Hollywood Must Really Dislike the GOP

Okay let’s run this down. Things the GOP probably didn’t like about the Oscars:

• Multiple standing ovations and thanks yous for Al Gore
• Melissa Etheridge winning best song for Al Gore’s movie and thanking her wife
• Numerous awards and nominations celebrating Latino cinema
• Multiple awards accepted in langauges besides English (it’s official, damnit!)
• White protestants recieving the vast minority of awards
• Multiple references to casual drug use (Robert Downey Jr is a funny man)
• Oh, and it was hosted by Ellen (I hear she might be gay)
• Multiple liberals giving thanks to God and supporting the troops

Yeah, I’d stand to wager that some members of the party of inclusion might have felt a bit awkward watching the inclusive love-fest that was the Academy Awards. Oh well, at least they had Nashville Star over on USA to watch.

Oh, and to top things off: James Cameron has apparently found the tomb of Jesus Christ, along with his wife and kid. So yeah, that’s probably going to piss some people off on Monday.

In Which Brian’s OCD Mouse Clicking Pays Off

I click my mouse a lot for no reason. Anybody who has ever watched me surf the web knows this. I highlight paragraphs and setences, but usually NOT the ones I’m reading. I go back and forth between multiple tabs and queries at lightning pace. It’s just yet another wierd thing I do. Anyway, I just accidentaly double clicked on something at NYTimes.com in an article, and learned that if you do that in any news story it will bring up a context search for that word or phrase. It will give you definitions of words, other articles using that phrase or topic, classified ads for that item, weather for that location, and even pictures and bios for certain people.

I know this works in Firefox, but who knows about IE. Try it, it’s stupidly educational, and thus very entertaining to me.

P.S. Yes, I’m a dork. I don’t care.

My Kingdom For a Competant Othopedic Specialist

So last January I hurt my knee snowboarding. My knee was already injured from some bike crashes and generalized “acting like a dumbass,” but this was the first time I really thought “Hey, you should get that looked at.” So I went to an orthopedist taht was recommended by my dad’s tennis buddy. They scanned my knee and pretty much said “yeah, that’s sorta injured” which wasn’t that particularly helpful. My knee felt better, so I left it alone.

Last Saturday, I played some softball and my knee started twinging afterwards. I came home, put some ice on it (as per the doc’s instructions), and hoped for the best. The problem is that I’m still me, and I tend to find dumbassed ways to make injuries worse. My knee has been irritating me all week, and today I managed to roll my ankle at work, causing some servere lateral motion on my knee. All this can pretty much be summed up by my yelp and then description to my co-workers: “It felt like somebody just skull fucked my damn knee.”

So now my knee just feels like absolute shit, which means it’s time to dig out my trusty knee brace and wear it for a few days. I’ll give it a few more softball practices and games before making a final verdict, but overall, this doesn’t seem wholely positive. Due to the fact that my dad has had sever joint problems (specifically his hips), it looks like I might be in line for some sweet arthroscopic surgery on my knee within the year. F-U-N. When I talked to my orthopedist about all this he sumed it up with this helpful conversation:

Him: “Well, with your history, you probably shouldn’t have been playing softball in the first place.”

Me: “You told me I was free to play just about any sport I wanted except tackle football.”

Him: “I don’t think I said that.”

Me: “You did. I specifically remember asking you.”

Him: “Hmmm. Well looking at your old MRIs, I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

Doucebag.

In Which Brian Downloads Lots of Music

So I made the best out of my sick day on Monday. I was actually feeling better than I had on Sunday, but I decided to just knock out the cold completely in one day rather than drag it out over a few days. So after a few hours spent at the Honda dealership getting my brake pads replaced as well as a new locking mechanism servo and oil pan (there goes $1000), I decided to head home, Nyquil up, and listen to some new music. I hadn’t listened to much new stuff since Christmas, so I had some stuff to catch up on. Let’s recap:

The Shins – Wincing the Night Away – Really, there isn’t much to say besides: It’s a new Shins album. If you haven’t jumped on the Shins’ bandwagon yet, this album probably isn’t going to be the thing that gets you on. If you’re already a fan, you’ll love it. A solid effort after a long hiatus since their last album. 8/10

Bloc Party – A Weekend In the City – As most people familiar with my musical tastes go, I love that wonderful sub-genre of Brit Pop that hovers somewhere between electronica and pop. Uptempto stuff you can dance to, work to, or just chill to. I really enjoy Bloc Party’s last album, so I had high hopes for a solid follow up. Overall, I think this is an album I think I’ll like the more I listen to it. It’s not as easily approachable as Silent Alarm, but it has it’s fair share of songs that are easy to get into on the first listen. Some of their attempts to be more complex with rhythm and lyrics might be a bit off the mark, as they seem jarring against some of the more solid singles. It will probably suffer in its reviews the same way The Killers’ Sam’s Town did, much for the same reasons – 6.5/10

Jose Gonzalez – Veneer – I had first heard of JoseGonzalez from an iTunes sampler playlist that my mom got at the Austin City Limits Festival (have I mentioned how cool my mom has gotten). He might very well turn into the Nick Drake of our generation. Classical accoustic guitar playing coupled with a hazy voice and smart lyrics that just cut into you. This is the soundtrack to looking out the window on a rainy Saturday. These are the songs you play when you watch the love of your life get on an airplane and fly away at the end of the movie. Cathartic songs for the moments in time that you want to freeze. If you’re a fan of good mellow music, you need this album. 9.5/10

Fujiya & Miyagi – Transparent Things – First off, despite the name, this is not J-Pop or Japanese in any sense. This is just good ass kicking dance music in the same vein as She Wants Revenge or even a mellower version of Scissor Sisters (Is it odd I know more gay dance scene music than my gay friend in Plano?). This is music that isn’t afraid to put the bass guitar, drum machine, and synth in the front and let the lyrics blur in the background. Good for dancing or exercise, but it will probably wear thin in the long run. 7/10

Field Music – Tones of Town – Again, me with the Brit Pop, although this is more obscure. Field Music are friends of The Futureheads and have toured with them for a while, so that sentence alone probably tells you whether you’re on board or not. Lots of staccato singing mixed in with some really lively orchestration that almost seems to evoke the Beatles on half the tracks, and in a good way, too. Not that they are the next Beatles or anything, but they capture that style of simple harmonies and tight orchestration, and they’re pretty damned good at it. They don’t feel the need to constantly have a guitar playing, and they’ll drop the drums in place of a keyboard for the hell of it. 7.5/10

Menomena – Friend and Foe – Go buy this album. And buy Jose Gonzalez as well. This album is just good. Lyrics = simple and wonderful. Arrangements = elegantly put together. Not a dull track on the whole disc. The style reminds me of a subdued Flaming Lips, mixiing in a little TV on the Radio for a darker edge. You can just tell these guys are really enjoying their craft and playing with their songs, letting each member of the band stand out in different songs. 9/10

Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future – More good dance music. I swear this round of new music spoiled me greatly. Klaxons is making a nem for itself in Britain for pushing “new-rave.” I have no eathly idea what that means, but every god damn review site on earth says it, and I didn’t want to be left out. I can tell some rave influences in the backgroun of the music, but it sounds more similar to art house electronic and post-punk bands like Tsunami Bomb (with less screaming) the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (with less estrogen). They’ll drop out in the middle of a song to go on a blistering side rhythm full of drums, bass, and synth (I guess there is the rave influence). Really solid music that is fairly unique, but still accessible, especially if you like your music dancey and up-tempo. 8/10

So that’s it. That was a shitload of music to digest in the last two days. I also downloaded the new Beirut EP, but it’s only 5 songs, so it’s hard to review that. If you like Beirut (hell, if you know who Beirut is to begin with), you’ll lap it up. A worthy addition if you need some Gypsy-folk-prog-rock in your diet.

It would have been cooler to finish this at midnight

So I’ve started a new blog. I didn’t this for a few reasons, each as minor and petty as the last. I shall list them in the order they come to me:

1. Everybody else got new blogs when they graduated, and I’m a jealous little 14 year old girl about it.
2. Livejournal is getting boring. I feel like I’m talking to myself in a dark corner. I’d much rather talk to myself in a new, brighter corner.
3. Using WordPress increases my geek sexiness factor.
4. My LJ posting software is no longer being supported, and I refuse to install something new and unfamiliar, like a caveman afraid of fire, or Tim Hardaway scared of a gay man (that’s a sports reference, get used to them).
5. I have a cold, which has led to above average boredom today.

That’s about it. I can tell you already, I’m liking WordPress. It let me format that list very easily, which is more than I can say for LJ. At the end of the day, I guess I’m hoping that this new blog will press me to actually write blog posts of some merit, instead of just random bitching. But then again, that’s arguing shades of grey (British Spelling 4 Life). Hopefully I’ll get around to posting some more of my photography and writing. Hell, I might even actually put shit in my Flickr account.

For those not keeping track of my former blog, or those just joining the ongoing saga of my life, let me recap the last few years. Graduated college. Had a job. Lost the job. Had a room. Lost the room. Got a new job. Went to Rhode Island. Met a girl. Quit my job because it was a sham. Left the girl. Left Rhode Island. Moped a lot. Moved back home. Wasted time. Wrote half a book. Burned the manuscript. Made peace with my past. Got a new job making video games. Kept the job. Made some money. Realized work takes away free time. Prepared to get new apartment.

That’s about it. Who knows where I go from here! Maybe I go into outer space. Maybe I accidentally cure cancer. Maybe I just drink a lot, smoke some pot, and make snarky comments. The world is my oyster! In the mean tim, I shall go back to my warm cup of tea (with delicious locally produced organic honey) and my fresh episode Battlestar Galactica (omg, who’s a Cylon?!). I shall see you soon on the interwebs.