music. Rasputina at Stubb's on Saturday, after Danny's party. Melora asked everyone to sit on the floor, and they did. (Well, most of us.)

I saw Jake there and we hung out a bit, getting drinks BUT NOT FRIES!!! at Casino el Camino afterward. Medifast Coupons property investment Hotels In Africa Coupon Codes

Liz Jones still doesn't know my name.

film. "You're supposed to stroke it." Harry Potter @ midnight. Nerds abound.

music. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. The Shins at Neumos. Chick With the Ponytail and her friend, Chick With the Short Hair, had seen them before, and we all agreed it was the best show ever. James fucked up the second verse of "New Slang" and I didn't care, it was that good. Ponytail said it was the crowd, but I dunno, I suspect the band had something to do with it, too.

Another freaktacular Albuquerque run-in: Alex from June Records; formerly of Mistletoe, a local band I was into way back when (last year). He was standing right next to me and I had no idea who he was. We got to talking, turns out he's from Santa Fe... yada yada yada... I even e-mailed him about booking studio time for our short film project before I moved to Austin. It's a small world after all.

Brandy, the graveyard-shift concierge at my hotel, remembers my room number. Probably just part of her job, but I smile like a fool all the way up to the fifth floor.

etc. Walking to Cyber-Dogs on Capitol Hill, I ran into Anthony, a guy I used to work with at The Tilt in Winrock Mall. Goddamn, we hated eachother. It was so surreal, seeing this dude out of context with his now-wife (then-girlfriend) in a strange city. It was good to see that we had both moved on, him to his job managing the photo lab at Walgreen's (haha), me to my shallow life of materialism and consumerist ideals. I shook his hand, I wished him well, and I meant it.He told me his sister has lost 50 lbs using Nutrisystem Coupons good on her

music. Sasquatch festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA. Cat Power finished her set with a bizarre "cover" of a Smoosh song, where she lip-synched to pre-recorded music and did a silly dance. Sleater-Kinney were hot hot HOT. BTS and The Shins were great as usual, but their sets were way too short for me to fully rock out. When Ben Kweller with The Postal Service came out, all the chicks started screaming "I love you, Ben! I wanna have your babies!" It was semi-annoying, but at least they put on a good show. I left after The Roots because I had a two-hour drive (in the rain) back to Seattle.

I forgot to bring CDs with me, so I was forced to listen to the radio for the first time in years. Switching from station to station, I tried to find something that was clear enough to hear and didn't make me want to chop my ears off. When I drove through Cle Ellum, I went from one end of the town to another, searching their main street for a record store, and even pulled over at a yard sale to see if they had any CDs for sale. No luck. I ended up listening to a lot of NPR.

music. Cardie pics, courtesy of Erik. Jen claimed she "copped a feel" on Peter Svensson right after this picture was taken, but it looks like the guy in glasses is the one getting his ass grabbed:

 

music. Stayed in Portland another night to see The Shins. Actually, I was so drunk from last night's show that I missed my flight this morning, but I took it as a sign from the gods that I was meant to stay in Oregon.

Heather & Ronnie are sisters from Twin Falls, Idaho. I asked if Built to Spill is big there, and they said, "Oh yeah. We love Built to Spill. Doug is amazing." I explained to Heather that "Twin Falls Idaho" is one of my favorite songs, and The Shins' "New Slang" is its Albuquerque equivalent. When they played it at the show, I sang along with eyes closed. Genuine emotion.

Afterward, Heather took us to Mary's, "the oldest strip club in Portland". Last night, Jen had mentioned this city has more strip clubs per capita than any other in the U.S., and apparently that's true. The chicks were okay, but I had more fun talking about student council impeachments and The Last Unicorn than looking at shaved cooter.

music. Cardigans at the Roseland in Portland. More drunk than maybe I've ever been. Nina goes on the list of hottest women I've seen in real life. (Runner up: Gina Gershon.) Jen is great fun; we laugh as Molly & Stephanie exchange slurred stories.

A long conversation with Jessica this afternoon reveals our obvious differences, but still I care for her more than she probably knows. She owes me a date to see Garden State, and I'm holding her to that.

Ryan called during the encore ("Communication") and I hope he heard it, but I suspect it was just noise on his end.

music. Most affecting lyrics?

• Frankly, Mr. Shankly, I'm a sickening wreck
  I've got the 21st century breathing down my neck
  I must move fast, you understand me
  I want to go down in celluloid history, Mr. Shankly
  
  Fame, fame, fatal fame
  It can play hideous tricks on the brain
  But still I'd rather be famous
  Than righteous or holy, any day, any day, any day
  
  But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled
  Making Christmas cards with the mentally ill
  I want to live and I want to love
  I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of
  
  -- "Frankly Mr. Shankly", The Smiths
  
• You can compliment me on the style of my hair
  Give me marks out of ten for the clothes that I wear
  You probably thought I had more upstairs
  I disappoint you, I can see through your perfect smile
  
  He likes to read books written for girls
  He prides himself on being a man of the world
  In the darkest of places he gets his thrills
  He will disappoint you, if you see through his perfect smile
  
  -- "Books Written for Girls", Camera Obscura
  
• Used to be one of the rotten ones
  And I liked you for that
  Now you're all gone, got your makeup on
  And you're not coming back
  
  Park that car
  Drop that phone
  Sleep on the floor
  Dream about me
  
  -- "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl", Broken Social Scene
  
• All of the above.

music. Minus the Bear in Seattle. New songs from an upcoming EP. Snider said they'll be in Austin this fall (maybe). Got a free screenprinted poster & a "Minus the Bear for President" T-shirt. Walked drunk through Capitol Hill; met an animated Russian woman at the hot dog place. My hotel is gorgeous, I don't ever want to leave. Can't wait to come back for the Sasquatch festival. For now, on to Portland...

film. Stoned && contemplative. Went to see Robot Stories with Danny, talked a bit with director Greg Pak after the show. It was interesting to hear his take on self-distributing the film (to paraphrase: "good for us... but not recommended") && on the science fiction genre.

The film itself was engaging at times -- particularly in the second story, "The Robot Fixer" -- but in the end I didn't feel affected by them as a whole. It's disappointing, because I wanted to be affected, wanted to like the movie more than I did. Wanted to love it like a robot loves killing.

Pak's intentions are admirable, so I would recommended the film to friends in this Era of Remakes (I saw trailers for both The Manchurian Candidate && The Stepford Wives tonight); however, I wish he would have pushed the stories a little further into his own territory, rather than play second fiddle to his influences.

The best thing about the experience was that it got me thinking about my own robot stories, got me excited again about those long-lost ideas. Someday. Someway. Soon.

music. Coachella 2004:

I was so fatigued by the end of the first day, I damn near fell asleep during The Pixies, but I came out of it alive and full of energy just in time for the Radiohead set. Thom is so funny when he's singing about disease and/or hostile takeovers, I love it.



The Flaming Lips had the most entertaining stage show I've seen by far - Wayne arrived in a bubble that descended from outer space(!), and it just got weirder from there.



Pretty Girls Make Graves were great, but they played at 1:00 PM which is approximately 12 hours too early; their music can only be fully appreciated in a dark, smoky bar with curious strangers half-drunk on whisky.

I heard most of Beck's set, although I didn't get to see any of it, because I spent most of the time fighting my way into the overcrowded tent, and the rest stuck behind a speaker that blocked my view of the stage.

After my future wife Emily Haines took the stage for three Broken Social Scene songs, guitarist John Crossingham got on his knees and proposed to his girlfriend of eight years!!! (She said yes.)



Caught the last half of Muse when returning from the hot dog & smoothie stand, but wish I would have been there for the whole thing.

This was the second time I'd seen Belle & Sebastian play live, and they're surprisingly good for a band I never listen to otherwise. Plus, they have the hot cello player.

The Stills, !!!, Sparta, T(I)NC, and Air all gave solid performances. The only band I didn't like was Thursday; in fact, I left my primo spot in front of the main stage just to get away from their noisy ear-poison.

Oh, yeah... I think The Cure was there, too.

music. Elated/exhausted. Drove through some nasty bouts of rain on my way home from Dallas, but I'm soooo glad I went. I had a lot more fun at tonight's show, thanks to:

1. The better venue.
2. Although The Fall were technically the headliners, Blonde Redhead seemed to be the crowd favorite. (Among the people I talked to, anyway.)
3. A hot indie rock girl with glasses named Jade.
4. They played "Futurism Vs. Passéism, Pt. 2" this time, and the guys from The Secret Machines joined in for "In An Expression of the Inexpressible".
5. I got my copy of Misery signed by a certain three.

music. Blonde Redhead at Emo's, trying to get my rock on as close to the stage as humanly possible. Kazu wore a cute yellow dress and they played two of my favorite three songs from the new album -- "Anticipation" and "Melody" -- but not "Equus".

Going to the Dallas show tomorrow, then off to Coachella.

etc. Wow. Just... wow.

 

At first I thought this was a parody of a right-wing propoganda site. It's not.

film. Now I have see Kill Bill: Vol 2 again: Black Mamba vs. Budd. The Bride vs. California Mountain Snake. Beatrix Kiddo vs. Bill. BB vs. Emilio.

I guess a lot of people were disappointed by its lack of action, but I thought it was more entertaining (in a lot of ways) than Vol 1.

etc. a girl with a labret makes my heart swell up, explode; wither like flowers. her smell and swagger and braless cleavage: i want to fuck her in her snakeskin boots, in dark corners where faces meet.

maybe i’d fuck it up. maybe she’d fuck me over. maybe i’d love her despite all my flaws.

film. Freaks & Geeks is finally on DVD. Lindsay Weir oozes more hot hot teenage angst than Claire Fischer at a frat party.

etc. Danny, Andrea, and Shane - oh, my!

music. Pinback last night at Emo's and somehow I got front-row center, which was fine by me. Played all the hits and some new stuff, or at least a few songs I didn't recognize. A drunk girl who claimed to be Pinback Fan Numero Uno swore to me she had their new album, but it hasn't even been released yet.

Weird vibes on 6th all night: First, it was more crowded than I've ever seen it, including SXSW. Second, there was an inordinate amount of black people, a 100:1 ratio to any other race, which I've also never seen. Third, the cops were out in full force, and as I was walking out of the bar I saw a huge crowd of people turn and run down Red River like they were being chased by zombies. On Trinity, a girl sat on the sidewalk crying while two cops attended to her, surrounded by her friends.