ad hoc.

Kim Gordon may be one of the coolest women on earth, and the Times sure knows it. She was one of the few women in rock music who was recognized for her talent and not for just being "a woman in rock". I also with that she and Thurston Moore were my parents.

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In about a week and a half I will be in DC for the wedding of the century. I can't believe it is here. I know there are several people in DC that I have neglected and need to see. I am just putting it out there that I will not be there long, and the weekend is taken up with wedding stuff and other long standing committments to certain people. And, to be honest, I haven't been feeling that great both physically and mentally, so I don't know how much great company I will be. I know that sounds like some crap exscuse, but I would almost have people see me during my better times, which I know will come soon. This is not a pity party, it's just honesty. I have a hunch that I will be back again at some point in the summer.

After that, off to Long Island to see my brother and sister and law's new house. And spend some time with the parents. I hope I don't revert back to acting thirteen; there is a strong liklihood of brattiness ocurring.

I mentioned ska in a previous post and it totally made me seek out some for my ipod. I wish third-wave ska wasn't so faddish, because I miss it. Hammers introduced me to the Pietasters, who are the best of the best. (More info on the band).

THe Pietasters- Willis [ get ]

So with the X-men post, some people have sent me some more stuff.

Wonder Woman is a lesbian. And this comes as a suprise? This is about as shocking as when Michael Stipe came out. 

This isn't the last x-Men movie. No kidding. Anything can continue when a paycheck is involved. 

A gay analysis. 

Finally, I joked that slash fiction writers were in heaven over these movies. Apparently, I was right. How can people actually write this stuff and think it is good? Just so you know, I didn't find that site. A certain co-worker sent it to me.

So this is why I have given up on watching The Real World. That disgusting hateful boy Tyler declared "operation bitch takedown" on an annoying but harmless roommate and gathered up some of the others to start a burn book about her. He does not make the gays look good. What a sad, sad, man who obviously has a deep hatred for women. And then our old anorexic friend Paula who goes ballistic because the producers will not let her boyfriend stay over the house because there is a restraining order against him. Watching this show has gone from guilty pleasure to making me feel absolutely hopeless for the youth of today.

In other quality MTV programming news, The Hills starts tomorrow. It is a spin-off of Laguna Beach where one of the blonds (still can't tell them apart) is an intern for Teen Vogue in LA. Wow, life is haaaaard. It will be amazing. And by amazing I mean as much as a train wreck as Laguna. I am not one to talk beacuse whenever the show is on I stop like a deer in headlights. There was a marathon on when I was sick and I (again) got sucked in for at least an hour. Anyway, the NYTimes seems to be treating it as Emmy worthy…

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Camera Obscura is a band I loathed for a while, but now I lurve them. I guess you would call it mellow-indie-country-pop? You know I can't categorize things. They are what Belle and Sebastian try to be, but good.

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of the Country [ get ]

The author or the incredibely awesome Hipster Handbook, has a new book out that looks equally funny/awesome, called The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right, with an equally fun site.

Oh no, the cuteness is too much. A woman has started the New York Hamster Shelter for wayward hamsters.

Speaking of X-men, I came across this interesting piece on how comic books are (finally) featuring non-white and non-white characters. Which is interesting, because a lot of comics are allegories for oppression and current politics. X-men are "mutants" cast out by their families, with others afraid to have them around their kids? Sounds familiar. And yay for the Jewish character. Although ironic that his power is to manipulate metals- are they saying that he is good with money? As with sci-fi, I only enjoy it if it is realistic or makes sense in the context that it presents. Having new villains and powers pop up as it goes along is annoying. That is why I prefer Batman Returns to the originals, because it is actually realisitic as opposed to all the silly villains, same with Spiderman; it's too frustrating.

I'd love to somehow get more into the original X-men, but the comic book world is a whole universe that I wouldn't even know how to break into. I'll just wait for the movies. According to IMDB, Wolverine and Magneto are getting their own movies. Wtf? Didn't Catwoman  and Elektra teach anybody anything? Sometimes it is good to stop at a good thing, despite the temptation to make money. 

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Here are some downloads that some of you have requested.

Mate of State- Bring It Back. Remember that skit on Saturday Night Live about the dorky married music teachers? This is what they would sound like if they were hipsters. [ get ] 

The Appleseed Cast- Peregrine  [ get ]. Sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel, maybe even better.

Marcy Playground- MP3[ get ] They had that hit "Sex and Candy" but they are so much better than that one song. I wish they weren't known for that.

Reel Big Fish- Viva La Internet [ get ]. Remember third wave ska? And when ska was trendy (Mighty Mighty Bosstones, early No Doubt, etc.)? I miss that. This is a collection of covers and rarities from the band. "Take on Me" is especially noteworthy. And the offer still stands, for anyone that wants to start a ska band, count me in.

Being sick = odd dreams. Some friends and I, in two cars,  were driving back from somewhere on a deserted road when we came upon another group of people whose truck had broke down. They ended up holding us at gunpoint and stealing one of our cars. Right when it happened a whole police force, complete with riot gear and tear gas, arrived immediately. Seriously, where were they then the original car brokedown? Somehow, in all the confusion, my friends and I got arrested for the crime (?). We all had a trial and somehow, the rule was, the closer you were found standing to a certain point, the guiltier you were. I went into the woods to pee so I was not as guilty as others. Five of my friends got a prison sentence, and the rest of us had some sort of work release program where we had to attend career skills classes or something. So my class was taking a field trip and learned about using computers, and we had to navigate through this multimedia presentation that my friends in prison put together. It had video clips and pictures of all the stuff they were doing in prison to keep themselves occupied, including choreographed dances and one act plays. After seeing the clips, I realized how much fun they were having and I was mad that I hadn't been sentenced to prison. I spent a lot of effort and tears convincing everyone around me that I was really guilty and I deserved to be with them, but no one would listen and in fact they reduced my sentence. The nerve!  The weird thing is this was one of the first dreams in a while where I actually was myself, which rarely happens.

How to interpret it? Oh, the psychoanalysis I could do on this one. Don't get me started. 

I am still undecided about how I feel about labratory-grown meat. Sure, it is not killing any animals, but is it one of those messing-with-science-in-a-mad-scientist sort of way? Also, does that mean vegans will start to eat lab-grown meat? To me, it is almost freakier to eat than actual animals. Below the cut is the insightful opinion piece that made me think of it in the first place.

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I’m sick again. Just a bad cold. What is it about being sick that makes life just that much more crappy? It amplifies all the other things going wrong with your life. Maybe because I have time to sit around thinking about it. Well, at least I ruled out rabies. My throat hasn’t closed up, so I think I’m in the clear. [I was paranoid that I was bitten by something while I slept at the beach house earlier this week. Yes, I am a paranoid idiot.]

Plus, even more time to absorb shitty pop culture. Today I caught the movie Only You, with Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. Now, if you have seen this, you know how amazingly stupid/amazing it is. I also rewatched Labyrinth for the first time in like eight years. I never realized that the tightness of David Bowie’s pants make me kind of uncomfortable. And how he was in love with Jennifer Connelly? Wasn’t she supposed to be only fifteen or something? Finally, I started watching the first x-Men and I’ve pretty much decided that it is pretty fucking awesome. I’ll watch the second one tomorrow and then probably see X3 at the theater sometime this week. Again, I’ve jumped on a bandwagon a bit too late.

I made about $200 selling some dvds and books on half.com. It's quite liberating, being able to get rid of more material possessions as well as making money. I don't know why I hadn't done this earlier. And I feel like I am doing a service, right? Instead of just selling it to some random music store, I am helping someone else get something they want. If another pathetic soul out there gets some joy from getting Roswell the complete First Season, then I have made someone else happy. (Don't worry, I made copies to keep for myself).

Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?

Just kidding.

Really, what I want to know is: how to do you feel when strangers try to make conversations with you? I am talking about just small talk in a store or in line at the post office.  Not as in hitting on someone. When you know the conversation will go nowhere and it is pointless. Do you indulge them? Or do you answer politely and not engage? Or do you make a new best friend? I am curious because this happens a lot and I have no time for small talk bullcrap, I hate it. And I feel like an asshole when I end the convo. 

I despsise American Idol. It's not real singing. It's people imitating what they think singing should be. Plus, it is fucking boring. I usually ignore everything that has to do with it, but one of my favorite blogs had some good things to say about it, which was reminiscent of some recent thoughts that I had.

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Kirsten Dunst on the red carpet with a mouth of baby corn. I had been calling them chicklets, but I like that insult better.

I finally got my hands on JPod, and it is one of those books where I only want to read one paragraph and put it down because I want to draw it out and make it last. It’s like my prayers have been answered. It is like a remake of Microserfs, updated to reflect today’s technology and culture and an added surrealism in the plot. My heart is bursting at the pure genius of it.

Douglas Coupland is pure genius. Total fact. If you haven’t read any of his books, you must start now. Not only is he a fantastic author, but also an amazing artist of graphic design and text and pop art, as you can see in the promotional site for the book. Here is my ranking of his fiction in order from favorite to least favorite.

Microserfs/JPod

Eleanor Rigby

Generation X

Hey Nostrodamus

Shampoo Planet

All Families Are Psychotic

Life After God

Miss Wyoming

Now get reading!

I forgot that they were making a movie of this…Perfume: The Story of a Murderer was one of the best books I have ever read. It turned me on to historical fiction. THe movie looks good, and in the spirit of the book. Here’s a fantastic trailer, but in German. The lead playing Jean-Baptsite Grenouille is a good choice.

Also, a teaser trailer, a bit less exciting.

Ok, so just a heads up this is another Battlestar related post. I'll create a new category so for those of you that give two fucks you can skip right over it. Now, I have just broken into the surface of sci-fi geekdom lately, but comic book culture is something I am still a stranger to. However, I can't help but notice what crowd they are obviously larketed to: hypersexualized repressed men and gay men. Why are the women's breasts so ginoumous? Seriously, Starbuck could not feasable fly a vipor with those things. Lee Adama's neck has a circumfrence of about three feet. Seriously, it's like a study of evolutionary psychology of mating.

Sorry, I didn't know there was a storyline about Caprica Six's trip to the gynecologist. Seriously people.

found here and here

I couldn't help but not post this. Apparently a gay rugby tournament is being held in New York City. Once again, realizing I live in the suburbs is like rubbing lemon juice in my paper cut. Friends in New York City, I expect you to perv out as much as you can. Here's some samples.

omg omg omg omg. How amazing does this new Michel Gondry movie with Jack Black sound?

Written by Gondry, the film will follow a junkyard worker (Black) who is convinced that a local power plant is gaining influence over his brain. When he attempts to sabotage the plant, the resulting magnetic field erases all the tapes in the video store where his best friend works.

fraid that the mishap will cost the friend his job, the two become determined to maintain the membership of a little old lady who is the store's only loyal customer. Enlisting the help of anyone they can find, the group sets out to re-enact every movie that she decides to rent — including "Robocop," "The Lion King" and "Back to the Future" — filming each one themselves and passing it off to her as the original version.

The bad news? It also stars Kirsten Dunst.

Here's an interesting piece on companies blogging practices. It was a good reminder to me and reassurance that I try as hard as I can not to talk about work on here (which is hard, because it is basically 95% of my life right now). Your ass could get fired, but if so, you could gwt a book deal out of it. Nice enabling and mixed messages.

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So how the hell do some movies get made? How can some filmmakers sit back and see the finished product and fall asleep at night? Case in point, Waiting. Nonexistent plot, homophobic, sophomoric jokes without irony. Good times. And it's a damn shame, because both Ryan Reynolds and Dane Cook can be funny. There's 90 minutes of my life I will not get back.

So remember when I said I loved hotels? Well I have been displaced through the weekend at one becase of stuff going on in my building. I am at this decked out Marriott, but of course I would love nothing more than to be relaxing in my own house. I’ve actually barely been home all week. Earlier in the week I was at a retreat which I thought was going to be annoying and ill-timed, but it was at this awesome house by the beach, and I got to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean, which was heaven. I’m not naturey or anything, but it was just what I needed. Although now I have gotten it in my head that something bit me in my sleep and now I have extreme hydrophobia. Good times.