monday, april 30, 2001
dancing on 80s night wasn't so bad after all. (despite the moaning and groaning, i knew i was going the whole time, really. i'd even purchased a glittery "dance" t-shirt, to tell you the truth.) vogueing is just really fun, even if you aren't doing it properly. this was the scene:

lots of sweaty boys...

...one of whom invited holly to "go to a straight club." ha!

on sunday, we didn't make it into the cherry blossom festival because the line was down the block (causing vanessa to hyperventilate), so we just relaxed in prospect park, watched some drum circles, sat by the lake...::

holly norton in purple shades.

staci and vanessa...

...and the view from their cute kitchen.

friday, april 27, 2001
i want some lemon jelly.

god help me. tonight i am being forced to go dancing at pyramid for "1984" night. i will be the one cowering in the corner (that is if i don't bail completely). why is it that all 80s-music aficionados seem to be convinced that you secretly love it too? update: i am only half serious. i do not hate all 80s music. the chances that i will bail are pretty low. i'm just reserving my right to be a snobby bitch, all right? if nothing else it's a chance to take pictures of silly people doing silly things dressed in (hopefully) silly clothes, right?

argh::: it turns out that the kid in the andre the giant t-shirt at the show last night *was* in fact a fellow blogger, and i was too chicken/unsure it was him to go say hi. i officially suck.

anyone want two tickets to gbv for thursday, may 3? i've got 'em; yell if you want 'em.

good times last night with my indie-rock friend christina, who has fabulous taste in music (i.e. pretty closely matches my own) and is connected enough to have known about the cheapie nyu show we went to. we were there for ugly casanova, which is modest mouse's isaac brock's side project. he was resplendent in a white vintage-y suit. and kind of chill, too. as was the music, which was very mouse-y and therefore good, but a bit more low key: no anguished screams, no dance-worthy ditties. i lamed out and didn't take any pictures, but you don't really care anyway, do you? actually i lie: i did take a couple of christina and the setlist she procured from isaac (she is a true fan, no?). i will post them here even though you care not.

we saw a few songs of grandaddy's set, too, but i've seen them before and while they're undoubtedly good, it's kind of just vaguely pleasant mood music to me. doesn't do much for me.

thursday, april 26, 2001
this is great: the chairwoman of rodale, the magazine and book publisher i used to work for, sent a memo that said, in part, "As we tend our garden of Rodale, we constantly need to honor and nurture the idea seeds that will grow into success for all of us. At the same time, we must pull out weeds of dissension, which takes up [sic] valuable time and energy." so, not only is she evil, but she clearly lacks comprehension of the most basic subject-verb agreement rules! link via eileen, who must've been one of those weeds.

was it photojournalistic instinct, crass voyeurism, or peer pressure that led me to try to get a pic of the rather, umm, enthusiastic couple who were going at it in the bathroom of live bait last night at the unlikely hour of 7:30? i dunno, but can you see that bare foot? and the pile of clothes? tee hee...

old 97s will tear down the house june 15, irving plaza. are you with me or against me?

tuesday, april 24
my stomach is an empty pit of despair, and i still have to wait another 40 minutes before lunch with coworkers and one ex-coworker downstairs at brasserie centrale, where sidewalk seating costs you big time. see, this is where the foodless society would come in so handy! i could just take the "snack" pellet and be satiated.

must-read story about the actual costs of making AIDS drugs. staggering figures. will make you cheer even louder for the recent victory over the big drugmakers in south africa.

how weird is this? remember my red shoes peeking out over the ledge? check out this pic.

ahhhhh j-5 were so hype...i weep for all y'all (you know who you are) who dissed me...luckily i know how to be cool all by myself....

monday, april 23, 2001
i'm sure you were all worried, but i got my j-5 tickets moved to will-call. yay for ticketweb customer service!

what is going ON with r.e.m.? peter buck apparently went nuts on a plane, and michael stipe is very angry about speed bumps in his hometown.

i like my new red shoes.

pac is back, i'm telling you::

okay so friday didn't turn out quite as wonderful as the morning promised but summer hit like the atom bomb yesterday. this weather situation is so weird. was spring here? or did we just go directly to summer?

ooh i just found out dismemberment plan are playing new york in june. who's coming with me to see some sexy rock music, hmmmm??

but today i'm bummed because even though i bought tickets for tonight's jurassic 5 show, they never arrived in my mailbox. and ticketweb has not yet returned my emails or phone message. this just sucks.

friday, april 20, 2001
o happy friday. how lovely thou art, for like the third straight week. whenceforth however i need more. i pray thee, tell your other weekday friends to try to be more like you.

ahem. what day is it again?

in other news, there are a couple of creepy communications in the construction site next door, which has been pretty much scooped out now. i wish i had about three more zooms on my camera so you could see them better, but:::

"eden is more process than place."

who is trying??

thursday, april 19, 2001
fun times last night at stand-up new york, where lots of would-be comics were practicing their stuff. including the juice-hating Mugsy (college nickname, no story really), who was great even though he didn't have a british accent and talk about, um, varts. (accents can often improve an otherwise unremarkable performance, it seems.) our group of about nine girls caused quite a stir, simply by virtue of our age and numbers, i guess. it was commented upon by more than one comic, even. to the extent that when one loser (whose act consisted of questioning the audience and trying to come up with something funny in response) asked us, "so what's the deal with this table?" i, as already-established group spokesperson, responded with "we're all girls?" it got a big laugh. they should pay me to enliven these things, encourage the audience-performer dynamic. i also shouted "woooh, internet, woooh!" when one guy asked the audience if we liked the internet (he called me a "cybernerd," correctly i suppose). heckling is fun!

the "josie and the pussycats trailer is apparently a feat of product placement. unbelievable. [via jejune]

wednesday, april 18, 2001
my new nabe, the lower east side if you haven't been paying attention or if you are one of the legions of faithful jami or kid readers coming here (hi!), has been added to u.s. register of historic places (thanks ange). which is great, right? but i don't think it can stop tacky t.g.i. fridays-lookin' restaurants from sprouting up and infecting the landscape with huge nasty red awnings. not that i've lived here long enough to really be complaining...

last night before leaving swim (whose first dj by the way was playing tons of fun ramones and even a halo benders song!), brooklyn kid and i ducked into the bathroom....

his versions are so fucking cool. and clearer than mine. but luckily they still maintain The Mystique, i think.

tuesday, april 17, 2001
how much do we all love that aaron sorkin was arrested for mushroom possession?

had some drinks with jami last night at 7B, where it was almost all-ramones. i got into the ramones in seventh grade, which seems about right, and i still own a dog-eared rocket to russia poster that i have enjoyed hanging on the inside of my closets as, like, fashion inspiration. adding to the bar's coolness was the presence of a photobooth. we brought technology props:::

monday, april 16, 2001
this weekend i left behind the comfort of the city:

now that we have a dvd player in the house, thanks to expert oscar-pool-picker nate, i have joined the cult of dvd. well, i still have doubts, but i do own one now. it's the beastie boys video anthology and it is soooo cool. (my only complaint is the bleeping of the profanity::: what the f***?) does anybody know of a dvd as cool as this one? i'm taking recs.

i just saw mitchell from survivor on 53rd street on my way to the post office to drop off my taxes (yay for an extra seven hundred bucks!). he really is freakishly tall.

some answers about that salad-bar incident from an old review person. who i guess ryan worships or something (thanks ryan).

okay i think it might be time now to do my taxes.

friday, april 13, 2001
it's beautiful out! and now i'm leaving early. i'm going to take off the sweater i put on in the gray morning and be t-shirted and free on this sunny, lucky afternoon. i might even walk the whole way home!

and while i'm on the subject, sorta, if you're reading bottom to top like you s'posed to, is this latest addition to the "delivery services go aboveground" trend (cf. this month's spin article), brought to my attention by one of my coolest friends, vanessa: we deliver, which is a hilarious website that is soon (guess when?) going to premiere a web-based tv show starring rosie perez. do not miss the "how can we get away with this?" section.

i love jami's conclusion about corporate america.

steve buscemi was stabbed in the neck in a bar brawl in north carolina. i wonder if he was able to scream maniacally. i wonder if vince vaughn laughed at his $600 bail.

this morning in the empty pit this is what they were doing:

picking up large slabs of concrete and dropping them on other large slabs of concrete. i don't see why they can't simply dispose of them, unless this is the method of disposal, smashing them to dust that will settle on the ground and make the foundation, like, stick better or something. is this possible? can you explain to me why?

thursday, april 12, 2001
i just read in new york magazine about this restaurant that serves deep fried cadbury creme eggs! is that not the most insane thing you have ever heard in your LIFE?

bill werde pours scorn on that madonna/guy ritchie video. very nice!

potty shot #3?

i think i am almost ready to declare swim my favorite local bar even though there are many i haven't tested yet. cool bartenders, cheap drinks, relaxed vibe, and last night the dj was playing lots of brit- and indie-pop. plus a low-key modest mouse track. and david byrne. it got kind of dicey toward the end ("tom sawyer"; "material girl") and she was not as smooth as the guy who was there the last time playing trippy/folky stuff, and they had serious loud-soft issues with the sound system, but...and it's like thirty paces from my house!

wednesday, april 11, 2001
i was just reminded of this nasty story about someone soiling midtown salad bars by the dreamy brooklyn kid. vanessa and i were drawn into the fox 5 news after the x-files sunday night, and came to the (important) conclusion that the way this guy got the human waste onto the food was by using a spray bottle. this story uses the word "dump" and "pour." hmmmm. i think we need some clarification, new york post!

did you know monosyllabic is updating again? yup yup.

yeeeeah new beta band album in july.

idlewild's roddy woomble (love that name) has a tour diary of sorts. he seems cool. i think we could hang. definitely looking forward (way forward) to the idlewild/placebo show. placebo's new album is supposed to be out over here sometime next month, but i saw it in sounds a few weeks ago. of course when i went back for it, it was gone and the guy said you should always pick stuff up immediately if you know it's not supposed to be there. good to know, i guess, but what i really wanted him to say was, "we've got a secret stash in back; i'll go grab you a copy." update:idlewild are on letterman tonight. watch!

tuesday, april 10, 2001
wow, check out the number-one pick at e! online's list of top ten drug films. [hint: i raved about it here.]

while we're on the subject, i saw blow this weekend, and in the brand-new tradition of vanessa's latest verbal fad, i say: phhhhhllllbbbttttt. nevermind the drugs, nevermnd the johnny depp: it's a boring, mediocre biopic.

go see memento instead. so good...perhaps the "being john malkovich" of 2001? at some point when my left eye isn't totally irritated along with the rest of my person i'm going to also read the short story that inspired the movie, which steve told me i should read, but which he did NOT find via metascene.

monday, april 9, 2001
interview with the great bob pollard.

correction: kelly bothum is not really a ball and chain. she is really a sweetie-pie who likes to make crude gestures at her friends to make them laugh laugh laugh. she is allowing peter bothum to go to three area gbv shows, therefore the blame for the blatant dis of nyc must go to him.

friday, april 6, 2001
i know you have all been dying for the rhett pictures. a few of them are redundant, sure, but i wanted you to have them all. you should definitely look at them because i used the camera's flash! but i put them on a separate page because a) i'm sure not everyone wants to look at them; b) wouldn't want to bog down the pita with 20 fangirl pictures; and c) slide shows are annoying, i realized. anyway: ladies and gentlemen, i present to you rhett miller, live at fez, 4/4/2001.

pretty scathing review of blow from the times, though of course johnny depp is given credit for his acting *and* his bone structure. "Like most American vice epics, from "The Godfather" to rap videos, it's really about money and the fabulous set and costume design opportunities it can buy." i have to say that the trailer, which seems to differ from what mr. demme said it was like seems to support this view.

teens sue mtv over defecation incident. i mean, what can i say about this, really?

been meaning to tell you for a couple of days now that the new guided by voices album, isolation drills, is pretty great and has terrific artwork to boot, with a cool flip-out soft cd case, so you should go get it right now. unless you don't have any other gbv albums, in which case you should seek counseling. petey said he was going to boycott the pita a mere two days after it had come out with no mention here. jeez! i am going to boycott him because he's not coming up for the may shows. boo! probably forbidden by the ol' ball and chain. [note to kelly: umm, hi! where are you again? tee hee hee...]

thursday, april 5, 2001
okay so i lied. no pictures today. a buttload tomorrow, though, and don't complain if you don't like it, cause at least i'm not going to ramble on a lot about the show. at least i don't think i will.

i am so incredibly stressed out. and i'm never stressed out. but couple a tough close with my first major roommate conflict (i knew there was a reason i lived alone!) and i start to feel the pressure. i've been so busy it took me more than an hour to remember to take the single-dose advil i bought at lunch for this oppressive headache. and if that stupid receptionist tells me one more time to "cheer up" (it's always the weather and "cheer up" with her), i am going to throttle her. i am in serious need of some exercise. and love. and lip gloss. make me feel better.

rhett pictures from last night by the end of the day, whenever that may be.

wednesday, april 4, 2001
how psyched am i that steve won a whole family of pac-men? we used to have a bunch as kids, and they were major players in our animal kingdom. sadly, one landed on the roof of our babysitter mrs. harris's house and by the time he got down was all full of holes and nasty. steve thinks he may have "sealed him in a ziploc bag and sent him sailing down into the creek," but that might have been another one. he also reports that paul's blue-shirted pacman "ended up all ragged and shit." i distinctly remember one being thrown down the sewer by a very angry sister, but do not remember whether it was retrieved or not. there could be more suffocated to death in a plastic bag somewhere, i don't know. seems like my ms. pac man (pink shirt, "lady luck") would not have been so sullied and tossed around.

pier 1!

tuesday, april 3, 2001
a whole bunch of artists (not just courtney love) are agitating to stop the unfair business practices of major record labels, even exploring a musicians' union, which if successful would "radically rewrite the economics of the music business in the same way that unionizing actors and baseball players revolutionized the film and sports industries." go team.

did you know there are plans for a cartoon buffy? i respect joss whedon a great deal, but this can't be good, can it? dumbing down the show for a younger audience?

it seems that my wish has come true and the old 97s will start up another leg of their tour on the east coast in late may-june. and remember, tonight they're on conan.

finally: i have a slide show of selected scenes from saturday night at vanessa and staci's housewarming. they've got a cute place in brooklyn with a view of the skyline out the kitchen window and a cemetary on a hill out the front. but mostly these pictures are the story of a pinata. yes, a pinata. click through and make all my tedious work worthwhile.

monday, april 2, 2001
pictures from my rooftop, which i ascended to via fire escape during a brief period of warmth saturday afternoon: