tonight i saw deerhoof and the final determination is: ehhhh. what can i say? i'm a tough cookie.

jen and coolfer's shake your halo party (featuring DJ craig wedren and many bands) is on wednesday. i'll be there (definitely not because i live so nearby), and if you have any coolness, you will be too.

here's a nice time-suck: photo gallery of bad tattoos. flying bananas, oh yeah. carrot tat on toe: makes perfect sense. [via the 15-minute hipster]

england for easter, anyone? this is one of those stories that reads like an april fool's joke. it just keeps getting better and better. the bbc is actually planning an easter celebration with a live procession through the streets of Manchester featuring members of the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays and music by the Smiths and New Order. here is one of my favorite passages:

The climax of the event sees Jesus sing the Smiths classic song Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now as he is being flayed by Roman soldiers. He will then come face-to-face with his Roman prosecutor Pontius Pilate with the two of them singing a duet of the Oasis hit Wonderwall.

RIP grandaddy. we get a last album, at least, but no tour. sad.

in happier news, some friends of mine have events coming up that might just rock your socks off. first up, on wednesday, feb. 1, is shake your halo, a new monthly party at fat baby put on by coolfer and jen. this is worth attending not only because it is across the street from my house and there is a two-hour happy hour, but also because craig wedren is among the DJs and jen promises the bands playing downstairs will be awesome. then a week later is the latest gothamist movable hype show, celebrating the g-unit's third birthday and featuring burnside project, metal hearts, and slowlands. tickets are eight bucks. if you're feeling more literary that evening, squeeze into boxcar lounge with lots of attractive smart people who go to readings: it's jami's class of 2006 reading series (featuring all first-time authors) at boxcar lounge. wine is like two bucks or something ridiculous, as i recall from last time.

of note: someone has been street-teaming for rhett miller on ludlow. i found this to be insanely funny last night for reasons i can't articulate.

PUNK SONG OF THE WEEK! new feature alert! so i recently raped my new friend carl's itunes and came away with a buttload of punk rock, and so i have decided to highlight my favorites via a PUNK SONG OF THE WEEK, every friday. i am unsure why my older brother paul did not school me on this stuff when i was a wee lass. isn't that an older brother's job? i guess he hated me. so carl gave me several screeching weasel albums; it was really hard to pick one song, but this is the song that keeps popping up in my head. here it is, your PUNK SONG OF THE WEEK:

::: Screeching Weasel, "I Wanna Be a Homosexual" :::

fuck it, i'm feeling so punk today i am not going to follow my own rules. yeah! here is your OTHER PUNK SONG OF THE WEEK:

::: Screeching Weasel, "My Brain Hurts" :::

so i've listened to the upcoming rhett miller album, "the believer," a few times. guess what he believes in? that's right, ladies: love. zzzz. it's not surprising that this album is not good, but it's still sad. what happened to rhett's lyrical bite? "meteor shower" is particularly bad. the repeated lyrics, the repeated SONGS, are clear evidence of a lack of imagination. this album is the musical equivalent of a casual corner store, which sells horrifying bland momwear for cheap. however, i recently purchased a sweater at a casual corner. here is the song that corresponds to that sweater (which it should be noted is already pilling and has only been worn once):

::: Rhett Miller, "Brand New Way" ::: this is also rhett's favorite song on the album.

oh but this is fun: rhett's discovered myspace! and he apparently thinks that if he puts a song up there, it's been "leaked exclusively to myspace." hee. it should also be noted that rhett is wearing what appears to be a purple velvet suit on the cover and, if possible, looks gayer than ever. and what is up with that font? egads.

pictures of a bunny with lots of different baked goods on his head. made me very, very happy for about five minutes.

andy milonakis's blog? so hilarious. if you like that sort of thing. which i do. a lot.

the cute little techie designer on project runway has some of her stuff online. including a swimsuit made entirely of balloons and staples.

this is a totally fascinating article on chan marshall, aka cat power.

who wants some quick movie reviews? the penguin movie: i got it very quickly. yes, what these animals do is amazing. okay, now one of them is going back to the ocean for more food. they are also very cute. i get it. i didn't need an hour and a half of it. next! brokeback mountain: sorry, this was boring. i didn't buy their love, really, and uh, there wasn't much else. no tears. the squid and the whale? tears. it's about a family going through a divorce in park slope, brooklyn, in the 80s. so sad and so funny, too, this one really got me.

built to spill has a new album coming out, and a new song (playing at myspace, of course).

speaking of photos, holly has a photoset of the polar bear plunge (featuring my ass, which is ranked numero uno among all holly's photos when flickr sorts by "interestingness"), and i have been slowly bringing my own flickr account up to date, posting shots of china, a weekend in delaware, tamar's housewarming, our last party, and the marathon. stay tuned for more.

newly added to sidebar: the west virginia surf report. this guy is really smart and really funny, and that's really all you need.

top 50 music videos of 2005. there are a shozload more lists, uh, listed over at fimoculous, who has additionally posted his top 20 lists of 2005.

::: Ben Krieger, "Fucking Bob Pollard" ::: something every gbv fanboy dreams of.

in yet another edition of Crazy White People, several hundred wackos jumped into the icy atlantic ocean with the coney island polar bear club on new year's day. i was one of them. it's kinda weird that i wanted to do this, because sometimes the ocean is too cold for me in the summer. but then again, it is exactly the kind of crazy-ass thing i love to do. adding to the excitement was the very excellent one-piece bathing suit i purchased at american apparel the day before. i woke up giddy with anticipation after a fun night at the rodeo bar dancing, hooting, and hollering with friends. luckily mike joined me in the plunge while betsy and holly documented the process. it was cold, yes, but i felt totally alive and one hundred percent happy dancing around in that water, and you can't beat that.

i didn't feel the need to make any new year's resolutions -- i make resolutions throughout the year and either stick to them or don't. my only resolution was to plunge, and plunge i did. but then i made another new year's resolution which will now double as my life's motto: Always Be Plunging.

i had a great 30th birthday, too. over the course of a couple of days, it involved lots of laughing, delicious dinner at suba, also-delicious dinner at new italian spot the orchard, photo-booth art projects at niagra, and sweaty dancing at the bulgarian nightclub. sweaty MOSHING, actually. i love a good mosh pit. and also i received the best gifts from my truly amazing friends. check out all this awesome loot:

-get in the van and magical thinking from scott
-funky vintage necklace from jen
-framed brady bunch-style photo-booth art project from john
-genius collaged coasters from leanne
-holga camera from eileen
-the mix tape book and sweet brooklyn industries tee from michelle f. -stitch 'n' bitch nation and bad cat from cindy augustine
-supercool silver cuff from nate
-chiapet that looks like my cat from kurt
-a variety of items from thrift queen betsy, including styrofoam heads complete with headwear, green belt, psychedelic jam jars and apron, and personalized pencils that say, hilariously, "the great catherine's pita" and (best) "i heart craig finn"...and...wait for it...
-a huge gift certificate to sew fast so easy, so i can learn how to sew properly and maybe make stuff from scratch instead of just altering everything, from a collective of peeps including tamar, holly, nate, amy, michelle t., randi, betsy, mike, leanne, john, and kurt. thanks so much, dudes. you are officially the best.