Category: Uncategorized

and oh yes, on the topic of books, how about a little summer reading recap so far. books are so hot right now.

the big sleep – raymond chandler – 5 stars

style in spades wrapped around a strong detective story heart. i didn’t just love it because of my taste for the noir aesthetic, but because chandler wields words like weapons — with flair and precision both. how can you not love a book that has sentences like ‘dead men are heavier than broken hearts’?

rabbit, run – john updike – 2 stars

this was supposed to be some sort of american classic, but i mostly found it unnaturally written and detached. some good descriptive passages though. then as i was reading it someone pointed out to me how it’s all written in present tense, which i hadn’t picked up on as the source of the oddness, and then i started thinking about how that fit with the character, and how meaningful that was, and how i still didn’t really care that much anyway.

eragon – christopher paolini – 1 star

go ahead, click on that link. that’s right, i read a book about a boy and his blue dragon, written by a 15 year old. don’t laugh — it was a gift, i had to read it. my take on this book: gee, was this written by a 15 year old fantasy nerd? umm, yes. i’m really sorry emily, you know i still love you as a friend, but that’s a swing and a miss on this one.

i have a new plan for the summer of being single. aside from the ‘go out more’ plan pretty much all my fellow bachelors and i have agreed on, but also sort of in tandem with that. see, i spend too many days coming home from spending a whole day in an office chair in front of a computer to return to the slightly nicer office chair in front of a slightly less nice computer here in my room. i try to spend a lot of time reading but goddamn if this high-speed internet thing isn’t so damn inviting and ultimately distracting.

so, the plan is to make myself a regular at local bookstores and coffee houses. without the web to deter me i’ll probably get more reading done, not to mention that if i’m going to sit on my ass it might as well be somewhere where there’s a greater than zero percent chance of talking to new people. especially if i can establish myself as ‘that cute guy who’s always there reading’. i so want to be that guy.

[now hearing this: streaming the new roots from their site… is it good? i think it is. will i buy it? i think i may.]

i meant to post all this stuff this week about books and movies but it can wait. you’ve probably seen anchorman already anyway, unless you’re stupid.

let’s turn the focus to what’s really important instead though: a fucking PROMOTION. that’s right, i’ve finally been at a job long enough to move up from the very bottom of the totem pole. let there be celebration and joy. if any beautiful women would like to bask in my newly expanded radiance of power and responsibility, please feel free to email.

and if that weren’t enough: there’s fucking BRAID SHOW TONIGHT! i never thought i’d get to see either of my two favorite bands live, ever. i was wrong, and for tonight and tomorrow night i will gladly eat those words. if only hum would do the same thing this fall…

gotta to go prepare to rock.

so, i’ve been reading a lot of nationwide election year coverage, and just today i was checking out some news about how illinois republicans are trying to get mike ditka, former chicago bears head coach, to run for the US senate. how does that make ANY sense whatsoever?

sure, i don’t have a lot of room to talk, seeing as how the brilliant republicans of california deemed the governator the smartest choice to run the golden state. but we’ve had a crappy actor as a governor before who went on to be president; at least there’s some precedent for actors-turned politicians. and hey, a pro wrestler governs minnesota, that’s possibly crazier. but a football coach as one vote out of 100 in the national senate is the craziest yet. are they that desperate to keep out a progressive and intelligent african american man (dem candidate obama) that they’re reaching for whatever name they can in the wake of sex-scandal ryan? if they wanted a champion sports figure for senate i would have gone after phil jackson anyway; his sports victories are more recent, plus he’s known as an insightful, philosophical guy at least — but oh yeah, he’s a democrat.

and more importantly, where does the celebrity/politician line get drawn? how much longer before they put a clown (the red-nosed, face painted kind) on the supreme court, or maybe that clever david blaine should be the new head of homeland security, if he’s so sneaky. or, you know what, forget the strategic minds behind winning teams, let’s just make shaq mayor of los angeles. he might not have the answer to our persistent homeless problem, but you cannot stop him when he posts up in the paint at city hall.

weekend sort of whipped by here this time. friday night we drank and karted and mini-golfed as expected, which was fun, but a bit of a damper since the occasion was charlotte leaving the country the next day. fun night though and great to have dom in town. saturday we went to see anchorman as expected (review tomorrow), then just headed over to mike’s to keep him and his keg company. another good night. today i honestly did nothing though beside read a bit and watch punch drunk love. i decided after this second viewing that i was too hard on it back when i saw it in the theatre. it is pretty good after all.

to be at least slightly productive though i’m going to make up for missing the last pay day song by posting one early this time, along with a video as well. i had actually not heard any of the new iron and wine album until i decided to check out the video for the single on mtv.com of all places. as soon as i watched it though, i was enchanted and got a huge musical-visual crush on it and have been listening to the song over and over for a week — along with the rest our endless numbered days. so, never one to hide my love, i will share both the spectacular video and the lovely song for naked as we came. SO good.

last night my roommate left for vegas so i was all alone in my apartment and decided to watch reality bites. that movie will eternally remind me of heartbreak and the love of my high school life. such a great movie, yet so painful to watch when you’re feeling lonely.

hence, jumping full force into a weekend that will feature dominic down from san fran, a definite trip to see anchorman at some point, and tonight: DRUNKEN GO KARTING! maybe even some obnoxious mini-golfing too, who knows?

[now hearing this: iron and wine, in my head anyway.]

i had myself a full, crazy weekend, and i loved it. friday my roommate’s old friend came in from new york so we used that excuse to go out to dinner and drinking and came back to end up throwing a shopping cart from our fourth floor balcony. i think the funnier part was not the actual throw, but when spencer was pushing it into our lobby on the way up and at the inquiry of the two people already there waiting for the elevator he responded with arms raised, ‘what, i guess i’m not all rich like you.’

saturday my brother had a break from marine training so he was in LA to see his visiting girlfriend and i took them to see spider-man 2 and get some delicious dinner at doughboy’s. the movie was better than the first one and had more raimi-esque moments, which i approved of, as i did the second cameo of kirsten dunst’s nipples. funny how they keep finding excuses to have scenes in cold, wet situations. on a side note, how can my little brother be going to fight a war that’s supposedly over? that’s kind of fucked up.

yesterday i had the most excellent summer barbeque — i wish you could have been there. we drank beer from 4pm to 1am and rode a nice buzz the whole way through without overdoing it, and had perfectly done bratwurst and lots of other good food, and everyone had a great time and lots of laughs. the words, ‘this is the best fourth of july ever’ were shouted enthusiastically, after we busted out the water balloon slingshot, pegged some PT cruisers at the dealership across the street, and yelled at people from my balcony. after dark we went up to the roof and climbed on top of the elevator encasement to get an extra 10 feet up and watch fireworks all along the horizon, and yelled at more people on other rooftops and balconies. today in the elevator a sign from the landlord said people on the roof shouldn’t make so much noise and ‘if you know who the bad guys are, to let us know.’ i’m a bad guy now! but come on, there are explosions going on all over the city and it’s a national holiday, why are people getting pissy over a little patriotic hoopla? life’s too short not to make some noise and have some belligerent fun now and then.

we also decided at 12 to walk to a bar and drink a beer there just for a change of pace but molly malone’s only had about six people in it so there were no cute girls and it was just kinda creepy so we drank the guinness and called it a night.

then today we took advantage of a beautiful beach day. it was 75 and sunny and ideal, except another lack of cute girls at that particular beach in playa del rey. a perfect, relaxing and satisfying day off though. now i’m doing some laundry before bed but someone ahead of me won’t get their shit out of the drier even though it’s done and i’m just waiting. i hate when people do that.

four. day. week. end.

yeah that’s right. after a four day frenzy of actual, stressful responsibility (when did i actually get to be in charge of stuff?), it is time for a long holiday. let’s go over the checklist. beach: hopefully. barbeque: definitely. beer: plentifully. sleeping in: gladly. spider-man 2: unreservedly. additional fun and frolic: certainly.

i love america.

weekend was outstanding. drank beer, lost at poker, drank more beer, kicked ass at a board game, had some delicious pizza. here are some movie reviews:

fahrenheit 9/11 – 3 stars

i could attempt to be one of legions with a ‘stance’ on this film, but whatever. some thoughts of mine include: “lots of brutal imagery…was that necessary or would i just prefer not to face the consequences of war?”, and “wow, even someone like myself who already dislikes bush and knows of his ties to major money-making interests can still learn about some new questionable relationships in my own government!”. there was “right, so he wasn’t fair and objective, but who the fuck expected him to be? get over it, please. use your own brain to filter here, people, just like you have to do with right-wing agenda news sources. duh.” but most of all there were just a lot of “if i were george bush, i would be so embarrassed by this film.” seriously, that guy just seems really really dim-witted to me. and i always vote the intellectual ticket.

but hey, it’s worth seeing once as a point of discussion. love it or hate it, you should use it as an opportunity to examine some facts on your own and i don’t know, maybe learn something before voting season.

napoleon dynamite – 4 stars

changing gears completely, this film won’t make you learn at all! honestly, there’s hardly even a plot!

what it will make you do though is laugh hysterically at some amazing characters. who needs a story when every scene is just an absurd caricature that gets you doubled over at dorky idaho residents with even dorkier relatives. i really really liked this movie, and those who i recommended it to after seeing it myself at a screening a month ago finally got a chance to take my advice and see how right i was. now you can too.

[now hearing this: new piebald still. it’s not so bad.]

infiltration of the LA film fest was a success… turns out it was free, and it was open to the public, and it wasn’t full when i got there. plus the movie was really educational and pretty good. i’d say 3 stars for the hunting of the president. not 3 because it wasn’t good, but 3 because it was a documentary after all. dry but great viewing, especially for those not politically aware enough during the whitewater/monicagate business to have been politically offended by it.

also, i do wonder why more hobos don’t attend these free movie screening events. would it be that hard for them to pick up an LA weekly (also free), find out where some ticketless entertainment would be, then ramble on over and have something to do for a few hours? maybe hobos just aren’t into movies as a rule. maybe i should talk to some hobos to find out, or invite one along next time i go to one.

but forget those sort of social dilemmas, who has the time when you could be watching this new sky captain trailer. that shit is HOT! if that movie were up against fahrenheit tonight it wouldn’t even be a contest — politics can bite my flying ace any day if we’re talking about a movie that looks this cool. i can’t wait for it.

as it is though, we’ll be doing two nights of power-liberalism and check out moore’s deal tonight i imagine. and have a beer. i really want to do that for sure.