What Would You Bring?

Went to Red Room last night where the band is recording the album for Thick. It seems to be coming along quite nicely.

Jason got his vocals finished on "Distortion". Robbie came by for the night and added his bits in as well. His "living in distortion" bit really amped up the song. It was sweet- I think Chris popped wood and Morgan definitely wanted to hear more (heehee). Abbie, Chris, Jason, Robbie and I even did a little shouting part. Now they just need to get Jeff and Ben's Pop- Jimmy in to do their bits.

Abbie and I chatted in between takes a bit. The subject came up about what albums you would want on a deserted island with you. I said Liz Phair's "Exile In Guyville" would HAVE to be in the top 3. Abbie decided she'd have to make a Modest Mouse compilation.

What would you bring?

Tsunami Of A Bitch

Everything I write about on this Blog is stuff that interests me. Mostly, I just use this thing as a source for my own amusement, and a historical record of oddities and news events. The tsunami that roared through the Indian Ocean yesterday and the earthquake that brought it on, would be such events.

I subscribe to SLATE as one of my news sources. They do a great job of condensing the important information from news sources around the globe into a quick-read format (and they can be funny, too). Here's what they had to say about the tsunami...

Everyone leads with news about the massive tsunamis that hit Asia on Sunday, killing more than 21,000 people. Walls of water originating near the Indonesian island of Sumatra hurtled toward land at the speed of jet aircraft, sending waves as tall as 20 feet crashing into Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, the Maldives, and Somalia. Boats were dragged onto the beach, and cars were carried out to sea. Entire villages were wiped out, and people were swept into the ocean. Hundreds of thousands lost their homes, and the death toll is expected to keep rising.

The Los Angeles Times online initially used the term "tidal waves" (as did TP), but as the Wall Street Journal explains in a tsunami Q&A, these waves weren't caused by tides. Rather, Sunday's tsunami was spawned when a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the worst in 40 years, ruptured the sea floor deep below the Indian Ocean. An Italian scientist says the earthquake was so powerful that it disturbed the Earth's rotation. The LAT catches late word that the earthquake moved the entire island of Sumatra 100 feet to the southwest.


USA Today has coverage out of Jakarta, the LAT out of Madras, and the New York Times out of Madras and Dehiwala, Sri Lanka. The WSJ runs short reports from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The Washington Post issues its main story out of Jakarta and also fronts a first-person account, datelined Sri Lanka, from staff writer Michael Dobbs, who was swimming in the ocean when the tsunami hit and likened the experience to "a scene from the Bible."

As the WP points out in a separate article, the tragedy could have been attenuated by early-warning systems like the ones that exist for the Pacific Ocean. After the earthquake, it took the tsunami an hour to get to Thailand and 2.5 hours to get to India and Sri Lanka. American officials wanted to warn the countries but had no way of doing so. Moving people a mere three hundred yards inland could have saved thousands of lives.

The papers all list places to donate

FYI: According to the Congressional Research Service, an independent agency, the United States is the largest aid donor in terms of dollars, but its record of donating two-tenths of 1 percent of its national economy for foreign aid makes it among the smallest donors as a proportion of what it could theoretically afford. - New York Times 12/29- "Irate Over 'Stingy' Remark, U.S. Adds $20 Million to Disaster Aid"

I LOVE Lucha Libre!!!!

I Love Lucha Libre- or "free form" Mexican Wrestling!!!
This High-flying style of wrestling mixes it up for the fans with athletics, comedy, and showmanship all in one!

Lucha doesn't get much TV time here in the midwest (It's damn near impossible to catch a match unless you head out to LA). But....For those of you who admit to having watched WWE, you may have seen a couple of Luchadors- The great Rey Mysterio, and Ultimo Dragon (who is Japanese, but due to his size, started in Mexico to make his mark). You might also have noticed that whenever there is a big match, someone ALWAYS gets thrown onto the Mexican announcers table. Like I said- the fans love the high-flying action.

There is a whole sub-culture surrounding Lucha Libre. There are numerous comic books , figurines, and collectibles. In the 60's and 70's, there were a series of Mexican B horror flicks with wrestlers in them. The most popular of these were the SANTO/SAMSON films. One of my favorite bands- LOS STRAITJACKETS- sport their masks for EVERY show. LUCHA VA VOOM mixes burlesque with transvestite and midget wrestling. There is even cool site that sells beanbag chairs that look like wrestling masks. I've wanted one of these forever, but they are kinda pricey$$$.


Have you ever seen the WB cartoon MUCHA LUCHA? There is a great website where you can create your own Luchador and pit them in the ring against the kids from the show. It's too much fun!


To learn more about Lucha Libre go to http://www.romaprowrestling.com/learn.htm