Category: Uncategorized

why yes, i have heard the new mountain goats album, in case you were wondering. i’m still chewing on it after a half-dozen or so listens. it’s good, for sure. i’ll probably write something more reviewish next week after picking up the full physical package and digesting the songs a bit more (along with the hot chip album i was not able to pick up at their postponed-due-to-illness show this week [single tear], which i have also given several listens).

but naturally, i couldn’t resist sharing the impressively verbal video that popped up this week as soon as i found it — in which his famously wordy lyrics are transformed into a visual maze through a nice long bit of single-shot fun. try not to get dizzy reading along to one of the best songs off the new album, ‘sax rohmer #1’.

so my guy didn’t win in the primary yesterday. at least, not here. he did alright for himself over all, and still has a lot of momentum going in to next time, but i’m a little sad california didn’t step up and go for the fresh face versus the established one. but still hopeful. in fact, since my vote didn’t seem to help out terribly, i even took it upon myself to make my first donation to this race this morning as a consolation prize. you’re welcome, america.

the weird thing is with the amount of time i spent on my couch listening to inane commentary on CNN last night waiting for results to come in, you’d think i was being drafted into the race myself. they treat it like a sport, which i guess is how you keep it interesting in a race-to-the-finish kind of way, but at the same time it’s just endless repetition of essentially baseless opinions by supposed experts. i know it’s doing me no good to watch, i’m not gaining any better an understanding of who will win. i’m especially not getting any better insight into WHY one should win over the other. even the speeches from the candidates are recycled. and yet i can’t… look… away…

i finally shut it off and watched the hilariously bad jon stewart/stephen colbert/conan o’brien crossover, which i only wish they had done when they had writers. i love the new generation of late night kings, but man do they look silly doing an extended slapstick routine. and yet i can’t… look… away…

meet this week’s little bar trivia champions! yes, my smart friends and i, led by our large-brained friends alex and peter, took home the crown (and the 20 dollar gift certificate). mostly thanks to our knowledge of paintings and southern states. i’d like to think it was also in part due to my team-naming idea — that is, stealing matt’s method of coming up with an offensive pop culture reference to use. and so, ‘the orphaned spears children’ were victorious.

um, super bowl was okay i guess. no stand-out great commercials. i prefer more offense in my super bowl, personally, although i did enjoy the intensity in the fourth quarter. the highlight was probably lawrence’s deep fried snickers bars.

and today i voted in the primary for barack obama and ‘yes’ on all those indian gaming propositions. i mean, i like gambling, who am i to say no to anyone asking for more of it?

more importantly, i hope more people decide to put their trust in what i see as ‘the new guard’ versus falling back on ‘the old guard’ when it comes to the next party candidate. when it comes down to it, a lot of the policies are similar and it’s a matter of nuance that either could still help shape as a prominent member of the senate. but at the end of the day, do we want to take a big step forward and elect a fresh, inspiring new face, or continue the dynastic trend of two families governing the country between them for the bulk of my lifetime? not that it’s the only reason i’m pro-obama, but i do feel strongly that no one immediately related to a president should be eligible for office. it just smacks of washington-insider power-mongering. and i’m sorry, but the same goes for spouses. if there’s going to be a first woman president, doesn’t it cheapen it a little that she had to be the wife of a president that served before her?

i’m a little bummed though; my ‘i voted!’ sticker fell off while i was driving to work from the polling place this morning and fell beneath the seat of my car. now no one knows how much i care about democracy!

you’re anxiously awaiting an update on the birthday shenanigans, i’m sure. i was just waiting until i’d sorted through the hundreds of pictures we took over the course of the weekend (with bonus new years pictures), so you could also see the fun for yourself.

what can i even say? every year i get older it seems like our birthdays get more and more fun. it started off real good with the lovely gift of flight of the conchords on thursday, dinner with fellow birthday girl diane and friends, followed by a secret surprise trip to the airport (jessica: ‘um, we may have to leave dinner when i tell you, because you have another present we have to pick up at a certain time’). i was forced to stand facing away from the arrivals until i was suddenly surrounded by gabe and matt, who’d flown in all the way from new york just to hang out for the birthday fun. super fun birthday moment number one. we went home and had some drinks and played rock band until much later than we should have.

friday we were supposed to wake up early and go snowboarding, but since they got in late and we stayed up later, we ended up not making it until early afternoon — what with the hunting for required snow chains and eating of del taco and what have you. still, good to get some time on the slopes in and get out of town for a few hours before heading back for the big party that night. super fun birthday moment number two.

then we showered up, rocked out a bit more, and headed out. we knew it would be a good night as soon as we got into the cab, having all downed a can of sparks, and started singing along to the oldies station. you’d think it was karaoke the amount of heart we put into butchering ‘i will survive’ on the way to santa monica. super fun birthday moment number three.

we made it in, ordered up some cheese steaks that were totally decent, and began with the drinking and partying. now let me just set the scene: the bar is a few steps below ground (hence the name 14 below, i guess), set behind a divey sports bar and next to a swanky lounge bar. it’s one square room with a big bar, and a long rectangle room with a stage. by about and hour or so in, we had at least half-filled both rooms with very nearly all of our favorite people in LA, except of course for our tragically sick mising fifth birthday buddy gino. not to mention dom flew in from san fran, madilyne and her boyfriend kyle drove down from vegas, and we brought some east coast representation with us. gabe and matt even had to wear shirts with my picture on them for losing their bet that the illini would win the rose bowl versus USC. basically, the scene was spectacular. super fun birthday moment number four.

things got underway with a bevy of shots, beers, and mingling, until the bomb who is dj out of controller, our friend ted, stepped up to his electronic tables and proceeded to knock us on our asses with killer dance music. just the right mix of indie/hipster-compatible tunes (republica? blur? nice!), remixes (matt and kim v flosstradamus? chromeo v MSTRKRFT? fucking A!), and cool electronic pop (daft punk and lcd never disappoint). the music was loud, the floor was bumping, ted had a grin on his face a mile wide, and i think i have him to thank entirely for not drinking so much i’d puke — we were too busy dancing to get as drunk as we could have. super fun party moment number five.

then we got cupcakes! and my card was signed by lots of nice people. and it had a picture inside of my gift: a set of not one, but TWO official, portable, foldable beer pong tables to replace my crappy old home made one. as you can imagine, i was quite excited. super fun birthday moment number six.

we made it home with much gratitude to the ride from stacy, then stayed up later, drank more, and played more rock band. jessica even did shots, that girl can party. super fun birthday moment number seven.

the next day we grabbed in-n-out, went to amoeba (picked up some superbad, hot fuzz and patton oswalt), then went to see rambo with all the guys. that, i’ll save for its own post tomorrow, but it was fun as hell, i’ll say that much. but even better when followed up with a test drive of the new beer pong tables back at justin and josh’s place. super fun birthday moment number eight.

it had to be one of the best birthday weekends on record. i was exhausted and happy and already looking forward to next time. matt coined the perfect term for it saturday morning over burgers: post-party depression. where all you can think of is how much fun you had last night and how you wish it was still going on. but as you can tell by the length of this post, i had an amazing time and am super grateful to everyone that participated. there’s no possible way that year 27 won’t be the best one so far.

oh and as you may have noticed, them there best of lists are out of the way, thankfully. anything i missed? every time i make those i get this pang of guilt knowing there were probably excellent books, albums, or movies that i just totally missed. please correct my ignorance if you are able.

last night was a fun laid back evening of drinks with justin, whose birthday was yesterday. it’s tradition to do a shot as the clock strikes twelve for the official passing of the birthday torch, so we played some darts and had some beers at the cozy inn leading up to midnight.

the weird part was that, the cozy being probably our favorite down-to-earth, divey type bar in los angeles, it was exceedingly weird when b-list celebrity andy dick walked in and sat down at the bar with a couple friends.

of all the places in los angeles i frequent, where i am partially on the lookout for fun celebrity sightings, the cozy inn ranks near the very bottom of the list — along with my neighborhood grocery store (which has also, surprisingly, allowed me to walk past such luminaries as ‘that lem guy from ‘the shield’‘ and ‘that dude from the show ‘numb3rs’ who also played neil’s brother in ‘freaks and geeks’‘) and the jack in the box drive-thru line (as yet, no sightings). i’ll give him credit though; it’s a damn great place to grab a beer.

then on the way out, some girls pulled in asking for the address of the bar to make sure they were in the right place, and when told, ‘not sure, but andy dick is in there!’, responded that one of them was ‘his girl’, so this was definitely the right place.

oh los angeles, you’re so funny.

why hello there late 20’s, nice to meet you! what’s that? oh you’re so funny. you know, based on first impressions, and i hope you take this as a compliment, you remind me a lot of my old friend mid 20’s, except with a little more confidence and wisdom. i know we’ll be spending a lot of time together over the next few years, and i can already tell we’re going to get along just fine. it’s so exciting to make new friends.

and yes, if you’re up for some fun — which i think by the look in your eye you usually are — you should definitely come along to our big birthday party tomorrow night! it’s gonna be crazy good times. the bar even has us blocked out as a private party on their calendar. how important and awesome does that make us?

finish it up, lock it down, so we can get on with ’08 and the impending birthday madness!

	books i enjoyed most in 2007
didn’t read as many as i wanted, and wasn’t blown away as often as i would have liked, but there were some good picks among the rabble.
	#7: jesus’ son – denis johnson
a bit scattered, strange, and short, leaving not a whole lot to dig in to, but he’s obviously a talented writer. plus every now and then you’ll stumble into a really profoundly worded scene, where the narrator’s drug-addled haze parts for a moment of beautiful clarity; which is why i imagine people bother — with drugs, or this book.
	#6: god is not great: how religion poisons everything – christopher hitchens
ooooo, i could catch a lot of hell for this one, but as i’ve explained on here before, this book does a few things very well regardless of how you feel about its sometimes-pompous, frequently controversial author. despite his faults, he’s a clever and intelligent writer. as a catalog of the sins of organized religion, this may not be either an indefeatable argument or a definitive collection, but i found it thought-provoking and enjoyable end to end. something i can’t say for many of the few volumes of nonfiction i’ve been tempted into picking up.
	#5: the yiddish policemen’s union – michael chabon
how do you top a pulitzer-prize winning novel that ranks in among my favorites of all time? unfortunately, you don’t — at least not yet. even lacking the warmth of kavalier and clay, this was no small feat of it’s own, however. creating an alternate universe where alaska is given to the world’s exiled jews, and pouring into it a twisting noir tale with its own sense of chutzpah, was a decision i started out doubting. then by the end i realized i was not only sold on it, but have to recognize this chabon guy for being able to pull it off at all. kudos to him.
	#4: the black dahlia – james ellroy
a few tips: one, do not ever bother seeing the movie adapted from this book. it’s essentially a train wreck, trying to cram this wonderful, long, complex, disturbing crime story into a modern caricature of the noir genre. it botches several plot twists and is wholly unfulfilling, where the book pulls you in deeper and deeper as it gets darker and scarier and you can’t believe there’s yet another layer to uncover. two, if you click on the picture right there, you can get it for less than four dollars, which is an insane bargain for such a crazy-good book. you’re welcome.
	#3: from hell – alan moore
i didn’t realize this would turn into a ‘worst screen adaptation’ contest as well as a ‘best of’ list, but everything i said for the last one applies here as well. what’s also to be noted is that i’d normally not count a graphic novel among the list, saving it for mention as merely the best comic i’d read. but this is a novel in every respect, and definitely the best-researched work of speculative historical fiction i’ve ever seen; the footnotes alone could be their own PBS special. not to mention it’s a fucking cool story about the world’s first modern serial killer, written by one of the comic world’s bonafide geniuses.
	#2: the trial – franz kafka
gotta love the kafka, don’t you? before reading this, my only reference for the term ‘kafkaesque’ was the metamorphosis, which i now realize was a bit of a stretch. not only was this a better read than the better-known classic — what with it being about a human all the way through, interacting with other humans, and not a giant bug shut up in his room — but the baseless (or is it?) prosecution of the protagonist drives home with clarity the term so often thrown around by book and film critic alike. it’s not long, it’s not difficult, but it’s powerful and enjoyable; the best kind of book to recommend to anyone and everyone into literature.
	#1: the satanic verses – salman rushdie
i’m noticing a theme here… jesus, god, yiddish, hell, and satan all popping up in this list is awfully peculiar. coincidences aside, though, what can i call this book but delightful. my first foray into rushdie’s work, i was immediately surprised and pleased by the playful use of language, the weaving together of several equally compelling parts of a single over-arching story, and the mix of allegorical fantasy with insightful realities. i quickly realized i was just now getting to know one of the great living writers, capable of scratching every book-loving itch in my body all in one work. i don’t throw around terms like ‘masterpiece’ often, but this is one i wholly recommend and will definitely be returning to again someday.
honorable mentions…
	best graphic novel: absolute dark knight
anyone worth their salt in comic fandom has already read the original years ago. heck, i did too. but getting it in this drool-worthy hardcover oversized absolute edition (an amazing birthday gift around this time last year) was a great reason to read it again, and remember why it gets all the acclaim. it could have been just a good batman story, or a commentary on the media, fear, government, and violence all on its own. but melding the two together, delivering a batman story that not only gets to the core of that character, but also has something to say about the world he (and we) live in, makes for one hell of a devastating work for what to some is just a collectible funny book.

For anyone interested in our ongoing hipster gambling ring, the day has come…

THE COACHELLA POOL

and yes, i sucked it up again. i’ve gotten fifth place for three years running, no matter who plays, no matter how many participants. i’m forever consigned to the lower percentiles of music festival savvy. [sigh].

yesterday at lunch, while enjoying my in-n-out french fries, i did a rough calculation based on the usual two tiny paper cups of ketchup i use each time i go. doing a very rough estimation, postulating i eat french fries an average of 3 days a week all year (not tough to imagine), i guessed it added up to almost a gallon every 10 weeks, which would mean in a year’s time i probably go through a sparklett’s water-cooler bottle (5 gallons) of ketchup annually. gross or awesome?

anyway, that’s not the point here…

	movies i enjoyed most in 2007
although i slacked off a bit here during oscar season and still have to see several of what could be the best ones, i’m still standing behind this list as essential films to see if you haven’t.
	#7: hot fuzz
it was no shaun of the dead, or it would have been almost number one. still, for every action-movie-loving male human, this is a must see. it skewers action movie conventions while being a great movie in its own way, instead of falling into the trap of parody. if nothing else, you have to watch the last half hour for the non-stop chain of references and laughs layered over a pretty fun and original action sequence of its own. now that i think about it, i don’t know why i haven’t gone out and bought this yet.
	#6: children of men
this was a last-year movie, but i checked ticket stubs; i didn’t catch it until almost the end of february. i’m so cutting edge, i know. but i don’t think i’ve seen a film this gut-wrenching possibly ever, and on that alone i have to give it a ton of credit. spectacular visuals and the ever-impressive clive owen never hurt either.
	#5: juno
this one’s pretty recent so i’ve already explained my take on this to most people who care: it’s a great movie with a few flaws. not even flaws, really, almost just elements they could have included but didn’t. still, movies this sweet and clever don’t come along often so when they do i eat them up.
	#4: knocked up
i originally liked this better than the other apatow flick on this list, because i think i related more to that life stage versus horny teenagers. but after rewatching it, i’m not sure this one will keep getting funnier with repetition. still, i can’t think of a single thing i didn’t like about this movie, from characters (his friends are priceless) to story to just generally high level of humor and heart.
	#3: no country for old men
this is the slot everyone will say should be filled with a certain other dark, quiet drama, but you know what, it’s not just my undying love for the coen bros (shup up with yer ladykillers, that doesn’t count). i thought it was tighter, more involving, with a creepier antagonist and a nice touch of dark humor. the ‘what the fuck?’ ending really did it for me and the epilogue scenes that followed were like a punch in the gut. may get glossed over during awards season but ultimately i found it much more satisfying and probably the best drama this year.
	#2: superbad
this is going to be one of the movies that keeps getting better and better the more times you see it. where you memorize entire scenes, down to the inflection of every word, and it never stops cracking you up. some pieces may be a little weak (*coughbillhadercough*), but michael cera and johah hill are both comic geniuses in opposite ways that play off each other gloriously and make this an instant classic.
	#1: live free or die hard
was there ever any doubt? this was my favorite movie of the year as soon as i sat down in that seat — same as i can guarantee dark knight will win out next year — as long as it didn’t blow it with the greatest action movie character ever created. and save one scene that went a little silly over-the-top, which is at least good for a laugh, i think they hit this one out of the park. i left that theatre knowing i could easily watch this movie as many times as i’ve endlessly rewatched the first one. well, almost anyway. so for coming even close to one of my top 10 movies of all time, this is clearly the uncontested winner.
honorable mentions…
	best movie i didn’t love: there will be blood
i didn’t do a full review because i saw it before it was out most places, and i was still ‘digesting’ it by sharing thoughts with all my friends who’d seen it. i won’t pretend there weren’t long stretches in that theatre where i wasn’t bored, but overall i won’t try to deny either that daniel day lewis was jaw-dropping, or that it wasn’t a quote-unquote “great film”. but i still feel it’s almost better in retrospect than it was sitting in that seat; a bit like ‘great literature’, in that it may be a bit plodding to get through, but you’re really glad you did for the fascinating ideas and characters it lets you reflect on after the fact. or, maybe i’ll see it again some day and decide it’s the best thing ever and i was just too tired that night, who knows?
&nbsp	best netflix rentals this year:
veronica mars jessica continues to imply i love this show so much because i have a crush on kristen bell, but i respond that i’d like it equally if it were called ‘victor mars’. it’s a mix of snappy detective fiction and high school drama with a great sense of humor; what’s not to adore? … dawn of the dead this has to be one of the most fun remakes ever. it’s action-packed, hilarious, and essentially crazy. plus: dead babies. … stranger than fiction so intriguing, even if i still feel like i’m missing some secret hidden profundities. … united 93 when they say, ‘keeps you on the edge of your seat’, they’re usually shoveling shit, but this movie was intense. holy fuck. … jesus camp powerfully infuriating and depressing documentary. sort of gives new meaning to the term ‘zombie movie’… … street fight another doc which anyone frustrated with politics should definitely see. … munich i thought this would bore the crap out of me, but it was surprisingly moving while still having that thrilling element of planning and plotting ‘the big hit’ (or hits, as it were. …
&nbsp	TV shows i enjoyed most:
flight of the conchords funniest new show for sure. some of those songs were both pop brilliance and comic perfection; no easy feat. … 30 rock i’ll come out and say it proud: i think this show was funnier than the office this year. the different yet complementary styles of humor from tina fey, alec baldwin, and tracy jordan (all brilliant), are a hilarious triple threat. i mean, did anyone catch the, ‘you can’t have a lemon party without ol’ dick!’ line from liz lemon (tina fey)’s dad in the christmas episode? spectacular writing. … tell me you love me brutally honest and real, and the most thought-provoking relationship stories i think i’ve ever seen on television besides maybe all-time-fave six feet under. … chuck the most fun kinda-bad-but-totally lovable show that no one else i know watched but us. very enjoyable. … weeds and dexter catching up on both the first seasons on dvd and loving both. the former for wonderful dialogue around a fairly simple plot, the latter for godawful dialogue around a totally captivating character. …

time to get on this shit! promise they’ll all be up by the end of the week.

	albums i enjoyed most in 2007
oh man, i bought so few albums this year i almost feel guilty bothering with this. either i’m just getting lazy musically, or i’ve zeroed in on what i like so much that i just have no tolerance left anymore for bullshit and wait patiently for bands i like to come out with new material. however, for posterity, i will press on and enlighten you with the scant selections i bothered to pick up and didn’t regret almost immediately after.
	#7: our earthly pleasures – maximo park
you don’t even have to tell me this wasn’t the greatest album, i know, trust me. see how little into music i was this year? but it did grow on me after repeated listens, i have to give it that much. and seeing them play some of these songs live did increase my enjoyment of them, i have to give it that too. so all in all, they still get a slot for being a likeable group of chaps putting down some solid rock songs.
	#6: the flying club cup – beirut
i’d heard their old stuff and thought it was pretty enough, but i guess this was the year i allowed myself to be enchanted by the magic of a band of gypsy frenchmen. i still think there are a couple songs off the lon gisland EP that should have been on the album — ‘elephant gun’ was a killer track — but i listened to this many times and it put me in a nice wistful mood.
	#5: neon bible – the arcade fire
i may catch crazy shit for this, but i’ll go ahead and say it: i didn’t love their first album that much. i certainly loved half the tracks off of it, but it may, just may have benefitted from a little bit of hype. in all honesty, i thought this, their second effort, sounded more professional, focused, and even from end to end. there may not have been a ‘neighborhood #3 (lights out)’ track quite as dynamite, but i bet i played it more end to end than the first one and it showed they weren’t a one-off band. good stuff.
	#4: alive 2007 – daft punk
pretty high for what’s essentially a rehashing of old material, but damn, if you’re GOING to rehash old material, this is how you do it. i mean, you’d think making some of the best music in a genre even better would be a tough thing to do (other than adding the coolest light show of the decade from within a super-tron pyramid of radness), but these frenchy spacemen make it look easy.
	#3: sound of silver – LCD soundsystem
may not be the second coming that some pitchfork-thumping dancefloor junkies claim it to be, but i will concede a few points: yes, ‘someone great’ and ‘all my friends’ are probably two of the best singles in the last several years. and i’ll admit, seeing them live at coachella did knock my balls off, allowing my desert-wearied body to continue dancing through the pain and exhaustion in some sort of blissful delirium. yeah, there are few tracks on the album that i’m not wild about, but you gotta give ’em a sack full of credit all the same.
	#2: the stage names – okkervil river
now we’re into the ones i was actually crazy about — which i know should have been 5 (or even 15) albums ago, but what can you do? it’s a good sign when i’m still putting this one in months later to listen to and continue digesting. when you write songs as densely packed with wordy goodness as these guys, it’s almost a necessity. i’ll admit, i wish there were a few more tracks where they went in to rocking-out mode, but then i’ll find myself hours afterward singing the chorus of the slower ones to myself and have to admit that they serve their purpose on the album too. overall just a great-sounding album for which ‘strong songwriting’ is a gross understatement. i’m still a little angry i didn’t act fast enough to get into their last sold-out show here in LA, although as penance i did memorize all the lyrics to ‘a hand to take hold of the scene’, so it wasn’t a total loss, because that song is fucking amazing.
	#1: challengers – the new pornographers
i was a little curious how this list would shake out back in the summer when i realized it’d be the first december-goat-less year in the last several, giving me no sure pick for number one. i should have realized it’s really not fair to the other bands when you have as much talent as this group does; going from neko case’s bittersweet melodies to carl newman’s poppy gems to the, well, whatever you’d call dan ‘the destroyer’ bejar’s unique sort of indie balladry. i wonder if they’ve ever caused a musical meltdown with that much goodness crammed into one studio? i also wonder if jessica will ever bring this disc back in from her car after several months so i can listen to it more.
honorable mentions…
&nbsp	songs which i really liked but didn’t bother with the full albums much, or at least not yet:
D.A.N.C.E. – justice (or jus-TEECE?) most of the album, eh. and even this had to grow on me. but at this point how can you not d-a-n-c-e when you hear it, which is everywhere? …. back in your head – tegan and sara how do you make such a simplistic little piano tapping so goddamn catchy? hot indie twin (lesbian?) sisters, that’s how! …. punkrocker – teddybears (w/iggy pop) for being repetitive in just the right way. …. is there a ghost – band of horses for actually kind of rocking, despite general wimpiness. …. the orchid – califone for not rocking at all, in those times when i needed a song like that. …. pretty much any remix by MSTRKRFT for basically killing it, even on songs that were damn good in the first place.

and looking forward… well, we all know how much i’m looking forward to being double-teamed by the hot-chip-mountain-goats combo in february. after that, rest of the year, we’ll have to talk and see where we stand. and what say we steal one of those last ones for the pay day song… umm, how about this nifty tegan and sara remix my cool buddy mike played for us (CORRECTION: i believe the term is laid down; this was serious dj business) at the new year’s party? yeah, that’ll do nicely to keep things moving along into ’08.