Answer: nothing.
Sorry Marvin.
-Too many records to buy, too little $$$. New Sonic Youth tomorrow will burn a hole in my wallet, however.
-Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I've kept my love of basketball (actually, just Lakers Basketball really) hidden from nearly everyone for a really long time.
I suppose there are several reasons for this:
A. Definitely not punk.
B. Too much Nike. All that swoosh represents is the enslavement of thousands of Chinese babies.
C. Team sports go against my ruggedly individualistic nature. The American dream, right?
Anyways, in my old age (57 this November), I've been getting to the bottom of the following:
A. Not being so much of a dick.
B. Getting back to my roots.
C. "It's like Hamlet said- 'To Thine Own Self Be True.'"
"Hamlet didn't say that
"I think I remember Hamlet accurately."
"Well, I remember Mel Gibson accurately, and he didn't say that. That Polonius guy did."
So that's a lot of existentialism backing up my Los Angeles Lakers fandom. I've got no exit strategy for that point.
-Ladies & Gentlemen: The Fabulous Stains! Finally available. So, the movie may not technically be very well filmed, but the message is undeniable. They should show this to young girls everywhere. It does a very good job of telling the story of strong girls without trivializing them. Netflix it- seriously. I first learned about it through the transcendently-before-it's time Grand Royal Magazine. Which brings me to:
-Grand Royal Magazine. If there was ever any one group of people that were/are consistently ahead of every curve, it's the associates of Grand Royal. Initially, GR was the Beastie Boys vanity record label- however, it evolved into the most unbelievably trend-predating tastemaking organization in the history of pop culture. Not only did GR bring us 4 beyond-great Beastie Boys full lengths (and countless single/eps: see Aglio E Olio, Country Mike's Greatest Hits, Root Down), but they also introduced most of the world to Spike Jonze (Sabotage. Where The Wild Things Are. Girlfilms. Genius!), At The Drive-In, artist sanctioned mp3s (really. Ask this guy), and the Mullet (I'm not kidding). Grand Royal Magazine ("Long Awaited, Much Anticipated, Grossly Outdated") was their compendium of coolness. It only lasted 6 issues, but contained way too much excellence to post here. I have all the issues except for the first and fourth ones, which are nearly impossible to find- so let me know if you come across one. I re-read them all from time to time, when I feel like I need tips on Adidas Vs. Puma, building a demolition derby car, the best ways to harass Ted Nugent, Moog Synthesizers or the truly original expose on the mullet epidemic. Ultimately, the Beastie Boys' unwavering ability to see the future got them out of the record label business before the shitstorm, and now Grand Royal Magazine is a memento of a cooler time- just the sort of thing that the magazine would've written about.
-Dinosaur Jr, Freak Scene. Had to "get" the remastered version of Bug (see first item, above). It sounds 1000 times better than the original version, and just fucking shreds. I am now 100% a Dinosaur Jr. fan, whereas I was only like 50-75% before Saturday. Also, perhaps I could work this verse into my wedding vows?
Sometimes I dont thrill you
Sometimes I think Ill kill you
Just dont let me fuck up will you
cause when I need a friend its still you
Cute!
Showing posts with label Wedding Attack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wedding Attack. Show all posts
Monday, June 8, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
I Am So Bad At Blogging
[Note to self: Catalina Island Adventure photoblog coming soon. Maybe.]
Ugh, I'm still mostly asleep for some reason. It's not like I don't get enough sleep- my incessant selfishness and lack of any real responsibility probably afford me too much. Luckily, I don't let worrying about my budget for vinyl reissues at Insound keep me up at night. Usually. So here's how I've been spending my days in my general post-adolescent malaise:
-Wedding planning. Almost done (yeah right. Jinx!). Much was accomplished in Paso Robles last weekend (a phrase that has never been typed before!)- cake tasted/arranged for (it's gonna be good, and I don't even like cake. Seriously.), invitations designed (I was a totally wannabe graphic designer for a while, so I was prepared to be a dick about the invitations. Luckily for me, my fiance is more than capable of arranging excellent looking invitations without my faux-knowledgable snide comments), and my Sound System Assistant was arranged for (Thanks, Turtle Boy).
-We decided to take Monday off for a leisurely drive back south, so we stopped in Malibu for lunch/early dinner. As with most things, I was generally unimpressed by Malibu. I enjoy all of the leftover architecture from the 30's-40's-50's-60's, but other than that, I really don't see the big deal. Overrated, like the other 90% of Los Angeles. After we made a Lawyer Emergency Internet Pit Stop at the Panera in Santa Monica (I much prefer Santa Monica to Malibu, btw), we went the rest of the way home on PCH- though only out of necessity, since it weas now rush hour(s). Blech.
-I've sworn off physical record stores. I hate to say it, but it's true. I have a spreadsheet on my phone (nerd) of about 300 different records I need to buy (yeah right), and have only managed to find 1 of them in 3 trips to different places. The exception, of course, is Amoeba, but I can't drive there all the time. At least it took me 15 years of record buying to get to that point. Everyone else: keep going. I am an isolated case of extreme nerdiness and even more extreme jaded-ness.
-The one record I did get was Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking. As I may or may not have said before, I never liked Jane's until this past year or so. I think it has to do with living in Southern California- Jane's is everywhere (even the post office), and they wore me down. I remember hating this record in college. We had this neighbor that lived in an apartment behind our house, above our garage/practice space (which undoubtably sucked for him), and he was an older grad student who commuted (!) from Berkeley (!) 3 or 4 days a week. He was super wierd and tended to invade your space with unsettleing regularity. He used to just roll in through our back door, go through my cds and grab the ones he wanted to copy. He always traded me cds in return, although I rarely listened to them because he annoyed me and I am an asshole. One of the few I did listen to was Nothing's Shocking, which Jason and I hated (also the 2nd Meat Puppets album- the one that Nirvana did all the songs from on Unplugged in NY. I still don't like the Meat Puppets. Kurt Cobain really captures the vibe of the songs, while being 200% more tuneful than the original songs). Anyway, like Jeremy "Bummer" Machi says "We always become what we hate."
Ugh, I'm still mostly asleep for some reason. It's not like I don't get enough sleep- my incessant selfishness and lack of any real responsibility probably afford me too much. Luckily, I don't let worrying about my budget for vinyl reissues at Insound keep me up at night. Usually. So here's how I've been spending my days in my general post-adolescent malaise:
-Wedding planning. Almost done (yeah right. Jinx!). Much was accomplished in Paso Robles last weekend (a phrase that has never been typed before!)- cake tasted/arranged for (it's gonna be good, and I don't even like cake. Seriously.), invitations designed (I was a totally wannabe graphic designer for a while, so I was prepared to be a dick about the invitations. Luckily for me, my fiance is more than capable of arranging excellent looking invitations without my faux-knowledgable snide comments), and my Sound System Assistant was arranged for (Thanks, Turtle Boy).
-We decided to take Monday off for a leisurely drive back south, so we stopped in Malibu for lunch/early dinner. As with most things, I was generally unimpressed by Malibu. I enjoy all of the leftover architecture from the 30's-40's-50's-60's, but other than that, I really don't see the big deal. Overrated, like the other 90% of Los Angeles. After we made a Lawyer Emergency Internet Pit Stop at the Panera in Santa Monica (I much prefer Santa Monica to Malibu, btw), we went the rest of the way home on PCH- though only out of necessity, since it weas now rush hour(s). Blech.
-I've sworn off physical record stores. I hate to say it, but it's true. I have a spreadsheet on my phone (nerd) of about 300 different records I need to buy (yeah right), and have only managed to find 1 of them in 3 trips to different places. The exception, of course, is Amoeba, but I can't drive there all the time. At least it took me 15 years of record buying to get to that point. Everyone else: keep going. I am an isolated case of extreme nerdiness and even more extreme jaded-ness.
-The one record I did get was Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking. As I may or may not have said before, I never liked Jane's until this past year or so. I think it has to do with living in Southern California- Jane's is everywhere (even the post office), and they wore me down. I remember hating this record in college. We had this neighbor that lived in an apartment behind our house, above our garage/practice space (which undoubtably sucked for him), and he was an older grad student who commuted (!) from Berkeley (!) 3 or 4 days a week. He was super wierd and tended to invade your space with unsettleing regularity. He used to just roll in through our back door, go through my cds and grab the ones he wanted to copy. He always traded me cds in return, although I rarely listened to them because he annoyed me and I am an asshole. One of the few I did listen to was Nothing's Shocking, which Jason and I hated (also the 2nd Meat Puppets album- the one that Nirvana did all the songs from on Unplugged in NY. I still don't like the Meat Puppets. Kurt Cobain really captures the vibe of the songs, while being 200% more tuneful than the original songs). Anyway, like Jeremy "Bummer" Machi says "We always become what we hate."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Business of The Business
It's taken me a while to chill out after that last post, but I think I've reached my equilibrium once more. Here's some shit that sucks way less than that horrible movie:
-Our wedding has a blog. How technological! I'm having a hard time not being pretentious and cynical on that one (see: "The wedding event of the Century-" sorry, I was a Marketing & Hyperbole major).
Check it out: http://dawnandbrianswedding.blogspot.com/
-Choosing menu items for said wedding- even though Dawn didn't like my original Asian-fusion theme. Early California Homestyle, here we come! (The Chili theme was passed over as well- bummer.)
-Listening to the Paul's Boutique reissue non-stop. The mix is way better, plus it sounds great on wax.
-Also listening to Spiritualized's Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space almost as non-stop. It really is a masterpiece too. He's doing a Don't Look Back performance of the record in the UK and I would give my cousin Michael's kidney to go. Sorry Michael, but that's the price for tax advice.
-...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dads: The Century of Self- another really good plateful of jams.
-The time changing back. Unfortunately, this just makes laziness harder. Possible, but harder nonetheless (that's what she said).
-iPhone OS 3.0: Yeah, copy & paste, finally.
-Our wedding has a blog. How technological! I'm having a hard time not being pretentious and cynical on that one (see: "The wedding event of the Century-" sorry, I was a Marketing & Hyperbole major).
Check it out: http://dawnandbrianswedding.blogspot.com/
-Choosing menu items for said wedding- even though Dawn didn't like my original Asian-fusion theme. Early California Homestyle, here we come! (The Chili theme was passed over as well- bummer.)
-Listening to the Paul's Boutique reissue non-stop. The mix is way better, plus it sounds great on wax.
-Also listening to Spiritualized's Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space almost as non-stop. It really is a masterpiece too. He's doing a Don't Look Back performance of the record in the UK and I would give my cousin Michael's kidney to go. Sorry Michael, but that's the price for tax advice.
-...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dads: The Century of Self- another really good plateful of jams.
-The time changing back. Unfortunately, this just makes laziness harder. Possible, but harder nonetheless (that's what she said).
-iPhone OS 3.0: Yeah, copy & paste, finally.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Probably The Final Blog Of The Year
Geez, 2008 was kind of a tough one, you guys. I mean, not really for me, just in general. Actually, 2008 was pretty alright- good even. On to the bullet points!
-Obligatory Christmas info: long vacation, too much food, great (cold) weather. Ranch catastrophes are commonplace this time of year, so we all had to take care of a dying goat- just another day in Paso. All the family was around pretty much the whole time, which is rare. With multiple people, however, comes disease- and I've spent Christmas eve until now as a congested, sore-throated mess.
-Don't buy things from Best Buy. I should've known, especially cause I read Consumerist damn near everyday. Collecting X-Mas money, gift cards and etc., Dawn and I decided to buy an LCD HDTV. I didn't want to order it because I didn't want to deal with delivery hassles (not being home, etc.) and I was sketched out by Circuit City's impending bankruptcy, so I cracked and went to Fucking Best Buy (as it shall henceforth be known). The one by my work didn't have the approprate models in stock, so I drove to Costa Mesa, where they did. After long considerations about which picture was better (Samsung vs. Sony), I went with the Sony, bought it, got it home, unboxed it, and immediatly re-boxed it. Because the screen was shattered. Awesome. Took it back less than an hour after I bought it, when the Fucking Best Buy "manager" told me this doesn't happen to tvs so they couldn't help me, becuase it was something I did. Wrong, asshole. After some, shall we say, stern words, said Fucking Best Buy "manager" dissapeared and someone brought me a new TV, whose box I promptly opened in the store to verify the lack of shattering on the tv screen. Fuckers.
-I was able to summarize my musical taste with one trip to Boo Boos. I Purchased records by 2 artists: Paul McCartney (McCartney and Ram) and Sonic Youth (Confusion Is Sex, and SYR 8 live with Merzbow). One end of the rock music spectrum to the other: oldtimey-folk-classicrock-avantgarde-postpunk-noise-improvisation. Awesome.
-New Years plans: Big Bear. I've probably spent more time in Big Bear over New Years than anywhere else othe than my Mom's house. It's my brother Tim's bday on the first, so we will do much celebrating up there. Should be good times.
-Wedding update: date is set, catering booked, invitations designed, (cup)cake(s) tasted, dress (apparently- not my department) picked out. Not too bad for only one month of being engaged.
-Obligatory Christmas info: long vacation, too much food, great (cold) weather. Ranch catastrophes are commonplace this time of year, so we all had to take care of a dying goat- just another day in Paso. All the family was around pretty much the whole time, which is rare. With multiple people, however, comes disease- and I've spent Christmas eve until now as a congested, sore-throated mess.
-Don't buy things from Best Buy. I should've known, especially cause I read Consumerist damn near everyday. Collecting X-Mas money, gift cards and etc., Dawn and I decided to buy an LCD HDTV. I didn't want to order it because I didn't want to deal with delivery hassles (not being home, etc.) and I was sketched out by Circuit City's impending bankruptcy, so I cracked and went to Fucking Best Buy (as it shall henceforth be known). The one by my work didn't have the approprate models in stock, so I drove to Costa Mesa, where they did. After long considerations about which picture was better (Samsung vs. Sony), I went with the Sony, bought it, got it home, unboxed it, and immediatly re-boxed it. Because the screen was shattered. Awesome. Took it back less than an hour after I bought it, when the Fucking Best Buy "manager" told me this doesn't happen to tvs so they couldn't help me, becuase it was something I did. Wrong, asshole. After some, shall we say, stern words, said Fucking Best Buy "manager" dissapeared and someone brought me a new TV, whose box I promptly opened in the store to verify the lack of shattering on the tv screen. Fuckers.
-I was able to summarize my musical taste with one trip to Boo Boos. I Purchased records by 2 artists: Paul McCartney (McCartney and Ram) and Sonic Youth (Confusion Is Sex, and SYR 8 live with Merzbow). One end of the rock music spectrum to the other: oldtimey-folk-classicrock-avantgarde-postpunk-noise-improvisation. Awesome.
-New Years plans: Big Bear. I've probably spent more time in Big Bear over New Years than anywhere else othe than my Mom's house. It's my brother Tim's bday on the first, so we will do much celebrating up there. Should be good times.
-Wedding update: date is set, catering booked, invitations designed, (cup)cake(s) tasted, dress (apparently- not my department) picked out. Not too bad for only one month of being engaged.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Things That Have Happened (to me) Since The Last Time I Got Gas for $1.86
Yes, the threshold has been crossed. Gas at this particular gas station is actually below $1.86 at the time of this writing- it's 7-11, 17th St, Costa Mesa here. This is a memorable amount is because I was helping Dawn move into the old Costa Mesa apartment, and the day after driving a miserable, air conditioning-less, radio-less huge U-Haul truck from Paso to the Mesa in the middle of August (2003, pending verification), I couldn't help thinking how screwed I was getting by filling up the truck at the 7-11 down the street for $1.86/gal. Little did I know, right? Get ready for a big ass incomplete sentence, starting NOW!
Graduated college, Paso earthquake, layoff, move to So Cal, collect unemployment, blow savings, internship (Adam LaRue is the greatest), "Sweet" music industry job, overworked & underpaid in shitty Garden Grove (excellent freinds made, however), TiVo zombie initiation, getting a cat, early (forced) retirement from music tastemaking (Sierra and I broke Fall Out Boy. Really. Kinda. Yes, unfortunately all in a days work), Dawn graduates law school ass-kickingly, European Sojurn, The Lost Year (which I will not speak of other than saying unemployment, depression, temp jobs), going to the gym, getting my shit together, getting a "real" job, new laptop (!), de-vegitarianizing, expanding liquid horizions, joining/quitting a drummerless band, moving to Corona Del Mar, getting engaged.
So there we are, up to last week. Weirdness!
Graduated college, Paso earthquake, layoff, move to So Cal, collect unemployment, blow savings, internship (Adam LaRue is the greatest), "Sweet" music industry job, overworked & underpaid in shitty Garden Grove (excellent freinds made, however), TiVo zombie initiation, getting a cat, early (forced) retirement from music tastemaking (Sierra and I broke Fall Out Boy. Really. Kinda. Yes, unfortunately all in a days work), Dawn graduates law school ass-kickingly, European Sojurn, The Lost Year (which I will not speak of other than saying unemployment, depression, temp jobs), going to the gym, getting my shit together, getting a "real" job, new laptop (!), de-vegitarianizing, expanding liquid horizions, joining/quitting a drummerless band, moving to Corona Del Mar, getting engaged.
So there we are, up to last week. Weirdness!
The Current "Stuff."
Records:
-Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountian (By Strategy)
-Mogwai [as usual]: The Hawk Is Howling & My Father My King
-The Beatles: The White Album
-Melvins: The Maggot [Dude, I like it! Sorry for calling you out in the past Buzz]
-The Andrew Oldham Orchestra: The Rolling Stones Songbook [The last song on here may sound very familiar to you. Research!]
-Mastodon: Blood Mountain
-Scott Walker: Scott 2
-To buy: new (International) Noise Conspiracy, new phono preamp
Other Music Stuff:
-Geeking out over Mastodon recording a new record: check this and this.
-Have a bunch of Boris records to go through that I "got" from my brother. He loves the sludge-metal, that's for sure.
Holiday Attack:
-Other than getting engaged (geez- obvs, Brian), Thanksgiving was memorable for these reasons: A)The worst heartburn of my life. B) Drinking alcohol before 9 am for several days in a row (see "A" above). C) Playing video games with parents/adult family (it was Wii, but still. My Mom thinks creating "Mii"s is the most hillarious thing ever).
-I started Christmas shopping earlier than ever this year. Congrats to myself for good planning/budgeting.
-XMas tree this weekend?
Wedding Attack:
-1 week into planning and shit's going pretty well. After some haggling over the date (and many, many congrats to Megan and Morgan), things are going nicely. Only 10 months to go!
-The first thing I did when I got home and plugged my music hard drive in was start playlisting. I AM UNSTOPPABLE, and possibly the best DJ ever.
-Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountian (By Strategy)
-Mogwai [as usual]: The Hawk Is Howling & My Father My King
-The Beatles: The White Album
-Melvins: The Maggot [Dude, I like it! Sorry for calling you out in the past Buzz]
-The Andrew Oldham Orchestra: The Rolling Stones Songbook [The last song on here may sound very familiar to you. Research!]
-Mastodon: Blood Mountain
-Scott Walker: Scott 2
-To buy: new (International) Noise Conspiracy, new phono preamp
Other Music Stuff:
-Geeking out over Mastodon recording a new record: check this and this.
-Have a bunch of Boris records to go through that I "got" from my brother. He loves the sludge-metal, that's for sure.
Holiday Attack:
-Other than getting engaged (geez- obvs, Brian), Thanksgiving was memorable for these reasons: A)The worst heartburn of my life. B) Drinking alcohol before 9 am for several days in a row (see "A" above). C) Playing video games with parents/adult family (it was Wii, but still. My Mom thinks creating "Mii"s is the most hillarious thing ever).
-I started Christmas shopping earlier than ever this year. Congrats to myself for good planning/budgeting.
-XMas tree this weekend?
Wedding Attack:
-1 week into planning and shit's going pretty well. After some haggling over the date (and many, many congrats to Megan and Morgan), things are going nicely. Only 10 months to go!
-The first thing I did when I got home and plugged my music hard drive in was start playlisting. I AM UNSTOPPABLE, and possibly the best DJ ever.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
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