Pork Chop Dilettante

Laundry Day

I finally ventured out into the world of laundr-o-mats today. Yes, that is correct--I've never used one before. Oh, except when I was in Italy, but I'm just referencing the States here. I was feeling very city-girl as I broke my 20 to get a caramel macchiato and then ventured to the "Super Laundry Center" on St Paul Street. I started my wash and sat down to do some crosswords while some art teachers griped about the "art world" in the back. A little boy was watching Power Puff girls, much to my detriment, but what did I care? I had puzzles to do and a David Sedaris book to read.

I was cherishing this moment of urban life when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, a giant cockroach crawled across the floor as if he was making a break for it. No one else noticed, so I smooshed him with my shoe and scooped him up with a CVS circular. Ugh. One of the less glam aspects of living in a city. At least it wasn't in my apartment. I didn't set any of my bags on the floor just to be sure I didn't carry one home with me. Don't need any roach immigrants in my place.

It has been snowing off and on today, making the city look beautiful. Less dirty. Unless you're in Philly, when the plowed snow collects a film of black soot to remind you of all the disgusting filth you walk on every day. Even the snow can't hide it forever. I'm listening to my record player a lot the past few days, mostly because my CD player no longer works but also because I have some cool records. Right now I'm listening to Frank Sinatra. Yesterday, it was Astrud Gilberto and Jack Johnson. The day before, it was The Beatles. Sometime Seamus tries to catch the record as it spins around, so I have to be careful. He's been mostly interested in swatting at the falling snow from the windowsill this afternoon.

The AFC Championship game was last night, and the Ravens lost. I'm a little bummed, for one who never really got into football until October of 2007. McGahee was injured pretty badly in the fourth quarter and the dudes in the booth kept replaying his brutal impact with Clark of the Steelers. It was pretty nasty--lots of whiplash. I don't understand why we needed to see it 17 times. I asked the barista at Starbucks today, as if he'd know, and he blames it on our nation's fascination with violence. "Just watch the UFC," he said. No thanks. No likey.

I've started cleaning with vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda. I use microfiber towels and it seems to be working pretty well. I still need at least one or two rolls of paper towels (mostly to mop up cat puke or other gross things I don't want on my towels, even though they're washable), but at least I'm using a lot less. I feel bad to waste so many trees when we can just reuse rags and towels. I'm even going to cut up old fitted sheets and t-shirts and turn them into dust rags. They weren't nice enough for Goodwill but they're great for cleaning!

Oh, I want to plug a great little blog that my friend Jen turned me on to: Bakerella. I used one of her recipes Saturday to make Brownie Candy Cups. Very yum! I love her photography and her awesome baking ideas. She is a very cool chica. She even made Mii cupcakes in celebration of her contest to win a Nintendo Wii! I will be entering it as soon as this blog post is finished.

Thank God it's over

I am so DONE with this election. I'm so glad that the campaigning is finally over. Both guys were getting on my nerves in a big way. What angers me most about any election is the escalating vitriol and nastiness from both candidates. Also, there is very little respect given to third party candidates. It's nearly impossible for someone to run for any office--you have to raise enough money to hire lawyers who will make sure you are correctly filing all your beaurocratic paperwork, first of all--and I don't think that's what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they fought for, among other things, our freedom of choice. John Stossel did a great piece on this for 20/20 a few weeks ago:

John Stossel is one reporter I'll sit up straight for.

FYI, I am eating the most delicious skillet meal right now. Who knew a frozen dinner could be so good? It's a Voila! garlic shrimp dish by Bird's Eye. I bought three (with coupons, of course) because if I send in the UPC's and a rebate form, I will get A Charlie Brown Christmas on DVD! Good deal. I might do it again and get It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, too.

Image courtesy of www.crystalinks.com

Now that Daylight Saving Time has ended, I am trying to adjust to the shorter days. Right now I feel like the darkness at 5pm is causing a bit of claustrophobia on my part. The absense of light makes me feel like I'm trapped inside a box. I'll get used to it, though. The one thing I truly love about the winter solstice is that from each day forward until the summer solstice, the days are getting longer. That's kind of pathetic, but it gets me through.

I really want to hit up Sephora for a major makeup blitz. I look so pasty and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. Ugh. I need some magic powders to make me look like I have a pulse. I'll gather some of my babysitting money and pull together some essentials...soon.

Tonight I am very distracted and am therefore going to conclude this enthralling session of Pork Chop Dilettante. Toodles!

New Obsessions

My first new obsession is Donnie Darko. Yes, it took me long enough to see the movie, I know. It was awesome! I spent over an hour reading interpretations and analyses on web sites and discussion boards. I never cease to amaze myself with how far my geekiness reaches. I am achieving more and more every day. This movie is very bizarre and not one that I thought I'd ever like (demonic bunny rabbit soothsayers are not usually my thing). However, it is a spectacular melting pot of sci-fi, teenage angst, semi-dysfunctional families and dark humor. My only criticism is that some of the characters drop the f-bomb a little too often for my taste. It gets old after a while.

My other new obsession is Deceiver.com. It's fantabulous. I love reading about how hypocritical celebrities are (politicians, PETA, global warming fanatics) . There's always something new to learn.

Some quasi-obsessions: my new reproduction Star Wars lunchbox, She & Him, Assateague Island, and diving through recycling bins to retrieve unclaimed bottle caps from Coca-Cola products (www.mycokerewards.com). 

Catching Up

So I haven't posted in a little while. Sorry, guys. I've had a few crazy weeks! The first weekend in August was the wedding of one of my college roommates and dearest friends. I agreed to be the photographer, which is a very stressful job, but for a friend like her I was happy to oblige. Once I have adjusted the photos for the web I will post a few for you to see.

This past weekend I filled in at the barn on Saturday (hello muscle memory...doing those stalls was a bitch!) and then went to the Virgin Mobile Festival on Sunday. I had a fabulous time, but I've never been to a concert where people crowd-surfed or participated in mosh pits (I know, I live a sheltered life). My best friend from high school came up from Richmond to go to the festival with me. We were mostly excited about Stone Temple Pilots. We were able to find a spot towards the front--however that's where all the good times were happening. There was, of course, the obligatory pre-concert pot-smoking ritual, which happened all around us. Then during Plush some dude fell on my neck as he attempted to crowd surf. After that, we got stuck in not one, but two mosh pits, and finally I'd had enough of people nearly falling on my head so I ran to the far edge of the crowd so I wouldn't get hurt.

Before STP, Iggy Pop and the Stooges were on. Iggy Pop is ridiculous but very entertaining. 'Nuff said. Anyway, when we got there, She & Him was finishing up on the South Stage. They were really good! I'm glad I was able to catch their performance. After STP was Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor is almost unrecognizable now as a beefcake. Laura and I stood around for the first three songs but didn't know any of them so we left to go see Kanye West. Woo hoo! He was really good, as I expected. We didn't stay long enough to hear Stronger (really disappointed but I wanted to go to bed). On our way out of the race track, we heard the start of Head Like a Hole and ran back in so we could hear that live. That was a treat!

This Saturday I'm headed to the beach with my family, and let me tell you, va-K couldn't come any sooner. I have plenty of books to read and I can't wait to get out on the sand. I hope the water temp is good this year, and even more than that, I hope that it doesn't rain all week like it did last year.

 

Oh, before I go, I watched two good movies last night: The Savages and The Girl in the Cafe. Surprisingly, The Savages wasn't completely depressing considering it was about dealing with a convalescing parent and estranged siblings. The Girl in the Cafe was a thought-provoking May-December romance/social justice film that took place in Britain and Iceland. It was really poignant.

Snobs

I read a blog entry yesterday that totally annoyed me. It was written by Rob O'Connor over at Yahoo! Music Blogs and it listed the 25 best alternative rock bands of the 1990s. Most people who know me well are aware of how little patience I have for snobs. I'm not talking about people like my friend "Fred", who is a film snob, but at least he studied it in college and has cultivated taste based on years of interest and an RIT education. I'm talking about people who culminate lists of obscure bands for nothing more than ego stroking.

Maybe one day, Rob O'Connor will find a link from my blog to his article, and he will think I'm a thin-skinned idiot who doesn't understand his expertise. Whatever. He admitted in his article that he enjoyed leaving Radiohead off the list (it made him chuckle). He intentionally omitted significant bands like Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots because they obviously were not cool enough.

Grunge was at the precipice of 90s alt music, whether you like it or not. Personal taste certainly has its place in the choosing for this list (after all, it is his blog) but one has to draw a line at refusing to acknowledge album sales as an indicator of genuine talent. He clearly didn't want to give props to bands that were too mainstream--reluctantly leaving Nirvana on the list at number 10--for fear of what? Lowering yourself to the ranks of the rest of us? That is symptomatic of elitism. Also, as much as I recognize Tom Waits as a musical genius, he is totally NOT alternative rock. No matter how you swing it, the man is of the experimental genre and is heavily influenced by abstract blues and jazz beats. So he can't be the number 1 alternative rock band.

In no particular order, my list of the best 25 alternative rock bands/artists of the 1990s is as follows:

Jeff Buckley
The Breeders
The Pixies
Radiohead
Elliott Smith
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
Stone Temple Pilots
Smashing Pumpkins
Soundgarden
Nine Inch Nails
Mazzy Star
Weezer
Alice in Chains
Live
Green Day
Flaming Lips
Beck
Garbage
Morrissey
Kate Bush
Travis
Foo Fighters
Goo Goo Dolls
Tori Amos

(now stepping down from my soapbox)

Grammar Queen

On my way to work today, I was listening to one of my favorite stations, 103.1 WRNR, and "Live and Let Die" came on just as I hit Pennsylvania Avenue. Let me ask this: does it bother any of you when you hear the line "in this ever changing world in which we live in"? It truly irks me. Too many prepositions, dude. I feel like such a loser because when I sing along, I leave out one of the "ins". No wonder I'm still single.

 

I just took a couple photos of Liam. Seamus was busy being fat somewhere, otherwise I'd have a photo of him, too. Also, his fur is coarser than Liam's and it reflects a lot more of the flash so he looks weird when I photograph him with this new camera. I need to get him in natural light. In general, I'm not used to this flash. I need to read about the best distances and such  because I end up with crazy shadows, blown out areas and some parts that are underexposed.

yoav

Do you know who this man is? He is an incredible inventor. I praise his originality--just when you think there is nothing new under the sun in this postmodern world, he arrives with his trance-inducing music. He is yoav. He is Israeli-born, South African-raised, and a man after my own heart. That is due to his influences of Depeche Mode, Crowded House, OMD, Massive Attack and Portishead. Love him for that. And yet, you know they are mere influences, not pure derivations, because his sound is his own. His love for modern, club and hip hop music led him to a shroomy adventure in Central Park a few years ago, and there his inventive guitar picking evolved. The entire album, Charmed and Strange, is all his own percussion and playing on his guitar.

I will buy his album as soon as I can, but I've already heard most of it on his web site or on MySpace and I love it. Check him out! Be sure to read his biography on his web site--he has a neat story.

Album cover image courtesy of www.yoavmusic.com.

Moz Mania

Wow, so last week (on Halloween to be exact), my best friend from high school and I went to see Morrissey in concert at the Ramshead Live! in Baltimore. I've been to a few concerts there already, but this one was the most incredible by far. The last "big name" artist I've seen in concert was Tori Amos. In comparison, both artists have quite a cult following, including some very embarrassing specimens that always seem to be near me in the venue. There was one guy who had a Morrissey haircut and stood right up front in the first row, performing an uncanny impersonation of all of Morrissey's hand gestures and facial expressions.

Well, first things first: since it was Halloween, Moz decided to participate in the festivities and instructed his all-male, all veryincrediblysexy band to come out on stage wearing nothing but loin cloths. Even Boz Boorer, a slightly large and in charge man, was quite handsome and took the silly costume request in stride. Thanks to Joe Benzon for the photo.

I was over at stage left, where Jesse Tobias plays his guitar (without my friend Laura, I would have no idea who these people were, so thanks to her for my knowledge!). He was amazing to look at and listen to. Tobias briefly played with the Red Hot Chili Peppers & Alanis Morrissette, and was formerly married to Angie Hart, the lead singer for Frente! (exclamation point is part of the band name, not an indication of my enthusiasm)

The worst part of the show was this annoying old hag who was completely sloshed and actually took a detective badge from some man in the back of the venue. She used it to con her way up front with a friend, staring blankly at all of us who screamed at her to back off. The bouncers said they couldn't do anything about her, but last time I checked, impersonating a police officer was a felony. She actually accosted a woman dressed as a bride and pulled on her veil to make her move. She was persona non grata that night. I hope I see her again so I can get her name and report her to the police (and maybe throw a drink in her face...is that too much?).

The excitement sadly ended, but not before my friend Laura was handed the set list by the keyboardist. Awesome! She was also lucky enough to get a handshake from Moz. Oh well, maybe it will be my turn next tour.

Concert Updates

Well I can cross one item off my life's To Do list: fly solo at a rock concert. I even completed the extra credit and went to two concerts by myself!

Here's a recap:

Last Tuesday I saw Feist at Ramshead Live. Her opening act was Rogue Wave, who had played a few songs live on 103.1 WRNR earlier in the day. They were very good live and I applaud the giant bass player for being secure enough to wear a shirt with a butterfly on it while on stage. Feist was incredibly entertaining--a girl next to me quipped, "Wow, she is SO high right now," but I suspect that Feist is just HIGHly quirky. I may be naive, but I doubt she could be as precise on stage while stoned. Who knows, though. She definitely hit every note and she & her band played quite a long set. I'm glad I went, despite the exceptionally RUDE and PUSHY Baltimorons (I can say that cuz I live in Baltimore) who butted in front of me and blocked my view. I certainly learned my lesson--for my next concert, my elbows will be out and people can only go behind me instead of in front of me.

Last night was the Regina Spektor concert. It's difficult to say which one I liked more--I think that I preferred Regina Spektor because it was just her and her Steinway baby grand (and a guitar at one point). Only Son opened for her; he didn't have a band so he played along with the instrumentals he recorded onto his iPod. He was pretty entertaining and apparently was handpicked by Regina to accompany her on her tour (last night was the first night). During her encore, he came on stage to beat box to Hotel Song while she sang along. It was super cute. SHE was super cute--a vision, in fact, in her cobalt blue dress and coral red lipstick. I was proud of the crowd at Ramshead for giving her a warm welcome and lots of screams of adoration. That kind of thing makes great artists want to return to Baltimore. Apparently, Feist liked Baltimore so much that she handpicked the Ramshead to be a stop on her tour. Woo hoo! Anyway, I was a total dork because I cried when Regina performed these songs: Apres Moi (perhaps my favorite), Samson, and her cover of John Lennon's Real Love. Especially that one--I love that song and it reminds me of when the Beatles Anthology albums came out (I was in high school at the time):   

I think that her interpretation of Real Love is better than the original (gasp!). It's so nice to hear it stripped down to the piano.

On the distant horizon I have back-to-back concerts: Ryan Adams at D.A.R. Constitution Hall on October 30th (going it alone on that one, too) and Morrissey back at Ramshead Live on October 31st (with my best friend from high school). I am just too cool for school!

   

New Music Tuesday

Today I finally purchased The Reminder by Feist. For those unaware, Feist is Leslie Feist, formerly of Broken Social Scene. She grabbed my attention with the single "Mushaboom" from her album Let it Die last spring (I'm a little slow, apparently that album released in 2004. Who knew?).

Anyway, I bought Let it Die last year and while I liked it, I think that this album is much stronger. For example, I thought that "Mushaboom" was the black sheep track on the album and the rest of the songs seemed to be more cohesive. This time around--and I'm not counting the disc I missed inbetween these two, Open Season--the collection is well-edited and I think I might be addicted to it for a while. The quality of Feist's voice is perfect for the hip, indie music scene--it sounds like it was delicately carved out of a sinfully sweet confection; something a bit sticky like caramel or butterscotch. Her songs are minimalist, which is risky, but she pulls it off well because her pieces are of sound structure. My favorite tracks so far are: "The Limit To Your Love", "Brandy Alexander," "I Feel It All," and her latest single "1234".

On a side note, "1234" makes me think of "1,2,3,4 (Sumpin' New)" by Coolio, which was played before many a field hockey game in high school. Gosh, I love Jock Jams. By the way, here is a fun fact: Coolio's real name is Artis Leon Ivey, Jr., and he is now 44 years old. Whoa. Not that 44 is old, but my boss is 45, and besides the fact that he is as white as a cracker, I can't imagine someone his age, with wild dreads, singing "Geto Highlites" (otherwise known as "Gangsta's Paradise").

Now on to a small personal tragedy: I must really have a problem keeping up with the music scene, because Neko Case (formerly of the New Pornographers) will be at the 930 Club in August and her concert is already sold out! I am SO depressed about it. I signed up for 103.1 WRNR's mailing list so I can be privy to any on-air contests to win tickets. I also posted a desperate cry for tickets on Craigslist.org. Somebody please help me! Why oh why did I stop checking her web site every day?? Who told me that was a good idea? I am so out of it.