The beginning of a new era: Euphonics A.S. (After Steeno)
First of all, I want to congratulate the current Euphonic's on what I'm sure was a fabulous set of concerts Wednesday night. From what I hear, LAAP forced them to have to two concerts... because the fire code is violated every time there's a Euphonic's concert. That fact, that there are too many students watching the concerts than is safe, is awesome. I watched our first concert again last night... just for poops and giggles. As I was watching it, I realized something weird: People laugh at stuff I do that isn't funny. It's almost as if they laugh assuming whatever I just said or did was funny, but they didn't get it, but they don't want to look like they didn't get it. I mean, I walked across the stage during James Bond and people laughed. I was WALKING. I don't think I got why they laughed then... and I really don't get it now. Although now I laugh because the audience was laughing and I don't get it. This is besides the point. The point is that there was actually space between people at that first concert... but since then, we did a fantastic job promoting ourselves. And the Euphonics concert became, just for one night (and that's all I ever wanted), the biggest thing on campus. I worry about Liberal Arts At Play forcing them to put on two shows... because it makes that one night per semester far less special. I hope the Euphonics can figure out a way to make LAAP happy and keep that special night special. Anyway, congratulations on what I'm sure was a fantastic concert.

On Tuesday, I bought the Jay-Z/Linkin Park CD with the $10 gift certificate I got for buying Halo2. Even though I really like the CD, and I really like Linkin Park, this CD is yet another way for Linkin Park to make money on songs they've ALREADY released (see ReAnimation). Part of me finds this totally disgusting. Just write new stuff! I've heard this already! And, honestly, I like this CD more for Jay-Zs part in it, rather than LPs. There's nothing like taking a painting off a wall, rotating it, and selling it back as a new painting. That's classy.

I got a call from Adam on Wednesday. He said that Casie, a young lady mentioned earlier in this blog, is thinking about opening up a Coldstone in Chicago with some added financial help from her father. Would I be interested in jumping on board that ship, if it were ever to sail? I told him that there is a LOT of work to be done before I will even consider it as a possibility, but that I would, in fact, be interested. From what they told me, Mr. Johnson made (after expenses) a quarter of a million dollars from the Wells Coldstone ALONE this year. If he wasn't so damn miserly with that money, I should have seen a lot more of it than I did. So, with that in mind, I would be able to do the parts of the job I liked... and get more money for it... and be even more in charge. And it would be run like every other Coldstone in the country, where the owners also work in the store because they're not business asshole people (read: Johnsons), they're people who want to make their store work. HOWEVER, I still feel that there are two truths that will keep this idea from becoming a reality: 1) The Chicago market is flooded with Coldstone's, and 2) the way Coldstone operates and is run makes it a perfect candidate for a company that will soon fall flat on it's face. I see Coldstone having another year or two before it starts retracting instead of growing, and Coldstones start closing. At any rate, it was nice to be asked to be on the ground floor of a company like that. It made me feel wanted... and that's always nice.

A little after five on Wednesday, Jim came over. I still felt kind of like poop, so we ordered a pizza and stayed in. We watched some TV and talked. It sounds like he's a couple weeks away from leaving Chicago for good. In all honesty, I feel it's what's best for him. Like he said in his blog, he really hasn't tried to make Chicago his home... and there's nothing for him here besides pain. It's time for him to move on. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like he's gotten a whole lot of responses on his resumes. Personally, if he doesn't get anything definite, I think he should just pack up and move to D.C. because it's where he wants to be. He can worry about finding a job when he gets there. If he wants it badly enough, it'll be worth the risk, I'm sure.

While Jim was here, he mentioned that Mr. Alexander Carroll's movie had opened. I had completely forgotten. It opened over Thanksgiving in "select cities" (read: Utah). But talk about someone who just went after what they wanted. As much as I make fun of Alex (and made fun of him to his face in the past), I am very proud of him going out there and doing his thing. I'm looking forward to seeing this movie... but I'll probably have to wait until it comes out on DVD. I checked the website and it's not coming to a single theatre in the mid-west. I would've even traveled as far as Nebraska or St. Louis to see it. But, alas, there are only a few places that the movie will actually hit theatres in January of next year (one of which being Las Vegas... road trip to visit Ken?). And I told Laura that I'm going to buy two copies of it when it comes out on DVD... one copy to watch, and one to send to Alex to get him to sign. *nods* Oh that's right.

I watched American Movie today. I had seen it before, but it didn't strike me until today. In a lot of ways, I am the dude from that movie. I even watched "Coven", the short movie he finished during American Movie. Even though this guy is surrounded by complete idiocy and incompetence... you can tell that he's really trying to do something meaningful with his life. Moreso now that I got back after Thanksgiving, I find myself really wanting to create something that really MEANS something.
However, the search for doing something meaningful can be so consuming that I think it can take control of your life. I saw Nick struggling with this while I was at Albion. He was so centered and focused on creating something truly meaningful, that he was willing to detatch himself from everything that would help him accomplish that goal. As much as we writers hate it, if we don't have the stupid, mundane everyday interactions with people... we loose touch with what it's really like to live in our society. I'm not saying my interactions with YOU are mundane... but, let's face it, most of our day is spent wishing we were somewhere else. I think it's important to be in a place we don't like for a while, or in a job we hate for a while... it really allows us, as writers, to tap into some very base and universal emotions. Furthermore, I think that our society as a whole is not content with itself now... so being someplace you hate just makes you that much more honest as the voice of the generation.

In other news, while he's not busy appointing Senator's from Nebraska to be Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Bush does stately things like lighting the White House Christmas tree. The official lighting of the White House Christmas tree was yesterday. If you needed proof that we are truly a Christian nation, regardless of what we say we are, there it is. Do not get me wrong, I don't have a problem with this being a Christian nation, as it's the truth. This nation was founded by Christians, all the important documents and laws were written by Christians... it has Christian written all over it. I do, however, have a problem with this being a Christian nation that pretends it's something else... something better or more inclusive. I don't know who said this, or where I got it (so it must be true), but there was relative peace in the middle east for hundreds of years... as Christians and Jews knew that they were living under a Muslim rule. No one really had a problem with it. It wasn't until the British came in and demanded that the Christians and Jews govern themselves that there was a problem. My point being, I don't think anyone would necessarily have a problem with the government if we just came out and said what we are. But we pretend we're this body that's better than, that's above the ideas of those people in it; that we're this meta-governmental body totally infallible and always fighting for "truth" and "justice" and similarly obscure ideals.
Speaking of pretending things as a nation, I love how Pres. Bush can sit and talk about the UN chief Annan 'scandal'--oil for food--like he doesn't think it's a REALLY good idea. "Hell," he's thinking "we've got plenty of food here... I could be rich. Again." Is it the biggest scandal in "world history"... like they are saying on Fox News? You tell me.

In completely unrelated news, I've been "working on" a screenplay for some time now. By working on, I mean that I've been thinking about characters, character models, locations, and a story-line. But I haven't had a full cast until last night: my cast is finally set. This is big news, for me, as it means I can finally see everyone in the movie in my head... and maybe I can finally put pen to paper and see what they're actually saying to each other. Exciting!