Monday, December 31, 2001
Happy New Year to you all in advance -- though in the case of the Europe / Asia contingent reading this, it's a bit belated. I know I won't be blogging again tonight, because I'm having about a dozen friends over and I'm sure we'll be otherwise occupied.
Now is the time to think about the year, eh? Most people seem to be depressed by 2001, and God knows they've reason enough to be so. But I cannot tell a lie: 2001 was the best year of my short life, if only because when it started, my life was a depressing shambles and at its close, I'm healthier, happier, and wiser. I've got lots of amazing friends, I've seen lots of amazing (and horrifying) things... It's been an unforgettable ride, to say the least. So: here's to 2002. May it bring peace, prosperity, and a lot more living.
My New Year's resolutions:
Again: Happy New Year, God bless you all, etc. etc. Stay tuned for the ever-so-pretentiously-codenamed DYFL2K2. And have yourselves a grand old time.
Oh, and because I promised I'd do it before the year was out -- This is a test. I repeat, this is only a test.
7:11 PM | e-mail |
Now is the time to think about the year, eh? Most people seem to be depressed by 2001, and God knows they've reason enough to be so. But I cannot tell a lie: 2001 was the best year of my short life, if only because when it started, my life was a depressing shambles and at its close, I'm healthier, happier, and wiser. I've got lots of amazing friends, I've seen lots of amazing (and horrifying) things... It's been an unforgettable ride, to say the least. So: here's to 2002. May it bring peace, prosperity, and a lot more living.
My New Year's resolutions:
- To stay out of crippling financial hell.
- To get myself laid before my 20th birthday. It's shameful, I tell you, shameful.
- To work out on a regular basis. (Haven't kept this one four years running.)
- To get just a little bit more organized. Chaos is nice, don't get me wrong, buuuut...
- To not dismiss my classes the way I did this year. Should be easy now that all my required bullshit is over.
- To do the things I say I'll do.
- Write a book. Or at least make a significant start of it.
Again: Happy New Year, God bless you all, etc. etc. Stay tuned for the ever-so-pretentiously-codenamed DYFL2K2. And have yourselves a grand old time.
Oh, and because I promised I'd do it before the year was out -- This is a test. I repeat, this is only a test.
7:11 PM | e-mail |
I highly recommend The New York Times' 2001: Year In Pictures exhibit. It launches in a pop-up window, so I can't directly link to it here -- you'll find it on the front page.
2:00 PM | e-mail |
2:00 PM | e-mail |
Saturday, December 29, 2001
My dogs have been poisoned by tick-killing spray. Well, the three big ones -- the black lab (Bacalou), the Australian shepherd (Olivia), and the dalmation (Pedro) -- are fine. They are made of rock. But the little ones -- the mini dachshund (Bob) and my sister's Maltese (Molly) -- are hacking and coughing and vomiting. We called the pet poison control center, and apparently they'll be fine if we give them lots of water and keep them away from the spray. So they're exiled in the bathrooms of the house that didn't get treated. Poor bastards.
In the meantime: I need a shower, a haircut (self-buzzing my head again, as usual), and some food. And then... I SHOP. I have money to burn and hot dammit if I shall not end this day laden with clothes and music. And apparently I'm going to Mote Marine, too. More as we get it.
1:07 PM | e-mail |
In the meantime: I need a shower, a haircut (self-buzzing my head again, as usual), and some food. And then... I SHOP. I have money to burn and hot dammit if I shall not end this day laden with clothes and music. And apparently I'm going to Mote Marine, too. More as we get it.
1:07 PM | e-mail |
Friday, December 28, 2001
Working. All the time. All day long. Blaaaaaargh.
Sooooo much money made, though. I'm off for the next three days, so perhaps the words will come a-flooding...
Surreal moment of the past week: on Wednesday I'm in the drive-thru at Taco Bell (yeah, I know. It's cheap), and the little girl (about nine or so) in the back seat of the car in front of me is turned around facing me and is grinning madly. I make to wave to her when suddenly a rabbit hops up out of nowhere and plops itself in the space between the back seat and the rear windshield, a-twitchin' its little nose. Apparently it was her pet. Just about the last thing I expected to see...
7:15 PM | e-mail |
Sooooo much money made, though. I'm off for the next three days, so perhaps the words will come a-flooding...
Surreal moment of the past week: on Wednesday I'm in the drive-thru at Taco Bell (yeah, I know. It's cheap), and the little girl (about nine or so) in the back seat of the car in front of me is turned around facing me and is grinning madly. I make to wave to her when suddenly a rabbit hops up out of nowhere and plops itself in the space between the back seat and the rear windshield, a-twitchin' its little nose. Apparently it was her pet. Just about the last thing I expected to see...
7:15 PM | e-mail |
Tuesday, December 25, 2001
And I hope it was a fabulous Christmas day for all of you, whether you celebrate it or not. (I'm lookin' at you, J. PLEASE say you weren't working.)
Because I know you're curious: My principal haul included the U2 ELEVATION and MOULIN ROUGE DVDs; a boxed set of THE LORD OF THE RINGS; some extremely nice clothes; a bizarre gadget that actually does fix the scratches on CDs; Depeche Mode's Black Celebration; and a fat wad of cash. Record stores here I come: December 26th shall know my love. Well, once I get done working, that is (Yes, I've re-enscripted for the winter break. God help me).
Love, peace, etc. Have a great night.
7:14 PM | e-mail |
Because I know you're curious: My principal haul included the U2 ELEVATION and MOULIN ROUGE DVDs; a boxed set of THE LORD OF THE RINGS; some extremely nice clothes; a bizarre gadget that actually does fix the scratches on CDs; Depeche Mode's Black Celebration; and a fat wad of cash. Record stores here I come: December 26th shall know my love. Well, once I get done working, that is (Yes, I've re-enscripted for the winter break. God help me).
Love, peace, etc. Have a great night.
7:14 PM | e-mail |
Monday, December 24, 2001
It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunktank...
Hope you're enjoying Christmas Eve. My present to you: The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale Of New York" -- the best Christmas song ever. My favorite, anyway.
Merry merry and all that, and I'll blog again on the other side of the festivities...
8:46 PM | e-mail |
Hope you're enjoying Christmas Eve. My present to you: The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale Of New York" -- the best Christmas song ever. My favorite, anyway.
Merry merry and all that, and I'll blog again on the other side of the festivities...
8:46 PM | e-mail |
She doesn't write anywhere near enough, but I'm glad to see that when she does it's golden. Tanya Headon on Pink Floyd... bless.
12:01 AM | e-mail |
12:01 AM | e-mail |
Sunday, December 23, 2001
Tonight, I did something I should not have done.
And that's all you'll get from me about it here. The walls have eyes.
10:36 PM | e-mail |
And that's all you'll get from me about it here. The walls have eyes.
10:36 PM | e-mail |
By the way: If anyone has any ideas for FUCK MTV!, I'd love to hear 'em. The fruit is rotting on the vine... need to make some major decisions 'bout that place.
10:11 PM | e-mail |
10:11 PM | e-mail |
2001: ALBUMS
Alright: These are the albums I enjoyed most in 2001. They're not the best albums of 2001. To be honest, I didn't hear enough full albums this year to speak authoritatively on the year's music; all I know is, these albums spent the most time in my CD player and their songs made the greatest impression on me. I'll bet you'd like them too, but who can say, really.
Honorable mentions first: I enjoyed several of the songs on Bjork's Vespertine, but I'm sorry, hipsters of the world: It just hasn't come through for me. Maybe next time, eh? How 'bout that "It's In Our Hands" shit? You know you love that. I didn't hear the whole album but the Gorillaz were mighty entertaining, so points to them. Everything I heard from Bob Dylan's Love And Theft was grand; in a world in which I am not a cheap fucking bastard, it could've placed very high indeed. Kings Of Convenience's Quiet Is The New Loud was pretty but didn't hook me. And if anything else should've made this chart it was Radiohead's I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings, but there just wasn't room.
Now: the hardcore shit.
Tricky
Blowback
It's just not as good as Maxinquaye. But it's better than anything he's done since. Plenty of people have declared it crap, Tricky's complete and utter collapse into Pop Music, but if you ask me, he can sell out any day of the week if it leads to songs as bitchy as "You Don't Wanna," as playful as "Your Name," and yes, even as aggro as "Girls," the much-maligned nu-metal opus boasting contributions from (gasp! how uncool) The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Plus: Cyndi Lauper! Don't miss the re-version of the Wonder Woman theme ("#1 Da Woman") and the reggae cover of Nirvana's "Something In The Way," either. (And yes, I like the Hawkman bits).
Garbage
Beautifulgarbage
Again, it suffers in comparison to previous masterworks, but bad Garbage is still better than the vast majority of the rock music out there right now. "Shut Your Mouth" says more about anger and frustration than a thousand whining Aaron Lewises, and the riff's better than anything those plodding Staind beasts have ever come up with. "Parade" is the "Beautiful Day" of 2001, "Androgyny" is Timbaland feeling up a drag queen, and "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)" could be a mash note jammed inside Britney Spears' science textbook. It's almost enough to make you forget how utterly forgettable "So Like A Rose," "Til The Day That I Die," and "Breaking Up The Girl" are. Hits and misses, but the hits do me just fine.
Pixies
Complete 'B' Sides
Just how fucking great was this band? So fucking great that their fucking B-SIDES COLLECTION outlaps almost every other NEW release by any artist this year. There are no standout songs, it's all just The Bomb, plain and simple. Love them. Love them dearly.
Weezer
Weezer (The Green Album)
Yes, it did grow on me; there were many albums this year that I was unimpressed by on first listen and expected more from in the future. This is the only one that started to pan out. It's simple, it's plain, it doesn't even have a hint of the cleverness of The Blue Album and absolutely none of the sheer perverse zest of Pinkerton, but it does have catchiness beyond compare. And "Simple Pages." Which is enough to put it over the top and into the "Satisfying" category. Michele will kill me for this one.
New Order
Get Ready
Any album which unleashes the fucking rock monster that is "Crystal" instantly makes the best-of list. I don't care if the rest of the album is the sound of baby seals being clubbed to death: "Crystal" redeems it. But luckily, this album is solid straight through, with "60 Miles An Hour," "Rock The Shack," and "Someone Like You" especially standing out. It warms me heart to see veteran bands make great albums late in their careers; I hope it does the same for you. And speaking of which...
R.E.M.
Reveal
I like Up better. And I like New Adventures In Hi-Fi even more. But this gorgeous little album is an extremely strong work. "The Lifting," "I've Been High," "Disappear": All great. And you only come up with a single as fucking fantastic as "Imitation Of Life" once in a blue moon. Blue moons seem to come a bit more often for R.E.M. than for the rest of us, however...
Basement Jaxx
Rooty
Four words: "Where's Your Head At." A leading candidate for most infectious song of 2001 (just try to dislodge that chorus. You know you can't), it's just another high point on the silliest dance album since Dee-Lite first picked up a slide whistle. Shake ya ass, watch ya'self.
Radiohead
Amnesiac
I don't care what anyone else says: It's better than Kid A. In no way is it any album's bastard stepson. And don't ask me how anyone can accuse Radiohead of abandoning rock when "I Might Be Wrong" is on the books (though thankfully such cries have died down of late). This music is about a thousand times more compelling than any update of the OK Computer sound could have been. In fact, I honestly don't know how I could ever conceive of Radiohead as a band who doesn't make music like this; for me, the transition was seamless. But then, I liked U2 best during Pop. What do I know.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
No More Shall We Part
Who writes songs this fucking good?!? Nick Cave does, obviously. I can't lie: No More Shall We Part is, in pretty much every significant manner, a better album than my #1 choice. But as desperately as I love this disc -- my copy is already scratched to hell from overuse -- my #1 just sat that little bit deeper in my brain. Which isn't to say that this is not a fucking magnificent piece of music that you must own. Right now. Go.
Depeche Mode
Exciter
Every time the sun went down this year, this album went on. Night music par excellence, it distills all the best of Depeche Mode into a single disc far better than their singles collections ever could; "Dream On," "Freelove," and "When The Body Speaks" rank amongst their best work twenty years on -- especially the latter, a fucking gorgeous little song that soothes my soul. Sappy as that sounds. Plus: the fucking savage beat of "I Feel Loved," the decadent glam of "The Dead Of Night," and the breathy, twinkling outro "Goodnight Lovers." Oh yes: I love this album.
Forgive my rock-writer pretensions; they please me. Coming up: the year in songs, either tonight or tomorrow. Depends on when the mood strikes.
10:00 PM | e-mail |
Alright: These are the albums I enjoyed most in 2001. They're not the best albums of 2001. To be honest, I didn't hear enough full albums this year to speak authoritatively on the year's music; all I know is, these albums spent the most time in my CD player and their songs made the greatest impression on me. I'll bet you'd like them too, but who can say, really.
Honorable mentions first: I enjoyed several of the songs on Bjork's Vespertine, but I'm sorry, hipsters of the world: It just hasn't come through for me. Maybe next time, eh? How 'bout that "It's In Our Hands" shit? You know you love that. I didn't hear the whole album but the Gorillaz were mighty entertaining, so points to them. Everything I heard from Bob Dylan's Love And Theft was grand; in a world in which I am not a cheap fucking bastard, it could've placed very high indeed. Kings Of Convenience's Quiet Is The New Loud was pretty but didn't hook me. And if anything else should've made this chart it was Radiohead's I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings, but there just wasn't room.
Now: the hardcore shit.
TrickyBlowback
It's just not as good as Maxinquaye. But it's better than anything he's done since. Plenty of people have declared it crap, Tricky's complete and utter collapse into Pop Music, but if you ask me, he can sell out any day of the week if it leads to songs as bitchy as "You Don't Wanna," as playful as "Your Name," and yes, even as aggro as "Girls," the much-maligned nu-metal opus boasting contributions from (gasp! how uncool) The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Plus: Cyndi Lauper! Don't miss the re-version of the Wonder Woman theme ("#1 Da Woman") and the reggae cover of Nirvana's "Something In The Way," either. (And yes, I like the Hawkman bits).
GarbageBeautifulgarbage
Again, it suffers in comparison to previous masterworks, but bad Garbage is still better than the vast majority of the rock music out there right now. "Shut Your Mouth" says more about anger and frustration than a thousand whining Aaron Lewises, and the riff's better than anything those plodding Staind beasts have ever come up with. "Parade" is the "Beautiful Day" of 2001, "Androgyny" is Timbaland feeling up a drag queen, and "Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go!)" could be a mash note jammed inside Britney Spears' science textbook. It's almost enough to make you forget how utterly forgettable "So Like A Rose," "Til The Day That I Die," and "Breaking Up The Girl" are. Hits and misses, but the hits do me just fine.
PixiesComplete 'B' Sides
Just how fucking great was this band? So fucking great that their fucking B-SIDES COLLECTION outlaps almost every other NEW release by any artist this year. There are no standout songs, it's all just The Bomb, plain and simple. Love them. Love them dearly.
WeezerWeezer (The Green Album)
Yes, it did grow on me; there were many albums this year that I was unimpressed by on first listen and expected more from in the future. This is the only one that started to pan out. It's simple, it's plain, it doesn't even have a hint of the cleverness of The Blue Album and absolutely none of the sheer perverse zest of Pinkerton, but it does have catchiness beyond compare. And "Simple Pages." Which is enough to put it over the top and into the "Satisfying" category. Michele will kill me for this one.
New OrderGet Ready
Any album which unleashes the fucking rock monster that is "Crystal" instantly makes the best-of list. I don't care if the rest of the album is the sound of baby seals being clubbed to death: "Crystal" redeems it. But luckily, this album is solid straight through, with "60 Miles An Hour," "Rock The Shack," and "Someone Like You" especially standing out. It warms me heart to see veteran bands make great albums late in their careers; I hope it does the same for you. And speaking of which...
R.E.M.Reveal
I like Up better. And I like New Adventures In Hi-Fi even more. But this gorgeous little album is an extremely strong work. "The Lifting," "I've Been High," "Disappear": All great. And you only come up with a single as fucking fantastic as "Imitation Of Life" once in a blue moon. Blue moons seem to come a bit more often for R.E.M. than for the rest of us, however...
Basement JaxxRooty
Four words: "Where's Your Head At." A leading candidate for most infectious song of 2001 (just try to dislodge that chorus. You know you can't), it's just another high point on the silliest dance album since Dee-Lite first picked up a slide whistle. Shake ya ass, watch ya'self.
RadioheadAmnesiac
I don't care what anyone else says: It's better than Kid A. In no way is it any album's bastard stepson. And don't ask me how anyone can accuse Radiohead of abandoning rock when "I Might Be Wrong" is on the books (though thankfully such cries have died down of late). This music is about a thousand times more compelling than any update of the OK Computer sound could have been. In fact, I honestly don't know how I could ever conceive of Radiohead as a band who doesn't make music like this; for me, the transition was seamless. But then, I liked U2 best during Pop. What do I know.
Nick Cave & The Bad SeedsNo More Shall We Part
Who writes songs this fucking good?!? Nick Cave does, obviously. I can't lie: No More Shall We Part is, in pretty much every significant manner, a better album than my #1 choice. But as desperately as I love this disc -- my copy is already scratched to hell from overuse -- my #1 just sat that little bit deeper in my brain. Which isn't to say that this is not a fucking magnificent piece of music that you must own. Right now. Go.
Depeche ModeExciter
Every time the sun went down this year, this album went on. Night music par excellence, it distills all the best of Depeche Mode into a single disc far better than their singles collections ever could; "Dream On," "Freelove," and "When The Body Speaks" rank amongst their best work twenty years on -- especially the latter, a fucking gorgeous little song that soothes my soul. Sappy as that sounds. Plus: the fucking savage beat of "I Feel Loved," the decadent glam of "The Dead Of Night," and the breathy, twinkling outro "Goodnight Lovers." Oh yes: I love this album.
Forgive my rock-writer pretensions; they please me. Coming up: the year in songs, either tonight or tomorrow. Depends on when the mood strikes.
10:00 PM | e-mail |
Michele's year in music. Mine's coming up soon, I promise...
...In fact, it's gonna come up now. Gimme an hour or so to assemble...
8:52 PM | e-mail |
...In fact, it's gonna come up now. Gimme an hour or so to assemble...
8:52 PM | e-mail |
FUCK MTV!: All I need is time. And a better songwriter.
All systems nominal on the homefront, by the way. More information may be forthcoming.
7:15 PM | e-mail |
All systems nominal on the homefront, by the way. More information may be forthcoming.
7:15 PM | e-mail |
Thursday, December 20, 2001
Alright then; it's time to pack up the laptop and prepare for my three-hour nap. I've got a freshly-purchased copy of Kind Of Blue on the CD player and I'm aiming to be snuggled in by midnight, so I'd best finish up my packing, head for the shower, et cetera. You'll hear from me again in about six hours, as I kill absurd amounts of time in the JetBlue terminal of Kennedy Airport. Ah, holiday traditions, you warm our hearts.
10:47 PM | e-mail |
10:47 PM | e-mail |
Today's moment of Internet-Based Surrealism:
Checking my referrer logs, I see I got a hit from http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cd406, which turns out to be the splash page of Combustication, the weblog of one of Bryan's friends which I've never gotten around to reading. Now there's not actually a link to my site there, so I'm browsing the blog itself... and what do I stumble upon but a picture of Erin at the NYU Program Board's holiday party (December 15th entry, fourth row down, that's her on the right). As it turns out, Christina (writer of Combustication) was the film committee chair this semester, the job that Erin is inheriting next semester. And come to think of it, I think I met her briefly once before one of the $2 film screenings.
Today's moment of Apropos Cliche: It's a small world after all.
3:47 PM | e-mail |
Checking my referrer logs, I see I got a hit from http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cd406, which turns out to be the splash page of Combustication, the weblog of one of Bryan's friends which I've never gotten around to reading. Now there's not actually a link to my site there, so I'm browsing the blog itself... and what do I stumble upon but a picture of Erin at the NYU Program Board's holiday party (December 15th entry, fourth row down, that's her on the right). As it turns out, Christina (writer of Combustication) was the film committee chair this semester, the job that Erin is inheriting next semester. And come to think of it, I think I met her briefly once before one of the $2 film screenings.
Today's moment of Apropos Cliche: It's a small world after all.
3:47 PM | e-mail |
God, 3:30 in the afternoon and it's starting to get dark. I love New York City so much it hurts, but right now I just can't wait to get back to Florida for a while...
3:33 PM | e-mail |
3:33 PM | e-mail |
2:15. It's all done. The paper turned out startlingly decent, I think -- though God knows I spent as much or more time rattling on about Ennis as opposed to Behan; hope that doesn't hurt me -- and I turned it in just minutes under the wire, due to a mad dash across "campus" (i.e. down five blocks) to buy a heavy-duty paperclip when the stapler failed me. I bought the box of clips with the change in my pocket; with the exception of tomorrow's SuperShuttle fare I am officially cashless. Wow.
Now I'm eating my Pizza Hut dining-hall pizza and explosively decompressing. Yowza.
Side note: Ireland House (at the bottom of Fifth Avenue next to Washington Mews) is an amazing little building. It reminded me of some kind of magnificent midget's mansion -- as you walk in the door there's space enough to stand before the room splits into three seperate overlapping levels and balconies, with thin grand staircases connecting each. The decor is completely traditional, though -- no modernism whatsoever. I only caught a glimpse as I ducked in and passed my paper to someone, but I wish I could've stayed for hours...
Homeward bound as of 4:15 AM tomorrow (ick). Communications may cut out. Then again, I might blog from the airport. It's a strange world.
2:20 PM | e-mail |
Now I'm eating my Pizza Hut dining-hall pizza and explosively decompressing. Yowza.
Side note: Ireland House (at the bottom of Fifth Avenue next to Washington Mews) is an amazing little building. It reminded me of some kind of magnificent midget's mansion -- as you walk in the door there's space enough to stand before the room splits into three seperate overlapping levels and balconies, with thin grand staircases connecting each. The decor is completely traditional, though -- no modernism whatsoever. I only caught a glimpse as I ducked in and passed my paper to someone, but I wish I could've stayed for hours...
Homeward bound as of 4:15 AM tomorrow (ick). Communications may cut out. Then again, I might blog from the airport. It's a strange world.
2:20 PM | e-mail |
11:00 check-in: Test went surprisingly well; I'm almost assured a better grade than the previous two (73 and 64, respectively. Owch. This one counts 5% more, though). Paper is onto its eigth page and is still running; I've yet to even begin the issue of authorship -- who has true creative control in Behan's works, which I'll be tying in to the symbiosis between comics writer and penciller -- and that's certain to eat at LEAST a page, possibly more. I'm not quite done with God and optimism and black humor, either. Another hour's solid work and the bitch will be gone. I am a machine.
This has me in such a good mood right now...
11:08 AM | e-mail |
This has me in such a good mood right now...
11:08 AM | e-mail |
I'm hungry and I didn't get anywhere near enough sleep, and I've got until 2:00 today to write ten to fifteen pages about Brendan Behan and Garth Ennis. And I have a genetics final from 10:00 to 11:50 that I don't know anything about.
It's going to be a rough day.
7:24 AM | e-mail |
It's going to be a rough day.
7:24 AM | e-mail |
Wednesday, December 19, 2001
Yes, I just saw The Fellowship Of The Ring. Yes, it was good. No, it was not perfect. Yes, it was a bit long. Yes, the script needed a polish. Yes, the effects (largely) rock. No, they're not perfect either. No, Liv Tyler does not make you want to claw your eyeballs out. Yes, I will fail two classes if I don't stop blogging and start working now.
6:16 PM | e-mail |
6:16 PM | e-mail |
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
Yes, everyone else blogged it already (I'm looking at you, you, and you), but I can't not share it: magnificent (if poorly transcribed) interview with Trent Reznor. He's a funny motherfucker.
In a lot of your videos, you're in these wind tunnels or surrounded by entrails. Do you ever find yourself sitting there with a cow skull on your head thinking, What the hell am I doing?
Trent: I've often though that. We were doing the "Starfuckers" video with Marilyn Manson in the desert outside of L.A., and it was freezing cold at night with this miserable wind kicking up. We were all shivering in our silly outfits, and I was standing watching playback on this monitor. I saw Manson dressed like a drug addict chick. Then the playback stopped and the tape cut into a D'Angelo video that the crew had shot prior to our shoot. D'Angelo was sitting back in his silk bed with a superhot chick next to him, they were making out, you saw her laughing and he was bullshitting with her. And I was thinking, Where did this all go wrong? I could be doing any number of things, and I chose to be making out with Manson in the fucking desert in the middle of the night. Time to reassess.
12:44 PM | e-mail |
In a lot of your videos, you're in these wind tunnels or surrounded by entrails. Do you ever find yourself sitting there with a cow skull on your head thinking, What the hell am I doing?
Trent: I've often though that. We were doing the "Starfuckers" video with Marilyn Manson in the desert outside of L.A., and it was freezing cold at night with this miserable wind kicking up. We were all shivering in our silly outfits, and I was standing watching playback on this monitor. I saw Manson dressed like a drug addict chick. Then the playback stopped and the tape cut into a D'Angelo video that the crew had shot prior to our shoot. D'Angelo was sitting back in his silk bed with a superhot chick next to him, they were making out, you saw her laughing and he was bullshitting with her. And I was thinking, Where did this all go wrong? I could be doing any number of things, and I chose to be making out with Manson in the fucking desert in the middle of the night. Time to reassess.
12:44 PM | e-mail |
This picture made my damn day. (via youtwo.net)
Did I mention that I found a way to make fun of Bono in my AIDS paper? Well, I did. Ta.
(Speaking of Bono, NBC is pitting The Playboy Playmates against U2's halftime show at the Super Bowl this year. When given a choice between bountiful boobs and the bemulleted B-Man, I think I know which way America's gonna swing.)
12:03 PM | e-mail |
2,000 words on the interaction between AIDS and culture. Four different sources. 30% of my grade. Due in forty minutes. Written in under two hours starting at 9AM this morning.
I can't decide if I'm the mack-daddy or the daddy-mack. What's your opinion?
11:03 AM | e-mail |
I can't decide if I'm the mack-daddy or the daddy-mack. What's your opinion?
11:03 AM | e-mail |
Monday, December 17, 2001
Holy shit, do I second that. David, I know you read this weblog (Ha). Sign this man.
9:16 PM | e-mail |
9:16 PM | e-mail |
Wow, what a day in the music world. Perry Farrell helps free thousands of Sudanese slaves -- it's exactly what it sounds like. David Bowie quits Virgin and founds his own record label. The Sex Pistols are reuniting for the Queen's Golden Jubilee (no word on whether or not they will insert animatronics into Sid Vicious' rotting corpse). And last but not least, the singer for Big Country has died.
My take on each piece of news: fucking amazing, damned spiffy, a really dumb idea (unless they do reanimate Sid), and complete and utter non-reaction. Respectively.
2:59 PM | e-mail |
My take on each piece of news: fucking amazing, damned spiffy, a really dumb idea (unless they do reanimate Sid), and complete and utter non-reaction. Respectively.
2:59 PM | e-mail |
Yeah yeah, so I'm getting the holiday spirit. Eat me.
I had very strange and, I can't lie, very sexy dreams last night. Oh my. Decency prevents me from recounting them here, but y'know. Just so you know where I'm coming from today: Sleepy and horny.
Now I'm off to run errands: library, lunch, and the post office, to next-day ($ouch$) a fat check to the nice bastards at the credit-card company. I'm so in debt right now it goes beyond rational comprehension. And think of all the presents I get to buy! Somehow! With my theoretical money!
1:08 PM | e-mail |
I had very strange and, I can't lie, very sexy dreams last night. Oh my. Decency prevents me from recounting them here, but y'know. Just so you know where I'm coming from today: Sleepy and horny.
Now I'm off to run errands: library, lunch, and the post office, to next-day ($ouch$) a fat check to the nice bastards at the credit-card company. I'm so in debt right now it goes beyond rational comprehension. And think of all the presents I get to buy! Somehow! With my theoretical money!
1:08 PM | e-mail |
Sunday, December 16, 2001
I just stumbled back over New York London Paris Munich for the first time in a couple of months. Just browsing the posts currently up, combined with their piece on the new Pulp album (which I still haven't bought, because it's $23 at Virgin, and I won't download because I want to Support Them In The States) just reminded me how much I fucking love to hear people talk about the things that they love. Thank you.
5:03 PM | e-mail |
5:03 PM | e-mail |
Exciting life = boring website. Conversely, exciting website = no life.
Yes sir, that's my last couple months in a nutshell. I really am sorry about how much this weblog sucks, everyone. It's just that last year I was depressed and stupid, so I spent the whole school year blogging frantically from my darkened hovel. Now I keep "going out" and "spending time with people" and that sort of nonsense, and it's had a detrimental effect on my blogging. You'd think I'd have interesting things to write about, but no, I never do write them up. So I'm sorry.
Next year, I'm working on a project that might well make things very intriguing indeed. We'll see about it...
4:38 PM | e-mail |
Yes sir, that's my last couple months in a nutshell. I really am sorry about how much this weblog sucks, everyone. It's just that last year I was depressed and stupid, so I spent the whole school year blogging frantically from my darkened hovel. Now I keep "going out" and "spending time with people" and that sort of nonsense, and it's had a detrimental effect on my blogging. You'd think I'd have interesting things to write about, but no, I never do write them up. So I'm sorry.
Next year, I'm working on a project that might well make things very intriguing indeed. We'll see about it...
4:38 PM | e-mail |
Yes, I know everyone else has already blogged it and spurted their metaphorical hot blog cum all over it, but let me say that I have only just now seen the Spider-Man trailer and lo, it is HAWT. It's so fucking Raimitastic you can't even begin to understand -- unbelievable over-the-top cheesiness at every turn. Under ordinary circumstances I'd be freaking out with wrath, but y'know what? I think it's going to work. My film penis is so hard now. May 3rd, May 3rd, May 3rd...
4:21 PM | e-mail |
4:21 PM | e-mail |
Ewwww. Nobody warned me about this -- apparently, X-MEN 2 is actually going to be officially titled "X²". That's so very, very poor. But hey, apparently Gambit might be in it...
4:03 PM | e-mail |
4:03 PM | e-mail |
Grant Morrison on his plans for NEW X-MEN in 2K2: And before the inevitable outcry, I hasten to add that Jean's immersion in semen is entirely tasteful and essential to the storyline...
(via LinkMachineGo)
3:37 PM | e-mail |
(via LinkMachineGo)
3:37 PM | e-mail |
HO.LY. SHEEIT. "I Should Be So Lucky": The Kylie Minogue Musical.
Lia, I love you.
3:33 PM | e-mail |
Lia, I love you.
3:33 PM | e-mail |
Saturday, December 15, 2001
It's Erin's birthday, and I am spending my time as her bitch.
More on this fiasco later.
7:20 PM | e-mail |
More on this fiasco later.
7:20 PM | e-mail |
Friday, December 14, 2001
Sorry for all these super-brief one-line posts. I'm just not in a very analytical mood right now; I've been all domestic and organizational and academic and some shit. I'm preparing for final-exam/paper mental lockdown -- I've got ten pages to churn out about Irish dramatists (probably Brendan Behan and -- wa-hey! -- Garth Ennis) and 2,000 words about AIDS, culture, illness, and death; and then, of course, there's the final exam in Human Genetics, which I'm woefully ill-prepared for. I have until Thursday the 20th for the Irish bit and the test; the AIDS paper is due the 18th. So if it quiets down 'round here, don't be surprised.
Oh yeah -- big shout out to Miss Ellen de Smellen, who wrote me a very nice e-mail.
12:12 AM | e-mail |
Oh yeah -- big shout out to Miss Ellen de Smellen, who wrote me a very nice e-mail.
12:12 AM | e-mail |
Thursday, December 13, 2001
It feels so fucking nice to clean this damn room... good for the head too.
I'd write more, but I want to post this before midnight.
11:51 PM | e-mail |
I'd write more, but I want to post this before midnight.
11:51 PM | e-mail |
Wednesday, December 12, 2001
Ocean's Eleven -- far better than it had any right to be.
Honestly, it was in many ways kind of THE perfect entertaining movie. If you don't like the Steven Soderbergh super-slick "boy it's cool" tone, you'll hate it; but if that doesn't bother you, then everything else about the movie pretty much goes off without a hitch. Hilarious performances, surprisingly solid writing, and just generalized fun. I haven't seen a movie that entertained me so consistently in a long, long time.
Plus, half the cast is relentlessly hot.
So I apologize if this devalues my opinions on filmmaking for you. But I really, REALLY loved this movie. Hook me up with that score, too -- David Holmes, you my dawg.
10:54 PM | e-mail |
Honestly, it was in many ways kind of THE perfect entertaining movie. If you don't like the Steven Soderbergh super-slick "boy it's cool" tone, you'll hate it; but if that doesn't bother you, then everything else about the movie pretty much goes off without a hitch. Hilarious performances, surprisingly solid writing, and just generalized fun. I haven't seen a movie that entertained me so consistently in a long, long time.
Plus, half the cast is relentlessly hot.
So I apologize if this devalues my opinions on filmmaking for you. But I really, REALLY loved this movie. Hook me up with that score, too -- David Holmes, you my dawg.
10:54 PM | e-mail |
Tuesday, December 11, 2001
There was just some kind of massive fight in the middle of Fifth Avenue, right beneath my window. It stopped traffic completely. Like eight or nine guys were down there screaming at each other, and then all of a sudden five or six of them started grappling and throwing each other down in the street and against the fence of the church. I have no idea what just went on, but I don't like it. It doesn't look like anyone got seriously hurt...
I've never seen anything like that happen around here before.
5:31 PM | e-mail |
I've never seen anything like that happen around here before.
5:31 PM | e-mail |
Ladies and gentlemen: The Smashing Pumpkins.
Last night I treated myself to Virgin -- the new Spin with U2 as Band Of The Year (good article, great pictures) and Rotten Apples / Judas O, the Smashing Pumpkins' "greatest hits" album. I bought it principally for Judas O -- the "sequel" to Pisces Iscariot (which I still don't have), collecting b-sides and rarities from 1995-2000. However, it doesn't just duplicate The Aeroplane Flies High by any stretch of the imagination; ten of its tracks have never been released before (three of those are on MACHINA II, but not in these mixes/versions). The actual "Greatest Hits" disc is surprising, too -- it includes such eyebrow-raisers as "Drown," "Landslide" (yes, the Fleetwood Mac cover), and "Eye," the non-single track they cut for the LOST HIGHWAY soundtrack in 1996 (I fucking love that song. It's like Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails making out in the back of a high-school Halloween party. Bless it), as well as a high-quality version of "Real Love," one of the Machina II standouts, and "Untitled," the last song they ever recorded. It's a sweet one, all happy pop and gleeful Pumpkins thump. A few key songs are missing -- "I Am One" (which is on the Euro version), "Thirty-Three," "The End Is The Beginning Is The End," et al. -- but there's no such thing as a perfect "greatest" hits. It's sequenced chronologically, which normally I'm all about, but it works sketchily here -- the sparkling crunch of the Siamese Dream songs coasts in beautifully after the earlier material, but "Eye" and "Ava Adore" -- two great songs that sound great on their own terms -- suffer by their proximity, relying as they do on similar sonic textures. Let the tracks fall where they may, though; they'll still be great.
God DAMN they were a good band, y'know? I kind of have to say that. I did grow up in the 1990s. But they really, really were. Which is why it fucking burns my ass to constantly hear idiots like Stephen Thomas Erlewine shoving them into the box already, slamming anything they did after Mellon Collie... and fetishizing Siamese Dream.
*** Rant Alert ***
Yes, those are both great albums. But maybe if you'd pull the fucking stick out of your ass and discard your March-1997 "electronica = lame" rocksnob delusions, you'd hear that Adore is a great fucking album too; it just a different-sounding greatness. Did you expect them to make another arena-bombast album after five solid years of thrash and touring AND after having lost one of the greatest rock drummers of the decade? They weren't chasing a trend as you imply, you dickweed, they were trying to keep their band alive; be enough of a man to meet them on their own reinvented musical terms instead of insisting that they flame out doing the kind of music they DON'T WANT TO DO ANYMORE. It's exactly that critical mentality, and that response to the songwriting and sound of Adore, that drove Corgan to Machina -- "you want fucking rock and roll? Fine, we'll give you rock and roll -- and I hope you fucking choke on it." That's the lesson of the overblown feedback of Machina -- be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it. That record is the sound of a wounded egomaniac ripping everything around him to shreds and burning the remains; of knowing that he's headed for a brick wall and running even faster. The record is a joke. And yet, at the same time, he manages to pull off two singles that almost put everything else they ever recorded to shame -- "The Everlasting Gaze" and "Stand Inside Your Love," standing at opposite ends of the tear-your-world-apart / kiss-away-your-tears dichotomy the Pumpkins did so well. Too bad that by then, thanks to the "time to give up on 'em" rhetoric of the ignorant, nobody was listening.
Rant complete.
So yes: I love The Smashing Pumpkins. I'm biased about this record, but all I know is that listening to it in bed last night was an amazing feeling: knowing that this is the final sonic document, the last chapter, the sound of the closing book. I'll miss them, and it hurts. Ta, you crazy bastards.
5:07 PM | e-mail |
Last night I treated myself to Virgin -- the new Spin with U2 as Band Of The Year (good article, great pictures) and Rotten Apples / Judas O, the Smashing Pumpkins' "greatest hits" album. I bought it principally for Judas O -- the "sequel" to Pisces Iscariot (which I still don't have), collecting b-sides and rarities from 1995-2000. However, it doesn't just duplicate The Aeroplane Flies High by any stretch of the imagination; ten of its tracks have never been released before (three of those are on MACHINA II, but not in these mixes/versions). The actual "Greatest Hits" disc is surprising, too -- it includes such eyebrow-raisers as "Drown," "Landslide" (yes, the Fleetwood Mac cover), and "Eye," the non-single track they cut for the LOST HIGHWAY soundtrack in 1996 (I fucking love that song. It's like Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails making out in the back of a high-school Halloween party. Bless it), as well as a high-quality version of "Real Love," one of the Machina II standouts, and "Untitled," the last song they ever recorded. It's a sweet one, all happy pop and gleeful Pumpkins thump. A few key songs are missing -- "I Am One" (which is on the Euro version), "Thirty-Three," "The End Is The Beginning Is The End," et al. -- but there's no such thing as a perfect "greatest" hits. It's sequenced chronologically, which normally I'm all about, but it works sketchily here -- the sparkling crunch of the Siamese Dream songs coasts in beautifully after the earlier material, but "Eye" and "Ava Adore" -- two great songs that sound great on their own terms -- suffer by their proximity, relying as they do on similar sonic textures. Let the tracks fall where they may, though; they'll still be great.
God DAMN they were a good band, y'know? I kind of have to say that. I did grow up in the 1990s. But they really, really were. Which is why it fucking burns my ass to constantly hear idiots like Stephen Thomas Erlewine shoving them into the box already, slamming anything they did after Mellon Collie... and fetishizing Siamese Dream.
*** Rant Alert ***
Yes, those are both great albums. But maybe if you'd pull the fucking stick out of your ass and discard your March-1997 "electronica = lame" rocksnob delusions, you'd hear that Adore is a great fucking album too; it just a different-sounding greatness. Did you expect them to make another arena-bombast album after five solid years of thrash and touring AND after having lost one of the greatest rock drummers of the decade? They weren't chasing a trend as you imply, you dickweed, they were trying to keep their band alive; be enough of a man to meet them on their own reinvented musical terms instead of insisting that they flame out doing the kind of music they DON'T WANT TO DO ANYMORE. It's exactly that critical mentality, and that response to the songwriting and sound of Adore, that drove Corgan to Machina -- "you want fucking rock and roll? Fine, we'll give you rock and roll -- and I hope you fucking choke on it." That's the lesson of the overblown feedback of Machina -- be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it. That record is the sound of a wounded egomaniac ripping everything around him to shreds and burning the remains; of knowing that he's headed for a brick wall and running even faster. The record is a joke. And yet, at the same time, he manages to pull off two singles that almost put everything else they ever recorded to shame -- "The Everlasting Gaze" and "Stand Inside Your Love," standing at opposite ends of the tear-your-world-apart / kiss-away-your-tears dichotomy the Pumpkins did so well. Too bad that by then, thanks to the "time to give up on 'em" rhetoric of the ignorant, nobody was listening.
Rant complete.
So yes: I love The Smashing Pumpkins. I'm biased about this record, but all I know is that listening to it in bed last night was an amazing feeling: knowing that this is the final sonic document, the last chapter, the sound of the closing book. I'll miss them, and it hurts. Ta, you crazy bastards.
5:07 PM | e-mail |
Monday, December 10, 2001
Hope you didn't like the happy R.E.M. of Reveal, folks -- R.E.M. Songs Take 'Dark, Complex' Turn In Wake Of Sep. 11 Attacks.
6:32 PM | e-mail |
6:32 PM | e-mail |
I knew this plan wouldn't work.
I just wrote my final paper on The Tempest and Midnight's Children for Literary Interpretation, due today at 2:00. I gathered all the books for it last night and resolved to write it in the morning, once a good night's sleep had cleared my head of distractions (and illness). That technique has served me well before; I've written some good papers for that class. But I just finished this last one, and it sucks. Here's the kicker: In my very last sentence I discovered a thesis that is far better than the ramshackle half-ignored one I wrote the whole fucking paper with. And now it's 11:45 and I have to go to class at 12:15 and I don't have the time to rewrite the paper to at least reflect it, or to dig up the sources that could make it rock like a motherfucker.
So that's why you don't procrastinate.
11:51 AM | e-mail |
I just wrote my final paper on The Tempest and Midnight's Children for Literary Interpretation, due today at 2:00. I gathered all the books for it last night and resolved to write it in the morning, once a good night's sleep had cleared my head of distractions (and illness). That technique has served me well before; I've written some good papers for that class. But I just finished this last one, and it sucks. Here's the kicker: In my very last sentence I discovered a thesis that is far better than the ramshackle half-ignored one I wrote the whole fucking paper with. And now it's 11:45 and I have to go to class at 12:15 and I don't have the time to rewrite the paper to at least reflect it, or to dig up the sources that could make it rock like a motherfucker.
So that's why you don't procrastinate.
11:51 AM | e-mail |
B.E.S.D. The Mayfly Project 2001. Your year, in twenty words or less.
I'll write more soon, I promise. But right now, I must work.
9:42 AM | e-mail |
I'll write more soon, I promise. But right now, I must work.
9:42 AM | e-mail |
Saturday, December 08, 2001
Thanks to the goodness of Fandango (and the genius of Kevin, who tipped me off to it), I'm seeing THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING at 2 PM on Wednesday, December 19th, at the Loews @ Lincoln Centre. I'm bringing Jeremy along, too, as part of his Hanukkah present. Oh yes: it will be good. I haven't even read the books and I still have a deep-seated lust for this film...
10:17 PM | e-mail |
10:17 PM | e-mail |
I am definitely going to get sick. My roommate's had a cold for over a week now, and it's definitely setting in for me... I'm supersaturating my body with vitamin C via Halls Defense Vitamin C citrus drops (don't worry, I won't OD) and trying to avoid the nasty wet cold rain I spent the day trudging 'round in. I went up to my sister's place one last time this afternoon, and my mom got me a cell phone for Christmas. I have joined the ranks of the snobbishly wired. Don't hate me because I'm a yuppie, please.
Now I'm sitting in the dorm while my friends go to Veniero's on 1st Ave. to get us a big fat cheesecake. I applaud their valiant sacrifice. It's still deeply shitty out there.
Beautiful moment of the day: Walking down 82nd Street from my sister's apartment at dusk (it's just gotten fully dark). My sister's in front of me with a red umbrella as it pours down rain. The trees on our left are lit with golden Christmas lights; above us hang deep red banners that simply state a restaurant's name in gold lettering: RAIN. Red, red; gold, gold; rain, rain. It would've made a gorgeous photograph...
8:50 PM | e-mail |
Now I'm sitting in the dorm while my friends go to Veniero's on 1st Ave. to get us a big fat cheesecake. I applaud their valiant sacrifice. It's still deeply shitty out there.
Beautiful moment of the day: Walking down 82nd Street from my sister's apartment at dusk (it's just gotten fully dark). My sister's in front of me with a red umbrella as it pours down rain. The trees on our left are lit with golden Christmas lights; above us hang deep red banners that simply state a restaurant's name in gold lettering: RAIN. Red, red; gold, gold; rain, rain. It would've made a gorgeous photograph...
8:50 PM | e-mail |
You know the whole thing with the factory shooter earlier this week? Well, Thomas lives there and works for The Elkhart Truth, the local newspaper. This is the story he wrote.
2:26 PM | e-mail |
2:26 PM | e-mail |
I know I haven't been blogging much. Life is full.
My mom's in town and I went out with her and my sister last night to Coppola's (great fucking restaurant -- 79th between Amsterdam and Broadway) and then we saw Monsters, Inc. Which I heartily enjoyed. I'm waiting for the Pixar streak to run out, but as of now, they just keep turning out really smart, funny movies for kids. I appreciate it. Of course there are iffy moments -- a few sequences looked tailor-made for Disney rides and merchandising -- but otherwise it really was a very enjoyable movie.
I love speaking the obvious several weeks after something comes out...
2:23 PM | e-mail |
My mom's in town and I went out with her and my sister last night to Coppola's (great fucking restaurant -- 79th between Amsterdam and Broadway) and then we saw Monsters, Inc. Which I heartily enjoyed. I'm waiting for the Pixar streak to run out, but as of now, they just keep turning out really smart, funny movies for kids. I appreciate it. Of course there are iffy moments -- a few sequences looked tailor-made for Disney rides and merchandising -- but otherwise it really was a very enjoyable movie.
I love speaking the obvious several weeks after something comes out...
2:23 PM | e-mail |
Friday, December 07, 2001
All right, it's not actually that informative an article. But the words "PJ Harvey's new album" give me an instant hard-on.
12:47 PM | e-mail |
12:47 PM | e-mail |
In my dream last night I met Bono and his wife at one of the Disney hotels. It didn't look like any of the real Disney hotels but I think it was one. It was very posh. I don't think I made a fool of myself in front of Bono, either. He was quite friendly.
That wasn't the whole dream, mind you. But it's pretty much all I remember of it.
I know, I know. It's sad. I usually don't dream about stuff like that...
11:57 AM | e-mail |
That wasn't the whole dream, mind you. But it's pretty much all I remember of it.
I know, I know. It's sad. I usually don't dream about stuff like that...
11:57 AM | e-mail |
That is one loud-ass redesign, muthafucka. I like it, but it's a bit too... something... for my tastes... oh, what's the word... GAY?!?! ;-D
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Wink wink, nudge nudge, ahem.
Anyway, it's pretty much the exact opposite of the one I've got coming up (which is the reason I've barely been blogging -- all my time on the computer is spent tweaking it)... by the way, consider this fair warning. If you use Netscape to view this page (and very few of you do, according to my logs), then you have until the end of this month -- maybe less -- to download Microsoft Internet Explorer. I know, I know, but the new design is entirely CSS (no tables! Holy shit!) and Netscape just doesn't render it properly. It'll be roughly viewable, if ugly, in 6.x, and completely illegible in 4.x. Just to warn you, you know.
1:18 AM | e-mail |
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Wink wink, nudge nudge, ahem.
Anyway, it's pretty much the exact opposite of the one I've got coming up (which is the reason I've barely been blogging -- all my time on the computer is spent tweaking it)... by the way, consider this fair warning. If you use Netscape to view this page (and very few of you do, according to my logs), then you have until the end of this month -- maybe less -- to download Microsoft Internet Explorer. I know, I know, but the new design is entirely CSS (no tables! Holy shit!) and Netscape just doesn't render it properly. It'll be roughly viewable, if ugly, in 6.x, and completely illegible in 4.x. Just to warn you, you know.
1:18 AM | e-mail |
Thursday, December 06, 2001
Happy birthday, Maria!!!
(Maria is the cool girl down the hall with a job she hates. She just discovered this site yesterday, and she told me I'm "really funny." So of course I love her to death. As does Li'l Salman.)
4:14 PM | e-mail |
(Maria is the cool girl down the hall with a job she hates. She just discovered this site yesterday, and she told me I'm "really funny." So of course I love her to death. As does Li'l Salman.)
4:14 PM | e-mail |
I have an ongoing drama with my wisdom teeth. I refuse to have them pulled because I totally loathe the concept of surgery. So I end up suffering through nights like tonight, when something irritates the gums above them and they swell and the dull, throbbing pain aaargh. I'm such an idiot.
12:41 AM | e-mail |
12:41 AM | e-mail |
Wednesday, December 05, 2001
My mom's in town; I went up to my sister's apartment tonight and we had Mexican takeout. (Well, I had Mexican takeout. They'd already ate, the big jerks.) On the way out, I milked $20 off my mom for a taxi home. Then I pocketed the money and took the subway instead. That was wrong, wasn't it... dammit, I'm gonna buy Christmas presents with it. It's still ethical!
Wow, this sounded a lot less corrupt when I was running over how to blog it in my head earlier.
By the way: I finally did it. I finally got a simple, elegant design that I'm 100% satisfied with. Be prepared for DYFL2k2 at the dawn of the new year...
11:49 PM | e-mail |
Wow, this sounded a lot less corrupt when I was running over how to blog it in my head earlier.
By the way: I finally did it. I finally got a simple, elegant design that I'm 100% satisfied with. Be prepared for DYFL2k2 at the dawn of the new year...
11:49 PM | e-mail |
Monday, December 03, 2001
Tonight, I helped Erin sell the tickets for the $2 NYU Program Board movie and as a result, I got to see Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back for free. And thank God it was free. Because wow oh wow was it far and away the worst Kevin Smith movie. I laughed, I can't deny it; there definitely are genuinely funny segments of the movie, but it's poorly strung together and most of the rest of the "jokes" are just filler. Even if I had paid, though, GOOD WILL HUNTING 2: HUNTING SEASON would've been the price of my ticket. Yeeeeaaaah dawg. Doesn't stop the first four movies from rocking my socks, either.
Between this and STREET FIGHTER 2 TURBO, there's nothing like escapism in a time of chaos.
11:10 PM | e-mail |
Between this and STREET FIGHTER 2 TURBO, there's nothing like escapism in a time of chaos.
11:10 PM | e-mail |
Aaargh.
Why does all this feel so pre-apocalyptic...?
I really don't feel good right now.
6:04 PM | e-mail |
Why does all this feel so pre-apocalyptic...?
I really don't feel good right now.
6:04 PM | e-mail |
You know, my sister works for KPMG. I liked 'em better when they were called KPMG Peat Marwich. That was a funny name.
12:10 PM | e-mail |
12:10 PM | e-mail |
Sunday, December 02, 2001
Gorillaz interviews rule. From the October issue of DETAILS, the one with the awesome photo of Bono on the cover (great article, too):
When was the last time you sang along (with something)?
MURDOC: I got into an argument about reality with Damon Albarn. He's been telling people that he invented us, but I had to point out that we've sold more records than Blur. Just to wind him up, I sang the chorus of their only Stateside hit, "Song Two," and pointed out that he'd nicked it from Elton John and Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."
5:03 PM | e-mail |
When was the last time you sang along (with something)?
MURDOC: I got into an argument about reality with Damon Albarn. He's been telling people that he invented us, but I had to point out that we've sold more records than Blur. Just to wind him up, I sang the chorus of their only Stateside hit, "Song Two," and pointed out that he'd nicked it from Elton John and Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."
5:03 PM | e-mail |
Tonight's sunset kicked my ass: a flat layer of pink fluffy clouds over Washington Square Park...
4:58 PM | e-mail |
4:58 PM | e-mail |
 | If I was a James Bond villain, I would be Dr Kananga. I enjoy tarot readings, growing drugs, and throwing people to hungry crocodiles. I am played by Yaphet Kotto in Live and Let Die. Who would you be? James Bond Villain Personality Test |
(via Plasticbag)
2:57 PM | e-mail |
Saturday, December 01, 2001
Attack Of The Condensed Comics Classics:
MAUS (PANTHEON BOOKS)
MICKEY: Hey, look Pluto! Nazis!
TRANSMETROPOLITAN (VERTIGO)
SPIDER JERUSALEM: I write a column - I hate my life and I hate you.
READERS: Nifty glasses!
SPIDER JERUSALEM: Kiss my arse.
WARREN ELLIS FORUM: Let's go get drunk!
WARREN ELLIS: Excellent.
(via Linkmachinego)
2:17 PM | e-mail |
MAUS (PANTHEON BOOKS)
MICKEY: Hey, look Pluto! Nazis!
TRANSMETROPOLITAN (VERTIGO)
SPIDER JERUSALEM: I write a column - I hate my life and I hate you.
READERS: Nifty glasses!
SPIDER JERUSALEM: Kiss my arse.
WARREN ELLIS FORUM: Let's go get drunk!
WARREN ELLIS: Excellent.
(via Linkmachinego)
2:17 PM | e-mail |
I'd completely forgotten it was World AIDS Day.
I could turn up some useful links, but there's probably nothing better than Michele's four most recent entries. Start here and also read the two that precede it; they're a collection of links from the LINK AND THINK campaign.
I'd also remind you not to forget the global AIDS crisis -- Africa is in deep, deep shit, and the continent's governments can't fight the disease because they're crippled by debt to the World Bank and G8; debts they can't ever pay back, and that we don't want them to. I sound like a broken record, but visit the Drop The Debt site and read up on the subject.
NOTE: Originally, I linked to a really touching story of Michele's that she has since deleted. I don't know why, but I wish I did.
12:57 PM | e-mail |
I could turn up some useful links, but there's probably nothing better than Michele's four most recent entries. Start here and also read the two that precede it; they're a collection of links from the LINK AND THINK campaign.
I'd also remind you not to forget the global AIDS crisis -- Africa is in deep, deep shit, and the continent's governments can't fight the disease because they're crippled by debt to the World Bank and G8; debts they can't ever pay back, and that we don't want them to. I sound like a broken record, but visit the Drop The Debt site and read up on the subject.
NOTE: Originally, I linked to a really touching story of Michele's that she has since deleted. I don't know why, but I wish I did.
12:57 PM | e-mail |
There are old people in the yard of the church across the street, singing Christmas songs over and over. They're being led by someone with a megaphone. They've done "Jingle Bells" five times now, and "Deck The Halls" four. A couple of them have this weird Bing Crosby / Vegas lounge singer thing going on. It's really very unsettling. As is the fact that they randomly sang "The Cat Came Back" in the midst of all the carols. I'm so very, very confused.
12:43 PM | e-mail |
12:43 PM | e-mail |
Oh, HOLY FUCK.
Creed went to #1 with their new album Weathered, selling 887,000 copies.
Listen to my words: THERE IS NO GOD.
A bunch of bemulletted hacks badly aping U2 and Pearl Jam and trumpeting about God in politely non-specific terms make a debut MORE THAN TWICE AS STRONG as U2's (All That You Can't Leave Behind moved 350,000 copies in its opening week). I am in hell.
Hey everyone, guess what band I don't like at all? What a dark, dark day it's been for music.
(via 2xy.org)
12:03 AM | e-mail |
Creed went to #1 with their new album Weathered, selling 887,000 copies.
Listen to my words: THERE IS NO GOD.
A bunch of bemulletted hacks badly aping U2 and Pearl Jam and trumpeting about God in politely non-specific terms make a debut MORE THAN TWICE AS STRONG as U2's (All That You Can't Leave Behind moved 350,000 copies in its opening week). I am in hell.
Hey everyone, guess what band I don't like at all? What a dark, dark day it's been for music.
(via 2xy.org)
12:03 AM | e-mail |