Teodoro Valdepenas

Xochimilco, Mexico City, 1993 or 1994

2009-02-17T00:50:00.003-06:00

My family's 90s fashion is out of control, especially like me and my mom wearing the same shoes (she knew how to tie them).
Look at how bald my dad is (he's not even 30 here).
I still have the same haircut except now I have sideburns.

I haven't posted much lately. Oh well.

life is the interlude to death, son

2008-12-11T06:58:00.002-06:00

(from strannik45's flickr)

The Graduate (1967)

2008-12-07T21:04:00.003-06:00

So here's to you Mrs. Robinson...

If Alannis Lorrie Muñoz were president

2008-11-10T21:41:00.003-06:00

"If I were president I would lower gas prices. I would let kids vote age 9-14, I would make poor people rich, I would lower taxes, I would make everything free, I would name a Island after everyone lived in the United States, I would make someone invent a happy michine to make people happy."

yes we did

2008-11-05T23:13:00.003-06:00

When I was 14 I never figured I'd be so stoked on a Democrat winning the presidency. I mean, I kind of lived my life according to Rage Against the Machine lyrics that told me "not for Gore or the son of a drug lord/none of the above/fuck it, cut the chord". oh you know.

Anyway, I was at the rally yesterday. The unticketed part. Here are my thoughts besides how momentous this is since this is probably a seismic shift in American politics.

1. Me and my dad were the annoying people dancing behind the reporter for Chilevision, a channel from some backwards country that I was born in or something.

2. Everyone went apeshit when Oprah was shown among the crowd on the jumbotrons. Whoa, Oprah? On TV? WHOA.

3. The vibe from everyone was intense. Smiles por doquier. For that moment it seemed like age, race, economic status did not matter.

4. CNN holograms. I'm lovin it.

5. Not even about last night but that picture up thurr...Eisenhower and Truman are not in order. That really sticks in my craw.

and I cannot wait until Barack HUSSEIN Obama is sworn in with a stack of Qu'rans and then proceeds to abolish private property. YES!

Oh Mr. Chi City

2008-10-14T23:10:00.005-05:00

"this is a chrome garbage can...I ain't never seen that shit, shit's from Egypt"

"green tea for the holistic, you know...vegetarian, I don't eat meat and you know real earthy Erykah Badu chicks"

"you can drink this shit and it ain't butter...it's butter flavored but it ain't butter, real talk"

From the lost files of my camera phone

2008-08-01T23:55:00.004-05:00

Who is copy editing children's books (the ones with the thick cardboard pages)?
Dude, really?

subversive

2008-06-19T22:25:00.010-05:00

These are the toys young children are playing with everyday. This could be your siblings, your cousins, your neighbors and maybe someday...YOUR KIDS.

I will never feel right.

2008-06-09T23:00:00.006-05:00

Punch In The Face were one of the best HC bands of the past decade and they will be missed. Their last show a little over a week ago was incredible. If any of the info on here is wrong, sue me...I found it on soulseek. I'm just a nerd with a high speed connection. I know Mark though, if that counts for anything. He's probably drinking exotic beers and reading up on Tajikistan right now.

Live at Radio K (2004)
1. Don't Hurt Yourself
2. At War With Everybody
3. Time's Up
4. Cut The Shit, Start The Pit
5. Not Here To Make Friends
6. Y2K
7. Who's Gonna Take The Weight?
8. Loudmouth
9. True To The Game
10. Dumb Hardcore

http://www.mediafire.com/?bzepsq2y99z

Compilation Tracks
1. March of The PITF (Histeria 2 LP, 2003)
2. Pure Hate (Poison Idea cover - Town Of Hardcore comp. 2003)
3. The Last Comp. Song Ever (Histeria 2 LP, 2003)
4. Time' s Up (Histeria 2 LP, 2003)
5. We've Got Bush (Mein Comp, 2004)

http://www.mediafire.com/?oymdd1ymcxu

outcast
reject
always be an outcast
reject
i will never feel right

one page zine day.

2008-05-26T13:20:00.003-05:00

I did not make a one page zine for the show yesterday but this is what it would have said
OH I AM NOW AN ADULT (MINOR AT HEART)
RZL DZL - STRICTLY SAUCERS. U MOSH
DO YOU LIKE BRAIN HANDLE YET?
(picture of a hot girl)
ANYWHERE YOU GO, I'LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN

*will edit a certain polaroid picture in here when it hits cyberspace*

"I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." "Well, I'm not honest but you're interesting."

2008-05-18T11:24:00.007-05:00

The only things I knew about A Walk To Remember were that Mandy Moore does not wear makeup, she dies in the end and that when she did it was supposedly sad.
No one told me that this movie is fucking hilarious.
It's contrived, unrealistic and a total cheese fest (choice line: "I don't need a reason to be angry with God!")

I still love you, Mandy.

Some Friday levity.

2008-05-09T09:59:00.004-05:00

I hadn't seen this video since high school.

Highlights of this video include a dancing midget, Milli Vanilli look-alikes and Argentine dudes rapping (so awful).

Hi, it has not sunk in that I have finished college.

Good Evening

2008-05-05T21:36:00.003-05:00

I dunno, should I click it?

Ending on a Positive Note

2008-04-23T18:26:00.012-05:00

(pic borrowed from Bernie's blog)

When The Repos recorded their last LP they also apparently recorded themselves playing We're Not In This Alone by Youth Of Today all the way through. The comparison has been made (by some tall dude) that the Repos are like "Youth of Today if they were serial killers" and that turned out to be slightly prophetic. For their last two shows a couple of weeks ago they were selling mysterious LPs with "Ending On A Positive Note" emblazoned on them. The rumor for some time was that it was all of "Break Down The Walls" but I think they made the right choice with WNOITA. At least one person (longtime compinche Brett "de la" Zimmer) was disappointed when I told him it was nothing but YOT songs and I assume there are more. Some people just aren't into youth crew but I totally am and FUCKKKK. What's it sound like? Like The Repos playing YOT songs! If you're like me you're cumming all over your keyboard and thus you have to listen to this record. Original album still cannot be topped (although I do like their take on "Potential Friends" more).

DOWNLOAD IT
It's OK, all the LPs sold out. Downside: It's not the greatest quality and hopefully someone uploads a higher quality rip.

This picture to the right has NOTHING to do with the Repos or Youth Of Today. Daytona Beach, FL. December 29, 2006.
Scratch that, the DUDES in the picture that are not me covered "We Just Might" later that day. Connectionz.

myrth

2008-04-20T22:56:00.003-05:00

My dad was telling me that if I went to Chile I'd have to really watch my back for I might get jumped because of my jeans. Now, I don't doubt for a second that if I were to go down there flashing all sorts of things that screamed HEY I ENJOY A HIGHER STANDARD OF LIVING THAN YOU then I might get robbed but I doubt it would be over my $30 Levis. I'm not going to Russia following the Soviet collapse.
Oh dad!

Not the kind of cougar I thought they were talking about...

2008-04-14T22:49:00.006-05:00

I mean, there are cougars around in the North Side but I guess this time police shot a COUGAR. I would have shit my pants, personally.

In other news, have you heard the new Torche? It's kind of, sort of really awesome.

The economy is in turmoil. Great, right when I'm about to head out on my own. Thanks, life.

never gonna make you cry

2008-04-02T18:40:00.004-05:00

Some guy commenting on the Rick Roll video: " He dances like faggot lol."
USA USA

away thou ghoest into the desert betwixt blue angels

2008-03-28T00:22:00.010-05:00

Thank you Mr. yes-I-have-a-Hitler-mustache-and-yes-I-ride-the-Pink-Line. Don't let something like a vegetarian dictator with a penchant for population control ruin a style of facial hair. Wear that shit proudly and please don't sue me for defaming your character on the series of tubes.

I'm branching out and uploading music onto this here blawg. First up are three albums by Massachusetts's maudlin of the Well. All three are out of print, though since they were CD-only releases they are not hard to come by. motW played what their record label dubbed "astral metal"; part doom metal, part death metal, part sludge, part prog rock, part folk with alternating metal growl/clean ultra-wussy singing, lyrics that seem taken straight out of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (at least the parts where the Giants talk) AND a female opera singer. Anyway, if your curiosity is piqued then check out the fan myspace. This band pretty much became Kayo Dot, whose music is easily found and are still active. I much prefer motW, though. Sentimental reasons maybe.

My Fruit Psychobells...A Fruit Combustible (1999)
http://www.mediafire.com/?n9iyj2mwjyb

On this they had not yet matured into their sound so the divergent influences sometimes clash jarringly. There is a breakdown in "A Conception Pathetic" that sounds midway between Around The Fur-era Deftones and Quicksand. I guess isn't much of a stretch given the note for note Quicksand ripoff on Deftones' "Hole In The Earth" but I digress. The best song is "Blight of River Systems" which has zero elements of metal, go figure.

Bath (2001)
http://www.mediafire.com/?gct2zbw9y13
Leaving Your Body Map (2001)
http://www.mediafire.com/?bxjdjgmgnz5

These were released at the same time as "complementary albums". The different sounds flow much more smoothly into each other and the old timey English is totally laughable and awesome at the same time. The best song on these two is "Gleam In Ranks" which is jazzy and sounds like what Atreyu were probably going for and miserably failed at. Did I just mention fucking Atreyu? That band was never any good. Fuck you Jamie Poole for making me sit through the first three songs of their set all those years ago. Darkest Hour played that show too and I enjoyed that but I recall being AFRAID TO MOSH. The next day the Suicide File and Bane played the same venue and I didn't go proving that I suck.

"now get in the pit and try to love someone"

dat's some star warz/terminator rise of the machines shit.

2008-03-18T12:52:00.005-05:00

America, fuck yeah.

more here: New Video of BigDog Quadruped Robot Is So Stunning It's Spooky

Pokemones

2008-03-15T20:32:00.015-05:00

In Chile, you know where I was born 'n' sheeyit, there has appeared a strange trend. Kids that listen exclusively to reggaeton but dress like scenesters circa 2003 (or circa now if you count the under-16 VFW/youth center metalcore crowd but I pretend those kids don't exist). They have been dubbed "pokemones" because their hair is reminiscent of those prevalent in anime. Hey, my dad always used to say "what's with all your girlfriends and their japanase cartoon hair?" (in Spanish) so I get where they're coming from. They have managed to miss the original message of the culture, not to mention the MUSIC that shaped said culture, (shallow as it may have been) and have taken the most superficial aspects for their own narcissistic circle jerk. It's perplexing, fascinating and fucking weird.

Pardon the lewd pictures of the teenage girls. Hey, they're clothed. I assume these kids are all my cousins, btw.

Foxy Boxing

2008-03-14T17:46:00.009-05:00

Today I took the 3:30 Metra Milwaukee West train bound for Elgin/Big Timber out of Union Station. I sat with my high school friend Charmie. I don't see her often so we caught up and we also both took a nap for most of the train ride but whatever, that is not important!
Across the aisle from us was an older black lady who kept yelling at someone on the phone. Something like "tell me I'm his ex-wife" "you better give me a cake and roses" and later "I don't like the term, y'all" followed everytime by the most florid expletives I've ever heard. Her speech was way slurred. Hey, it's always 5 o'clock somewhere in the world right? At some point an even older black gentleman sat down across from her and he started talking his head off. I fell asleep but when I awoke the woman was on the phone again and the man had put on his headphones to watch BLACK FOXY BOXING (porn link, duh) on his portable DVD player. Since there weren't many people on the train I'm sure I was the only one who noticed. Of course, I woke Charmie up so she too could watch old dude ogling the boxing topless girls. Then our old lady friend asks me and Charmie if our naps went well and asks the man what he's watching.

W: Whatchu watchin? Lemme watch the movie wit ya.
M: It's boxin'
(lady peers over)
W: That ain't boxin! That's nasty sheeeeyit! (to us) Hey, look at that. That ain't boxin'
It's nasty, right?
(man turns DVD player away from my eyesight even though I'd been laughing inside for almost 10 minutes at this point)

Charmie was laughing uncontrollably as this all unfolded. Somehow, I kept a straight face. We got up even though we were a stop away. Our sagely friend told us to not fall asleep on the bus if we were ever in the South Side.
The end?

supplies!

2008-03-08T17:18:00.003-06:00

Next time I'm at a surprise party, I am forcing everyone there to play the Arthur theme song right after the "SURPRISE!" Of course, if any of my friends reads this entry prior to it occurring they'll roll their eyes and think "Diego thinks he's so clever and 'out there' but he's just a fucking nerd".

I would also take much care to not erroneously queue up the Arabic version of the opening credits:

Uphill, both ways.

2008-03-01T13:04:00.005-06:00

Ok, this blog is starting to turn into me talking about Spanish language music videos from the early-mid '90s. So be it. This is "Quiero" by Patricia "Paty" Manterola. She was in some popular pop group prior to this, I'm reasonably sure she was in soap operas and probably made more songs but all I care about is that this song was one of the first things that ever made my loins tingle. Did I ever mention that across the street from my apartment in Mexico City there was a Circle K (yes, like in Bill & Ted's) that stocked Playboys? I would go and look at them sometimes while pretending to look at other mags. Things are a little more lax down south. Then again, I vividly remember being 13 and leafing through an ESPN Magazine in a Waldenbooks at Stratford Square Mall when a Playgirl centerfold fell out of the sports mag. I was horrified; not at the sight of a prodigious wang and a sculpted torso, but rather at my fear that people might think that I'D been the one to ever so skillfully find a way to look at cocks. I mean, I wouldn't want people to think I was QUEER or something (funny thing, a lot still think I am). Pre-internet porn: serious business.
Oh yea, but the video. She's hot, there's a saxophone and there's a dude (whose head you never see) wearing an unbuttoned black vest totally making that guitar WAIL, man.

Estas llorando y no haces nada

2008-02-28T20:27:00.006-06:00

I grew up listening to Los Prisioneros. They were the first rock band to get any sort of mainstream success in Pinochet's Chile. My dad played their tapes constantly when I was 5 or 6 so their songs -much like Radiohead's "Creep", Mana's "Te Deseo", Spin Doctors' "Two Princes" and Scatman's "Scatman" among others- resonate quite strongly within me regardless of how good they may or may not be. These songs are IT. Music is epitomized by them simply because of the memories they bring back. Additionally when I was 4 years old I saw them in concert...sort of. Tickets were sold out but my dad worked in a home improvement store whose warehouse conveniently shared a wall with the venue. My first show was seen through a series of openings in the topmost shelf of a warehouse.

Anyway, Los Prisioneros released 4 albums and the one that resonates most strongly with me is their debut La Voz De Los '80 because it's a hodge podge of influences from The Ramones and The Buzzcocks to The Clash and The Cure. They got progressively more keyboard-heavy, progressively more pretentious and less politically aware and thus progressively worse. Their last album (pre-reunion...I can't count those) Corazones had a bunch of songs that went on to be fucking dance hits, for crying out loud. Curiosity got the best of me and I looked up the video to one of those dance hits. "Estrechez de Corazon" (which loosely translates to "narrowness of the heart") is the most unintentionally hilarious video I have seen in recent memory. The story that plays out is one of a couple finding love (AND ALSO FALLING INTO HARD TIMES) interspersed with the lead singer and the keyboard girl taking themselves very seriously. The shots of the young couple play out like some low-level performance art schlock which wouldn't be out of place in a poetry slam or the MCA or something while the shots of the band are questionable since the keyboardist was just a touring member of the band. Maybe her and the singer were banging and maybe he told the director "Hey it's ok if she does interpretive dancing during the parts of the song where she doesn't actually play the keyboard". Watch the video if you care, the highlights are the mating dance at 2:40 and Jorge Gonzalez's expression at the end of the video. I'd punch that guy if I saw him. It's like if New Order made a bunch of bad dance albums. What's that? They did?! Fuck.

wat

2008-02-22T13:05:00.003-06:00

This morning was not my morning.
The computer I was at earlier crashed. Twice.
I went to use the restroom and the door had been torn off. I went to a different restroom only to find it locked.

Since I see it every day, I am not impressed in the least by the Sears Tower anymore. In fact, it kinda sucks.

Cut my life into pieces.

no faygo

2008-01-14T13:45:00.002-06:00

I'm on an endless quest to to find variations on the "no homo" phenomenon. Some are obvious (no creepy, though I didn't come up with that one) but really the only one that has successfully caught on is "no faygo" in reference to ICP/juggalos. This was born in Daytona Beach the first day of This Is For You 2007. There is a store called "Down With The Clown Store" selling all sorts of ICP memorabilia ($100 hatchetman jerseys, magnets, action figures, etc) but much to our surprise and chagrin the person behind the counter was not a dead eyed emaciated young man with Coolio circa '95 hair nor was it a terribly overweight girl with MMFCL tattooed on her hands but rather a kind, gentle man in his 70s. Anyway: "I went to the juggalo store, no faygo."
"My friends like to paint our faces, no faygo."
"I have attended an event that we like to call 'The Gathering', no faygo."

What is it with me and juggalos anyway? I guess I am mystified as to how music so base, so droll and so BAD has brought together so many lower-class ('cause seriously, upwards of 95% of all juggalos are what is generally referred to as "white trash) misfits into a social movement devoted to rapping clowns...whose Faygo soaked dark carnival of magik was actually about how awesome Christianity is. Look it up.

Back in school, it's really cold.

It's been a while since I posted here. Here are pictures of me + friends:

I saw the Mr. Sabre pageant video this weekend at Aadeel's surprise b-day party (we both participated). The opening choreographed sequence is more impressive now that the years have passed. I look like a deer in headlights when I do the "casual wear"/introductions part which I hope is not how I am in front of others these days. Then again, when Brainwashed still was a band (last month, lawl) I got quite flustered in front of the audience. Not when I was singing, since I could lose myself in the moment but everytime there was no music. Also, goddamn was I skinny back then (although I didn't perceive myself as such at the time). I have to get back in shape. Fuck

armed with five mindz

2007-11-09T12:41:00.002-06:00

This is a picture of Have Heart playing in front of 20,000 people at a free festival in Colombia which also had more well-known acts such as Coheed & Cambria and Aterciopelados. Now, if you know me or have read Earth Sucks #1 you know how I feel about this band. Face it man: they take all of their influences, slow them down to create a BORING band. Yet , in spite of their beyond awful name, they have gotten to be the biggest band in hardcore and they're touring South America and...I have to say that's really really awesome. Party on, dudes.
I can't wait for the Weekend Nachos 2011 South America tour with special guests Brass Knuckle Solution and Defense.

While making myself some brunch (I never eat breakfast on days I don't go to school, not to mention my distaste for traditional breakfast fare/my proclivity to eat leftovers for breakfast whenever possible) I turned on the TV to keep me some company and some old Mexican telenovela was on. One of the actresses was Laisha Wilkins. Her confident, friendly demeanor is not readily conveyed in that photograph (which is almost 10 years old, around the time I watched her in my all-time favorite telenovela Soñadoras) but I must say that she is one of my very few bona-fide celebrity crushes. While looking her up on the interwebz I found out that her Soñadoras co-star Michelle Vieth was born in Marshalltown, Iowa. Does that mean that Miss big-time Mexican soap opera star parties down with those dudes in that one band that's from there? I mean, she DOES have a sex-tape. So what the fuck are you going to do, kid?

And in the world of me? I dunno, I need 13 credits to graduate. I've been lacking motivation in the school realm lately. I wish I was filthy rich.

lurkin

2007-10-28T18:44:00.002-05:00

Spotted in the far northwest suburbs:
one truck with the following bumper stickers: Suicidal Tendencies, Eyehategod, The Devil's Rejects, Chicago Bears.

oh and this too:

vaaaaaaahd-ka

2007-10-21T17:33:00.004-05:00

I watched a little bit of the Chicago Fire/LA Galaxy game today on my bed and fell asleep for ten minutes of it. It was because I was watching the English telecast, I was unaware that it was being shown in Spanish until I saw the Telefutura sign much much later into the game when I was just glancing at it while reading. I can't watch soccer (aka the real football) in English. The Bears are tied right now. I am such a jock.

This blog is starting to turn into a bad joke.

white slavery

2007-10-08T17:44:00.002-05:00

Today I almost got hit by a bus while I was riding my bike. I swerved away in time. I'll henceforth be more careful at that intersection (Grand/Halsted/Milwaukee).

BW

2007-09-11T20:49:00.003-05:00

What's the score? Will it rain?
Never have we felt real pain.

pretty good brain

2007-09-09T14:07:00.002-05:00

Why oh why have I lost my voice after the past two shows? It only happened once before that (at our first show) and I thought I had learned how to avoid that. I do not want to injure my vocal chords.
blah
blah
blah
first
world
problems

Len - Steal My Sunshine. great song

these are my only friends

2007-09-05T21:04:00.001-05:00

wie viel uhr ist esssssss

2007-09-05T20:30:00.002-05:00

I feel as if there's a huge weight on my chest that I cannot quite shake off except when I am sleeping. It's school; I can't help but think I'm going in the wrong direction and that this is not the path for me...but I've come so far and I may as well stick it out for two semesters and subsequently find out what's really out there for me. Wow, just typing that was therapeutic.
My 21st birthday came and went and I spent most of it by myself, organizing my room so that I no longer appear like the biggest slob in the planet Earth, mowing the lawn (and getting a tan in the process) and getting phone calls from relatives who live on the other side of the world and remember my existence only for my birthday and Christmas. Still haven't bought alcohol or gone to throw away 20 dollars at the riverboat casino. I've always been pretty apathetic about such things and don't see the intrinsic fun in them...at least when I am alone. Everyone is quite aware of my propensity for imbibing in cell-destroying behaviors in a party setting, particularly if ladies are around. It's the oldest trick in the book: drink away the timidity, throw caution to the wind and hope for the best. Per usual, it's my shyness that does me in. In my interviewing class there are 20 girls and 5 guys. We role-played both the role of client and therapist. I did an abysmal job as a therapist but that's not the point. When my half of the class was the client I chose to do the mock interview with another guy, which is fine but really does say something about me. I'M SCARED TO DEATH OF FEMALES.
At least there is still hardcore. Sure, I'll eventually tire of it but we're playing a cool show at Joey's, Floorpunch is reuniting for a benefit gig, I finally heard the Punch In The Face LP (it rules) and there's so much I have to say for Earth Sucks 2.

mini-maggit

2007-08-28T21:03:00.002-05:00

I counted 3 FBI: Female Body Inspector t-shirts on my first day back to school. Kyle Roth goes to UIC now. The girl that works at Pick Me Up is also a fellow student. Maybe I can suavely put the moves on her. I do care about things that aren't girls. Really. I hope that this semester will be challenging and lucrative.

:'(

2007-08-21T21:54:00.002-05:00

I always find myself wishing I appeared cooler to other people. I don't really know how to describe it but it involves having more "impressive" (read: artsier) myspace pictures with hipper versions of my friends as well as dating a procession of girls with dashing good looks. That sounds so fucking horrible and stupid and yet it's what I always want. Who am I trying to impress anyway? Most people think I'm rad enough and those that don't are usually not worth being around anyway. This is what happens when you have time to think. Moral: don't think.

"Live your life for you, you've got nothing but to lose"
"My own life, my own way"

so much easier in songs, dudes.

wuv

2007-08-19T21:43:00.002-05:00

On the Fung Wah bus ride from Boston to NYC I read my entire paper journal, which I have intermittently kept since September 2003. Most of it deals with girls. There is quite a bit of delusional psychobbable in there but I think I've progressed past believing girls I'd never met loved me or that a girl whom I hung out with twice and lived 300 miles away was the perfect girl for me simply because she kissed me and she liked Saetia...
but I haven't completely gotten over it. The original intent in my silly summer tour was not only to go to Naples on the same day as Weekend Nachos but also to meet a slightly airheaded, yet still apparently awesome (not to mention hot) Colombian girl I'd started to talk to thru my FLA connections.
She didn't even show. I put my blinders on and I should have known when she stopped responding to myspace messages and answering my calls.
I'll get mine someday. Until then I've learned another lesson, too bad I'm a slow learner.