Idealist Cafe

It's almost time for the long weekend, so I'll keep this post short and sweet. I've written this ahead of time but will schedule it to go out before everyone heads out for the their three day mini vacation.

I just want to wish everyone a safe and happy 4th of July weekend. Most likely I'll try to keep myself away from the computer, so we'll see how that goes. Or maybe I'll just spend some time getting ahead on some good posts for next week. In either case, keep an eye out. Also, in case you haven't noticed, I've been trying to be better about posting more regularly too, but no more than one or two posts per day, if that.

I'll be sticking around, staying in San Diego, but heading down to Ocean Beach for a party on Saturday afternoon.

Anyone have any big plans? Or are you staying home and doing the traditional bbq and party thing?

Labels: time off, United States, updates

Pets, pests, and pesticides, or my flea plea.

In our house, there is one cat and two dogs. We are in San Diego where the weather is usually great year round. Unfortunately this means that all of our favorite pests also can live year round, and they are especially persistent in the summer. So I send this plea out to my reader(s), if you have pets have you been able to control fleas in your houses without using all the usual nasty chemicals?

As much as I hate to do it, I do use Advantage or Frontline on my cat, and my girlfriend uses it on her dogs. But to be honest, I've never seen much change in the fleas on the animals after administering it. The last two times we gave Advantage to one of our dogs, within a few days time I spotted large fleas on him. And same thing on my cat. Though I do notice that when I find the fleas on my cat after giving the Advantage, they seem sluggish and are easy to catch, no doubt due to the effects of the chemicals. But the thing is, if I'm putting this poison onto my pet's skin, it should work perfectly. And at $10 a dose, I'm not going to poison my cat and keep having fleas. I know how terrible this stuff is and I cringe when I give it, and I always do so reluctantly hoping all the flea problems will go away, but they never seem to. And yes, I've read all about how pests are becoming resistant to these pesticides, ironically because we use them too frequently. In our overzealous attempts to kill them we are actually giving them so much exposure that they are becoming immune to the chemicals.

I've also tried diatomaceous earth, both on the pets and on the beds and the carpet, but again, I haven't seen a big change, and if there is one, it's never more than a few days relief before the fleas show up again.

Now I'm reading about these non-toxic flea traps, has anyone used those? Do they work?

For the past two year I've been looking for safe non-toxic solutions, and try to avoid the nasty chemicals, and the truth is I haven't had anything work for me. Next option is to "flea bomb" the house, which I hate hate HATE to do, but my girlfriend and I can't take the flea issue. I find them on my feet when I do yoga in the living room. I find them on the bed sheets after my cat has her nap. And I find them on the dogs the day after their Advantage dose.

Labels: chemicals, eco-friendly, pesticides, pests, pets

Image credit: Letz DesignI figured I'd share interesting article about drought tolerant landscaping, known as Xeriscaping, that I found via my Ode Magazine Newsletter. It's especially relevant since I live in San Diego at a house with a lawn that uses irrigation. It's not very detailed about specific plants that can be used for making changes, but it is definitely food for thought.


View article here: Yanking out lawns saves water and money

Interesting side note: I started thinking about writing this post the other day while at work. Ironically, as I was pondering drought tolerant landscapes and the water shortages and new water rationing rules here in San Diego, I looked out the window into Petco Park to see them watering the dirt in preparation for the night's baseball game. My office is located in such a position that we can see down into the ball field, and I think based on what we see it's safe to say that they are one of the biggest water wasters around. Even next to the ball park is a public park, my guess under the same management, and it is watered so frequently that you sometimes can't even walk in the grass because it's so squishy from over watering. Nice job city of San Diego.

Related Links:
Succulents, perennials make a colorful drought-tolerant team
How the neighbors are coping

Labels: conservation, interesting, San Diego, water

Do I need to say more? Follow the link for the story. Thanks for another laugh Wend Magazine!

Stoned Wallabies Make Crop Circles

Labels: interesting, random

Photo credit: clobsSometimes life just gets too busy. Work, eat, bills, sleep, exercise, relax (for a moment) work, run errands. It just seems to go on and on. Even for someone like me who tries to keep their life simple, it doesn't always work. When I am home I seem to keep myself too busy, and fall behind on all the things I want to do. Making an hour to just sit with a book never seems to happen, no matter how little is on my plate.

Quite honestly, as my girlfriend has correctly pointed out to me, I think a lot of my time disappears into the Internets. Keeping up with my RSS feeds, following Tweeters, checking the news, the weather, brainstorming ideas for my website, following links that follow links... You get the idea. In fairness though, I enjoy it, and I do also find time for other things like working in the garden, doing yoga, and watching a little guilty pleasure TV. And also, all that time spent online does keep me up to date with the world, as I seem to just devour all types of media, from blogs to news to real paper publications, but have found myself all to often starting sentences with "I read this article the other day" or "This guy whose blog I follow" and it makes me feel a little too dorky.

So when your time just seems to disappear and you can't seem to find time for the simple things, what better than a weekend camping in the mountains?


Photo credit: °FlorianSure, more than one night would be great, but when you're on a tight schedule, taking 24 hours away from the distractions of home can be a miracle cure. Just this weekend I drove out to the mountains east of San Diego on Saturday afternoon, and returned Sunday afternoon, and getting away like that worked great. The relaxation factor is much higher than if the same time had been spent at home. There are no temptations from the computer, none from the TV, and best of all there are no bills to look over and no cleaning to be done. Only the most simple tasks need to be tended to; setting up camp and preparing food. And when you drive back into town already you notice how the pace of life is moving too fast.

After a simple night like that spent relaxing -- having a few cocktails by the fire, sleeping under the stars, and reading a book -- you can return home recharged and feel like you escaped life for just a bit.

Related Links:
How to find the job you love
Simplify and De-clutter

Labels: camping, how-to, lifestyle, outdoors, random, San Diego, simple living, tips

Thanks to Matador Life for the info below -- 6 Online Resources to Satisfy Your Inner Locavore

...By only eating foods produced in their community, region or country, adherents, known as locavores, aim to reduce pollution and support ethical farming practices.

With more and more people defecting from supermarket to farmer’s market, a number of websites have appeared to help users find local food in their own communities...

And the six resources are:

• Local Harvest
• Sustainable Table
• Food Routes
• Eat Well Guide
• Foodzie
• Bigbarn

Again, thanks to Matador Life for this info, See their article here

Labels: health, lifestyle, local foods, organic, sustainable

Photo credit: cizauskasI grew up in the Northeast, where there were a lot of microbreweries, so I got past drinking Bud and Coors pretty early on. Since I've been with my girlfriend who used to work at one of the best beer pubs in San Diego, I've been introduced to even better beer. I've since learned two things about San Diego that I didn't know before. 1) It is home to one of the biggest craft beer markets in the country and 2) it is well known for producing some of the hoppiest beers in the country. My college days were spent in breweries back east, and now almost ten years later I have gotten my second schooling on beer; not in breweries but in brew pubs, and have been introduced to some of the tastiest beers that not only San Diego, but the entire West Coast, has to offer.

Being environmentally minded though, the one thing I noticed was that options for organic craft beers, or at least beers produced with organic hops, was limited. But now thanks to a very informative write up by Wend Magazine, I have learned a lot more about craft brewing, and most interestingly, how more often than not craft brewing can be inherently sustainable due to its very nature, even if it is not certified organic. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like to see more organic brews out there, but supporting local and small businesses that in turn also buy and support local is better than the alternatives.

Check out the full Wend Mag article about sustainable, craft brewing here

Labels: beer, interesting, organic, sustainable

If you are into sports, basketball, or just like seeing people with some pretty interesting talents, spend two minutes watching this video.

When I was younger I played a lot of basketball, and spent a lot of time trying to come up with interesting ways to shoot a basket, so I definitely can appreciate this video. And I know some people will say he probably makes one out of a hundred, but regardless, to make one of these shots at all is pretty impressive.

Enjoy.

Labels: basketball, interesting, random

Falling Uphill,
Scott StollFor the last two months or so I have slowly been reading my way through Scott Stoll's book, Falling Uphill. It is quite an enjoyable and inspirational book, and the fact that's it's been taking me so long to read it actually bodes well for the book, ironically enough. I find that if I am enjoying a book, I tend to take it slow because I am not ready to be done with it. The exception to this rule is for novels that end each chapter with a cliffhanger, in those cases I have been known to sit and read for hours.

In Scott's book, there is plenty of substance, and quite a bit that gets you thinking about life. I particularly enjoyed the following quote of his, and wanted to share it with you.

I like the challenge of cycling up a mountain: breathing hard, my body burning, and the feeling of peace when I reach the top: sweat being whisked away by the wind, watching the lizards scuttle, listening to the birds sing, sitting on a rock, the whole world spinning beneath me. That's what I enjoy most in life. I want to walk through the world barefoot, as if I were a child again, letting the leaves of grass tickle my toes even if my feet get dirty.

As I mentioned last week, if you know of any inspirational blogs, websites, or stories, please share them with me. I am always interested in reading and promoting stories that inspire.

Also, check out Scott's blog here, as well as his twitter.

Related Links:
Long Walks and Inspiration

Labels: biking, books, inspiration, reading

I realize I have been pretty slow about posting recently. But that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the site. Over the past few weeks I have spent quite a bit of time reorganizing and cleaning up, hopefully to make the site better down the road.

A few things you will notice that are different:

I have made some subtle changes to the layout and the look and feel of the site. This is pretty insignificant to you, and I realize it's probably foolish on my part to spend my time on trivial things like this when I should probably spend it on more important things like creating content and increasing my readership.

Another major change that has been implemented is the rollout of the "shopping" part of the site using Amazon's Astore feature. I know this is also trivial, but I figured rather than having random links send traffic over to Amazon, now I can increase my branding and the site experience by keeping readers on my domain. So now if you click through on an Amazon link you won't end up over at Amazon unless you are actually purchasing. I decided on doing this after reading Chris Guillebeau's 279 Days to Success Manifesto.

In short, he says that by using Google Adsense (yes I know Adsense and Amazon are different, but bear with me) you essentially devalue your site, give your users a worse experience, and also send your traffic away to sites that you don't endorse. The fact that I still run Google Ads, and also that Amazon and Google are two different beasts is not lost on me, but in taking a tip from Chris, I have attempted to customize my Amazon store to mostly products that I have used, or at least product categories that I would use myself. And by incorporating it into my site frame, if you do browse over there, the experience is seamless and you can easily come back.

Lastly, I have reorganized my travel section for better SEO, and also have focused on updating it to include my recent travels. I should be fully caught up in another week or two, at which point I can set my mind at ease and re-focus on putting out more content and increasing my readership.

Thanks for reading, and as always, I welcome your feedback here.

Labels: updates, work

An excerpt on my new article about last fall's trip to Spain, Morocco, and Gibraltar:


View of Rock of Gibraltar from SpainAfter a relaxing two days in Tarifa, (well mostly relaxing, with the exception of my day trip to Tangier), I had one last day and night before an early morning flight out of Málaga. All along I had really been hoping to make it to Gibraltar, but I wasn't sure how it would work out. But of course as so often happens in travel, everything fell into place perfectly for me to make the run over into Gibraltar on my way out.

I woke up early and caught one of the first buses out of Tarifa. I am writing this a while after the trip, if I recall I think I took the wrong bus. The idea was to catch a bus going direct to La Linea de la Concepcion, but I'm pretty sure I took one going to Algeciras. But from there it was a piece of cake to get to La Linea. In Tarifa there was some confusion, because it is so small, and there is not a real bus station, so there is no one to ask for information. But it turned out to be still only a few euros for the entire trip, and maybe 45 minutes or so. La Línea de la Concepción is the small town that borders Gibraltar, so it has to be your jumping off point before the border crossing. If you are coming from Tarifa my advice is to hop online and check the bus schedules. If you are coming from Algeciras, it should be no problem, there are enough buses that run. I'm pretty sure from both Tarifa and Algeciras you can get to most nearby cities, including La Línea, Algeciras, Málaga, and I'm pretty sure even Cadiz and Sevilla too. But you will want to hop online to check that, and of course from Algeciras there will be more options.


Barbary Macaque on railing. Rock of GibraltarThe station at La Linea is small, but they have lockers which makes a quick run to Gibraltar very easy. I locked up my backpack, grabbed my daypack, and walked over to the border. It was a 5-10 minute walk, and crossing the border is simple. You just walk across, I didn't see anyone getting checked. I didn't have long enough to explore the caves at the end of the penisula, however I did want to be sure to get up and see the barbary macaques that live on the "rock", as it's called. So from the border I hopped the bus into town, which was only a Euro or two. It seems that most places in Gibraltar take both Euros and British Pounds, so don't bother exchanging money if you're only there for a day. I took the bus to where the cable car that takes you up to the top of the rock. The ticket for the cable car was a tad expensive, but as I was only there for the day I had no problem paying the 15 or so Euros.

Once at the top it is an amazing view. You can see the Atlas mountains of North Africa, and you can see much of southern Spain as well. Looking out over the Strait of Gibraltar is quite a sight. But of course the real stars of the show are the macaques that have made their home up there. It seems quite an odd place to see wild macaques, but apparently there are a few families that live up there, arriving there at some point from their native habitat in the mountains of North Africa. All the signs say to beware of them, since they are so used to people they know to associate humans with food, and I watched one try to snatch someone's water bottle. I guess they also will take your bag and run away if given the chance.

See the entire article here

Related Links:
Tangier, Morocco
Tarifa, Spain

Labels: adventure, gibraltar, photos, spain, travel

A few weeks ago I came across this video on YouTube, which I've posted below. It's a video made by a guy named Christoph Rehage from Germany who had the goal to walk from Beijing to Germany. From the looks of his blog, The Longest Way, it looks like currently he is not walking, but is at university. Also, it doesn't appear that he has completed the entire trip just yet, but walking over 4000KM is quite a feat none the less.

Here on Idealist Cafe I would like to start profiling inspirational blogs and websites, so if you have one or know of one, feel post in the comments or email me. I would love to hear about any journeys or adventures that are outside of the box and are inspirational. They don't have to necessarily be about pushing physical limits, as I am also interested in stories that create a greater connection with humanity or show what is possible if only we follow our dreams.

Enjoy the video. (If video doesn't show up, you're probably reading from a feed and need to visit the page.)

Labels: adventure, fear, inspiration, interesting, travel, unconventional living

Most everyone has heard of La Jolla, the community of San Diego, also known as the Jewel By the Sea. Well there is a place along the coast in La Jolla called the Children's Pool, and what brings a lot of people to see this area (besides of the beauty of the coast itself) is the 50 or so seals that can be seen laying on the beach here. As most people know, there is not very much of the Southern California coast that has not been taken over by people, so for many this sort of place to see wildlife is quite a novelty.

The reason this area has attracted the seals is that a big sea wall was built many years ago to shelter this part of the beach, which is what makes it desirable for the seals. Well, the problem is that this sea wall was initially built and funded by Ellen Browning Scripps in the early 30s to create a protected place for children to play in the area, since a large part of this area is rocky and has strong currents. Thus the name Children's Pool.

So the problem now is that a Superior Court judge has ruled that this should be given back to the children, for it's original purpose. So now the seals have to go. This has been an issue for many years and has worked its way through the court system, only to have this ruling just the other day.

See this article here http://www.10news.com/news/19581131/detail.html.

My problem with all this is that humans have everything, we have swimming pools and the majority of the rest of the coast. Not to mention how many other cases there are everywhere every day of animals getting screwed by human development. Why are we wasting our time kicking seals off of our beaches? Sure, the "pool" was created with other intentions, but it is one of the few places in a city this size that people, both tourists and locals, young and old, can come see a bit of nature. I say let the seals stay.

Labels: environment, news, San Diego, seals

What is the American Dream?
Photo by hellochris.The other morning on the way to work I was listening to NPR and they were having an interesting discussion about the American Dream. What they were considering was the idea that the American Dream is now outdated in the face of current events and the current state of the economy. It was an interesting discussion and one which I am glad that I caught. And I have to say that I am happy that people are looking for the Next American Dream rather than the old one. I have thought for a long time that the pursuit of the American Dream is making people unhappy, and this conversation really was able to help me put my finger on why.

According the the discussion, there are (or were) four pillars of the American Dream.

• education and the ability for anyone to go to college
• opportunity and mobility
• home ownership
• retirement

The basic premise that they were exploring was that the New American Dream is becoming less about materialism and more about personal freedom. Which to me means choosing to live life as each of us wants to, with less emphasis on what we have and more emphasis on what we do. So the idea of trying to keep up with the neighbors and constant yearning for more "things" is less important, and people can focus on doing and experience rather than accumulating.

But to go back to the four pillars that they discussed, it does seem about time to consider that these all mean very different things than they did when the term "American Dream" was coined in 1931.

I think that education is still very important and should still be something everyone strives for, however the idea that going to college means success is not really accurate anymore. In the age of the technology and the internet, self learning is much easier than it ever was, and college is also a different place than it was 50 years ago. In today's market, having a college education doesn't guarantee much, nor does lacking one keep you from lofty achievement. There are plenty of successfully programmers, entrepreneurs, and multi-millionaires out there that prove that.

Opportunity and mobility, in my mind, are still mostly the same, however again, due to technology and globalization, the game is an entirely different story.

The ideal of home ownership has certainly changed just in the past year. I think it is still part of the dream, but many are reconsidering the lengths that they will go to reach that dream. With rising oil prices, urban sprawl, climate change, and the foreclosure crisis, the way that people approach home ownership is sure to change over the coming years. Some may choose to rent in cities rather than own in the suburbs, some may reconsider where they live to save their commutes, and hopefully many will pass on the McMansions and opt for modest homes that bring them happiness and enjoyment rather than headache and debt.

As for retirement, that should remain a goal, however again in the current economy and with the inevitable demise of the social security system many are having to look at the goals for their future through different eyes. I have been a long time fan of Tim Ferriss, and he goes so far as to challenge the whole notion of retirement, instead suggesting taking mini retirements throughout your life. Certainly the idea of sabbaticals is nothing new, but this could be something more people will consider when they see that their traditional retirement at 65 may not pan out, if it does at all. Enjoying life in younger years may become more important than trying to skimp and save for just the possibility of an easy retirement.

See the NPR American Dream report here.

Labels: 4HWW, 9to5, American Dream, lifestyle, work

I've put up a new page about my travels last October in Tarifa, Spain. Here is an excerpt:


View from top of hotel, looking across Strait of
Gibraltar towards Morocco, Africa and Atlas MountainsI woke up early after a couple of days in Granada, hopped the bus to the bus station for one Euro, where I then bought a ticket to Algeciras. This is where I thought my trip would get confusing, but it turns out it went quite smoothly. I think it was about 2 hours to Algeciras, and I was a bit nervous since I'd heard that city is nothing but a port city, with a fair amount of shady characters hanging around. But as it turns out it was ok, and I was able to then get an ongoing to to Tarifa -- only a short 30 minute bus ride away. Somehow I missed the first bus, but they run every
half hour so it was ok.


Beach in Tarifa, Spain, Atlantic coastThe ride itself it quite nice, very scenic with rolling green hills and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco in the distance across the Strait of Gibraltar. I was unsure of where to get off the bus, but it seems as though you just ride it as far as it goes into town. From there you really only have 2 ways to go, away from town or towards town. If you walk back the way the bus came from you'll walk directly into the old town area. There are a few hotels outside of the old town, but I found quite a nice hotel right in the center of the old area for 20 euros per night, with shower and even a rooftop patio with views to Africa.

Read more and see the photos here.

Labels: photos, spain, tarifa, travel

I just got back from my latest adventure this weekend. This one was something totally different from anything I had ever done before. A co-worker of mine had decided a while back that he was going to quit work and move back east. But he was going to ride his bike back. Immediately I liked the idea, but I wasn't ready to ride across the whole country, nor was I in a position to quit my job. So I decided that I would take one week off and ride with him.

As it turned out, we spent a few weeks training before his trip was to begin, though didn't get into the shape that we wanted. The most we had ridden was 32 miles in training, and he was hoping to average 50 a day over the course of his 3 month trip. This was perfectly manageable, considering that he would no doubt get into good enough shape pretty quickly to be able to knock out 100 miles a day. But could we do that the first week, and could I make it to Phoenix in order to get picked up?

Turns out that, yes, we could, and yes, I could.

We left San Diego at 9AM on a Saturday, and I made it into Phoenix by mid afternoon on the following Friday. It ended up being just a little of 400 miles in 7 days, for an average of 57 per day. Not bad considering ascended from sea level up to 4500 feet and back down to below sea level then back up to over 3000 feet over the course of that first week.

Obviously, as I write this I am back home, but he is still out on the road and will remain so for another couple months. All in all it was a great adventure, and one I would certainly welcome again. Which is actually ironic because after a few days I was thinking how I never wanted to get on a bike again, only to be sad to be done when I arrived in Phoenix.

I think the best parts about the trip for me were (obviously to finish, and) the ability to be so self sufficient and also to see people's reactions when they heard what I (and especially my friend) were doing. The fact that you can ride your bike for 400 (me) or 44000 miles (him) with only a few packs of gear and supplies totally breaks some people's view of the way the world works. Some were surprised, some didn't believe it, and others were blown away that such a thing was even possible. Of course there were some who were shocked, but in the same breath thought that it was the coolest thing to be able to do that. I don't live a very non-traditional life, but to be able to open other people's minds once in a while and show them the possibilities that are out there if are for their own life is a good feeling.

If you want the details, following is the breakdown day by day of what we did, and here are the maps, each destination is where we stayed for the night. The sixth day is when my friend and I split ways, he headed north, I to Phoenix.

MAP - First two days

Day 1. San Diego, CA to Alpine, CA
Day 2. Alpine, CA to Jacumba, CA

MAP - Last five days

Day 3. Jacumba, CA to Glamis, CA
Day 4. Glamis, CA to Blythe, CA
Day 5. Blythe, CA to Wickenburg, AZ
Day 6. Vicksburg, AZ to Wickenburg, AZ
Day 7. Wickenburg, AZ to Phoenix, AZ

You may be interested in: bicycle gear

Related Links:

Labels: adventure, biking, green travel, travel

I have read a couple articles recently which actually don't paint the modern day Somali pirates in a negative light, and wanted to share this one that I've most recently read. And no, it's not about defending their actions or what they are doing, but it certainly paints a picture which is different from that which we read in the press.

So go and read the article and let me know what you think.

If you don't want to read this article, basically what it says is that since the collapse of the Somali government, the lack of oversight in the area is now being exploited by first world countries. Specifically by dumping waste and over fishing the areas that are around Somalia. Hopefully they're not doing these two things in the same place because that would just be stupid, but nonetheless, these actions are further hurting the now helpless Somalis by polluting their coastal waters and leaving virtually nothing left in the sea for the coastal population to make a living or even eat for that matter.

Thoughts?

Labels: news, pirates, somalia

I came across this commentary article on CNN couple weeks ago about the legalization of drugs and figured I'd share a few thoughts I have.

First of all, I truly believe that our "war on drugs" doesn't work. Just because something is illegal does not mean people don't do it. Look around, people do illegal things every day. And trust me, same goes for drugs, I was in college once upon a time. And I also don't buy the fact that making drugs legal will increase their usage. Drugs are easy to get and people who want them get them.

Secondly, though I don't think drugs are in any way a good thing, I sort of believe that what people choose to do in their own time is their own business. Granted, hard core drug users can cause other problems that don't stay in their home, I get that. But I'm mostly thinking of pot when I talk about this. What people want to do in their home should stay in their home, and I also don't believe that classifying a drug user in the same category with violent criminals is acceptable. But that's another topic.

I also truly believe that there are plenty of prescription medications and pills that people take every day and buy legally at the pharmacy, which are regulated by the FDA, are more dangerous than some of the drugs which are illegal.

Look in the news right now, the drug violence around the border and in Mexico is mostly due to illegal drug trade and trafficking. Make those drugs legal, what will happen? Sure, it won't be an overnight change, but if it's legal and regulated, then the demand for those illegal drugs will drop, and I believe that the violence that surrounds it will too. Whether the violence simply continues for other reasons, I don't know.

But what I do know is that if drugs are legal the problems won't get any worse than they currently are. Drugs will simply be handled like our current alcohol problem, hopefully parents can discuss the topic in the open, and people will hopefully still make the right decisions, the only difference will be that if they make the wrong ones they won't be criminals, and they can get support which can be provided by the taxes levied on the products they were using.

I'm curious to know where readers stand on this.

Labels: drugs, news

Thanks to Brave New Traveler for the laugh today. I got a kick out of this and as much as it seems interesting, they are probably right, I don't want to see that sign.

Hijacking Hotspot - South Africa - Road sign you do not want to see


You may be interested in travel related shopping.

Labels: interesting, travel

I'm not normally one to go for celebrity or Hollywood gossip, and obviously this doesn't quite go along with the theme of this website, but seriously this whole Joaquin Phoenix thing is really intriguing to me. If you haven't heard about it, just do a couple of google searches and then come back.

So the theories circulating are that 1) he is having a breakdown of sorts and really thinks he is pursuing a career as a rapper or that 2) he is doing this all as a mockumentary about actors who lose it and go on a downward spiral and/or actors who try to make a transition into music.

I'm leading towards believing the second for several reasons. I've read about his total immersion acting techniques, and also his brother in law Casey Affleck has been there the whole time filming his antics. I would think that if he actually was losing it that Casey would maybe lend a hand rather than film the demise. And also, well, quite honestly I think acting crazy for a year in the name of making a documentary about acting crazy is far more more interesting than actors who really do go off the deep end. Those types already seem to be a dime a dozen in Hollywood.

Either way, it's been sort of interesting to follow the whole thing. I'll be curious what comes of it.

What do you think?

Labels: news, random