pulse!

First up, I ask that you look at the book to the right. If it doesn't look familiar to you, if you don't have this book laying somewhere near you when you sleep, or if you don't remember the classic last lines (which I can't reprint here because Salinger wouldn't like that) then I suggest you get it together and buy this book. Now, I can argue two sides to almost any point, but I can't for the life of me come up with any reasons why anyone should go without reading this book. I can see why maybe you wouldn't have the time or patience to read my favorite book, Great Expectations, or maybe you can't exactly swallow Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Let's face it, On the Road isn't for everybody (not even me). And I can see why a lot of guys wouldn't want to read Flowers in the Attic, even though the story is awesome and involves incestous acts in an attic. But, with The Catcher in the Rye, there's no reason why anyone can't spend a couple hours to read it. It's quick, it's straight forward, and if you want to do one thing right in your life, you'll read that shotty from cover to cover. I also recommend Salinger's other stuff, Nine Stories, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour an Introduction, and my fave Franny and Zooey. Salinger makes me wanna write. He is awesome, sleep with Catcher in the Rye under your pillow and you can be too.

I admit I was trying to distance myself a little from DMB lately. I was suffering from disillusionment as a result of many things. For one, when I dormed, everyone and their mother had a DMB poster in their dorm room. That reminded me of N*Sync or something. When everybody likes something, most of the time it's just plain crap. Then I realized that a lot of those kids just were trying to be cool or fit in or something. They had probably heard Crash a couple times on the radio, and they all read this pamphlet on how to have a cool dorm room and number one on the list was plaster it with Dave memorabilia. Whatever. Anyway, it kinda turned me off. Then, even worse, I read in Rolling Stone about Stefan's initial reaction to his baselines on Everyday being prerecorded. He said something like "Can I just go home then?" I mean, I just couldn't look at Dave the same way after that. Stefan is an awesome player, and to belittle him like that, was just, well, beyond wrong. However, since then I've listened to Everyday, and although I don't think it's the best stuff DMB has ever done, it's listenable and I have grown into the non - "I Did It" tracks. I've also listened to the Lillywhite sessions, and fallen in love with it, especially songs like "My Grace is Gone." Recently, I even heard that Dave removed that stick up his a$$ at the concert in Buffalo and actually played some crowd pleasers. So, I've decided to stop trying to front completely. I admit it. I love DMB. I've loved them since I first saw them in Toronto. Dave's songs are contagious, and I still haven't gotten sick of them. I'm listening to Remember Two Things right now. Dave Matthews is awesome. So are Stefan Lessard, Boyd Tinsley, Carter Beauford, and Leroi Moore. :) I love them. I hope they never stop playing.....

My favorite poem ever is "Into My Own" by Robert Frost.

One of my wishes is that these dark trees
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as 'twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.

I should not be withheld but that some day
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of every finidng open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.

I do not see why I should ever turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track,
To overtake me, who should miss me here,
And long to know if still I held them dear.

They would not find me changed from him they knew --
Only more sure of all I thought was true.

I love that poem. It's freaking awesome. That's all I gotta say.

I think it's pretty safe to say that RENT, the musical has kept me breathing since the first time I saw it on Broadway. Since then, I've seen it many times, (FRONT ROW tickets are only 20 bucks if you're lucky!) and I love it each time, more and more. Rent is amazing. I've got the entire thing memorized. I believe in Rent! You can't buy love, but you can rent it! There's no day, but today! If you only ever see one musical in your entire life, make it Rent. If you don't like it, I'll cover you for your ticket. Wanna go see it right now? Let's go, I'm ready!