December 31st, 2002
Friday night Anne and I moved a mattress that had been lying in my hallway for WAY too long down to the trash in front of my building. My cat, Allston Rock Kitty (aka allrockkitty..see the cleverness I live amongst?) had made this mattress a temporary home and spent the latter part of that evening lamenting her loss. She paced the hallway, caterwauling on the top of her kitty lungs. This continued until, I don't know, 6 am? The only thing that broke up her yowls were these fifteen minute wrestling matches she would get into with her new toy "Scoozie". Scoozie was sent here by Jim's parents for Christmas. It seems to be some sort of muskrat or other unidentifiable small furry hot-dog shapped stuffed creature. When you push on its belly it lets out a bunch of weird sounds, one of which is this truly creepy "i wuv you". The cat has learnt how to hold Scoozie with its front paws while stomping its back legs down to make it talk.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwww, its Scoozie. I hate Scoozie.
Anyway, Scoozie has a new friend.
Yeah, those karaoke superstars are Josh and Thom. I just found out that Thom spells his name with an H. I also had a sudden memory that Jen had once shown me a website with his artwork. Miriam sent me the URL today. His work is really good. Clickety click.
I hate New Years Eve. Really I do. There are just so many aspects to dislike about it I don't know where to begin. Uh, wait, yes I do...First of all, the streets are packed with all these freaks from the suburbs who only rarely venture in to the city and therefore are unaware that there is such thing as subway ettiquette or that there really is a proper way to walk down the sidewalk. And what is that way pray tell? If you are moving very slowly in order to take in the sites, point at random buildings, and recite a history that you basically made up on the spot...if you are trying to hold a conversation with a group of eight...if you are seriously lost and walking in circles...MOVE TO ONE SIDE AND LET PEOPLE WHO ARE ACTUALLY TRYING TO GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B A CHANCE TO GET BY YOU. I find myself getting "pavement-rage" on nights like this,wondering as to whether I really do need those anger management classes my shrink advised. (That's a joke... my shrink actually thinks I'm a really together person.)
Then there is the whole I'm-supposed-to-be-enjoying myself pressure I feel. Whatever group of assholes who spread the myth that if you don't go to your highschool prom you will REALLY regret it later, have fabricated and equally disturbing fantasy that what you do or feel on New Years will be indicative of how that particular year will go for you. And regardless of the fact that I know this to be patently untrue, there is still a little part of my psyche holding a gun to my head every New Years Eve and screaming "dance bitch!".
On the positive tip, self reflection is good for the soul and this is the time of year that many feel they are forced to make peace with their actions from the preceding year. And I love making those resolutions. Who gives a shit if you don't keep them? Isn't it just good enough that you even consider going to yoga class 5 times a week?
The tatoo baby doll project. So cute.
The other night Anne was wearing knee socks with high heel boots. This is one of my all-time favorite looks (actually any grown-up shoe with knee socks) but sadly one I have never been able to wear myself. My calves are too big, and the result is unflattering instead of ultra-sexy. I bought some knee socks recently, but they will be hiding out under my pants. Some cool slang I picked up recently, related to me by Liz, props to Renee the creator...calling socks that fall down on you "quitters". What were other people wearing?
December 30th, 2002
I have a bunch of stuff to post, but am very, very lazy. So for now....The Karaoke Superstars.
December 25th, 2002
December 24th, 2002
Oh the tragedy...
Joe
Strummer RIP
During high school I worked part time after school for Mrs.
Fields Cookies. The store manager was a wanna-be surfer guy with dirty
blonde hair who wore loud Hawaiian shirts and said "duuuuuuuuuude"
a lot. He was fired for embezzling money from the store. So Mrs Fields
headquarters sent us a new manager named Steve who was to come in, clean
up the mess and whip our store into shape. This particular location was
staffed entirely with teenage juvenile delinquents with bad eighties punk
haircuts and even worse attitudes. In our youthful rebellion, we took
to "heiling" Steve whenever he entered the store (as in saluting
him as if he were Hitler...I know, charming right?) As we cleaned the
shop at the end of the night we would blast the Clash song "Clampdown"
and sing the lyrics on the top of our lungs. Steve was "the man"
and we hated him for it. Steve actually tolerated this behavior for a
few weeks before losing his shit and threatening to kill all of us. From
that moment on we were all friends.
More
Strummer. And more.
He
will be missed.
Last night Molly and Anne came in. Fun Pictures.
December 20th, 2002
C'mon ask Snoop so he can fo-shizzle yo nizzle fo sho, really. Try it. It works. Know what I'm sayin?
December 17th, 2002
Went to Blue Man get together.
December 16th, 2002
I wrote my friend in Chicago, lets call her Tracy, about this particular episode of This American Life that I thought she would enjoy. Then I added a little something about my crush on Ira Glass. So she writes back, like yeah... been there... had the crush... got over it. Over it!? I hate to imagine anyone else crushing on Ira, but I hate thinking they are "over it" even more...She also said he was tall. And for reasons unknown, that blew my mind. I'm reading New York Magazine this morning and it seems that Tracy and I are not the only ones who have thought of Ira this way. I'm pissed. It's like when I finally confessed my John Stewart feelings only to find out that everyone wants him too. What's up?
Here's some more Ira. And more.
Its not anarchy its SANTARCHY!
I love these.
My brother is working on this very cool documentary. I think they need funding. So get out your wallet and send them some cash STAT.
And this is Jim McKenney's movie. I don't think he needs funding, but he probably like it if you sent him some cash anyway.
December 13th, 2002
Words, words, words. That's all I'm about right now. I'm studying for this test and paying little to no attention to the math section, having decided that I don't want to grow up to be an engineer or a mathematician or a scientist. So all my focused concentration is on the written logic and verbal sections.
My man William Safire has some book buying suggestions for those into the whole "word" thang. I want to get Predicting New Words and The Dimwit's Dictionary.
Speaking of new words: "google" as a verb is on the rise. It's the "word of the month" on Oxford's site...those damn frames won't let me link directly.
I like calling them boy-beaters.
A couple of weeks ago I read an interview with Jennifer Bleyer, the editor of Heeb, in the Village Voice. She had once boasted that it's easy to come up with story ideas for her magazine, because she can find a Jewish connection to almost anything. The writer threw some subjects out like "astrology?.... carpentry?...heroin?"
Jennifer
Blyer responded, "I'm reading a book about a Jewish girl's heroin
addiction, Like
Being Killed, by Ellen Miller."
Nuh-uh. That can't be for real. So I went and ordered a copy that afternoon. I've been reading it on my study breaks. The funny thing is that besides heroin, the narrator of this tale also is obsessed with word etymology, particularly that of German and Yiddish words. Sadly, this will not help me with my GRE as the Test Wizards seem to prefer words of Latin and Greek origin. But it is super-interesting.
"I told him, in passing, that the word smack, reinforced semantically by the drug's jolt, was first uttered in 1938, by Lower East Side immigrants, via Yiddish, from schmecken:a little taste."
"His purposeful, disciplined expression coaxed from memory an old German term: Funktionslust, the pleasure of doing what one is meant to do, what one does best - like that of a cheetah running or a monkey swinging branch to branch."
Funktionslust is my new word. I will attempt to casually drop this one at parties and get togethers. I think it will make me very, very popular. You know how I do, it's just my funktionslust.
After being on the Heeb site, I remembered this zine I used to enjoy in NYC called Plotz...there's a site!
Ok, ok, I know everybody is sick of me talking about words and tests and more words....So here's a little somethin' somethin'
Did I say I was an alcoholic? Cos you know I was kidding right?
Somehow I found myself reading the Wall Street Journal, laughing out loud. I didn't think those two things were possible at once, but the part about the guy trying to convince his Tivo that he wasn't Korean by giving a thumbs down to all Korean programming only to find out the Tivo now thought he was Chinese is truly amusing.
I was on
insound today, trying
to find the answer to some obscure music question. Instead I found the
insound sales clerk's page:
"i liked black flag before any of you. i liked slint before any
of you. i was post-post-rock before tortoise even formed. i was wearing
a fancy mullet before any of the members of the yeah yeah yeahs. i'm the
insound sales clerk and i'm really freaking cranky."
Funny.
We've started watching Insomniac on Comedy Central. Why? Because we like it. And we like Dave Attell. Seems like we're not the only ones.
How did
i miss this article
on Trading Spaces?!
December 8th, 2002
Someone hacked Amazon's site last Thursday? Friday?And while I'm not always down with teenage mutant hackers messing with people's stuff, this was funny. Alas, Amazon found out and fixed the problem. But not before I took some screen shots.
Whitney's interview with Dianne Sawyer? That's too easy. You can read outtakes from the transcript for yourself.
Still studying for that damn GRE. It will all be over on December 23rd and I can release myself from this self-imposed exile.
Word of the day:
orotund
\OR-uh-tuhnd\, adjective:
1. Characterized by fullness,
clarity, strength, and
smoothness of sound.
2. Pompous; bombastic.
We finally got around to seeing "Y
Tu Mama Tambien" last week. I fully recommend it. Lots of sex,
don't watch it with your parents.
Flyer Jim made for
Whats Up benefit on December 21st.
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December
6th, 2002 |
December 5th, 2002
She's
crafty she gets around she's crafty, man, she's always down....
The 2nd Annual Bazaar
Bizarre, otherwise known as the punk rock crafts fair is tomorrow
night in Davis Square, Slummerville.
Speaking of crafty there's always fun stuff to do at www.thriftdeluxe.com
So wanna
know one of my pet peeves? Of course you do. People who like to tell me
all about the evils of cell phones... as in: "Cell phones are rude!"
"Cell phones are annoying!" "How can you stand everyone
being able to get in touch with you at all times like that?!" "You're
gonna get a brain tumor from using that thing!" "You do realize
that the government is using the Global Positioning Satellite system to
track you through your cell phone, right?"
(Ok, that last one is legitimately
scary.)
And then in the next breath they are like, "Uh, could I see your
phone for a sec? Yeah, I gotta find out if...."
Anyhow, check out this David
Cross column on the subject.
And then you can read this one.
The other day Liz said to me "Y'know, I'm not really into that whole
'dirty jean' look, but I like the way Jim's look."
And I'm like "Dirty Jeans?"
"Yeah, he was wearing them this morning."
Realizing that Jim doesn't usually sport high-fashion looks, I went home
and looked at his jeans. They were completely shredded and FILTHY dirty.
Like literally brown streaks down both thighs, and the material over the
fly area looked like it had been soaked in coffee. So I go "Jesus!
What happened to your jeans?"
And he's like "These? I've been wearing them for a month straight"
I thought of him when I read this.
Also known as Stalker
USA
Included in Winona Ryder's sentence is an order to stop using the name
"Emily Thompson" to score prescription drugs. According to the
official
court filing police discovered the following narcotics in her possession:
"liquid Demerol, liquid Diazepam, Vicoprofen, Vicoden, Percodan,
Valium, Morphine Sulfate and Endocet (containing Oxycodone)" I am
impressed, very impressed.
I know this has been floating around the internet for a while now, but its too good not to post. Joan Jett's Open Letter to Rolling Stone
And finally, a plea to anyone out there: Does anyone know of a tape circulating of Courtney Love hosting MTV2? As lame as it sounds, I need to get my hands on said tape. From what I have heard she not only chronicles her plastic surgery disasters, but there is at least partial nudity, lots of name dropping and Molly Ringwald makes an appearance. How can I not have seen this?
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