Pick your brain

Adam came home from Switzerland for the summer. I was ecstatic to see him, since I haven't seen him since Christmas. My parents and he came out yesterday and we went out to dinner at Nakama. For you Pittsburgers who enjoy fine sushi, theirs is awesome! If you like your food actually warmed and cooked, they have hibachi grills where they cook in front of you as well. There’s a little bit for everyone!
Today we went to the Cheesecake factory- more aesthetics than fine food, but it was still abundant and tasty. While waiting on our food to arrive, we killed some time by mapping out a hiking route and solving some brainteasers. Here's one:

As a form of torturous death, a central American native tribe buries its captives in the sand with only their heads exposed. They die an unpleasant death in the heat. Upon capturing four intruders, "Bob", a restless native decided to present his victims with a puzzler. If they solve it, then they may go free. Bob buries all four in the sand, with only their heads exposed. Three, he places on one side of a large wall, and one he places on the opposite wall. The three on the same side are buried facing the wall, one behind the other, all in the same direction. He has four hats, two white, and two black. He places one hat on each head of his Easter Island imitators. He tells them that without talking, motioning, or using any other form of communication, they must tell him, with absolute certainty, what color hat he or she is wearing.
After five minutes, one of the talking heads pipes up and declares the color of his hat. He is correct and they are all free.

How does he know the color of his hat?

A few disclaimers:
The wall does NOT have any windows, it is not transparent, and they cannot see over/around it

No one can see his or her own hat; It is too small. Lets pretend its a yamica.

If you know the answer, post it, I'll let you know sooner or later how the hat color is determined.

Art School Fashion

I took a step back and looked at the general appearance of people that I go to school with. I'm not going to judge personality on appearance, I'm merely observing.
A large portion of the students at the Art Institute dress in an "unconventional" manner. This includes(but is not limited to) wearing all black, chains, fishnets, bright noticable hair colors, daily hair colors, mohawks, abundance of dark eyeliner, tattoos, lip, nose, and "other" piercings. My favorites included a guy with long dreds and a nose piercing which looks like a stick sharpened on both ends, running thru the center of his nose. My typography professor has brown hair with highlights of blue in the front. It is very tastefully done, and is inspiring me to dye my hair again...if only it weren't for my job. My drawing instructor used to wear hawaiian shirts on a daily basis. Whereas this is not "unconventional" the school asked him to dress in a different manner. Now he wears funky bright colored striped shirts.
Another girl in one of my classes has either has a tattoo or hand drawn artwork next to her one eye. It consists of a few spirals that follow the contour of her cheek and eye. It wasn't as elaborate as my halloween facial decor, however it is again, very appealing.
One thing I've noticed about the dress, however, is that where most of the students dress in this way to be "different", a lot of them look the same. I see a lot of red, blue, and green hair. Yes, to the outside world, this is unique. However they're all trying to be different in the same way. People try to stand out and end up looking the same. Ok, so maybe you have blue hair, AND a mohawk, you're one up on the kid in a skull and crossbones t-shirt. If people really want to be different, wear clothes like your grandmother does, don't wear clothes, or don't shop at Hot Topic. Trying to be unique means thinking for yourself and not buying what stores promote towards a million other shoppers. Fishnets- you can get them anywhere. Those screen printed shirts with whitty one liners- hey, they're mass produced. Make your own shirt, sew your own pants/skirt, and please stop wearing black!! Wear flouresecnt purple if you're really trying to stand out.
For those of you who wear those previous stated clothing items NOT to be different, but because you enjoy dressing in that manner, I mean no offense.

They Might Be Midgets

Rachele and I just got back from seeing They Might Be Giants. They played a sold out show at Mr. Smalls Theater in Millvale. There was a rather diverse crowd; young 'uns and people older than my parents rocking out to the Johns.
Check out the linke below- they played this song twice. Once during the show and once during their second oncor.

A little tribute to Mr. Smalls, click on "Pittsburgh"

Musica

Alright, I have quite a list of concerts to see this summer. My schedule should allow for them, as long as my funds last. Ok, here's a list of concerts in the Pittsburgh/Cleveland area that I'd like to see. If you'd like to attend, please let me know.


~Twilight Singers http://www.thetwilightsingers.com/
May 24th Cleveland - The Grog Shop
The Twilight Singers have a rather mellow sound, something that I can fall asleep to easily. If you want something a little more upbeat, listen to the Afghan Whigs. The frontman, Greg Dulli headed this band before the Twilight Singers.
Albums to listen to:
"Twilight" and "Blackberry Belle" are good albums. I haven't heard their new one- "Powder Burns", but I'm itching to get it.
For the Afghan Whigs- "1965" and "Blacklove" are both good.

~Ani http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/index.asp
June 16th Pittsburgh - Rex Theatre
I don't know where to start. Ani has so may albums out and so many good songs, I haven't listened to them all yet. It took me a while to actually listen to Ani. Ben will vouch for this. He tried for years to get me to listen to her. All it took was a few months with his brother, and I was hooked. What do I reccomend? A little of everything. The album that got me really into her was "Little Plastic Castle". "Living in Clip" and "The First Album" became favorites shortly after.

~Clarks http://www.clarksonline.com/
June 24th Chevrolet Amphitheatre
I believe that they're recording this show live. A local favorite, The Clarks aren't a big name band. They have more of a pop sound than I usually like, however something about them works well.
Songs I reccomend:
"Better Off Without You" It's great to listen to after breakups. "Penny on the Floor", "Caroline", and "Apartment Song" are good as well.

~Guster http://www.guster.com/
August 6th Chevrolet Amphitheatre
I'm going to trust the expertiese of Dave and see them in concert. I'm not an avid Guster fan, but all their songs that I've heard, I enjoy. Their album "Lost and Gone Forever" hasn't gotten old yet, and I've been listenint to it failry consistantly for over a year now.

~Tom Petty http://www.tompetty.com/
August 16th- This is going off of Kristin. I haven't found a location yet.
Um, if you don't know who Tom Petty is, I'm not going to waste my time explaining who he is. moron.
I think Trey Anastasio might be opening for him. Awesome!