People.com: "John Mayer's Shocking Confessions (Sadly NOT About Jen)"

A high schooler that I work with at my church gave me free tickets to John Mayer's show this past Thursday. I forgot how funny he is. The funniest part of the night by far was the last bit in the article. Here's an article from the night:



Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer were together again for the second stop on his summer tour, which hit St. Louis Thursday night. But rather than acknowledge her presence in the crowd, Mayer teased his audience about interest in his personal life.

"[Fans] send me links from PEOPLE," he said, marveling at the coverage of his remarks the previous night when he – with Aniston in tow – joked about being the subject of Internet rumors. "That just tempts me to say things." The audience at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights roared its approval, but Mayer would not divulge any intimate details.

Instead, he playfully peppered his nearly two-hour concert with dubious confessions designed to feed those who were curious about his private life: He fears the color green. He weighed 400 pounds when he was 12. He wrote the lyrics to the Kenny Loggins hit "Danger Zone" – at age 9. And he was "33 percent done" with building a time machine.

"When I was a child I would kill small animals and wear their teeth as necklaces," he deadpanned. "True. Print that. And I've always felt deep down that I was born a woman."

Aniston remained out of sight during the show, but she watched Mayer's pre-concert soundcheck from the fifth row of the amphitheater, according to radio contest winners who sat a few rows farther back. She wore a slate-colored dress and a cardigan in the damp, late-afternoon air. "She looked like Colbie Caillet," said a witness, referring to the "Bubbly" singer who served as Mayer's opening act. "But it was definitely Jen."

Other fans clearly had Aniston on the brain.

During musical breaks between acts, the twin video screens flanking the stage displayed anonymous notes sent via text message from the crowd. "Team Aniston!" wrote one.

The most brazen of the bunch, preceding Mayer's own onstage joking: "John, I'm pregnant. – Jen."

Summer reading: "Obama's Iraq Problem"

"In February, 2007, when Barack Obama declared that he was running for President, violence in Iraq had reached apocalyptic levels, and he based his candidacy, in part, on a bold promise to begin a rapid withdrawal of American forces upon taking office. At the time, this pledge represented conventional thinking among Democrats and was guaranteed to play well with primary voters. But in the year and a half since then two improbable, though not unforeseeable, events have occurred: Obama has won the Democratic nomination, and Iraq, despite myriad crises, has begun to stabilize.

...At the start of 2007, no one in Baghdad would have predicted that blood-soaked neighborhoods would begin returning to life within a year. The improved conditions can be attributed, in increasing order of importance, to President Bush’s surge, the change in military strategy under General David Petraeus, the turning of Sunni tribes against Al Qaeda, the Sadr militia’s unilateral ceasefire, and the great historical luck that brought them all together at the same moment. With the level of violence down, the Iraqi government and Army have begun to show signs of functioning in less sectarian ways. These developments may be temporary or cyclical; predicting the future in Iraq has been a losing game. Indeed, it was President Bush’s folly to ignore for years the shifting realities on the ground.

Obama, whatever the idealistic yearnings of his admirers, has turned out to be a cold-eyed, shrewd politician. The same pragmatism that prompted him last month to forgo public financing of his campaign will surely lead him, if he becomes President, to recalibrate his stance on Iraq. He doubtless realizes that his original plan, if implemented now, could revive the badly wounded Al Qaeda in Iraq, reënergize the Sunni insurgency, embolden Moqtada al-Sadr to recoup his militia’s recent losses to the Iraqi Army, and return the central government to a state of collapse. The question is whether Obama will publicly change course before November. So far, he has offered nothing more concrete than this: “We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in.”"

"Obama's Iraq Problem" by George Packer in The New Yorker

Predictably Irrational - Gas Prices

I want to buy this guy's book, Predictably Irrational.
Oh, and his accent is Israeli (wikipedia - Dan Ariely).

Summer reading: "Shadow Player: the provocations of Paul Chan"

"There are six projections in the title series, each soundless and lasting fourteen minutes; a seventh takes the form of abstract drawings on music manuscript paper. They all begin with a flood of warm colors, reds and yellows, which gradually give way to black, silhouetted images. In '1st Light,' the initial images include a telephone pole, overhead wires, and flocks of birds; into this space, a minute later, small objects slowly rise - cell phones, eyeglasses, folding chairs, an iPod - defying gravity and breaking apart. Larger objects float up: a police car, a bicycle, and then, shockingly, a body hurtles downward. More human figures fall, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs or groups, travelling much faster than the rising objects, until color returns in washes of deep blue and violet and the cycle begins anew.
One thinks inevitably of September 11th. Also the Apocalypse and the Rapture, but with a twist - God welcoming our consumer goods while sending us to the Other Place. When I asked Chan about this, he grinned and said, 'Given that what I like is to turn things upside down, I thought it might be more interesting if Jesus didn't take anyone, but only took our favorite things."

"Shadow Player: The provocations of Paul Chan" by Calvin Tomkins in The New Yorker

Summer reading: "After Empire: Chinua Achebe and the great African novel"

"In contrast to European modernism, with its embrace of “art for art’s sake” (a concept that Achebe, with characteristic bluntness, once called “just another piece of deodorized dog shit”), Achebe has always advocated a socially and politically motivated literature. Since literature was complicit in colonialism, he says, let it also work to exorcise the ghosts of colonialism. “Literature is not a luxury for us. It is a life and death affair because we are fashioning a new man,” he declared in a 1980 interview. His most recent novel, “Anthills of the Savannah” (1987), functions clearly in this mold, following a group of friends who serve in the government of the West African country of Kangan, obviously a stand-in for Nigeria. Sam, who took power in a coup, is steering the nation rapidly toward dictatorship. When Chris, the minister of information, refuses to take Sam’s side against Ikem, the editor of the government-controlled newspaper, the full wrath of the government turns against both of them. The book does not match the artistic achievement of “Things Fall Apart” or “Arrow of God,” but it gets to the heart of the corruption and the idealism of African politics."

"After Empire: Chinua Achebe and the great African novel" by Ruth Franklin in The New Yorker

After reading 'Culture Matters,' I think it would be helpful to read about the corruption of third world countries from the perspective of its citizens. Off to the library...

Mizzou Disc Golf Course, Frolf Course, whatever

(missouri.edu)

Awhile back I googled Mizzou disc golf course and it came up with nothing. Then I asked my friend Andy Patton, who plays the wonderful sport frequently, about which course he uses and he gave me all 18 holes over the phone. Wonderful guy. If you find yourself on Mizzou campus and fancy a game of frolf, here's one option:

1. From corner of College and University, through archway, to fire hydrant.
2. Hit red emergency phone by giant tree.
3. Towards Memorial Union, throw from 1st intersection of sidewalks to statue of kids outside HDFS building on left.
4. Through arch at Memorial Union to hit light post on left.
5. From stage on Lowry Mall to hit square fountain.
6. Scoot over from square fountain to throw through two trees to hit circular bench across 9th st.
7. From back steps of Jesse through columns to hit informational pedestal.
8. From pedestal to orange sculpture through hoop.
9. From sculpture to hit Thomas Jefferson.
10. From far column to mini Washington Memorial.
11. From fire hydrant to Beatle Bailey.
12. From circle drive at Alumni Center blue handicap square to bench by parking garage.
13. From 'No Parking' sign at Newman Center to land in Bank of America circle by Cornell.
14. From Buisness School platform/porch to Tiger
15. From Tiger to Brady Fountain
16. From Brady fountain to Law School trashcan.
17. From Speakers' circle to Emergency red thing between the circle and Lowry.
18. From big ball on stick sculpture (by Lowry Hall - A&S) to other metal sculpture on Lowry Mall.


Try it out. Enjoy!

Ira Glass

I previously wrote a post on how I had a brain crush on Ira Glass, host of NPR's This American Life. I love him, he's awesome, whatever.

He came to Mizzou during my last year, and I was really sad that I missed him. He's coming to the Pageant in St. Louis. I have no idea what his live show will be like, but I bought a ticket for myself anyways. I'm talking to every Ira lover I know and trying to get them to go with me.

His show (I think) is benefiting Prison Performing Arts, which is a program in some eastern Missouri prisons where the prisoners put on plays. You'd be better off just listening to the This American Life program on it:

'Act V'