Skipping past Writober and Nanoblomo . . ? Shit, I dunno. I'm as bored as you are.
The Media
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
When Corporate “Specials” Do Not Rely on Your Dishonesty. At All.
This past weekend, we had no obligations whatsoever. No shows or band practices. No recording. No plans with friends. No parties or dinners. Nothing.
This happens about two times a year.
I can’t say we really took full advantage of our “free” time, but we did get SOME things done around the house. And visited with family. Spent time with Mia. Saturday felt like such a long day that, going to bed that night, I couldn’t believe we still had Sunday. It, seriously felt like a three-day weekend. Love me.
In other news:
- Went to the dentist yesterday. It looks like I may have a cracked tooth. They’re supposed to look at the x-rays to see if I need a crown or just a big filling and then call me with the verdict. Or they might not call me at all and just let me ride my cracked tooth out for another six months. (But if I’m gonna fix the motherfucker, I want it to be THIS year because I’ve already ponied up my annual deductible.)
- You know what’s messier and more cluttered than our house? My car. Thankfully, we’re preparing for a garage sale this weekend with friends, so we’re getting rid of some clutter. From our house (because no-one wants daily progress reports from Mia’s school or Mia’s “art projects” . . . well, besides us). Maybe I can park my car nearby and haggle it away. “No, Gramps. You can’t have my 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer for 25 cents. Sorry. I won’t go lower than a buck.”
- Do any of you REALLY spend money making altruistic/political statements. Buying a red iPod or Coach bag during that RED campaign? Only shopping at Democrat-supporting companies during the Blue Christmas? Like, when that whole Dixie Chicks thing was happening, I thought about buying their CD even though I hate country music. Well, I’m finally putting my thoughts into action. Even after Erin’s mini-rant about Gwen Steponme, I feel compelled to tell you that I bought the new Kelly Clarkson CD. Now, I realize that doesn’t sound like it qualifies on the SURFACE, but it does in the scope of artistic integrity and creativity. [edited to remove a bunch of blather] I know I’m not presenting my argument in a compelling way, especially considering the argument AGAINST me that is Avril Lavigne. Perhaps I’ll report back once I’ve listened to the CD.
- On a semi-related, conspiratorial theme (wherein the Government [through their Corporate Rulers] is controlling our thoughts and ideas [to which I’m growing more sympathetic . . . the idea and not the Government]), there’s the whole fluoride-in-the-water fear. Remember that? When we were growing up? (“We” means anyone between, say, 28 and 42.) Well, I think the argument FOR fluoridating the water is so you don’t hear your dentist say you have six cavities because the town in which you live does not put fluoride in their water and you should really do a separate fluoride treatment, every day, on your own. So, if you’re drinking only bottled water and brushing your teeth with baby tears, you should do a daily fluoride rinse. FYI.
- Yesterday, when I purchased that Kelly Clarkson CD, Best Buy was running a buy-two-get-one-free special. Apparently. At the checkout, I handed over my three CDs. During the “Do you have one of our membership/discount cards?” interrogation, I started blocking stuff out. Which is probably why I didn’t immediately realize my total (for three CDs) was just over $21. Granted two of them were $9.99. Which kind-of sucks, because the two discounted CDs I PAID for were on major labels. I’m sorry, Metric and Last Gang Records.
Music • The Media • Weekends • (2) Comments closed • Permalink
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Snapshot, with Very Little Context
Last Thursday evening, I was finishing up on the recumbent exercise bike (timer hitting 25:05), listening to Sonic Youth’s “I Love You Golden Blue” on my iPod Shuffle, and I used a collection of poems (Jen Benka’s a box of longing with fifty drawers*) to mark my place in the March 2007 Vanity Fair (the Michael Wolff article on Judith Regan). (Marking my place in the Benka collection was bookmark promoting abebooks.com.)
This is what my blogging life has been reduced to: a fucking Twitter post. And I HAVE a Twitter page . . . in addition to this blog (plus one or two others), a MySpace page, and a Vox site. I’m really not holding up my end of the whole navel-gazing bargain, am I?
* A little critique (this would be the context). I don’t know where I saw a link to this collection, but I think it was on a blog I’d read. Reviews seemed promising. Well . . . I deal with words and language and linguistics for a living, but I don’t usually enjoy exercises in wordplay as poetry. I don’t want to have to read this whole collection in one 20-minute sitting to GET it. I want a collection of poems that, taken individually, MEAN something. And taken TOGETHER, might mean something ELSE. Or something more significant. I dunno . . . this just seems like a cute (but SERIOUS) gimmick-as-political-statement. All around, very light. THIS is the kind of writing that inspires ME to write more. And I am. Just not HERE, apparently. (As an aside, I like how more thought went into this footnote than the actual POST. ROCK ON, context!)
Poetry • The Media • (7) Comments closed • Permalink
Monday, February 05, 2007
Bracket of Commerce!
It turns out that you can rate the Super Bowl commercials and watch the ones you’re not familiar with. You can run them through a bracket to narrow them to a favorite, or just pick one that you KNOW you liked them best. After you “vote” for your favorite, you get to see which ones have been voted the highest. It’s like a sneak-peak into how stupid we are . . . and why advertising works.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
The Secret Password is “Poop”
Last night, we watched Me and You and Everyone We Know. Michelle hadn’t planned on watching; she was reading magazines in the living room and just got sucked in. I was chuckling a lot at the unsettling amount of quirky hilarity. “Unsettling” in a good way. At first, it was hard to compartmentalize the movie . . . fit it into a specific part of my brain. I didn’t wholly get it. But now I can’t stop thinking about it. So, I went out at lunch and bought it with some of my hard-earned Target money.*
I think seeing that movie brought into sharp focus this strange, new Optimism I’ve stumbled into. I haven’t figured it out exactly, but maybe it’s similar to what Mr. Byrne has found. I dunno.
(SIDENOTE: I was struck with Miranda July and did some quick research to find that she’s a writer and performance artist . . . the kind of person I hated to watch at poetry readings I went to. But the concepts of optimism and connection she touches on in her movie are also present in an ongoing website she’s collaborating on. She also wrote the story the movie The Center of the World is based on. Which, um . . . erotica? Molly Parker? *brain overloads*)
Maybe this is why, during the fog that was 2006, I had Victory at Sea’s Memories Fade on high rotation. Mona Elliot and company are not reliable sherpas for guiding you through the Darkness of Life, but I find that CD quite uplifting. Seriously, “Break of Day” is right up there with Death Cab for Cutie’s “Transatlanticism” on the Top Ten Songs to Make My Soul Burn with Emotion.** Coincidentally, I was listening to it while going to Target at lunch. Which is when all of this came together.
Please, please, please, Pastafarian Lord . . . let 2007 be the year shit starts coming together.***
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Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Day Four: Motivational
Y’see, I’d wanted to write about this thing that happened with my job, but we’re smarter than that (and, also, the situation came to an anticlimactic conclusion). And then I’d wanted to write about this book I finished reading skimming and how the whole thing seems like a self-congratulatory, calculated publicity stab (no, it wasn’t OJ’s new book about how things COULD have gone had he actually killed his estranged wife and her friend). And then I’d wanted to write about our going to Atlanta this weekend—how it’s not a Meetup, really, but we’ll get to see a handful of our bloggy friends for a few hours drinks (okay, LOTS of drinks). And THEN I felt like I should mention that I’m, inexplicably, LOSING to Patricia in our Steelers vs. Cowboys bet on which team would do better this season (two words, ‘Boys: Start Bledsoe).
Mostly, though, I just felt I should write. Just write.
Drinking • Roadtripping • Sports • The Media • Weekends • (2) Comments closed • Permalink
Monday, September 11, 2006
“Who’s that Blonde Bitch Stabbing All Our Patients?”
Thanks to our friends at Entertainment Weekly and their Fall TV Preview, it looks like my life is gonna get a whole lot less productive. (Yeah, EVEN less productive, dammit.) With “Deadwood” dead (for now) and “Rome” far over the horizon into godknowswhen 2007, I should just cancel my motherfucking HBO, right? (I guess I could give “Entourage” a try, but . . . wait, never mind, I’m about to have no time.)
Y’see, at the end of last season, “West Wing” and “Invasion” were cancelled, which effectively left my TV “Must See” list down to “How I Met Your Mother” and “Lost.” I know, I know . . . all the great shows I’m not watching. Michelle’s wanting to get hooked on “House” because all her blood relations are gushing about it. I feel uncomfortable watching “The Office,” for some reason. I don’t care how hot Lauren Graham is, I won’t watch “Gilmore Girls.” Michelle and I joke about how “ER” has turned into a parody of itself, and the hospital is teetering on the brink of Hell (maybe there should be an “ER” / “Buffy” universe crossover). I feel bad about not watching “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy.” But not “24” or “CSI.” And fuck “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” right in their collective asses.
Feel free to give a shout out in the comments for your favorite and/or most eagerly anticipated shows. But, for right now, here’s what’s gonna make my next month much more complicated and will probably put an end to our DVR:
- “Brothers & Sisters” – I’m not completely sure about this one. I’m not particularly drawn to Calista Flockhart. Maybe it was just early in the Preview. Considering the rest of the list, I should probably axe this. Although, Sunday nights are pretty quiet.
- “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” – This one’s probably gonna get a lot of “West Wing” fans. I’m mostly excited because it should be well-written and moderately anti-Establishment.
- “The Class” – Just looks fun. The setup is quirky enough to make a great show . . . or a disaster.
- “Heroes” – Unexpected superpowers are awesome!
- “30 Rock” – Tiny Fey could make this really funny, but I also wanna see this in case it or “Studio 60” gets canceled and I can be either indignant or “Eh, it wasn’t that good anyway.”
- “The Nine” – Another interesting premise, which is how ABC* gets you. Could be a little too much like “Lost.” And poor Scott Wolf. Wait ‘til they give him a drinking problem and then Jennifer Love Hewitt shows up. Christ!
- “Six Degrees” – Okay, so this looks like cheesy über-tripe, so much so that I completely tuned out the melodramatically themed commercials for it. Despite the J.J. Abrams connection. But, then, scanning the Preview, I saw Hope Davis pictured in the block for the show. And I’m, all, “Hope Davis is not in that shitty show.” But she is, my friends.
- “The Knights of Prosperity” – Everything Donal Logue is in turns to gold. Okay, that’s absolutely not true, but I watched “Grounded for Life” just because he was in it. For a few episodes, anyway. Robbing Mick Jagger sounds like a good
ideaconcept for a show, too.