jiminy cricket, where are you now that i need you?: November 2006

SO excited!

Just found out at gwenstefani.com that gwen will indeed be making a stop in tampa to promote her new album on may 8th!

YAYYYYYY!

SO SO excited. beyond excited.

little known fact.

recent evidence suggests hitler loved dressing as a bespectacled and easily confused fraulein every other thursday. [see photo, date unknown.]

I think "REJECT" is the best description for them...

Another goofy trademark face for fun. [too bad it makes me nose look just slightly large. oh well, it is. i cope.]

Love love love the function of comment moderation - SO much better a solution to immature assholes than just disallowing anonymous comments! This way, the people I know who don't have Blogger accounts can still say their piece, but I can save those sad little cowards the embarassment of showing the world what catty and pathetic idiots they are - not that I need to do them any favors - but hey, I just don't need that shit.

Some of us like to pretend that we are above such pettiness, but it is clear to all that some of us just aren't. No big deal though, karma will bite them firmly in their asses eventually.

Until then, all that hateful bile is dissolved with a simple click of the word "reject".

Ahhhh... bliss.

it's streaming on AOL...

I'm listening to Gwen's new album. I am five tracks in and I have yet to hear a song that has really hooked me.

I will grant the fact that I was completely freaked out and didn't like "L.A.M.B" when I first heard it, but this record sounds less like "Gwen does a dance record" and more like "Gwen does an R&B pop record". I don't know if this means the record will be as big as the last one or not or even bigger.

Dunno, but I am starting to miss the Gwen in this picture. Thank god she's been saying she wants to quit doing the solo thing and get back with the boys in No Doubt. I love the lady, but I just do not know if I will be buying this record [much to Joel's jubulation, I'm sure.]. Might be a download a few tracks kinda situation.

However, I stand behind my aim to see her if she tours to support this record. I can't miss a chance to see her because I never have!

love my new under the influence of giants shirt.

i love how skinny my arms look. ha ha.

ooo la la.

the kind of angle that says "yes, i have breasts."

can you tell i like making about one face in all my pics? so trademark.

under the influence of giants

tonight tree and i went to see under the influence of giants at the state theatre.

good times. saw a first - a debit/credit machine at the merch booth. awesome!

also, i had the shirt i was wearing immediately identified by a boy in a yellow chanel shirt. he knew i bought it at h&m but was fairly impressed when i told him it was at the h&m in amsterdam. i completely thought he was gay, but later saw him locking lips with another little hipster who was decidely very female. he later gave me a thumbs up during the set.

the show itself was pretty good. they played the current single "mama's room", but not too early in the set, which i like. i need to have a little bit of anticipation! they did, however, do something that does slightly irk me - play a few downbeat numbers in a row. i don't mind if a band wants to take it down a notch, but if you do it right after a whole string of higher energy tunes, you can't stay down for long. a breather is good, but let's get back to business.

highlights included:
heaven is full
faces
beautiful
in the clouds
got nothing
stay illogical

i could have done with a little more of the older material that i recognized, but hey, they were promoting the new record and they played pretty much all of it.

tree seemed to dig the show. afterwards, she picked up the album as well as a t-shirt. i love when i can introduce people to new music and they fall in love. i miss when raynna and i used to burn each other albums to bounce off each other trying to get us into different stuff. maybe tree and i can do that too.

neat-o.

all in all, a good time was had.

[but someone at that show had death gas 2000 coming out of their ass. nasty.]

Thanks, MyHeritage.com!

http://www.myheritage.com

Delicious.

i can't explain this one so that you would understand...

...so i will not even attempt to.

enjoy the mystery.

listening to spoon

just have to take a moment to sing the praises of britt daniel.

i love how i can listen to girls can tell over and over and still feel as giddy about the songs as when i first heard them. i feel transported back to standing in the freezing cold waiting for the c-train to arrive and take me home after a night of working at ADT, my heart feeling like it was going to explode.

i was absolutely voracious with this band, downloading every track i could possibly find. i think i have more songs by spoon than any other band on my itunes.

i loved watching the movie "stranger than fiction" and hearing some of my favorite spoon songs at key moments and knowing that britt scored the film.

i have to thank katie for putting spoon on a mixed disc for me. i don't know that i would have discovered them if not for her! :) i can't wait til i get my record player so i can listen to kill the moonlight on vinyl.

now excuse me while i go crazy cause "lines in the suit" just came on.

my thanksgiving dinner or talking jive with karl rove

last night, as you may know, we went over to joel's parents' house for thanksgiving dinner last night. smoked turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, some kinda wild rice dish and overly gingered greenbeans. i enjoyed some sangria.

when we arrived, we were greeted by joel's parents, his brother aaron, and a couple who were friends with joel's parents. i believe the woman was a co-worker of joel's mother's. anyways, for the most part it was a nice time. we chatted pleasantly before dinner. turns out the man in the couple [you can see i am horrible with names] is a limo driver who once drove around rap superstar young jeezy - so he's really in touch with the younger folk.

however, after dinner it was time for real agendas to come out - mr. limo driver asks us if we had ever heard of a website called debka.com, which according to him is a pull-no punches israeli website that shows us the truth of what is happening in the middle east and backs up a lot of bush's actions. he went on about how bush had to "throw himself on a sword" to keep syria in line and how this website has proof showing where the WMD's are in bunkers in places all over the middle east. he thinks these are the kinds of things the media here loves to hide in order to vilify bush.

this man also had some great views on the environment and fuel crisis. namely, that the problems that we are having with the environment are mostly china's fault. we have high fuel prices because china is starting to consume, not because the west is wasteful of resources. apparently there is no issue with mass-overconsumption in the western world. that's right, we could all drive humvees and it wouldn't make a dent if it weren't for china. joel tried to interject, stating that if we all started to make changes in how we consume energy, it would make a difference in the long to the supply as well as the environment. mr. limo driver laughed and joel and told him he was thinking locally to act globally and that we were supposed to think globally [yet didn't add act locally. hmm.]. i shot back that that would require action and agreement on part of the whole world which, let's face it, is impossible. joel agreed it's easier if we start on a basis we can exert some level of control over rather than expecting the world's governments to provide us with an all-encompassing plan. i mean, come on, let's look at the kyoto accord! the US didn't even get on that train! but when you hear people of his generation talking like this, it's not hard to see why.

i asked joel to show me where the bathroom was so we could get out of there because joel was getting really agitated by this guy. he was completely unwilling to listen to anything joel had to say. i tried to play fair and balance to keep things diplomatic, but it just wasn't working. we sat in the livingroom and watched Entourage and then left for andrew and theresa's place - which was way more fun. no zionist republicans there.

we had a good time christening their new firepit and trying to figure out what the hell theresa's dog bella kept chewing on. she kept finding sections of something that looked like a fossilized cantaloupe rind. at one point, i picked it up and guessed perhaps it was a piece of a broken planter, but another fellow thought it was a piece of a long dead turtle's shell. at any rate, she found probably six pieces of whatever it was and we just kept taking them away and throwing them in the fire to keep them away from her. i met some nice new people - a friend of andrew's named steve and a couple who used to be andrew's old landlords named maya and chris. [i think his name was chris - again, bad with names. i also remember hearing the name paul, so i could be so wrong.] joel ducked out early as he had to work a long long day today and i stayed til about midnightish.

tree lent me two of her harry potter books so i can catch up on my hogwarts. i'm on "harry potter and the order of the phoenix" - i started it in calgary and got close to finishing, but got so busy in the summer i never got around to it. i'm so horrible with books lately, i start something and don't finish it because i pick up something else.

case in point, i have just gotten to the part of the jackie o bio where kennedy was shot. i read all about how bits of his brain were all over her suit and though she cleaned off the brain, she would not change out of her infamous pink suit and pillbox hat because she wanted to show "the bastards what they have done". what balls.

yet, i have also resumed "order of the phoenix". so much on my plate reading wise, but i like it because it keeps me away from the tv. :)

anyways. yeah. turkey day. karl rove. harry potter. bits of kennedy's brain. good stuff.

stuck at work with joel...

happy turkey day to my american friends.

today, as we are going out to joel's parents' house for turkey lurkey goodness, i came with joel to work so that we could leave from here immediately thereafter to make it there on time for dinner.

however, i would like to be anywhere but here right now, or rather at home on the couch being lazy. last night we were supposed to go to dinner and a movie with joel's friend daphne, but she cancelled. so, in lieu of a night out on the town, we had a night in, playing trivial pursuit and getting drunk on rootbeer schnapps. [hey, i never claimed that we were not supernerds.]

i don't have a hangover per se, but just the type of day after drinking where you're tired, thirsty as hell and want to eat all junk food in sight. we were going to go for a traditional post-drinking meal of greasy fast food, but for some reason in america they like to close even the fast food joints on thanksgiving. i can not remember this ever happening in canada, but i wasn't exactly miss fast-food connaisseur [sp?] up there, so what the hell do i know? we ended up on the lighter side of the fast food spectrum as subway was apparently the only restaurant open. oh well. better for us.

after getting here, i replied to a mammoth email from darryl and another from kat, posted some comments in raynna's blog and then tried desperately to take a nap in the next studio over as they have a huge cushy suede couch. i ended up just watching some bad tv. i couldn't sleep because even though the couch was comfy, the studio was just too cold. i even stole joel's fleece jacket and used it as a blanket, but to no avail. i am now back to my mistress, the internet, even though the computer i am on sucks and everytime i try to log onto myspace it closes internet explorer.

i'm hungry but the banana that i brought is too old and bruised to entice me to eat it.

joel is watching football on tv.

crumminess.

oh well. i'm too tired to be too broken up about it. only about an hour and a half left to hang out here before we hit the road to thanksgiving jackpot dinner land. i can't wait. i want to eat a mountain of mashed potatoes - if joel's mom makes them tonight.

teh catsel for tree's birthday

me, joel and tree! oh yeah!

me and rita being dorks. in a good way.

signage.

i gotta hand it to the person who has the cojones to MOLEST an alligator. that's some brave shit. but, also this begs the question - is alligator fetish really so prevalent in florida that we need a sign to tell us to curb those unhealthy urges? for shame!

i know we haven't seen her a lot since sex and the city ended, but i had no idea sarah jessica was selling real estate now! wow!

wildlife on the walk.

this fellow didn't like me getting too close to him, so i really zoomed.

mom, pop, and baby duckies.

look at this guy posing for me.

cute little bugger, isn't he?

walk photos.

went for a walk this afternoon. the weather was perfect. bright and sunny, but with a cold breeze, so i didn't get too hot. took some pictures, as you can see.

don't know what this building is. i think it's a really unconventional church because of the word "glory" and the fact that it has reserved parking. not sure though.

i freaking love this building. the color really pops against the sky. no clue what it is though.

mirror lake park with dowtown st. petersburg in the background.

statue outside of the mirror lake branch public library.

i wanted to take a picture of this statue from the front, but there was a homeless dude taking a nap in front of it. i wasn't about to ask him to move.

is that a freakin' pentogram on the top of that church? oooh.

another gorgeous church. i have always loved the look of church buildings. they're so beautiful and ornate. i'd love to go and look at the insides of all the ones i took pics of today, but really don't want to deal with people trying to convert me.

more walk photos.

yet another church. i tells ya, i love the architecture down here.

cool old church door.

st. petersburg city hall. purdy.

i don't know what this is, but it looks cool. a lantern, maybe?

now, what do you think this building is?

archway detail.

can you believe this is the post office? so gorgeous.

arty red chair sculptures - check out the dude jumping off one on the left.

love the door on this church.

bactrack: pompeii, august '06

i can't wait to go back to pompeii one day. it was incredible, beautiful and so much larger than i expected. we didn't even see it all.

i had wanted to see this since childhood. talk about a dream come true. it was amazingly well preserved for a town decimated by a volcano. maybe some day i'll post more pictures. i have hundreds. these are just some of my favorites.

File this under "JUST ADMIT IT"

OJ Simpson is doing a two-part special entitled "If I Did It" in which he talks in hypothetical terms about his role in the 1994 killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

If? IF!?!?!?!? Really, OJ? Come on, your new version of convincing people you're not guilty is talking about you would have done it IF you were guilty? That's pathetic even for you.

random dorkiness.

i made this face at him.

he made this face back.

on wednesday, we went to wet willie's!

delicious frozen alcoholic drinks that come out of slurpee machines? we're so there. we also go to hang out with cory [sadly, not pictured] who was up for the katatonia show. he brought robert and scott and we got slightly girl drink drunk. then we went to EB Games and bought some used PS2 games.

good times.

trail of dead show

i had no idea what to expect at this show. honestly, i went because joel was going. i know very little about this band at all, really.

the show itself was okay. there was a good vibe going on that night. the three beers i drank definitely helped. ;) joel and i practically devoured some lukewarm pizza being sold by one of the vendors. we had a great time hanging out with kate and her sister as well as some friends of joel's.

the band took the stage and played for only about 40 minutes. there was this one guy in the band wearing this hat, velvet blazer and retro suspenders [which are making a big big comeback, btw] who i completely adored watching. the music wasn't bad, but there was this one guy who everytime the music go remotely heavy, kept trying to start a mosh pit that no one was interested in. he wasn't letting it go either, he was really smashing into people. loser. then, at the end of the set, the weirdest thing i have ever seen at a show happened.

the guy who had been doing most of the singing that night announced the last song of the night. then, instead of playing anything, paused and proceeded to violently smash his guitar to bits. okay, that doesn't seem too unconventional for a rock show, but it's what came after that was the strange part. after smashing his guitar and dropping the mangled neck, he strode across the stage and shoved another member of the band very hard backwards over an amp and then stormed off stage. the other band members just kind of stood there with shit-eating grins on their faces and we all thought maybe it was a joke. i saw someone go over to the guy who fell over the amp to help him up, but he seemed pissed off and wouldn't accept help. we stood there for a minute or two, waiting for something to happen when the roadies swarmed the stage and immediately started to dismantle the instruments and equipment. we were dumbfounded! we went over to the merch booth so joel could pick up his swag, and i overheard some girl telling her friend that the guy who did the shoving had gotten arrested. now, i don't know if this is actually true, but we all kind of had the feeling like we might have been at the last trail of dead show.

who knows?

goofing off at the trail of dead show

Okay, we were wrong about the show being at the State. Turns out they never moved it from Jannus Landing. Good thing. I had a lot of fun - Jannus is a really cool venue. It's this outdoor courtyard with a bar in the back. During the openers, we sat in the bar in the back as it was kinda chilly outside [yeah, i know, i'm sure you believe me Canadians] and we ran into one of Joel's friends he hadn't seen in a while. For a while it was me sitting inbetween two different conversations, so I started monkeying with my camera. After a while, Joel's friend took off and he joined in. I used the night camera setting because I wanted to capture the red light over us - but it did some crazy things with the lights. Weird.