Turqouise Nation

Viva Iceland

I am not sure if anyone else is intrigued by this story. After 8 years in Japan, Bobby Fischer has found a home among the geothermal hot springs and cod loving inhabitants of this quaint island nation. There needs to be more places in the world that open their arms to anti-semitic, ex-world champion chess players that have also spent time in radical communes. The Jermey Schapp story airing on ESPN is one that should not be missed. I have to say that I find Bobby fascinating to listen to. It is yet another example of a brilliant human being unable to cope in the world. I don't sweat the guy for his match in Yugoslavia, but his comments immediately following 911 on radio(in the Phillipines) did not help his case any.

I have wrapped up the job in Colorado so I am back in Santa Fe full time. School is starting to get busy and we are gearing up for the tourist season at Mighty Western Furniture. I plan on doing a bit of traveling this summer, so be on the lookout. The weather has been beautiful. The muse has been trying to hike as much as possible. One can stumble upon some interesting things in the desert. I will post photos as soon as I learn how.

I wish that I had more exciting things to talk about. I do have some advice for people that want to go back to school: if you are bringing in a resemblance of a substantial income and are not planning on going into a money making profession(doctor, lawyer, chiropractor), then save your money. Simply build a library of classic books and attempt to strike up conversations at the local coffee shop. There will be a chance to date again when Howard Dean runs in 2008. I do, however, find it ironic that I am nearly making my teacher's salary a month only working 30 hours and doing something that Ross' dad taught me when I was sixteen. I am welcoming the summer with open arms. Hopefully I can survive in this desert.

I will posting more frequently now that I have a battery of papers due in the next month. I will be near the computer more as well as trying to find ways to occupy my time rather than completing the academic tasks on hand.

FOEVA

I apologize to the nation as a whole for my shortcomings on this here blog. I have actually been super busy with school and work. We are a little slow at Mighty Western Furniture so I have been working in Colorado for the past week. I will continue this job for another week or so and then return to the confines of the heated shop. The whole twelve hour day thing is already getting old. Oh. yeah, and driving back to Santa Fe on Mondays and Thursday for classes sucks as well. The job, however, is pretty cool - I am renovating old army trucks into mobile mudlogging units. Basically, I am putting in new floors and cabinents for geology crews to conduct research while oil crews are drilling.

I did have a little off time a couple of weeks ago. I spent a lovely few days with Hjalmer and Karen in sunny Florida. If anyone out there is looking to enhance his/her self-esteem, a trip to the land of round, tan geriatrics will certainly do the trick. I returned to Santa Fe to humor a phone call from Lars in Salt Lake. I proceeded to buy a plane ticket and enjoy three days of waist deep powder. I will provide more updates later and perhaps include a few rants as well.

Sinbad!!!

Thank god for TBS. i had the opportunity to watch First Kid this past weekend. I am unable to decided which of Sinbad's theatrical masterpieces is funnier - First Kid of House Guest? I think that Sinbad has created a genre of his own. I would equate said genre to the immortalization of Zubaz. For some reason, Sinbad can sport the active wear and still make it cool. What ever happened to Sinbad? I am sure that his overwhelming fame forced him into seculsion. Perhaps he is a neighbor of Johnny Depp somewhere in the middle of France.

Now Read This!

I promise that I will soon start downloading photos in addition to my traditional banter. In the meantime, however, you are all stuck reading my banter. Todd's recent entry concerning, among other things, the reading of the classics has inspired me to compile a list of great books. I spent the day crafting furniture and thinking of my list. I invite any dissention to my selections. I will try to include numerous genres. So, without further to do, the highcountry's list of must reads.

Modern American Fiction:

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath, Travels With Charley, and East of Eden

The Grapes of Wrath provided an arena for Steinbeck to blow the whistle regarding the treatment of the migrant farm workers that were caught not only in the trap of the Great Depression, but the eventual and ongoing movement from an agrian to an urban society.

Travels With Charley: This book is a memoir of sorts that contains many prophetic statements about the loss of local color and ultimate urbanization. The section about Steinbeck's time in NoDak is especially interesting. As Teddy Roosevelt would say - bully.

East of Eden: Though clouded by the noteriety garnished from Oprah's book club, this is a great read. This book provides not only a familial history, but a geographical one as well.

Substitution for East of Eden: Check out Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose - Another great book. I feel this book follows the same archetype. For some reason, I am intrigued by literature of place. This book reinforces the importance of geography in a literary setting. it is often argued that Literature of the American West opposed the ideology that a story must be universal to be canonized. The setting as a functioning character in the story opposes this philosophy This is an argument in itself and I will take up this conversation at a later date if you are the one buying the beer.

A River Runs Through It
Norman MacLean

This is an excellent read that takes less than an afternoon. Anyone that has ever been to Montana should pick this one up. I actually conducted a miny workshop concerning this novella to fellow grad students last fall. Again, I have little time for elaboration. I have five days of lectures and discussion questions if anyone is interested.

Cermony
Leslie Marmon Silko

This book just kicks ass. A piece that I feel transcends the guru movement surrounding the Native American genre. Silko explores the identity crisis of a WWII vet in the character of Tayo. This book is truly a journey for the reader.

Reservation Blues
Sherman Alexie

For those of you who read Reservation Blues or watched the movie Smoke Signals, the characters will be familiar. This book parallels the life of Robert Johnson. Again, too good to give away.

The Outlaw Josey Wales
Forrest Carter

Think about movie for God's sake!

The Big Sky
Arlo Guthrie

The archetyple western

Moby Dick
Herman Melville

This book is an exploration of America's fixation with the sea. When juxtaposed with Western expansion many wonderful observations can be made. Ahab is an absolute psycho.

The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway

One can never go wrong with the story of Santiago and Manolin. This is one of my favorites. I used to teach this book. My first reading was conducted in Mexico a number of years ago. I would suggest checking out the Spencer Tracy movie as well. "A man can be destroyed, but not defeated."

I am going to suggest three American poets as well: Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Allen Ginsberg

-I feel that one should read Whitman and Ginsberg together. Both of these individuals manage to embody my feelings about this country, both good and bad, in their works. I also want to go to New York whenever I read these works. The best PBS program ever was a literary biography of Whitman hosted by Ginsberg.

Frost: This guy was alive for a long time and managed to chronicle Americana in his works. I especially appreciate his literary progression that parrallels that of this country. His early poetry has been criticized and labeled as romantic marketing. I guess I like Frost for the same reason I detest James Fennimore Cooper.

BRITISH

Shakespeare

My favorite two plays are "King Lear" and "Julius Caesar"

i feel that each individual should at least read one Shakespeare play in his/her lifetime. Check out Sir Laurence Oliver as King Lear. Is Sir John Gilgood a better Brutus or Caesar? How about Marlin Brando as Marc Antony? Again, I am always open to conversation about Shakespeare. I also have great photos of mother and I at Shakespeare's birthplace.

Emily Bronte
Wurthering Heights

For some reason I have also found this book to be haunting. A must read for any fan of the Smiths and/or the Cure.


IRISH


A Star Called Henry
Roddy Doyle

The author of the infamous "The Commitments" penned a great novel depicting the Irish Revolution. This book is awesome. I felt like I was in the revolution when reading this piece. If works like this were used to teach history, kids might acutally learn something. AFTER READING THIS, I finally forgave Mr. Doyle for Mustang Sally.

James Joyce
-I read The Dubliners. I would suggest Ullyseus of Finnegan's Wake if you have two weeks to lock yourself in a room for 2-3 weeks. I asked my friend the other day if he ever got through Ullyseus. His response, "no, but the last time i picked up the book I used it to cut coke." This is exacly what Joyce will do to you.

RUSSIAN

One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Aleksander Sozhenitsyn

Darkness At Noon
Arthur Kestler (sp)

Two great works that chronicle Stalinistic Russia.

At least one book by Dostoevsky

Anton Chekhov
"Gooseberries"

This short story is required reading. If you guys have time to read through this list, look this story up on the computer. It is excellent.


OTHER:

Wobegon Boy
Garrison Keillor

For some reason I just loved this book. i have actually read it a number of times. I bought it when I lived in Ireland. It is one of those books I started reading in the bookstore and couldn't put it down until I went to bed.

Brave New World
Aldous Huxley

Cliche but excellent

The Bible

You will finally understand what every poet and author prior to 1960 is talking about.

The Iliad

This book is badass - action movie for academics

Beyond Good and Evil
Friedrich Nietzsche

This work does not justify nihilism or anarchy, but it does promote alcoholism.

-I have left some off the list, but I hope that this gets some wheels turning.

A Symbol Unity, or Some New Menu Items?

It is more than evident that this nation has been polarized since the presidential election. There is, however, hope. I was just flipping through the channels and I witnessed something I have never seen before: MTV and CMT were playing the same video. First of all, MTV rarely plays videos, but to see the same video on both channels? Come on people...if Nelly and Tim McGraw can come together and exploit the youth of this country, can't we all come together?
Who else has heard the song or seen the video? Sweet Jesus! Most of you know that I really enjoy shitty music...Tim McGraw and Nelly both have their respective places in my Ipod, but wtf. Even I have to draw the line somewhere. My God, I can handle Aerosmith and Run DMC, or Cypress Hill on the Lollapolloza tour, or even larry listening to ONYX in his flashy Oldsmobile, but don't mix my hunting tunes with my nightclub/NFL highlight film tunes. Certrain things were never meant to go together: seafood items and the word salad - example: shrimp salad: doesn't sound too good, does it? WNBA - one too many letters. Ohhhh....I just about forgot, country-rap, sounds like a f##king promotional menu at Applebee's. Excuse me, can I see your country wrap menu? Oh, the ranch, buffalo chicken wrap sounds splendid, I will have that with the onion petals and a hurricane.

Who is the ultimate jury?

As many of you know, the weekly itinerary here in the nation includes 25-30 hours a week at Mighty Western Furniture. Most days, we have a selected classic rock station blaring out tunes as we reconstruct relics representative of the primativa genre of furniture making. For tourists and wealthy patrons, these pieces represent the spirit of the southwest and provide colorful decor for overpriced adobe homes and less than adeaquate water supplies. For the native american of the southwest, the spanish colonial style represents the attempted assasination of a culture and the stealing of homelands that equate to the death of the spirit of the southwest. I just thought of that and it seems really ironic.

Anyway, enough about that...the reason why the nation calls on its allies is to figure a serious question: who is the judge/jury that canonizes music into the classic rock genre? As we all know, these stations will usually play and ecclectic mix of Jackson Brown, Steely Dan, a ton o' Tom Petty, Traffic(when Steve Winwood was cool), a bit of Journey, the Doors, and numerous other acts that need not be mentioned. There are also some geographical classic rock bands. Example: the stations of the aforementioned format will play the Grateful Dead and Peter Tosh in both Colorado and New Mexico. I have never heard these bands on a classic rock station in other areas, not even Bozeman, Montana.

To the heart of the question:
I have noticed some new members have been inducted into the fraternity of classic rock. The Red Hot Chili Peppers - selected songs from their catalog have been harnessing quite a bit of play time. Under the Bridge and the song from the Coneheads movie are the only two that I have heard. Another odd induction is REM. The only song they play, however, is Orange Crush. I am not a huge fan of the rem, but I know they have better songs than that. I also know these songs are taking airtime away from Journey and the other tremendous musical accomplishments that Steve Perry released during his solo career.

Does anyone out there know who these people are that have the jurisdiction to lump the peppers and rem with the likes of Meatloaf and Micheal McDonald? Yes, Micheal McDonald - not only a Doobie Brother, but a stellar solo act and recently a Motown Act. The guy is like the U2 of classic rock.

back in the groove...

We at the nation are back in the groove of things after a lengthy vacation. Although I did spend last week working, it still seemed like an extension to the vacation. I started school yesterday. We are currently tackling Homer and Chaucer in Middle English. Whenever I get drunk in Minot, which is a lot, I will express myself in "the tongue."

Exciting news - I am supposed to have sixty pieces of furniture finished in the next 20 weeks. We have a show in Denver at the end of May. It will be exciting to find out if any of my creations fall apart. Oh...be on the lookout for the new Mighty Western Furniture hats due out later this month.

Other than that, people in Santa Fe have been protesting the inaguration for the last week. It is a festive atmosphere and Tim Reynolds marched against inaguration on Saturday. I hear that Phish is going to reunite in the Plaza and free vegan goodies will be available to all the dissenters. There is also a buzz that Metallica is playing a screw the inaguration/down with Napster concert in Phoenix. Oh, I almost forget, the Eyes of Oedipus, the kickass Doors cover band from Akron, will be playing a screw the inaguration/help the cool countries hurt by tsunami (cool countries are the ones where American travelers can write their own prescriptions) in Vail.

Most of the other hip ski towns will have screw the inaguration parties as well. Those poor kids of doctors and lawyers caught in a vicious world of running lifts, doing eightballs, and drinking microbrews with cliche names that somehow reflect the area. If Kerry would have won, these kids would...? I don't know what those kids have to complain about. But, the screw the inaguration party will be the hottest thing since the day Warren Miller filmed the spring ski party where people skiied across a man made pond and girls raced down the mountain with their boobies hanging out.

Hicountry's Inaguration Day:

Get up at 6:45
-urinate
-make coffee
-drive to work
turn on classic rock radio
-make furniture with a southwest flair
-listen to Brooks and Dunn on the way home

-Here is where the protest starts
-Pregame with an adult film and some coors light
Either go to a bar or watch television
-Call Larry and tell him how drunk I am and that he is a girl
Plus, I will not buy anything to screw up the economy(except for gasoline, beer, and pork products)
I am trying to change my ways, but Rome was not built in a day.

HAPPY SCREW INAGURATION DAY!

I