Accomplishment, thy name is Brian

[twicketface]

Well, not really, but it sounds good. Had a going away party for a long time employee last night after work, so stayed for a bit and had some good cheese and crackers. Doesn’t take much to make me happy.

Afterwards went to Fazoli’s to grab dinner for Marie and I. I figured since she’ll be gone for the weekend, it would be nice to surprise her with dinner. Despite the long wait, it was. I got her the broccoli lasagna and had the baked ziti myself. One thing about eating more vegetables is that I can now spell broccoli without needing spell checker. Small victories.

Had dinner and then busted a move to the grocery store. Got some good grub and back in time for Marie to be able to watch Gilmore Girls. She was happy. I had two calls to make, one to Steve and the other to Matt/Jenny, regarding the good ol’ Holiday Party. Both expressed joy and happiness in the prospects of it, which is all good.

Marie was thirsty for some OJ so I made Orange Julius. It was a little too strong for my liking (it’s hard to only get half of the frozen oj into the blender) so the next batch will be a bit weaker. Spent a good 20 minutes on the Gazelle and got to level 17 on Yoshi.

During Yoshi, I listened to the David Sedaris tape that Brian lent me. Good stuff, I can’t wait to get some more. He was talking about his job as an elf at Macy’s in New York and what it was like. He also is the author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, which I’ve read a small amount of and loved. So, that’s great. I consider Brian a drug dealer, of sorts. I always see him as a shady guy in an alley, saying “I think you’ll really like this, and I can get more if you are interested.” Only, you know, legal and less harmful. Whatever.

Did some reading last night before bed, Marie got her latest issue of Jane magazine. Now, of all the ‘female slanted’ magazines that are out there, Jane seems to me to be the best. A feminist slant and no ‘1,644 Ways to BLOW HIS MIND using your pinky’ stories. Whew. Anyway, I was reading the latest issue last night and realizing how little I cared for any of it. Which celebrities dated/dumped/fucked/snubbed/got mad at which other celebrities, ridiculously expensive and flashy clothing and all sorts of advertisements about how ugly you are if you don’t look like the flawless, airbrushed model. I maintain my hatred of pop culture and will continue to do so until finding a reason to feel otherwise.

Anyway, that’s about the extent of my evening. Had a busy but productive day at work. I spent most of the day really liking my job, is that a sign of dementia?

Tonight will be updating the website and unveiling the Fuck Best Buy section (keep your fingers crossed) and maybe a trip to the library.

Random thoughts for the afternoon
jonnyv, are you happy now?

I can’t find a decent deodorant to save my life.

I think I’ll be renting some movies this weekend. Memento and Wonder Boys, at least, if they are in stock when I get there.

My socks never stay up. I am lucky that this is the worst of my problems.

Comments

Re: Memento

[dream4distance.livejournal.com]

Same here on Magnolia. I honestly don't think I would have gotten much more out of it the second time around though. It was just genuinely strange.

Speaking of which, have you ever seen Eye of the Beholder (with Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd)? If not, don't. I just bring it up because it was one of the stranger movies I've actually seen in a movie theater. The trailers made it look good, but it turned out to be a very poorly done artsy-fartsy movie (read: it made no sense whatsoever on virtually any of the even most abstract levels) that only made it into theaters because it had big hollywood names playing the main characters.

I don't have an obsession with Kevin Smith, but I do love his movies and my friend Meg lives in Red Bank, hehe. But I could talk about movies in general for hours. Ever read the book Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson? I'm like the main character, Hiro... I'm all about the three Ms: Music, Movies, and Microcode. Of course, I'm into lot of other stuff too, but those have always been primary interests of mine.

Re: Memento

[twicketface.livejournal.com]

I thought Magnolia was interesting, in that all of the characters were interwoven and for being a 3 hour movie, it kept pace really well.

I missed Eye of the Beholder, but it sounds like that was for the better. I think the same goes for To Die For (the one with Nicole Kidman playing a psycho weatherlady). As a movie, it was awful, but the way it was shot and the diretion style really held my attention. I try to find the good in even bad movies.

I've been a KS disciple since I first watched Clerks. I can quote just about any line and follow the movie news closely. Of course, this are probably things I should be ashamed of, but yet, I'm not. I'll have to check out Snowcrash, I'm always looking for a good book to get into. I highly recommend Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. He's written a few books and has a regular show on National Public Radio. Really, really funny stuff.

So, who's your favorite author?

Re: Memento

[dream4distance.livejournal.com]

Ah, you shouldn't be ashamed of the Clerks stuff! I watched that movie like 8 million times in HS. Truly a classic. I also had the soundtracks to both Clerks and Mallrats, but someone made off with them during my freshman or sophomore year in school... I lost a bunch of cds then, erg. Anyway, my friend Aimee and were always planning to do a Clerks/Mallrats/Chasing Amy night, but it never happened. I still must do that sometime.

Hmm... favorite author, eh? That's a tough one right now. I love to read, but I'm a bit of a slow reader and I rarely have the time to read anything besides textbooks, assigned readings, and reference manuals these days. Growing up, my fav authors were Douglas Adams (prerequisite to being a geek) and Andrew J. Offutt, who wrote my favorite parts of the Thieves' World series (and an entire book based on his character, Shadowspawn). I used to read a lot of fantasy books. Okay, along with edgy science/philosophy books, Readers Digest, Omni magazine, and Fate magazine.

Recently I'd have to say my fav author, just from the shear volume of quotes I use from his books, is Nick Hornby. I'm sure you know of him as the author of High Fidelity. I've never marked up a book before, but when I read that one I started highlighting and underlining stuff like crazy. It was all WAY too relevant to my life. My current magazine choices are usually interesting scientific mags like Discover or anything else I can get my hands on to keep up with current news of stuff I used to have time to be interested in, such as video editing and 3d modeling/animation mags. Oh, and I like to drool over techno-gadget mags too, designing plans of all the stuff I need to get to have the perfect setup, but will be way outdated before I'm able to afford any of it anyway.

If we're counting lyricists as authors (I listen to a lot of music, read a lot of lyrics)... I'd have to say my favs are John K. Samson (The Weakerthans, formerly bassist of Propagandhi) and Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes). Technically, John K. Samson is an author as well, but I've never read any of his stuff. Anyway, both are brilliant lyricists.

Hmm. Hope you weren't looking for a simple one line answer. So how 'bout you? Fav author(s)?

Re: Memento

[twicketface.livejournal.com]

It’s funny, because I first rented it during a sleep-over with the guys. They had all seen it (somehow, with out me) and said it as an ‘alright’ movie. I thought it looked good and rented it anyway, and the rest, well, it’s history. Have you seen Dogma? I think I like that one the best, because it dealt with a rather serious topic (god/religion/theology) but did so in a funny way. Have I mentioned that I’m completely retarded over Jason Lee? I just saw Almost Famous last weekend and loved every minute he was on screen.

Having graduated, I can say that you will soon relish in the opportunity to read all things non-scholastic. It feels so good to read for pleasure and not worry about having a chapter done by a certain date. Growing up, I read mostly Stephen King and that was about it. Luckily, my tastes have matured. I like to read a lot of political humor, PJ O’Rourke, Michael Moore, Bob Harris, things along those lines. It’s an interesting time to be a political writer, even before 9/11. I also enjoy reading Henry Rollins. He’s one dark author and can be really depressing at times, but I think if you can look past that, there is a lot of truth to his writings. I haven’t heard any of his music with Black Flag/Rollins Band, but if you can get your hands on any of his Spoken Word stuff (I can recommend titles, I’ve got most all of his stuff), check it out. It’s part stand-up comedy and part current issues talk with a humor that only Hank can convey. Marie and I got the chance to see him in Madison (WI, mind you) and he spoke for 3 hours straight. Literally, he didn’t take a break or even drink from his water bottle the entire time. It was mind blowing. I also highly recommend David Sedaris, especially “Me Talk Pretty One Day”. I’ve only read a chapter, but it was tremendous. He’s got a show on NPR as well, “This American Life”.

I think I’m about the only person who didn’t *really* like High Fidelity. I’ve only seen it once, and it was a rental, but something about it just struck me as, I don’t know, bland? I really should see it again because I heard such good things about it, but I thought Jack Black was annoying throughout the whole movie. So I’ll have to re-rent it again and check it out. Since Sara Gilbert is in it (of Roseanne fame), I should rent it again anyway.

I love reading lyrics too, but I find it terribly annoying when sorting through random live journals and finding only lyrics. But I do love to read them, especially when I’m listening along so in the future, when I’m singing along, I don’t mess up too much of the words. I think my favorite lyricists would be (in order of meaning, politics and humor) Trever Keith of face to face, probably Chris of Propagandhi and Fat Mike from NOFX. I’ve heard a handful of Weakerthans songs and have really liked them, but can’t find their stuff at local stores, so I’ll have to order some of their discs.

One line answers are for the lazy ;) And cripes, next time I’ll just send you an email! Anyway, shall we move onto television shows or favorite bands?

Re: Memento

[dream4distance.livejournal.com]

Dogma was great, but the ending really spoiled it for me, hehe. I didn't care so much for it being about meaningful stuff either. I was a much bigger fan of Clerks/Mallrats/Chasing Amy. I must say that I'm a big Jason Lee fan as well. I even loved Mumford!

I think you have to be of a certain lifestyle (ahem, bitter) to appreciate High Fidelity. The book of course was much better than the movie... Nick Hornby is a brilliant author and so many of his little quips and observations just couldn't be translated to the movie. While we're talking about people in the movie, Lili Taylor (of Say Anything fame) was in it too and I just happened to bump into her at a local pub recently! Anyway, the book/movie were almost all about my life and I love John Cusack to death, so that didn't hurt either. But, I say read the book before you see the movie again.

Definitely check out Weakerthans stuff... brilliant. I'm a big Face to Face fan too, but I didn't really care for Reactionary.

I'll check out the David Sedaris Book. If you're in the mood for something a little different, you may want to check out the Griffin & Sabine series by Nick Bantock. It's a little hard to explain, but the books are entirely correspondence between these two individuals through postcards and letters, including some really cool artwork on the postcards/letters. It's kinda art/literature. It's different.

Anyway, Vegas is gonna be here anytime and we're off for the weekend, so you pick television shows or fav bands and let's move this to email. Drop me a line at nyte@gti.net and I'll likely respond once I recover from my weekend and early week classes around Tuesday night. Have a good weekend!