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w2.25.2003 |
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Talk about yer long days - I left my house at 9:30am yesterday for my trip to San Francisco. It was clear and cool in Boston, but nice, clear blue skies. I had a layover in Chicago and during the flight, the pilot comes on and says "Weather in Chicago is partly cloudy, good visibility." Fifteen minutes before we land, he comes on and says, "It's snowing in Chicago, very limited visibility." Wonderful. We made it in, of course, but landing and taking off in snow - not my idea of a good time. Onward to San Francisco! The sun! The warmth! The blue skies! No, no and no. Try rain. A driving rain. A windy, driving rain. Thank god we were in a 767, which is a bull of a plane! Pretty awesome piece of machinery. Anyway, landed in San Fran at 9pm EST. Long day.....
However, I must comment that whoever got Al Pacino to appear in the movie Simone deserves an Academy Award for "Best Snow Job." I mean, did Pacino even read the script for this pathetic piece of garbage? If he did, did he really say "Oh hell, I've GOT to do this one! It's brilliant!" And if he did read the script, maybe he should get the "Lifetime Achievment Academy Award For Being A Complete Dumb-Ass." Suffice it to say, you have no need - ever - to rent or see this film. An utter, colossal waste of time.
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w2.21.2003 |
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See this picture? I took this picture last night in front of the nightclub where I saw a fantastic show. More on that in a minute. Anyway, this picture is a very accurate rendition of how I feel right now. This is probably the worst time of year here in Boston - the snow is ugly, it's still cold out, it's dirty and everything sucks. Thankfully, it's starting to stay light outside a little longer, spring training has started (a mental victory for us up here) and we're hitting the homestretch of winter. Plus I'll be in California all next week, which will be a nice respite.
Anyway, last night I saw a great double bill - first up were Jay Bennett & Ed Burch - I do not need to go into how great their recent album was, as I've waxed poetic about it before. Last night they played an acoustic show and were, as usual, excellent. Edward Burch is just superb to watch. Great singer, great player. After they were done, Tim Easton and his band stepped up to the mic and for the next hour and a half, spit out one of the best shows I've seen for quite some time. Reminded me of Crazy Horse in their prime at times. I took some pics, and you can see 'em here.
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w2.20.2003 |
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That regular guy, everyman, troubadour named Bruce Springsteen has some very interesting demands for himself and the band while they're on tour. Someone likes Fresca. Remember, Bruce is one of us. Also remember: he might have released a (brilliant) album in tribute to September 11, but let's go back a year before that, when he wrote a song that completely degraded and tore apart the New York Police department. Hmmmm. Courtesy of The Smoking Gun, one of my favorite recently-discovered websites. Oh, by the way, despite my snotty rant about Bruce, I do think his music is unstoppable. Darkness On The Edge Of Town is undoubtedly one of the best albums of the '70s.
I'm on a nasty, nasty gum drop bender right now. Oh, the red ones.....the yellow ones.......yum.
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w2.19.2003 |
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So, last weekend it was announced that Google bought Blogger. Might not seem like big news right now, but in the large scope of things, it's a huge move, and a damn good move, too. Google seems to be realizing quickly that within a year, maybe sooner, the quality of search will be the same no matter which search site you use. To an extent, that day has already arrived - Google just got there first and they're reaping the huge rewards of that. Search is simply a commodity. No businesses makes money off of algorhythm-based search, they make money - and loads of it - from everything that comes with search. Some of it you see, some of it you don't.
That being said, the opportunities with this acquisition seem endless......people who pay Blogger for their beefed-up versions of the service will now willingly pay their money to the sweetheart of the internet world, knowing that Google will review thier sites regularly and that the service will be stable.....or more stable than before, anyway. And you can bet that Google will, sooner than later, add a tab to their page to search only within Blogs, which will make all the Bloggers ou there really giddy - those bloggers are their hard-core fans anyway - Google could polish a turd and they would buy into it - they've done it already, in fact. This will, though, catapult blogging to the masses and more importantly, all the other people who see that Blog option up there will dig the idea of blogs and jump into the fray - and those are the people that Google will profit off of.
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w2.17.2003 |
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Yowser. It's 11:30pm right now and we already have 19 inches of snow on the ground here in Somerville, MA. Watching the news, they're telling us to expect about another foot! I just went out and shot these pictures while shoveling......
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w2.15.2003 |
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I didn't have much of anything to do today, which is always nice, so I took a ride over to the mall with my buddy Ronnie and we just sat on the bench and watched the snarls of human traffic flow by. Sitting there for an hour or so really puts things into perspective, especially when you're sitting with a celebrity clown known for chunking up America and hanging out with things named "Grimace" and "Hamburgler." Ronnie's cool, though. He has the diction of a sailor, but he means well......
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w2.13.2003 |
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Listen up, I was on the ABC show "Are You Hot?" last night. Really not my style, granted, but sometimes you just have to break out of your shell and go for it, you know? No better way to bust up my shyness phobia than to expose myself to three unrelenting judges and millions of people viewing at home. So I unleashed myself. Most of the comments were nice, I think, except for the Lorenzo Lamas shit-head, who said that I was pretty hot, but my head was a little too big for my body and my legs were way too thin. What the hell does he know anyway? I thought I looked pretty friggin' good.....
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w2.12.2003 |
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Some musical rumblings:
- For every R.E.M., there's 20 bands like Green On Red. Sounding somewhere between the Replacements and R.E.M., Green On Red should be every bit as recognized as those two bands are, but they aren't, because the music business is not about talent. Talent means absolutly, positively nothing. When it's pouring out of your six pre-set stations in the car, it's all about who paid to be there and never - ever - think anything different. Anyway, I'm fired up about Green On Red because Rykodisc just re-released their two best albums, "Gas Food Lodging" and "Green On Red," combined onto one CD. Amazing stuff that portrays some pretty simple topics: love, life on the road as a band...and drinking, kind of like a snotty R.E.M. I would even argue that these albums are just as good as the early R.E.M. stuff - and that is a lofty, lofty compliment. Pick this album up if you can - it's really great stuff.
- I have to give a shout out to Big Head Todd and The Monsters. It's very unlike me to be drawn to a band like this, and I can tell you comfortably that buying their records won't turn your head. But in a live setting, this band is a complete 180 degree difference. Saw them here in Boston a couple of weeks ago and I was really shocked at what a great show they put on. Complemented by a crowd that hung on thier every note, every lyric and every beat, it was a terrific time and a bit awe-inspiring to see such a dedicated, loud crowd that really appreciated the band. Even the band themselves seemed touched by it - and that's a really emotional moment to be a part of, because I've seen too many shows where the band just mails in thier appreciation.
- Finally, a Camper Van Beethoven box set! Whoooo! I missed their show here in Boston when I tried to get tickets after it was sold out. However, the stars and the moon aligned up nicely for me when they announced a show in San Francisco on 2/27. Coincindentally, I will be out there for that week on business. Beautiful stuff, I tell you. Additionally, Pavement's Steve Malkmus is doing a show the night before. Double Bingo.
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w2.11.2003 |
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Well, I guess if I were facing 14 years in the state penitentiary, I'd go right to the top when requesting a lawyer, too.
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w2.10.2003 |
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I was watching ESPN Classic this weekend and I caught the beginning of the final baseball game of the 1990 season, played between the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox, as usual, were playing for absolutly no reason, while a Red Sox win would put them in the playoffs. I was a sophomore at Kent State University at the time and I remember watching this game, nervous as hell because I wanted, obviously, the Red Sox to make the playoffs and because the guys next door in the dorm were Oakland A's fans.
The Red Sox did win the game, of course, and made the playoffs, but that's not the point of my writing today. My point is that at the beginning of the game, the play-by-play guy Gary Thorne, traditionally one of the best broadcasters out there, made a very comical and enormous gaffe. At the very beginning of the game, he was going through the White Sox lineup and when he came to Carlton Fisk, he said, and I quote: "Carlton Fisk bats third and will be doing the catcher tonight." Uh......oops. I think he meant to say "catching." Yikes.
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w2.7.2003 |
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Michael Jackson. I don't even know where to begin. Here's a guy who has clearly lost his mind, yet something still rumbles and tumbles around his empty-can of a head - something admirable about him, actually - the desire to not lose the innocence associated with childhood. I wonder how other people would react if they were blessed with his kind of money while tormented with his incredibly sad existance. I think I know the answer - there would be a hell of a lot of people right there along with him trying to preserve the carelessness and naivete of being a child and being with children.
However, he's 44. While I'm convinced that he is not harming these children sexually, there's obviously something wrong with letting children you haven't fathered/mothered sleeping in your bed and "laughing, drinking warm milk and getting a fire going in the fireplace," as he so creepily and childishly put it. I find it somewhat admirable that Jackson has such a love for children, I really do, but at the same time his actions are just not something that the public has ever been able to grasp (myself included). His world is clearly a dream world, and I'll probably never find fault in anyone's version of a dream world within reason - you gotta go there sometimes - but this is clearly a case of a man who just cannot grasp life outside of his own horrendous upbringing and the subsequent bubble he existed in after puberty. I can't even imagine, and I'm truly sympathetic that he'll never be able to grasp real life for just a few minutes.
And did you notice how often he covers his face while speaking? Sad. He wants nothing more than to be invisible. His father, allegedly, poked fun at Jackson's face and nose all his life. Add that to the stardom, the constant exposure to an unscrupulous and seedy press and his not being able to go anywhere without there being a mob scene, and you've got the makings for some brain-wiring problems. These problems harvest themselves in him making these obvious bi-weekly changes to his face and his need to be hidden - even Tatum O'Neal came onto him and as soon as she touched a button on his shirt, he had to cover his face. I bet he missed out! He must have covered his face 15 times during last night's interview.
What of his children? What kind of feelings or ambitions will they have with their faces being covered in public all the time? Imagine not being able to clearly see in public - ever? Imagine not being able to ever rememeber NOT wearing a little butterfly mask outisde? Will this harm them? Again, there's something admirable in wanting to go to such extreme lengths to protect your children, but you have to guess that the way he goes about doing it, while less damaging than what his father did to him, will undoubtedly cause these children to be a mess in other ways. Or maybe they'll just have this mysterious, unfettering desire to be masked professional wrestlers. Imagine the Jackson children and WWF Wrestling together - holy crap, the world would end.
My last comment on Jackson is his obvious childish ways - climbing trees, saying that he'd rather have water baloon fights than see a concert, and the occaisonal mispronunciation of words in a childish way - did anyone notice that? He was talking about cliffs, but he referred to them as "cliftts." I don't know. How incredibly admirable that he is living in his own dream world - we should all aspire to such things - but how sad that this guy can't comprehend life. If it's one or the other, I'll take the comprehension, thanks.
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w2.5.2003 |
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With baseball season just around the corner, I was really tickled to see that my favorite website, The Onion, ran this hilarious article. Great stuff, especially the part about giving Pedro 287 days rest.
Saw Monsters, Inc. a few nights ago - what a great movie. Every time I see previews for those animated movies, I think I won't like them or they're just for children. Well, they're not. This was really a great movie. The little girl, Boo, really reminded me of my little niece Olivia, who I am sure is probably running around my sister's house as we speak, terrorizing her poor mother one minute, then being ridiculously cute the next. It won't be long before the terrorizing part goes away.......and then they become stories we'll laugh about. But I'm proud of my sister - she's a good mom and she likes Wilco. You don't find that too often.
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w2.4.2003 |
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Hi. I went to the Bruins game tonight. Wanna see? OK.
This is me before the game, all psyched 'cause I'm going to the game.
This is some action from the game oh yeah oh yeah.
This is the dude that sat next to me. I had no idea who he was, but I think he was on some kind of furlough from the nut house; he was yelling things like "Fuck You, Ref," and "Fuckwads!" and "oh yeah, you call a penalty on US but not them!" Additionally, not only did he give the other team's goaltender the middle finger - he gave the double middle finger. On several occasions. I tried like hell to get a picture of him while he was really mad, but I had to be discreet. This is the best I could do.
My friend Brian took this one, hoping that the insane dude next to me would be throwing a hissy fit. We missed it again, but I made a dumb face anyway. We had fun.
Finally, here I am after the game, very serious about posting to my website tonight.
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Awwww......a nice story with an annoying modern-day twist.
This high school basketball player, LeBron James. Geez, where do I start? Let me say this - if I was a 17 or 18 year-old kid and I knew that in just a few months I would be the top pick in a professional sports draft and an instant multi-millionaire, I would do nothing to jeopardize that, and that means not playing for my high school team anymore. Unsportmanlike? Maybe. Selfish? Probably. But you see, if I was in line for that kind of money, and the chance to distribute some of that money to my parents, my siblings, and eventually my own children, and to make their lives better, you bet I'd be selfish. And if I had a chance to play a pro sport, you can bet anything that I would not risk any injury until the day I am drafted, because professional sports will chew you up and spit you out before you even don a uniform. Hello, Willis McGahee.
Got my Red Sox tickets. 8 games. Four of those games will be spent in the front row out in bleachers, right behind the Red Sox bullpen. That will rule!
Finally, last night's episode of Joe Millionaire finally sealed the deal for me: I have wasted a lot of time watching this garbage. The guy is just such a dumb-ass. Last night he asked a woman, mistakenly, "did you get that breast in Paris?" He meant to say "dress." Of course, I won't stop watching American Idol because I've got five bucks riding on Frenchie.
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w2.1.2003 |
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OK. Thanks to the web geniusing of Dan Cederholm, I now have an email contact over there to the left - the link is under the picture of me holding hands with a young human who is a fan of the site. He recognized me at the store and ran up to me, all excited. He hesitated a little, though, when he saw that I had 25 cases of motor oil in my cart. After I told him that motor oil is my favorite drink and that it keeps robot healthy, he calmed down a little and begged for a picture. I couldn't say no to the poor kid.
So after you email me with your comments, and you know you want to, go on over to Dan's site, will ya? He's a good dude. He found a way (via some other dude), to still have an email address on a website, but undetectable by spammers. Brilliant. That's what the web be all about and shit. Everybody working together to put the beat-down on the spammers. Hell yeah.
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