Wednesday, June 29, 2005
This summer's bloggery has been blissfully free of baseball commentary, but today some notes are warranted based on the pleasantly surprising performance of the Chicago Cubs last night in a game I attended with my fiancee, aunt and two uncles, among some 39,500 others.
There's nothing quite like unexpected bleacher seats at Wrigley, is there? After an afternoon email Monday led to UP and Red Line plans Tuesday night, Laura and I found ourselves in my uncle Mike's standard leftfield bleacher seats at 6:45. The stultifying weather was mitigated somewhat by a very slight breeze off the lake, and more completely by Carlos Zambrano's dominant performance against a team that had shelled him for eight runs the last time they'd met.
Last night's game was a prime example of a close, low-scoring game whose outcome had not much at all to do with the "little things" of baseball announcer lore. Announcers have long trumpeted the need in baseball for laying down sacrifices, running the bases aggressively, hitting behind the runner, and always throwing to the cutoff man. While a few of these things are advisable, what really bothers me is the way close games are often portrayed as paeans or fables to the Little Things, and woe betide the team that does not abide them, for that team will surely be the loser.
Well, unless you count spectacular defense as a "little thing," the Cubs' win last night was basically a product of the normal Cub things: the solo home run and dominating starting pitching. Big Z is still working through his control issues--and frankly many pitchers are at his age--but he was really dealing last night, allowing just 3 hits and zero runs in 8 strong innings. After a few too many flyball outs in the early going, he settled in and seemed to feature his changeup most prominently, consistently producing awkward and delightfully stupid-looking swings from the Brew Crew.
The only real drama of the night came in the top of the eighth, when El Toro started to fade and allowed two men on with nobody out. After a failed sacrifice (courtesy of a gorgeous play by D. Lee) made it first and second with one away, Brady Clark ripped a sinking liner to the gap in left-center. I personally thought Corey Patterson would catch it without much incident, but I'm glad I was wrong: he was forced to make an amazing diving catch just off the grass, then got up and gunned the runner down at second as he slid back in. It was a big moment in a close game, and it was nice to see Corey come through, especially since he struck out a few moments later on his third (!) 0-2 count of the contest.
In terms of offense, Derrek Lee provided all that was necessary with a solo blast that landed not far from where we sat. Ho hum.
In all, the Cubs have allowed zero runs in their last 25 innings pitched, and just four hits in their last two games combined. They've only scored 4 runs since Saturday, but it's been enough to win. And the winning's really the thing, isn't it?
Kerry Wood starts tonight, his first since his DL stint started 4/30. If he gets the win, it may be THE FIRST TIME the vaunted Prior-Wood-Zambrano-Maddux monster records consecutive wins in consecutive starts. My hopes are not raised, but last night was great. This season, so far at least, that's really enough.
There's nothing quite like unexpected bleacher seats at Wrigley, is there? After an afternoon email Monday led to UP and Red Line plans Tuesday night, Laura and I found ourselves in my uncle Mike's standard leftfield bleacher seats at 6:45. The stultifying weather was mitigated somewhat by a very slight breeze off the lake, and more completely by Carlos Zambrano's dominant performance against a team that had shelled him for eight runs the last time they'd met.
Last night's game was a prime example of a close, low-scoring game whose outcome had not much at all to do with the "little things" of baseball announcer lore. Announcers have long trumpeted the need in baseball for laying down sacrifices, running the bases aggressively, hitting behind the runner, and always throwing to the cutoff man. While a few of these things are advisable, what really bothers me is the way close games are often portrayed as paeans or fables to the Little Things, and woe betide the team that does not abide them, for that team will surely be the loser.
Well, unless you count spectacular defense as a "little thing," the Cubs' win last night was basically a product of the normal Cub things: the solo home run and dominating starting pitching. Big Z is still working through his control issues--and frankly many pitchers are at his age--but he was really dealing last night, allowing just 3 hits and zero runs in 8 strong innings. After a few too many flyball outs in the early going, he settled in and seemed to feature his changeup most prominently, consistently producing awkward and delightfully stupid-looking swings from the Brew Crew.
The only real drama of the night came in the top of the eighth, when El Toro started to fade and allowed two men on with nobody out. After a failed sacrifice (courtesy of a gorgeous play by D. Lee) made it first and second with one away, Brady Clark ripped a sinking liner to the gap in left-center. I personally thought Corey Patterson would catch it without much incident, but I'm glad I was wrong: he was forced to make an amazing diving catch just off the grass, then got up and gunned the runner down at second as he slid back in. It was a big moment in a close game, and it was nice to see Corey come through, especially since he struck out a few moments later on his third (!) 0-2 count of the contest.
In terms of offense, Derrek Lee provided all that was necessary with a solo blast that landed not far from where we sat. Ho hum.
In all, the Cubs have allowed zero runs in their last 25 innings pitched, and just four hits in their last two games combined. They've only scored 4 runs since Saturday, but it's been enough to win. And the winning's really the thing, isn't it?
Kerry Wood starts tonight, his first since his DL stint started 4/30. If he gets the win, it may be THE FIRST TIME the vaunted Prior-Wood-Zambrano-Maddux monster records consecutive wins in consecutive starts. My hopes are not raised, but last night was great. This season, so far at least, that's really enough.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Last night I saw Batman Begins at the AMC Cantera 30 with Rick and Rob. I came away impressed, and very pleased about the prospect of more Batman movies with this same team onboard.
Let me state at the outset that I am an inveterate Christian Bale fan. I actually saw Empire of the Sun as a youngster, and I remember liking him even then, which doesn't make much sense but is quite convenient for the purposes of this review. Then I saw American Psycho in college, and honestly it's got some of the sickest, funniest humor I've ever seen in a movie, largely thanks to Bale's performance. I have a very odd sense of humor, so take that for what it's worth. Also I wish I had Mr. Bale's physique, which (sort of) brings me back to my point that I think his Batman is pretty easily the best portrayal I've seen, either on TV or on film. Count me among those who loves the old Adam West show, and even among those who quite liked Michael Keaton, at least in the first Tim Burton film. But I think we can all agree that believability was not among the attributes they brought to the character of Bruce Wayne, and although it's a dangerous thing to desire believability in a superhero flick, it was precisely this characteristic that really allowed me to embrace Bale's Batman more readily than any of his predecessors'. His "millionaire playboy" experience from Pyscho held him in good stead, especially in a funny scene where he's forced to break up his own birthday party. But he also brought his trademark abs and guns to the role, and his readily acceptable combo of balls and brawn made the experience of suspending my disbelief re: the Caped Crusader easier and, really, more enjoyable than ever before.
This is important because the movie starts out somewhere in Asia, involves Wayne's training by a cadre of elite ninjas known as the League of Shadows(?), headed up by Liam Neeson (??), who've hatched an appropriately shadowy plot to bring down Gotham city. Here it seems like a good place to mention that Christopher Nolan directed this movie, and co-wrote, the same C. Nolan in charge of both Memento (a personal fave) and Insomnia, which was probably the best thing Al Pacino's been involved in since the early 80s. In Nolan's capable hands, even the gobbledygook above is pretty enjoyable, and does a solid job of something none of the other Batman movies even attempted to do--explaining just how the hell Bruce Wayne became, y'know, capable of scaling buildings, taking thugs on six-on-one, and disappearing without a whisper. It's a bit slow, but the time they take to lay this stuff out makes Wayne's return to Gotham more satisfying for knowing and believing that one man can take on a whole city and somehow come out on top.
Of course that's not really right--there are other people in the movie besides Bale and Neeson, and actually the cast is pretty star-studded: trusty butler Alfred is played to the hilt by Michael Cane (of whom I've never been a huge fan, but here he's Oscar-worthy, and I'm not really joking), token love interest/childhood buddy/Asst. D.A. is Katie Holmes, Batman’s personal armorer/fixer is Morgan Freeman (enjoyable as always), the future commissioner Gordon is Gary Oldman, Rutger Hauer plays the corrupt president of Wayne Enterprises, and Cillian Murphy takes an extremely effective turn as the Scarecrow.
A word here about Cillian Murphy: he could go on playing bad guys the rest of his career and probably make me quite happy by doing so. He brought excellent touch to the Scarecrow, here played as a psychotic psychiatrist who induces terrifying hallucinations in both patients and enemies using a weaponized psychotropic aerosol. There’s something, I dunno, satisfyingly creepy about him in this movie, something ineffably unsettling. Which is, I think, just what he’s going for, right up until we see our first on-screen hallucination from the patient’s POV, which is concretely unsettling and very well done.
In fact, there are quite a bit more hallucination-POV shots than I was expecting in this movie, but they were all surprisingly good, especially a scene where our hero turns the tables and doles out a little therapy on the good doctor, who’s been unexpectedly dosed with his own drug. The fact is that much of the plot revolves around this drug and its potential use against the citizens of Gotham, and another element of the movie I found enjoyable and believable was that although he came up with a superhero movie-plot-demanded antidote, Batman was unable to dispense this antidote in mass quantities right away. Movies like this are, for me, a balance between the contrived and the realistic, and it should be obvious after almost 1000 words that I thought this balance was steady. For instance, it looks pretty damn hard for Batman to climb up the side of a building in this film. I like that. He’s also capable of driving a tank across the top of a church and not falling through, though, which I also like. Movies like this are supposed to have fantastic moments, but they need to be measured against characters saying intelligent things and acting in consistent ways. Mission accomplished.
Speaking of saying intelligent things, the script is actually pretty funny, and it has the distinction of being delivered through some very solid actors, as I’ve mentioned. Nolan and his co-writer have a good grasp of both spectacle and human touch, something that couldn’t be boasted of any previous Batman script. Even the standard cheesy superhero moments are largely done in fresh or even surprising ways, particularly in one sequence near the end of the film involving the commissioner and the Batmobile. Above all I’m simply pleased to be delivered a good Batman movie that also introduces some more rarely-seen storytelling concepts into the genre: namely character and plot development, measured realism, and Morgan Freeman. Katie Holmes, while regrettably fully-clothed throughout, also lends—as always—a little something extra to the proceedings. I think I’ll go see it again.
Let me state at the outset that I am an inveterate Christian Bale fan. I actually saw Empire of the Sun as a youngster, and I remember liking him even then, which doesn't make much sense but is quite convenient for the purposes of this review. Then I saw American Psycho in college, and honestly it's got some of the sickest, funniest humor I've ever seen in a movie, largely thanks to Bale's performance. I have a very odd sense of humor, so take that for what it's worth. Also I wish I had Mr. Bale's physique, which (sort of) brings me back to my point that I think his Batman is pretty easily the best portrayal I've seen, either on TV or on film. Count me among those who loves the old Adam West show, and even among those who quite liked Michael Keaton, at least in the first Tim Burton film. But I think we can all agree that believability was not among the attributes they brought to the character of Bruce Wayne, and although it's a dangerous thing to desire believability in a superhero flick, it was precisely this characteristic that really allowed me to embrace Bale's Batman more readily than any of his predecessors'. His "millionaire playboy" experience from Pyscho held him in good stead, especially in a funny scene where he's forced to break up his own birthday party. But he also brought his trademark abs and guns to the role, and his readily acceptable combo of balls and brawn made the experience of suspending my disbelief re: the Caped Crusader easier and, really, more enjoyable than ever before.
This is important because the movie starts out somewhere in Asia, involves Wayne's training by a cadre of elite ninjas known as the League of Shadows(?), headed up by Liam Neeson (??), who've hatched an appropriately shadowy plot to bring down Gotham city. Here it seems like a good place to mention that Christopher Nolan directed this movie, and co-wrote, the same C. Nolan in charge of both Memento (a personal fave) and Insomnia, which was probably the best thing Al Pacino's been involved in since the early 80s. In Nolan's capable hands, even the gobbledygook above is pretty enjoyable, and does a solid job of something none of the other Batman movies even attempted to do--explaining just how the hell Bruce Wayne became, y'know, capable of scaling buildings, taking thugs on six-on-one, and disappearing without a whisper. It's a bit slow, but the time they take to lay this stuff out makes Wayne's return to Gotham more satisfying for knowing and believing that one man can take on a whole city and somehow come out on top.
Of course that's not really right--there are other people in the movie besides Bale and Neeson, and actually the cast is pretty star-studded: trusty butler Alfred is played to the hilt by Michael Cane (of whom I've never been a huge fan, but here he's Oscar-worthy, and I'm not really joking), token love interest/childhood buddy/Asst. D.A. is Katie Holmes, Batman’s personal armorer/fixer is Morgan Freeman (enjoyable as always), the future commissioner Gordon is Gary Oldman, Rutger Hauer plays the corrupt president of Wayne Enterprises, and Cillian Murphy takes an extremely effective turn as the Scarecrow.
A word here about Cillian Murphy: he could go on playing bad guys the rest of his career and probably make me quite happy by doing so. He brought excellent touch to the Scarecrow, here played as a psychotic psychiatrist who induces terrifying hallucinations in both patients and enemies using a weaponized psychotropic aerosol. There’s something, I dunno, satisfyingly creepy about him in this movie, something ineffably unsettling. Which is, I think, just what he’s going for, right up until we see our first on-screen hallucination from the patient’s POV, which is concretely unsettling and very well done.
In fact, there are quite a bit more hallucination-POV shots than I was expecting in this movie, but they were all surprisingly good, especially a scene where our hero turns the tables and doles out a little therapy on the good doctor, who’s been unexpectedly dosed with his own drug. The fact is that much of the plot revolves around this drug and its potential use against the citizens of Gotham, and another element of the movie I found enjoyable and believable was that although he came up with a superhero movie-plot-demanded antidote, Batman was unable to dispense this antidote in mass quantities right away. Movies like this are, for me, a balance between the contrived and the realistic, and it should be obvious after almost 1000 words that I thought this balance was steady. For instance, it looks pretty damn hard for Batman to climb up the side of a building in this film. I like that. He’s also capable of driving a tank across the top of a church and not falling through, though, which I also like. Movies like this are supposed to have fantastic moments, but they need to be measured against characters saying intelligent things and acting in consistent ways. Mission accomplished.
Speaking of saying intelligent things, the script is actually pretty funny, and it has the distinction of being delivered through some very solid actors, as I’ve mentioned. Nolan and his co-writer have a good grasp of both spectacle and human touch, something that couldn’t be boasted of any previous Batman script. Even the standard cheesy superhero moments are largely done in fresh or even surprising ways, particularly in one sequence near the end of the film involving the commissioner and the Batmobile. Above all I’m simply pleased to be delivered a good Batman movie that also introduces some more rarely-seen storytelling concepts into the genre: namely character and plot development, measured realism, and Morgan Freeman. Katie Holmes, while regrettably fully-clothed throughout, also lends—as always—a little something extra to the proceedings. I think I’ll go see it again.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Fat Christ, it's almost July 4th again. While I have always looked forward to the long weekend and big gatherings traditionally associated with this holiday, and while my memories of last July 4--1 day after Mark and Katie's wedding, at Madison Meadows next to my girlfriend and her family, smoking a cigar and basking in the glow of a Cubs sweep over the White Sox--are particularly sweet, the truth is that I used to dread the Fourth. Mostly because it signified that the summertime was once again going to pass quite quickly, and I had better start squeezing in more fun stuff before it was all wasted.
I'm quite glad I've grown enough to realize that the summer is all about the time you waste, not about the time you spend doing things. I've spent the whole week working, but two days this week I've still managed to cook some excellent food and go for a run with Laura and her little brother, and I'll remember these two simple evenings just as much as many other fussed-over and worried-about long weekends of the future. Which is not to say that those aren't great, too. Just that there's plenty of fun to be had when you least expect it.
My cooking is out of control these days, by the way. Stop by sometime and I'll show you; you won't regret it.
I'm quite glad I've grown enough to realize that the summer is all about the time you waste, not about the time you spend doing things. I've spent the whole week working, but two days this week I've still managed to cook some excellent food and go for a run with Laura and her little brother, and I'll remember these two simple evenings just as much as many other fussed-over and worried-about long weekends of the future. Which is not to say that those aren't great, too. Just that there's plenty of fun to be had when you least expect it.
My cooking is out of control these days, by the way. Stop by sometime and I'll show you; you won't regret it.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Top 5 of the relatively recent past:
1. My new Mac Mini. That's right, folks, I am an Apple convert, and a happy one. They have created a lot of cool stuff in OS X that Microsoft is sure to steal and make use of in Windows, which is good I suppose. But for the timebeing this OS is really much nicer than even Windows XP, and certainly better than 982E, which I was previously using. Hilarious. And the actual case, including CPU, ethernet card, CD-RW/DVDROM is like 6" x 6" x 2". And it's silent--old computer fans give me headaches. So I'm happy about all this.
2. 97X The Future (WOXY). Remember "Rain Man?" Remember the radio station they listened to, that Raymond kept repeating the slogan to: "97X--BAM!!--the future of rock and roll!" Turns out you can stream it online for free, and more importantly it kicks ass! They play tons of stuff I've read about but have never heard, and other stuff I've never heard of, but it's virtually all good. So far, at least. It's exciting.
3. 90-plus weather. I've decided to accept the fact that I'm astonishingly out of shape and slow. This has allowed me to slow the pace on my runs, thereby increasing my time spent in working out's low-gear "fat burn" zone, which means theoretically I'll lose weight more quickly. Also, it has allowed me to run outside in this week's boiling hot weather, and I do love working out in the heat. Sweating = increased fitness in my simpleminded calculus. And good Lord, I have no trouble working up a lather in this heat.
4. Derrek Lee. He's sure to fall off the face of the earth now that I've said this, but the man deserves his props. The Cubs have almost tricked me into watching them again--almost.
5. Crimson, Alkaline Trio. Not what hardcore fans of the rough-and-ready, early-days Trio were probably looking for, but bitching nonetheless for me. Almost like adult-contemp album alterna-rock, for the morbidly obsessed. If such a thing exists. I'm pretty sure I exist, and I'm positive that I like it.
1. My new Mac Mini. That's right, folks, I am an Apple convert, and a happy one. They have created a lot of cool stuff in OS X that Microsoft is sure to steal and make use of in Windows, which is good I suppose. But for the timebeing this OS is really much nicer than even Windows XP, and certainly better than 982E, which I was previously using. Hilarious. And the actual case, including CPU, ethernet card, CD-RW/DVDROM is like 6" x 6" x 2". And it's silent--old computer fans give me headaches. So I'm happy about all this.
2. 97X The Future (WOXY). Remember "Rain Man?" Remember the radio station they listened to, that Raymond kept repeating the slogan to: "97X--BAM!!--the future of rock and roll!" Turns out you can stream it online for free, and more importantly it kicks ass! They play tons of stuff I've read about but have never heard, and other stuff I've never heard of, but it's virtually all good. So far, at least. It's exciting.
3. 90-plus weather. I've decided to accept the fact that I'm astonishingly out of shape and slow. This has allowed me to slow the pace on my runs, thereby increasing my time spent in working out's low-gear "fat burn" zone, which means theoretically I'll lose weight more quickly. Also, it has allowed me to run outside in this week's boiling hot weather, and I do love working out in the heat. Sweating = increased fitness in my simpleminded calculus. And good Lord, I have no trouble working up a lather in this heat.
4. Derrek Lee. He's sure to fall off the face of the earth now that I've said this, but the man deserves his props. The Cubs have almost tricked me into watching them again--almost.
5. Crimson, Alkaline Trio. Not what hardcore fans of the rough-and-ready, early-days Trio were probably looking for, but bitching nonetheless for me. Almost like adult-contemp album alterna-rock, for the morbidly obsessed. If such a thing exists. I'm pretty sure I exist, and I'm positive that I like it.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Today marked my second day of long-running in obscene and punishing heat. It has been more oven-like and sweltering than actual straight-up blistering here in Naperville lately, but the fact remains that the past 2 days have seen afternoon temps in the 90s and my sweaty, disgusting, overweight ass dragging itself across the Great Heron and Bluebird trails, variously, in an attempt to show my body that I really fucking mean business!! I'm going to lose the spare tire!!!
Today the afternoon was quite satisfying, as I left work in flipflops, made the aforementioned run, and cooked quite a lovely skirt steak with fried potatoes and roasted corn on the grill. The best part was that I ate it lounging on the floor of my deck, guzzling water from a pitcher and sipping cheap red wine from a cloudy glass. The primalness of this meal is nearly unmatched in my experience, notwithstanding the tasty (but barely-cooked) campfire steak of a long-ago Boyscouts trip. And I learned something important about steak, something paradoxical: steak does not want you to gorge yourself on it, despite being the most seemingly gorge-worthy and -inviting of all foods. No, steak wants you to eat it at your leisure, intermixing a bite of sweet and toasty roasted corn and another sip of $3 merlot. Only then does it reveal to you its fullest rewards. Today I took my leisure, and I was rewarded.
Let's take a moment to hail SGT William L Jagnow, currently deployed on Mars and fighting the bug invasion with the rest of the Mobile Infantry. Reliable reports have him in good health and spirits, although an encounter with "some sort of smart bug" has recently left him shaken and searching for the meaning of it all. Honestly Bill, join the club--and be sure to stay safe over there.
Hey Rick, your website sucks since you got married! No more excuses, you poopeater!
I leave you tonight with some advice: it pays to be aware of your own stupidity. An innate sense of how and why you usually screw up is invaluable, or so my recent experiences have shown me. Then again, dispensing stupid advice may be a major weakness for me!! The lesson as always: the joke is on all of us.
Today the afternoon was quite satisfying, as I left work in flipflops, made the aforementioned run, and cooked quite a lovely skirt steak with fried potatoes and roasted corn on the grill. The best part was that I ate it lounging on the floor of my deck, guzzling water from a pitcher and sipping cheap red wine from a cloudy glass. The primalness of this meal is nearly unmatched in my experience, notwithstanding the tasty (but barely-cooked) campfire steak of a long-ago Boyscouts trip. And I learned something important about steak, something paradoxical: steak does not want you to gorge yourself on it, despite being the most seemingly gorge-worthy and -inviting of all foods. No, steak wants you to eat it at your leisure, intermixing a bite of sweet and toasty roasted corn and another sip of $3 merlot. Only then does it reveal to you its fullest rewards. Today I took my leisure, and I was rewarded.
Let's take a moment to hail SGT William L Jagnow, currently deployed on Mars and fighting the bug invasion with the rest of the Mobile Infantry. Reliable reports have him in good health and spirits, although an encounter with "some sort of smart bug" has recently left him shaken and searching for the meaning of it all. Honestly Bill, join the club--and be sure to stay safe over there.
Hey Rick, your website sucks since you got married! No more excuses, you poopeater!
I leave you tonight with some advice: it pays to be aware of your own stupidity. An innate sense of how and why you usually screw up is invaluable, or so my recent experiences have shown me. Then again, dispensing stupid advice may be a major weakness for me!! The lesson as always: the joke is on all of us.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
June has long been my favorite month of the year. Traditionally, school is about to end, and the pretty girlies (or guys, if you like) are busting out and out of their halter tops and racerbacks (or trousers, if you like). In Illinois, winter lasts long enough that you literally forget what warm weather feels like--so waking up beneath an azure dome of 70-degree goodness one fine morning feels like something out of a dream. Very pleasant.
Today I had an encounter with three young squirrels on my nature walk. I heard them at the base of a tree near the very head of the trail, and just like the deer from last month they didn't much mind my presence, as long as I was quiet. These squirrels were about 8-10 inches long (not including their tails), and I stood about 4 feet from them, close enough to see that squirrels are really just oversized hamsters. They're fairly cute, though, when they're not breaking into your birdfeeder, and today it was fun watching them play dead and gnaw on one another's ears until they caught sight of the next passing biker, when they would freeze and twitch their noses and generally look as adorable as rodents can.
I bought some CDs yesterday, so here's a few comments on those:
~ I think the eponymous Blink-182 album is probably the only album I know that does not have a single weak song. Unbelievably solid, assuming that (like me) you relate to the facile emotion and hooky guitars of top-shelf emo/pop-punk. Really good stuff, and I'd recommend it to anybody who likes rock music.
~ LCD Soundsystem is the most overrated band I've come across. Apparently repeating the same self-consciously retro drum machine loop and repeating some lame hipster lyrics over and over and over that loop qualifies as genius songcraft these days. What a bunch of shit. I could not have been more disappointed.
~ The Postal Service's Give Up is exceptionally enjoyable, I think. I like it better than any but the very best Death Cab, which statement illustrates that I am free of bias against self-consciously retro drum loops. "Nothing Better" has emerged as a favorite, with instrumentation right off a circa-1988 Casio playing off a gorgeous melody sung duet by Ben Gibbard and Jen Wood. Sad, but not overwhelmingly so. Perhaps I'm shallow--I don't have a problem with that.
~ "I Turn My Camera On," by Spoon, is the sexiest song I've heard since Rob did a striptease to "Crush with Eyeliner" at Rick's parents' house. Made me untouchable for life!
I've got some of Kate and Rick's wedding pics up on my Flickr site. There's one I'm very proud of--should be obvious.
Today I had an encounter with three young squirrels on my nature walk. I heard them at the base of a tree near the very head of the trail, and just like the deer from last month they didn't much mind my presence, as long as I was quiet. These squirrels were about 8-10 inches long (not including their tails), and I stood about 4 feet from them, close enough to see that squirrels are really just oversized hamsters. They're fairly cute, though, when they're not breaking into your birdfeeder, and today it was fun watching them play dead and gnaw on one another's ears until they caught sight of the next passing biker, when they would freeze and twitch their noses and generally look as adorable as rodents can.
I bought some CDs yesterday, so here's a few comments on those:
~ I think the eponymous Blink-182 album is probably the only album I know that does not have a single weak song. Unbelievably solid, assuming that (like me) you relate to the facile emotion and hooky guitars of top-shelf emo/pop-punk. Really good stuff, and I'd recommend it to anybody who likes rock music.
~ LCD Soundsystem is the most overrated band I've come across. Apparently repeating the same self-consciously retro drum machine loop and repeating some lame hipster lyrics over and over and over that loop qualifies as genius songcraft these days. What a bunch of shit. I could not have been more disappointed.
~ The Postal Service's Give Up is exceptionally enjoyable, I think. I like it better than any but the very best Death Cab, which statement illustrates that I am free of bias against self-consciously retro drum loops. "Nothing Better" has emerged as a favorite, with instrumentation right off a circa-1988 Casio playing off a gorgeous melody sung duet by Ben Gibbard and Jen Wood. Sad, but not overwhelmingly so. Perhaps I'm shallow--I don't have a problem with that.
~ "I Turn My Camera On," by Spoon, is the sexiest song I've heard since Rob did a striptease to "Crush with Eyeliner" at Rick's parents' house. Made me untouchable for life!
I've got some of Kate and Rick's wedding pics up on my Flickr site. There's one I'm very proud of--should be obvious.
