Category Archives: Media

sunday night recap

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Friday night was fun. I met up with Scott & the guys at Shorty’s, which is a vaguely sketchy bar with the most disgusting Trainspotting-esque ladies room I’ve ever witnessed. (No seat, just a bowl. And it won’t flush. Lovely.) So we quickly left there (for which I was extremely grateful) and headed over to Kell’s, which seems to have become my favorite Irish bar in Seattle. After that we ended up at a gay dance club on First called Sonja’s or something like that, which was pretty cool. And kind of amusing to notice how all the guys seemed a little more tense in that environment. I guess it’s just ingrained in the heterosexual-male nature.

Anyway, Scott & I checked out apartments on Saturday, but didn’t find much that I was just absolutely head-over-heels for. I think the problem is that I am just not willing to live in a place without a washer & dryer. I’ve done the laundromat thing — or worse, the shared laundry facilities where you feel safe enough to leave your stuff alone and then your neighbors move it out of the washer so they can put their stuff in, and then you have to live with the knowledge that your neighbors have handled your underthings. And I’m just not willing to go through that again. Call me a spoiled brat if you must. But most of the places I saw on Saturday didn’t even have a dishwasher, which I think of as a pretty basic home appliance, and I am totaly unprepared to deal with that.

In any case, I have decided that if I move to Seattle, I either want to live in Queen Anne or Eastlake or something in that general area. I like the idea that I could have ample sources of entertainment (bars, restaurants, etc.) within walking distance. So today, I thought I’d check out the Sunday listings just to see if there was anything new, and there was, so I went back to check them out. (I’m starting to think of this as a fantasy that I like indulging. I haven’t actually committed to anything yet.) I found 4 places that I really, really like — and 2 of them I may actually be able to afford. One is in Queen Anne (and it has the required amenities), and the other is in the University District, on a street that’s only about 3 blocks from Dante’s, the bar with the cool devil matchbooks and the evil knock-you-on-your-butt shots. I don’t know if that type of thing should dictate where I live, unless I have aspirations of becoming an alcoholic (which I don’t), but it’s a cool idea. That one is not actually an apartment, it’s the upstairs of a house that’s basically been converted into a duplex-type setup.

So that’s about it for my weekend. Watched a couple of movies last night, “Bend It Like Beckham” and “The Hours”. I guess I had a chick flick moment at the video store, but I really liked both of them. Although I have to say, I don’t know why Nicole Kidman won the best actress Oscar for “The Hours”, because I honestly thought her character was the most boring of the 3 female leads. I thought both Meryl Streep & Julianne Moore were better. But hey, that’s just me.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

goodbye to "sexy motherf*er"

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Ok, this story absolutely cracked me up. I want to move to Minnesota just in the off chance Prince might knock on my door & try to convert me. However, this part made me a little sad:

“Prince, who once demanded to be known by a symbol rather than by his name, reportedly banned 50 explicit songs from his playlist after his religious awakening in 2001. “

And you know, his explicit songs are the only ones I like. No more “Erotic City” or “Gett Off”? What’s the point?!?!!

kill bill

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If anyone hasn’t seen this movie yet, stop what you’re doing right now & go see it.

Be warned – it’s extremely violent. As if there are any Tarantino movies out there that aren’t. But in this case, the violence is almost cartoonish – someone gets a limb hacked off & it sprays blood like a opened fire hydrant. So it’s actually kind of funny.

And I must say, I have a whole new respect for Uma after seeing this. Damn that girl kicks butt.

flicks flicks flicks…

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This has been an unusual weekend for me because I’ve gone to see 2 movies. Ok, I realize it’s not that unusual, but it is for me. Anyway, here’s my critique…

Friday night, Scott & I went to see Once Upon A Time in Mexico. I dug it. Some of it was a little too gruesome for my taste (people having vital body parts forcibly removed is sooooooo not cool with me), but overall it was good. I love Antonio Banderas as the El Mariachi character – it’s pretty much the only role I’ve seen him in where every single move he makes is sexy. I like that they didn’t try to cover up the fact that he has a couple of gray hairs now, too. It made him a little more real. And for the guys, there’s also Salma Hayak (yeah, ok, she dies – but she’s still hot), and there’s one other token hot chick in the movie, although I have no idea who she is. She wasn’t a great actress either – I think they just needed one other female who had a good rack in a tight t-shirt.

The star of the movie, however, is definitely Johnny Depp, who is awesome as the straight man. It seems like for a few years there he was verging right on the edge of falling into the category of pretty boy actor, but he’s shown a bit of depth over the last few movies I’ve seen him in, and I swear, that guy can deliver the perfect one-liner. Best quote: “Are you a Mexi-can or a Mexi-can’t?”

One gripe: Enrique Iglesias?? Who the hell made THAT casting decision?!?!!

Then tonight, Krissy & I went to see Under the Tuscan Sun. I had heard this was a good date movie, but I think it was all single women in the audience. Which I guess is appropriate for a “I hate my life and I’m moving to Europe” kind of film. Anyway, Diane Lane is really good, and I liked it a lot. I doubt that it was anything even remotely like my sister’s Italy experience, but it reminded me of that anyway. So yeah…. Pretty much a total chick flick, but I recommend it. Good female-oriented escapism.

Ok, that’s it. I’m off to bed.

pending newsbreak

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Hmm… Weird. There’s actually a LOT of stuff going on that I’d like to write about, but none of it is really for public consumption as of yet. Not trying to be paranoid or anything, I’m just never sure who’s reading this.

Ok. So there might be news at some point in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

Last night, Scott & I went to Giggles comedy club in Seattle with his friend Jen. I didn’t know the guy who was headlining, but it turned out that one of the openers was Duane Goad, who is quite possibly one of the funniest comics I’ve ever seen. Seriously, that guy is solely responsible for the destruction of that evening’s eyeliner, because I laughed until I cried. I probably don’t do that often enough – those “oh my god I’m going to die because I can’t breathe” laughs. Awesome. Anyway, happy coincidence that he happened to be there last night.

I guess that’s about it. Right now tonight’s plans are a toss-up between Cirque du Soleil and salsa dancing. Hmmm… I’m torn. Oh well, we’ll figure it out.

Btw, big shout-out to Kris, who just accepted a full-time job at Goldsmith’s department store in Memphis (which is owned by Macy’s, so it’s a good, solid corporation). Here’s hoping that you get the chance to dance your booty off tonight, baby girl!

studying, jobs, etc

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For those of you who might need this tip someday, here’s a quick & easy way to make a computer geek’s day: I got home from work today, and my Microsoft books from Amazon were waiting next to my front door. Ah yes, all the studying and splitting headaches I have to look forward to over the coming weeks… I can’t wait! Seriously, I am excited to get going on this whole Windows Server 2003 thing. I think it’s going to be cool. Yeah yeah, I’m a nerd.

So, I read this really cool article yesterday on MSN.com that was called something to the effect of “7 signs that the job market is about to improve”. I was going to post it here so all of my friends who are struggling could read it & take a little bit of hope from it, but of course I didn’t save the link and now all the Google searching in the world can’t find that stupid article. So for those of you who need encouragement: in a nutshell, these economists are saying that recessions are historically always followed by booms in the job market, and they’re predicting that 2004 is going to be the year it starts. (Makes sense… I really try not to be political at all, but I personally think that things will get better as soon as we get a new guy in the White House.) So hang in there, you guys. This too shall pass.

And a totally unrelated side note: has anyone seen the video for “Stacy’s Mom” by Fountains of Wayne? I didn’t really like the song to begin with – the guy having a crush on the mother of one of his peers kind of reminded me of the whole thing with Stifler’s mom in “American Pie” – but the video really managed to horrify me. The kid who’s crushed out on Stacy’s mom can’t possibly be more than 11 years old! I mean, kudos to Fountains of Wayne for getting retired-supermodel Rachel Hunter to play the mom, but the whole take-off of that scene from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” with Phoebe Cates (or Rachel Hunter in this case) in the red bikini…. it really bothered me that a child was playing Judge Reinhold’s role in that scenario. Just watching it made me feel dirty.

censorship & ladies undergarments

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Originally posted: September 8, 2003

Ok, pretty much everyone I know & respect hates Limp Bizkit, and I know that I should hate them, but I don’t. I agree that Fred Durst is a mysoginistic egomaniac, and the lyrics are vapid, but damned if they don’t make the best music in the world to listen to at the gym. It also helps with getting rid of road rage. (Blast it really loud, sing along and yell the f-word about 40 times in less than 3 minutes, and feel pretty darn serene afterward.) I guess you could say they’re kind of a guilty pleasure of mine.

So LB has this new single out, called “Eat You Alive”. Probably not the best song I’ve ever heard by them, but I’m reserving judgment until the album comes out. I saw the video for it this morning, which is interesting because it has Thora Birch (from American Beauty) and Bill Paxton in it. The one really notable thing about the song is that there’s a line in it where he says something like “no doubt I’d love to sniff on them panties”. Now, if you ask me, this is a pretty disgusting & offensive song lyric. Not that I really blame Fred Durst for writing it – I think that if a guy dates Playboy Playmates for too long, he’ll start to think that type of thing is sexy, and it’s really just so not. (I hope all of my male friends are taking notes on this. Write it down, guys: panty sniffing = icky.)

Anyway, I guess the folks at MTV also found this particular song lyric disgusting & offensive, so their solution? They bleeped the word panties!! Ok, I agree that it’s a gross line, but since when is “panties” considered obscene?!?!!

I’m just trying to imagine how this kind of blind censorship could affect those Victoria’s Secret commercials. “All (beep) are on sale for only $2.99 until September 30th…” No one would understand what they sell, so people would stop shopping there, and they’d go out of business. Which I suppose is no big loss, but then where would all the rude salesgirls work? They might filter out and find employment among the rest of us, and that would be tragic. I personally sleep better at night knowing that they’re all in one place.

I guess the moral of the story is that MTV has no problem showing women in their panties (or less, in certain videos), but saying the word out loud is a big no-no.

Go fig.