Chicago: I posted in your thread, but I did not add to the discourse.

discourse more like discharge, amirite?

right up in your face and dis you

yeah i think i am still down for trivia

The song in this video is the dance song I've been looking for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4JLE-Mkp3s

But is it actually a Cha Cha Shuffle remix? I don't think so?

OK, I think it starts at 8 and we get up to five people on our team.

where is that pub again?

sarah might come to watch but i don't know if we can convince her to actually play

1934 W. Irving Park Rd.

okay i guess it's "the Mississippi Cha Cha Slide aka the Stomp" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMW0TMlA3_0

nick, you should totally make your own pasta...it's kind of a pain, but can taste so good and is really satisfying. especially nice right now with some of the yummy mushrooms that are around just cooked in butter with parsley. mmm.

the game was fun but yeah, the wings looked like crap. it was weird trying to explain rules to hockey to toby when i don't necessarily know them myself.

also, we were at a dinner party on saturday where 5 of the 8 people were mathematicians, and it was still really fun! we were also the only people without kids, the youngest people by far and the only people that weren't jewish. it did make us realize that we're bound to ask people over for a dinner party and then it'll turn out that they're kosher, and we have no idea how to deal with that-- does it help that our kitchen is essentially vegetarian?

That probably helps, although if they're really strict it would matter if meat had ever been up in there, I think. But if they're not orthodox that shouldn't matter, they just won't eat meat with milk or unkosher meat.

Depends on their own standards, but...probably not? It wouldn't count as "vegetarian" unless you could certify that no meat (esp pork & shellfish) had ever touched the surfaces, dishes, silverware, sink interior, dishwasher interior, cookware, utensils, etc in the entire life of the kitchen. And even then your word wouldn't really be good enough for kashrut, because having something kashered requires rabbis and rituals and stuff.

Ahh xp, yeah, the Jewish people I know are sort of nuts for the rules, they don't play no "essentially vegetarian"...but your dinner parties will obv be a lot easier if your guests are more relaxed.

But to make it easy peasy, fish isn't considered fleishik (meat)! So you can serve it in butter, in cream sauces, with a side salad incl shaved parmesan, etc etc. So much easier than trying to serve meat w/o dairy, in my opinion (at the very least because soy milk in my after-dinner coffee is just not okay).

Also my mom told me that pretty much all beer is automatically kosher.

"Entire life of the kitchen" implies previous tenants, though, so you're probably fucked.

Also my mom told me that pretty much all beer is automatically kosher.

Then what's the point of this?

http://www.sevenpack.net/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/HebrewMessiahBold.jpg

marketing

not kosher:

http://www.wisconsincheesemart.com/images/usingerspbr-web.jpg

xp Good point.

yeah, i guess the previous tenants part would be the problem, i'm pretty sure that we've never cooked any kind of meat at our house-- the closest thing would be smoked salmon at a brunch where we used paper plates anyway. it's interesting to think about, though.

Are your dishes and silverware and pots and pans and cooking utensils all new since your move? If you brought anything with you from the UK and you've ever cooked meat in it, it's treyf anyway. :)

I have to work at Catch tonight. Don't wanna. I got written up last night. I was at the bar waiting for change from the bartender, with one buttock on a barstool, one foot on the floor. The manager we call Elmer Fudd (bald, strong Polish accent, constantly on the hunt for someone to write up) told me I was making a joke of my job and asked me if I wanted to be sent home. I said yes, I did.

Don't you have to kasher your kitchen stuff even if it's all new?

Also, your dishes are irrevocably treif if they've ever had nonkosher food on them. Something about the food being able to seep into pottery, whereas silverware, teflon, etc. have no such issues.

for the first time in my life all our pans are new, as are our dishes and cutlery (international move followed by wedding registry). however, i think if we ever have people over that are kosher, there must be some caterer that does delivery that we can just use? or just not invite people around, this may be easiest.

jesse, did they send you home in the end, then? that really sucks...

just get a bunch of meat from romanian kosher sausage co. and toss it on paper plates

If you're entertaining strictly frum guests, you can get away with catering and plasticware. That's the simplest solution; I certainly have attended my share of Shabbos meals that take that route. Depends on how elegant your party is, I guess.

i could be up for trivia tomorrow

I'm guessing those folks never get to go out to eat?

but i'm a vegetarian! our dinner parties are almost always vegetarian, which was kind of my original point. unless there's a specific reason (like it's someone's birthday and they requested toby's famous pork belly), you get no meat at my house when you come for dinner.

They sent me home. Which was actually pretty great. I worked for 3 hours, made $120 and had my whole evening free. Though I could have made a lot more had I stayed....

The money is what keeps me there--I can't really live like I want to on my current office salary, and I make nearly as much if not more at Catch in 10-15 hours as I do here all week.

I like working, just not there. And yes, I am starting to look for a new PT job. ALL REFERRALS WOULD BE APPRECIATED.

Sarah, my mom never goes out to eat, but in Chicago there are a bunch of legit kosher restaurants, I'm told.

I'm guessing those folks never get to go out to eat?

Au contraire, KitCat - Chicago is sort of a Promised Land of kosher eateries throughout the Midwest. We were still keeping kosher last time we visited, and we were able to keep ourselves fed just fine.

I mean, there's nowhere near the volume you'd get in someplace like Brooklyn, but there's still way in Chicago than St. Louis.

speaking of inviting people over...

i'm thinking of having a little festive drinks thing in celebration of my new citizenhship. the ceremony is the first wednesday of december. should these drinks be that evening, the thursday or the weekend? i know in years past every weekend in december was booked up way in advance and obviously don't want nobody to come, but also don't want people to not come because it's a school night. any thoughts?

Thursday, b/c it's a Thirsty day.

Historically.

i was thinking thursday might work as a gentle lead-in to the weekend. i'm not imagining a rager, just some mulled wine and cocktails or whatever. i like having people over for mulled wine.

A Thursday seems like your best bet!

not this thursday though

please

It doesn't happen 'til December anyway, Nick.

oh yeah

I'm so sleepy.

I just read a reviewer somewhere describe something as "explosively funny," and I chuckled to myself a bit, because it's a terrible cliche, but also because there's something vague funny to me about the word "explosively" all by itself. To the point of explosion. That's quite extreme.

Anyway, I think I may be explosively sleepy.

I believe the problem may be that I ate too heavily at lunch, because provious to that I was explosively hungry. Not I'm explosively sated.

NOW I'm... man.

I am an explosively bad typist today.

Now you're waiting for the next explosion.

I think I may take a nap a little later, and when I do, it will be comparable only to the tragic end of the planet Alderaan.

it wouldn't take much to get me to go to trivia either.

Kevin, Dan, Nick, Katie, and me would be a good team.

for the first two beers anyway.

I would be happy taking a single round, although I don't really know how the game works there.

Me neither. The only other time I've done pub trivia was at Galway Arms.

hmm, i've just realized that we've already got a thing the thursday i was planning for mulled wine. so wednesday or friday?

I am only posting this so I can log in (I got a new computer at home!)

yay for new computer! is it fancy?

No, it's a Dell, which I swore I wouldn't get again, but my laptop was falling apart and this was supercheap ($450, decent specs, came with a nice monitor). If it lasts me a couple of years, I'll be happy.

Remember the "Dude, you're getting a Dell" guy? Doesn't it seem like that was like 50 years ago?

i haven't read the thread, and am hopelessly behind anyway, but: i saw jeff today, walking down to the subway, just moments after making delivery to the VERY SAME BUILDING THAT JESSE WORKS IN.

Evan, I never got to congratulate you on job. yay congratulations!!!

the dude you're getting a dell guy is a bartender at some southwest themed restaurant in new york. and is in a band that i imagine is quite unlistenable.

dude, you're getting nachos grande!

We've been through a long discussion about Ben. I still love him despite the fact that more than a spokesman for Dell, he's now a poster boy for hubris.

Evan, if you're still with us, where did you make a delivery? Was it at the West Jackson building or at the Leo Burnette (sp?) building? I think this is important.

We watched "Glengarry Glen Ross" last night. That movie is so much fun.

I had seen it before but probably 10+ years ago.

Jesse and I watched that recently. LEADS LEADS LEADS!!!!!!!!!!!

You can vote in my GGR poll if you want.

C&Barrel sent out a cool xmas card of sorts where you go online and choose from a list of charities to contribute $25 (from C&B). I will help a small school in NC get a computer music program so kids can learn about the recording process. :-D Aren't I great? ha ha

I smell like beets today because when I got up this morning I:
* scrubbed & trimmed 6 beets
* roasted them
* roasted shallots
* toasted pecans
* peeled the beets

My hands were so pink at the end that it wasn't until after I'd spent a few minutes sudsing them up that I discovered I'd knicked one of my fingers.

(I voted for the coffee's for closers line)

It's funny hearing Tracy Morgan say "coffee is for closers" on his 30 Rock commentary track, sort of out of nowhere. "Coffee is for clooosers...Glengarry Glenn Ross...my favorite movie."

If you're not as faithful to TAL as I am as of late, this week's episode was fantastic. Harold Washington, on the 20th anniversary of his death.

Yeah, that's a good one. I think that's kind of a November tradition for them.

(Or maybe I just heard it on the 15th anniversary.)

Yeah, I listened to that this morning, the bit at the end where they interviewed the racist bar patron in Hegewich was eye-opening.

Yeah, it was well framed like that... the very opening where the talk show caller wants to know if Washington is going to replace elevators with vines. It appropriately colors the rest of the episode, pun intended.

I was going to delete that TAL ep from my iPod - it didn't immediately grab me the way some eps do - but now that I've read the above, I will listen to the rest of it.

hi mike

also of note this morning:

Jay-Z talks to Charlie Rose

I guess it still surprises me to hear someone so unrestrained and straightforward with their racism. I expected that interview to be from, like, 1972.

hey nick!

I guess it still surprises me to hear someone so unrestrained and straightforward with their racism.

I know! It seems like (forgive me) more of a Southern characteristic. Dude probably imagines that he has balls or something.

TAL moved to New York, right? No longer working out of Navy Pier?

Yeah, last year, when they started doing the Showtime show. Which I haven't seen (because who th' hell has Showtime?), but I hear is good and will rent the DVD.

Maybe it's just their habit of recycling older shows, but it seems like despite being physically in NYC, there's still a lot of Midwestern and Chicago-based people and subjects.

As I told Eazy the other night, I saw that Jay-Z interview on Charlie Rose last week. It was kind of funny. No matter what they were talking about, Charlie Rose kept wanting to bring it back to how Jay-Z had corralled a bunch of collaborators for this record. It was almost as if before the show, Charlie Rose had been struggling to come up with things to ask Jay-Z, and then he suddenly found his hook. He said things like, "Now, let me ask you about this, because as you can tell, I find it fascinating."

Can I ask a possibly insensitive question? Why is Kanye's mom's death news?

I mean, it's sad, but was she a public figure in any way?

Just for being Kanye's mom, I guess. She was in the public eye quite a bit, for writing her book about raising him. I think that it was untimely and kinda weird is what makes it newsworthy.

Oh I didn't know she had written a book, I thought she was just a lady.

wasn't she on the faculty at chicago state? english chair or something? once upon a time?

i will not rest until i have all these numero group comps. picked up this one last night. so far so good.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61QXTwpFbeL._SS500_.jpg

i've got the belize blow-up one and the gospel one if you want copies of either.

oh and yellow pills which is AMAZING. though we might have lost it when our external HD crashed.

bought the fawn brody one for my mom for xmas last year i think

I've got the Yellow Pills 2-disk set, if anyone wants copies.

Yeah, I busted out the yellow pills comp this weekend. And yes, it is fantastic.

I would like to hear this.

Kanye's mom was the chair of the English department at Chicago State University. She retired from that position in 2004 to manage her son's career. She wrote a memoir called Raising Kanye that came out earlier this year. Besides all of that, I think her death is news because of a) the close relationship she had with her son (nearly all the obits mention his song "Hey Mama") and b) the strange circumstances surrounding her death.

You all have convinced me to listen to it RIGHT NOW.

i'm gonna get the belize one next, i've heard "it slays". i had the gospel one but had to sell it ;_;

some of them aren't available on vinyl though? wtf?

Not as good as Hall and Oates. ;-)

oh, and i have the abc's of kid soul one which is so far my favorite but i haven't listened to this one all the way through yet.

xpost to Dan, There are several comps in the world called "Yellow Pills," but this is the one you want.

The Belize one was in our cd alarm clock for a long time so I could wake up to the super-cheezy-yet-awesome disco tune that starts off the disc.

We were covering "I Feel Like a Dictionary" off of the Yellow Pills comp for a while.

e super-cheezy-yet-awesome disco tune that starts off the disc.

Okay, now I'm interested.

I'd like to hear the kid soul one.

I'm going to see Michaels Showalter & Ian Black on Thurs.!

Today is Jenny's first day of work as a lawyer.

That's kind of exciting, right?

Michael Showalter's new cd is called "Sandwiches & Cats". It's like it was made for me.

I GUESS JORDAN DOES NOT FIND THIS EXCITING

bah, that's like my third favorite speedies song (after "time" and "let me take your photo"). i did not sell any of the records on there that i own (shoes, speedies, kids, luxury).

weird that 20/20's "yellow pills" isn't anywhere on there?

It is exciting. To me.

I am excited now.

I am only excited if it means Jenny will be posting on ILX again.

My favorite song on the Yellow Pills comp is called "Julie-Anne," can't remember who it's by off the top of my head but it's such a great pop song.

the sandwich commandments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-7I0rUQNM8

I really love "Not my Girl Anymore" and "Somebody Else's Girl".

Hey did I mention that I stopped in Gary, IN and got some deep-fried corn-on-the-cob over the weekend?

Actually I already knew I liked the Bats v v much, but I hadn't delved back far enough to have "Not My Girl Anymore" outside of this comp. BUT I WILL NOW.

is Gary, IN still considered the most horrifically bleak city in North America?

Yes. By me anyway. It is a pit of despair.

I would like to go to Gary sometime and look around and maybe take some pictures. I've only driven through.

East St. Louis has to be a contender for bleakest city. I've never seen such a downtrodden place in my life, and I've been in my share of downtrodden places.

Things to do in Gary

Do any of you have portable ipod speakers?
My middle sis wants some for xmas. I assumed they were too expensive, but then found these. Thoughts?

Katie has something like that. I have this: http://www.ihomeaudio.com/products.asp?product_id=10078&dept_id=1007

It's ok, I kind of wish it had a radio tuner.

I have the Altec iM7, it's really only "portable" in the sense that one of those big boomboxes with detachable speakers was "portable", but the sound is TERRIFIC, I've never even turned it all the way up, but it sounds GREAT and you could basically fill a whole loft with the thing. Or throw a half-block party outdoors. Or something crazy. It got RAVES for sound in amazon.com reviews.

http://www.supertech.com/shop/images/AltecLansingSP-IM7_LG.gif

My parents got it for me for one Christmas, and then inside of a year my iPod mini died completely and so far I can't afford to replace it, so my player sits idle. u_u

Wow - that one is 12 dollars more but the list was 100 more.

I'm having fun on amazon. Shoppin shoppin shoppin, raw hiiidddeeee!

Kr has this iPod alarm clock.

i have some sony speakers that i really like but don't know if they make them anymore. i think everything you're looking at already fits this category, but just make sure the speakers have some kind of external power source-- the ones that are the most annoying draw power from the ipod and are very weak.

It comes with a universal power supply & plug and charges the ipod... so should be good.

And by the way - I am the dumbest. The one Laurel linked is $50 for a USED one.

Why not just hook up the ipod to your stereo? Although the speakers are pretty sweet for summer cookouts.

I'm trying to get Courtney to snag me one of these from her company's freebie stack, but she's chicken. http://www.si5.com/

At work I have a pair of really crappy speakers that I hook into the headphone jack. For the volume I listen music at which, they do the job.

Oops.

http://www.si5.com/products.php?pID=4044

I like this thing. It has a ZIPPER.

Why not just hook up the ipod to your stereo?

Well, if you don't have a stereo... :)

Touche.

I don't think I'm going to get speakers for my new computer, just put stuff on the iPod -> stereo, or use headphones.

man, i can not WAIT to get an ipod again. my commute is pretty smooth now but with tunes? fucking forget it.

in fact, off to craigslist i go...

I use headphones half the time even at home while sitting at the computer... I found out a few months ago just how pissed off my neighbor can get if I have loud music on too late (very), and don't want to risk another rant from that asshole.* But after a while, I found I kinda prefer it anyway, so, saul good.

*Which is a story I may or may not have told here -- He had said something to me once before, because the previous night I had been playing music at 2 in the morning. Yeah, understood, that's not cool, I won't let that happen again. And I didn't, and never heard from him until eight months later, when I was bumping the new Kanye, and at five minutes after 10, he came pounding on my door, inarticulate with rage, saying things like "You're always listening to loud music," which isn't true because I'm only home about half the nights of the week and even then I keep it chill, and accusing me of not knowing how to live in an apartment building, and that I must not speak English very well... He wasn't just angry, he was trying to pick a fight. Dude was in a bad head place. At five after ten. I just calmly apologized over and over, and felt bad for about ten minutes before I was like, "Wait a second! That guy was being a total cock-knocker!" But whatever, I'd rather never speak to him again and not listen to loud music on anything but headphones.

That sucks. I consider 10 to be the polite cut-off point (before 10 you have no business telling me to turn it down, esp. since I never play my shit super-loud, after 10 then cool, you have a point).

What about in the morning? Whoever's above is an ASSHOLE, they play music & movies on loud speakers at all times, but more likely to be at 8 or 9 or 10 am on the weekends than late at night.

xpost I mean, yeah, technically it was after 10, but ferchrissakes a knock and a "Hey, it's after 10, knock it off," would have more than sufficed. Full-on pants-shitting apoplexy is not fucking called for, dude.

Doesn't matter, I'm moving in 3 weeks anyway. Then I'll have bigger noise problems than just the upstairs teenager -- like a kitchen full of bartenders/bike msgrs/drunk dirtbag kids.

Morning is a grey area. Sometimes I get up and I want to rock out, how am I supposed to know that you were out until 5 am?

My upstairs neighbor does calisthenics of some kind above my room every morning at about 6:30, I think. Lots of shifting weight and floor creaking. I would say he's having sex but it's not rhythmic enough.

I think my upstairs neighbor gets up super early for class or work. He takes a shower and sometimes sings Russian folk songs, loudly.

I think the 10 a.m./10 p.m. guideline is fair. I may prefer to sleep in later than 10, but I'm not going to get pissed about it. My landlord, however, mowing the lawn at 7 a.m. used to drive me insane.

My worst neighbor/noise experience was while living in Minneapolis. My downstairs neighbor called the cops on me at 4 p.m. on a Saturday. The officer said she couldn't hear any noise until I opened my door.

It was all okay a few weeks later, though, when the same lovely neighbor was evicted for not paying rent.

In G'boro and Chicago noise ordinances take effect at 11PM.

Also, mowing the lawn or doing noisy construction at 7 AM is illegal.

Remember yesterday I ate fig yogurt? Well last night I ate fig MAYONAISSE (aioli).

One of these days I am going to make some yogurt.

I took my folks to Noon O Kebab on Saturday and we had this fresh yogurt, shallot, and spinach appetizer that was totally badass.

The rest of the meal was great too, that place rules.

So yeh, fig mayo. I got a yummy burger at Rockit - "Kobe" beef, brie, fig mayoli, and truffled fries. Sounds really obnoxious and pretentious, but it was really good. (It's on the menu for $19 which is craziness, but we got ours for 1/2 price.)

Figs+brie= A+

For the record, it's my sis who wants the portable speakers, not me. We have a little dock hooked up to our stereo at home, though I usually only want to listen to my ipod when I'm at the gym or walking to work.

what time are dudes getting to trivia? i know it starts at 8 but are dudes getting there earlier? dudes?

http://chicagoburgerproject.blogspot.com/2007/10/rockit_23.html

I don't know when I'll get there, but it'll be before 8.

NICK Email me.

It was not worth $19, that's true. But it was worth $9.50. The truffle oil was pretty apparent on my fries, and it was wonderful. I was surprised they served ketchup with these fancypants fries.

Huh. I guess it was DATE aioli, not FIG.

(One time when I was in 4th grade I got mad at my brother and I called him a "fig." I meant "fag.")

I was going to suggest 7:30 for tonight.

i was just coming here to see if this was still going on... where is it again?

http://www.theglobepub.com/

You could take the Damen bus pretty much straight there.

oh yeah ... I was gonna drive but maybe i'll bus it

I wonder if Mindy Kaling isn't blogging b/c of the strike.

i would like to recommend the bahamas numero grp comp too, but it's not quite as good as the belize one. watch out though - the ladiez of folk one is kinda dull, imo. i wanted to like it, because i love ladies of folk, but...eh.

if it took me 75 mnutes to bike 9.7 miles, that's really slow, right? because i was chug-chug-chugging along but it felt interminable. also me legs hurt today.

route 1 - glenview-foster-damen-chicago = 75 min
route 2 - chicago - lakefront path - foster - greenview = 75 min

i have added nothing to the discourse. i realize that.

But that is the theme... so you have.

I need some more gospel records. Not funk gospel, two-beat gospel with calls and responses and tambourines.

when it's not football season i watch any of the 8 or so gospel services being broadcast over the uhf airwaves in chicago. i listen to the choir and then when they start sermonizing i switch channels to a different choir. i can usually get about 2 solid hours before jesus starts getting in the way.

yeah i've caught some great shit on public access (or whatever it is, the channels that are all jesus all the time)

so am i slow biker? please confirm this for me. that means that maybe someday it will not take me 75 minutes to bike ~10 mi.

Yeeesss. But I mean, that's to be expected, right? You'll get stronger and also more comfortable at greater speeds, I'm guessing.

It takes me about 50 minutes to bike from my house to the Loop, which is about 8 miles. I am going at a steady, but not particularly fast pace. So you have that to compare to. But my body strength is really inordinately located in my legs.

I just checked google pedometer and I can't remember the last time I rode 10 miles without stopping, actually. The farthest friend that I usually bike to visit lives only about 6m from my house, so while I might easily do 10-20 miles in a DAY, it's not in one stretch.

it usually takes me about 45-60 minutes to bike 10 miles, but it depends on wind, traffic, etc.

it took me about 20 minutes each way from my house to the museum of contemporary art on a sweltering saturday . i obeyed traffic laws for the most part. i went home chicago avenue the whole way and it was way quicker than the serpentine damen to augusta to milwaukee to odgen to chicago route i took there.

god, i dunno. maybe i'll get faster/stronger. honestly, i thought my legs were gonna fall off. i also thought i had strong legs, but it turns out i have strong nothing!

i have no trouble with ~5 mi but 10 miles in one stretch was hard. the return trip was only about 2 hrs later too, so i hadn't had much time to recuperate.

sisut has strong legs!

45 min! that's amazing.

It helps if you don't stop at stop signs. ;)

i don't stop, although i slow down to make sure no one hits me

A, what kind of tires are you rollin' on? Having appropriate tires for the street can make a huge difference.

Dan speaks the truth. Also, you might well have strong legs, but they might not be accustomed to the particular type of rigor you're submitting them to.

i don't know what kind of tires i have -- they're pretty fat? i filled them up right before i left. maybe my bike sucks. i'll keep timing myself to see if i can go faster. really, i don't bike that far all that often, so it's not such a big deal. i will say that i prefer damen as a N-S route to the lakefront trail. there's just more to look at/fewer lollerbladers.

yes i have officially changed my position after trying them both in one day.

lollerbladers

lol

If you have fat knobby tires, you'll be working harder to maintain speed on the pavement. Good slicks/semi-slicks can be had for ~20 bucks each and will make it a lot easier.

yeah, i have strong legs but i messed up my calf after my epic 15 - 20 mile bike ride.

i don't feel comfortable on thin tires.

Have you actually used them? Or are you just apprehensive?

There are lots of non-skinny MTB slicks:

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=2311

not for real, just for spins around the block on friend's bikes or at a bike store

wow, really? maybe i'll try that. i was looking at the bikes/legs of all of the people who were passing me and trying to figure out what i was doing wrong...but tires! that sounds like the answer.

oh, i just assumed slick meant skinny. actually, those look a lot like the ones i got on my bike a few weeks ago (they weren't that cheap, though!).

it was also really WINDY by the lake

f that

agreed

i am "eating*" some dried pears that i bought at trader joe' and here is some information about them:

1) gross as hell
2) inedible

*gnawing fruitlessly on

NOT recommended (and i relish a good pear)

You should only ever eat Honeycrisp apples. There's no need for any other fruits.

but i already had my morning apple!
also i have many needs for other fruits.

these dried pears should be pulled from shelves they're so bad. BOO!

I'm just kidding. I love me some fruits, but, DAMN, Honeycrisps be delicious.

Speaking of fruits, Nick and I made this lovely Almond Pear Clafouti this weekend. It was to die for.

lolz... Gnawing fruitlessly on fruit is a sorry state of affairs.

hai r u talking about biking???

20-25 minutes to the loop, via milwaukee/halsted/lake (approx 6 miles). with requisite traffic stops at western/damen (sort of)/ashland.

but i am also getting paid to ride my bike, so hustle counts.

i would hell of do trivia night but i am smelly and home now.

Which work building were you at the other day, Evan? Bring me something.

god why are you guys all so into trivia. knowing things is lame! being dumb is fun! (so bad at trivia, u guys)

I ate a horseshoe and crapped out an albatross

<3 trivia, longtime, but am friends with some fucking ringer players, and trivial pursuits usually gets ugly pretty quick.

jesse, i was at (and have since returned to) 1 s dearborn. where are i saw you the other day (and jeff, the other other day). dock lady yelled at me for parking my bike in the wrong place. sorry, lady!

Oh. JEFF works at 1 S. Dearborn. I, however, work at 900 W. Jackson. I was at Jeff's building delivering something from one of our attys to one of the ones at the firm where he works.

NOW WE'RE CLEAR.

900 w jackson is outside of my delivery area!

Huh. Well what are we ever going to do now.

Well you could retain me as a courier, so you don't have to go all the way to the Loop just to deliver a package.

( ...i sorta lied: technically Halsted is the most westerly boundary of our delivery area, but I regularly make trips out as far as 1300 w randolph)

Trivia tonight was ... interesting. Way too much pop culture. First two rounds (out of seven) were about Indiana Jones and The DaVinci Code, respectively. But I'll probably return, just because it's like three blocks from my apartment.

The rounds:

- all Indiana Jones questions - his real name, the order of the movies, where he was born...
- matching: English Premier League teams and their stadia
- pictures: put names to faces
- guess binny's or foremost liquor stores after being given the address (easier than it sounds)
- elements and states: use elemental and state abbreviations to form words (like Georgia-Lithium-Polonium-Lithium=Galipoli) and then guess the theme of the words (wwI battles)
- randrom trivia from the Da Vinci Code (booo)
- "general knowledge"

...there was at least one more than I'm blanking on

wait, only 7 rounds?

I'm stupid, I thought there were 8.

it was pretty fun, even though we kinda sucked ... like i said, i think we could have turned up, gotten lucky with the categories and kicked ass. just depends on if you get good categries or not. though i thought i would do ok on indiana jones since i've seen them all a couple of times at least but dang those were some hard questions. the picture round was a killer too, seemed like we should have done better at that than we did (i still swear that dude was joe cocker). we nailed binnys or foremost round, little thanks to me though. i liked the way it was run, though, way less stressful than the last pub quiz where the person was yelling the questions from like two rooms away.

i would be up for doing it again. next time we need to show up early enough to snag a table.

this sounds stressful

That does sound a little too stressful for me. I love trivia, but I don't enjoy the high pressure ones when its supposed to be "for fun".

My 'Flush $300 Down the Drain' (a.k.a. 'Check Engine') light came on during the drive home last night, not happy about that. Every car I've ever had has ended up costing me at least $300 when that light comes on, even under warranty (as my current car still is). I re-screwed the gas cap on last night, hoping something stupid and simple would be the cause, but its still on now. Ugh, not good timing with the move on Saturday.

it wasn't that stressful as i think we realized in the first round that we were kind of fucked

anyway, i had fun

you have a very good attitude
A++

ok, so I'm shaving this morning and I have a musical revelation... "Back Stabbers" by the O'Jays might be more paranoid than Michael Jackson. It's totally on the edge of Raging Bull territory. Think about it: this guy is convinced -- CONVINCED! -- that all of his friends are trying to schtup his woman. Does he have any proof? Well, he offers these three pieces of evidence:

1) He has a girlfriend.
2) His friends show up at his house sometimes.
3) They smile at him.

Yeah, dude, I think it's clearly time to kill your girlfriend and everyone you know. It's the only way. Frickin' nutjob.

I was reading a recent book about disco, can't remember which one right this sec, but it starts off with a chapter about the trend of paranoid R&B in the late '60s - early '70s. Another big touchstone of the trend is "Smiling Faces Sometimes" by the Undisputed Truth.

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof

The truth is in the eyes
Cause the eyes don't lie, amen
Remember a smile is just
A frown turned upside down
My friend let me tell you
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth, uh
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof
Beware, beware of the handshake
That hides the snake
I'm telling you beware
Beware of the pat on the back
It just might hold you back
Jealousy (jealousy)
Misery (misery)
Envy

I tell you, you can't see behind smiling faces
Smiling faces sometimes they don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof

Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof
(Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes)
(Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes)
I'm telling you beware, beware of the handshake
That hides the snake
Listen to me now, beware
Beware of that pat on the back
It just might hold you back
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces
Tell lies and I got proof

Your enemy won't do you no harm
Cause you'll know where he's coming from
Don't let the handshake and the smile fool ya
Take my advice I'm only try' to school ya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV69WBvFGBA (some crazy wigs in this clip)

I can't wait for Gnarls Barkley to show up in an episode of VH1's I Love 2006.

Another thought about trivia: the problem wasn't pop culture, because I think we do know a lot about pop culture (lol ILX), it's that if you weren't intimately familiar with the theme of the round, you were kind of screwed. I wished there were more superficial questions, like the one about who directed The DaVinci Code, rather than ones that you needed to actually read the book or see the movie to answer.

in the "not adding to the discourse" category:

no joke everytime i hear barack obama's name i hear it tupac- style: "barack obama/knows how to party"

it would be better if he were from california, though

my mania for associating barack obama with that song is almost like every time i see the sign for the bryn mawr stop i think "only a five minute ride" because one time i was on the train and this girl i work with got off at bryn mawr and informed me that she only had a 5 minute commute. my brain will not let me forget these two things -- it's like my brain is on autopilot and will not let go of these two things. sort of like how i can't let go of the idea of the mister rogers theme song segueing into the nananana part of hey jude at the end. neighbor neighbor NEIGHBOR NEIGHBOR WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

the end

You are almost as crazy as I am.

just add barack obama to this video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FWOsbGP5Ox4

he knows how to party
this would be a truly slammin campaign song

i will not let go of this dream

Amanda, when I was a teenager I had obsessions like you're talking about. I had a compulsion for adding up house numbers to reduce them to a single digit. If I was in a car that was going fast, or god forbid, I was driving it, this was really stressful.

These days when I'm in the shower and I'm shaving I remember a Men's Health tip that said you should not shave in the shower because you would cover yourself with little whisker shavings that would make you itchy. What sticks in my mind (and kind of bothers me) is that it ended with the line, "But it's not like you haven't had them on you before." ???

Doesn't everyone have weird memory triggers like that? Sometimes when I'm typing I flash back to an awards ceremony they had at my high school for the kids who were in the school plays, and I was convinced I was going to win something even though I only had bit parts in the plays. Not sure how this relates to typing though, other than that we had typing classes in high school/middle school?

It's time to let it go, Nick!
Just kidding. :-D

Let's get together Friday for Tomas' 30th Birthday.

I hope that I didn't just say too much.

I'm continually amazed at the power of various fragrances to trigger memories, whether it be someone's soap or perfume or hairspray or just a feeling in the air.

http://www.themodernword.com/scriptorium/proust.jpg

sitting with your friends cause y'all remincise
about the days growing up and the first person you kiss
and as I think back makes me wonder how
the smell from a grill could spark up nostalgia

the Proustian rhymes of the Fresh Prince

sort of like how i can't let go of the idea of the mister rogers theme song segueing into the nananana part of hey jude at the end. neighbor neighbor NEIGHBOR NEIGHBOR WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

I do this, but with "My Favorite Things" segueing into the "all of us under its spell" part of "The Rainbow Connection."

You guys should make some mashup traxx.

Is this sofa worth driving to Wilmette to check out?
http://chicago.craigslist.org/nch/fur/478128126.html

I don't wanna jinx myself, but I got some really great news---

Monday I was chatting with L|bby (partner) about how I am probably going to quit Catch and find a bartending gig b/c Catch is insufferable. It was a casual conversation, and out of the blue she said, "Well, it's time we talked about giving you raise anyway. Plus Christmas is coming up, and unlike last year when we were fighting the dog for Milkbones, we got paid on a lot of old cases this year."

Also, there is a change coming down the pike early next year that will result in "plenty of additional money to go around for everyone on staff."

!

I'm looking at ornaments for the family ornament exchange. I like these:
http://slimages.macys.com/is/image/MCY/products/4/optimized/317514_fpx.tif?bgc=255,255,255&wid=273&qlt=90,0&layer=comp&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.7,1.0,0.5,0&fmt=jpeg
these:
http://slimages.macys.com/is/image/MCY/products/3/optimized/365673_fpx.tif?bgc=255,255,255&wid=273&qlt=90,0&layer=comp&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.7,1.0,0.5,0&fmt=jpeg
and these:
http://slimages.macys.com/is/image/MCY/products/5/optimized/317495_fpx.tif?bgc=255,255,255&wid=273&qlt=90,0&layer=comp&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.7,1.0,0.5,0&fmt=jpeg.

So I'm talking to my youngest sis, figuring out loud how many I'd need to buy, when she says she:
a) doesn't want an ornament
b) wants me to buy her gum instead.

xpost - YAY!

Speaking of sofas, we have an old one we're getting rid of. I don't have any pictures of it. It's horrifically ugly, but can be covered up easily enough. It's huge and comfy, but this horrible off-white color and very 80's low-profile style. Also long (almost 8'-0") and a bitch to move.

Now that I've made it sound so very appealing, anyone want it?

Are those birds bellies made of glass beads? If so, I choose those.

Time was I had ready access to a pickup truck, so doing things like moving sofas was relatively easy. Now I don't have one, and no one I know does either, and folding my car's back seat down isn't enough.

Life's hard, I tell you.

Yeah, even if I do want to buy that sofa on Craigslist, I'm not sure how I would transport it.

i'm peeping this sofa: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb/fur/478038793.html
but i do hate that i'll have to ask my friend to help, which in the land of craigslist is often the difference between getting the thing and not.

that's awesome, jesse

btw your blog is boring

That's a great sofa for $75. Although it wouldn't work for us: we want something a little more simple/modern/streamlined.

I was walking around Borders after work last night and this 60-something guy was wandering around the music section very loudly ranting about the "insanity of selling CD's in this day and age". It was nuts, he was astounded that anyone would pay money for CDs. Some of my favorite lines:

"they will never sell even one sixteenth of this stock!"
"might as well just stack garbage in the aisles for all these are worth"
"they should pay me to dispose of these for them"
"what kind of moron buys CD's anyway?" (as i'm walking by with one in my hand)

Haha. Was he talking to anyone in particular?

he kind of sounds like our drummer

ben is a vinylist, huh?

I really am fascinated by the looks-normal-but-is-coo-coo variety of nut.

Yesterday was a nice example: guy on the train at evening rush hour- late 30s, balding, clean-shaven, wearing frumpy business casual, clean, listening to iPod. Every once in a while he would lunge forward, throwing the devils horns rock-out symbol. It was hilarious and no one even glanced at him but me.

He started out ranting at his wife, but she got sick of it and wandered off so he was left kind of muttering to himself and anyone within earshot.

At this point cds are basically an mp3 delivery device, for me

i was mainly joking about ben. he has the same POV as you (jordan) about cds and is pushing for us to not release cds of the new album. he wants to do a combo of vinyl (for the collectors/record geeks) and mp3 downloads (for people who just want the music). he's big on not wasting packaging that people are just going to throw away or stick on a shelf somewhere and forget about. i agree with a lot of his points actually but the main problems are 1) this pretty much eliminates the show album impulse buy for those without a record player, because who's going to remember to download the album the next day when they sober up and 2) you still need cds of some kind for promotional/review purposes.

plus i kind of like cds still.

best would be short runs of cds and vinyl plus mp3 downloads but i don't think we have the funds for both cd and vinyl.

Yeah. I just got way too into my CD collection prior to 2000 and the Napster revolution to abandon it. I like my CD collection, even if it makes me out-of-touch with pretty much everyone. Its way uncool when compared to vinyl (which I also collect, just to a much lesser extent) and way more space intensive than mp3s.

I really think I deserve a raise. I am making what my predecessor was, but he SUUUCKED.

I might have posted this when drunk, but this guy is infamous for having mouthed off to a federal judge who was going to be hearing our case, and he sending an invoice (detailing all our work, and consequently strategy) to an opposing attorney who is a bitch anyway.

I found a folder on the computer containing drafts of plays he was writing while at work.

i think ILX movie threads might be the worst kinds of ILX threads ever. worse than racism clusterfucks, worse than religious clusterfucks, worse than ILM. there are so many movie threads and each one makes me want to stab myself.

i agree nick, cds are totally where the money is at for a working band. vinyl is nice and all but i know about three people in real life who actually own working record players and are not djs.

i can't wait to go to europe when we have our new album this summer and sell it to tourists for 20 euros. take that, you exchange rate motherfuckers!

So my free wireless disappeared for a week, I assume someone moved in on Nov. 1 and took a few days to encrypt it...and now it's back!

I was thinking about that too, Jordan -- overseas sales are what it's all gonna be about now. Someone buys a song on iTunes for one Euro, that's like a buck-fifty. Gotta go to Alberta and ply my wares.

Seriously! A Canadian tour could mean $$$

I'm glad I lived up there (on grant money in $US) when it was a U.S. buck got your $1.45. O the deals! 99 cent stores were like 60 cent stores! $1.99 slice-and-a-drink combos were like $1.30!

Ooh that first sentence is a headache-inducing mobius strip.

That "O the deals!" almost turned it into a Sufjan song.

i think for lunch i want to go buy a magazine and then go eat by myself and read my magazine. the question is, what magazine? nothing too heavy please

will probably just end up with the NYer

agree nick, cds are totally where the money is at for a working band. vinyl is nice and all but i know about three people in real life who actually own working record players and are not djs.

i don't know any dj's and i can't think of anyone i know who doesn't have a turntable. except dan and my friend keri.

I discovered recently that I like The Economist, but holy fuck is that an expensive magazine.

almost none of the musicians i know have turntables

I have a turntable, I just don't have a stereo.

Also BTW my dad ended up getting his USB-out turntable at Urb@n 0utfitters too! Taking my parents there was rather lolzy.

we have a really shitty turntable

I'm in the same boat as Dan.

Was thinking I should remedy this after I went through my record collection the other night and found so many great jazz records I've never heard.

I have a stereo and a broken turntable, but I'm going to replace it very soon.

Also BTW my dad ended up getting his USB-out turntable at Urb@n 0utfitters too! Taking my parents there was rather lolzy.

Nice. I'm pretty happy with mine, for the cost.

i have two working turtables and one non-working one. which i should get fixed, needs a tone arm mount.

i have two turntables and a microphone.

(sorry)

I too love the Economist and I do not have a turntable -- altho the apt I'm moving into does so maybe that Verlaines LP will get some play yet.

Kr used to subscribe to The Economist but she let the subscription lapse a few months ago. Still buys it every so often. There's no way for me to read it, though, and not hear each article being intoned in a posh BBC World accent.

So is there not going to be a new Office tomorrow?

I think there is. One more tomorrow and probably one more the week after Thanksgiving, then thats supposed to be it.

Yeah, definitely a new one tomorrow (according to NBC site).

I heard that tomorrow is the last new one for awhile (and that 30 Rock has 4 or 5 more in the can).

Seeing live comedy tomorrow had best be worth missing my shows.

Do you have a VCR?

no :(

although maybe my new computer will be able to watch them online!

and then tell me about it!

ha ha

in reading the cow thread, I remembered a guest at Catch who hated fish and requested for dinner, "something that had never swum."

When we served his steak I informed him that I could not guarantee that the cow had never taken a swim.

I'm an hilarious.

Magazines are frustrating. the NYer looked boring this week so i didnt' buy it. didn't see blender, my default guilty pleasure mag. then i thought i might treat myself to the believer, which i dont' usually buy because it's $$$ for a mag, but it was extra $$$$$ this week because it comes with temporary tattoos by famous artists, so i didn't think i could justify paying $10 for a mag when i could buy like two used books for that price (i know, apples/oranges). thought about getting Outside for some reason, ended up with scientific american.

i always mean to read more about science. scientific american is kinda dull so far but i'm not that far in yet, haven't ready any of the features. the thing where they reprint bits of articles from 50, 100, and 150 years ago is pretty LOLz.

i got my first issue of cooking illustrated last night! mostly thxgiving food that i'm not very interested in, but there's a great thing on drop biscuits.

Nick, the best scientific essays annual comps have been v good to me, I sort of pick and choose from them but on the whole I vote tops.

Maybe it's called "science and nature writing"? You know what I mean.

i still buy CDs and don't really feel bad about it. i also buy records and download things. the more the merrier. i especially agree with nick's point about people sobering up and downloading the next day: not gonna happen. one thing i don't buy: magazines.

and yes, i believe everyone has memory triggers. i was just telling you some of mine and noting how irritating it is that i can't hear "barack obama" without thinking about how he knows how to party.

It would be funny to just sell little plastic cards (or something) with download codes at a show.

-Barack Obama...knows how to party
Barack Obama...knows how to party
In the citaaay of Chi-town
In the citaaay of good ol' Cicero
In the citaaay, the city of Evanston
We keep it rockin! We keep it rockin!

Doing the whole song was too daunting. So many references.

Maybe t-shirts or underwear with the code sewn into the lining.

(that's for $15, for $3 you would just whisper it into their ear and then they have to go write it down before they forget)

i don't even remember the last time i bought a CD, but i don't think i'm particularly normal in that way.

nick, i really like 'new scientest' magazine-- probably super expensive here but worth browsing if you're killing time at an international magazine rack?

They actually sell New Scientist at U.S. bookstores for $5, same as Scientific American and most other mags. SA just had more articles that looked interesting to me in it this week.

cool, that's good to know.

by the way, we should have evanston lunch sometime since i'm up here 4 days a week at the moment!

ok, I'm up here most weekdays unless i am lazy and work from home.

i have a sneaking suspicion i will be working from home on friday, aka "day after m@nnequin m3n show"

don't even remember the last time i bought a CD

mine was at a turpentine brothers show in boston last year, their lp is oop and the band has sold out of their copies. so it was cd or nothing. previous to that i couldn't tell you the last cd i bought, maybe "keep it like a secret" when that came out?

i'm probably gonna bolt home after the gr@ve bl@nkets set tomorrow. i need to spend some quality time with my bed.

i used to buy tons o cds, cut way back this year after figuring out how to download stuff illegally but still buy stuff once in a while, bought some crazy afro-funk at dusty groove last week and plan on buying the bottomless pit cd that comes out today i think

Last CDs I bought = New Young Pony Club and Office, at Laurie's a few weeks ago.

i keep forgetting to buy the office cd

?

the band "office" which is not related to the tv show "the office" if that's what you're thinking

does t0m from 0ffice still work at tumans? in a weird bit of small worldedness he and my friend amy know each other from when they were both living in balitmore.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51UAw7SK4TL._AA240_.jpg

this song is still awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXX6I0TfAPs

It looks like the first Office album (self-released) and the BBC's The Office both came out in 2001. I'm not sure if Scott would've went with that name if he'd known there'd be confusion about it.

This guy sent me a myspace friend request:

http://www.myspace.com/bigstankdaboss

Hey, BIG STANK! It's my mannnn, BIG STANk!!! WOO HOO! HIGH FIVES!

that's what i was thinking

There were some (high school) kids on the bus yesterday talking about their friend Poo Poo.

oh, i didn't mention this here but last friday on the metra on my way home a woman was yelling at her daughter who i believe was named "jean nate".

it made me think of my mom and the 1970s.

Shut your mouth, Tabu!

I think Jean Nate was the first fragranced thing my mother ever gave me (besides Bonnie Bell chapstick, I guess), and I'm pretty sure it was because I was becoming a smelly teenager and she was suggesting I could be a little "fresher".

better than turning a high pressure hose on you i suppose.

or making you wear deoderant

Come here, Baby Soft!

i wonder if her brother's name was charlie?

chanel no. 5

(speaking of memory triggers, perfume V up there also makes me think of my mom.)

You guys I was begging for perfume and deodorant! Perfume me! Actually, I ruined my Tunnel of Love tshirt with pitstains ;_;
Honestly, that still makes me sad.

First perfume I had: Sand and Sable
It still reminds me of 8th grade BIG TIME.

Launched by the design house of Coty in 1983, SAND & SABLE PERFUME is classified as a luxurious, flowery fragrance. This feminine scent possesses a blend of jasmine, gardenia, peach, and various green notes. It is recommended for romantic wear.
http://www.99perfume.com/image/sand_&_sable_w.jpg

Coty had a "design house"??!?!

First perfume I had: Sand and Sable
It still reminds me of 8th grade BIG TIME.

Launched by the design house of Coty in 1983, SAND & SABLE PERFUME is classified as a luxurious, flowery fragrance. This feminine scent possesses a blend of jasmine, gardenia, peach, and various green notes. It is recommended for romantic wear.

????

I KNOW. I had no idea at the time.

I realize now that this particular combination of gardenia, peach, jasmine and green notes is actually known in more educated circles as boy-repellent.

powerful boy repellent
it's like DEET

My first perfume came with a koala necklace, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was called.

go to some Warhol films (damn, no Chelsea Girls):

http://www.facets.org/asticat?function=web&catname=facets&web=cinematheque&path=/archive/nov2007/warhol/

in another bit of small worldedness involving my friend amy, she works pt at facets to supplement her film addiction.

jesse, crossword clue, "some law firm assistants", PAR??

Paras.

Shortened from "para-legals".

Sorry I'm not Jesse, though.

paralegals

xp

-aplegics

oh
the 2 ?? were missing letters

a;lkdfj;aoigfn

I thought you fus sayin "par" and then being all que??

leave me alone, i'm a busy para

noid?

-normal?

-lytic?

-sailing?

http://www.tourismvictoria.com.au/piecesofvictoria/january_2007/i/city-parasailing.jpg

This has always looked fun.

I went parasailing once and got the most powerfully painful wedgie of my entire life

NEVER AGAIN

Paras? really? Never heard it. I mean I haven't been at this job very long, but I have had varying degrees of contact with lawyers and paralegals for more than a couple of years.

Paras could also be other para-professionals.

Kevin, I like your Gmail status. Are you familiar with Dulce et Decorum Est (poem by Wilfred Ownen)

Jesse, I've never worked in a law office at all, but that clue is in a lot of crosswords. It's kind of like "nene", which no one has otherwise heard of.

what's "nene"?

I had a neighbor with a little daughter whose name was "Nene." It was sort of grating to hear someone in the yard yelling, "NENE! NENEEEEE! NENENENENENE!!"

I've never heard of NENE. Guess I should learn it before I start constructing any more puzzles.

It's a Hawaiian species of duck. Yeah, I know. It's in a LOT of NYT puzzles, though.

Hi. A mini-poll.

Do you ever or regularly send emails that consist of subject line only?

I find that I do this all the time. And I like receiving them since when they pop up when I'm in another window I can read the entire thing without moving from what I'm doing.

learn to write emails, it's not IM

I don't do it, but I've seen it done.

Like I got one earlier today that said, "Can you pick me up tonight?"

No real need to go into any further details then that. I wrote back "yup."

L|bby sends a lot of emails w/ the subj. line "Stuff" and "Couple of things"

WQhoa

I just got an email from Our Lawyer at her new illinois.gov address!!

With personal shit: yeah, who cares.

At work: this would drive me batshit insane inside of a few hours.

my mom for some reason must think "stuff" is a required part of the subject line: "book stuff" "snow stuff" "thanksgiving stuff". it's pretty strange, but not as strange as the contents within.

Thanks Laurel.

People e-mail like that at work all the time. Although I think it's polite to put something like "no text" or whatever in the subject heading.

Oh, I didn't think you were talking about work e-mails. I generally only get about five or six work e-mails a day, and half of those are mass e-mails to the whole department or whole company.

Kevin, I like your Gmail status. Are you familiar with Dulce et Decorum Est (poem by Wilfred Ownen)

thank you and yes, i'm familiar. the quote in my status (hemmingway) and ownen's poem were both inspired by horace iirc.

I like to send emails containing no body, and the subject line "This email body intentionally left blank"

i put stuff in subjects a lot :/

I have decided that I can smoke in my office if I want to.

OMG... I'm buying a house tomorrow. The reality just sank in.

Whoa! Where?

(I was just going to post that my Loop friend is putting her condo up for sale - she'll take around $190K, but less if you get to her before she lists w/ a broker.)

let me check my wallet...

nope, not today.

I wanna house.

No. I wanna condo.

Evanston, west side.. near Skokie. So excited. We were supposed to move in September, but it got pushed back. Closing is tomorrow.

Haha, I just won a pair of tickets to see some Mongolian throat singers at the Old Town School on Friday night.

evan has ruined throat singing for me

How so?

b/c he fucking used to do it all the time

PRO PATRIA MORI

i really love that poem

i just got done babysitting an actual baby. for 2 1/2 hours i was in a constant state of near-panic that something would happen to the six month old that i was trusted with.

someone shot my school last night while i was in it.
bullet holes...in the day care window!

classy.

(speaking of babies and safety)

Things seem to be getting on top of me. Makes me feel uneasy.

Personally, i am against people shooting at amanda

yeah, down with people shooting at amanda in a day care

Guys the Chromatics cover of "Running Up That Hill" came on my iPod but I wasn't looking at the screen and I didn't realize that it wasn't the Kate Bush version, that's how closely the cover hews to the original LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

spam email name of the day: "Jehoshaphat Browning"

i am going to write an ill-thought out and probably quite vulgar letter to the cta this morning.

FOUR fucking trains came and went without me being able to get on at Damen. the platform was so crowded that one woman almost fell onto the tracks. the delay was attributed to "the weather". apparently morning temps in the mid 30s in chicago during mid November are totally unforeseeable.

eat a big bag of dicks, cta.

I tried to go to the gym the other night and my membership had expired. I think I will join ye olde YMCA.

I tried to go to the gym last night but instead went to Barnes &Noble to browse mags for free and drink a skinny latte.

It hews closely to the original in that they try to replicate a Fairlight or Yamaha DX-7 synth, but whoever the Chromatics' singer is can't hold a candle to Kate Bush.

There's a really good club remix of "Running Up That Hill" somewhere over on ILM.

I did some magazine-browsing at Barnes & Noble last night too.

yeah, i wasn't really paying that much attention. the arrangement is really similar though, it's a weird cover in that they didn't really do anything with the song, which i think is ok for live covers but not for recorded covers

ARGH WHY DO I READ THE MOVIE THREADS!?!?

i think it's weird that i am ostensibly a "music person" but it is inevitably the movie threads that provoke me. probably because i've basically stopped reading ILM.

Nah, I think it's because ILX began as an outgrowth of ILM, so the approach to music (dilettantish, anti-rockist, etc.) is something that ends up pervading the site as a whole. We can argue about certain bands, but most people's philosophy on music is pretty much the same.

But with movies, you have dudes like Dr. Morbius who have such disdain for certain kinds of popular films clashing with more inclusive fans like Slocki and Miccio. If ILX started as a film site that championed mainstream American cinema, Dr. Morbius never would have found his way here in the first place.

I'm so over movies

, man.

I think I am pretty rockist about movies! I don't see a lot of artsy or obscure movies, admittedly, but what I do see, I like. And I hate most mainstream American cinema. I think it's mainly the tone of the discussion that I find frustrating, where people are bent more on dissing each others' movie preferences instead of talking enthusiastically about movies they like. I guess this is pretty consistent with ILX as a whole, but for some reason it bothers me most in the movie threads.

anyways, i just more self-control not to read those things.

Now you made me look at them!

boo to amanda's school getting shot, that sounds hugely stupid.

eazy, how are your feet doing?

Yeah, I'm actually way more rockist about movies than about music. Like I only really go see indie movies and Oscar bait. But that's a function of me knowing what I like and also of only having so much time to invest in movies. Like, I realized the other day that I've heard close to 90 albums from this year, and that was without even trying -- it's easy to give things a shot when they can be downloaded or streamed in mere minutes. With movies, I have to plan a time to see them, coordinate with Kr as to what we want to see together vs. what I should see on my own, plunk down $10, etc. So I mean, maybe Bee Movie is awesome, but I'm not really going to take the gamble to find out.

that's why i don't see many movies in the theater, since i pretty much only go if I'm sure I'm going to really like a movie, and there aren't many movies I'm that enthusiastic about. but we watch a lot of stuff on DVD, I'm a lot more willing to check out something I'm feeling eeehhh about on DVD.

i feel like i'm seeing a lot less movies at the moment just because they're so expensive. i was willing to try almost anything i didn't think i'd hate when i was paying a flat rate subscription a month-- and probably tried things i wouldn't have otherwise just to help 'average the cost down' of the subscription. saw some cool random movies that way.

xp True. One problem with that, though, is that if I end up liking it, I usually wish I had seen it in the theater. There's something about that kind of immersion that makes me like a film even more.

that's why i don't see many movies in the theater, since i pretty much only go if I'm sure I'm going to really like a movie, and there aren't many movies I'm that enthusiastic about. but we watch a lot of stuff on DVD, I'm a lot more willing to check out something I'm feeling eeehhh about on DVD.

my feelings exactly. my friend who works at facets makes recommendations and brings stuff home for me all the time (which reminds me i have some watching to do) and if it weren't for her i'd probably never go to the movies. she also gets free tickets to the landmark as one of the perks of facets, she wanted to go see no country for old men on tuesday but i went to trivia instead.

prolly shoulda gone to the movies.

Haha john, I am way pickier with movies. I've heard just over 30 albums with this year, and some of those only once or twice. I've seen almost 120 movies (what am I doing with my life).

(that includes everything though, like tv on dvd and drum nerd dvds)

Man, my most active period of filmgoing was when I lived in the UK. I didn't have many friends and there wasn't much to do (I didn't drink at the time), so I spent at least two or three nights a week either at the student-run cinema on campus, where they showed second-run films for like a pound or two, or the arthouse/repertory theatre in downtown Lancaster. I'd routinely go see things that I knew practically nothing about, like Guy Maddin's Twilight of the Ice Nymphs or Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore. I guess part of it was also because the one friend I *did* have was a huge movie buff. Similarly, I saw more movies than usual when I was dating Renee.

that includes everything though, like tv on dvd

If you're including TV on DVD, I've seen like 50-some episodes of Arrested Development and 90-some episodes of The O.C. and 20-some episodes of Six Feet Under this year.

TV on DVD is great because once Kr and I decide on which show we want to watch, we no longer have to argue about what to see: we just make sure a new disc is always near the top of one of our Netflix queues. Also great because by the time we're done with dinner or by the time I'm back from band practice or whatever, we may not feel like watching a whole movie but we can watch a single TV episode before bed.

an enterprising movie chain should have a subscription service for theater movies

we saw a lot of movies in Richmond, because there wasn't much to do there and I had more disposable income.

sarah's sister wanted us to buy her a subscription for the movie theater in her town in france for xmas last year, so they have them overseas. I think it was $$$ though, you'd have to go to a lot of movies to make up the cost.

yeah, this was my year of being single and having netflix.

xpost, i counted a whole season of a tv show as one count on my list

an enterprising movie chain should have a subscription service for theater movies

one of the biggest chains in the UK offered this, that's what i was talking about. not too expensive-- 14.99 including central london, 9.99 elsewhere. considering that their evening films were about 9 and some leicester sq theatres actually charged like 12 quid, it was a good deal. most months we got our value out of it, although the last couple months when we were packing and super busy we hardly went at all so they made money out of us. i really miss that system, though.

sorry, that's 14.99 a month...and you do have to sign up for at least a year, so if you're paying for it all at once it could feel expensive.

So I think I am going to see a movie by myself on Monday, when Kr is hanging out with her friend Melissa.

What should I see?

Michael Clayton
The Darjeeling Limited
No Country for Old Men
Gone Baby Gone

The only one I know she is def. not interested in is The Darjeeling Limited, but Michael Clayton might also be a good choice because it is only playing downtown and so we probably wouldn't see it otherwise.

I guess I missed the boat on Control and My Kid Could Paint That.

i don't know that either michael clayton or darjeeling ltd gained much from being seen in the cinema, and kind of feel like no country would benefit. but i don't really know what i'm basing that on.

although after second thought, i was really glad they showed the little 'hotel' short before darjeeling, which i think they're doing in cinemas now, so that's a plus.

A plus in the sense that you get to see Natalie Portman naked?

I don't usually think too much in terms of which movies would benefit from being seen in the theatre versus on DVD, since a lot of the time I tend to lose interest in movies by the time they're released on DVD. But that's good to know, regardless.

well, i guess it's a plus in that sense, but i meant that if you haven't already seen it (i hadn't), it adds to the story in the main film.

Yeah, I haven't seen it, either. As soon as it went into theatres, they took it off iTunes.

i would see gone baby gone (which is really solid) or no country for old men

Michael Clayton
The Darjeeling Limited
No Country for Old Men

I've seen all three of these movies in the past week, even though I've probably seen about 10-15 movies in the theater all year.

All three of them have some absolutely perfect scenes as far as writing, acting, and cinematography, though all three of them were a little unsatisfying by the end. But I'd still recommend 'em.

My feet are better, C. -- the one with the twisted ankle seems to be 100% back to normal, and the other one is about 90% back to normal except when I first get up in the morning. So I can walk and forget that I'm wearing a funny sandal, but I can't get back to full-on exercising yet or walking across town.

Darjeerling Ltd. is exhausting, but probably in the way that traveling to India would be, as far as overload of colors and sights.

glad you're on the mend, eazy!

is anyone else going to see the mountain goats tonight?

What does "rockist" mean??

i tried asking J0hn D. for tickets via ILX mail but it didn't work.

BRAZEN.

jesse, don't

It should be in the ILX FAQ, shouldn't it?

This is as good an introduction as any.

So's this.

jesse, http://rocknerd.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/02/0010252

haha xpost

If I had to, I would guess that it meant approving of popular shit.

xp

busy. will read later.

i haven't been to the EB for a long time-- am i wrong to think the best way to get there may well be to drive?

Hey, I met someone at noize drinx last night who knows the people who opened the EB! Life is weird, eh? I liked him, he was quality bro.

No, you're not wrong, Colette. You'd have to take at least two buses otherwise.

best way to get there is either the division or chicago bus to western then walk two blocks south or north. get home via chicago bus (runs 24 hours) or a cab.

best way for me to get there, go out back door, down alley around corner, walk in.

but i won't be doing that, i'll be going to the cobra lounge instead.

why would anyone go to the cobra lounge ever

the dude who books shows on thursdays there has set up some good ones. black beauties, c0c0c0ma, magnetix, m@nnequin men, gr@ve bl@nkets, bu5y s1gnals, etc. over the last few months.

plus there's no cover.

cool, i think i'll just drive down there then, since getting to that chicago bus is a trek in itself. if it were nicer weather i'd think about cycling, but i'm just too much of a wuss about cold at the moment.

i only have a vague notion of where you're starting (somewhere near jenny & jeff i think) but you can take any bus west to western then take the western bus south as well.

not having a car has made me far more vigilant about finding alternate routes to places. for instance, if it weren't for the show tonight i would take the ashland bus to irving & clark then walk two blocks to the holidy club instead of what i used to do (division to the redline then north to the sheridan stop).

So rockism (as defined/described in the NYT article) sounds like a term you would not want to be labeled with, much less apply to yourself.

i feel like people that are rockists feel like it's a badge of pride-- they only like the 'good stuff'. but on ilx it's usually used as an insult.

When I said I was a rockist about movies, it was sort of facetious, since it had less to do with my attitude than with my behavior. I don't think that mainstream Hollywood films are inherently inferior, but judging from the kinds of movies I end up seeing, you might be forgiven for assuming that I do think that.

john, did you know that ben tausig writes (wrote?) for Dusted? you probably did.

Spam totally got me with the subject-line "Breaking: New Information Regarding Donda West's Death."

Contents:

Today's excellent offer from world leader of pharmaceutics Pfizer!

Today you can order Viagra Tabs at lowest price ever.

Site here: http://www.adhocdocs.com

As to the other senses, touch is not highly developed except
bill, where it reaches a climax in birds like the wood-cock,
for unseen earthworms in the soft soil. Taste seems to be
developed, for most birds bolt their food, but there is sometimes
emphatic rejection of unpalatable things, like toads and

john, did you know that ben tausig writes (wrote?) for Dusted? you probably did.

No, I did not!

labels only divide the scene

i wrote for dusted

(very briefly)

I better get a raise after today's mess.

Was it a hot mess?

Dan: labels only divide the scene

me: a house divided against itself is sure to fall
we eitherhang together or hang separately

I got free lunch. Wonder if that was my raise?

I feel sorry for court reporters. They seem to always eat alone. Plaintiff side folks goes one place, defendants another, and the court reporter sits alone getting crumbs in her tape recorder.

looks like my old college roommate and former bandmate Charlie is still actively writing for Dusted ... I should remember to check there more often.

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/writers/ammerman

Yeah, I see Charlie's stuff there sometimes.

Ben did the couple of Dusted crossword puzzles too, naturally.

thank you for your concerns, doods. apparently the school has been shot at before? again, this is muy classy.

also, i think more raging opinionators are more annoying when they talk about movies than when they talk about music for this reason:

it is relatively (RELATIVELY) simple (not easy, but simple/uncomplicated) to be a recording musician compared to being a maker of widely distributed feature films. note: i stipulated "widely distributed films", ie the films that we see in theaters. whether or not you like what these filmmakers do, it takes fuckloads of cash, time and motivation to put that kind of production together. to hear people dismiss a production - however crappy it is (or isn't)-- so blithely (or vehemently) takes some kind of nerve. so maybe you don't love EVERY FUCKING THING about, I dunno, Wes Anderson movies (lord knows I don't) but give the guy some credit for getting that shit together.

opinionators.

Yow. Za.

The deposition next door is NOT going smoothly. There was just a screaming match between 2 men and a woman and someone yelled, "OH YOU WANT TO BRING MY MOTHER INTO THIS?!"

sounds like my...

HA!

Movies, on the most part, seem to be huge collaberations, whereas musical acts are much, much smaller. So I think it's easier to like/not like a band or singer overall than a movie. That said, I tend to go into movies looking to be entertained and am not always interested in picking them apart.

Collaborations

Hmmm, I don't think that's the reason why I get het up over ILX film snobs. I mean, I recognize your point that putting a film together is a lot of work, and probably more so than most other art forms, but I think we all kind of know that going in. I mean, the reason I get annoyed at Morbius zinging Judd Apatow films is not because I sympathize with how grueling it must have been for Seth Rogen to come up with two hours worth of dick jokes. The targets of his critiques are usually mainstream Hollywood, anyway, not indie films with shoestring budgets where you might actually be more than vaguely aware of the difficulties in getting the film made.

xp Sarah shoots down the auteur theory in two sentences.

I guess I find it irritating when people are blithely dismissive of something without considering its potential merits. This is what rockists do to Abba or Xtina or whatever. For some movies, "people being entertained" and "larfs about dick jokes" are merits and even if it's not someone's cup of crap, it's not without virtue.

I also don't enjoy fighting on the internet or nitpicking about "criticism" so I don't think arguing about movies on the internet is something I would enjoy under any circumstances.

That said, I finally watched Walkabout and whoa. What a great movie.

all I expect when I walk into the Art Institute is to be entertained.

ROCKISM FOREVAH

I guess I find it irritating when people are blithely dismissive of something without considering its potential merits.

I agree with this.

Walkabout = Nicolas Roeg?

(But I do not want to discuss it) I'm with Sarah. Do not want to pick apart. Want to enjoy.

xp - boo hiss

xxp - yes, that one.

Everyone go join shelfari.

I blame my english major for turning arguments about art into a fun/acceptable conversation topic.

Me and Jaymc = picking apart is enjoying

xpost - Jordan's halfway on board too

I find it irritating when people are blithely dismissive of picking things apart without considering its potential merits.

seriously, sometimes i don't feel like i've truly enjoyed something unless i at least try to pick it apart a little :/

xpost

English majors rule

i've considered its merits and they are not for me. go ahead.

note i was not an english major.

The thing is, so much of picking things apart is complete and utter bullshit.

Thing is, you're both right: not everything needs to be analyzed to death, and many enjoyable things suffer from that treatment. But I still bristle at the argument that you should "just enjoy it," because it's also the argument employed by boobs who watch nothing but Adam Sandler movies. Not that any of you fall into the latter category.

xp

as is "so much" of everything.

also, deja vu, this argument is so old you can smell it in the next room

(lots of xposts, I haven't read anything since I posted last:)

But the reason I'm irritated by blithe dismissals is not because they don't take into consideration how hard the artists worked to make the art (I'm very much a death-of-the-author kind of guy) but because they act as a barrier to meaningful conversation. If we're talking about a movie I like and you're all "Oh, whatever, that movie sucks," then I just feel like an ass. If you said, on the other hand, "I wasn't really into it when I saw it -- tell me what you liked about it" or "Hmmm, I don't think it was my cup of tea," then it allows for a discourse.

The bitter irony is that while I hate this behavior in others, I've been known to do it myself, notably w/r/t Bob Dylan. :/

it's rank
you're right

we are all right

jaymc you were also like that about husker doo :-D

nobody's better than anyone else, and everyone's the best at everything

seriously, sometimes i don't feel like i've truly enjoyed something unless i at least try to pick it apart a little :/

Oh absolutely. When I said upthread that I sometimes lose interest in movies by the time they come out on DVD, it's partially because no one is interested in talking about them anymore.

seymour skinner saves the day

yeah bob dylan sucks

:)

jaymc you were also like that about husker doo :-D

Yeah, it's with stuff that I don't understand (but wish I did).

Me and Jaymc = picking apart is enjoying

xpost - Jordan's halfway on board too

seriously, sometimes i don't feel like i've truly enjoyed something unless i at least try to pick it apart a little :/

X2

or rather

X2.5

i don't understand why people like Husker Du

The problem is when ppl disagree on WHAT is appropriate for "picking apart." We're all conditioned to do it to 19th-century literature from school. But because (in America) cinema is instinctively thought of as Entertainment! that we've all experienced since we were 4 or 5 -- and properly considered only that in mainstream thought-- when you try to develop aesthetic arguments for or against filmmakers, you're a snob, spoilsport, etc.

I try not to be blithely dismissive of anything.

Que, do you not like the marriage of pop and hardcore? would you have in 1984?

nobody's better than anyone else, and everyone's the best at everything

in context this is one of my favorite quotes ever. nothing so captures the feeling of utter bewilderment of good intentions misinterpreted.

The problem is when ppl disagree on WHAT is appropriate for "picking apart."

eh, i think it's all pretty boring myself.

If we're talking about a movie I like and you're all "Oh, whatever, that movie sucks," then I just feel like an ass. If you said, on the other hand, "I wasn't really into it when I saw it -- tell me what you liked about it" or "Hmmm, I don't think it was my cup of tea," then it allows for a discourse.

i was going to say that i'm with sarah and amanda on the 'just enjoy' it way of watching movies, but then i read this and realized that while i do generally just enjoy movies i like, i do try to pick them apart when i don't like movies, rather than just accept 'it sucks'. although my reason for not liking a film is often 'it's too long and my attention span is too short', which isn't a brilliant critique, i know.

wake me up when this is over

What's funny is I now seldom read more than 3 sentences of any music review for the reasons some of you are complaining about. I have little understanding of the aesthetics of musicmaking, or interest in knowing more. So I guess you just feel the same way about cinema.

Oh, I totally blame myself for not liking stuff all the time.

well, i don't say "it sucks" when i don't like it but i don't feel the need to dissect it at length in a group setting either. i am happy to dissect it in my head and say "whoops sorry i guess i didn't like it" in the unlikely event that anyone asks me what i thought.

but yeah, wake me up when this is over. i didn't mean to wake up the sleeping monster.

Que, do you not like the marriage of pop and hardcore? would you have in 1984?

My biggest problem with HD is the guitars and drums sound really crappy. The songs are just okay--I can see why people like HD b/c they are catchy and stuff--but it's the OVERDRIVEN production and the songs that are just okay in my book that seal the deal for me. Also, I don't really like either of their voices.

That said, I love Superchunk, and they're totally pop+hardcore.

oh, it's probably just that HD was led by fat gay guys, huh? :D

I find most S'chunk songs waaaay forgettable.

no, it's nothing to do w/the gayness. maybe it's time+place and if i'd been around back in the day i would have been ga ga.

In some ways, I think it's easier with music to just accept that you either like something or you don't because so much of it just comes down to aesthetics and people understand that you're a hip-hop guy or you're a techno dude or a folkie or whatever, because that's what moves you -- but film strives to be universal and a lot of us end up going to see the same stuff and that's where the conflict begins.

more like husker don't

xpost jaymc: yep. i think it's much easier to talk about why i don't like/do like a movie or a book versus why i do/don't like a piece of music.

I want to go snowshoeing.

I want snow! I'm getting antsy for it now. Soon enough, I know.

el lenguaje de cinema es universal.

ok, i usually hate the self-appointed arbiters of threads who decide what is and is not a topic for discussion. that said, i'm way to hopped up on caffeine to re-hash the husker du argument on the chilx thread for the 90th time. i will turn surly.

le langue de cinema est universel.

It doesn't snow enough here to go snowshoeing. That is my critique of the snow in Chicago.

wake me up when this is over

Ha, if there's anything I like better than picking stuff apart it's picking apart picking stuff apart. One of the best classes I ever took in college (from a charming man in Lancaster) was on philosophical aesthetics.

xpost jaymc: yep. i think it's much easier to talk about why i don't like/do like a movie or a book versus why i do/don't like a piece of music.

Whenever I've written about books, either on here or elsewhere (even if it's just in a journal), I am kind of surprised at how intelligent and lucid I can sound. I like writing about music because I feel like I have more expertise in that area but a lot of times I really don't have anything to say besides "I like the way that sounds." (Although I'll admit that sometimes that abstraction can be a good thing -- it can make for an interesting exercise [how to put that sound into words] or it can lead you off on an interesting tangent, which you might not have followed if you were obligated to summarize a plot.)

(Sorry you guys. Like I said, I like these kinds of conversations way too much. :/)

Are you on shelfari then, John?

Idk what that means.

The yelling from the conference room is upsetting the dog. She's walking around growling :(

My apartment smells of fried chicken
It is a mystery

maybe it's you

dan, i was going to ask if you snowshoed in chicago, but i guess the answer is no?

speaking of winter sports, toby wants to go snowmobiling this winter-- the lady that ran the motel in ironwood we stayed at 2 different times on our trip told him about it and he has mentioned it since. i've never been, despite growing up in a place that unofficially allowed snowmobiles to go on all the main roads and stuff. is it fun and/or particularly dangerous?

Shelfar
You put books on your shelf. You can give them stars, review them, connect to other people with similar taste, get recommendations...

I feel like someone - Kenan? - put a link to somewhere like that, but it looked different...

i'm on good reads, which is similar, but i don't do enough with it

xp - Mystery solved

I have not snowshoed here, for the reasons listed before. I do have a pair of Tubbs in the basement that will be going home with me for Xmas, though. Just in case.

I have a lot of opinions on snowmobiling, but I don't feel like getting into it here. Ask me next time we hang.

ok, i'll try to remember!

Oh, I don't like giving stars to things unless I absolutely have to. And I don't really understand the impulse to post public reviews, either, like on Amazon or Metromix or whatever. I mean, I've written music/film reviews on my blog or on Stylus, but I labor over those: the satisfaction I get is the knowledge that I've produced a good piece of writing. And obviously I discuss things more casually on ILX, but that's because there's a promise of a conversation. Just recommending things to strangers doesn't really appeal to me.

That said, I like LibraryThing.

guys, i'm a little scared because these crappy little powerpoint diagrams i'm drawing are going to be published in a book. what is the world coming to?

My apartment smells of fried chicken
It is a mystery

Good haiku. I can picture the accompanying Japanese woodblock print.

I like talking about movies and music here (and wine and poker and politics elsewhere on the internet) so that I don't bore my friends with these things and instead talk about them with people who are actually interested in the specific topics.

xp Cheaply produced books?

I am new to library thing. I have one book on there. I need to work on that.

i can't remember the last time i updated library thing. i know that somewhere between 80 and 100 percent of the ones i had listed went to myopic and didn't come back.

JONATHAN FRANZEN IZ EVERYWHERRRRRRRRE

http://www.gregmartinphoto.com/portraits/authors/NewFranzen_Lg.jpg
http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/interviews/images/int2001-10-03pic.jpg
http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2001/09/07/franzen/story.jpg

that guy

someone please make a gif of j franz laughing at himself

The Franz

"Up your nose with social crit, aaaaaaaaayyyyyyy"

http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2001/09/07/franzen/story.jpg

http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2001/09/07/franzen/story.jpg

http://archive.salon.com/books/int/2001/09/07/franzen/story.jpg

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/03/03/ConsidertheLobster_060302033957878_wideweb__300x457.jpg

You could remake Darjeeling Limited with Franzen, Wallace, and Eggers.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/fyi/teachers.offcampus/11/30/richard.roeper/story.roeper.jpg
http://www.amateurhometheater.com/bbreviews/faceshots/roeper_richard.jpg
http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVShows/img2/Programs/160/roeper.jpg

http://www.jasonisaacsphotoalbumsonline.com/movies/Passionada/Ebert_Roeper/Roeper1.jpg

http://mathieuthollet.blogs.com/blog/images/2007/04/28/suicidaldynamo2000.jpg

he's hungry
hungry for passionate roeper

http://booksense-stores.booksense.com/images/stores/1580/storeevents/TedAllenWeb.jpg

Roeper after midlife crisis.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/politicalblog/wp-content/thumb-mcgovern.jpg
good evening everyone

When I read a book that promotes discussion, I want to discuss it! I haven't found a good book club match for myself though, because I don't really like to be told what to read. (And also because I tend to be the only person who read the book, which defeats the point)

i don't pick things apart generally, i like mystery

i don't like people who are relentlessly negative, who only talk about shit they hate and how sucky it is and never seem to express any actual enthusiasm or joy about anything. this is why i hate the movie threads. ironically the self-appointed cineastes of ILX don't seem to actually like movies very much

i like conversations. this isn't the same as picking things apart

That picture of Clinton illustrates why I shouldn't grow my hair long very well.

http://www.politics1.com/pix/traficant88.jpg
traficant for presidant

Wow, Ted Allen looks kind of cute in that photo! He also reminds me of someone, but I can't think of who it is.

i beg to differ!

xpost to dan

That's what happens when my hair gets too long (Clinton). People start talking Eraserhead.

anywho i will stop talking about movie threads now and hopefully stop reading them.

You'd like me with a wavy semi-afro? Jordan, I had no idea...

xpost to EZ: mine goes horizontal

http://www.igopogo.com/images/igopogo03.jpg\
http://collections.politicallibrary.org/cgi-bin/thumbnail.exe?CISOROOT=/Buttons_Jewelry&CISOPTR=529

FWIW, this is what I hated about my English classes. I did really well in them, but only because I learned what kind of BS my teacher was looking for. Mostly, I was impressed by the overall feel of the books, and didn't appreciate critics pulling them apart and deciding what they meant (the rose on the table in this scene symbolizes blah blah blah) without consulting the author.

I just think his hair is awesome in that photo. Your mileage may vary.

I just found out that Jack Black is Charlie Haden's son-in-law and it is weirding me out.

You guys! Work is almost over for me todaaaayyyyy! :-D

without consulting the author.

Biting my tongue really hard.

(But I think we've been over this before.)

Clinton is a cutie.

Me too, but we love you Sarah :>

xpost

Biting my tongue really hard.
Ok, let's stop while I have the last word! :-D

I just found out that Jack Black is Charlie Haden's son-in-law and it is weirding me out.

Wha? Did Jack Black marry Petra Haden or something?

One of her sisters, Tanya Haden, apparently.

http://z.about.com/d/movies/1/0/v/0/8/knkg1b.jpg

She is so cute AND Charlie Haden's daughter, she is too good for hi.

http://jeanettes-celebrity-corner.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/jack_black404.JPG

there is hope for us burly guys yet

Oh sure, until you FUCK SHIT UP by BEING A JERK.

Sorry, personal moment.

dan is not a burly jerk

the self-appointed cineastes of ILX don't seem to actually like the movies n/a likes very much

"Cineastes" sounds too classy. You should be called "filmies".

anywho i will stop talking about movie threads now and hopefully stop reading them.

pleeeze, motherfucker

http://www.tcnj.edu/~creswel2/ARTS%20p6.jpg
pleeeze, motherfucker

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/2/22/180px-Ltierney2.JPG
pleeeze, motherfucker

http://www.roflwigger.com/images/wigger/icyhotstuntaz1wx.jpg
pleeeze, motherfucker

http://z.about.com/d/tvdramas/1/0/P/4/maurtier.jpg
pleeze, motherfucker

http://www.wqed.org/genl/shop/img/kingfriday_ppt.jpg
pleeeze, motherfucker

that last one made no sense and is by far my favorite.

i'm heading to the c0bra lounge, later gators.

ugh i just fucked up the application for the school i wanted to go to most

thought the deadline was a MONTH FROM NOW, not 5 minutes ago

i don't know why i never considered bagels and bbq sauce before but it's a great pairing.

This article has been smiling at me from the headlines of a local twice-weekly, so I thought I would post it here (and say "hi!").

hi chris.

Hi Chris! I blew that chess game. Blew it. You wore me down to point where there was no clear advantage, and that when I always blow it. Ah, well. I'll get slowly better, I can sense it.

Re: that link. I think I'm pretty clear on the main facts of the article; many cities promise to be green, but few deliver; so much of it is marketing, anyway; Chicago is marketing like its hair is on fire because of the Olympic bid, but it may all be lip service; Portland wants to use its green status to get more business... I get all of that. Thing is, I'm not sure how much the guy who wrote it gets it. What an unfocused, adverb-heavy mess of reporting this is. Dude, what is so hard about an inverted pyramid? And if it's really that hard for you, why is it so hard for you editor to fire you? Grr.

(When I wake up in the middle of the night, I rarely wake up feeling magnanimous.)

Hmm... you know, maybe what bugs me is that it reads like a choppy old-style newspaper story, but it wants to be a feature. There's a lot under the surface of this topic, and I'd love to read an in-depth article comparing and contrasting what the cities mentioned are doing about building green (vs. what they claim to be doing), how they are practically relating to each other, what the cost-benefit analysis comes out to for different interested parties -- investors, contractors, mayors, residents (especially residents). Maybe I'm just more interested in this than the paper has time for.

So, like I said last week, tonight I'm reading a short story (not mine) at this event. Free and sponsored by Grolsch Beer. Did you hear that, Kevin? Free and sponsored by Grolsch.

HI! I like my job! I miss you people!

Also, I'm a little freaked out at how attractive I am finding Bill Clinton in that old picture up there. Who knew!?!

Do you remember the first time you had certain beers? The first time I had Grolsch was in someone's dorm room watching The Empire Strikes Back. The beer was more interesting than the movie.

Grolsh is exactly as tasty as the sounds you make when you say the word.

Actually... I totally take that back. The word sounds German, heavy, thick, thick-necked, beefy. The beer is more like Heineken. Not a German stereotype, or a Dutch one, one anything like that at all... more of a really old gay stereotype. It dances around all limp-wristed, and when you kiss it it tastes like butthole.

Thanks Kenan.

I guess you did say "stereotype."

I remember the first time I had Grolsch. I was visiting Greensboro, NC and a friend and I drank Grolschs in my car at a Harris Teeter on Elm Street.

On my bedside table this morning:

Tennessee Williams play
Edward Albee play
Blue Boy magazine

My bedside table's faggotry is running high.

Which Williams?

Cat on a Hott Tin Roof

Also, the Albee play is All Over, which I'm not at all familiar with. And The Play About the Baby was on there too. Do you recommend any particular Albee?

Oh, and his adaptation of Lolita.