Bob’s Blog

I’m heading back to Cleveland on Wednesday morning. It’s been almost a year since I moved down here to Atlanta. July 22nd, being the one year anniversary of the big move. I’ve had a whirlwind of a year; I feel like I’ve had just about everything thrown at me. In the past couple weeks, I’ve had time to unwind a little bit and reflect on this past year of my life.

For those that don’t know and need a quick catch up: I moved down here a year ago for a teaching job. I accepted the position based only on a single phone interview that lasted maybe 45 minutes. I was offered the job on the spot, I asked to be given a day to think about it and I returned the call and faxed my information the next day and accepted the job. I had never visited this part of Atlanta, nor even heard of it. But I did anyways. Two weeks later, I scrapped up some money and moved and began to work. There’s a lot of reasons why I did this, mostly because I felt like I needed a challenge and something new. I also felt scared that if I didn’t take the job, I would have to wait until spring for another one. Afterall, it’s July and at this point, most schools are set with their staff for the upcoming year. So, I did it. I knew one person down here, my best friend Jess. Who, without her (and a couple other fine folks), I might’ve not been able to do this. There were a lot of days where I just wanted to pack up and leave.

The job wasn’t fun on most days; being a first year teacher is hard anywhere, but especially hard in a school where you work in a poor community, there is a poor graduation rate and a lot of turnover in the faculty and staff. If you read this blog regularly and follow my teaching career, you’ve come to know this. Managing money has been difficult and just trying to get by wears on you. Trying to make the cultural adjustments hasn’t been easy. Not seeing your family for 6 months is not an easy thing for anybody. My love life has been out of control and there’s been more heartbreak and frustration than one should have to deal with. To top it all off, making new friends has always been a challenge for shy guy like me; I’ve made some really great friends this year, but I’ve lost some as well.

All of this is Life, I suppose.

So, given what the past year has been like, I’m ready to go back to Cleveland and spend some extended time there and get out of The South a little bit. It’ll be good to see friends I haven’t seen in a year, and people I’ve lost touch with along the way. It’ll be nice to get out of this environment for a little bit.

There’s a line from a Modest Mouse song that goes:

If it takes shit to make bliss
Then I feel pretty blissfully

For a long time, I didn’t feel like myself. I feel like I’m myself now. I’m ready for this trip and ready to come back. I’m ready for the year. I’m ready with whatever life wants to deal me. I’m excited. There’s a new optimism and hope inside of me, and for the first time in over a year…I’m the genuinely happy.

The major theme of this upcoming election has been “change”, especially on the Democratic front. For the past 8 years, we’ve suffered under the leadership of President Bush who will go down as arguably as not only the worst president since Nixon, but also the worst president in all of American history. It’s not any wonder that the theme of “change” has been pushed by the Democrats.

If you browse around the internet enough, especially in places like Digg or Fark, you’ve undoubtedly come across a small movement by Libertarians/Ron Paul/Bob Barr supporters. Anybody who uses the internet pretty regularly will no doubt have came across the Ron Paul “Revolution” at least a handful of times. Since Paul is no longer in the race, the shift has now been shifted to Bob Barr and the Libertarian party.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with any of this. I’m actually registered as Libertarian (though I don’t suscribe to those ideals anymore), and voted for Badnarik back in 2004. I couldn’t stomach Kerry or Bush and I’m not the type of guy who is going to vote simply based on the “lesser of two evils” philosophy. That mentality and way of thinking is the reason why we have people like George W. Bush in office. This type of thing has really prevailed on the internet on this current election, without question.

There is, however, a problem with some of this thinking and how it’s been carried out. That problem being that a good portion of these people simply do not know what they’re talking about, have no grasp of American history, or how this country was founded. Perhaps that comes off as a bit arrogant, but when you actually teach this stuff, you tend to get rubbed the wrong way by misinformation. To be fair though, you can say this about any side, really. The venom found on both the liberal and conservative movements are both embarrassing and astounding to read. But those sites can be easily avoided and those commentators can be easily shunned. However, with this other movement you can find these types of comments on mainstream internet websites, such as Digg and Fark.

I came across a comment on Digg last night about the “upcoming Revolution” and how the two party system will “fall” and Americans will soon wake up to this “illusion” and “sham” of a system we have and be aware of all the greed and corruption within our government. This, of course, was one of many in the same vain, but since it was the first I noticed, it seemed to strike a chord with me the most. These types of comments are regularly posted and regularly supported, and it’s been that way for close to a year now.

If anybody has ever studied or read up on American history, they would know that the very same issues we’re dealing with now are the same issues we dealt with 150+ years ago. Corporate greed and corruption within the government are nothing new in this government, or any government for that matter. American voter apathy, selfishness and ignorance have always been prevalent. You can go ahead and look no further than Alexis de Tocqueville’s writings for any of this.  His work, Democracy in America, was written back in the early to mid 1800s and outlines many of the concerns we’re currently dealing with now, such as the struggle for intellectual freedom, ignorance, and the threat of tyranny (by both the people and government). Our Founding Fathers, the people that many of these people look up to and inspire, are the very same ones who created the two party system and expanded the powers of the Constitution beyond that of a literal reading. One needs simply nothing more than a basic understanding of American history to know any of this.

The biggest problem of the internet, despite it’s (very) many positives, is that it allows for the prevalence of ignorance and lack of critical thinking. Anybody can put together a short Youtube video full of shallow cliches of patriotism and how the “revolution” is coming. Anybody can put together and manipulate short stills showing how 9/11 was supposedly an inside job and so on and so forth. These things do nothing but perpetuate ignorance and actually damage the credibility of the Internet. Say what you will about the Old Guard of Television and News Print, but at least there are editors and people to fact check. Things like how 9/11 was set up by the Bush Administration would rightly get laughed at in the newsroom. Maybe the Old Guard is not perfect, and there are no doubt misinformation in all mediums, but the Internet is mostly a place where fact-checking is non-existant and people can spout off opinions without ever having to worry about real accountability (like me!). In TV, Print, and Radio - you can get fired. On the internet? That’s a little more difficult.

So, how does “Change” occur? True change comes from both education and accountability. It comes from understanding where we’ve come from. I noted earlier how this country is still facing the same problems we did back in the 1800s. So how do we change? We change things by also learning from past mistakes and holding our leaders accountable for their actions. It’s about being aware of what is currently taking place within the country and what are leaders are doing.

Lets not kid ourselves, either. This all starts from the bottom up. It starts with you voting for local leaders and issues. You want to complain about Bush? Well, did you vote for anything in your local city and neighborhood? Who did you vote for in the state governer seat?

Change starts from the bottom up and it isn’t until we start caring about the small stuff that we can see, and receive, change on the big stuff.

I’ve found myself listening to a lot of Bruce Springsteen lately. I’m not really sure where this has come about because up until maybe a year ago or so, I was never really into him. My mom listens to him occasionally, but I think it has something to do how his music has been incredibly relateable to the past year of my life; an everyday man who is just trying to get by, and who’s faced a lot in his life but underneath the frustrations and problems, there’s a hope and optimism and a feeling that things have to get better, and will get better. He’s someone that just about everybody can identify with in one way or another, and that I think, explains his success.

That, and also the fact that his music is very honest and open.

I’ve had some people who look at me weird when I tell them when I don’t listen to the radio. I really don’t, and I have no interest in keeping up with the latest songs or trends in mainstream music. Every now and then, I’ll turn it on but I find myself gravitating to the Oldies station or just simply going back to my cd’s.

My students give me a hard time about it. “Who IS this?”, “Stevie Wonder”.”…..put on some Soulja Boi or Lil’ Wayne! Or turn on the radio!” Whatever. You’ll grow out of this eventually.

That’s not to say I don’t have my vices or guilty pleasure songs from mainstream music, but as a whole, I just get bored with the radio dj’s, the commercials, the auto-tuned vocals, and the clones who don’t offer anything remotely close to what their predecessors did. I’m half tempted to look into Sirius/XM Radio because at least you get a lot of variety and you’re exposed to a lot of new music. I dig it.

In the past 6-7 months, I’ve found myself digging back to older music because nothing new really interests me anymore. Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Cream, etc. I blame it on my rock ‘n roll friends, mostly.

Growing up, my mom always listened to the Oldies, and still does. My dad on the other hand, was all about The Clash, Talking Heads, and The Doors. I remember the first band that I really got into growing up was Creedence Clearwater Revival. I was about 7 when I first heard them. My babysitter always played them and I would always ask her to put on their cassette of Cosmo’s Factory and Pendulum. I remember growing up on Saturday afternoons, my mom would put on the Bee Gees when she cleaned the house. Or if it was my dad, he would put on the Doors or the Psychedelic Furs.

My friends growing up were mostly into punk rock: The Ramones, Misfits, Screeching Weasil, The Queers, etc. I always tended to gravitate towards that more than anything else. In high school, I found myself getting into heavy metal: Metallica, Pantera, Black Sabbath, etc. In college, it was mostly new and upcoming indie rock and hip-hop.

I never had a lot of friends growing up so music was something I always heavily interested in. Music, unlike a lot of people, will never let you down or leave you. It’s always there and you can always confide in it. A lot of people don’t get that, but those of us that do know that, know that music is something special.

I also like to think that growing up in the home of rock ‘n roll has something to do with my music obsession. I mean, afterall, how can you grow up in Cleveland and not love music?

It’s the middle of summertime. It’s 4:30 am. I can’t go to sleep. Why? Because I have an explosion of ideas on what to do inside of the classroom/lesson plans for next year and want to type it up before I forget.

Part of me feels lame. The other part of me feels like a rejuvenated idealist who is once again ready to try and take over the world.

Last week, I stumbled across this band out of Denmark. They’re called Volbeat and I’ve fallen insanely in love with them and it’s all I’ve really been listening to as of late. Apparently, they’re one of Europe’s biggest rock bands. It’s like if you combined Johnny Cash, The Misfits, Metallica, with a sprinkling of Danish heavy metal into one creature…you’d get this. And I find it insanely awesome. It’s great to roll your windows down to and blast.

“I Only Want to Be With You” (Dusty Springfield cover)

“Radio Girl”

“Sad Man’s Tongue” (tribute to Johnny Cash)

I don’t think people understand the magnitude of this man’s bad-assery. Entire books have been written on his adventures in Latin America, Africa, his presidency, and his personality. But, I’m just going to give you the gist of how awesome this man really was. We need more people like this in our country:

- First president to fly in an airplane, have a telephone, and dive in a submarine.

- First president to ever leave the country.

- The first American to ever win the Noble Peace Prize.

- The Teddy Bear is named after him.

- He was blind in his left eye. He lost part of his vision when he was boxing.

- He was shot during a speech, but did not seek medical attention until after he was done giving the speech. After being shot, he yelled, “it will take more than that to kill a Bull Moose!”.

- Maxwell House took their now famous phrase “Good to the last drop” from him.

- Most of his men in his Africa trip died of fever. He caught the fever, but survived. On this trip, they caught and/or killed nearly 12,000 animals.

- His daughter once remarked that Teddy always “wanted to be the bride at every wedding, and the corpse at every funeral.”

- He put Lincoln on the penny.

- Most National Parks in this country were set up by him.

- A big supporter of the Boy Scouts, he was given the title of Chief Scout Citizen, the only person to ever hold that title.

And finally…I think this about sums up TR:

Inspired by attending The Cure show last night, here are my top 5 favorite concerts.

1. Explosions In The Sky
I saw them back in April and it was an unbelievable experience, despite going to the show alone. I’ve been a fan of them ever since I heard the soundtrack to the movie Friday Night Light a few years ago. Their music is pretty incredible, to say the least. I had heard that they were going on a hiatus after this tour and that it would be “quite sometime” before they would tour again. Their first show initially sold out, they then added an afternoon show. They played non-stop for 2 hours and each song flowed seamlessly into the other. They played at the Variety Playhouse, and it was nice to just sit down and take in such powerful and inspiring music. To be honest, I’ve never seen a band play so hard and so passionately before. The music is just flat out inspiring and to see it live was unbelievable.

2. The Cure
My friend Julie had an extra ticket and invited me. Me being the die-hard of 80’s post-punk and new wave, could not resist. Let me just say, that they were completely unbelievable last night. They played for 3 hours, played about 30 songs, and had 3 encores. I’ve never heard a band sound so crisp and clear live. And Robert Smith’s voice is unbelievable live. Albums don’t do this band justice, they have to be seen live. I am no Cure aficionado by no stretch, but I still had an amazing time. Hearing Just Like Heaven, Lullaby, and Boys Don’t Cry was absolutely great.

3. Green Day
Some friends and I decided to road trip to Cincinnati a few years ago to catch Green Day. This was about a month after American Idiot was released, and so needless to say, they were about the biggest band in the world at that time. I had never seen Green Day prior to this, but some of my other friends had and told me to be prepared for a great show. It was indeed a great show. The one thing that impressed me was the amount of energy singer Billie Joe Armstrong has, and how he was still capable of singing. His vocals have improved greatly over the years, and he has pretty decent range for being a punk singer most of his career. The man was running up and down and in the crowd constantly and still nailed every single line. They played American Idiot in its entirety, and they closed the show with just Billie Joe on an acoustic guitar singing Time of Your Life. Awesome.

4. Andrew WK
When one hears his song, “Party Hard”, you automatically think “Frat Boy Music”. But his music is anything but and he attracts anything BUT those people. He played in this tiny, grimy, rock ‘n roll bar in Bowling Green called Howards. I love Howards. It’s cramped, dirty, smelly, and everything a rock ‘n roll venue should be. Andrew WK played a last minute show there about 5 years ago, my freshman year of college. The place was packed and unbearably hot. But the place was filled with punk rock kids and metal heads and I felt instantly at ease with my people. The show was literally one giant party, everyone was dancing, moshing, jumping, it was insane. At one point, the barricade collapsed and people poured onto the stage much to the pleasure of AWK. I’ve never, ever had that much fun at a show before, to put it mildly.

5. Mike Doughty
Again, another show at Howards. Mike Doughty was the singer of the phenomenal 90s band Soul Coughing. He went solo and decided to just get in a car with an acoustic guitar and tour the country and he made a stop in Bowling Green about 5 years ago. It was an unbelievably intimate and fun show. There were only about 25 other people there, which is odd now, given that he’s all over TV shows and is once again finding mainstream success. I’ve seen him numerous times, but this was a great and unforgettable show and is something most fans won’t be able to witness again, which makes it even more special.

Inspired by tonight’s viewing of The Happening, here is the rundown of Bob’s Worst. Movies. Ever.

1. The Happening.
I’ve never laughed unintentionally so hard in my life at a movie. It was awful. The only reason why I didn’t walk out is because my friend and I were having too much fun laughing at the film. It was awful and we couldn’t stop laughing on the way home. Other people in the theater were laughing as well. They could’ve done it ala Snakes On A Plane where they KNOW it was bad and they would have fun with it, but no. The actors and director took it seriously, and this is without question, the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

2. Be Cool.
It was one giant ad for MTV, T-Mobile, and any other giant company you can think of. I mean, with Cedric The Entertainer and Steven Tyler acting, how could you go wrong?

3. Batman and Robin.
All I will say is this:

Next.

4. Street Fighter.
God. What a complete and utter abomination this was. There is not a single redeeming quality about this film. Not even Kylie Minogue’s looks could help me get through this movie.

5. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
You know, the first Mortal Kombat movie wasn’t so bad for what it is. It was bearable, and it had some actually decent battles. But this? Never mind the fact that the lead characters were out of American Gladiators, this movie nearly killed the entire video game franchise. That’s how bad this movie was; it nearly killed itself off in an entire different entertainment industry. I remember being 13 years old, in the theater and telling my friend, “Holy shit, this is so bad.” The only reason why we didn’t walk out? Our parents dropped us off.

Honorable Mentions:
Super Mario Bros.
Spawn (oh, hey. Two more John Leguizamo movies mentioned. Do we see a pattern here?)
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
Daredevil
Fantastic Four
Rocky V

So, I made breakfast for dinner tonight and I’m having coffee. But I had this sudden urge to want a Starbucks Frappacino. So I thought to myself, “why not just put ice cubes in the coffee! Make it yourself! Why have I never thought of this before?” I had, what I thought, was a brilliant idea that would easily save me $6-7 on one of those Frappacino 6 packs.

Needless to say, it was a failure. And Starbucks is a heinous organization for creating something so wonderful yet so unobtainable to me right now.

Mediocrity Gets You Pears
I feel genuinely sorry for the next person who will become the next president of this country. It doesn’t matter if it’s Republican or Democrat, the challenge will be great and part of me thinks that no matter who is in office, it’ll be a wash of 4 years and it won’t be until 2012 until things really start to turn around.

I’m supporting Obama. I wasn’t originally going to vote for a Democrat given how Clinton was dividing the party and the debates were full of bickering and who wants “change” more than the other. Given Republican actions in the past 20+ years, I certainly was not going to vote Republican no matter the candidate. I was simply just going to write in a name on the ballot and be done with it because none of the candidates appealed to me other than John Edwards. Sorry - I don’t settle for the lesser of two evils. Settling on the lesser of two evils is why this country is in such a mess right now. “Settling” is how we end up with a man like George Bush in office.

But Obama made an epic speech back in March regarding race and the whole Rev. Wright deal. It was, without question, the most honest speech I’ve ever heard a politician in this day and age make. I was sold from that moment forward and he’ll be getting my vote in November. My biggest fear though is that he will end up like Jimmy Carter: a great idealist who just happened to step into a giant pile that he just could not do anything about.

But I’m hopeful that won’t be the case.

Kyoto Now!
Gas is over $4 a gallon in my part of the city. I cringed yesterday putting in almost $20 and not even getting a full tank. I don’t foresee gas ever going below $3 ever again. People and politicians have been screaming to drill in ANWAR for years now. But it doesn’t matter for a few reasons:

1) It’ll take a minimum of few years for any of that oil to actually reach the market.

2) It will not actually lower prices because the companies that will be drilling for this oil will continue to sell that oil to the highest bidder: just like they do now in all the other parts of the world.

3) Oil is something that’s eventually going to go away anyways and us drilling there will only further perpetuate the oil addiction in this country. It’s a (weak) short term solution to a very long time problem.

The only thing to do is to just suck it up and pay until there’s a viable replacement for oil. I’ve already decided to look into hybrids once my lease expires.

I read this article on CNNMoney yesterday saying that the oil prices are like the housing markets and what will eventually happen is that the prices are going to crash soon and gas will once again be more affordable to Americans. Now, I confess I’m not all that great at economics. But it struck me as odd because oil companies have zero incentive to actually lower prices. There’s no competition to oil. Until we have some type of major, reliable alternative to oil - we’re screwed with prices.

It’s time to take alternative energy resources and climate change more seriously now. It’s time to move away from oil and once again push the world into a new direction. The only way America will truly be energy independent is by creating an alternative resource to oil, period.

“We’ll Do It Live!”
This is exactly the reason why the internet needs to remain free and untouched:

Because things like this would never be seen, or at the very least, not seen by as many people. Fox News is terrible. Bill O’Reilly is terrible. And the entire idea of regulating the internet is terrible.

Some Kind of Monster
When I talk to people about health care, the biggest complaint I often hear about it is that our government can’t afford it and that it’s way too expensive and our government is already big enough as it is, etc. Then of course you’ll eventually get into how people are leeches, and that welfare by government is bad, etc.

I looked at some numbers, and it turns out that nearly half of our entire federal budget is dedicated to the military. Take into account the trillion dollar war, and you have to ask yourself where our priorities are in this country. Logically, you then have to ask yourself why the United States is the only industrialized country in the world without some type of health care plan.