Dave J

Handy dishwashes.

The weird thing about four day weekends is it pleasantly removes the pressure from Sunday to be "the work day". I think I am digging that, even if it's only for a semester.

Yesterday Monica, Mad and I (with Jeff later joining) headed to the Grilled Corn, Mushroom and Jicama Exhibition backyard BBQ in Brooklyn, a chance to see Say Hi To Your Mom without paying to see Nada Surf, and a chance to see John Vanderslice live for the first time since Pedro the Lion more than a year ago.

It was really kind of awkward at the start, because the only people there were the musicians and the few apartment dwellers who were throwing the vegetarian barbeque, so we were definitely the odd bunch out. But things smoothed down and it was really just a fascinating experience to have such an intimate pseudosocial setting.

Say Hi To Your Mom, the dude, playing in the corner of this small backyard with some irritated neighbors in the immediate background.

John Vanderslice shines a lot.

So yeah, that was fun. I haven't seen much/any live music this year, with the exception of this and the school's Iron and Wine/Hold Steady concert. That's the time I was talking to Sam Beam and said "Oh, my name's Dave... for future reference" and then everyone laughed a lot and I realized I made an ass of myself again. Oh well. I want to tug his beard pretty badly.

Jeff pointed out some of the features of our room and his acquisitions that make him happy. Since then several new events have happened.

The most exciting is a recent foray into Craigslist that has netted us this little device:

Room 305, meet Tivo with a lifetime service subscription. Very nice to meet you.
I have never experienced this joy before, so I think my mind was blown a bit more than other people who were merely pleased that we had something that could tape Gilmore Girls when they were gone. Oh no, this puppy can do so much more. I think Jeff is upset that I have programmed it to record things like the ill-fated Dilbert animated series (currently running at 3:30AM on Comedy Central) and the new Tyra Banks daytime talk show, but that is the joy of this wonderful new invention, which has allowed me to sample all the finest in trashy television while remaining committed to serious, groundbreaking drama in the same time spot (such as The OC). I think my David Boreanz WishList isn't working though, because it totally isn't recording Bones like it should.

We are men. We cook a lot. We have intense debates about proper ingredients, price of generic/name brand vs. quality difference and what exactly can be put in a quesidilla.

These are my new shoes, which are pretty nice but not as cool as I had hoped. Everyone else seems to like them more than I do, including several people on the street. I think that is always such a delicate situation, someone yelling "Hey [either a part of your body or a piece of clothing] is awesome!" because if they aren't really talking to you and you turn around to acknowledge than you look like a big dork. So I ignored this girl while Jeff and I continued to walk home and then she said it again, so I turned around and gave a thumb's up and kept walking. Then she yelled out, "FINE, BE THAT WAY YOU SHADY MOTHERFUCKER!" New York is weird like that. Just half an hour earlier I had one of those really awkward pseudofights with a person who wanted Jeff's seat at Corpse Bride's screening (one of those "no you're not sorry, don't even pretend to be sorry, what are you going to do about it?" situations where people just refuse to be civil or rational because they are either drunk or assholes out to prove their manliness to their cohorts), and 30 seconds after the shoes incident I accidentally brushed into this guy while walking and he said "EXCUUUSE ME FOR BEING IN YOUR WAY". I totally forgot over the summer that I hate people. Hate them.

I realize this is a longer blog than usual, but that's what happens when you don't write for a while and then things happen and then you can't pause them and rewind them like you can with television.

But if there is one lesson to take away with this, it's that I am building a fort. And it will be amazing.

The Day After Tomorrow

I have my first day of class tomorrow morning at 9:30AM, but I think I may be tired because The Day After Tomorrow is on HBO right behind me and I have never passed on a mediocre movie.

Maybe I shouldn't derive such joy from filmic visions of massive earth destruction since Ms. Katrina is still making America her bitch, but I am not too worried as I have followed the general steps of moral protocol (donate $$ to Red Cross, make sure friends in New Orleans are okay and extend direct offers to them). It's insane to think one of my friends who went to UNO (that's University of N'awlins, not Omaha) will no longer have that college at all. Living in the City the past week without school makes me sort of envy that; I don't think I actually like further education.

A few days ago I had this blog written about how CBGBs was closing despite the big star-studded Please God Save Us concert in Washington Square Park featuring Public Enemy and Gavin Rossdale, ex-heartthrob of ex-Bush. It was about how I think it's good CBGBs is closing, or at least natural, and how we shouldn't be fighting to keep it open, but then the points seemed redundant to many great pieces of writing that already exist. But just so people know, I think they should close CBGBs. Hell, he has already threatened to take it to Vegas, complete with replicated stickers, and how punk is that?

Yesterday Jeff and I got a microwave on Craigslist in under a half hour from start of search to us standing in his shady apartment. While I have frequently advocated the use of Craigslist in searching for items, I have never actually gone through on an actual sale, not due to lack of effort. Having actually completed a deal was a terrific high. Now we just need a Dolby 5.1/DTS surround sound system, toaster, mini-grill and many large plants. In that order.

TV Shows You Should Be Watching:
Prison Break (toe-cutting, shivving tattooed master of a jailbreak drama)
Rome (this HBO mix of throat-cutting maxx violence and frequent nudity would have been even better when I was 13, but it's still pretty good now)

Tommy will be pleased to know that Monica and I are travelling through Def Jam: Fight For NY's story mode yet again, discovering the twists and turns behind D-Mob and Snoop Dogg's separate bids to own all the nightclubs of our fair city.

Now back to Day After Tomorrow. Jake Gylenthal is so close to dying...