- In what is possibly the greatest front/back cover combo EVER, we have Toby Keith's big mug on the front, and an ad for the new Morrissey album on the back.
- I was kinda tempted to keep this magazine in my inbox for a few days, and have Mr. Morrissey and his violin stare at me.
- I officially hate that Bon Jovi smirky face thing.
- Wouldn't it be funny if WalMart sued them?
- "Consumers Hot for 'Hee Haw'"
- So, over at TagWorld (some MySpace wannabe), they're having a contest for musicians.
- If you win, your music could be in Snakes on a Plane!
- Quick, someone give me music lessons!
- Ooo, Todd Martens is talking about Waterloo Records in Austin!
- I've been there!
- That's where I bought Boink!, Let It Be on swirly blue vinyl, and This is Just a Modern Rock Song, which I had been unable to find at Paul's.
- Stupid Paul's.
- And then, in the dying-mall-esque Austin airport, a guy walked past holding Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant.
- True story!
- Waterloo also contained a bunch of Morrissey 12-inches, but I couldn't've flown them all home.
- Plus, I was under the impression that I would be shortly moving to Austin, instead of into Paul's neighborhood.
- Then, when I made the Paul's neighborhood decision, I walked in there and blew some of the money I was saving for the move on the Galaxie 500 box and 69 Love Songs.
- This concludes yet another chapter of "Jessy is an indie rock stereotype".
- Butterfingers is the worst dressed band I've seen in a long time.
- This one guy's rocking the flip-flops (I'm so not a fan of flip-flops on boys).
- Then they've got Mr. Tight Argyle Sweater over Button Down with Studded Belt and Ginormous Black Shorts.
- Bitch, you aren't the 21st century's Angus Young.
- Canada is apparently quite hot right now with newcomers.
- Rife with them, you might even say.
- What is it with bad band names with the word "plane" in them?
- Who did I see Planes Mistaken for Stars with?
- Cara?
- I believe it was in Philadelphia...
- They opened for some other band I can't remember now.
- I think it was at the Trocadero.
- OK, so while I was doing some "research", I came upon the fact that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing the Troc in April.
- For $50 a pop.
- Anyone want to know how much I paid?
- $5.
- For them, the Raveonettes, and the Gossip.
- Same place.
- Well, plus the price of the Sleater-Kinney ticket, the bill they were supposed to be on, but Karen O had "bronchitis" or something.
- Victory Records is hiring a bunch of positions.
- and there's our boy Morrissey again...
Thursday, March 30, 2006
You smiled once and walked away.
Billboard April 1
nazis + nerdiness = just another day here at PoBaL
I just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
Here's what it looks like:
This book was really incredible. I couldn't stop reading it, even while on the phone. Even though there were a lot of things I should have been doing.
So, Markus Zusak, if you happen to be reading this, here's a list of things you need to come to my apartment and do, since your book kept me from them:
Actually, I think this is a great new way to review books.
***
So, while I was visiting Tiff this weekend, we went to a bookstore near her apartment. Why? Because we're librarians, incredible nerds, and she wanted to pick up a copy of the BSC comic book.
After hitting the graphic novels (where I got my complain on, again, about 741.5 being the devil and the multiple copies of Fruits Basket celebrating their 3rd month of in-process-shelf habitation), YA section (YES, I go to the YA section of bookstores. VOYA doesn't publish cover graphics, people. Plus, sometimes I like to give customers readers advisory-type advice. I have issues, okay?), and new picture books (new J. Otto Seibold is adorable), there are magazines to peruse.
Tiff finds Nylon before me. I turn the corner to the other side of the magazine thing and hear, "Jessy! Look!" She's holding the magazine up, open to a fashion spread inspired by Daria.
I do that arms-up cheering thing I do sometimes.
And get the funniest, most appalled/a little frightened look from some painfully normal woman. To which I replied, "Look! Daria!"
She looked to be about our age, so I don't understand why she wasn't as excited. Stupid woman.
***
Anyone up for a game of Pony Pong?
Here's what it looks like:
This book was really incredible. I couldn't stop reading it, even while on the phone. Even though there were a lot of things I should have been doing.
So, Markus Zusak, if you happen to be reading this, here's a list of things you need to come to my apartment and do, since your book kept me from them:
- Wash dishes. I hit critical mass 2 days ago.
- Change the cat litter. If you could also stop at the store and buy a bag of Feline Pine, that would be great.
- Put away my clean laundry.
- Figure out how to rearrange my bedroom, because I don't like the current placement of things.
- Make some Princess Bride-themed crafts.
- Be a librarian for about a half-hour or so, since I've been late to work and have taken too-long breaks to read your book.
- Also you probably owe me some waterproof eyeliner, since I kept getting all weepy.
Actually, I think this is a great new way to review books.
***
So, while I was visiting Tiff this weekend, we went to a bookstore near her apartment. Why? Because we're librarians, incredible nerds, and she wanted to pick up a copy of the BSC comic book.
After hitting the graphic novels (where I got my complain on, again, about 741.5 being the devil and the multiple copies of Fruits Basket celebrating their 3rd month of in-process-shelf habitation), YA section (YES, I go to the YA section of bookstores. VOYA doesn't publish cover graphics, people. Plus, sometimes I like to give customers readers advisory-type advice. I have issues, okay?), and new picture books (new J. Otto Seibold is adorable), there are magazines to peruse.
Tiff finds Nylon before me. I turn the corner to the other side of the magazine thing and hear, "Jessy! Look!" She's holding the magazine up, open to a fashion spread inspired by Daria.
I do that arms-up cheering thing I do sometimes.
And get the funniest, most appalled/a little frightened look from some painfully normal woman. To which I replied, "Look! Daria!"
She looked to be about our age, so I don't understand why she wasn't as excited. Stupid woman.
***
Anyone up for a game of Pony Pong?
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
A box filled up with peas.
The afore-promised book review clearing house. Now with more self-centeredness!
Nailed by Patrick Jones
OK, I was just checking Patrick's website, and why the hell didn't I know about the R.E.M. playlist!? I totally have all the songs, and I would have completely made a copy to listen along while I read.
Hell, I probably listened to at least a quarter of these songs while I was reading the book anyway.
And I'm now loving that one of the songs is "Crush With Eyeliner". That was, like, my theme song for awhile in high school, at about the age the main character of the book is. I loved the video, with the wacky Japanese kids and that furry hat. And Thurston played on it, and what teenage girl who hasn't been exposed to too many record nerds yet doesn't love Thurston Moore?
But I wasn't the "funky" (Please, please, PLEASE take that out of the book description. Please.) heartbreaker, nor was I the kinda popular smart girl. But I think a book about my high school career wouldn't have nearly enough supporting characters to be at all interesting.
(so very very emo...)
This book felt really true: the desperate desire to get out of high school, especially. I think I actually had that conversation with the author, about what made the Columbine kids different wasn't so much that they hated, but that they couldn't see anything after that.
Plus, you know, the mental instability and fondness for guns.
You can tell this is a book about boys b/c Bret doesn't talk about clothes as much as, say, our old friend Andrea Marr.
Monster Blood Tattoo: Book One: Foundling by D.M. Cornish
This book came with red temporary tattoos, which I feel is a hint other books should take. I mean, why can't I have, say, a temp tattoo advertising Nora Roberts latest?
I read this awhile ago. It mysteriously came in the mail one day, along with a letter explaining that another YA librarian had told the publisher people I would be a good pusher for it.
Well, they said it more fancy than that, but you get the idea. My parents were quite impressed.
It's a good, adventuresome fantasy that started a bit slow and ended on a dime. Actually, it ended before the dime. You know, I barely have the patience to wait for sequels when I read things a year after their publication date; it's totally ridiculous to expect me to handle reading a galley copy and waiting for its sequel AND publication date.
(Also, you might have noticed that I can't spell "seque/al". But hey, at least I don't say things are "addicting" when they're really addictive.)
There's also an extensive glossary, all sorts of other appendices, illustrations, and maps. I do love a good appendix. And I like when fantasies have maps, as long as they're not all, You have to memorize every little bit about my imagined world to make heads or tails of my story.
I'm looking at your ass, Tolkein.
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
YA doesn't have memoirs; it has thinly veiled autobiography.
The summer after I graduated from college, I had NO clue what I was doing. I took a temp job at--let's call 'em Vespucci Behavioral Care. Other HMO-type places contracted their mental and addiction care management to VBC.
Now, when you're dealing with mental and addiction care, not everyone's care's gonna get paid for. And they need to be told somehow.
The form of telling VBC used that summer was to have a temp plug names, criteria, etc. into form letters to send to people who weren't going to get coverage. Or, as I liked to call it, "Dear so-and-so, You may be crazy, but you're just not crazy enough. Better luck next time. Love, Jessy the Temp."
(Of course, they were later under investigation for denying too many people and had inadvertantly become a joke around the local psych hospital.)
This was the summer of 2000.
Ned Vizzini is roughly the same age as me. I knew that IKOAFS was based on his experiences, but I wasn't sure exactly when he had those experiences.
So I'm reading, and it hits me: what if he was in the hospital in 2000? What if he was "covered" by VBC? What if he had been denied? By a letter I wrote?
I am nothing if not completely and utterly selfless.
Anyway, the timing was totally off; you find out when Ned was hospitalized at the end of the book. But it made me wonder about all those letters I sent out, especially the ones whose birthyears were close to mine, or less than mine. Did they ever get care? What happened to them?
So, if for some reason you got one of those letters May-August 2000 and are reading this?
Sorry for that.
Nailed by Patrick Jones
OK, I was just checking Patrick's website, and why the hell didn't I know about the R.E.M. playlist!? I totally have all the songs, and I would have completely made a copy to listen along while I read.
Hell, I probably listened to at least a quarter of these songs while I was reading the book anyway.
And I'm now loving that one of the songs is "Crush With Eyeliner". That was, like, my theme song for awhile in high school, at about the age the main character of the book is. I loved the video, with the wacky Japanese kids and that furry hat. And Thurston played on it, and what teenage girl who hasn't been exposed to too many record nerds yet doesn't love Thurston Moore?
But I wasn't the "funky" (Please, please, PLEASE take that out of the book description. Please.) heartbreaker, nor was I the kinda popular smart girl. But I think a book about my high school career wouldn't have nearly enough supporting characters to be at all interesting.
(so very very emo...)
This book felt really true: the desperate desire to get out of high school, especially. I think I actually had that conversation with the author, about what made the Columbine kids different wasn't so much that they hated, but that they couldn't see anything after that.
Plus, you know, the mental instability and fondness for guns.
You can tell this is a book about boys b/c Bret doesn't talk about clothes as much as, say, our old friend Andrea Marr.
Monster Blood Tattoo: Book One: Foundling by D.M. Cornish
This book came with red temporary tattoos, which I feel is a hint other books should take. I mean, why can't I have, say, a temp tattoo advertising Nora Roberts latest?
I read this awhile ago. It mysteriously came in the mail one day, along with a letter explaining that another YA librarian had told the publisher people I would be a good pusher for it.
Well, they said it more fancy than that, but you get the idea. My parents were quite impressed.
It's a good, adventuresome fantasy that started a bit slow and ended on a dime. Actually, it ended before the dime. You know, I barely have the patience to wait for sequels when I read things a year after their publication date; it's totally ridiculous to expect me to handle reading a galley copy and waiting for its sequel AND publication date.
(Also, you might have noticed that I can't spell "seque/al". But hey, at least I don't say things are "addicting" when they're really addictive.)
There's also an extensive glossary, all sorts of other appendices, illustrations, and maps. I do love a good appendix. And I like when fantasies have maps, as long as they're not all, You have to memorize every little bit about my imagined world to make heads or tails of my story.
I'm looking at your ass, Tolkein.
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
YA doesn't have memoirs; it has thinly veiled autobiography.
The summer after I graduated from college, I had NO clue what I was doing. I took a temp job at--let's call 'em Vespucci Behavioral Care. Other HMO-type places contracted their mental and addiction care management to VBC.
Now, when you're dealing with mental and addiction care, not everyone's care's gonna get paid for. And they need to be told somehow.
The form of telling VBC used that summer was to have a temp plug names, criteria, etc. into form letters to send to people who weren't going to get coverage. Or, as I liked to call it, "Dear so-and-so, You may be crazy, but you're just not crazy enough. Better luck next time. Love, Jessy the Temp."
(Of course, they were later under investigation for denying too many people and had inadvertantly become a joke around the local psych hospital.)
This was the summer of 2000.
Ned Vizzini is roughly the same age as me. I knew that IKOAFS was based on his experiences, but I wasn't sure exactly when he had those experiences.
So I'm reading, and it hits me: what if he was in the hospital in 2000? What if he was "covered" by VBC? What if he had been denied? By a letter I wrote?
I am nothing if not completely and utterly selfless.
Anyway, the timing was totally off; you find out when Ned was hospitalized at the end of the book. But it made me wonder about all those letters I sent out, especially the ones whose birthyears were close to mine, or less than mine. Did they ever get care? What happened to them?
So, if for some reason you got one of those letters May-August 2000 and are reading this?
Sorry for that.
Monday, March 27, 2006
the kind that are only sorta hot, so they don't mess around with other guys
Just another periodic PoBaL review clearing house. Book reviews coming soon.
Silver Jews in Columbus, March 25.
My damn cheap digital camera apparently ate all the pictures I took at the show, which = lame.
This was a great show. In any other (non-B&S-seeing) month, this would be the best show I'd seen in awhile. But it feels pretty stupid to say something's the best in the past 2 weeks, so let's just forget all that, shall we?
They played lots of stuff, including a song by Cassie Berman, who's got an amazing voice and was wearing a really great velvet dress. I looked on flickr for pictures, but no one had any up yet. I wasn't even disappointed by the lack of room renting song.
And I had a PBR in a bottle, and wondered why I don't more often. Not even comparible (-able?) to PBR in a can...
This was a good weekend in general, what with a visit to the more-and-more internet popular Tiff, the discovery of a good record store, and H&M insanity.
I also took a picture outside the Chipotle we had lunch in on Sunday.
TransAmerica
A very good movie. Shitty popcorn, but a good movie. Sweet and funny, and with lots of shirtless shots of the male-hustler-pretty son. And a surprisingly attractive dirty hippie.
The Contrast Forget to Tell the Time
My favorite record stores are ones with lots and lots of listening stations. Because I don't tend to read about music, or keep up on what I'm supposed to like, I have the most success finding new cds I like when I can listen to parts of them. I try out a few song intros, see what the singing sounds like, listen to a chorus or 2, and then I can usually tell if I should buy it or not.
Even after using this method AND praise from the would-have-been-cute-if-beardless clerk (quoth Tiff: "Maybe they can, like, smell it on you that you made out with one of them."), this album was a bit of a disappointment. At its best, I felt like I could have been on an date with Duckie, Randy, or Fred Bailey. (Yes, I looked up the male characters' names in Valley Girl. I'm procrastinating here.) You know, in the clubs where bands are playing and perfectly audible conversations with cute new wave boys happen simultaneously? I always wanted to go to one of those clubs. In real life, however, my hearing sucks and I get shirty if anyone tries to talk to me while the band is playing anyway.
At it's worst, I was reminded of the crap I listened to in the very early 90s (Gin Blossoms and such), with ham-fisted lyrics. Really, I think my biggest complaint is with the lyrics, and the singer's voice sometimes getting all irritatingly emotive.
Mostly, it reminded me of The Smithereens, which is never a bad thing.
Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
What if social groups were like on "trendy" PBS and Nickelodeon kids shows, where every peer group includes a representative from every demographic?
If they were, the Mike Skinner of A Grand Don't Come For Free and the Arctic Monkeys would be buddies. This album has the same feel, but a different sound.
Let me try this again:
If there's a bar somewhere in England where a beautiful rich girl chats up Jarvis Cocker for a trip to the supermarket (I don't see anyone else there smiling.), the Arctic Monkeys are working on taking her moderately attractive, drunk-off-her-ass friend home.
And not quite succeeding.
And getting pissy about it.
And then forgetting all about her by closing time.
I would've bought this at the kickass Dayton record store Tiff took me to, but I already had the library's copy in my new white purse and would've felt silly with 2.
The Deathray Davies The Kick and the Snare
Continuing the Smithereens, Son of Nuggets, etc. trend, I was a bit reminded of that with this record, too. Mostly the song "In Circles" felt a bit like "Cigarette", which is a damn fine song.
This is much more power-poppy, though--also a good thing. Actually, a great thing.
Isn't it always the way, that when you buy one new cd and one used cd, you like the used one better?
Silver Jews in Columbus, March 25.
My damn cheap digital camera apparently ate all the pictures I took at the show, which = lame.
This was a great show. In any other (non-B&S-seeing) month, this would be the best show I'd seen in awhile. But it feels pretty stupid to say something's the best in the past 2 weeks, so let's just forget all that, shall we?
They played lots of stuff, including a song by Cassie Berman, who's got an amazing voice and was wearing a really great velvet dress. I looked on flickr for pictures, but no one had any up yet. I wasn't even disappointed by the lack of room renting song.
And I had a PBR in a bottle, and wondered why I don't more often. Not even comparible (-able?) to PBR in a can...
This was a good weekend in general, what with a visit to the more-and-more internet popular Tiff, the discovery of a good record store, and H&M insanity.
I also took a picture outside the Chipotle we had lunch in on Sunday.
TransAmerica
A very good movie. Shitty popcorn, but a good movie. Sweet and funny, and with lots of shirtless shots of the male-hustler-pretty son. And a surprisingly attractive dirty hippie.
The Contrast Forget to Tell the Time
My favorite record stores are ones with lots and lots of listening stations. Because I don't tend to read about music, or keep up on what I'm supposed to like, I have the most success finding new cds I like when I can listen to parts of them. I try out a few song intros, see what the singing sounds like, listen to a chorus or 2, and then I can usually tell if I should buy it or not.
Even after using this method AND praise from the would-have-been-cute-if-beardless clerk (quoth Tiff: "Maybe they can, like, smell it on you that you made out with one of them."), this album was a bit of a disappointment. At its best, I felt like I could have been on an date with Duckie, Randy, or Fred Bailey. (Yes, I looked up the male characters' names in Valley Girl. I'm procrastinating here.) You know, in the clubs where bands are playing and perfectly audible conversations with cute new wave boys happen simultaneously? I always wanted to go to one of those clubs. In real life, however, my hearing sucks and I get shirty if anyone tries to talk to me while the band is playing anyway.
At it's worst, I was reminded of the crap I listened to in the very early 90s (Gin Blossoms and such), with ham-fisted lyrics. Really, I think my biggest complaint is with the lyrics, and the singer's voice sometimes getting all irritatingly emotive.
Mostly, it reminded me of The Smithereens, which is never a bad thing.
Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
What if social groups were like on "trendy" PBS and Nickelodeon kids shows, where every peer group includes a representative from every demographic?
If they were, the Mike Skinner of A Grand Don't Come For Free and the Arctic Monkeys would be buddies. This album has the same feel, but a different sound.
Let me try this again:
If there's a bar somewhere in England where a beautiful rich girl chats up Jarvis Cocker for a trip to the supermarket (I don't see anyone else there smiling.), the Arctic Monkeys are working on taking her moderately attractive, drunk-off-her-ass friend home.
And not quite succeeding.
And getting pissy about it.
And then forgetting all about her by closing time.
I would've bought this at the kickass Dayton record store Tiff took me to, but I already had the library's copy in my new white purse and would've felt silly with 2.
The Deathray Davies The Kick and the Snare
Continuing the Smithereens, Son of Nuggets, etc. trend, I was a bit reminded of that with this record, too. Mostly the song "In Circles" felt a bit like "Cigarette", which is a damn fine song.
This is much more power-poppy, though--also a good thing. Actually, a great thing.
Isn't it always the way, that when you buy one new cd and one used cd, you like the used one better?
Thursday, March 23, 2006
When I go downtown I always wear a corduroy suit.
Billboard March 18 2006
- I'm going to see the Silver Jews tomorrow and you're not.
- Well, unless you're Tiff, of course.
- Who also, incidentally, got her BSC blog linked in the Jane Magazine blog AND Gawker.
- So I'm a bit jealous.
- I've also discovered recently that we still have a video of "Who Burned Mr. Brinker's Store", so if anyone would like to join me in a round of the Ghostwriter drinking game, let me know.
- I'm planning to view it mostly as research for some more "In the Year 200" posts (see sidebar links if you don't know what I'm talking about).
- Man, I'm hungry. I ran out of granola bars earlier this week and have been too busy/moody/tired to buy any more.
- And distracted by sewing notions at Walmart to remember I needed them.
- Anyway, the magazine...
- It's all SXSW-y.
- So I finally heard the Arctic Monkeys record and I think I like it (I was distracted by the usual morning work stuff while listening).
- I'm going to take it with me on the Dayton trip this weekend as a test.
- So there's an overly-arty picture of Deadboy & The Elephantmen and the girl has REALLY cute glasses.
- I think I need new glasses.
- Or maybe just some serious maintenance on my current ones.
- Seriously, can all you guys who actually have seen me tell how crooked they are?
- b/c they look totally crooked to me, but I'd wager I'm more scrutinizing.
- The last person I asked this of was AndytheX, who had apparently missed boyfriend school on that day, because he replied, "Yes. I really like that about you, how nerdy you look."
- What the HELL did Debbie Harry wear to the Rock Hall induction ceremony?
- Here's a picture of her in a red glittery outfit with gold maryjane heels.
- Actually, the shoes are pretty cute, but the whole thing is way too much.
- Like the makeup in early films, when it was still stage makeup designed to be seen far away and small.
- Sarah McLachlan's so annoying.
- She's such a freshman feminist girl.
- I know Trent keeps mocking Christina Aguilera's red lipstick, but I'm really liking her new sorta old-school glamour look.
- Or maybe I'm just a sucker for red lipstick.
- I think "In Love With Yourself" is my favorite Liz Phair song.
- Or maybe "Speedracer", which I don't think is available digitally yet.
- Girlysounds wishlist, anybody?
- OK, has anyone else heard that song "SOS" that samples Soft Cell?
- It's such a guilty pleasure/alone in the car song.
- This indie record store article is just going to annoy and depress me on several levels, so I'm not going to read it.
- Blondie, Blondie, Blondie...
- Who wants to hear a terrible secret of mine?
- Secretly, I'm just not that big a Blondie fan.
- I mean, they're OK, but I'm never super excited to hear them.
- I wasn't even pissed when Lara ruined my best of Blondie cd.
- Actually, the 2 Blondie songs I like the best are "X Offender" and "In the Flesh" and they're never on best of's anyway.
- You all hate me now, don't you?
- The ad for this year's What Teens Want Conference features an illustrated girl in the Target Luella Bartley cherry skirt.
- Do they have to pay for that?
- I mean, it's such an obvious allusion.
- Also, this girl must either shop at a different Target from me or be a lot shorter, b/c when I tried that skirt on, it was not that long.
- You, know, the Flanders chart never fails to make me chuckle.
- Stupid sexy Flanders.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
tired. so very tired.
Even the Ramones are failing to wake me up.
Stupid split shift.
This is interesting.
And why I posted through my sleepy haze.
Yawn.
Stupid split shift.
This is interesting.
And why I posted through my sleepy haze.
Yawn.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
She’s taking an elementary class in kung fu.
Billboard March 25, 2006
- Today's "no shit, Sherlock" headline: "When hip-hop meets pop, credibility is at stake."
- Also, after writing that last post, I can't get "Stop Your Sobbing" out of my head.
- At least it's the Kinks and not the Pretenders.
- Tom Petty is NOT aging well.
- and am I the only person who can't hear "American Girl" without thinking of the scene in Silence of the Lambs where it's driving before it gets kidnapped?
- That movie was all about Vietnam, you guys.
- At least according to my ass postmodern film professor, it was.
- Aww, giant Robert Smith picture.
- yay
- It's FREEZING down here today.
- And I'm wearing 2 different socks, Stacey-style, because my clothes all need washed.
- Joan Jett's playing the Warped Tour this year. Tempting...
- The hot ringtones chart reminded me of this:
- So last night, when I called my sister, I discovered that she had done that cellphone thing where I hear a song instead of her phone ringing. It was "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough".
- So I started dancing to it and was kinda glad it took her awhile to get to her phone.
- And I guess when I call, her phone plays "Jesse's Girl" because when she picked up, she was singing that.
- Little Steven has a column now, about Garage Rock. That's pretty cool.
- OK, who's buying me this?
- I think Roger Daltrey is my least favorite member of the Who.
- 7 questions with Prince!
- #1: Why are you so awesome?
one thing that you gotta do to make me still want you
I'm declaring a moratorium on some conversation topics.
The Babyboomer Mystique OK, fine, we give. You guys Changed the World and are better than everyone else. We've fully bought into the spin (who is it spinning these stories, anyway?); can we go back to trying to make a subsistence wage while not living with our parents, finding a meaningful job, and protesting our own unjust war without the comparisons, please? And speaking of that unjust war...
Jovial Prejudice I would like for people to stop assuming I think the same as them. How hypocritical is it of "conservative" people to simultaneously whine about their values being attacked by everyone and assume everyone shares their values?
This Town Sucks Is it lame and boring and no one does anything and when someone does try to start something (cough stitch'n'bitch cough) no one shows up? Yes.
Am I sick and fucking tired of having this conversation? Hell yes.
And just a tip, 'cause I guess I've lived in more cities than your average 26yrold: those narrow minded unhappy people you work with? They live everywhere.
And continuing to discuss the awfulness of it all is only contributing to the awfulness. I have a lot more fun here when I'm not talking about how little fun I'm having.
Things You Just Collect, Rather Than Collect To Enjoy I can give you a reason why I like other people's prom glasses (heh--I'm down with OPPG) and Belle and Sebastian vinyl. I'm not one of those people with a thousand cds I haven't listened to in years. Let's talk about things that are fun, not things you happen to have a lot of.
Gossip Girls Does the recoiling-in-horror from the new wave of trashy YA series remind anyone else of the recoiling-in-horror from gangsta rap in the 90s?
The Oscars Are Unfair Of course the Oscars don't always go to the most deserving person/movie/whatever. There's all kinds of stupid politics, plus the ridiculousness of judging "Best Picture". Let's save our vitriol for Hilary Swank's lipsgloss and John Williams' work, shall we?
MySpace is Evil When I was 13, some guy in his 20s started spreading these stories about the 2 of us, based on small talk we made while waiting for the bus.
Should "children" be protected from waiting for the bus as well?
Plenty of libraries put pictures of their teen volunteers or advisory groups or whatever online. What's to stop creeps from using ANY internet site with pictures of minors from harrassing said minors?
Shouldn't we just be teaching kids to protect themselves?
Some Things You Don't Have To Say To Me, Since I Assume Them About Anyone I'm Talking To
Some Conversation Topics I Never Get Sick Of
The Babyboomer Mystique OK, fine, we give. You guys Changed the World and are better than everyone else. We've fully bought into the spin (who is it spinning these stories, anyway?); can we go back to trying to make a subsistence wage while not living with our parents, finding a meaningful job, and protesting our own unjust war without the comparisons, please? And speaking of that unjust war...
Jovial Prejudice I would like for people to stop assuming I think the same as them. How hypocritical is it of "conservative" people to simultaneously whine about their values being attacked by everyone and assume everyone shares their values?
This Town Sucks Is it lame and boring and no one does anything and when someone does try to start something (cough stitch'n'bitch cough) no one shows up? Yes.
Am I sick and fucking tired of having this conversation? Hell yes.
And just a tip, 'cause I guess I've lived in more cities than your average 26yrold: those narrow minded unhappy people you work with? They live everywhere.
And continuing to discuss the awfulness of it all is only contributing to the awfulness. I have a lot more fun here when I'm not talking about how little fun I'm having.
Things You Just Collect, Rather Than Collect To Enjoy I can give you a reason why I like other people's prom glasses (heh--I'm down with OPPG) and Belle and Sebastian vinyl. I'm not one of those people with a thousand cds I haven't listened to in years. Let's talk about things that are fun, not things you happen to have a lot of.
Gossip Girls Does the recoiling-in-horror from the new wave of trashy YA series remind anyone else of the recoiling-in-horror from gangsta rap in the 90s?
The Oscars Are Unfair Of course the Oscars don't always go to the most deserving person/movie/whatever. There's all kinds of stupid politics, plus the ridiculousness of judging "Best Picture". Let's save our vitriol for Hilary Swank's lipsgloss and John Williams' work, shall we?
MySpace is Evil When I was 13, some guy in his 20s started spreading these stories about the 2 of us, based on small talk we made while waiting for the bus.
Should "children" be protected from waiting for the bus as well?
Plenty of libraries put pictures of their teen volunteers or advisory groups or whatever online. What's to stop creeps from using ANY internet site with pictures of minors from harrassing said minors?
Shouldn't we just be teaching kids to protect themselves?
Some Things You Don't Have To Say To Me, Since I Assume Them About Anyone I'm Talking To
- Yes, you can find some really good things at thrift stores.
- Gay people aren't icky.
- Making things is fun.
- Really, I like to hypocritically assume that anyone I talk to shares my values, as a nice, adult, passive-aggressive way of counteracting the aforementioned jovial prejudice.
Some Conversation Topics I Never Get Sick Of
- Simpsons/The State/Princess Bride references
- dinosaurs
- other nerdy science crap
- the Baby-Sitters Club
- goofy non sequitors
- who's had the worse job
- who's had the worse roommate
- food
- art
- film noir
- immature jokes that are no longer funny
- yarn
- candy (except right now, when I'm literally kind of sick b/c I ate too many Cadbury minieggs on an empty stomach)
- cheap plastic toys
- plush things that shouldn't be plush (really, I just like talking about Tree)
- public transportation
Monday, March 20, 2006
My astrologist has read my horoscope, he's read DeMille's horoscope.
Am I the last person in the world to hear about Snakes on a Plane?
I absolutely LOVE this; it's hiLARious. And you know you think it's funny, too: There are snakes. On a plane. And Sam Jackson has to kick their ass.
Fucking awesome. And either Kenan or Kel (the one on SNL now) is in it, which is a plus.
Also kind of reminds me of Brain Candy: "It's a pill that gives worms to exgirlfriends."
Really, if you don't think this is funny, why are you even here? I can't imagine anything else I say is entertaining you if you don't like that.
Maybe this is more to yunz liking. (Props to Tiff for the link.)
I really have only one complaint with Snakes on a Plane: the release date of August 18. This is quite possibly the quintessential $2 theater movie. Mid-August is when I start going to see any damn crap at the cheap theater, to be all air-conditioned and entertained. Hell, I dragged Andy to Enough (starring JLo!) AND Van Helsing.
Dammit, I want to see Snakes on a Plane in a theater and I want to pay $2.50 for it and I want it to be on, like, the hottest day of the year.
Life is so unfair.
--Oh god, storytime just started singing "If you're happy and you know it."--
In more respectable movie news, I saw V for Vendetta and Brokeback Mountain this weekend. And discussed the awesomeness of the upcoming Stick It with a patron (okay, so maybe that's less than respectable). And realized that, as Da Vinci Code trailers get a wider and wider release, our holds list for the books/audiobooks is just going to get longer and longer.
Which leads me to this: who agrees with me 'n' Tiff that the Da Vinci Code teaser trailer was, like, the worst teaser trailer ever? Cracks in the oil paint? So freakin' lame.
Other trailer news: I had a complete geek-lapse and expected to see an XMen 3 trailer in front of V for Vendetta; new Pirates of the Caribbean looks awesome; was I the only person who saw the Superman teaser last year (in front of Batman Begins, I think) and thought, "damn--I thought that was still in post-Nick-Cage-and-Tim-Burton purgatory;" I saw 2 movies this weekend with Poseidon trailers and they were different.
***
So, Jessy, how were those movies you saw this weekend?
I was pleasantly surprised by Brokeback Mountain. People just don't make enough quiet, simple love stories. I never felt manipulated, and the score did what movie music is supposed to do (John Williams, you ass, you hear that?) Obviously would have liked more Jake kissyfacing, but understand that it wasn't that kind of movie.
And who knew Princess Mia was actually good at subtlety and restraint?
Yeah, subtlety and restraint? Not a specialty of Natalie Portman's. She's the weirdest actress: I think she's really good at wordless scenes, especially really emotional ones (girl cries like a dream). Dialogue she can manage, as long as George Lucas isn't directing and Anakin (child or adult version) isn't involved. But she really can't hold a monologue. At all.
To the point where I wonder if maybe she should become a mime, or if I should build a time machine and send her back to be Clara Bow's costar or something. She does have a bit of a Louise Brooks look about her.
I did like the movie, though. I got totally caught up in the story and everything.
And is there anything Hugo Weaving CAN'T do?
I absolutely LOVE this; it's hiLARious. And you know you think it's funny, too: There are snakes. On a plane. And Sam Jackson has to kick their ass.
Fucking awesome. And either Kenan or Kel (the one on SNL now) is in it, which is a plus.
Also kind of reminds me of Brain Candy: "It's a pill that gives worms to exgirlfriends."
Really, if you don't think this is funny, why are you even here? I can't imagine anything else I say is entertaining you if you don't like that.
Maybe this is more to yunz liking. (Props to Tiff for the link.)
I really have only one complaint with Snakes on a Plane: the release date of August 18. This is quite possibly the quintessential $2 theater movie. Mid-August is when I start going to see any damn crap at the cheap theater, to be all air-conditioned and entertained. Hell, I dragged Andy to Enough (starring JLo!) AND Van Helsing.
Dammit, I want to see Snakes on a Plane in a theater and I want to pay $2.50 for it and I want it to be on, like, the hottest day of the year.
Life is so unfair.
--Oh god, storytime just started singing "If you're happy and you know it."--
In more respectable movie news, I saw V for Vendetta and Brokeback Mountain this weekend. And discussed the awesomeness of the upcoming Stick It with a patron (okay, so maybe that's less than respectable). And realized that, as Da Vinci Code trailers get a wider and wider release, our holds list for the books/audiobooks is just going to get longer and longer.
Which leads me to this: who agrees with me 'n' Tiff that the Da Vinci Code teaser trailer was, like, the worst teaser trailer ever? Cracks in the oil paint? So freakin' lame.
Other trailer news: I had a complete geek-lapse and expected to see an XMen 3 trailer in front of V for Vendetta; new Pirates of the Caribbean looks awesome; was I the only person who saw the Superman teaser last year (in front of Batman Begins, I think) and thought, "damn--I thought that was still in post-Nick-Cage-and-Tim-Burton purgatory;" I saw 2 movies this weekend with Poseidon trailers and they were different.
***
So, Jessy, how were those movies you saw this weekend?
I was pleasantly surprised by Brokeback Mountain. People just don't make enough quiet, simple love stories. I never felt manipulated, and the score did what movie music is supposed to do (John Williams, you ass, you hear that?) Obviously would have liked more Jake kissyfacing, but understand that it wasn't that kind of movie.
And who knew Princess Mia was actually good at subtlety and restraint?
Yeah, subtlety and restraint? Not a specialty of Natalie Portman's. She's the weirdest actress: I think she's really good at wordless scenes, especially really emotional ones (girl cries like a dream). Dialogue she can manage, as long as George Lucas isn't directing and Anakin (child or adult version) isn't involved. But she really can't hold a monologue. At all.
To the point where I wonder if maybe she should become a mime, or if I should build a time machine and send her back to be Clara Bow's costar or something. She does have a bit of a Louise Brooks look about her.
I did like the movie, though. I got totally caught up in the story and everything.
And is there anything Hugo Weaving CAN'T do?
Thursday, March 16, 2006
It was no bigger than a nickel.
Some random update-type things.
Fig. A.
Fig. B.
- I think I've finally permanently remembered the html tag for numbered lists! So that's exciting...
- Tax return got deposited, actually a few days ago. So I ordered the green Hello Kitty sewing machine (Fig. A.).
- Me 'n' Melissa decided to make this Spring more fun with Jessy & Melissa's Super Fun Scavenger Hunt. You guys should totally play along. Basically, it's an excuse to take pictures of random junk.
- Here's the flickr group for the Scavenger Hunt.
- I'm reading the Street Angel comic right now (Fig. B.). It's real good.
Fig. A.
Fig. B.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
instead of making me feel better, you make me feel ill
Billboard March 11 2006
- Oh, hey, there's a new Buzzcocks DVD out. Looks to be cool.
- Also, I know I haven't blogged about Belle & Sebastian. Me, Melissa 'n' Tiff have talked it out. Plus, I know if I hadn't been there, and someone else was blogging about how super duper it was, I'd be pretty damn pissed. Suffice to say, it was wonderful; up there as one of the best shows I've seen.
- And I got a Justin Timberlake marionette at the end of it.
- He lives in my car now.
- Everything is more fun when JT's riding shotgun.
- And I took a needlefelting class, which was really fun.
- There's something really satisfying about jabbing sharp, barbed needles into wool to make cute little things.
- Now that we've had the "my life" update, let's talk about Pink.
- That Pill song was on the radio the other day, and it made me surprisingly happy.
- Also, much like Avril Levigne's "Complicated", I somehow know all the damn words.
- "acting like you're somebody else gets me frustrated"
- Yeah, it's been running through my head all morning, too.
- Though I did displace it for a bit by downloading some Girlysounds.
- Yeah, "Fuck or Die"? Probably not something I should be listening to at work...
- Back to Pink: I can't look at her without thinking about Eddie Izzard.
- I love Eddie to bits, but when he's all glammed out, he totally looks like an uglier version of Pink.
- And that's weird.
- Death Cab and Franz Ferdinand are touring together?
- I like them both, but I don't know that that's necessarily a double-bill I'd be down with.
- Blender's people have bought Spin.
- Well, I at least hope Death Cab plays first at the shows.
- 'Cause I'd go to dance to Franz Ferdinand, and Death Cab are less dancey.
- I'm sitting at the reference desk, trying to figure out where a girl's belly button should normally be, because this picture makes Pink look like she doesn't have one.
- Or that it's abnormally high.
- It's really kind of scary, like when underwear catalogs have sheer bras but airbrush the nipples out so it looks like Tyra Banks doesn't have any nipples.
- In addition to her ginormous forehead.
- Craftster's down and it's killing me.
- So, after I use my tax return to update my car tags, I think I might buy this. Or this, since it's not really that much more and has more features. I'd really like to try my hand at sewing.
- I'm sick of not finding cute, cheap clothes.
- And since I no longer sleep in a twin-sized bed, I've got a substantial collection of 80s cartoon character sheets to experiment with.
- Plus, there's this book, which is on the "in process" shelf at work right now.
- lotsa LL Cool J...
- Courtney Love's working on "solo" stuff...
- (my quotation marks)
- someone let Mariah Carey make another movie...
- "She will play a waitress in search of her estranged father"
- I never thought I'd say this again, but Courtney Love is wearing a really cute shirt.
- And Springsteen's doing an album of Pete Seeger covers.
- Just in time for Mother's Day.
- Britney Spears won the best dance Grammy last year?
- See, this columnist is acting like that's a bad thing, but--
- Oh, no, wait: I'm getting years mixed up again. "Toxic" is older than that.
- That's such a kickass song, is all I'm saying.
- Shut up!
- Uh, Belle & Sebastian! Ridiculous excitement over "Electronic Renaissance"!
- Am I cool again?
- Other thing about B&S show: I REALLY need a new turntable.
- The live version of "Me and the Major" sounded all chipmunky and too fast to me, and I think my record player is to blame.
- Plus, I really want one of the ones with a USB port, for the inevitable day when I get a real computer.
- People are remixing Whipped Cream and Other Delights.
- Hunh?
- Why?
- Including a reshoot of the cover, with a new sexy model all covered in whipped cream.
- The new version of the cover.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Wanna see some cool stuff I like?
I've been playing with Etsy's Connections tool.
Keep hitting refresh to see all the stuff I've been obsessively adding lately for no apparent reason, aside from that I want it.
A lot of it involves birds.
Really really cute birds.
This is a crappy screen grab of it. I really suck at screen grabs, which is unfortunate as I've just learned that I'm going to need to use them for that panel thingie I'm doing next month.
Keep hitting refresh to see all the stuff I've been obsessively adding lately for no apparent reason, aside from that I want it.
A lot of it involves birds.
Really really cute birds.
This is a crappy screen grab of it. I really suck at screen grabs, which is unfortunate as I've just learned that I'm going to need to use them for that panel thingie I'm doing next month.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Blogging the Oscars with Melissa and Jessy!
Up-to-the-minute inane commentary!
TV 14! Well, the show is. We're pottymouths.
Melissa is on the phone with Toni, who is watching Domino. I'm laughing hysterically at that.
I'm also drinking apple juice.
Quick poll: Jon Stewart or George Clooney in your bed? We've got one of each. You can have fun trying to figure out who said what (such a puzzle).
Was someone just on a cell phone!?
Charlize Theron looked pissed...or was that Ashley Judd?
(gasp) look how cute Catherine Keener looks!
Jessy's Last Minute Predictions, and How They Match Up.
I like to wait to predict until as they're announcing the nominees.
Best Supporting Actor
My Guess: Paul Giametti, since he hasn't gotten anything yet, not even for Sideways.
I was wrong.
The nice thing about predicting at the last minute is, as Clooney just said himself, you can tell whether or not other things will get other awards.
By the way, who's that random blonde next to Jake Gyllanhall? And I like that during the monologue, Jack Nicholson and Kiera Knightly were the we're-not-amused seating partner.
Melissa wants to know why Oscar commercials suck, and if they cost more than regular Sunday night programming. She's very upset.
Wonder if they're going to do the awards-in-the-aisles thing again this year.
God, I hate Tom Hanks.
Was that just Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves next to each other? Wasn't Speed like 10 years ago.
Visual Effects:
King Kong might get the pity, but didn't we run out of statuettes with Peter Jackson's name on them a few years ago?
I got it right!
Wait, there's a too big suit jacket? Or just too long? Melissa's got a good eye!
Animated:
Melissa thinks Corpse Bride, but we both hope Wallace and Grommit. Actually, as soon as the music came on, we both exclaimed, "Oooo, Wallace and Grommit!"
YAY!
Is Naomi Watts pregnant, as Melissa thought when she first walked out, or did Santino-on-crack make her dress?
Only evil people don't like Dolly Parton.
Melissa sez columns look cheap. I'm inclined to agree.
"They tried to combine like a spacey theme, and a...I don't know...a cheap theme"--Melissa
No one cares about the short films. Seriously, you all know I'm right. They're what you do after you graduate from one of those indie-focused film schools, because you hope you'll do a Bottlerocket.
Animated presenters are irritating. How well did Chicken Little actually do, anyway?
Melissa: "alarmingly well"
Animated short film: the last safe place for hand-drawn animation.
Heh--"John Turturro for his sensitive vocal performance."
Melissa has noticed that Jennifer Aniston gets no fancy intro as a presenter, and she likes her necklace.
Best Costume:
We got no predictions, though for a second I did think Geisha.
Melissa:
What is this? What is this? The woman who won the best costumes thingy is wearing a ridiculous ("Asian-inspired?" perhaps?) dress! (And so is her daughter, says Jessy).
How did they put the biopic clips in order? Totally randomly?
Makeup:
Tumnus! Tumnus! Tumnus!
However, our prediction is Star Wars. It's the end of the saga Oscar.
No, Tumnus got it after all. Hooray! Even the Academy hates George Lucas.
Ah, the Tech Award Luncheon. Or, the nerds we don't let come to the real thing. And, yes, I know it's not a luncheon. Luncheon is funnier. Even funnier? A buffet.
Supporting Actress:
After seeing that clip, I really need to see Junebug.
I think Rachel Wiess got naked in The Constant Gardener, so she could be a good bet. If Michele Williams doesn't get it, Brokeback is DEFINITELY getting best picture.
Naked gorgeous British women get it everytime, don't they?
I think Brokeback is going to be the movie this year that only gets Best Picture, which never makes sense to me (or my mom). How can something be Best Picture without having the best director or any of the best actors. Maybe it'll get Adapted Screenplay too.
Lauren Bacall and film noir--doesn't get much better.
Except the annoying film student in me is forced to point out that Orson Welles made the movie most think endcapped the film noir period, so it's weird to list him first.
This political ad "for your consideration" thing is awesome. Of course, I also love the giant NYTimes ads, so what do I know?
Mr Hustle and Flow's grandmother's brooch is distracting us from the Documentary Short. Because, you know, otherwise I pay a lot of attention to them.
Charlize Theron's dress, while beautiful, seems to have cancer of the shoulder. It's got a big ol' tumor.
Documentary: like they'd give it to anything other than March of the Pengiuns. Melissa says, "I can't believe they brought puppets."
Then she changed her mind, upon realizing that they were attractive Frenchmen.
Do I really need to give my I Love Jennifer Lopez speech again?
Crash song: Worst Interpretive Dance Ever.
Melissa begins to channel the choreographer.
Choreographer: You--act like you're swimming. Towards the fire. Act like a zombie! [They've each got their roles.] You--stick your hand in her crotchal region.
And then she started "dancing" herself.
As though Best Song has anything to do with the song itself.
Keanu and Sandra are PRESENTING together. We're gonna go back in time.
Melissa has identified the Speed music. This is ridiculous.
Art Direction:
Is that the Wallace and Grommit music behind Goblet of Fire?
I half-assedly called Geisha, and got it right.
Winner stepped on Sandra's dress. "That's what you get for wearing a train," decides Melissa, "but don't get me wrong, if I were there, I'd probably be wearing a train, too."
The final Harry Potter movie will get awards. None before.
Are they really putting On the Waterfront in with all this confrontational movie stuff? Hurmph. This is so all because of Brokeback. Now, I haven't actually SEEN Brokeback yet, but all this "Look how good we are at social issues and having our finger on the pulse of what America cares about" crap is pretty damn transparent.
We like Selma Hayak's dress A LOT. And I'm not usually a fan of assymetrical.
Original Score:
Oh, John Williams won it. He always wins it. He's like the freaking Tom Hanks of music, but schmaltzier.
OK, it really pisses me off that they keep showing that little girl in the Munich clips. She was barely in it, and, as I've mentioned before, if she was only 4-5 years older, she wouldn't be a symbol of the last of their humanity in the face of their task to kill a bunch of people, she'd be another naked bleeding dead woman.
Because I haven't seen Brokeback, all these shots of cowboys lookin' pensive just makes me want to see Giant again.
Man, that John Williams fucker is nominated twice. Do I have to guess which movie?
Oh my god, John Williams DIDN'T get it. Is this the beginning of the Brokeback sweep?
I truly don't understand why the guy who played Perry Smith didn't get nominated for ANYTHING. It's kinda criminal.
Melissa sez: "If MGD is 'Beer. Grown up.', I don't want to grow up." Jessy concurs.
"If Thomas Edison didn't invent the film projector." WTF!?
...and Melissa gets full-barreled Jessy film history.
You know, for a TELEVISED show, they're really pushing this "only on the big screen" crap. Also, since when has Mary Poppins been considered an epic?
Also not an epic: Back to the Future.
And why was there no Intolerance? Damn thing started epics.
Fun poll: Who thinks Jessica Alba is hot?
(Melissa used the word "Skeletor" to describe her look tonight.)
Sound Mixing:
At a clip for Narnia, Jessy says, "Now that's an epic. Melissa replies pityingly, "No, Jessy, that's a unicorn."
So much hilarity, I forgot to put in my guess.
We're enjoying the ridiculousness of Meryl Streep's dress. And who doesn't love Robert Altman?
You know what was weird about that film noir montage? They've recently cleaned up, remastered, etc. Maltese Falcon, but what was shown tonight was grainy and dirty as hell. Not that I don't love grainy, but seems odd.
(& I totally stole this idea from Darren.)
Poll: How do we feel about the Prairie Home Companion movie? The sound of Garrison Keiller's voice makes me want to stick a fork in my eye, but the cast is promising, and I do like Altman.
Would you agree with Melissa that Joaquin Phoenix's bow tie is velvet? Would you agree with Jessy that Joaquin Phoenix has put on a bit of weight? In, as Melissa would say, the facial area?
M. Night Shamalan is really pretty.
Maybe I've been watching too much Angel lately, but the white guy in the Hustle & Flow choreography looks like Lindsey. Not to mention the Solid Gold dancing. And how utterly bad the song is.
But of course, we all know Hustle & Flow, only got a Best Song nomination because the movie got so much buzz and, since it has no moderately known actress taking her clothes off, it won't get any other Academy attention.
Which is why it won, even against Dolly Parton.
Melissa has put her finger on what strikes me about Jamie Foxx's appearance: he looks slimy sometimes. Exactly!
Is War of the Worlds going to be completely ignored? Are we blaming that for the perceived blockbuster slump thing last summer?
And Jennifer Garner just slipped.
Jessy begins to whine at her lack of a Dyson as soon as the commercial starts.
Foreign Language:
Will Smith is annoying, and the Palestinian movie is winning. Oh, there's a South African one and one about Nazis. If I had known about South Africa, I would've guessed that. I also like how the foreign language Oscar announcing bit says things like, "This is the first award for South Africa." Like it's the Olympics or something.
Melissa is dazzled by the sparkliness of the dresses.
Editing:
My guess is Crash, because I've heard it's all quick-cutty and such. Academy eats that shit up, much as we eat up wishing your father a happy 83rd birthday in your acceptance speech.
Leading Actor:
What if Heath wins and Jake didn't? Of course, we don't think that's going to happen. I'm thinking Joaquin, as he's been ignored by all sorts of other award-giving bodies.
I'm very happy with Hoffman winning though. Capote was so super duper good.
Meg is blogging the Oscars, too. And what the hell was Travolta nominated for, anyway? Melissa thinks it's a case of quantity, not quality. And I totally missed Cinematography, which (surprise, surprise) went to Geisha.
Which seems to be getting quite a few. Who directed that, again?
Melissa likes Jamie Foxx's ensemble, but feels he is having a slimy day.
Best Actress:
Charlize has already gotten one for being ugly, but hell--it worked for Hilary Swank twice. Felicity Huffman one-ups ugly, though, by playing a man (I really want to see TransAmerica). And everyone keeps talking about how good Reese was, but, as Tiff said, you don't get the Oscar when you're pretty.
Like Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon has an extra element of fun to her win: "Next on TBS, starring Academy Award Winner Reese Witherspoon, Cruel Intentions."
Or Legally Blonde.
But then, I guess you do sometimes.
Adapted Screenplay:
I think this is going to Brokeback Mountain.
Or maaaaaybe The Constant Gardener.
So, now I'm thinking Brokeback is going to get Best Director, and someone else (Crash maybe?) is getting Best Picture.
He said it awhile back, but I'm still tickled by Jon Stewart's tallying of Pimp guys vs Marty, and Marty's lack of an Oscar.
Uma looks really pretty.
Original Screenplay:
Aw, I still haven't gotten a chance to see The Squid & The Whale.
My guess was Syriana for some reason. (They aren't otherwise acknowledging? Crap, Clooney--I forgot.)
OK, here's my 2 final predictions:
Ang Lee gets Best Director.
Crash gets Best Picture.
And I think I'm done.
TV 14! Well, the show is. We're pottymouths.
Melissa is on the phone with Toni, who is watching Domino. I'm laughing hysterically at that.
I'm also drinking apple juice.
Quick poll: Jon Stewart or George Clooney in your bed? We've got one of each. You can have fun trying to figure out who said what (such a puzzle).
Was someone just on a cell phone!?
Charlize Theron looked pissed...or was that Ashley Judd?
(gasp) look how cute Catherine Keener looks!
Jessy's Last Minute Predictions, and How They Match Up.
I like to wait to predict until as they're announcing the nominees.
Best Supporting Actor
My Guess: Paul Giametti, since he hasn't gotten anything yet, not even for Sideways.
I was wrong.
The nice thing about predicting at the last minute is, as Clooney just said himself, you can tell whether or not other things will get other awards.
By the way, who's that random blonde next to Jake Gyllanhall? And I like that during the monologue, Jack Nicholson and Kiera Knightly were the we're-not-amused seating partner.
Melissa wants to know why Oscar commercials suck, and if they cost more than regular Sunday night programming. She's very upset.
Wonder if they're going to do the awards-in-the-aisles thing again this year.
God, I hate Tom Hanks.
Was that just Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves next to each other? Wasn't Speed like 10 years ago.
Visual Effects:
King Kong might get the pity, but didn't we run out of statuettes with Peter Jackson's name on them a few years ago?
I got it right!
Wait, there's a too big suit jacket? Or just too long? Melissa's got a good eye!
Animated:
Melissa thinks Corpse Bride, but we both hope Wallace and Grommit. Actually, as soon as the music came on, we both exclaimed, "Oooo, Wallace and Grommit!"
YAY!
Is Naomi Watts pregnant, as Melissa thought when she first walked out, or did Santino-on-crack make her dress?
Only evil people don't like Dolly Parton.
Melissa sez columns look cheap. I'm inclined to agree.
"They tried to combine like a spacey theme, and a...I don't know...a cheap theme"--Melissa
No one cares about the short films. Seriously, you all know I'm right. They're what you do after you graduate from one of those indie-focused film schools, because you hope you'll do a Bottlerocket.
Animated presenters are irritating. How well did Chicken Little actually do, anyway?
Melissa: "alarmingly well"
Animated short film: the last safe place for hand-drawn animation.
Heh--"John Turturro for his sensitive vocal performance."
Melissa has noticed that Jennifer Aniston gets no fancy intro as a presenter, and she likes her necklace.
Best Costume:
We got no predictions, though for a second I did think Geisha.
Melissa:
What is this? What is this? The woman who won the best costumes thingy is wearing a ridiculous ("Asian-inspired?" perhaps?) dress! (And so is her daughter, says Jessy).
How did they put the biopic clips in order? Totally randomly?
Makeup:
Tumnus! Tumnus! Tumnus!
However, our prediction is Star Wars. It's the end of the saga Oscar.
No, Tumnus got it after all. Hooray! Even the Academy hates George Lucas.
Ah, the Tech Award Luncheon. Or, the nerds we don't let come to the real thing. And, yes, I know it's not a luncheon. Luncheon is funnier. Even funnier? A buffet.
Supporting Actress:
After seeing that clip, I really need to see Junebug.
I think Rachel Wiess got naked in The Constant Gardener, so she could be a good bet. If Michele Williams doesn't get it, Brokeback is DEFINITELY getting best picture.
Naked gorgeous British women get it everytime, don't they?
I think Brokeback is going to be the movie this year that only gets Best Picture, which never makes sense to me (or my mom). How can something be Best Picture without having the best director or any of the best actors. Maybe it'll get Adapted Screenplay too.
Lauren Bacall and film noir--doesn't get much better.
Except the annoying film student in me is forced to point out that Orson Welles made the movie most think endcapped the film noir period, so it's weird to list him first.
This political ad "for your consideration" thing is awesome. Of course, I also love the giant NYTimes ads, so what do I know?
Mr Hustle and Flow's grandmother's brooch is distracting us from the Documentary Short. Because, you know, otherwise I pay a lot of attention to them.
Charlize Theron's dress, while beautiful, seems to have cancer of the shoulder. It's got a big ol' tumor.
Documentary: like they'd give it to anything other than March of the Pengiuns. Melissa says, "I can't believe they brought puppets."
Then she changed her mind, upon realizing that they were attractive Frenchmen.
Do I really need to give my I Love Jennifer Lopez speech again?
Crash song: Worst Interpretive Dance Ever.
Melissa begins to channel the choreographer.
Choreographer: You--act like you're swimming. Towards the fire. Act like a zombie! [They've each got their roles.] You--stick your hand in her crotchal region.
And then she started "dancing" herself.
As though Best Song has anything to do with the song itself.
Keanu and Sandra are PRESENTING together. We're gonna go back in time.
Melissa has identified the Speed music. This is ridiculous.
Art Direction:
Is that the Wallace and Grommit music behind Goblet of Fire?
I half-assedly called Geisha, and got it right.
Winner stepped on Sandra's dress. "That's what you get for wearing a train," decides Melissa, "but don't get me wrong, if I were there, I'd probably be wearing a train, too."
The final Harry Potter movie will get awards. None before.
Are they really putting On the Waterfront in with all this confrontational movie stuff? Hurmph. This is so all because of Brokeback. Now, I haven't actually SEEN Brokeback yet, but all this "Look how good we are at social issues and having our finger on the pulse of what America cares about" crap is pretty damn transparent.
We like Selma Hayak's dress A LOT. And I'm not usually a fan of assymetrical.
Original Score:
Oh, John Williams won it. He always wins it. He's like the freaking Tom Hanks of music, but schmaltzier.
OK, it really pisses me off that they keep showing that little girl in the Munich clips. She was barely in it, and, as I've mentioned before, if she was only 4-5 years older, she wouldn't be a symbol of the last of their humanity in the face of their task to kill a bunch of people, she'd be another naked bleeding dead woman.
Because I haven't seen Brokeback, all these shots of cowboys lookin' pensive just makes me want to see Giant again.
Man, that John Williams fucker is nominated twice. Do I have to guess which movie?
Oh my god, John Williams DIDN'T get it. Is this the beginning of the Brokeback sweep?
I truly don't understand why the guy who played Perry Smith didn't get nominated for ANYTHING. It's kinda criminal.
Melissa sez: "If MGD is 'Beer. Grown up.', I don't want to grow up." Jessy concurs.
"If Thomas Edison didn't invent the film projector." WTF!?
...and Melissa gets full-barreled Jessy film history.
You know, for a TELEVISED show, they're really pushing this "only on the big screen" crap. Also, since when has Mary Poppins been considered an epic?
Also not an epic: Back to the Future.
And why was there no Intolerance? Damn thing started epics.
Fun poll: Who thinks Jessica Alba is hot?
(Melissa used the word "Skeletor" to describe her look tonight.)
Sound Mixing:
At a clip for Narnia, Jessy says, "Now that's an epic. Melissa replies pityingly, "No, Jessy, that's a unicorn."
So much hilarity, I forgot to put in my guess.
We're enjoying the ridiculousness of Meryl Streep's dress. And who doesn't love Robert Altman?
You know what was weird about that film noir montage? They've recently cleaned up, remastered, etc. Maltese Falcon, but what was shown tonight was grainy and dirty as hell. Not that I don't love grainy, but seems odd.
(& I totally stole this idea from Darren.)
Poll: How do we feel about the Prairie Home Companion movie? The sound of Garrison Keiller's voice makes me want to stick a fork in my eye, but the cast is promising, and I do like Altman.
Would you agree with Melissa that Joaquin Phoenix's bow tie is velvet? Would you agree with Jessy that Joaquin Phoenix has put on a bit of weight? In, as Melissa would say, the facial area?
M. Night Shamalan is really pretty.
Maybe I've been watching too much Angel lately, but the white guy in the Hustle & Flow choreography looks like Lindsey. Not to mention the Solid Gold dancing. And how utterly bad the song is.
But of course, we all know Hustle & Flow, only got a Best Song nomination because the movie got so much buzz and, since it has no moderately known actress taking her clothes off, it won't get any other Academy attention.
Which is why it won, even against Dolly Parton.
Melissa has put her finger on what strikes me about Jamie Foxx's appearance: he looks slimy sometimes. Exactly!
Is War of the Worlds going to be completely ignored? Are we blaming that for the perceived blockbuster slump thing last summer?
And Jennifer Garner just slipped.
Jessy begins to whine at her lack of a Dyson as soon as the commercial starts.
Foreign Language:
Will Smith is annoying, and the Palestinian movie is winning. Oh, there's a South African one and one about Nazis. If I had known about South Africa, I would've guessed that. I also like how the foreign language Oscar announcing bit says things like, "This is the first award for South Africa." Like it's the Olympics or something.
Melissa is dazzled by the sparkliness of the dresses.
Editing:
My guess is Crash, because I've heard it's all quick-cutty and such. Academy eats that shit up, much as we eat up wishing your father a happy 83rd birthday in your acceptance speech.
Leading Actor:
What if Heath wins and Jake didn't? Of course, we don't think that's going to happen. I'm thinking Joaquin, as he's been ignored by all sorts of other award-giving bodies.
I'm very happy with Hoffman winning though. Capote was so super duper good.
Meg is blogging the Oscars, too. And what the hell was Travolta nominated for, anyway? Melissa thinks it's a case of quantity, not quality. And I totally missed Cinematography, which (surprise, surprise) went to Geisha.
Which seems to be getting quite a few. Who directed that, again?
Melissa likes Jamie Foxx's ensemble, but feels he is having a slimy day.
Best Actress:
Charlize has already gotten one for being ugly, but hell--it worked for Hilary Swank twice. Felicity Huffman one-ups ugly, though, by playing a man (I really want to see TransAmerica). And everyone keeps talking about how good Reese was, but, as Tiff said, you don't get the Oscar when you're pretty.
Like Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon has an extra element of fun to her win: "Next on TBS, starring Academy Award Winner Reese Witherspoon, Cruel Intentions."
Or Legally Blonde.
But then, I guess you do sometimes.
Adapted Screenplay:
I think this is going to Brokeback Mountain.
Or maaaaaybe The Constant Gardener.
So, now I'm thinking Brokeback is going to get Best Director, and someone else (Crash maybe?) is getting Best Picture.
He said it awhile back, but I'm still tickled by Jon Stewart's tallying of Pimp guys vs Marty, and Marty's lack of an Oscar.
Uma looks really pretty.
Original Screenplay:
Aw, I still haven't gotten a chance to see The Squid & The Whale.
My guess was Syriana for some reason. (They aren't otherwise acknowledging? Crap, Clooney--I forgot.)
OK, here's my 2 final predictions:
Ang Lee gets Best Director.
Crash gets Best Picture.
And I think I'm done.
Friday, March 03, 2006
This might be my favorite silly internet quiz ever.
You are pink aluminum.
Retro, straightforward and fun, you love classic
things. If they're 99 cents at Goodwill all
the better! You are moved by striking colors
and tasty morsels, and you like a
stitch-n-bitch session in the sun. Just
remember, while you're being kitschy cool,
don't get too cold. Ice cubes are best kept
in your cocktails, baby!
What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
My job is funner than your job.
I just love Brent Hartinger to bits.
The central premise of Geography Club (a bunch of kids want to form a gay-straight alliance at their school, but are kinda afraid to, so they name in the one thing they know NO ONE will be interested in: a geography club) is funny as hell, but the book is all sweet and stuff.
(and ends the way I thought Rainbow Boys should have ended, incidentally)
When Geography Club was getting all banned for some bullshit cover reason*, there wasn't just fighting, there was mocking too.
And you know I love a good mockery.
The sequel to Geography Club, The Order of the Poison Oak, is also the only book that's caused me to say, out loud, to the book, "He's a ho!" And I think that's a good thing.
In fact, my only complaint with Brent Hartinger is that the pacing of his newest book (Grand & Humble), combined with my reading speed, meant that I got to the end of page 175, the biggest cliff hanger in the book, looked at the clock, and realized I had to go back to work right then. I can blame him for this, right?
It's such a good book. All thriller-y and suspenseful, but funny too. And I really like the design of the cover and chapter beginnings.
This is what it looks like:
*"...Superintendent Patti Banks, who earlier had removed “Geography Club” from the high school and Curtis Junior High out of concerns it could influence students to meet strangers through the Internet."
The central premise of Geography Club (a bunch of kids want to form a gay-straight alliance at their school, but are kinda afraid to, so they name in the one thing they know NO ONE will be interested in: a geography club) is funny as hell, but the book is all sweet and stuff.
(and ends the way I thought Rainbow Boys should have ended, incidentally)
When Geography Club was getting all banned for some bullshit cover reason*, there wasn't just fighting, there was mocking too.
And you know I love a good mockery.
The sequel to Geography Club, The Order of the Poison Oak, is also the only book that's caused me to say, out loud, to the book, "He's a ho!" And I think that's a good thing.
In fact, my only complaint with Brent Hartinger is that the pacing of his newest book (Grand & Humble), combined with my reading speed, meant that I got to the end of page 175, the biggest cliff hanger in the book, looked at the clock, and realized I had to go back to work right then. I can blame him for this, right?
It's such a good book. All thriller-y and suspenseful, but funny too. And I really like the design of the cover and chapter beginnings.
This is what it looks like:
*"...Superintendent Patti Banks, who earlier had removed “Geography Club” from the high school and Curtis Junior High out of concerns it could influence students to meet strangers through the Internet."
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Here's a game.
Or a study in random associations and non sequitors. Even more than one usually finds here, maybe.
I've got 3 songs here with distinct memories/associations. I'm going to tell you what they are and we'll all be entertained.
Then you're going to take these 2 and add one song and give some stories about them on your blog thing. We'll all be entertained some more.
This'll be fun, I swear.
I've got 3 songs here with distinct memories/associations. I'm going to tell you what they are and we'll all be entertained.
Then you're going to take these 2 and add one song and give some stories about them on your blog thing. We'll all be entertained some more.
This'll be fun, I swear.
- Common People--Pulp
Not technically 80s, and yet still the most popular song at Pittsburgh 80s Night.
Also the song I tend to speed the most on if it shows up while I'm driving. - The Greatest Love of All--Whitney Houston
I wish this song only reminded me of Say Anything, but this is the song we sang at my 6th grade graduation. I was disappointed because the year before, the graduating class sang that New Kids on the Block song with the video of them singing on stools in front of a sky background. What was the name of that? I think it was maybe on the Christmas album.
When my dad took pictures at my high school graduation, it was on the same roll of film from the 6th grade one. - Centerfold--J. Geils Band
Aaaah, Pop-Up Video, who told me about the singer rooming with David Lynch. What an amazing show. And quite a board game as well, especially a drinking game.
A drinking game I played with, among other people, Cindy, who once thrifted a kids game involving throwing things into a green plastic toilet. She tried to turn that into a drinking game as well. I also remember Cindy finding: the Sweet Valley High game, a Ghostwriter game (not to be confused with the Ghostwriter drinking game Tiff and I made up), and this game of cards, some with boys on them and others with personality issues, and you were supposed to determine which issue you would ignore for which boy. Or something. Except the guys were all ugly, in that particularly 80s "hot" way.
And then we changed the issue cards to say ridiculous things.
What I really think about when I hear "Centerfold", though, is the Nothing Painted Blue cover of it, which was on like every mixtape me or Tiff made the summer 2000. Or maybe we just always listened to a very small number of tapes in Midge.
She had never listened to the 45 that came with Monte Carlo Method and commented on the song one day. I think I said something like, dude, don't you have this too?
But I don't remember if I was calling people "dude" then or not. Probably pulled out the "go back to Russia" I was digging into the ground then, though.
And while we've got the Summer 2000 going, I could go into my James-from-Twin Peaks obsession, but I'll spare everyone.
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