Thanks for BIG waves

 
(click images, because the thumbs don't do any sort of justice)

Seems like every time a huge winter swell hits the Monterey Peninsula, I'm down in Mexico surfing shoulder high 'fun' waves. I'm not complaining, and I'm certainly not paddling out into 25' faces, but it sure is exciting to stand on Carmel Point and watch quad-overhead bombs detonate within rock-throwing distance. Finally, this Thanksgiving weekend, my timing was good and I got to shoot some photos with a small pack of psychos out in very big waves, very clean conditions and good light. Now I'll fly to Mexico tomorrow and with any luck, catch this same swell down there... after it's lost most of it's size and strength.

Make an album with Ben Folds

 
For years, Ben Folds has been belting out some of the best and most original angst-loaded songs for college kids everywhere. Now they are giving it back. University a cappella groups are competing for a spot on a new BF album due out next year, and the entries are being posted on youtube for your listening and viewing (check the outfits) pleasure. Some are good, some are very good, and some are, uh... entertaining. UN-explicit Lyrics Warning: some of the swear words have been removed. I don't know why. Ba da dah, ba da dah, ba da dat dat dat duh...

BOSE QC2 + iTunes = restored sanity

When working in Mexico, I try to embrace as much of the culture as I can. It's a wonderful place full of many good things and experiences. One cultural asteroid I can't seem to avoid, though, is the 'banda' style of music popular with caballeros and working class folks. It's festive and energetic—completely overdone with heavy bass drum, tons of brass and crashing cymbals—and typically played at an unreasonably high volume from a car stereo worth more than the car itself. The car is often parked across the street from my house.

In the evenings, when I hit my banda limit, my solution is to go to iTunes, download some new music, and then bust out the miracle called BOSE QC2 noise-canceling headphones. And here's what I've been listening to lately...

     

Elbow/The Seldom Seen Kid ~ cooler than Coldplay, with a shade of Pink Floyd influence

INXS/Welcome to Wherever You Are ~ probably their least commercially successful album, but among their best

Dengue Fever/Escape From Dragon House ~ Cambodian pop meets surf guitar, or B-52s on psychedelics in Southeast Asia

Obama Nation

I've been watching live coverage on the computer for too many hours to now write something clever. It is 2:30am in Mexico. I have celebrated with some friends and the national agave beverage. I am tired and it's late, and it's raining. Off to bed. I'll dream of the rain washing away 8 years of the detritus of failed policies, vicious greed and shocking ignorance.