rent it sometime. a documentry with as much drama as i've seen in any movie lately.

super troopers is depresingly bad.



i watched that entire womens figure skating final. there really isn't much more to say there.



when i'm looking for a music lyric of some sort, google leads me many times to someones website. they have quoted the same line i chose and hindered my search. some popular choices:

- can you still feel the butterflies
- just not on the inside
- movies of my dreams
- immerse your soul in love
- and a million screams



i hope i go on a wild spring break trip that goes awry some day.

like some trip to mexico where one of us dies, or we are drugged and wake up in a box in some poor north mexican town, having to sell our watches for cash to get back to sweet sweet america.

yea, like in THE GAME. with michael douglas, you know.

anyway, i'd turn to someone and go "hey. spring break broke."

i think we'd all get a kick out of that.

FEBRUARY 18, 2002

right then we were.. still believin and holding on to that feeling killing ourselves oh, drinky crow anticipating panic room trailers now online for fincher's latest laughing then feeling kind of bad

you stuck around. hey

HI

i haven't gotten that digital camera i wanted yet. i don't even have a job right now. my car is not repaired.

or maybe i have a new car? the improtant thing for me to remember right now is my depleeting bank account, and the career section of the kansas city star - with a little ring of milk around it from my little bowl of frosted miniwheats.

the ring has made a perfect circle around a job opportunity. i decide this is the job i must take. fate sort of thing, except totally fucking stupid.

however, in contrary to the ad's request, i am not 1) outgoing 2) a leader 3) a dental hygenist. and i'm going back to fuckin bed.

how to fail at accumulating wealth:

- work every other month. this is important. one month of 5 day a work office work? breaktime. you deserved it, champ. rest up.

- accumulate a $80 visa bill on a credit card you never used. get a visa, choose a personalized card that costs $10 somehow. ignore bills and allow it to grow to a ridiculous sum. cry and pay it.

- other little things. buy beer, buy a lot of music, supersize, overdraft, get speeding tickets, do not pay speeding tickets. buy that stupid little piece of shit. that dumb little motherfucker, it's only 3.50 so you might as well.

but get this, and this is really something:

- random clip
is an updated clip of dumb shit i find. typical: conan skit, amusing local commercial, movie clip, music related things, videos, yes

- soundtrack
is the same thing as last design's "recently downloaded", except different

- get a haircut
working on it



yea, /nate is back so its time to bookmark him again. come on, he doesn't type that much and smells so fine.