The Compass

Hey everyone!

It’s good to be back!  I have a piece I’ve been working on for awhile now, “Goosebumps”-esque, that I should be showing you guys soon.  It’s about a toaster.

Anyway, here are more videos of awesome live songs that I think you all will enjoy.  I wanted to showcase this idea of well-timed madness, a control of chaos.  It may sound insane at some points but at every single moment, the musician has complete control.  It fascinates me how precise these artists can present a feeling.

Enjoy!

-Anthony

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1. Untitled - Frank Zappa
2. For the Love of God - Steve Vai
3. Song for the Dead - Queens of the Stone Age
4. Heathen Child - Grinderman
5. I’m a Man - Bo Diddley
6. I Was There - Fucked Up
7. Underdog - The Dirtbombs
8. Game of Pricks/I am a Scientist - Guided by Voices
9. Throw Away Your Television - Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. Damn Good Times -  They Might Be Giants
11. 21st Century Schizoid Man (King Crimson cover) - The Flaming Lips/Linear Downfall

Going off of what Paul was talking about:

I spent the majority of my thursday inside the movie theater.  The local theater held a Dark Knight marathon where they showed all three movies right in a row, the newest one starting at midnight.  What happened could have happened at any theater.  Any one of us could have been in that theater.

I received a call from a friend today saying that her father was killed in a car wreck a few days ago.  Everything seemed so fragile today.  I’ve never been good at dealing with that feeling, the feeling that death is possibly minutes or seconds away.  We just don’t know.

The feeling is paralyzing but what else can we do but finish out the day, lay in bed, and then get up and move on.  We can’t let our mutability stop us from living.  We can’t.  Everything seems strange for a couple of days but our minds and our way of life has a way of distracting us from the deadly truth.  We are not immortal.  One day it will all end and you probably won’t see it coming.  That is the truth.  The only truth.  You will die.

But you still have choice.  Live in crippling paranoia or walk onward with courage.  Things happen.  Really shitty things.  Let them ruin your day but don’t let them ruin your life.  Mourn and cry and look inward, but smile and talk and laugh.  Feel and grow. And if you can breathe, be happy for that and go from there.  Things will always get better.

Here are recommendations to start you in that direction.  Be careful out there.  For me.

-Anthony

——-

Recommended Book: Miracle in the Andes

Recommended Album: Channel Orange

Recommended Evening: Klosterman Sees Nickelback and Creed in One Night

Recommended Sealab: Aquarius Reef Base

Recommended Candy: Hi-Chew

Recommended Topical Pug Video: Fuckin’ This One

Recommended Beer: Moose Drool

Recommended Tweeter: @IronMaiden

Recommended Alternate Version: Transformer by Gnarls Barkley

The waitress is strange

She used to be the hostess

I guess she moved up

-

Her pay is the same

She just has to do more now

She doesn’t look glad

-

Who cares? I’m tried

Just bring me some coffee, black

And speak up, it’s loud

-

“That must really suck;”

Ali grins with her coffee

“I know you love cheese.”

-

The pills aren’t enough

It still hurts most of the time

There are much worse things

-

I forgot bacon

Flesh from a lesser creature

Prove my dominance

-

Chewy, sweet, salty

That was a child one time

Reduced to a strip

-

It was born to die

To pass through others’ organs

Life ends in my mouth

-

The waitress comes back

Eggs and potatoes and toast

Their roots are not seen

-

Where did they come from

The eggs came from a chicken

The toast from a field

-

Potatoes, the earth

Coffee from another land

Someone brought these here

-

How many people

Have put their hands on my food?

Just shut up and eat

-

Do pigs dream of God?

Your food’s getting cold so stop

Dreams of God and shit

-

That is really gross

Don’t ruin your appitite

They must know something

-

That they aren’t alone

That they are made from atoms

That make up all things

-

From a distant star

Particles undiscovered

Condensed in a hog

-

Exploring our life

The delicious Higgs boson

That gives breakfast mass

-

Old people walk in

One day they could be breakfast

Chewed by aliens

-

Grinding and spicing

Using our meat for a hash

Our eyes as garnish

-

Alright, that’s enough

Eat your food and pay the bill

And try not to choke

——-

-Anthony

Hi everyone! Happy Fourth of July!

My name is Anthony and I am still alive. I’m just an asshole. Sorry I was gone. Sorry I ignored you. I am back. I have tons of new things to share with you. I have changed. But not a lot. Most importantly, I missed you.

Today is a holiday. You are probably going to read and hear a whole bunch of stuff about America today so I figured instead of posting something patriotic, I will instead feed into your downtime and share with you some recommendations for things in case you need them. They have no theme. They are just links of things that you may want to investigate further. Because I love you.

Expect new posts soon. And expect more recommendations; this will be a regular thing. Until then, enjoy your day! Relax! You’ve earned it! See you soon. Don’t blow off your hands today.

-Anthony

——-

Recommended Book: Ender’s Game

Recommended Album: The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends

Recommended Particle: The God Particle

Recommended Drive: Interstate 26

Recommended Tweeter: Merle Haggard

Recommended Beer: Art of Darkness

Recommended Anthony: Anthony Sabourin

Recommended Reason for Seeing Magic Mike: Nonexistent

Recommended Pizza Roll: Totino’s Pizza Rolls

Recommended Radio Station: KEXP

Howdy bitches.

Right now, I am currently watching Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and I cannot help but wonder what the fuck happened with this movie.  It’s not very good.  The original three were incredible but this one doesn’t fit.

There is one question on my mind that I cannot figure out: is this a kids’ movie?  The dialogue is over the top, the aliens look more like cartoons than ever, there are borderline offensive alien accents, shiny spaceships and bright colors.  There really aren’t the same types of conflicts from the original movies.  There are no struggles about faith, no conversations about power, leadership, and responsibility, no existential musings about the universe and what keeps it all together.  Just pod racing and fart jokes.  There was a weak attempt to talk about economic struggles through some sort of bizarre form of dictatorship run entirely through holograms but that doesn’t last long.  Actually, I don’t even know what the Galactic Trade Federation actually does other than bitch.  The only redeeming qualities of this movie are Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson.

This movie is necessary though.  This movie was obviously going to make money.  He knew that the moment he sat down to write it.  No matter what he wrote, millions of people all over the world would empty their wallets for months so why bother to try?  Why challenge yourself?  When he sat down to write this, the big questions, the questions that produce great writing, were already answered by the last films.  All this movie is is a backstory.  All plot and no substance, going after the senses but not soul.  But it needed to happen.  I suppose Lucas later realized that if he was going to describe the origin of Darth Vader, he was going to need to try harder.  He would have to portray the descent from innocence to anger.  He would have to explore ideas about corruption and expectation, examining what makes a person take the easy route instead of the best.

With that in mind, perhaps the first three episodes are not so much of an exploration of the powers above but of the powers within.  What if these movies are about George Lucas’s internal struggles with the Star Wars franchise?  Everyone is banking on him to create something as historical as the original trilogy but there is too much pressure.  Now that there is tons of money on the line, a vast and devoted army of followers who perceive his word as universal truth, a Galactic Trade Federation-esque production of merchandise, maybe Anakin’s story is Lucas’s trying to fight the person he has become.  The characters warn him of the impending dangers of the powers he has but there are far too many eyes looking on him.  When he starts to slip, there is no return and he partially destroys himself and becomes the monster he is.  A powerful, influential, and historically important monster.  The struggles in this movie are not between good and evil.  They are between George Lucas’s soul and the man he has become.

Or maybe not.  Maybe it’s just about the dirty politics and blowing shit up.  Anyway, your trailhead, if you choose to accept it, is to fight with yourself in whatever way you chose to define “fight.”  That is all.  Jar Jar Binks is racist.

-Anthony

Hi everyone!

I’m back!  Sorry I was away for such a long time.  Many things have happened.  The main reason I disappeared was because after five years, my computer decided to destroy itself from the inside out and it took a little bit to find time to replace all of its innards.  That’s finally done now and it runs better than ever but I lost every photo I’ve ever taken and every word I ever typed.  Fuck.  Now that I typed that out, it makes me feel really shitty.  But what can you do?  New beginnings I guess.

Speaking of new beginnings, another reason I was gone was because I have a new girlfriend.  That has been the greatest feeling I’ve had in my entire life.  That’s been keeping me preoccupied, obviously.  By the way, her name is Ali and she has a twitter account.  She is an artist (a really fucking impressive artist at that) and her work will no doubt be showcased here at the Compass soon.  But anyway, at this current moment, I have the time to sit down and actually write something to completion.

My sister had to write a speech for her class about someone they love and deliver it in front of everyone.  She chose to write about me and then sent me the transcript.  I read it through my phone sitting in the parking lot of the Vince Lombardi rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike, right before the George Washington Bridge in New York City.  I cried.  So first will be her speech and then my response.  I hope you enjoy!

It feels good to be back.  Feels so good, man.

-Anthony

——-

Happy Kid: A Letter to My Sister

An Untitled Speech

by Elise Martino

Anthony Michael Martino. I know this name has absolutely no significance to any of you and you are probably confused, curious, and wondering to whom this person might be. This person is my brother and he is probably my biggest role model in life. All my life I have looked up to him as an inspiration. For fun, we used to drive around random places with our sunglasses on, windows down, and blasting music. Those days are some of my favorite memories. But, eventually my brother turned 18 and left for college in New York. This was hard for me mainly because it meant that I would be living at home without a sibling and when he left we didn’t get to talk as much. Sure, he came and visited a lot but even now its different since he graduated college. He left then and moved to Washington D.C. to work with an organization called Americorps and now we really can’t talk as much because he is always working and I think that’s the hardest part for me. It’s hard knowing that I will now only get to see my brother about 2 times a year. Even though I don’t get to see him, I still miss him more than words can describe and he is still the one person who keeps me going. Anthony is the kind of person who is never down in the dumps and never abandons his goals. I know he is always just a phone call away or even a skype call away, but to me, it’s not the same. He always comes home and says how much it bums him out that he had to miss his sister learning to drive, and getting her license, and growing up. I know he is my older brother, but sometimes I feel like its harder for me to watch him grow up because I know we will never get to create memories like we used to because he is an adult now and I barely get to see him. I miss having my big brother around to help me through the good times and the bad times. It seems like time flew and now all of the sudden he is grown up and living his life. I love my big brother so much and I just wish he could be around more. He has taught me so many life lessons and he is honestly the one person who I can turn to for anything.

-

An Untitled Response

by Anthony Martino

Elise,

You are not alone in these feelings.  It hurts how much we have grown apart and I can only see your life through miscellaneous bits of technology.  If it is any consolation, I think about calling you every day.  When we do talk, I always ask you how school is going; I ask you to tell me about your teachers and your homework and your detentions and bad grades and the pictures of sea life you draw on your tests when you don’t know the answers.  I ask about your friends and what you guys do for fun.  I ask about the music you listen to and the parties you go to and how our puppy is doing and what foods he eats now.  Watson is a picky dog but I still need to see him eat breadsticks because apparently it is the greatest thing in the world to watch, according to your texts.

I miss you, Elise and I’m sorry I haven’t been there in person every step of the way.  I wanted to be there in the car with you the day you got your license.  I wanted to be at home waiting to guilt trip you after you got your first detention.  I want to be there to scare the living piss out of the first boyfriend you bring home.  My plan was to just sit at the kitchen table and clean all of the gigantic knives mom has in the kitchen and just stare out the window and quietly repeat the words “I hope tonight is a good night” in a whispery version of the Batman voice.  I’ve thought about all these things and it kills me to know that I won’t be able to.  I’m going to try my hardest to be there to help you move in on your first day of college, which no doubt will be an ivy league.  At least I can get really drunk at your wedding and make a great toast and embarrass you, provided you have an open bar.  I’m not going to miss that for the world.

There is a reason I left you guys though.  There is a reason why I felt comfortable travelling so far away from home.  It is because I knew you would make it.  I knew you would be fine.  And you proved me right.  You’ve done everything better than me so far.  Your grades are better.  You have more friends than I had.  You have a direction.  As much as you look up to me, I have a confession to make.  I have no idea what I’m doing.  I run my life like a massive experiment on an hour-to-hour basis.  I travel around the country so much because I don’t quite know my own place yet.  Its not easy.  Moving to Washington D.C. in a post-9/11 world is probably the scariest thing I’ve done and I know how much you and everyone else at home worries and I’m sorry for that.  I need to challenge myself in order to keep going.  I wanted to challenge you to see what you were capable of and you went above and beyond my expectations of how successful you could be.  You are my role model, Elise and I am very jealous of how well you’ve navigated yourself through middle school and high school.

I’m able to stay away for so long because I know you are doing great.  Yeah, you have mood swings like a mothefucker but I know on the inside, you are going to kick life in the fucking balls and prove to everyone that you are the best at whatever you set your mind to.  I tried to instill that in you all these years because I was unsure that I could do it myself.  I didn’t want you to make the mistakes I’ve made; I didn’t want you to miss out on anything.  I wanted you to be better than me.  And you are.

Working with City Year has actually made me closer to you, believe it or not.  Right now, I work in the lowest performing middle school in Washington D.C. in one of the hardest neighborhoods in the country.  I work in a school where the fire department doesn’t show up when the alarms go off.  I get threats against my life on a weekly basis.  Recently, a student told me he was going to bring a gun to school and now I may have to go to court because I am a witness.  This can’t be easy hearing this when I call home.  I can’t even imagine the emotional pain I’ve caused our family and I am deeply sorry for that.  But when I see my kids in class, when I see them actually learning, I think about you.  I think about how I want them to be just as great as you are.  You are the gold-standard of excellence and I am infinitely proud of you.  I see all of my flaws in these students.  I see the ignorance I had in middle school.  I understand how serious it was that I had to write all those apology letters to teachers for my behavior.  I failed English in 6th grade, the grade I help teach now, and then I went on the become and English major in college and hopefully one day earn my PhD in literary theory.  Anything can be done as long as you believe in yourself and I believe in you.

We’ve been given an amazing family and I am proud and unfathomably excited that you are my sister.  You are going to be so happy with where your life is going.  I am now and you’ve done everything a billion times better than I have.  Don’t worry about a single thing but don’t ever give up.  Keep reaching for what you can never have.  Grasp towards infinite space you will never know what true sadness is.  I love you and can’t wait to see where life will take you.  As always, I’ll be right there next to you.  I never left.

Next time I’m home, we will drive down River Road together and blast Bootsy Collins and Gogol Bordello as loud as you want.

Love Always,

Anthony

Well let me tell you, readers, thursday the 12th was absolute bullshit.

1. One of my team members at work was in a car accident.  Everyone is ok.  But it was a car accident.  Most people don’t enjoy their day after that.
2. My homeroom teacher was not present in class because she got in a physical altercation with a tiny student.  She probably will not return.
3. Three people were shot a few blocks away from the school and we went on lockdown for a bit.
4. Our 8th grade math teacher’s car had its windows busted in by some asshole.
5. Upon saying “Have a good weekend, man” to one of my students, he replied with “Fuck you, faggot.”

Middle school is the greatest.

But even after all that, even after the thoughts provoked by James’s piece this week, I don’t feel bad.  In fact, I feel pretty goddamn happy.  Things come and go and the things that ruin our days are erased with each sunrise.  The worries and fears and frustrations of the past eventually leave our consciousness and we continue forward.  There is so much good yet to come that we should not worry about the fucking horrors we cannot control.  So you know what?  Fuck thursday.  It’s friday now.  Here are some links.

-Anthony

——-

1. This is a video of David Bowie performing “Moonage Daydream” and it is cooler than you.  Note the stage hand at 4:23 that pulls Mick Ronson back as to not vaporize the audience with his guitar solo.
2. Here is a picture I found on reddit of a bunch of cows rioting in the suburbs.
3. I have purchased the following books and have begun to read them: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
4. The following is the result of when you type in the word “pizza” into Food Network’s recipe search.  There are 87 pages.  Knock yourself out.
5. @mackiemaneater has shown a decent amount of support for the Compass.  According to twitter, she may not be doing the best emotionally right now.  It is time for us to show support back.  Say hi to her.  She also has a tumblr.
6. This is the trailer for Wes Anderson’s newest film Moonrise Kingdom.  It looks incredible.  In related news: Bill Murray continues to be the greatest human being that was ever born.
7. This is Astronautalis performing “The Case for William Smith” in someone’s living room in Denton, Texas.
8. Saccharin is the name of the artificial sweetener found in Sweet’n Low.  Scroll down to the “History” section.  It is surprisingly funny and beautiful. 
9. Happy birthday to the father of Paul and James.  You are a good man.  This is my gift to you.