Christopher Lee

Blog Move

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:53:00 +0000

It's been a long time coming, but I've finally decided to switch blog platforms over to Tumblr. I've been slowly migrating in that direction. There has been a statement regarding Bloggers departure with FTP support (lame) and Tumblr's ever-growing usability and functionality that seems to cater my blogging needs. I will be linking the new blog onto my portfolio site (which needs to be redone..) and anyone that is anyone already sees my feeds being pushed to Facebook. I will also be continuing efforts over on Flux/Form and Rocketpunch, so you might be seeing double posts and reblogs from my personal blog and those two.

So everyone update their bookmarks, here it goes...

Movies of 2009

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:59:00 +0000

This was my year long project I was working on last year. I have tracked and noted all of the movies I watched during the year of 2009 and here are the results:

Top Movies of 2009

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:01:00 +0000

I've been trying to assemble my vast movie list this past year. There is still a handful of movies I haven't been able to watch yet (Up in the Air, A Single Man, The White Ribbon, etc), but I've tried to come up with some of the movies I enjoyed this year (that were released this year).

10. District 9
9. (500) Days of Summer/Away We Go [one of those will do]
8. Moon
7. The Road
6. Where the Wild Things Are
5. Watchmen
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. The Hurt Locker
2. Inglorious Basterds
1. Up

Documentaries
5. Art & Copy (OOOOk, I haven't seen this yet, but I know it will be on the list)
4. Herb & Dorothy
3. Anvil
2. Beautiful Losers
1. Objectified

Anticipating for 2010:
5. Boy
4. Toy Story 3
3. Micmacs
2. Inception
1. Tron: Legacy

Top Albums of 2009

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:02:00 +0000

It's always hard to go back and try to find the albums that stand out to you. Like any other top album list, this is just from my perspective, and would love to hear what albums you enjoyed this year. As far as my lists are concerned, I have just used albums that have come out this year. I have tried to split it up to give you a broader range of what I've been listening too (Maybe too much?). First ten cover all genres, and the second ten are my post rock instrumental picks.

10. From Monument to Masses-On Little Known Frequencies
9. French Teen Idol-El Siete Es La Luz
8. Brand New-Daisy
7. Riceboy Sleeps-Riceboy Sleeps
6. As Tall As Lions-You Can't Take It With You
5. Volcano Choir-Unmap
4. A.M. Architect-The Road to the Sun
3. Grizzly Bear-Veckatamist
2. Cougar-Patriot
1. Appleseed Cast-Sagarmatha

10. Caspian-Tertia
9. Jasper TX-Singing Stones
8. Metavari-Be One of Us and Hear No Noise
7. Northvia-Venice
6. Mono-Hymn To The Immortal Wind
5. The Mercury Program-Chez Viking
4. Lymbyc Systym-Shutter Release
3. Russian Circles-Geneva
1. Do Make Say Think-Other Truths
1. And So I Watch You From Afar-And So I Watch You From Afar

Top EPs
5. Owen-Seaside EP
4. Jonsi & Alex-All Animals
3. Octopus Project-Golden Beds
2. Amiina-Re Minore EP
1. Moving Mountains-Foreword

*Edit:
Just thought It would be fun for you to see my Most listened artists of the year as well (according to my last.fm)

10. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
9. Grizzly Bear
8. Jimmy Eat World
7. Bloc Party
6. Explosions in the Sky
5. M83
4. And So I Watch You From Afar
3. Thrice
2. This Town Needs Guns
1. Appleseed Cast

End of the Year List of Lists

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:56:00 +0000

As we're about to finish off the year, I've been preparing my "Best of" lists of albums and movies. I've encountered a few lists online and thought I would share. If you find any others, feel free to share.

Brand New's Best and Worst Identities of 2009

Top Photoshop Tutorials of 2009

Best iPhone apps of 2009

Best Space Photography of 2009

IMDB's Top 25 Movies of the Decade

Time's Top 10 of Everything of 2009
-Top 10 Movies

Robot Chicken's Top Video Game Parodies

Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of 2009

Top Viral Videos of 2009

The Best Viral Video of the Decade

Post Christmas

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:36:00 +0000

Christmas was a great success, due to my family coming up and saving me from my lonesome despair (and many thanks to the Nimz family for having me over for Christmas lunch). Just wanted to say a big Thank You to my family.

This is Christmas

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:25:00 +0000

I had some issues trying to make a cover for this, but wanted to throw something up. Anyways, here is the cover/tracklisting/download of my Christmas mix. Enjoy.

1. Matt Pond PA-Holiday Road
2. David Bazaan-I heard the Bells on Christmas Day
3. Sleeping at Last-Silver Bells
4. Copeland-Do You Hear What I Hear?
5. Death Cab for Cutie-Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
6. Coldplay-Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
7. Jason Gleason (of FSF)-Sleigh Bells and Wine
8. Feist-Low, How a Rose E're Blooming
9. Bright Eyes-White Christmas
10. Damien Rice-Happy Christmas (War is Over)
11. Alexi Murdoch-Silent Night
12. My Morning Jacket-Christmas Time is Here Again
13. Denison Witmer-Christmas Song
14. Sufjan Stevens-O Come, O Come Emmanuel
15. As Tall As Lions-O' Holy Night

Download

09 Wishlist

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:16:00 +0000

It's a bit late, but here's a few items I wouldn't mind having.

Objectified. I haven't seen this yet, but I know that I'm going to want to own it.

Ampersand Tee at Ser-vice.

Donkey Kong Jenga. Combining the classic game with a classic video game. can't go wrong with that.

Megabyte!

Fotografiks. This has been on my list for quite some years now.

Enter Key Doormat. I need this.

eBow

Lego Space Needle-Not sure why I never got this in Seattle. Oh yeah, I didn't have any money.

Holidaze

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:55:00 +0000

-I think I might make the switch over to Tumblr for future blog updates. Once I get around to editing the html to fit.
-Going to IKEA with my mom tomorrow. Should be fun.
-Rocketpunch! officially has a facebook fan page
-Need to finish Christmas shopping. I'm slacking this year.
-Was going to post a Christmas list of small items, but not sure if there really is any point to that. Maybe if I have the spare time.

Currently Enjoying:
Jimmy Eat World-Futures
The Mercury Program-Chez Viking
Lymbyc Systym-Shutter Release
City and Colour-Bring Me Your Love
pg.lost-In Never Out

Recent Movies That are Worth the Watch:
Star Trek
Paper Hearts
The Road
Reservoir Dogs (nothing wrong with another rewatch)
Beautiful Losers

Currently Working on:
Christmas Mix: Look for a release late next week
Organizing the new place (kind of but slowly)
Top Albums of 2009 (get yours ready!)
Shirt design for 92percent
Brainstorming & Roughs for Flux/Form

Four Things

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:56:00 +0000

This was an article posted on Design Observer posted on AIGA, I think everyone needs to give it a read. Mainly due to the fact it sums up my personality and the dualities between my personal life and my work.

Four Things I've Learned About Designers

BR Recap

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:26:00 +0000

I'm mainly going to do a recap of my trip back from Baton Rouge. I feel like I've already told the stories multiple occassions, but thought I would clear the air with everyone that was wondering what my last tweet/status update was about.

To recap the weekend as a whole, it was good times> It was great seeing my good friends Shannon and Emily and to finally meet their little one, Sophia, who was all smiles. Other highlights included:
-Super Mario Bros Wii
-Apples to Apples
-Turkey and other homemade goods
-Photochoot with Shannon
-Beating Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on the arcade, in one go
-Fewds at La Carretta and Oscars
-Fantastic Mr. Fox
-Walking around downtown BR
-Fun Poker game, which I played awfully.

And to recap yesterday's journey back home:
My goal was to head out about 9. I got out about 8:45, only to discover Shannon's driveway isn't flat. It's hard to explain, but basically the frontend of his driveway has a small ditch and while pulling out I front driver's side found the ditch. After about 20-25 mins or so, we got it figured out. Maybe less. I dont know. Anyways, I got out, got some gas down the street and I was off. Passed Lafayette, and 45 mins outside of Alexandria, one of my tires goes flat. I have no idea why so, but it wasn't a total blow out. After a little work (me having to half stand/jump to loosen the nuts), i got my spare tire, drove the 45 mins to Alexandria. Very fortunate Walmart auto dept was open and had an extra tire for me. Got that, then headed back on the road. A few hours later I hit a massive storm. I've drove/been through some crazy thunderstorms, but never encounted a wall of rain and hail like this. It was to the point that everyone on the highway completely stopped and I couldn't see outside my car. After about 10 mins of that, I made a pitstop in Longview then continued on. I hit another storm and some intermittent bad traffic around the Dallas area. The last stretch, I ended up driving for over 5.5 hrs. Whew. Total road trip time yesterday was 12 hours (should have taken only 10). It was a long day. But I'm very thankful that I was able to make it back safely and on the same day nonetheless.

Things in the que this week:
-~~Toasters Show~~
-Watch Star Trek
-Cook Jambalaya
-Possible UCO/OU hockey game this weekend
-Indoor soccer game Saturday
-Possible viewing of The Road

Back.

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:48:00 +0000

Yeah, It's been a long time from updates. As mentioned from Marilyn in my last post, I should be getting some photos up of my new place when it's all situated. I'm still in the unpacking stages right now. But yeah, I finally moved into my own place since I've been back to OK. So far, it's been great. and nice to have my stuff and space to do things. Feel free to stop by. I had written a somewhat extensive tale of my updates, but failed to finish it. I will do my best to get something going....

Dear Applicant,

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:20:00 +0000

"Thank you for your interest in the job posting for Graphics Design Artist & Marketing Coordinator. The position is still available...........now prepared to move forward if you are still available and interested........"

Screw you Seattle.

Swells

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:56:00 +0000

Thursday evening, I had the opportunity to see James Nachtwey give a lecture down at USAO. About 6 months ago, I saw his documentary, War Photographer, and I can honestly has given me some enlightenment on the power of photography. His images are quite powerful. And will make you cringe. He spoke of disturbing and painful wars, famines and unthinkable acts against humanity that he has witnessed. But with all of this, he spoke of Hope, and the positive that can come from his work. This meaning, bringing such atrocities into the spotlight, so that the public can be aware and the appropriate actions can be taken. You know very well that being side by side with these sites can have an unresounding affect on someone, and with that in mind, you begin to really understand what he's trying to do with his work. James was very quick to note that his work could not have made it this far if it wasn't for the specific art directors he worked for and the having his work channeled through the appropriate vehicle.

"without them, it would just be an exercise......."

This is true with any form of content, and I feel like I have a hard time finding the right vehicles for my work and what I want to do/express. Without going into more detail, I've spent the last days culminating his words, and how I can bring my own work to life. Of course, I don't believe I can ever reach such a pinnacle of international level, but I don't think that doesn't mean I can't take his methodology into my own daily practices. In a time where I've been struggling to get myself situated in a physical, as well as emotionally state, I realize that these things I bother myself with are petty. It's been hard to put everything into perspective-and I mean this in every fashion possible.

There are many other ideas and thoughts that I have taken from his lecture and film, but I think it would take me a days to try to express it all. There is so much to say about his body of work and his perspectives, inside and out of the camera.

Two

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:01:00 +0000

It's been a long time coming. I've reached the two month mark of my grandiose return to Oklahoma. I kind of felt like the car wreck was a big way of the state welcoming me back, as I'm still having to sort some issues dealing with that (seriously...a month later). It's very close to being done though. I feel like things are finally starting to settle and finally getting a little down time to myself. In true Chris fashion, here's a summary of the past month in list form:

Materialistic Upgrades the Past Month:
1. New Car
2. New Phone
3. New Place to live (not moving til Mid-Nov...pictures to follow)
4. New Coat
5. New Shoes (real picture TK, I bought these in Seattle and hid them til recently)

Frustrations:
1. Trying to get a new car, then moving the title over from my old car then realizing I had to buy brand new OK title for my old honda before I could get rid of it then turning around and having to buy new tags for my new car. Confusing to say the least.
2. Getting a ticket for my car wreck. Worst 182 dollar check ever written.
3. My Computer: crashes on a regular basis. and I've been trying to replace one of my broke fans, but I'm pretty sure I stripped one of the last screws to take out the bad fan. Anyone know how to fix that issue?
4. Producing awfully conceived online ads at work. What can you do...
5. No broadcasts of hockey games on tv. But there's 50 college football games on.....Well, I guess that's why I have the internet too...

Projects I'm Involved with that I Need to Work On:
1. Avantcore Relaunch
2. Flux/Form
3. Q Collaborative
4. any and all music projects that I've started or wanted to start this year.
5. Cue: Issue Two

Current Fav Foods:
1. Mom's Homemade Bread + Honey Butter
2. Ben and Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie
3. #1 at Chick-Fil-A and/or Braums
4. Count Chocula
5. Bear's Cooking. A+, my friend.

Albums on the Playlist: (a lot of post rock going on)
1. Collection of Colonies of Bees-Birds
2. Russian Circles-Geneva
3. A.Armada-A.Armada EP
4. And So I Watch You From Afar-And So I Watch You From Afar
5. Alkaline Trio/Hot Water Music-various albums

Recent Films:
1. Tao of Steve
2. Ghostbusters 2
3. Teen Wolf
4. Glory Daze
5. Where the Wild Things Are

Double Awesome!

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 06:20:00 +0000

That title is really going to be used for future events involving Ms. Comptons bday/housewarming party (info TBA), but I couldn't not use it. Bad things seem to come in waves, and good things seem to come in pairs. Thus the double awesome.

After a long week, things are finally are starting to smooth out with the car wreck situation. Hasn't really been a smooth ride though. I keep getting the run around on pretty much every portion of the whole car settlement, insurance process. There is definately other things I've dealt with in the past two weeks, but I can't think of it all. Having to juggle trying to find a car, a house, but trying to make sure all the car wreck business gets taken care of, all the while I had to get a doctor's appt, deal with multiple tag agencies to get an OK title, and finish up layouts for SportsNW magazine. It's definately been effecting my sleeping and I haven't really felt like I've gotten to relax yet.I still have issues to deal with, such as getting my OK title and finalizing the settlement. Well, and trying to get everything situated for my new car. What? Yes, I got a new car. My good coworker and colleague, Mr. Gandy, assisted me Friday night to seal the deal on a 2008 Honda Civic (see below).

So what else is awesome? I also got hooked up with Snow Leopard (finally, no more tiger?. Cleared some space from my computer, so I'm finally a little up to date with my gear. Not like you really care what current operating system I'm using, but just a nice update for me.

Currently Enjoying:

Music
1. Do Make Say Think-Other Truths
2. Russian Circles-Geneva

Food
1. Braums
2. Snickers Ice Cream Bars

Car
1. Not driving/paying for a rental car
2. Being able to play the ipod in the car

People
1. Family. Love you guys.
2. Good Friends that have helped me in the past couple months (thanks)

Movies
1. The Tao of Steve
2. A Goofy Movie

TV
1. The Office
2. Mad Men

Other
1. Work/Coworkers/Benefits from work
2. bazillion other things I've taken for granted this past month

Understanding a Car Crash

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:56:00 +0000

It's not really news anymore, but last Saturday I was in a pretty intense car crash. All parties were okay, no injuries. There was many factors that kind of lead up to it, as well as the cause and effect of hitting my car. I've spent the past week trying to figure it all out in my head and still can't seem to get a total grasp of how a car could get me going west, swerve and end up on eastbound traffic. Maybe after I get some more feedback, I can try to make a diagram. The first couple days I felt quite at fault with it, but after thinking about it some more, it def. wasn't all me. Some of that disaster could have been avoided if certain drivers knew how to react, slash use their brakes.

With that in mind, I can't really begin to tell you how much the stress level has increased in the past week. Luckily and conveniently, Kaleb's mom was out of town this week and I was able to have transportation for this week. I still haven't found a place to live, as the fact that last time I went out to do so, I got in a wreck (then the lady ended up renting out the spot like the next day, awesome). And now the number one agenda is getting a new car, which is another annoyance. Just going to have to settle on something small and old (regarding the house).....

Among other things this week, I've been trying to deal with insurance crap, which is slow. and also heavy on trying to do layouts for SportsNW-which I actually got an extension (wish I would have known that Monday....). So I'm quite glad to see this week kind of clearing out, although nothing has really been done and resolved to make me less stressed. No car, no house....but at least I have a job. And having a job is definately a good thing. So I've been grateful to have that, as well as good friends to help me get on my feet...

In other news:
-Officially unofficially launched a new design blog with Kaleb Nimz and fiance at hand, Marilyn Grimaud. Feel free to make frequent stops: flux/form (not to give too much away, but look for more materials with that moniker coming soon....)

Items adding to the schedule:
----Oct. 3rd-Bear's Bearday Bash (tentative date)
----Oct. 16th-Where the Wild Things Are
----Nov. 8th-Russian Circles/Red Sparowes @The Conservatory. (anyone care to join me?)

Look for future updates, possibly about getting a new car and a place to live....

Not Much

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:03:00 +0000

A much needed update needs to go here, but I'm far from it. I've relocating to the gracious Nimz home, where I currently reside in the old bedroom of Kaleb's sister, surrounding myself with her relics of past soccer tournaments, games and other memorabilia. It's been hard to concentrate on anything that doesn't involve me going to work, coming home, watching tv or sitting in front of the mindless life of mine-the computer. The house hunt is going slow and unsuccessful. I hate the face that everything here is run down and no one wants to pay to fix it up. and the places that are fixed up are way over budget. awesome.

That is all for now.

Slowly but Surely

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:47:00 +0000

I have yet to indulge upon the many ventures back to Oklahoma. Not much to really say about the four long days back. I worked the finances and it cost us nearly 2k getting back, of which we owe our eternal thanks to my mom for helping us finance such a venture. There really isn't much to expound upon, as I spent another 30+ hours in the car riding by myself. It's all good though. We made it. Mike made it to KY. We're slowly making our way back into things. As we moved farther east, the gas prices went down and the tempertures went home.

Start: 65 degrees/2.95
Finish: 97 Degress/2.35

Photos seem to be a better medium to show the trip out. I'll have some of the photos from the trip up onmy flickr, which is mostly photos I took while driving. Not exactly the safest creative venture, yet it helped past some time, and some of them actually came out.

To report on my first week back in the graaaand state of Oklahoma: it's been good. I forgot what it was like to go hang out with friends, as I'm sure the hanging out well fade off as everyone goes back to their normal routine. Everyone at OPUBCO has been friendly/helpful, I appreciate the warm welcome. That goes for all of peoples/friends I've ran into so far as well. It's been hard adjusting myself to wake up before 8, get properly dressed and get to work at a decent time...something I haven't had to do in quite some time. It doesn't help that Sunday, I somehow was sick and would get dizzy when I got up. I'm feeling better right now, although everything has to be done at a slow pace. Also been very grateful to Bear for letting me crash over at his place for the time being. It appears I won't get paid for another week and a half, so a place of my own is going to have to wait until then

I've been brainstorming ideas to continue my photographic journeys here in Oklahoma. and I must say this is going to be tough. I explored some of downtown last weekend. I must say, Oklahoma City has to be one of the cleanest cities...seriously. I think I can still manage to find some textures and whatnot, it's just going to take a lot more effort and exploring (anyone want to come?)

Other events that made it to my schedule:

Sept. 3: Jay Shuster - PIXAR: A design story @ The Montgomery
Sept. 4-5: Objectified @ OKCMOA (even though I'll end up preordering it)
Oct. 1: Get Up Kids @ Diamond Ballroom

Sidenote: Speaking of environmental irony, I spent a whole year in Seattle, birth of Starbucks and never had it once. Been here for a week and already had it. Hilarious.

Back for the Attack

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 05:17:00 +0000

I'm back in the motherland of Oklahoma.

It's been quite a long 4 days, but Mike still has 2 more days to finish his journey. I'll have more updates concerning our trip (I still need to upload my photos). I'll keep you posted.

I got a job.

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:11:00 +0000

A real job this time. It's a bit of a lengthy story, so I'll just cut through the chase. I will be starting up over at OPUBCO shortly (which I'm pretty sure I'm Mr. Jacob Sullivan's replacement). Hopefully I can start when I arrive to OKC, but it's mostly based on when my background check and drug test gets cleared.

There has been a lot of mixed feelings about my triumph return back to the greater OKC area. I've very grateful and anxious to get this opportunity to work over there. But at the same time, I'm just dreaded the extreme temperatures and utter boredom which Oklahoma brings me. It will be nice to be financially stable again (after I can get settled), but I'm severely bummed that I won't be able to enjoy all the finer things up here that I would have liked to go to. All I can do is try to take full advantage of this opportunity, see some familiar faces and try to reconstruct a creative stream that will keep myself from getting stagnant. I have been a bit scared that my flow of photography will dissipate, but I suppose that will just force me to venture and try to explore other areas. Oklahoma City just isn't as textured as Seattle. So we'll see how that goes.

Here are updates concerning the adventures back:

Aug 11: Depart from Seattle after packing the last of things slash our mattresses. Arrive in Boise
Aug 12: Drive, Drive. Arrive in Moab, UT
Aug 13: Drive, Drive. Arrive in Tucumcari, NM
Aug 14: Drive. Arrive in Altus
Aug 15: Partytime. and by party, I mean, make the usual rounds in A-town.....which means, hang with family, go to Wal-Mart, Hastings, ......well, that's it.
Aug 16: Take Lindsay to Weatherford then head to OKC.
Aug 17: Maybe work, dates are still tentative, but either way, I should be around Oklahoma City this day. and from then on...

I am also looking for a place to live, preferable in the Mesta Park/Paseo area-ish, so if anyone knows anyone that knows anyone that knows of a place. Fill me in. Probably sometime at the end of August/Early September. Also, if you want to hang out, let me know, so I can pencil you in. I'd love to see your face.

Summer Ska Volume 3

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:20:00 +0000

I've finally figured out to create a mixtape in iTunes and upload it as a playlist. So hopefully you won't have to try to organize the playlist yourself. Anyways, here is the final mix of the Summer Ska Series +Covers. I plan on to upload more mixes in the future, so be on the lookout. Enjoy!

1. Catch 22-Straight Forward
2. The Hippos-Lost it
3. No Doubt-Spiderwebs
4. Mustard Plug-Everything Girl
5. The Chinkees-Big World
6. Squad Five-O-Fight The System
7. Suicide Machines-Someone
8. Streetlight Manifesto-9mm and A Three Piece Suit
9. The Impossibles-Face First
10. Choking Victim-Crack Rocky Steady
11. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones-Simmer Down
12. MU330-Favorite Show
13. Less Than Jake-All My Best Friends Are Metalheads
14. Codename: Rocky-My Heart in Hand
15. Pilfers-Skungle
16. The Specials-Rudi, A Message to You
17. RX Bandits-Apparition
18. Reel Big Fish-The Set Up (You Need This)
19. The Aquabats-Super Rad!
20. Ivy League-More Than Meets the Eye
21. Taxis-Attack!

+Bonus Ska Covers!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Retreat! Retreat!

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:07:00 +0000

This is more of an informative post to let everyone know about the current situation here. There has been a lot of discussion, debate and decision-making (I know you like my alliteration) this past month regarding our future in the state of Washington, as well as viewing our options. Needless to say, our stay here in the beautiful state of Washington has come to a close. It has become apparent that our ventures out unfortunately coincided with the downfall of our economy. We've enjoyed our time here and no doubt love the area, but we've concluded that our best move is to leave and regroup ourselves.

Where do we go from here?
As many of you know, it's Mike, Lindsay and Me here. We all are somewhat splitting our ways, as Lindsay and I will return to the (brown and desolate) state of Oklahoma and Mike will be making his trek to Kentucky (horse capitol of the world). To elaborate: Mike will be living with his friend, Jon, as he will revamp himself and quite possibly return to school for a Masters in architecture. Lindsay will be returning to SWOSU to finish her bachelors and also might go for her Master's while she's at it. Which leaves me.....Things are still up in the air, as I've been utterly flustered with this whole ordeal. I've sent my work out to a couple places out in OKC and hoping that something will settle in. You know me, I'll let you know when it gets settled. It's just a lot more cost efficient to be out in OK for the time being, especially with the Recession and my ability to not get a job....

When are we leaving?
Soon. Very soon. Our original date was the end of August but due to Lindsay needing to be back for school, and me having a job prospect, We've decided to push it back. Our tentative departure is the 11th of August, which will bring us down to Altus on the 15th. Stay there for a day or so, then Lindsay to Weatherford. and Me...well, that's still pending, but the plan is to head up to OKC and couch surf for a couple weeks until I can settle. So if anyone has an extra couch mid to late August and don't mind nightowls, let me know. Feel free to give me a call to hang out as well. I don't really have any idea what's going on, but it will be nice to see familiar faces.

The Drive
I'm assuming I'll be following the moving truck for the majority of the trip (not sure if I get the awesome privilege of driving the moving truck). It is quite a boring ride. No, seriously. So I thought I would make a call for submissions for 'Mixtapes for The Lone Ranger' (the nickname dubbed to me after my 4 day drive by myself). Basically, just seeing if any of you would like to send me over a mix or cd or new music. Might change it up for me, give me something different to listen to. If not, I might have to resort to buying Harry Potter on audio tape or something. hit me up on AIM or upload it or whatever...

Seattle Notes #3

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:23:00 +0000

Five Things Seattleites Love

1. Their Pets-No, this is not an exaggeration. I've never been in such an environment where people take their pets Everywhere. And this includes work. Both Mike and I worked in environments where multiple people brought their dogs to work on a daily basis. And to cater to the pet-friendly community, there are even enough pet stores to go around. There are probably more natural pet stores on one street in West Seattle as there are health food stores in OKC. How sad.
2. Northface (and other apparel alike)-I feel like Northface is somewhat of a fashion fad in other parts of the country. Not here. It's part of the uniform. I've seen groups of people, all wearing their helveticasized outer wear, kids included. And if regular outings weren't enough, it's also normal business apparel as well (I worked somewhere where a man wore his Northface vest daily, along with his business attire).
3. Coffee-This is to be expected. I knew this coming in, that there was going to be tons and tons of Starbucks. But not only is there a Starbucks on every block (and/or in the grocery stores), there are other coffee shops lined up next to them. This goes without saying that people make regular visits to their coffee establishment of their choice throughout the day. I wonder how much an average Seattleite spends on coffee annually.
4. Being Green-This is definately a good thing, but I don't believe I've ever lived in such an environment where people made such an effort. Bringing your own grocery bags is heavily encouraged, and recycling trash bins are conveniently placed around. Supposively West Seattle is one of the top cities in solar power as well.
5. Being Active-It's nice to live in an area where you can go out anytime, and you'll see someone walking/riding their bike/walking their dog. This goes along with the pet loving section, I've seen people walking their pets in the brave of the cold. If you make your way down to Alki on a nice day, you'll be pleasantly surprised to see it is quite active, and this includes the rollerbladers. We've made a joke mentioning that this seems to be the only other place besides Miami beach where rollerblading is still cool...Seriously, that was so 1995.

Other notes:
-They love their sports teams, even if they are awful.
-Love not to use umbrellas. You can spot the tourists quite easy on a rainy day.
-Complain about the "horrible" weather. I swear I heard some people complain about it being 'hot' a couple weeks ago. I LOLed.

REDUX: A Remix Mix

insertemotion@gmail.com (Christopher) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 08:29:00 +0000

1. Mogwai-Auto Rock (Errors Remix)
2. Four Tet-Hilarious Movie Of The 90's (Manitoba Remix)
3. EF-Hello Scotland (Corwood Manual Remix)
4. Tokyo Police Club-Tessellate (Remix by Tom Campesinos!)
5. Thom Yorke-And It Rained All Night (Burial Remix)
6. M83-Run Into Flowers (Jackson Remix)
7. Port Royal-Karola Bloch (Manual Remix)
8. Bloc Party-Flux (GoodBooks Remix)
9. Pivot-Sweet Memory (Clark Remix)
10. Lymbyc Systym-Idle Wires (Lymbyc Systym Remix)
11. Tycho-A Circular Reeducation (Dusty Brown Remix)
12. Dosh-Naoise (Cepia Remix)
13. 65daysofstatic-Reading in Bed (65 vs. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton)

Download Here

Part of the Summer Mix Series