Mexico: Where Food Comes in Pockets

The world as a whole needs to thank Mexico for perfecting the food in a pocket concept. All the best foods come in pockets-burritos, tacos, chimichangas, enchiladas, tamales, and the list goes on...and on... forever. Seriously. Holy frijoles. The Italians devoted their time and effort into noodle technology, which is admirable and wonderful and all but come on... pocket food. There is very little mess and you eat the wrapper your food is in! Its like having your cake and eating it too...if your cake was in a tasty tortilla that is. These guys and gals have done the world a great service that we have repaid by taking texas from them and upping border security. So effectively we have screwed ourselves over. The more Mexicans we let in, the more of this wonderful pocket food we will have. I propose we even go so far as to fund research into making bigger and better food in pockets. We will import the best Mexican food scientists and form a new government program devoted to better our country through judicious application of tasty mexican delights. So next time there is a vote on immigration, you know what to vote for. A vote for more immigrants is a vote for more better food. My name is Andy and I approve this message.

Doctors I Don't Trust

Doctors who I would not let operate on me.

Doctor Strange
Doctor Octopus
Doctor Horrible
Doctor Pepper
Doctor Dre
Doctor Seuss
Doctor Doom
Doctor Who
Doctor Dolittle
Doctor Evil
Doctor Fate
Doctor No.
Doctor Venture
Doctor Spock
Doctor Cosby
Doc Holliday

Wesley Anderson and His Movie Magics

A list of Wes Anderson's movies in order of which I believe are best. Don't get me wrong, I love them all. Starting with his worst.

#5. Bottle Rocket. Before he found his place. Pre-hyper-real stuff (most at least). Its fun and the Wilsons are great but I just don't get very much out of this film.


#4. Darjeeling Limited/Hotel Chevalier. Great movie. Very beautifully shot. Some wonderful moments and a really great story about brotherness and touches on family some.

#3 The Royal Tenenbaums. Here is where the wonderful factor starts to go off the scale. A ton of archetypal characters that you really never see. I guess that is Wes' thing but man he does it well. A really good story about family. Everyone does such a good job in their roles. Gotta love the book cover screens.


#2 Rushmore. Cannot describe how wonderful this film is. I love Murray and Schwartzman so much in it. This one is usually considered Anderson's best. Very well shot, great soundtrack. Fantastic story and some really really great moments/lines.


#1 The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. In my top five movies of all time. Most people put this toward the bottom of the list rather than at the very top. I really can't figure out why. Phenomenal subject material. Great characters. Great soundtrack. Bill Murray is legend. Really is summed up by a line from Rushmore- "Sic Transit Gloria."

And like all my plans, it's so simple an idiot could have devised it!

When I die (in some sort of blaze of glory, or an explosion, or saving the lives of countless men, woman, and children), after my service, I want a New Orleans style funeral with a band and procession and everything. Marching through the streets, people fanning themselves, and ladies with big floppy hats. I am to be buried not in a graveyard but a park. I want to be buried in a biodegradable coffin and wearing a biodegradable tuxedo, biodegradable top hat, and a biodegradable monocle. Then after being lowered into my dead body hole its to be filled in and then a tree is to be planted on top of it all. That way my body actually is of use and not just taking up space. It'll be tree food. People might need to work on a way of making sure the root system doesn't just pick up my body and push it out of the ground lol but I'm sure science will have advanced far enough by then that it won't be a problem. Then maybe a plaque (right use of that spelling?) or something can be put there with my name on it or something, preferably with a title in front like "captain" or "duke."

That's plan A at least. Now "A" does not refer to priority but merely to order in which I am writing them. Plan B is slightly different. I want to be "buried" in space. Maybe on the moon or mars or something spacey like that. Probably with a giant space statue of me pointing toward the future... But still with the New Orleans style procession, floppy hats, etc. just in space.

Plan C: Be buried next to this guy

There's a girl in the garden. In the garden there is a girl

Eventually the words written down by Michael Stipe, R.E.M. frontman, will come true.

Left of west, was a coming in a hurry with the furies breathing down your neck.
Team by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped.
Look at that low playing! Fine then.
Uh oh, overflow, population, common food, but it'll do.
Save yourself, serve yourself.
World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed.
Tell me with the rapture and the reverent in the right - right.
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched.

It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it.
It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The end of the world is coming, and its now to be a week earlier than predicted. And as we all know the most likely end to our world will involve zombies. So its good to have a plan. and here is mine:

My Zombie Plan from Andy Morse on Vimeo.
Its the end of the world as we know it
and I feel fine.

If the News Were Awesome Once More

Unfortunately I am prone to the same thing that Mr. Stephen Fry warns about, complaining that the past was better than today. I try not to but sometimes these thoughts burrow under the fences and make their way out like Steve McQueen.

On that note I present to you the news. It turns out the news today is ridiculous. I'm of the mind that a shot of the bird that has made its nest on top of your news building, while mildly entertaining, is not actually news. News today is used as an entertainment device in order to make money. In the 50's and 60's it was quite the opposite. They believed that the channels were borrowing the airwaves from the American people in order to air their programming, and as such owed them a half an hour of news everyday. With this mindset they set about making news as a public service and with only a half an hour to work with they made sure it was good, hard hitting, and relevant.

True some news is hard hitting and relevant today but its all padded with fluff. I mean I love Rachel Maddow and Brian Williams but seriously its gotten out of hand. The thing is watching the news today feels like a chore for me. Its wading through garbage for little nuggets and the worst part of it all is how they tease the news. They continue to preview their stories without actually saying anything like leading you on and trying to make you watch their show up until the very end. The thing is though, we can just go on the internet and get this information instantly.

So I feel like if the news people don't get their rears in gear as it were, they are going to be left behind. My solution to this problem? Go back to the old way of doing things. And this applies to newspapers as well. I mean true, there is something to the tactile nature of the newspaper but really its a 75% stuff I don't care about and I can't find the 25% I do care about because its so burried. And again it comes down to the internet and having quick access to the important stories. Radio and television are going down this path too unfortunately. What with tv shows on dvd commercial free and radio stations becoming 70% (arbitrary number) commercials it all just seems so outdated. Anyway I'll stop complaining now and do something productive. Like laundry. Or stare at Brian Williams wonderful smile for a bit...

PS. did you know Walter Cronkite is still alive?!

Arranging Books By Color

So I first heard about the idea of arranging your books by color from one of Kevin Rose's tweets. It led me to this picture, which lets face it, how can you not be inspired by that? Its such a simple change but it looks so cool. So I had to try it for myself and this is the result. Its definitely not as cool as the original but I blame that on not having enough books. I think another problem lies with my lack of interesting compartment like shelves to put them in and separate them by color. As it is they just kind of bleed into each other and I think you lose a little of the idea when this happens ...and the over sized books I just shoved into the bottom corner because they sort of looked weird with the normal books. Now if that is book profiling or something then I'm guilty as charged. Anyway, just a cool idea I thought I might share...and yes that is a copy of Jane Eyre...please don't tell anybody...

Let's Light This Candle: Why Space is Still Awesome

Firstly, I love space. Passionately and with much gusto. Like ridiculous amounts of gusto. Like a gusto sandwich with extra gusto coming out the sides so it becomes really hard to eat. So it should come as no surprise that I think that space exploration is still important. I got in a conversation recently about space and whether or not we landed on the moon (we did. duh. you can see the flag from here as well as bounce lasers off of a reflective array they left), and whether or not we should be focusing on space and spending so much money on it during such an economic downturn. And I can honestly say I vote for more money for NASA.

I'm totally at a loss as to why space and space related activities ever leave the cool-o-scope of Americans. Space=cool. Its math. Put the word "space" in front of anything and it automatically becomes cooler i.e. "space tacos," "space aids," or "space jogging." And not only that but it is fulfillment of our natural predisposition toward exploration of the unknown. Its the next step after Lewis and Clark. Sure we haven't discovered everything on earth but that should not keep us earthbound. We MUST explore! Seek out the unkown... bodly go where no one has gone before and all that.

Space travel and the space program have been sources of new technologies and new ideas, like the cordless drill and smoke detectors. That alone should be enough for people to believe in the space program.

Going even further I think that NASA needs more money. We should at least double their budget. Put them up to 2%. What a better cause to rally our country around than space?! It worked during the cold war why not now lol?

Not only does NASA plan on going to the moon again to set up a base to eventually go to mars, but they recently found methane on mars! How freaking exciting is that?! See, space IS exciting, but you don't have to take my word for it... take neil's!

Anyway, rather rant like I know, but space is still important, because it is there. So go watch The Right Stuff and be inspired :)

Love in the Time of Grilled Cheese

So it seems that there are two different types of people. The first type being the tomato souper. Now this person is not very good on their own. They're runny, bland, and don't have their own "shape." That is to say not boring, but without direction. But combine them with a grilled cheese sandwich type person who is solid, delicious on their own, multi-layered, and full of complex carbs, and you get magic. The tomato soup person is given a shape, is given a purpose, and in that environment they thrive. They now become important and can actually accomplish things.

The grilled cheese sandwich person is the kind of person who is definitely (yesss spelled "definitely" right on the first try this time!) good on their own...but they are not great. They need that tomato soup person to make them the best that they can be. The tomato soup person fills in the cracks and air bubbles of their personality smoothing things over and making them whole. With the tomato soup person involved you are willing to forgive the crust and the black charcoaly burns because it just tastes so mindblowlingly and life alteringly good.

Now sometimes a tomato soup person will be in a relationship with another tomato soup person. Neither will have direction or purpose and the relationship will become cold and even more boring than it was in the first place. Conversely grilled cheese sandwich people will be in relationships with other grilled cheese sandwich people. This combination has a better chance of working out because both people are the main part of the meal. They both have a lot to bring to the table. However, neither of them adds to the relationship because it is just about them as individuals. I mean I can eat two grilled cheese sandwiches but by the second im quite full. Its just a lot of the same you know?

Really its about finding that person that compliments you as a human being (not like hey nice hair and stuff but like works well with you like... and i hate myself for saying this... a scarf that maybe compliments like, i dunno, a hat or something...shut up) and not someone who is you. Its nice to have similar tastes but its about completion and making each other into the best they can be ... that and food.