Alright, alright. You're right. I haven't been writing enough lately. Sorry. I'm just commuting too much and too tired. I'll do better. I promise. Just don't stop reading (or thinkin' about tomorrow, if you're so inclined).
Film's I've seen in the last three days: "Tadpole" (excellent), "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (Wilcofilm)" (not as good as I had hoped), "Me Without You" (great Anglophile stuff). I've been commuting to Manhattan for a few days to work on a project at Mt. Sinai. Now I'm very tired. I sleep...
Dennis reports: Help is on the way though, a new Krispy Kreme opened in the Loop last Friday. Salvation is here.
When I lived in Atlanta, Krispy Kremes were everywhere and nobody went nutso over them. Here, though, they're like this weird urban cult. There are six of them in Manhattan and they're always over-run. Also, people speak of them only with great awe in their voice. There's one in Penn Station. My boss has season tickets to the Knicks (who play in Madison Square Garden, above Penn Station) and brings a box to the office after games. People get here EARLY for them. Huh?
for these signs. Mind control is not a laughing matter.
So last night I'm watching the late, great Greg The Bunny on Fox. Later I'm watching "Dinner for Five" on IFC. I decide that I love me that foul-mouthed Sarah Silverman who was on both shows. You know her. She was on SNL for a little while. She smart, she's funny, she's cute. I'm hooked. This afternoon I find out that she's playing 12(!) nights at a tiny little club on Bleeker. Two minutes later I have my ticket for August 17th. You can't do that in say, uh, Atlanta (or Wyoming...) can ya?!
I read a few other blogs and a few lists. Occasionally I'll use them for catalysts as to what I talk about here. Occasionally I'll find things that I can't improve on. Read this {click}, okay. It's a user review of the aforementioned Gillian Welch album. Pretentious at points but not overstating, IMHO. Also a few factual errors but I'm just nit-picky.
So. I foolishly looked at that Dunkin' Donuts site I linked below. Fuk. There are 13 grams of fat in the REDUCED FAT BLUEBERRY MUFFIN!!! The fine, fine Indian folks when I buy mine (about once a week) call it the FAT FREE Blueberry Muffin which always made me laugh because it's clearly not. It's also not reduced. Crap. Special K here I come...
So I got a two-dollar bill as change from my lovely Dunkin' Donuts coffee on Friday morning. For those of you who don't live in the Northeast (which would be, well, all of you) we're infested with Dunkin' freakin' Donuts. I just looked in the phone book. There are seven in Stamford. Anyway, I digress... The two-dollar bill was minted in 1995 which I thought was really odd. I thought they stopped making these things in the '70s. Nope. Check it out {click}. They actually still circulate them. Who knew?
Wow. Rents really are coming down in Manhattan. I could get this {click} and actually save money because I'd sell my car. If you haven't been subject to my ramblings on such matters, I want to live in Manhattan by the time I'm 35. I've got about 2.5 years. Fuk. I'm old.
I know everyone has been eagerly awaiting details of my girl bag. Well it came today. A small family could live in it. When I put it in my lap it looks like a billboard. It's going back. The smaller one I'm exchanging it for is called the Pee Wee. Yes, that's right. The Pee Wee. Got a problem with it?!
I got scolded at work today. One of my bosses, Gerry, asked me to spend less time talking to my cow-orker Jonathan. The funny thing is that I don't spend too much time talking to him. I stick my head in his cube like twice a day. Everybody else spends exponentially more time with him than I do. It was surreal:
G - I need you to spend less time in Jonathan's cube.
M - Huh? I don't spend very much time there at all.
G - Yes, you do.
M - Really?
G - Yeah. And I know how Jonathan is. If you interrupt him it takes him forever to get back on task. I know you two get along exceptionally well but I really need him to stay focused. Ann has told me that I (meaning himself) have to do the same sometimes.
I felt like one of Gerry's kids. HA! Gerry's kids. Just got that. Anyhow, I'm dwelling on it because, well, that's what I do. The punchline is that if I ever go over there and Jonathan is concentrating on code I go away immediately. Dumb.
You didn't want to know. But I wanted to share. So there...
Erika asked... Too tired or were you watching American Idol too?
No. No! NO! While I was completely addicted to Cara on Real World - Chicago this winter, I'm refusing to watch any of the current crop. Somebody fill me in. What's the thing about? They're looking for the next Brittney or something? Anybody watching this "Meet My Parents" deally? A cow-orker is watching "Big Brother" and says it's pretty good this time around.
Will someone please explain Avril Lavigne to me? I heard that "Complicated" song in one of the rare moments that I was listening to commercial radio and liked it a lot in that throw-away sort of fashion. My cow-orkers laughed at me because apparently that song's omnipresent? Who knew? But what's the deal? She's like a 16 year-old skater chick? Eek!
a crazy psycho freak.
Okay. Okay. Two of you have expressed similar concerns. While I'm not too concerned (this page won't show up in a Google type search) I'm going to heed your advice. Names will now be omitted to protect the guilty. We all still know who I'm talking about :-)
Most of you probably know me to be an unapologetic Anglophile. Their love for cover bands, especially in the last couple of years, is a bit much though. Check [this] out. Does the world really need a Madness cover band? How about Simply Red? And Lulu? I'm sure you could get Status Quo to play your next party for the same price as the cleverly named Status Quid.
Photo deleted because it makin' everything go wacky.
Reading - Still Motherless Brooklyn and Gotham. Been spending too much time working on some stupid blog.
Listening - Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator). I didn't mention that I went to see her last weekend. Ever since I haven't been able to stop listening to this amazing album.
Faith Kleppinger - Asleep in the Well. Can I pimp my friend Faith's record for a minute. Of course I can. It's my blog. I love it. It's powerful and understated with great songwriting. You'd love it, too. So buy it here. And no, Faith, I'm not sucking up :-)
Watching- One of my geeky cow-orkers gave me the DVD of "Free Enterprise" so I'll watch it tonight. Anybody ever seen this? Tiff? I have a feeling I'll be scared.
Okay. How long should things stay here before they go to archives? Are ya sick of looking at them after a week? Two weeks? Chime in...
I just spent over $100 on a customized messenger bag {click}. I use one whenever I trek through the city. This one gets great reviews, it has a lifetime warranty and they can do a bunch of customizations to it to make it sit in my lap easier (not like a big pile of "stuff".) That said, I think I'm turning into a girl.
Any like-minded cats see "The Wire" tonight? While I can't follow the show at all (does it make sense and I just have ADD?), Steve Earle is in the next three episodes playing a drug addict turned counselor. Tonight he told a rehab group the story of his "character." When he said "and I sold my National Steel guitar" I knew it was really his story. It was kinda chilling.
I'll be the first to admit that I love "Sex and the City" more than any straight man should. I've always attributed it to the fact that I've had a serious obsession with Sarah Jessica Parker ever since "Square Pegs." I also just think that it's really well written. Tonight's couldn't have been more perfect for the mood that I've been in as of late. For those of you who are HBO challenged, Carrie was extolling the virtues of being single in New York. She had a great line about New York having so many opportunities for single people to do things by themselves - go to movies, museums, restaurants... It really is amazing. So many people do things by themselves. Including, of course, yours truly. I'm still trying to figure out if so many people doing things solo helps people meet others who are also solo or if it's a vicious circle. All I know, is that when I get down because I don't have too many people to do things with I need to remember that a lot of people are in the same boat.
That doesn't mean that all of you aren't obligated to come visit...
So I went to see "Road to Perdition" this afternoon. My review -- eh... That's it. Just "eh."
Okay. Okay. I'll give you more. I was looking forward to seeing this. I'd read a lot of good reviews and, considering the other dreck that's out now, thought it would be a good Sunday afternoon time-waster. Tom Hanks supposedly finally plays a bad guy. Well, he's sorta what Julia Robert's character in "Pretty Woman" was to prostitutes. He's the gangster with heart of gold. Jude Law plays the real bad guy. You can tell this because his teeth are very British. Think Pogues here, folks. Paul Newman is brilliant in his role as Hanks mentor and father-figure. I just found the whole thing to be very, very predictable and very unevenly paced. The kid who played Hanks son is horrific. Casting a "new-comer" in such a critical role is somewhat bizarre to me.
The first thing you'll notice about the unidentified Midwestern town where Hanks plies his trade is that it's always dark. Dark and wet. Makes for good cinematography, I guess. In one scene there's both snow (several inches of it perfectly frigid on the ground) and a torrential downpour. This scene was obviously very important. Rain, snow and darkness. Heavy drama. There's also an excess of heavy-handed metaphoric content, the least of which isn't the title. Perdition, it so happens, is the Illinois town were Hanks and his son end up after their journey on the lam. Ooh... That's clever.
Anyway, if you want a gangster film that's engaging and pretty to look at rent "Miller's Crossing."
Comments are fixed. No more babbling. It's also now VERY quick. So get writin', would ya?
when somebody puts something up that's really not ready and then makes you suffer through reading his mindless drivel while he works on it? Yeah? Me too. Okay. The comments are almost under control. We'll be beta testing this FTP process for comments. It's pretty slick but I'm having a hard time figuring out some pathing issues. End of geek-speak again. So, if you have comments, send me an e-mail. Yeah, yeah. The e-mail link disappeared from the right margin. Use this
Listening to lots of Cowboy Junkies tonight. I suddenly am obsessed with "A Common Disaster." I think I feel a certain kinship with it. If Audrey won't have me perhaps Margo will. Yeah, yeah. Her husband's in the band. Whatever.
lol! Three of you have already asked if the Tiffany who's made a couple of comments is my psycho sister-in-law. Good gawd, no!!! Tiffany is one of my oldest friends. We went to high school together. Or at least that's the story I'm choosing to share :-)
So I made it to Da Stadium and back. I was half right, I got lost. VERY lost on the way there. I have no idea what I did. All I know as that all of a sudden I was on the Henry Hudson Parkway heading into Manhattan. For the uninitiated, that's not the right way to the Bronx... So I had to go back and forth on the George Washington Bridge. Wait. That sounds dangerous and wacky. I mean I had to cross it, turn around and come back.
I used to complain that Atlanta baseball fans were way too mellow. Well, there needs to be a happy medium. I had a really, really good seat - about 20 rows up behind home plate. Even though they were good, um, I'm quite sure that the players couldn't hear you no matter how loud you screamed. Well, the people next to me thought otherwise. They kept yelling "Jeeeeta! Jeeeeta! Your number one fan is here! Jeeeeta! Over hear Jeeeta!" followed by "He looked! He looked! He nodded at me! Jeeeeta!" Argh. It was good game and, of course, my Tigers lost.
Yankee Stadium may be historic but it's a dump. I'm going back in September if there's not a strike
Umm... While I'll try to keep this blog PG-13, I had to share this. I don't even know what to say
Nature never ceases to amaze. While it's certainly fascinating that a gigantic flower emits an odor to mimic rotting flesh, I'm not stupid enough to stand in line for hours to smell it. {click} if you dare...
So I'm taking the day off work tomorrow to do the most New York of New York things, go to Yankee Stadium. I'm gonna get lost. I'm driving to The Bronx. It's inevitable. They're playing Detroit and I'm going to wear a Tigers cap. So, to review, I'm gonna get lost in the Bronx and I'm gonna get my ass kicked. How's that for a fun day?
What the hell's going on in Philly, kids? I won't talk much about sports here (I'll have a separate geekly baseball stathead page soon) but I can't pass this one up. Allen Iverson goes wavin' a gun around and throwing his wife out of their mansion butt-nekkid and he's being unfairly accused? If anything's unfair it's that he sat in a separate holding cell for ten hours yesterday "for his own safety." Yeah, he seems concerned about the public welfare, too, doesn't he? What's the worst is that this incident (which admittedly is much ado about nothing) will help him in the long run. It fits in with the gangsta image that he's trying to portray. Thoughts? comments
Just about got it. Have to tweak an ASP script and then I think I'll be in good shape. It pays to work with uber-geeks.
Do you think Audrey Tautou would marry me if I asked really nicely? Seriously. No, really. I'm serious. My cow-orker Jonathan pegged it today - she's got a bit of that goth thing I love so. [look] and [look] She makes me want to learn to speak French. Maybe I'll do that...
Speaking of which, the DVD of "Amelie" or, if you will, "Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" says that it's in Parisian French. Somebody help me out here. What's the difference?
I never knew that I had so many old (and I don't mean long-time) friends who can't read normal size fonts. Sheesh. There. You're empowered. Use the bits in the currently underdeveloped margin.
Meredith sent me feedback. I like feedback! She says..
"Maybe you should make a disclaimer that this is purely for entertainment value and not because you are cyber-stalking her"
Good point, Meredith! I'm not cyber-stalking Maureen. I just look about from time-to-time to cement my reality. Prove to myself that I'm right, nutso. What that says about me I'm not sure.
Hi. I'm a music snob.
Then again, if you're reading this you probably already know this and probably have already accused me of such. Even as a snob I own 23 of these albums. How many do you own? If you can guess the 23 I own you win something. Maybe a vacation because you clearly need one. [check it out]
What kind of a world do we live in when Soft Cell is appearing on The Today Show? That oughta upset somebody's coffee. {click}
I'll do this every Monday. Not that anybody gives a ratz ass...
Reading - Gotham [review]
Motherless Brooklyn [review]
Watching - Royal Tenenbaums - If David Lynch and Preston Sturges mated I'd be scared. We'd also end up with Wes Anderson. [website]
Listening - David Bowie - Heathen [bowie.com]
The Essential Guy Clark
Wow. I watched the debut of Donahue's new show. He's obviously trying to be the liberal answer to Bill O'Reilly. Way overboard, even more so than he used to be on his old show. In fact, he out obnoxioused (yes, I KNOW that's not a word) his first guest, Pat Buchanan. Buchanan was laughing at Phil. Ouch. Just what we need. Somebody else to give liberalism a bad name. We're getting over that Dukakis in the tank bit.
While I'm thinking about it, how is Buchanan getting away without commenting on the recent thought that he's Deep Throat? [story here]
I mean, Woodward and Bradlee (publisher of the Washington Post) respond to their conclusions by saying: "We will greet that with silence," Woodward said. "And great awe," Bradlee added with a chuckle. Talk about a non-denial.
![[look]](http://www.geocities.com/audreytautou2/pictures/002.jpg){kind=link}
![[look]](http://www.geocities.com/audreytautou2/pictures/029.jpg){kind=link}