joyful sound

this blog has been too normal recently. or maybe it hasn't. but in either case, there's a need to get weird.

i think that walruses secretly like sailboats.

absurdist theater is only funny if you're acting in it.

leaves fall upwards.

dualities and self-selves and the mirrorings of the multiple personalities.

4 lenses and a central processor and rose-colored glasses.

the bird outside your window is trying to wake you up. it wants nothing else. it wants you to think, "stupid bird! can't i get some rest?!"

the typography and the serifs and the font-face are contingent on the deciphering of mayan symbols. times new roman is times new sicilian is times new milan.

under your keyboard are little specks of light that follow the traces of your fingertips as they hover over the keyboard. the specks of light follow your every movement. as you delete and space and capitalize, they shift in wavelength to adjust to your grammar.

in the suburbs, the run off is collected and recycled to the sky. in the suburbs, there is no ocean.

thanks spambot!

wow, sometimes technology just touches your soul. take this for example -- i got a personalized spam comment, addressed to me (the blogger), and the blog (davesplat)! can you believe it?

some spambot actually took time out of its busy day to drop me this very nice line. i'm flattered. (ok i probably shouldn't be including this stupid stuff but i thought it was kinda funny. i'll give you a real post soon)

"Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "the photography of Geordie Wood":

I want to thank the blogger very much not only for this post but also for his all previous efforts. I found www.davesplat.com to be greatly interesting. I will be coming back to www.davesplat.com for more information.



Posted by Anonymous to Dave's Blog About Impressive Things at February 23, 2010"

ooooooooh

ooooooh no posts since monday. come on dave...

how's it goin yall? it's a beautiful day!

i stayed up super late last night watching the celtics lakers game and then packing. i'm going to vermont for the weekend. going to ski mt okemo for a couple days hopefully. it's been forever since i went skiing, and it's been forever since i went to this place in vermont with Chris.

i'm really excited. i need to get away. i'm leaving tonight and not coming back til sunday, so i'm not really gonna have much time to relax, but it looks like it's not going to be too cold and i think the snow will be good.

i'm not bringing my computer, so i had to sneak a post in today. it's going to be good to get a break from my computer. it will be shutdown in my room, awaiting my return.

i can't believe how wired i am. given that there is a multitude of web sites that i check every weekday (not just limited to boston.com, nytimes.com, finance.yahoo.com, thedartmouth.com, news.google.com, and my google reader), i take it for granted that every weekday i'm going to be consuming a lot of content. still, i wouldn't mind spending a week on a beach if all i had to give up was my daily news fix :) . it might have to happen!

so i've been watching olympics. shaun white is a legend. his 2nd run was nuts! i've watched a bunch of events, typical stuff -- skiing, hockey, more skiing, skating, more skating, luge, biathlon, all that good stuff. good times! watching it on an hdtv is pretty cool too.

nytimes has published a couple articles about the luge course. a couple days before the tragedy nytimes published a piece talking about the dangerous (and deadly) olympic events, and how concerns (several) had been raised about the canadian luge course. they followed that up with an article this week citing a german luger who was badly injured on the course last year. he filed a complaint in writing and said that an entrance to the womens ramp was not boarded up and he pretty much told the vancouver team that they needed to do something about the whole situation.

it's very sad. i'm not sure how the olympic committee or the international community really feels about it now, but i can't help but think that if it had been someone from a better known country we would be hearing about it more (sad but true[?]).

ok i have an impressive thing for you. you know when it snows in boston and then you see all those plows and then your driveway gets plowed in and then you're like wtf? turns out that in other parts of the country THEY ACTUALLY APPRECIATE THAT.

D.C. digging Boston's plowmen - The Boston Globe

Something like 40 guys got called down to D.C. and have been digging out the city. and that's something that's being sincerely appreciated by the good folks down in our nations capital who are dealing with the 3 feet of snow that got dumped on them. pretty cool.

i also read an article on boston.com about this huge new painting in the mfa, i think it's the "the passage of the delaware" or something.

oh yeah Tiger Woods press conference just happened. as they say, go get it tiger!

aright yall. i'm gonna take off. have good weekend.

-splat

bourbon praline cake

watched a couple movies recently.

"Import, Export" -- really good. kind of a bummer, but really well done.

"Big River Man" -- reminded me of apocalypse now. absolutely epic. i thought it was a mockumentary at first. absolute madness. superb editing.

"Bald" -- ridiculous. somehow entertaining. i'm glad i'm blessed with a full head of hair.

i've taken it easy big time this weekend. i needed it. sleeping 8 hours! woooooo. it feels good. tomorrow hopefully i can be relatively productive. happy president's day! yeeeehaw!

i watched most of nba all star weekend. WEAK SAUCE. DUNK CONTEST WAS WEAK SAUCE. WHAT THE HELL. COME ON. i get amped for this weekend but dunk contest was turrrrrrible.

rookie sophomore game was cool. paul pierce winning the 3 point contest was cool. that was about it. dunks in the all star game are cool too.

there's another basketball court up the street from my house that i'm looking forward to playing at maybe in april? only one of the hoops had a net tho. i gotta locate all the courts in the area.

i was talking with my friend today and he said he's sick of winter. i don't think i'm there, but i am looking forward to hanging outside more come springtime. looks like i'm finally going skiing in vermont this coming weekend, which will be nice. it'll be good to get away.

i've been watching a bunch of olympics. i saw Hannah Kearney from Norwich VT win the gold! stole it from the canadians! i think it's incredible. there are like 3500 people in Norwich. i think the police cruiser drove by my place once during the half year i lived there. congratulations Hannah!

saw the short track speed skating last night which was a crazy finish. also saw the cross country skiing today which was awesome.

wow there are too many sports. america's cup is over. good guys won! hopefully i'll get to watch some of it. i gotta find out if it's gonna be on tv. watching it on the computer isn't the same and doesn't do justice.

ok enough sports. i gotta be more prolific here! PROLIFIC. p for prose. r for reading-worthy. o for original. i for intelligent. f for free-writing. i for incisive. and c for creative! that's right. getting myself psyched up about writing.

oh yeah Valentine's day today, errr yesterday. went to brunch at the vegetarian/vegan place with family. got eggs florentine. eggs were real but the bacon wasn't. i almost asked if i could substitute turkey bacon for the soy bacon.

oh yeah my mom got me a mixer. amazing! and i used it the first day i had it!

i made bourbon praline cake. the recipe's online! Bourbon Praline Cake Recipe : Food Network Kitchens : Food Network

it was epic. not sure if it was the hardest thing i've ever made, but it wasn't easy. but it actually came out great! it was sooo good. i made it at chris's. he had makers mark and i used that (but i would have rather just used 80 proof bourbon). i didn't have kosher salt but i did have fine salt. i also didn't have a springform pan so i just used a cake pan and it came out fine. buttering and positioning the parchment paper was a little awkward but it worked out.

i didn't take a photo of the finished product but it was delicious. very heavy on the toasted pecans and the praline layer was fantastic. one of the best things i've ever made! i'm feelin pretty confident in the kitchen now after that showing. i'm gonna keep on steppin my game up. maybe i'll make somethin tomorrow! this is like my new thing. weird.

chris made pulled chicken in the slow cooker and he also made cole slaw and those were both fantastic of course. i'm sooo lucky that chris cooks a bunch. he's my inspiration! good times. i gotta eat healthy tho, been in feast mode too much haha.

here's a photo of the dessert as well as the flyer from that slooowed down music night i went to a little while back. i'm listening to a really good c+s mixtape right now.

ok yall bye.

top tens of 2009

did these for 2008. thought i'd do them for 2009 too.

please don't trust these lists. they are simply meant to serve as "highlight" lists of a good year in music. album art is below. -D


Top Ten Albums

Slim Thug – Boss of All Bosses
Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3
Mount Kimbie – Sketch On Glass
Juelz Santana – The Splash Effect
Drake – Born Successful 2
Martyn – Great Lengths
Passion Pit – Manners
Nadsroic – Room Mist
Drake – So Far Gone
KiD CuDi - Man On The Moon: The End Of Day


Top Ten Artists

Drake
Jay–Z
Gucci Mane
Starkey
Mount Kimbie
DJ Michael “5000” Watts
DJ/rupture
Passion Pit
James Blackshaw
KiD CuDi

the America's Cup

aright folks here it is, the best post of the year! aright maybe not, but these are some of the best photos i've seen in a bit, and the sheer massiveness of these sailboats is awe-inspiring.

here's the original nytimes post with the content in question:
America’s Cup Rivals Race With the Wind at Their Wings - NYTimes.com

hmmmmm i love it -- "Thirty Knots, With the Wind at Your Wings". as we all know, idratherbesailing. or, i'dratherbesailing. either way, i'd rather be sailing.

i was actually considering a trip where i went somewhere with the intention of doing some sailing, because i haven't done any in a long time. but that's beside the point.

can you believe these America's Cup boats? these photos are epic in an undescribable way. i would pay to see these boats in person. they're absurd.

the article blew me away. currently, the start of the race has been postponed off the coast of Valencia twice. it was postponed the first time because there wasn't enough wind. it was postponed the second time because there were 4-6 foot waves (the race officials don't want the masts to break, which has happened before).

i'm completely enthralled now, lemme go see if there are any ways we can monitor this incredible race. -Dave

An Unintelligible Blurt

here's the most recent one. i'm averaging about one random spam comment on one random post a day now. i've been hit!

An Unintelligible Blurt

by "Anonymous"

"sunita antibody rescheduled lifont control illiteracy orgto stephen additionally spiral citys lolikneri havaqatsu"

blogger so dear

i think blogger so dear is the name of a wake forest college sports blog. i like the name though. i read a couple posts every year by "blogger so dear" whenever bc plays them.

ya know what? i'll give you the link. i got nothin against wake, so why not?
Blogger So Dear - The Wake Forest blog where Charlie Brown is still trying to kick that football...

soooo it was supposed to snow today. where's all the snow? wasn't snowing when i woke up. come on snow? that's the best you got?

i guess it snowed like 18 feet in philly and dc tho. let's just hope i don't have too much trouble driving around.

oh yeah, we won our first basketball game last night. i started, scored zero points, but hassled their big man and stayed upbeat and tried to be a team player. i hit the floor for a loose ball and banged up my knee, but it was so worth it.

the truth sinks in -- this is the first competitive sporting event of any importance that i've won in 4-5 years. wow! that's a long time. now i really wanna win all of the games!

soon i'm gonna be playin like MJ...or Doc!

ps -- ok that was kind of a lame post but i swear my next one's gonna be cool and will contain IMPRESSIVE items :)

what that sound like

soooo i've been listening to a drake mixtape all week, namely "Welcome 2 The Future" courtesy of dj white owl. below is the album art for your reference.

i'm memorizing songs and stuff. it's bordering on obsession at this point. i need to take a break and listen to some other stuff. moving on.

it's been kind of a crazy week. actually i've had a lot of crazy weeks recently, so it's not anything too new. but i better get used to it because i have several more coming.

tomorrow is the super bowl. what's the best part of super bowl weekend? that's right, the super bowl party! as in get together with some good friends and whoever's house that has the biggest tv, eat a bunch of food, and talk about how lame the commercials are. what could be better?!

i'm planning on making a corn and tomato salsa, as well as a garlicky white bean dip. i'm excited for both of them, i think i'm gonna make em today and just hold onto them til tmrw. actually now i'm not so sure that that's gonna happen, i might just end up scrambling and make them tmrw.

oh yeah i played in my first men's league basketball game this week. it was so much fun! i had a blast. i only scored 4 points and missed a bunch of shots, but it was the first time i had played full court ball in an indoor gym in a verrrry long time. the game came down to the wire and we lost a heartbreaker, but we did come back from 8 points down in the last 90 seconds. great game.

i'm really excited for the rest of them and it's going to motivate me to go to the gym a lot and get in shape and stuff. i'm gonna try to play every week too! exciting...

i didn't sleep in too late today, got up a decent time, it's always good to get an earlyish start on the day! i finished the book i had been reading ("summertime" by j.m. coetzee) and read the first couple pages of "anathem" by neal stephenson. however, anathem is almost 1000 pages, and i'm not sure i can commit to it. it would take a couple months and his last three books have been disappointing. having said that, every review of the book is very positive. still, a daunting challenge.

bye, Dave

Spotlight

spotlight ain't nothing without you!

wow it's been at least 10 days since i posted. simply unforgiveable. but hey, at least i'm alive and kicking.

let's see. it's been a good 10 days, i can tell you that much! it got majorly cold at some point, but i still have all my fingers and toes with me. i still haven't been skiing, looks like that's finally gonna happen on feb 13 or 14 which im excited for.

celtics have been losing a ton of games, bc basketball is slumping, so nothing too much to report there. i watched the nfl playoff games and those were pretty good.

my challenge in life right now is time management. anyone got any good ideas on it out there? it's a tough thing to balance.

i've been slacking on staying in touch with a couple people, and i promise i will get in touch with you this week.

some impressive things that i've recently witnessed -- a night of sloooowed down music at enormous room (i'll put up the photos later), a last minute party in belmertown (boy the front of that house really needs to be redone), a night out at Rendezvous with complimentary niceties courtesy of sous chef Ben (can't wait to go back), and a brief encounter with the sound system at phoenix landing (serious thump and oomph).

here are some new places to eat in the area. i haven't been to any of these (shame) but maybe one of ya'll wanna go there with me? or lemme know how it is if you try it out.

a couple of these places are kinda fancy, but they're newish and so they're just going on the list of places to eventually give a shot. here we go:

Zing Pizza - interesting. i don't get to porter very often but this might have to a destination, maybe for a saturday.

Tupelo - Comfort Food with a Southern Drawl - probably not gonna check out this place for a while. the place that used to be in this building never got on my good side.

Ten Tables - now in cambridge! i never went to the one in jp but maybe someday i'll check out this one.

Pescatore - seafood place in somerville. is seafood my favorite food? possibly, i need to eat more good fiiiish.

Verrill Farm - Concord, MA - this one's super close by and i just know that if i showed up i'd find a thing or two that i would really enjoy.

The Friendly Toast - i really wanna go here, the place looks insanely packed on the weekends for breakfast tho so i'm gonna have to find another time

yummmm. hungry yet? ok i'll be in touch. -D

here's an intense photo for you. hard to believe that this is even real. this guy's a serious fan and alum!