Thursday, August 31, 2006

Tamra, Kirk, and Elise got into town today. We had fun eating Indian food, strolling around campus, and having a nice dinner at home with Skye and Angela.

Skye and I watched Magnolia last night. I had seen it two or three times before, and I liked it better the other times. That being said, I was able to consciously put together the meaning of the movie better this time.

It is still a good movie, but just less good than I remembered.

Today, all of the baseball games turned out the way I wanted them to. I wanted the Yankees to win, but only because they were playing the Tigers. While I want the Red Sox to make the playoffs, it isn't going to happen. On the other hand, the Twins have a good chance of making the playoffs, and their chances will be better if the Tigers start losing.

I had something else to write about, but I am tired. Later.

"She said 'I'll throw myself away.' They're just photos, after all."

Monday, August 28, 2006

Since they are gone, I am going to post a video. I was thinking about posting the actual video (rather than the live performance), because it features a nice little idea. However, Sleater-Kinney has a tendency to create videos where they sing without microphones and play without being plugged in. Thus, I have chosen a clip from Letterman. Enjoy this live clip from one of the best live bands ever:

The Return of Dirk

I'm back home after a wonderful five-state vacation. I'm going to use the top-secret code for names that we developed in my meeting today: I will be using the first initial to indicate a person. I'm not so sure that this was the best code for our situation, since we were using the code on someone with the name "Jay."

On my vacation: We flew into O'Hare, and tried to catch a bus to South Bend. A woman who looked like Kathryn Joosten neglected to announce that our bus had arrived, although she loudly announced that the bus was gone. This left at least three different parties stuck at O'Hare for another two hours. She wasn't too happy when we pointed out that she didn't announce that the bus had arrived.

I met L and V, who were great. L has a lot of stuff figured out, although I don't think that he would ever tell you that. I don't agree with everything he thinks, but he thinks about stuff in a way that I really admire. V was nice and took me to see the beautiful campus of Notre Dame.

S and I tipped over in canoe at the lake. It only took us about two minutes to fall in. It was all her fault.

That pretty much takes care of Illinois, Indiana, and the lower portion of Michigan. We also went to the Mystery Spot in the UP on our drive to Minnesota. I am pretty sure that I figured out the mystery.

Minnesota was fun with J, L, and T. We saw the MOA, the lakes of Minneapolis, the cherry with the spoon, the U, H and J's, H and G's, F and L's, and the great Minnesota get-together.

Congratulations on the following events:

1. J and E had a baby named K.
2. C and D got married.
3. M is expecting again.

Now, the bad news:

S-K broke up. Basically, I don't have many favorite bands who are still active now. GBV is done, TM is all but broken up (although L'~ is still active), and S/HD has been done for about 10 years now. Who is left? "I" is the closest, but they are not quite there. The NPs are fun, but not quite up to the same level as GBV, S-K, or TM/B. Blast.

"I've been having a bad, bad day. Come on - won't you put that pad away. I'm asking you, "Please, no!" It isn't right, it isn't fair! There was no parking anywhere. I think that hydrant wasn't there. Why can't you let it go? I think I've paid more than my share. I'm just a poor girl, don't you care? Hey, I'm not wearing underwear."

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Since I have been thinking a lot about Throwing Muses (as opposed to thinking a lot about throwing muses), here are some video clips.

The first one is one of my favorite music videos ever. You should watch it for the song. If you don't want to watch it for the song, then you should watch it because of the adorable drummer. If you don't want to watch it for the adorable drummer, you should watch it for the cross-dressing cowboy. If you don't want to watch it for the cross-dressing cowboy, then - for the love of all that's good and holy - you should please, please watch it for the chimps.



The second video is an interview from Conan. This is a shameless ploy to persuade Skye to like Kristin Hersh.



Finally, this is a great video from Tanya Donelly. This is sooooo Tanya.



Skye and I are taking a two week vacation. I will post when I am able, but there aren't any guarantees.

"I'm in for a love so tough I could break my teeth if I bit down hard upon it."

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Throwing Muses

I just got back from the 50 Foot Wave/Throwing Muses concert. And they brought it.

The line up was actually 50 Foot Wave (Kristin Hersh, Bernard Georges, and Rob Ahlers), then Bullseye (a group of five boys who are literally middle schoolers), and Throwing Muses (Kristin Hersh, Bernard Georges, and David Narcizo). Georges might be my favorite bass player to watch, Ahlers and Narcizo are both great drummers to watch, and Hersh is just captivating.

This is the best concert that I have been to in a long, long time. It compares favorably to the GBV, Sleater-Kinney, and Sugar shows that have been my favorites. This makes sense, since these four bands are probably my favorite of all time.

Oh - I think that I was the youngest person at the concert. This hasn't happened since I had my fake ID.

Here is what I remember of the setlist. It is complete, but not necessarily in exactly the right order:


  1. "Hazing"
  2. "Soul Soldier"
  3. "Stand"
  4. "Furious"
  5. "Shimmer"
  6. "Los Flamingos"
  7. ""Colder"
  8. "Shark"
  9. "Fear"
  10. "Mexican Woman"
  11. "Mercury"
  12. "Pretty or Not"
  13. "Bright Yellow Gun"
  14. "Hate My Way"
  15. "Speed and Sleep"
  16. "Vicky's Box"
  17. "Bea"
    Encore:
  18. "Pearl"
  19. "Mania"


A couple of last comments: the band was great, the crowd was great, and the person doing the sound was great. This is true of both 50 Foot Wave and Throwing Muses. Everything was mixed well, and the band nailed most everything. The only slight problem was the Kristin's voice was a little gravelly. This made some things sound worse, but it also made some other things sound great. She nailed all of the screams and high notes, too.

"Pearl" is one of the finest songs ever made. Kristin just nailed the solo. "Mania" is one of the more aptly named songs ever.

I'm done gushing for now.

"The t-shirts, that look black...are."

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

I went to a graduate at Skye's school last night. My favorite part: one kid went up to get his diploma wearing a Sepultura t-shirt.

Today was excellent: I got enough work done so that I will almost certainly not have to bring a calculus book on my trip next week. Good stuff.

Tomorrow night: free Yeah Yeah Yeahs show. I really like the new album, so I am pretty excited.

"Yeah, the river it spoke to me. It told me I'm small."

Monday, August 07, 2006

Skye and I had a good weekend. We went through a trial run of something akin to Junkyard Wars that we are running for high school students. It was a good time to be creative and work with your hands. We also partied it up at Glen and Laurence's fantastic house.

Things are going smoothly. My new schedule is working smoothly, and I am being as productive as I ever have been. This makes me feel good.

Soccer was fun tonight. We lost, the referee showed up late and later kicked one of our players out after several bad calls, but it was still fun. Better yet, I think that it actually helped my ailing rib. I'll still take tomorrow off from basketball, but it is feeling better.

When I was driving home from soccer, I heard "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi was my favorite band for a while, but I never quite new what "I got a dirty down addiction that doesn't leave a track" meant, since I didn't know about "tracks." Now I do. I also heard "My LIfe" by Billy Joel, and decided two things:

1. I need to cut Tom Hanks some slack. I haven't been crazy about him for reasons that I cannot determine. Everyone says that he is a nice guy, though, and I should like nice people. I now like Tom Hanks, even if most of his movies are mediocre (I'm not sure if I actually believe that, but I am not about to think about it any more right now).
2. I need to re-read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. I just started reading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but I might take a break after reading a book or two for some Klosterman.

Bill Simmons just cannot write a bad column. It's impossible.

"Get off the bandwagon and put down the handbook."

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

My new plan to leave my work at work worked splendidly yesterday. I got to school at 7:00, left by 3:30, and got a ton of stuff done. Today was a special day, so not nearly as much got done; everyone wanted to talk to me for some reason.

Skye got back into town after a weekend trip,and we went to my surpise soccer game. I found out that I got into an indoor league yesterday at about noon, and the first game was eight hours after I received the email. We lost, but it was still fun. The team seems good (I didn't know any of them before last night), and it is really good to play on a nice field again. The only bad thing is that my new friend Sanjay twisted his knee. It might be serious.

"There's no need to procrastinate."