Phoenix are the subject of a new documentary, From a Mess to the Masses, about their 2009-2010 tour in support of their breakout album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.  I can’t express how beautiful it is. There’s a masterful rendition of Girlfriend around the 16 min mark, and then there’s this amazing footage of Lasso, the footage switching between the 2009 ACL performance and their 2010 Coachella performance.  You see smoke in the sky at Coachella, I could see it too; I remember looking at the smoke, looking at the stage. That was my first time seeing Phoenix, and then again at the Hollywood Bowl in September 2010. At the end of the documentary, there’s a montage of performances all over the world, and they end with Thomas Mars running up into the crowd at the Bowl with this glow in the dark microphone cord, and in real life that night, I was to the far left of him, jumping up and down, because Phoenix had just finished playing and Thomas was right there, and that album resonated with me so very much from day one, and they had just put on the most awesome show. The documentary is amazing, your appreciation for their craft, and their companionship with one another, will surely deepen.

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All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece but not too much.  George Harrison

If you want more, maybe you can have mine. And, obviously: shad bacheenger.

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Why do people move? What makes them uproot and leave everything they’ve known for a great unknown beyond the horizon? Why climb this Mount Everest of formalities that makes you feel like a beggar? Why enter this jungle of foreignness where everything is new, strange and difficult? The answer is the same the world over: people move in hope of a better life.  

yann martel

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It’s important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.

The world isn’t just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn’t that make life a story?

The paths to liberation are numerous, but the bank along the way is always the same, the Bank of Karma, where the liberation account of each of us is credited or debited depending on our actions.

Yann Martel

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a boy i went to high school with died; the news spread eerily all day.

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went to Joseph Gordon Levitt’s event on Monday night. pretty interesting evening with a variety of performances. notable guest performances included: Anne Hathaway and Sia singing, Neil Patrick Harris in a skit, and Gary Oldman reading a short story. everyone attending was dressed to the nine’s, except for my date whose shirt was ripped.

our friend Joseph is adorable, yes, but mann, he sure loves himself and it was a bit hard to see past that.

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