Still in my new home on Wordpress. Just stumbling over for a quick visit. Hullo.

*********************

A forgotten favorite that just popped into my head...

Vertical Horizon
Best I ever had (Grey Sky Morning)

So you sailed away
Into a grey sky morning
Now I'm here to stay
Love can be so boring

Nothing's quite the same now
I just say your name now

[Chorus]
But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
You don't want me back
You're just the best I ever had

So you stole my world
Now I'm just a phony
Remembering the girl
Leaves me down and lonely

Send it in a letter
Make yourself feel better

[Chorus]
But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
You don't need me back
You're just the best I ever had

And it may take some time to
Patch me up inside
But I can't take it so I
Run away and hide
And I may find in time that
You were always right
You're always right

So you sailed away
Into a grey sky morning
Now I'm here to stay
Love can be so boring

What was it you wanted
Could it be I'm haunted

[Chorus]
But it's not so bad
You're only the best I ever had
I don't want you back
You're just the best I ever had
The best I ever had

***********************************

"A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stuart Mill

Item #1

How "very different, very diverse" can an album be that's the work of an 18 year old pop tart? Especially when it premieres on Ryan Seacrest's radio show...

Do the music world a favor and stick to whale songs, Panettiere.

Item #2

Biggest oil price drop in 17 years


Every week my dad's roofing company gets another letter in the mail from yet another vendor saying that due to the rising price of petroleum they have to charge more to ship everything, and the cost of making a lot of the materials has increased as well, ex. asphalt shingles.

So if a year ago he charged you $20 for your roof-- $11 of which went to materials, $2 to labor, $3 to taxes, $3 to insurance, and $1 to profit-- you sure as heck had better believe he's going to raise his prices when materials go up to $15, or else what does he not get to pay for anymore? His workers? His taxes? His insurance?

Oh wait, that's right. He's supposed to not make his profit any more so that we can force the country to become less oil dependent... and he can still be $3 short on the bills... or pay his laborers less... and still be short on the bills...


It was $4.11/gal at the Speedway by my folks' place yesterday morning, then some time between 11 and 1 it jumped to $4.23. Then first thing this morning the area pumps were back down to between $4.11 and $4.19/gal. Let's keep up that trend, folks...

Item #3

Pricey gas: Fewer cops, more potholes


*guh*

.

I listened to the Grey Album for about the 246th time tonight on my way home from rehearsal.

Now whenever I hear anything from the Black Album it just sounds wrong.

Still and all-- that is a damn fine li'l cd.

99 Problems


The Grey Video

Status of Britney Spears' downward spiral: Officially Established

You know, that Britney Spears has made some really fun videos in the past. Skanky and whatever-- yeah. But still fun. The crazy costumes, the weird locations-- it's fun. I mean- "Toxic"? That's a fun video, man!

But this new one? This "Gimme More" video? Just not doing it for me, man.

On the upside... there's her... she's still got the... shoot...

Interesting Craig Ferguson clip that gets into the Britney Spears thing a bit. Sometimes I really like this guy.

I'm watching A Room With A View on video. I forgot what a great cast this is. Man...

And last but not least, a funny parody video Becca sent me.

Boy did Britney Spears suck up her "comeback" performance on the VMAs tonight. Was she drunk? Drugged? Way to phone it in ya hack. It was like watching the 8 years too old understudy's understudy snooze through a brush up rehearsal. *shakes head* I have no pity, she has no shame. What a crock...

The next Harry Potter movie comes out on Wednesday the 11th and I *must* see it. I wanted to attend a midnight showing, but now that I know what my work schedule will be like next week I am ruling out a midnight show as a 100% impossibility for me. Sorry to those I said I'd try to do this with :(

Anyhow... I get off work at 5 that day and we'll be all moved in to our New Berlin location by then. I'm thinking we need to get to the theater no less than an hour before the movie starts, so if we go to the Ridge I can probably get there by 5:30 to get in line or join people already in line. If we go to that Magical Majestic Mountain of Brookfield- or whateverthehell that Westown replacement is called- I'll probably still be able to get there by 5:30 if Bluemound isn't too bad.

I want to pre-order my tickets online ($11), but I can't get anyone else's that way right now so if you want to pre-order as well, you're on your own.

So who's in?

7/2/07 Update: So far it's just me and Jaqueline Gosz and we're seeing it at the Magical Mystery cinema by Sam's Club in Brookfield. Don't know when exactly, but it'll probably be between 1 and 2 hours after 5 pm. on Wednesday, July 11th. Come on come on!!

****************************************

I don't know what it is about Richard Jeni's suicide that just really struck me, but man... Something about it is just so particularly sad to me. I was online today and saw a link to an article about his mental health before his death and it just hurt to read it. I suppose I could've just *not* read it, but it's like I have to make myself take it in and feel for him, for his girlfriend, his family. I was never really a fan of his-- didn't dislike him, just... just didn't know his work-- and so much of what I heard from him was stuff I could laugh at but not relate to. And then he died and- Why do I care so much? I mean, when Madeline Kahn died I was incredibly sad. When George Harrison died I left class in tears and cried in my room all morning. But they meant something to me. I watched them. I admired them. This guy's a comedian I didn't even follow. So what's the deal?

****************************************

I'm listening to bluegrass music on Pandora here at the office. Soon I won't have any music in the office for a whole week until the internet is in! :P Painful, I know.

In other work related news, one of the young tellers at our work bank Facebooked me yesterday. We chat sometimes when I go in and she told me yesterday that my dad told her where I'd gone to high school and apparently she was friends with several people who were a year behind me.

Shrinking.

My world is shrinking.

Andrea:

What's the deal with Some By Sea? Who did the lead singer used to be with? (And doesn't he sound like whatshisfacethecuteleadsinger from TH???)

********************************************

"Hope is tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment." Evan Esar

********************************************

"Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties and one day passed away in his sleep. And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days and passed away. I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong, that I know that I am the luckiest." Ben Folds

********************************************

WikiHow: How To Be Charming

An afternoon of rediscovering Tori Amos...

1) If you live near me, SAVE YOUR RECYCLABLES!! A woman I know through work is collecting cans and bottles (plastic and glass) in a joint effort with other moms from her son's school as part of a fund raising effort. The school is threatening to close due to a lack of adequate funding and goodness only knows if there's any real hope for keeping it open and Lord knows collecting cans ain't gonna be what does the trick and heck: maybe this school should be closed down! But by golly: if "the benefit of the doubt" is enough to make you drop that can or bottle into a seperate bag to give to me to take in to work next Friday, then go for it. (Please crush things when possible as I don't know how much space she'll have in her car to carry the stuff home with her.)

2) I want to go here so badly I could cry stomach acid. Want to come along? I think I'm going to aim for Saturday, April 29th. Tickets are $85 per day or $165 for both days. So, the $5 saved go towards Sharpies for autographs or... what? Lame discount amount. Lame.

And finally the most important item on the list:

3) I have a $100 gift certificate for Amazon and am having some difficulty in narrowing down how I will use it. I need recommendations asap as the hemming and hawing is driving me nuts.

I definitely want the following items:

Devdas
Clem Snide - End of Love
Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself
Ladytron - 604
Goldfrapp - Black Cherry or Felt Mountain (but more likely Felt Mountain)
Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
Post Secret - Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
The Beatles - Yellow Submarine DVD

Equally awesome runners up:
Fischerspooner - #1 (which makes me think of Andrea's old bedroom)
Ladytron - Witching Hour
Mae - Destination: Beautiful (which I almost bought James for Christmas...)
Jem - Finally Woken (because I found her a while back and then lost her and then found her again)
The Faint - Danse Macabre (which Eric Farmer burned for me during the run of Oleanna)
Rasputina - Frustration Plantation
or any of these thingies...

I am bad at this.

HELP!!!!

Went to the Journey to Light concert tonight featuring the music of Jan Kaczmarek at the Royce Hall at UCLA.

The space was breathtaking, the campus otherworldly, and the attendees... geez. The only people we actually recognized were Michael York (whose hair is a lot thinner than you'd expect) and Diane Kruger who Sarah had to point out because honestly there's just nothing all that catching about her. Ain't sinkin' no ships tonight, DK. I mean, she's pretty, but so were a lot of other people there.

And then there were the weird looking people. I'll spare you the details on the audience memebers tha would've caused double takes and skip right to the primary vocalist, Sussan Deyhim. The best way I can describe her is "Bjork meets Meredith Monk meets a charismatic pentecostal at the height of a revival service." I've never witnessed anyone doing such odd things with their voice, it was truly masterful. And bizarre. And slightly discomforting. She wore a dress with an outer layer that made me think of the White Witch, and an underlayer that looked like the bottom of the front was tucked up into her nylons- it was all baggy and uneven. She wore thigh high, slouchy leather boots, and had her hair in an oval knot on top of her head. She kept swishing her strategically-place-wispy-side-of-the-face hair out of her eyes, and whenever she moved you got the feeling she knew she was hot. Which... she wasn't. I'd totally buy her albums though. Just wouldn't buy her coffee.

I leave you with the following email that was waiting for me upon my return... ( Read more... )