A couple nights back we cruised up into the NW Port-lands, settling on a night out at the movies. “Spellbound” was the movie, a documentary about eights kids and their journey to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. Man, a fucking emotional rollercoaster. I was on the edge of my seat, stumped, perplexed and befuddled, wrastlin’ with some of the meanest words of our fine language. Very, very intense. Very, very glad to be far, far away from the age 13. Rough year, indeed. Those poor kids–hyper-talented and too intelligent for their under-developed heads–were amazing under all that pressure. Some cracked, some held it together, some froze. Very exhilarating. The parents were something else. I thought they’d be more competitive and creepy, but for the most part seemed thankful their little ones made it so far. Some were mechanical and very driving, but still nurturing.

My parents were hard on me in my early years. Just kidding. Things were good…real good. I had a ton of legos, a big tree to climb, a dad who’d build me snowforts, a mom who’d bring my lunch to school complete with a couple pieces of pizza wrapped in tin foil…still warm!, a small town to explore, a bigger town to grow up in, little sisters to beat up, lots of family to see every now and again, friends, summer baseball, swimming, snowmobiling, etc…

Seeing those kids up there got me to thinking about my early years.

There were a couple times where the emotions got the best of me…from the heights of joy to those ugly lows of misspelling…very intense. Well worth a see.

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Give him a click or two: The Adam Michaels.

NegativeB got a facelift. Same old shit, just organized. Check it daily for gulps of absurdity. His new logo, which received no proper props, was created by the good people of the Draplindustries Design Co., from the ground up.

Facelifts…oh yeah, Camworld is back up and running and prolific as ever. A content beast.

Those goddamn Swedes!!!

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“Early Summer Sounds” on the player:

01. Al Green – Greatest hits
02. Jay Bennet & Edward Burch – The Palace at 4am (part 1)
03. Faces – Ooh La La
04. Jackson 5 – Greatest Hits
05. Death Cab For Cutie – The Photo Album
06. Kathleen Edwards – Failer
07. White Stripes – Elephant
08. Wilco – More Like The Moon EP
09. Magnolia Electric Co.
10. Lucinda Wiliams – World Without Tears
11. Wheat – Too Much Time EP
12. Mason Jennings – Simple Life
13. Loose Fur - Loose Fur
14. Hazeldine – Doubleback
15. Oxes- Oxxxes
16. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Srmstrong – Ella and Louis
17. Neko Case – Blacklisted (hubba, hubba!)
18. The Highwaymen
19. Howe Gelb – The Listeners
20. Pawtuckets – Dogsbody Factotum
21. Evan Dando – Baby, I’m Bored
22. Noahjohn – Water Hymns
23. Slaughter Rule Soundtrack
24. Yo La Tengo – Summer Sun
25. Iron & Wine – The Creek Drank The Cradle
26. Lots of Flaming Lips (It’s summer, friends!)