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w6.30.2003 |
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Alrighty, peeps. I've been gone for a week and now you get to reap the rewards. Patience comes to those who wait. Whatever. Three, count 'em, three new photo slideshows for you, which explain what I have been up to over the last week:
Sunday - Tuesday @ Nantucket: first time on the island. I've been to Martha's Vineyard quite a few times, and we had an opportunity to try out the other island for free thanks to some friends, so off we went. A very nice place. It's the smaller of the two islands, and it's a little more chill, which is probably suiting me just fine in my old age of 32. It's also the only place in the world, I would surmise, that has a bar called The Chicken Box. Only 35 more years until I can retire. Anyway, click HERE to see some shots.
Thursday - Saturday @ Montreal: this was a work trip. Coincidentally (or not), Montreal's Jazz Festival was happening concurrently with my trip to visit a client up there. Montreal is really an interesting town. Very fashion conscious and it was pretty obvious the natives were happy to get out under the thump of a nasty winter. There's some nice architecture in old Montreal, a really ugly multi-colored building and a great candy bar that we need to have available in America as soon as possible. You can see it all by clicking HERE.
As if that were not enough, it was Stephanie's birthday yesterday! Whooo-hooo Stephanie! So I flew back home from Montreal, landed in Boston at 4pm, got home, dropped my suitcase by 5:30pm, had packed a bag and was headed out to the totally amazing Nine Zero hotel for the night. Located in Downtown Boston, we stayed on the top floor (19th) and had a breathtaking view of the city, along with the ultra-modern flair of the terrific hotel. Much needed R&R, my friends. I forgot my camera on this one, so no city view pictures. Nobody's perfect.
Finally, last night ended the non-stop week with a trip to The Paradise to see The Thorns and The Jayhawks. While The Jayhawks were their usual terrific show, The Thorns snuck up and stole the evening. Comprised of the great Matthew Sweet, the highly underrated Pete Droge and this other dude Shawn Mullins, The Thorns simply ripped the joint apart and I was wondering just how serious Gary Louris of The Jayhawks was when he said that The Thorns audience reception was "too good" on this tour and they were getting kicked off the tour. He was joking, but I wondered inside just how stinging it might have been. The Thorns really destroyed the place. You can see some of the pics by clicking your little mousey HERE.
So that's all, right? Oh no, my peeps. Not even close. Through all this, we're smack dab in the middle of trying to buy a house, which is one of the most insane processes I've ever had to endure, along with all the events from last week. That, lads, is another story alltogether.......for another time.
Song now playing: Warren Zevon - "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner"
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w6.27.2003 |
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I'm in Montreal right now for work and life is simply crazy. Was in Nantucket over the weekend, had one day at home, where I am in the process of some crazy personal stuff, and then had to come here. Montreal is an excellent city. A very interesting mix of European and North American attitude. Last night was spent feasting on some kick-ass Mahi-Mahi. JazzFest is also going on, but I haven't had the time to enjoy that. I haven't had the time to do much of anything lately. So my point is this: I have no point. I'll be back soon......
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w6.20.2003 |
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Sorry, but I cannot tell you the different between any of the following:
Brandy
Eve
Aaliyah
Ashanti
Tweet
I also know that one of these people is dead. Other than that, I couldn't tell you in a million years what the difference is.
Occasionally my LaunchCast player, which I did pay $35 per year to subscribe to, gives me a song/artist that I haven't heard before and I really like. This week it's a guy named Jeff Hanson. He is not part of the pre-teen supergroup Hanson, I promise. The only thing I can tell you is that he used to be in a band called M.I.J. and he sings like a girl. I don't mean this in any negative way whatsoever, ladies. He sounds like the girl the same way that Joe Pernice and Elliot Smith occasionally lift their voices into that territory, and those are two of my favorite musicians out there right now. So yeah, Jeff Hanson sounds a lot like them in style and vocals. So far, so good.
I wish the company I worked for put out internal memos like this one.
Song now playing: Marah - "Out In Style"
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w6.19.2003 |
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Well well well. It looks like Microsoft is finally getting into the search game. Welcome to the jungle. Many people think that sites like MSN, Yahoo and Lycos have thier own search technology. They don't - they pay to use other technologies. For an interesting overview of all that, click here. There are actually very few "search technologies" out there. Google is obviously the big one, but lesser heard-of technologies such as FAST, Teoma and Inktomi actually have some impressive reach out on the web. The fact that MSN is now getting into the business could very well shake it to the foundations. Add the fact that they're essentially coming out to the public and saying they want to take on Google, and that makes for some very interesting times coming up. Stay tuned.
It occured to me this morning as I was reading this story that it's quite possible the people targeted in this great "deck of cards" caused more harm to innocent civilians in the United States than any war or military struggle in the past 10 years. An exaggeration? Maybe, but maybe not, when you consider how much money these people may have lost and how it *might* affect the lives of them and their children. I have absolutely no respect for these people and they should pay dearly for what they've done, which is essentially prolong a very tough time in our country's economy. I know too many smart, hard-working people who are still out of work and it's really painful to see their confidence take such a hit.
Lastly, please take a minute or two to read the Larry Doby obituary. It's not as easy for people my age and younger to truly comprehend how damaging the issue of racism and color-of-skin was 50 years ago and still is today, to some degree. It's hard for me to comprehend because I just didn't live in those tension-wracked times. Larry Doby was the second black man to play Major League Baseball and the first to play in the American League. More importantly, he was a good man. No good man or woman, colored or not, should have to endure the kind of things these pioneers had to endure. The fact that some of his own teammates wouldn't even acknowledge him is just so sad and depressing. We've made great strides since those days, although we're not even near perfect, but racism is a black mark on our society that's just plain embarassing to be a part of.
Song now playing: Big Star - "My Life Is Right"
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w6.16.2003 |
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The Boston Globe has recently begun running a long series on the life of Senator John Kerry, who is running for President of our United States. I've said here before that so far I support Howard Dean, not necessarily because of all his viewpoints, but because he seems like he'd lie the least. This is important. Anyway, the first two installments of the Kerry mini-biography running in the Globe has been great reading. Part one details his family and almost nomadic upbringing, while Part two is a specific and pretty fascinating look into his combat career in Vietnam. My initial take on Kerry is that he wobbles on issues. He's more of a political talking head in that he doesn't seem to really speak his thoughts, he seems to say whatever he thinks will get him elected. The Vietnam story seems to draw slight parallels to my conclusions. I don't dislike Kerry by any stretch, though. I'm already more interested in this election that I have been for any others, and I think it's because of our current president. He and his administration just seem corrupt and wrong on nearly every issue I've come across. They have enviromental plans that benefit us in the next two years, but nothing on the table for 20 years from now. Their old cronies are getting all kinds of backroom deals to rebuild countries. It's really getting sickening.
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w6.13.2003 |
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Keep the Sniglets coming! Some good ones in there.....
I took this picture at Tuesday night's Red Sox game. It was safety-pinned on the back of this total Jesus-freak dude who was standing outside the ticket gates at Fenway. I took a few pictures of him, too. He didn't seem to mind, but he was a little annoyed that I didn't return the favor by accepting his brochures.....or accepting Jesus, I guess. You can see more of my pictures from Fenway by clicking right here, yo.
Song now playing: Tim Easton - "Hummingbird"
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w6.12.2003 |
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Does anyone remember "Sniglets?" Sniglets appeared just about every week on an old-school HBO show from the 1980's called "Not Necessarily The News," which was a mock newscast put on by comedians, much like how The Onion is a mock news website/newspaper today. Well, there was this dude and I think his name was Rich Hall, and he had this little portion of the show called "Sniglets" where he would identify odd things or occurences and wonder why they were not defined in the dictionary. For example, one Sniglet I remember was "those two or three pieces of bread at the top of the bread bag that inevitably get mashed up because people reach for the middle pieces." He then would create a word for it. See? Some of them were really funny. Or maybe it was funny because I was ten years old.
So, in the spirit of the '80s, I have proposed a couple of Sniglets, although I'm not coming up with a word. Maybe you, my gracious reader(s), can come up with some. A little audience participation, maybe? Come on, dammit, show the love and play along. For those of you who don't get it, you can click the comment button after every post and enter your innermost thoughts. So help me identify the following two potential Sniglets:
- Every now and then I peel off the top of a container of food and a whole bunch of food sticks to the cover. This is especially common in ice creams and hummus type containers. What should we call that food that sticks to the cover?
- Occasionally I'll be eating food, or eating a hard-candy and this small stream of saliva will shoot out from my mouth - a very, very small amount, but the projectile is somewhat alarming and 100% accidental - and it's not caused by food, it's casued by the way your jaw moves or something, because it's happened plenty of times to me without any food. Assuming this happens to other people, what's that called? It's not spitting because it's not enough saliva.
Song now playing: Fu Manchu - "Burning Road"
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w6.9.2003 |
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So glad to hear that they found that girl in San Jose. Why do people abduct children? I just cannot understand. Imagine you're the person at the conveinence store and that little girl comes in crying. I can't even imagine how I would feel. Supposedly there's been an arrest of a possible suspect, so that's good to hear.
Did anyone see the third Ward/Gatti fight on Saturday night? I didn't see the first two, but I did hear about how amazing both fights were. The third one, which I did get a chance to see, was just a war. Those two guys are old-school fighters. Note I say "fighters" and not "boxers." They simply beat the hell out of each other and they're both tough bad-asses. Gatti broke his hand in the 4th round, and still soldiered on. This is how boxing should be. While I don't understand why boxing isn't outlawed alltogether, once every 5 years or so a good, entertaining fight comes along and I can sort of grasp why two people seem to enjoy trying to bludgeon each other with their fists on purpose. Other than that, boxing ranks way down on the list of sports that I enjoy.
Also saw the uncut Fast Times At Ridgemont High for the first time in many years. I'm so used to seeing the cut version that I had forgotten about the "real movie." Naturally, the uncut version is a classic adolescent comedy, with the swearing and......Phoebe Cates and Jennifer Jason Leigh. I likes 'em both. Whatever happened to Phoebe Cates, anyway? She really was so attractive. I'm sure she still is, I just haven't seen her on TV or movies for years now.....
This is a mildly amusing story. I envision the guy bringing in like 20 elderly poodles or something....just picture that!
Song now playing: Richard Buckner - "Blue and Wonder"
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w6.6.2003 |
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Forbes.com has released a poll determining what the best and worst cities are for being single. I don't really care too much, myself, but the bottom 5 are always fun to see. So, without further ado, here are the worst five cities to be single in:
36. Kansas City, MO
37. Cleveland, OH
38. Greensboro, NC
39. Cincinnati, OH
40. Pittsburgh, PA.
So, Pittsburgh is the worst place to be single. Whatever. What I enjoy is that the two largest cities in Ohio are both on the list. Yikes. One other comment, though: how does Forbes magazine come up with such a list? Are they an authority on dating now? Shouldn't they leave that kind of stuff to Cosmo? The number one city was Austin, TX, by the way.
I do enjoy the fish-eye pictures. Check out this pic from last night's Stanley Cup finals, which have been about as fun to watch as, uh......dating in Pittsburgh?
Neat, huh? I love how that one dude is just celebrating right in the goaltender's face. What has happened to hockey? It used to be that I simply would never miss an NHL playoff game, no matter who was playing. Now I can barely get through a period of hockey on TV these days out of boredom. Too many teams, too little talent. I suppose you could argue the same about baseball, but it's been an interesting shift for me over the last 10 years - now I can watch any baseball game on TV, whereas before I used to be bored stiff by it. The only way to really appreciate hockey is to see it live. It just doesn't work on TV and that's the reason why it will never rise to the popularity levels of football or baseball. I guarantee you that if you brought anyone to a live, pro hockey game they would change their minds about it.
Finally, I've been rendered blogless by by this little ditty.
Song now playing: Sloan - "Keep On Thinkin'"
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w6.4.2003 |
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I was mighty amused to read about Barry Manilow's latest escapade. I'm somewhat proud to say that I've honestly never enjoyed a single Barry Manilow song in my entire life. I will acknowledge, however, singing "Mandy" out loud once during a college party or something of the sort. Embarassing, but true. Does anyone have any reservations about singing in front of people you don't really know? When I was a freshman in high school on the ice hockey team, the seniors on the team, for my "hazing," made me get up in front of the whole bus (cheerleaders included) and sing "Silent Night." Quite possibly the most terrifying 60 seconds of my life.
The Onion, as most of you know by now, is my favorite site on the internet, tied with this one. But a lot of people don't realize that The Onion also gets some really great musicians to interview - almost every week there's somebody interesting. This week, it's Steve Malkmus's turn. Pavement remains one of my top 5 bands of the 1990's, and this is a good interview - as usual.
Palm has acquired Handspring. Interesting stuff. I have one of the first versions of the Handspring Visor. I really don't need one with all the bells and whistles, but I saw a Sony Clie recently and I have to admit I was blown away by how far these PDA's have come in a short amount of time. Add that to the list of frivolous stuff I need: IPod, Tivo, Clie..........
Song now playing: Screaming Trees - "Look At You"
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w6.2.2003 |
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Lately, let me tell you how great it's been that every weekend we have rain, and every weekday, when we're at work, it's beautiful outside. Anyway, the crappy weather over the weekend kept us indoors, so I revved up the DVD player and saw the movie Secretary, which was quite bizarre and at times a little uncomfortable to watch. In the end you realize it's simply a love story between two really fucked up people. I shall not say any more about the film. Okay, I shall say one more thing about the film - Maggie Gyllenhaal was fantastic. This is her first film playing a lead role, and it reminded me of how excellent Kirsten Dunst was in her first lead role in The Virgin Suicides, my favorite movie of 2000. At the time, I thought Dunst was really going places, and she was, but it was a place called "Bad Movie Headquarters." Let's hope young Maggie has a better agent?
Speaking of Gyllenhaal's, I can't think of any movies where the two siblings (Jake and Maggie) play a character that isn't a mental disaster, can you? Those of you who have seen the terrific Donnie Darko know what I speak of. Jake was pretty damn convincing in "The Good Girl," too. Those two have the acting genes, I guess. Enough about Gyllenhaal's for now.
Thankfully, Amazon also plopped the new Led Zeppelin DVD on my doorstep on Saturday, so that went straight from the box to the player. I've seen about a half hour so far and it looks promising, especially when it's booming across my living room in 5.1 Digital Surround. Can I get a hell yeah?
Finally, can someone tell me what the hell is going on in Swaziland? I've never even heard of Swaziland.
Song now playing: Pavement - "Two States"
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