Here I prove that (a) I don't have a life, and (b) what passes as one [rf. (a)] is mostly wasted on useless empty calory experiences. For meaningful high-fiber activities, check out my fiction and the pages dedicated to great masters of literature. If you want brain candy, you came to the right place.despite all the amputations
Like most people my age (24) and just about everybody a little older and a little younger, I am a rock and roll brat. Got my high-speakers on, etc. Rolling Stone magazine did us all a huge favor by publishing a list of the essential rock records of all time with which, by the way, I agree just about 97%, from whence I've made my own list (the exact duplicate of the magazine's but easier to look at and print out), Essential Tunage.I'm also a huge fan of Latin rock, so I've made a little page for 'em, my compadres.
Now that we've taken care of just about every single great rock band of the past and present and of some pretty groovy south-of-the-border bands (sorry about the run-on), I'd like to confess to thinking that the best band of all time is in neither page but right here, a band both brainy and funny with some indelible guitar hooks and mighty fine accordeon riffs, the only people I know who have done songs about James K. Polk (13th President of the United States) and James Ensor (obscure but highly regarded Belgian painter), and who have written lyrics in which references to "light" symphonies ("the Longines symphonette") and Greek mythology ("after killing Jason off and thousand screaming argonauts") appear in the same song, whose sense of the absurd is matched by a wry and very creepy barrage of imagery (say, putting the first few lines of Ginsberg's Howl to a very upbeat little tune; or titling a song about ruminations on incest I Palindrome I)... I could go on and on and still not transmit a quarter of the charm and brashness and sheer oddball perfection of these fine people, the Johns -- ladies and gents,
They Might Be Giants! As you may have gathered from the title of this section (maybe not, but if you are a true hepcat you have), I am a Lou Reed fan. He is brilliant and one of the few and true rock and roll poets, and also, to quote David Letterman, one of the coolest people on earth. I've got most of his solo albums and all of the Velvet Underground's stuff. You should too.
Also groovy is Tom Waits -- one of my favorite people to sing along to when I've had beer. Also, if you've never heard any Leonard Cohen, you should -- a fascinating personality, a great novelist, a terrific poet and a wonderful songwriter.
I've just gotten hold of a terrific couple of CDs by some kids who call themselves Pavement.
Essential Tunage has the rest of my favorite bands and tunes.
people like us
Herein you will find all the cool people I gladly call my friends. I don't have any e-mail penpals or internet whatchamacall'ems -- these are some of the people I know and love in real life who also have alter egos in the digital world.
- My Dad's page.
- My cousin Andres is a Harvard-educated doctor-type-person, and he is an all-around cool and groovy guy.
- Adrian's page. A good man and a better poet -- though he bears a disturbing resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio and is a skater to boot. But we'll forgive him.
- Paul likes drawing.
- I work with Torrey and he's a good man. Go to his page.
- This is my former roommate's page. Rob and I have been friends since high-school.
- Randy, another former roommate, is a fine musician even though he let me play percussion and even drums for his (now defunct)band. We hang out and drink beer and talk, mostly. He is thinking about giving up smoking (which I've done already) and he should. And you should too, if you smoke.
- Dante is probably the best Filipino-type friend I have -- also the only one.
- I've gone to Epcot center and drunk beer around the artificial world with Chris. He is cool.
a game of you
How odd. I bought a computer early in 1999 and have since given up most videogames, although I strongly believe in mindless video-arcade fun, particularly all the old Atari jewels -- most of which can be found at Download Dot Net. I am a big fan of Q-Bert and Ms PacMan. For more practical shareware I turn to Download Dot Com.periodicals
If you speak Spanish and happen to be interested in what's going on in Colombia, check out El Tiempo. My favorite magazine (and the only one I subscribe to and read cover to cover) is The New Yorker.I usually get my news from The New York Times -- registration is required but free.
sundries
This cool button belongs to the people who gave me my guestbook.
Here are a few sites I visit often:
- Godfrey's Cardhouse Site
Wagner, road trips, minute analysis of American arcana. Standouts include two collections of odd miscellania -- his Book of the Week, and his Item of the Week. (I contributed a set of Twin Peaks-brand toothbrushes to the latter.)
- Zorak's Page of Extreme Negativity
Written and maintained by my favorite praying mantis, sidekick to my favorite talk show host.
- The Onion
A high-caliber satirical newspaper.
- Savoy Magazine
A beautifully designed web-based magazine that has published a few of my pieces.
- Snopes
Urban myths thoroughly explored and debunked here.
movies & television
I watch tons of TV, mostly sitcoms. (For a while I had no cable and it was all sitcoms.) My favorites are, I think, everybody's favorites -- The X-Files, and syndicated episodes of Seinfeld and The Simpsons.My favorite TV show of all time is The Prisoner. Close in the running is the now defunct Mystery Science Theater 3000. New obsessions include two brilliant and deservedly popular shows, both shown on Comedy Central: Dr. Katz and South Park.
I won't bore you with all the movie directors I think are brilliant and all the movies worth watching, but here's the best movie site of them all, The Internet Movie Database, where you can look and search and discover all sorts of cool stuff. Also brilliant is Drew's Script-O-Rama site, where he has compiled scripts for tons of movies.