Wednesday, February 28, 2007

standing in line to see the show tonight

So, the reason I toggled over to Blogger was to make sure you all knew about the upcoming Get Smart movie, which pleases this little fan to no end. And as a huge proponent of all things Steve Carell, I think he'll be excellent--but Anne Hathaway? Seriously? I don't care if she did flash her boobs in Brokeback--she is not mod enough for 99, no way (plus she has big chicklet teeth). Who would you pick instead?

In other news, I saw a fan-freaking-tastic Red Hot Chili Peppers show last night! Seriously, I don't care how old those guys are getting--they can still bring the rock. (Not The Rock; however in a weird twist of coincidence, he, too, will apparently be in Get Smart.) Flea, John Frusciante, and Chad Smith are all top musicians and Anthony Kiedis is an incredibly entertaining frontman--plus, I personally much prefer their newer catalog to their old stuff, so the fact that it was Californication, By the Way and Stadium Arcadium-heavy was not disappointing in the least. Somewhat disappointing, however, was the performance by opening act Gnarls Barkley, who seriously seemed disengaged from the whole thing. Maybe they've played "Crazy" one too many times? (Maybe they just need some new music, huh, boys? I've heard rumblings about a new album in the works.) Still, a thoroughly entertaining evening on the whole...

...except for chain-smoking dude in front of me, with total disregard of the fact that the venue was NON-SMOKING. This happens a lot at big shows: once the lights go down, the smokers figure they're safe and start lighting up. It pisses me off because I can't say anything to them--they're obviously devoid of any sense of moral propriety or they wouldn't be sneaking cigs in the first place. Plus, this guy was so obnoxiously drunk that he would probably have sneered at me and then blown smoke deliberately in my face for the rest of the night, which I definitely didn't need. No joke, though--he was practically lighting them one off the end of another. And I'm so exhausted today, and it's because I don't react well to secondhand smoke. It's like my body has to fight extra-hard to process that crap out of my system, so the usual amount of sleep just doesn't cut it. I hate smoking, and if you're lighting up in front of me, you can bet I'm judging you for it.

Make all the excuses you want, smokers, but someday you're going to want to quit. Or you'll die. It's that simple.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

the light in the tunnel at the end

I had these for supper tonight:




And you know what? It's hard to be tired and cranky when your meal is smiling cheerfully up at you.

Monday, February 19, 2007

this story would break my heart

Zero attention span.

Seriously. This is bad. I'm supposed to be in bed, asleep. So now I'm telling myself to finish my reading and be in bed, asleep, by an hour from now. Instead, I'm wandering the RSS feeds and TWoP forums (never a good sign) and listening to Aimee Mann on repeat instead of just DOING MY DAMN TAX READING.

Remember the vicious cycle from yesterday? Well, I think the reason my tax reading is so daunting is because I'm so tired. But the longer I wait to DO it, the more tired I'm going to be, so I really should've just read it an hour and a half ago when I got off the phone with my mom. (And by the way, Foxy's first 3-month post-cancer checkup shows her to be still cancer-free, but she's lost a half-pound, which is sort of not good, but not symptomatic of anything in particular.)

Anyway, I'm not going to dally here, because it's just another scheme to delay the inevitable (tonight, "the inevitable" happens to be the accrual method of accounting). I've said it every semester thus far, but I MEAN IT THIS TIME: NO MORE 8:45 AM CLASSES. If I could get to bed before 2 am, I might be okay, but I'm apparently unable to manage that. Sigh.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

i'm in a crisis

Sigh.

I had a pretty crappy couple of days towards the end of last week, for mostly emotional reasons (namely: I was too damn tired and my emotions were fraying under the strain of exhaustion), so I took a Mental Health Weekend--in other words, I didn't do any work. Friday, I did laundry (*tiny cheers from the crowd*), then went to a bar and played board games with the Boy and friends of ours. Incidentally, I knew I sucked at trivial pursuit (the old, classic version), but it was made abundantly clear to me that the ONLY trivia I remember is that which is music-related, seriously. My narrow-minded prowess is downright laughable--though I now know that Leadville, CO is the US's highest highest point incorporated city (and the reason I'm remembering that is also music-related, as my fru-friends will attest).

ANYway. Saturday was sleeping late, lots of TV, a homecooked meal by the Boy and The Illusionist (which was pretty good, due in no small part to my main man Paul Giamatti). Today, I had tasty dim sum and a Chinese New Year parade (though I eventually got too cold to really enjoy the festivities), plus a viewing of last Thursday's installment of The Office and Wigmore Follies rehearsal this evening.

So, yeah. Awesome. Except now? I'm still at school, I have a LOT of reading to do plus journal-related stuffs, and I'm setting myself up for another exhausting week. This is a vicious cycle.

Anyway, the first round of ExRec '06 has shipped, so if you haven't received yours, let me know. And if, after seeing this (kick-ass) playlist, you want one for yourself, it's not too late.

1. Regina Spektor—Better
2. The Decemberists—O Valencia!
3. Beirut—Scenic World (New Version)
4. Of Montreal—Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
5. Built to Spill—Liar
6. John Legend—Save Room
7. The Twilight Singers—Forty Dollars
8. Panic! At the Disco—The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage (Tommie Sunshine Brooklyn Fire Remix)
9. Office—Oh My
10. Rainer Maria—Clear and True
11. Ben Kweller—Penny on the Train Track
12. The Long Winters—Fire Island, AK
13. Regina Spektor—Fidelity
14. Imogen Heap—Speeding Cars
15. Winterpills—Found Weekend
16. The Submarines—Brighter Discontent
17. Voxtrot—Trouble
18. Kaiser Chiefs—Ruby
19. The Shins—Phantom Limb
20. Michael Stipe (feat. Chris Martin)—In the Sun
21. Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins—Melt Your Heart

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

the days, they seem to fall through you

HOLY CRAP.

A friend of mine from high school just got married in Vegas last weekend.

Not five minutes before I heard about it, I was poking around an old Geocities website of mine (animated gifs galore) and happened across a photo of me and her from the end of our freshman year, and got to thinking about what we'd've been doing ten years ago (probably planning a girls-night anti-valentine's cookie party or something)... shoot. I realize we're all certainly old enough to get married, and another of my high school friends has been married for a couple years already, but I didn't even know this friend was dating anybody! I guess I'm kind of out of the loop.

Anyway, it's definitely in character for her, so while the whole thing is somewhat shocking, I'm not exactly surprised. Plus, she looks absolutely lovely and glowing in her photos, and I'm sure she and her new husband will be very, very happy.

But still, Vegas! Wow. Her life is entirely more carefree and thrilling than my paltry mechanics-of-tax-code-section-7872 existence, I assure you.

Monday, February 12, 2007

engagements are booked through the end of the world

So, another law school blogger linked to this awesome video showcasing Steve Burns (formerly of Blue's Clues) and Steven Drozd from the Flaming Lips performing a cute song about Groundhog's Day. She labeled her post as "for the mommies," but I heartily disagree, and not just because I'm a childless fan of smart kids' music (my sixteenth birthday party did, in fact, prominently feature VeggieTales' first Silly Songs video).

It reminded me that after Songs for Dustmites, Steve Burns totally dropped off the map, which is sad because I liked that CD quite a bit and I wanted to hear what else he had to offer. A swift iTunes search confirmed no new albums, and a swift trip to his homepage confirmed that there's a new album "nigh," but not yet here. However, I DID see that his cover of They Might Be Giants' "Dead" is available on iTunes, and I recommend it.

In ever-outward-spiraling efforts to procrastinate, I sampled the rest of the Hello Radio TMBG tribute album and found... not much else to recommend. The Long Winters' "Pet Name" is possibly better than the original, and I snagged "Narrow Your Eyes" for the cool harmonies on the chorus, and "It's Not My Birthday" because I just love that song, and the cover features an accordion. But the rest? Meh. Several sound like dirges (including, disappointingly, the Wrens' "They'll Need a Crane," and OK Go's dismal rendition of "Letterbox"), others are just ill-conceived ("Boat of Car," "She's an Angel"--and seriously, that is MY SONG, and I'm so bummed at how uninspiring the cover is), and still others I just reject on principle (I've never liked "Road Movie to Berlin"--sorry, Frank Black. I hear your album Honeycomb is highly reccommended, though).

Bottom line: TMBG fans, get the Steve Burns and Long Winters tracks, leave the rest. If you've got the originals, you're not missing anything.

Anyway, that was an unusually digressive trip round the internets. And as I'm leading discussion in Trip to Egypt Class tomorrow and not yet done with the reading, I've lots to do this evening. But I'm in a cheerier mood, thanks to the groundhog song. hee.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

will you feel better?

It's official: ExRec '06 is done but for the pressing.

Tracklist to follow shortly; the recipients deserve to be surprised. And if you've never been on the Exam Recovery list before, hit me up in the comments and I'll get you hooked up. (For the uninitiated--are there any?--this is my eighth(!) annual year-end best-of mix cd. I work hard to make it awesome, which is why it takes so long, sometimes.)

And yes, it's damn belated. But it makes up for it in musical goodness, I promise.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

you're gonna hate yourself in the morning

I have no idea how it got to be after midnight and I haven't done a lick of reading since class ended at 6. GAH.

...well, okay, I do have some inkling: I went to the gym, and then the Boy came over and helped me finish Superbowl/indian food leftovers, then we watched Family Guy from a week ago, then I read about eight thousand law school listserv emails about the untimely resignation of our student bar association president (I'm mildly interested, but more because it's something out of the ordinary than because it affects me in any way whatsoever) and futzed around the internet, as I'm wont to do.

So, now, I'm going to go to bed late again, and I'm going to be tired tomorrow, and that wasn't the plan.

And I shouldn't be dallying on the blog, but I wanted to mention that Mom and I saw a pretty awesome Eddie from Ohio concert on Saturday night--they were at the Black Orchid, a kind of upscale/art deco/yuppie venue within walking distance of my apartment (normally... when it's not, like, -10 degrees outside. In fact, as I type this, I'm wearing a pair of emo-rockstar fingerless knit gloves I got for free at the Death Cab concert on my birthday in '05. They shield my poor skin from my drafty apartment and my trendy metal computer case, and for that I forgive Q101 for sponsoring such a fashion faux).

I don't think I've seen an EFO show outside of FRFF since Jack Quinn's in March '04, and while sitting through "Great Day" without actual blue sky and green grass (...well, sitting through "Great Day" at ALL, but that's neither here nor there) seemed a little odd, it was a fantastic set. Highlights for me were "And the Rain Crashed Down," "There's a Carp in the Tub" (heee robbie kid song), and their cover of "We Belong Together," in honor of their friends Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro. I was reminded suddenly of FRFF '05 when it seemed like Dan was everywhere, and always wearing the same shirt--a shirt for HIS BAND. Hilarious. This year is my fam's ninth FRFF, incidentally... kind of hard to believe. Hopefully I can escape NYC for a (long?) weekend so I won't miss seeing my extended folk family (and the artists, I suppose).

...but anyway. I also will highly recommend the Goose Island Sunday afternoon brew tour--as I said to Bruce in the comments below, $5 gets you a tour, six beer tastes and a pint glass! I think having a pint before the tour was probably a bad idea... but seeing as how Chicago totally sputtered out in the Superbowl anyway, napping through a good portion of the second quarter didn't really make much of a difference.

Mom also mentioned that she reads ye olde blogge, so hi, mom! I'm doing all my work and not messing around at all! That stuff up top about procrastinating online--lies, all of it, I swear... *laughs nervously and changes subject*

Sunday, February 04, 2007

blood still warm on the ground

Have we all seen the Decemberists' new O Valencia video?

It's a little reminiscent of the video for 16 Military Wives, though the plot's a bit harder to follow. Still, fun to watch. Plus, I haven't seen Chris Funk since his shred-a-palooza on the Colbert Report.

More soon, as I'm in the middle of a totally fun weekend (next stop: the Goose Island brewery!)--but in the midst of all this Super Bowl nonsense, don't forget about the REAL contest this afternoon: Puppy Bowl III!