The Good Life
Things are going good. We got the move done yesterday (besides the load still in my car) and we're starting to get things put away at the new place. I got my new cell phone, which is totally sweet and doesn't suck like Nextel. We're getting a pontoon boat this Saturday with Donny (Sarah's brother) and Erica (Donny's girlfriend/Sarah's best friend) and a bunch of other people and we're just going to be out on it all day Saturday, bar-hopping, swimming, all that good stuff. The Wandering Sons CD/EP release shows are this weekend, so that will add into the mix and it's Fourth of July weekend which means fun, fireworks, three day weekend, and Sawdust Days (some Fair kind of thing down here in Oshtucky). So things are going good. Plus... We met with Tracy, our landlord, and the head of maintenance today and that went really well, so it looks pretty good that we're going to get the Apartment Manager gig, but we'll know early next week for sure. When it's good it's good. I always say I'm going to post more later on, but always forget to. Though I'm still not sure anyone's reading this. Oh, and if you do read this and your name isn't Brian, way to suck at the genre-game. Genre-game suckers. More later.
...in the bushes
My new phone is finally here. It's pretty sweet. Plus now I can take pictures of amusing things and put them on here. So I'm back up and running (no phone for a day or so) but no more directo connecto. More later, y'all.
Ring ring
So I finally switched cell phone providers. I ended up going with U.S. Cellular for work and got a really sweet deal, so that's good. I realized I only used 29 direct connect minutes last month, and that it was ridiculous to spend that much on Nextel to not use Direct Connect. Plus their phones are expensive as bitches. Bitches. Anyways, my number will be staying the same, I just won't have Direct Connect anymore. Whoop.
Tain't No Sin Sandwiches, Inc.
In association with
Brian's most recent post, I'd like some help "genre-filing" some bands. P.S. This is supposed to be fun, and simultaneously make fun of genres- not like "math rock is stupid," more like "who came up with the idea of calling the music someone makes math rock? that's fucking stupid." I don't like genre's. I can't keep up with them. Anywho, here goes. Genre-fy away.
1. The Reindeer Section
2. Tom Waits
3. Reggie and The Full Effect
4. The Presidents of the United States of America
5. Pink... After she got Mizzundastud or whatever
6. Iron and Wine
7. Massive Attack
8. Azure Ray
9. Loose Fur
10. Grandaddy
11. Grandpaboy
12. The Talking Heads
13. The Cocteau Twins
14. At The Drive-in
15. The Anniversary... Only their second record
16. Pavement
17. The Rat Pack
18. Sweet Honey in The Rock (or and the rock, I don't know what they're called for sure)
19. The Shins
20. The Shirts
So here's how it goes... Genre-fy any or all of these. As specific as possible... Like I'd say... Reggie and The Full Effect= thug-emo-pop-rap or something. If you don't know a band, make something up. Double points for actual stupid genres (i.e. freak folk). I'll total the points, and declare a winner.
Dan Davis
So I use Google's new "front page"
thing and today, I had one of the best quotes on mine... Fantastic.
Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese. - G.K. Chesterton
I also get a "word of the day" to try to help me sound more smarter.
exigent: requiring immediate aid or action; also, demanding.
It is exigent that I print up the signs that need to be posted by 9:00 a.m. Back to work.
Men reading fashion magazines
Well, I’m back from Rockford and back at work. The whole weekend was a lot of fun. It was really late by the time we got in Thursday night, so there wasn’t a whole lot of activity that night. Friday was preparation day. I had to get my tux (which I found out later was missing the pink hanky), buy Marcus and Holly their present (I did get you the picnic basket), and go shopping with Sarah for an outfit for her to wear to the wedding. Scrap this. I was going to tell you all about the whole weekend, but decided many of you were there for most of it, so you know. If there is an immense public outcry, I will bore you with all the minute details of the weekend. I would have just erased everything up to here, but I wanted Marcus to see how I had bamboozled him into thinking I hadn’t gotten the picnic basket. I also realize that I misused bamboozled, but I really wanted to work that word into this post.
I watched Alfie and The Dark Crystal last night. Thoroughly enjoyed both. Alfie was better than I think most people thought it would be. It was entertaining and all, but it was shot really interestingly. It also has a lot of great music- most of the soundtrack is Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, and a few others. I would definitely see it if you can find it free at your public library. Or borrow it from someone. Or just rent it. I don’t know if it’s a buy-it-before-you-see it movie, but it’s definitely see it if you might possibly like it movie. The Dark Crystal is… well I’m assuming most of you have seen it. It’s Jim Henson on something. Strange, but alright. I’m not the biggest fan of the whole fantasy/crazy puppetry that was great for it’s time/made up creatures kind of movie, but it was good.
Also, Epth is being threatened. I don’t know if this is news to anyone else, but apparently Zach Braff (Scrubs, Garden State) has a
blog. It’s one of the two funniest blogs I’ve read, in constant battle for #1 with Epth (Epth is updated more frequently, and well, I know Mike, but Zach Braff is ridiculously funny). I swear he must be a cross between his character on Scrubs and his character in Garden State. More on this later, including a challenge to Brian.
Also, before I get back to pretending like I’m working for the sake of everyone I work with (I’m not slacking off, there’s nothing to do, but I feel bad about having nothing to do)… It rained a little bit ago. I went out for a cigarette and found that it had recently stopped raining, and before that it had recently begun raining. Unfortunately, I did not know it was raining, and therefore it would be a logical conclusion that my car will be wet when I get done with work. I didn’t bother going to check, as it seems the rain has ended, and I can’t do much about it now. Every time I’m hoping for a storm, it passes right by, but when I don’t want it to rain, it does. More about this later, if I remember. I actually have a lot to write right now, but I’m not really in the mood and this is probably long enough. Hopefully I’ll remember it all later.
Note to self: Not as many worms in Oshkosh as Rockford.
Some times you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you
If you read the title to this post and didn't know that "bear" was pronounced "bar," Dan McMahon will probably punch you in the crotch until you watch The Big Lebowski. If he tells you he wants to come over to feed your dolphins, you're entering a world of pain.
Two more days of work before the weekend. I'm ready for it though. It kinda sucks because there's so much happening in this next four or five weeks, mostly on weekends, that the days go slow. And I do feel bad wishing the days away, I'm just excited to get to Rockford for the wedding and my mom's birthday. I'm excited to move, though the prospect of doing the moving is a little less than exciting. Here's what my month basically looks like...
6/8-6/9 Work
6/9 Take Sarah to Driver's class (she had an old OWI- that's a DUI in Rockford, Operating While Intoxicated, long story... finally taking the classes to get her license back)
6/9 Really damn late... Drive to Rockford
6/10 Last fitting for tux... Get other stuff taken care of... Rehearsal dinner... Party
6/11 Wedding... Party
6/12 Mom's 50th Birthday
6/13 Drive back to Oshkosh
6/14 Work... Take Sarah to Driver's class
6/15-18 Work
6/16 Driver's class
6/18-24 Pack, get ready to move
6/20-21 Work
6/21 Drive class
6/22 Off
6/23-24 Work
6/23 Drive class
6/24-26 Move
6/27-7/1 Work
6/28,30 Driver's class
7/2 Pontoon boat with some friends
7/1-7/4 Sawdust days (kinda like the Waterfront or a fair or something, from what I understand)
7/4 No work, 4th of July
7/5 Work
7/6 Off
7/7-8 Work
7/8-10 Parent's coming to visit
7/11-15 Work
7/16 Go to Baraboo for my Grandma's 80th Birthday
So that's my next month or so... Not too many off days, but I guess thats good. My weekends are pretty much shot to shit until 7/23-24, not that I'm not willing and excited to do all of this. It will just be nice to get some down time in there too. Plus if we do become apartment managers there will probably be a bunch to learn/do throughout July and maybe daily stuff. But it's worth it if we get free rent. That would honestly be life-changing, to be able to pay off bills and save some money. I believe it will all work out.
On a side note, if you all don't know, the new The Wandering Sons record is going to be fantastic. I'm glad I left, because Mark Powers is exactly what they needed. And I'm not very good. Whoop.
However...
It's only fair to note that AGIB happened in the midst of the painkiller stuff. And that supposedly Wilco is back better than ever. I just hope the next record is.
And there are some other good songs on the record. Handshake Drugs is another. And there are some songs that are much better live. It's just not the record that I hoped for. They're better than A Ghost Is Born.
You know what it is. It's a bunch of 6-8 minute songs that were decent 3-5 minute songs.
Maybe I think of A Ghost is Born a lot like I think of Tarantula by Dylan. Not that that's a bad thing necessarily.
Kidsmoke
So, I hate to say it. I want to like it. I do. There are a few really good songs. It's probably a good record to get stoned to. But I just don't like Wilco's "A Ghost Is Born." I haven't listened to it in a while, and never actually bought it yet, but I listened to it on my iPod today. I want to like it. Glenn Kotche is probably my favorite drummer. I love Wilco. But this record just seems like them being "artsy" for arts sake. There's stuff that's just about to turn into a great part or great song. Hummingbird and The Late Greats are fantastic songs. The rest is just mediocre to me. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is such a great, fun record. However, to me, A Ghost is Born lakes purpose. I totally dig the "playing instruments we don't know how to play" and "just going in and making music," but I would think that the result would be a little better than 8 minutes of feedback and straight boring drum beats that could have just as well been programmed so that Glenn could just kick back and drink a beer*. There are fantastic pieces inside of this record though. Pieces that would have fit in on any of their previous records. But they just seem afraid to rock. Or to let the songs be something more than "art." I think if they wanted to do something far away from what they had done in the past, they could have gone more the way of a song like How To Fight The Loneliness... Something a little jazzier, or Latin feel even. I just feel like they're too good to make such a mediocre record. Have fun. Do ridiculous recordings or ridiculous songs. But don't get my hopes up so high.
*The first time I wrote this I typed "drink a bear." Which would be funny.
They will see us falling from such great covers
I guess it's been a while since I posted. Sorry about that. And to think I just lured more readers in here. Well, I'm back.
A few things have happened since I last posted.
1. Salad Week didn't go so well. I got through one night. I know, I know. But I did eat vegetables twice more in the past week as well, which is three times more than the last year combined. So that's improvement.
2. Sarah and I found a new apartment. Ours is real nice, but real expensive, and we want to not be broke the whole time. Thing is, I really like the one we found. And... there's a pretty good possibility that we will be able to be the apartment managers for our building and one next to it. Nothing major, changing light bulbs, making sure the hallways are clean, letting people in when they lock themselves out. But if we do get it, we will get rent for free. It's not 100% yet, but theres a good chance. So we're going to be signing a lease Saturday and then move in at the end of the month, hopefully the weekend before actually. It will be beginning of July before we know about the apartment manager thing, but I have faith everything will work out for the best.
3. I saw Garden State. I guess I knew it'd be really good. I guess that made me take so long to watch it. It was really good. Real good. Great music. Great dialogue. Great movie. Zach Braff is the new John Cusack. The Iron & Wine cover of the Postal Services'* "Such Great Heights" is great. I might like it better than the original. Wow. I want to watch it again right now. But I'm at work and I can't.
So that's that. Six days before we come to Rockford for the Wedding. Gotta buy a gift. Gotta confirm that I will be at the rehearsal dinner, though I have no choice being that I'm in the wedding. Otherwise, that's about it for news.
*I want to like The Postal Service. I do. I like Give Up. But I'm getting a little tired of all these "singles" and shit. Put out another record, or don't. But don't recycle the same songs. Iron & Wine has put out two albums and a dozen singles, but it's new stuff. I guess part of my frustration is that people clammer all over The Postal Service but they aren't really doing anything worth constant clammering. But that could just be me.
P.S. I also want to like Death Cab. But I don't really. Maybe I have something against Ben Gibbard. I have three Death Cab records, but I don't listen to them all that much. Something's just missing there for me. But since I do have some DcFc stuff on my iPod, I will give another chance today. It's not like I hate them, I just don't get a whole lot from them.
