The Girl from New York is going to be here very soon! I have to go down to pick her up in Providence in the morning, and then she's here for quite a while. Since she was only here for a very short stint the last time, we'll be planning on hanging out quite a bit more this time, and we'll be in town until we go back to The Moon together on the 7th or so. Soooooo, if you want to hang out, let me know and we'll put you on the list. It's a very exclusive list, you see. The Girl is very popular - I just get to hang out with her.
In other news, I bought a sexy new coat and sexy new polyester pants that fit over my boots. Life is sweet. My coat is very warm. It weighs approximately forty-seven pounds. Also I make excellent camera faces.
So it's been tough over here at Plastic Coffee Cups. We had to wake up at 12 yesterday for Christmas-related festivities and at 1 today to play football in the rain and mud and 40 degree weather. We also didn't have any coffee or tea today (!!!) and have only had one cup of coffee in the past five days. Needless to say, the caffeine headache this evening was tremendous. Now that the sore throat is gone, it's back to the strict two-cups-a-day policy that's been in place ever since the elders passed the edict in the fourth century After The Death Of That Guy.
I've been screwing around with this
Pandora thing for a bit, ever since
Lou and my beloved Grauke turned me on to it. Basically, you type in an artist you like, and the program goes through thousands of artists and finds other tracks that are similar and creates a "station" based on your artist. It's fucking cool, and The Bad Plus station I have on right now is really hitting the spot.
Dear Aquafresh Toothpaste People,
I think your product is pretty all right. I don't use it (I'm a Mentadent man, you see), but my sister seems to love it. I was just writing in regards to your "Extreme Clean" brand toothpaste. The space-age packaging looks tremendous - no complaints there. The futuristic cap system and silver, metallic tube are completely necessary and lend an aura of authority to the product. However, I do question your decision to name this particular flavor "Original Experience." Personally, I have never thought of brushing my teeth to be as much an "experience" as something that I do to keep Momso and The Girl in New York happy. But I'm sure you know what you're doing. Well, Happy Festivus and a New Year filled with lots of other great experiences to you and your families. Cheers!
Hugs and Kisses,
Drew
Tonight's viewing of the modern masterpiece
Jason X (filmed in my hometown of Outer Space) made me realize what great movies I've been able to view whilst I've been trapped here in Borotown. I've watched The Day After Tomorrow twice (so much Gyllenhaal/Quaid! ::swoon::). I watched part of
Alice's Restaurant today (with Arlo Guthrie playing the part of Arlo Guthrie). I watched some shitball crapfest called
Legion of the Dead (complete with a high-powered cast of
Zack Galligan and Bruce Boxleitner (yea, I don't know who that is, either)). But the pinnacle really came yesterday when I was supposed to be helping Dadso move wood in front of the house and the following interaction occurred with waning daylight outside.
ME: Dad, as much as I would love to help you in this backbreaking endeavor, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome just came on, and I'm going to have to watch the whole thing.
DAD: [pauses] Is that the one with Tina Turner?
ME: Yeah.
DAD: [pauses] Okay, I'll be in there to watch in a minute.
We then proceeded to watch
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome for an hour and a half before finally making it outside with about an hour of daylight left. Then, of course, I got to watch the rest of it with John and
his dad later that night.
Life is sweet.
So I'm still bored. I thought that this place would be, at the very least, a nice change of pace, since I am wont to getting out of the house when I am trapped in the Boro. Alas, I have been doing little more than sitting in front of the computer or tv since I got here, which is what I would have been doing if I was at home. Ho hum. John got his tonsils out and has been on mass amounts of liquid codeine (sp?). The funny thing is, John isn't really that different on mass amounts of codeine - just sleepier. I would argue that he says fewer weird, nonsensical things now that he's on a narcotic painkiller. Curiouser and curiouser.
I really wish I could stop making posts about how bored I am, but really, I don't have anything else to post about. Nothing witty, nothing I've observed (although I did watch two grown men get into a fight on my street the other day), nothing exciting at all. Stupid Girl in New York is going to a concert with her stupid sister. You're supposed to be bored, too, stupid! Gosh.
I'm gonna go stare a wall for a while.
Sooooo, if anyone is in or around the Northboro area, call me. This shit's boring as shit. The most excitement I've had so far is introducing my cats. Given that they hissed and made horrible...well, animal noises at each other, it really hasn't been that enthralling.
Okay, maybe it has. Still!
So I'm battling off the last of this cold, and I took NyQuil last night for the first time in forever and remembered why I hate it so. My head is still swimming. Plus Mom's stupid alarm kept going off next to my bed at 7 AM, so bullocks to that. Luckily tonight I found some TheraFlu, which tastes like ass but kicks the cold's balls into its abdominal cavity, so woot woot for me.
Steve keep pooping, and her litter box is in my room. Boo hiss. Stop it, Steve!
Lots of stuff going on. Well, not really. Headed back to Assachusetts today with
Steve in tow. I'm sure she'll be terrible in the car. Good ol' Momso is driving down as we speak.
Lou and I decided to get our respective fathers sixers of fancy beers for Christmas - the first time I've ever bought beer. I think that this might become a regular thing for familial gifts. And maybe for kids hanging around outside of liquor stores (packies, for you New Englanders).
I still really like coffee.
The girl in New York is coming up to Northboro on the 29th to chill for a good bit. We're going to Martha's Vineyard for a few days and playing Real Couple™. I'm on board. Should be a nice time.
I am feeling a bit woozy, my head is swimming a bit, and the White Stripes are filling my ears with the sweet sounds of (pasty) white blues. I think I am going to sleep soon. This is groundbreaking. I have a cold and I have taken a lot of medicine. It's making me feel like I'm taking crazy pills. I am going to see the girl in New York later today! Unfortunately, those bastards on the MTA decided a strike would be a good idea. Wow, Philly beat New York to something? First times are exciting.
Against my better judgment, I have compiled a list of the best albums of the year. There will be some auspicious omissions (I just don't like The Decemberists that much, ok???), but there were only twelve albums on the list, so here goes.
10) The White Stripes
Get Behind Me SatanMostly just because the first track is the most outrageously foot-stomping song I heard all year but the rest of the album is a little full of itself. What do we expect, I guess, from a dude who loves
Tesla Coils so much (fourth quote).
9) Bane
The NoteMy favorite band (I was known as "Bane Kid" until February of my sophomore year of college), so pretty much an automatic entry. Not their best stuff, but they can put together a better album than most hardcore bands by shitting on their instruments. Nicest guys in music, too. By far.
8) The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower
Love In The Fascist BrothelPretentious artcore. But so good! (And obviously right up my pretentious alley.) Also, they're not terrorists, for the last time. Runner-up for
gayest album art.
7) Neil Young
Prairie WindCertainly not his best stuff, but the man's father died and he had a brain aneurysm, and he still puts out better material than most shmoes with acoustic guitars could ever hope to.
6) Sufjan Stevens
Come On Feel The IllinoiseNever heard of the dude until a month ago; can't stop listening to the album since. Can do full orchestra/choir pieces and simple acoustic songs like nothing.
5) The Life Aquatic Soundtrack
Some discussion about whether or not a soundtrack could be included, but ultimately the power of Murray won everyone over. Only one track on this album I don't listen to (fuck you, Joan Baez), put together by someone else, and fucking Portuguese Bowie covers. A winner.
4) Fiona Apple
Extraordinary MachineIt's rare for an album to live up to the hype it gets, but I'll just say this: I scoffed at Fiona until I got this album, and now I have her whole discography.
3) Lightning Bolt
Hypermagic MountainHighest energy album of the year; coincidentally, also wins for
gayest album art. I love you Chippendale!!
2) Reggie and the Full Effect
Songs Not To Get Married ToJames Dewees is fucking genius. Drums for Coalesce, keyboards for The Get Up Kids, catchiest songwriter of the year. Most of the album is serious, but wait till the end and you get to "Deathnotronic." Shit is hotttt.
1) Of Montreal
The Sunlandic TwinsWhen I got this CD, I honestly could not force myself to not listen to it. Tremendous live performers and super nice guys. Still have dude's phone number. Another runner-up for
gayest album art.
Well, I didn't really think it was going to end up like that, but I guess that's how it goes. There's a good chance I'll be editing this as I think about it more.
So I failed to deliver on my promised excessive posting. Been busy...playing lots of exxxtra inning games in MVP Baseball. And bugging the girl in New York. And painting more record-bowls. And having Daggers practice. We have two new songs, one of which is entitled "Taylor Drunk-Dialed Ian MacKaye." That makes six completed songs, plus an intro song. There's a good chance we'll be going into the studio in January to lay down an album, tentatively titled "Pogonophobia." I'm very cold. I might be going up to New York to visit a girl and my friend Dan, who's in a comedy troupe called The Cleanest River In America. They have a gig on Saturday. V. exciting.
I have been listening to a lot of music. An incomplete list of albums I have listened to most or all of in the last 48 hours.
Weezer S/T (Blue)
Lightning Bolt
Hypermagic MountainNeil Young
Prairie WindBela Fleck and the Flecktones
Live ArtJohnny Cash
American RecordingsJohnny Cash
The Man Comes AroundThe Cure
Boys Don't CryThe Cure
DisintegrationCaptain Beefheart and his Magic Band
Hot HeadConverge
When Forever Comes CrashingThe Dillinger Escape Plan
Calculating InfinityMarvin Gaye
What's Going OnThe New Amsterdams
Para Toda VidaAt The Drive-In
Acrobatic TenementNight Rally
The Elegant Look of the NewPhish
The Story of the GhostOk, that's not all, but I'm going to stop because this is depressing.
So it is finals week. I have no finals and only one more assignment to complete, which is simply notating short pieces that I have
composed for my music class.
So what does this all mean, you ask? Voluminous updates, each more pointless than the last! A preview:
-The cats are restless!
-MVP Baseball, even though I thought it wasn't possible, is taking up even more of my life
-David Bowie rules
-My favorite words
-For gahd's sake, just give me something to do!
-Off to New York and then Massachusetts!
The is, of course, a noninclusive list. Who knows what kinds of exciting things might happen between now and Friday??
Yea, it's a Cutting Crew record that I melted into a bowl. Yea, with "(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight" on it. This is one of my Festivus gifts for the girl in New York. She already knows about it, but we can pretend it's a secret. So shh!
From David Cross' open letter to Larry the Cable Guy:
"But you also specifically dumb down your speech while making hundreds of purposefully grammatical errors. How do I know this? It's on page 17 of your book wherein you describe how you would "Larry" up your commentaries for radio. What does it mean to "Larry" something up? Take a wild guess. The reason you feel the need to "Larry" something up? Because you are not that dumb. I mean you, Dan Whitney, the guy who's name the bank account is under. You were born and raised in Nebraska (hardly The South), went to private school and moved to Florida when you were 16. This is when you developed your accent?!"
Full text
here. (Props and many paretheses to
Lindsay.)
Also, photos forthcoming of me being artsy.
In New England, we hardly ever got off for snow. It had to be snowing gi-fucking-gantic prehistoric killer snowflakes that froze as soon as they got to the ground before we got off from school. However, when I moved here (to The Moon...in outer space), I quickly realized that they
will cancel school for almost anything. I think my university cancelled once because the
Pope had a cold. What, too soon?
I had a paper due today that I finished the other night that I didn't have to hand in today. I'm not really sure what to do with it. I really want it out of my room, though, because it's easily the biggest piece of shit known to mankind. And I'm sure
these guys would agree. They wrote the same paper.
I'm listening to
Whatever and Ever Amen by Ben Folds Five for the first time in forever. I forgot how much this album rules. I'm also reading about seventy-four books right now, the most notable being
The Dead Father by Donald Barthelme (shit's weird - would it kill you to use quotation marks once in a while,
Don?) and
The Hermit's Story by Rick Bass. Also, my mom sent me a care package with loads of food in it. I'm eating Swedish Fish like whoa. Like I said earlier this morning, these are exciting times.
Requisitioned boots.
Exciting times, errrbody.
I have a 7+ page research paper due on Friday that I haven't started. I'm going to a show tomorrow night. It is almost the end of the semester.
I feel like my blog is becoming little more than me talking about my work. Which is funny, because that constitutes so little of my life.
I got a fortune the other day that said, "A nice cake is waiting for you." I like that.
Gwen swiped me some cowboy boots that I'm very excited about. Here they are. Hurray me! Photo to follow when Blogger stops being stupid and accepts my fucking seed.
Ok ok ok ok, so it's time for my obligatory progress-of-work update. I have 11 pages of my 30-32 page script done. That's including the six-plus that I'd written before. Wah wah.
However, in the meantime, I've listened to the whole Bane discography, linked a bunch of new people (the last four on the list to your right, my left), played a bit of Fishy, taken a shower, re-read Liz's letter twice, drank a huge cup of coffee, two cans of soda, and two giant mugs of water, taken three ibuprofen to handle caffeine headache, eaten a bunch of cheese and crackers and the rest of Liz's mom's turkey, exchanged a volley of text messages with a girl in New York City, picked at the things on my hands countless hundreds of times, played the intro to "In The Garage" six times, checked all away messages at least four times, gone down to the basement to play electric guitar once, updated blog twice, and talked with said girl in New York for nearly two hours online.
My friend Nick once said "Procrastination begets progress in other areas of procrastination; it's a beautiful process." Every time I have things to do, this makes more and more sense.
I was hanging out over on my
livejournal, reminiscing about good times, when I found a post I made fairly recently (in terms of my livejournal timeline) about iTunes, which I thought I'd repost, since things have changed a bit since then. Here we go!
How many total songs?
4362
Sort by Song Title
First: " 'Cross the Breeze" by Sonic Youth
Last: "Zurich is Stained" by Pavement
Sort by Time
First: "One Last 'Whoo-hoo' for the Pullman" by Sufjan Stevens(:06)
Last: "Cassandra Gemini" by The Mars Volta (31:42)
Sort by Album
First: "Oh Mary" by Neil Diamond
Last: "New World Man" by Rush
Sort by Artist
First: "8:16 am" by 311
Last: "The Way I Feel Inside" by The Zombies
Top Ten Most Played Songs
"What we Became" by No Trigger
"There's a Black Hole in the Shadow of the PRU" by American Nightmare
"The Day That Devin Pissed Blood" by Night Rally
"Requiem for O.M.M." by Of Montreal
"Zombies Avantgarde" by Et Tu Brute
"Tennessee Stud" by Johnny Cash
"Humor is Non-Sequitor" by Night Rally
"Yankeedom" by The Vehicle Birth
"Last Light" by Converge
"43% Burnt" by The Dillinger Escape Plan
Find "sex," how many songs show up?
19
Find "death," how many songs show up?
55
Find "love," how many songs show up?
127
You might also ask yourself at this point, "So Drew, how's that 25 page script going that you said you were going to 'bang out' tonight?" It's going, friends, it's going.
The most insulting part about being up this late is that the cats insist on tearing around the fucking house. It's like they see me here trapped at this computer and have to flaunt that they're able to 1) run around in the house in the first place, and 2) muster up the energy to run around said house at four in the fucking morning.
I still have to write three pages for my script. It's a romantic comedy. It's the worst thing ever. I hate myself.
Gahd do they have to be so loud?? AND THERE'S NOTHING IN THAT CUPBOARD SO STOP TRYING TO OPEN IT!!! Yeesh. Some people. Dammit, cats. What happened to you? I liked your old stuff so much better.
