Where is Season 2!!??

Those folks at Hulu have got to get their shit together. I’m dyin over here.

15 weeks and 19 months

Four is a nice even number. The thought of pairing off for a quick match of table tennis; or perhaps grabbing one kid a piece, throwing them under your arm, and making that dash to your gate; these seem so much easier to grasp when it’s the neat and clean number four.

One of us is 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces. Another can now climb onto the bar stools, loves wagon rides and plays the harmonica. Two of us are tired most of the time and couldn’t care less. What’s worth doing but that which comes coupled with sacrifice and fear…and shock and awe?

Four of us, four for all; together some time, around Christmastime.
~ryan

it’s time to wake up now

1. Cello Song – The Books (Featuring Jose Gonzalez)
2. I Think I Need a New Heart – The Magnetic Fields
3. Smoke Detector – Rilo Kiley
4. Melody Day – Caribou
5. Mykonos - Fleet Foxes
6. My Girls – Animal Collective
7. Over And Over – Hot Chip
8. Riot Radio – The Dead 60s
9. Earthquake Weather – Beck
10. Biggest Loves – The Quiet Ones
11. All The Things That Go to Make Heaven And Earth – The New Pornographers
12. Golden Age – TV on the Radio
13. Campus - Vampire Weekend
14. The Rat – The Walkmen
15. Train Song – Feist + Ben Gibbard
16. Girls & Uniforms – The Quiet Ones
17. Soon - My Bloody Valentine

doodling in the margins.

i look up at the very tall buildings., originally uploaded by Ryanwiz.

When I was younger (so much younger than today) I would draw and draw and draw and draw. Pretty much all I did, really. I was always bored and that killed whatever time I was allotted, be it a few hours after school before dinner or school itself. Always the one yelled at for doodling in the margins, I was. I drew whatever I could think of…though most times I was forced to elicit ideas from surrounding friends and family. I always had a tough time just comin’ up with ideas out of thin air. Some folks have no problem with it. Like this guy:



As I grew older I sort of drifted away from drawing, sadly. No time for that when you’re drinking, smoking, partying, socializing….traveling the country following your favorite band. Well, I’m sure I could have found time…I just didn’t care as much now that I wasn’t *bored* anymore. I always figured that I’d just sort of come back to it someday, and I think that time is drawing near. I really miss the creation of art. Even if it’s something I hate, tear up and toss in the can. At least I’m doingsomething.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m doing things every day – my family is GREAT, fun, loving, and beautiful – but art is something else; something almost indescribable. I take photos ALL THE TIME, but they’re easy…drawing is hard. It’s like taking a little slice of you and spreading it out terribly thin, making you transparent and making it part of the world for everyone else. That, and it’s great for killing time.

summer’s here, the living is easy

the memorial union terrace, originally uploaded by Ryanwiz.

This is why we live in Wisconsin. Sure, family and friends are great; the food’s pretty good….fun activities and all that….but it’s this BEAUTIFUL time of year that holds us here. The beauty of Spring and the promise of Summer. Yearly rituals await at the end of every workweek. We claw our way to as many State Parks as possible, see as many shows as our wallets will allow. We dance away the week’s stress aboard the concrete of the Memorial Union steps, and we count down to each “big event” that Madison and the surrounding communities have to offer.

This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend – the unofficial start of Summer in Wisconsin – and the big event is “The World’s Largest Brat Fest“. This delicious congregation features our area’s best coming out to hopefully beat the previous record number of brats sold. The Wisniewski’s will be there in spades as most of my family will be there to see The Cloth Sea performs at 12:40PM today. We may just break our own Number of Brats Eaten by the Wisniewski Family record. Wish us luck.

four link friday.

My favorite internets for the week ending 27 February 2009.

1. Miss Atom 2009.
2. walter and his cat.
3. Marty M.
4. hilarious.

Cold, Cold Night – A Wisniewski Mix Tape

1. The Losing Kind – John Doe
2. How Long Do I Have To Wait For You? – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
3. Gone For Good – The Shins
4. Furr – Blitzen Trapper
5. Bogachiel Rain Blues – The Moondoggies
6. Riki Tiki Tavi – Donovan
7. Skinny Love – Bon Iver
8. The Henney Buggy Band – Sufjan Stevens
9. Meet Me In The Morning – Bob Dylan
10. Prison on Route 41 – Calexico
11. No One Does It Like You – Department of Eagles
12. The Funeral – Band Of Horses
13. Windows – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
14. Jody – The Dodos
15. All Day – Human Highway
16. Black Shoe – The Moondoggies
17. Coming Home – Chatham County Line
18. Flightless Bird, American Mouth – Iron & Wine

Sparks: At least it’s better for you than cocaine.

Perhaps the best late-night-I’d-really-like-to-get-absolutely-no-sleep-while-drinking-twice-my-weight-in-booze beverage choice on the market, Sparks has consistently dosed many of us rowdies in those oft-forgotten twilight hours while keepin’ the dream alive that moments like this might actually happen.

Sadly, the new year finds MillerCoors LLC bowing to legal pressure and while effectively pulling-the-plug on the juice that made this tart little number shine.

So, ‘fore the shelves run dry, I’d suggest you stock up. How else do you propose you complete that hike you have planned? Or that amazing river-rafting adventure? Or your senior thesis? Exhausted!? Sober!?

I thought not.

BTW: My Flickr Sparks

Are you bored!?

Of course you are. Here’s something for you to mess around with for the rest of the day:

For example:

The Playboy mansion!!!

Neat stuff.

Best of 2008!

Here we are….the end of another year…and at the beginning of another year-end list:

Best Flicks we’ve seen from 2008:

1. Wall-E
2. The Dark Knight
3. In Bruges
4. Definitely, Maybe
5. Iron Man

Albums we dug from 2008:

1. Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
2. The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely
3. Black Keys – Attack & Release
4. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
5. The Wood Brothers – Loaded

TV Shows that kept us tuned in from 2008:

1. Mad Men
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Big Bang Theory
4. Robot Chicken
5. Weeds

Websites I LOVED in 2008:

1. flickr.com
2. facebook.com
3. wired.com
4. thedailypage.com
5. allrecipes.com

New-to-me Awesomeness…not necessarily from 2008:

1. Philip Glass: The Hours Soundtrack (Best study music EVER)
2. David Foster Wallace (Brilliant. Tragic. Everything.)
3. Louis C.K.: Chewed Up (Hilarious.)
4. The Shins: Chutes Too Narrow (All I can listen to right now.)
5. Programming…(All I can wrap myself in. An amazing new world had opened up in front of me…wish me luck.)

Worst Crap:

1. The US Economy (WTF?)
2. Sarah Palin (WTF?)
3. One Missed Call (worst.rental.ever…well….perhaps a close second to Fear.com)
4. Funny Games (WTF?)
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdon of the Crystal Skull (WTF?)

RIP (in no order):

David Foster Wallace
George Carlin
Heath Ledger
Paul Newman
Bernie Mac
Tim Russert
Bettie Page