you shall know our velocity!

when I grow up

2011-10-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

I wanna be a vessel for energy's eruptions. A crack in the surface where extraordinary-ness flows through.

If the world occasionally sends its hot lava core spewing forth,

I wanna be a volcano,

bleeding the great earth's guts fantastically into the sky.

Tellin somethin bout itself.

An expression -- the fleeting gesture that is my life span on this planet.

Europe

2011-09-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

California in December

2010-12-15T16:10:00.000-08:00

In The Spirit

2010-12-11T19:19:00.000-08:00

"Spirit is an invisible force made visible in all life. In many African religions there is the belief that all things are inhabited by spirits which must be appeased and to which one can appeal. So, for example, when a master drummer prepares to carve a new drum, he approaches the selected tree and speaks to the spirit residing there. In his prayer he describes himself, his experience, and his expertise; then he explains his intent. He assures the spirit that he will remain grateful for the gift of the tree and that he will use the drum only for honorable purposes.
I believe that spirit is one and is everywhere present. That it never leaves me. That in my ignorance I may withdraw from it, but I can realize its presence the instant I return to my senses.
It is this belief in a power larger than myself and other than myself which allows me to venture into the unknown and even the unknowable. I cannot seperate what I concieve as Spirit from my concept of God. Thus, I believe that God is spirit.
While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everything else and everyone else are also God's creation. This is particularly difficult for me when my mind falls upon the cruel person, the batterer, and the bigot. I would like to think that the mean-spirited were created by another force and under the aegis and direction of something other than my God. But since I believe that God created all things, I am not only constrained to know that the oppressor is a child of God, but also obliged to try to treat him or her as a child of God.
My faith is tested many times every day, and more times than I'd like to confess, I'm unable to keep the banner of faith aloft. If a promise is not kept, or if a secret is betrayed, or if I experience long-lasting pain, I begin to doubt God and God's love. I fall so miserably into the chasm of disbelief that I cry out in despair. Then the spirit lifts me up again, and once more I am secured in faith. I don't know how that happens, save when I cry out earnestly I am answered immediately and am returned to faithfulness. I am once again filled with spirit and firmly planted on solid ground."

--Maya Angelou
Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now

2010-11-12T11:33:00.000-08:00

It should hear me by now, this thing that I want. It should hear a rumble in the distance, gradually becoming louder. It should feel a change in the wind and a tremble in the ground.

Lord knows whether it's ready for me, but I'm coming.

Like an asteroid. On fire in a free fall. This thing I want won't know what hit it. I will come zooming from above, a shooting star, and make an impact that shakes all of our surroundings.

My whole life, I've been out here orbiting around this thing. Its gravity pulling my spiral tighter and tighter with every revolution. Such want. I am off its radar -- a satellite, for the moment -- but I hope this thing is starting to get that sinking feeling in its gut, saying,

something's coming.

California

2010-08-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

warm welcome

2010-08-14T16:22:00.000-07:00

These are the hot, hot, dog days of August, and darlin', I can't believe you won't see New Orleans and me again 'til it's cool.

We're on fire, all of us, with the spiciness and sweaty jazziness of it. Much as ever.
The heat feels like it's working its way up to an explosive crescendo, at which point the essence in the air will burst into flames and will only be able to be put out by a hurricane. Like a giant magic fire extinguisher monster.

Dog days. Everybody shinin' wit it. Panting. Pantsless. Everybody dripping their uppitiness away. It gets dabbed off of foreheads and cleavages by damp bandanas that sag, as fatigued as we are.
When everybody is sweating, everybody is all in this together. And I feel at home, part of the city, now more than ever.
We got air-of-superiority conditioning.
Reality is giving out more checks than FEMA these days -- and can't nobody maintain a dry enough disposition to fully disconnect from this human condition. Not this summer, No Ma'am.

We're all soaked at this point, all us runaways who came to get eloped with the music. Us orphans in the city except for our Nawlins-in-laws whose roots help to run us back to the original rhythms that sent their pulse through the south.

Oh how we want to be in that bloodline, when the saints go marching in.

If you're like me, you might spend your daylight hours tending to your sapling musicality, with hopes that if you really hustle, the city's laid-back pace will offer you a chance to catch up.
If you're like me, you may have detached your respective pony from the carousel and decided to race instead of ride.
You may appear to be off your rocker.

So cheers to the revolution - I've just completed my first.

One full swing around the seasons of the city. Dizzying and dazzling they have been.

A whole life. My whole life, demolished, reimagined, rebuilt, and prospering in its infancy. Similar to its older sister, the now kindergarten aged (NEW) New Orleans.

A life brought to the table like a potluck which shared its great luck as a new piece to our growing community. It's all come full circle.

It's been a gorgeous year, y'all. Thank you for the insanely, smolderingly, warm welcome.

2010-08-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

"Dream delivers us to dream, and there is no end to illusion. Life is a train of moods like a string of beads, and, as we pass through them, they prove to be many-colored lenses which we paint the world their own hue... Temperament is iron wire on which the beads are strung."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Martha's Vineyard

2010-08-08T16:37:00.001-07:00

A beautiful week spent with beautiful new friends on the amazing and magical Russell Complex.

2010-01-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm marking my five month anniversary in New Orleans just as Carnival season ramps up. Only 3 weeks or so until Fat Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras day.

Sometimes it seems that this town exists just for the season of Carnival, at that the rest of the year is just spent in one long exhalation. During my time here, the whole thing has been described to me elaborately and exhuberantly by many folks who represent many different experiences. But for some reason, I feel like nothing can prepare me for Mardi Gras except my own experience, since it's so uniquely meaningful to every person. Differently.

new years/orleans on a full, full moon

2010-01-06T18:05:00.000-08:00

2009-12-14T17:06:00.000-08:00

time is on your side

2009-12-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

But that's only because time is on all sides. Propelling us and surrounding us all at once.

From one degree, it is a train zooming straight into you, blasting through you, and yet from another angle it is disappearing over the foot-hills off in the distance.

Where does the time go? And more importantly -- WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

We can't catch up.

Time is a tattoo, branding you in long cursive letters... "this too shall pass."

And I'm so glad that 'soonlikenow' has been here to leave its mark. This is our one-year anniversary, this collection and I.

Together we took in Africa, and found a way to translate it as best we could. Together we turned one inaugural ticket into, well, a few.

We scattered poetry all around. And humor. We posted definitive songs and music videos that served as the soundtrack to our ever-unfolding story.

Me and these photos, this writing, all of it. We took you all over the country! And we had no idea how much we would appreciate having a record of it, in retrospect.

At the time it was the process of posting that helped me interpret these experiences. And now they sit as archives so that they'll never be lost to me.

The illusion of time can make it difficult to iconize the very exceptional eras that we happen to be floating upon. That is, until they are beyond our reach, or any hope of reconnaissance.

To have been writing this story as it has been taking place is the best gift I could have asked for as I wrap up this amazing year.

I look forward to continue building momentum, and to be a happy passenger on this crazy train of time.

Something's coming something's coming somethings... somethings...

2009-12-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

2009-12-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

"The ethnographer observes behavior but goes beyond it to inquire about the meaning of that behavior. The ethnographer sees artifacts and natural objects but goes beyond them to discover what meanings people assign to these objects. The ethnographer observes and records emotional states but goes beyond them to discover the meaning of fear, anger, and other feelings."

--Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology

where does the time go?

2009-12-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

It all happens

so soon-like.

2009-11-09T19:12:00.001-08:00

Day of the Dead...

2009-10-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

I've finally gotten caught up with uploading photos. See them here.

jazzjazzjazz

2009-10-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

"An important idea to consider here is that blues was predominantly a blues-based music. The blues timbre and spirit had come to jazz virtually unchanged, even though the early Negro musicians using European instruments had to learn to play them with the strict European march music as a model. The "classical" timbre of the trumpet, the timbre that Creoles imitated, was not the timbre that came into jazz. The purity of tone that the European trumpet player desired was put aside by the Negro trumpeter for a more humanly expressive sound of the voice. The brass sound came to the blues, but it was a brass sound hardly related to its European models. The rough, raw sound the black man forced out of these European instruments was a sound he had cultivated in this country for two hundred years. It was an American sound, something indigenous to a certain kind of cultural existence in this country."

--Amiri Baraka,
Blues People

2009-10-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

[goin' steady]

2009-10-13T17:30:00.000-07:00

They're all my boyfriends. Whether they know it or not.

All the jolly old bums who hang around and make fun of each other in Jackson Square, calling me names like sassy and caramel.

And the freshly dressed brown boys who skateboard the streets of the French Quarter in packs, never giving any woman (including myself) so much as a wink.

Cashiers at corner stores who work to fit as many lame jokes as possible into our 2-minute interaction.

The bar hosts standing out on Bourbon Street holding large menus, working to corral groups of tourists into overpriced restaurants. Hosts who reach out for hugs when I pass them after I get off work. Hosts who offer to buy me dinner at restaurants much nicer than their own.

And every last trombone player. They're all my boyfriends.

And how about the high school boys trying to act tough on their walk home from the school bus, yelling to each other extra-vulgar in order to compensate for their matching uniform slacks and tucked in polo's.

The traveler kids playing washboard, banjo, and fiddle in doorsteps for cash. Wailing old folk songs up over my head and to the moon while I dance and we pass around a brown paper bag of grain alcohol.

Shoot, even my actual boyfriends are my boyfriends.

But so are the tour guides who stop into the shop where I work, just to shoot the shit a little bit before leading big groups of imbiciles from all over the country around the Quarter, enchanting them with their exaggerated historic fables intermingled with ghost stories.

The cute barista guys who get all shy when I toss a dollar in their tip jar.

The young rapper boys in the neighborhood who don't know how to talk to women and get caught off guard by my intolerance for bullshit. Boys who shout out "Simi-Automatic! Pop pop pop!" From blocks away when they see me pass. Boys who commission me to record verses about money, cars, and clothes onto their tracks.

I love them. All of them.

Especially the hot dog vendors, in all their ridiculousness.

And the tragic looking white boys skulking prettily on their porches every day -- the ones who smile-wave, but don't say hello, just look on longingly at everything that passes them by.

And the old, seasoned, mind-blowing jazz musicians playing on the corner in hopes of catching a few five-dollar-bills in their cases. I see them every day -- some times I sit and listen, other times I bring them a beer in exchange for an on-street music lesson, but most times I just zoom on past, skivvies showing under a little dress atop my cruiser bicycle because I'm late for work.

And yet I go home to nobody, no one, except my guitar, and we keep each other up late singing one big love song to the whole damn city of New Orleans.

This girl. Her head. Her heels.

Who knows!

the hood

2009-10-09T14:22:00.001-07:00

My neighborhood, Faubourg Marigny, was rated 2nd best in the country.

That's only because the APA is trippin' and hasn't yet realized that it's THE BEST PLACE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.

Also doesn't hurt to have a new resident who's this freakin adorable. Hey.

so I never made it back to minnesota.

2009-10-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

I'm still just as here as ever.

today's horoscope

2009-10-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

"Is the electron a wave or a particle? Physicists had to conduct thousands of experiments to arrive at the definitive answer, which is that it's both. In other words, the solution to one of the fundamental questions about the nature of reality is a paradox. I think this strongly suggests that the correct response to many other riddles about the ultimate truth might be two seemingly opposing explanations. Could the Unitarians and Buddhists both be right? Socialists and capitalists? Mystics and scientists? In the upcoming days, Aries, you will be offered lots of practice in adopting this approach as you deal with a personal dilemma that's very much akin to "Is the electron a wave or a particle?"

Is reality Minneapolis or New Orleans? One of the two has just got to be a breach.

I'm about to hop on a plane with an empty suitcase. I'm about to go home and fill it.

It's been over a month since I first left for New Orleans, expecting to stay for a week, have some good times, and then keep traveling. And now, 6 weeks later, I'm reluctantly heading to the airport make a visit to the very bizarre other-world where I grew up. I'm leaving behind friends, plans, music, my job, my house, and all of the things I had initially packed in the suitcase that I've been living out of.

Reality has relocated. My dreams even take place here now.

I'm nervous about finding myself in Minnesota and suddenly waking up from this amazing dream that has just flown by. In weeks I've lived lifetimes here. I'm afraid to put this lady of a city on hold and interrupt the endless, gaseous, go-go-go she has so generously showered me in.

I really am excited to get some love and some grounding by my beautiful people at home, who I know now more than ever are to be people I will absolutely ALWAYS love.

But I can't say I won't be daydreaming about her sweltering afternoons, her street parties, her lackadaisical rhythm, her neighborhood characters, and her catfish po'boys the whole time. . .

2009-09-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

2009-09-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself."

--Oscar Wilde

2009-09-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

2009-09-15T17:37:00.001-07:00

2009-09-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

"She's not like other cities with no discerning palate. New Orleans knows what she likes and what she doesn't like. She's got her own tastes for the sort of people she wants to rub elbows with. If she likes you, she will shower you with opportunity and luck. She will take you by the hand and lead you to the people you will love for the rest of this life. She will dazzle you with her beauty and charm. Pour you drinks with a heavy hand, laugh outrageously at your jokes. Deliver the muse to your door at 2am and a roast beef po'boy dripping with gravy. And you'll be so happy. You'll call your family in other places and say, 'Finally, I'm home.'"

--Andrea Boll,
The Parade Goes On Without You

2009-09-09T09:44:00.000-07:00

that fiction

2009-09-09T09:42:00.001-07:00

Who knows the importance of happy or sad, really
in regard to our decisions,
in regard to our dreams.

It's not so much hard work
as it is hard want

and immense appreciation.

2009-09-02T09:21:00.000-07:00

howl to the moon

2009-08-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my 2 week anniversary of ever having been in New Orleans.

In that time, I've already decided on a whim to stay and live here, already been working a job, already secured a great place to live, shed my previous plans, traversed the Louisiana countryside and explored the swamps, outdone myself, had my heart broken, started volunteering at a nonprofit book collective, been a fully functioning resident out of my lone vacation-minded suitcase, and voluntarily turned on the air conditioning for the first time in over two years.

It's hot down here.

I am committed to getting to the bottom of whatever the hell it is that makes this strange other universe called New Orleans so fucking magical. It's a tragic magic. It's a seepy, sultry, ghosty, blues song of a town. And I, for one, am haunted.

My hypothesis is that it must be some combination of the very electric humidity/history which keeps the spirit world hanging in the air. It's thick like a curtain, or a blessing, or a warning, depending on what kind of day you've had.

That and the fact that they don't bury their dead under the ground.

This whole town is howling.

New Orleans

2009-08-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

Series 1, of many.

the nature of our relationship

2009-08-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

is abound with change.

The livelihood of my trusted camera is no more. The camera that I took you to Africa through! The camera that's taken hundreds of pictures of you.

And it'll be awhile before I can keep updating this thing with my adventures through my photos.

However, on the same day my camera broke, I unearthed an archive of other images that tell my story nonetheless.

That and your imagination. This is about to get good, I think.

on the topic of looking for answers

2009-07-28T20:50:00.001-07:00

"up north"

2009-07-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

family style.

At least we have our DNA in common.

a honeymoon

2009-07-17T13:55:00.001-07:00

and a whole bunch of other really beautiful things that have recently taken place in Northern California.

Matt and Aria's Wedding

2009-07-15T05:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

"I want to watch the lines deepen on your face, and to know the story behind every one of them."

SAN FRANCISCO!

2009-07-14T17:22:00.000-07:00

JAZZ!JAZZ!JAZZ!

"If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair..."

birdsingswhythecaged i know.

2009-07-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

The airport has been for me what hospitals can be for many people. The sterile center that is always escorting you in and out of different lives.

It is the purgatory in which your loved ones wait in short term parking. It's a stable place in which everyone is on their way somewhere else.

It is the structure which embraces you into, or excretes you out of, America.

And this time I hung there tired, like a buoy, afraid to leave the security checkpoint because my magic pumpkin carriage portal would suddenly transform into a vacuum of back-at-home. Heartbreakingly home.

California, we've got so much left to do for the world.

This is the weirdest it's ever felt to be back.

2009-06-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

If water conducts electricity, and it's always raining during a lightning storm, how come not everything connected by wetness gets shocked when struck by lightning?

2009-06-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

Are you sure dragons aren't dinosaurs? Even just a little bit?

2009-06-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

What is the feminine equivalent of the word 'phallic'?

I'm Lookin for Answers

2009-06-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

Therefore I am going to be posting a question a day, every day, for as long as my mind is overwrought with inquisitiveness.

I will very much appreciate to hear your theories, pleasethanks.

Today, Why are basketball and runway modeling so height-specific?

Fallen Princesses

2009-06-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

"The project was inspired by my observation of three-year-old girls, who were developing an interest in Disney's Fairy tales."

--Artist, Dina Goldstein

Fallen Princesses: a photo project from JPG Magazine.

48 Hour Film Race!

2009-06-23T17:25:00.001-07:00

You can view our submission here.

generations upon generations

2009-06-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

2009-06-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

hot town

2009-05-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

summer in the city.

more to come...

from FailBlog.org

2009-05-24T19:37:00.001-07:00

And I am extremely terrified of the reality of this and what it says about the state of the world.

"Dedicated to the lovely, shapely, skinny Sue Evans, with the beautiful box."

2009-05-23T01:11:00.000-07:00

these directions are wrong. ahem. the correct directions to Kerouac's grave are, "WHISKEY", children. "WHISKEY".

P.S.

ohhhhhh.

You Can't Blame the Youth

2009-05-22T12:43:00.001-07:00

If you really want to know I'll tell you why.

2009-05-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these color TVs.

so true.

2009-05-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Last night I dreamt that I was at a huge kite-flying party. Today I was scouring the internet to see if any event of that nature was scheduled, but I found nothing (just missed the last one by a week). HOWEVER! I did find a Flickr account belonging to a Sir MNKiteman.

MNkiteman is a dude who takes amazing bird's-eye-view photos from a kite! Check out his photostream!

Some of my faves:

Valley Fair Parking Lot

Some Art Shanties

Stillwater, MN

MayDay!

WOW!

I really hope I run into this kite guy somewhere around town!

dinkytowna BEEN done dead.

2009-05-12T11:28:00.000-07:00

by Simi Murumba

The Dinkytowner Cafe bids farewell on May 31 and I'm not mourning.

It is home to what was once a live and youthful hip hop community - full of momentum. But for the past year or so, The Dinkytowner has done little more than represent the dead horse we are preverbially beatboxing over. I hate to be the one to say it, but it's gotten pretty sad.

Think about how little we're losing, versus how much more we should be doing anyway. It was a sinking ship.

Hip hop and the Dinkytowner are like that awful couple who, when paired, do nothing but lay around, just getting stoned and ordering delivery food because they've been in sweatpants watching reality TV for days. You know the ones. They're the lameness enablers. The lamenablers.

All I know is, it's time to crack a window.

Let's take them out of their comfort zones. Let's push hip hop back out into the dating world. Let's try new things. Let's help rap music make some new friendships. Let's explore the city. It's what springtime's all about!

That way, hip hop really can be the tool for building community connections we often boast it to be. This can be a great opportunity if you choose to look at it that way.

Besides - I'm actually rather relieved to know that I won't be spending any of my precious summer nights navigating my way through a sea of Bro's, only to end up hanging around in a basement. Followed by macaroni pizza. I'm over it.

It's always sad to see a small business go under. And to its credit, the Dinky was a very inclusive and supportive space. But we're ready for the challenge of branching out and taking what we do to the next level. The closing of the Dinkytowner is exactly the kick that the music scene needed to get hungry again. And I'm looking forward to a summer of better shows and funner times with the revival of Hip Hop -- the Bachelor.

The Minnesota 150

2009-05-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota History Center is currently running an exhibit called "MN150: The People, Places, and Things that shape our state."

The list includes the GPS system, Hubert H. Humphrey, the 1980 Olympic Hockey Team, Prince, Native American Boarding Schools, The Greyhoud Busline, Paul Wellstone, etc.

I went to the museum with my mom this morning for her birthday. She enthusiastically pointed out the Atmosphere display to me, because I swear this woman refuses to let the 14-year-old caricature of Nasimiyu just gracefully slip away into the darkness.

I stopped myself short of screaming out, "It was a phase!" in time to be rendered dumbfounded by the exhibit.

Can we just geek out for a moment over the significance of this? What this means for music, culture, hip hop, young people, independent artists, and Minnesota's history? This recognition might not come as so much of a suprise by today's standards, but let's put ourselves in our 6-years-ago shoes. There would have been no way, NO WAY, we would have seen something like this coming.

Can we just take a second to wrap our minds around the concept of my mom dancing to an Atmosphere track in the History Museum?

Yeah, see now you know where I get my skillz from.

evidence of springtime

2009-05-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

Have you fallen, or have you hatched?

Reverse Spring Break

2009-05-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

Scand and I took a little trip down to Morris, Minnesota, to spend some time with miss Ina Mae at school.

It was beauuuuutiful...

Country Mouse, City Mouse.

Checkin out the wood kiln.

Climbin, swingin, jumpin...

Laughin...

Spinnin,

Flyin.

Cake!

New friends.

Happy thoughts.

"I will wade out"

2009-04-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

I will wade out
till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
i will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
Alive
with closed eyes
to dash against darkness
in the sleeping curves of my body
shall enter fingers of smooth mastery
with chasteness of sea girls
will i complete the mystery of my flesh
i will rise
After a thousand years
lipping
flowers
And set my teeth in the silver of the moon
--E.E. Cummings

Aria's Beautiful Typewriter

2009-04-13T13:22:00.001-07:00

ching!

The Pagan Origins of Easter

2009-04-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

From "BEattitude" on Wordpress: Something all Christians should know.

How many Christians accidently honored the goddess Eastre today with chocolate rabbits and eggs that are directly drawn from her symbolism? I gladly honored her with a gluttonous amount of chocolate eggs today. Thanks Eastre, it was delicious.

The Making of a Film in 24 Hours

2009-04-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

It was SUCH an adventure doing the 24 Hour Film Race with the "Brothers of Salsa" Production pals. I'd been looking forward to participating in the race ever since they showed me CTRL+S, the film the entered last year.

We waited around, and then finally received the theme and suprise element from HQ at 10 o'clock on Friday night. The theme was "Second Chances," and the suprise element was that we had to make sure to include blowing bubbles.

Everybody who came got to be a contributor the creative process, which was really the sweetest part of the whole thing. As soon as we received the necessary information, we got our huddle on and started brainstorming somethin ugly. We all threw out different pieces, and slowly started to form them into something we could work.

Folks then took that pool of ideas and worked all throughout the night to turn them into a screenplay. It was to be a comedy, based around a fortune teller who is asked to give people second chances, but in the end recieves a second chance herself.

The script was packed with quick cuts, complex characters, lots of tangents, and hilarious diaolgue. This was going to be a very ambitious undertaking to fit into a 4 minute film, and to complete in less than a day.

Then we went on a 3am location scout-out! Wooo

Once we had settled on a spot, we each collected props, costumes, and supplies from our own personal stashes to dress it up.

We performed an all-night extreme makeover on the set, turning a cluttered apartment into a fortune teller's home and business.

Actors were pretty randomly cast to fill roles at the last minute. Then we studied our lines and characters with only a couple of hours' notice.

We devised all of the costuming for each character.

We underwent hair and make-up transformations. I was aged by 20 years to play the fortune teller.

It was a trip.

We triumphed over sleep deprivation and caffeine crashes. For the most part.

In the morning we started shooting. And re-shooting take after take after take.

And with waaaay too little time left on the clock, and with one editing software catasphrophe after another, it didn't look like there was any way we were going to be able to turn our film in on time. I had already told myself, "Hey, even though we didn't make it into the competition, at least we had a really fun time making a really sweet movie."

I mean, come on, Steve and to import AND watch a day's worth of footage and chop it all up and fit it into a nice, neat, 4 minute package of cinematic fantasticness.

Yeah fuckin right, right?

I was already at home and asleep when I got the victory text - WE DID IT! They finished and delivered the film by 10 o'clock!

The whole thing was amazingly fun to make, and we ended up with a really great short film on our hands. What an honor to have worked with such a ridiculously creative and talented group of people! So lucky to know these very special folks.

Seriously, though, this was probably one of the best uses I've ever made of a Friday night.

man, ain't that news

2009-04-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

So here comes the inevitable apologetic, "I haven't been blogging lately," post.

I'm going to be more disciplined in writing more over the next few weeks, because I feel a change coming on.

It's good to have these things documented, to some degree. When you look back at your archived life. Sometimes it's almost unrecognizable.

What a ridiculous and beautiful year.

your friend simi

2009-04-03T13:40:00.000-07:00

done did it now.

I got the part I dreamt of in Kindergarten -- I get to play Lisa Turtle in the upcoming Saved by the Bell Musical.

It's running at the Bryant Lake Bowl at the end of May.

SO excited.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

aagggh. I love it.

roller disco birthday fun

2009-03-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

happy, happy.

lol tatz

2009-03-19T23:42:00.000-07:00

I did it! Me, that's whom!

yay yaaay

Seattle, WA

2009-03-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

We confronted the troll.

Olympia, WA

2009-03-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

We drank the water.

PDX

2009-03-09T23:08:00.000-07:00

We got lost and found.

Reedpointe, Montana

2009-03-09T23:00:00.000-07:00

We provoked the ghosts.

how close am I to my goal of becoming freddie mercury?

2009-03-02T18:28:00.001-08:00

on a scale from 1 to 10. I gotta know.

2009-03-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

from vi.sualize.us

all the stories are true

2009-02-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

and they're all about you.

The gallery is in full effect and getting updated every week.
Seriously though, you're probably in here somewhere. No matter who you are.

True Stories, Twin Cities: Winter 2009

spooky world view

2009-02-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

School children wear masks of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama as they take out a procession to mark his inauguration in Lucknow, India, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.

Thanks, Tine, for the photo.

oh my.

2009-02-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun making these Pac Man cookies for my valentine.

I loved playing with all the fun colors of icing. It felt like a Hook-esque imaginary food fight with Robin Williams was about to break out at any moment.

I stumbled upon the recipe here not long ago, but she had handy dandy cookie cutters to make the shapes, whereas my handcut goblins turned out adorably demented looking.

N.A.S.A.

2009-02-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

N.A.S.A., "Gifted," featuring Kanye West, Santogold, and Lykke Li.

And here's N.A.S.A.'s new joint with Kool Keith and Tom Waits, "Spacious Thoughts":

So who is N.A.S.A., anyway?

I don't really know, but I already love them for bringing these very special people together in a room and making the final result available to my ears.

N.A.S.A. is a collaborative project which stands for North America/South America. Their debut release, "In The Spirit of Apollo" features some absolutely recauculous groupings of some of the sickest artists alive.

"Unexpected collaborations abound on the seventeen track release. Tom Waits growls over Kool Keith, Karen O taunts while Ol' Dirty Bastard gives shoutouts to Wu Tang and N.A.S.A from the grave, and David Byrne, Chuck D and Seu Jorge expound on the evils of "Money." In spite of the range of performers, the pairings seem organic, inspired and make perfect sense on the first listen, never coming off as ironic or impulsive. Spiegel explains that the tracks themselves dictated who would be approached to lend a voice, revealing the larger vision behind the project: "we never said, ‘let's make a track for this person.' We'd usually make something we liked, and then as we were starting to write the song, it would tend to go in a direction that we'd be like, ‘this sounds like George Clinton,' or ‘this sounds like Method Man.' We would start to feel the song out, and feel the artist through the song as we did it. Basically, we'd sit around as we were making these tracks and say the nuttiest combination of names, like our dream of who we could get on the song. It's crazy, a lot of times they actually happened.

"That passion and appreciation for music is the driving force behind The Spirit of Apollo, which drops on February 17th. Conceived in a crowded party in Sao Paulo and nurtured by a shared love of vintage Brazilian soul and funk records, N.A.S.A. was born when Spiegel and Gonzales got together in a studio and hit "record." "WE met at DVNO's studio party," Spiegel reminisces. "The next day we were flipping a Toni Tornado sample at my studio which later became the song ‘Hip Hop' with Fatlip, KRS One, and Slim Kid Tre." Five years later, after thousands of miles traveled, many favors called in, countless hours spent in recording studios, bartered, traded and out of pocket, N.A.S.A. landed at Anti Records, a label that is home to other likeminded visionaries such as Zack de la Rocha, Nick Cave and N.A.S.A.-guest vocalist Tom Waits.

The N.A.S.A. project is permeated by Brazilian funk, which provides the roots of the songs and binds them together into a cohesive whole, but from there, the imagination behind The Spirit of Apollo ranges far and wide. "Whachadoin?" featuring M.I.A, Santogold, the electro-rap ingenuity of Spank Rock and Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is spontaneous and playful, and is perhaps the first song to get funky with a dial tone. "The Mayor," featuring Ghostface Killah, Scarface, indie-darlings the Cool Kids and Hollywood scene-maker DJ AM has a laidback Superfly vibe, while "Electric Flowers," with Cardigans singer Nina Persson and Wu Tang Clan's RZA, has a downbeat chilled-out feel. "Strange Enough" pairs Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Fatlip and Ol' Dirty Bastard, on the last song ODB recorded before his untimely death in 2004. On "N.A.S.A. Music" Method Man gives a shout out to Spiegel's recording studio, Crack Alley, while E40 chews on his vowels and together, the two wrap up The Spirit of Apollo into a single chorus: "from New York to the Bay yo / Sao Paulo to LA yo / nobody move until we say so / they wanna know who got that N.A.S.A. music."

For more info you can check N.A.S.A.'s blog - Squeak E Clean

OR peep the N.A.S.A. Media Player by turning off your popup blocker and clicking here.

Aaand, special for you, here is a trailor for an upcoming documentary on the making of the album:

I'm hella psyched to see what comes out of this project. I still don't know how these dudes accomplished bringing all of these amazing people together.

This isht kinda reminds me of, like, "We Are The World," 2009. But an overly hip version. Where was Michael?

I need to know.

so I did my homework

2009-02-09T14:09:00.001-08:00

And found out that no, it definitely wasn't Robyn in that Lykke Li video, however she is still very much alive and kicking.

And... rapping?!

Who knew? Did you?

Top 10 Sites for Do It Yourself Projects

2009-02-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

Go here to read Spog Blog's commendable list of ten.

You can learn how to do things like build a hidden door bookshelf, how to turn an NES controller into an iPod remote, make an iPod video projector, how to make your own legit hoverboard, or how to make Hillary Clinton's face with balloon art. Sweet.

Hey Sweden

2009-02-07T16:19:00.000-08:00

You're alright.

Lykke Li will be at the Varsity on Monday night along with "Wildbirds & peacedrums" and I'm not gonna pretend like I know who they are but I'm down to go find out. Yes.

Sidenote: I'm pretty sure that the short lady who pops out during the chorus is Robyn. You know, "Show Me Love", from Sweden, all extra 1998 style Robyn. Possible?

your eyes aren't lying

2009-02-03T00:05:00.000-08:00

I have finally finished uploading my entire batch of photos from Kenya and Uganda. After scrupulously weeding out and deleting every single picture that I felt was even just so-so, I am left with an album of 400 incredible, unbelievable pictures.

click to view

items of note

2009-02-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

1. Mansinthe, The Official Marilyn Manson Absinthe

Coming soon to Minnesota

2. Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust The Windows Out Your Car" Remix

Jazmine Sullivan - Bust Your Windows (Remix) (Ft. The Dream)

3. Cheap airfare from Student Universe Travel

Even if you're not a real student, there are ways to pretend you are by dodging ID checkpoints via online check-in and therefore benefiting from really cheap plane tickets. Go on somewhere!

4. Scenic Cafe on Lake Superior's North Shore

This is where I had the best meal of my entire life - the Croque Provencal. Ahem. THE BEST MEAL OF MY ENTIRE LIFE.

It was well worth embarrassing myself by trying to pronounce it. It was even worth the pretentious atmosphere, bad art, and silly prices.

Shit, it would even be worth the 2 1/2 hour drive just for another taste. Who's down?

yum

5. African Gray Parrots. That's all I gotta say.

6. The Freedom of Information Act, passed by Prez Obama on his second day in office.

Well. I just happen to love transparency of government. How did he know?

duluth, minnesota

2009-02-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

"REGISTER NOW FOR SURVIVAL LOTTERY"

2009-02-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

"For three decades the Institute for Human Continuity has brought together the world's foremost scientists, politicians, and business leaders to ensure the survival of humankind beyond 2012."

Almost 4 million people have already entered this organization's survival lottery.

From the website:

"Nobody knows precisely what the world will look like on December 12th, 2012. We do know, with near complete certainty, that a series of catastrophes will decimate much of the planet. The IHC will not save everyone. It will, however, give everyone an equal chance at survival."

Their site comes fully equipped with astronomical disaster simulations and everything. This is disturbing.

I have not, and will not, be registering for a lottery number...

CAUSE I COULD NEVER GO ON WITHOUT YOU!

2009-01-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

Taking a picture of a dude taking a picture of Wyclef Jean.

The crowd waving goodbye during Bush's campy helicopter exit.

Union Station's human gridlock.

a toast

2009-01-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

"By the next time we're sober, the world will have changed."

SALUD!

text message

2009-01-19T20:35:00.000-08:00

"What did u do today? Where do u get to stand or sit tomorrow? Stay warm. Can't
wait to see you and hear stories. Go way early. Take Kleenex. Wear sensible
shoes. Don't get trampled. Love, Mom"

I am going to apply this motherly advice to every day for the rest of my life.

2009-01-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

lost my moleskin

2009-01-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

Left it on a plane or something!

Have you ever lost your everything notebook?

Hurts four times.

And I can't help but wonder what sticky thumbed mouthbreather is using my deep dark secrets and song lyrics and grocery shopping lists as casual in-flight browsing.

In other news, I'm in DC, I picked up my ticket to the ceremony today, shit hits the fan tomorrow, and the most appropriate way to describe Obamania is that it's like a love riot.

Riots of love.

lets do some dancing

2009-01-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

The joys of credit include making rash decisions.

As of tomorrow night, I will be in landing in the District of Columbia.

As of Tuesday morning, Washington D.C. will be the most densely populated location since last year's Hajj to Mecca.

They're closing the streets to traffic and they're keeping the clubs open all night, as if this city wasn't already poppin.

I plan to end up with a good story or two. I wish I could be celebrating this week with you all, but I got an opportunity to do some investigating. So investigating is what I will do. In between some very long and irrational spells of dancing.

ring ring

2009-01-15T07:17:00.000-08:00

"Hello?"

"Hi, Nahzeemiyu?"

"Hi."

"Hi, this is Dustin calling from Keith Ellison's congressional office. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks. How are you?"

"Good. I'm calling to inform you that we have one standing-room ticket to the inauguration for you."

"You're kidding."

"Haha. No. You can pick up your ticket from our D.C. office location on Monday the 19th in between 2 and 3pm."

"Oh my god. Thank you so much!"

"Yep. Buh-bye now."

Woah. Woah woah.

WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH. WHAT?!

WHAT???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy shit. Um. I have to get to D.C. by Monday.

too much, craigslist. too much.

2009-01-13T06:08:00.000-08:00

Crunk Cups for sale

Cocorosie Psapp

Seeking lazy, critical, non-local musician/vocalist

the spring semester of EXCO is upon us

2009-01-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

"At EXCO, the Experimental College of the Twin Cities, everyone can teach or take classes and all classes are free. EXCOtc is a collective of Experimental Colleges in the Twin Cities that shares visions of a better world, offers free and open classes and is building a community around education for social change."

Registration is open at www.excotc.org

There is an awesome selection of classes this term, including Basic Bike Maintenence, 5-String Banjos, Brazilian Drumming Ensemble, Fermentation Basics, Social Justice Advocacy: Beyond the Nonprofit Structure, and Traditional Chinese Concepts of Health, just to name a few.

I'll be taking Citizen Journalism, Yoga for Women, and Existentialism.

I've had really, really good experiences taking EXCO classes in the past. It's important that communities make education accessible in this way, and it's important for us to utilize these opportunities to learn and grow. I wholeheartedly encourage you to take a look at the full class list and I promise once you try something new, you won't be disappointed.

home.

2009-01-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

It's a beautiful thing. And the concept of home is fluid, gaseous almost, as I've just returned to a home, then immediately thereafter started packing up and moving out.

And everything about the meaning of home is entirely relative.

I'm giving up the apartment I've spent two amazing years in. I'm going back to Saint Paul for now.

It's been awesome.

'Twill be awesome still.

2009-01-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

throwing in the proverbial towel with the force of a rabid hyena devouring an adorable gosling

2009-01-04T04:19:00.000-08:00

I'm in Kenya now, and a seemingly never-ending series of unfortunate and expensive events has left me with absolutely no energy or patience to get home.

We'll drive to Nairobi tomorrow. We'll fly to Dubai on Tuesday. I don't know when I'll get to New York, much less Minneapolis, after that.

Not soon enough.

My time in Uganda and all of its associated awfulness has won this round.

I am down for the count.

shots of uganda

2009-01-03T01:05:00.000-08:00

uganda, uganda, uganda. what will happen?

lolchatz

2009-01-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

Drew:
HEY SIMI

Simi:
HEY BUDDYYYY

Drew:
ARE YOU IN AFRICA?!

Simi:
YEAH DUDE ITS TOTALLY AFRICA HERE

Drew:
HERE'S WHAT YOU HAVE MISSED WHILE YOU'VE BEEN GONE: JOHN TRAVOLTA'S SON, JETT TRAVOLTA, IS DEAD

the very next thing that happened

2009-01-02T03:53:00.000-08:00

I just found out that we'll have to leave Kampala tomorrow, the same time Johan arrives. I'll miss my chance to see him here. I won't get the chance to do the one thing I wanted to do in Uganda. And I will probably never be in Uganda again.

After spending all week seething with hatred for this place, time, and group of people, this was the only thing I had to look forward to. Getting to spend some time with a familiar face. He's the first friend I would have seen in weeks. I was excited to learn about the Ex-pat community in Uganda. I was excited to learn about Johan's family's life in Africa. I had been looking forward to it since October.

We were in the car on the way to visit another one of Auntie's husband's brothers when she told me. I didn't find out until we got to Uganda that we were only here so she could shmooze with her new in-laws.

Our van-full of people pulled up to a hospital. I was livid. You brought us - all of us - to a hospital. That's how we're supposed to spend this day? This is the 4th time I had been brought to a hospital to meet some elderly distant relative. And each time our presence was entirely inapropriate. Obviously.

I said nothing as we got out of the car. I couldn't, I was seething. I walked, instead, into the outdoor patio of a neighboring bar/restaurant. They watched me. I looked at them, still silent, then sat down and opened my book. Silently, the turned and entered the hospital.

I sat and wrote. Fuming. On the verge of tears with frustration. I had known that a low blow would come from that Aunt sooner or later, even before I left Minnesota. I knew to expect this from her.

Buried in my notebook, I'm furious - writing, writing, when the overhead radio starts to quietly, "tick cshh, tick ta cshh cshh,"

I'm frozen. Hell no. Oh hell no.

My head falls into my hands just as the vocals come in, "I can feel like, coming in the air tonight. Hold on..."

"My life," I thought. And then I stopped feeling sorry for myself.

By the time the breakdown had hit, I was laughing out loud to myself. Looking like a damn fool. Cracking up. This is the first and only time I heard this song in Africa.

Phil the fuck Collins. Of all people to swoop in on my moment. So that must be what he's up to these days. Traveling the world in search of ideal moments to seep into speakers playing 80's radio stations overhead sulking young women who sometimes forget how lucky they are.

Oh fuck.