Spring in the Alleghenies melts into summer, like an ice cream cone in the hands of a young boy. The air- inundated with the scent of fresh cut grass and dying dandelions, as they release their perfume as a parting gift. Pollen of every sort drifts aimlessly in the valley winds, settling on driveways, stagnate cars, and window sills. The streams and lakes are stocked once again with trout, and farmers till their fields, readying for the fall corn harvest. The Allegany river, settles back down as the spring meltwater meanders it’s way down to the great Ohio river and then to the Mississippi, finally out into the vast salty gulf of Mexico. In small towns and old industrial cities dotted throughout it’s valleys, boys of every age pick up their bat and glove. The mosquitos invade every inch of the hot, sticky dusk air. Deer feed on the grass of unused pastures. Young men go to work for their fathers, laying brick and landscaping. The girls find employment at the local public swimming pools or ice cream shops. The Alleghenies are in full bloom.

Stolen from www.sirbikesalot.com here’s his post. Amen.

Here’s another must read about the weakening of the endagered species act

Well I’ve put together some of my more “artsy” shots. So here they are.

…If I’m ever going to make this look good I definitely need some lights. It looks like Paris Hilton tried to film it.

The Story of the Mexican Fisherman

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal
Mexican
village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the
small
boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the
Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch
them.

The Mexican replied, “only a little while.”

The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more
fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your
time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my
children, make love to my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each
evening
where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and
busy
life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You
should
spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With
the
proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually
you
would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to
a
middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening
your
own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and
distribution.
You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to
Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run
your
expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15 - 20 years.”

“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is
right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the
public
and become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions - then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal
fishing
village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids,
make
love to your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you
could sip
wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

I want to dedicate this post to my boy from up north, J.C.

Not only did Jesus ride dinosaurs, he could talk to them and together they fought pirates. (from CollegeHumor)
…I guess on the bright side the dinosaurs aren’t strapping themselves with bombs.

…Took this on campus yesterday. There were a ton of signs about genocide on the main walkway on campus. At the end of that walk way filled with signs full of stats about the murdered, were the college republicans -shameless- I’m sure their location didn’t seem ironic at all to them. But to be fair I think the democrats are a bunch of pussies so I don’t want to be playing sides although, I think the repubs are a bunch of idiots. I’m switching to independent after this next election.

Well its getting to be that time in my life where I have to figure out which direction I want to go. The direction as far as I’m concerned is easy. I know where I want to go. It’s bushwacking my way to a path that is the hard part to figure out. I’ll be graduating in May, and then it’s either work or more school. I realize that I could never be a mindless drone getting bossed around and yelled at on a film set, I don’t have the mentality to be yelled at or demeaned first of all, and second I’ve got too many ideas floating around to just shelve them away. So it’s directing for me, no doubt in my mind it’s what I want to do. For awhile I’ve been so burnt out on school that the thought of grad school just sounded repulsive. However, after considering my options of being forced to eek out a living on set somewhere and abandon my ideas, or as my documentary teacher suggested go to grad school. I never really thought about it very hard, but it is a good idea. It’ll allow me to focus on developing the ideas I’ve had kicking around in my head, and surround myself with other people who want to do the same thing, instead of being stuck with a bunch of sci-fi geeks that only care about watching movies and don’t have any ambition to make one of their own. Now comes the hard part though, putting together a reel, applying, figuring out which school and what part of the country to go to. Plus the deadlines are probably coming up soon so I might not even be able to apply for this fall. No matter though, the feeling of being at a dead end road with no hope of doing what I love is gone, and I feel there is a bright enough future ahead. At least for the time being.

p.s. I’ve added some new photos to the “photos of home” section in RANTS. I’ve also added a nice site full of photos of the Allegheny region mostly PA, but also some NY. Also, since I’m on the whole film/director b.s. you should go rent “Skins” directed by Chris Eyre. You might not be able to find it in the store, but if you have netflix or blockbuster online you should be able to get it there. Peace!

…unrelated photo from shooting my senior seminar documentary today. I just think I look damn sexy that’s all.

Global warming? Is it real? Or as Sean Hannity, a true patriot, says, is it just a leftist, tree hugger conspiracy? What if he’s right? what if it is all a bunch of bullshit. I for one say cutting back on nasty gases is a good thing, and so does anyone who’s ever lived with me, just ask my roommates. I say, “fuck it dude.”(The Big Lebowski). What’s so bad about industry and factories having to cut back their emissions? Is it the fact that they wont’ be able to be as efficient or recoup the costs? I doubt it. I’m glad there are still factories left to be able to tell about cutting emissions back. I don’t understand how some people have no problem with factories getting outsourced to some country where labor and environmental laws are so slack that a cheap product can be made, and sold even cheaper in America. I for one would love to buy stuff made in the U.S.A. But I’m getting off track. A few things about global warming. One, what is so bad about cutting back the output of gas? Breathing cleaner air? Man I sure don’t want to try that. Secondly, concern over global warming leads to concern about other things like deforestation, recycling, cycling, urbanization, endangered species, and habitat loss. Third, its simple really. This doesn’t just apply for global warming. With an ever increasing population and the need for resources, and a higher output of waste. The math just doesn’t look good. You put more gas into the atmosphere and cut more trees down, its just going to lead to one thing. But even as pessimistic as that sounds, I’m not worried. And here’s why. Mother Earth has been around for billions of years, and will continue to be around for billions more. We might not be here, along with a slew of other animals and plants. But Earth is always evolving and changing. Maybe this global warming is Earth’s way of saying, “get the hell out.” I wonder if the dinosaurs ever thought, ” eehh we don’t need to worry about no stupid piece of flying rock.”

This is a promo more than anything. I’ve just recently finished reading My Father’s Cabin by first time novelist, Mark Phillips. The following is credited to Barnes and nobles editor review…

“In the Rust Belt of the 1960s, a blue-collar father works double-shifts, chasing elusive dreams: a good night’s sleep, eternal life, a cabin in the Allegheny Mountains where he can hunt and fish. His son is a child of the times, chasing his own dreams: girls, long hair, politics, and independence. And both chase the same dream: each other’s elusive love.

This is a familiar story uniquely told, in a voice that perfectly captures America at its most turbulent, an era that continues to define the largest generation in American history. Those Baby Boomer children are now parents - even grandparents who have not forgotten what it was like to have the freedom to do anything, but often the desire to do nothing. My Father’s Cabin chronicles life in America as the Greatest Generation gives way to the Me Decade, as responsibility gives way to self-fulfillment. And then back again, as responsibility becomes self-fulfillment.

Echoing this story - this story of one family, but also of a whole nation - is the saga of the land: of man’s conquest of nature, then a return to the wild, then a new type of conquest. In flashbacks that stretch over centuries, Mark Phillips re-creates the remarkable cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that is this nation’s biography.

And through it all is My Father’s Cabin: a cabin that began as a working man’s dream; a cabin that both divided and united a family; a cabin where the smog and labor of the factory were replaced by the country’s pure springs, by fishing and hunting; a cabin where man and nature finally come to a compromise.”

…if I ever got the money, and also the permission I’d make this into a movie in a heartbeat. Awesome book. Go buy it, read it, love it.

I’ve updated the long overdue “Rants section.” It’s basically my dumping ground for essay, lists, and junk I think you should check out. So…check it out!

In light of the skywalk being put in at the grand canyon I’d just like to say a few things. First, the indian reservation hired a private contractor to build it for $30 million. I’m no idiot, I grew up next to an the indian rez at Salamanca, I know there’s not a whole lot of money there. I’m know the plight of the american indian, just look at pine ridge for example. So I can understand their need for some sort of income. The Seneca indians close to my home did the same thing with the casino. I can’t really blame them. Secondly I was reading a CNN article about it and came across this paragraph, “The tribe will open it to the public later this month, charging $25 per person in addition to other entry fees. Organizers expect the Skywalk to become the main draw in a community of tribal attractions that includes a cowboy town, an Indian village, helicopter tours and Hummer rides through the outback.” Honestly, I can understand the cowboy town and indian village, because we americans don’t like to look at the natives as a real people, instead they’re a conquered people from the past. So..that’s fantastic. Second, hummer rides through the outback? Are you kidding me? When did hiking get so uncool? Or rather, so unecessary? I just wanted to float this out there - Peace

I know this is a bit off topic again but here it goes. I was talking to my buddy Jessi AKA Bitch Kittie, at BitchKittie.com yesterday. We got talking about cycling and that I was bored because it was spring break and wanted to go on a nice long ride(50miles) but I didn’t have a water bottle. It’s a legitimate excuse because I sweat like a pig even if it’s mildly warm in a room and I’m sitting down drinking and ice cold beverage. I bet I sweat more than anyone you’ve ever met. Even If I did a twenty miler I’d probably cramp up, fall off my bike and get struck down by a speeding car(they don’t care much for bikers in this town). Anyway, she came up with a plan to have everyone she knows in the cycling blogosphere send me a water bottle(here’s the post link) and that way I can’t complain(in light of someone taking this too serious, remember, this is supposed be fun/stupid). Guess I’ll just have to drink more pepsi before my ride, that should help. lol. I’ll probably get way more than any one person should ever have. If I get enough(more than one) I might just have to do a little charity donation or something with it. Bitch Kittie and I are working on it-We’ll see. It’ll be fun to see if I get any at all, but the point is that from now on I have to post the photos of the bottles I receive. I’ll most likely make a page out of it and put it in the “Rants” section in the sidebar so not to take up all the posting room. I actually gave out my address online too. I hope that doesn’t attract any creeps, although if we get into hand to hand combat I’m sure my 6′ 225lb frame(oh ya, you bet I lift weights) would be able to handle any creepy guys trying to peek in the windows and what not. Plus I have lots of guns and knives, lots.

Linkage: a good post on sirbikes…

Need to get out of Wilmington. No trees. Dirty Air. Need green. arrr…. that’s how I feel right now, I’ve gotta do a day trip and get the hell outta this place. This is what I hate about this section of the country though, there’s not a whole lot of decent places to go hiking within 2 hours. It’s all flat and sandy. I need to live at one of those beaches with rocks and boulders. None of this fine grained yellow crap. I want a hill for my birthday.

I just read my buddy’s blog, and it is by far the angriest post I’ve ever seen him put up, but I agree on many of the points. Anyway check it out - www.apachepilgrims.blogspot.com

I was reading a yahoo news article about states beating the central government to the punch on implementing renewable energy. As we all know, Bush and the last congress didn’t do much by way of implementing environmentally friendly policy. Why? Well because when you’re economy depends on continual, unabated growth, renewable energy is like a cancer to the greenback. Luckily for us, some states have seen it otherwise and have decided to take the reigns as Washington sits back and does nothing. 20 states including Texas have decided that with evidence pointing towards man’s contribution to speeding up global warming, that it was time to take charge and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how to do this. Texas for example is looking at large wind turbines, and solar roof shingles to help cut the energy need from fossil fuels. How did this happen? Well, Jim Marston of The Texas Office of Environmental Defense said, “We literally brought in a truck with the wind turbines … then we also showed some of the really interesting cutting-edge technology that’s happening in solar, literally having solar panels built into roof shingles.” That’s it, and that was back in 1999. Of course Texas slacked off since the law was passed 8 years ago. True to Texas form though they got back to number one by putting a sense of competition in the residents. Remember, this is a state that has one of the highest energy consumptions in the country. California also, has laws set in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while 18 other eastern states joined a plan that would also lower their emissions. After all Texas and many other coastal states might be experiencing some shrinkage in a few years from all this warming. I always thought shrinkage happened from cold weather, but what do I know. “So what,” you may ask?(especially if you’re a skeptic). Well first off, we won’t be putting as much money into those “evil, terrorist” countries. Second, wouldn’t you love to be able to fully power your own home, and maybe even sell the extra back to the grid? I know I would. It’s really a win win. Sure, maybe some of those super safe, environmentally friendly coal strip mines might take a beating. Plus, the workers will have to find other work, but hey someone’s gotta steal the jobs back from the Mexicans(that is if they haven’t taken the mining jobs too). What I like best about this is that the states are saying screw the central government. They’re taking the initiative to do what they think is right.