What I'm Up To...

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Ann Arbor stuff

While clogging my arteries and shortening my life at Blimpy Burger this afternoon, I thought to myself "hey Drew, you're going to be leaving Ann Arbor (for good, most likely) in less than a month, so you should probably hurry the hell up and do those special 'Ann Arbor things' that people always talk about". Well Drew, you're right. I've been here for almost 4 things, and I'm sure there are things or places I've missed while being a college student focused on going to class and finding cheap beer. What better way to do that than post on here, asking people if there are any "must do" activities, restaurants, or places I absolutely HAVE to experience before I leave. I have no idea how many AA people read this, but considering I have almost 2000 views (!), there must be a couple.

Comment away!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

As I'm swimming through the stereo, I'm writing you a symphony of sound

2 Hours and 7,925 songs later, I've finally whittled my iTunes library down to 12 songs that I've deemed worthy of my first Muxtape. It's pretty much a jumbled mess of things I've been listening to lately, along with some old favorites. Check it out. Or not.

http://laliydbta.muxtape.com

Making this mixtape of sorts has made me realize how bad my tastes in music are. I don't think I've been as nervous or frustrated about a single blog post in my life as much as this one, and as I said, it took me almost 2 hours to come up with the right group of songs to put on here. Some songs were left out because I'm too embarrassed to admit that I like them, while others were left off simply because I don't like them, as much as my musical reputation may suffer (here's looking at you, Radiohead) . Hopefully you like one/some/all of the songs.

Again, I'd love to see some other people's mixes, so be sure to sign up at muxtape.com and post the links in the comments.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Bringing back mix tapes old school

Muxtape.com is bringing back the art of mixtapes. Sign up is super easy, and people can upload up to 12 mp3s to make a mixtape to send to friends. I'm going to create one this afternoon, and will post it when I'm finished.

If anyone decides to make one, be sure to post the link in the comments.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Need a roommate?

So it looks like my chances of moving to NYC after I graduate are about 95%, which leads me to wonder: where will I live? Once I nail down the details of where I'll be working, I'm going to start looking for apartments, but I also want to put the word out there in case anyone is looking for a roommate or know someone who is. Sooooo, if you live in New York or are planning on moving there in the near future and want a roommate, let me know. Shoot me an email or comment on here. Thanks.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Fashion + mullet = Fashit

Fashion + Mullet = Femullet
Fashion + Mullet = Fashit

I've always been really bothered and just overall bummed out by those "kids these days" type of people, but a recent fashion trend has definitely made me second guess my distaste for those assholes saying that everything was better when they were young: the reintroduction of the mullet/rat tail. What the hell? When did this happen, and why did the elitist hipster fashion snobs of our culture adopt the most stereotypically "uncool" hairstyles EVER and make them their own? I have no problem with the way people choose to dress or wear their hair, but I just think it's weird/interesting. In my time in New York, from both last summer and the two days this week, I've probably seen 10-15 people with this hair. I'm glad it hasn't spread to Michigan yet. I don't get it.

Exhibits A-E











Unfortunately, I couldn't find any examples of the fashion rat tail online. Probably for the best, however.

I think it's amazing how a subculture has taken something that for so long has been ridiculed and somehow made it ubercool and hip. Then again, maybe it was unintentional and they think it's something totally new. Who knows.




In non-mullet related news, I saw a guy with this sign on the street today and thought it was pretty awesome. Don't worry, I gave him some money.



EDIT: This picture wasn't working earlier, but it looks like it is now. Leave a comment if it's not showing up.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

This guy is awesome / has no life

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/reviews/sixword_reviews_of_763_sxsw_mp3s.php
I realize I've been pretty bad about updating this thing lately. I guess I haven't really had much to post about, for better or worse. I'm in New York right now for some job interviews and meetings, so I'm hoping that all goes well. It would be great if I could get this thing over and done with, but at the same time, I'm trying to hold out for a job I really want. Other than a 3-hour flight delay last night due to rain here in New York, everything has gone great so far. It looks like it's all finally starting to come together.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Always waiting for the green flash...

I'm really starting to hate the Mobil gas station near me. When I went there a few weeks ago to fill up my tank, they were completely out of the basic-grade fuel. "Not a big deal." I thought, so I just filled up on the mid-grade stuff. Then, when I went again today to fill up, there were totally, 100% out of all grades of gasoline. What. The. Hell.

Now, I understand that gas issues can happen from time to time, especially in times when oil prices are over $107 a barrel, but for a station to be completely out 2 separate times (I'm assuming they got more gas between the times I've visited over the past 1-2 weeks), while all other places on the same street have no such problems, is a bit irritating.

/whiny rant

Sunday, March 9, 2008

I think I want to start collecting/buying/listening to vinyl records; not instead of CDs, but in addition to. Does anyone know much about it? It was obviously before my time, but from what I've heard, the music quality is great, and since I'll most likely be in New York after I graduate, I figure there's no better place to get a collection started. If anyone knows anything about this topic, hit me up and give me some tips. I know jack about this stuff. Thanks.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

I hate learning about half-lifes...I thought I was done with this chemistry stuff in high school...

Sunday, March 2, 2008

This is amazing

We music fans love our classic albums, our seamless masterpieces, our Blonde on Blondes and our Talking Books. But we love to pluck songs off those albums and mix them up with other songs, plunging themback into the rest of the manic slipstream of rock and roll. I'd rather hear the Beatles' "Getting Better" on a mix tape than on Sgt. Pepper any day. I'd rather heard a Frank Sinatra song between Run-DMC and Bananarama than between two other Frank Sinatra songs. When you stick a song on a tape, you set it free.

I like that quote from Love Is A Mixtape. I should get back into making mixes, even if they're for no reason.
Sorry for the lack of updates over the past week or so; last week was Spring Break, and Caitlin and I spent a great week in Naples, Florida with my grandparents, then flew to DC for two days to watch Stu's lacrosse game at Georgetown. As you can probably imagine, spending time at the beach, in the pool, and on the golf course were much better uses of my time than sitting in front of a computer updating the blog. Now that I'm back in snowy gray Ann Arbor, I'll post more.

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A couple random things that I've been up to:

-I saw Be Kind Rewind and Semi-Pro over break, both of which were really good. Will Ferrell's humor can bore me to death after a while (Talladega Nights), but his new flick is a winner.

-I wasn't able to finish as many books over break as I was hoping to, but I read The Time Traveler's Wife, and it was fantastic. Probably one of the best books I've ever read. I started one called Love Is a Mixtape and it's pretty good so far. One thing I'm looking forward to about graduating is being able to read more on my own for pleasure. I never have enough time during the school year. I currently have about 8 books on my to-read list.