Rock! Death! America!
Littering our noise on the Earth
Archive for March, 2007
March 28, 2007 at 4:03 pm · Filed under Media
The U.S. and British versions of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book covers have been released. They could not be any different…
U.S. Version
I like the yellow. It makes it stand out from the other books, when you need to grab them off the shelf. I wonder where they are on the cover? Stonehenge, reassembled?
British Version
Whats with all the treasure? Is there a dragon guarding a horcrux? Do Harry, Ron, and Hermione become wildly rich after killing Voldemort? Is that the sword of Gryffindor? And is that a house elf holding it? I like this image, because they show you the whole book jacket, and you can read the teaser info on the inside flap.
Oh, and the ‘adult’ cover, because some people are lame (though some may argue I’m lame for even caring.)
March 27, 2007 at 8:25 pm · Filed under Blog
The look of the blog was driving me crazy when I posted earlier today, so I’m sure you readers weren’t being inspired by the block of blue at the top either. As you can see, we changed it. Yay for my painting! Yay for Derek knowing what to do with all the code!
March 27, 2007 at 1:47 pm · Filed under Home
We have to have some dry rot taken care of in the bathroom downstairs before we move. A few months back, if you sat long enough on the toilet, you could sometimes hear a rodent in the wall, chewing or eating whatever it had just stolen from our kitchen. Apparently it had a nest in there. Apparently it died in there too, as the contractor showed me. Yummy. Count yourself lucky that I didn’t post a picture…
March 25, 2007 at 4:05 pm · Filed under Home
okay, well maybe across the land…anyways, we are finally moving!! After months of having our house on the market, we finally sold it. It was tough going there at the end, the buyers seem to be stupid manipulative jerks interesting, so it took some work to come to terms.
We immediately started looking for a new house, and are now the proud owners of this beauty near Rose City Park Golf Course. We met with our realtor and a contractor this weekend to get ideas going on renovating the basement into another living space. It is already half way there, with decent lighting and no creepy basement feel, so we are excited. The kids saw it for the first time as well, and were so excited to walk a block to the park to play.
This finally gave us the confidence to start packing, so we are gathering boxes. It is kind of fun to see what kind of thing other people used the boxes for…I filled a box with board games and puzzles that had been marked “Cat Tower and Floormats”.
We should be moving mid-late April. Excitement abounds!!
March 22, 2007 at 7:27 am · Filed under Media
When How I Met Your Mother is good, it’s really really good. Other than the gaping plot hole (WTF - Barney can’t drive!) this week was no exception. Barney did a David Letterman style Top Ten List at the end of the episode, which in and of itself is not unique, but he did it with Letterman’s mannerisms, and if you watch the Late Show you’ll see how NPH really nails it.
The top ten list was also funny as heck, and apparently they kept going with even more after they yelled cut - ones that didn’t make the top ten. If you missed the show, the back story for the top ten list is that Barney stole Ted’s U-haul and turned it into a tawdry bachelor’s den to take the ladies back to after picking them up at the bar (the truck was parked behind the bar, while Barney’s apartment is 20 minutes away).
Top Ten Things I Would Have Called My Truck if Ted Hadn’t Been a Jerk and Given it Back
On another Letterman note, Larry “Bud” Melman passed away. Here is a clip of him, circa 1983. R.I.P., Calvert DeForest.
March 18, 2007 at 8:33 am · Filed under Media, Music
We never got around to seeing Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny when it was in the theaters, but we picked it up on DVD and watched it last night. Now hadn’t heard many great things about it, and we’ve watched our share of bad movies lately *coughbeerfestcough* so we were prepared. I should have had faith, I know, I should have been prepared to have my socks rocked off. Because they were. Its like a freakin’ rock opera, man! It was so great! So funny, and funny-stupid, but not really stupid-stupid, and I would totally watch it again.
I’m quite bummed that we don’t get Showtime, as it looks like This American Life is expanding from radio to t.v. Now the great thing about T.A.L. is the cadence of the show–the way it is narrated, and the music–it gives a distinctly unique overall feel to it. I wasn’t sure if this would translate well to the t.v., but judging by the clips they have on the Showtime site, it seems they’ve integrated the visual filming to fit the flow of the show quite well.
We caught Andy Barker, P.I. (you can watch all six episodes at NBC.com) - and while not hilariously funny, it was funny and bizarre and good enough to keep watching. Andy Richter is always funny, as is the guy who played Buster on Arrested Development, and its just quirky, you know? So since its already on shaky ground we’ll see if it is good enough for them to keep on t.v.
We also watched The Riches, on FX, and wow. What a good show. Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard are excellent, and the show wanders between funny and sad and weird.
On tap is Raines, with Jeff Goldblum, which we haven’t watched but the premise sounds interesting, especially with him in the lead.
We did start watching The Winner, with Rob Corddry, and Robin Hood on BBCAmerica, both of which we stopped watching within minutes. Ugh. Too bad for Rob. At least we know we might have some good t.v. lined up for when they cancel Veronica Mars. And I finally gave up, and deleted 11 unwatched episodes of Lost off of the tivo.
March 13, 2007 at 4:26 pm · Filed under Food
Because we’ve had to keep the house clean for potential buyers to come through, we took down Christmas stuff really fast, and tucked things away. O just discovered our stockings on a top shelf of the closet, scoring a heap of forgotten chocolate and candy canes. w00t!
March 4, 2007 at 8:10 am · Filed under Music
We went and saw Jake Shimabukuro last week. First off, I always forget how great the Aladdin Theater is until I see a show there again, despite their crappy unimaginative draft beer selection. It is such an intimate venue, plus seats for everyone. I hate standing for a show.
For those of you unfamiliar with Jake, he plays a mean ukulele. Most famous it seems for his rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps on youtube, he manages to pull beauty and soul out of the tiny four stringed instrument. He was funny, and played a wide variety of song styles, and really, if you can check him out, you really should.
The following has no point, and possibly no conclusion, just my mind…wandering.
What really got me thinking about this post was his opening act, a guy named Marcus Eaton. It must be terribly difficult to be a male singer-songwriter. They seem almost a dime a dozen - surely every town has a few guys that can sing well, play decent guitar and write heartfelt and aching and slightly funny songs about love and break-ups and the environment.
So what is it that makes one of these guys the next John Mayer or (shudder) James Blunt? And why don’t they ever just form a band? How much ego is involved? I was reading an article about Evan Dando and all his problems and his current attempt to reform the Lemonheads, and he struck me as one of those guys that maybe is a singer/songwriter with a band, but the band revolves solely around him, the other members can come and go but he is the center, and perhaps the crux of the problems.
That got me thinking about Peter Stuart, who had a hit or two with the band Dog’s Eye View, but by the time we saw him he was opening solo for Barenaked Ladies, and has been mostly solo ever since, though I think even he tried to bring back Dog’s Eye View recently, and I wonder, what is the curse with these guys? What is that magic formula that shifts from a strong personality singer/songwriter trying to front a band, to a band that seems to work well together, despite having a strong front person? Do most successful singer/songwriters do best when starting out with a band and then leaving for a solo career (Sting, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, I can’t think of someone not from the 80’s)?
Perhaps its all just a matter of personal taste, and there are people that would eat up anything these guys give them, and I am just not that into it. These are the random thoughts that passed through my head as I watched this guy, while I waited for Jake, and he played his guitar and sang and messed around with his pedal/replay thingy that reminded me of Keller Williams.
March 1, 2007 at 4:00 pm · Filed under Holiday
Our local chapter of the Families with Children from China held a Chinese New Year Party at the Oregon Convention Center. It was a huge event, with about 1,000 attendees. There were booths selling wares and books hilighting China and adoption. There was a buffet of (mediocre) Chinese food, which was mostly vegetarian and in desperate need of more sauce options. Still, cool to walk up to a stir fry and have it be tofu and not meat. Unfortunately the employees helping serve the food did not know what was inside of them, and we overheard more than one person ask what was in the potstickers and spring rolls, and if they were vegetarian. There were also crafts for the kids, and so many other Chinese adoptees there, it was really fun. O and XM had a grand time, and both were really mesmerized by the entertainment, which went pretty much non-stop. Very fun event, FCC really knows how to do things right - we attended many of their Waiting Families meetings before we went to China - I can’t wait to attend another one of their functions.
