Arcade Fire

I just got home from seeing the Arcade Fire live. I already posted a facebook status about it, but it is just not enough. I need to herald from every venue possible how utterly incredible the show was.

I was exhausted going into the show, but every extremity of my body was filled with adrenaline as I jumped, sang, shouted, screamed, clapped and let the music embrace and engulf me. It was incredible.

The only thing I can think to compare it to was the first time I heard the Funeral album all the way through. Just being blown away, song after song. The effect was compounded by the flawless, audio/visual, live performance. This video doesn't even begin to do them justice, but I've got to post something.

A You Tube Hero

We've watched these video's hundreds of times.

I laugh every time.

Hayley, we owe you big time for introducing us to this doctrine.

You're a real American.

That's just a sample.

A Blog For Our Passions...

Every now and then, something comes along that completely represents the passions of both Phil and myself. Thanks to NPR, we have a new discovery that takes something I love, takes something Phil loves, and puts them together in a beautiful mix of awesomeness. This discovery is a blog by the name of "Law and the Multiverse." This blog discusses the legal ramifications of superheroes. Issues such as "are there different privacy laws on Krypton if everyone has x-ray vision" and "would a superhero be liable for a bullet deflected off of him/her that hit an innocent bystander." They provide these legal answers and more. As a self-proclaimed superhero geek (Alex) and as a future student of the law (Phil), this blog is everything we could hope for.

Visit this site and enjoy. http://lawandthemultiverse.com/

Phil and Alex discover they can Skype with each other.

We've found a new way to handle the distance.

We're not gay, but you could be fooled.

"Hobo Joe": The Memoir

I was in Buckeye, Arizona this weekend. When I saw this I was overwhelmed. A cry of pure joy leapt from my breast. I knew had to get some photos.

I am at a loss for words.

It's not everyday you see a 20+ foot high, fiberglass statue of a homeless man.

It's even rarer to see such a tender inscription.

Yes, I embraced his leg. It was a spiritual experience.

I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

God bless America.

An Ode to the Cynic

I love despair.com. Those guys crack me up every time I go on their website. Honestly, I would love to work for them.

One of the treats that they have provided is a chance to make your own demotivational poster.

Now those of you who know me know that I'm about two things:

Freedom and Mocking.

And not necessarily in that order either.

So tonight I made a few demotivators mocking myself and my roommates.

Enjoy.

This is my roommate James. He has a hard time making decisions. If you know him then this poster will go a long way.

This is me. The caption says it all.

This is Travis. He can only see in 2-D.

Some people say I over-work myself. This is my witty response.

A hard learned lesson.

God Bless America.

And no one else.

THUGGIN' IT

So if you've already seen the video you may be thinking, "Where did that come from?"

If you know us really well, then you are probably thinking, "Yeah, they would."

But let me tell you the story of how this all came to be.

Last year I decided to put together an album that I would mail out to family and friends for Christmas. It was terribly last minute and my good friends Chris Smith and JP were kind enough to play bass and drums for me despite having almost no warning. The three of us only practiced together twice outside of actual recording time.

One day we were wrapping up our recording session in Nate's studio room, and I started playing the guitar riff from "Thuggin' It." They just started playing along; we all stopped and laughed when I tried to start rapping. I asked rather jokingly, "You guys wanna do a rap song?" and everyone responded in the affirmative.

So we laid down a quick track, and Nate spliced it together for us. I went home, wrote the rap, came in the next day and rapped it in the studio room. We put some finishing touches on it and boom in about 24 hours "Thuggin' It" was born.

Fast-forward six months.

I was up in Utah to visit my recently returned mission president. I was sleeping on couches by night and hanging out with Alex, Max, Austin and several other old friends by day. I asked them if they wanted to make a rap video in a similar fashion to the recording. You can guess what the response was. So we got together, shot some footage for a few hours, had a ton of laughs and called it good.

Fast-forward six months.

I grabbed all the video clips on the Phil and Alex Winter 2010 Adventure, edited and now we've got the video. It was the longest last minute project of my life, but some how I managed to keep on "Thuggin' It."