i stumbled across this obituary while reading a messageboard... this is certainly a very odd, and unforgiving way to send off a family member.
"Dolores Aguilar
1929 - Aug. 7, 2008
Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. She will be met in the afterlife by her husband, Raymond, her son, Paul Jr., and daughter, Ruby.
She is survived by her daughters Marietta, Mitzi, Stella, Beatrice, Virginia and Ramona, and son Billy; grandchildren, Donnelle, Joe, Mitzie, Maria, Mario, Marty, Tynette, Tania, Leta, Alexandria, Tommy, Billy, Mathew, Raymond, Kenny, Javier, Lisa, Ashlie and Michael; great-grandchildren, Brendan, Joseph, Karissa, Jacob, Delaney, Shawn, Cienna, Bailey, Christian, Andre Jr., Andrea, Keith, Saeed, Nujaymah, Salma, Merissa, Emily, Jayci, Isabella, Samantha and Emily. I apologize if I missed anyone.
Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and there will be no lamenting over her passing.
Her family will remember Dolores and amongst ourselves we will remember her in our own way, which were mostly sad and troubling times throughout the years. We may have some fond memories of her and perhaps we will think of those times too. But I truly believe at the end of the day ALL of us will really only miss what we never had, a good and kind mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I hope she is finally at peace with herself. As for the rest of us left behind, I hope this is the beginning of a time of healing and learning to be a family again.
There will be no service, no prayers and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us, GOOD BYE, MOM."
ridiculous, right? i thought so too.
josh
Monday, August 18, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Quite Possibly The Biggest Douchebag in the World
Hello all,
A few months back I caught an episode of BBC America Reveals "Britain's Biggest Spenders". This guy was on there. He is quite possibly the biggest douche in the world, but also a very entertaining guy. If anyone deserves their own reality show, this man does. I would watch it, for the same reason I peek my head out of my car window when we pass by a traffic accident. Wasn't it the Circle Jerks who called it "Casualty Vampires"? Anyways, just a little intro into his world. I'm not sure how well known this shithead is in the UK but I'm sure noone in the States knows who he is. But if I ran the TV networks, his would be a household name. The video below doesn't go into it, but this guy also bought a seaside town in Bulgaria and named it after himself, which I think is pretty sweet. Let's be honest, if you had the kind of juice to buy a town in some eastern european backwater and rename it after yourself, you'd do it. I'd do it. Enjoy the glory of this humble man:
Later,
Mark
A few months back I caught an episode of BBC America Reveals "Britain's Biggest Spenders". This guy was on there. He is quite possibly the biggest douche in the world, but also a very entertaining guy. If anyone deserves their own reality show, this man does. I would watch it, for the same reason I peek my head out of my car window when we pass by a traffic accident. Wasn't it the Circle Jerks who called it "Casualty Vampires"? Anyways, just a little intro into his world. I'm not sure how well known this shithead is in the UK but I'm sure noone in the States knows who he is. But if I ran the TV networks, his would be a household name. The video below doesn't go into it, but this guy also bought a seaside town in Bulgaria and named it after himself, which I think is pretty sweet. Let's be honest, if you had the kind of juice to buy a town in some eastern european backwater and rename it after yourself, you'd do it. I'd do it. Enjoy the glory of this humble man:
Later,
Mark
Sunday, August 10, 2008
AMeriCan Eagle MuSIc Union ThinGy
My internet's been nonfunctional and we've all been very busy with work and music and such, so I apologize for the lack of content on here recently.
Soooo. . .
My friends gave me some tickets for the second day of the American Eagle Music Union festival yesterday in my hometown of Pittsburgh. Of course, I graciously accepted and decided to attend it. Well, let's say I half attended it. Miller Light bottles were $7 and there are two local dives within a few blocks of where the festival was held. So, I'm sorry to say that me and my friends spent more time hurriedly sucking on $2 I.C. Lights, giving our selves just enough time to get back for Spoon or Gnarls Barkley. Only to be swayed by the temptations of "one more drink". And then another and another.
I only caught the tail end of Gnarls Barkley, but did catch them doing an amazing cover of Radiohead's "House of Cards". Then I was planning on watching Spoon but I forgot to bring sun glasses and the sun was brutally posted directly above stage left and I just couldn't deal with it, so back to Excuses we went. (Excuses, by the way, is the name of one of those dives. No seriously.) Anyway, long story short--I watched most of the Raconteur's' (if that's how you spell that) set. At least enough to see Jack White slay the shit out of some blues licks. But I could really care less for that band. They seem very generic to me. Plus, Brendon Benson looks like he hates his life when shares a stage with Jack.
Then Dylan was up next. The throngs were strangling in and although the sun had stopped punishing my dumb ass for not bringing some shades and sun screen, me and the gang just didn't feel like being there anymore. "Nic, you walked out on Dylan?" you ask. Well, kind of. See, I'd just seen Dylan a few months back. And I had my fill of his raspy melodyless mumbles. Don't get me wrong, I love Dylan. I own most of his albums and have multiple books and dvds that attempt to unravel the mystery that is Dylan. And I love them all. I even think his last album was brilliant. But he doesn't even attempt to sing those songs right. I know, I know, he doesn't give a fuck and there IS some sort of comically endearing quality to that, but at least give something remotely similar to the songs that made everyone fall in love with you. No matter what Rolling Stone says about his shows still rocking and his "on a whim band" tearing it up, at the end of the day it's just frustrating. So I watched him crackle and croack through two old classics and took off.
My only real highlights actually came from the free college stage. The Depreciation Guild was great. As were The Royal Bangs. They tore ass with some Thin Lizzy/Television style dual guitar onslaughts. Go listen to their song "Brother" on MySpace. It rips.
Props to 'merican Eagle for getting all those big names to come to our little rust bucket of a town, but call me old fashioned, I'll take three bands and a bar. I guess I'm not really much for festivals. Especially ones that are held in shadeless parking lots with $7 beer.
Love,
Nic
Soooo. . .
My friends gave me some tickets for the second day of the American Eagle Music Union festival yesterday in my hometown of Pittsburgh. Of course, I graciously accepted and decided to attend it. Well, let's say I half attended it. Miller Light bottles were $7 and there are two local dives within a few blocks of where the festival was held. So, I'm sorry to say that me and my friends spent more time hurriedly sucking on $2 I.C. Lights, giving our selves just enough time to get back for Spoon or Gnarls Barkley. Only to be swayed by the temptations of "one more drink". And then another and another.
I only caught the tail end of Gnarls Barkley, but did catch them doing an amazing cover of Radiohead's "House of Cards". Then I was planning on watching Spoon but I forgot to bring sun glasses and the sun was brutally posted directly above stage left and I just couldn't deal with it, so back to Excuses we went. (Excuses, by the way, is the name of one of those dives. No seriously.) Anyway, long story short--I watched most of the Raconteur's' (if that's how you spell that) set. At least enough to see Jack White slay the shit out of some blues licks. But I could really care less for that band. They seem very generic to me. Plus, Brendon Benson looks like he hates his life when shares a stage with Jack.
Then Dylan was up next. The throngs were strangling in and although the sun had stopped punishing my dumb ass for not bringing some shades and sun screen, me and the gang just didn't feel like being there anymore. "Nic, you walked out on Dylan?" you ask. Well, kind of. See, I'd just seen Dylan a few months back. And I had my fill of his raspy melodyless mumbles. Don't get me wrong, I love Dylan. I own most of his albums and have multiple books and dvds that attempt to unravel the mystery that is Dylan. And I love them all. I even think his last album was brilliant. But he doesn't even attempt to sing those songs right. I know, I know, he doesn't give a fuck and there IS some sort of comically endearing quality to that, but at least give something remotely similar to the songs that made everyone fall in love with you. No matter what Rolling Stone says about his shows still rocking and his "on a whim band" tearing it up, at the end of the day it's just frustrating. So I watched him crackle and croack through two old classics and took off.
My only real highlights actually came from the free college stage. The Depreciation Guild was great. As were The Royal Bangs. They tore ass with some Thin Lizzy/Television style dual guitar onslaughts. Go listen to their song "Brother" on MySpace. It rips.
Props to 'merican Eagle for getting all those big names to come to our little rust bucket of a town, but call me old fashioned, I'll take three bands and a bar. I guess I'm not really much for festivals. Especially ones that are held in shadeless parking lots with $7 beer.
Love,
Nic
Monday, August 4, 2008
city slicker
this past week i went on vacation. i spent a few days at the jersey shore, where i got really, REALLY, fucking sun burnt, and a few days in franklin, pa. franklin is in northwest pennsylvania. its in the cut. i did things a normal city boy may have never done... such as shoot guns, go "4 wheeling," and swim in murky ass lakes in the middle of the woods. i hung out in log cabins, ate wild berries (be careful), and met many mixed bred, porch dogs. im not sure if country life is the life for me, but i had a good time, and made me realize, shouldnt we all get out of the city more often??
josh
josh
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Nic Snyder's top 3 modern slow jamz
This is not a joke. These 3 songs are about a year or two old. But I haven't heard much since then that's anywhere near as good. Especially since everyone who sings R&B these days rips off T-Pain and drenches their vocals in auto-tune/vocoders.
1. "You Don't Know My Name" by Alicia Keys - "Woo Hoo, Woo Woo Hoo." This song is just hard as fuck. I forgot about it till I saw it on On-Demand a few days ago. Girl Talk needs to sample those back-up vocals. I'm not really all that familiar with Girl Talk, though. So maybe he already has. But if not, I suggest that he does. The video is recommendable as well.
2. "Until The End Of Time" by Justin Timberlake and Beyonce - I first heard this song on the radio (WAMO) and instantly liked it. I only caught the last minute of the song, but the end of the song is all Beyonce and she pretty much makes the song. It's got it all as far as modern R&B goes. The strings at the end of the bridge sound like they sampled them from "Loveless". It even has some social commentary at the beginning. This ones for the lovers though.
3. "Me and You" by Cassie - Maybe the video to this song is what originally drew me to it. But it stands up on its own. It's very simple but has the sweetest harmonies and strange 80's synth hooks. And another good bridge as well.
I'll put another NixPIx thing up in the next few days.
Nic
1. "You Don't Know My Name" by Alicia Keys - "Woo Hoo, Woo Woo Hoo." This song is just hard as fuck. I forgot about it till I saw it on On-Demand a few days ago. Girl Talk needs to sample those back-up vocals. I'm not really all that familiar with Girl Talk, though. So maybe he already has. But if not, I suggest that he does. The video is recommendable as well.
2. "Until The End Of Time" by Justin Timberlake and Beyonce - I first heard this song on the radio (WAMO) and instantly liked it. I only caught the last minute of the song, but the end of the song is all Beyonce and she pretty much makes the song. It's got it all as far as modern R&B goes. The strings at the end of the bridge sound like they sampled them from "Loveless". It even has some social commentary at the beginning. This ones for the lovers though.
3. "Me and You" by Cassie - Maybe the video to this song is what originally drew me to it. But it stands up on its own. It's very simple but has the sweetest harmonies and strange 80's synth hooks. And another good bridge as well.
I'll put another NixPIx thing up in the next few days.
Nic
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Lawnchair Larry
now i know this story is 25 years old, but i just read about this guy, "lawnchair larry." to me this story is really ridiculous, and had me cracking up... the idea of a guy floating 16 thousand feet above the ground, on a lawn chair, with a sixer of miller lite, a gun, and some sandwiches is really funny. can you imagine what his friends thought as he zipped up into the sky, totally out of sight? absurd. anyways, enjoy...
(1982, California) Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. But fates conspired to keep him from his dream. He joined the Air Force, but his poor eyesight disqualified him from the job of pilot. After he was discharged from the military, he sat in his backyard watching jets fly overhead.
He hatched his weather balloon scheme while sitting outside in his "extremely comfortable" Sears lawnchair. He purchased 45 weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair dubbed the Inspiration I, and filled the 4' diameter balloons with helium. Then he strapped himself into his lawnchair with some sandwiches, Miller Lite, and a pellet gun. He figured he would pop a few of the many balloons when it was time to descend.
Larry's plan was to sever the anchor and lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. But things didn't work out quite as Larry planned.
When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead, he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by the lift of 42 helium balloons holding 33 cubic feet of helium each. He didn't level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 16,000 feet.
At that height he felt he couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed there, drifting cold and frightened with his beer and sandwiches, for more than 14 hours. He crossed the primary approach corridor of LAX, where Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines pilots radioed in reports of the strange sight.
Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. Larry climbed to safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."
The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Safety Inspector Neal Savoy said, "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, a charge will be filed."
what makes this story even more ridiculous, is that some years later, larry shot himself in the heart in a forrest in california. poor, larry.
until next time,
josh
(1982, California) Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. But fates conspired to keep him from his dream. He joined the Air Force, but his poor eyesight disqualified him from the job of pilot. After he was discharged from the military, he sat in his backyard watching jets fly overhead.
He hatched his weather balloon scheme while sitting outside in his "extremely comfortable" Sears lawnchair. He purchased 45 weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair dubbed the Inspiration I, and filled the 4' diameter balloons with helium. Then he strapped himself into his lawnchair with some sandwiches, Miller Lite, and a pellet gun. He figured he would pop a few of the many balloons when it was time to descend.
Larry's plan was to sever the anchor and lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. But things didn't work out quite as Larry planned.
When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead, he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by the lift of 42 helium balloons holding 33 cubic feet of helium each. He didn't level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 16,000 feet.
At that height he felt he couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed there, drifting cold and frightened with his beer and sandwiches, for more than 14 hours. He crossed the primary approach corridor of LAX, where Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines pilots radioed in reports of the strange sight.
Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. Larry climbed to safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."
The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Safety Inspector Neal Savoy said, "We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, a charge will be filed."
what makes this story even more ridiculous, is that some years later, larry shot himself in the heart in a forrest in california. poor, larry.
until next time,
josh
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
PBR Street Gang
Christ, I just saw Apocalypse Now for the first time since I was in something like middle school. What a fucking amazing masterpiece of movie that is. I never realized were "Charlie don't Surf" came from. . . Ol' Bobbie Duvall. Phenomenal Dialogue.
Speaking of the Apocalypse, anyone who's read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" should be thrilled to know that John Hillcoat is doing the movie. He directed one of my top five favorite movies, "The Proposition" (Nick Cave's first screenplay). So if you haven't read the book, do yourself a favor and read that. You'll probably cry a good manly cry.
Speaking of the Apocalypse, anyone who's read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" should be thrilled to know that John Hillcoat is doing the movie. He directed one of my top five favorite movies, "The Proposition" (Nick Cave's first screenplay). So if you haven't read the book, do yourself a favor and read that. You'll probably cry a good manly cry.
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