"travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice and hatred"

Plenty of people have taken trips around the world, and usually the motivation to do so is based in a desire for adventure. But it's what a person considers adventure and the route taken that makes each trip so different.

For Alastair Humphreys (who spent five years traveling around the world by bicycle), the motivation was based in self discovery.

Why round the world?

To raise funds and awareness for Hope and Homes for Children, to try and make a go of being a travel writer, but mainly it was for the adventure, to attempt something I thought was probably beyond me, to escape from the stifling routine and swaddling of the easy life in Britain and to try and figure out what was most important to me in my life and how I wanted to live that life.

Alastair didn't take any shortcuts, either. As you can see from his map, he didn't miss much. And he would have seen more if it weren't for the foreign policies of a few pesky governments.


Reid Stowe's motivation for traveling around the world seems to be almost the exact opposite of Alastair's. And he's definitely taking a different route. Stowe is currently in preperations to begin a 1000 day journey at sea. Instead of the adventure that lies in meeting new people and experiencing different cultures, Stowe seems to want to get away from all of that.

"I turned the globe upside down, and I saw all this wide open ocean where there were no lands or people. If I sailed down there, I wouldn't have to deal with the atomic catastrophe that was facing the world."

And Stowe seems to know already that he doesn't want to come back. According to the article "Stowe's ultimate dream is to return to New York after nearly three years, refuel, restock both in provision and crew, and head right back out to the sea."

I can't help but wonder if Mr. Stowe doesn't like people. Though the article does say he's considering bring his girlfriend. I guess if he doesn't, they're pretty much finished?

Mark Twain once said "Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice, and narrow-mindedness. Broad, wholesome, and charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one tiny corner of the globe." And while I can't speak for Reid Stowe (and I shouldn't assume anything), I wonder if he got the memo.

onward and outward

jamie lidell - multiply

I was going to post Tom Waits' "Hoist That Rag" today, but in light of a recent legal case, I'm scared of Tom Waits' lawyers. So instead I've put up a track by Jamie Lidell.

My understanding of Jamie Lidell is that he used to be a glitch/electronic artist, and that the music from the Multiply album was quite a departure from his previous work. All I know is that the album reminds me of Otis Redding with just a tiny tiny hint of Aphex Twin.

jack, i swear

This weekend was uneventful except for a Saturday afternoon/early evening jaunt to catch Brokeback Mountain at Key Cinemas, and a trip to Indianapolis' Newish Saraga International Grocery (the link is for the Bloomington location) in my continued hunt for Coolish.

First, a quick review of Brokeback Mountain. We arrived at Key early, which is always a bad idea because the earlier you arrive at the theater, the more time you have to wonder if it ever served as an "adult" movie house. And then you get to wondering what those stains are on every other seat. But Key is the independent guy, so you've got to respect that. I guess.

Anyway, Gina and I sat down about 15 minutes early, which gave me plenty of time to think of inappropriate things to yell out before the movie started. I'm not above being juvenile, but I did manage to keep my mouth shut instead of yelling out "mount up!"

Surprisingly enough, I liked the movie more than Gina. It was better than most and deserves whatever awards it receives. As an added bonus, you can make all sort of gay cowboy jokes afterwards, like "if he really was a gay cowboy he never would have given her that pink cowboy hat back". I don't want to ruin the story, but I should point out that there are sheep in the film. Lots of them.

After the movie we headed north to Saraga, which reminded me of Japanese supermarkets in that it seemed like any moment the board of health would break through the doors and shut the whole thing down. Perhaps it was the fish smell. But I suspect that this gives it a more foreign vibe, and that's something I certainly can appreciate. In addition, they've got tons of Pocky, a huge assortment of nikuman and anman (meat and bean filled bun), and a freezer full of assorted green tea based ice cream treats (but strangely enough, no straight-up green tea ice cream).

I bought a kohlrabi, some chocolate-covered macadamia nuts that I last had while waiting for the Shinkansen in Kyoto station, and the horrible green tea ice cream treats you see in the picture to the right. Someone in Japan thought it would be a good idea to wrap green tea ice cream balls in a super-chewy dough, and then roll the whole thing in powdered sugar. I find the whole thing much weirder than any of those Japanese TV shows people find so bizarre.

In the end, I had no Coolish, the kohlrabi wasn't what I remembered, but the macadamia nuts only lasted a day. And I swore my clothes smelled like fish.

ok i was just kidding

I've gotten rid of the two dolphin/tupperware posts in case anyone should stumble across this blog and think I was serious. Though it might be interesting to hear from the audience looking for that sort of blog... In any case, if you ever find yourself in a conversation and the word "Tupperhead" comes up, please point out that I deserve credit for coining the term. Well, me and two other people.

This is the story all about how my life got flip-turned upside down

Jada Pinkett Smith is gettin' jiggy with it in her new metal band. Look, rich people gotta vent too. To be honest, I must be late to this party, because they played Ozzfest last year (where some metalheads obviously didn't know what they were up to).

Here, Jada explains the inspriation for the lead off single "Something Inside of Me", which features the use of the word Motherfucker. I wonder if she feels like she has to use curse words to sell records?

"She was found in the woods, just completely ravaged and left there like some kind of rag doll," Pinkett Smith recalled in a Jan. 6 interview from her Los Angeles home. "This was somebody's child. I remember being so broken up about it. I remember having to go to an event that day and being on the red carpet. I had to keep my composure. That wasn't a place that I was supposed to talk about that. It really upset me that we're in a society now that was so desensitized from such traumatic events. We are supposed to go on with our day and act like nothing happened."

She's right, you know.

Here's a link to the video. I don't know if this really counts as riding coattails, but if it is it could have been much worse.

you are being watched

Alright, hopefully the Tupperware/Dolphin detour is nearing its end, but first I have some questions based off the tracking log for this blog. It looks like this:

1 ameritech.net
2 insightBB.com
3 mindspring.com
4 125.52.164.#
5 ocn.ne.jp
6 comcast.net
7 artclassicsltd.com
8 204.10.42.#
9 wanadoo.fr
10 ameritech.net
18 af.mil

Now, this reveals a few things, one of which is that on occasion, members of my family look that this from work. But who's using ameritech's internet service? And who's with InsightBB? And who's with Mindspring? Who works at Art Classics Ltd? Who's french?

I know who's reading from Japan, and I know who works on an Air Force base, but other than that I have no idea who's reading this. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave a comment. I'm not trying to scare you off. Honest.

one hundred and thirty

pizzicato five - happy birthday

If anyone is paying attention, this is the 100th song on the blog (after filling some gaps with songs about bugs in the last two days), accomplishing a dream I've had since I was just three years old. I've never been more proud of myself.

The story behind the song "Happy Birthday" is an interesting one. Did you know the original lyrics were actually

Good morning to you,
Good morning to you,
Good morning, dear children,
Good morning to all.

Instead of just completely plagerizing Snopes, I'll link it.

The song I've posted today isn't that version of the song, or probably any version your familiar with. It's a completely different song with a different melody, sung in Japanese.

Because I don't speak Japanese, I have no idea what it's really about. But I'd like to think it's about how spelling out "thirty" makes me sick to my stomach (just a little bit).

For those interested, I'll be creating a compressed file of all 100 tracks shortly. I've been listening to them all at work and I think it all sits together nicely. Then again, I should, they're all songs I like quite a bit. In any case, if you're interested, please leave a comment.

she was bitten again - on the face

pearl jam - bugs
minus the bear - you kill bugs good, man
charles mingus - bugs (take 3)
the flaming lips - the big ol' bug is the new baby now (4 to 1 mix)

Mike Reporting at 8:41 AM, Monday January 23rd, 2006.

According to this CNN story, bedbugs are back, and they're taking no prisoners. Luckily I've got a man on the scene in New York City, and I've tried to contact him to get further information. The email that follows is part one of our correspondence.

CNN is reporting a New York bedbug outbreak, and I want you to know that I don't think you're dirty or anything... but according to this story these bedbugs can happen to anyone and I think you should just give your friends a heads up if you're planning on spreading the disease.

Ok, spreading the disease was an Anthrax album.

And Anthrax were from New York. I think you can see where I'm going with this.

Thanks.
Mike

Jason Reporting at 9:42 AM, Monday January 23rd, 2006.

My man on the scene has replied back; Here is his his report:

I'm ok. The crab lice are killing the bedbugs.

This has been another hard-hitting report from Ridehorsey, Your #1 Source For Bedbug News

this one goes out to my favorite barista

four tet - she moves she


The "guitar guy" has become a pretty big cliche as of late. If you're a semi-regular listener of the Bob and Tom Show, you might recognize Mike Biriglia's "Guitar Guy at The Party" song (look for the Ipod looking thing in the left column). In any case, when a stand-up has made a joke about you, your time is probably up.

Gina and I have been known to make regular late night visits to a local Indianapolis south-side coffee establishment, usually on Friday and Saturday nights. On occasion, these trips are the only time we get out of the house all day, as was the case this evening.

Last night we had a little party, and afterwards we headed out to get coffee; a quick trip through the drive-through was enough for a late night caffeine fix. While in drive through we noticed the presence of a new coffee house stalwart, Guitar Girl.

It wasn't an issue last night, but it was this evening. I was hoping to waste some time in the coffee shop until I noticed her sitting there. I couldn't help but think: What gives her the right to ruin my coffee shop visit?

As a former guitarist, I can easily recall the sort of girls that were featured in Guitar World Magazine; they were usually used as a prop to sell guitars. Guitar Girl is not like those girls.

Guitar Girl strums an acoustic guitar, plays Jars of Clay songs, and leaves out a cup for tips from anyone who's grown so tired of the original vanilla music played in the coffee shop that they'd rather hear cover versions of the same vanilla music.

Does guitar girl ask to play? Do they actually ask her to play? Does she come in and say "I'm going to play a little, could you turn down the Nora Jones?"

If that's all it takes, I'm wondering if I can come in with a laptop and practice DJing. Or if I can get a buddy and a banjo and play duling banjos. To be honest, I'm not angry about it. But if I pretend to be, I can write like 10 paragraphs.

The track I've posted is by Four Tet from the album "Rounds", and it's a song I'd play if I was DJing at the coffee shop.

get to toe steppin

the pixies - mr. grieves
tv on the radio - mr. grieves


I'd imagine there's a lot of pressure being the white musician in an otherwise all-black hipster music superpower like TV On The Radio. Does he stand a chance of catching a groupie when he's up against four supercool black dudes? And if the band wants to go to a club after the show, do they go to a white club or a black club? And if you want to pretend there's no such thing as white clubs and black clubs, you should visit Broad Ripple.

Alright, I'm just being stupid... The tracks (or track) I've posted today is The Pixies "Mr. Grieves" in original and cover versions (as performed accapella by TV On The Radio). Does the white guy sing on accapella track? Does he have enough "swing"? Can you tell I grew up in the middle of a corn field?

I'm sure that when the band decided to cover "Mr. Grieves" that the white guy had second thoughts. Because if you fuck it up, there's a good chance that Frank Black is going to try to eat you. Frank Black is like a lion, so you know that if he's going to hunt down and kill a member of TV On The Radio, he's going to start with the smallest and weakest member... and if you looked at the picture above, I think it's obvious who that is.

I'm sure there are good things about being the white guy in TV On The Radio. If the band is ever donated a box of shorts, he can get away with wearing the shortest pair. And he can go around starting fights with white people, secure in the knowledge that no white guy is going to go after a guy rolling with a posse of black dudes. And he can probably get them cabs.

magic happens in the most unlikely places

I'm the sort of person who always falls for those new gimmicky candy bars. For example, you've may have had Hershey's Take 5, but have you had White Chocolate Take 5? Or how about Peanut Butter Special Edition Take 5? I've had them all. All it takes to get me to buy something is a new wrapper, pretty much. In fact, on a recent trip to the grocery store I looked over the candy section at the check-out counter and realized I had tried every type of candy available.

I'm wondering if that's normal.


One of the benefits of international travel are the food-like objects you'll find in foreign convenience stores. Although it's almost impossible to try everything in a two-week span, I usually give it my best shot.

As an example of my culinary quests, let me introduce Coolish to you. I discovered Coolish in a Japanese grocery store, and quickly grew addicted. I became so addicted that any meal that wasn't immediately followed by a Coolish desert was a disappointment (even meals that included that amazing Japanese treat, raw beef that looked like it was cooked before you put it in your mouth).

Coolish is much like a McDonald's milkshake in an aluminum bag, except if that McDonald's milkshake was the best thing you've ever eaten. When you purchase your Coolish, it's basically a brick of frozen solid ice cream. You squeeze the bag with all of your might, but the Coolish refuses to come out. The trick is to put the Coolish in the back pocket of your jeans. Let the warmth of your ass work its magic with the Coolish. Soon, the combined forces of the Coolish and you ass will provide you with a creamy treat that truly deserves your mouth's attention.

I think my friend Dave said it best: "Oh Coolish. How I miss you. It was nectar of the gods. Specially the peach... It was nectar of the really awesome gods."

even slayer had a song about jesus

loose fur - the ruling class
loose fur - thou shalt wilt

Loose Fur, A Jeff Tweedy (Wilco)/Jim O'Rourke (ex. Sonic Youth, Gastr del Sol)/Glenn Kotche (He's a drummer so no one really cares) side project, are back with a brand new edition, Born Again In The USA. Something about this record grabs ahold of me tightly. Alright, that was horrible.

I suppose the title is fitting, because there's at least two songs about religion on the album. The first track posted today, The Ruling Class, is Jeff Tweedy's take on the return of Christ, and features the lyrics "He's back, Jack, smokin' crack, find him if you wanna get found".

The second track here, Thou Shalt Wilt, is a run through of the ten commandments brought to you by Jim O'Rourke. It features (in regards to commandment seven) the lyrics "You can't be serious, you look so good in that wedding dress, I need time to assess, I don't want to acquiesce".

I should point out that this album isn't out yet, and it's also not listed on Amazon for pre-order, so I must really be in the loop.

* * * * *

As an aside, this past weekend I visited the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and had a thought about how much art is inspired by religion, and what it all means. As it turns out, I don't have any idea. There are some well-known examples, and some that are not so well known, although they are obviously deserving.

andy warhol and the picasa test

 
hmm... this is a test.

the roof is on fire

m83 - don't save us from the flames (superpitcher remix)

It's a ugly cold and rainy day today in Indianapolis, which is only made worse by the fact that yesterday was warm enough to ride a bike to work. I'm also not accomplishing anything at work.

To remedy this situation, I highly recommend the song I've posted today. You know it's a good song when Pontiac uses it in a car commercial. All the best songs are used in car commercials. Either that, or for background music during an episode of The Real World. This post is dripping with falsehoods.

I should point out that this is also track number 94 in my ongoing project, and that 1994 was the year I graduated high school, and also there are 94 days in the midfall Wiccan solstice. I just made that up. There are really only 91 days in the midfall Wiccan solstice. Duh.

a change

Hello.

You may be wondering what happened to Ridehorsey and how you ended up at the blog. I've moved the blog out of its own directory and made it the main site. I'm going to start putting everything here. The livejournal will be linked on the side, I think.

The nude photos are still at www.ridehorsey.com/awwaww

sit

the cardigans - i need some fine wine and you, you need to be nicer

You may only know the Cardigans from that old track "Lovefool" which shows up about every six months in commercials for made for TV albums with titles like "SUPERHITS FROM THE 90'S". Love me love me.

Anyway, They did alot after that. They don't really get any attention anymore, and that's a shame because they're quite good.

As it turns out, their latest album hasn't been released in the states yet. I don't know why exactly, and taking the time to investigate that would only lead me to write more about them than I want to.

Anyway, this track "I need some fine wine and you, you need to be nicer", is from Super Extra Gravity, the new Cardigans album. There were alot of commas in that last sentence.

There's a video for this song as well, if you're into looking at Nina Persson. I wouldn't blame you. She's Swedish.

balloon pants

deerhoof - siriustar

Deerhoof's latest, "The Runners Four", is the sort of album that makes you wish there was a Deerhoof show going on in your living room about once a week. It's loud and rockin' in a Led Zeppelin/Jimmy Page kind of way. It's the White Stripes except looser, and more happy.

But it's also sort of like Led Zeppelin replaced Robert Plant with a kitty.

Anyway, it rocks.

too long

the fall - cheatham hill

Has it been that long since I posted a Fall song?

This one was from John Peel's festive 50, which is some sort of countdown or something... hell if I know. Anyway, John Peel is dead now. I guess that's what happens to people from England.

That's not to say that they can't live long and fullfilling lives, it's just that everyone from England is going to die. Eventually. Bummer, England.

backtracking a bit...

bloc party - price of gas

I revisited this Bloc Party album this weekend and decided to post this. It was worth a backtrack, I think. Enjoy.