Tuesday , 31
MAY
05
Well...we had
to go back to work today...but we did have a nice weekend. Friday we
met up with Jason and Ellen and checked out a new sushi restaurant in
Ocean Springs called Blowfish. It was pretty darn good...kind of on the
pricey side, but they had unique rolls that were yummy. It's a small
place but in a good location and should do well. It's always nice to
have more sushi options on the coast. After dinner we went back to
their house and played Euchre. We slept in Saturday and then Chris went
biking on the trails. I ran some errands in Bay St. Louis after a
frustrating 30 minute attempt to get out of Diamondhead (2 of the main
routes were blocked for a Memorial Parade). After Chris got home we
figured out how to fire up the pressure washer...had it going for about
15 minutes before it ran out of gas (we didn't have much on hand). Just
as well, because that's about the time that the rain hit. We went
out to Gulfport to be good consumers on this Memorial Day weekend.
Bought some paint at Sherwin Williams - we finally agreed on chartreuse
for the living room. Painting to commence in a couple of weeks. We also
stopped by a flooring place...looking at a vinyl composite tile for the
kitchen. No firm decisions have been made on that one. Then over to a
furniture store where we almost talked ourselves into buying a new
couch. Then over to a mattress store where we did talk ourselves into
buying a new Tempurpedic mattress (to be delivered on FR). Then we
picked up some movies from the video store and headed home. We watched
the movie Outfoxed, which only
confirmed our dislike of Fox News. Although...even though they're an
evil empire, they do have some good shows (I mean they did run X-Files
& a few seasons of Buffy and now Arrested Development and the
Simpsons...how can a network that has kept the Simpsons on the air for
that long really be all that evil?). So Bill O'Reilly has a huge ego,
exaggerates, misquotes and doesn't listen very well. There are many
other public figures who fit that personality type... I have some
friends that watch Fox News...I don't know how they can stomach it. I
mean, I'm supposedly out in the left field somewhere...but I can't
handle listening to Air America for any length of time. They're all a
bunch of windbags. The movie was decent though and did have one scary
statistic: In a poll people were asked if the US governement found a
link between Sadaam Hussein and Al Quaeda and 16% of people who get
their news from NPR-PBS responded yes while 67% of people who's news
source was Fox said yes. I don't know which is the scarier number. But
I digress... Sunday was another lazy day. We bummed around the house
for a good part of the day. I watched Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which was entertaining...any
movie with Jude Law in it can't be all that bad, right? That afternoon
we did some more shopping...our big purchase being a Sirius radio receiver. We got
it installed in the Honda yesterday and I enjoyed listening to it on
the way to/from work as well as at work (via the internet). Yeah...no
more ClearChannel only choices for me! Now there's an evil empire for
you (Clearchannel that is). That evening we watched a movie that Henry
Rollins recommended - Primer.
It's very good for the low budget film that it is and had an
interesting premise. But I couldn't get my mind around a lot of it and
was a good deal confused (possibly because I was tired and fell asleep
during part of it or maybe just because it's confusing). It's
definitely worth checking out...and if you do see it, be sure to fill
us in on what's going on. I guess we're just not very bright. Monday we
got up early and signed up with some friends for a Texas Hold 'Em
tournament at the Grand. Then we all had breakfast at IHOP and wasted
time while waiting for the tournament to begin. I had a good time
playing and felt pretty good with how I played. Although...I didn't
last that long (maybe just less than half way through out of a crowd of
about 110 players). That evening we went to Jason & Ellen's for
grilling and chilling. They made some awesome food - shrimp, chicken,
portobello mushrooms - Yum. And that pretty much wrapped up our
weekend. Now it it dinner time...leftovers from yesterday's grill
fest. Ciao.
-poated by Kelly
Thursday , 26
MAY
05
Here's an interesting take
on Republican
control in Washington DC. It's biased - of course - but tends to
confirm my suspicions. Partisan politics seems to be getting uglier
every year. And for those who dare to go against the party line, it's
even worse. Let's hear it for group think! Thank goodness there are
still a few independently-minded Congressmen & women, but they have
to walk a fine line or risk being ostracized by their own party, not to
mention the radical groups on the far right/left. Just look at the flack
Republican senators are getting from their conservative constituents
for brokering a deal on the filibuster. I always say I hate both
parties equally...and the further apart they are, the more I dislike
politicians. And it's not just in DC...look at the waste of money going
on in Jackson right now because the Dem-controlled House and
Rep-controlled Senate can't agree on a budget. Ahh...but that's for
another posting at another time. Rat bastards!!!
-poated by Kelly
Tuesday , 24
MAY
05
(link removed)
John
Doe (w/ Dave Alvin and Grant Lee Phillips) - Forever Hasn't Happened Yet - (Yep
Roc Records)
It's been a busy weekend. My friend, Deb, was in town. We've known each
other since undergrad days back at U Dub - and we just figured out that
was 17 years ago. Damn I'm getting old. Anyway...we had a nice time
hanging out in New Orleans Sat eve and Sunday. Chris already mentioned
his part of Sat eve - Deb & I went to a few bars...had a hurricane
at Pat O's and was annoyed by a really drunk guy...so then it was time
to head to our "vampire bar" - I can never remember what it's actually
called, but it's over on Pirate's Alley. You can actually get Absinthe
there and they claim it's the real thing, but I am dubious. They were
playing some salsa music and some guy asked Deb if she could salsa
dance. So he got her out in the alley salsa dancing to a few
songs...pretty cool. After that I was ready to head to the hotel...but
we hit one more place (the Blacksmith's Shop). A fairly sedate evening
by New Orleans standards...but just my pace. The next morning we ate at
the Bluebird Cafe and then ran some errands. After that Deb & I
stopped by some antique stores on Royal where we ogled $15,000
bracelets and whatnot. We took old HWY 90 home and stopped off for
shrimp in Bay St Louis...which we grilled that eve. Monday we ran some
more errands and then found the Blow Fly Inn for lunch. We had some
yummy Southern food (Deb had gumbo and a delicious eggplant/crabmeat
appetizer, I got the shrimp Po Boy). After lunch we went to drool over
Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven.
It was decent for a blockbuster, even if the storyline was a bit
improbable. I did enjoy that the Crusaders were definitely in the wrong
and the Muslims seemed more reasonable. There was lots of blood
squirting during the fight scenes...but not way over the top. I'd give
the movie 3 out of 5. That eve we headed to Waveland for dinner at
Rickey's. I burned my tongue on a fabulous appetizer (it still hurts,
but it was sooo worth it). It consisted of artichokes and oysters in a
spicy cream sauce served over a deep fried portobello mushroom. Deb had
the fried artichokes as an appetizer and Chris got a seafood pasta
dish. And you wonder why this region has the fattest people around?
Ahh...but we're fat and happy.
I've been listening to the new Nine Inch Nails cd a bit (With Teeth). It's very good and
Trent is still a bitter man...which is lucky for us, because how lame
would his tunes be if he was well-adjusted?! Definitely a good addition
for any NIN fan. The new Beck is also awesome. I've also been listening
to the new John Doe. There's a really nice track off his latest that
combines his dreamy vocals with those of Neko Case. But I chose to link
in 'Heartless' because there's something endearing about that beat.
John Doe has many guests on his album and it all makes for a good
listen. Hope you like the song. Next time I'll put up one of Josh
Rouse's songs...that's another cd I picked up recently and have enjoyed
lately.
-poated by Kelly
Monday , 23
MAY
05
Revenge of the Marketing.
I enjoyed Episode III last week and am glad that it did really well
over the weekend (weekend gross: $108,435,841/cumulative
gross: $158,449,700).
Excellent numbers. What has annoyed me in the past couple of weeks
leading up to the movie and more within the past week is the marketing
of Star Wars. It's expected since George Lucas cashes in on that shit,
but it's really kind of sickening. I can understand the figures (hell,
Gary was telling me about the additions to his Stormtrooper collection
and we were suckers for figures with the first movie), toys, and
t-shirts, but it's some of the other things that got to me. The M &
M's with dark chocolate and the two M & M characters was kind of
funny, but a bit corny. The Cingular ads were kind of funny, but a Star
Wars phone? Burger King won out over Taco Bell this time for the big
sweepstakes game promotion, but the television ad with Darth Vader and
the new Burger King mascot (the king with the large, scary head whose
mouth doesn't seem to move) makes no sense at all. Walking through the
grocery store it's like all the characters were plastered on bags of
chips, boxes of cereal, and any other food/snack item that is aimed
towards kids (although I do admit that I bought a box of Frosted Flakes
for the lightsaber spoon). It's almost a turn off. The biggest turn off
recently though is the Diet Pepsi ad with Yoda using the force to get a
burger and fries, then attempt (but fail) at getting a Diet Pepsi from
a teen at a diner. Chewbacca is also in the ad and repels Yoda from
getting his soda as well if I remember correctly. That was just a bit
too much. Power of the Force marketing I guess.
-poated by Chris
Sunday , 22
MAY
05
(link removed)
Mexico
1910- 'Six Billion Potential Messiahs' from 'Sharpen Your Crutches'
(self released)
Yesterday was quite a day. I had signed up earlier
for the Tour de Tammany, a family-oriented biking event on the Tammany
Trace (a rails-to-trails project that runs from Covington to Slidell,
Louisiana) with options of 14, 40, and 53 miles depending on what the
rider chose, starting at the trailhead off of Interstate 12 (Abita
Springs exit). The ride started at 2.30pm, which I was kind of leery
about in the middle of the afternoon anyway (biking in the morning is
much more suitable in this region due to heat), but hoped maybe it
would cool off from earlier in the week. Was I completely wrong. The
high temperature recorded in the Slidell area yesterday was 92 degrees,
but add to that high humidity and the heat index makes it feel 5-10
degrees warmer. Totally miserable for biking in the hot sun beating
down, but there were enough hardcore riders to endure it. The Trace is
nice because it is shaded well in many portions, so the sun wasn't on
us the whole time, plus there were some clouds in the area that offered
a small amount of relief. Still, not the most enjoyable ride that I've
been on. I had planned on doing the 53 mile option, but after arriving
back at the caboose from the out-and-back loop to Slidell, I sure as
hell didn't feel like riding the remaining 13 miles to Covington and
back, so I ended up only riding 40 (41 to be exact due to a detour
around the Bayou Lacombe Bridge which is still being constructed). It
took 2 hours and 45 minutes, but riding time was only 2.5 hours. The
extra 15 minutes were from planned and unplanned stops. The unplanned
stops were twice where riders had to stop at a point on the trace (once
each direction) and wait for the local police escort to arrive (one car
in front, one in back of the riders) along the highway that took us
around the Bayou Lacombe section of the trace not passable. Each was
about a five minute wait. The planned stop was at the Slidell
turnaround where a convenience store was located nearby and I purchased
a bottle of Gatorade to refill my bike bottle as well as a Powerball
ticket (it was up to $155 million, but no-one won so it's now at $180
million this coming Wed.). I didn't feel too bad after the ride. I felt
a little bit of tingling on my skin as I got near the end, which is a
feeling I've gotten before riding sometimes, and I wonder if it's some
sort of dehydration or heat exhaustion, but it didn't prevent me from
finishing and I didn't keel over, so I'm fine. I thought I had been
good and protected myself by slathering on the 50SPF sunscreen in the
morning before leaving the house for the ride, but it turned out that I
still got somewhat pinkish red on my skin that was unprotected by
clothing. The best thing about this ride on the Trace is that it's
closed off from vehicle traffic, except the roads that cross the trail
along the way, therefore I felt comfortable and relatively safe wearing
my mp3 player (my older 256mb Rio, not my 60gb Creative) while riding.
It makes a difference listening to some 'punk rock' while pedaling
along.
After the ride I headed over to New Orleans to meet Kelly and her
friend Deborah, who came down from New York for an extended weekend.
Kelly had made a reservation through hotwire.com at the Hilton downtown
along the river and she had gone over earlier to pick up Deb from the
airport that afternoon while I was riding. I ended up taking the
Causeway over the lake. I had never done it before, but it did save
some time from drivng back to Slidell and across into New Orleans East.
This is the main route across the lake from the Northshore. It's 24
miles from the toll gate ($3 for two axles) on the north shore to the
end in Metairie on the south shore. Not too bad of a drive with two
lanes in each direction and a speed limit of 65mph (55mph at night). It
was kind of peaceful. At the same time it was kind of odd to be driving
across this 'bridge' with nothing but water in every direction around
you. Normally it would kind of freak me out, but it wasn't too bad,
probably because the bridge wasn't that high over the water. Not like
the huge Mississippi River bridges that tower up and over the river to
allow for huge barges and cargo ships to pass underneath.
I ended up arriving at the hotel a little before 7pm where Kelly and
Deb were waiting. I jumped in the shower, changed clothes and we walked
to a new place (one of the many we hadn't tried yet), Lucy's Retired Surfers Bar
and Restaurant, for dinner since it was only a few blocks from the
hotel. I had the Bomber burrito, Kelly had the La Fonda Shrimp
Enchiladas, and Deb had a grilled tuna sandwich. We all enjoyed our
meals so Kelly and I decided that we're definitely going to come back
with some of our friends and try out some of the drinks on the bar
menu. After eating Kelly and Deb headed to the French Quarter to wander
and maybe take some pictures. I went back to the hotel and took a short
nap before heading to the Howlin' Wolf to see Mexico 1910 play. My left
foot was sore near the underside of the big toe where a blister was
starting to form. Partially from biking and then walking around. It
probably hadn't completely healed since I tore it up a couple of months
ago in Austin.
It was really good to see Mexico 1910 again. I hadn't seen them play
since maybe last November. I put an mp3 on today's post because they're
my favorite New Orleans band. I've know them for awhile, so I talked
briefly with Dave, the drummer, and Ashley, one of the
guitarists, before they played. They played a set of few songs, but the
songs they did play were 'extended'. I believe they played all new
material which was cool because they have added some electronic noise
freakouts to their repetoire, which reminded me a lot of older Mogwai.
Mexico 1910 are all-instrumental and no vocals, but they play really
well off each other and take turns fading in and out or taking the
'lead'. Brian and Ashley also switch playing guitar and bass during
some songs, so they are quite flexible, although Brian seems to be
quite the session musician lately playing the 'hired hand' for many
local bands. It sounded like they were a little 'off' but not that
noticeable, and considering they haven't played together since December
with Miles being out of town and other reasons, I thought it was great.
They're working individually on recording a new album in Baton Rouge
which is supposed to be out this fall. I highly suggest looking for it
when it's out. I'll post an update when I know the date. I actually
left after they played because I suck and don't support the rest of the
local New Orleans scene. Rotary Downs and Big Blue Marble were the
other two bands on the bill.
I called Kelly on her cell phone and was going to meet she and Deb at
this bar in the French Quarter, but when I walked down there I somehow
got stupidly lost and couldn't find the place. I was pissed at myself
so I said, 'screw it' and walked back towards the hotel. I stopped by
Harrah's Casino for awhile and watched some of the Texas Hold 'Em
action at their poker area. The whole week there's a World Series of
Poker tournament going on with the final table championship to be
broadcast on espn2 on May 28, so I was hoping to see some of that
action, but I think all the tourney action was in the non-smoking area
in the back away from the rail where one could view some of the other
tables. I thought about playing, but decided that I didn't want to drop
$150 on poker that night. We're thinking about going to the Grand
Casino here on the coast with some of our friends on Monday the 30th
since most of us have Memorial Day off from work and playing in their
tournament which has a lower buy-in, plus we figure if enough of us
play we should have a good chance of at least a couple of us ending up
on the final table. It was fun to watch at Harrah's last night though.
Of course it's not like on television where you can see players' hands,
but only the cards that come up on the table. That in itself is
entertaining because of course many people bet the board, but watching
to see if others call the bets, raise, or fold is great fun. I saw this
one hand where the flop came up 3, 3, Queen and there were only two
guys left in the hand. One would bet and the other guy would call or
raise. On the turn a Jack came up and the original better threw in some
more chips which were called. On the river, another Queen came up so
the first guy bet, the second guy went all in, and the first guy called
him because he had more chips. It ended up that the guy who went all in
had an Ace and a 3, so he had a full house of 3's and Queens.
Unfortunately for him, the other guy had a Queen and an Ace, so while
he had two pair initially to the other player's three 3's, he caught
his winning full house on the river. The guy who lost said, 'fuck, I
can't believe it' and stormed off. He sure was pissed.
I left around 1am and went back to the hotel room because my foot was
sore and I couldn't stand comfortably any longer. I watched some anime
on Cartoon Network before Kelly and Deb showed up around 2am. The beds
were double and kind of lumpy, so sleeping wasn't too comfortable, but
it was nice to not have to drive home that night.
Today we got up when Deb went out to take pictures around 9am. Kelly
and I stayed in the room and I read for a bit after showering. When
Kelly got out of the shower we watched some show on the National
Geographic channel about snakes that eat chameleons and other snakes
and this rodent in Australia that 'flies' like a flying squirrel. Deb
came back around 11am and we checked out so we could go have breakfast
at the Bluebird Cafe. It was crowded, as usual, but damn the food was
good. Fresh homestyle cooking. We then went to the Einstein Brothers
bagels at Tulane campus so I could stock up, then to Whole Foods before
I dropped Kelly and Deb back off at Canal Street to wander around some
more and drive home later after taking some photos and I then drove
home myself. A long, busy weekend that is coming to an end soon. Kelly
and Deb picked up some fresh shrimp at a market in Bay St. Louis and
we're marinating it right now so we can grill soon. Yum.
-poated by Chris
Friday , 20
MAY
05
Last night we went to see
'Star Wars Episode III- Revenge of the Sith' with our usual group of
cohorts. We figured that it might (hopefully) be a little less crowded
on a weeknight before school ended and before this actual opening
weekend, which is when the theatre usually is overrun with teenagers
with nothing else to do on a Friday or Saturday night (besides loiter
at Barnes and Noble near the cafe).
We arrived an hour early for the 7.30pm showing (it's showing in five
theatres) and didn't have to stand in line very long before they let
this showing's crowd into the movie house to sit and wait for the
remaining 45 minutes. It was fairly full, but not sold out by any
means, which meant it was crowded, but not jampacked with not a seat
left in the house. At least the group of eight of us were all able to
sit together.
One thing about Cinemark that I've always hated is that they didn't set
the sound up correctly in all of the different theatres. I'm no sound
technician by any means, but it's pretty noticeable the 'surround'
sound isn't what it's said to be. So, when the opening titles scrolled
up (after the 15 minutes of commercials and new trailers for summer
blockbusters), it was kind of a disappointment to see this huge battle
scene, yet not be able to hear all of the dialogue. There were a few
funny one-liners, but George Lucas still can't write dialogue worth
shit, and he was supposed to have hired some kind of writer to help him
with this one. If that's the case, it sure wasn't that obvious. As in
Episode I and II, there were some pretty cheesy lines and it was almost
painful to watch the actors have to speak them, but then who was really
going for the dialogue? That's just being nitpicky. Another nitpick was
that as much as George Lucas wants to make the 'perfect' special
effects, this was a little bit too heavy on the CGI. I mean come on,
Yoda is all digital now, as are the Clone Troopers. That just doesn't
seem right. But again, that's being picky. Did I enjoy it? Of course, I
think all of us enjoyed it. Was it the best one? No, nothing will ever
be better than 'The Empire Strikes Back' and the awesomeness of the
battle on Hoth, but it was a good film. It really tied the whole story
together nicely. It made me want to watch the original three movies
again because now it all made much more sense. That was the ultimate
goal, and I have to give George Lucas credit for completing the arc
nicely, even if some things were a bit annoying along the way. I may
even go see it again in a couple of weeks when the crowds die down some
or are watching the next big hit of the summer. And when the dvd set
comes out for Episodes I-III chock full of extras, I'll be ready to
shell out the cash for it just like the original box set. Any Star Wars
fan should go see this, even if they've become jaded by the first two
films. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
-poated by Chris
Wednesday , 18
MAY
05
Dear Keebler Elves,
What the heck is happening in your shop? Chris and I are devoted fans
of your Honey Grahams Crackers...but the last few boxes have been
terrible disappointments. First there were the boxes where the crackers
were all crumbled. How am I supposed to dip my crackers into milk when
they're in crumbs? But now in the last few boxes the crackers have been
burnt. Is someone having a bad day over there? Did one of your elf
wives leave you for a gnome or something? Maybe there's some cute new
girl elves working at the tree factory distracting you. Perhaps we have
made the mistake by purchasing these crackers from the evil Wal-Mart
(a.k.a. Sprawl Mart) empire. Maybe you elves have a plan to bring the
giant down by selling them faulty crackers? We will try another
store...because if that is your scheme, then I'm behind you 100%.
However, I really hope that this is just a fluke. I would hate to have
to switch to Nabisco. Their crackers just aren't the same - no elf
magic. OK...I've got to run and finish watching Alias. I look forward
to more tasty crackers in the future.
Sincerely, Kelly
Tuesday , 17
MAY
05
This week is National Bike
to Work Week. Yay, let's here it for cyclists taking over the roads!
Well, maybe in some cities at least. Not down here on the coast. To my
knowledge, there's only one bicycle lane (actually marked and part of a
main road) on the whole coast, and it runs from Highway 90 to
Interstate 10 (it's Cowan-Lorraine Road). Not a very main thoroughfare
for cyclists, but maybe it's extra money the county had when they
widened that road. Oh, wait, I forgot that Bay St. Louis actually put
some bike lanes on the back bay side not too long ago, but if one
doesn't live there it's a bit difficult to take advantage of. Anyway,
so needless to say, biking around most of the communities isn't highly
encouraged. In some places you really take your life into your hands
with some of the redneck crackers driving their trucks on the back
roads. I decided to tempt death this week and ride home from work. I
brought my bike up to the office yesterday and left it overnight and
told my co-workers how I was going to bike home tomorrow (Tuesday).
They looked at me in disbelief or like I was crazy, if not a mix of
both. I also had brought up my biking clothes in my gym bag and left
them in my office as well so I could do a quick change before I left
work today. This morning I had one of them who lives in Diamondhead
give me a ride in. I had my Camelback with me today instead of my usual
shoulder bag. After lunch they asked if I was still biking home and
told me it was about time for me to put my outfit on because I had told
them I had biking clothes. When I did change, it was like a big
production that many of them came to see me in my biking clothes (let
me add that I work in an office with 24 women and one other guy). I had
told them I wore the unflattering spandex shorts, but I was going to
wear another pair of mountain bike shorts over the top of them. When I
had changed they asked where my spandex shorts were and acted kind of
disappointed that I was wearing the other shorts over my spandex. What
a bunch of pervs. Not like I'd want them to see me wearing the spandex.
I'm generally not terribly modest, and when it's people I don't know, I
really don't care who sees how big my ass is or my 'junk' all squashed
into the diaper-like pants that give the 'camel-toe' appearance when
riding up into the crotch. But, with this group, I wouldn't want that
image to be burned into their minds for them to remind me of every
other day.
It took me a few days over the weekend to plan the route I would take
to get from Gulfport to Diamondhead, without taking the interstate
which isn't legal, and avoiding highway 90. I ended up taking Railroad
Ave. along the tracks through Gulfport and Long Beach, then crossed to
the south side of the tracks in Long Beach down to 2nd Street to ride
the western edge of Long Beach into Pass Christian, then north up
Henderson in Pass Christian to Kiln-Delisle Road going west, past the
Dupont plant and under the interstate along the main route I drive to
work every day. I originally figured it would take about two hours, but
leaving the office at 4.30pm, I would still make it home before 7pm and
still long before the sun went down. It ended up only taking one and a
half hours. I was home at 6.10pm, but would have been sooner if I
didn't have to wait ten minutes in Gulfport for a passing train to
cross my path. Surprisingly, I didn't have any problems at all. A
couple of vehicles came a bit close in passing, but most actually gave
me enough riding room and made an effort to avoid me by slightly
crossing the center line of the road. Not what I expected at all. I was
thinking I would get honked at or possibly yelled at. No such thrill.
Bummer. Not really much to see along the route either. There was a
dead, smashed turtle on the side of the roadway on Henderson, but that
was the main roadkill. It was a good ride and I enjoyed it so much that
I will have to consider riding into work in the morning sometimes since
it's much cooler and the sun isn't beating down as much. The gym has
showers and is in the shopping center of my worksite, so the
possibility is there. I'll just have to decide if I want to test my
luck again with the commuters in four-wheeled vehicles.
-posted by Chris
Sunday , 15
MAY
05
Here's an update on the
case about the pregnant
13-year old in FL. Luckily Gov. Bush didn't push it any further and
the girl was able to end the pregnancy as she wished.
We've had a busy weekend...Friday we went to New Orleans and met Jason
& Ellen for dinner at the
Bombay Club for my b-day dinner. Chris and I have eaten there a few
times before. They have great martinis (many varieties) and decent
food. I had the Bombay filet which was pretty good. My salad
(asparagus, tomato and mozarrella) didn't have a lot of flavor, but was
still ok. Chris got a grilled salmon that was very good and Caesar
salad. For dessert we split a very rich chocolate cake. All in all, a
decent meal and good time...but I think next time we'll try some place
new. There are so many good restaurants in New Orlaens and plenty that
we haven't tried.
After dinner we stopped by a store on Bourbon St. where our friend Alex
works. We hadn't seen him in quite awhile so we chatted for a few
minutes before he had to go back to work.
Then we wandered down to Tower Records and bought some new cds (which
we'll have to review): Handsome Boy Modeling School, Kasabian, John Doe
and Josh Rouse. Then Chris and I went to see the movie Smartest
Guys in the Room - all about the rise and fall of Enron. A
very good documentary that shows what corrupt assholes all those
guys are - Lay, Skilling, Fastow and others. Hopefully some sort of
justice will prevail, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lay only gets a
slap on the wrist (good to have friends in high places after all). So
the movie and the money-making scheme was kind of difficult to decipher
at first...until they started talking about what Enron did to
California. They actually have audiotapes of Enron power brokers asking
power companies in CA to come up with a reason to shut down for a
little while, not to mention diverting power and other types of
operations. Thus lack of enough power supply caused the price to go up,
netting Enron millions while rolling blackouts were causing havoc all
over CA. It really is amazing to see how it's portrayed in the film and
makes me want to read more about Enron. Definitely worth checking this
film out!
We stayed the night in NO because we had a wedding to go to the next
day...got up late Sat morning...finally checked out and ate lunch at
Nirvana (they have a buffet at lunch that's pretty good). Nirvana is
our 2nd favorite Indian restaurant in New Orleans - Taj Mahal being our
fave. After lunch we went back to Canal Place to see the new Todd
Solondz movie Palindromes. Typical of Todd's
movies, this one is disturbed on many levels, but oddly amusing. Not
nearly as funny as Welcome to the
Dollhouse, but I laughed probably more than I should have. I
think I enjoyed it more than Chris did. Our general consensus - Todd
Solondz is a sick mother-f***er! The movie is about a girl (12) who
wants to have a baby. When she does get pregnant her parents force her
to have an abortion...which then leads to her running away, getting
raped by a trucker, meeting up with some ultra religious family, and
getting involved in murder. Everything comes around full circle - hence
the name Palindromes. Forward or back it's all the same messed up story
line that only Todd would come up with and manage to twist into an
amusing tale.
We did a little shopping after the movie and then headed to Rayne
Methodist Church where are friends Hope & Press got married. It was
a nice ceremony, relatively short. They looked great and very happy.
After the ceremony their friends and family waited for them outside and
watched as they got into their pink, stretch limo.
The party then headed over to the West Bank where the reception was
held. One of Press' friends was the DJ and had a good selection of
tunes. Press also had secured some groovy disco lights and a smoke
machine...the bride and groom entered to eveyone clappying/stomping to
Queen's "We Will Rock You". We stayed for a few hours and danced a
little towards the end when The Troublemakers played. It was a pretty
casual party...even Tee-Eva (of Tee-Eva's homemade pies) and Ernie
K-Doe's widow showed up and were dancing with everyone. Very cool. We
saw an old friend, Ann, at the wedding ceremony and was hoping to chat
with her more at the reception...but unfortunately she didn't show up
before we left. We got home a little before midnight last night. There
was a boquet of flowers waiting for me - my friend, Amy, sent them.
Thanks Ames! And I opened some cards and presents from my Mom (Thanks
Mom!)
Today we did some shopping (groceries) and just hanging around the
house. Chris is going to make me a German Chocolate cake later...I'll
take the leftovers to work. Tomorrow I get 2 more hours of work done on
a tattoo - I've put it off for over a year now. Time to go back and
suffer. Fun fun fun.
-posted by Kelly
Thursday , 12
MAY
05
I thought I would add a
show review since the last mention of shows was my SXSW diary. Last
night I went over to New Orleans with our friend Neal to see The
Decemberists. He came over a bit early so we could go get dinner at
Juan's Flying Burrito. Unfortunately, when we arrived there was a line
out the door. We decided to just get burritos to go and eat outside of
Starbucks further up Magazine Street. That way we could get caffeinated
after eating. I ordered a black bean burrito on a spinach tortilla with
corn, cilantro, and potatoes. Neal ordered one of the flying burritos,
I think with chicken. Mine ended up on a plain flour tortilla (which is
fine), but instead of potatoes they had put in tomatoes. I hate fucking
tomatoes. Bleah! At least they were sliced and not too difficult to
pick out, especially since there were only four large slices. If they
had been diced I would have been really pissed off and taken it back.
We both agreed that neither of our burritos was as good as they usually
are. Maybe they just threw them together being so busy, but it was a
disappointment. At least I could get a peppermint frappucino light to
make up for it (kind of). The cafe at Barnes and Noble in Gulfport
doesn't have the peppermint flavoring syrup for some reason, so when I
go to a Starbucks I frequently have it added for extra flavor. Yum!
We headed over to Twi Ro Pa around 9.30pm since the show was scheduled
to start at 10pm. It was kind of odd that it was held in the Big Room,
which is set up shotgun style with the stage at one end of the room and
the area for the audience is long and kind of narrow. I had seen
godspeedyoublackemperor! here in the Big Room, which is a fine venue,
although with hot weather arriving it was warm, humid, and sticky. The
Tchoupotoulas Room, where I saw Tortoise last year, is smaller and more
intimate, may have been more suitable for this show, but it was a
pretty large crowd and may not have accomodated the masses.
Willy Mason had been touring on this second leg with The Decemberists,
but became ill and had to cancel, so Rebecca Gates (formerly of The
Spinanes) had been selected to fill in as the opener. Honestly, I'm
actually glad Rebecca replaced Willy Mason. I've heard some of the
Willy Mason songs Kelly has downloaded, and I didn't care too much for
him. I was much more excited about the show when I found out last week
that Rebecca was going to open.
It was an 18+ show, but damn I must be getting old because everyone
looked really young. College students just keep looking younger all the
time or something. Neal is six or seven years younger than me, but he
said he was getting annoyed with the 'O.C.' crowd. I thought that was
kind of funny, and I could kind of see his point. A bunch of young,
obnoxious kids with their cellphones/cameras and digital cameras who
had probably only heard one or two of the Decemberists songs on MTV2's
'Subterranean' show or possibly on WTUL, who wouldn't shut up during
most of the show. The comment that probably got me the most, although
it was mildly amusing, was this guy in front of us during Rebecca's set
who when I quietly cheered when she mentioned previously living in
Portland, said to us, 'Oh, you're from Portland?' and I told him I
moved from there ten years ago, to which he replied something else then
said, 'This crowd makes me feel really old.' I told him I knew what he
meant, and he asked how old I was. When I replied, '34', he kind of
looked at me in an odd way, so I asked how old he was, and he said
'26.' I must be ancient to some people.
Anyway, the music...Rebecca seemed kind of tipsy at first, like she was
slightly drunk or something, but she still played well. It was very
quiet just her and her guitar, which wasn't the most complementing
opener, especially with the previously mentioned O.C. kids who wouldn't
shut their mouths. The usual reason I hate going to shows since while
I'd like to hear the music, some shitheads can't keep their fucking
mouths shut. Go outside, or better yet go home and listen to your iPods
jerks. There were a few fans, and I have to say the crowd did give some
polite applause. Despite the low volume, it was great to hear Rebecca
again. In my opinion, she has one of the prettiest voices of anyone,
after fifteen years or so of playing. She talked with the crowd some
and played songs from her newest record on Badman Recordings, as well
as a few old Spinanes songs, and my favorite was the song she's
contributed to Found Magazine's compilation. The lyrics were written by
an anonymous (unknown?) writer, and she wrote the music, but it fit
really well. A very pleasant set to listen to.
It's difficult to describe The Decemberists, but especially listening
to their most recent album, I find them to be theatrical indie pop
music. There are six (or is it seven?) band members, and always
something different to look at, whether it's the upright bass, violin,
or accordion. The band itself is not unpleasant to look at, and seem to
want to draw your gaze with funny hats or amusing dancing while
playing. What I had trouble keeping my focus from was the female
keyboardist/accordion player. She looked SO familiar and I knew I
recognized her from somewhere, but couldn't put my finger on it and it
was bugging me the whole show. I was talking with the merchandise guy
(from London) touring with the band and he said her name was Jenny
Conlee. I looked it up later on google.com and found out she went to
OSU and played in a hippy jam band from Corvallis called Colobo. I
think I had a class with her at some point as well, but I do remember
the band who actually did pretty well in Portland, even though they
weren't really my taste. Anyway, The Decemberists sounded really good
and seemed to be enjoying their first trip to New Orleans except for
the heat and humidity which the singer kept mentioning. They played
many of the songs from their new record (which Neal doesn't like as
much) and a few older ones. Overall, despite the heat and crowd, it was
a really enjoyable show. Their brand of quirky/silly/borderline
snobbish pop translates well from album to live performance.
-posted by Chris
Monday , 09 MAY
05
File this one under "It's
the end of the world as we know it" - an interesting story of exploding
toads in Hamburg (Germany), no really...it's true.
So we saw the movie Crash
yesterday. It was good although the whole time I kept thinking of
Henry Rollins calling it a bit contrived (if you haven't seen Henry's
monthly film review on IFC, you really ought to check it out). I agree
with Henry's friend, Heidi, though - it's just a movie. And a pretty
decent one at that. It hits the subject of racism over and over from
many perspectives and shades of skin color, interweaving several
stories together. The acting is really good and even though a lot of us
already recognize racism when we see it, it's nice to see Hollywood
take a stab at dealing with it. Contrived...yes...but it's just a movie!
-posted by Kelly
Sunday , 08 MAY
05
Normally, I would have
given my mom a call today to wish her a happy mother's day, but she and
my dad arrived in Ireland today after spending two weeks in Scotland.
They've been touring around hiking and walking with some walking tour
group. Pretty impressive. I'm glad that they are able to get out and do
things like that more often now that my dad has retired. They've always
travelled and been in good shape, but it's all the more impressive to
me since my mom has had her thyroid removed and undergone radiation
treatment for a cancerous growth that was found in her body a few years
ago. It's gone, and she's doing really well, but she still has to go
for regular check-ups. Not the most convenient thing to do since they
sold their house and are living at their cabin near Telluride, Colorado
(about 50 miles or so away). They're going to start building hopefully
sometime this summer on the land they purchased between Glenwood
Springs and Vail. I think that I've always had an itch to travel since
I've gone with my parents, but more since they've been all over the
world and told us about the many places they've been. I've wanted to
get out and experience them myself. Of course domestic travel is a bit
more feasible since it's less expensive and I don't have a job where I
can travel with the government footing the airfare, but eventually
Kelly and I plan to go to many of the places together that she has
already been to, as well as others that my parents have recommended.
Biking was good today. I went early since it's getting warmer as it
gets later into the day, so the earlier I go out, the cooler (and
that's relative) it is. Not too many people on the trail today, which
was fine with me. It was dry, although the damn sand was still in
abundance and an annoyance, but I managed not to spin out around any
corners. In fact, I didn't have any spills at all (therefore no battle
scars) and had one of my faster times on the trails today. I did the
whole 11-mile Briar Patch/Couch/Badlands loop in an hour and ten
minutes. That probably sounds like a long time, which compared to
others, it is, but usually I ride it in one hour and 20-30 minutes, so
I was impressed with myself to better my time. I'm trying to get as
much practice in before I participate in the race in June. After I got
home, we cleaned the house, then went to Barnes and Noble before going
to see the movie 'Crash'. It was pretty good, but I think Kelly is
going to write about it tomorrow, so I'll leave the review to her.
Yesterday, while Kelly was cooking with the ladies from work, I was at
Gary's watching anime. We also added some more music to my new mp3
player that arrived last week since he has the same type, just the 40GB
model which I had previously. We ended up watching six discs from five
different series. First was 'Please Twins' disc 3 (kind of a
comedy/drama/romance), then discs 3 and 4 of 'D.N.Angel'
(fantasy/drama/romance/comedy), disc 6 of 'Read or Die TV'
(action/drama), disc 2 of 'Samurai Champloo' (action/adventure/comedy)
which begins airing next Sat. night on Cartoon Network's adultswim and
will be a perfect fit with it's combination of hip-hop and samurai
action. It also has onne of the soundtracks I've really enjoyed lately.
And finally, we ended with disc one of 'Midori Days'. This has to be
one of my favorite series, mainly because I've been reading the manga
lately and the anime follows it closely, but with minor differences
that make it even more enjoyable. The story concept is pretty sick when
you initially think about it, but it's actually quite a nice tale. The
prmise is that Midori, a second year high school student, is in love
with a slightly older student named Seiji, but they go to different
schools and Midori only sees Seiji from afar, watching him at the train
station, but never getting up the courage to approach him. Seiji has a
reputation as being a tough badass, getting into fights often, and
defeating his opponents with his 'demon right fist'. Anyway, one
morning Seiji wakes up and finds that his right hand has turned into
the upper torso, head, and arms of Midori (sick and wrong, eh?). Midori
is overjoyed that now she can be with her beloved Seiji, but all in all
it's a series of awkward events and the two of them getting used to
being attached to each other. Midori's normal body is at her house in
bed sleeping, but not waking up all while she is now part of Seiji.
Anyway, it's kind of a comedy of errors, but with 'touching' scenes of
how Seiji isn't really the tough 'punk' kid he's rumored to be. Of
course there are all sorts of other factors involved such as Seiji's
bullying older sister, another girl with a secret crush on Seiji, the
neighbor's young daughter who wants to be seen as more than a 'kid
sister' to Seiji, and an otaku schoolmate of Seiji who has an obsession
for dolls and wants Midori for his own. A really enjoyable series which
the only really disappointing thing to me is that it's just 13 episodes
long spread over 3 dvd's. I can't wait to see the next two discs, which
volume 2 comes out at the end of this month, and the final disc is out
in July. Ah, the strange interests of anime fans such as myself.
-posted by Chris
Sunday , 08 MAY
05
(link removed)
The
Fakes - 'Lil Mommy' from 'Real Fiction' (Chainsaw
Records)
It's a lazy Sunday morning. At least lazy for me...Chris is off biking
the trails. Hopefully he won't come back with more "battle wounds". I'm
doing laundry and other house type stuff. But first I wanted to update
the blog since it's been almost a week. Plus remove some of the old
links, etc...
So what have I done so far this weekend? Friday night Chris and I
headed to New Orleans. We stopped by Whole Foods to pick up some stuff
that we generally can't find on the MS coast. Then we met our friend,
Eli, at Sake Cafe. Actually when we first got there our other friends,
Press & Hope, were there. They're getting married next week, so
that's what we'll be doing next week. So we chatted with them for a few
minutes...I think they might come visit us soon...stay the weekend out
here, which would be cool. I'm sure they'll need a few weeks mental
break after the whole wedding thing. It was nice seeing Eli. I
hadn't seen him in a couple of years. The last time I saw him was just
happenstance in DC...I was going to a Man
or Astroman? show at the Black Cat and saw him out on the sidewalk near
that area. Anyway...it was fun talking to him and catching up on what
he's been
up to and future plans. The food there is usually good...but I think
next time I'm going to stick with sushi, because my entree (snowcrab
stuffed shrimp w/ peanut-wasabi sauce) was so-so. Chris' sushi was
pretty good though.
Yesterday I had an all-day cooking party with some gals from work. We
do this every so often...and the theme this time was Hawaiian. It was a
nice chance to see Lauren's new house (which is very nice). So we
cooked and drank lots of fruity cocktails (mai tais, blue Hawaiians,
banana daiquiris, hummingbirds, pina coladas). It's amazing I'm not
hungover. After cooking we all hopped in her pool and lounged around.
None of us could eat much of the food since we'd been grazing while
prepping. But it all turned out good (at least what I tasted). Here's a
picture of the spread w/ Cathy & Allison doing the arrangement.
So my song for today comes from my more riotous grrrl days. I've been a
huge Kathleen Hanna fan (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, etc...) for many years.
I even had the chance to interview her once...but ended up just giving
her a list of questions that she and the other Bikini Kill members
filled out and sent back. One of these days I ought to dig that up and
post it. Anyway...I found it rather odd when Le Tigre signed to a major
label for their 3rd full length release. It's a good record, just hard
to get over it being on Universal. So they're on a major label
now...that doesn't mean they sold out, right? And is that whole concept
of selling out even vaild anymore? I mean the corporate world has
become so intertwined with "indie" I don't know if there are real
distinctions. So last week I was shopping at Old Navy and heard this
great song being blasted throughout the store...go figure I can listen
to Le Tigre while shopping at a box store now. Not that I really care
about them being on a major label...it's all about the music & I
like the music! The Fakes was a short lived project w/ Kathleen Hanna,
Rachel Carns (ex- Kicking Giant, the Need, etc...), Tim Green (ex-
Nation of Ulysses, Lice, etc...) and other guest performers. They put
out one great album several years ago and I picked out "Lil Mommy"
because it seemed kind of fitting after listening to Kathleen singing
in Old Navy. Hope you like it.
-posted by Kelly
Monday , 02 MAY
05
Label this one
"Florida does it again..."
So the other day I was listening to NPR and heard this story about a 13
year old ward of the state in Florida who is 13 weeks pregnant and is
seeking an abortion. Big surprise that the beaurocrats in Florida
have filed a motion to block her access to an abortion and now the case
is in the Florida court system. No, it's bad enough that the 13 year
old is pregnant, but she has made a choice to end the pregnancy. Is it
really somehow better for the girl to be forced into having an unwanted
baby than to let her exercise her free will? I'm just waiting for Gov.
Jeb Bush and/or the state legislature to step in and create some new
law making wards of the state ineligble for abortions because in their
twisted logic somehow they would turn it into the state sponsoring
abortion or something like that. Hell...maybe the US Congress can get
involved - we all know how far they'll go to protect one Floridian's
life.
I wouldn't be so irritated with Gov. Bush's pro-life views if he was at
least consistent about them. Check out this website that's calling him
out for his
"state-assisted suicides" of prisoners on death row. Don't get me
wrong...I'm not necessarily against capital punishment. However, I do
think the website has a point about the inconsistency of "probably the
most Pro-Life governor in history" passing legislation in 2000 to make
executions easier and quicker in Florida. Here are some fun facts about
Florida's Death
Row.
-posted by Kelly
Sunday , 01 MAY
05
What a lazy
day. The weather was beautiful, sunny with a small breeze, and not too
hot at all. We debated whether we should go to Jazz Fest, and as much
as I would have enjoyed the Tribute to John Coltrane featuring his son,
Ravi Coltrane, and McCoy Tyner, the idea of paying $35 each mainly for
that made a quick decision for us. The crowds probably wouldn't have
been as bad as the previous two days which featured Widespread Panic
and The Dave Matthews Band (on Fri. and Sat. respectively), but we just
didn't feel like driving over to New Orleans and dealing with the
crowds. Instead we went over to the Gulfport/Biloxi area and did some
shopping. We went again to Circuit City to look at the Sirius satellite
radio receivers, and think we are closer to choosing the one we want,
but will probably wait until next weekend or later to decide for sure.
Kelly went to Old Navy to buy some clothes while I walked down to
Barnes and Noble for a coffee fix and to read manga outside while
waiting for Kelly. Afterwards we went to the mall then back to Walmart
for groceries then home. I was planning to go biking this evening, but
for some reason my lower back had a shooting twinge of pain, so I'll
wait until tomorrow evening after work. I did get my mountain bike back
from the shop in Slidell on Thur. evening (it only took them two days
to repair after the shop in Gulfport couldn't even get the disc after
six days- guess who I won't be going to next time?). If it hadn't
stormed so much yesterday and dumped so much rain I would have been at
the trails today, but riding after a hard rain isn't too good for trail
erosion. I can wait until next weekend to hit the trails again. I have
a whole month before the Bump
and Grind race in Birmingham on June 5. My sister, Katie is
finishing her first year of medical school in Iowa on the 26th of this
month and has some free time before she works at this cancer camp for a
week beginning June 11. She is planning to come down to visit us and
join me in the race. That would be a lot of fun.
Speaking of siblings, my brother Matthew, called us yesterday morning
(he and I don't talk to each other often unfortunately with our
schedules and not always have been too close) out of the blue to tell
us that he had participated in this poker tournament in Boulder
(sponsored by pokerplayersinc.com) and won the 46 person tournament.
Give a shout out to him. I'm really happy for him since he didn't
really start to play Texas Hold 'Em that seriously (well, in an
organized manner) since he and I participated in a tournament in Las
Vegas last December. He did better than I then, but he's now apparently
gotten much better. He said he was kind of a 'dark horse' and pissed
off some of the regulars when he took them out, including one guy who
didn't have anything to blurt out except, 'Fuck!' Heh, heh. Good job,
Matt. I told him he needs to come down and visit us (we've lived here
almost ten years now and he is the only one who hasn't come to visit us
yet) and play with our group of regulars. He said that he and the girl
he's dating are considering going on a cruise this summer and would
look into one leaving the Port of New Orleans. It would be great to
have him visit.
Before getting into anime, Gary and I used to be major Star Wars geeks.
We still are kind of, but the last couple of films combined with the
marketing greed of George Lucas have really turned us off. Still, Darth
Vader is always my favorite, and I got a good laugh when Gary sent me
this link: http://darthside.blogspot.com/
Speaking of anime, next Saturday Kelly is going to a cooking party with
the gals from her work so Gary and I are having another Anime Fest. It
should be a good one since Gary's received quite a few new discs to
continue series we've been watching. May though seems to be a huge
month of new releases coming out and I have to say that his recent
order list was most impressive. A lot of series that were licensed are
coming out, plus other continuing series are getting further into the
story. I'm looking forward most to Madlax, Onegai Twins, Samurai
Champloo, and Maburaho, as well as any others we manage to fit in. I'll
also be able to load some of the mp3's that Gary has onto my new 60GB
player which is scheduled to arrive this week. That is something else
to look forward to.
-posted by Chris
