ad hoc.

So, back from New York. Sometimes is fucking sucks to come back home. But, it was absolutely lovely to see people I know and love. I also ate frigging great food and of course, hardcore Olympic watching, a trip to the UCB. There was a sketch about someone whose life is worthless except for the fact that she had great taste in music. And it hit a little too close to home, folks. Other thoughts:

I spent lots of time on the Upper West Side and Washington Heights, both of which I spent no time when I actually lived in New York. So it was like a whole new city.

It’s weird how perceptions and preconceived notions affect me still. I got off the train at 125th street and went through Harlem to get through Erin’s. Harlem has such a connotation to everyone, and not much of it is true. Clearly I was fine and Harlem is not what people make it out to be. But it is interesting to see how the class system works, because as soon as you get past Broadway on the wast side, the stores completely change from discount department stores to Ann Taylors and Banana Republics.

I really had no urge to shop, except when I went a little crazy at my favorite store, Laila Rowe.

Erin and I totally did some sociological analyisis of New York City Urban Theory through the eyes of the Baby Sitters Club. I don’t think we could even think of a part of Manhattan that was considered dangerous or seedy as depicted in the late eighties and in movies. Oh, how I love gentrification.

Also loved seeing old co-workers and aquaintances. It was a real kick on my ass to make me realize that I need to do something about my situation and circumstances because I am sliding backwards on the social adaptability scale.

So I was reading the Rolling Stone with the Fall Out Boy feature on their tour. Oh the hilarity! It turned out to be some sort of weird modeling shoot. I find it titulating, awkward, and hilarious all at the same time.

Aw shucks. Thanks for all the kind word. I will post in a bit, about my weekend and about other stuff (I have 2346 blog feeds to read) along with some music. I just got the new albums from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Built to Spill. I'll maybe post those and some other stuff in a bit.

I miss the Olympics already.

But there is a replacement- Cops Mardi Gras!

I'm saying I'm not going to, but I know am going to end up watching The Real World Key West.

The food here is simply scrumptious. last night we had vegan spelt pizza and today wheat-free berry pancakes.

Anyway, Erin, I'm running downstairs for a minute.

Well, I'm live blogging from Erin's. We are in the same room but can't communicate unless it is through a blog. Actually, almost every conversation started "so did you see on my blog?"

Anyway Erin, make sure the tv is free to so we can watch the slolem races.

Erin's dorm is nicer than expected. Although you have to pee in sinks.

Fuck. I left one dorm to stay in another.

Well, I'm off to NYC for the weekend to nurse Hammers back to health and to wander the streets. I'll guess now I'll be able to test and see if flu shots really work.

I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming.

“40-Year-Old Virgin” co-star Paul Rudd has joined the cast of “Reno 911: Miami,” the big-screen version of the heavily improvised Comedy Central TV show. Currently shooting in the Los Angeles area, the film focuses on the not-so-brave men and women of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department as they attend a law-enforcement convention in Miami and end up becoming unlikely defenders against a bioterrorist attack.

source

Don't get me started on the fucked up, poor excuses for women on Grey's Anatomy. But Patrick Dempsey is aight on the eyes.

p.s. Ellen Pompeo was a guest star in the Strangers With Candy episode with the anorexic debate team.

So I just got back from my first dog training class at the Humane Society. I think I actually stumbled upon a support group for the socially challenged.

The instructors were totally unorganized and constantly talked over each other. How annoying. Really, it was a weird teaching method. They talked a lot about the commands and pantomimed them in front of the class. HELLO. WE ARE IN A SHELTER FULL OF DOGS. WHY NOT DEMONSTRATE ON THE REAL THING. Well, finally towards the end we did. We had to practice putting the harnesses on the dogs. I ended up having to straddle this one dog and practically throw myself on top of him to get this thing on. It was like the damn rodeo.

After one bulldog completely made out with my face, the instructor informed me that she liked to eat her own feces every morning. Real fucking funny.

And I still smell like the liver treats that we use as rewards.

Aren't you jealous of my life?

Thanks to Andrew, I have viewed the video for "Is It Just Me?" by the Darkness. It is weird but oh my god let me express how much I love this band. They put the fun back in rock. One of my best memories is waiting in line for about 2 hours at the Virgin Megastore to see them live and then pretty much being in the front row.

Some orgasmic dvds are being released within the next few weeks.

I feel like a douche. Tonight I missed both Project Runway and Project Jay. Although I know they will repeat it 9,000 times, I feel like I have let me reader(s) down.

The new video, "Gold Lion", from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. This is one band that has almost been burued in hype that still lives up to it.

And clips from the movie Rize, which I was talking a lot about today.

Does anyone know the song that is playing?

Hmmmmmm. There's a lull in my life events, so let's see what is going on in these exciting characters:

Erin is running a marathon in Alaska.
John checks out the latest fashions.
Brian is boring because he has no internet. How can one even exist without blogging?
Laila is having roommate problems. I guess this happens even in middle age.
Onnie also continues to have roommate issues at law school.
Brenda continues to blog from her law classes. Love it!
Interpret Tim's dream and win a prize.
Andrew "introduces" Natasha Bedingfield thus giving her street cred.

I’ve sort of given myself a moratorium on Brokeback posts, but how could I ignore pivitol scenes from the movie reenacted with legos?

After all that is going on at work, I really needed a day like today. Today I just chatted with and laughed with some really awesome students. And yes, this is part of my job and I get paid for it.

I have some really profound things running through my head right now, but I can barely keep my eyes open. I am going to listen to the last Ricky Gervais podcast of the series (tear) and then try to sleep for nine hours.

Here's the daily gem from my Daily Show desk calendar:

Meet Your Lobbyists!
Spotlight: Planned Parenthood
Represents: Human Beings not currently living off placenta
Stated Agenda: non-stop, consequence-free, underage, non parental-consented f*cking
Hidden Agenda: mandatory abortions

So today I got the official invitation to my high school reunion. Any tiny inkling I had to go was squashed when I found out it cost one hundred dollars. 'Scuse me? I already paid about 20 times that much for therapy to get over high school. However, I am thinking about filling out the info to be included in the directory. I want to have fun with this, and make something up. Not that I am ashamed of what I do now, but it is hard to explain (even my parents don't really know what I do) and it is more fun to lie. So, what city should I say I live in? And, should I list my occupation as
a. a freelance writer?
b. documetary filmmaker?
c. homemaker?
d. professor?
e. politician?

Morningwood "Jetsetter"
Pretty Girls make Graves "Something Bigger, Something Better"
Stereo Total "Cannibale"
Elefant "The Clown"
Placebo "Meds"
The Subways "I Want to Hear What You Have to Say"
The Pernice Brothers "Say Goodnight to the Lady"
Fisher "Breakable"
Bush "Swallowed"
The Delgados "Keep on Breathing"
The Comas "Tonight on the WB"
Pet Shop Boys "Always on My Mind"
Calla "This Better Go as Planned"
Caesars "Do Nothing"

So today was one of the worst days I have had in months. I spent four hours at the mall. First off, the large crowds + my low blood sugar = disaster. I;ll also go ahead and make the generalization that your girls are sluts. SLUTS. Back in my day, we had a variety, stoners, geeks (me), punks, popular kids, jocks, goths, grunge (me also). Now there just seems to be sluts in tight jeans, five pounds of makeup, and cell phones. I know I shouldn't really use the word. but I can think of nothing else. I am sad that this is what young America has turned to. I stopped to get a hysterectomy on the way home.

Why did I subject myself to this? I needed to get some suits/business attire for upcoming interviews. [Why I have interviews is another story for another time.] The fact that I am a short little freak + the lack of my supermodel figure + my thirftyness = not fun to shop for suits. So I went to the mall just to get it all done. I am really cranky because I also compromised my morals by buying leather shoes and a silk skirt. Really, there was no other place for me to get these things where I live, it's not like I have free trade vegan boutiques in suburban Connecticut. So now I will have dead animals on my feet. Great. I managed to get those, another blazer, two tops, and another suit for about $300. Pretty good I guess. Good? Where I am going to get this $300? It's so hypocritical. In my field, there is never a day where I would have to wear a suit and they don't pay me much. So I will wear these for one day and that's it.

Watching all the families and teenagers spend their Sunday at the mall, wandering around buying Coach bags for entertainment was so depressing I could scream. I actually had to come home, turn out the lights and lay in the fetal position to get over it.

Watch out, Bode, the Olympics has another heart throb: speedskater Chad Hedrick.

Speedskating is one of my favorites, it looks like some sort of futuristic face-off. I am such a sucker for the drama they create, like Chad and his rivalry with Shani Davis, the tough inner city skater.

Johhny Weir goes to UD!

The women's ice hockey team owns.

I watched some of the biathalon today, which is so….umpractical. Cross country skiing plus shooting? How odd. I thought there was an odd contradiction: I usually hate sports but love the Olympics. Perhaps it is because the Olympics show actual athletic talent, not the bullshit that goes on with the overpaid pampered "celebrities" of American sports. As much as I do like hockey, I find it quite perturbing that NHL players make up a majority of the team. It's like an All-Star game. But don't get me started on figure skating. The only thing more annoying are the Hughes sisters.

It's hard to believe that I am able to do this in the middle of February, but I have gotten so many advance copies and it seems 2006 is the year of frigging good music. I will also be uploading these a little each day, so check back.

1. The Sounds - Dying to Say This to You
2. Secret Machines - Ten Silver Srops
3. The Delays - You See Colours
4. Placebo- Meds
5. We Are Sccientists - With Love and Squalor
6. Quasi - When the Going Gets Dark
7. The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth
8. Elefant - Black Magic Show
9. Pretty Girls Make Graves - Elan Vital
10. Richard Ashcroft - Keys to the World
11. WHite Rose Movement - Kick
12. Film School - Film School
13. Morningwood - Morningwood
14. Neko Case - Fox Cenfessor Brings the Flood
15. Calexico - Garden Ruin
16. Grandaddy - Just Like the Fambly Cat
17. Rogers Sisters - The Invisible Deck

Yup, that's right, no Arctic Monkeys. They don't impress me.

Les Miserables is back on Broadway. Yeesh.
Jake and Heath to make out on Will and Grace. If they do, they will undo everything that Brokeback Mountain did.
Michael Alig’s prison id is being sold on ebay.
Taking Back Sunday are now on a major label. Are we surprised?
The Olympics loses one of its hotties.
The Microsoft answer to the iPod?
Jack Twist’s famous shirt went for $50k ON Ebay.
Ethical shopping.
The haves and have-nots of the blogging world. Blog elitism?
The show D-listed kind of makes me uncomfortable. Anyone else?
An op/ed about dog breeding.
Another Ellis interview.
Forbes top music money makers. Green Day raked in 100 mil?
How MySpace grew into a monster.
Fall Out Boy make a video for “Sixteen Candles.”
Indiana would require that doctors say life begins at conception.
Why Tim can’t stand figure skating.
Yay! More Blue States Lose pictures.
I don’t wonder what Jesse Camp is up to these days.

So I won't be coming to New York this weekend, but same thing, same time next weekend? This whole thing is just so ironic to me.

If I ever had any aspirations to be a filmmaker, Metropolitan would have kickstarted that goal. I saw this when it came out in 1990, and even at the tender age of 12, I knew it was something bigger than it seemed. You may wonder why I love a movie that is basically about rich Republican socialite teenagers, but it is just so well done and well written I can't help it. It is kind of like the same way I love Bret Easton Ellis novels- the central characters are always the bratty, rich, priveleged, but it simultaneously shows both ironic admiration and social depravity. It was followed up with The Last Days of Disco, which was also equally awesome.

Also, a movie for the conservative for all of us explains it better. It finally came out on DVD, but it has a hefty price tag.