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w1.2.2003 |
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I never really have the balls to do something like this. Seriously. I mean, I haven't been pulled over in several years, but next time I do, I'm really tempted to make up something utterly insane just to see what the guy says. In fact, I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've been doing normal, daily things and I think of things that I want to say, but I don't. Granted, the things I think of to say are just plain ridiculous, but I think I've found my new years resolution! I'm just going to come out and say more ridiculous things in public, just to see how people react. Don't look at it as me being obnoxious - look at it as a year-long sociological experiment. I will be studying human reaction this year. I will make up silly lies about what I do, who I see, where I go, etc etc. I will not lie directly to friends or family, but I reserve the right to lie in front of friends and family to also gauge their reaction.
Happy New Year! Dick Clark is a robot. Osama Bin Laden is a bartender in Cleveland. I have webbed feet. El Debarge is running the country.
posted by
Jeff at 2:53 PM
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w12.29.2002 |
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This website turns 1 this week. Hard to believe I've been blogging for a year.
It's been great having all this time off to be lazy and enjoy some holiday gifts, such as the following:
- Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live is one of those guilty pleasure books - not really anything educational, but certainly full of great juice and gossip about the show throughout its almost 30 year history. I blew through the 475-pager in under a week, wallowing in the petty, the drug-induced hazes, the backstabbing and the selfless and caring. It's very easy reading and a suitable intermission, as I am about to dive into Volume 2 of the Theodore Roosevelt bios.
- Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box (Totally) is a wickedly ridiculous 7-CD box set which wraps up most of the one-hit wonders of the 1980s into one excellent package, complete with one paragraph descriptors of each song and a full color, full-size 100 page booklet with news and essays about decade in which I grew up. It's just non-stop fun - campy, synth-laden, rock, early rap - the works. I took CD #1 to the gym this morning and I tell you what, working out is a lot different when you go from Devo's "Whip It" to the laughable "General Hospi-tale" rap to Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" ("Basketball" was a much better Blow song) to the delicious "Cars" by Gary Numan, and one of my favorite songs of the '80s - "Ah! Leah," by Donnie Iris. And I won't stop there - my time on the treadmill this morning also delved into "Keep On Loving You" by REO Speedwagon, "Call Me" by Blondie" and oh yeah, who could forget "I Love A Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbit. Remember the beat - snap snap snap snap.........cheesy, but oh what a guilty pleasure. I'm gonna go dial up 867-5309 now........
posted by
Jeff at 12:44 PM
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w12.24.2002 |
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There are certain pictures in your head, or moments that are not fluid memories - just snapshots stored in your brain. Then there are fluid memories - your first date, your first episode with beer, high school sports moments, when you actually remember saying things, doing things, laughing......moving. But nothing beats the memories of sheer innocence, bewilderment and the overwhelmingly giddy feeling of Christmas morning as a child. Sure, eventually everything changes - the meaning, the purpose, the things you need to get done, but Christmas as a child is a memory - both fluid and still - that is forever stamped into my brain. From the mundane and ridiculous - like a relative showing up one recent year in a "half-sweater," mid-riff fully out there for everyone to see, including a truly embarassing orange tan from the Tan-O-Rama or whatever; to the magical - always looking to my left at the Christmas dinner table to see my grandfather raise a glass to toast. Or when I woke up and walked out of bedroom to see the magnificent train-set sitting on the dinner table, undoubtedly assembled and made fully operational by my dad in the wee hours of the morning. And yeah, the one time when I was maybe 10 or 11, in the basement a few weeks before Christmas and I was looking for something and I found a few of what would be my Christmas presents.......sitting on top was a green Nerf football....and it registered. That's a snapshot memory - that green Nerf. All great memories, for one reason or another. Merry Christmas!
posted by
Jeff at 1:15 PM
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w12.22.2002 |
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I am now the owner of a digital camera. This site will now get way more interesting.........
posted by
Jeff at 11:28 AM
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w12.18.2002 |
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Well, I finally got around to seeing The Godfather for the first time in it's entirety. What an epic masterpiece this film was - that's probably not news to anyone, I suppose. Every main character gave an incredible performance, from Al Pacino's descent from a straight-edged student into the murky underworld to James Caan's brilliant portrayal of Sonny, the maniacal brute. There was just too much brilliance to soak up. Brando, of course, was just phenomenal. His presence in the movie was just monstrous, but two scenes stand out for me:
a) when his son Sonny is killed, there's a scene just after that when he asks for Tom (maybe the most underrated performance played by Robert Duvall) to put together a meeting of all the top family leaders and says quietly, "this war ends here." The subsequent scene showing that meeting of all the leaders is one of the best movie scenes I've seen in quite some time.
b) Towards the end, Brando, more or less retired, old, and reduced to a consultant, is frolicking in the backyard with his grandchild - an absolutly brilliant way to finish up Brando's role - a 180 degree turn.
I could go on and on, but I won't. I don't know why it took me so long to finally see it, though. Next up - Part II. Hopefully soon.
I feel like I should comment about Trent Lott. As you may know by now, he made some comments a couple of weeks back that our country would have been better off if Strom Thurmond was elected president in 1948, running on a segregation ticket. Obviously this was an utterly stupid thing to say. And Lott's record does have insinuations of racism - no doubting that. But I find it hard to believe that Lott made these comments with pure hatred or racism in mind. I mean, I want to assume he isn't stupid and would say such a thing in public like that with racism in mind. My gut feeling is that he was just trying to pay tribute to a retiring friend and was just too dumb to realize what he was saying, or didn't run the talk by any of his PR people. Either way, I hope they boot his ass out - he deserves it. Now, what angers me a little bit is people tying in George Bush as a racist. Warmonger? Perhaps. Stupid? Maybe. Articulate - most certainly not! But racist? I just don't buy that. He had a hand in naming Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell to very high positions in our government. I don't think the guy is racist. But I am looking forward to when he's NOT president anymore, that's for sure.
posted by
Jeff at 10:16 AM
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w12.13.2002 |
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Some random thoughts:
Pavement might very well be one of the more important bands of the 1990s, in my opinion. With that stellar string of incredible records during those ten years, we might look back on them 20 years down the road the same way a lot of current bands look back on Big Star and The Replacements - and with any luck, we'll look back on Britney Spears as the Bay City Rollers of the 90s. That might be too cruel a statement for the Bay City Rollers, actually.
I've finally amassed all of The Godfather DVD's via Netflix and I am preparing for a marathon at some point soon. As much of a pop culture junkie as I am, I've never seen these movies in their entirety. Naturally, I am more excited than high school kid at a college party
I am at the point of no return with my obsession lately with Theodore Roosevelt. I can't put down the book, and I am already planning a trip to Sagamore Hill on Long Island next spring or summer. That's where he lived and more or less ran the country from 1901-1909. It's such a powerful book that I am trying to incorporate some of his personalities and strategies in the way I live and work.
At one point in my life, I loved the song "Head To Toe" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. No lie.
I really wouldn't mind moving somewhere in the middle of nowhere for a while. Maybe for a year or something. I'm thinking if I had the choice, it would be Missoula, Montana. I've been there before and it is beautiful. Very chill. They don't call it Big Sky country for nothing. Of course, I would need a satellite dish to keep up on the Red Sox.
I saw Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Sommers on the Hollywood Squares the other night. I thought that both of them were dead, to be honest. I think that The Match Game could very well have been the funniest game show ever created. And even though those two were campy, they were still good for a chuckle on that show. On Hollywood Squares, they look, applicably, 25 years older. In fact, they both look like they're already dead. I'll never forget The Match Game episode when the host, the great Gene Rayburn, whom I KNOW is dead, meant to say "doesn't she have nice dimples," about a new female contestant, but instead it came out "doesn't she have nice nipples?"
posted by
Jeff at 3:57 PM
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w12.10.2002 |
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It's the time of the year again for Christmas parties! Whoo-hoo! Since I'm a pretty high-roller, I get to go to a hell of a lot of Christmas parties around the country. This year has been no different. I went to one in Los Angeles last week and it was packed to the gills with superstars of the big screen, television, etc. Crawling with celebrities, I say! And, oh, let me tell you - it got out of hand YO! At one point, Gwenyth Paltrow was doing keg stands with Nipsey Russell and I saw Simon from American Idol making out with The Bachelor, Aaron Buerge. I guess his engagement didn't last long, huh?
Anyway, as the night went on I was getting a little more intoxicated and got obsessed, for some weird reason, with some paper finger puppets, then I found Jackie Chan and I was all like "Chan-dude, you are wasted!" I had to pull him away from a drinking game he was playing with Long Duck Dong from "Sixteen Candles" and I yelled to him, "this is insane, my friend, but let me ride on your shoulders!" He was like "uh, hokay" and luckily, someone was there to take a snapshot, otherwise this historic moment would've fallen by the wayside (or you wouldn't have believed me). But it happened.
posted by
Jeff at 5:10 PM
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w12.9.2002 |
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A few recent entertainment tidbits:
1. Empire Falls was certainly one of the better books I have read this year. I managed to get through quite a few more books this year than usual, too. Anyway, Empire Falls is simply great reading for anyone, young or old. Featuring a dizzying array of storylines and characters, and an author who seems to be able to paint a picture with words, the story jumps from storyline to storyline by chapter, but manages to nicely tie most of it together and not confuse the reader. Just a great story about life in a blue-collar Maine town. I found myself trying to cast the movie while I was reading it.
2. I am in the process, however, of reading what might be my favorite and the most interesting book I have ever read, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. Written in what I assume was painstaking detail, Edmund Morris's 800 page masterpiece is actually just the first of THREE volumes on this absolutly incredible man. This particular volume covers his biography up until he became President. Roosevelt seemed to have the drive of 10 men and was able to defy any and all odds no matter what he encountered, from his time spent as a ranchman in the Dakotas to his various positions in the New York governing body to his many trips overseas, and oh yeah, to the 38 books he authored! It is so captivating that I read 275 pages this weekend alone. Just reading his exploits makes me feel like such a do-nothing (and I'm not). Anyway, the second volume is now out (called "Theodore Rex") and covers the Roosevelt presidency. I can't wait to finish this first one so I can jump headlong right into the next volume. A very powerful, moving, epic biography, and incredibly educational.
Last weekend we saw the movie Igby Goes Down, which is going to be my favorite film of the year, hands down. When I heard that Kieran Culkin was the lead in this, I was naturally skeptical, but damn this kid can kick his brother's ass easily. What a film. Essentially it's about a spoiled 16 year old who has nowhere to turn when his mother (whom he detests anyway) falls ill with cancer. A story told with much sadness and a lot of humor ensues, and includes a steller cast consisting of Claire Danes (I love her), Jeff Goldblum, Susan Sarandon, Ryan Phillippe and Amanda Peet. Do not miss it.
posted by
Jeff at 11:08 AM
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w12.6.2002 |
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Boston received it's first real snowfall of the season over the last couple of days. While we only got around 4 inches, apparantly as much as 10 inches feel in the suburbs. My question is this: will they ever invent an automobile that when you open your door to get in the car, extraordinary amounts of snow don't fall into the driver's seat? It's enough of a task to have to clean the car off and scrape the windshield, so why do I also have to clean off the driver's side seat, dammit? I guess it's either that or have a wet ass for a couple of hours. Either option sucks, frankly.
So I am driving back from the gym this morning and I see this guy walking down the street in the snowfall, and he's got one of those little red wagons, you know the ones that 2 year old kids love to ride in? Yeah, one of those. Anyway, he's walking along and inside the wagon is one of those cat carriers, the small tupperware-type box with the grate in the front and the little door that swings open. On the side it actually says "Pet Taxi" in big letters with a cartoon picture of a cat. So was this guy actually out for a morning stroll walking his cat in a cat carrier? In a child's red wagon? Oh how I wish I had a digital camera to take a picture of that because I know it sounds like I am making it up. But I am not. Unreal. I love life.
posted by
Jeff at 11:08 AM
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w12.2.2002 |
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Well, hello! Have you ever walked into a record store and something was playing on the stereo and it sounded so firggin' good that you had to ask the person working what was playing and then buy the album right away? This has happened twice in my lifetime, both times at a record store called The Quonset Hut in some small town near Cleveland, Ohio when I was college. The two albums:
1)Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque: when I walked into the store there was a song called "December" playing, and to this day it remains one of my favorite songs by this band, and Bandwagonesque remains one of my favorite albums of the 1990s. I remember reading that year that Spin magazine labeled Bandwagonesque their #1 album of the year. Teenage Fanclub don't just wear their Big Star influence on their sleeves, they wear it as a suit of armor. Think of them as Scotland's version of Big Star - sprawling harmonies laid over blissful and catchy music - simply a must-have album. I was 21 when it came out, and about two weeks later, we saw they were playing in Cleveland at a club called "The Empire" (now closed) and after just two weeks of listening to this record, we were psyched to see them live. So off we go to my very first club show and it was a dandy. Teenage Fanclub were just great live. By the way, we saw the opening band and thought they were really good, too, although I remember by friend telling me he liked them but they seemed to be an "REM knockoff." Little did we know it was Uncle Tupelo, who turned out to be one of my favorite bands of the 1990s, also.
2. Dramarama, Vinyl: when I walked into the store it was a song called "What Are We Gonna Do?" that was playing and I found out it was Dramarama, a band I had never heard of but liked instantly. Originally from New Jersey, this was their 3rd or 4th album, and they previously had some sizable success on the west coast because the big station in Los Angeles, I believe it's KROQ or something, got a hold of a couple of thier songs in '86 and '87. Anyway, "Vinyl" was really quite an album, I thought, mixing modern rock and classic rock so well, with really great lyrics and a singer who has one of those distinctive voices that you just know immeadiately when you hear it because it's so......different. His name is John Easdale, and I always thought if anyone should hit it big, it should have been him. He's put out a solo album or two since Dramarama broke up, and he still does some great stuff.
Anyway, two great albums by two great bands if you're looking to take a chance on something.
posted by
Jeff at 10:01 AM
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posted by Jeff Copetas
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