SLAUGHTERAMA ‘09

Strange chaos on Belle Isle, Sic Itur Ad Astra!

Dateline 4/4/09

I had been hearing whispered rumors for years-mostly coming from folks connected with the Richmond underground, all of it word of mouth-strange, given the scope of the event, yes, not so much for its demographic, taken into consideration the FYI ethos that Richmond seems to thrive on. Last year, a video surfaced on YouTube (one of many, I could only imagine) shot and edited by a reputable photographer-why he associates with me, I’ve no idea.

INTERNET UPDATE 4/4 @ 1445 via Facebook- “Slaughterama in RVA-madassery on Belle Isle, lots of colors and beer-Surprised and pleased by the apparent lack of corporate sponsorships-grassroots ass busting!”

This year, events, money, and real world concerns gelled just right for me, that I was able to make the event. I was sheparded to Belle Isle by a friend I shall refer to as Gunga Din, as to not hinder any of his continued efforts in his search for gainful employment.

We arrived early. My friend, earlier mentioned photographer, had made the scene around ten in the morning, armed with a high end digital camera and a twelve pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon. We first sighted him sprawled out on the ground, shooting straight up underneath bikes having just gone off a wooden ramp, catching the rider and bike in mid-flight. The first thing I noticed after he had gotten up and introduced Gunga Din and I to the natives that there were no banners reading SLAUGHTERAMA TODAY, not even so much as a cardboard sign hung up to let people know they were in the right place-after further thought, I made the distinction that if you were here, then chances were good that you knew what was going on. Why waste time, and be told twice?

Gunga Din and I broke away from the then-light crowd, and walked around Belle Isle. He was explaining the storied, sordid history of the place (abandoned iron works on site, once home to an open air POW camp during Mr. Lincolns War of Aggression) We took in the bike trail, the high rocks and ruins of stone buildings, the post industrial ruins of the iron works itself, and on the far end of the island, an area with large, flat rocks in the middle of the river, accessible by jumping down, or climbing down a narrow, rickety rusting ladder, perfect for sunbathing, drinking beer and feeling free, taking the dog or family, I made a note to return here later on when there wasn’t more pressing business to attend to.

When we made it back to what can only be called the Proving Grounds, the crowd had exploded exponentially. Easily a hundred and fifty more had shown up in the meanwhile we were gone, adding to the dozen or so that was holding the place earlier. The most visible presence there were the different bike clubs that had shown up in the meanwhile-

(NOTE-this is far from an all inclusive list-if I missed anyone, sorry ‘bout that…)

•    The Crucifixed, sporting their newest initiate, who was made to sit in a wheelchair the entire event, the word CRIPPLEFIXED spray painted on the back
•    RTA-acronym unknown
•    GLC-the Get Loose Crew, in light blue, resembling the Tar Heels colors, maybe deliberate in supporting that nights NC game, but I kind of doubt that.
•    The Philadelphia chapter of a group called the Sharkfins. I wonder how many chapters there are?
•    And of course, our hosts, The Cut Throats. Supposedly, quite a sight coming over the bridge, orange chiffon banners flowing behind their bikes, not unlike Caesar marching into Rome after a victorious campaign. By the Gunga Din and I arrived, the flags were hung with care. By the time we left, they were all but shredded.

INTERNET UPDATE 4/4 @ 1445 via Facebook-Photographer lost-presumed drunk as hell-waiting for the next event. Frantic energy builds; shouts of RVA circulate the crowd. Kid next to me in Darth Vader helmet mask, I wonder briefly about the safety rating of the thing-smashed taped together-bike jousting!

Fists in the air. Yelling, screaming, girls laughing and waving their tattoos, cleavage, and asses around, showcasing like a bored house wife at Home Depot on a Saturday afternoon. The crowd is salty, getting restless and bored. Chants of RVA-that’s Richmond, Virginia, for those not in the know-began to break out, first just murmurs, into a full-blown shout, almost a battle call. The potential contestants are the fiercest of all-there were several fingers flipped up at the opposing sides of the line, loud trash talking-but most surprising of all, it was all done WITH A SMILE. I’ve seen more animosity over a game of Call of Duty 4. The sense that these people are here in fun, to have fun, seemed to be widespread, and touched everyone there. Violence in the same way a kitten, or a puppy is violent-no animosity, no ill intent, just going along with the game.

The local police had an understanding of this, given their presence, albeit distant, dare I say, tasteful. What was distant, as well, were representatives of the medical community-there was no logistic access to Belle Isle, aside from the suspended pedestrian bridge, that was swaying in the strong wind. I would assume there was a plan, but the vast opinion of the crowd there, is if you got fucked up, you were fucked. At least for a short while, until paramedics were mobilized. Which brings me back to the nature of the event-you knew what you were getting yourself into. A corporate presence would have ruined the atmosphere-

And before you get the notion that I’m just another anti-capitalist shitheel hippy, I’d like to say that if any culture watchers from a large company are reading this, you’re talking to someone that had seen Woodstock in 1999, and was introduced to things like Olestra chips, new Coke, and Crystal Pepsi and gasoline before I even hit puberty. So you’ll pardon me if I hold a blatant anti-corporate bent. The idea of being in a demographic sickens me, as it should any good American. Think about every sponsored festival you’ve ever been too. Crowd barriers. Large, ominous men and stern women in black, tight t-shirts that read SECURITY. Pat downs, pocket checks, and bottled water for 4.50 a pop. Which brings me to the point of this whole aside-the experience, while grueling at times, would not in any way survive contact with corporate sponsoring. The people here could survive a bailout off a bicycle ten feet over a mound of dirt and a home made wooden ramp. They wouldn’t be able to survive branding, though.

The Egg Race
The Whiplash (a tug of war with harnesses attached to either rider, in an attempt to dismount the other)
The Chariot race (Tricycles)
The Jousting Match (Done on tall bikes)
The Foot Race (Where riders try to knock each other to one foot hits the ground)

All these events intense, and a legitimate test of the bikers physical capability and skills. While violent, it wasn’t needless, pointless violence like the ten o clock news, or Jackass reruns-they’re games, they’re expressions of the DYI spirit that is essential to the American character, expression of the love that these people feel for Richmond (a.k.a., RVA, River City, Fist City, and the Capitol of the South) The people here, they’re not one percenters, they’re not “counter culture”, whatever that means, they simply are living up to Richmond’s motto: “Sic Itur Ad Astra”, or “Thus do we reach to the stars.”

Hell yes.

INTERNET UPDATE 4/4 @ 1610 via Facebook-after four hours, dogfights, bike mayhem, beating a strategic retreat-madness is overpowering crowd electric-powder keg-a sense of bloodied fraternity and tattooed skimpy clothed chicks leave it all behind as others still come. Goodnight from RVA slaughterama 09

Gunga Din and I withdrew after several hours-there was still more to happen, and an after party to consider, but he was tired, and I had seen enough, frankly. As we walked across the swaying pedestrian bridge, I took a look back at the event, and was less moved by what I had seen, then by what I had felt. Perhaps it was the adrenalin, being out in the sun long enough that I was bright pink and burning, a mild concussion from a flung beer can, but for the first time in recent memory, I felt as though there was something worthwhile and above the nauseous churning that I feel every time I see a commercial co-opting youth culture, a senior citizen playing an electric guitar, or Gwen Stefani.

special thanks to Monty, for use of his fine photographs. Check’em out @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightymonty

Extra special thanks to everyone who made this happen!

North America South America Launches Audio To Measure Human Connectivity

If you were invited to a party in space who would be there and would you go? Would you be brave enough to endure ejection from the earth’s comfort for the apparent venture into the unknown? The biggest party in space would be heavily rigged with lights and movement in directions you wouldn’t expect. The activities would be simple complexities, an experimental new way to party and reclaiming a part of who we could be, who we will be and for some- who we already are.
Going into the unknown is actually my indirect business. Living an alchemical life I encounter various textures and substances that for the great will of knowledge I interact and experience these things. The complexities of results are various degrees of explanations for situations and that is what the project of Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon have birthed from their five year project North America South America, N.A.S.A.

The first party in outer space…. that ambitious step into the unknown to explore what was, what can be and what it is if it were to happen… Would you go if you could get a ticket?

The list of guests on The Spirit of Apollo is ambitious and altogether unexpected. Most names are familiar to me Del The Funkee Homosapien, a quarter of including a posthumous Dirty Bastard. Some names I had to read the credits to make sure it was true- Yes KRS-ONE, George Clinton, Chuck D, Fatlip and Chali 2na have placed vested blessings into this project. What got me interested in this album was Tom Waits and Kool Kieth a.k.a. Dr. Octagon. Then there is the list of artists that I never heard of: Slim Kid Tre, Karen O, M.I.A.,  Barbie Hatch and the list continues because the N.A.S.A. brew is thick. This is the giant musical particle collider.

At a party (on earth) Squeak E. Clean and Zegon met and set off to create N.A.S.A. in a matter of hours. In the five years of conceptualization and physical creation they gained the help of the above mentioned artists and many more to make the project a reality. Some have felt the album is an ambitious project that steps forward, barely misses the mark due to the deliveries of some lyrics, but I have a feeling that the artists took new and experimental to their artistic sides in order to meet their fellow collaborators. The beats are unique and have unique marks that are felt from all artists on the songs. The album also comes with five pieces of artwork by different artists, all of which is presented for you here. A remix album and a full length documentary telling N.A.S.A.’s creation with artist interviews and Squeak E Clean and DJ Zegon are also going on a tour with featured special guests.

A collaboration of artists representing one side of the planet earth, all at once it sounds like college dorm if no one gave a damn for sound regulations- Someone’s playing the blues and dancehall reggae, you hear a far off record being scratched and… is that the someone’s kid laughing?  Somehow in its uncomfortable encounter can’t be shaken from the mind, it’s the new song in your head- the shout of a planetary party where everyone becomes the alien and like most parties someone you know couldn’t make it and you hope to see them on the next one.

Mismatched and Misunderstood: The Tragic tale of Jason Voorhees.

wherefore art thou?

The new Friday the Thirteenth movie is a touching, comedic story about two star crossed lovers trying to reconcile their different lifestyles with one another. Marcus Dispel aptly directs this tale with a light hand-It’s almost as though he was fearing a backlash for introducing the slightest touch of originality.

Let’s drop the sarcasm. It only works as a literary device for a couple minutes. The movie was good, true. It almost worth the ten dollars and fifty cents I paid to see it. My only gripe is that I COULD HAVE STAYED HOME AND SEEN THE SAME THING ON DVD, MADE BACK IN 1980. They don’t give us an operational budget here at Brick Is Red, theoretical readers. Jean, I’m sending you my recepits!

The only thing that stood out were the wonderful scenes of violence, and with that, came the only instances of real creativity in the whole film. Our Lothario, Jason, is remarkably agile in his efforts to systematically exterminate car driving, sex having, douchebag twentysomethings. When I saw him literally bound torward his prey, I felt a sense of pride, much like how a parent loves watching a child develop.

A little light on story, but 100% in the senseless violence catorgory, which even the meager backstory couldn’t justify, Friday the 13th would have been better suited as a summer film, and not the remake that those of us who grew up with the slasher films of the 80’s.

What is worth an excited mention is the trailer for the new Tarentino film due out in August of this year.

which is ALSO a remake. But it’s a lock for Frobot ‘09-No Douchebags Allowed award. Better than Transformers, as imagined by Michael Bay?

…yeah.

Enjoy Transformers the way they were meant to.

Etiquette & Gripes in the World of First Person Shooters

At the onset, I’d like to make a couple of bullet points to this presentation:

• This is written from the perspective of someone who plays first person shooters primarily on Xbox 360. I am, in no way, proficient in said games.
• The videos up here are from YouTube, which, more or less, frees me from any liability of exploiting your bad behavior if you happen to be reading this and you’re one of the unfortunate souls I’ve used.
• No, I will NOT give you my Gamertag. I have no desire to have someone making it a point to be hunting me across servers. Also, this way, I can maintain a generally unmolested state.

With that said, I’ll be posting videos throughout this post, by way of examples and general amusement.

It never fails to amaze me how the first words out of someone’s mouth when talking trash over a microphone while playing a competitive game has something to do with race or sexuality. Perhaps it’s just an easy target, but goddammit, I want some more creative insults out there! When I hear the usual run of faggotniggerspicwhiteygaybococksucker, etcetera, I just sigh. Can’t we be more creative? I propose to you that instead of racial and sexual slurs, let’s do things a little differently. Expand your horizons! Say “merde,” or call someone a scallywag.

Try not to play when you’re drunk. People who play when they’re drunk sound like the guy who serves me my tacos at 1AM at the drive thru. Also, it should be pointed out that if you’re pointing out how pathetic someone is for playing a game, there’s a chance that you’re a bigger ass than whomever you’re ragging on.

If your balls haven’t dropped yet, chances are good that you shouldn’t be calling someone a faggot. How can someone who hasn’t quite realized their own sexuality denigrate someone else’s? The best thing to do in this situation is to laugh and trust that there’s a fine sense of irony in our universe.

I hate campers. Yes, it’s part of the game, and yes, it’s a legitamite strategy. Still, I dislike ‘em. You can’t have a decent game if everyone finds a high spot and sniper rifle. Since it’s unavoidable, just run in random directions. Hopefully, their lack of skill will overwhelm the fact that whoever it is behind the scope may very well suck at aiming. Serpentine! Also, no matter what, carry a shotgun. Or knife’em, if you’re vindictive like me. When I’m lucky.

Stop complaining about in game perks. If you don’t like them, don’t use them. If someone else is using them, then you’ll just have to kill them twice as viciously. Trust me, bitching and moaning gets you nowhere but laughed at.

Just remember, it may be just a game, but there are other people out there, too. If your good time is contingent on ruining other people’s, then go join your local police force. Remember, people paid for this service, so don’t be an asshole.

Thanks for your support.

Official News: We is on Twitter!

Photo Source: Twitter.com

For the miniscule few who actually read Brick is Red, we are on Twitter now. Why? That way you can keep track of our scattered updates. Don’t worry, we’re not trying to have you commit to a relationship you are not ready for, no. We are just trying to communicate with you and your needs so we can both find a middle ground to make us work, if not for the kids.

http://www.twitter.com/brickisred

What Screams “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” More Than Undead Hordes?

zombies!

I believe.

I believe that less than two hundred years after the abolishment of slavery in this country, we can have a black president.

I believe that I can write a musical about JonBenét Ramsey (I’m really not).

I believe that the Zombie Apocalypse will come sooner or later, and that we need to be fully prepared for it.

The U.S. Army had a flash of insight several years ago that they can drum up interest in youth by pandering propaganda to them on their level. By doing this, not only do young folks get steered toward a career where human life is systematically denigrated, they lose their right to discern who the enemy is, and they’re also prepared through this game, to go to war. Yes, I have a point to this rant.

Left 4 Dead is more than a cheap thrill that comes from shotgunning human beings in the mouth (albeit former). It’s more than something that I do after a long, frustrating day at work in which I imagine various co-workers staggering/running/leaping at me, giving me full right & responsibility to pull the trigger until the gun goes click. It is a training tool, much like the America’s Army video game, to ensure its player’s survival for when Hell is too full and the dead will walk the earth. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have been a survivor in a George Romero film, this could quite possibly be it.

Incidentally, it’s the recipient of the Frobot ‘08 First Person Shooter award. If I still dated that chick who worked in a trophy shop, I’d have one made. Seeing as how I don’t, I’ll just… hell, I dunno, make a sculpture out of mashed potatoes.

The controls for L4D are simplistic, almost instinctual—jump, shoot, melee, and switch weapon. Where most survival/shooters have been about moving to a goal and conserving ammo, in L4D, you can comfortably blast away, knowing that the ammo in your sidearm is unlimited. You can even go John Woo-tastic, picking up a second pistol along the way and duel-wielding them. Sweet, isn’t it?

However, it should be noted that your level of success isn’t based solely on how fast you can fire. This is a co-op game, meaning your survival more or less is directly connected with your co-players, be they human or A.I. (artificial intelligence). These are the people who’ll heal you, pull you up when you’re knocked down, or shoot something over your shoulder to keep it from hideously violating you. The A.I. doesn’t seem to care whether you’re behavior merits it or not; human party members may be far less forgiving. Therefore, do not butt stroke your fellow player from behind if he didn’t give you a heal pack because you’re below 90 percent health and the other guy is somewhere around 54 percent.

Yes, I’m talking to you, awesomesauce1477. Douchebag.

And even if your band of survivors are teh sex, it doesn’t mean you’re going to necessarily win at this game. The phrase “hideous undead rape” doesn’t begin to quite describe the waves of zombies (bad), boomers (worse), and Tanks (wait and see…) that come pouring out of nowhere to slurp on your delicious humany juices. I guarantee it: if you play this game, I don’t care how good you are, you’re gonna die, which, perhaps, is a good thing. If you make enough mistakes, you’ll know what not to do when the dead claw their way out of the ground. It’s gonna happen any day now, I promise. On that note, Happy New Year!

Edit (12/30/08): Did I mention head explosions? Head explosions! Wonderful, awesome, erection-inducing (both penile for the male and clitoral for the female player) head explosions! Oh, violence, you complete me.

Dave’s Top Music Picks of 2008!

A lot of people tend to hold onto the belief that there simply isn’t any good new music that exists, let alone consider spending actual money on. They hold onto their as-is music collection and endure another year of cycling through the same things. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that; I personally can’t let go of a ton of old music on my iPod and deleting them isn’t an option—Harumi and Acid Mothers Temple, for example, but besides having music that goes way back, I’ve managed to defy the belief that quality music doesn’t exist anymore. So, if you’re one of those people who feel that way, then I express unto ye, non-believer, be prepared to start visiting your record store wherever it is…

Dave’s Top Music of Picks of 2008

Best Band of 2008: Dengue Fever

Brick is Red’s favorite, Dengue Fever, take this title easily by releasing a wonderful album that shows the band evolving from their past recordings. Venus on Earth is a robust album featuring songs in English and Khmer, displaying an affection of long loneliness, drunk loves, and phantasmal emotions. Following Venus on Earth’s release, the band has been on a worldwide tour for the past year and show no signs of slowing down!

Best New York Band of 2008: High Places

I’m a New Yorker, born and raised, and I gotta tell you that I see a ton of acts all year long from subway performers to monthly poetry readings, and I’ve found blues men and tap dancers; there was one group who had me baffled as to how they got their piano out the train station. Anyway, few bands come around and make me as excited as I was when I went to a show at the South Street Seaport and saw High Places, a duo formed in Brooklyn—electronic naturalists that grow sound from knobs and hearts. The music is like the delicate sounds of the world magnified—in one instance, you realize how large and miniscule you really in this world. They just released a full self-titled album and are on tour!

Best Unknown and Unheard Band of 2008: Endless Boogie

Photo taken by Michael Schmelling. Photo Source: Paper Magazine

Named after a John Lee Hooker album, Endless Boogie is a band that has been around for a considerable amount of years, but decided to release their first album this year. Focus Level is a hard rock stomp with extended chords that stretch into infinity before unleashing the next chord or lyric. The album, when it was released, was the high end of the summer, and because of that it, feels like the anthem of all cookouts and immortal parties. After releasing Focus Level, Endless Boogie went on tour, but haven’t played much afterwards; I gotta see them next time they play!

Best Genre Bender of 2008: The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust by Saul Williams

Saul Williams is a well established performer as well as an accomplished writer. I really dig his work from both spectrums, so when I heard a new album was coming out, I went and did my homework about it. Immediately upon hearing about Trent Reznor’s involvement (I have a been a big NIN [Nine Inch Nails] fan for years and enjoyed his production on Marilyn Manson’s albums), I began salivating and shaking my head in disbelief. Saul and Trent seem to have conflicting sounds, a truer odd couple than most collaborations. As soon as I got home, I bought and downloaded a copy. It was confused syncopated truth building, a series of lives from sound. It reached beyond what hip hop or industrial music ever were in conception and stands as a monument of music created from and by the heart.

Best Radio of 2008: East Village Radio

East Village Radio is New York City’s longest running pirate radio show. They play non-stop hand picked music live from a tiny store front in the East Village every day of the year and have saved my sanity too many times to count. Also hosting a robust and informative website EVR keeps New Yorkers in the know of the latest grooves and parties. You can join their website (a new design’s on the way I hear) and subscribe to shows via podcasts as well as stream the station live from iTunes’ ‘Ecclectic’ Radio list. If you’re ever lost and need something new to listen to, you can really count on EVR to toss you something to pique your interests!

So that’s about it. I could get into so much more, but these artists were the ones who made my year worth it. Music is a big inspiration for me and I wouldn’t know where I’d be sometimes without it. Thanks to the bands and promoters, beer, readers of Brick is Red, and for a good year. I can’t wait to see what next year awaits!

Photos belong to The Fleece (unless noted otherwise)

Amie Street is Having a Holiday Sale!

AmieStreet.com, an independent music store, just compiled their Best of 2008 music list, which includes artists like Mercury Rev, King Khan & the Shrines, Girl Talk, and Sigur Ros. And just in time for the holidays, they are having a sale with 50% off of any music purchased from their store. You better hurry and take advantage of this offer. Christmas is only 3 days away!

For the Love of Kindred Spirits

A few nights ago, while out drinking with some friends and acquaintances, I was having a conversation with one of them about kindred spirits. In my lifetime so far, I have had only met one.  When you meet a kindred spirit, you instantly know, love, and care for them, even if they are in your life temporarily. The thought of them can linger in your mind to the affect of positive feelings, not awkwardness and regret.

While sitting at the bar with my friend, I was reliving the night I met my one kindred spirit for her in words. She told me that my face was glowing with happiness as I was telling her the story. The night I met him, four years ago, was the best I had in my life, even if it just lasted a measly four hours. In those four hours, however, it seemed like one of those nights that would never end. I think of this chance meeting very fondly. It is forever embedded into my memory bank. I connected with my kindred spirit on an emotional, intellectual, and spiritual level, with a few stupid jokes in between.

When I am around most people, I hold parts of myself back, become self-conscious, or even brash and overly sarcastic. However, around my kindred spirit, I felt very at ease with myself and was just me—unapologetic, non-sarcastic, dreamy, etc. The best parts of my being intertwined themselves into a whole of who I am as a person. I sensed he understood me, embracing me for who I was in the present time, not judging me for my past mistakes. He had a special warm radiance about him that I had never felt from another person before, even to this day. His openness and kind-hearted nature showed in his eyes. This man came to me during a time in my life where I needed someone like him to be there for me while nobody else was.

Kindred spirits can come into your life to guide you when you need to be guided. They also can remind you of the things in life you have forgotten about and need to remember again. In you, they see the true essence of your being and are not judgmental of your faults because they will already understand you, even during the first meeting. In them, you see yourself, as they see themselves in you. It is said that kindred spirits are people from our past lives who are reunited with us again. We are born to know them, making the connection between us and them automatic. Kindred spirits can come in many forms, whether they are strangers, family, friends, or animals.

As I was telling my friend the above descriptions of how I defined kindred spirits, she wondered what the difference between them and soulmates was. The two have many similarities, but for me, a soulmate has a much, much deeper understanding of you than a kindred spirit does. Kindred spirits appreciate you for who you are and can come in and out of your life. They are not necessarily complete opposites or as complementary to you as a soulmate is.

According to Plato’s Symposium, humans used to have two faces and four arms and legs. The Greek god Zeus became so afraid that humans would overtake the power of the gods, he split them in half, causing humans to become individual beings with one face and two arms and legs. Since then, we have been searching for our other halves, that being our soulmates. Compared to a kindred spirit, a soulmate is the missing piece that makes you whole again.

Since romantic love is a still a relatively modern Western concept (deriving from the concept of courtly love in the Middle Ages), we now relate the theory of soulmates to that of love. Kindred spirits can come in the form of love also, but mostly in a platonic sense. Not only can we relate to them on a spiritual, emotional, and intellectual level, sometimes we can relate to them on a physical level also. (However, I am not going to go into that. That will go into an entirely different direction, you perverts.) Either way, it is good for most people to experience any type of connection with a kindred spirit.

The more I think back about how I connected with my own kindred spirit, the more I think about my own close friends, who I adore very much. Please, do not get me wrong, I do care for all of them and it is not like I hold the stranger I consider my kindred spirit above them. It is just that with my friends, it took me months and years to build relationships with them. Each of them bring out various parts of who I am as a person because all of them are so different in personality. I vibe off of all of them, meaning that I act differently around each and every one. For example, some of my friends are very high energy, ergo, they will bring out my energetic side whereas my friends who are more laidback will bring out my mellow side. (I love you, my friends! <3) Then again, is it not like this with everyone?

With so many people in your life and the world, how can you keep yourself consistent in how you portray yourself externally? I think Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that you are most yourself when you are in solitude and only a fraction of who you are in society. Who you are in solitude should be brought out to the outside world, so that way, you will not let society define you as a person. Kudos to the few who can achieve this task because it is very hard to balance how you are internally and externally.

It is hard for me to balance those two sides of me. My loud, boisterous, obnoxious side tends to come out when I am out in public, but on occasion, I can be quiet and observant. When I am alone, that is how I mostly am—quiet, observant, and thoughtful. Although, admittedly, when I am alone in my living quarters, I do sometimes engage (loudly) in the art of online karaoke. Regardless, as I mentioned earlier, I have the tendency to hold back parts of who I am when I am out in public. What my kindred spirit brought out in me was the ability to be myself completely without any worries or ambivalence, even if it was just for one night. The thought of him still lingers in my mind. When I think about him, I smile and am reminded of the many positive possibilities life has to offer. Wherever he is now, I know he is doing great things with his life. An amazing soul like his is not one to sit back and let life hold him down.

As I was finishing up the story of the most amazing night of my life, my friend had a little smile on her face. She told me she had heard that when you meet a kindred spirit, you just know. In response, I told her yes, but also that they just come to you when you least expect it.  Everyone in their lives should experience a profound connection with another human being, whether it be a kindred spirit, soulmate, or whatever. Outside of the psychological and behavioral influence of environment, I think it is innate for humans to be social animals. While I agree that most people should spend time alone to understand the world around them, they can also gain perspectives about themselves from sincere and honest people they come across in their lifetime.

Banksy’s Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill

Banksy, the elusive artist well-known for his provocative illustration and spray paint work, has another style to add to his artistic rep—animatronics. For the entire month of October, The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill is hosting a legit installation from Banksy, exposing the humanistic influence people have placed upon animals and how human beings relate back to that aspect of being. Being displayed in this complicated idea are various animal by-products, animated inside a makeshift pet store located in New York’s West Village.

Out in the front, the sidewalk is covered in hay with throngs of people entering and leaving as well as peering at the displays in the front window—a chicken coop with hatching chicken nuggets soon to be ready for the next harvest, a rabbit applying makeup, and a nest of budding closed circuit cameras. On the other side, a leopard sleeps curled on a branch, its tail moving in fickle agitated swishes.

Inside, whirlpools of people closed in on various displays of confounded logic which pop culture has related to the animal kingdom like a life-sized Tweety Bird swinging helplessly in its cage, bare of any feathers, possibly from years of being harassed by “that mean ol’ putty tat” just for our amusement. Then there is the group of fish tanks holding various sausage meats—hot dogs, bologna, and a salami writhing wiggling and squirming in their sandy habitats. Over head, hillbilly music played in a furious tempo, and in a remote corner, a large cage held a chimpanzee watching a nature show on a TV set. Surrounded by pizza boxes and an ashtray, with remote in hand, the chimp breathes heavy and slow, blinking, but never removing his gaze at the TV and rewinding the scene where the animals have sex.

Overall, the show was perplexing, juxtaposing mainstream ideals with animals’ actual well-being, and it was fun to see those images become reality. While there isn’t any spray paint or illustrations of any type, the feeling of cynicism that is prevalent in Banksy’s work permeates through the whole place. The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill is free for anyone to see from 10AM to midnight every day until Halloween, so if you’re in the area, go drop in!