Sweepedit Xmas Party

For the second year in a row, Sweepedit peeps got together at Guthries for our Xmas Party. It was a lot of fun although at first it looked we might have to relocate. There were nerds in the backroom playing this diplomacy game. But we were able to butt our way in there and squeeze together around a couple of tables.

Last year we had fun doing awful neck shots. That is, taking a photograph of your own neck while scrunching it up so that you can take the most awful picture of yourself as possible. We did it again this year.


We included two other theme shots:
Grade School shots

and dead-eye shots


So much fun.

Wintry Mix

It started snowing yesterday. But the real showcase was today.

Now at night it's a wintry mix of snow and rain. Probably the worst mix ever.

Tomorrow is more snow. Then Thursday is lower temps and windy.

Get ready everyone, winter is here.

Caffeine Withdrawal and Show & Tell Show

I went through caffeine withdrawal on Saturday. I've been having trouble sleeping for a past couple of weeks and I've been drinking coffee at work (since it's free) to compensate for it. Well, I paid the price Saturday. I could have had some coffee to have solved the headache problem but I need to go through this withdrawal cold turkey. It hurt. A lot.

Felt did some help on the Show & Tell Show's video intro on Sunday. It was fun and I wish I could do this type of shit every day.

Jelly Legs and Blue Moon

My legs feel like jelly after 6.25K, which I did since I decided not to do the Turkey Trot Wednesday morning. I think I really overdid it.

~~~

We get two full moons this December. Blue moon on Dec. 31st. I think that's pretty cool and I know that makes me a dork.

Talking with People

Kudos to me for being able to talk to people one-on-one. This is a skill I'm good at but if you were able to hear my thoughts would glimpse at the war going on inside my head. It's like I'm constantly on edge as to when the awkward pause is going to happen. And I'm worried that the other person is bored by me. So this weekend was good for me in that I was able to continue overly long conversations with those that I'm not around a lot.

My 1-on-1 with Kunkle for awhile at the second floor of Mullen's. We talked Iowa football and the pros and cons of having a QB that can run and pass.
Then almost immediately afterwards had a 1-on-1 with Brittain for awhile too.
Then at the BBX brunch I was talking with people long after we were all done eating our food. I kept feeling like we were overstaying our welcome.
Then I was invited to keep the face time going with playing Rock Band at Sam's place. So I went and had a good time.

Good job, me!

End of Shock Corridor

Shock is getting cut. We just found out.

The funny thing is that we were just starting (for the last 3 months) having consistently good shows. I would not have been shocked had this cut come in, say June, but the cut now just seems ill timed.

Oh well.

Montreal Part of Vacation

Day 4: part 2:
Settle into Montreal.
Can't recall if we went out and where to Tuesday night.

Day 5:
Wed spent hiking up Mont Royal.




Went to a pre-bar bar.
Then to the Blue Dog for drinks and karaoke - drank way too much. Had lots of fun. Double fun.

Day 6:
Thursday recovery. Read most of WWZ.
Went to a hipster bar, they were watching hockey. People watched.

Day 7:
Friday went for a bike ride. Bad bike. Biosphere.



Chat with Sylvia and Paul
Restaurant with Sylvia, Paul, Jon, & Ashley.

Day 8:
Trip to Burlington, VT. Henry's Diner - found this diner on the Google Maps app on my iPhone and then checked Yelp for reviews of the places found on Google Maps. This place was the best though the service was a little slow.
Airplanes rides - Throat getting warm; catching a cold?
Glad to be home.

Sunday was spent in recovery.

NYC part of Vacation

Day 1:
Flight to PHL; flight to EWR
EWR airport and train to NYC Penn Station
Central Park - heard so many different languages being spoken and the park had a nice romantic feel to it at dusk
Dayna's group - went to go see my friend Dayna's improv group. They were great and definitely the best on of the night.
SNL writer's room/SNL experience - my friend POB is a new writer for SNL and I was able to sit in the writer's room during the live show. It was pretty neat and thankfully the show that night was a good one. Taylor Swift was the host and musical guest. I was able to go down to the floor of the show and watch her do two of her songs and that was pretty neat.
Afterparty - also got to see POB's office and then went to the afterparty at a restaurant nearby the studio. It was nice and got to talk to a few iO alums that are now apart of SNL
PATH train and Hoboken experience - rode the last PATH train to Hoboken to be picked up by my sister, who I was staying with. The train is loaded with drunk kids in their early 20s; it was like all of Clark Street were put on one train together. Later heard that these people are labeled "bridge and tunnel" people by people who live in NYC.

Day 2
Met up with a friend of a friend for a night out on the town. Went to a cool burger place before heading to UCB Theater
ASSCATT - Groz, McBrayer, Lutz, Poehler, and others were in the show. It was real good.
Houndstooth bar
View of NYC at night from NJ - later met up with my sister and her BF and they took me to this one spot in NJ where you get a wonderful view of NYC.



Day 3
Williamsburger - drove to Brooklyn with my sister and her BF for sightseeing. Went to this burger place which was pretty great.
DUMBO area - the term for the area between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. There's a park there next to the river and it was a great place for picture taking.
Walked across Brooklyn Bridge
Staten Island Ferry
Dark, German bar with good food
Lapkus goodbye improv show at The Creek & the Cave - coincidentally my friend Lapkus was having her goodbye show that night and I was invited in apart of it in Queens. Got to see a ton of Chicago folks who now live in NYC. My sister got to see me do improv for the first time in years.

Day 4
Train to NYC
waiting for gate to be announced
On the train - super long trek. Views were decent but I was hoping for better.
Customs check - took forever. Canadian customs agents board the train and question everyone about them entering Canada and for what reason.
Montreal!

Hot Chocolate 5K

Ran the Hot Chocolate 5K with Tamara, Chrissy, and Tam's friend Bryan. Natalie and Young were also there and we met up with them after the run. Jess was also there but she ran the 15K.

The run was fine. The four of us ran together for two of the three miles before my knee started to hurt due to the slow pace we were running. If I run too slow, the up and down motion of the trot pace starts to hurt my knee after awhile. So I had to quicken my pace to ease the pressure on my knee. I took off, put on my headphones, and finished the last mile at a pace I liked. I wasn't as tired this time as I was the last time I finished a 5K. So that's progress.

There was chocolate fondue and hot chocolate for the runners after the race. However, this is where the organizers failed and failed hard. By the time the 15K runners finished the race (and they started after the 5K runners took off) a number of the fondue fountains had stopped running and they soon ran out of chocolate for the fondue. And the hot chocolate was the powdered crap and it tasted so, so, so awful. I don't think I've ever had worse tasting hot chocolate.

Halloween Shopping

I went to Lighthouse Place Outlet in Michigan City, IN for clothes and stuff. I got luggage, a pea coat, and a bunch of new clothes at greatly discounted prices. It was fun but a little lonely.

Pumpkin Carving

Carved pumpkins with friends.

November Trip & Jersey Boys

I finally made my plans concrete in going to Jersey and Montreal for a trip. My sister now lives in New Jersey, near NYC, and I'm going there for a weekend to see her. Then on a Tuesday after seeing her, I'll be taking an Amtrak train up north to Montreal from NYC. I'm going to Montreal to visit my friend Ferg.

~~~

I saw Jersey Boys with some CSz peeps - Jess, Chrissy, Tara, Tamara, and Prouty. It was a good show and I had no idea how tough the guys in the group were. And the songs were great and the guys playing the parts sounded very much like the Four Seasons.

~~~

PS. My hand is okay now!

Busy Weekend

This weekend was a busy weekend. I had shows Friday and Saturday night. Then on Sunday morning I got up early to watch the Chicago Marathon. Andre and Jessica were running it and a bunch of fellow CSzers walked over to Belmont and Broadway to watch the runners go by. First to go by were the guys in wheelchairs that zipped by super fast. Then came the super fast men runners. Soon afterwards the guy above came running by on his metal legs. About 10 minutes later the lead women's group came by. Then about 15 minutes later the road reached it's peak for the amount of marathoners. Eventually we got to see Andre and Jess run by.

It was colder than we were expecting that day and after we saw our friends run by, a few of us went to Ann Sather's for breakfast. I hadn't planned on seeing any more of the marathon by then I decided to join James and Marla, who were going down to Chinatown to see the runners go by at the 22 mile mark. I got there first and was able to see Andre run by. Then James and Marla met up with me and we didn't have to wait too long before Jessica ran by. Then we walked to the finish and waiting for Andre and Jessica to run by again.

We were hungry for dinner so James, Marla, and I went to FoodLife for some grub. It was good. I gobbled by food up fast because I needed to be at the CSz back parking lot to meet a group for Whirelyball and laser tag. Both were a lot of fun.

Then it was back at our apartment for Dexter viewing! Definitely an exhausting but fun day.

5K

My knee hurts (though no bruising) and my legs are pretty sore after the 5K. But I did it! My time was a little over 30 minutes. Not bad.

The above picture is me doing a bit in wondering where my running partners are at.

New Shoes & Olympics

Olympics for 2016 will be in Rio de Janeiro. Chicago was eliminated in the first round.

I've decided to get my butt in gear and actually start exercising. So I signed up for the Bucktown 5K. I'm sad to say, though, that it was the goodie bag treats that actually made me commit to signing up. The goodie bag treats were running gloves, a water bottle, and a messenger bag. Yes, I messenger bag! I'm sure it will be a cheapo bag but still, that's a pretty great.

Years ago I meekly trained for the Chicago Marathon and hurt my knee during the training. In the years afterward, I would try to run again but the underside of my right knee (the leg that is curved outward) kept getting bruised. This had never happened before. The only variable that I could detect: the running shoes I bought that supposedly corrected bad foot stepping. Fuck you old shoes.

So I bought new running shoes. They don't try to correct pronation. They feel nice.

Eyeglasses Manfunction

My glasses broke at the nose. Dammit.

So I had to get new frames. I tried to get something close to my old frames. I really liked those frames.

RIP Old Frames.

Speed Dating

What began as a bit steamrolled into actual action. My roommates were talking about how hilarious it would be for all of us to do speed dating. Soon enough we found an event and signed up for it. In the end it was me, Tara, Chrissy, and Jess.

The event was at a bar in the Wicker Park area and at a cute bar with an interesting Spanish flair. There weren't as many people there as I was expecting. And the ladies that I met during the event were pretty normal. I was hoping for some crazy lady that would make a great story but there was none. The craziest it got was that one lady had kind of crazy eyes but she wasn't really all that crazy. Since that was a bust then I was hoping for at least one connection/potential lady but there were none. So for me this adventure was a bust.

But afterwards I had fun having some drinks with my speed date buddies. Practically everybody else that participated in the event took off the second it ended.

CSz 2009 Banquet

Fun times.

End of Summer Run

uniFormless and other $5 long-form shows had our last shows of our summer runs. Our show was a fun show and I'll miss playing with these guys in this show format. Something about playing at CSz and starting off the show with a short-form game unlocked me and allowed me to have fun and do some really great improv. I've been feeling like I've been in an improv funk for awhile, so it was really great to have this show.

I also got up early to watch Tamara finish her Sprint Triathlon. I got the rest of the Phase 10 gang (Alison & Erin) to come down with me. We arrived earlier than we planned and good that we did, because we only waited a few minutes before Tamara came running by. We all got breakfast afterward and it was neat to be out and about so early in the day.

Nice job Tamara!

CSz Kickball & Injury

CSz played kickball instead of rehearsing on a Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun. I was on the Blue team and we ended up killing the Red team. I got on base twice and scored both times. I also jammed my ring and pinkie fingers on the ball during the 2nd inning. It wasn't even during a play, it was during the changeover. We took the field and threw the ball around to keep ourselves warmed up. Ryder threw it to me, I let it bounce and then it jammed my fingers. It hurt a lot.

Afterward we hung out at Carol's Pub and I did a good job of talking to people and not bailing on the hangout fun.

Once I got home I immediately iced my hand though it was pretty swollen at this point. By Saturday the swelling hadn't gone down enough to my liking so I had it checked out at the Hand Surgery Specialty Doctor. HSSD had it x-rayed. It's just a jammed finger, right? I've jammed my fingers in basketball during middle school before. This is just like that, right?

Well, guess what? I found out today it was a small fracture of the pinky finger. Another broken bone!? God damn what's wrong with my bones?!

So I get to wear this bad boy (see picture above) for 6 weeks. Life is great.

Food Poisoning & Weekend with Family

I got food poisoning the night before I traveled to Minneapolis for my other grandpa's 80th birthday party. It was awful.

I went to a ribs restaurant after Shock Corridor rehearsal and the dinner was great. But then I got home and soon after I felt a great pain in my stomach. Cut to 15 minutes later and I'm holding onto the toilet bowl for dear life as my stomach contents tumble out. I had the shakes, I was sweating, it was really bad. After the worst of it was over, I cleaned myself up and then went to bed. I had to get some sleep before catching my plane the next day.

I wake up at 4am. Something's wrong. I go to the bathroom and discover that my body has decided to get rid of the rest of its contents but this time using the opposite end of the gastrointestinal tract. If it wasn't clear to me during the puking it became crystal clear now, sitting atop the toilet, that I had food poisoning.

This made my trip to my Grandpa's 80 birthday party just about the worst trip I've been on this year. I had no appetite and my whole body felt really weak and frail. My first night in Minneapolis I could have spent it hanging out with my sister, her boyfriend, my cousin, and her boyfriend, but I was still too sickly feeling to go out. The next day was my grandpa's (Grandpa K.) 80's birthday party. It was good to see a lot of my relatives and we out an about. But I still was pretty weak and had to take it easy during the party.

Happy birthday, Grandpa K!

Loilla 2009 Day 3

Lolla Day 3 notes:

Yuto Miyazawa - 9yr old Japanese kid guitar god. Shredded his flying V guitar like a pro. Guinness Book of World Record youngest professional guitarist. Played cover songs and sang the lyrics too, in his high pitched, 9yr old voice. Very cute.
Care Bears on Fire - Three girls from Brooklyn, 13, 14, and 15, play punk songs of their own creation. Good musicians, but beyond their gimmick, they are an average band. But there is definite potential there. Perhaps they will grow as song writers and go the route of The Donnas and become a great band.
Food - lines still short. The Lolla organizers really got this down pat.
Carney - so hot out today. So-so band except for the last song, which is great.
Ra Ra Riot - again, so hot out. Using umbrella as a shade. Average band.
Bat for Lashes - "it's SO HOT!" Good stuff, maybe appreciate it more perhaps in a better setting.


The Greencards - Bluegrass in the shade. From Australia. Nice people it seems.

Met up with others; food
Kaiser Chiefs - bored with them.
Free water!! - so needed and great to have. Temps in the 90s and in the sun it feels a lot hotter. Again, hat off to the organizers for the decision to give out free water.
The Raveonettes - good music to have in the background while you are cleaning or sitting outside on a porch with friends.
Neko Case - just okay.


Passion Pit - super crowded; crowd looked to be having an awesome time. Liked their sound. Need to listen to more of their stuff. Cool breeze happened at the end - so nice.

Snoop Dog - entertaining the white people.
Band of Horses - 20 minutes late due to Lou Reed. Audience into it.
The Killers - those that knew them said they started slow and then ramped it up so by the end it was a great show. I knew 3 songs and they sounded pretty great. The rest of the stuff I'm not really a fan.

Like most Sundays of Lolla, it was the weakest of the days music-wise. Overall this year's Lolla was better than last year's. I ended up at this year's festival for 31.5 out of the 33 hours of the festival, which I find amazing. I didn't plan on being to most of it but that's how it played out this year.

Hopefully next year's lineup will be even better.

Lolla 2009 Day 2

Lolla day 2 notes:


I got in line early; before it opened. Finally opened at 11:07am


Band of Skulls - Blew me away! - just might be my favorite new band. Rockin' set; ended 7 min early. (not enough songs?) So much fun.


Ezra Furman & the Harpoons - good stuff; hilariously awkward talking to the audience between songs. Pretty hot already.

Walked around looking at stuff:

• Honda Eco Zone - car stuff
• Green Street - environmental stuff
• Hammock Haven - resting place

Miike Snow - came on with weird white masks; took them off 1-2 songs later. Not quite into them.


Food - lobster corndog from Graham Elliot booth. Sooooooo good.


Ida Maria - Pretty good. Probably would be have been better had I known the songs first. Wonderful showman, front woman.

Chairlift - probably would dig their stuff, but just like Fleet Foxes, wasn't quite in the mood. A little too low energy/quiet stuff for an outdoor concert.
Arctic Monkeys - didn't care for them. Took a nap.


Santigold - Started 10 minutes late, but made up for it with awesome show. Really great songs. Backup singers/dancers were incredible.

More food
Heard last song of TV on the Radio's set, which was the only song I really know. So perfect timing.


Yeah Yeah Yeahs - A-ma-zing show.
I've seen them 3-4 times before and this one was by far the best show. So awesome. Great spot, could see over everyone's head.

Got a little dehydrated at the end. Got a little sunburned. Pretty darn exhausted. But what a great day. Definitely best day out of the festival this year. Possibly the best day out of the 4 years I've been going to Lolla. Day 1 of Lolla 2007 comes pretty close [The Rapture & Daft Punk]. (Don't worry 2007, you're still my favorite Lolla overall so far) I also biked down this day so I biked back and was covered in sweat when I got home. Ridiculously exhausted at this point.

Will I be able to wake up early enough for Day 3?

Lolla 2009 Day 1

Lolla day 1 notes:

Got to the gates around 12:30pm and met up with Marla. It just started raining at 11am and was pretty steady by the time I arrived at Grant Park. I had an umbrella so we were fine.


Zap Mama no show; but ran into Natalie and her friends Ali & Camelia. Decided to all be concert buddies for the rest of Lollapalooza. We all went to UF, too.


The Builders & the Butchers - pretty great. Loved the two dudes on drums at once, side by side.

The Gaslight Anthem - didn't care for them.
Heartless Bastards - sounded good but wasn't really listening because we were talking to people who just joined us.
Kidzapalooza - rumor that Leann Rhimes was there. Went there, didn't see her, left. Found out about an hour later that she indeed eventually showed up.


Ben Folds - good show but I guess it was mostly new stuff. I didn't know much of it but those that did seemed to be having a great time.

Fleet Foxes - their harmonies were sort of lulling me to sleep. I'm sure I'll like their stuff but I was not in the right mood for their sound.


The Decemberists - great show. Will get their new album. Loved the song with five drum kits being played at once on stage. Rain finally stopped just after their show.

Food - super short lines for most of the day.
Of Montreal - didn't really listen to them - looking for bathrooms and more food.
Depeche Mode - boring show. Knew only a couple songs and the rest were boresville. Very little talking to the audience. Kind of just going through the paces.

So I stayed until the end and wandered around Michigan Ave trying to find a bus that would take me close to home. A very long and damp first day but good. Not great, but good. Average I'd say.

Parents on Facebook

My mom joined Facebook.




AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Exercise

I was able to do sit ups on a hard floor yesterday!

My lower back is still sore but much more milder. I also did crunches and push-ups. Not only that, but I felt the need for a short run so I ran around the block after work! And did yoga stretches! High five self!

Note about my gut: I do have a bit of flab around my midsection. This is a fact. Is it that noticeable? No. Is it that bad compared to others? No. I agree that I'm fortunate and over-all I'm still a thin guy. But when I tell people that I'm trying to get in shape, trying to tone up, trying to get healthier, and mention my wish to trim my gut, they laugh at my gut complaint. I get what they are saying, but it also feels like they're laughing off my attempt to get healthier. Sometimes your friends are your biggest obstacle for change.

It's August Already

I'm kind of amazed it's August already. Seems like the summer went by so fast. Considering we've only had 2 days this summer where the temperature was 90 or above; it's been a relatively cooler summer. Probably the coldest summer since I've been living in Chicago.

~~~

My back is slowly getting better. But it's still sore in the lower back and it really pains me to try to do a sit up on a hardwood floor. I can do crunches, though, so at least I'm getting some exercise. But trying to sit up farther than a crunch position causes my lower back muscles to be employed and it just hurts too much. It's like those muscles are baby muscles - too weak and feeble to do the work. I should probably get it checked out by a doctor but my faith in my current doctor isn't that strong.

Bachelor Party Weekend

I went to Traverse City, MI for my friend Rex's bachelor party. I rented a car for a one-way car rental and drove there. It was my first time in the state of Michigan and the drive was pretty normal - although I did get lost halfway there when I somehow got off the highway.

We goofed around on a baseball field and played an accuracy game: throw 10 balls from center field to home plate and see who can knock over the most beer cans set up at home plate. We had 10 beer cans set up around home plate - 9 were worth 1 point and 1 was worth 2 points. I got 5 points. Three tied for first place with 6 points. The playoff was for them to throw from 2nd base at 1 beer can left at home plate. I forget who won.

Then it was hanging out before dinner. Dinner was at Hooters of all places. There were families there with their kids. With their kids! So weird.

The rest of the night is none of your business. I had a good time hanging out with Rex, Ben, Paul, Rex's brother, and the rest of Rex's TC friends.

The next day I got a ride back to Chicago from Ben and Paul in their rental car. All in all it was a good weekend.

Buehrle's Perfect Game

This is pretty awesome.

Happy 80th Birthday Grandpa F

It's his 80th birthday today.

Happy birthday Grandpa!

Pitchfork 2009 (Saturday)

Went to Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday. Saw a bunch of bands.

Bowerbirds - they were okay.
Ponytail - weird. Band plays fast paced music while their lead "singer" lady does chirps, beeps, and other odd sounds into the mic instead of actual word lyrics.
Lindstrøm - guy played electronic dance music off a mixer board and a laptop. Good grooves but sometimes way, way too much bass.
Matt & Kim - The band I came to the festival to see. I only got to see half their set since they went on 20 minutes late, but it was pretty great. Infectious energy and cool, fast paced songs.

The festival seemed more crowded this year, which wasn't a good thing. I was probably due to the cool temps. The two previous years the temperature was in the 90s and that must have kept people away. Between this and the Pritzker Pavilion I've sampled enough outdoor concerts this summer. Which means when I go to Lollapalooza in a few weeks, I'll try to stay relatively away from the stages so that the crowds don't get to me.

~~~

PS. Friday was another Phase 10 Friday. That's 4 in a row!

Sears Tower

The name change of the Sears Tower became official. But like most Chicagoans, I'm bitterly against the name change.

It will always be the Sears Tower to me.

CSz National Tournament in Milwaukee

Went there to see the last night of the tournament. I went up there with Chrissy, Jessica, Tamara, and Natalie - all in one car. I got to see CSz Chicago battle CSz LA and we won! It was cool being up there to see what tournament is like but it was also a little odd because everyone else there had been there for several days. They had all bonded and I felt like the odd man out; looking in from the outside. The ladies I traveled with felt the same.

I'm glad I went but I learned an important lesson as far as tournaments go: either go for the whole thing or don't go at all.

Phase 10 Fridays

3rd Phase 10 Friday in a row.

Two weeks ago Erin, Tamara, and I were done with a 10pm CSz show. Some building mates of Tamara's were having a party in the backyard of her building. So we all biked down there and played two games of Cornhole before retiring to Tamara and her roommate Alison's porch. We started playing Phase 10 around 1am and didn't get done until about 5 or 6 (I can't remember) in the morning. One thing I am sure about: the sky was light and the birds were chirping.

A week ago it was Tamara's BBQ party and after helping to clean up the backyard area of party things, Alison, Tamara, Erin, and I again started playing Phase 10 around 1am. This time I think Erin and I left around 4am.

This Friday was another round of Phase 10. It's now being called Phase 10 Fridays. And I love it. This Friday was the first time I lost the game. It was also the quickest game: Erin and I leaving around 3am I believe.

Back Pain

I have back pain. This, coupled with seeing a friend of mine who has lost a lot of weight, makes me body conscious. I need to get healthy.

Now.

3rd of July BBQ

Fun times at Nolte's BBQ.

Hipster Indifference

I got my friend Mikaela's prank letter (above) in the mail today. I first heard about this from my friend Marla back at the outdoor Dirty Projectors concert at the Pitzker Pavilion. Marla pulled out a letter she received in the mail. It was simply a picture of some weird, ugly person; the type of picture probably only found on odd Google searches. She had no idea who it was from. I asked to see the envelope's stamp - the USPS puts a stamp over these indicating which zip code the letter was mailed from. In this case it was 60606, which is the same zip code my work's building is in. I told Marla the person who sent it was probably working down in the Loop. This produced a light bulb above Marla's head: Mikaela.

Mikaela apparently has been doing this prank quite a bit lately. She's done similar things to a number of our mutual friends. About a week later I ran into her at a Chipotle near my work and told her about finding about her weird pranks. She's bored at work sometimes and likes doing it.

It was only a matter of time, I guess, before I got mine in the mail. And it made me smile and feel included.

Bullitt & The Edge

Went over to my friend Ben's house to hang out after work. We were supposed to ironically watch "A River Runs Through It" with our friend Bill but he couldn't make it and we decided to watch two other movies ironically instead. Before I go on, the reason it was going to be ironic was because three dudes sitting around watching a sweepingly dramatic movie that stars good looking actors is hilarious. The three of us did this once before - actually going to the movie theater to watch Brokeback Mountain together.

Anyway, we watched Steve McQueen in "Bullitt" and then Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins in "The Edge." Both were perfect for the evening. I won't go into what I thought of the movies (you can ask me about it in real life and I'll be sure to bore you with my reviews) but I will say the chase sequence in "Bullitt" is the best car chase sequence ever filmed. I've seen a ton of car chases and this one is by far the best.

Better than "The French Connection?" Oh yeah.
Better than "Ronin?" Yep.
Better than "The Blues Brothers?" Yes. Though "The Blues Brothers" one is much funnier.
Better than "The Bourne Identity?" Sadly, yes.

The car chase in "Bullitt" is pure muscle, pure adrenaline, pure amazingness. There is no underlining soundtrack to make you feel the energy of the chase - just sound effects; the most amazingly real sound effects out there. If this sequence doesn't make you feel the power of those muscle car engines, then I don't know what will short of actually riding in one. You feel the speed too. The cars sometimes wobble a bit due to the high speeds they are going and you can feel the danger. Man it is so good.

Though I'm not sure just watching it on Youtube will help you understand it. You need to see it on a TV with quality speakers. And you need to be primed first - you have to sit through half of the really slow, really odd movie before you get to the chase scene.

Fun Dancing Guy Video

Dancing guy at Sasquatch Music Festival 2009 during "Unstoppable" by Santigold.

It's neat how you can discover a new band in the most odd ways. I saw the above video posted on Facebook. I loved it and watched it over and over again. Then I found other videos from this festival with the same dude dancing like this during other bands. And then I found that the event above was caught from three different angles! Was this planned? My research has made me come to the conclusion that no, this was not planned. The artist he's dancing to in the video is Santigold, who performed on the 3rd day of the festival. Another video he's dancing to NIN who played on the 2nd night. In another video he's dancing to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, who played on the 1st night. So this dude had already made a name for himself during the first two days of this festival. By the third day I'm sure many people had become aware of this guy. The Dancing Guy. So I think it was just lucky that three people happened to be videotaping this guy when this event occurred spontaneously. It's pretty cool.

Anyway, I liked the song playing in the background of the video so I bought it off of iTunes. Then I listened to more of her songs online and really dug them. So I bought the whole album. It's become one of my favorite albums that I've discovered this year. [Note: her album came out in 2008] She'll be at Lolla this year and that's good. I'll definitely check her out live at the festival.

Check her out online if you get a chance.

Pre-Wedding Party

My friend Rex is getting married in September. So what better time than late June to have a pre-wedding party, right? Yeah, I don't get why it's months before either, but a party's a party and I like parties.

It was at the Grafton in Lincoln Square and it was quite nice. A lot of friends to talk to and some old friends who I haven't seen in awhile. Levin flew in from LA and it was great to see him. Rex and his bride-to-be, Jen, looked great and it was nice to see so many of their friends gathered to celebrate their upcoming nuptials.

At first I was quickly feeling the affects of my age - getting tired early on in the party, but I stuck it out until the end. And I got a second wind at 1am. From the Grafton it was on to the Tiny Lounge and from there it was the goth dance club Neo. I didn't plan on staying out until 4am but that's what happened. And it's especially noteworthy since I stayed up until 6am the previous night. I haven't done that in years.

Newly Painted Room

Soon-to-be-roomie had her room painted.

Sold!

Finally sold my air conditioning window unit through Craigslist. I'm slowly getting stuff done!