Author: brian

okay i’m going to go ahead and admit it: i’m becoming a big fan of the new nbc show heroes. i really love it, and that’s despite some very glaring flaws. i know the actors are generally not very good, and the dialogue is a bit melodramatic and cheesy most of the time. but either i’m getting used to it being that way, or they’re getting better, or the show itself is just taking the focus off characterization now that we’re introduced to everybody.

the focus now seems to be on parceling out a cool, complex story in tantalizing little comic book sized bits, and it’s making me really happy to watch it unfold. and i’m willing to forgive a few lame conversations or plot holes, because you know what, i’ve read some totally enjoyable comics that fall prey to these same faults. honestly, i’m proud of how well they’re translating a very comic-styled story to a live action show that has to fill an hour a week. and as more of the strands start to come together each week, it’s getting more and more engrossing. heck, if even my girlfriend, who i don’t think has read a comic in her life, is almost as into it as i am, they must be doing something at least a little bit right.

i mostly offer up this recommendation because i noticed they’re playing the first three episodes all together on sunday night, so if you haven’t been watching you should tivo that shit and catch up. it’s a lot of fun, especially if you like having your geek bone tickled.

been a good week since last i posted. last week at work i felt like i really nailed a few meetings and the like, almost as if i really know what i’m doing here, and it felt good. it’s kind of interesting when i step back and see myself growing up in different but complementary ways; like having to manage my finances and not being as skinny on one hand (not fun), but on the other being wiser and more professional when the situation demands it, which is pretty satisfying.

then, of course, the thing i’m most looking forward to right now is guitar hero 2 coming out three weeks from today. so i know i don’t have to worry about growing up too much too fast and being a boring old guy for a while yet — although i do look forward to earning the right some day to be ‘ornery’.

for now though, seriously, guitar hero 2 is ruling my thoughts. going against traditional logic that might say i need to polish up on my skills with the original, i’ve instead declared a moratorium on all guitar hero playing until the new one arrives in my hands. it’s gonna be as sweet as the first beer after a full day of road-tripping, and if my fingers could salivate, they would.

jessica pointed out to me last night, as we were going to play some raquetball, that yesterday was our sixth night in a row hanging out, including spending almost the entire weekend together save a few hours of errand running. i thought about that and realized she was right, but also that my mind hadn’t found it worth noticing, because it all happened so naturally and without any ‘god, i need time alone’ even entering my mind. so i think i concluded it must be because she’s the best girlfriend ever, and somehow i ended up getting her. don’t know how i pulled that one off, but hey, good deal.

oh and in the way of a pay day song, i’m really liking this new silversun pickups track well above the rest of the album it comes from, carnavas. probably because it does more of what i wish every other song would do, which is spread out the rock over the whole song. it seems like a lot of their tracks they spend the whole time building up to on very brief, excellent crescendo moment, but it only lasts 20 seconds out of a four minute song. anyway, well thought out twinkles is the worst-named best song i’m listening to repeatedly this week, so have at it friends.

review of departed tomorrow i hope. sneak peak: go see it.

some of the people in our building have the day off for columbus day, which sucks because i’m not one of them. they’re probably home having nautical barbeques, with pinta-shaped cakes and sailing on a nice beer buzz, while i, in turn, am not.

just now i thought it would be fun to look up an obscure columbus fun-fact to mark the occasion at least, but in my two minutes of searching only found things that sounded like generic text copied from grade-school readers. one helpful site obviously lacking a serious editor also noted, ‘stores often have great columbus day sales’. i love the internet.

completely unrelated to tepidly celebrated holidays, yesterday i had my first ever professional massage, thanks to a gift certificate i received from my loving lady friend a few months ago. i was expecting it to be amazing, but it was just solidly good. i couldn’t tell if it’s because the lady wasn’t that good, i wasn’t ‘relaxing into it’ properly, or if maybe i’m just so relaxed a guy there wasn’t that much tension to work out — although that last one seems improbable.

i also found that afterward i had a strong urge to cuddle, but had to remember that unlike every other massage i’ve ever been given, this one was not being administered by my current girlfriend. so instead i walked back to my car strangely lightheaded, then went home and watched sin city. not quite the same, but still satisfying in its own way.

sorry, friends and net-neighbors, if you’ve been trying to leave a comment the past couple days and couldn’t. backblog, my ever-so-excellent commenting service, was down for a bit but seems to have recovered. please resume responding to my thought-provoking writings or just posting how awesome you think i am.

speaking of awesome, i’ve been listening to the new decemberists album all week, and it is almost as amazing as i hoped. i’m still digesting it in order to deliver a full and fair opinion of the whole thing, which will definitely require at least one listening with liner notes in hand so i can catch the full weight and meaning of all those verbose lyrics. until then, please enjoy the only one week late pay day song, one of the several title tracks, the crane wife 1 & 2. it’s not just an 11-minute-long glory of a song, it’s more like a 6 minute a 5 minute song pasted together for a beautiful and satisfying musical arc. also one of the more classically ‘decemberisty’ tracks on the album, which is full of fun deviations from what i was expecting. listen to it over and over while i go off to enjoy a weekend of college football and poker and relaxing.

oh my bloody hell, this entire mark foley fiasco has to stand as the clearest reason in recent memory to shake your fist and loudly shout at the sky, “WHAT THE HELL KIND OF PEOPLE RUN THIS COUNTRY!?!”

endless mistakes, poor planning, skewed agendas, those are all part of politics and i’m sure at some point along the line, most bad government moves start out as well-intentioned, or so i’d like to think. but how baldly irresponsible is it to not just do these types of things if you’re the culprit, but to cover for it if you’re the whole rest of congress!? jesus christ.

the daily show’s severe smackdown of the whole thing was pretty merciless, and if you missed it i would watch both parts on youtube if i were you (here are part one and part two) for your pleasure.

and not that it isn’t easy for everyone to get in on the foley-bashing, but some friends of mine who do net video shorts also took up the topic in their own parodies, which are damn funny as well — featuring a very convincing congressman costume i might add. extra props for the reference in the second video. apparently they were even featured on CNN, so good on ya’, guys!

if you like these, check out their other stuff at their site, invisible engine, or subscribe to them in itunes.

thoroughly entertained this week across the board. had more drinks than i could count on one hand and went to see jackass number two friday night with a nice little crowd, and laughed my head off.

caught we are scientists and art brut saturday night and rocked my head off.

picked up a copy of okami sunday morning, which is an entirely excellent and fun game, so i spent an uncanny amount of hours playing my thumbs off, then swearing my mouth off along with some deadwood.

now tonight i’m off to amoeba to pick up the HIGHLY anticipated new decemberists album, so i can…. listen my ears off?… reference my dictionary off?…

eh, who cares. good times all around though. get in on any of the above for some good times of your own!

it might be tougher for a less secure heterosexual man to admit this, but i’ll say it proudly — i went to a scissor sisters show last night, and had a great time.

which is funny, because i don’t even really like the scissor sisters that much. i’d always heard pieces of their albums or the few singles they’ve had, and thought, ‘wow, i certainly don’t need more disco in my life. no thank you’. i don’t think i’ve listened to a full album of theirs a all the way through even once, ever.

but jessica liked them enough to buy some tickets to their show (especially since she was down for the count during their coachella set), and offered to give me her extra for free for taking care of back in a tent in the desert in may. not wanting her to get stormed by cute lesbians who might try to steal away my cute girlfriend, i felt compelled to join her.

and even despite awful, awful sound in the shrine, since the show was in the echoey cement-floored expo center side, not in the auditorium, they totally sold me with their live show. their singer has an energy level and list of dance moves that combine to make any human jealous, and the songs pretty much rocked and grooved all over the place (except for the two slow songs, during which i just wished they would save their elton john impressions for private use only).

anyhow, now i’ve got to decide if i was just plain wrong, or if their live show is an entirely different experience than listening to their music in recorded form. either way, i got to have a fun night and see a bunch of pretty boys in makeup and tight pants, both on stage and off, which is always a good time, right?

[update: okay, so i listened to some more stuff i found floating around the internet, and i think it’s the latter. maybe the flair gets turned down in favor of the rock when they play it live, and that’s why i liked it more. however, ‘i don’t feel like dancing’, even with all that in mind, is still a kickass infectious pop song. if only i could understand what he’s saying in the chorus there…]

hmm, some of those last few posts have been a bit on the downer side, haven’t they. well i think i’ve just got an internal cap on happiness and after being content for too long, i get to where i need a quick cycle of self-doubt before i can swing back around to realizing that things are pretty rad. a healthy little dose of reflection to get the angst out of my system. and “if you’re never down, how would you know when you’re up?” sort of thing.

so in counter to that, as it seems to have passed, here are briefly some things that are awesome lately.

one: if you haven’t seen or at least heard about the clinton interview on fox news last weekend, you owe it to yourself to check it out. the man stands the hell up to a brashly slanted question, and it’s so satisfying to watch. i could drone on and on about my feelings on the topic, but that would take too long and be less-than-awesome, compared to seeing some actual fire out of a democrat for once. bravo!

two: the shadow of the colossus video game. i won’t write a review on here, cause i’ve never really done that for a video game before (although i’ve thought about starting), and also because i haven’t finished it yet (although i’m getting close), so read that link instead. it sure is something different though and i love different when it comes to games. playing it on the new big screen is a huge bonus as well. seriously gets your heart racing climbing up the back of a freaking giant.

three: monday night on NBC. i think i’m falling in love with studio 60 and the first episode of heroes definitely has me wanting to watch more. part of me feels guilty for watching more TV than i’m used to, but they’re really making it easy with some well-produced and smart stuff. okay, heroes is a bit cheesy but i can’t help myself. luckily with tivo though i can at least space it out and not spend two full hours at once watching it live; then i’d really feel like a slug.

lastly, four: USC football, mostly for not letting me down so far this season, showing lots of potential for greatness, and giving me a reason to crack open beers much earlier in the day than saturdays the rest of the year. cheers!

brian, you slacker, you almost forgot a whole week back there. and it’s not like you’re doing anything important, so what’s your excuse? overly enjoying the copious use of your new Very Large Television does not pardon you from regular blog updates, unless you openly admit you’re a lazy sack and give in to the higher power that is consumer media.

funny, a few weeks ago when i was complaing about not having enough down time i couldn’t wait for summer to go into decline so i could spend a bit more time sitting around doing nothing. now that i’ve done that for a week or two i’m already starting to feel like a boring and semi-useless sloth. why does leisure time always seem to lead to overly introspective ruminating about the quality of my life as a whole? can’t i just enjoy some decent tv shows, netflix movies, do some reading, and kick back with a smile? the eternal curse of the overactive mind — always turning on itself to make you question if it’s being put to good enough use.

home land – sam lipsyte – 5 stars

speaking of which, i just finished a great book which is an exaggerated tale of this very problem.

[i know i haven’t reviewed a book on here in forever, but that’s because i’ve mostly only read books i’ve felt lukewarm about this year, as sad as that is. well, that, and i’ve been attempting to scale Mount Quixote for so long my enthusiasm for the printed word is being put to the endurance test of its life, as i oh-so-gradually near the peak and my resolve weakens in the thinning air. the new strategy, however, is to take it on in 50-page chunks and use other books like oxygen tanks to keep me up to the task, and this last one was the most refreshing yet.]

maybe it’s just my weakness for stories of over-intellectual, underachieving nobodies having to face their ultimate meaninglessness, but i whizzed through this one and quite loved it. true, it may be a little farfetched that someone who’s done so little with his life would be blessed with such control of language. however, the idea of writing brutally honest updates to your high-school newsletter — chronicalling your unemployment, failures, lost (or never had) loves, doubts, down to the details of your boredom and habits of personal pleasuring — has much the same appeal as a really juicy personal blog would, and part of the pleasure is knowing you might well think or even write some of the same things if you dared. lucky for us, this guy has nothing to lose, so we can delight in his every hilariously pathetic non-adventure, and his endless analysis of every bland encounter.

it’s the hyper-literate quality of his telling that makes all this sadness so much fun to read though, so the thing that makes it the least feasible turns out to be its main selling point. boring conversations seem profound and carry great implications, and every small-town loser is a symbol of all our modern discontent. it’s obviously very dark humor, so we might not be talking beach reading here, but i don’t think i’ve been to the beach once this month and i thought it was a fantastic read.

like pretty much everyone else in the county who owns an lcd soundsystem album, i went to see the banksy show this weekend. i actually stood in a line on a hot afternoon just to see some art, which you’d be hard pressed to get me to do under any other circumstances.

some people seem to be judging the whole event a little harshly for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the huge live elephant he used as a canvas. on that, i have to say i think it’s an over-reaction. i know we can’t ask the elephant’s opinion, but it was just some paint. i’d stand around painted and just eat all day if it was for a cool art piece by someone i respected. and what does it say that the whole point of the piece was to jab at ‘the elephant in the room’ of all the terrible things that go on in the world like war and starvation, and instead of being moved to action or at least discussion by the art piece, most people’s instinct is to just bitch about a poor elephant’s mistreatment by being kept in a room with a little bit of paint?

i also don’t want to fall prey to the other problem, which is only discussing the elephant piece, and say the art was extremely clever and well done. while some might criticize it for being gimmicky or too much like ironic t-shirt design, i’d argue the opposite, that this is a person with a clear and focused idea he’s trying to communicate, and he does in in a direct and impactful way. check on flickr, the pieces are very clean and well-designed, but they all make you think right away. i much prefer some pop-art with political or social overtones than classic paintings you have to be an art history major to decode for proper understanding, but i guess that speaks more to my lack of education than the relative mertis of art styles. all i guess i’m getting at is that if his aim is to be thought-provoking through beautiful images, it worked on me and i’m glad i went to see it.