Chicago - New York

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Q0RIUEKrwmI/SBA3M25FU1I/AAAAAAAAAW8/DeuQDQtGu9E/s400/lou%2Breed%2Bnew%2Byork%2Bcover.jpg

(Intentionally confusing title for the new Chicago thread.)

Ok this is not good news. The landlord finally rented the apartment above me, and good for him. But remember the crazy lady who posted notes in the window about how we'll all one day understand hell? Well, when I left for a while earlier this evening and came back, they had hung two medium-sized American flags in each of their front windows.

I like America. I do. I think the flag is a bit busy design-wise, but certainly I don't hate it. However, as a sign of what kind of new neighbors I have, there's no way that this is good. No way at all.

Here is a picture of said flags. Not only flags but some kinda awful frilly curtains. (You can see those better during the day. They are hideous.) My windows are below these, with the white xmas lights.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i191/fluxion23/on-noes-flags.jpg

Here is a picture of the giant fuck-off pickup truck that is suddenly always parked right out front. There is no similar vehicle parked within three miles.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i191/fluxion23/wtford.jpg

Coincidence? I seriously th' fuck doubt it.

Looks like country come to town.

As long as they don't stomp a lot.

They've been hammering a lot, but that's just moving in stuff that everybody does. Gotta hang up all the pictures of the family back home, ya know. And pictures of Jesus.

To give a little hope, you're in a neighborhood with a lot of folks who went through hell and high water to get here, so the upstairs folks might be new and not know what two perfectly centered, immaculately maintained U.S. flags connotate.

But the Barrington dealer on the plates--that's the part that makes me curious. Let's get coffee and donuts and see what happens.

the upstairs folks might be new and not know what two perfectly centered, immaculately maintained U.S. flags connotate.

Oh, come now. I doubt they're retarded. They mean it as a pre-emptive "fuck you" to the rest of the sissy liberal neighborhood, surely. They may not mean it quite that harshly, but they can't mean it as anything but confrontational, in a passive-aggressive way.

I mean, I'm not going to move into a predominantly Middle Eastern neighborhood and hang the flag of Israel in my window. Unless I'm an asshat batshit zionist.

I dunno. Maybe they're quaint, harmless rednecks instead of hateful, belligerent rednecks. But it's really hard for me not read "rednectk" into all this.

maybe they are proud recent immigrants? the only people i see driving pick-up trucks in chicago are the dudes who salvage scrap metal from the alleys

An F-150 has got to be a bitch to parallel park.

the polish construction workers who are always parking in my spot drive ginormous brand new pickup trucks

i really don't understand the thread title btw

maybe they are proud recent immigrants?

That's what I was implying, and even went as far as to GIS Coming to America. But, hey, you'll see 'em this morning because that thing'll cut through the snow.

no proud recent immigrant would move from the burbs to the city

i really don't understand the thread title btw

A throwback to when I started every Chicago thread with the cover of a favorite album. That's the cover of "New York" by Lou Reed. It's an awesome album.

Um... sez me.

Eric, to answer your previous question, there are definitely things that will elicit debate or negative comments from me if Jeff brings them up in conversation, provided that I'm not already confident that Jeff is well aware of my feelings on the matter (Woody Allen, Judd Apatow) but there's nobody that I will just not even discuss. I suppose if Jeff suddenly announced that in his estimation, Tucker Max was the unheralded genius of filmmaking, I would be stunned into temporary silence.

But I definitely cannot mention Zach Braff around Jeff.

And, sorry to say, but if I could trade the stompy, loud, presumably activist based on the fact that I've only ever seen him wear shirts that proclaim how gay he is homo upstairs for a quieter redneck, I would do it in a heart beat.

i know the album you dingaling. i just wondered WHY NEW YORK.

as for artists that elicit arguing, Woody Allen is at the top of the list, but surely there are others...oh yeah -- D HATES Lotte Lenya and i am sick of hearing about it.

there are movies/books/bands sarah likes that i don't like and vice versa but i can't really think of any that would provoke real anger or consternation

xxp Yeah, I won't trade any neighbor for any other neighbor at this point. They're all very quiet, and I'm damn quiet, so I can't imagine anyone will complain about me, either. There's a peaceful sterility to all of my neighborly relations.

I just wish they'd take the flags out of the window. It's assy.

xp - yeah, it doesn't cause huge problems or anything

i just wondered WHY NEW YORK.

I told you. Because it's awesome.

nevermind

Kenan, what neighborhood do you live in? Is there a particular demographic there?

(against whom the upstairs neighbors could be making a statement?)

Parking a big fuck-off pickup truck anywhere near here is kind of statement enough. "You ain't from around here, are ya, boy?"

Also, I challenge -- no, DEFY you to find American flags hung in the window of anyone around here. It's not even entirely political. It's just gauche.

It's their right, I know. Sure, of course. I just hate it when people do things because it's their right to do it. Why would that be the first thing you'd hang in your window?

Could be worse. Could be the "Don't Tread On Me" flag that Chuck Norris recommends.

But once you find they're big fans of mid-1970s Miles, you guys will get along fine.

I was just wondering if you lived in like a Muslim or Central American neighborhood or something, which would make it more egregious. I agree that hanging flags in the windows of a rental apartment is tacky at least.

I'm moving into a predominantly redneck neighborhood south of Annapolis and will be flying the American flag and the Maryland flag, partly because I love the design of both and partly because I want the neighbors to know that I will not be flying Dixie.

(Sorry for the intrusion into the Chicago thread, btw. Your airport wants to disinter my ancestors to build a new runway, so I'm claiming like, honorary citizen for a minute.)

xp If they think safe and legal abortion is against What God Wants, Miles will still be kinda light in it. Sorry, Miles.

hey the more the merrier
i have never flown a flag, now that i think about it.

i never even flew my freak flag with much zeal

Seriously. This isn't the heart of a gay/lesbian neighborhood, but there are plenty of gays and lesbians living around here. In the building. Etc. Hanging American flags in the window is almost an insult to them. I didn't define or redefine this iconography, but I really do nearly find it insulting. I instantly dislike these people.

American flags in the window = "I'm 'MURRICUN, fagoot! Stop killin muh babies!"

Am I way the hell off base here?

i think you're overreacting a bit.

Well, I do that.

May be new to town and proud to be here and the democracy and free market the U.S. represents.

http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/cnishared/tools/shared/mediahub/06/95/12/slideshow_1129565_Eddie_Murphy.jpg

Proud of the democracy, etc. Lots of folks from war-torn faraway lands in that neighborhood.

Not with frilly curtains and the biggest vehicle within miles. Sorry, doesn't wash.

gotta agree with you there

Hi Chicago, I clicked on this by accident but read on. Kenan, what's the scope for getting a stepladder and taping rainbow flags on the outside, directly over the US flags?

Fourth floor. Need a big aluminum ladder. Also, that WAY more assy.

http://www.gettysburgflag.com/images/RainbowOGflag.JPG

In apartments where I have lived, it has been against the terms of the rental agreement to put up any decoration in the windows at all.

i don't understand why they would want to block their sunlight with a flag

yeah kenan i think you're overreacting a little, or projecting yr own views onto the flag (which can be a problem with flags admittedly). but to me hanging the flag just = "i like america" which isn't a statement i have a problem with

I think there might be 'mos who like america too. Also, who drive pickups.

What's really hilarious is that if honest-to-god terrorists were making bombs upstairs, not only would I not know it, even if I did I wouldn't be nearly so worked up about it. I'd either calmly call the police, or not.

Maybe these are terrorists who are working under deep cover.

"Big pickup, U.S. flags in the window, we'll blend right in."

That occurred to me as I typed that last post, actually.

I think you need to bake these people some cookies, Kenan, and report back.

Can imagine your typing speed slowing down as the realization hit you.

An F-150 is hardly a giant fuck-off pickup, unless it has a lift kit or duallys or massive loud exhaust pipes. I used to drive an F-150!

A 250 or 350, OK, that's more fuck-off.

I used to drive an F-150!

So did I! But that was Texas. There was a lot more room.

I think I need a flag for my window, too. Because I do like America, like, a lot.

The mideast secret terrorist websites now have photos of Kenan taking photos of the pickup. These guys will bring you a 12-pack of Busch and try making jokes cribbed from Larry The Cable Guy, but don't be fooled.

lol

Seriously, though, I do miss driving a stick-shift pickup truck. Rear-wheel drive is a whole different thing.

Coincidentally, the artist whose work brought an otherwise wonderful home-made dinner of salmon and bok choy to a dead halt, makes these funny paranoid gigantic wall installations about Chicago and her neighbors and the like -- this giant jpg is a small part of one that I saw last weekend at the Smart Museum in Hyde Park. They're completely like this -- watching the neighbors and speculating.

I think the thing that I (still) dislike about her is that it's like reading an ILX thread written by one person.

it's more interesting than a giant pile of candy in the corner

Rear-wheel drive is a whole different thing.

OTM, especially in a town with big hills and lots of snow.

xp LOL

but not as tasty

You lost me. I missed the giant pile of candy jokes.

true, but i have an 18 month old werther's in my purse that's pretty tasty too and i don't have to go to an art museum to eat it.

I love werthers.

She's a good storyteller, and you have to move all around (in the case of the one in Hyde Park) a 40-foot wall to follow the story and train of thought, but I thoroughly enjoyed the 20 minutes it took to read the story. So it has some of the physical eye/brain movement that it takes to read a Chris Ware comic, but with a subject, style, and voice that I like much more. (Your Milage May Vary, Haters to the Back, etc.)

http://www.thebody.com/visualaids/web_gallery/2002/baysa/images/05_large.jpg

A five-year-old I know loved the candy corner back when she was three.

xxp Actually, the woman who hung the "Understand Hell" note on her window, and wrote me the insane letter about coughing -- she bought me a bag of Werther's. It was the first thing she did. She said it was to help my cough, which I did not have. I thought it was nice at the time. I had no idea of how much insanity lay behind that bag of Werther's.

that lady was a quality neighbor

Kenan, you should out-freak the new neighbors by brining them two t-shirts emblazoned with UNDERSTAND HELL.

xp I want more neighbors who are completely undisruptive, unseen, and still crazy enough to make for fun stories. You don't get that neighbor every day.

Man alive, she was crazy and three quarters.

it's more interesting than a giant pile of candy in the corner

OH DAMN FELIX GONZALEZ-TORRES ZING!!!

Am I the only person ever who has never heard of this painting?

it's not a painting, it's a pile of candy in a corner

I'm going to stop trying to talk about art and start returning phone calls.

A similar one:

One of Gonzalez-Torres’s “candy spills,” “Untitled” (Placebo), 1991, consists of 1,200 pounds of silver-wrapped hard candy arranged as a stunning carpet on the floor of the museum’s largest gallery. Visitors are invited to take a candy and in so doing, contribute to the slow disappearance of the sculpture over the course of the exhibition. Gonzalez-Torres explores similar themes in his stacks of take-away posters, which also depend upon visitors’ participation in the piece. Though Gonzalez-Torres created “Untitled” (Placebo) in response to the AIDS epidemic and, in particular, the loss of his partner, Ross, his use of an everyday commodity like candy allows viewers to draw their own meanings from each of his works.

"Over the four months of its unraveling, “Untitled” (Placebo) will give us the chance to reflect not only on the continuing AIDS epidemic, but to contemplate the universal experiences of illness, death and loss that the sculpture in part symbolizes,” says Andrea Gyorody, Williams Graduate Student in the History of Art, Class of 2009. Gyorody is an intern at WCMA and is organizing the presentation of the sculpture at the museum."

Also it will give us candy.

that piece of art is a writing assignment more than anything else

ASIDE FROM A GIANT PILE OF CANDY

I don't mind art that is a writing assignment -- most contemporary art is, in the sense that it requires your full engagement and even a kind of dialogue to get the full meaning out of it.

But this art has candy. I can't think about how bad AIDS is while someone is making me eat candy.

Unless you don't want me to enjoy the candy, in which case, fuck you, buddy.

Kenan. I think you're overreacting a bit. My hipster, quiet (99% of the time...save for their screaming fit when they kept alternately locking each other out and trying to kick in the door), converse-wearing, cat-having, 20-something, urban across-the-hall neighbors also have a flag in their window. I'm with Amanda, and can't imagine wanting something to block the sun, but I don't think it says much of anything, other than that they love their country.

There are a *lot* of things you can project onto the flag, and statistics might bear it out that a lot of them are people you/I/we wouldn't want to get a beer with, but until they tell you you're going to hell, or put up an adjacent "homos kill babies" poster, I don't really think there's much to get worked up about.

p.s. I am very glad I took the train to work today. The roads look okay, but traffic is slooooooooooooooow.

there are movies/books/bands sarah likes that i don't like and vice versa but i can't really think of any that would provoke real anger or consternation

Same with me and Kr, although I will admit that one of the biggest fights I ever had with Renee was the day I off-handedly mentioned Elia Kazan. It wasn't even in a context where I was praising him or anything (since I don't believe I've seen a single one of his films) -- but it provoked a long rant about how terrible he was for having named names, which then in turn made me want to defend him just because I thought her reaction had been so over the top.

kenan i bet your neighbors would enjoy a pile of AIDS-awareness candy

"I see you're not from around here. Welcome to the neighborhood!"

give the candy to them with the brined "understand hell" tshirt

I think there might be 'mos who like america too. Also, who drive pickups.

― kingkongvsgodzilla, Thursday, January 7, 2010 2:09 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Two of them just moved into Logan Square, incidentally.

jaymc your argument sounds like a paula fox moment

one of the biggest fights I ever had with Renee was the day I off-handedly mentioned Elia Kazan...

I'm kind of with Renee on that one. He was just being a chickenshit.

But let's not go there. :)

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but those flags are centered way too well to be true hillbillies. I spent enough time living in Central Illinois to know that real hillbillies would make the flags the only window coverings!

Yeah, the two things that leave me curious (on top of the Barrington dealer plate frame) is that they're
a) two flags
b) perfectly centered.

If they start blasting Springsteen, you've definitely got a deep-cover sleeper cell up there.

(forgive my terrible subj/verb agreement, we're all "talking" here, right?)

I pictured the flags as window coverings too. Those flags are at least understated. xps

EAZY: MINUS TWO

I know and have known 'mos who

1 Drive trucks
2 Love 'Murrica
3 Are rednecks
4 Are bigots

And of course, who are Republicans.

If it's any comfort, the neighbors aren't observing proper U.S. flag etiquette:

Hang the flag vertically in a window or draped over a building, with the field of stars to the left of anyone looking at it from the street.

Now there's a conversation-starter for you, Kenan.

So, if they're the reverse of the "proper" way, I think that means that the crazy lady is still in there and sending you a distress signal.

Ok I'm bored now.

Guys, it's totally fucking snowing.

I wonder if DeP will wimp out and cancel classes tonight.

tonight is SOUL ENSEMBLE

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/checker.gif

Tom Skilling thinks those are 6"

What are those?

That is a checker. Subj/verb agreement problem, I guess.

I'm way out of my depth on the art conversation, but I will say that this:

which then in turn made me want to defend him just because I thought her reaction had been so over the top.

makes me insanely angry when people do it to me. Basically take a devil's advocate viewpoint on something that I feel passionately about just because I happen to feel passionately about it. Which is not to say anything negative about you, John, just that you happened upon one of my biggest pet peeves. It's right up there with "mouth noises" and "people who eat noisily on public transportation."

See also: some jagoff deciding that since I'm a feminist, he (it's pretty much always a he, sorry) is going to take an anti-feminist stance just because he wants to play devil's advocate. My personal opinions are not playthings, okay? I will engage in honest debate on something with anybody at almost anytime, but at least do me the respect of taking me seriously instead of deciding that you need to teach me a lesson or some such bullshit.

SEE I TOLD YOU THIS BOTHERS ME.

The anti-Skilling thing was supposed to be making fun of Jeff's paranoia, not an actual convincing argument. Again, I may have totally misunderstood everyone. Do other people imagine that he's wrong all of the time or something? Because he reads the global weather reports, and makes predictions that are maybe slightly different from everyone else's about 10% of the time with about a 10% variation, but generally speaking if your Skilling weather forecast is massively wrong, so was everyone else's. The service he provides is not weather prediction, it's personality and a certain novice level of explanation for junior weather nerds. That's it.

I don't like his choice of eyewear.

Jenny, you are OTM. I become EN RAGED when people do that. And I don't think the people who have done this with me recently even know that they're doing it. They seem to have some notion that they're being even-handed or something. IT"S FS:EDLJF;lsadjf;aslfjkj

http://www.nebraskaweatherphotos.org/45152.jpg

xp - right. The idea that certain points of view even need a devil's advocate is infuriating. For example, I do not think that anti-racist statements require a devil's advocate argument, okay? On some issues, the current existing societal order is the devil's advocate argument that we are soaking in every day. I think when people take up an opposing viewpoint that they don't actually support for the sake of a causal discussion/debate, they are doing it to be smug and clever and condescending.

i was just reading that thread about weak rhymes and i wondered
has anyone ever rhymed charles saatchi with liberace?

i'm like dexter dalwood
hangin in the saatchi
i paint real good
like this imagined home of liberace
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/imgs/artists/dalwood_dexter/20091124023256_DexterDalwoodtheliberacemuseum.jpg
this rhyme brought to you courtesy of google

Yes. Especially condescending. And dismissive. xp

that is a good rhyme!

but guys, on the other hand, maybe those points of view DO need a devil's advocate. did you ever think of that?

just trying to offer the other perspective here

thank you, i did the best i could

Kenan...I really do feel that Skilling is wrong a lot of the time. And that his temperature/precipitation/etc. predictions regularly differ from the National Weather Service and weather.com, etc. I pretty much ignore everything that he says, unless it's corroborated.

I don't know shit about Skilling. I was just trying to play along to be cool.

Wheeeeee! We're closing the office at 1:30. Anyone else out of work/school?

xp If you ignore it, how did you take a fair sample?

He's like a Clear Channel DJ. If you see what I mean.

Like one time, a friend of mine that I used to work with and I were whiling away the boring hours of a night shift and somehow the topic of older men dating younger women came up, and my friend took the position that it is perfectly acceptable and not at all creepy or cause for concern if a man in his 30s dated a consenting 13 year old, and we got into such a hardcore argument that at one point I actually pointed at him and said, "Look, buddy" (I called him BUDDY!!!) and then the friend was like "LOL you called me buddy. Just kidding, I think it's wicked creepy. I just wanted to get you riled up." He then proceeded to mock me for the "Look, buddy" for years. I am not a plaything!

Jeff agrees w/ K8s that Skilling is more often wrong and more spectacularly wrong than other weather forecasters and weather forecasts.

Amanda, that rhyme was sick.

Kenan, to clarify:

I make note of what Skilling says. I ignore it, in the sense that....if he says it's going to rain, I do not bother bringing an umbrella.

Then I store his prediction, so that I can mock his forecast later, when it's proven wrong.

Dammit, Jeff. Where are you?

DeP's website: "DePaul rarely closes..."

I suppose there could be this backlash force at work with Skilling, where given that he's such a local personality, he feels pressure to predict other weather than the weather that is generally agreed upon by all of the scientific equipment that money can buy.

To tell the truth, we don't need weather people at all. AT ALL.

Jeff's in CA! I think I can serve as his proxy on this one, and I will offer clarifications if necessary.

The state never, ever closes, except for the time that all of the plumbing in this building broke, resulting in none of the toilets flushing, and they they didn't send people home until four hours later.

jesse, they have a certain number of contact hours they have to maintain with students, so cutting those requires massive schedule changes, as snow days aren't often built into college schedules because of these infernal rules.

I will add another element of Jeff's anti-skilling sentiment, which is exactly what Kenan said: weather people are totally unnecessary, and Skilling is a local weather celebrity, which is even more unnecessary.

Well then we agree, I guess. I don't feel the hate, though.

I think UNCG had inclement weather days built into their schedule.

In my seniors year in HS we exceeded our maximum number of weather cancellations and there was a lot of anxiety over how to get the seniors to graduate without the required hours.

This was the year of the Storm of the Century (1993) that paralyzed the east coast. We got 18" of snow and there was no school for a week and a half.

That must have horribly stunted your educational development.

Huh, I don't watch the WGN News often enough to be able to verify how often Skilling is right or wrong, but I've always considered him to be one of the smartest meteorologists in the biz. I love how unabashedly geeky he is about weather, and he always pulls in these maps and graphics that I've never seen outside of, say, the Weather Channel. Contrast to someone like former cokehead (or so sez my childhood barber) Jerry Taft, who just seems like a huge humorless blowhard. The only thing that annoys me about Skilling is that he used to have a column in the Trib (maybe it's still there, I dunno) called "Ask Tom Why," which I thought should've just been called "Ask Tom," since the questions that readers submitted did not always begin with "why."

"Ask Tom How"

"Show Us On The Doll Where Tom Touched You"

I miss Southern snow days very much.

xp lol

"Ask Tom Why" remains intact: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-wx-asktom-0102jan02,0,3158292.story

xp lolol

We got 18" of snow and there was no school for a week and a half.
in akron we still had classes! i remember it well. god, that was the winter before the spring when that weird guy started leaving notes on my car (speaking of older dudes being creepy)

Also, about the devil's advocate positions: I wasn't going out of my way to mount a defense of Elia Kazan, in part because I knew far less about him than Renee did. But her rant was so inexplicably explosive that she made me feel like I had pledged my undying fealty toward the dude, which rubbed me the wrong way. Even if she was right, I didn't want to let her win something that wasn't even an argument in the first place.

This was the year of the Storm of the Century (1993)

Was this the one where there was like a foot of snowfall in Alabama?

I suspect Akron might have been better equipped for snow and hardier? Did you get hit really hard that far west?

xps

Yes, John, I think that sounds right. It was a monster.

I didn't want to let her win something that wasn't even an argument in the first place.

Uh... think about that.

yeah -- dan was in iowa at the time and he said it was terrible there too!

we were just talking about it the other day, in fact

"Letting your girlfriend win the argument" is not a matter of art, nor craft, nor even debate. Just do it. Always. If you stew in it for a while afterwards and really believe that you're right, bring it up later and very jovially. It's amazing how infrequently this will happen.

That was a totally excellent storm.

A Totally Excellent Storm starring George Clooney.

(BTW: My advice above is something I am still working on, and have not perfected the art of following.)

Haha, John, I was totally not trying to bust yer balls at all. Like I said, you just triggered something, but you know, Kenan as a point.

xp - okay, Kenan, I no longer think you have a point. You should not "let your girlfriend" win an argument, unless you are the sort of person who believes that women are just silly little hotheads who mouth off to get their way, while men are beleaguered, henpecked suckers just trying to get by. And I know you don't believe that, right?

(Fortunately, Julia is far more patient than I am about things that do not matter, and practices the policy of Humoring Her Crazy Ranting Boyfriend. I love her so.)

I didn't want to let her win something that wasn't even an argument in the first place.

The thing I think you had a point about was that if it wasn't an argument, there was nothing to win or lose, so it wouldn't matter whether you let her win, because it wasn't an argument. This straight bullshit about "let women win arguments" sounds like the kind of sexist drivel that gets forwarded in "hilarious" emails about the differences between men or women, or the plot of any number of insipid television shows.

You should not "let your girlfriend" win an argument, unless you are the sort of person who believes that women are just silly little hotheads who...

That's not the point. The point of "letting her win" is that if you're thinking of it as a competition already, it's better to stop talking as soon as possible and sit on it a while.

It's not political, it's strictly practical.

That's a fair point, perhaps better phrased as general advice to not view debates as competitions to be won as opposed to blanket advice to always let girlfriends win arguments. But I agree with your underlying point, yes.

I understand how it could be construed as a Playboy magazine cartoon, too. But that's not what I meant.

Either way, it plays out in real life somewhere in between strictly practical and bad sitcom, and no one remembers "rules" or "advices" when they're all het up about something, so.

I'm with Jenny, there's very little, if anything, I'm unwilling to discuss. I do reserve the right to roll my eyes when presented with the discussion of a person/concept/etc. that we have previously addressed. In those cases, he is usually trying to rile me in a good-natured manner.

However, it's not like I've been presented with a boyfriend who has wanted to discuss the moral attributes of Hitler or Strom Thurmond.

tonight is SOUL ENSEMBLE

nice, you should post what songs you work on here.

i went to the gym AND worked on music yesterday, it was a banner day. not a victory's banner day though.

I had my first night of class last night (academic writing) and the teacher seems very nice, completely competent, and wholly sane.

However, it's not like I've been presented with a boyfriend who has wanted to discuss the moral attributes of Hitler or Strom Thurmond.

I once briefly dated a paramilitary punk rocker with Black Flag posters and guns under his bed. We had some interesting discussions.

academic writing is a useful skill too, good job jesse

I think R. and I were just temperamentally not well-matched. One of the other signposts in our relationship came when we were on our way to see a movie at Pipers Alley, and she was nearly hit by a car while we were crossing the street. She immediately scowled and flicked the guy off, which embarrassed me to the point that I turned around and made some sort of conciliatory gesture to the driver, whom I assumed just hadn't been looking. I'm not sure either of our choices were "right" (she accused me of being unsympathetic to her, which is probably fair), but I think they encapsulated something about the ill-fated nature of the relationship.

YOU GUYS I am about to become a NOTARY PUBLIC how fucking exciting is THAT?????

Pretty fucking exciting because sometimes I need things notarized and it's really good to have a notary in the family!

lol John, I should not even comment on that because I am totally TEAM R on that one, but once somebody in a car almost hit Jeff and I whipped around, cursing and flipping birds left and right, ready to THROWN DOWN on his behalf and I think he would have rather I let that one go.

I'm on neither team on that one. I'm the one who would have flicked off the driver, but after seeing my partner's conciliatory response, would have questioned the wisdom of my outburst (which surely was not wise) and apologized later for being such an asshat. Because I didn't prove anything to the driver except that I was a dick, anyway.

who says "flicked" off?

Flipped.

No?

potato potahto

I cross streets with my middle finger pre-extended so that if I need to point it at somebody in a car who almost hit me, I can do so .5 seconds faster.

Avoiding confrontation is my preferred mode of operation, even though sometimes I slip out of it. I don't like it when I do. It never works out. Some people like to have fights with their partners, and even find use in it, but whenever I have been drawn into a boyfriend-girlfriend-style throwdown, I felt like I was just bad at it. Like, the girlfriend in question was trying to communicate something to me forcefully, but I was so freaked out by the confrontation that I missed the tone and just ended up being mean in return. Kinda like if I was in a group of friends telling deliberately inappropriate jokes, and not knowing how to do that within bounds, I said something horrifying racist. Arguing on that level is not my thing.

People scare me, basically.

Sometimes I engage in devil's advocacy not because I disagree with anyone, but because I think their arguments are poorly formulated and need some rethinking.

It's a matter of diplomacy.

I don't like debating things.

but because I think their arguments are poorly formulated and need some rethinking.

So you are basically copping to being smug and condescending, then.

Um, I don't think so? If I was smug or condescending in my devil's advocacy then yes, definitely. But I don't think it makes sense to blanket disregard taking such a position on those grounds, especially if one is willing to put an opinion forth for general consumption.

I think if you believe someone's argument to be poorly constructed, one should just say that directly and give an explanation. Devil's advocacy in those cases, or without saying, "hey, I'm going to play devil's advocate" are automatically going to come across as condescending or trixy...regardless of whether or not that's the intention.

You could just engage in actual conversation instead of being "devil's advocate" which is passive aggressive and disrespectful.

xp, what Katie said

Dan, as one who has been on the receiving end of your devil's advocacy, I can say that it was exceedingly condescending. E.g., arguing that Borat is offensive to anti-semites.

Yeah, well you have exceptionally thin skin.

Absolutely not the case.

I have a feeling if I came out and said "your argument is weak, and I'm going to guide you through reasons I think so so that you may make it stronger" you'd be just as upset over being condescended to.

Better to not try and just be a prick, I guess.

Jenny has put herself in a voluntary time out and I think I'll do the same.

That's the thing! People think I'm a prick either way! How dare I not accept an argument word for word. The nerve!

Thanks for announcing that.

I see what you guys mean, that being "devil's advocate" is a convenient way to once remove yourself from the debate, and remove your own opinions, or possibly excuse your shittiest opinions that you might not otherwise express at all.

OTOH, when you join the debate team in high school (as I did), being able to argue either side is critical, and arguably the most hardcore lesson in critical thinking you can have. Opinions are blunt instruments that often need sharpening.

I think I just felt an earthquake.

Well, when you say "guide you through reasons"....it does sound a bit condescending. :)

But, you could say, I disagree and think that argument doesn't hold up, because of x, y and z. I think most people, including Jesse, would respond well to that.

JEFF! Let's form an anti-Skilling public interest group. I will handle all public-facing initiatives.

I see what you guys mean, that being "devil's advocate" is a convenient way to once remove yourself from the debate, and remove your own opinions, or possibly excuse your shittiest opinions that you might not otherwise express at all.

The first two points of this are what I am talking about, the third is not.

Well, that does happen sometimes.

I'm just saying. I don't feel condescended to or anything Kenan fyi

I think Dan is talking about debate as debate, not as an argument over right and wrong necessarily. If you can't hold two contradictory thoughts in your head at the same time, well... I don't have a good metaphor here. You should.

Also, is it snowing anywhere in the city right now?

I'm not an IRL master of the skill, but I do firmly believe that abstraction, as defined by being able to take your own feelings out of an issue and turn it around in your hand like a Ribik's Cube, is an essential skill. Easier said than done, I know, but making no effort at all to do that can be dangerous.

Rubik's, even

it's snowing at my house

I'm just going to sit back and let Kenan explain what I'm talking about, because he's doing a better job of it than I am able to.

Katie: yeah, it's snowing here. Not heavily, but it's still snowing.

I don't disagree with Kenan, but I think you can be upfront about that approach, which makes it a more genuine debate. Or, at least, puts everyone's intentions on the table. I think, particularly when the matter at hand is one that is close to someone's heart (as Jenny pointed out), that this is the most respectful approach. Especially if the devil's advocate doesn't actually hold any personal stock in what they're saying, and/or this conversation is between friends.

See I don't disagree with any of that! I never intended to make it as if I was going about things slyly or for my own amusement or anything of the sort.

i love all you guys so put that on your middle finger and stick it into some snow
there's plenty outside
i just got back from a NINETY MINUTE TRIP to the post office to mail off some shiz

Maybe I will bake during my snow-afternoon. Bake, and drink a hot toddy.

I'm so happy that my one big trip this afternoon is only via the red line, which I can confirm by sight and sound is running same as it ever was. God almighty, who would want to be driving today?

the post office is on devon! it's about 1.5 miles from my apt. i did take a break in a produce market to buy some stuff and also looked at several menus considering lunch, but i have stuff here to eat, so i didn't. also v tempted by leftover dia de los reyes baked goods but resisted.

The situation I'm talking about is more stopping the conversation dead in its tracks. Not debating or taking the devil's advocate, but shutting down the conversation. Maybe it's analogous to having a conversation about guitar jazz with someone who has a visceral reaction to Woody Allen and mentioning a relevant line from Sweet and Lowdown, or quoting a line from Scrubs to someone who has that reaction to Zach Braff.

Or someone who has that reaction to someone quoting a line from Scrubs.

hmmm can't say that happens, then. neither of us are that strongly opiniony, i guess.

That tears it, I'm putting on some Django. Thank you, EZ. Been wondering what's best to listen to.

Scrubs then isn't a good example, because this isn't about making a joke, it's just about having a conversation. I mean, I absolutely hated Requiem for a Dream, but if I'm talking about painkillers with someone, I wouldn't shut down a conversation if they referred to it. But that's me.

But it's also like the gal-almost-hit-by-a-car, in that someone is just having an emotional reaction, not a debate, so it's not something that they're going to be talking into feeling another way about. So if someone is talking to me about Requiem for a Dream, I don't care if they refer to it if it's not trying to convince me to enjoy the movie more than I did.

er, "be talked into"

I can't think of anything that would totally shut down conversation between me and R in that fashion. More likely if I said I liked a band or whatever that she hated, she'd just laugh and make fun of me instead, like the time I told her about going to see Phish.

i can't say art makes us argue

like for real feelings hurt argue

xxp You guys are pretty fresh though, right? There's always a nerve to be hit.

I can't think of what my own are. There's someone far more qualified to list those things than myself.

Yeah, we're pretty new. I'm feeling like we're in the same mode as A/D, that hurt feelings take a lot more than talking about art. Who can say for sure, though? She has strong opinions regarding children's books. Fortunately, I do not.

i think i'm just not a very argumentative person, and sarah definitely isn't either. especially for stuff like music or movies, my view is usually just like "you like what you like, i like what i like, we don't have to agree about everything, whatever." but even for political arguments, it just usually seems pretty pointless, i don't feel like i'm going to effectively "convert" anyone to my perspective so that energy and frustration don't seem worth it. i don't know if that means i'm pragmatic or a wishy-washy wuss.

it's really nice outside

People in my office are seriously freaking out over the snow. Everything from OMG IT'S SO PRETTY to OMG HOW WILL I GET HOME ALIVE.

I think I tend to get my most pointless arguments out of the way on ILX. And that's like 95% of them.

Hi. I'm back. I enjoy an honest debate, but in no way would put up with anybody who was not a law professor attempting to "lead me through" my problematic arguments to show me the error of my ways, like some kind of debate-specific Henry Higgins. If you think my arguments are flawed, but agree with my conclusions, try, "I agree with what you're saying, but I think XYZ as a reason makes more sense. What do you think?" Anything else comes across as contemptuous. I don't really care how it works on high school debate teams, because we are adults having grown up conversations about interesting and complex subjects.

That said, the only things I can think that Jeff could say that would totally shut down conversation would be the sorts of things that I know he wouldn't say, like "Catholic Priests got a raw deal because those kids were asking for it" or something like that.

Probably the most heated debates Jeff and I have had that fit this profile are about ev psych/innate neurological differences between men and women, and we've even come to a pretty good accord on those issues.

Or at least come to a point of good naturedly agreeing to disagree.

we are adults having grown up conversations about interesting and complex subjects.

At best, anyway.

That said, the only things I can think that Jeff could say that would totally shut down conversation would be the sorts of things that I know he wouldn't say

I have been washed in the blood of the lamb. Are you ready to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior?

Let's start tithing 10% of our income to Tom Skilling.

xp - I prefer to start based on that assumption.

sigh. Don't we all.

That's a tongue twister: Skilling tithing, Skilling tithing.

apparently i like califone. i always thought i didn't, but maybe that was calexico or something.

I somehow managed to drive to work and now I am taking a webinar.

Sara and I generally don't fight about anything except when I'm trying to park in the trader joes parking lot and I become a dick

Trader Joe's parking lot has caused divorce.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/01/nil_by_mouth.html

1. Roger Ebert loves Old Timers.
2. This made me tearful.
3. I love you guys. Let's never fight again.

<3

oh man that WAS sad

that made me cry.

Christ, I was never in as bad of shape as him, but when I was Nil by Mouth for the better part of a month as a kid, I couldn't even watch TV commercials involving food w/o getting upset. The whole thing about remembering the taste and feel of food is spot on.

;_;

It's an elegy for his pre-illness life, and it's very beautiful and mournful, and it made me think about how sad I would be to lose the ability to sit down with all youse guys and eat and talk.

On a less emo-level, it's a really good example of how to write a deeply affecting piece about an emotional topic without resorting to cliche or treacle.

I'm not a very argumentative person either.

I'm sorry that I called names on here. And sort of sorry that I argued on here.

Roger Ebert is the great uniter.

Do you guys all want to take a group shower?

I'd settle for beers, it feels like forevs since I've seen anyone.

not tonight, someone from the NYT is calling to interview me about my lamentable choice to live too far away from my friends and how that is affecting my life in x, y, and z negative ways

i'll see you all on sunday! it's only a (couple of) day(s) away!

wait what?

everyone should come to book club even if they haven't read the book. i meant to tell katie she should come if she wants to read the next one so she can help decide what the next one will be. people should think of ideas for the next one too.

JUST KIDDING

i agree with nick. everyone should come to book club so that at least we can all hang out and choose our next book.

That is a good idea. I think our next book should be short (under 300 pages, perhaps).

I nominate

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519s6vb72mL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg

j/k

I feel bad b/c I was one of the people that originally lobbied for a book club, but I was sort of in a reading rut at the time and thought I just needed some motivation to read stuff I might otherwise not, and now I have a list of books I actually do want to read. I'm almost done with American Wife, but after that, I'd like to read The Age of Reagan and then the new Zadie Smith essay collection and then, if the library ever actually sends it to me, Inherent Vice. So I guess I'm feeling a little ambivalent about the club, even though I like hanging out with you guys, obv.

jesus, don't overthink it, just come! we can talk about american wife with nick during lulls.

I'm reading a book called Soccernomics right now. It rules. I bet most of you would knee-jerk not like it, but it really is more statistics-analysis than soccer. If any thread regular would like it, my guess is it would be jaymc.

well, that's why I'm thinking something short could be good, to get people who are on the fence to join in. Like, if we give people 6 weeks, or however long, to read a 200 page mystery novel, that might seem more doable than the moonstone?

xp

how about some nonfiction?

i am excited about reading THE EMPEROR OF SCENT

i'd probably enjoy it, i like reading about sports i don't know much about (lol i read the 700-pg basketball book)

xpost to dan

(i am not recommending that btw, just excited to read it)

I also just finished Good as Gold by Joseph Heller, which while not quite as good as Catch-22, still brought many stifled lolz on the train.

apparently quenchers is having a "stout fest" for the entire month of January. 20 stouts on tap.

I am open to both fiction and nonfiction. I quite enjoy them both.

In other news, the politics of working with donors/board members and their associated posses (in the case, a very flamboyant event planner) can be quite frustrating. For example, how to convince him to rewrite the following:

"With your support, the yields from our recipe will be heard, watched, and seen by thousands in the year's ahead as tomorrow's stars take flight."

To supply some context...the event is a small plate chef event hosted by Rick Bayless, and their concept for the invite is a recipe book.

p.s. I am sitting on my couch and drinking a beer.
p.p.s. I am v.v. excited about ABC

Aside from obvious grammatical...issues....the prose makes me retch. Also, I had to correct him so that he did not use palette, when he meant palate.

Sigh.

Book club suggestion: The Governor

it really is more statistics-analysis than soccer

haha that so does not make that book more appealing to me.

As I will be absent from ABC (I don't think anybody has responded about calling to make the reservation, so this is a reminder that I will not be doing it and I hereby wash my hands of the task), I will say that I think the book of Zadie Smith essays would be pretty cool, and I think The Governor would be hilarious, and there was a book somebody suggested on the "Fans of Norse Myths Aren't Necessarily Nazis" thread that looked like it could be interesting. Not the one that harbl read, but I think one that maybe Amanda either suggested or expressed an interest in. Other than that, I'll read whatevs. I'll even try a book about soccer statistics. I'm totally game.

xp The Haircut

I would be willing to make this reservation, though I don't know how many people we are talking about and I can't remember the name of the restaurant.

just tell me how many people and i will make the reservation

Well, I know me you n/a Sarah. That's 4. And Sisut. And maybe dan or Jesse?

just tell me by tomorrow or so!

Today is crazy.

Today is kind of awesome. I'm tweaky and manic as hell, but I got a 3-month gig today, which will be my first job that will put my butt in someone else's chair in over a year. Yay!

Congratulations.

Woohoo! Woo!

Nice work, Kenan.

Jeff, a bunch of my SF-area fb friends mentioned the earthquake today.

congrats Kenan!

I've had a pain in my neck/shoulder for the better part of a week and it is so not cool anymore. Maybe I should shell out for a massage or something.

Amanda. I'm in for Sunday ABC

Kenan!!!!!!!! Excellent!!!!!

Congrats Kenan.

I can't commit to Sunday, I'm sorry. It depends on how this school stuff goes.

I have two excellent teachers. My math prof is a tidy, chatty, wee, mustachioed man and he is very good at making math make sense and putting students at ease.

I imagane that he is always very efficient and tidy and kind (like mary poppins) and that he unwinds by going to the eagle, sipping a lite beer, donning a leather jock strap, and politely whipping a slave boy tied to the catherine wheel.

He grades tests while he does that btw.

http://www.trumancollege.edu/pixs/prahman.jpg

That's him. He's much more smiley in person.

We were discussing something to do with fractions and he was talking about dividing a pie. He asked one woman "Do you like pie? What kind?" She liked key lime. He said "Well I like pumpkin!" He turned to a guy and asked, "Do you like pie? Wonderful!"

I'm giggling thinking about it. It's odd, but amusing and charming.

that pie story made me LOL

SOUL ENSEMBLE was fun. we have three guitarists, three singers, a bass player, and three drummers (switching between one kit and two sets of bongos). we played "ain't too proud to beg," the al green version of "i can't get next to you" (which i had never heard before and is pretty different from the temptations version), and (briefly) "thankyoufalletinmebemyselfagain" (or however it's spelled).

it's going to be pretty interesting. the combo of playing soul music, which really emphasizes the vocals, and having three guitarists means i have to lay back a lot more than i'm used to and focus on playing just parts of the chord and embellishing in the spaces. also of the songs we played last night, "aint too proud" has three chords, can't get next to you has two, and "thank you" really only has one, so it's a lot more about vamping on one chord than following chord progressions (which i'm much better at). i think it'll be good, doing things i'm not used to and hopefully getting better at it.

Nick, that sounds really cool!

I realized in the shower this morning that I've lived in Chicago longer than I've lived in any other one city or town by about three months.

Also, you can become a Facebook fan of the food court here at the JRTC, which is hilarious.

Hey do you ever see my student working at the burrito place?

I'm sitting at the starbucks in dominick's waiting for the pharmacy to open and I realized that I've lived in Chicago for going on eight years. Whoa.

we've been here six years now. crazy. that's longer than i've lived anywhere else. second-longest was in college park, md., where i lived for five years, but that was spread over two periods (three years in elementary school, two years in high school).

It has a twitter account, too! twitter.c0m/atriummall

I have lived in Sussex County, DE for the longest - 12 years. So if we're talking region, I've still got a way to go. Purely based on town boundaries, though, Chicago is the big weiner.

Atrium Mall ChicagoSnowy day! Take the pedway to a cozy lunch inside the Atrium Mall --Great State Fare FOOD COURT! Tasty international food! Meet friends, stay a while! Shop, get new eyeglasses, get your hair cut, and get in on 70% price off sales!

This is going to be awesome.

I lived in Houghton for over 17 years. However, prior to moving here, the longest I was ever in one city as an adult was San Diego (3 years). Even then, I was usually gone for entire summers. Chicago and I just had our 5 year anniversary. Relatives have begun asking when we'll start having kids.

http://www.stupid.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/hotdogbunting-pic1.jpg

yeah, i lived in akron for 19 years. but really, only one of those years was by choice. even that's questionable.

I've lived in Chicago for 5 yrs, 4 mos (right?). Before that I lived in GSO for 5 years, almost on the nose. Before that, in N. Wilkesboro for 6 years. Well, 3, in NW proper, and 3 in the country.

I'm looking forward to making Chicago my longest-held place of residence. I've even lived in the same building the entire time*!

*except for 2 mos. in J/J's sunroom....

Wait, we lived in MN for 6 years as well. Our house was up for sale for about 4 years of that time.

someday i want to get a little cabin somewhere pretty/coastal/scenic/dramatic but moving away from chicago seems kinda pointless now. why bother? everything i need is here.

i've been in madison for 10 years and only in the last year has it started to feel like home instead of someplace i'm just staying in for a little while

The only real problem I have w/ Chicago is the sense of isolation. I find the NE very attractive b/c in most any city, you're only an hour or two away from another major city. Also, from the mountains (I miss skiing), and ocean.

Living in Montana made me want to always have a vast urban buffer around me.

other places are attractive to me, just not attractive enough to uproot my entire life and move there

If I move again, I'm thinking pacific NW or another country. But the odds are pretty slim of us moving again. I love it here, even when the weather is bananas and the politicians are assholes.

i mean, the next move may be "when i get old" (ie 50+) and who knows where that will be. for now, this is totes fine.

I don't think I could move west, but if I could, I think I'd love San Francisco. Seattle seems pretty good too.

I'd love to stay in the Chicago area and thought I would be for a long time to come, but if the architecture prospects don't pick up in the next 6 months or so that may change.

jvc, that would be a bummer.

Amanda, here is a shirt for you: http://www.fright-rags.com/wicker-man-p-319.html?zenid=9eb1cfd7cf1a2cab0b199706a3f2cc19

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/00/13/7d/8c/santa-monica.jpg

That's a shirt for EVERYONE.

That shirt can be our pub trivia uniform.

that shirt is not complete without a locket containing a wee sliver of wicker man leg

Jesus Christ. I called my mom yesterday to get her SSN so that I could list her as a beneficiary to my 401k and she called my brother all upset, saying that she thought I was going to kill myself.

To beat a dead horse, and to digress momentarily from topic, but....

Dear Mr. Skilling,

Some Chicagoans feel that I have been too hard on you, and I want to apologize. I'm making a sincere effort to see the silver lining in your looming clouds of inaccurate weather forecasting. Today, I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the mass hysteria you whipped up in advance of what turned out to be a paltry 4 inches or so of snow. It seems that the dire warnings convinced many in the burbs to stay home today. As a result, my morning commute felt like a Sunday drive. I made my typical trip to work in only 8 minutes, instead of the standard 20.

Again, my sincerest appreciation.

i dunno, it's worse up here and in the burbs, i think. i think we have at least 6-8 in up here?

your letter is both well written and exceedingly polite, i will add

Yeah, my understanding was that the burbs got a lot more.

Yeah, I think we hit at least 8 in Evanston. Maybe more. I shoveled late last night and we got an additional 4 overnight I think.

Would you guys be opposed to a stranger joining for pub quiz sometime? I've thought about offering before but I feel pretty intimidated by how well you guys seem to know certain categories.

ha i wouldn't be intimidated if i were you, i usually don't contribute much other than beer-drinking

of course you can join us

We had gotten about 2.5-3 by the time I got home from work yesterday, and I cleared another 1-1.5 this morning.

Man, Jon, if I was able to contribute to pub quiz, then you will be JUST FINE.

Admittedly, my finest moments were when I knew all the lyrics to Every Rose Has Its Thorn, and the location of my perineum.

you did save our ass on "every rose has its thorn"

Just got a resume on which, under Skills, was listed "V3rb@l Jud0."

Resumes? Are you assholes hiring???? I know verbal KUNG FU.

Also, yes, jvc, everything Nick said 2x.

No, we're not hiring. This guy wants a job as a fraud investigator. He also does HVAC work....

Yesterday we got a resume in which the lady misspelled the names of partners at the firm where she used to work.

"until the light takes us" varg doc at the siskel now fyi
also featuring harmony korine?

Have you seen that, Amanda?

no but i am looking forward to seeing it! we're probs going next tuesday evening.

Cool, I feel better about it. I'll have to join next time a group goes. I'm actually usually really good at trivia games, even though I couldn't name a particular strength. I'm usually best at pulling answers out of my ass.

Man dealing with the snow in the UK

http://s2.b3ta.com/host/creative/55979/1262957415/SnowMower.jpg
http://b3ta.com/board/9864528

Lol Britishers.

fb: Dear CPS,there's there's 50 inches of snow outside,WHY ARE YOU STILL OPEN?!

"HELL YES! they so retarded, its 2 dam cold to b going outside and learnin ish, every otha school is closed but da cheap ass cps schools"

FIFTY INCHES

they so retarted

Proving why the schools need to stay open, these kids.

I mean fifty inches? Four feet? Yes, that would be a reason to close the schools and most other things.

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/ef83566cbe625fa3faa03ec9f9886f11/10287.jpg

I am on a plane that is five miles long!

sarah's boss is a dick

she has a really bad cold but she went into work because her office had to get an important letter out today. but when she got in, she asked if she could go home once the letter was done, and he said ok. he then proceeded to keep the letter in his inbox, without doing anything with it, until 2:30. she then turned it around and put the next draft in his inbox. so now, at 3 p.m. it's just sitting there again without him looking at this draft. she normally leaves the office at 4. so it seems pretty obvious he's just been delaying getting this one thing done so he could have her do other stuff in the meantime and avoid letting her go home early, even though she's obviously sick.

i should clarify he did nothing at all with the letter from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

That's fucked up. I hate him.

That is ridiculous. May I have permission to plague him with fire ants?

Guys like that, I like to fuck their wives.

Just kidding. I heard that in some Mamet play.

Sometimes I feel like Kenan is guiding my hands independent of my own head.

Haha.

That sux for Sarah, tho.

I just got out of a three-pronged interview process for the internal job I applied for. Thirty minutes each with a) the three other people that have that position, b) the executive editor, and c) both the manager of the department and the subject editor who would be my immediate supervisor. Whew.

Still don't find anything out for another couple of weeks, probably.

who says "flicked" off?

Stewart Voegtlin on Stylus today:

I see Harry Connick, Jr. walking streets of Atlanta. I ask how [wife] Jill [Goodacre] is. He flicks me off and says, “Fine.”

good luck, john

bosses suck, interviews can be good

this cat is sitting in a box

http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v2286/54/118/1267941790/n1267941790_284896_3845.jpg

they just opened another cell phone store at the damen/irving park/lincoln intersection. there are now cell phone stores at three of the six corners of the intersection, plus a fourth just two doors north on damen. how does the market sustain this shit?

The cell companies have formed a cartel, keeping their prices artifically high. Extremely high, in fact. So it's a stupid lucrative business. Also, you can only use one of those stores at once, so it's not like having five convenience stores on one corner. In fact, these stores attract others to set up nearby, so that no one picks a cell phone company because the store had a better location.

I hope Sarah's boss is visited in the night by three ghosts, each more terrible, until the last and most terrible from which he contracts the French pox that he fails to notice until it's too late, resulting in him spending his last years raving in Bedlam but not before he manages to convert a large portion of the Bluth family fortune into untraceable gold krugerands, which he leaves in a Union Station locker, the only key to which he encloses in Sarah's last paycheck.

I hope he gets really really itchy.

Forever.

Pretty sure he already has worms.

Just spent the morning at kuma's, judas priest burger and cheap beer, denim +leather, brought us all together.

I made the reservation for tomorrow -- 6pm at gruppo di amici on Jarvis. 6 ppl but I'm sure they can accomodate more.

I was gonna post this on fb but I can't get to abc from my phone for some reason.

I'm full of booze and raw meats and the weather is lovely.

We're on a train.
We can't cmplain.

Thanks amanda! I just posted re: the reservation on the facebook abc page

Thankee. I will see you all mañana.

Oh to be on a train and full of booze! I am on the couch and full of BBQ pork.

Raw meat? Sushi or meat-meat?

1. I will not be at ABC tonight fro a couple of reasons, one of which is not gastric distress.

2. I broke a new year's resolution last year, but this year I will KEEP IT - I WILL go to either Mexico or The Netherlands this year. Goddamit.

3. Friday I went to the gym for the first time in a long, long time and I'm worn out, but I didn't vomit, though it got sketchy there for a minute. I feel like a million bucks even today.

Oysters, carpaccio, and smoked salmon.

Hey peoples,

I just saw that ABC is at 6, not 5...so sorry, but I won't be able to make it. Looking forward to next time, though, when I will have actually read the book.

wait a second -- is this going to be me, eric, nick, and sarah? i haven't even read the book!

MAYBE WE SHOULD RETHINK THIS FOLKS

NEWSFLASH: WE ARE ABORTING MISSION FOR THIS WEEK. ENROLLMENT LOW.

I'm on the golden gate bridge, posting on ilx.

All I have to say is that it is very windy.

This thing never ends. And now I'm sweaty.

this from the guy who runs like 100 miles a day?

Well, I'm in my medium coat. It's coming off on the walk back.

(That post above from Kuma's yesterday was from Lady GaGa on Twitter.)

Book night or trivia night or just beer and bruchetta night soon, I hope.

Eating oysters again tonight. This is one of the few things I miss about living near an ocean.

I'm back in Chi. San Francisco has its perks but boy do I like Chicago better.

yaaaaaaaaaaay

SF has too many fucking hills

My dad emailed me today to say he had read an article in the New Yorker about Vampire Weekend and wanted to know if I had their new album yet. My mind is blown.

Do they have a new album? Or just the one?

It's not a half bad album. Not even a quarter bad, really.

lmao @ his follow-up message: "New album is called Contra, getting mixed reviews. Some people think they are too preppy!"

they have a new album

Dan's dad is ahead of me on the music scene.

Oddly, I feel no shame whatsoever.

Dadfork.

When a band goes major, a big part of the marketing is getting 'em known outside of their niche. XL did a good job doing it with The White Stripes back in the day and now with this record.

your parents seem so nice and with it, dan
i think this should be filed under braggin

x2

This new Spoon album is streaming on NPR.

i listened to it this morning; seems like a continuation of "ga ga ga ga ga" in that the songs are jammier and looser than their early stuff. there are some cool songs on there (particularly in the middle of the album) and i'm going to buy the album but daniels can be such a good, tight songwriter and i wish he'd go back to that style. keep in mind that's based on one listen.

i also listened to the vampire weekend album once. the songs seem very similar to their last album but the production and arrangements are way souped-up. i've had "cousins" in my head for like a week, that song is the best.

don't mean to imply i only like old spoon albums, i still think "gimme fiction" is one of the best spoon albums

I think "ga ga ga ga ga" is the very best Spoon album, tbh.

Sorry for keeping posting all this crap but I've really been enjoying the ol' man's comments re: VW. Now he's defending their preppyness: "It is their background, for chrissakes! They are unabashed about it, and many of the lyrics were evidently written while they were students at Columbia."

I have half a mind to unleash ILM on him, but I love him too much.

Dadfork.

I LOLed.

Also, I only like old Spoon albums.

i thought that new yorker article about VW was really boring and i wasn't really sure why they were publishing a feature article about a band with two albums who don't seem like particularly interesting people, but i guess i'm not the target audience

i really like the grooms album that's reviewed on pitchfork today, you can stream it there if you sign up for lala. it sounds like old sonic youth mixed with some polvo and other 90s guitar indie.

dan i think it's time to appreciate your dad -- my dad thinks email is made by satan.

and doesn't appreciate 70s miles

(but he is a good person nonetheless)

Yeah, my dad sends me right-wing email forwards and pictures of dead deer. He does still really rock out to Boston, though, so that's pretty cool.

Oh I totally appreciate him, just more so this morning. It's just really funny to me how into this he's gotten. I copied the first VW album into his iTunes because I thought he'd like it (he's a Paul Simon fan). I didn't expect this kind of fanboydom from him, which is what's hilarious imo.

It is super cute.

now i can say i only like old spoon albums, because the ones i really like (kill the moonlight and girls can tell) are now old.

You people wouldn't know a great pop-rock album if it bit you in the Pixies.

:(

whatever dude

girls can tell is the worst spoon album

http://imgur.com/PjEXL.jpg

instead of a book club, we should have a club where we argue about spoon albums

I like "Anything You Want" but the rest of that album is pretty crappy.

I know next to nothing about spoon, but would be willing to learn if it would mean a good argument

Yeah, this argument resurfaces all the time, IIRC?

i don't know much about spoon either, but i saw the singer guy solo once (back in wilmington get into free to all shows days) and it sticks in my head because this girl i hated was there and we talked about the turtles.

come to think of it, i also saw them once with crooked fingers and there were lots of annoying people there.

we should just have a FOR ONCE AND ALL SPOON THROWDOWN argument

In college I was on a record-review radio show one week. The night before the show, the other two folks and I met up and listened to a full album (Prince's 0->) without talking about it, and then we talked about it on the air. What I'm saying is that we get some Trader Joe's snacks and listen to a record and not talk and then talk. And, you know, podcast it if it's good.

Somehow I've missed Spoon all these years despite being surrounded by them. I like how the new songs remind me of when you can listen to a song that's being mixed and turn down all but three or four of the channels. For pared-down catchy rock, I'd still rather put on Sam Roberts, but I'm glad to have heard it.

I like how the new songs remind me of when you can listen to a song that's being mixed and turn down all but three or four of the channels.

this is a very astute observation about the strengths of the last few spoon records. they seem like they're mixed almost like dub records, with things dropping out or coming in suddenly or random exclamations with tons of effects on them.

In college I was on a record-review radio show one week. The night before the show, the other two folks and I met up and listened to a full album (Prince's 0->) without talking about it, and then we talked about it on the air. What I'm saying is that we get some Trader Joe's snacks and listen to a record and not talk and then talk. And, you know, podcast it if it's good.

I'd love to do something like that.

using the studio as an instrument etc. iirc they've recorded the last few at a home studio and so it makes sense they're more free to play around with weird mixes and sounds. i just want them to combine this with the more structured songwriting of some of their older stuff.

I do like "written in reverse" from the new spoon album, it's catchy (though maybe too long?)

Encapsulation of my opinions re: Spoon: I love Series of Sneaks. I tried to like Girls Can Tell, but the song "The Fitted Shirt" makes me want to shoot myself. That is when I stopped liking Spoon. I cannot defend that opinion on any solid musical basis.

i'm pretty sure you guys don't want to hear me blather about music and then record it and play it for strangers.

Au contraire!

i dunno. i am under no illusions that my opinions are even that interesting to me. same reason i don't like writing about cooking. would rather be cooking than writing about cooking.

i sometimes wonder if people think i'm more boring than i actually am because i don't broadcast everything i do/like/know.

i am under no illusions that my opinions are even that interesting to me.

I <3 this statement.

we've had this conversation like 100x i realize.

Have less opinions

i will tell you that i just ate an awesome salad comprised of the following things:

spinach
edamame
little tofu pieces that were cooked in garlic/ginger/chili oil
pea sprouts
miso/chili/ginger dressing

But isn't there something to be gained by the act of writing/airing your opinions -- i.e., articulating them brings them into sharper focus? And especially if you're doing it in dialogue with someone else?

maybe?

i guess it can be interesting but there's also something to be said for just enjoying something without analyzing why you enjoy it

Yes, I agree w/that, though it's a very rare case that I enjoy something art- or entertainment-related and then don't want to at least read as much as I can find on it.

i like to read about stuff too -- i just like backstory, historical context, whatever -- rather than opinions

http://i.imgur.com/nT3b8.jpg

I know exactly why I lol'ed at this: because Jack looks really tired and pissed off.

There's more to a sitting-around-sloshed-and-talking-about-music podcast than opinions.

I can say, "Amanda, what do you think?"
And then there's a long pause.
And then you say, "I don't know."

Comedy!

* * *
What's Jack doing in the Scottish midlands (judging from the lads behind him)? Great pic.

How are you imagining Nicholson dies this year, Eazy?

He's just getting on in the years and wasn't on anyone else's list. Just a lifetime of smoking and all. I hope he doesn't.

http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/521/77/picture-161.0.0.0x0.492x278.jpeg

so you see me as the resident dumbass ? ;_;

Au contraire! The comic relief. The Ruth Buzzi of the podcast.

i did get voted class clown in 7th grade. my mom was so mad!

i would rather be smart and funny than mouthbreather funny for the record

Well you can be smart and funny and just not review records but talk about how you don't review records while we're reviewing records, and that will lead to some funny long-pause non-mouthbreathing comedy bits.

Speaking of LOLs, Dan this from the redneck 'hood thread was great: "rant to anyone that will listen about what the queers are doing to the soil"

I really like discussing opinions and analyzing things and stuff with people! Or people that I like and who generally have interesting opinions. For me, there's a golden mean between never thinking about what you like and why you like it, and living in a space where all you do is analyze your reaction to things. I think it's unfair to dismiss either of those approaches to life as bad.

of course. i guess i just don't want to be judged. /emoblogpost

There are two equally valid, if somewhat counterintuitively contradictory, approaches to that. One is to realize that fewer people than you think are actually paying that much attention. The other is to understand that it is impossible to escape the judgment of others, and to remind yourself of the extent to which you might adjudge someone lacking in a certain area and yet still be very fond of that person. The same applies to you.

yeah i know. i'm ok with being judged in many ways (i'm a teacher ffs)
anyway, i guess i could try this, just tell me where to be.

Tell me where to have lunch. I'm hungry and disinterested in foods.

beef and brandy

Razzamatazz with protein boost.

pf changs

look through here and find something that looks kind of good and then eat something sort of like that
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marshmallowy/sets/72157622779106086/

beef and brandy

LOL I used to eat there a lot when I was in law school.

i thought it would bring back the mammaries for you

Every time I see "ffs," I think: Fake Fictions. For example, quoting Amanda: I'm a teacher Fake Fictions.

hey next time i see you guys in person, remind me to tell you my rahm emanuel story. it's pretty good, but totally NOT going to be posted publicly

http://www.theshopsatnorthbridge.com/restaurant.asp?id=21775

this is my go-to lunch place at nu-job, probably be a bit of a hike from yr office tho

they have good falafel there iirc
that's the little mall with sephora in it, right?

I love that place. I love being downtown and remembering it's there and getting a good chicken pita something.

Yup, that's it. There is a Potbelly's and some other crap but nothing I have tried measures up. The cafe in Nordstrom's is good but v. busy and kind of expensive.

i ate some organic vegetarian ramen from whole foods with added tofu by me, and then some tortilla chips and garlic hummus

I think I'm going to go downstairs to Tokyo Lunchbox and get some soba noodles.

i was gonna TELL you to go to tokyo lunchbox but i didn't know if there was one near you!

i love that place

There's one in this building, so I don't even have to go outside, which is my favorite kind of lunch decision.

Hey, has anybody heard from Jesse today?

I haven't but he's on im.

I texted him. He said he's "in the field."

Here is a baby zebra:

http://www.zooborns.com/.a/6a010535647bf3970b0120a7c31aa4970b-pi

"in the im field"

I ended up getting beef udon and it was super delicious.

would it be crazy for me to cut back my hours at my current job from 5:30 - noon, then get a part-time library job where i'd be working from like 1:00-5:00? i'd be working nearly 12-hour days but most of that would be from home, doing stuff i've already been doing for 4 years and don't really have to think about much anymore, plus i'd be making a little more money and getting library experience, while still being able to look around for a full-time library job. i guess i'd also have to make sure i wouldn't lose my insurance if i cut my hours at my current job (though i'd still be working 30+ hours a week there)

I think it would end up being harder than you think it would, but I also think that the experience is very key.

So I think you should do it, knowing that it will be an adjustment and it might suck a little, but that it will be worth it in the end, career-wise.

Is anybody familiar with how you handle freelance income with Illinois unemployment? I've tried calling the state five times today to ask questions and it just keeps ringing and ringing and no one picks up.

i guess i might as well do the interview. it's just kind of scary.

my guess would be: get paid in cash xp

I'm not familiar, but I can run down and tell them to pick up the phone.

Totally do the interview. Caveat: I think everybody should always do the interview, because the more interviews you do, the more practice you'll have and the relaxed and awesome you'll be at the interview that really counts.

^^^^ Thats solid A++ advice right there, and pretty much what I would say.

When you can rattle off smooth answers to questions like "Where do you see yourself in five years?" and "What would you say is your biggest weakness?" before you've had your morning coffee, you'll know that you are ready.

I keep thinking about a question I flubbed in my interview last week. The good thing, I guess, is that it wasn't really an Interview Question, it was just something that came up during the interview, like "oh by the way, what do you think about...?" But my answer was rambling and muddled.

The last interview I had (for the union job that was Not For Me), they threw me with the "where do you see yourself in five years" question. It was so cliche, and I knew the person interviewing me so I wasn't expecting that kind of nonsense, that I totally did not know how to answer it. I got all bogged down in the semantics of the question, like "Well, if I work here, I see myself in this job, but if I stay with the state, I see myself taking a rest cure under a doctor's care somewhere quiet, like a psych ward, but if I find another job elsewhere, I see myself as doing something different..." When the right answer there was "Working for labor in some capacity" or "fighting for my union brothers and sisters."

or "President of These United States."

or "Dead, probably." Then stare pensively at a point approximately two feet above the interviewers head.

or "Right where you're sitting, pal."

or "I see myself in a supervisory position with additional responsibilities, managing a team of at least three, and leading my department in revenue, unless of course, the Feds manage to catch me in a child porn sting like they almost did last summer, those sneaky fuckers."

urgh i have an interview on thursday.

i'm going to have to make myself look nicer :(

Two words: bolo tie.

I know I always say it in these situations and it goes unheeded, but Filene's is having their winter clearance and you could basically outfit yourself in $1,000 worth of Italian/John Vatavoros/cashmere for $100.

http://images03.olx.com/ui/1/20/93/f_42561793_2.jpeg

Nick, you clean up real good, and you're very personable and smart and you'll do great in this interview.

ha ha

i'm not really talking about clothes, i have interview clothes. more like how i'll have to get my haircut cleaned up and make an effort at shaving so i don't look like an insane bum

thanks jenny

I'm sure they're hip to the new caveman phenomenon.

If they ask you where you think you'll be in five years, you can say, "AN INSANE BUM!" and then give them the Terror Face.

Congrats on the interview, nick. Getting some library experience is always a good idea, if you can hack the hours.

I just had a cheeseburger.

of course I am horribly curious as to what the job is, but I am a lady so I won't ask

If I had money to spend I might go to Filene's, but I don't, so I won't.

It's crazy what they've got in there for, like $15-#25.

If they ask you where you see yourself in five years, slide this across the desk and nod sagely:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2797/4190422902_f6a2aa3494.jpg

i need a secretary

xp!

Hi.

I missed you.

I SAID I MISSED YOU.

Summary judgment is a cunt.

Fuck you.

I mean, a C-UNIT.

c-unit xp!

Also shopping for things in my size is hard enough under normal circumstances, I can only imagine what it would be like in a crazy sale environment.

Jenny, I miss you too. I cunt wait to C-U.

Finally spoke with someone at IDES. Apparently I'm better off not doing anything freelance?

Do they count all income against your potential benefits?

Hey - I have a merino wool sweater that says "hand wash, do not dry clean." How serious is this? Can I dry clean it anyway? Here are some things to consider:

I hate hand washing anything and am busy.
I have very few places where I can lay a sweater flat to dry without a cat sleeping on it and shedding all over it.
I would like this sweater to last a few years but am not trying to have an heirloom piece or anything.

No, it really isn't a problem of the income counting against me, I'd be well under that. It's just that the lady I talked to made it sound like it would be a huge pain in the ass to report and track. Because you report the earnings when you write the article or do the work, not when you get paid. Which is fine, but the nature of freelance means it might be months before I'd actually get paid and she made it sound like I'd run into issues trying to report earnings for which there might not be a trail for months. Basically it comes down to me not wanting to fuck up my unemployment for $25 here and $25 there.

Did you get the name of the person that you talked to? Because I would do some due diligence and call again tomorrow at a different time of day and ask somebody else the same question and see if you get the same answer. You can also call an attorney who handles unemployment and see if you can get a ten minute phone consultation for free.

I'm not saying that what this person said is wrong - I have no idea. But to be on the safe side, I would get a second opinion before basing your course of action on what this one person said.

You're 100% right, it was just kind of a defeating conversation, like she was in essence telling me not to bother. Maybe in reality it's much easier. I'll call again tomorrow and see what I can find out.

I PMed you!

State EEs are defeated people. Don't let them get you down!

Hi again!

I'm sorry that I impugned everyone's Spoonsmanship.

I have had quite a day. I'll tell you all about it sometime. But not now.

Thanks! I appreciate it.

Jon, I'm not sure if this is even relevant, but when I started my new job I got paid for my first day's work (4 hours, a whopping $72) and still filed for unemployment that same week. I still got my full benefit, just had to input my pre-tax income when they asked. I haven't done it since, because my next check was for like 8-900 bucks and I figured that'd be pushing it. It kind of sucks, though, because I had a bunch of time off for the holidays and could totally use another IDES payout, but I just stopped filing and hope that'll be the end of it...

It totally sucks, and you should definitely call back and get a second opinion, and maybe even a third. I hate talking to those poor souls on the phone. You can hear the life seeping out of them.

Thanks for that too. I'll call again tomorrow and hope for a more helpful soul.

fuck Microsoft and their stupid fucking Insert key, fuck them right in their stupid asses

that is all

I have said the same thing many times.

Jenny: why do you hate the song Fitted Shirt?

And why do you prefer Chicago to SF so adamantly? Thank you.

Because it's a nostalgic song about a fitted shirt, and that is really annoying.

Because BART blows and there are too many hills, mostly.

Bad idea #1 on BART: upholstered seats and carpeting in the train cars

fuck Microsoft and their stupid fucking Insert key, fuck them right in their stupid asses

Can't be overstated. I disabled the Insert key on my keyboard at work. I was going to change the system registry but figured I shouldn't, so I popped off the key stuck a piece of paper in it, so now it won't depress. I've never been happier.

xp - thanks.

I love the term "extreme white people" (from the Redneck thread).

Where is the redneck thread.

I want to pull the Insert key off my keyboard.

I had drinks with Kevin tonight for his birthday. It was a happy birthday.

Attn. Dan's dad: Amazon has the Vampire Wknd album digitally for $3.99.

I talked to him earlier tonight, he mentioned getting one of his students to steal it for him.

Attn. Hotel laundry service is absurdly expensive.

pub quiz tonight?

that kinda sounds like fun. when would i have to commit?

also i was wondering if anyone knew if there is information anywhere about what sort of nonviolent offenders p quinn let out of jail early? i heard on the radio this morning that a ton of them are back in there on parole violations and i just wonder what sort of prisoners they were.

as long as we have a core of three-four people for pub quiz, you wouldn't have to commit, just show up. i just don't want to be the only person there.

awesome. i think i might go. what time? 7?

starts at 8, i'm usually there by 7:30 at the latest to make sure we have a table

ok that's perfect.

I'm interested, but I can't say one way or another if I'll be there.

Think I'd be down with pub quiz tonight, though I wouldn't be able to make it there until 8-ish. do we know what the categories are?

haha nice username dan
here is another one for whoever wants it: clarissa pinkola testes

if you don't know who that is, maybe this will jog your memory
http://www.phantasmaphile.com/images/2007/04/08/034540987601_sclzzzzzzz_ss500_.jpg

Jeff, the Redneck thread. Which had me howling with laughter all night. Living in a redneck, white-trash, hillbilly neighborhood - Advice?

Thread title idea: Chicago: Blacker than Obama.

(In case you missed it, Blago told Esquire that he is blacker than Obama.)

oh i heard it

quiz categories aren't up yet

"What I said was stupid, stupid, stupid," said Blagojevich, using the word 16 times in a few minutes. "I deeply apologize for the way that was said and having said it. Obviously, I am not blacker than President Obama."

kinda miss the dude tbh

I laughed out loud in the elevator when I read that last sentence.

I will not be at pub quiz.

blacker than obama should be our team name.

I like how the pub quiz thread has been revived by somebody from brooklyn

I just looked up a biography of nick cave on amazon, and it is listed as being under this category:

# Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > British Detectives

...using the word 16 times in a few minutes...

I kind of miss him, too. Still advocate The Governor for our next book club book.

I will not be at pub quiz either. I have so much laundry to do, so Jesse and Courtney are going to come hang out at my house while I run up and down the stairs doing my laundry. FUN FOR EVERYONE.

Also, I had a copy of Women Who Run with the Wolves for all of my college years, yet I never even started to read it. Hmmm... that would be an interesting thread - what books did you keep on your shelves for years and years but never even started to read.

Pale Fire.

i have a feeling that the idea of that book is way better than the actual book but i was thinking about it this morning and wondering if maybe it wasn't as crappy as i thought it was?

hey that goes for pale fire as well as runs with wolves

(not really it was just a silly xp)

Speaking of laundry, today's YouSwoop is $20 for $50 of laundry delivery service.

i don't think i have any books that i haven't read at all but i have plenty i bought, started, but didn't get that far into or finish - hopscotch, under the volcano, etc. this mostly stems from getting gift cards for borders or b&n - i am unable to spend money on fun, trashy books, so i make myself buy "important" books that i'll want to own and keep on my shelf. sometimes these are good, sometimes they end up being boring or at least too dense for my mood.

today's YouSwoop

Is this like Groupon? Terrible name.

Also, I can probably do pub quiz.

Yes, like Groupon. It could be called PooPooPeePee for all I care. I just want the dealzzz!

hahahahaha

I have so many books I've bought but never read. Luckily I left most of them in CT. Like, I've had samuel beckett's trilogy since like 1997 but it is too daunting.

ha i was going to try and read the samuel beckett trilogy book again now that i'm done with school. i think last time i got through the first one but got blocked in the second one

Since Jeff and I embarked on the Great Book Purge, there are no books on the shelves that I've never read, but I used to have a ton of them. Totally Gatsby move on my part, too. I just wanted everybody to think I was the kind of person who would read these books.

lol @ making a literary reference in a post about literary pretensions

i guess that's an element too. but i really do hope that someday i'll be in the mood to go back and read them. i did that with don quixote - i stalled out it early on on my first try, but when i went back to it later i finished it and really enjoyed it.

i'm watching "world's greatest dad," starring robin williams and directed by bobcat goldthwait, and krist novoselic just had a cameo and i recognized him immediately. that was weird.

he is still very tall

The thing with the beckett is, I read the short stories he wrote around the same time as the trilogy, and I loved them, but then just the thought of reading several hundred pages of that kind of thingis enough to give me headache in itself

It was a pretty good reference, though.

In my experience, there's a difference between books that I in good faith intend to read someday, books I've started reading but did not finish yet for whatever reason, and books that, when I'm being honest with myself, I know damn well I will never read. The latter are the ones that I lugged around during and immediately after college.

Is World's Greatest Dad on This?

no, i intentionally ordered it from netflix! it just came out last year

hahahahaha

Huh. Is it terrible?

Speaking of terrible, remember the movie I told you guys about that was filmed by that production company for hire? Sister Patchouli? We finally finished it, and decided that if you simply intercut some scenes with people being sprayed with green goo and/or blood, it would be Troll 2 levels of bad.

That's how good it was.

no, it's pretty good! it's a very dark comedy.

plot (w/spoilers): robin williams plays a failed author who is a teacher. his teenage son is a total dick and terrible person. his son accidentally kills himself in an attempt at autoerotic asphyxiation. williams makes it look like his son intentionally killed himself and writes a fake suicide note. the suicide note becomes a big hit, and williams parlays it into a book deal.

bobcat goldthwait also recently directed a movie about a woman who admits to her fiancee that she had sex with a dog in college

A+ plot!

which i do not plan to watch

Whoa Krist Novoselic looks different now.

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/krist2.jpg

I always had a mad crush on him. I'm not saying he's not good looking, just that I need to take some time to adjust my crushspectations.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that movie! A coworker told me about that movie and I think I didn't believe her because I couldn't reconcile "Robin Williams" and "interesting movie plot" in my head.

robin williams is in some terrible movies these days but he occasionally accidentally does something good or interesting - i particularly liked "the night listener" which i don't think anyone else even watched

Krist Novoselic in that photo looks like the mixologist for a place with charcuterie on the menu.

Oh, I heard about these movies and I wanted to watch them (well, WGD anyway) but Robin Williams - that makes it tough. a;dlsk

I just signed up for YouSwoop. I would buy today's deal but it expires in July....I'm not sure I can use it before then.

Jesse, please change your screen name, it is truly a great one, but I have now had "cold-hearted snake" stuck in my head for weeks and weeks.

A while back I saw an interview with Krist where he was hanging out with the members of some rural/farm-oriented fraternal organization that he belongs to, like an Elks lodge or some shit like that. He was by far the youngest dude there, and was talking about how more Gen Xers and their ilk should be involved in similar community organizations. It was a little surreal.

Drive Cleaning's rules are complicated.

Wash & Fold Laundry
95¢/lb!*

**15 lbs. minimum. $0.95 price is a discounted price available only to customers who use our dry cleaning/ launder & press service as well as our wash and fold service. Customers who use only the wash and fold service will be billed at a rate of $1.25 per pound. Minimum of 5 pieces of dry cleaning/ launder & press items required to qualify for the discount. Discount for wash and fold laundry service will apply only to wash and fold orders received on the same service day a dry cleaning/ launder & press order is received.

Large Bulky items (such as comforters) will not be billed at a per-pound rate and will be billed separately.

xp - haha - K8e said the same thing.

opops - xp to Eric

Changed.

dammit

i haven't heard anyone mention gen x'ers in a while. interesting.

Didn't Novoselic run for lieutenant governor of Washington a few years ago?

i approve of that

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/ed/52/a6bf92c008a0e00d59801010.L.jpg

I think I'm going to buy that Youswoop. Even at their high rates, the discount makes them about the same price as Spin Cycle.

I'm not sure this is interesting even to me.

So for the past two weeks, I've been driving to work. This feels inherently wrong. Secondly, I've been listening to nothing except this pop radio station, that plays approximately 15 songs. And I think at the same times of the day. On my drive to and from work, it's playing Do You Remember. I've heard that song over 15 or 20 times. Same thing with that song that begins "Shawty's like a melody in my head..." And that Bedrock song.

Wow, driving to work. That's an interesting prospect.

l;kajsdl;kasjdf;klj I was just reading through this thread, singing "Do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......... do you rememberrrrrrrrrr" because of your email about hearing the song again. I hate that song so much.

radio is like that in chicago too, i used to always hear the same songs at the same time when i drove to and from south campus.

This is what is happening inside my head right now:

Bring it back!
BRING IT BACK!
Bring it back!
BRING IT BACK!
Do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrr....... do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrrr....
All of the times we had
Do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrr....... do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrrr....
Do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrr....... do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrrr....
BRING IT BACK!

Except I'm hearing the "do you remember" part in Carol Kane's voice if Carol Kane completely lost her mind and started whispering "do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" in my ear.

Huh, I don't think I've heard that.

Oh, it's by the dude who did "Down."

warning: robin williams is naked at the end of this movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a81eP2E8MEQ

Here. It is the worst song ever.

"Shawty's like a melody in my head..."

I heard this recently when my iPod died while driving to MI or MN or some place. Made me l-o-l, that song did.

I have never heard this song before now. Yucky.

Has anyone heard of this Swedish band O'Spada? Their first two singles sound like mid-80s female-fronted R&B/funk. So good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vZBJqyzXII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUd1T_I2rpA

Oh, I meant to compliment you on your user name, John. It makes me chuckle.

I will listen to these new songs as soon as my coworker goes to lunch.

the pub quiz rounds aren't up yet, that's kind of weird

They just skirt the line beyond which is Jamiroquai. (Although screw the haters, I kinda like Jamiroquai, too.)

Has anyone here ever been to WOW BAO? What is good there? I want to go but I have no idea what to get.

I've been there a lot. I usually get the spicy peanut noodles and the pot stickers. For breakfast, I am a huge fan of their oatmeal.

Their coconut bao are super good for desert, too. And store-made ginger ale.

That sounds good. Maybe worth a trip.

I like Wow Bao, though I'm not a huge fan of steamed breads. I usually get the pootstickers or some noodles. But if you like bao(s?) then you should try the teryaki.

...do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
do you remember...............

do you rememberrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

still no pub quiz categories

so for tonight, we've got me and eric w. as definites, and dan m. and amanda as maybes? john, did you ever say if you're coming?

1) Overt Gunk Nut 10 pts
2) Integrate the Xenon 12 pts
3) Match- Sway Bus 14 pts
4) Chemical States Round 16 pts
5) Dead Or Canadian 11 pts
6) Picture 15 pts
7) General Knowledge 22 pts

match round is "subways" obviously

Yeah, I'm coming.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1054

McCain is testy.

Oh great, #2 = The Next Generation

http://cdn.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/picard-facepalm.jpg

And #1 = Kurt Vonnegut

You know what? Beavis and Butthead was a really good show.

xp Which is strange because he did the same category two months ago:

1) Guru Vent Knot 10 pts

i don't know anything about TNG

and as noted before, i read almost all the vonnegut books but it was about 15 years ago

guess i've got some studying to do

i know nothing about kurt vonnegut or TNG, except i can identify data because people used to call me that in high school

I probably know a lot about TNG. I cannot participate though.

Chicago: Sex over the Phone

Wow Bao = v. good (I had the spicy peanut noodles and potstickers, as per J's recommendation.)

I used to watch TNG regularly when it was still on, but obviously this was like 20 years ago.

I think we need to be texting Jeff and Jordan surreptitiously under the table.

"i'd like to use my phone-a-friend"

ha, that's how i think of it when i cheat at trivia.

I used to watch TNG daily. With courtney and her ex-bf. It was actually quite bearable!