blog.big-woop.com

Business

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:11:00 +0000

Heheh... just got my business cards back from the Kinko's.

Just kidding. It doesn't actually say that... but wouldn't it be cool?!

MPLSSTPL

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:59:00 +0000

MPLSSTPL is a website that concerns itself with the Twin Cities and things going on in that area. It is updated six times weekly.

Here are some sample posts:

Check it.

Danse!

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 08:50:00 +0000

If we were to agree on an official dance form of the future, could this be it?

Medved

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 18:26:00 +0000

This is a poster of a Soviet Rocket Bear flying to the moon. I made it for Military Special's upcoming show at Hexagon Bar:

Y'all should come. Don't cost nothin'.

Obamarama

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:26:00 +0000

Just to set the record straight: My vote's been for Obama since July 27, 2004.

Part II

In the nearly four years since, not one person has said a single thing to tarnish my view of Barack Obama. Not one person has said a single thing to make me think him unfit—or anyone else more fit—for the Presidency. The pundits and those against him have tried in vain to spin his campaign of real, true hope into something far-fetched and unbelievable. They have lambasted him for lacking specificity, tried to wrangle him into pissing matches over rhetoric and wording. Obama has proven himself, time and again, to be the bigger [person]. He towers over the career politicians—the little people who lie and cheat and divide and conquer. The ones who profit from sending their own off to kill and be killed.

Obama has given people something to believe in, to unite around. He has given legitimacy to the people belittled and disenfranchised by the current administration, and by modern politics as a whole.

This many people behind one cause.
This much hope in one place.

Pecos Bill

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 04:26:00 +0000

In Loving Memory

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:23:00 +0000

Velma Lorraine Pitman "Mimi"
July 20, 1920 � December 14, 2007

Shortly after midnight Friday, my grandmother passed away. She was the single most incredible person I've ever been so blessed to know.

Earlier this year, she was diagnosed with cancer. She opted against treatment and chose instead to go out on her own terms. Though this was difficult to take, knowing it was her decision made letting go infinitely easier.

Mimi achieved in death that measure of grace so many of us strive for all our lives, and brought joy and vibrance to the worlds of those around her. In passing, she has filled those in her heart with a warm, enduring love. She will be sorely missed; forever a reminder of everything true and good in this world.

I love you Mimi. I miss you.

48

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:47:00 +0000

On Thanksgiving morning, the Minnesota Twins cut ties with our beloved Torii Hunter.

By this point it was basically an inevitability, with the Twins' phones going quiet after being rebuffed for their relative pittance of an offer back in September. But the action taken here speaks loudly to the notion that the Twins' front office just doesn't care what the team's fans want. And with the Santana trade rumors swirling like gnats around a greasy Aruban mullet, the doomsayers are starting to look like they've got it right: The Minnesota Twins are going to be disassembled and, by the time that beautiful stadium opens on the western edge of downtown, will look nothing like it does today. Personally, I doubt if even Morneau or Cuddyer remain. Liriano will have either ballooned to unkeepable, or dwindled to Silva-esque inconsistency (or maybe just get re-injured). Mauer, well... he'll stick around for more money than he deserves, and continue to be his usual, anti-clutch self, but a hometown favorite and the face of the organization, with a batting average that belies his mediocrity.

Expect more Ponsons and Batistas. Guys no one else wants, and from whom we'll get one month of nothing before cutting our losses. This approach—let's call it "Dummyball"—has failed time and again—Nevin, Boone, Cirillo, Sierra, to name a few of the more spectacular failures—and put the Twins out at least the difference between 3/45 and 5/90. And yet, we continue our downward spiral.

The 2008 Twins home opener is against Hunter's Halos on March 31. The question, now, is: Who will he step up into the box against?

At this point, your guess is as good as mine.

Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 19:11:00 +0000

The custom goes like this. We make some food and take it to where we want to eat it. We then sit around watching football while the food is organized on a table and the bird is carved with an electric knife. People filter into the room, sit down around the table, and watch the food as drinks are dispensed.

All that, however, is merely lead-up. A prelude to the real act of giving thanks— the "Thanksgiving," if you will.

In the privileged, the idea of being thankful is not always the first that comes to mind. This is why we need the ceremony and the pomp and the circumstance. Americans pretty much relegate one day a year to gratefulness, and we can feel whatever we want on the other 364.

Of course I'm being hyperbolic. I guess what I mean, though, is that too often I find myself forgetting the cornucopia. Like... you know... the cornucopia of modern American privilege, or... just forget the metaphor, I'll get to the point.

Yesterday, I realized that my favorite part of Thanksgiving is not the meal, or even the people I'm there with enjoying it. It's taking that one moment to pause and reflect on everything out there that's great about life, admiring status quo.

Of course it doesn't hurt to then dig in to the greatest dinner of the year with your family and all your oldest friends.

23

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 22:52:00 +0000

Moments ago, I officially began my twenty-fourth year on this earth. I'm looking for people who want to help me make this one the best ever. Any takers?

"En Avant"

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:33:00 +0000

Hey gang. Just a few quick things:

1. I moved to Minneapolis. After finding a pleasant IT job with the College of Design, I betrayed my small(ish) town roots and crossed the river. I live with Charlie, Paige, and Peter—three of my best good friends, and recurring characters from the archives. We take up the top two floors of a duplex in Powderhorn Park. Life there has been relaxing and good. We live blocks from Matt's Bar, and the original Jucy Lucy. This proximity—like the burger itself—is either a blessing, or a molten disaster waiting to happen, depending on how one looks at it.

2. I made a movie. It's called Murphy's Law. It's about Look Down. The premiere is on Friday, and you should come. If you're not around, it's available now on DVD.

3. A lot's happened. It's been 652 days since my last post. That's creeping on two years. Hit me up. We'll drink beers.

Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 08:04:00 +0000

Hey gang. Just a few quick things:

1. I will be out of school for one year. The administration saw fit to give me two semesters reprieve from their institution, citing my poor grades—in courses I maintain that I never wished to take, but was ostensibly forced to against my will¹—as due cause for my removal from campus. From a letter, received January 10, ten days before my planned return to campus: "We take this action not to punish you but rather because we judge that you will be best served by time away from campus and the environment in which your academic difficulties arose. We hope that the interval will allow you to assess the causes of your academic problems, make plans, and re-evaluate your personal and academic goals." My appeal�wherein I explained my plight, and asked that they "reconsider the whole of their judgement," or at least "consider [suspending me] for only one semester"�fell on deaf ears. Two weeks ago I travelled to Grinnell, packed my life into the back of a van, then did it all over again in reverse four hours North. I am once again under a roof with my family in Saint Paul, looking for a job�part-time or full, odd or straight�and sorely missing life and people in the middle of that forsaken Iowa corn field.

2. The big-woop.com ride will soon come to an end. Let's face it: I haven't been the best at updating of late. And it's not that I've grown bored of it (or maybe that's exactly what it is). The prospect of writing to the few fine readers of my website has not become tiresome, and it's not even that I feel like I have nothing to write about (Hell, these past few months have provided fodder to last me pages and pages). It's nothing like any of that. I will get a new website², and it will be cool. Really cool. And it'll look right in Firefox, too, I promise. I simply feel, now that I've let this thing fall into relative disrepair, or at least into stagnation, that it's time to move on and make something else. With the "fresh start" Grinnell's administration believes it's giving me comes a whole new set of stuff: Believe it or not I've actually taken pictures since 2004. I feel like maybe I'd like to write about things other than what I've been up to in the recent past, because you know things�being as they've gotten�are going to be interesting from here on out. At least i hope so. Besides, the domain expires in a couple months and I'm broke anyway.

3. Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico were phenomenal. I've never experienced anything remotely like it in my life. I'm an official travel addict and hope to find my way through everything and discover, when all is said and done, that I've been places too. Because my departing flight was delayed seven hours, the airline on which I'd chosen to fly proffered a hundred dollar travel voucher, non-transferrable, to anywhere at any time, and to be used by the time one year is up. So there's a start.

I'll see you when I get there.

¹ Twelve of 18 credits for which I pre-registered at the end of last year were denied me by the administration, requiring a mad dash on my part at their zoo-like process of registration, for credits in the way of courses that a/weren't full or canceled or b/had no prerequisites that I didn't. Those that remained, already picked over by my peer vultures, were those in which I had little interest taking, but unfortunately had no other choice but to take. I ended up in Statistics and Computer Science, both well outside the comfort zone for an Art major like myself.

² Hopefully I will have saved enough to register a new one by the time this one expires so as to let everyone know where I'm at�I have not yet decided, exactly, where this will be.

Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 15:00:00 +0000

I am in either Belize, Guatemala, or Mexico, depending on when you read this. Happy new year!

Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:52:00 +0000

From the Scarlet & Black, Grinnell's newspaper, following the school's 10/10 campus unity überparty:

"According to police reports, Edgar Paul Herrington �08 and Kale [sic] Drange, a weekend visitor, were taken into custody by several officers following the discovery of illegal activity. Neither Drange nor Herrington was willing to comment." [ Link ]

What the article fails to mention is that he was wearing a bathrobe at the time.

Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 08:24:00 +0000

After a rip-roaring Halloween, a friend of mine from the first floor is in the hospital receiving skin grafts for third-degree burns on his legs after drunkenly kicking a lit, gasoline-filled pumpkin. I pity the kid, but am simultaneously in awe of how badass that shit really is. Like the kind of thing some sweet metal band would weave into their pagan holiday theatrics.

Listening: KT Tunstall, Oi Va Voi

Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 06:36:00 +0000

Happy Halloween!

Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 03:10:00 +0000

Pet peeve: The one cold bite of burrito in an otherwise enitrely warm and perfect one.

Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 07:03:00 +0000

I am back in Grinnell; have been for almost a week. Nothing of terrific note has occured since returning: I've started classes, been to a few decent parties, giggled with glee at my Statistics professor's incessant profanity... You know, the usual.

Weather has permitted up to three games of disc golf per day, which is fantastic. I've come to appreciate, even more, how wonderfully meditative the game can be, and often find myself wondering whether I can get in another nine-plus holes before class.

I travel to friends' rooms by rooftop. Entering through windows is preferable to doors.

Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 04:32:00 +0000

Here's what's cool: Seeing your name float by in letters at least the size of your head during the closing credits of a movie. Especially when you were in no way expecting it to happen. And especially when the same is easily one of the best movies you've ever seen. Good stuff.

After the preview screening tonight at the Riverview, someone approached me, asking me about the story with which I regaled you all the last time. Yes, the tale of my little bit of vigilantism has spread far and wide, apparently; people have labeled me everything from 'miscreant' to 'hero.' It's strange, though: All that had to happen was for me to almost get my head split open�only squares wear helmets, man�by an ignorant motorist in her too-big car.

I also got to meet four different celebrities there: Ned Beatty, Gil Bellows, Tim Guinee, and one Ethan Cherin, with whom I hadn't spoken since the last day of high school.

Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 03:23:00 +0000

It was so nice outside today, I decided to bike to work (Also, my car is in the shop). Having discovered that the Twins aren't home nearly often enough for me to make major bank by the time I have to go back to school, I was on my way to my friend's parents' yet-to-be-sold, still-needs-a-lot-of-work house to strip varnish off of door frames and stairways, earning hefty sums for working with volatile�and possibly blood poisoning-causing�chemicals.

En route, while crossing an alleyway, I was almost sideswiped by a giant, black SUV whose driver did not seem intent on slowing down to turn onto Prior. I swerved around it, its front bumper nearly missing the back tire of my (brother's) bike. I hopped off, ready to give the driver a piece of my mind when I saw that the twenty-something, too-much-fake-tanner woman in the driver's seat�who had finally realized she almost nailed someone, and had finally come to a stop about halfway into the street�was still holding a cell phone to her ear. "Oh." I said aloud. That explains everything. I stepped up to and reached through the window, grabbed the cell phone, and hurled it through the air, and across the street, where it broke into pieces on the roof of a garage.

I hopped on my bike and rode away.

Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 07:42:00 +0000

The fourth of July was cool. It started, more or less, with a trip to Wisconsin for the good fireworks they don't sell here in Minnesota; Jacob, Al, and I were intent on blowing shit up proper. While checking out at Fireworks City in Baldwin, the woman ringing me up commented on my purchases. "Looks like we've got a connoiseur," she said. I smiled politely and handed her my money. I had done diligent calculations to make sure I would get the most bang for my buck: In my bag, I had 44 large explosions and several hundred smaller ones. But we weren't finished loading the trunk with contraband. A quick stop at one of Hudson's historic liquor stores solidified the fact that our fourth would be a good'n. Jacob and I sat in the car listening to Laura Nyro while Al gathered libations inside.

Hours later, having already severely diminished our bounties, and having just watched the soon-to-be-classic Pfrommer Goes To Work, we wandered back outside to light off some more fireworks. Several artillery shells later, while sitting on the pavement twisting the fuses of rockets together, around one in the morning, I heard a strange and unexpectedly authoritatian voice. "Hey guys," it said. I turned to my left and froze. "Whatcha doin'?" It was the Saint Paul Police, and we were busted.

The first thing that went through my mind was the list of laws we were breaking. The second was to respond with:

"Uhhh... Just lightin' off some fireworks... No good?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah. No good." Duh, went his words, falling off his tongue with a dull thud.

As we packed our unexploded treasures into a grocery bag for confiscation, the rest of our gang, who was still across the street, and hadn't noticed the officer's stealthy entry, sent a number of bottle rockets sailing over our heads. The officer was not too cool with this. He shone his flashlight in their direction and shouted to them: "Ya done!?" They scampered their way back into the apartment as confirmation that yes, they were indeed quite finished. It was about then that both I, and the officer, noticed my beer, which, after admitting my age, was tipped over. Shit. This was it. For a second there it looked like I was going to get off scot-free, but now I was totally boned. Fireworks are one thing. Unsafe, inebriated, underage fireworks are another. I was going to jail. I was sure of it.

"I appreciate your honesty," he said, and the next thing I knew, we were shaking hands, I was wishing him a happy belated fourth, and he was disappearing, with a bagful of fun, into the bushes, like Moonlight Graham.

And that's all that happened. That's the end of the story. We just went back upstairs and kept drinking more beer.

Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Mon, 04 Jul 2005 16:55:00 +0000

Happy Birthday, America! Let's blow up some shit.

Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 05:42:00 +0000

I'm back! From a perfect road trip, wherein I found myself, at one point, staring down the barrel of a musket in Canada. At another, hearing Jeff Tweedy's sweet vocal and driving guitar slicing the Summer air.

In Lawrence there was Wakarusa and two straight hours of frisbee with John and another, then another, while Big Head Todd & The Monsters played a distant soundtrack; the beer-bottle-hurling, naked daytripper with whom I spent my first 45 volunteer minutes ("If a tweaker starts to get a little nuts, try your best to keep things positive," said my team lead, "we don't want any of you getting cut. Try offering him a cigarette."); Hot Buttered Rum, Hackensaw Boys, Donna The Buffalo, The Big Wu, Mofro, Double String Cheese, Wilco and North Mississippi All-Stars.

In Chicago there was Oasis and the single most energized crowd of which I've ever been a part. Jet rocked out proper as well, which was a pleasant bonus.

I had exhausting amounts of fun at Karly's, taking the boat to Amhertsburg, Ontario for Fort Malden, some fried perch, and a cold Blue, then Wilco at night and more of Canada the next day. We went to Point Pelee and saw the... erm... interesting town of Chatham, Ontario, where we had our first taste of poutine. It's delicious. I also got to dig a big hole and make a big fire for money, which I spent on gas on the long drive home.

Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 07:27:00 +0000

How to make MegaCereal®:

1 part Frosted Mini-Wheats.
1 part Crispix.
1 part Milk.

Consume.

Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Todd) — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 05:17:00 +0000

I've been back for three weeks now, have since gotten a job with the Minnesota Twins, and we've wrapped on making what should turn out to be a pretty solid movie.

I leave on Thursday for Wakarusa, then head to Chicago for the Oasis concert, and go visit Karly, who just got back from India.

Summer's been very relaxing, so far.