Death and Dream entered a bar...

     Friday night was the 5th annual Sandman's ball at the Cat Club in SOMA in San Francisco. A night themed for the amazing comic book from Neil Gaiman, I had been waiting excitedly for months to attend this celebration of my favorite comic book from my teen years. I recruited a few friends to accompany me on my night of frolicking, and it was a grand experience that was well worth the wait.

     The bar was themed with sandman paraphernalia strewn across the walls, with many people showing up in some form of Sandman T-shirts, costumes of the characters in the comics or a very gothic tone. The series always maintained a dark edge, and the lights throughout the club set the mood for the night. The front room of the club had a "dream" vibe, with very ethereal and psychedelic vibe that was very calming. The back room was the "death" room, which which played a much heavier style that appealed to my senses and was my station for most of the night. The dance floors in both rooms writhed with a variety of different types of dancers, and the mood in the building truly felt like a chaotic celebration of people with a common interest enjoying good music and good times together.

      I look forward to more events to come at the Cat club, and for anyone who loves a themed music night in a great atmosphere, this would be the best place in town! 

It's just a fantasy.....

      This year, for the first time, I joined a fantasy football league (and now a fantasy hockey league!). It has always felt to me that Fantasy Football was just a way to enjoy games that people wouldn't normally enjoy otherwise. While there is some small truth to that for me; I have ALWAYS loved football and watched as many games as I could. Not CFL or anything.... I guess the NFL and College are all I am familiar enough with to enjoy.

     It just seems funny to me that (as a society) we have to add layers of enjoyment to things to keep the attention of the (largely) ADD masses. Enjoying things for the basic sake of the event is SO passe. Even sports stadiums have to have other interests to keep us interested - nevermind that we are all linked to playthings like phones and tablets and video games. It is almost humorous to see someone at a grocery store just standing in line or.... reading a magazine! (That's why they are at the front; young people). Such passive enjoyment seems naive almost....

     I don't want to come across as that old guy who rails about how "in my day, we were THANKFUL". There is no better time to be alive in history than right now. My worry is that this "always on" mentality wears us down and leads us to never be able to enjoy. It's another symptom in the illness that plagues so many - the inability to be happy in the moment. We are smarter and more entertwined than EVER; but generally, happiness is unsettling for many - a lost island. In some way, u=it seems many have already become slaves to their machines.....