metropolitan hotel and other stuff

tonight i spent some more time playing with that photo editing software that i got a few weeks ago. i randomly decided to use my pictures from the metropolitan hotel in asbury park, nj. that, of course, led me to blogs and photos and bla bla bla until i ran across this person on flickr. i urge you to check out his collection abandoned but not lost. he goes around to creepy rundown institutions and takes pictures inside them. he has taken some truly amazing photos and some frightfully haunting ones as well. the developmental hospital for children and darkstone psychiatric hospital probably creeped me out the most.

anyway, in my quest for information about the metropolitan hotel i discovered that it was demolished a couple of months ago. the blog that i linked above has all the details about the building's history. i've only been to asbury park once, and we weren't even there for that long, but it was long enough to figure out that it's a sad, sad place.

i uploaded some of my "work" to a flickr set earlier. it's certainly not anything too exciting. it's weird, some of those pictures would look totally normal to me if i didn't know they had been altered. i have such a hard time when it comes to messing around with photos like that because i can never make up my mind about what looks best. i think that's why i normally just post pictures as they are. there are too many choices in that editing software!

i do really like how this bubble turned out on this particular shot though (click on it for a larger view):

i need a kamera to my eye

it's almost official. i am buying a canon digital rebel xti! i am buying it with my economic stimulus monies. i mean, that's what they want us to do with it anyway, right? most people are probably buying iphones with theirs. my parents are getting the septic tank emptied. oh the responsibilities of adulthood.

however, i have a dilemma. do i get the camera in black or silver??


i know those cameras aren't the same but i just posted the silver one so everyone could see what it would look like. the actual camera that i am getting is the first picture (although they look exactly the same, they're somehow different). anyway, i guess it doesn't really matter but i need to make a decision. i still have a while...i think i'm getting the money in about a week. rachel thinks i should get it in silver because it matches the silver eyeshadow i always wear. haha! i mean, if i can't think of a good reason to pick one or the other, matching my eyeshadow seems like as good of a reason as any!

so, uh, yeah...does anyone have any suggestions as far as black or silver? good reasons, maybe?

bone maaaarrow

pretty much everyone knows that i had a bone marrow biopsy done back in february. i would venture to say that it was the least pleasant experience of my entire life. (eww side note: i just did a google image search for "bone marrow biopsy" and now i literally feel like i am going to barf. also, i had run across these before but had blocked it out of my mind...there are videos of bone marrow biopsies on youtube. WTF??)

for anyone who is wondering, the "site" where the needle went in still isn't all the way healed. weird, right? i guess it's weird, i don't know. i don't know what it is supposed to look like. i do know that it started hurting again last week and hasn't stopped. lame. i have an appointment with my oncologist in a few weeks so i guess if it's still hurting by then i'll ask her what's up. if it starts hurting worse than it does now i'm going to have to call and whine about it. what if it never stops hurting?? i'm scared i got a botched job or something since i went to that chop-shop brackenridge. most disgusting hospital EVER.

completely unrelated! on last.fm this week i had a 3-way tie for most listened to artist: joseph arthur and the lonely astronauts, the brendan hines, and mgmt. i don't know if i've ever had a tie before, let alone a 3-way tie.

noooooo!

i literally want to cry:

posada headed to disabled list

noooo! not my beloved jorge! this is devastating :(

who doesn't like to watch something fantastical?

i now own something that was originally aired on the sci-fi channel. there, i said it. i was at target earlier picking up some pictures that i had printed from my flickr account when i decided to head to the dvd section. i'm a weak person. i walked past the tin man dvd and decided i had to have it. i didn't watch it when it originally aired but i knew i would love it. and i figured that spending $20 on something that would keep me home on a saturday night wasn't such a bad thing. if i had gone out tonight i would have definitely spent more than $20.

i love zooey deschanel. love love love. and kathleen robertson? clare arnold from 90210? hello! i'm not really a huge fan of alan cumming but i enjoyed him in this. he actually kind of reminded me of johnny depp in charlie and the chocolate factory. the production value of this mini series must have been pretty high. everything is absolutely stunning! very aesthetically pleasing. i guess i'm kind of a dork for stuff like this seeing as i watched the wizard of oz and return to oz each about a million times when i was little. i now own both of those movies on dvd. i would say i watch return to oz more often than the wizard of oz but they both get a decent amount of play considering i have a rather extensive dvd collection.

so what this all boils down to is that i highly recommend tin man. buy it, rent it, whatever! just watch it. i think it comes in at just under 5 hours so unless you're a complete loser like me, it doesn't necessarily need to be viewed all in one sitting.

worst venue in america

okay, i haven't been to every venue in america but i've been to my fair share. i was just reminiscing about 2007 and i started thinking about what a shitty, shitty place the starland ballroom in sayerville, nj is. i went up to philadeplhia to visit brynn and bri and see ben kweller with guster last july. at the last minute, brynn and i decided to go to the sayerville show as well (barb and kristin were already going so that was an added bonus for us). i spent quite a bit of time on the starland ballroom's website trying to figure out if the it was an indoor or outdoor venue. i figured with the name "ballroom" it was indoor but a lot of the pictures looked outdoor. fyi: it was indoor.

the best part about the "trip" to new jersey was stuff yer face in new brunswick. i can't recall much about the food, but i really liked the entire atmosphere of the place. and of course, the name. apparently chef mario batali used to wash dishes there back in the day. you know, before he became a chef.

anyway, back to the shitty ballroom. i don't know how many people the place holds but we got there after doors opened, i believe, and had to wait in the LONGEST line ever. it weaved in and out of the aisles in the parking lot. i started to get concerned that we were at a dave matthews concert that i didn't know about. the inside looked like a roller rink. hideous. and, it was one of those swell places where you can't have booze "on the floor". i don't know if that is a new jersey law or not. i've encountered that in washington and oregon so i'm no stranger to it. it's still tough for me to wrap my head around since i'm from texas, there are no such laws or rules here. hell, passengers could drink in the car here until just a few years ago!

so during ben kweller we were in the back by the bar because we wanted to pound some drinks before guster. i was behind two of the most annoying girls EVER. they were chit-chatting so loudly that i had to tell them that i, in fact, had not paid x amount of dollars to listen to them flap their traps. so they moved. i normally try to be really nice at concerts because nobody needs the bad juju, but they were really on my nerves. it was still super noisy back there, apparently no one in new jersey likes ben kweller. or if they do, they're 15 and can't stand back by the bar anyway.

it was ungodly crowded. (i just looked at their website to see if they list the venue capacity and this is what i found in the FAQ section: Q: How many people will be at this concert I'm going to? A: It depends on how many tickets sell. Starland's capacity is expandable depending on the show, ticket demand, etc. Some shows may be more populated than others, though it's Starland's goal to consistently provide a comfortable concert experience. wtf? comfortable concert experience? BULLSHIT.) before guster went on we ventured into the crowd. we finally ended up towards the left side of the stage where it was most bearable. the whole place was still a hot mess though. i can't really pinpoint exactly what i hated about it, i think it was just a little of everything. the only redeeming quality were the restrooms in the back. it was like a movie theater, stalls galore, it was also clean and well air conditioned. but really, nice bathrooms aren't enough for me. i don't spend enough time in the bathroom at a show for that to really make a difference. also, i've endured enough disgusting restrooms in my time that i'm pretty used to having to squat it out. hence the ol' saying, "when in doubt, squat it out."

so the starland ballroom gets my vote for worst venue i've ever been to. honorable mention goes to the place in portland where we saw gomez last year. only because they herd all the drinkers up onto a rickety balcony while the kids get the entire floor. bullshit. i wish i could remember what that place was called...

oh edit! i found it. it was the roseland theater. their redeeming quality was that their security guards didn't give a shit about anything.

late night

jimmy fallon to replace conan on late night in 2009

if you clicky that link, you'll find out (if you didn't already know) that conan o'brien is replacing jay leno in 2009. so nbc went on the hunt for someone to replace conan in the later slot. and they picked jimmy fallon. well, at least it's not carson daly. i've always had mixed feelings about jimmy fallon. sometimes, i find him to be hilarious. other times, he might as well be carson daly. one thing's for sure though, i like this better than drew carey replacing bob barker on the price is right.

ps-dudes, click the ads on the right side of this blog. apparently i can make money for hosting ads but people have to CLICK them! come on! i'll send you a nickle one of these days!

muxtape

in my browser's bookmarks, i have a folder named "links for blogging" so when i find something that i want to blog about at a later time, i add it to that folder. i have had muxtape in that folder for weeks now. since around the time i started this damn blog. muxtape is a site where you upload songs (in mp3 format only, kids!) to create a mix that can be shared with anyone. once your mix is made, you send the link on to your friends and they can listen to your mix from any computer (assuming they're not accessing the internet somewhere that might block the website).

i made two muxtapes today. dana liked the spring mix that i made last night and asked me to make a muxtape for her to listen to while she studies. it's mostly the same as the mix i made last night but i was only allowed to use 12 songs and my mix was 16. then i decided to make another one of artists that i like covering songs that i like.

muxtape 1
muxtape 2

enjoy!

haiku 2.0

after i made my mix cd, i wrote down a bunch of the words from the song titles used on the mix and made these two haiku:

demands weekend not
cigarettes euphoria
comma pretend what

up floor sunshine dance
sea lion king jigsaw la
test to wedding bands

someone needs to go to bed!!

garth, that was a haiku.

so i found this haiku generator and i plugged this blog's info into it and these are some of the things it came up with:

this text from carlos
jorge from the kosher deli
in sf and pita

it across the room
because it was such a piece
of art in the world

hot is supposed
to mean second of all the
people who have i

screen because i can
take comfort in knowing that
if i can catch some

it for a blue shirt
to help me put my own shit
into perspective

i'm tired of gibbs
and all the people who are
unavailable

hot chip would like to
try all of them were sort of
god oh i take that

i used custom
time on this one yeah that's
efren ramirez

pleasant and nice to
catch at least one of those blogs
have a good time at

not fair not fair not
fair i've got nothing that sign
says warning stay back

haha some of those are really amusing! i think the last two are my favorites. also, i've made a springtime mix that will likely turn into my summertime mix, unless something great comes into my life to prompt me to make another mix.

1. saul williams-list of demands
2. mgmt-weekend wars
3. she & him-this is not a test
4. band of horses-cigarettes, wedding bands
5. old man river-la
6. joseph arthur-radio euphoria
7. vampire weekend-oxford comma
8. mgmt-time to pretend
9. the brendan hines-guess what
10. rilo kiley-breakin' up
11. hot chip-ready for the floor
12. old man river-sunshine
13. feist-sea lion woman (chromeo remix)
14. justice-d.a.n.c.e.
15. joseph arthur-king of the pavement
16. radiohead-jigsaw falling into place

there were other songs i wanted to put on it but i already have memories with those other songs. i need to make new memories with new music. a couple of these already remind me of sxsw but i think they need to stick around longer. i don't know if you guys realize how important it is for me to be able to hear a song and immediately have a memory (good or bad) come to mind. i love it so much.

wah!

it literally takes me hours to fall asleep. hours. i try so hard not to take ambien or other sleep aides but sometimes (read: most of the time) it's my only option. i could probably stay up all night just laying in bed in dark silence. distractions or not, i cannot fucking sleep. i am going crazy.

i've tried these suggestions and they don't work. boo-hoo :(

JAh

i am a fan of joseph arthur. i am. but i am starting to realize that some people really think the sun shines out of that guy's ass. he is constantly working on something, which i think is awesome, but i don't have to love everything that he does. but i'm discovering people online (message boards! eek!) that would probably buy (and love) a pile of shit if they thought it was his (especially if the order included an "art print"). i'm not necessarily saying that i think any of the music or art or poetry that he has produced should be compared to a pile of shit, but you know, not everything is the most wonderful, spectacular, mind-blowing piece of art in the world.

take for example joe's new blog, bag is hot. first of all, maybe i'm missing something, but i don't understand what the fuck "bag is hot" is supposed to mean. second of all, i'm not that thrilled by the content. it's cool, but mostly i just don't get it. but i am reading things like, "I am speechless with wonderment (good word and apt) at everything Jo (and his organisation) is doing just now. It just blows me away completely and I fall down in admiration, awe and moaning pleasure noises." and i wonder why i don't feel the same way.

are all these people actually seeing or hearing something that i'm not? or are they forcing themselves to connect with a piece of art because they love its creator? i guess i've never been like that. i can fully accept when an artist that i love makes something i am not wild about (see 50% of the songs on the gomez album "how we operate"). i've never blindly followed anything (except for maybe a couple of boys that had a shitload of charisma. i was young and stupid).

i wish i could find the blog or interview that i read this on, but once upon a time i read that someone told joseph arthur, "i listened to your new cd once and then i threw it across the room because it was such a piece of shit." and joe's response was one of delight. he basically said, "good. i don't make my music for everyone to love. if it evokes any kind of reaction, good or bad, then i've done what i set out to do." so at least i can take comfort in knowing that if i ever voice these feelings to joseph, he won't be offended.

also, these joseph arthur tour dates were just announced:

2008-07-09 Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
2008-07-10 World Café Live, Philadelphia, PA
2008-07-11 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY (with band)
2008-07-12 Maxwell’s, Hoboken, NJ
2008-07-15 Troubadour, L.A., CA
2008-07-18 Great American Music Hall, S.F., CA

i'm sure he'll make his way back to austin at some point but i'm going to try to hit those east coast shows. i know brynn and bri will be there and i haven't seen them in FOREVER. i hope that we can be reunited before july but who knows. now gomez just needs to announce an actual tour, not these stupid festivals and dave matthews shows.

i know things

just the other day i was telling someone, i have no idea who (maybe my sister?), that i thought jenny lewis and m. ward would play some sort of side/after show during ACL since they're both going to be here. i was just perusing pollstar (looking for hot summer concerts, of which there are, like, none) and saw that they are doing a taping of austin city limits together on september 26. i would imagine that they'll both play separate sets but sit in on a couple of songs for each other. i'm also not going to rule out a possible show at the parish or something.

also, pollstar lists that conor oberst will do a taping the following day, september 27. i would definitely like to try to go to both of those. i am excited about the actual possibility of going to tapings that weekend because i've never had time in previous years, what with spending ALL my time at the stupid festival.

payin' it forward

this is a video of a man, peter nevland (who, from what i can gather thanks to the interwebs, is a slam poet), trying to give away $200 in $1 bills at a busy intersection here in austin. i'm pretty sure it's 360 and mopac. anyway, apparently "lobo", the homeless man that he gave $100, turned around and gave most of it away to more deserving homeless people.



i keep trying to figure out if i would have taken the money or not. on the one hand, i'm a broke ass ho. on the other hand, don't we always think there is a catch? i know i do. i've never been very good at hypotheticals though. i actually have to be in the situation, i can't speculate. how about you guys? would you have taken the money? i mean, it was only a buck or two.

hodge podge 2

dana finally posted pictures from the past couple of months. many of those pictures contain a high amount of ridiculousness but nothing compares to this one:


yeah, that's efren ramirez. it all seemed a whole lot funnier at the time but that was after several mojitos gratis. by the by, i know nothing about spanish and i'm not even sure if that is the correct way to say "free mojitos". also, my use of spanish has nothing to do with the subject of that photograph, i just really like the word "gratis".

here's an amusing way to waste a few seconds:


Created by OnePlusYou

as i have previously mentioned, buddy is hitting the uk opening some shows for ben ottewell. i don't know if i have the right words to express my absolute love and adoration for this graphic. if you are at all familiar with his website, you'll know why it's so fabulous!


which reminds me, buddy should totes do a black cab session while he's over there. i love those!

on friday night my sister and her husband went to see forgetting sarah marshall. i think my sister's take was that it could have been funnier, but it was good. they saw the trailer for pineapple express, which looks completely awesome.



i have disliked james franco since i saw him in whatever it takes, like, 8 years ago. i know, i know, i'm a loser. however, the only other movies i've seen him in are the spider-man series and he's not so fabulous there either. anyway, for once i am excited about a movie staring james franco!

and quickly, before i hit the hay, i will leave you with this most delicious video of joseph arthur playing "a smile that explodes" in his hotel room during sxsw. there are 7 or so videos of him "rehearsing" songs in the hotel room. hot? yes, indeed.

nomad

we went to nomad bar tonight for alison and alanna's birthday. i had never been there before but i quite liked it. i also enjoyed that yelp.com was there giving away free booze: rain vodka and sparkling sake (supplied by the ever beautiful and classy erika elliott). i give the sake 2 thumbs up! the vodka...tasted like rubbing alcohol. i had it with tonic and erin had it with water. we both ended up abandoning the drinks but i heard it wasn't bad with orange juice. as far as the sake goes, i highly recommend the ginger magno. it was absolutely delicious.

now i am home. i posted some pictures on facebook and now i'm reading austinist. and to tell you what a huge baseball junkie i am, i read this headline, "CWS and STL Reach Agreement to Extend Trail" and thought, "chicago white sox and st. louis reach agreement..." it didn't make any sense because a) it's austinist and those teams have nothing to do with austin. b) those teams aren't even in the same league so what kind of agreement could they be reaching? and c) trail? what? then i read the headline again and decided that those initials must stand for something other than baseball teams. what a dork. incidentally, dana told me that every time she sees "CWS" in reference to the baseball team, she thinks, "chews."

tonight i shall leave you with this fabulous picture that i took of alison as she was bent over laughing. it looks like a baby in a stroller took it.

dear diary,

this is probably going to feel a bit like a diary entry because i have a lot of random goings on to discuss.

let's start with robin's birthday. the party at amber and lolo's went better than any of us could have expected! there were so many wonderful faces to see. it was wonderful! and, miraculously, most of us made it down to beauty bar before midnight. it's all a bit fuzzy but there are pictures to prove that it was just as much fun as i think i remember it being :)

sunday was a long day of doing nothing. i had the beginnings of a migraine, mixed with a hangover, so i pretty much wanted to die. but it was all worth it because i had a marvelous weekend.

monday i went to see smart people with zach. it was very blah. the cast was great, duh, but the storyline was very flat and the ending left just about EVERYTHING to be desired. so, in short, i do not recommend it and i'm glad that we went to a matinée showing. after the movie we had coffee and played uno outside of starbucks for a little while. it was very pleasant and nice to catch up with my old roomie. after he left to spend time with his dad i went over to josh's to be bored to death. finally casey came over and we went to spiderhouse for a couple of drinks. i always wish i could be one of the people that gets to overhear our conversations because i'm sure they're fascinating to strangers.

tuesday was feist at stubb's! dana and i headed to jaime's around 6:00 and stayed there until about 8:45 before rushing over to the show. oh jaime's. their margaritas hurt so good. they have a huge pitcher of patron margaritas on the rocks for like $30, and it's $26 during happy hour. normally, we get a pitcher like that if we have 4 or 5 people but we decided to get one just for the 2 of us anyway. yoooowzas. the show itself was great, i can't remember every song that was played but we did a lot of dancing and laughing and self portrait taking. it was great! you've heard how the feist night ends so there's no need to go into that again.

yesterday i stayed home all day until it was time to go to pluckers for trivia. it wasn't our best night but we ended up winning anyway. the finals are on april 30. my sister is due on may 1 so let's hope that a) she doesn't have the baby before april 30 and that b) she's not bed-ridden or something. the prize for this round is actually really good! we get to take our whole team to a round rock express game to watch from one of the boxes with free beer and food. it sounds way better than the super bowl party that we won! which was still fun but...you know.

today i had horrible horrible horrible allergies i didn't do a thing until about 4:00 when i decided to go buy some allergy medicine. and that's pretty much it. i also got a mothers' day card for my mom and for my sister, since she's having her baby right before mothers' day! how exciting, her first mothers' day is right after the baby is born!

speaking of cards, i would like to encourage any of you that might read this blog to check out this facebook group. if you have a moment, please drop a get well card in the mail for bette. it would mean a lot to her, which in turn means a lot to kerry, which in turn means a lot to me. she needs all the positive thoughts and wishes she can get right now!

and i would also like to remind you all how fantastic it would be if you could make a donation to the avon walk for breast cancer that my friend tanya is participating in. please see this post for more information. thanks guys! seriously, it would really mean a ton to me if you could make any sort of donation. large or small! it doesn't matter! this is one of those cases where it's true to say "size doesn't matter!"

and now i'm going to watch drop dead gorgeous and let my ambien cr kick in. i really think this is the best role kirsten dunst has ever played!

envy!

i just got this text from carlos:

Jorge (from the bench) and 9 dollar beers say hi


jorge isn't actually on the bench, he's just DHing because of his sore shoulder. whatevs. anyway, i'm super jealous that carlos is there. however, this game is starting to suck so i don't think i'd be having a great time if i was there anyway!

it looks like carlos has some pretty nice seats though!

weak lineup

alright, i finally have some time so sit down and discuss the 2008 acl fest lineup. this could get long, and boring. i'm not going to make a comment about every artist on the lineup, but there will be quite a few.

Foo Fighters (bor-ing!)
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (not worth $170)
Beck (hit or miss)
Manu Chao
John Fogerty (hahaha)
David Byrne (fucking weirdo live)
The Raconteurs (playing TWO nights at stubb's in a couple of weeks)
The Mars Volta (played at stubb's last week)
Gnarls Barkley
Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band (would like to see him in a non-festival setting)
N.E.R.D. (here for sxsw)
Erykah Badu
Robert Earl Keen
Patty Griffin
Tegan & Sara
Iron & Wine (wouldn't mind seeing again)
G. Love & Special Sauce
Neko Case
Band Of Horses (would like to see)
The Swell Season
Silversun Pickups
Gogol Bordello (here on march 17)
Gillian Welch
Eli Young Band
The Black Keys (here for sxsw)
Against Me!
Jakob Dylan And The Gold Mountain Rebels
Okkervil River
Galactic
Kevin Fowler
Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings
Hot Chip (would like to see)
Vampire Weekend (here for sxsw)
Slightly Stoopid
Duffy Alejandro Escovedo
Roky Erikson
Yonder Mountain String Band
Spiritualized
Flyleaf
Drive-By Truckers
Ingrid Michaelson (here for sxsw)
Stars (would like to see again)
Jose Gonzalez
CSS
Del The Funky Homosapien
Man Man (here for sxsw and again on april 30)
Jamie Lidell
MGMT (here for sxsw and in february)
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Jenny Lewis (would like to see again)
M. Ward (would like to see again)
Asleep At The Wheel
Mason Jennings
Heartless Bastards
Antibalas
The Nachito Herrera All-Stars
Shooter Jennings
Xavier Rudd (would like to see again)
Yeasayer (here for sxsw and again april 30)
Octopus Project
Joe Bonamassa
The Kills (here for sxsw and again may 24)
White Denim
Louis XIV
Delta Spirit
Mates Of State (would like to see again)
Nicole Atkins & The Sea
Electric Touch
Black Joe Lewis & The Honey Bears (love love love but they play ALL the time)
Black Door Slam
Tristan Prettyman
The Strange Boys
Ryan Bingham
Scott Biram
Freddy Jones
Colour Revolt
Five Times August
Langhorne Slim
Sybris
Eli "Paper Boy" Reed And The True Loves
Bavu Blakes And The Extra Plairs
AA Bondy
Christopher Denny
Mike Farris
The Lee Boys
South Austin Jug Band
American Bang
Bobby Bare, Jr.
Massacoustics
Belleville Outfit
We Go To 11
Band Of Heathens
City And Colour
Sunny Sweeney
Elizabeth Wills
Autamata
Bonnie Bishop
Ben Solee
Ben Cylus
The Concert Supremes
River City Christionettes
Shields Of Faith
The Jones Family Singers
Nakia And His Southern Cousins
Brotherly Luv
The Hensley Ensemble
School Of Rock
Jambo
Q Brothers
Buck Howdy With BB
Uncle Rock
Big Don
Mr. Ray
The Jimmies

not to mention all the local acts. i know that this festival isn't just for austin residents but it's still annoying. and i think it is lame and cheesy to book several of the same acts that were here for sxsw. also, i find it very odd that this festival is produced by the same people that put on lollapalooza, and that lineup is way better. granted, it's still kind of "eh" because it's pretty much every band that's every played a festival before but at least they have legitimate headliners. i was pretty sure i wasn't going to go this year before the lineup came out and now i'm glad to know that i won't really be missing anything. i'm gonna save my money and go to after shows. and maybe, for once, i'll have time to try to get into an acl taping.

i feel it all

i'm super exhausted but i wanted to make a quick post about the feist show. i've been waiting about 2 years to see her live and i finally got the chance. i may or may not have had a little bit too much to drink at jaime's before the show but that doesn't matter. what does matter is that the show was fabulous and dana and i had a really great time.

and we met feist. and she absolutely loved us. i'm pretty sure she wants to be bffs with us. i love canadians.

this boat is obviously sinking!

okay, i know it's only april 14 but let's look at the people who are unavailable, or soon to be, to play for the yankees:

joba chamberlain (his father is sick and he's gone back home to be with him)
jorge posada (catcher)
jose molina (back-up catcher!)
derek jeter (he could be back in the line-up today)
alex rodriguez (his wifey is about to have another baby so he'll need to take a couple of days off to be with her)

they've called up another catcher from triple-a but um, this is a problem. they've been in a bit of an offensive slump lately anyway, and now i'm afraid it's only going to get worse. but it's so early in the season. it could be worse. they could be playing like the tigers.

creeps

more to come on the rest of the weekend later. but is that not the creepiest shit you've ever seen? wtf? i am a cyclops!!

preparation for festivities

it's officially robin's birthday. we're having a small gathering at amber and lolo's then heading downtown. we had thrown around the idea of doing a bbq but we're all pretty broke and bbqs can get expensive so we opted not to do that. sarah is making some buffalo chicken dip, i'm not sure what it entails but apparently it's horrible for you. haha!

i decided to make something that i wouldn't eat, but i know other people will enjoy. cherry tomatoes stuffed with ranch dip, chives, and bacon. it's a variation on a bite-sized blt. the original recipe called for mayonnaise and i thought that sounded really disgusting. so while i was shopping for the other ingredients i ran across some ranch dip and thought that sounded much better. i also got some hummus (the brand that josh always buys from the kosher deli in SF!) and pita chips. i walked around HEB for like 10 minutes looking for pita bread. seriously, looked ALL over the store. i finally found it and the selection was awful. it was all soggy and gross looking so i just went with the pita chips instead.

oh, kelly's first night was fun! we went to happy hour at moonshine, then a trip to the liquor store, a stop at bender to do a shot, and then over to robin and greg's for some quality hangout time. neither kelly or i got carded at the liquor store which really bugged me. that's the second time now that that's happened to me. i'm not a fan. and now i'll leave you with this adorable picture of sarah and kelly from happy hour.

so jealous!

ben ottewell (of gomez) is doing a small solo tour of the UK and ireland in a few weeks. i am so envious of all the people that get to catch at least one of these shows. 1) ben is AWESOME. 2) he's probably going to play some of the new material that gomez has been working on for their upcoming album. 3) BUDDY is opening for him. OMGGGG!!

BEN OTTEWELL SOLO

• Mon May 12
  Dublin, IE

• CrawDaddy

  Buy Tickets Online
  Support: Buddy

• Tue May 13
  Birmingham, UK

• Birmingham Glee Club

  Buy Tickets Online
  Support: Buddy

• Wed May 14
  Bristol, UK

• Cube Cinema

  Buy Tickets Online
  Support: Buddy

• Thu May 15
  Brighton, UK

• The Great Escape Festival- Komedia Brighton

  Buy Tickets Online

• Sat May 17
  Nottingham, UK

• The Social

  Buy Tickets Online
  Support: Buddy

• Sun May 18
  Glasgow, UK

• Gilmorehill

  Tickets onsale through box office 0141 330 5522
  Support: Buddy

• Mon May 19
  Tyneside, UK

• The Sage Gateshead

  Tickets onsale through box office 0191 443 4661
  Support: Buddy

• Wed May 21
  London, UK

• The Borderline

  Buy Tickets Online
  Support: Buddy

• Thu May 22
  Norwich, UK

• Norwich Arts Centre

  Buy Tickets Online
  Support: Buddy

• Fri May 23
  Sheffield, UK

• Sheffield University Fusion

  Buy Tickets Online
  Support: Buddy

not fair not fair not fair!!

i've got nothing

that sign says "WARNING STAY BACK 300 FT NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR BROKEN WINDSHIELDS". every time i see those i think, "well if i can read this sign i'm obviously not back 300 feet."

moving on...

when you're unemployed "weekends" don't mean that much. the only difference is that all of your friends have a couple of days off as well. i look forward to the weekends but not as much as most people. however, i am REALLY looking forward to this weekend! and thankfully, it pretty much begins tomorrow. kelly is flying in around 5:00 and i'm sure happy hour activities will ensue shortly after. sam is also coming in tomorrow, but she's driving rather than flying. excited doesn't even begin to describe it. kelly AND sam in the same weekend? be still my heart.

and saturday is robin's birthday! yippeee! amber and lolo are being incredibly gracious and letting us party it up at their place for a few hours. then, hopefully, some of us will head to beauty bar (i swear i go to other bars but we've been going there a lot lately because there's been a lot of stuff happening there) to see car stereo (wars). i already wanted to go to that and robin mentioned wanting to go somewhere to dance so i was like, "DUH BEAUTY BAR CAR STEREO (WARS) LET'S DO IT!" just like that. i always have a good time at csw!

now, i'm going to try to scrounge up a sleeping pill so i can catch some zzzz's. my insomnia has gotten really bad lately. i was up until after 4:00am yesterday for no reason. i simply could not fall asleep. i think i'm out of ambien but i'm sure i can find something. if worse comes to worse i'll just take some benadryl.

p to the s-this is tomorrow! (well i guess technically tonight since it's after midnight but whaaaatever.)

photoimpact

so, i have a new photo editing program called photoimpact. i have no clue how to use it! for a few years, i mostly used paintshop pro for my editing needs. then i stopped fussing with it all together (which left me with lots of red eyes in my photos). last summer i started using picasa, which i think is great, especially for a free program! so far, with this new program, all i've learned is lighting effects. here is a sample of what i've done (i've used the same picture for consistency's sake):

not very exciting, is it? hopefully i'll learn to do something that's actually cool. not that this isn't cool:


but you know, i want to get my mom's money's worth :)

wear it proudly

my mom just came home and asked me to find ku championship t-shirts online. i immediately went to kuathletics.com and found a few different styles. all of them were sort of tacky except for one:

so i obviously wanted that one. then my dad said he did, then my mom said that she did. so i was forced to order the same shirt for all 3 of us. i told my mom that under no circumstances do i ever want to see more than one person wearing that shirt at a time.

FINALLY!

i pick kansas to win the ncaa tournament every year. and every year i really do think that they have a chance. this year, i wish i had bet actual money on my bracket because i would be rollin' in it right now. that was a hell of a game! for a second i started to think that memphis might win. but only for a second. i knew kansas could do it. i knew that they had the heart and drive to pull it off. i know that memphis wanted it as well, but kansas just wanted it a little bit more. oh how i wish i'd been there!

boy am i glad that memphis missed some of those FTs, otherwise this post would be completely different.

festival news

beloved local dj car stereo (wars) has been working with the acl fest to put together a mashup of 29 artists that are confirmed to play this year's festival. i guess this is like the "scavenger hunt" and crossword puzzles they have done in the past. the official lineup comes out next tuesday.

thanks to the ears of austin, so far it looks like the following people will be playing the festival:

okkervil river
man man
silversun pickups
css
NERD
gnarls barkley
the raconteurs
MGMT
jamie lidell
eli reed
neko case
kate nash
hot chip
octopus project
del the funky homosapien
the heartless bastards
robert earl keen

i have no idea who the other 12 are. i also have no idea if i'm even going to go to the festival this year but i thought this mashup was a fun idea so i decided to share it.

in other festival news, lollapalooza has released their official lineup. there are no surprises there. it's pretty much every band that's ever played at a music festival before.

weekend update 1

i completely forgot that this weekend was texas relays. i was quickly reminded when EVERY exit on i-35 was closed and i had to cross the damn river before i was able to exit to head to casey's house (who lives off 7th street). so annoying.

we all enjoyed a couple of pre-drinks before heading down to see the ramonahs. if you visit their myspace and check out the album "debut show- pastime tavern" you'll get a good idea of what the show was like. we were all expecting real drag queens with makeup, fake nails, and ridiculous high heels. that was obviously not what we got, but it was still awesome. musically they sounded pretty much exactly like the ramones which isn't hard given that most ramones songs consist of about 3 chords. it was enjoyable and definitely worth the $3 cover.

i think i went to bed around 3:00 and woke up at 8:00. ick. i really require 8 hours of sleep each night. it took me a long time to get moving but i finally left the house sometime after 10:00 to head to my sister's baby shower. i was a shaky hot mess for most of the shower. sooooo hungover. not cool. the shower was fun though, we didn't have to play any stupid games which i was very happy about. and there was a lot of delightful food. mmm! after the shower some of us went to opal divine's for a couple of hours.

after lunch i came home for a nap. i totally crashed for a little while, then i had to head to my sister's for dinner and basketball. i have never been so nervous about a basketball game in my life. i was seriously concerned that unc (mostly that dipshit tyler hansbrough) were going to run all over my jayhawks. the game was alllll over the place! at one point kansas was leading by 28 points, then down to only 5 points, then back up to 18 at the end of the game. i was a nervous wreck when their lead got down to 5 points. i didn't know if i could watch the rest of the game but steve made me. i'm glad i did!

i really think that kansas stands a chance against memphis. especially if they were able to (mostly) dominate unc like they did. i can't wait until tomorrow night! i really wish i could go to the game. it's in san antonio...that's so close!

today i will be bumming around the house all day. that's what sundays were made for. there are lots of baseball games for me to watch today and i will be perfectly content lounging on the couch all day.

drinks

i had a new drink at opal divine's today. well, it was new to me. it's a martini called the pinky friedman (bahaha) and it contains tito's handmade vodka, paula's texas orange, fresh lime and pomegranate juice. delicious, delicious, delicious!

i finally tasted one of the signature drinks from beauty bar last night (i'm cheap and i just stick to vodka tonics almost every time i go out). the conditioner-vanilla stoli, ginger ale, and lime juice. soooo tasty! worth $9? yeah, if you only have one. i would like to go on a mission to try all of their signature drinks (which i will outline in a second) but i don't know that i want to spend $60 on a mission just to blog about. hehe!

okay, here are the other drinks (they're all pressed, martini style drinks):

• platinum blonde-p.i.n.k. vodka, malibu, pineapple juice

• blue rinse-blue-raspberry vodka, sweet & sour, chambord

• shampoo-jose cuervo, sweet & sour, triple sec, lime juice, chambord (okay, this one sounds disgusting to me because i hate tequila unless it's in a frozen beverage)

• prell-p.i.n.k. vodka, midori, pineapple juice (this one is most appealing to me. i loooooves me some midori)

• drop dead gorgeous-p.i.n.k. vodka, pineapple juice, rock star energy drink (holy hell...vodka infused with caffeine and guarana mixed with an energy drink??)
  

• p.i.n.k. blush-p.i.n.k. vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice, club soda

i am a huge fan of pineapple upside-down cake shots. HUGE fan. i've had them at several bars, including beauty bar, but last night i got a nasty one. if you clicked the link, you know that the ingredients are vanilla vodka (everyone uses stoli), pineapple juice, and grenadine. well, the shots we got last night also had kahlua in them. it was sooooo disgusting. ick.

when we were at opal divine's, erin and i were salivating in the general direction of key bar, thinking about the signature popsicle martini-vodka-infused fresh-squeezed juice finished with made-fresh raspberry, mint or pineapple-ginger popsicles. i still want one right now!

once again, i feel like i had one more component to add to this subject but i have forgotten it. my brain is not what it used to be.

a couple of things

tonight, i am going to this:



sooooo excited!

i got this e-card from a friend this morning:



hahahaha i don't know about pants-shitting. maybe pants-pissing. i've actually never pissed my pants while drunk but i know plenty of people who have. i always wonder what i would do in that situation. haha best not to think about it, right?

i am going to try to go to this tomorrow after my sister's baby shower (assuming i won't just want to come home and take a nap):



it's a keep austin beautiful event where you bring 5 plastic bags to be recycled and get a free reusable bag!

baseball tidbits 1

i put a "1" after the title because i can only assume that there will be many random baseball posts in this blog's future.

first thing's first. last season i purchased a membership with mlb.tv. for whatever reason, i told myself i didn't need to renew my membership this season. i have no earthly idea what i was thinking. why wouldn't i renew my membership? of course i want to be able to watch almost any game whenever i want. so tonight, i renewed it. and let me tell you, it's so much better than last season. the quality is fabulous! i watched the yankees vs blue jays game. the game was full of great pitching, and some pretty decent offense. the yankees won it 3-2 so all in all, it was a wonderful game! frank thomas was ejected in the 4th for arguing balls and strikes. it's always exciting when players get ejected, even if they're your own players.

today at fenway, a hawk attacked a 13 year old girl named alexa rodriguez. it's not funny that this young lady was attacked by a big scary bird, but i have to admit that i chuckled a little when i read her name.

speaking of a-rods, alex rodriguez makes more than the marlins entire roster. i can't really think of anything else to say about that other than it's ridiculous. absolutely ridiculous.

jezebel has a nice story on 3 reasons why smart women love baseball. i have to say that i'm not the biggest fan of reason 3: it's full of sex appeal. i'm sick to death of hearing and reading about "oh [insert player name here] is SO hot! i love [insert team name here]!" i'm not saying that i don't find certain players attractive, but that is certainly not why i love the sport.

now, here are a couple of players' blogs:

• phil hughes of the new york yankees
  
• curt schilling of the boston red sox

neither of those blogs have a lot going on right now but they're decent when there is actual content. i love to hate curt schilling and his blog is perfect for that.

i thought i had something else to include but i can't think of what it was. oh well!

hodge podge 1

there's no general theme to this particular blog posting.

last night i went to barnes and noble and best buy. at b&n i bought girl, interrupted and prozac nation. yes, i am aware that i bought two crazy books. perhaps i'm feeling a little crazy lately. maybe reading these books will help me put my own shit into perspective. or, maybe it'll just make me even crazier!

at best buy i found this. pride of the yankees, bull durham, and eight men out all for $22.99? i had a bit of an ordeal trying to figure out if the movies were full or wide screen. i never buy full screen. i hate it. however, i was thisclose to buying the indiana jones box set in FULL SCREEN because i didn't even notice. i went to grab the correct one and they didn't have it! i don't know if they were just out of wide screen or if they just don't make it. weird. anyway, so i stumbled upon the triple play and immediately had to find out if they were in full screen or not. i looked around for a blue shirt to help me out and when i finally found one, i realized it was a guy i had gone to middle and high school with. in 7th grade he apparently "stole" some girl's science book so she referred to him as "science book stealer" for a couple of years after the incident. i will forever think of him as "science book stealer". such is life. he didn't act as though he recognized me but i sort of pretended not to know him either.

anyway, sbs (science book stealer, not to be confused with wilco's latest album sky blue sky) couldn't find the answer i was looking for. he looked up the item on best buy's website to see if they had the "specs" but they didn't. he checked with a manager to see what my options were as far as buying it, opening it and finding out that they're all full screen. each of these dvds was some sort of "anniversary" or "collectors" edition so i was fairly certain they were wide screen but you never know! then i got to thinking, pride of the yankees was made in 1942 so it's probably in full screen because that's all they have. sure enough, after all was said and done, bull durham and eight men out are wide screen and pride of the yankees is full screen.

now, call me a bad baseball fan if you will, but i obviously didn't already own those movies. i've seen them all before though. i think i was just waiting for a fabulous "triple play" box set, i just didn't know it.

let's quickly address a couple of great april fool's jokes. the first, which i cannot link you to because it has been deleted, was benjamin gibbard's new side project entitled just jazzin'. it was basically just him playing a xylophone like a moron. a very big part of me hoped that it was real because i think he's stupid enough to really do something like that. don't get me wrong, i loves me some death cab for cutie and postal service. i really do. but i'm tired of gibbs and all the 12 year olds that think he's some sort of god. oh, i take that back, there are 35 year olds that think he's some sort of god as well. i went to my first death cab show in 2001. so, i was slightly ahead of the times. anyway, this was a great april fool's joke because all the people who worship gibbs were leaving comments on the just jazzin' myspace like, "hahaha this is hilarious. but you should really do it. you could do anything and i would still love it!" vomit.

the next great joke was google's approach to email. my favorite parts are, "Gmail utilizes an e-flux capacitor to resolve issues of causality (see Grandfather Paradox), " and " Everyone sort of knows I used Custom Time on this one, but I'm denying it." haha kudos to you, google.

and i'll leave you with one reason why i'm glad i don't work at ubs anymore. yow-zas!

ohhh edited to add: i thought someone, somewhere might appreciate knowing that best buy has six feet under on sale for like $16.99 per season. the box set of the entire series isn't on sale, which is a shame because it RULES. but still, $17 per season? that's a steal! i remember when it first came out on dvd it was like $80 for one season. craaaazy!

public service announcement

i don't know how many of my dear readers (do i have any readers?) know this, but my mother is breast cancer survivor. she was diagnosed in july of 2005, had a mastectomy in september of 2005, and went through chemotherapy and radiation for several months. she was declared "cancer free" about 18 months after the whole process began.

i have quite the family history of cancer (both grandpas, grandma, mom, aunt, uncle, 3 great aunts...), so cancer research foundations are very important to me. a friend of mine is doing the avon walk for breast cancer in chicago in a couple of months. it's 40 miles over the course of 2 days. each participant has to raise at least $1800 before the walk. i know that you probably don't know tanya, but that's no reason not to make a donation! no donation is too small, seriously. so please, if you have even $10 to spare, make a donation. simply click the bright pink "click here to support me" button. i am also going to put that link in my sidebar list of links so if you can't donate now, and this post gets buried in the blogosphere, the link will still be readily available!

thanks guys! i really appreciate it :)

:(

a sad face is the only thing i could think to title this blog with.

my cat was just looking out the front window all crazy-like so i took her outside to see what was going on. (side note: i literally have to take my cat outside because she's not an "outside cat". every now and then she gets out, runs about 2 feet from the front door, then freezes and freaks out. anyway, a few times a week i carry her outside to sniff the fresh air and watch the birds.)

we got outside and i found a squirrel sitting next to my car. it didn't move when i got close to it which immediately concerned me. as i got closer, i saw that it had flies on its face and was breathing really heavy. it was hunched over and sickly looking. i came inside and told my dad about it. he went outside with a shovel (no, not to kill it), scooped it up, and took it to the woods to die.

i am so sick to my stomach right now. my dad said it was missing hair on one side of its body. it didn't look badly mutilated so i don't think it got hit by a car. it must be diseased or something.

sorry for such a downer blog.

blog time!

being unemployed, i try to find entertainment wherever possible. sometimes i feel like i've read to the end of the internet. but, here are a few blogs that i enjoy reading for some reason or another. they keep me entertained, however briefly.

• peter abraham's yankees blog
• project rungay
• songs:illinois
• vickie howell's craft blog
• yankees chick
• muzzle of bees
• aquarium drunkard
• stuff white people like
  
• brooklyn vegan
  
• gorilla vs bear
  
• pink is the new blog
  
• austinist
  
• buddy
  
• joseph arthur
  

let's quickly address the gorilla vs bear post with holy fuck's remix of radiohead's "nude". it's fucking awesome!!! that's really all i have to say about it.