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in honor of apple's announcemnet today that basically says i paid $100 more than i needed to for an ipod that is now outdated, which holds only 3,000 songs vs. 5,000 songs for the same price and that has a battery lasts four hours less than these new ones, here's a great newsweek story on how much we ipodders love our ipods no matter what.

i kept seeing commercials about this supposed childhood secret that m. night shymalay was carrying around all these years and that he didn't want discovered despite some filmmakers doing a documentary on him. it turns out it was all a marketing ploy for his new movie "the village" and duped journalists are now none too happy.

if anyone out there didn't see last night's six feet under yet, i won't give anything away except that it was the most disturbing hour of television i've seen in a really long time. and i'm not sure entourage did the trick of helping me forget. i think i need to give it a few more episodes before passing judgment. but damn, kevin dillon got old looking.

these past few days i had all good intentions of posting fabulous pictures of last weekend with robin, jessica and jared in town, but the stupid site i'm hosting my photos on doesn't seem to be working for some reason. picture it: beautiful skies, sun is shining on a perfect saturday afternoon and about a dozen of us spend 10 hours drinking delicious pitchers of czech beers and taste kielbasa for the first time at the beer hall in astoria. best. place. ever. why have i not been there before? i also had great video footage where a bunch of little kids are running around and one boy with a perfect bowl cut is tormenting all the other kids by kicking them and trying to push them down. none of this would have happened had will not gone up to him beforehand and told him it would be really funny if he kicked the other kids as hard as he could. ah, alcohol.

i also wanted to post pictures of beautiful rhett and the rest of the old 97's from their show last night in none other than the theater at stuyvesant high school. i felt like i was watching the battle of the bands all over again. catherine has a great recap of the night and some cool pics. though no matter what she says, i still stand by my excuse for not dancing on the orchestra pit because it was way too bright and i wasn't drunk enough to not mind the entire auditorium watching my ass shake along to "time bomb." but i do give her major credit for saving seats in the second row and i eagerly await video of ken singing the irritating yet extremely catchy chicken ravioli song.

i als mustn't forget the fact that i saw fountains of wayne (the band, not the store on route 3) tuesday night with catherine, holly and heather down at the world financial center. they were fun as always, but the crowd was so bizarre. you had your teenage fans who acted like they had never seen a live band before, the thirtysomethings in suits who screamed every time there was a reference to anything jersey, the tourists who were happy to have stumbled upon a real new york city event, the cool kids like us, and families where the parents diligently stuck earplugs in their young children's ears to protect them from the rock.

and right now i just got back from "anchorman". hilarious. though admittedly the ending sort of got a bit much. i won't give anything away but there are lots of people in it i had no clue about. but i was even more psyched to see that ken from freaks and geeks has a small part, and if you look really carefully when they're shooting in the fondue restaurant, you'll see mr. rosso's head in the background. i'm guessing he was supposed to play a bigger role and they deleted the scene.

and now for some links: this dude really doesn't like wilco, jenna bush wants to teach kids in harlem, and i am shocked, people, that seth cohen did not get an emmy nod . good night.

i might have to say i had the best july fourth ever this weekend with the help of good friends, cool relatives, delicious food, superb weather and copious amounts of alcohol. both ryan and america had a damn fine birthday celebration. some of the highlights: a kick-ass house to spend the weekend in, ryan's cool grandma telling us about cormi's love of silk undies when he was a wee lad, tasting lobster for the first time, having our own patriotic soundtrack while we swam in the backyard pool, eating my first hotdog (kosher!) in about 11 years, awesome fireworks, a boat ride i didn't puke on and the fact that i may be getting on in years, but i can still imbibe all day long, for two days straight and not have the worst hangover on the planet. thanks to the cormi clan for being gracious enough to let us crash their holiday and to mike the trombone player for giving catty mags my new favorite nickname. esteban also has a ton of pics, including one of some bizarre chick imitating a us soldier with an iraqi prisoner. some people have no shame!

i also just got back from spidey. all i have to say is i heart tobey. forever.

i'm sure not many of you are even still reading this page since i've slacked for way too long on an update. but if you are reading, here's my post at long last:

i spent the beautiful weekend outside yet i still don't seem to have a tan. i'm just doomed this summer. i did do my part in helping michael moore strive for number 1 at the box office with paying my matinee price for fahrenheit 9/11. all i have to say is excellent. you walk out of there not understanding how anyone in their right mind could have ever voted this douchebag into office in the first place. there was a lot i already knew, and a lot more i didn't know. if you haven't had a chance to see it yet, go now. so after seeing the movie, my roommates and i were all rallied up to join friends of friends at their kerry for president fundraiser picnic, but we got there too late and just headed over to the neil young tribute show in prospect park. a perfect night for an outdoor concert on blankets with good food and good friends (brooklyn even has stars!). can't say that i was wowed by any of the performers (and truthfully it was hard to tell who was playing when) but almost four hours of neil songs wasn't such a bad way to spend a night. today i watched a bit of the pride parade pass by on my way to a delicious afternoon bbq with coworkers and friends and lots of meat and beer. in fact, my hair still smells like i was sitting near a campfire all night.

by now everyone's probably pretty sick of reading about jeff tweedy and the new wilco cd and rehab and blah blah blah but i must say this rolling stone interview intrigued me if only for the fact that his son spencer is now trying to start a band.

i also procured two bob dylan/willie nelson tickets yesterday. you see, they're playing in various minor league stadiums across the usa. the closest one to me that happened to fall on a weekend was up in new haven. nothing wrong with as small road trip every now and then.

so i finally got to see the first season of "the office" and i'm hooked. i had heard they were trying to make an american version of the series and after watching decided that was going to be a really bad idea. good thing i heard they bagged the idea in the end.

i should also take this time to wish brian and kelly very happy bdays. and happy belateds to john and betsy and perhaps an early one to cormi if i don't update again for another month or so.

ah, pretty picture/freaky picture. sorry for the lack of updates kiddies, but my computer is finally up an running with spiffy new os x and i'm trying to figure out iphoto and all that jazz...

sorry i've been awol but i've been busy being in love with my new ipod. yay tax checks! someone just told me the other day how sales this quarter have shot up like 900 percent, and i'd believe it with the fact that three out of the five people sitting in my path car tonight had those little white headphones sticking out of there ears.

i also finally watched spellbound, the spelling bee movie i've been wanting to see for almost a year now. just as good as i thought. though the best part might have been the bonus "where are they now?" feature, where you can see just how normal (and science minded) all those awkard kids turned out to be. and now i'm all geared up for the 2004 spelling bee, which you can catch on espn (yes, they consider it a sport) in the beginning of june.

so wilco is coming to new york next month. irving plaza. only two tickets per customer. i was already shut out of presale tickets not even a minute after the sale started. now the real tickets go on sale in the middle of the day on saturday. what are the chances i'm shut out of that too?

saturday night was one of those nights. not much else to say except lots of old speckled hen in too little hours plus a drunken ryan, catherine, and mugsy leads to insanity. mugsy slapped all our asses (sans cormi's) and then karma kicked him in the ass when he wiped out in the middle of the bar. hee-larious. this was all after my friends and i rocked cancer's ass by running 3.1 miles in the revlon run/walk from times square to central park. no better way to start your day really.

just got back from watching mean girls. it's no heathers, but it does that whole high school clique, teen comedy, moral lesson thing pretty well. yeah girl power!

first i cure parkinson's, next i cure cancer

alex p. keaton is still such a cutie

last weekend was perfect for the parkinson's unity walk in central park and then for some rockin' out with the soon-to-be-retired gbv at bowery. i don't think there's ever been a gbv show where i haven't been completely wasted. you'd have to be to not realize that you were standing there for a good two-plus hours listening to mostly songs you don't know, despite having several of the albums. i didn't get into the band till about three or four years ago, but i can safely say they are one of the best bands to see live. ever. i'm on board with catherinefor gbv on nye in nyc. i smell another night of limos and ridiculous debauchery.

i also took a giant step this weekend in the quest to look like a savvy new yorker (ok, new jerseyite) this season with my first purchase at barneys. i still don't think i can ever convince myself that it's acceptable to spend $100 on a "vintage" t shirt that you could probably find a clone of at your local salvation army, but it sure is a nicer shopping experience than fighting the crowds at macy's herald square. and as gail so wisely pointed out, even if i only wear my new bag for a season or two, perhaps some future daughter of mine will get really excited when she finds her old and out-of-style mom's handbag in the back of the closet and realized she scored a total trendy find!

check out the leader of the free world using some woman's shirt as a kleenex on letterman.

all through my childhood my mom's obsession with all things country had me listening to a whole lot of dolly, johnny cash and loretta lynn. i've seen "coal miner's daughter" several times, and can remember countless car rides of her eight tracks playing as background music. now i can say with the release of "van lear rose i'm an honest to goodness fan.

best site of the day: barmitzvahdisco.com. ah the memories...

spring has sprung! and what better way to welcome the warm weather than trekking out to park slope for a backyard party at a former reality show runner-up's (and friend of a friend's) new abode. never mind that our group traveled across boroughs to talk amongst ourselves and that i needed to defend my job to some jerk of a guy, we laughed! we cried! we drank! we learned that pink tunics are a real conversation starter!

the fabulous carla has written another column for urge, this time about those irritating yet ubiquitous relationship sprinters. read it now and feel her pain.

the village voice on the uber cute gideon yago. did you know he grew up with "socially conscious" parents and work eye liner and listened to punk rock?

my my. check out the most emailed photo on yahoo.

can it be? did i hear my morning jacket's "mageetah" playing in a commercial for coors's new low-carb aspen edge?

i just finished watching "raising victor vargas". a wonderful, simple, short but sweet movie. it only took me months to get to it in my netflix, but it's definitely worth it.

my celebrity sighting of the weekend: a tribe called quest's qtip. he and his superhot girlfriend/groupie. apparently he thought she was superhot too because the two wouldn't stop making out the whole time they were eating their french toast and eggs. people: you're rich and famous. get a room!

michele's tv: rip

this bachelor made me hold his ball

super stoned snowboarders can be highly entertaining

gail's stealing a new addition to our stemware set

so the last of my 28th birthday festivities involved a weekend road trip to vermont and the beautiful smuggler's notch. a full condo with two bedrooms, two baths (with jacuzzi!), kitchen, living room, back porch, etc. yes, they say it's the number one family resort, but we were there for the annual brew fest, which involved various local breweries getting you drunk for practically free all night long. complete debauchery ensued. a little magic hat, some long trail, a whole lot of rock art brewery, and canada's finest. there was swimming in outdoor heated pools and hot tubs at all hours of the night, flirting with burnt snowboard instructors (“dude, it’s all about the balance. not everyone can teach that.”), getting the inside scoop on canadian bachelor parties (the guy in the red dress and blossom hat had that ball and chain attached to him and can’t let it go till he gets married two weeks from now), winning t-shirts and bottle openers in various ra-game type activities, stealing pint glasses, and soaking up the local scene at nearby brewsky’s. so how cool are my roommates? as if a night of drinking tasty brews wasn’t enough, the next day we cured our hangovers with a quick tour at the ben and jerry’s factory. oatmeal cookie chunk might just be my new favorite flavor. mmm.

in other news, when i used to go to camp, all our scary stories seemed to involve escapees from the nearby green haven prison. then yesterday I read how it’s sort of the “boca behind bars” and many of the prisoners get to hold a seder with the help of the kosher kitchen.

last night I saw ben kweller" and death cab for cutie at irving plaza. i was disappointed that ben opened for death cab, but the two bands still rocked. they both played lots of stuff from their new albums and cute ben rocked out many of his oldies but goodies. unfortunately my friend who's name i won't mention missed much of death cab's set. after drinking copious amounts of cheap white wine, she turns to another friend and me and says she's going downstairs to the bathroom. about ten minutes later, my friends asks what happened to her and i tell him i'll go check. i walk down the stairs and find her sound asleep (while still sitting upright) on the couch in the lounge. she was quite content, so rather than cut her beauty sleep short, we woke her up after the show. i wouldn't be surprised if her pic shows up on a blog or two since many of the emo girls walking around seemed to be stalking her with their camera phones.

why celebrate a birthday on just one day when you can make a whole week out of it? last friday was spent boozing it up with the work crowd at our favorite black bear lodge where pabst comes in buckets and they have not one but TWO buck hunter games. plus, there;s a palm reader next door, which is very fun to partake of when you're drunk and it's midnight. apparently i shall lead a very long and prosperous life. saturday was spent with more boozing, this time on avenue b. after much deliberation, we decided on rue b, where mugsy had about four espresso martinis and was probably bouncing off the walls till about six am. sorry, christina. and to complete the trifecta of imbibing, my friends all took me out for a delicious dinner at the beautiful lucy, where my rollo de pollo was divine and the margaritas were even tastier. and i still get more surprises! i'll have to post next monday what my mystery post birthday weekend was all about. vegas, maybe?

speaking of getting older, i just learned about holly's cool new site watch me turn 30. she posts a fun and interesting pic of her every day of her 29th year. and i'm sure there won't be any more grays or wrinkles by the end of it.

oh yeah! my pseudo celebrity sighting of the weekend: nick from the apprentice! in hoboken! that's the second pseudo celebrity in recent weeks to cross the river. some america's top model chick paid a visit too. and a mobster mentioned a hit at the clam broth house on the sopranos this week!

and tonight i'm off to the troc to see dylan. and ryan and esteban too.

online dating tips from the onion.

richard simmons is my hero.

keving smith gives his fans some perspective on this weekend's "jersey girl." apparently he's not a big fan of bennifer either.

this sunday's times has a story on josh schwartz, the 27-year-old hipster creator/producer of my new guilty pleasure show, the oc. schwartz says he based seth cohen's character partly on himself , and apparently the adorkable jewfro is popular with the kids (and me!) because the "friends" spinoff "joey" is planning on having a similar character in the cast. and don't forget to watch tomorrow night for a guest spot by everyone's favorite hilton.

yikes, this washington post writer really doesn't like cargo, the new men's shopping mag. i shall remain impartial, but if any men out there want to learn about getting botox or a brazilian, feel free to check it out.

as my alabamian roommate would say, "roll tide roll!" uab beats kentucky, making me very low in my ncaa bracket. but you can't help but want to root for an underdog.

so adventure colorado or bust was a grand ol' time. eleven states in seven days with many ridiculous stops along the way, including many from this site, several college campuses, lots of stadiums and arenas and a few national monuments. some of the various things i learned on my first cross-country road trip:

1. suvs really are ridiculous gas guzzlers.

2. red roof inns are always sketch even if the lobby appears to be really nice.

3. there's not much to do in sioux falls, sd, and the hotel clerks talk really, really slowly.

4. the famous heads are much smaller in person. and crazy horse is nowhere near being done.

5. there appear to be no buffalo in buffalo country, except on every menu.

6. real cowboys have 50 cent as their cell phone ring tone. and love karaoke.

7. you can take take a quick tour of the coors brewing plant in golden, co, and drink for free the rest of the day. and it doesn't have to be coors light either!

8. jackalopes don't really exist, even though we stayed in the jackalope capital of the world.

9. there's a chipotle on every other corner in colorado.

10. there's not one cop on the interstate from hoboken to denver. suh-weet!

so jared, whenever you feel like moving back east, i'm happy to do the return trip with you. but maybe in a little warmer weather... and if anyone wants to see the rest of my photos, check them out here.

rollie prefers his own stash to the cheap beers at 7b

them giants will miss you next fall jared. just don't get too familar with the broncos

saturday night was spent saying goodbye to jared, who goes from the mile square city to the mile high city this weekend. i certainly will miss him but i have plenty of time to say farewell because we hit the open road together saturday morning for the impromtu week-long trip to denver. while we have no set itinerary, we are sure to stop at the rock and roll hall of fame, notre dame, windy chicago and those big heads in the rock. holiday road, here we come!

on our road trip, we might be losing out if we stop at mcdonald's now that they're getting rid of their supersizes. and just when my new carnivore self was ready to try a mickey d burger. yeah, right.

i find this article completely ridiculous given the fact that my brother and sister in law were so against a bris for my nephew. apparently, the new thing in nyc is to make the snipping party more like a wedding with 400 guests, hotel banquet halls and gift bags. next thing we know, there will themes a la bar mitzvahs.

cormi ventures into the ka house at delaware. i have no words.

and now, my friends, it's time for the oc. have i publicly professed my love for seth cohen yet? well, i just did.

so tuesday night i saw one of the best shows i've seen in a long time. m ward, jim james of my morning jacket and bright eyes. all amazing in their own right, all incredible when they played together, including two of their encores, willie's "always on my mind" and dylan's "girl from north country." i could have done without all the teeny boppers screaming for conor oberst all night and i was definitely one of the oldest people there by oh, about 10 years, but great time nonetheless. and the loews jersey city is an incredible space. huge lobby, gilded ceilings, big sweeping staircases, old fountains, great echoes and acoustics, the whole deal. take your own tour. hopefully they'll be able to get more acts booked there. plus it's only a quick path ride back to the 'boken.

i am also extremely ecstatic over my purchase of strokes tickets at central park's summerstage. apparently randomly reading craigslist at works helps you find out presale passwords when not many people realize there's one going on. sweet!

michele stands this close yet still misses the bucks

i found nemo

let's hear it for dead presidents, for without them i wouldn't have long weekends. a bit of marathon movie watching to get ready for the upcoming oscars, some bad gambling at mohegan sun, way too much drinking and never enough buck hunting.

in other news, i caught the legendary bo diddley at the all too touristy bb kings last week. this man can play. 75 years old and he kicks ass. also making guest appearances were stevie van sandt of e street and sopranos fame, les paul and most unfortunately paul shaeffer. that bald headed loser has got to go.

this one's for michele, who will be the first to tell you that curly hair as beautiful never gets enough press.

hey ya! it's the village voice's annual pazz and jop poll. great picks for the top 20, though i'd put the shins higher than radiohead. . makes me want to bust out some of the albums that have been sitting on the bottom of my cd pile for the last few months (ted leo, new pornos). half my office would be sad to learn the darkness only ranks at number 31 and ween's quebec is way, way down the list.

here's a fun time killer: ratemyteachers.com. not too many of my old high school teachers were on there, though it was fun to find my friends' names and see what their students have to say about them.

so this past weekend i left my liver and some dignity at the lafayette bar crawl. i know to expect insanity when the review crew gets together but add five bars in six hours and behold sheer drunken madness. but good times all around. ryanhas a great recap on the pulpy complete with some classic pics as does catherine. werde was none too pleased with all the digital cameras going off, but then we couldn't have gotten all these ridiculous shots. can't say i remember 100 percent of the night (and that's probably a good thing) but i do remember something about 12 shrimp in a basket, my inexplicable love for space camp, being forced to "do the shot," which scott so graciously took out of my hand, people drinking out of dog bowls, some white supremacist trying to get ryan to play rugby, someone losing their blue panties, comments about a certain californian and his rye bread, lots of falling down, a synthesizer piano bar and being totally unfancy with our continuous conversation about all things butt. good times, good times... here's hoping the next full-out delaware crew imbibing is not too far off. meltdown 2, anyone?

ryan and jimmy decide to get jiggy

fun with napkins

i have no idea why there was so much sticking out of tongues this evening

the point at which catherine figured out her trusty camera went bust

being a beatles fan, i'm sort of surprised i never heard this story: teenage girl helped trigger beatlemania.

so i saw the shins friday night and my verdict: eh. not a live band to say the least. they sounded more like they were in rehearsal than in front of a crowd, some of who shelled out possibly $200 for tickets. the rest of the evening was pretty fun, however, with many drinks and many bars and not seeing my bed till around 5 am.

michele and i used our day off today to check out west elm in dumbo. fyi new yorkers: they don't seem to have much more than in their catalog, so you can save yourself a trip. we also discovered that the brooklyn ice cream factory is closed on mondays and after we had already eaten lunch that there's a bubby's brooklyn. now there's a reason to go back i guess.

yesterday's times on the flaming lips. now i'm really sad i missed that new year's eve show with the white stripes. they're bound to hit new york eventually, right?

yet another story about a new rich kid/it boy in town. ain't it satisfying to read about 20-something-year-olds who can party for a living and then just declare they want a specific kind of job and miraculously get it? no, of course i'm not bitter.

i can hardly control my excitement for tomorrow's "surprise"shins show at bowery. i have been listening to "chutes too narrow" incessantly for the past few months and now i get to hear it all live. i just wish my "oh, inverted world" had arrived from amazon before now. in the meantime, check out the cool cartoon video on mtv.

this is old news but it most certainly won't stop being funny: cormi in cornrows. i'm out ten bucks, but it was worth every penny. i just would have liked to see them in person. and perhaps with a bead or two.

i braved the brutal cold and saw the yeah yeah yeahs friday night at hammerstein. this band kicks ass. what else can i say? karen o. is such an f'in rock star i can't take it. they played all the goodies from "fever to tell" way better than they sound through my headphones. i was too far back to feel any beer but i was standing next to the vip section where the band's white-bread parents were rocking out. now those are some cool moms and dads, staring up at the stage with such pride and love and totally getting down to "rich." my one gripe of the night: yes, hammerstein is a horrible place to see a show. but if you spent the money why not suck it up and enjoy the night? i found myself situated next to these two uber hipster chicks who barely took time out of their too loud conversation about how much hammerstein sucks and how they couldn't see anything and why couldn't they have played irving plaza or bowery and blah blah blah to actually hear the songs they were playing. i also must have been near the wrong vip section because i wasn't lucky enough to see gwynnie and chris. i always miss the good stuff.

the new yorker on larry david and how "curb your enthusiasm" works. i'm not sure why it took me so long to realize what a funny show it is, but over the past few months i've grown to love it. how did i not see all those hilarious seinfeld similarities before? and am i the last person to discover that larry david was the one who did the steinbrenner voiceovers?

rather than it be an entire month since my last update, i figured i'd better get cracking on this whole blogging thing. enough people bitched, and i answered. so let's see: december was a whirlwind of imbibing that i'm slowly trying to recover from. perhaps i should focus on the highlights. is it a problem that i can't seem to remember much? well, there was drunken revelry (complete with buck hunter) as well as good food (and strong margaritas) and lots of naked men on broadway for gail's 28th birthday. then there was surprise party number 1 for catherine as well as surprise number 2 for catherine when a bunch of delaware peeps (including one all the way from san fran!) showed up for some karaoke at winnie's. plus there was lots of gift giving going on including a super comfy feather bed, a guide to nyc dive bars, a smore's maker and one of the best gifts this season: atari games for my TV set. however, i was not happy about the message on the box stating "a blast from your parents' past." i ain't that old! there was also a trip out to north williamsburg for mugsy' housewarming/christmas party, which was a blast till i lost my mom's antique earring. won't anyone answer my post on craigslist please?

i rang in new year's 2004 at maxwell's, with the rest of the jersey indie rock kids for some yo la tengo and lots of yeungling. my celebrity sighting of the night? saturday night live's freaky looking rachel dratch. my new claim to fame is i used the bathroom after her. hot. anyhow, yo la tengo didn't go on till after counting down till midnight, at which time they appeared onstage wrapped up in some type of costumes that resembled flesh colored melons. if anyone knows what they were supposed to be, please email me. they played for about 2.5-3 hours and were fantabulous. besides the rock, the highlight of my night might have been when i called thrasher will a little after one to ask if we should come to his party, he asked me where we were, said he'd be there in ten minutes, and before jason and i could finish discussing how his party must have been that kick ass, there he was in front of us to party for the rest of the night. certainly one of the more random new year's i've had in a while.

i should probably make a short comment on the joys of friendster because apparently it's sometimes more popular than google when it comes to finding people. you see, a few weeks ago i got a random friendster request from my high school boyfriend who had been looking for me for a while unsuccessfully until he put my name on friendster. in case anyone's interested: he's a happily married art dealer living in brooklyn and has become a diehard mets fan over the years. no worries, i was smart enough to date him when he liked the yanks.

so kids, that sort of sums up my december from what i can remember through the alcohol fog. hopefully i can stick with at least one resolution and update a bit more frequently. till then, here are some pics...

the blizzard of december '03 came and went and a few things have happened since i last wrote. i finally got to experience the greatness that is a clem snide show. at the begining of the night they begged the audience to scream out requests, and for the next two hours, the crowd wouldn't stop. they appeased most of them and played several songs i knew, lots of songs i didn't know, and a bunch that warrants me to buy another of their cds. great stuff. i also saw the brazen ryan adams at new york's webster hall, the new "it place" to see a show, if you will. of all three ryan adams shows, this might have been my favorite. perhaps it was my nice buzz walking into the show, or the fact that i'm starting to really love his new sound on his new album, but i thought it was great. yeah, someone screamed for "summer of '69" and ryan booed, and he stumbled around drunkenly mentioning how much he loves new york because you can't get a decent bowl of matzo ball soup in north carolina. jason and i also stood right next to the frickster, who just might be the freakiest looking rock journalist ever. he seemed to be enjoying the show, so i must remember to check out rolling stone for the review.

against my better judgment i saw bad santa friday night. pretty damn hysterical. some of it just really disturbed me, but there were several ridiculously hysterical lines. go see in honor of the holiday spirit.

yesterday afternoon was spent at the black bear keeping warm, getting drunk, chomping nachos and cheering on the blue hens as they kicked ass against some stinky iowa team. semifinals here we come!

perhaps the giants should take some pointers from the blue hens, because freezing our asses off at today's game against the redskins was not nearly as fun as yesterday's football watching. but at least it made for some fun photo ops.

looks pretty crowded to me

fun with photoshop

a busy week of work, but i managed to go to maxwell's thursday night to check out the autumn defense, which is wilco's john stirratt's side project. a little too lite fm for my taste. just looking at their album cover makes you think of 70s sappy love songs or something. he did finish the night with a wilco track of a.m., which was pretty cool. we didn't stay to hear the main band and as we left, john was standing in the doorway talking to a few people. i touched him on the arm and said i thought he was great, even though i didnt' really mean it. he turned to me and said, "thanks for coming out." sigh. though i'm ready for tweedy to get back onstage.

in my second weekend of attempting to not drink (it didn't really go so well friday night), i hit the movies last night to see elf. not nearly as funny as i was expecting, though will ferrell is hilarious even when he's just standing there. a little too sappy a christmas story and michele and i agreed that the funniest moments were in the commercials.

whoa, mama! gbv and their obsessive fans land in the times.

i currently can't stop listening to the new shins album. the more i put it on, the more addictive it gets. the same sort of goes for the new strokes but i still say it's not as good/fun as their first one.

in other rock news, carla, michele and i went to see phantom planet last week at bowery. michele and i showed up inexplicably late and made carla miss most of ben lee. we walked in to hear him covering an xtina song and didn't see claire danes anywhere in sight. phantom planet started off great and ended even better, though some of the filler i wasn't so into. the stuff off their new album doesn't sound as great as the guest. and the new drummer looked uncannily like jason schwartzman, same haircut, glasses and everything. i wonder if it was a requirement for the position. the best part came, most definitely at the very end of the show when the lead singer exclaimed he once saw a band in dc where the lead singer left the stage by walking above the crowd and heading out the back door. then he explained that he's no copycat so he was going to try something different. he proceeded to walk with the crowd holding him up and headed to the right side balcony where he continued to sing and scarily hung from the outside of the banister. he then made it the length of the balcony, which was directly above us, rigged the microphone wire around the banister and proceeded to slide down it like a zipline, landing right on top of michele. while the crowd around us tried to hold him up, i quickly yanked michele out from the bottom center of the huddle and managed to save her life. well, perhaps that's a bit extreme, but she could have broken a nail or something. see pictures below.

as always, the onion makes me laugh: mom finds out about blog

the next time you have an hour to kill in nyc, have george costanza's dad give you a cell phone tour of the lower east side. hipsters not included.

a lot has happened since i last updated. namely i became an aunt to an 8 pound, 15 ounce adorable spencer brian. and not that i'm biased or anything, but he's definitely the most beautiful baby i've ever seen

in other news, i ventured to mountain brook, alabama, for the third time in my life, this time for a wedding. or should i say four days of wedding events. first was the mexican fiesta, then the rehearsal dinner, than the actual ceremony and reception and finally a sunday hangover brunch. i had a great time but that southern hospitality is a weird thing. i'm not sure i buy the friendliness 100 percent of the time but i guess it was a welcome change from those hardened new yorkers. i experienced southern barbecue with chocolate cream pie for the first time, ate grits, listened to lots of country and western and took a trip to the civil rights institute. and while i and my roommates were in alabama, the pulpy and co. took over our place while in nyc for ween. i'm happy to report there was little damage done, though i'm still confused about the the half eaten chocolate thing i found hidden on top of our entertainment center. i'll ask no questions.

last night was some hoboken rock at at maxwell's with catherine. the natural history were great, despite sounding uncannily like spoon. though i agreed with catherine when she said, "the world could always use more spoon." true, true. then came british sea power with their flora spread across the stage. also some quality rock even though we left before they were through. i also thought the lead singer looked very unbritish. more midwestern or southern if you will.

betsy has been doing far more exciting traveling of her own these days and has been taking some amazing pictures of her adventures in china. check it out.

after checking out some photos on the web, i'm pretty certain i saw ny's famous bernie goetz on the n train yesterday afternoon. this guy had started up a conversation with him, explaining that he could be governor some day with all his ideas, and bernie was going on about first and foremost he wants to see vegetarian options in the schools. then he handed the guy a business card and i was squinting from my seat to catch the name, but no such luck.

the happy couple

game three of the world series, tie score, but here's hoping the yanks will pull ahead. one can only hope.

so a happy belated birthday to sexy carlica, who welcomed the ripe old age of 27 by enjoying dinner with good friends at nadine's and then some alcohol consuming, picture taking and pushing through the crowds at gaslight. unfortunately, even though a good source who used to work there told me it was common, i did not see ben affleck doing lines in the basement. perhaps another time.

i finally saw "lost in translation" and i loved it. it dragged a bit at times but i didn't care. so realistic i think parts needed to be slow. makes me want to visit japan in a really unsure of myself but want to have an adventure kind of way. and this might be the first overly hyped movie in a long time where the experience wasn't ruined for me by the deluge of media attention. hell, i'm ready to read more. bring it.

apparently liza used to beat up on david and he's none too pleased.

(with thick british accent) "it's the fuckin' streets! there was a good month or two when his cd was played nonstop in my office. now you can read how he's nothing like that white american rapper.

and now it's a rain delay and i can't stomach watching fox five news (how dare they call it news!) so i shall see what else i can find.

shana tova, my friends. for all you gentiles, that's a happy new year. before i spent all day yesterday trying not to think about food and trying to repent for all the sins i committed over the course of the year 5763 (no, it didn't take that long), i partied it up for michele's 28th birthday. first off was the uber touristy but very fun benihana. even though we left smelling like pure hibachi, it was a good time watching the chef make a little volcano out of onions and toss shrimp into his giant hat. no, we didn't have to eat it after. we then moved on to local where michele was greeted by a few cute ny firemen. never a dull moment

i'm going to use this time to declare my pick for best new bar game. buck hunter beats photo hunt and even galaga any day. and for being a former vegetarian, i must admit it's hella fun shooting innocent little deer with a big bad rifle.

saturday night was rem at msg. they played all the stuff i wanted to hear, dedicated "(don't go back to) rockville" to june carter cash, thanked al franken for keeping him laughing all summer, praised new york left and right and even encored with my favorite song, "nightswimming." jon pareles had a good time too. afterward, jason and i headed to party, and after reading her pita, i see we left at just the right time.

i woke up sunday morning to see that the sunday styles section had a huge and highly ridiculous article on the party i went to last wednesday for the horrendous paradise hotel season finale. as much as i hated the show, i found myself getting so angry over the fact that charla refused to share her money with the host of the party, dave. now he's taking his reality fame and hoping to write a book. come on, people! rumor has it he and his man boobs may be back to host next season. stay tuned...

texas monthly has an article all about the making of "dazed and confused" and how they discovered all those unknown actors and ad libbed some of the most famous lines.

and last but definitely not least, these rabbits might just be the cutest things i've ever seen.

catherine's pita
betsy's pita
leanne's knee
chris's blog
ryan's pulp
nathan's babaluga
brian's mother
jane doe
pulp culture