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freedom is a light for which many have died in darkness

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:48:04 GMT

Well, it's Independence Day so I'm busting out my most vaguely patriotic (colorwise) user and ass pics. Then I'm heading off to celebrate the way our forefathers intended: eating some falafel, seeing a documentary about surfing, and then showing up at at party with my famous queso dip and the intention to get rather drunk. God bless America and have a happy 4th everybody....

Go, metabolism, go!

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:53:04 GMT

After the past month of walking to work in the summer heat with no change in my weight, my body has suddenly decided to start tapping into the old fat reserves with a vengeance. I've lost five pounds since Monday. I wish my metabolism could give me some clue as to what I'm suddenly doing right. Is it the yummy vegan crispy chicken sandwiches? Is it the carrots? The cherries? The new brand of spring water at work?

et dieu... créa la femme

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:46:35 GMT

This weekend K. and I watched And God Created Woman, the film which launched the career of sex kitten turned inciter of racial hatred Bridget Bardot. Written and directed by Roger Vadim (Barbarella), it tells a fairly sexist story of eighteen-year-old, erotically-charged, consistantly barefoot Juliette whose spoiled antics bring troubles aplenty to the handful of men tripping over each other to get what they want from her. While it had a few moments of palpable drama, the story operated mostly as an excuse to put the pouty Bardot in a series of sexy, pin-up girl poses and scenarios, culminating in her famous, erotic, tabletop mambo dance that drives at least one man mad.

doctor who (slight spoilers for last week's UK episode)

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:35:45 GMT

Three days since I saw it and I'm still freaking out about the last episode of Doctor Who. Such a great cliffhanger, although I always worry the Russel T. Davies will trip up on the second part.

My theory: The faithful companion that will get its everlasting death is the TARDIS itself. In future seasons, the Doctor will travel through time and space by hopping on Dalek Caan's back and yelling "Emergency Temporal Shift!"

Wanted (no real spoilers)

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:38:44 GMT

Saw Wanted this weekend and it was super fun. If you merged Fight Club, the Matrix and The Professional into one film, and then drained out some of the complexity, you'd get something like Wanted. A top notch, non-cerebral thrill ride.

It stars James McAvoy (Atonement) as a pathetic office drone who gets enlightened into becoming a sort of super assassin. Angelina Jolie (looking great as always) and Morgan Freeman turn in their usual high caliber work as his gurus. And Chris Pratt (Bright from Everwood) and Terrance Stamp (Zod from Superman II) have notable minor roles.

I've never seen any of director Timur Bekmambetov's other films, although I've heard very good things about the Nightwatch movies. The guy can sure do some killer, giddyifying action sequences.

cheap thrills vs. life on the chain gang

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:05:07 GMT

In my irrational drive to sabotage the writing of my novel, I've started making notes on a new novel. It's almost, but not quite a sequel (set in the same world, but with few of the same characters). I get a real rush out of that pure invention of new scenes and characters. It's so much more fun than the hard work of fleshing out those scenes and making them work. I know I can do it, because I've done it before, but I keep not doing it. I remember at one point in my twenties thinking that I could generate tons of story ideas while I was young and then labor over actually writing them later when I was older, but that idea seems crazy now. In a lot of ways, I was a better writer in my mid-20s than I am in my late-30s.

On the barely bright side, I realized this morning that I've been slipping into a depression for the past few weeks. That could potentially be useful because during my periods of anhedonia, my usual distractions become worthless and I sometimes find it a bit easier to focus my mind on things that need to be done.

Charlie Bartlett (small spoilers)

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:37:37 GMT

Watched a movie called Charlie Bartlett the other night, just because it has Robert Downey Jr. and a few of the kids from Degrassi: The Next Generation in it. It's about a rich troublemaker who gets kicked out of his fancy private school and has to go to public school. After a handful of the usual not-fitting-in cliches, he comes up with a scheme of selling the sleeping pills, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, and ritalin that his multiple psychiatrists prescribe to him, along with a bit of amateur therapy. Of course he becomes the school hero just as the student body needs a hero the most.

Downey Jr. does what he can for the movie as the principal and father to Charlie's love interest, but his storyline tends to get understandably lost under that of the students.

The movie wears its influences on its sleeve. Take one part Rushmore, one part Say Anything, one part Ferris Bueller, add a touch of Harold & Maude, and shake well. Of course, the final result is nowhere near as good as the classics its aiming for, but it's pleasant enough for a random rental.

breathe in the splendor that is my ringtone....

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:54:11 GMT

I got myself one birthday present this year: the Sanford and Son theme as my ringtone. It cost about thirty of my pre-paid minutes, but it was worth it.

Of course, now when my phone rings, I don't want to answer it. I just want to lean back and bask in the brilliance of Quincy Jones.

memories of ken

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:46:12 GMT

I found out today that one of the guys I used to work at Borders with back in the 90s passed away. Ken was older than most of us and had already lived a couple lives. He'd been a hippie, then a stock broker, but had to retire early because it was bad for his heart. He was killing time at the bookstore until his pension kicked in.

Ken could be annoying sometimes, talking endlessly to you when you really had to get some work done, but most of the time it was fun to kick back and listen to his stories. He was always bringing people his old stuff. You'd complain about your chair one day and the next he'd bring you a cool old pillow from home. He knew I liked Michael Moorcock, so he gave me his book-of-the-month-club hardcovers of the Dancers at the End of Time series (with awesome psychedelic 70s covers). He knew I liked Doc Savage, so he brought me in Philip Jose Farmer's crazy biographies of Doc Savage and Tarzan, including the novel where Doc Savage and Tarzan become more than just friends.

My buddy Rey found out about Ken's passing at a poetry reading, where the poet read a couple elegies for Ken. I think Ken would have dug that a lot.

weekend

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:35:40 GMT

Friday night I went out drinking with the boys in honor of my birthday and I found out I can drink a whole lot of free little glasses of rum.

Saturday, barely recovered from a hangover, I went to the Popped music festival over in University City. The first act, the Ting Tings, was the best act. So much fun. After that we sought shade and kind of tuned out of the music for a while. Then we got mad that there was no beer for sale and they weren't allowing re-entry. We went back to the stage to see this weird performer named Dan Deacon who was only interested in making the crowd run around in circles and run through human tunnels, while the sound system played loud video game music. My buddy Scott described him as a cross between an electronica dj and a wedding dj. Then there was Gogol Bordello, who I like in small doses, but kind of annoyed me live. Imagine what would happen if some pirates and some gypsies decided to start a punk band together and you'll have a good idea of what they sound like. I really wanted to stay for Mates of State, but after five hours of being in the sun without being drunk, I was in the mood for home.

Sunday, K. and I celebrated my birthday with some good old fashioned sloth and gluttony. We ate homemade chili con queso and refried beans and cherry ice cream. We watched tons of downloaded tv and K. made me a yellow cake with chocolate icing.

So, needless to say, I won't be stepping on the scale this week...

The Middleman

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:17:10 GMT

I watched the first episode of chaodai's new show The Middleman (mondays on ABC Family) last night and it was really great. I'm generally wary of superhero parodies, because they're often made by people that don't get the source material, but this show had me laughing out loud. It's fast, fun, and crammed full of comic book-y goodness, just in the first episode, we've already had mad scientists, a hideous monster, a robot, and a super intelligent gorilla.

The plot follows Wendy (played by Natalie Morales), a sassy but blasé temp worker, who loses her job because of the superheroics of The Middleman, a low key, high tech hero that dresses more like a UPS delivery guy than a Justice Leaguer. Of course, before too long Wendy has been recruited as his sidekick and is off to adventuring.

The Middleman himself is played in great deadpan by Matt Kesslar (Last Days of Disco and Psycho Beach Party). The witty, fast-paced dialogue is reminiscent of Pushing Daisies and old Kevin Smith films. Setup-wise, it's clearly got some similarities to Men In Black. And the zaniness is somewhere between The Tick and Hercules.

If they can keep up the mojo they showed in the first episode, I'll be sticking around for sure.

sit on it, potsy

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:41:01 GMT

Italian artist Fabio Novembre designed these chairs that look like... well... you know what they look like. He says, "They assume sculpted forms like naked models of seduction but they feel no shame." Indeed.

I admire the concept, but they're a little too bulky for a Philadelphia row house. Also, they remind me of when Bret from Flight of the Conchords was working on his bicycle helmet that looks like his own hair.

soon sweet, sweet death will take me in its loving embrace

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:29:26 GMT

My back is normally my friend, but after this weekend, all it has to say to me is "You are an old man now and that is why I am stabbing you with a fork!" I swear, every time I stand up, I'm like a hunchback for five minutes.

Also, I have a huge quarter-sized blister... on the side of my foot!

now that the game is over, I can tell you that I was always routing for the team that eventually won

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:33:49 GMT

Is there really any point in Al Gore endorsing Barak Obama AFTER the nominating is over? I realize it's good strategy to try and keep candidates constantly in the news, but it just seems like such a non-event now.

Hulk, Tullycraft, Hon Fest, Tullycraft....

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:14:48 GMT

A weekend so full it made me late for work on monday.

Saturday morning, I saw The Incredible Hulk. It was better than ok, but just short of good. It was in interesting combination of the comic book and the 1970s television series (even including that show's classic "walking sadly away from the camera" music). Unfortunately, it was just too darn gloomy for my tastes. Having a main character who has to completely control his emotions for fear of doing something terrible is fine, but the whole point of that is to show him failing at it and losing control. And I don't think the movie sufficiently gave us that. It also didn't give us much joy in the Hulk smashing. It had it's moments, but wasn't really any more successful than Ang Lee's attempt.

Saturday evening, K. and I went to see Tullycraft at the Barbary. Such an awesome concert. Too short, but other than that I can't complain. They played an awesome selection of songs, delivered serious fun, and sounded so great. I was so jazzed. The Barbary is a decent place to see a show. I didn't realize just how good their sound system was until I saw them again the next night on a far inferior sound system.

Sunday, K. and I drove down to Baltimore (ahem... Bawlmore) and went to the Hon Festival, a very weird celebration of boufants, beehives, pink hair, old lady sunglasses, crazy housedresses, and calling people "hon." It was pretty funny, very John Waters of course. There were pageants and live music as well as the usual tents and tables selling various fried foods and trinkets.

Then I left K. with her dad and continued down to DC for more Tullycraft. Finding the club wasn't too bad once I recovered from accidentally driving into Virginia (woo hoo! four states and a district in one day!). The first act (and show organizer) was the aptly name Sad Crocodile. How sad was he? He tried to play "Pure" by the Lightning Seeds as a suicidal dirge. The next act was The Sprite, another band I love who I never thought I'd get a chance to see live. They were nothing like I expected. I expected a mellow little duo, but instead they a fairly rocking quintet. The next band, From Bubblegum to Sky was also very different that I would have guessed, a much more aggressive guitar sound than I'm used to from the songs I know by them (none of which they played). They were a little off because their drummer couldn't make it, forcing the lead singer to play drum Phil Collins style. And then there was Tullycraft. Even with a bad sound system, they were still quite good, although I definitely preferred the set list they played in Philly. I also got to hang out a little bit with their lead guitarist Cori who was very, very cool.

I'm really glad I got to see them twice (since I might never get another chance), although, drving home from DC after the show was brutal. Too much driving, too much pogo-ing, and too little sleep had me feeling ultra-weak and a bit spine-damaged.

endgame

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:32:55 GMT

I canceled my subscription to City of Heroes/City of Villains (again!) today. My account will expire June 25th. Even though my interest in it has waned, I still find myself playing it reflexively whenever I sit down at the computer. And that's pretty damn bad since I'd really like to do some writing at those times. I still have an irritating fear of writing that makes me welcome almost any distraction. So will I start producing chapters at an amazing rate now... or you know... at all? Who knows? But at least I'm blowing up one of the obstacles in my path.

And I'm doing fairly well in my attempt to transition from endomorph to mesomorph, so I might as well try and use some of that focus and energy to accomplish my big goal in life of getting a novel written and published.

weekend excitement

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:35:43 GMT

I want the weekend to be here now!!!

Saturday, I get to go see The Hulk. Then I get to see my favoritest favorite band Tullycraft at the Barbary.

And then, just when it can't get any better, I go down to Washington DC on Sunday to see Tullycraft AGAIN, this time with two other bands I love opening for them: The Sprites and From Bubblegum to Sky. Speaking of which, has anyone ever been to the Red and Black in DC?

Dude, this weekend is going to be so great, I might even bake some cupcakes just to push it totally over the top...

do the metropolitan glide

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:45:42 GMT

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a show up now called Framing a Century: Master Photographers, 1840-1940. Running 'til September 1st, it focuses on the thirteen masters from the new art form's first hundred years.

Here's one from the show by the Hungarian photographer Brassaï who spent years photographing the nightlife on the streets of Paris. It's called "Introductions at Suzy's."

Swingtown

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:38:23 GMT

I watched last week's premiere of Swingtown last night (it's on thursdays on CBS). Set in the Chicago area in 1976, it follows a straight-laced couple (with two kids) who move from a conservative, backyard barbeque sort of neighborhood into a more affluent part of town that's full of swingers, drugs, and disco. The main couple are played by Jack Davenport (Coupling and Pirates of the Caribbean) and Molly Parker (Deadwood and Twitch City), both apparently playing Americans. Grant Show (Melrose Place) plays the swinging bachelor across the street. So far, I really like it. The music and clothes are great, and that particular corner of the sexual revolution is certainly fertile ground for storytelling opportunities. Part of the story also follows the couple's teenage children, who so far are pretty fair depictions of the 70s kids I grew up with, but I'm not at all sure where their storylines are headed.

heat wave

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:23:48 GMT

Day three of our Northeast heat wave. The walk to work wasn't too bad this morning, just upper 80s, but it'll be upper 90s for the trip home, so that could be interesting.

When I got to work, I found a very special gift from my co-worker who just went the England: my very own Sonic Screwdriver. Frankly, I'd probably be playing with it instead of typing this if I didn't need the world's tiniest Phillips head screwdriver in order to get the batteries in. Damn you, Doctor Who!!!

Saturday was hot enough that I didn't feel like leaving the house (even though the Roots and Sharon Jones were playing a festival in town). In the evening, we decided to drag out the air conditioner, went out to the Taproom for some veggie burgers, got water ice, and then watched Darjeeling Limited again.

Yesterday, K. and I got a new air conditioner for the bedroom and moved the old one to the yoga/pilates room. Then we hit the outlet mall for a dose of free air conditioning, some summer clothes, and a Cuisinart Blender/Food Processor. Man, that thing rocks. When we got home, I used it three times just in making some chicken tacos. First, to make a garlic chili paste for the chicken. Then to make some fresh salsa. And again to shred the cheese. I tell you. I'm already starting to wonder how I lived without it. The tacos were very yummy and well worth heating the kitchen up for. While eating, we re-watched Gods and Monsters.

Rilo Kiley concert

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:27:42 GMT

Saw Rilo Kiley last night at the Electric Factory. Great show.

The first act was Benji Hughes, a lethargic, bearded man with a lovely voice reminiscent of both Stephin Merritt and Jonathan Richman, but unfortunately none of their songwriting talents. The next act was a folk rock act called Thao with the Get Down Stay Down. I actually dug their music, except that Thao sings in a sort of staccato monotone that didn't do much for me (although her speaking voice is quite pleasant so go figure).

Anyway, Rilo Kiley was terrific. Jenny Lewis was super cute in a short, sparkley, red and gold dress over tight jeans, and bangs so long she had to lean her head back to see the audience. She's funny to watch because she frowns and pouts and sucks in her cheeks like early 70s Bowie. They played most of the best tracks from their last two albums Under The Blacklight and More Adventurous (my favorite of their records), as well as a few older ones.

At one point they gave the audience a choice of three songs. The audience chose "A Better Son/Daughter," which annoyed me because it's not one I particularly enjoy and I felt like they chose it just because it's old and Jenny says "fucking" during the shouty bits (which makes everyone giggle). I had really wanted them to play "Fifteen" because I thought it would sound great live, but yay democracy and all that. Fortunately, lead guitarist Blake Sennett fought for both, so they indulged me by playing it during the encore along with a great performance of "Portions for Foxes."

Bullet Speed

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:04:53 GMT

Wow, check out this photo spread from FHM China. It's like stills from some amazing, Mad Max meets the Matrix, all-girl, action film: http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f78/fhm-china-3rd-anniversary-may-2007-a-57874.html (Be sure to scroll through all four posts of it!)

over the hill

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:00:50 GMT

Leave it to Hillary Clinton to try and turn what should have been a concession speech into something that sounded like a proclamation of victory. Lots of jaw wagging from her about party unity and defeating the republicans, but because of her huge ego she's still trying to stand in the way of both. And I used to really like her! Despite her hints, she can't possibly believe the VP slot is open to her. Not after the dirty and cynical campaign she just waged. Also, she's hugely divisive, not just among independents and republicans, but increasingly amongst her own party. Bill Richardson or Kathleen Sebelius would be much better choices.

The Fall (mild spoilers)

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:18:12 GMT

Saw a really interesting movie this week called The Fall. It's about a little girl (Catinca Untaru), the daughter of immigrant laborers, recovering in a Californian hospital in the 1920s after breaking her arm. One day she meets a silent movie stuntman (Lee Pace from Pushing Daisies) who has suffered severe spinal damage and may never walk again. They become friends and he starts to tell her an adventure story. We see the story not exactly the way he tells it, but as she sees it in her own vivid imagination.

But there's more going on than the girl realizes. In addition to his injuries, the stuntman has had his heart broken by the lead actress in the film he was making and as he sinks deeper into his depression, their adventure story turns darker and more violent, and his ulterior motives for telling the story begin to come to light.

The adventure story part of the film was shot in twenty-six countries, including some of the most beautiful locations I've ever seen, and each of them filmed so sumptuously. I'd heard about director Tarsem Singh before, mostly people raving about his sense of visual style, but now I really need to see his earlier feature The Cell.

legos

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:50:03 GMT

I don't really know anything about Fun Hight except that it seems to be a blog for amusing photographs. Last week, it had an interesting post where someone recreated real photographs using Legos. Some were quite easily done, others more difficult, and a couple of them were pretty disturbing since Lego people can apparently only smile.

Someone sent me a link because they thought this one would be appropriate here.