dumplingboy

Bus Captain

Today I'm the Bus Captain for the benefit at work tonight. In the 6th grade I was captain of patrols at Cardinal Forest Elementary School in (West) Springfield, Virginia. As a consequence, I occassionally had to exercise my authority on the bus: "one warning, Two Warnings, THREE Warnings! YOU'RE REPORTED!" The responsibilities for tonight will be more or less the same, except most of the riders will be over the age of 50, have a net worth of at least $5M, and will have consumed at least 5 alcoholic beverages during the course of the evening.

It's going to be celebrity central tonight. In addition to Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving: Kate Winslet, Sam Mendes, Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Martin Scorcese, Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Jonathan Cameron Mitchell, Alan Cumming, Marisa Tomei, Sigourney Weaver, Mary-Louise Parker, Maggie Gyllenhall, Peter Sarsgaard, Estelle Parsons, Steve Buscemi, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, and Kyan from Queer Eye are all coming.

Do you know how I know I'm gay? I have a pink tie on. I'm also wearing a $6,300 suit today. C'MON!

A Place to Bury Strangers

Last night, I had the extreme pleasure of sharing the stage with an amazing band called A Place to Bury Strangers. Some of you might know them from their former lives as the cultish underground shoegaze band Skywave from Fredericksburg, VA. Their show last night blew me away. I was enrapt their entire performance. Think a really dark Joy Division/NIN-esque rendition of Jesus and Mary Chain, Autolux, and early BRMC. All distortion & feedback. At one point Oliver, their guitarist, switched on his tremolo pedal while Ryan & I were up close to the stage and our eyes just popped (not to mention we both almost pooped our pants it was so sweet). They destroy and I highly recommend you check them out: www.aplacetoburystrangers.com.

Tonight, I'm attending a dinner & reading with Jonathan Safran Foer. Leigh, quit shaking your hands and doing that weird clapping thing you do when you get all excited.

In more sobering news, I found out this afternoon the main reason one of my colleagues had not written me back in the last two months was because he was diagnosed with testicular cancer the day after Christmas. Needless to say, he's been preoccupied.

Listening to the unreleased rough mixes of the new Flaming Lips album right now. It is some crazy shit. All fairly enjoyable and interesting except for this lame unplugged piano/trumpet lullaby of "Yoshimi". May I ask why? Actually the track right afterwards about Superman is pretty gay too. Wait, and actually, these White Stripes and Bowie covers are quite bad. Oh, the last track too. Lame. Basically, they should get rid of tracks 11-15. What a waste of space.

Next Thursday around this time, I'll be in Montreal!!! I can't wait.

Sign this petition if you get the chance please.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS CARRIE & DAVID!

My Nummy...

...wuoa ai ni.

I'm all about letting my freak flag fly...

...but...WTF??!!! (um...thanks for the pic Steve (& Sunny for the header))

No. 5

Ahhh yes, thanks J.  No. 5 on my list of "NOT AMAZING" things is "The AMAZING Adventures of Kavalier & Clay"! I've been trying to get through this book now for the past month and have had very little luck. It's not bad. It's pretty good. But, it hasn't completely gripped me yet. I don't think about the book when I'm at work or doing other things. That's my measure of a really great book. I feel relatively unintelligent since everyone I know told me what an AMAZING book this is. Is there something wrong with me? It might have something to do with trying to tackle a 600+ page book so soon after reading Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I didn't allow myself much of a breather. I'm going to give it another 50 pages. If I'm not hooked then, I'm going to put it aside for a while and pick up something really trashy and dumb, like me.

The morning trek through the Valentine's Day sludge provided some minor inspiration. We had a yummy extended lovers lunch at Rice in Fort Greene (mmm Indian Chicken Curry w/ bananas, raisins, and mango chutney). Tonight for V-Day, we are going back to Fanelli's -- a repeat of last year's first official date. Nothing says "Be Mine" quite like a big fat greasy bacon cheeseburger and fries. We know love and we know sexy.

And now my Valentine's Day offering. Quit reading and go make love people!!! After (or while) you listen to this song of course... Download Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song.mp3

Amazing!

I don't have time for a proper post, so instead here are a couple of lists which basically summarize the last two weeks of my life:

AMAZING:
1. Ronaldinho Nike Ad (Partially fake, but still pretty awesome. Thx Larry)
2. Hooked on a Feeling (An oldie, but a goodie. Thx David)
3. Syncrhonized Fishies (WTF?!? Thx Dad)
4. Scarlett & Keira in the March issue of Vanity Fair (Thx Ann)
5. The Iron Maidens (World's Only Female Tribute to Iron Maiden! Thx Sohrab)

NOT AMAZING:
1. Brokeback Mountain (Pretty good, but not amazing)
2. Match Point (Not great, not terrible)
3. LQ Nightclub (Don't ask)
4. Violator (All Girl Depeche Mode Cover Band. Eeesh. No thx Chris)
5. I need one more people. Help me out.