beauty in a wicked world.

Here is one of my newest music finds: Sam Sparro. His newest album, self titled, was released not too long ago. He kind of reminds me of Jamiroquia, but a little more electronic. Some of the songs, like the single Black and Gold make you want to dance, while some make you just want to close your eyes and just listen. The song 21st Century Life is an interesting take on the what like is like now, compared to life maybe a decade ago. When I think about what times were like without the mass use of email, Bluetooth, cell phones, etc., sometimes you have to wonder, "How the hell did we live without these things?" The basic needs almost seem secondary to the technology we need to get by.

21st century life
I got swept away
I got 21,000 things
That I got to do today
21st century life
What can I say?
The new world
Got me feeling so dirty
Think I need To get down and play

I just finished watching the movie Charlie Bartlett, and it sort of relates to that notion. The basic story line is this: a kid who has gotten kicked out of almost every private school imaginable. He ends up going to public school and basically becomes a self-employed psychiatrist. He illegally prescribes medication to other students, and everything is fine until one of them tries to commit suicide by overdose. Its a very good movie, in my opinion. Its almost ridiculous how medicated our society is. There is a fucking prescription medicine for when your legs get fucking tired, and a possible side effect is an urge to gamble. What. the. fuck. You have to wonder, why is that people who lived long before this century didn't need things like this, and live longer than a lot of people in our generation? In the movie, all a lot of the kids really needed was someone to talk to. Not ritalin, prozac, or zoloft. I guess thats something a lot us have to work on more, not bottling things up, and I'm definitely more than guilty of that. I guess the movie was just an eye opener on how extreme such a simple habit could get. I didn't think I'd really relate to the movie at all. If I didn't get some things out of my system here in Hot Springs, who knows if I'd still be here and not back in Texas.

Life is going pretty well. The Sean Kingston concert made for an interesting day. Having to chauffeur him and his crew all around Little Rock wasn't the most fun, but it could have been worse. Basically, the day's schedule was thrown out the door once we met his manager. It was frustrating at times, but all you can really do is keep your cool and figure the best plan of action to deal with the situation. Although I arrived back in Hot Springs about five hours later than what we had planned, the show went on despite the rain, the audience loved it, and all-in-all, there wasn't much to complain about.

My brother was also in town for the weekend. It was nice to have a visitor. Of course, he wouldn't have had the full Hot Springs experience without getting some Odie Juice (the paint can).

Sunday was a beautiful day for hiking around Lake Ouachita. There was one point in the trail where you could venture up to the edge of the lake, and there was a boulder perfect for sitting on. That may become my secret spot. Who woulda thunk I would have become so nature-y.