sorry to disappoint yo

much like one of my literary heroes Chuck Klosterman.... all i ever feel motivated to write about are things that piss me off, the general decay of society, and the different self-destructive methods i use in order to cope with all of the afore-mentioned things. get ready for a christams rant: coming soon to the GSS near you. as for thanksgiving... i really am going to miss my sister's down home cooking, and this year can blow me because even though i went to a pot luck at the shop that i currently work in, i dropped my new iphone in a glass of wine and i think that some lushy poltergeist now resides in one of the wires because my phone now randomly calls two people : my old boss at the coffee shop, and my old boss at a tattoo shop that i am no longer on good terms with. i can't really be mad at this ghosty living in my phone because i would probably do the exact same thing. i'm an asshole like that. also, sam, max, and rachel left for alabama to go give thanks with harriet (sam's mum) and will be gone until sunday. i am to spend this day all on my lonesome and i'm pretty bitter about it. at least i have my dog, right? i do get to go home for christmas, which i am balls excited about. not the christmas part, but being able to go home and see everyone that i hold near and dear and finish several tattoos that i started before coming out here. i am sending one of my fliers to my girlfriend shayna in preparation so that hopefully i can get mad business when i'm home and i won't have to stay in montana and live in my sister's basement.

business at the shop has been hella-slow and i don't really know what to do about it. i drew a dope ass flyer:

and hopefully this will bring me lots and lots of people who think i am a rad artist and are willing to let me ink them forevers. other than whining about how much peanut butter i don't have, i have been drawing quite a bit, so that's productive (i guess). i know that when summer hits i'll do an about face and have lots of wonderful things to tell you about but for right now i'm sticking to my original formula.

i'm fore-going shout outs because nobody responds anyway.

olive out

This Looks Medium Interesting

It appears as though my former coworker and frequent high-fiver Dave is putting together some kind of project called Long Time Comin' - Lost Sounds From the Treasure State. I don't know whether the end goal is a compilation CD or a set of CDs or a zine or a documentary or what, but I figured since all of you have at least heard of Montana you might be of some help. They are looking for recordings and photos and whatnot, so if you have anything of interest (but certainly not of value) direct it towards Dave on the ol' FB or maybe this blog, which is possibly related. He is a good man.

For example, George Dennison of The Starfires, circa 1962.


This came up in the same google search?????

Good luck. Hopefully Bill Murray had a band in Butte called the Singing Kings and we'll be so famous on Dave's project for discovering that.

Bill Murray in his Starfires cover band, The Copper Fires, circa 1992.

P.S. What the fuck is happening to this blog? Remember when everything wasn't all whiney and separated by weeks and weeks of inactivity? Sam, I demand you to be funny.

Mini Food Revolution, Or Shape Up or Ship Out You Lazy Punks

To put it bluntly and overly simply, I'm disappointed in my generation. I'm disappointed in the degradation of punctuation and grammar that's leaked from the internet to essays and novels. I'm disappointed in cell phones that make it okay for people to be late because they can send a quick text: "on my way sry lolz :)" I'm also disappointed I was 18 before I started sewing buttons back on myself.

This guy knows what I'm talking about. Didn't even tie that tie himself. Lol.

Not that I'd trade my life with someone 50 or 100 years ago. The internet and communication technology and sewing machines and moms do wonderful things for us and for society- this is undeniable. The shifts in language show it's a living, growing thing, and makes it all the more fascinating to speak and study. Computers in offices and classrooms have provided immense benefits for people all over the world. And despite the widespread social and physical injustices that come with industrialism, factories, and worst of all, sweat shops, having affordable, durable clothing made by machines means we can actually live in live in them and wear them out and then get replacements, instead of spending our time in castle towers "embroidering," or whatever. Progress is progress, right?

The food, however, has not progressed. Everything is processed and squeezed and frozen and dyed so much it's hardly even food anymore, and it's an uphill battle trying to find food that's produced locally or even semi-locally. My peers eat frozen pizza, corn dogs, and bagels, and we're fat and grouchy because of it. And nobody knows how to cook.

True story.

When I arrive at a party with a loaf of zuchinni bread in hand, or a friend drops in to see me making alterations an incredible West African Peanut Soup recipe, they're stunned. They say, "How do you do that? How do you know how to do that? What are you doing? What's vegetables?" and teeter over onto our hideous couch. I revive them to say, "It's science," and send them on their way with full bellies and functioning arteries.

This isn't to say that I'm a foodie or -- God forbid -- vegan or anything. I just like too cook. I'm fortunate enough to have a functioning kitchen, a few cookbooks, and a little common sense, and prefer to spend money on real food instead of chemicals. By cooking my own meals, I can control how much sodium, sugar, and fat (and what kinds) I put into my body; I can support local farmers and independent, local grocery stores; I can experiment with flavor and expand my palate; and, best of all, I can spend time in a warm kitchen with people I love. I get to watch my mom fold chocolate into a creamy espresso truffle, Whittaker nibble at a spoonful of cheese sauce, and Clark pour over his family cookbook, hunting for something else to do with apples. It seems like the benefits in knowing your way around the kitchen are endless, even beyond the nutritional ones, and it's disappointing that more people my age haven't picked up on it.

So I am here to help. At least a little bit.

First of all, to get some basic knowledge down, I'd recommend either The Joy of Cooking or the Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Both are loaded with pages of basic cooking tips, including stuff like how to prepare pumpkin or stuff a turkey or peel garlic, alongside hundreds of reliable recipes. Second, some other totally bomb collections I've used one billion times are The Moosewood Cookbook, Betty Crocker's Cooky Book, and, believe it or not, church publications from the midwest. Once you get past the four hundred the jello "salad" recipes in any given version, they're great resources for things like cakes, quick breads, and squirrel. Third, here are three things I think every budding chef chould know:
1. When sauteing, wait for the pan to get totally warmed up before dropping in your chicken or onion or whatever, so the food doesn't stick to the pan.
2. Bread products are done when a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
3. It's okay to guess and experiment with things like soups and sauces, but measurements need to be exact when baking, because the chemical properties of things like eggs, baking soda, and yeast are finicky. Doing steps out of order, even, can alter a recipe. So these things seem like common sense, but I bet if you did a random survey, very few people would know this shit. It's crazy, right? Are you getting how crazy this is yet?

And now the good part! Recipes! I have been cooking a lot this fall, partially because our neighbors have been generous with their harvests and partially because I have extra time compared to last year. Here are some good harvest-time it's-chilly-out-of-doors-time foods that are pretty bomb and pretty easy. I expect a report back. And also, the formatting is fucked up but I can't/don't feel like fixing it.

Macaroni and Cheese

This is Whittaker's contribution to Thanksgiving every year, and some years it's hard to eat turkey this macaroni is so good.

1 lb macaroni

4 c shredded sharp cheddar

1 c grated Parmesan

6 c milk

½ c butter

5 T flour

Topping

2 T butter

½ c bread crumbs

Pinch of paprika

1 tsp mustard powder

1. Cook macaroni and drain.

2. Melt butter over medium heat. Stir in enough flour to make a roux. Add milk to roux slowly, stirring constantly. Stir in cheeses, and cook over low heat until cheese is melted and the sauce begins to thicken. Put macaroni in large casserole dish, and pour sauce over macaroni. Stir well.

3. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add breadcrumbs and brown. Spread over macaroni and cheese. Sprinkle with a little paprika.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Gooey Apple Cake

A winner every time, but can get a little messy. And you may not omit nuts- the crunch is essential.

8 T butter, divided

1 ½ c sugar

1 egg

2 c flour

1 t baking soda

½ cinnamon

¼ t salt

2 large tart apples, chopped

1 c walnuts, chopped

2 t cornstarch

¼ c evaporated milk

1 t lemon juice

1 t vanilla extract

1. Cream 5 T butter and 1 c sugar. Add egg and beat well. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, apples and walnuts. Batter will be stiff. Spoon into greased 9x9 pan, and smooth top. Bake at 350 degrees about 35 minutes.

2. Combine remaining butter and sugar, cornstarch, and evaporated milk in a saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice and vanilla. Pour over hot cake. Serve warm.

West African Peanut Soup

Makes a huge quantity and freezes well.

2 c chopped onions

1 T oil (I use olive)

1/2 t cayenne or other ground dried chiles

1 t grated peeled fresh ginger root

1 c chopped carrots

2 c chopped sweet potatoes

4 c vegetable stock or water

2 c tomato juice or canned diced tomatoes

1 cu smooth peanut butter

1 T sugar (optional)

1 c chopped scallions or chives

1. Saute the onions in the oil until just translucent. Stir in the cayenne and fresh ginger. Add the carrots and saute a couple more minutes. Mix in the sweet potatoes and stock or water, bring the soup to a boil, and then simmer for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
2. In a blender or food processor (or with one of those "cool hand-held soupifyer beater stick things," to use my mother's sophisticated terminology), puree the vegetables with the cooking liquid and the tomato juice. Return the puree to a soup pot. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth.
3. Taste the soup. Its sweetness will depend on the sweetness of the carrots and sweet potatoes. If it’s not there naturally, add just a little sugar to enhance the other flavors.
4. Reheat the soup gently, using a heat diffuser if needed to prevent scorching. Add more water, stock or tomato juice for a thinner soup. Serve topped with plenty of chopped scallions or chives. Also if the cayenne is good and hot you might want a small dollop of sour cream floating in the bowl. Chopped unsalted dry roasted peanuts make a nice garnish too.


Zucchini Bread
This is the very best recipe for zucchini bread I've found, and is a great base for banana bread, pumpkin bread, applesauce bread, or whatever moist mashed item you happen to have.
3 c flour
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 t soda
3 t cinnamon
3 eggs
1 c oil
2 1/4 c sugar
3 t vanilla
2 c grated zucchini
1 c nuts
1. Stir together dry ingredients. Set aside.
2. Beat together eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients and mx thoroughly. Stir in zucchini and nuts.
4. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured loaf pans, then sprinkle with brown sugar.
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.


Cheesy Onion Rolls
Made this dip for a party a few weeks ago, and people flipped. It even pleased Bill, who had said, "I don't know why people go so crazy for dip. Dip's not even a food." Now it's the biggest section of his food pyramid, right after PBR.
3-4 c chopped onion
1/4 c chopped garlic
1 T butter
1 c mayonnaise (sounds gross, but bear with me)
2 c grated Parmesan
sourdough rolls or a baguette or two, sliced in half

1. Saute onion and garlic together in butter over medium heat until caramelized.
2. Stir onions and garlic with mayo and Parmesan until mixed thoroughly and cheese begins to melt a little bit.
So that's the dip. You can serve it with crackers or whatever, OR spread it onto rolls or a baguette then bake em until just slightly golden for a more serving-specific approach.


I think that'll do it for now, right? When the time comes, I'll let you all know my hot buttered rum recipe. But until then, happy cooking!

bein brizzoke is no fizzun....

so max got a real job yesterday, and has since quit his shitty retail jobs at barnes and noble and REI where he sold skis to people who can't ski because we fucking live in chicago... ANYWAY.... that just means that even though i was the first one to find a job in this lovely city, they have both surpassed me in the "being productive members of society" category. sam wakes up freakishly early every morning and goes to school where him and rachel don't do schoolwork... they "create", and the fruits of their labours can be viewed all over our house. max starts his new job at a small publishing company where he's going to have regular hours and (don't puke) a SALARY!!!! my days consist of this general routine:

- wake up (normally between the hours of eleven and one pm)

- drink half a pot of coffee to myself

- do yoga for thirty minutes and go for a thirty minute run with me dog (this will be the high point of productivity for the day)

- shower (every other day)

- eat horribly cheap food

- catch the bus to work

- sit at work for eight hours

-work activities include facebook, movie watching, video games, and sometimes drawing

- catch bus home

-take dog for walk

-drink half a bottle of wine and watch skins on the netflix (the u.k. version) until i pass out fully clothed on the couch

every once in a great while i will get someone who wants to get a tattoo from me, amd i do this with great joy, but as soon as i am done, the despair creeps back into my brainstem and i'm launched back into zombie mode again. hopefully my recently written resume (which i penned in a mere twenty minutes) will get me a job at a coffee shop or a shoe store or summing so i can pay my rent next month... if not, i guess it's back to montana for me, which would distinctly blow. i'm at the point where i'm not only handing business cards and resumes to anyone who makes eye contact with me, i 'm also "sending good vibes out into the universe" in hope that karma will look fondly upon my situation and keep my sorry ass afloat in the big bad city.

sam. i wuv you

max. you make me proud even though you're a bad influence on my dietary choices

julia. keep sending me young adult literary suggestions

that's all i have for now.

gss fo lyfe

Yes

Ol' Hulia's Mostly Reliable Recommendations for Recently Acquired Media

Now that I have an English degree, I know how to read, and since I don't go to school anymore, I have time to do so. Also, Clark is in a film class, so his homework = watch movies. Here are the fruits of my labor, book-like and movie-like, and some other things I've been spending time with.

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins


No, I haven't stopped reading young adult literature yet, and yes, I'm sure you've already heard about this series, but I just thought I should I should emphasize that they are GOD. DAMN. AWESOME. Everyone knows I love post-apocalyptic stories; Collin's version is no exception. It is vivid and empowering, and includes sentiments of both the power of the individual as well as the power of of a group of downtrodden citizens coming together for a cause. The characters are mesmerizing, the setting stark and severe, and the story positively ruthless. An absolute page-turner, as they say.

My three beefs with these books are as follows: Books 2 and 3 aren't out on paperback yet, they're already making a movie of Book 1, and Book 2 (Catching Fire) really feels like a middle child - forgotten, quiet, maybe a little bit of a people-pleaser. It seemed like, at times, its only purpose was to act as a vehicle to move from Book 1 to 3, and didn't have as much of a story in itself as Book 1 did. It was exciting nonetheless, and I'm getting my panties in a twist waiting for Book 3, Mockingjay, to appear at the library.


Brick, directed by Rian Johnson


This was something Clark had to watch for class, and I'm thankful that was the case, because him taking notes prompted more discussion and understanding that wouldn't have arisen if we'd just happened upon the movie. This is because Brick is a wonderful twist on the essentials of film noir, and knowing these essentials makes the movie much more delightful; you can see both where Johnson gives a nod to the classics and where modernity takes hold.

Instead of being set in gritty L.A., for example, the movie takes place in sunny California suburbia. And instead of a hardboiled detective leading the cast, the main man is a loner high schooler, played by one of my longest-time celebrity crushes Joseph Gordon-Levitt (I know, right?). The movie follows many of the other markers for the genre, however, not the least of which being the heavy reliance on slang in the dialogue. The language itself, immediate and succinct and hilarious, was probably my favorite element of this movie. It can be found on Netflix. Go there now.


Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow


I read this book for some extra nerdy reasons, which I will tell you now: I was in an extra nerdy conversation the other day with my friend and Clark's bandmate Ben, who is one of the few people I know who's read more books than I have. We were talking about Salman Rushdie, who you all know is one of the only people in the world who can claim both to have had married a former supermodel and have a fatwa declared on them, at the same time. The man is insane. Anyway I mentioned how when I saw Rushdie speak at CWU a few years ago, his jokes didn't go over well because they were too "literary" (i.e. extra nerdy) and referenced things like obscure Whitman pieces and the writer Saul Bellow, which I'm convinced nobody in my generation but the extra nerdy ones have ever even heard of. So, to recap, Ben is nerdy, I'm nerdy, and Rushdie is extra nerdy, but he has enough badass feathers in his living-in-hiding cap that it's okay. And then Ben lent me this book (actually he lent it to Clark but Clark doesn't know how to read so I just read it and told him he should learn to read so he can read it).

This book is awesome, and not even that nerdy.

The main character is a guy named Gene Henderson, who's like this grouchy fat old guy in Connecticut. He kind of hates his life, but wants to keep living (driven by an undying, unidentified voice pleading I want I want), so he keeps trying new shit to get his motor really going again. He remarries, raises pigs, tries to learn violin, but nothing seems to work, so he third-wheels-it on his buddy's honeymoon to Africa. After helping his friend film or something, he says see ya and bounces with a guide and his jeep into the rocky, mostly uninhabited desert. The following things happen, not necessarily in this order:
1. Walks a total of 30 some-odd days in the sun with no food.
2. Blows up a frog pond.
3. Carries a dead body from his hut to a ravine, only to return to find it in his hut again.
4. Cries on an old lady with a cataract.
5. Saves a village from drought.
6. Becomes pseudo-royalty of the Wairiri people.
7. Consoles a lonely Persian orphan with his pet lion cub.

The story is vaguely picaresque, told in almost a stream-of-consciousness style. Henderson tends to ramble and digress, but he is an endearing character, and is easy to root for, despite his many flaws. The book prompted much pondering and laughter alike.


All the Pretty Horses, directed by Billy Bob Thornton (I know, right?)


I am a longtime fan of this book and a longtime fan of freaking Matt Damon, but somehow never got around to watching the movie until now. But it is good. I loved the sparseness of the scenery and the language, the almost palpable brotherhood between the main characters, and little Jimmy Blevins was just cute as a button and dumb as a rock, but lovable. It wasn't the most stunning film adaptation of a book I've ever seen, and "Some passions can never be tamed" on the movie poster makes it look pretty... "romantic," but it'll do. Also on Netflix.


Ashes & Fire by Ryan Adams


The old boy's done it again. It's been a while, to be sure, since anything Ryan Adams has put out has really wowed me. The most recent Cardinals album I listened to, Cardinology (2008), was fairly forgettable, I didn't even know he'd put out two albums since (Orion and III/IV, both 2010). Ashes & Fire, however, is a real doozy. He's back where the melodies suit him, his acoustic guitar playing is more refined, and the lyrics are as haunting and heartbreaking as ever. Folks of note who join him on this album include Norah Jones, Cardinals guitarist Neal Casal, and wife Mandy Moore (I know, right?).

The man still has some tour dates ahead of him, so catch him if you can. Once I saw him and it was terrible, but then I saw him again and it was amazing. So, it's a mixed bag, I guess, but that's to be expected from this guy, I think. Aren't we used to that from him by now?

Fall

I guess the summer was the off season for all of us. Maybe except for julia because she actually had something cool to write about which was traveling the areas of the US of A that I have never been to.

But life's back in session, and maybe now I can spill my brains on GSS.

So here we are in Chicago again. Sam and I live in two different places and honestly it's probably the worst thing in the world because going back and forth between apartments is the most annoying thing everrr. sometimes I throw things in sporadic bouts with anger and wag my fist in the air up to the sky cursing irrationality. But other than having to go back and forth I love both of the domains of which we preside in. Sam and I have a bookcase that consist of comic books, toys, and muppet movie DVDs. We have a large Dracula pop up book pinned to the wall.

This is where we get our (toy) fix...probably the best place on earth.

Sam and I are now officially employed. Consider yourselves lucky that you are not an SAIC alumni because you'd have to receive a call from one of us asking you for money to support our electric bills, scholarships, and bad art school haircuts. Tomorrow is our first day of calling real people and we're pissing our pants every time we think about asking for moolah.

I officially know how to make books now. So if you want a one of a kind hand made journal from yours truly, let me know. Maybe I'll make special GSS notebooks where we can write secrets of the GSS society....like Skull and Bones or something like that. Or you know, you can draw pictures of bunnies smelling some flowers.

This is what it looked like yesterday at the zoo.

Anyway, this is my second year in an environment that has real seasons, but really this is my first year in actually living where I can see it. Looking back, living in the Loop got depressing after a while. No trees, no real sense of change except when the snow came, and then that was everywhere. Being from LA has the best temperature year round but there were never beautiful leaves turning red and yellow and then falling in an cinematic manor. the other day we drove next to a park with green green grass with trees all around it and there were little kids playing soccer. it was too fantastic. I dont know if I could ever NOT live in a place with seasons again.

Oh yeh, and this is Max, Jen, Olivia, and Sam at the zoo...