amplified to rock
Guess who just discovered
Macster? Well, I always knew it existed, but I was unable to use it thanks to my slow-ass computer. Of course, my internet connection is still a bit too slow to make downloading MP3s effective, but it sure is fun. I've noticed that my MP3 downloads can be easily categorized: I'm either downloading something that I remember from the early 90s that I can't find in a store (fuck 80s nostalgia, it's all about the early 90s), downloading something that I hear on the radio and like but would never, ever in a million years buy, or downloading something from a band I've heard great things about but I've never heard any of their recordings.
So yeah, I've spent all night dinking around with Macster and playing MP3s. Yeah, it's a Friday night and I didn't go out. I'm in a somewhat reclusive mood lately, it's going to be hard to get me to go out beyond what is absolutely necessary. I get in moods like this, where I just don't feel like doing anything. I don't think it's unhealthy or a problem, but I always wonder what I'm missing when I hole myself up in the house instead of going out and doing something. I did get to spend some quality time chatting with Ray on AIM, so it certainly wasn't a wasted night. I haven't had a lot of time to chat with him lately, so I was happy to have the opportunity.
Hellsbelle and I are thinking alike again. I've been on a big Dorothy Parker kick lately. It started when I decided that I was in the mood to read a biography, so I picked up Marion Meade's
What Fresh Hell is This?. And I had the same "moving to New York and being a Dorothy Parker type minus the suicidal thoughts and alcoholism" fantasy that Hellsbelle did... This
Dorothy Parker's New York page helps to fuel my daydreams. I want to live in a hotel and write witty poetry and have long talky lunches with my group of spectacular friends!
Rainer Maria finally has
an official site. It looks good--the design fits very well with the feel of their music. I like the Flash movie at the beginning--the designer gets an A for appropriate use of Flash. The other recipient of the Appropriate Use of Flash award is Paul over at
Phonezilla. The thing about Flash is that you either do it well or you don't, and we're all subjected to far too many examples of people who don't do it well but insist on showing their creations.
The other good thing about the Rainer Maria site is that I found out that they're playing two shows in Chicago--one in October and one in November. I've never seen them live and I've heard they put on a good show. So I'm looking forward to it.
Just so's you know...my updating schedule is going to change. Instead of updating during the day from work, I'll mainly be updating in the evenings. Of course, I'll probably sneak in and update at work every so often, but now that I have a functional computer at home, I'll do more here. My work load has increased quite a bit lately, so I don't have as much time as I used to.
From Pop Culture Junk Mail: Body Perks Nipple Enhancement. Y'know, you could do that naturally with a tight sweater and some cold air...but I think it's cool that women are daring to show their nipples through their clothes. Men's interest in boobs will never cease to amaze me. Read the testimonials page if you need proof. They're NIPPLES, for heaven's sake. NIPPLES! Seriously...if nipples are all it takes...that's easy.
Speaking of boob-enhancing tight t-shirts...I'm going to have a contest soon. The winner will receive one vintage Styx t-shirt, size small. Sorry, it's not signed by Dennis DeYoung, but I can sign it for you if you want.
Goodbye, old lumbering Mac: the iMac is set up now. This means I'll be able to update from home.
I'm also changing email addresses: the new one is nanette@spoonbender.org. Easy enough to remember. And my new AIM screen name is nanetteamplified. Message me sometime.
My head hurts just thinking about this: there is a bill in the Michigan state senate that would create the unpaid position of poet laureate. That's cool. However, on the list of potential candidates for this position:
Bob Seger? Oh no, Michiganders, say it ain't so...I know the Mitten State can do better than that. (Thanks to
Kevin for the heads up on this one. Go check him out. He used the phrase "an experiment in ass" to describe a Pitchfork review.)
I come back to work after a four-day weekend to...plants, ugly plants. The building is being remodeled, and apparently the addition of ugly plants is step one of this process. The worst ones are in the library area. They're so hideous they're almost indescribable, but I'll try: Imagine a stick, about three feet tall. At the bottom, middle, and top of the stick, place ivy, trained to grow in a ball shape. They are poodle-plants. And they are just plain icky. The pots are no better: ticky-tacky faux Native American "ceramic" junk.
Once again, I went on a vacation and took no photos. I brought the digital camera, I brought my little disposable camera, and I didn't use them (or even unpack them) at all. Frankly, there wasn't that much to photograph--look! Amanda and Hafthor are smoking! Mac is doing yoga stretches! Robin is playing with the kitten! Yay!--but it would be nice to have new pictures of all of them.
The current plan is a New Year's Eve extravaganza in Phoenix. Being around my friends (Amanda and Robin particularly) reminded me how much I miss them. And it would be nice to not freeze my ass off looking for a cab on New Year's Eve this year.
I actually feel like updating the journal, so watch that space.
Indieshite seems to be on vacation. I'll join Kim in pestering them for updates. It's not summertime any more, people, no excuse for the slump.
I'm here.
I've been here for a day. I wanted to post this morning, but Blogger was "temporarily down" for some reason or another. Oh well, it isn't like it was urgent.
The flight went smoothly, except I was sitting next to this leathery old woman with lots of bad fake gold jewelry. This wouldn't bother me, except she had one of those airline pillows that she insisted on placing on the shared armrest between our two seats. After about half an hour, I was about ready to shove that fucking pillow up her ass. To get back at her, I kept the light on and read while she was trying to sleep. And how did I know she was trying to sleep? Because she was shifting around in the seat and making loud sighing noises, that's why. I wouldn't have minded a little nap, but the idea of tormenting Leather-Faced Pillow Woman was far more pleasing than the idea of sleeping for fifteen minutes.
The flight actually arrived early, even though it left about 20 minutes late. Amanda and Hafthor had just arrived at the airport, and *boom* I was off the plane and ready to have a good time. We went to Perkins, which was full of drunks. There was a guy there with beautiful rock hair in a fashionable (in the year 1983) mullet and a kickin' Bob Seger t-shirt. (Bob Seger, says Nanette, is the worst. Ever. Bob Seger makes me want to tear my hair out while sticking flaming-hot needles underneath my fingernails.) I ate my usual mediocre Perkins food, then we all went home because we were kind of tired.
But before bed...there was birthday action. Amanda and I both have summer birthdays, and we decided not to mail the gifts to each other because we'd see each other this weekend. I gave her the new Shellac CD, she gave me a book of dirty words. I gave her a Borders gift card, she gave me a t-shirt featuring Tattoo of Fantasy Island. I gave her a loaf of spinach-feta cheese bread, she gave me a t-shirt advertising some sex toy called The Pussy Snorkel. Her amplified to rock mug hadn't arrived from Cafe Press yet, and my final gift was on its way, so it wasn't done yet.
This morning, we went to the post office so she could pick up my final gift. The package wasn't at the post office, but we had seen two mail trucks sitting outside the Circle K. Amanda decided to stop and ask if the package was on one of the two trucks. And sure enough, it was. I had to cut the poster tube open, but when I did...a fabulous poster of Tattoo from Fantasy Island. Apparently, the theme of my birthday was "Tattoo from Fantasy Island".
It's the sort of poster that demands to be displayed prominently. It just does.
Today was sort of a hang around and do nothing day. We went to Borders so I could pick up a book for school. We had breakfast (at 2 PM) at a diner. We sat around the house. I think the highlight was finding copies of the David Lee Roth autobiography in hardcover for $4.99. How can anyone pass that up? I should have bought two! That picture of Diamond Dave with the leather chaps is worth at least $6, if not more.
At around 10 PM, Robin and Mac came over. (It's weird how some of my closest college friends ended up living in the same faraway city.) We sat around and talked for hours, made a few plans for later this weekend, and listened to the first album Hafthor ever bought. It's a K-Tel compilation from 1980 called PURE ROCK. So now I have "Slow Ride" by Foghat going through my head.
Does anyone else remember Foghat as being one of those bands the guys who took shop classes were really into? Or was that just a phenomenon restricted to the state of Illinois? I remember taking a study hall during my freshman year that met in a shop classroom. One of the student projects displayed on the bulletin board was a print of the Foghat logo. It was weird...someone liked Foghat enough to replicate their logo as part of a school project?!? I mean, "Slow Ride" rocks, but what else did Foghat do?
Ah well...no time to think about such burning questions. I need sleep.
