Chicago: That thing you shook hands with four days ago just had babies in the bathroom.

So the man on the Broadway bus told two gay Francophones.

I don't understand

Crazy man talking. About the thing the Frenchies shook hands with having had babies in the bathroom.

Two gay Francophones get on a bus...

this is a disturbing title

Thank you!

The crazy guy was my (and Jenny's) favorite genre of crazy - he looked pretty normal (clean clothes, blazer w/ patches, longish but clean grey hair) but was insane in his chow mein. He also asked that if demons were visible to anyone else on the bus, that they please cast the demons out.

I may have seen this fellow before. I've definitely come across an otherwise unremarkable, professor-esque guy on the 36 who, on closer attention, turned out to be pretty looped. Was this person writing in a journal at all?

No. He was just a'talkin'.

He also said "dead gray, that's the color of the gay flag" and informed a homo who was talking on a Bluetooth that he was going to be dead gray with the dead snakes.

Homo on a Bluetooth
I know, I know
It's really serious

Dead gray is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I had a gay flag
I would pick up the dead gray snakes and play.

My love is in league with the freeway

i think i'm going to see two "rockumentaries" tonight, one about a canadian heavy metal band and one about sonic youth.

is the first one "anvil"?

That's pretty good Jenny.

yes. i was going to add "n/a i will let you know how it goes, because i know how you love a good rockumentary".

cool. what is the sonic youth one?

it's this:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102601823
Interesting story of how ants know other ants are dead.

that is interesting. the story that jenny posted about solitary confinement was pretty crazy too.

the sonic youth doc looks hmmm, will be interested to hear if it's more about sonic youth or more about the teenagers

I'm spreading the word that I'm phoneless. I hope to have a new phone (and probably new number) by Tuesday of next week. Until then I'm dead to all of you.

So fucking frustrating b/c I'm 81 days from being free of Sprint.

Oh - did you guys know that this week we should be seeing an increase in our pay due to the stimulus plan?

Yeah that solitary confinement story! I am reading A Tale of Two Cities (also Amanthem lolsob but I'm almost done and the post-300 pages of monks discussing time travel has given way to some action so I am confident I will finish it this weekend if not tomorrow) and the book opens with a daughter collecting her father who is totally broken after almost 20 years in terrible, solitary prison conditions in pre-revolution France. His behavior is very much like the behavior of people held in solitary confinement described in the article. So it's like, we've known this has some fucked up effects for at least 150 years, and yet... we just don't care.

yeah i read that story last week. it's fucked up.

Kr was telling me about it, but I'm behind on my NYers.

The as of yet unrealized impact of the following is what scares me:

The United States now has five per cent of the world’s population, twenty-five per cent of its prisoners, and probably the vast majority of prisoners who are in long-term solitary confinement.

It wasn’t always like this. The wide-scale use of isolation is, almost exclusively, a phenomenon of the past twenty years.

wait wtf story are you guys talking about? the new yorker? ants?
link pls
i wanna read about solitary confinement

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/30/090330fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all

thank you kindly

Jordan was committing the unpardonable sin, as set forth in the Gospel of Jesse, of responding to a Facebook post on ILX instead of Facebook.

hey dudes, we're in tomorrow evening. we're staying in little village for the first three days. any hangage opportunities should be directed to teenagequiet @ g-male

rad and thanks for all yr collective help

I am going to this thing tomorrow night that is $10 for open bar/pizza from 6-9. Anyone interested, let me know.

Jesse, you do not like Mastodon.

n/a did you ever decide to get a ticket to Mastodon?

Yeah I walked over to metro and bought a ticket last week

thanks for that nyer solitary article, yall. shit makes my blood ~boil~

I have a new phone and a new phone number. I am happy about the new phone, but not about the new number.

Back to what Jenny said about what Jordan said about what Jenny said about the ants and the confinement: why does there seem to be a rash of people responding out of context? Is this punishment for my own non sequitirs?

So that newsletter thing? The president of my stupid union decided she didn't like my article, the edits I made to her article, or the sanity I brought to her font choices and just reverted it back to its original, hideous state. Here is an example of her writing that she wanted so desperately to preserve:

As you can see, we need to change from being apathetic to energetic in standing up for rights and benefits that we have not only negotiated for, but for what we have worked hard to achieve; And don’t want to lose.

And we're also back to Courier/Comic Sans.

My response was, "You should realize that people notice and comment on these errors, but if you don't care, I'm not going to worry about it." I'd worry about retaliation if I thought she was smart enough to sneak up on me.

I also wouldn't be so mean about it but she can't ask me to stay late to do something for her and then decide that it hurts her feelings to have somebody fix her grammar errors. Fuck you, lady. I never liked her anyway. She's dumber n' hell and crooked to boot.

The whole reason I ever went to steward training is because she spelled Obama as "O'Bama" and I thought that there should be SOMEBODY in this organization who could write her way out of a wet paper bag. Stupid stupid a-hole.

I recommend staying in bed except for a trip to the Jewel for chicken noodle soup and vodka.

i recommend putting a boot up her ass cuz that's the american way

Stir up a pitcher of chicken vodka noodles, get ripped, put on your Fleuvogs, then do as Neck said.

nIck

I've learned that people pay a LOT of money for really terrible PR people. Jo@n W. H@rris' PR person included. I could be making so much more money. Jenny, let's go into business. Example:

Through her hard work and desire to see art gain prominence in everyday lives, every person who wishes to broaden their horizons has had a greater 0pportunity to do so, and sh3 has worked to emphasize Chicago's importance as a cultural center on a national and international scale, as evidenced through her tireless efforts to found the H@rris Theater for Music and Dance.

also

W-----n was introduced to C@@ more than 20 years ago when B3a L3vi, who worked with the late 3ssee Kupcin3t to found the school, recruited him with Sh3ll3y Zuck3r to position the maiden voyage of the Lake Michigan cruiser Odyssey as a fundraiser.

That's very difficult to parse.

No chicken vodka noodles yet; Maybe lunch. I did call in sick and make pancakes, however. It was the only way.

(Note: I had already planned to take a sick day and I'm still working from home for a couple hours so, yeah.)

I almost bought a can of Max Tundra's homemade kosher chicken soup last night, but I blanched when he told me it was $15. "But it comes with mp3s of two albums!" he said. "I already have them," I explained. "Do you have a t-shirt?" he asked, eagerly. "Umm, I'm just gonna sign up for your e-mail list." I felt like a schmuck. Also: he is very short.

i enjoyed his dance styles

$15 soup? Who does this guy think he is? Paul Newman?

snizzap

^ i'm almost 30 years old

lol u old

never as old as me, though, so there's that.

but you have never used the word "snizzap" on an internet message board

both movies i saw last night were great. the anvil one was really funny and sad, it's about a bunch of broke 50 year old Canadian dudes who have been playing in the same mediocre metal band for 30+ years. i loved it, but after awhile i started getting uncomfortable with the implication that they should have thrown in the towel or that there's something quixotic about what they're doing (after all, my band has been around for 15 years, blink and it's going to be 30). but of course the point is that the only time anyone brings up the idea that the point is just to be happy doing it, that playing music with your friends is its own reward, is when things are going terribly for them and they've had some kind of crushing setback. if they didn't have this innocent, slightly desperate hope that they're still going to "make it" and become rock stars, then there wouldn't really be a movie. but anyway, nick i think you in particular would love it.

the sonic youth movie was a great counterpoint, with a band that has some 50 year olds and has been around for almost 30 years but are happy, successful, still making interesting music that's changed over time, etc. it's about 90% concert movie and 10% thurston moore bullshitting with the high school kids before and after the concert. he's a pretty funny dude. it's one of the better concert movies i've seen just for staying on the band the whole time and showing whole (not snippets of) songs. i listened to the SY mix that jaymc made me on the way to work this morning.

both of those sound great. i wonder if anvil is playing here yet, i know they had posters for it at the music box.

i started getting uncomfortable with the implication that they should have thrown in the towel or that there's something quixotic about what they're doing (after all, my band has been around for 15 years, blink and it's going to be 30). but of course the point is that the only time anyone brings up the idea that the point is just to be happy doing it, that playing music with your friends is its own reward, is when things are going terribly for them and they've had some kind of crushing setback. if they didn't have this innocent, slightly desperate hope that they're still going to "make it" and become rock stars, then there wouldn't really be a movie.

this is very relevant to me

btw it's not like the filmmaker is making fun of the band the whole time, he was apparently a huge fan of them who saw them as a kid in london and roadied for them for a little while. the audience reaction was part of what started making me feel defensive of the band (of course, it's not like they're some great diamond-in-the-rough metal band, they're way mediocre).

it looks like it opens at the music box apr. 24th.

i understand ... i just think bands' ideas of "success" and how it effects their longevity are really interesting, and also something relates to ffs in a lot of ways

In the tunnel between the Red and Blue lines at Jackson I saw a commuter pick something up from the floor. It was a large unopened can of beef stew. A short distance away was another unopened can of beef stew.

Don't Eat the Subway Beef Stew

^new ffs single

http://contexts.org/socimages/files/2009/04/ho_jeansthumbnail.jpg

^my new pants.

EWWWWW

I would wear them over my granny panties.

Speaking of Subway (the international sandwich franchise, not the CTA), I want to know who is ordering the seafood sub. Obv. I don't have issues with seafood in general, since I stopped being vegetarian to eat it, but seafood at Subway just seems like a bad idea.

Anyone want to purchase the vacant lot behind our apartment?

Maybe we should pool our money and buy it collectively. Then we can put a tent on it and use it as a time share vacation destination.

i understand ... i just think bands' ideas of "success" and how it effects their longevity are really interesting, and also something relates to ffs in a lot of ways

yeah totally, i think about this stuff all the time too.

I'm glad that people still surprise me. A high school classmate made a positive comment about Iowa's legalization of gay marriage. Knowing that she's also staunchly anti-choice, it came as a bit of a shock. Not that they're the same, but I always think there's a correlation. It's good for me to be reminded what a close minded, assumption making ass I can be.

http://www.freshfishonline.com.au/images/Seafood%20Salad.jpg

I just deleted a "friend" from high school on Facebook that I'm not sure why I even added in the first place when I saw his status today was "Oh fuck you Iowa".

Ugh. I would have done the same.

I'm surprisingly upset about le ocean SEAFUOOD CHUNKS CRAB FLAVORED.

seafuuuuooooooood

seaFUood

YES I would like to think that was my subconscious typing a secret message to le ocean regarding their seafood chunks crab flavored.

jesse, what kind of phone did you get? i need a new phone but i think i'm still enslaved to verizon. also not convinced about iphone yet (mostly because i've tried sending texts on other people's iphones and the keyboard was driving me crazy, i kept hitting the letter next to the letter that i wanted).

I am skeptical of all fast food fish, unless it is fried to shit. And maybe even then. I guess this doesn't include tuna for some reason.

So I have to bring my car into the dealer on monday so apparently I will be taking the Metra to this training thing I have to go to. Is the Metra as awesome as it looks, what with its two story granosity??? Do the trains actually run on time??

The one person I know who takes the Metra to work had as his FB status: "T0mas likes taking the choo-choo train." And you can drink on their trains.

I got a G1 (T-Mobile) and I'm so far very pleased.

They run relatively on time, but no, they certainly aren't glamorous on the inside. The cleanliness is hit or miss, depends on time of day and how heavily traveled the particular car has been through rush hour. Having said that, I enjoy the Metra when I get a seat by myself in a quiet car. Not so much when it gets packed and people all over the car are yelling into their cell phones.

Kr takes the Metra to work, too.

(Put that in your .xls and smoke it.)

thanks for the info! I'll be traveling in the middle of the day, at least on the way there, so maybe I will have a pleasant time.

I need to start an .xls

My Metra-riding was always against the normal flow of passengers so it was A+.

I love the upper deck of the Metra, and its general old-school customs of a conductor ripping your ticket, despondent affluent businessmen sneaking a drink from their Burberry raincoat, etc.

And I love the old train stations in Lake Forest, Arlington Heights, Downers Grove.

O Metra!

I've never taken the Metra but I've always wanted to. Lesbie and I had a plan to skip BarBri class and take the Metra out to a 'burb to eat at Cracker Barrel once, but we just went to a bar in Lakeview instead.*

Abby Ryan's replacement Sarah Jindra includes Metra updates in her traffic report on NPR in the morning so you can keep abreast of any relevant delays.

*That is how 99% of our grand plans end up going down.

xp Too bad Cheever or Updike or Yates never documented the Metra experience.

Who needs Cheever, Updike, or Yates when we have EZ?

Metra is ALL YOU CAN RIDE FOR $5 each weekend.

I fucking love the Metra.

I actually have a lot of experience taking Metro-North to NYC, so I guess this'll probably be similar.

I only ever rode the Electric Line that runs south, but I never made it to the part where it runs at street level down in the 80s of streets. I want to ride the South Shore Line to South Bend sometime this summer.

My one Metra experience was nice. Very quiet smooth ride.

runs at street level

by this I mean through a neighborhood, like the brown line at the north end

Let's do it. I'll bring bottles of Cisco for the ride.

I read that as "Crisco" which is nicer.

lol

The sad thing is that it probably is more pleasant to drink a bottle of Crisco.

One time when I was not 21 me and a pal gave an of-age junkie friend of ours all of our handy cash to go buy us some booze and he used most of the money for dope and bought two bottles of Cisco with what remained. Jerk.

I'm imagining a hilarious scenario in which Jenny requests that I bring Cisco for a train ride and once we're comfortably seated and on our way, I pull out a can of Crisco.

And then it stops being hilarious and starts being....

real?

well played

Wait no, I don't like that.

This is like Hell's Own Chose Your Own Adventure. No matter what I pick, I end up on a Metra train with Jesse and a can of vegetable shortening.

This thread title makes me think of two things Andy Saltzman on The Bugle telling the story of his wife giving birth to their second child, rather unexpectedly. He was packing to go to the hospital, when his wife yelled from the bathroom, "It's coming out!" So he went and checked, and lo and behold, a head. He had to deliver his child on the bathroom floor. That must have been a bit nerve-wracking.

and the other thing... I'll skip.

And then it stops being hilarious and starts being....

Jerri Blank would finish that with

...stinky.

Anyone eaten at Wishbone?

Yes.

how was

NORTH CAROLINA PULLED PORK
Smoked pulled pork with spicy vinegar sauce served with
sweet chopped coleslaw and Two sides. (Sandwich, too)

Huh. I'll be the judge of this sandwich.

It's good.

Well I've never had the sandwich, but I liked Wishbone.

I don't remember my Wishbone dinners, but I had a breakfast once of scrambled eggs and crabcakes, and that was A+.

Jerri Blank would say something dirty about a wishbone.

wishbone (well the one on lincoln) is weird because based on the size and decor you might be like uh because it seems like a big chain restaurant like chili's or something but yeah the food the few times i've eaten there has been good

who am i kidding, you know i love chili's

i like the metra too but i always get kind of tense about paying my fare ... like sometimes it takes them a couple of stops to come around and i'm like "should i find someone to pay? or should i just try and get off the train without paying? where is he? WHERE IS HE?" which is heightened by me never being able to remember how much to pay but it always works out

Hey - for my birthday which is coming up soon can we please go to Red Lobster? Maybe on a weeknight.

Actually no. I forgot that since I got interested in Red Lobster I discovered Glenn's.

One of the AAs was telling me that she went to Red Lobster instead of someplace fancier on her birthday because they had to take a grip of kids along, and I told her about how the servers at the Chumbucket were all about Red Lobster and she basically said that you and all the other servers were full of seafuood chunks crab flavored.

I think today is a good example of why maybe working home isn't without its drawbacks for me. I mean, I've done twice as much work so far as I would in an entire day at work, but I'm also unshowered, wearing a robe covered in cat hair, and I just ate cold leftover pancakes for lunch.

welcome to my world

this is kind of a dumb question, but i have to draw a fairly simple floorplan for a school report ... anyone have any recommendations for applications i might already have on my mac or freeware that i could use for this?

Do you have OmniGraffle on there? That would work. It's also fun to say.

OmniGraffle OmniGraffle OmniGraffle

i like the metra too but i always get kind of tense about paying my fare ... like sometimes it takes them a couple of stops to come around and i'm like "should i find someone to pay? or should i just try and get off the train without paying? where is he? WHERE IS HE?" which is heightened by me never being able to remember how much to pay but it always works out

I almost posted something exactly like this upthread. Last time I took the Metra, I was going from Ogilvie to Clybourn, and the guy came around while I was listening to my iPod and said "blah blah Clybourn?" and made it to the end of the car before I was like "Oh shit, what did he say about Clybourn? Is the train not stopping at Clybourn?" And so I got up and ran up to him and was like, "Did you say Clybourn? I'm getting off at Clybourn!" And he said, "Uh, OK. Ticket please." And I said, "Oh." And then I realized that if I hadn't bought a ticket at the station before boarding, I probably could've gotten away with not paying altogether.

If it's really simple and you don't care if Jeff and Kenan laugh at you, you could probably do it in Word.

so do you have to buy tickets at the station or can you buy them on the train??

You can do either, but it costs a little more on the train.

Also I am in the same world as Nick and Jenny except I don't work.

(disgrace)

You can download Google SkecthUp for free, very user friendly to learn.

OmniGraffle lol

I thought it was even funnier when I thought Dan posted it.

(Jenny can we stop mourning Dan Seals now?)

Red Lobster SUCKS for service and atmosphere, but really the shrimp, lobster, and crab are fine. I would not mess with the pastas and crabby patties tho.

cool, i'm downloading omnigraffle something but it it's too complicated i'll try the google thingy

(Jenny can we stop mourning Dan Seals now?)

okay.

I'm going to use the rest of my sick day the way God intended and do laundry.

thanks.

I'm in a really good mood and I just realized it's because of the Iowa supreme court. Those are words I never thought I would type.

i'm gonna predict that there is a boom in wedding-related cottage industry in iowa (photographers, florists, caterers, hotels, etc)

actually not sure if i am using "cottage industry" correctly but i think it means small home business?

I think you're right, but I almost never hear it used literally like that.

omnigraffle was what i needed, thanks

fairfield is gonna be a tourist destination! you can go to the raj (maybe you'll run into david lynch!), eat some vegetarian food and get married! man. if i were the sort of person who got big ideas about B&Bs, this would be a great time to start acting on them. do you know how many decrepit/cheap giant victorian houses there are in small iowa towns? fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

that sounds like robot designed for snacking

xp

That would be a Nomnigraffle.

i read it as omgraffle

"yeah, i could graffle on some tacos after work"

Omnomnomnigraffle

Omnomnomnigrafflol

i actually tried sketchup first but it was way too complicated and 3-d for me to figure it out in the time i had

BUT THANKS TO OMNIGRAFFLE I FINISHED MY REPORT AND TURNED IT IN HOORAY!

yay!

that thing upstairs is not my mother

is there anything omnigraffle can't do?

this is what i made:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3576/3409557939_179e1be71d.jpg?v=0

btw i have two more reports due in mid-april and i probably should have been working on those instead of spending an hour making a pretty floorplan but whatever

is the chicago underground library related to the chicago underground trio? that would be rad.

I read that as Omnigiraffe.

No direct relation between the two Chicago Underground nor to John Cusack's Chicago haunt, Underground.

that thing upstairs is not my mother
what is this from? it sounds like something from something.

Jennifer B
to me

show details 2:09 PM (2 hours ago)

and then she shit in them troats.

i just recommended victory's banner to a friend who's going to be in chi next week, but it looks like that was bad timing: Victory's Banner will be closed Monday, April 6 thru Tuesday, April 21 for our annual April vacation.

recommend me a good movie for tonight?

i need an advisor on this matter.

to rent or to see in the THE-AY-TURR?

seems like victory's banner usually closes for a week for their 'pilgramages,' not three weeks in a row

i put 'pilgramages' in skeptical quotes because i have NEVER seen them wear buckled shoes

what KIND of movie do you feel like watching, jesse?

we're going to make soup and watch "stepbrothers" (much to sarah's chagrin) and probably go to sleep embarassingly early

tonight i'm seeing an irish coming-of-age movie and possibly a documentary about burlesque (more film fest stuff)

huh - the hideout's tim tuten has been given a position in the obama administration

really interesting article, lots of stuff i did not know about him

theatre. delightful sort of movie. i love you man?

I bet ILUM is going to be semi- to ridic-homophobic, so maybe a consideration. I don't have any actual facts on which to base that opinion; it's just a hunch.

bromophobic

Omnomnomnigrafflolbromnomnomnophic

isn't adventureland supposed to good? i haven't read much about it yet.

i'm out of touch with all current movies except ILUM.

Hey Nick, look:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/pix/wavves.jpg

Oh - Friday the 13th is playing at the Brew and View at 9:30.

I'm having chest pains. Mild ones. Man that would suck if I was having a heart attack and posting about it on the internet at the same time. My arm hurts too....or does it?

Slumdog Millionaire/Friday the 13th is an odd double-bill.

I KNOW!

I would only be able to make F13, sadly. But that might work.

btw "that thing upstairs is not my mother" is a terminals song and it is what I think of every time I see this thread title

ILUM was pretty funny and not too bad on the homophobia
little bit of women be shoppin/gossipin, but that's everywhere

ps - i made the soundtrack for adventureland when i was 15

there was a little of what i understand to be "gay panic" in ILUM but i wouldn't call it homophobic but maybe i don't really know what's homophobic

adventureland looks good, the onion gave it an a- and they are the reviewers i am most likely to agree with

wavves dude has a better tattoo than me, is younger than me, and is in a more popular band than me

Go see F13!!!

All laundromats should have bars < 1 block away. It's the bomb.

I defer to n & a re ILUM.

i am making my famous garlic & greens soup and i think i will drink a beer while it is cooking

but i want you to know that i love my life and that i am not really jealous of the wavves guy

Recipe?

That's good nick bc yr great and so is yr band and tattoo.

I want a tattoo of a bear in a top hat w/ a cane that says "When you walk, it's a parade." NOT a Grateful Dead bear, like an old-fashioned children's book illustration bear.

i can type it up later but it's basically veggie broth, potatos, onions, garlic, greens (i usually use kale), white wine, rice vinegar, salt + pepper, but the coup de grace is that you top each bowl with a little olive oil and feta

posted from my TMobile G1

might see f13 depends

aren't Wavves playing tonight? Is that why you are talking about him?

I am somewhat drunk, as I just got back from the Long Room. They played a Stone Temple Pilots song, which was strangely enjoyable.

Which one? I, and n/a if I am not mistaken, am an unashamed fan of Interstate Love Song.

i saw 'i love you man' last night and the one word i keep coming back to is: tedious. i was prepared to laugh at dumb bro humor, but it was just so...flat.

re: stp, I think it was "creep"? It was the one where he says "I'm half the man I used to be" anyway.

Now I have "I'm Not The Man I Used To Be" by Fine Young Cannibals stuck in my head.

This is of Chicago interest:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2009/04/03

The first segment is about the South Side from the 40's through the 60's, and how a rabidly racist real estate market conspired to keep darkie down. Black people who wanted to buy a house had to pay triple the property's value, at ludicrous interest rates, with draconian punishment built into the contracts for missing even a single payment. So when a black family moved into the neighborhood, their property was often poorly maintained because they couldn't afford to maintain it, they had to cram too many people under every roof, and had to have Mom and Dad each working two or three jobs, so the kids ran wild. They DID lower property values when they moved into a white neighborhood, but it was not apparent to the white residents WHY this happened. Racism begat more racism.

The new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album is pretty damn good. Jesse, I think this will fulfill your requirement for loudness much better than Mastodon.

Jesse has rage for Mastodon.

As appropriate an emotion as any, I suppose.

speaking of emotion: SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/263328/seven-live.jhtml

so when are we going to drink w/ pretzel walrus

i could do something tonight maybe

New Bill Callahan is good. Even though I don't really listen to music anymore that I can hear/understand the lyrics.

i'm waiting to listen to it until i get my pre-ordered vinyl copy from drag city (probably still a couple of weeks)

spent the afternoon in Pilsen, which was kind of cool. Had a drink at the new hip white-people bar, Simone's. It was actually pretty cool, kitschy maybe, but not in a bad way. What are some good bars that are closer that would play like post-punk and indie rock and such like?

Now, Final Four.

http://www.cosmicwimpout.com/

We just played with regular dice, though. None of that fancy dice nonsense.

Wait, no, the game with regular dice was Zonk - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zonk.

No Sox opener today.

^^^weak, the Fire had their home opener yesterday

that is lame

I was waiting to cross the street at Clark and Randolph and chunks of ice were raining down into the cross walk. Kind of alarming. Next, fish and frogs come screaming down like rain.

I was pretty surprised that they weren't playing. But that's what the lady on NPR said.

http://myspace.roflposters.com/images/rofl/myspace/1217875436357.jpg.%5Broflposters.com%5D.myspace.jpg

Seriously, sir. You did NOT just call me sweetheart in the midst of a business call. Why don't you just start using toots and slap me on the ass while you're at it.

Grr.

It seems incredible to me that men in professional environments still do that.

i get called "kiddo" by this one guy ALL THE TIME. like, that's what he calls me.

Yeah, it's absolutely absurd. I wish I would get better at saying, "I'd prefer if you called me Katie or Ms. Baltensperger. Or, perhaps, I can begin referring to you as asswipe."

My boss at Ruby Tuesday called me "queen bee" sometimes. That was awesome.

also is that guy shooting drugs out of his nose while he shoots them into jesus's arm? he sure has a wide array of drugs there on his floor, right by the door, next to his nunchucks. maybe that's a closet.

One of the managers at the Press used to call me "shorty" all the time. Get it? Because I am tall. It didn't bother me.

xp I think that's a tourniquet

OUT of his nose? It looks like he's been snorting some coke or getting ready to. Maybe you're seeing his rubber hose as a substance shooting out of his nose?

xp

what's interesting is that JC's arm totally replace this dude's. I thought he just horned in.

it's just a died 4 ur sins metaphor, look how he's materializing out of the background

I'd argue "sweetheart" is a little different. Also, not a coworker.

There is an old dude here who pulls the honey/dear/sweetheart bullshit on me all the time. I complained once and got an earful of "OH that is just how he is!!!" bullshit. Yes, I know that is just how he is. That is why I'm objecting to it. WTF.

Jesus loves dope.

It's particularly rankling to me in this context because professionally, me and old dude are on the same footing. I just happen to be younger than he is and have a vagina. So obviously, it's okay that he calls me "Hon." DO U C?

oh i get it -- the guy is sitting at a table. i thought he was kneeling on the floor.

Not that it is okay to use diminutive language to women who are not professionally on the same footing. It's just that I thought when I got a fucking law degree, other lawyers would not talk to me like I was a small child.

Yes, I C!!!!

That reminds of the time I was lifeguarding and the MTU women's basketball coach yelled at me and slapped my arm, hard. When I went to file a complaint, I was told "ohhhh, that's just how kevin is." WTF, people?!

Happy ending though. The head of the athletic dept. was a) awesome and b) the mother of a classmate of mine.

re: the painting, I really like the skull on the table. Do you think it's a memento mori or does this guy just think that junkies like to decorate their rooms with skulls? I would actually argue the former, since there seems to be something going on with the dark handprint on the door, too.

That guy needs a little help with his perspective, though.

In North Wilkesboro, NC I knew a mechanic/owner of a shop who called all of his employees "sweethheart" and "darlin'," and all of his EEs were male. One time one of his mechanics was on a creeper underneath a car w/ his lower half exposed. The owner said to me "Look at that package - why doncha just wanna grab 'hold a' that?"

i thought the dark handprint was jesus's other hand pushing through the wall, resisting the drugs?

jesus has three arms btw

This thread title makes me think of Eraserhead.

This thread title does not make me think of Chicago.

Whenever someone brings up Eraserhead, I know it's time to get a haircut.

I watched the first hour of Inland Empire over the weekend. Pretty interestin.

i saw it at the music box by myself and i liked it (katy perry follow-up hit)

we started watching 'my own private idaho' last night, it's really different from what i was expecting

Ha- katy Perry follow up hit

also we watched 'step brothers' on friday and it is awesome. then today i watched it with the commentary. jon brion provides an improvised score for the commentary and will ferrell, john c reilly, and the director improvise a bunch of songs about making the movie, then professional basketballer baron davis shows up for the second half of the commentary and they talk about basketball for a while

i saw eraserhead at the music box too. i liked it, but not as much as i like the elephant man which i'm pretty sure is one of the best movies ever.

step-brothers didn't look that great but the commentary sounds amazing.

i watched an irish coming-of-age story at the film fest that was pretty decent, and wallace shawn's new movie that stars julianne moore and matthew broderick. that was...bad, but it has some moments. it seemed like something that was interesting as a play but just didn't translate to film. julianne moore is slamming, though.

if you're into the more gonzo will ferrell stuff like anchorman, you will enjoy step brothers, it's like a movie-length non sequiter. academy award-nominated character actor richard jenkins has a monologue about how he gave up on his dream of growing up to be a dinosaur

i was a little drunk though

ok that sounds pretty good.

I forgot there was a movie of Marie and Bruce. Interesting, weird play onstage for sure.

Jeff and I almost watched Stepbrothers last night, but then we didn't.

What should I do with the rest of my life?

I think it will involve muffin tops, whatever it is.

Literal of figurative muffin tops?

OR not of

what should i cook for the potluck tomorrow? i was going to do red beans & rice but forgot to soak the beans last night, now i won't have time.

Well, literal for sure. Which will lead to the figurative ones. And I do mean FIGUREative.

My office smells like plumber.

xp - you can bypass soaking beans, I think. Google it.

Yeah, you just have to cook them longer.

Are we human
or are we plubmer

Shortly after we discussed that song on ILX somebody put it in a DDPP mix and I had a good chuckle. A good, judgmental chuckle.

I don't know why those lyrics make me cringe so much when there are so many others that should do the same.

i'm not gonna lie, i kinda like that song. the lyrics are stupid but so are most lyrics.

i don't turn it off when it comes on the radio, at least.

Man, some people I know from my shameful hippie past are posting some videos of their shameful hippie jam band and I can't really tell because of the terrible video quality but I think I might be bopping around in some shameful hippie dancing in one of them.

Or, Why I Hate Facebook.

link it

please do

No, I don't think so.

yeeeeaaaah

boyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I emailed you please don't post the link here I will literally die of shame right here at my desk.

I don't think it's me in the video, though.

sure you don't

it's just the back of your head -- it could be anyone!

i didn't see you

lol at bongo player

i logged in to give that video a thumbs down rating

i logged in to give that video a thumbs down rating

Ahhhhhhhhhhhahahahaha

can i please change my username to w0lf n@varro?

that would make me a little uncomfortable. I'm going to get a lecture from Jeff about putting my business out on the street when I get home as it is, I have a feeling.

ok

that is why i asked

in other news, i just made scones AND brownies

You're the bee's knees. Also, the bees' knees.

Scones AND brownies??? That's plumb crazy.

the mister had a rough day
also i am PUMPED about three day work week for reals

i mean, this is spring break for me

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY OFF

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/3420492224_db52251b60.jpg?v=0

For Katie

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3411/3419701335_f732068b04.jpg?v=0

My boss's mug.

i made some really good popovers tonight

I call my girlfriend "sweetheart," "baby," and sometimes "honey," and I think she would miss my tiny little pecker.

Also, I have called women at the office "honey" or "hun" before, but not before they did the same to me, and only if they were much older. Also, I affect a southern accent when I do this. I've never offended anyone in any kind of sexy harassment way. Words are versatile!

I've never offended anyone in any kind of sexy harassment way.

Ok... let me put it this way. I've never gotten any official complaints.

It might have not been as snappy if the mug had been clearer: "Men who are strangers or professional colleagues who call women 'sweetheart,' 'baby,' or 'honey' should have their tiny little peckers cut off."

Yeah, really Kenan, you're being a little willfully obtuse there. And it's great that you've not had any problems calling women diminutive nicknames at work, but can you (and everybody else) please admit that some women, like Katie and I who are here on this thread telling you this information, don't like it?

When I finish eating and drinking gallons of coffee I would like to complain about our new upstairs neighbors.

I have had co-workers with whom I did dirty dancing, but I would not use that as evidence that grinding on your co-workers is OK. In other words, pointing out an exception doesn't disprove the principle.

I just found a document that might bite me on the ass in the next day or two.... Ugh. Paper.

Jenny - I want to hear your complain.

Did you know you can flip your computer screen upside down by pressing ctrl+alt+down? I just found this out and I am loving it.

that's not working for me but it sounds awesome

I did that once accidentally at work and fixing it was a bitch b/c I had to google "OMG My screen is upside down" with the image upside down.

Yeah, doesn't work for me either. Must only be on certain operating systems.

yeah, according the internets this only works if you have an "intel graphics driver"???

You guys are doing ctrl+alt+arrow keys, right?

xp - oh

Jenny, I would never call you a diminutive nickname, because I would only need to stick a pinkie toe in those waters to find out that they're really chilly. And really I wouldn't even do that much. The women I have called "hun" have encouraged such nicknaming, thought it charming, and were motherly, huggy types. (Which has its own drawbacks.) I mean, I'm no fool.

We still down for pub quiz tonight?

1) Womanised Very Slow 14 pts
2) All Babes 10 pts
3) M- Meets a Snag 14 pts
4) Chemical States Round 16 pts
5) Dead or Canadian 11 pts
6) Picture Round 15 pts
7) General Knowledge 20 pts

2) Baseball
3) Stage Names

I'm still down, though I may fall asleep and I know nothing about baseball or stage names.

i'm probably down

going to be hard to research baseball in general but could probably find a good list of stage names somewhere

Woody Allen = Allen Konigsberg

I know a fair amount of random baseball trivia, but there's so much of it, it's hard to know what he'll ask about.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stage_names

any guesses on that first anagram? lots of possibilities, and i think i am terrible at anagramming.

the british spelling of "womanised" is kind of forced anagram-wise

I'm down because dammit I REALLY WANT TO GO TO PUB QUIZ, but I am SO TIRED that I fear I will be a liability. And I know nada about baseball or stage names, but I might know something about chemical states if that is the actual category and not an anagram.

Short version of my complaints: the floors in our apartment building are old and astoundingly creaky, such that it is impossible to walk quietly. We have new upstairs neighbors who are either 1) still painting/cleaning/unpacking or 2) horrendously nocturnal. Either way, the end result is that they are clocking miles and miles of walking in their 500 square foot apartment every night from 8 pm until about 2 am, which makes our bedroom sound like a ship trapped frozen pack ice in the Arctic/a barrel going over Niagara falls/http://www.best-horror-movies.com/images/The-shining-wendy-with-ax.jpg and I'm on the second day of operating on heartbreakingly little sleep. I will be visiting the neighbors tonight to politely inquire after their nocturnal amblings to determine if this is a finite project or just the way they roll, and if it's the latter, to ask them to maybe try to finish their laps before, oh 11.

but I might know something about chemical states if that is the actual category and not an anagram.

"Chemical states" is a rebus-style category wherein he says MISSOURI + OXYGEN + NITROGEN, and you take the postal abbreviations and the periodic-table symbols, and you turn that into the word "MOON."

You're serious?

I can't make it tonight, I've got planz.

xp yes he is serious, also there is a theme to the answers which gives bonus points

Wow, I think even if I'd sleep like a baby on quaaludes for the last week I would be of no help on that one.

It sounded like Amy Sedaris/Stephen Colbert nonsense talk!

you think everything sounds like amy sedaris

I think you sound like Carrot Top.

Actually getting the questions in the chemical states round isn't that hard, it's getting the theme that's a killer

For real lolz at "You sound like Carrot Top."

I think my only hope is if "Womanised Very Slow" turns out to magically be about Victorian literature or Delaware.

Maybe 80s hair metal.

Or sandwiches.

All I'm coming up with is "My Newsradio Wolves"

AWOL Wives Syndrome

my newsradio love (ws)

something about vowels

kill it KILL IT KILL IT!!

Ant-inspired robot. Loathsome creation.

I know
something
about vowels.
A-E-I-O-U

xp that's fucking cool

i hope it has something to do with newsradio. i just watched an episode this morning

All I have to say re: that horrorbot is: RON MOORE WAS RIGHT.

You're right that robot is cool, but it is also terrible. I don't want that to exist. I want it to exist as an anteater or sloth.

Jenny, does your building require tenants to put down rugs or carpet? That helps loud floors a TON, and some ads I've seen lately say it's required.

I'm not sure, Laurel. I'm going to go talk to them first because I suspect that they might be painting or otherwise engaging in preliminary residence-type activities. If I know the situation is temporary, I can suffer through it and preserve good neighborly relations. If they are uncooperative or dicks about it, I will get the property company involved somehow.

Sad fact, tho: even with carpets the floors are crazy creaky. We've actually busted through the floor boards in two or three places just because they are v. old and probably were not real high quality to begin with. If they haven't put down carpets yet, I think it would definitely help at least a little.

it's a shitty situation because it's not like they're really doing something wrong, they're just walking around, but yeah it can obviously be annoying. a woman who lived below us at our old place came up and said we were walking "too heavily" and that glasses had broken in her kitchen cabinet from the vibrations of us walking around normally. i felt bad but there wasn't much we could do other than try to walk lighter (?) and not wear shoes in the house. honestly if they said they were going to be walking around late all the time, i would not complain about them but i would complain to the property managers about the quality of their floors/ceilings

I think I need to give up on figuring out this anagram, unless it's "Wise, Drowsy Man-Love" or "Wendy O. Rawls Movies."

I pity my downstairs neighbors. xp

Like, with our last neighbor, we could definitely hear her walking around, but she usually settled down by 10 pm or so. On Friday/Saturday, we could hear her getting ready to go out and notice the difference in volume and quality of her steps when she put on goin' out shoes, but that would only last from 15 min to an hour, then we'd hear her leave.

That's kind of the tricky part. They are just... walking. I can tell they are wearing shoes, but you know, this is America and sometimes we wear shoes in our houses. So I have to find a way to communicate to them that if they are just active late night people, even when they aren't doing anything wrong, they are making my life a sleepless hell. That's why I'm going to meet-n-greet direct face time route instead of the P/A note or complaint through the property company route. I need their sympathy and cooperation.

xp - Nick is OTM.

And yeah, if this is a habitual thing, I mostly just want them to be as mindful as possible. Meanwhile, I will tell the property company what they already know - their floors suck. Oh also our windows are falling out. The result of that will be: nothing.

Well, if they're nice people they should be willing to take off their shoes...

I was just informed by our business manager that she just subtracted $320 from my budget for movie licensing. Apparently this happens every April but nobody told me. NOW HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO PAY FOR LIBRARY TOTE BAGS!?!?!??

I'm definitely not going to tell them that they are breaking glasses. WTF, that is some bullshit. I will maybe ask them to consider removing their shoes/confining their walks to the living room and kitchen if they must move about so enthusiastically after bedtime.

I do wonder what the hell they are doing, though. Like I said - it's a SMALL apartment. There's just not a lot of room to walk when it's furnished. And maybe I'm just wicked lazy, but generally once I get all of my daily household/personal chores done, I'm pretty sedentary until bedtime. So I'm just not even sure what they could be doing. Dancing? Drawing a picture in the bedroom of something in the living room such that they have to walk from the bedroom to the living room over and over? Playing tag at a walking pace?

It's all moot if they are just painting/unpacking, which is what I suspect. Then I will just offer to lend them cups of sugar on demand/take care of their cats/give them free legal advice and we'll be BFFs.

I'm struggling to understand the relationship between movie licensing and library tote bags, but that is why I'm a lawyer and not a librarian.

I like to think that's just what AJ spends his disposable income on.

Or maybe that's where he puts his cat turds.

well there's not much of a connection, other than I thought I had $320 more than I really do.

One of my first nights in my current apartment, the neighbors upstairs started an impromptu drunken jam session at four in the morning. I was scared that this was going to be a regular thing, but it hasn't happened since. They do play music a lot, which can be annoying, but they generally stop by 10 or 11.

Poll:

If you injured yourself at work (for argument's sake, pretend it is in your current job) to such an extent that you shit your pants, would you:
a) report the injury, change your pants, seek medical attention; or
b) do anything other than a, which to me is so clearly the only reasonable option that I can't even think of anything clever to say.

If you answered b), I am very interested in what, exactly, you would do.

uh, option a, I guess.

my cat's turds go in plastic bags, thank you very much.

I would...change my pants then report the injury?

What did they do?

a except i would change pants, then seek medical attention, then report the injury

xp

oh - cat turds was a sort of Facebook-based* joke that Jenny and I had after Daley proposed banning plastic bags in Chicago. She said "What? What am I going to do with all these cat turds??"

* I know that I am breaking my own edict

*Facebook-based makes me think of faith-based

I still worry about a potential plastic bag ban because I still don't know what I would do with all these cat turds.

Yeah, seriously. I guess we could just buy baggies?

The order in A) is kind of immaterial, but my suspicion that most people would address those issues pretty quickly.

Man, I cannot in good conscious buy plastic bags to for the sole purpose of putting cat shit in them. I think I'll just set the cats free.

it blew my mind when i found out that it's technically not legal here to dispose of a plastic bag full of cat turds in the garbage. apparently i'm supposed to flush them down the toilet, fuck that.

In the event of a plastic bag ban, I would do one or more of the following:

1. buy plastic bags
2. use paper bags from the store
3. steal a carton of plastic grocery bags from Jewel
4. strangle the cats

i mean, you're not supposed to throw cat turds in the garbage in any kind of bag. wtf? what is more biodegradable than poop?

Not much.

I tried for a while to flush litter, but that resulted in problems including a clogged toilet, a lump in the bottom that would not dissolve, and a filthy toilet.

Our toilet has already overflowed once (thank CHRIST I was not at home) and there is no way I am flushing cat turds and flirting with that disaster again.

Not only do I throw away all these cat turds, but I throw them out in a street trash can on the way to the train every morning. I do feel kind of guilty about that because of folks who sometimes go through trash cans looking for food/valuables/not cat turds.

that's what i'm afraid of. i hear they make litter that's designed to be flushed, though.

FALSE. I mean, they make litter that says that, but I have tried it in the past and guess what? It was like the Amityville Ho_Orror up in there.

well, i've been throwing my cat turds away for the last four years and the city hasn't come knockin' yet.

in other news, my older cat has decided it's cool to poop on the floor next to the litter box. :/

I throw my bag of turds/clumped urine into the street trash can too. The only thing is that I have to carry it a full block and sometimes it's 2 days' worth, so I feel like a weirdo with my murse and my huge bag full of turds.

Aww! I've used the flushable stuff very successfully at other people's houses but it was more about whether their cats liked it/would use it, as apparently some would not. Worth a try, tho. Honestly if you can flush the poo and you can keep the litter box in your bathroom, it is SO EASY to clean it every day.

I was a happier man when I could have my litter box in the bathroom, but in my new place there is no room. So I keep it behind an easy chair. Which is less than ideal b/c even when Brenda succeeds at covering her shit, it still smells for a while.

And she often fails, b/c either she scratches way to far afield, or Robocat comes and terrorizes her while she's in there.

some days i dream of an apartment without cats

All of this conversation is pretty much ensuring that Jaymc. & Kr. will never have a cat.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3410/3421971196_8da84d35cd.jpg?v=0

Pretty much.

Oh hey, I got the anagram = WAYNE'S WORLD MOVIES

there were just two, right?

So, in fact, Jenny, there may be a question about Delaware:

i've seen the first one about 50 times, the second one maybe ... twice?

there were just two, right?

Yeah. I saw both, but I barely remember the second.

i'll read the imdb trivia and quotes for both at least

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the start of the "gratuitous sex scene", Wayne is alternating opening and closing his eyes, saying "Camera 1" and "Camera 2". When he starts, "Camera 1" is closer to Cassandra's left than "Camera 2", meaning that Camera 1 is Wayne's right eye, and Camera 2 is his left eye. At the end of that part of the scene, however, he says "Camera 2" last, but his right eye is open, which should be Camera 1 if he had been consistent.

What time do you turd burglars get there? And, um, where is it? And do they serve food?

globe pub, on north side of irving park just east of damen, they do have food

i will aim to get there by 7:20ish because it's been pretty full the last few times but as long as one of us is there you can just get there anytime before 8

when you get to the bar, it's in the back room so just walk straight back

Gotcha. I'll probably meet you on the early side, too, since I'll come straight from work.

In keeping with a theme, I have thrown out cat turds bigger than this dog:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2009-04/46029673.jpg

PS I love that dog so much.

you know what that dog is saying?

"WAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZUUUUUUUUUUPPPPP"

do you still love it?

IIRC the reason you're not supposed to throw away turds is b/c rats get in the trash and eat them.

lol

i have seen wayne's world 2 a whole bunch of times, it is underrated

rats get in the trash and eat them.

and?

then they have the vigor to reproduce and make baby rats that are made of poops

I love that dog even more now!

WAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZUUUUUUUUUUPPPPP li'l dog?

what A said -- ashes to ashes, poop to more rats

but honestly, i put dog poop into dumpsters because where else am i supposed to put it?! leaving it in the alley is worse than bagging and putting it into a trash receptacle.

If I had any faith that flushing cat litter would not result in a shit-swamp on the bathroom floor, I'd do it. As it stands now, I will just feed the rats.

How do they dispose of all these cat turds in more advanced societies like Sweden? By law apartments probably come pre-fitted with special composters that turn cat turds into ecologically-= inert discs that you can then use to power your moped.

i don't think they allow cats in sweden

Are rats more likely to eat turds than food garbage I throw away?

lol @ ecologically inert discs

I read somewhere that this very cold winter drastically reduced the rat population, but Jeff just saw a big 'un in our alley last week, so I think they are back.

AND HUNGRY FOR TURDS.

Billy Corrigan is dating Tila Tequila.

As if my day couldn't get any more surreal.

i don't know who either of those people are

Billy Corgan.

imagine if billy corgan and jimmy corrigan (the saddest boy on earth) had a lovechild? horror

Tila Tequila had some reality show where I think both men and women vied for her affections.

Oh, the guy from the Smashing Pimpkins.

AJ that would be one sad kid.

Yes, it was called "Shot at Love with Tila Tequila."

billy corgan pretty much completely sucks outside of his involvement in making "siamese dream" and "gish"

and "1979"

whoa that's weird

From about 1992-2000, I was a fairly hardcore Pumpkins stan. From then until the "reunion" my interest waned quite a bit. But everything Corgan has said and done since about 2006 has made me actively wish ill against him and hope he falls off the face of the earth forever. I'll add this to the list.

I enjoy(ed) "Zero" too.

there are probably some jams on "mellon collie" that i would enjoy hearing again and i liked it when it came out but i can't say i ever actually feel the urge to pull the cds out and play them

The fact that I have misspelled "Corgan" as "Corrigan" about five different times now makes me feel like a very old out of touch old person.

You know! Those Pumpkin Smashers! Damn kids and their electronified guitar music.

lol

That said, I <3 <3 Gish.

emptiness is loneliness,
and loneliness is cleanliness
And cleanliness is godliness,
and god is empty just like me

it would be cool if kevin corrigan were dating tila tequila

eddie vedder is dating daisy from rock of love

there are probably some jams on "mellon collie" that i would enjoy hearing again and i liked it when it came out

Yeah, I heard "Tonight, Tonight" on the radio the other day and thought "hey, this is pretty good." I like how it moves back and forth between orchestral pomp and tightly constructed pop.

lil wayne is dating olympia dukakis

so what would a good grand prize for a summer reading program be? About $50-100, must be enjoyed by lower-middle/middle class old white folks

tickets to see jackson browne

$50 gift certificate for more books

I'm loling all over the place here, but especially >>> lil wayne is dating olympia dukakis

hahahahaha

Oh god, the No Sleep Effects have landed.

help

I think I can cure your laughter.

Yeah, I heard "Tonight, Tonight (Tonight)" on the radio the other day and thought "hey, this is pretty good." I like how it moves back and forth between orchestral pomp and tightly constructed pop.

PHIL COLLINS FOREVER

As thought I were not feeling old and out of (invisible) touch enough...

NOW WE'RE TALKIN!

sometimes when my mind is totally blank, i think about this halloween sound effects CD i bought a long time ago
on it there were two consecutive tracks named thusly:

48: Chopping up people for food
49: Eating chopped up people

this is what goes through my mind when it is otherwise blank

i tried to say 'lol' to that but apparently i already said that so ilx won't let me

i'll say it for both of us: lol

lol

guys should i go for this facial hair style?

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/players/mugshot/ph_408057.jpg

Only if you go all the way and bleach your beard.

would you dye it blonde?

xp

(either way, the answer is no)

there's a skanky upside-down gnome on that guy's chin

I am curious as to what those tracks sound like, Amander. I think.

nick i mean this with love but i feel like you messing around with goatees is kind of like how i'm only getting into sonic youth now instead of in high school

they sound like

48: chop chop chop tear chop chop rrrrrrrip
49: munch munch munch chew chew munch

Nick, don't listen to these other people. You work from home and are in grad school. You are married and don't need to woo any mates and you have no children so you don't need to impress the PTA. If there was ever a time to start experimenting with ludicrous facial hair, it is now.

Also xp Jordan is not making any sense so clearly I am right here.

Wow! That's pretty gross.

yeah
it's pretty gross

ha i am not really going to have a bleached goatee

you shouldn't take style tips from baseball players in general, i find

i suppose jenny has a point. i can't wait to get married and let my chin go.

Have we talked about this before?
http://thumbnails.blogged.com/images/info_images/infoe4c0da63b7ec16178b6e14f943772f91.jpg

I saw like a half hour of it on TV in the early '90s and was creeped out. Directed by Bob Balaban, IIRC.

Remember that time Jeff looked like the White Sox pitcher?

I remember that movie, but I don't think I ever saw it.

actor kal penn has joined the obama administration?

Huh. Interesting. He has also served in the capacity of college professor at (where else) Penn:

ASAM 109.401 Asian Americans in the Media (Kalpen Modi (aka Kal Penn))
LEC M 9:00am-11:00am; REC W 9:00-10:00am or 10:00-11:00am
Cross listed with CINE 109, SOCI 109
Undecided (SAS), Electives (SEAS), Social Structures (Wharton),
Open Registration. This course will examine contemporary popular images of Asian Americans in the US media, with a specific focus on popular film and television. We will explore socio-cultural, economic, and political issues that impact and affect creative and business decisions with regard to East and South Asian Americans, as well as discuss the role and influence of media in society with specific regard to issues of representation as they pertain to ethnicity, gender, race, and sexuality.

and he's a crossword clue. is there anything he can't do?!

hott

I knew had taught classes at U Penn, but that's all I knew.

One more question about pub quiz - if I go do I have to stay for the whole thing if I realize that I overestimated my ability to function on < 4 hours of sleep for two nights?

And again, here I am being v. old.

Jenny, you gotta do whatcha feel.

I feel abominably tired, but then I feel like if I don't go tonight I will 1) NEVER EVER get to go; and 2) never meet Askance Johnson; and 3) die alone and afraid.

I FEEL LIKE JESSE IS WHAT I FEEL LIKE

shut up jenny (Jesse)

Ugh. Too tormented. I'm leaving work to run errands. I will either be there or not, and if I'm not there, I will MAKE IT HAPPEN another time if it fucking kills me.

I'm leaving work soon too. I will be there, though traffic looks hellish this evening so I may get there late or something.

I think should not attend pub quiz.

What if I want to go but don't want anything to do with this "quizzing", do I have to sit in another room?

I mean, you could sit at our table and just not participate -- I don't know how much fun that would be for you, though.

that was what i was thinking (what jeff said) . I'm pretty sure i would bring very little o the table. maybe a TT would be the thing except not on thurs bc i have class.

I am more than happy not to participate.

i think the rule is that if you don't have any answers you have to buy a round

lemongrass pork sandwich from ba le OMG OMG

I hope you guys won

third place yo. we did well on the wayne's world round, got the bonus for chemical states, got a perfect score on the stage names match round, and got some good answers on the final round. we didn't do so hot on the baseball round (there were a lot of dates and numbers here) or the picture round. dead or canadian was him naming novels and us having to say if jane austen or emily bronte wrote it, but he fooled us by having them all be jane austen except for 'wuthering heights'

my personal proudest moment was being able to name two people inducted into the basketball hall of fame this week who were not michael jordan or david robinson - john stockton was the easy one, but i pulled "c. vivien stringer" out of my subconscious as well

sonofabitch the Jane Austin/Emily Bronte question!!! Wuthering Heights was Emily Bronte's only novel.

Well, my talk with the upstairs neighbor was a rousing success. He actually thanked me for coming to talk to him (instead of leaving a snippy note or complaining to the property company, I guess) and said he would take it easy after 10 pm henceforth AND HE DID. And I SLEPT SO GOOD. I seriously woke up with "Sowing the Seeds of Love" in my head, that's how happy I was to have slept.

I love sleeping. It's easily my favorite mandatory biological process.

NPR sports commentator Frank DeFord makes me kind of crazy. He's like NPR's sports-specific Andy Rooney.

ha ha i love that kook

he did this piece last year about the baseball hall of fame (i think) that was completely in rhyming shakespearean prose, which i think is appropriate for npr sports coverage

he drives me nuts! not as bad as that patently terrible radio sitcom crap they pull on...fridays? but still -- he is insufferable!

also nick, dan will be at the ALA conference all week and is also doing a reading at some point, so that will give you something to do if you go to the conference. i mean, if you want to.

i want to go, i just haven't gotten around to buying my pass yet

what's happening Chicago, I am your neighbor until Monday, thank you for the delicious dinner at Karyn's last night

karyn's cooked or karyn's raw?

i used to work near karyn's cooked and would eat there every few weeks, but i've never been to the raw place

nice work on the quiz. i think i only would have been a help on the austen/bronte round and maybe wayne's world.

i think we got almost all the wayne's world questions, but i fumbled the last one - name the five brands that wayne & garth feature in the "we would never sell out" segment of pt. I

karyn's cooked or karyn's raw?

cooked - I'm about half a mile away. I suspect I will eat there twice today.

yeah that's probably the best place for veggie stuff in that area. there are some nice art galleries around there too if you feel like wandering around

that's kind of a weird area actually

I remember doing an art-walk down thereabouts when I lived here in '95

Hmmm, my office is about a half-mile away (to the south) from Karyn's Cooked. It's just far enough away that I never think about going there for lunch, but I did like it the one time I went for dinner.

(I know, a half-mile isn't very far, but there are dozens of lunch options around here, and I'm lazy.)

I keep seeing the Five Guys thread at the top of the list here. Anybody been to the Chicago location?

no but i used to go to the original DC location back in the day, it was really good ... no idea if it's still good now that there are 8,000,000 locations though

Is it along the lines of Steak n Shake?

i don't really know steak n shake but i think five guys is more fast-food-y in concept, it's pretty much all burgers and fries ... this is based on me remembering stuff from like 10 years ago though

I will have to try this Five Guys. I think Courtney was into it or something. Or something.

I've spent all morning trying to determine the feasibility of getting from where we are staying in London to the podunk town where I was born without driving - "Lakenheath railway station is three miles away from the village and not served by a car park. Consequently, it is rarely used by travellers." Ha.

Oh also: "Services at Lakenheath comprise one train in each direction on Saturdays and three trains in each direction on Sundays. There are no services on Mondays to Fridays."

That is like southern US levels of public transportation indifference right there.

Southern US? Try Central Illinois. You really don't have to get far from major city centers to hit horrible public transportation.

I believe you. I just have personal experience with horrible public transportation in the southern US.

I think we're just going to take a train part of the way, and then rent a car and drive the rest of the way. Scary but exciting! Maybe while driving through the English countryside we'll come across a pest-control machine that wakes the dead and have a ZOMBIE ADVENTURE a la Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.

I was also going to say that, it would be a fun excuse to drive through the English countryside!

Ha, for a second I thought you were going to say we could have a zombie adventure a la Let Sleeping Corpses Lie and I got kind of excited.

hey, you could have a zombie adventure a la Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

likjsdf;lkjas;dlfjasl;djasldfololol :)))))))))))))))))))))

I would be excited, frightened to drive on the left side of the road.

the waitress at pub quiz called me "sweetheart" last night

That means it's okay to call women you work with "sugartits."

Since you work at home, that means it's okay to call Pepper and Lucy "sugartits."

I wrote that and I am still reading it as "sugaritis."

My lunch today:

Xoi Ga (from Ba Le)
sticky rice, chicken, pork, chinese sausage, celantro (sic), fried shallot, soy sauce.

cold.

There's a Five Guys in downtown Oak Park, and I've heard A+ things about it but haven't been there.

Jen the cheesemonger has in her possession some A+ fancy cheeses that have another week or two of life in them and needs folks to consume it, FYI. So I may bring some to Katie's, or deliver them to you people earlier than that.

Consume them (the A+ cheeses), I mean.

Is the Cheesemonger coming?

I will gladly relieve you of those cheeses (at Katie's I mean).

I think so -- she works that afternoon. I almost put together an impromptu cheese party for tomorrow night but haven't. If you're up for a Creamy Wednesday (versus a Thirsty Thursday), maybe it'll happen.

Oh, that reminds me to e-mail Katie. My mom and dad have invited me to separate Easter dinners, but they've both emphasized that I'm under no obligation to go, and I'm having dinner with my mom tomorrow night anyway (since she was golfing in S. Carolina during my birthday week), so I think I'm gonna say F U FAMILY and go to Katie's instead.

i think we're going to have to miss katie's easter party this year; it's still under discussion but it's not looking good :/

Nothing would balance out lunch at Karyn's like dinner two blocks away at Mr. Beef.

I don't know what a Creamy Wednesday means - oh wait - you're referring to cheese. Unfortunately I cannot make CW despite my intense love of cheese.

John - are your parents divorced? I thought they weren't.

there's a 5 Guys in Lincoln Park, I kind of want to go

also want to go to EPIC BURGER sometime

uberburger in evanston is fun, they have good veggie burgers so i'm presuming their real burgers are decent too

I've been to the EPIC BURGER in the South Loop and like it quite a bit. A little pricey, if I remember right, but all fresh.

I haven't been to Muskie's in years (on Lincoln just north of Diversey), but hitting them after Powell's next door used to be a few good hours well spent.

John - are your parents divorced? I thought they weren't.

Yeah dude, as of about four years ago.

There seems to be a burger explosion as of late. There's also this new place, by Diversey/Clark:

The Counter 666 W. Diversey | 773-935-1995

$ Burgers, Ice Cream | Lunch, dinner: seven days | Open late: Friday & Saturday till 11 | Reservations not accepted

There must be some latent anti-west coast bias in me that initially smirked at the idea of a bunless “burger bowl,” what the folks behind exploding Santa Monica burger chain the Counter call what’s essentially a burger salad. But the two I sampled, belonging to a pair of carb-conscious but pleasure-loving eaters, were really tasty. And that’s the thing—if the natural beef patties here are all as consistently seasoned and cooked to order as the ones I’ve tried, then a bad burger can really only be blamed on the decisions of the customer. But building a burger from a clipboard list of options—with more than 300,000 possible combinations—is a daunting proposition, and the potential for crimes against nature is enormous. It’s possible, for instance, to order a one-pound veggie burger with Danish blue cheese, hard-boiled eggs, grilled pineapple, corn-and-black-bean salsa, carrot strings, honey-cured bacon, and peanut sauce on an English muffin. However, if you feel incapable of wielding that power responsibly, the house Counter burger—with provolone, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, mushrooms, and sun-dried tomato vinaigrette—is an excessive and reliably good default. —Mike Sula

The Counter is pretty good. They have fried dill pickles available as a side, which is nice.

part of the wider "gonzo fatty food that will kill you" trend

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

The annual Seculeaster Selebration is this Sunday, beginning at 2:30 p.m. and going until who knows when. Last year I think it was around midnight, but you might want to give a call and check if it's after 9.

I will be making crepes, stuffed tenderloin, pannakakkua and maybe some other stuff. We'll also have mimosas, pina coladas and probably becherovka.

If you didn't get an email, it's probably because I don't have it/sent to an expired one/or sent to some other person in my gmail who has the same name. Sorry for the late notice, my life's been a little hectic of late.

Email me for directions/etc. kb@lt3nsp3rg3r at g mail

Seculeaster kills thread.

Ugh I have new, more corrective lenses in my glasses as of today and it is very disorienting and a little nauseating. Or maybe that is the burrito I ate for lunch.

I shouldn't have put it in my eye.

seculeaster sounds great. i had to google pannakakkua -- finnish pancakes?

LOL Jenny u a DC

I'm suddenly in a terrific mood!

sadly a long time ago i planned my spring cleaning swap for the same day and cannot backtrack
sorry secular easter, i will celebrate you on may 1 by burning an adult male virgin alive in a giant wooden model of a man*

*not really

I think I might have a "creamy Wednesday" tonight :)

xp - was that guy a virgin?

amanda is always burning something

Jesse, how was your experience with the eye doctor downstairs? I kind of hate them. I specifically asked what kind of upcharges they were going to hit me with for my lenses, with the understanding that there will be some since I have half-rimmed frames, and that stupid lady who wears ties all the time specifically said NONE. Then she charged me $60 more than she originally quoted for various premium things required by my specific frames. AND THEN she balked when I asked for an itemized list of charges instead of just giving her all my monies.

yes
the book made it clearer -- i don't remember exactly, but iirc his woman was about to leave him because he wouldn't sleep with her, and then he got called away to investigate the disappearance of a young girl on summerisle and, well, we all know where it went from there. have you seen the extended cut or just the theatrical version?

my mom was afraid that i would become a dedicated pyromaniac because i was obsessed with these incense matches i got from the lillian vernon catalogue. also when i burnt that frat house to the ground.

xp to myself - Also they said my glasses would be ready in a week and it took them nearly three. Also all of their try-on glasses are kind of gross and dirty. Also they are all child molesters.

remember how deeply religious/righteous sgt howie was? apparently that was meant to indicate that he was a virgin. not exactly clear in the theatrical version, though.

JENNY- I did not go to Uhlolman's for my glasses! That was a joke, kind of like saying "I'm going to eat some pho for dinner." I went to Level Opticlol. You know I go there. Girl, you know it's true.

I remember getting the message that Sgt. Howie was a Virgin. Maybe because he was so religious or maybe because he was so freaked out about the naked singing lady?

Both sadly because I will miss seculeaster (again) and not sadly because I'm excited to go to Amanda's on Sunday, I am going to Amanda's on Sunday.

xp - OH hahaha. Well, good don't go there because they answer Craigslist posts giving away free kittens and puppies and then perform unnecessary and painful medical experiments on them in the back of their optical shop.

I don't know which virgin of the movie I saw...what are the differences. I think I saw the theatrical one b/c in some deleted scenes they talk about how things could have been clearer had they included those scenes.

That movie (and Rosemary's Baby, and Roman Pulanski's MacBeth) are yet another reason I long for the 70s.

I thought you longed for the 70s so you could openly have sex in public parks?

at that opthamologist's office they eat the baby rats borne of cat turd eating parent rats in a frightening annual ritual every June 23

My weird ass Ba Le lunch was delicious. The rice was sticky to the point of being rice jerky, which wasn't gross, just odd. But damn, it was tasty.

Jenny, I swear to god one of these days....

I always prefer the longer virgin of a movie.

(xx-post)

TO THE MOON!

What the hell movie are you all talking about?

yOU KNOW, now that I think of it, I do recall his being sex-averse and maybe thinking he was a virgin.

how do you keep john in suspense?

Dear Jesse,

Go shit in your hat.

Love,
Uhlolmann Optical

Dear John,

The Wicker Man

Love,
Jenny

if you saw scenes where they make fun of howie in the police station on the mainland, you saw the extended version
if you saw the extended "gently johnny" slugs be gettin-it-on scene, you saw the extended version
if you have not seen these scenes, it is likely that you saw the theatrical version

there are probably other differences, but i don't remember them just now

i think it is in my top three favorite movies of all time

Never mind, I just googled "sgt howie." Funny, I was just thinking the other day if someone asked me to describe my CHILXor friends, I would say, "They're like me, except for the fact that they've seen way more horror movies."

That is such entry level Amanda knowledge that I am surprised that jaymc.xls failed here.

I think I might like The Wicker Man. I should put it on my Netflix queue.

xp Wait, are you suggesting that I should've known it was The Wicker Man merely by the fact that Amanda was talking about it? She could've been talking about Troll 2 for all I know.

xp - But the Nick Cage version, though, since it's totally awesome.

Yes, that's what I meant, but you have an excellent point re: Troll 2 and so I concede.

I read that as Nick Cave and immediately began to imagine a musical version scored by the man himself. Starring Nick Cage, of course. In a bearsuit.

Nicholas Cages punches a lot of women in The Wicker Man remake.

you guys, i am going to admit the extent of my fanhood:

i can't think of a single other movie that i have
* original soundtrack
* songs that inspired the original soundtrack
* the book
* two different versions of the movie in a collectable wooden box
* traveled across the ocean to another country to visit places where the movie was filmed, including
a) stayed in the hotel where they shot the bar scenes (aka the green man aka the ellangowan hotel)
b) drove to a remote cliff to see remains of the feet of the wicker man that they burned up in the movie
c) took a wee chip of wood from the feet and stored it in a box as a memento (don't tell anyone, it's less than an inch long, no one will miss it)
* taught myself how to play songs from the soundtrack on the recorder

oh! and on the way back from scotland, the airplane played the remake and we laaaaaughed and laughed.

hi dere!
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/350647809_16bfd957ab.jpg

much has been said of the strumpets of yore

The closest I can come to that level of fandom is that I lived in CO for two years and always meant to go to Estes Park to see the hotel from The Shining.

you sold grilled cheese sandwiches at dead shows -- that has to count for something

also there's more, but that's what i'm willing to post on the internet

:-/

i don't know if the wicker man is a horror movie, really, it's more of just like a fucked-up movie

p.s. i am not a virgin (TMI) but that naked singing lady freaked me out

xxp o_O

amanda you got naked and sang a pagan song in your hotel room didn't you

:(

listen my life is small and sad and i have to give it purpose somehow
so don't judge me

it's ok, i celebrated my fandom of 'real genius' by filling a house with popcorn and popping it with a giant space laser

btw i wasn't on a tour or anything (shameful!) -- the airplane playing the movie was pure coincidence. we just planned the vacation to be able to see these sights.

Amanda, I ain't judgin'! I was thinking specifically about movies, but my Battlestar Galactica fandom is preeeeety intense. I would totally go to Vancouver to see filming locations.

Also I swear I never liked the Grateful Dead that much. I just needed a job and a ride back to the east coast.

even if you did, that would be ok.

i guess i can't relate because i'm too cool to have strong feelings about things, sorry dudes

i am working on what is possibly the most incoherent research paper ever written

sadly, it's time to come back to reality and attend a faculty meeting.

I had v. v. strong feelings about Phish. But for real not so much about the Dead.

I have to write my first school paper in years. I have started it and it shows signs of being necessarily boring.

I mean, it's only 2 pages, and the topic is What I Learned from an article called "Managing Oneself" which is about how to be successful at in business and life determining your strenths and learning styles in order to create your own fate.

if you think that's dull, my research paper is about retention factors in distance education and academic libraries' role in alleviating said factors

it's supposed to be 2,000 to 2,500 words ... i currently have 2,600 words with no introduction, no conclusion, no bibliography, and no real narrative or central idea

Yeh, I guess there are different kinds of dull. Yours is going to be dull but substantive. Mine's just going to be perfunctory. I mean, I did learn something, but I'm going to have to reach to find an angle.

you guys it was like the wild west in the faculty meeting
good lord

Lots of tumbelweeds and a Morricone soundtrack?

Sorry, I've actually become kind of obsessed with tumbleweeds lately.

Dear L3v3l 0ptical:

I'll see you in a week.

Yours,
Dan

I visited my mom last fall the week after she had driven to New Mexico and back on her own, and she had a gigantic tumbleweed in the back seat of her car, for posterity.

I've never seen a tumbleweed in real life. When I drove through Texas in college we managed to avoid seeing even one! I read an article about how they can pile up against houses and be general pains in the ass, since then I've been compelled to YouTube videos of them rolling around.

Jon, that's kind of weird.

I would think there are much, much weirder things to google YouTube videos of.

btw jenny i just started watching battlestar galactica and i think i like it

Such as

Nom. LOL.

(credit to Jennifer Sturgis)

outside there were tumbleweeds, but inside the saloon it was nothing but shoot-em-up and deadly fistfights. after the meeting i actually said the following out loud, "if that's the kind of shit that goes down in the (redacted) department, people better bacdafucup offa (my department)...DANG"

don't know if anyone in the acad. affairs office heard, but hope not

ILX disappeared like the island on Lost

GALACTICA

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/2912492528_08c074cd5c_o.jpg

I have an idea for a thread title.

Chicago: Malort Cocktail.

ah malort