watching expired appliances align

craggy

if you're not intersted in an in-depth discussion about citizens' media being the new pong, today's fun online reading seems to be the women of the black table "rooting for the underdog" (they explain why they're attracted to certain guys who aren't hot in the traditional sense - both tucker carlson and james cromwell make the list).

really, it's not real

just a quick reminder:

snopes.com, the urban legends reference pages, is a great resource.

hopefully five years from now no one under 40 will ever need to spend more then an hour or two debating various urban legends. yes, that takes a lot of fun out of life. we now have more time to discuss why the lead reality television particpant in "my big fat obnoxious fiance" is so unsympathetic.

deal memo optional

the following is something i wrote on august 18th, 2003:

there's something delightful about returning home from the gym and taking a quick shower. i like the way it helps me put my thoughts from the day into perspective. the physical exhaustion of the gym empties my brain. the steam and hot water of the shower helps expand and rearrange those elements of the day into a more cohesive order.

well, maybe not. basically all the shower i just took did was remind me to comment on a few things, especially the nature of dating. and i'm not sure what it is that i want to say about dating. while scrubbing my elbows it occurred to me that dating is not like a business relationship, even though that's maybe how i sometimes treat it. ie, with the person i'm currently dating - we met on lavalife. our profiles were on full display. that's like some sort of business prospectus, right? and now that we're a few weeks into the relationship, it feels like time to flesh out that relationship a little more...like i've sent a deal memo, but we're still figuring out the language of the final contract. but i'm not sure what's expected of me in this relationship. and that's why i think i have the urge to put it down in bullet point format, even though that's so not the right thing to do.

sample bullet points include (but are not limited to):

-i will send you one long, rambling email each day (not to include weekends or days when the power goes out)
-i will see you in person twice per week (these meetings can include other people, or it can just be the two of us)
-i will try to be as funny as possible whenever we're just sitting around, and you will be expected to laugh at my old man humor
-if i see you online, i will IM you within five minutes, but due to nervousness of not knowing what to say, you can't get mad at me if i log off thirty minutes later
-i will send you my random thoughts during the day (the random thoughts that i don't consider deep enough or rich enough or funny enough to expand into full-blown blog entries, thus sharing them with all of my friends)

so, yeah, that's the start of this ridiculous deal memo i'm drawing up in my head. i know a conversation seems to be on the horizon again, but i feel like i just had one of those a few weeks ago. and i wasn't sure what to say. i get nervous. and i don't know what's next. and i don't even know how i feel.

the surreal life - season 2

yesterday i checked in with jeremy paquette regarding his thoughts on the second season of the wb's "the surreal life." unlike last year, he's not recapping his thoughts on each episode, but here's what he had to say when i asked "any thoughts?":

it's all i think about.
i truly think they're off to an amazing start and it could possibly best the premier season blasphemy? hardly.

last season there were some likable guests and some detestable guests but so far this season has a mix of 6 crazy people, all with faults and positives but no one so loathsome as corey feldman nor as nice and safe as hammer. each could explode at any minute, with the exception of ron jeremy who is so sleazy and hammy that he need not be close to rage/insanity at all times like everyone else.

for some reason i find this lot more likable overall.

the first episode led me to thinking how this season could be full of greatness and episode two fulfilled that promise. it was like 6 episodes packed into one. there was madness, absurdity, lasciviousness, crying, rage, issues, and gary coleman. the scene of ice yelling "whatchoo talkin bout willis" while holding gary coleman off the ground and standing next to todd bridges was one of the greatest tv moments i have ever seen. then follow that with todd wearing the chefs outfit later on commenting on gary's meltdown...tears were streaming down my face. then erik's talking ice down off his emotional ledge was so transfixing. just amazing television.

i really wish i had the chance to write articles on this season but this job doesn't quite give me the time to do it. not that i'm that busy but the constraints of the desk make it much harder to do.

but it's nice to just watch them for pure pleasure without taking notes. i can't believe it's not a show that everybody talks about because i truly find it to be one of the most unique and mind bogglingly strange shows on tv. why watch fiction when you can watch meta-fiction. do these people really exist? how weird was their meeting on the trolley car? did erik estrada really think that baywatch lady was a "plant put here to bust (their) nut"?

i literally sit there in ecstatic glee for the entire hour the show is on.
i'm having a tv renaissance this year and the surreal life is the feather in the cap.

so yeah, i guess i have a few thoughts on this season on the surreal life.

anxiously awaiting episode 3,
jeremy

ooh, how i wish i could watch these episodes with jeremy! my quick two cents: the first episode was bad. the 45 second teaser for the upcoming season was brilliant. and, like jeremy, i think episode two begins fulfilling those promises. i can't wait to see what tonight holds.

but...it's not real

Last weekend I meant to link to “a collection of hand-drawn ‘imaginary record covers’. Homegrown funky folk art: Howard Finster meets Motown. posted on a bulletin board and linked from boingboing. After briefly scanning the link I vowed to return and check out everything that was posted. Looks like I waited too long. According to an update on the boingboing posting, the discussion thread of the original posting was removed due to privacy concerns about the artist.

Fake album cover art can be a lot of fun. I’ve only made three fake album covers in my life. And I’m only happy with the way two of them turned out. All three were created as art projects during college (as a high school teenager I was too busy making fake videos to pretend-package anything having to do with music). The first was an awful, awful 7” cover self-portrait based thing. I used terrible colors and I’m now embarrassed to show it to anyone (and I’m not embarrassed about too much). The second was for that same class. It was a very dirty sort of cut and paste collage, assembled from various photos I had sitting around. It worked at the time but it was a definite sign that I wouldn’t be going into graphic design as a profession.

The third album cover (cd size, like the second) was designed for a band some friends of mine had formed. Mitten never actually released a “6 song EP” called “Do you eat meat?” on “Picky Boy Records (pbr002)” as the spine of my cd indicated, but I had fun mistitling the songs. I couldn’t remember the actual titles of their songs (except for the two covers) and it was late at night when everyone who would’ve known the answer was asleep. I did the best I could when it came to titling. “Elevators/Lifts” became “Elevator is a Lift.” And I hope I was right when I titled a song “Grafton Snowball.” Now that I think about it, I’m not even sure if that was an actual song by Mitten. Did I just make it up? Jamie, Jeremy, Kate, Rishi, Kevin? Someone want to chime in here?

'do you eat meat?'

Anyway, making up fake stuff is fun. If anyone finds out that the imaginary record covers I mentioned at the start of this entry are posted online again, let me know.

(and only related in the most distant of ways - here's a post by blogger jay smooth that discusses the idea of 'blog beef' dis records. his entry links to an mp3 he created, "i know why the unicorn cries." it's all tongue-in-cheek. and it's a great example of the fun, creative things people are doing with their free time.) (link via a whole lotta nothing)

kiss and ride

I just got back from a quick trip to the local drug strore. Maybe they’re called pharmacies these days. I just checked the Duane Reade bag and according to it, the place I went was New York’s #1 Drug Store. Now I’m suddenly struck with the urge to listen to a little John Wesley Harding.

Somehow I spent close to $40. How in the world does this happen? I went intending to buy soap, lighter fluid, lip balm (lately I’ve been consciously working to call it lip balm instead of Chap Stick) and razor blades. It’s the razor blades that got me (and the urge to buy the Glide dental floss). At first I wanted both Sensor Excel and Mach3 Turbo blades (I’ve already got a fair amount of Atra blades). When I realized that I didn’t need both, I put the Sensor Excel blades back. And now it’s official. I’ve made the switch to the Mach3 as my go-to razor for day to day (well, week to week) shaving. I’ll stick to my trusty Atra for any sort of shaving that requires skill and defined lines. Obviously, I’m still behind the curve on razors (as Jamie pointed out yesterday when he mentioned the M3 Power). Man, that guy starts a blog and he’s already close to stealing my facial hair update thunder!

By the way, last night I went to bed thinking I wanted to regrow my beard. I must've forgotten than when I actually bought razor blades.

unleashing a torent of update

this post on whedonesque reminded me that i watched part of a tv movie this past sunday called I WANT TO MARRY RYAN BANKS. it was a cute film about reality dating shows. jason priestley was actor ryan banks. emma caulfield (thus the buffy connection) starred as one of the main dating show contestants. and bradley cooper (will from alias) was banks' best friend and manager. i missed the first hour and only caught 60% of the second hour but i was entertained. i've become a simpleton, i guess. the hijinks between cooper and caulfield was a lot of fun! almost love-triangle-like. (and it's on again tonight at 8pm - abc family channel)

this afternoon i'm going to the bookstore. obviously, i'm watching too much tv these days.

shorts for festivals

it's been years since i've had any sort of brief notion about making a short film. but i still enjoy watching shorts (or at least recording them and hoping they'll be good). thanks to a link from greencine daily (which, by the way, is slowly causing me to become interested in movies again) i ran across an article in filmmaker magazine written mike plante, a sundance film festival shorts programmer, which discusses what makes a good short film. i would love to read a longer piece about the ins and outs of what he's seen but this is a nice way to ease into the notion that this year's sundance film festival is underway.

dr. fact's night of fifty questions

winners of the first ever "dr. fact's night of fifty questions" at buttermilk:
the mars rovers (jamie, kaci, jim & marc)

Update: T.S.O.A. has the details here.

2003 movie lists

it's that time of year again! dan is currently at a theatre watching COLD MOUNTAIN. when he returns, he'll jot down a paragraph or two about the film and sort it into his movie list for 2003. once that's complete, i'll post a link to it from my movie page.

this year i failed to see a lot of important movies. in attempt to know what i've missed and why i should rent it this year, i want to read your list. email your list to me between now and the academy awards and i'll post it online along with everyone else's. if you can't remember everything you saw, check out these two different sources for films released in 2003:

the numbers: movies released in 2003

the movie times: movies of 2003 box office chart

UPDATE: (8:45pm) Dan's List is now online

Also, comments for all movie lists should be made below.

blogging tv from LA

the star-ledger's tv critic alan sepinwall is blogging from the television critics associaton's winter press tour in hollywood. my fingers are crossed that he'll get some face time with the cast or creators of THE OC, which clocked another great episode wednesday night. peter gallagher can't get any better (that line about a clear tivo equaling a clear mind was right on the money). there was less of a focus on adam brody, and that made his character stronger. and the amount of eyeshadow worn by samaire armstrong as anna made me smile with glee.

it's the butter

dan and sujan returned from italy with a package of cracker salati. i finally tried one tonight. i'm not going to say it was a full blown "will marc eat this?" episode but there was definitely some mystery in the air. jamie tried one and called it a mix between saltine's and ritz crackers. i tried one and immediately identified the taste as the taste of captain's wafers. of course, no one knew what i was talking about because i kept using the term "cap'n's wafers," getting the lance cracker confused with the cap'n crunch breakfast cereal. were you aware that captain's wafers are a staple ordered by the indiana department of administration - procurement division? interested in knowing where captain's wafers stack up when part of a cracker basket meal? i won't even get into the southern culture on the skids song that mentions captain's wafers. who knew the cracker was so popular? and that you can buy a huge box of a similar tasting cracker in italy?

post polvo snooze fest

post polvo snooze fest * a mix tape fanzine is now online. after months and months dragging my heels i finally got my act together this past week and posted all the material dan and jeremy have collected during the past few years. make sure you check out jeremy's article about the mix tape road trip he and dan took. and the interviews. you've got to read the intereviews, a lot of them are from six years ago and a lot of fun. and because i want to write something, expect another article or two during the next week.

better than joe millionaire 2, that's for sure

lindsayism saved her best high-dea of 2003 for her temporary winter blogging location:

BCC Pals

can't read enough

I'm not the sort to write some long wrap-up about the year that was (unless you count my annual film list – look for the collection of 2003 movie lists coming soon). I'm not going to mention any New Year's resolutions that I might have accidentally created. That kind of thing just isn't me. Or maybe it is. Maybe I really want to write a year end list about all the good and not so good things in my life. But I'm afraid of being too personal.

Let's just say the year went by quickly. And I missed a lot of things. I’m at a point in my life where I'm afraid of missing anything, or at least missing reading about everything. That makes no sense, but it's a gorgeously awkward transition into my mentioning of the Fimoculous Blogs of the Year List. I could easily spend days reading through all these blogs that I've heard about peripherally but never actually checked out. My resolution for 2004 is to do a better job keeping an eye on a lot of the sites mentioned on that list. My new favorite way of doing that? RSS feeds. A few weeks ago (mostly due to an article in Salon) I signed up for a free account at Bloglines.

Bloglines a "web based news aggregator." During the past year I’ve read various blog entries by authors who have recently discovered reading blogs via RSS or XML feeds, and all I can say is that I feel that same sense of excitement. I’m able to read (or at least scan) a dozen blogs in three minutes. It’s a time saving device, but it will also allow me to read a lot more blogs as I try to learn everything about all the topics I love.

Thanks to the Fimoculous list and some other recent searching on my part I’ve added the following blogs to my list of regular reading:

GreenCine Daily
Bookslut
Adrants

things dan has said to me that were annoying at first but on second thought seem helpful and informative

"they're doing an orson wells retrospective at film forum." (sunday 4 jan 2004)

[that's all i have so far, but i'll try to let this list grow as he says more things and i chronicle the last six months of him being my roommate.]