Remembering 9/11

10 years ago I decided I needed to go into work early; something seemed important. On 9/11, I was scheduled to fly to San Francisco in the afternoon, but went into the office to try and catch up on a couple of things (in those days you could get to the airport at the very last minute).

I was one of two people in the office at the time. I remember Annie, our office manager coming in and telling me about the first plane (some stupid recreational pilot I thought); and then listening to KYW News radio when the second plane hit (oh shit.)

The rest of the day is a blur to me. I remember not wanting to fly that day, as if that were going to be an option. I remember that the Internet was useless, and that our only visual line to the world was little black and white 13″ TV which didn’t have cable.

We stayed at work that day – not that much work was done. I specifically remember spending a lot of time with my co-workers in that conference room.

I kind of wished I had just walked out and planted myself in front of a TV all day. Even without doing that, the images are seared in my mind to this day.

And while that day feels like it was just yesterday, so much has passed, so many lives have been lost, and so many questions still remain, that it also feels like another lifetime.

What are your memories of that day?

Ultra-high doses of “Breaking Bad”

When Breaking Bad debuted 3 years ago, I heard and ignored all of the accolades and all the recommendations from friends. Recently though, we decided to go through an intense round of Breaking Bad to catch up. Two seasons in about a month.

Wow.

I’ve done this before with other series, but Breaking Bad is as intense a show as I’ve ever seen, so watching this many episodes in such a short period of time is mentally exhausting. At the beginning of season 1 and into season 2, Breaking Bad seemed to be a weekly expose on how to suck at being a drug dealer. As season 2 has progressed, it’s become much more character driven and dealt with some weighty themes. Walt’s sinister side. Jesse’s vulnerability. Cause and effect. The thin line between good and bad.

Some of these episodes require a break after watching, but we’ll power through so that we’re all caught up in time for season 4 to begin on July 17, 2011.

I may need a Valium by then.

Waiting for Radiohead – King of Limbs

UPDATE: Wait no longer – Radiohead released the album a day early. In true Radiohead fashion, it was released early because “everything was ready and in place, so Radiohead decided there’s no need to wait an extra day.”

Back in the day I remember buying albums unheard. No 30 second samples. No streams. No bootlegs. Maybe you’d hear a song on the radio, but that was it.

Now we make decisions based on an avalanche of information and access, and the experience has long ago changed.

Tomorrow Radiohead’s next album “The King of Limbs” will be released and I haven’t heard a damn thing – and I like that.

Don’t get me wrong, I love new technology opening me to more music than I’d ever have access to before. But I don’t need any information to know that I would buy Radiohead’s album and enjoy.

Going into tomorrow with all my expectations in tact is refreshing.

Scenes + Words – photos and haiku

I’ve been neglecting this blog, but it’s not dead. I can’t bring myself to put it down, and why should I have to?

I’ve created a different type of creative outlet with three friends. Instead of writing for scenewords.com, I’m taking photos. Every week my partners and I are releasing at least one photo paired with one haiku.

So far we’ve been sticking to Mondays. Please come by and share you comments.

TSA wants you to feel safer – even if you’re not

I don’t like to write about the TSA controversy two weeks in a row, but the furor isn’t dying down. If anything, it’s only gotten greater as there have been stories of breast cancer survivors being asked to show their breast prosthetics, scans being leaked, and the TSA’s refusal to modify their screening procedures.

I have already come to terms with the fact that when I fly next, the agents will have to grope me. As a man, I guess it doesn’t have the same stigma. I have never been sexually assaulted; I don’t know the feeling of being leered at; I don’t have a disfiguring disease that makes me self-conscious – so I will give away the right that bars unreasonable search and seizure, not because I want to, but because it’s the best of two evils.

But let’s be clear – what the TSA is attempting to do is substitute technology for a lack of intelligence (in all senses of the word). Their agents are overworked, underpaid, and trained to follow written rules to find terrorists (as opposed to teaching them how to spot a terrorist). How about spending some of the hundreds of millions that we are spending on these machines, towards better pay and better training?

But all of this will make some people feel better about travelling, and I think that’s the real point, because the appearance of doing something is often better than doing something.

The touching of junk: How far will the TSA go?

As the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) moves to more invasive forms of screening, they’re getting some push back from pilots, attendants, civil rights activists, and citizens. Some people are saying enough is enough, but once you’ve given away freedom for the promise of security, it’s hard to know where to stop.

I read a novel that described how a prostitute was “turned out”. A woman meets a great guy, until one day he gets into trouble and owes someone a great deal of money. In exchange for the money, that person is willing to accept sex. The great guy tells his girlfriend his predicament and she bails him out – just that one time. Once she has slept with one guy for money, she’s damaged goods, and she does it over and over again.

We’re that prostitute; the first time a traveller took off their Nikes so that they could be checked for a bomb, we proved that we were willing to sell ourselves for safety – and the government, like a pimp, keeps coming back to us for more. The day that a terrorist smuggles a bomb aboard by hiding it in his anus, we’ll be grabbing our ankles and they’ll be grabbing the lube. All in the name of safety.

There’s a great quote from Benjamin Franklin (actually there are  a lot of great quotes from Benjamin Franklin):

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

So how far are you willing to go?

Cool cover songs

My iTunes collection is full of unique, weird covers, so I’ve been working on a playlist of cool cover songs. It’s difficult, because often I didn’t realize a song I liked was a cover (growing up, I didn’t realize “Pretty Woman” wasn’t an Al Green song. There are also covers like Toxic by Mark Ronson or “Common People” by William Shatner which surpass the original.)

So here are fifty some songs that I know are covers. I may be wrong about the original artist – let me know if I am. Share your favorite covers in the comments section. Click here to see the full list.

On another note – don’t forget to tune into my friend Joey’s show every Monday at 3 PM on Y Rock on XPN .

Name Artist Original Artist (I think)
No Surprises Easy Star All-Stars Radiohead
Reason to Believe Michael Penn & Aimee Mann Bruce Springsteen
Heroes Peter Gabriel David Bowie Continue reading