3.28.2008

Have a happy tomorrow forever

Just wanted to send a quick shoutout (isn't that what the kids say?) to Andrew!
Hope you have a painless move and a fruitful and fruity life in San Francisco!



Thanks to Bill and Derek for the pics!
(Why is my mouth always open in pictures? Oh yeah, for penises to go in!)

3.20.2008

Tonight, tonight

Just a quick reminder that Scott Heim will be reading from his new novel We Disappear tonight at the Elliot Bay Book Company at 7:30pm.

Keith, maybe Risa, and I will be there. Would love to see you there. We'll be having cocktails and burgers beforehand at McCormick and Schmicks on First Avenue.


3.14.2008

Hiatus

Today sucks.
Monday is Tennille's birthday. Be sure to drink green beer in her honor.
I'm taking some downtime. A week. Maybe two.
Review of Skull and Bones (finally) coming upon my return.
Pics from Scott's book tour, I'm sure.
In the meantime, download OKDJ12a
I call it 12a because I just beat matched. I was going to mix some, but it ended up on my device for listening purposes. Then the lazies got a hold of me.
Its a great workout mix. Really banging. Got a breather toward the end before the final stretch.
Um, can't remember all the tracks off the top of my head, but I know the following are on it, maybe in this order, but probably not:
Robin - Be Mine (Dusty Kid mix)
Circulate - Rex the Dog
Chicken Lips
Some amazingly sick Drama Society remix of a Tiefschwarz track
Alex Under
The Black Dog
Metro Area feat. Erland Oye
Armand van Helden - I Want Your Soul (TV Rock remix)
Francois K - The Road of Life
Obviously, there's some more, but I don't have the track list in front of me. I think I've been needing the big room sound to compensate for my lack of leaving the house. Fortunately, some of those urges will be quelled in late April and early May.
See you guys when I get back.

3.10.2008

Quick Politics

Hey, look! Its a regular old person who's had thoughts so very similar to mine.
[Article]

Dear Rental Market,

I've followed you around enough to know that this year and well into the next, you can expect your vacancies to grow and your prices to drop.
Our sluggish economy is partly to thank. So is all that new construction. I'm also guessing that a lot of those people who signed on for a condo in a recently converted apartment building are getting mad that all the other condos are vacant and for rent.
So its a renter's market. Please, don't tell me differently, I read Craigslist everyday.
So since things are in my favor and a certain guy and myself will most likely be looking for a place in the not-too-distant future, let's lay some ground rules.
First of all, anything north of 100th cannot be more than $1/sqft.
I'm talking to you, Galleria near North Seattle Community College. I don't care what your amenities are--no amount of amenities is going to justify living that close to Aurora, Northgate, and I-5. Sure, you're just $100 bucks above my standard, but that's $1200/year, and you clearly are not worth it.
Any sort of home that has been converted into a du/tri/quadplex--your rent should be 33% lower than your competition. The home is obviously old. The other tenants, no matter how congenial, will invariably be loud--whether they are clomping above you, getting it on next to you, or showering beneath you.
This place has been listed for well over two months and the price keeps dropping. Based on its location and the fact that its a quadplex, I expect to see its price drop to around $925/mo before it gets some renters, but they could even hold out til $875 or so. The original asking price for it? $1125--haha!!!
Anything in West Seattle, unless on Alki beach, should be roughly $200 cheaper than its city counterpart. Crossing that bridge sucks, and every West Seattle resident knows it.
Lake City is not hip. If someone has to live in Lake City, they should be paying next to nothing, and getting a ton--exercise room, pool, additional storage, free internet, and incentives to move in.
Westlake is not better than Eastlake, so reign in those prices. Places like the Neptune think that just because they are new and offer a rooftop garden, cardio center and media room, they can charge top dollar. Compare those prices with a place like Illumina which is just a stone's throw across the water--and closer to Whole Foods I might add. Which prices look good to you?
So, all that being said, most of all, I want a place that I can call home for a few years--until Phil finishes school and gets a job he enjoys and we can afford to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a mortgage.
So if for some reason you see a place, preferably in the Crown Hill, Whittier Heights, Ballard, Phinney Ridge, Fremont, Wallingford, Greenlake, Greenwood area, that's around say $975 let me know, m'kay?
And it might be nice if that place allows dogs.

3.07.2008

I love you more each day,

Tim Gunn! (And you, too, baby!)
But HOLY FREAKING CRAP! I've always been enamoured of Mr. Gunn, but this video clip has to be like the cutest thing I've seen in a while!
I love at the end when Heidi is relentlessly tickling Tim and he's giggling like a school girl!!!!!
(And the walk off is good, too.)

3.06.2008

Stuff and other stuff

Ok, its time for one of those catchall posts--

First off, if you didn't notice, the countdown timer on the right sidebar now says, "In Stores Now" for
Scott Heim's trippy, dark family affair We Disappear.
I got my copy just over a week ago. I've been reading it on the bus on the way to work. If you know me, you know that it takes just the right author or just the right mood to compel me to pick up a book. I enjoyed the opening of the book, but now I'm in the meat of it--just started chapter 5--and I find myself putting it down occasionally and just processing.
The basic story is a guy goes home to visit his mother with cancer. She has a preoccupation/obsession with missing children, and he has a meth addiction.
What the story is about for me, so far, is how we can hold up pictures of ourselves as children and try to write the story of how we have become who we have become. And the part of that that is hard is that the child has disappeared and the people who remember the child remember him differently or want to keep him as their own. The whole time these ideas are being addressed, they're couched in sort of paranoid meth addicts' fever dream, and also in the dementia brought on by treatment for cancer.
As dark as I'm making it seem, though, it is not without humility and humor. For example, one passage has the narrator describing vapor trails across the Kansas sky and how they change from white to pink to red with the setting sun. The description becomes more and more lavish until the trails are the claw marks of an angel trying to escape heaven. Then, a couple paragraphs later, he makes fun of his outlandish descriptors for a tomato--and inevitably comes back to just referring to it as a tomato.
So, I'm not done with the book yet, but I wanted to remind you to go out and get your copy today. Scott will be reading at the Elliot Bay Book Company on March 20th.
He just started his tour--check to see if he'll be reading near you!
He has also graciously agreed to answer a couple questions from me for this ol' site! Yippie!

Also, I wanted to point you to a new weekly at Havana.
TJ Gorton aka American Athlete has a new weekly there. It should be tons of fun. Its disco based and the name of it is "Studio".
Click the picture for more info.

Last night was the innaugural night and I would have let you know about it sooner, but I've been slacking in my blog duties.
If you're not familiar with
Havana--its up on the hill. Kiki has a Thursday night there that is quite a bit of fun. The place can be too self-conscious and the layout isn't that great, but a good time can be had.


Speaking of music-y stuff, local act
The Fascination Movement, half of whom I read regularly at Red Room NW, recently signed to Aube records and put out their first release which features vocals from one of my all time favorites, Marc Almond. The release actually came out a while ago, but like I said, I've been slacking in my blog reading lately. Anyway, great track. Dig the Peter Hook-y bassline and, of course, those vocals.
Oh, and Matt bought me a ticket to Sasha and Digweed! (Thanks, Matt!) April 22nd at the Showbox SoDo (aka best soundsystem in town)
And I'm caving and buying a ticket for Ellen Allien and Sascha Funke. May 1st @ Chop Suey for Broken Disco

3.04.2008

Super

More reasons why Obama scares me:
Don't get me wrong, Hillary scares me, too. But I don't see her straddling the center trying to make everyone happy--and in doing so, using racism, homophobia and anti-semitism in her campaign.

3.03.2008

Decisions

I'm torn.
Do I go with the bracers that have +7 Mp5 and a socket or the bracers with Spell Crit and more stamina?
Either way, I'm still the baddest ass paladin in the guild.