entirely separate from any discussion of the merits of the film below, it should be noted that if nothing else it is a serious barrage of music. i would not be surprised one bit if all the songs used in clip form exist as some massive mixtape compilation in cameron crowe’s closet. most of it though i didn’t really know or notice other than that there was constantly something new to hear. i was, however, reminded in a big way during an important scene of how wonderful the wheat track don’t i hold you is at capturing the feeling of a romantic evening full of stars. so even though it’s old (off 1999’s hope and adams), it justified being brough back as a pay day song.

elizabethtown – 3 stars

the movie, however, was what i would call ‘really greatly average’. at times there was really great dark humor, but at others it seemed like it was trying too hard to be charmingly offbeat. the story on paper is extremely romantic but there weren’t enough moments in the film where i felt like i was seeing people fall in love; it was more like they both thought they were being extremely clever at flirting on film. like i said, there’s a wealth of scene-appropriate music, but so much that you almost don’t get to feel a song before its on to the next track of the soundtrack (how the soundtrack can only be a single disc must have been a tough choice for someone).

i did like some of the characters a lot (the rocking cousing was great), or some of the scenes a lot (the memorial service is what i think everyone’s funeral should be like), and i have to give major credit for this film taking the burden of planning an impossible feat of romantic setup and placing it on the female lead for a change. that, at least, was something i couldn’t remember another, better example of. but overall i’m just not sure i believed it — or yes, didn’t feel like maybe garden state did the loss + right girl in the right place at the right time = true love thing a little better, probably the most agreed upon condemnation of this movie. in both cases, i get the feeling the writer/director was basically just creating their fictional dream girl scenario where they are lucky enough to find the most wonderful, quirky, beautiful female in the world without having to DO anything, and not only does a great relationship ensue but she also makes killer mix tapes. unfortunately i’d still rather see zach braff’s dreams come true than crowe’s, in this case, and can only recommend this one as a rental you’re sure to think is really good in a ‘definitely not a waste of time’ kind of way.

also, this ftrain post is so entirely a scary truth about the relationship i suspect many of the people i know have with the internet. instant factoids probably add little to any of our greater understanding of the universe, sadly, as fun as it is to be the first one to hear about the new bloc party single.

of course, that doesn’t mean i’ll stop writing on a personal website or consuming information so rapidly, but to at least be aware of the ‘shallowness’ of it all might help steer these activities in a more useful overall direction, right?

Does ikea make furniture for strip clubs now?

in the continuing series, my life is ridiculous, we turn to the fact that i have spent several hours over the last week searching for and making a digital collage out of various pictures of monkeys in funny costumes. not in a procrastinating kind of way, in a serious work-related way. also, our ‘department meeting’ yesterday was more like talking about work for 10 minutes then spending the next several hours drinking 10 beers. taking a shot ‘as a team’ was also fun.

boy, with all this hard work, it’s a good thing our bosses decided we deserve a random day off tomorrow. i don’t know what i’d do.

wait, yes i do: look for funny monkey pictures.

i wish i were blogging more lately. i feel a definite loss when i open up the page and see how long it’s been between posts lately. i wish i could say it was only that i was busy but it’s kind of also that i’m not very creatively stimulated lately. this will change, my friends, i assure you. must wake up and write!

this may help: the most creative mashup i’ve heard all year. george bush vs. grandmaster flash’s ‘white lines’? the implications are delicious. and you can dance to it.

oh and holy crap, not to flash back to some passages from the early years of this blog at all (too embarrassing i’m sure), i saw my old buddy shannon sunday which was actually super cool. a classic exchange, referring to a prudential commercial (i think):
me: “why would a financial institution choose a whale for it’s logo? seriously, any theories?”
her: “umm, maybe because whales are really big and you can fit a lot of money in them?”
me: “haha… yeah, plus once it’s in there you gotta imagine no one’s really gonna take it. i guess whales are kind of like nature’s safe.”

passing the point where you think of people as “exes” and they just become “old friends” is a huge relief.

how scary is the idea of hypnotized focus groups? this company feels a little too creepy to be real, like they’re only one step away from vanilla sky or total recall or something. i mean, if you can get the most honest answers about products out of people while under hypnosis, why not just sell them the stuff while they’re under? save yourself some time. it’s especially scary when they use wording like, “Every respondent (even the shyest) gives their own answer and opinion without being concerned about what any other respondent has said. We are now in control of the flow and content of the discussion.” (emphasis theirs).

and of course the highlights of my weekend are the usual… many beers friday night, only this time in san diego after a work meeting on my company’s tab — nice. SC game saturday was a blowout and good time. hung out with the lady friend sunday, only this time in a hotel in anaheim on her company’s tab — also nice.

then i rode my bike to work this morning because (a) i am a badass and (b) the parking lot is under construction and i didn’t feel like dealing with the offsite permits and shuttle vans and what have you, but mostly (a), honest.

there shouldn’t be thunderstorms in los angeles in october, but there was last night. sort of like how i probably shouldn’t have been standing out on my balcony — the one with the iron railing, on which my satellite dish is perched atop a 7-foot metal pole — watching lighting in amazement. because i was. for the first time since i can remember, i was laying in bed listening to rain and thunder. so i just couldn’t resist going out to watch for a few minutes. i thought i remembered hearing that lightning actually starts from the ground and goes up (turns out that is just one kind of lightning. some kinds come down. some just stay within the cloud), and i wondered if being hit by lightning would be such a bad way to die (turns out, again, that it’s only about 30% fatal or so, depending on your stats). the one thing i couldn’t find anywhere online were any stories of people trying to purposely end their lives by lightning strike, because that seems like an interesting decision to me.

not that i’d need to do that any time soon, because my week’s been downright great. although it sucks to lose our friend joe for two months while he’s off working on the crew of survivor in an undisclosed location, we did have an excellent going away party for him where we drank and danced til 4am (which was pizza time). and we saw a very decent lcd soundsystem show saturday, proving their dance-rock rocks even more in person. and then yesterday, oh sweet sunday afternoon, we visited the first non-illinois location of portillo’s, which we’re lucky enough to have only a half hour away near the border of LA and orange counties. holy mother was biting into that italian beef sandwich a moment of sweet ecstasy. i can’t believe no one else in the golden state offers anything like this, it’s just criminal. probably best that the only one that does is a bit of a drive though, because i ate triple my normal meal portion and am still, the next day, feeling very beefy overall.

finally, although it would be easiest to recycle everyone else’s recent fascination with clap your hands say yeah after we saw them play a great show last week. i could write about how i bought the cd and am listening to it in my car a lot and post a track as the pay day song, which would be so simple but tired. come on, everyone was on their jock back in like may (when we bought our concert tickets i think. how crazy is that?). instead i’m going to go wildly obscure and post a track i heard on the local showcase on indie 103.1 something like six months ago and never again, but managed to remember and recently look up, only to find it had finally been posted as an mp3. and one which i will do mighty six ninety the favor of sharing with all of you here. so please do check out “leave this world” for some nice killers-y pop with morrissey-esque vocals that all around kinda makes you want to whine about being sad about girls, just like the best pop rock should.

okay technically i posted this after the post below, but it was too funny to stick at the bottom of the other one. the new york freaking times wrote a whole article about beer pong and how dangerous it can be, going on to list all these college who ban drinking games and taking beer makers to task for promoting it.

did any of you ladies know that according to this, FORTY-FOUR percent of men play drinking games in the hopes of sexually manipulating other players? that stat doesn’t exclusively regard beer pong, but still, what a weird study to have conducted. of course, it’s not all bad — if you didn’t know how to play beer pong before, the article also helpfully explains the rules.

i should be posting more elaborately about all the big ideas i’ve been considering or all the hilarious adventures i’ve been having, but that takes more time than i have at this very moment when all i really wanted to do was give crazy love to the latest episode of tracks up the tree for being stupendously funny. the music was decent but the guys were going off. too good. download today and attempt not to let on to your coworkers that you’re laughing so hard at something playing through your headphones! it’s fun!

has anyone else noticed that in the ipod nano commercial that’s airing a lot lately with all those hands, when it gets to the part where one hand tries to steal it from the other, the thief hand is black and the ipod owning hand is white?

i mean, i’m sure it makes it visually easier to determine that the two hands don’t belong to the same person by making them of different colors, but you have to admit it’s funny that they cut it they way they did. i just noticed this over the weekend while watching football and everyone was making jokes all weekend about how anyone black probably has a whole bag of ipods they stole. also, interceptions by USC players easily become “grabbing a nano”.

great weekend, too. enjoy being 24, mike.