Friday, April 29, 2005
more wrestling death
Chris Candido, aka Bodydonna Skip, up and died yesterday, apparently from some sort of blood clot issue. That's why you gotta wear them tight stockings after major leg injuries, buddy.
Chris Candido, aka Bodydonna Skip, up and died yesterday, apparently from some sort of blood clot issue. That's why you gotta wear them tight stockings after major leg injuries, buddy.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
still flyin' in my head
Look, I'm not back to normal yet, despite working the last three days. Sleep's been a stinker, and the train has been uncommonly awful this week. Hopefully by Monday I'll be on a more standard schedule, and will be able to string more than three words together without nodding off or drooling on myself. In the meantime, you can listen to me dj on WZBC tonight from seven to ten, est. Also, the dj before me will be doing a live phone interview with David Gedge of the Wedding Present and Cinerama, sometime around six or so. Originally Gedge was supposed to pop in and play an acoustic set in-studio, but that's not happening any more. No ma'am.
Also, work has begun on a more official Nokahoma website. And Extension updates will recommence on Monday. I give you my Vincent K. McMahon guarantee on that last one, there.
Man, I wish Nomar would pull my groin!
Look, I'm not back to normal yet, despite working the last three days. Sleep's been a stinker, and the train has been uncommonly awful this week. Hopefully by Monday I'll be on a more standard schedule, and will be able to string more than three words together without nodding off or drooling on myself. In the meantime, you can listen to me dj on WZBC tonight from seven to ten, est. Also, the dj before me will be doing a live phone interview with David Gedge of the Wedding Present and Cinerama, sometime around six or so. Originally Gedge was supposed to pop in and play an acoustic set in-studio, but that's not happening any more. No ma'am.
Also, work has begun on a more official Nokahoma website. And Extension updates will recommence on Monday. I give you my Vincent K. McMahon guarantee on that last one, there.
Man, I wish Nomar would pull my groin!
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
masterful life endangerment
I've lived the math, and since 6:30 am Thursday I've had no more than 27 hours of sleep. I tried to calculate the number of beers but my putrid mind can't hardly grasp the infinite. SF, Still Flyin', the Zap, and the weekend in toto were / are all incomprehensibly monumental. I ate two burritos, and one was the most unnecessarily hot foodstuff ever welcomed into my gullet, whereas in opposition the other was the most egregiously not hot substance encountered by these friendly buds of taste. I question the effectiveness of airport burritos. I didn't see Colin Quinn or lusty ladies, but I did meet Athens' own Bill Mallonee in the Oakland airport, and that's kind of cool.
But so, an arbitrary list of what it made it awesome:
1. Still Flyin' are the greatest band ever.
2. Lil Flip Scoldjah is a close second.
3. Chicken on a Raft are pretty much up there too.
4. at some bar near that record store we saw a chick sharing a beer with a rat
5. that record store itself is pretty damn good too
6. running into random Athens people that I never fuckin' knew
7. El Cucuy
8. seeing like six rabbits running alongside the runway strip at Oakland's airport
9. Kate Zimmerman's bro Alan / Allan / Allen / Alain
10. all those people that live in San Francisco
11. not getting dead
12. this mysterious bruise on my stomach that my wife thought was a hickey
13. the ridiculously massive Rich Harden sign I saw on the way to the airport
14. random wandering tejano bands
15. kicking Griggs' ass at MVP baseball
and, most importantly,
16. getting to hang out with so many old friends again.
So anyhow, yes, great times, constant amazement, etc. If there exists a second Mind Zap some day, I hope I can be there.
I've lived the math, and since 6:30 am Thursday I've had no more than 27 hours of sleep. I tried to calculate the number of beers but my putrid mind can't hardly grasp the infinite. SF, Still Flyin', the Zap, and the weekend in toto were / are all incomprehensibly monumental. I ate two burritos, and one was the most unnecessarily hot foodstuff ever welcomed into my gullet, whereas in opposition the other was the most egregiously not hot substance encountered by these friendly buds of taste. I question the effectiveness of airport burritos. I didn't see Colin Quinn or lusty ladies, but I did meet Athens' own Bill Mallonee in the Oakland airport, and that's kind of cool.
But so, an arbitrary list of what it made it awesome:
1. Still Flyin' are the greatest band ever.
2. Lil Flip Scoldjah is a close second.
3. Chicken on a Raft are pretty much up there too.
4. at some bar near that record store we saw a chick sharing a beer with a rat
5. that record store itself is pretty damn good too
6. running into random Athens people that I never fuckin' knew
7. El Cucuy
8. seeing like six rabbits running alongside the runway strip at Oakland's airport
9. Kate Zimmerman's bro Alan / Allan / Allen / Alain
10. all those people that live in San Francisco
11. not getting dead
12. this mysterious bruise on my stomach that my wife thought was a hickey
13. the ridiculously massive Rich Harden sign I saw on the way to the airport
14. random wandering tejano bands
15. kicking Griggs' ass at MVP baseball
and, most importantly,
16. getting to hang out with so many old friends again.
So anyhow, yes, great times, constant amazement, etc. If there exists a second Mind Zap some day, I hope I can be there.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Papal Visit
Hot damn, how 'bout this new pope? I thought he was like Rome's version of Bill Gutheridge, but apparently he's more like Palpatine. Geez, what an evil looking photo.
And although I don't really care that the dude was a Nazi (haven't we all gone through that phase?), I would completely name my band Nazi Pope if I were some thirteen-year-old HC kid.
Hot damn, how 'bout this new pope? I thought he was like Rome's version of Bill Gutheridge, but apparently he's more like Palpatine. Geez, what an evil looking photo.
And although I don't really care that the dude was a Nazi (haven't we all gone through that phase?), I would completely name my band Nazi Pope if I were some thirteen-year-old HC kid.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
as pointed out by matt billings over on kermits bells
Here's N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton, edited down solely to the explicit parts.
Here's N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton, edited down solely to the explicit parts.
The best thing about Mexico...
... was catching the last five minutes of Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol on HBO, and thus hearing the excellent Brian Wilson / Gary Usher / Dr. Eugene Landy composition "Let's Go to Heaven in My Car" during the closing credits.
... was catching the last five minutes of Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol on HBO, and thus hearing the excellent Brian Wilson / Gary Usher / Dr. Eugene Landy composition "Let's Go to Heaven in My Car" during the closing credits.
Monday, April 18, 2005
I'd forgotten how greatly the internet facilitates not working.
After a week off I felt like I actually had to do some work this morning. I was slightly productive for the first time in maybe a year or so, and let me tell you, it felt like shit. It made me greatly miss Mexico, where every day was a drunken blur of shaman-blessed hot tubbing, ancient pyramids, and orally invasive spider-monkeys. After a couple of hours of drudgery I remembered that the Internet, that magical land that lays waste to both time and souls, still existed, and that up here it wouldn't cost me fifty pesos per quarter-hour. So I've been hitting up the typical sites for the last few hours, downloading stuff left and right, and writing emails to all the wonderful new friends I made last week, like the drunken, racist Russian who sat next to me on the flight there.
Anyway, I'm sort of rambling. I meant to say that a few websites, including Scenestars (much like Ain't It Cool, a site I'm pretty embarrassed to say I regularly visit), have the new White Stripes single up. I'm not a big fan of the band, but this song, at least, starts off pretty good. That opening riff sounds like something that should be on Machine Head. It's a nice bit of old-fashioned riffin', that one. The rest of the song doesn't do much for me, but you've got to take what you can get, I guess.
After a week off I felt like I actually had to do some work this morning. I was slightly productive for the first time in maybe a year or so, and let me tell you, it felt like shit. It made me greatly miss Mexico, where every day was a drunken blur of shaman-blessed hot tubbing, ancient pyramids, and orally invasive spider-monkeys. After a couple of hours of drudgery I remembered that the Internet, that magical land that lays waste to both time and souls, still existed, and that up here it wouldn't cost me fifty pesos per quarter-hour. So I've been hitting up the typical sites for the last few hours, downloading stuff left and right, and writing emails to all the wonderful new friends I made last week, like the drunken, racist Russian who sat next to me on the flight there.
Anyway, I'm sort of rambling. I meant to say that a few websites, including Scenestars (much like Ain't It Cool, a site I'm pretty embarrassed to say I regularly visit), have the new White Stripes single up. I'm not a big fan of the band, but this song, at least, starts off pretty good. That opening riff sounds like something that should be on Machine Head. It's a nice bit of old-fashioned riffin', that one. The rest of the song doesn't do much for me, but you've got to take what you can get, I guess.
i'm behind the times
So the reconstituted Dinosaur Jr will be playing the Variety Playhouse in July, as well as the Avalon up here in Boston. Good news. Did anyone watch that show they played on last Friday? If so, how was it? And what song did they play?
So the reconstituted Dinosaur Jr will be playing the Variety Playhouse in July, as well as the Avalon up here in Boston. Good news. Did anyone watch that show they played on last Friday? If so, how was it? And what song did they play?
back
Yesterday was the first day in a week that I haven't hung out in a hot tub.
So what the fuck's up with America?
Yesterday was the first day in a week that I haven't hung out in a hot tub.
So what the fuck's up with America?
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Thursday, April 07, 2005
this Google Maps thing is pretty awesome
Have you guys tried this out yet?
Here's my apartment building.
Here's the building I work in.
Here's John Kerry's Beacon Hill townhouse.
Here's Long John Silvers' corporate headquarters.
Here's the site of the very first Long John Silver's.
Here's where Leo Frank was lynched by the town leaders of Marietta in 1915 (now the site of a Long John Silver's).
Here's where Ron Mexico gets his herpes treatments.
And here's where I buy all my houseboating supplies and necessities.
Have you guys tried this out yet?
Here's my apartment building.
Here's the building I work in.
Here's John Kerry's Beacon Hill townhouse.
Here's Long John Silvers' corporate headquarters.
Here's the site of the very first Long John Silver's.
Here's where Leo Frank was lynched by the town leaders of Marietta in 1915 (now the site of a Long John Silver's).
Here's where Ron Mexico gets his herpes treatments.
And here's where I buy all my houseboating supplies and necessities.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
two new songs up at robertpollard.net
There's a track off the forth-coming Circus Devils album, plus a song from the Moping Swans ep. That Moping Swans record looks interesting - I believe it's the same line-up as Robert Pollard and His Soft Rock Renegades, the band that recorded 2001's excellent Choreographed Man of War album.
There's a track off the forth-coming Circus Devils album, plus a song from the Moping Swans ep. That Moping Swans record looks interesting - I believe it's the same line-up as Robert Pollard and His Soft Rock Renegades, the band that recorded 2001's excellent Choreographed Man of War album.
One Truth About Journey
Whereas "Don't Stop Believin'", "Any Way You Want It", and "Faithfully" are all legitimately great songs, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" is simply awful, regardless of how amazing the video may be.
Whereas "Don't Stop Believin'", "Any Way You Want It", and "Faithfully" are all legitimately great songs, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)" is simply awful, regardless of how amazing the video may be.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Was he wearing a toupee and fake mustache, too?
A woman has filed suit against Michael Vick, claiming that she contracted herpes through sexual contact with him. She also claims that he used the alias "Ron Mexico", which is about as believable a name as Jeff Gannon. Is this really the best fake name he could come up with? With those sterling pseudonym skills I wouldn't be surprised if Vick applied for an AMC Movie Watcher card with the name Bobby Teenager.
A woman has filed suit against Michael Vick, claiming that she contracted herpes through sexual contact with him. She also claims that he used the alias "Ron Mexico", which is about as believable a name as Jeff Gannon. Is this really the best fake name he could come up with? With those sterling pseudonym skills I wouldn't be surprised if Vick applied for an AMC Movie Watcher card with the name Bobby Teenager.
Maybe the best trade JS ever made?
Remember, back in the fall of 2002, when your typically feeble-brained sports radio callers and AJC Venters went apoplectic over the trade of Damian Moss? You know, the Australian left-hander who had a pretty decent season in 2002, leading some to call him the next coming of Tom Glavine, despite walking a guy every other inning? And who John Schuerholz traded to San Francisco straight-up for Russ Ortiz, prompting the aforementioned apoplexy? Ortiz, of course, went on to win 36 games during his two seasons in Atlanta. Moss, on the other hand, won ten in 2003 between SF and Baltimore, before being sent down, non-tendered, signed AND released by two of the worst teams in baseball, and, finally, struggling this spring to win a spot on Seattle's Triple-A rotation.
Well, turns out old Mossy's been on the juice. He's definitely not the first (or second, if you want to count Caminiti's two-month stint) ex-Brave I'd expect to hear this about, and it really starts to make you wonder how widespread this shit might be. If a less than mediocre pitcher who can't even stay in the big leagues is using, how many major leaguers must be up to the same stuff?
Remember, back in the fall of 2002, when your typically feeble-brained sports radio callers and AJC Venters went apoplectic over the trade of Damian Moss? You know, the Australian left-hander who had a pretty decent season in 2002, leading some to call him the next coming of Tom Glavine, despite walking a guy every other inning? And who John Schuerholz traded to San Francisco straight-up for Russ Ortiz, prompting the aforementioned apoplexy? Ortiz, of course, went on to win 36 games during his two seasons in Atlanta. Moss, on the other hand, won ten in 2003 between SF and Baltimore, before being sent down, non-tendered, signed AND released by two of the worst teams in baseball, and, finally, struggling this spring to win a spot on Seattle's Triple-A rotation.
Well, turns out old Mossy's been on the juice. He's definitely not the first (or second, if you want to count Caminiti's two-month stint) ex-Brave I'd expect to hear this about, and it really starts to make you wonder how widespread this shit might be. If a less than mediocre pitcher who can't even stay in the big leagues is using, how many major leaguers must be up to the same stuff?
not that different from Hammer's BK ads
I've been hard on the Globe's Renee Graham in the past. Her weekly "Life in the Pop Lane" column is indicative of most everything that's wrong with contemporary pop-culture journalism. Her article today, about McDonald's potentially paying rappers to mention their products in their songs, isn't much better than usual, but at least the topic is slightly interesting. I'm surprised that this sort of stuff hasn't been going on for a while.
I've been hard on the Globe's Renee Graham in the past. Her weekly "Life in the Pop Lane" column is indicative of most everything that's wrong with contemporary pop-culture journalism. Her article today, about McDonald's potentially paying rappers to mention their products in their songs, isn't much better than usual, but at least the topic is slightly interesting. I'm surprised that this sort of stuff hasn't been going on for a while.
Monday, April 04, 2005
more radio junk
I'll be dj'ing tonight on WZBC from seven to ten pm, eastern standard time. Listen in if you can.
I'll be dj'ing tonight on WZBC from seven to ten pm, eastern standard time. Listen in if you can.
braves fans
So I'm listening to MLB.com's archive of Saturday's exhibition game. WGST's announcers are Mark Lemke and some dude filling in for Stu Klitenic. Are Skip, Pete, Don, and Joe off radio? Isn't Chip in there somewhere now, too? Did Don or Joe leave? What the hell is going on?
The Sox's main radio guys sounds like he's having a heart attack on every single play.
So I'm listening to MLB.com's archive of Saturday's exhibition game. WGST's announcers are Mark Lemke and some dude filling in for Stu Klitenic. Are Skip, Pete, Don, and Joe off radio? Isn't Chip in there somewhere now, too? Did Don or Joe leave? What the hell is going on?
The Sox's main radio guys sounds like he's having a heart attack on every single play.
sobriety rocks
On Friday night I made it through a rock show without having a single drink for the first time since 1998, maybe. Oneida, Devil Music, and the Birds of Avalon played at the Brookline Community Center for the Arts, four or five blocks down Harvard Street from our apartment. I am the World Trade Center and the Paper Lions played a show there about a year ago, a show that I missed in order to see Elf Power across town the same night. I sort of regret that decision. The show was in a dance studio in the basement, so the walls were lined with mirrors. There was no stage, and the bands switched from one side of the room to the other when they played. The sound was surprisingly good, and thanks in part to the mirrors it was easy to see everything. I think it would be an excellent place to see the Trade Center, especially if it was packed full of folks from Athens. All in all, it's a good venue, yes sir.
Devil Music has pretty much become Oneida's personal openers here in Boston; they've played at least the last three Oneida shows in town. Tonight they had a five-piece horn section complementing their standard violin-bass-guitar-drums set-up. It definitely changed their sound, and not necessarily for the better. Devil Music proper have always been fairly bombastic, in an Emerson Lake and Palmer kind of way, but the horns elevated that bombast to a whole new level. At times it came off like a Miklos Rozsa score with rock elements thrown in. It was really good, but a little overwhelming at times, and not quite as enjoyable as the other two shows I've seen them play.
The Birds of Avalon, from Raleigh, North Carolina, is the new band from Cheetie and Paul, former guitarist and bass-player, respectively, for the Cherry Valence. No idea why left the Valence, but these Birds rock pretty much just as hard, and pretty much in just the same sort of way. We're talking down-and-dirty, juke-joint boogie-woogie, like Molly Hatchet or Ram Jam. It seemed to alienate most of the punks and art-rockers in the crowd, but I was digging, as were the potentially sapphic drunk girls grinding into each other and the lead singer. I miss the dual-drumming power of the Valence, but the Birds of Avalon are otherwise just as enjoyable. Had I been drunk I probably would have been blown away; as is, it was pretty good.
Oneida finished it up with a reliably great set that made me momentarily forget my unquenchable thirst. I've generally been half-drunk to oblivion when I see these guys, so watching them sober was almost kind of special. It was a big change from their show at the Hoss House last year, where I polished off a twelve-pack on my lonesome in some stranger's basement. Anyhow, they began with a so-so "Each One Teach One" that gradually wound up being pretty awesome by the end. They played a few off the new album, and a song or two each from Nice / Splittin' Peaches, Secret Wars, that Liars split, Each One Teach One, and Anthem of the Moon. It was all good to great, except for maybe the finisher, "Sheets of Easter", which came off as perfunctory and less intense than usual. Afterward my knees ached like hell from all the spastic twitching; methinks that's something the alcohol normally obscures, as I'm rarely in pain like that after a show.
So reliving the non-drunken days of yore was all fine and good for a night, but I don't envision it becoming a regular habit. One of my few goals has always been to become a full-blown alkie by the time I hit 30, and with barely two years left I've still got lots of work to do. Also I wind up going to a lot of shows alone, and in those situations it's almost impossible to resist that sickly siren's call.
On Friday night I made it through a rock show without having a single drink for the first time since 1998, maybe. Oneida, Devil Music, and the Birds of Avalon played at the Brookline Community Center for the Arts, four or five blocks down Harvard Street from our apartment. I am the World Trade Center and the Paper Lions played a show there about a year ago, a show that I missed in order to see Elf Power across town the same night. I sort of regret that decision. The show was in a dance studio in the basement, so the walls were lined with mirrors. There was no stage, and the bands switched from one side of the room to the other when they played. The sound was surprisingly good, and thanks in part to the mirrors it was easy to see everything. I think it would be an excellent place to see the Trade Center, especially if it was packed full of folks from Athens. All in all, it's a good venue, yes sir.
Devil Music has pretty much become Oneida's personal openers here in Boston; they've played at least the last three Oneida shows in town. Tonight they had a five-piece horn section complementing their standard violin-bass-guitar-drums set-up. It definitely changed their sound, and not necessarily for the better. Devil Music proper have always been fairly bombastic, in an Emerson Lake and Palmer kind of way, but the horns elevated that bombast to a whole new level. At times it came off like a Miklos Rozsa score with rock elements thrown in. It was really good, but a little overwhelming at times, and not quite as enjoyable as the other two shows I've seen them play.
The Birds of Avalon, from Raleigh, North Carolina, is the new band from Cheetie and Paul, former guitarist and bass-player, respectively, for the Cherry Valence. No idea why left the Valence, but these Birds rock pretty much just as hard, and pretty much in just the same sort of way. We're talking down-and-dirty, juke-joint boogie-woogie, like Molly Hatchet or Ram Jam. It seemed to alienate most of the punks and art-rockers in the crowd, but I was digging, as were the potentially sapphic drunk girls grinding into each other and the lead singer. I miss the dual-drumming power of the Valence, but the Birds of Avalon are otherwise just as enjoyable. Had I been drunk I probably would have been blown away; as is, it was pretty good.
Oneida finished it up with a reliably great set that made me momentarily forget my unquenchable thirst. I've generally been half-drunk to oblivion when I see these guys, so watching them sober was almost kind of special. It was a big change from their show at the Hoss House last year, where I polished off a twelve-pack on my lonesome in some stranger's basement. Anyhow, they began with a so-so "Each One Teach One" that gradually wound up being pretty awesome by the end. They played a few off the new album, and a song or two each from Nice / Splittin' Peaches, Secret Wars, that Liars split, Each One Teach One, and Anthem of the Moon. It was all good to great, except for maybe the finisher, "Sheets of Easter", which came off as perfunctory and less intense than usual. Afterward my knees ached like hell from all the spastic twitching; methinks that's something the alcohol normally obscures, as I'm rarely in pain like that after a show.
So reliving the non-drunken days of yore was all fine and good for a night, but I don't envision it becoming a regular habit. One of my few goals has always been to become a full-blown alkie by the time I hit 30, and with barely two years left I've still got lots of work to do. Also I wind up going to a lot of shows alone, and in those situations it's almost impossible to resist that sickly siren's call.
Ray = best cast ever
Movies like this is why they should give out an Oscar for best ensemble.
1. David Krumholtz
2. Warwick "Willow" Davis
3. Regina "that girl from 227" King
4. Rick "Endless Mike Hellstrom" Gomez
5. Curtis "Booger" "Charles de Mar" "Herbert Viola" Armstrong (as Ahmet Ertegun, no less)
6. that guy from Booty Call
The movie was okay up until the last fifteen minutes or so. The stupid psychological bullshit is horrible, as are most of the flashbacks to his youth. And there's pretty much no resolution whatsoever. The movie just meanders along for two hours and fifteen minutes, and then all of a sudden he fires his best friend, goes through rehab, and gets admitted back into the state of Georgia. The End. What an awful ending, one that undermines the entire film. Foxx was pretty great, though, and deserves that award.
The most interesting thing about the movie, though, is something I learned in the "cast and filmmakers" biography section. Apparently Curtis Armstrong is a world-renown expert on all things Harry Nilsson. He helped coordinate the recent spate of Nilsson reissues, and has a co-producer credit on them. What a coincidence, considering last week's post on the extension.
Movies like this is why they should give out an Oscar for best ensemble.
1. David Krumholtz
2. Warwick "Willow" Davis
3. Regina "that girl from 227" King
4. Rick "Endless Mike Hellstrom" Gomez
5. Curtis "Booger" "Charles de Mar" "Herbert Viola" Armstrong (as Ahmet Ertegun, no less)
6. that guy from Booty Call
The movie was okay up until the last fifteen minutes or so. The stupid psychological bullshit is horrible, as are most of the flashbacks to his youth. And there's pretty much no resolution whatsoever. The movie just meanders along for two hours and fifteen minutes, and then all of a sudden he fires his best friend, goes through rehab, and gets admitted back into the state of Georgia. The End. What an awful ending, one that undermines the entire film. Foxx was pretty great, though, and deserves that award.
The most interesting thing about the movie, though, is something I learned in the "cast and filmmakers" biography section. Apparently Curtis Armstrong is a world-renown expert on all things Harry Nilsson. He helped coordinate the recent spate of Nilsson reissues, and has a co-producer credit on them. What a coincidence, considering last week's post on the extension.
Friday, April 01, 2005
J, Lou + Murph on that guy from Drew Carey's show
from Merge's Newsletter (the reunion we know to be true, and they swear the Ferguson bit is not an April Fools joke):
I'll be in Mexico on April 15th, enforcing the sanctity of our national borders. Could someone tape this for me?
from Merge's Newsletter (the reunion we know to be true, and they swear the Ferguson bit is not an April Fools joke):
THE ORIGINAL DINOSAUR JR. REUNITE AFTER 15 YEARS AND WILL PERFORM TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME ON TELEVISION ON CBS' LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON.
J, Lou, and Murph haven't played together since 1989. And, despite their groundbreaking musical accomplishments, the original Dinosaur Jr. lineup never did perform on national TV - until now. Almost two decades later, the trio will bring their jaw dropping live performance back to the stage; their reunion will be debuted on CBS' Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Friday, April 15.
A day later, at Hollywood's Spaceland, J Mascis + the Fog with VERY special guests will perform a full show to 300 lucky fans.
So what's next for J Mascis and Dinosaur Jr.? Select overseas festival performances have already been confirmed, including the UK's Download Festival and Japan's Fuji Rock Fest. Check out www.dinosaurjr.com for more dates as they are announced.
I'll be in Mexico on April 15th, enforcing the sanctity of our national borders. Could someone tape this for me?
my first work-related yarn
I'm sure most of you have experienced those days where you can't believe that you are at work. The hangover is so massive and all-encompassing that you aren't even proud--- no, you're just amazed that you made it to work on time. In my case right now I am amazed I am even at work at all. But I never want to fuck over a PA (personal absence) because I'm too hungover. That's the life of a wimp.
On my way up the subway escalator I was 80% unconcious when I looked ahead of me and saw an ass in my face. The woman in front of me was wearing a black dress made of terry cloth and she had a belt on that looked like it must have been cutting off the circulation in her waist. That's not worth telling, but the thing that was interesting was that when I saw the ass it almost made me throw up. I had to put my hand over my mouth. I have no idea why. Sometime weird things happen when your hungover as shit.
Sorry. Maybe this isn't worth telling. My ability to recount a story is impaired. It was funny to me though.
I'm sure most of you have experienced those days where you can't believe that you are at work. The hangover is so massive and all-encompassing that you aren't even proud--- no, you're just amazed that you made it to work on time. In my case right now I am amazed I am even at work at all. But I never want to fuck over a PA (personal absence) because I'm too hungover. That's the life of a wimp.
On my way up the subway escalator I was 80% unconcious when I looked ahead of me and saw an ass in my face. The woman in front of me was wearing a black dress made of terry cloth and she had a belt on that looked like it must have been cutting off the circulation in her waist. That's not worth telling, but the thing that was interesting was that when I saw the ass it almost made me throw up. I had to put my hand over my mouth. I have no idea why. Sometime weird things happen when your hungover as shit.
Sorry. Maybe this isn't worth telling. My ability to recount a story is impaired. It was funny to me though.
more sitcom thoughts
I also watched an episode of Life on a Stick on Wednesday. Why, you ask? Because Andy Richter Controls the Universe was the finest live-action sitcom since Newsradio, and Stick is the follow-up from ARCTU’s creator Victor Fresco. The commercials make this show look awful, which isn’t hard to do, because it is, in actuality, awful to the extreme! Maybe not to the extreme, but it is decidedly not good, and thus quite bad, and also horrible and horrific and all that. Much like Andy on Quintuplets, Fresco seems to be pretty much selling out here, cranking out a subpar show with all the hoary old sitcom trappings that no longer serve any purpose in this shiny newfangled millennium. I can understand, after working on an excellent but failed show, trying hard to appease the network and appeal to teenagers, and everything, but it's depressing nonetheless to see two talented people work far below their level. But damn, isn’t about time we moved past laugh-tracks, as a culture, and as a people? We can obliterate countless innocent women and children for absolutely no good reason, but we can’t get a single-camera, laugh-track-less sitcom to last without seasonal salvation from the executive level? Scrubs, a show I respect but never watch, would have been axed years ago if Jeff Zucker or somebody didn’t love it. Fox has been trying to kill Bernie Mac off for years, and ARCTU, The Tick, and Undeclared didn’t even get full seasons. Is it really so hard for our earthly brothers and sisters to laugh at something that doesn’t command you to laugh at every single utterance?
Okay, I’m getting off track. Life on a Stick is bad, yes. Most of the lines are horrible, the acting by Amy Yasbeck and the teenaged leads is distressingly broad and exaggerated, and the younger stepsister character suffers from terminal sass-mouth. And, of course, being a “traditional” Fox sitcom, the laugh-track is set on ultra-mega-murder-kill the whole damn time. It’s quite similar to the execrable That ‘70’s Show, but lacks that show’s sole not-quite-saving grace, the solid performances from Topher Grace and the actors who play his parents. Despite all this, though, you can see where Life on a Stick could improve. There were enough flashes of rightness in the one episode I watched to see that Fresco is straining to make a good show. The stoner / best friend character has a number of genuinely funny, unexpected, and absurd lines; when one character talks about a squirrel who wore a top hat (has Fresco seen The Brian Crews Show?!?!?), this lanky young man says that he hated that squirrel because he was “putting on airs”. Elsewhere he states that a pair of novelty contacts worn by the lead character would look good on a baby, completely appropriate of nothing. The actor who plays this guy occasionally had good delivery, but just as often was alternately stilted or rushed, sometimes spoiling a joke by barking out his line too hurriedly, or waiting just a beat too long. A few other moments, such as the step-sister feeling left out of a conversation because she doesn’t have a “bug-that-was-in-me story”, were good for a laugh or two, but for the most part this show is utter crap.
I also watched an episode of Life on a Stick on Wednesday. Why, you ask? Because Andy Richter Controls the Universe was the finest live-action sitcom since Newsradio, and Stick is the follow-up from ARCTU’s creator Victor Fresco. The commercials make this show look awful, which isn’t hard to do, because it is, in actuality, awful to the extreme! Maybe not to the extreme, but it is decidedly not good, and thus quite bad, and also horrible and horrific and all that. Much like Andy on Quintuplets, Fresco seems to be pretty much selling out here, cranking out a subpar show with all the hoary old sitcom trappings that no longer serve any purpose in this shiny newfangled millennium. I can understand, after working on an excellent but failed show, trying hard to appease the network and appeal to teenagers, and everything, but it's depressing nonetheless to see two talented people work far below their level. But damn, isn’t about time we moved past laugh-tracks, as a culture, and as a people? We can obliterate countless innocent women and children for absolutely no good reason, but we can’t get a single-camera, laugh-track-less sitcom to last without seasonal salvation from the executive level? Scrubs, a show I respect but never watch, would have been axed years ago if Jeff Zucker or somebody didn’t love it. Fox has been trying to kill Bernie Mac off for years, and ARCTU, The Tick, and Undeclared didn’t even get full seasons. Is it really so hard for our earthly brothers and sisters to laugh at something that doesn’t command you to laugh at every single utterance?
Okay, I’m getting off track. Life on a Stick is bad, yes. Most of the lines are horrible, the acting by Amy Yasbeck and the teenaged leads is distressingly broad and exaggerated, and the younger stepsister character suffers from terminal sass-mouth. And, of course, being a “traditional” Fox sitcom, the laugh-track is set on ultra-mega-murder-kill the whole damn time. It’s quite similar to the execrable That ‘70’s Show, but lacks that show’s sole not-quite-saving grace, the solid performances from Topher Grace and the actors who play his parents. Despite all this, though, you can see where Life on a Stick could improve. There were enough flashes of rightness in the one episode I watched to see that Fresco is straining to make a good show. The stoner / best friend character has a number of genuinely funny, unexpected, and absurd lines; when one character talks about a squirrel who wore a top hat (has Fresco seen The Brian Crews Show?!?!?), this lanky young man says that he hated that squirrel because he was “putting on airs”. Elsewhere he states that a pair of novelty contacts worn by the lead character would look good on a baby, completely appropriate of nothing. The actor who plays this guy occasionally had good delivery, but just as often was alternately stilted or rushed, sometimes spoiling a joke by barking out his line too hurriedly, or waiting just a beat too long. A few other moments, such as the step-sister feeling left out of a conversation because she doesn’t have a “bug-that-was-in-me story”, were good for a laugh or two, but for the most part this show is utter crap.
Meant to post this yesterday, but got caught up with work, baseball, and Mitch
I watched the latest episode of The Office on Wednesday afternoon. I had to tape it because of the Crooked Fingers concert. Although it was better than the off-putting, bizarro-world adaptation of the first episode, I still can’t tell if I really like the show or not. The first two thirds were awkward, but not just in the intentional way that we should expect. They were, well, awkward in their awkwardness, in part due to the relatively poor acting of Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson. I don’t have any problems with characters deviating from the originals, but thus far neither Michael Scott nor Dwight Schrute seem like real people to me. Both Carell and Wilson seem fake, like sitcom actors. Their respective social ignorance is less plausible than that of their British counterparts. As hopeless and out-of-touch as David Brent and Gareth Keenan could be, they still both possessed a believable humanity, and rarely devolved into cartoons or standard television characters. Thus far, Michael Scott pretty much is a cartoon, though, and a completely unlikable one at that. Carell is still funny, at times, but more than anybody else he highlights this version’s lack of the subtlety that helped define the original. Many people have pointed out that thus far Scott doesn’t have David Brent’s desperation, his pathetic need to be loved and respected that we see in the first season of The Office. That is very true, and without those humanizing qualities Michael Scott can’t be the center of a successful show. The original is so great, in part, because nothing about it feels like a standard sitcom. The American version tries to recreate that atmosphere, but fails, and mostly because Steve Carell plays Michael Scott like a normal sitcom character. Thus far Scott has less in common with David Brent than with Phil Hartman’s fantastic Bill McNeal, a character whose misanthropy and cynicism was leavened by Newsradio’s lightly absurdist tone. In The Office’s cinema verite framework, the same qualities in Scott are mostly off-putting. Michael Scott thus undermines The Office’s very nature twice over, once by coming off too much like a sitcom character, and again by being so unlikable that the show’s squirm-inducing comedy is more painful than funny. At any rate, he’s a poor copy of David Brent, the Guero to Gervais’s Odelay.
(I just put that last sentence in there to appeal to blogger types. I haven't even heard that new Beck album.)
I watched the latest episode of The Office on Wednesday afternoon. I had to tape it because of the Crooked Fingers concert. Although it was better than the off-putting, bizarro-world adaptation of the first episode, I still can’t tell if I really like the show or not. The first two thirds were awkward, but not just in the intentional way that we should expect. They were, well, awkward in their awkwardness, in part due to the relatively poor acting of Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson. I don’t have any problems with characters deviating from the originals, but thus far neither Michael Scott nor Dwight Schrute seem like real people to me. Both Carell and Wilson seem fake, like sitcom actors. Their respective social ignorance is less plausible than that of their British counterparts. As hopeless and out-of-touch as David Brent and Gareth Keenan could be, they still both possessed a believable humanity, and rarely devolved into cartoons or standard television characters. Thus far, Michael Scott pretty much is a cartoon, though, and a completely unlikable one at that. Carell is still funny, at times, but more than anybody else he highlights this version’s lack of the subtlety that helped define the original. Many people have pointed out that thus far Scott doesn’t have David Brent’s desperation, his pathetic need to be loved and respected that we see in the first season of The Office. That is very true, and without those humanizing qualities Michael Scott can’t be the center of a successful show. The original is so great, in part, because nothing about it feels like a standard sitcom. The American version tries to recreate that atmosphere, but fails, and mostly because Steve Carell plays Michael Scott like a normal sitcom character. Thus far Scott has less in common with David Brent than with Phil Hartman’s fantastic Bill McNeal, a character whose misanthropy and cynicism was leavened by Newsradio’s lightly absurdist tone. In The Office’s cinema verite framework, the same qualities in Scott are mostly off-putting. Michael Scott thus undermines The Office’s very nature twice over, once by coming off too much like a sitcom character, and again by being so unlikable that the show’s squirm-inducing comedy is more painful than funny. At any rate, he’s a poor copy of David Brent, the Guero to Gervais’s Odelay.
(I just put that last sentence in there to appeal to blogger types. I haven't even heard that new Beck album.)
some more smarts
I think the questions about Canadian coinage should invalidate this one, but since I did okay I guess I've got no problems with it.
I think the questions about Canadian coinage should invalidate this one, but since I did okay I guess I've got no problems with it.
| pretty good You scored 20 American Logic Points! |
| Wow, you actually look around every once in a while. Congratulations. |
 |
My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:
|
| Link: The American logic Test written by You4got2Evolve on Ok Cupid |
