Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value. Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do. The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts... width="425" height="350" ..
"Violence as a way of achieving justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Let's start by saying this is the greatest live performance ever:I suppose it's no secret that I really, really, really like the Beatles. If you line up all the great albums in rock and roll history, most of the really great ones would make up the great plains and foothills of the United States of America. Then, if you had your snow tires on, and were ready to start scaling the great rocky mountains, you'd come upon really fantastic albums like Wilco's "Summer Teeth" and Bowie's "Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars." Drive a bit more, to the roads that make you nervous and you'd be in the XTC "English Settlement" or Elvis Costello's "Blood and Chocolate" area. Above the treeline you'd find yourself in very good company with albums like "Slanted and Enchanted" from Pavement, or "Purple Rain" from Prince. Toward the summit, you'd be running into classics like Nick Drake's
"Five Leaves Left" and R.E.M.'s "Reckoning." You'd also see Radiohead's "OK Computer" right next to The Who's "Quadrophenia," U2's "Unforgettable Fire" and "The Soft Bulletin" by the Flaming Lips. Here, at the peak, you'd be able to look down at all the greatest albums in the history of recorded music. But you'll notice, we've not yet seen all the great, great albums. Luckily, you'll find a rocket (a rockin' rocket) right here on the peak. You'll get into the space ship and blast off deep into space. As you shoot past the moon, you'll be flying past greats like "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan," "Blue" by Joni Mitchel and "VU" by the Velvet Underground... but you'll keep going, into the deepest, darkest reaches of space. Eventually you'll get to the point where you haven't passed a great record in light years, until finally, when you're about to come to the center of the universe, the farthest reaches of perfection, you'll find it... "Revolver"... the classic album put out by Los Beatles in 1966.Rolling Stones - Reelin' & rockin'
Add to My Profile | More VideosIn addition to the Beatles, I like the Smiths. the Wolf Parade band. Bonnie "Prince" Billy, the Blonde Redhead. Calexico, Alicia Keys, The Who (Maximum R&B). XTC. the first four R.E.M. albums. the Princes and the Revolution. M Ward. The Rolling Stones band. the Billy Bragg band. Elvis Costellow (fer sure), CAN, the Radioheads. Jonathan Richman, Guided by Voices, The Replacements. the Bob Dylan band, Explosions in the Sky, Iggy Pop, Gillian Welch, ye olde Neil Young Young band, FEAR, the GLANDS (from Athens, GA... go buy their records already...), Solomon Burke, Beulah (go buy all their records now), Joni Mitchell, Asobi Seksu, LUNA (go buy "Rendezvous" and make yourself happy), My Bloody Valentine, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, the Roland Kirk, the Sam Phillilps band, Tortoise, Bjork, the Pavements, Sea and Cake (you can have your Sea and and eat it too), the Silent Kids band, Beirut, the Georgia Fireflies, YO LA TENGO (go buy "Fakebook" y'all), really, really old rock-steady Bob Marley recordings, the Specials, Emmylou Harris, Mingus, CoCo Rosie, DJ Shadow, The CLASH, Damien Rice, the Cassavetes, El Goodo, Wilco, the David Bowie band, Stereolab, the Velvet Underground, the John Lee Hooker, the Johnny Cashes, the Preaknessess. old, old U2 (like... "Boy" and "Unforgettable Fire"), flamin' lipsies, Badfinger, Warm in the Wake, Mary O. Harrison, Daniel Johnston... and this stunning piece of brilliance (copy and paste the link): http://dylanhearsawho.com/
"For solid action, give me a submarine picture or a picture that opens with a DC-3 having engine trouble over the desert." - Charles PortisStar Wars - A New Hope (in 3 minutes)
Add to My Profile | More VideosRemember that feeling you got when you were like... nine and you saw "Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope" for the very first time? Remember the very beginning? The way the music built to a crescendo as the prologue text trailed off into darkness and were left floating momentarily in space as the music went soft? Then the camera tilted down to expose the burning hot surface of Tattoine and the screen was filled with flying spaceships and laser beams and you were immediately transported to a side of the galaxy that was populated by a magic old wizard, a fruity yellow robot, a beautiful princess, a shady smuggler and his wookie friend and an idealistic young farm kid? Remember how they were all ruled by a half mechanical Dark Lord who himself was ruled by an intergalactic governing body not unlike the Bush/Cheney administration...but it was ok because it was all wrapped up in this delicious delirium of magic? Remember the feeling you got watching all that unfold right before your eyes?Yeah.... me too.Here's a video we did back in the day...Man...Or Astroman?
Add to My Profile | More Videoshttp://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/video
/episodes.shtmlIn addition to "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" I love the following films (please note that "Fight Club" is not on this list): Barton Fink, Life is Beautiful, El Postino (the Postman), The Elephant Man, Dr. Strangelove, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Bottle Rocket, Sixteen Candles (John Hughes rules), Downfall (about Hitler's last days in his bunker - chilling!), Magnolia, Hotel Rwanda, Gladiator, "My Life to Live" (by Jean Luc Goddard), Raising Arizona, Steve Martin in "The Jerk," Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation, Nicole Kidman in "The Others," Paths of Glory (with Kirk Douglas), Raiders of the Lost Ark, Monty Python's In Search of the Holy Grail, Young Frankenstein, Best in Show (probably in my top five), Glengary Glen Ross, Titanic (no shame in admitting it), Dances with Wolves (no shame in admitting that either), Gladiator, Blair Witch Project (just kidding), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (strong Iowa connection in that one), Purple Rain (with His Majesty, Prince Rogers Nelson), Swingers, The Piano, Schindler's List, parts of "Gangs of New York" (the parts where Daniel Day Lewis plays Bill the Butcher, that is), Dog Day Afternoon (Holy S**t! Al Pacino at his best), Waitress (coming to theaters this summer... I hope), Sir Anthony Hopkins in "The World's Fastest Indian (wow)," The Matrix, The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman (come on everybody... go see it if you haven't already), Wings of Desire, Kingpin (the Farley Brothers at their best), Flirting With Disaster (before Ben Stiller became a cartoon character), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Junebug (an underrated masterpiece), Baraka... and I'm not saying this just to pimp my buddies but... "The Signal" is freaking awesome. Go see it when it comes around.
I watch C-SPAN the way most people watch ESPN.In addition to C-SPAN, I dig Reno 911, and the above clip is a good reason why. I also like The Simpsons, Seinfeld, The Daily Show, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm... and I'll always have a soft spot for old-school Saturday Night Live (with the original cast), The Kids in the Hall, The Brady Bunch, M*A*S*H and All in the Family.
For some way, MySpace wouldn't let me post this in the television box, but... this is the best TV show ever. Dig the chicken dance:I pulled my Mark Twain anthology off the shelf the other day. I bought it like... five years ago and am just now getting around to read it. I guess I saw the Ken Burns thing about him on TV the other day, and decided to have a look. I was reading "Huck Finn" but left it at my parent's house this weekend. It's awesome so far! I also ordered a bunch of Charles Portis stuff, after reading the hilarious "Dog of the South"... thanks Seth!Hey Boy!
Add to My Profile | More VideosOther favorite books include: "Interview with the Vampire" (gosh, I love this one... a modern classic), "Caesar and Christ" (best book on Roman history ever. Ev-ah), "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby, "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" and "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson, "Portnoy's Complaint" by Phillip Roth, "Deep is the Hunger" by Howard Thurman... (a great spiritual guide and a huge inspiration on Martin Luther King, Jr.), "Everyday Mind" (a daily collection of Buddhist meditations), The Screwtape Letters" by JD Salinger, "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, "A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" by David Eggers, My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, "On the Road by Jack Kerovac (of course... who doesn't love that one?), The Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22 (duh), "Dog of the South" by Charles Portis (Hilarious. HIL-arious), "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown (required reading for all Americans. Honestly. Read it), "The Prophet" by Kahil Gibran (spiritual truths are actually pretty simple).... but mostly I like short stories and short story anthologies and my favorite short story authors are Flannery O'Connor (A Good Man is Hard to Find), Gabriel Garcia Marquez ("A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is one of the greatest works of art ever created by anyone. Ever. God if I could write like that) and Katherine Anne Porter (her short story "Graves" is a heatbreaking work of staggering genius) and then there's all that Raymond Carver stuff that's just amazing. And I do love my friend Chelsea Rathburn's collection of poems, all bundled up in the book "The Shifting Line." Get it. I also love reading Maxim Magazine, The Onion (especially the annual "Ad Nausium" collections), the cartoons in "The New Yorker" and I love Paste magazine too.
Johnny Carson