self-titled: ^_^

listening to the new iron and wine currently, as it magically appeared on the internet recently. gone is the muffled, murky, but oh so comforting production of the creek drank the cradle and the recent ep. the production is very very clean, and there's even percussion or another guitar on occassion. i'm not sure how i feel about this transition... the songs still do great things, but something's just off. the songs remain gorgeous, but i just listened to bits of "upward over the mountain" and "the sea and the rhythm" off the previous efforts and they give me chills. i can't say that for the latest. it's like the mountain goats switch from all hail west texas to tallahassee, but that worked for them. cleanly picked guitar and crisp vocals sounds off for iron and wine. but i guess this is what it's going to be. iron and wine is dead, hail to iron and wine.

i didn't make it out to see the dresden dolls on sunday, because i committed myself to playing poker at tony's and also i listened to the other bands on the bill and they were really really terrible. but i stand my my previous assertion that the dresden dolls are freaking unbelievable.

lots of concerts coming up over the next couple months, and by lots i mean 3 or 4. i've got the notwist on 2/5, the shins the next friday, then somewhere along the line comes someone i wrote in my pocketpc but can't remember now. ah, the mountain goats, then john vanderslice & sufjan stevens on april 1, and who knows what'll pop up between now and then.

the other night, we'll call it sunday, was a bit of a debacle. my computer had frozen up or something, but i didn't want to ruin some downloads i had going, so i just left it in an unresponsive state. but then i was faced with the sad problem of not having mr. sleepy time mix to listen to. so i tried improvising with the rachel's cd and the playstation. unfortunately, i could get the psx to play a cd with the tv off (makes sense, i suppose) so i eventually had to go with the ipod, but i didn't want to run it's batteries out, so i just set it to play one album and turn off. but then whenever i woke up i'd be without music and would have to get up and start it over, because being alone in a quiet room was weird. moral to this story is, i played the rachel's cd a few times that night, and never made it very far, but at one point woke up and 'last things last' was playing, oddly enough a rachel's song with vocals, and it was damn pretty. too short though.

so in the past three days i've bought 3 cds, and while they haven't all gotten full out listens, i'm pleased to say i'm very happy with my purchases. and that's good, since it's been a long while since I've bought a cd... i guess the last one would have been hmm shit, the +/- album? either way it's been a little while.

the tv on the radio ep is the one i've listened to the least in fact, i've only really listened to the second track, 'staring at the sun' and it's good. i wasn't sure what to expect on this release because everything i read basically said it was a whole bunch of shit that's hard to pin down. ok, this song has like: interpol jangling guitars, pulsing fuzzy bass not out of place with the likes of the faint, cheap drum machine beats, rapture-like sqeals of guitar giving it a DFA vibe, and then these vocals that are part the make-up soul and like, part 90s bands like fishbone and king's x, and like part - seal. it's just odd, but good.

next up is the new john vanderslice which i claimed as my own this afternoon. It sounds not surprisingly like john vanderslice, which is definitely a good thing. ONe thing i've noticed is that two of the songs are like "this song is about a specific movie." "when it hits my blood" is basically a retelling of requiem for a dream, from the heroin laden title to "i stole from my mother to hawk her tv" and then she locks herself in the bathroom (not the closet but close) oh, and get this, she's addicted to pills. oh yeah, and the girlfriend took drugs too far, and hey, then he drives down to florida. then there is "promising actress" which is even MORE direct in its reference: "like a bomb in reverse, fragments of truth return / the money's been paid out, the key's on the table / you've killed someone you used to love" oh yeah, and it has the words 'mulholland drive' in it, and uhh the last line is "yes i can see now, they had nothing to do with a role refused / and sometimes a cowboy's just a man in a cowboy suit." and honestly, i haven't taken the time to look at the other songs to see what movies THEY are about. It's weird is what it is.

and then finally comes the dresden dolls. i've avoided this band for a while because well, they're a gimmick. 'caberet punk,' burlesque, the chick wears rocky horror lingerie and the dude wears a suit and a bowler cap. they're albums and website are full of cursive writing and victorian dolls and mannequins. they only perform and are photographed in white face makeup. they're a freakshow, a gimmick, and since she plays piano and he plays drum they are a one-note gimmick. Well, for some reason i bought the damn cd anyway, enough good press made me curious enough. shit this disc is good. "girl anachronism" is where i started because it was on the sticker on the cd. and it's just piano and drums, and it's freaking crazy intense awesome. think ben folds five debut album with a chick singer and the rock cranked way the hell up. next track was the other sticker mention, "coin-operated boy" this one is clockwork drums and tin-pan alley bouncing piano lines. i look at the length: 5 minutes. well, this will get tired at two minutes, great. then at 1:30 they simulate a record skipping and then it moves into a really pretty and layered piano part with the occasional drum fill and it's quite nice. and it's freaking awesome. and every song i've listened to has been awesome as well. the boy girl two instrument thing has been done, raveonettes, white stripes, the kills... but never with such dynamic and variety. i guess the guitar-drums combo just doesn't go very far. or maybe it's the make-up factor. either way, they are playing sunday afternoon at the middle east, i plan on being there. oh, i read somethign about their live show that explains my original waryness of the band, like, goth teenagers come to the shows and ballroom dance. what the hell is that? Also, i can't really tell if she's attractive or not because of the makeup, but i obviously am in love with this singer, andrea something. whoa, hold the phone. the pretty girl makes grave singer is also named andrea. wtf is up with that? and ms. john soda is stephanie, and that has three syllables. this is all way too convenient just to be coincidence...

word.

so today in newbury comics, some dude in front of me snaked the last copy of the new john vanderslice album and i was pissed. then later i found out that vanderslice is playing a show april1 at everyone's favorite home of $1 natty ice drafts, great scott. Now unfortunately, i don't see vanderslice with the wrens, nor do i catch him with menomena, but i do get to see him perform with sufjan stevens, which is just cool. and also weird because it's at FUCKING GREAT SCOTT. weird dude, just weird.

i had my monthly ten minute exposure to current music last night as i drove home after my meeting at freaking 10:30pm and i determined these three things:

1.) the nickelback song i heard sounds like every other song like it ever made.
2.) britney's "toxic" is actually a really (as we say in the industry) 'hot joint' and is a welcome addition to the top 40 landscape
and
3.) the ruben studdard song is complete ass, sounds like every other soul/r&b song in the past decade and contains the most inane lyrics ever.

i was in a long long long but very easy meeting last night till 10:30. when i got home sean was here. we watched the daily show and discussed what would be the most offensive t-shirt you could wear ANYWHERE in the US and people would get pissed off ("LEGALIZE RAPE" in giant block letters) and what's the one non-sweet food that would be ruined by adding cheese (i say cheerios, but others say shrimp cocktail - which i take issue with).

listening to some song i heard on the oc and bought off itunes (i HATE itunes). tongiht's show was good. really good. stupidly frustrating in all the right places i thought.

ps. as much as i hate itunes... i love itunes.
so who would know just mere days after mentioning tara in the old journal that on saturday evening i'd be awoken from a nap from brenda hook saying she, tara and a bunch of others were at mary anns. i went, because i had to. and it was fun, and then i left to go home and shower but not without first stopping at an tua nua's to meet katie and mike for a drink. then i went home, showered and went downtown where i would wait in line outside the place. finally got in,had a few and then we all went to somerville were it was MOTS playing kings and finally i left around 5 to go home and go to sleep. it was a fun night. probably not fun enough to explain the exorbitant cab costs but still fun. also, brenda made me buy a pack of marlboro mediums and now i'm confused as to whether i like them or camel lights. and also tara had a couple friends up from yale who totally met and were ready to go home with some irish guys wihtin like 15 minutes.

before this saturday night extravaganze came friday night. after work i came home and then a couple hours late left for poker in chinatown. now, poker in chinatown is a much more attractive endeavor than poker in bob's basement in southie. chinatown poker is at a 11 person oval table and the game is casino hold 'em. which means you can play 9 out of 11 hands without putting in an ante. it's slower paced, but you have oh so much more control over your money. at the 3 or 4 hour mark i played only a select number of hands (got a little looser with more beer intake) and still was up about $100. then three of the guys left. then suddenly, it was like a fucking field trip. seriously, it was the bob's basement crew in a new environment, and it was just like, well, it was like when the bostonians would go to another school: a new environment but you bet your goddam ass we made it our own and said fuck you to anybody else. well, that's what happened, suddenly the game switched to manageable hold 'em in chinatown to bob's basement. i think $5 cowboy was the first game played. anyway, i experienced the usual bob's basement swings, was down to my last $5 (-$195 aggregate). had a game of cowboy where i was forced to pull a twenty out of my wallet, won the hand, and then won back about a buck fifty, making my loss for the night forty of fifty bucks.

anyway, moral of the story is that there were some weird dudes there before it turned into bob's basement, but chinatown hold 'em is so much easier to win money. actually, i'm considering whether or not to play this friday in southi or to just take a videogame break. also, after poker i responded to my first ever emergency call since i was a little buzzed and realized i could make $100 off it. just some water leaking pretty badly in a REALLY shitty basement apartment. but it was rad, got to hang out and swear with the plumbers.

whoa dude, something just got really weird and i think that entire paragraphs in this entry got switched. whatever though.

ok, i'm getting way too into xiu xiu. i hate to admit it, but it's good. and i think that only holds when i'm drunk. however i did hear 'apistat commander' on zbc and thought it was rad... but it's definitely key drunk music.

the oc did not disappoint this evening. if you watch the show resigned to the fact that it's trash it's really quite awesome. I think it really helps to start drinking when it starts. i have a wednesday night routine: spaghetti, garlic bread, wine, and the OC. it works out well, even though i had no garlic bread this evening.

if i was drunk when the oc starts, that'd be bad because i'd just forget everything. but since i start when it starts, by the half hour point, when the show starts getting really ridiculous, i have a little wine in me and i'm like WAY into it. last week was a misstep, it's all back on track now.

the oc actually taught be a couple things tonight. the first is that i want a nickname. george on seinfeld has this realization, but i just never really grabbed on to it. but after hearing ryan being called "chino" i want a nickname. in fact, "chino" would work just fine. the second thing i learned from the OC tonight is that, err, i forget. it may have something to do with sandy and jimmy starting a restaurant but i'm not sure.

when making my spaghetti tonight i saw tara's PCDC cup and thought about her. then she im'd me while i was on the couch watching the OC. then i realized that she and marisa on the OC talk the same. then i also realized i don't have her e-mail.

yeah that's it. keep your water running because frozen pipes are the suck.

also, it's all about fun.

it's celebrity poker showdown, and i feel historically obligated to write now. but really i just want to go sit down and watch david cross ride into the sunset.

i thought long and hard about interesting things that have happened since last tuesday, where you saw me be angry with scott stapp (not quite the scott strode i kept typing, but it's close) and well, nothing interesting has happened. I did catch the OC on wednesday after getting myself a $75 parking ticket because i parked in an emergency zone. What can I say? have you tried parking in the north end after driving around like an idiot trying to find where you're going? you'd do the same. Anyway, the OC was good, but it's lost something. THat worries me. i hope tomorrow recalls it's former glory so i can sleep and be happy.

oh no david cross!

what a sad turn of events. he had 3 sixes and lost to 3 sixes with a better kicker. oh, ben affleck came back to sit with the guys and be a douche. great.

yeah so, the OC almost disappointing. Buffy and Angel? undisappointing. we're in the last season of buffers and I"m already sad. oh great, now david schwimmer is back to be a sadsack. great.

what else? the only other thing is that my new thing is playing rainbow six three, tom clancy's latest terrorist rape simulator for the computer online. this involves me wearing a headset and talking to people on the internet. it's truly a low point in my career, but i will say it's fun.

ok, david cross is one of the 2 left, so i must go sit down to cheer him on properly.

god dammit. i just got fooled by one of those ad windows where you think there's a close box but really it's not and it makes bad stuff happen like my entry window close.

Not like i had anything interesting in there, just me watching the first 20 minutes of celebrity poker. i'll recap: carrie fisher is fat old and wearing a hideous shirt, mim rogers looks familiar and carrie fisher wishes she looked like her, david cross is awesome and within 5 minutes he was almost out of chips and now he's barely still in it, and finally i discovered that scott strode is the dude from creed and the jesus of the 21st century and i couldn't hate him, his playing style, or err, him any more than i do right now. oh well, david cross is about to lose. not much left to watch here, unless tom green suddenly starts being funny. oh wow, every word he says or motion he makes makes me hate him more. and he keeps making all these vague things that i think are about his relationship with father, our lord. he doesn't know how to play poker either. DIE SCOTT STRODE DIE. wow, david won 16,000, he's like almost chip leader now. goooooo david cross. he is my hero.

so new year's eve was pretty rad. in fact, entertainment value of the bostonian's office showdown new year's 2002 aside, it was the most fun new year's evar. i got off work at like noon, bought champagne glasses (or flutes as the privaleged call them) and ingredients for the night's grand creation: bananas foster. I was trolling the internet for lite dishes that would go well with cheap champagne and bananas foster was mentioned and when i discovered the key to the dish was setting it on fire. done deal.

got back home and met katie and then we met mike and went to coolidge corner theater and saw eat it new york, a documentary about 2 guys starting a restaurant in williamsburg. it made me very unhappy that there's nothign in my life i'm so passionate about, but it was a good time nonetheless. then i went to look for banana liquer and then hit up paris creperererie and ate. then we went to the gap where katie tried on ridiculous hats, after she bought one we drove into the city. hahaha scott strode is RETARDED. he has a queen high with a straight on the board and he called $1,500. i'm quite certain he's not played before. anyway in boston we watched the ghetto parade, saw ice sculptures, watched the suprisingly well done fireworks show, got really really cold and then had thai food at the place i get lunch from every damn day.

then back to brookline and back to the theater and saw the company, which we all enjoyed verily. scott strode looks like an unlikable judd nelson. oh man, he's out. woohoo. although won't he just rise in 3 hands?

after the movie we came back, adam, who was home, and we worked hard on the dessert, then the set it on fire time came and i was retarded and didn't realize that the directions "shake the pan" actually meant "spill rum out of the pan so it catches fire on the open flame and the fire spreads to the pan and all the rum ignites." but eventually i got it. then adam flipped the pan and fire went freaking everywhere and we turned the lights off and it was beautiful.

at 11:59 and 30 seconds i started pouring champagne, at 11:59 and seriously 58 seconds, adam came in carrying four freaking bowls of ice cream. then we watched some awful dick clark dance party, turned off the tv, turned on the music and busted out trivial pursuit. we drank a few bottles of champagne and the game had many ups and down, i mainly started down while mike broke all odds and established an early lead. somehow i started getting pies and soon mike and adam quit and katie and i devised a perfectly rational way to decide the winner. we allowed her to sneak a brown pie into her cheese wheel thingy but i still emerged the victor. then we had new year time out front and then i woke up the next day with the worst headache of the year. har har, get it? but it was really bad. I blame dick clark.

but the most important thing that occurred on new year's eve is that katie and i evened out. last year, due to some phase of the moon or tear in space-time or SOMETHING i wound up 3 seconds in the future. i don't know what happened to those 3 seconds, where they went, what happened to them, etc., but i'm squarely back in the present now, which is reassuring to say the least.

david cross will win this. that's great.

hmm, anything do mention aside from new years? my new pocket pc is a fun toy that allows me to do many things that previously required wires wirelessly. and katie and i finished angel season 3 which was great and are one ep away from end of buffy season 6 which is just amazing. she's at oly's watching 24 now or something, and she may have intentions of watching the last episode then. which or course is ridiculous, as immediately following celebrity poker i have video games to attend to. unless of course queer eye sucks me in like it has in the past, although this time i have no booze so it may be easier to resist. ha! i've seen that episode. OH NO! the two hour celebrity poker finale is on next tuesday at 8! i have a meeting then! my life suuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

umm erp.