All Done!

It has been fun, but Shoes on Powerlines has come to an end. Comments are off. You can reach me at:

austinspaceships.wordpress.com

rethinking everything

The future is my friend.

TWITTER!!!

Let’s twitter! Oprah twitters! Tweets! Did you read my tweet? OMG did you see that tweet on my twitter? This is so much better than Facebook! I mean Myspace! I mean Friendster! I mean AIM! I mean ICQ! I mean IRC! I mean Usenet! Twitter is the future! Do an interview over Twitter! CNN has a Twitter page! Update your Twitter when you are hanging with actual people! Nothing in life is awesome enough to enjoy on your own… you must Tweet about it!

I’m so damn sick of Twitter, and if you Twitter around me I will punch you in the face. I know the internet masses are fickle and will jump on pretty much any hot new “web 2.0″ app, but the only reason I don’t hope for Twitter’s demise sooner is because it will just be replaced with someone equally annoying and anti-social.

In other awesome news: Buy the new Circus Devils album, Gringo!

Feel free to disagree with me in the comments, I know I am a minority on this. But grown people are calling things they write “tweets.” With a straight face.

“Totes found a parking space, yo!”

Anvil: The Story of Anvil

I saw this last night with Alex at the Nuart. What a great doc – a real story with people you care about and genuine emotion. The director and cinemetographer were there to answer questions and tell stories. I recommend trying to see it at the Nuart while it is there, because they have been at every screening.

If you don’t know about the movie – it is about a metal band who have been trying for thirty years to match the success they had with their first album. I recommend it to anyone… really. This goes up there with DiG! and The Filth and the Fury as my favorite rock documentaries.  It is really encouraging and amazing to see a movie about really genuine people who are doing something they love for their entire life. I guarantee you will be cheering like mad the last ten minutes.

I’ve included the trailer below. Check it out if it comes to your town – this is independent and well worth your time and ticket.

Comedy. I like to laugh.

I don’t laugh at a lot of things that other people find funny. That is what I like about my group of friends, we all find the same things funny. That’s what everyone sees in their friends, right?

To me, real comedy is stuff that isn’t supposed to be funny. I like things that make your squirm a bit, or things that are really really earnest.

Which is why I really like Andy Kaufman. I like comedy that takes things a little too far. These things crack me up! I’ve been spending a lot of free time at work looking up Jerry Lawler, the king of Memphis Wrestling! Don’t ask me why, I just have. I stumbled across some Andy Kaufman videos where he is taunting Jerry Lawler, and it cracks me up. The audience can’t take a joke – they don’t get it! And that’s what is hilarious about the entire thing.

“I want complete silence, then I will get in the ring!”

If you don’t know about the Jerry Lawler/Andy Kaufman wrestling feud, then you can read about it here. OR JUST READ A BOOK!

And as a bonus, here the famous Lawler/Kaufman fight on Letterman.

Oh, Phil

Phil Spector – convicted of murder.

My favorite Phil Spector story is during the recording of the Ramones’ “End of The Century,” he pulls a gun on Dee Dee and holds him and the rest of the band hostage. Then he sat at the piano and made them listen to him play piano until early morning. He also makes Johnny play the opening note to “Rock N’ Roll High School” over and over, hundreds of times.

Anyway – I realized while reading this that I don’t own “End of the Century,” and it was released on my freaking birthday!

Off to fix that, once the wind dies down.

What happened on your birthday? Anything awesome? Day, month, and year – no cheating.

Blogs relaunched, reissued, repackaged.

How do, readers?

Or reader. Or internet ether.

Anyway – I’ve started writing again over at my motorcycle blog “Permanent Transition.” This will be strictly about motorcycles, scooters, and the culture that surrounds them. It feels good to write about that stuff again and hopefully I can get back to posting daily.

Shoes On Powerlines will continue to be my personal blog, basically the dumping ground for whatever I find interesting. I’ve turned comments back on, and look forward to the fun discussion that usually comes from them.

I was really disenchanted with the internet there for a while. My blog was getting lots of visitors leaving stupid comments, and I realized that when you put yourself out there publicly, you will get people searching for your blog and calling you a jackass for hating on Chinese scooters, etc. Now, this didn’t hurt my feelings, but I felt like I was getting stuck at a bad party with a bunch of morons. It was a glimpse into dumb people’s lives and that’s no fun.

But yeah it is, sort of.

Oh yeah, and I also had a post completely plagiarized from another reader “who really enjoys my blog.” That was another annoying first.

Anyway, I’ll be tweaking this as well as my other blog in the next few weeks. This will be fun again. Hope reading it will be fun as well.

The End of the Narrative / War and Peace: The Blog Post / Crown to the Crucible Complete / 2006-2009

HALT!

(short version)

The end of Shoes On Powerlines is here! I had originally started this blog when I was at the University of Oregon. After deleting all those posts and starting anew in Los Angeles, I have posted on this every week or so for almost 3 years!

Looking back at some of the old posts, I basically talk about the same stuff I talk about now. Guided by Voices, scooters, motorcycles. I can remember writing a lot of that stuff in my old apartment in Santa Monica. Different smells, different times.

I will be 29 in a few months. Yikes! This blog has been so much fun, but it is time to move on. I’ve grown more and more disenchanted with the whole “social” aspect of the internet. In short, I think it is sort of bullshit. “I’m going to myspace your twitter account because I posted a facebook comment talking about that flickr photo you took, let’s blog about it!” The usefulness of the internet is getting diluted because most people use it to tell others what kind of sandwich they ate for lunch. Or blog about Robert Pollard and motorcycles. I’m not exempt! It is just something I no longer understand or enjoy.

So I had a lot of fun writing and listening to comments, etc! And this isn’t the end of me blogging, but it is the end of the narrative I started back in 2006. When the new one starts, so will my writing! Check in every few months. When the new one starts, I don’t know if I could think of a catchier name than Shoes on Powerlines.

(end of short version. long version after the jump)

See you in 2009… maybe

“Internet is dead.”

“Oh, that’s very fascinating to me.”

R.I.P. Bettie Page

A real woman!

Rest in peace, Bettie Page!!!

gardening at night just never works

Only about 2 weeks until the winter solstice, after which the days will start to get longer and longer! This is great because lately I’ve been leaving work and driving home in the dark.

There is something comforting riding my motorcycle in the dark… everyone seems to drive a little slower and at a relaxing pace (at least up the beach). I do miss getting to see the sun sink below the surf on my way home. Maybe I’ll just leave work earlier.

However comforting the dark can be, I miss longer days. I can’t wait for them to inch back toward those long summer evenings. Winter feels half over and even as the temperatures hover around 70 during the day, they have been much colder at night. I’m breaking out my winter gloves tonight and cleaning up my visor because cold air makes my eyes water.

I’m extremely excited for my trip to the great NW coming in just a few weeks.

Motorcycle Safety PSA #1

When driving your motorcycle, never transport bottles of red wine in your backpack. If you are unlucky enough to get into an accident, you could break the bottles causing red wine to spill out of your back.

One of following then might occur:

1. Rescuers focus on your back, thinking that all the blood must be coming from there.

2. They will smell the red wine and think you must have been drunk, thus you might receive a DUI!

3. Bums will wander over and attack your backpack for any wine remnants. 

4. The attractive nurse at the hospital will look at your wine choice with disdain.

Please remember to only transport white wine on a motorcycle. If you absolutely have to transport red wine on a motorcycle, pack fine, soft cheeses and fruits around the bottle to cushion against any possible blow. Also, enjoy these fine cheeses when you arrive at your destination.

For Your Health!

Best songs that contain the word “hologram”

I could only think of two:

T-Bone Burnett – Quicksand

“That ghost is just a hologram”

and

Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros – Ramshackle Day Parade

“Holograms holding 44’s”

Branding things to death: Ducati

There is an interesting article over at Hell for Leather Magazine about the recent rebranding of Ducati’s famously sparse logo into something a little more… lame. This along with other stupid crossovers really dilute a once quality brand. My favorite part of the article is the not so subtle jab at famously shitty American motorcycle maker Harley Davidson.

Can we get a quality American made motorcycle, please? And Buell doesn’t count. Neither does an Indian relaunch. Moving on…

It’s a pleasantly snarky article that really addresses the fact that the best motorcycle companies focus on one thing: the motorcycles. When a brand starts throwing itself on ballpoint pens and yo-yos for the kids, then it loses its edge as a high-end product.

The Ducati has lately been the go-to bike for guys (usually in there late 20’s and early 30’s) who all the sudden have the money and decide they want a Motorcycle (capitalized on purpose). These guys go and drop 10 large on a Monster and wreck it 2 months later. I see Ducatis peppered all over the streets of Los Angeles, and I feel like this surge of popularity has ballooned Ducati out of the high-end sportbike arena into the unforunate “league of status symbols for the well-to-do young adult crowd,” which includes such things as BMW convertables, home theater systems, and 500 dollar jeans.

Ducati – scale back. Stick to your motorcycles. And keep the damn red circle with the slash.

At least there is always Moto Guzzi.

And old Hondas.

Morning playlist

What I’ve been listening to in the morning while I get ready for work:

1. Boston Spaceships – You Satisfy Me
2. The Modern Lovers – Old World
3. The Hellacopters – Action De Grace
4. The The – Dogs of Lust
5. TV on the Radio – Halfway Home

Then I get on my motorcycle and usually listen to Brown Submarine, Grande Rock, or shuffle.

You?