'Cause It's An Experiment. Experiment With Me.

I love this picture. It's of the WPA, one of my all-time favorite logic-defying experiments. The United States is in the midst of a crippling depression, the country is scared and weak and broke. Conventional wisdom says, "tighten the damn belt, wait out the lean times." Franklin Roosevelt said, "bullshit. Let's spend like we've never spent before. Let's pay people to build crazy shit like Hoover Dams, highways, zoos, whatever. And you know what, let's pay artists, too. Let's get someone to write a stage play about a down-and-out salesman, and let's get someone else to paint pictures of flowers that look suspiciously like vaginas. That's gonna turn this thing around!" Foul mouth aside, he was quite the visionary. And so in this picture we've got people building. We've got someone painting a picture of the people working. And we've got someone else taking a photograph of the whole scene. And I'm willing to bet that there is a writer less than a stone's throw away getting drunk while everyone else is hard at work. It was brilliant. And it sickens me to hear people try to denigrate the accomplishments the Greatest Generation made before they ever picked up the weapons of war.

The WPA kicked ass. Deal with it.

But, all of that nonsense is a way for me to say experimenting is vital! So, I've been experimenting with the jokes, lately. Here's the latest results of my mad science: Works in Progress, A'ight?

Enjoy!

Oh, and since this post brings me to a total number of posts divisible by 20, I'll list the last 20 songs I used for post titles. Check these people out on the ol' iTunes, or eMusic, or even an actual record store.

Oh, and check out the comedy show at Opolis in Norman this weekend! I'm not in it, but some hugely funny people are. So get ye to the comedy!

And I Swear There's Something Evil In The TV 5/17/07
“95 St. Marks Place” by The Sharp Things

You've Made It Pretty Clear What You Like 5/23/07
“Papa Was A Rodeo” by Kelly Hogan (Magnetic Fields cover)

Didn't Mean A Word Of It 5/25/07
“Moment of Weakness” by Bif Naked

I've Gotta Talk To You, But I'm So Sick Of Words, Words, Words 5/31/07
“Lost” by David Garza

It's The Same Old Thing As Yesterday 6/28/07
“King of Pain” by The Police

In The Company Of Strangers With Some Vulgar Shit To Say 7/2/07
“You Miss the Point Completely I Get The Point Exactly” by Harvey Danger

Hey Baby, It's The Fourth Of July 7/4/07
“4th of July” by X

And It Gives Me Something To Laugh About, 'Cause My Real Life Ain’t Fuckin’ Funny 7/25/07
“Can’t Get Out of What I’m Into” by Liz Phair

I Wanna Know What Love Is 7/26/07
“I Wanna Know What Love Is” by Foreigner

I Should Be Grateful, I Suppose, And Compare You To A Summer’s Rose 8/7/07
“This Piece of Poetry is Meant to Do Harm” by The Ark

It's Everything That Is Connected And Beautiful 8/16/07
“Kissing Families” by Silversun Pickups

You Can Surely Try To Be More Alive 8/28/07
“Fraud In The 80’s” by Mates of State

It’s Water, Don’t Try To Fight It 9/10/07
“Dear Sarah Shu” by John Vanderslice

Once Again, It's All About Me. And Pride Is Not A Factor, No. 9/11/07
“Moral Centralia” by Harvey Danger

White And Black, The Friendly Bears Of China. White And Black, They Rarely Reproduce. 9/14/07
“Pandas” by Corky And The Juice Pigs

No Telling How This Came To Be. You Ended Up Here When You Didn't Agree. 9/29/07
“Say Goodbye” by Papas Fritas

Sou Yo Kokoro No Nai Kotoba Nanka Yori 9/30/07
“Night Of Tokyo City” by Morning Musume

Anything Is Better Than Nothing. 10/30/07
“New Monkey” by Elliott Smith

Turn Down All The Lights. I'm Just Along For The Ride. 11/6/07
“Along for the Ride” by Mates of State

'Cause It's An Experiment. Experiment With Me. 11/07/07
“An Experiment” by Mates of State

Is There Life On Mars?

Maybe. Maybe not as much as there used to be. C'est la guerre. I'm just glad there was something there to be killed, if that makes any sense. And I'm glad it didn't embark on any bloody reprisals. We're pretty good with the smashy-smashy, and it was really just a matter of time before we let the hammer drop on another planet, right? Fortunately, there's still life here on Earth. Even in Oklahoma City. And things are gettin' lively for me, let me tell ya.

I found a new coffee shop last night, Sauced, on the Paseo. I'm glad I did. I went in last night and wrote a few jokes, and by being around other people I didn't feel quite so alone. It's strange, but once I get back to my apartment, I'm pretty well cut off from the rest of the world. I can't watch local television or listen to the radio, so either I sit in silence or I watch DVDs or listen to music. There's a real disconnect, because I know that no one else is sharing the experience with me out in the rest of the city. No one else is popping in Disc Three of Scrubs Season Four at 8:43 p.m. on a Monday night, and that uniqueness is not at all comforting. It just makes me feel more isolated, and weird, and apart. There's a familiarity in this solitude, and I hate it. I hate it's ubiquity. I hate it's ceaselessness. Mostly I just hate how utterly necessary it is.

But this isn't some whining from a sad sack who's trolling for invitations to sockhops or mixers down at the local youth center. I'm okay, and like I said, life is gettin' lively for me. So, here come the pro forma performance plugs:
I'm going to the Loony Bin tomorrow night, hopefully to do some standup.
I found out tonight that I will be doing some spoken word this weekend at Momentum. You can come and see me Friday and Saturday night. I won't be doing comedy, per se, but rather some humorous monologues. The whole thing feels a bit like high school speech and debate and maybe that's why I'm excited about it.
Also, I may be the opening act for an art show next month.

That's it. I don't really have an end to this blog, nor do I have a great life-lesson to tie it all together. Whatever.

Done.