Ron Paul for President?

In addition to his ubiquitous web presence, an interesting conversation with my brother and Dad has sparked my interest in Dr. and Congressman Ron Paul. Could this be the leader our country so desperately needs? Could this be the leader I'm looking for? The opening clip below gave me chills (I'm not sure if it's the defaulted first video--hopefully it is). I have a lot of homework to do on Clinton, Obama, Romney, and now, Ron Paul:

Travels: Randomness to the East

The grass is always greener—an overused cliché, but a valid one nonetheless. I tend to seek new beginnings as a way to combat complacency; I entertain ideas of moving to random places, looking for the perfect spot—seeking an area that fits. My trip to the East Coast opened my eyes to the fact that I'm proud to be a West Coast kid: I'm proud to have been raised in sunny California; I love being from a place that leads the world in innovation, ideas & action, and, of course, film & art (having lived abroad, the level of influence that California has—with regards to art and entertainment—is insane); I love being from a place that values good health, good sushi, and good coffee.

More on grass chat some other day.

A quick side: It's not easy to maintain a blog. There is a ton I want to write about, but finding the time/setting is tough. I'm one of the people who needs a comfortable setting to write: dim lighting, no surrounding chaos, etc. To those who care, hang in there.

I've decided to suspend the beginning-middle-end writing rule—such posts are becoming a bit daunting and trite. Randomness is much more efficient and fun. Let's try:

More NYC/Maryland pictures (taken from my brother's camera) will be posted soon.

I wonder if I still have any readers? I use to have thousands.

I think I am going to start a screenplay; I think I've been saying that for years. I think I'm serious this time. You can't quit if you haven't started.

My brother passed along a good article on making the perfect cup of coffee—Thanks Ry.

If this happens I would cry—seriously.

Is it weird that I love using the emdash (—)? I use it way too much, but I can't help it—I love it. It's almost as good as the colon and semicolon. Sometimes I convince myself that I use these 3 tools correctly.

I think it's time to go.

Coop

Widget Update: Goodreads

I just wanted to point out the launch of Goodread's new Flash widgets on the right-hand sidebar of my blog. Now you have interactive access to my digital bookselves: Favorites, Currently Reading, Read, and Soon to Read. While I haven't written many reviews yet, clicking on each book will take you to its location within my online Goodreads profile. This is a great website for those interesting in all-things literature. Enjoy!

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Blake N. Cooper (Blog; RSS Feed; Twitter; Facebook)

Vancouver, B.C. Trip

It won't go down as one of my favorite trips, but there is definitely no question Vancouver is a beautiful city. Traveling out of the country on a holiday weekend was not the best idea: the border crossing was horrific. A relatively quick two and half hour trip slowly turned into a four and half hour headache; I think I'll chalk this up as a rookie traveling mistake.

Bike rides into and out of Stanley Park with Emilia; walks along the promenade; Robson street's European-style oasis (tons of shoe shops, banana and Nutella crepes, Zara, seemingly everyone speaking a different language); late night drinks in the lobby—not bad for a one day vacation.