Archive for March, 2006
Tuesday, March 21st, 2006
Sorry I came in the door at four, and even sorrier I had to set the alarm for 7:45. But last night was out of the park. I had no idea I was going to have such a good time. Started with Josh Wood’s 3 Years in Iraq benefit at Hammerstein, taking pictures of presenters and performers. Susan Sarandon excited me like you wouldn’t believe. On the special entry line I stood next to Antony, who was very nice. Dressed very well. During the show I was parked between one of my favorite indie rockers and one of my favorite movie stars. Great performances by Steve Earle, Fischerspooner, Peaches, Devendra Banhart, Moby, Rufus Wainwright, Bright Eyes, and Michael Stipe. An Iraqi doctor, a recent veteran, Cindy Sheehan, and Chuck D were inspiring. Margaret Cho was on fire.
(Top photo from Last Night’s Party)
Afterward, Larry and Katrina and I made our way to the after party at Hiro, where Peaches and I reminisced about jazzercise and pink jackets, and shook it like a Polaroid picture when Outkast began. Everyone still talks about that show three years ago, when the ceiling fell down. She’s a force of unnature.
I finally met Janice, who I used to e-mail a lot for work. She’s fantastic.
Merlin was there taking pictures and generally being fantastic, and I fell in love with Casey Spooner all over again. I may or may not have said it twice. And how much of a tard do I look like in this picture?
I had never met JD from Le Tigre before, so that was a big thrill. And flawless Rufus had to listen to me tell him again that he was flawless. That man sings a song and it’s Flawless!
Then we talked for a while with super charming Devendra, and we did our best to push him and Katrina together. They eventually disappeared.
Mike Myers is amazing.
So is Fred Schneider.
Michael Stipe is a living legend, and one of the nicest people I’ve met in this city. And admirable all around.
Jena Malone is the epitome of cool. Julia Stiles is the epitome of class. I danced like a weirdo with a girl named Nicole who does a voice on the Ninja Turtles. There’s some more, but I’m going to fall asleep standing.
Monday, March 20th, 2006
I’m excited today, like something big is going to happen, though I have no idea what. Nothing’s planned. I might go to a fun thing tonight, but that’s not definite, and that’s not what’s making my stomach bubble. Wish I knew.
This morning on the subway my iPod gave me “Tender” by Blur, which always reminds me of my cousin Nicole, and right when the choir started making the song really worth it, I looked up and found a really attractive guy with a bag full of awesome shoes looking at me. I thought maybe I was making it up, but no. He kept on looking. Maybe it was my piano keys t-shirt. The song made me very happy.
Few of you leave comments. I don’t really mind, since I usually don’t know how to respond; it’s just strange to me. Hundreds of regular readers and my mom is the only one who says anything. Though, I never leave comments either. I like to read and not have to say anything back sometimes. Nevermind, I get you.
The internet is still very weird. Did you know my mom has a MySpace page? There’s nothing on it, and I suspect it’s just so she can keep an eye on my little brother, but still. My mom has a MySpace page. And she’s not even my friend! My brother is, and so are some of his friends, and so are several crazy insane stalker-types, and plenty of people I’ve met once, and even more that I’ve never met. A few people that I absolutely can’t stand but don’t want to delete because I’d have to sift through page after page of strange faces to target. Sixteen year old girls who add me and then send me gross personal messages. Lots of people in the UK. New York promoters who invite me to the opening of their underwear drawer. Electro bands from around the world who want to collaborate (no). People who type like they have gravel and paperclips in their head. A mother and daughter who are awesome and lucky to have each other.
You know that video of Bjork beating the shit out of the reporter in the airport because the reporter was asking questions to her son? From the back, that’s my mom. The way Bjork moves, and hits the woman, and doesn’t let up; that’s my mom ten years ago. In a good way.
Monday, March 20th, 2006
I am the dirtiest person in New York. I’ve barely left the apartment all weekend and I haven’t showered all day. Ate a bunch of microwaveable food and watched movies instead. Woke up, watched My Neighbor Totoro while I cleaned my room. Sabrina the Teenage Witch on TV helped me to lunch. Then I watched Baron Munchausen. Then several Lifetime movies, including Augusta, Gone. Worked on some songs and am currently frustrated and nowhere near finishing anything new. Managed to mess up my room again looking for my wallet. Made penne with vodka sauce for dinner and damn near exploded.
I rarely feel romantically alone, but I did today.
Was supposed to hang out with a friend on Friday night, but I fell asleep. Found out today that in my absence he hung out with his pal Lindsay Lohan at Bungalow 8 and in her hotel room. For a minute I regretted falling asleep, and then I got over it. I’m telling you, I’m just not meant to meet that girl. The planets have just slightly prevented it from happening time and time again. Didn’t get to see my friend, either, and he goes back to LA tomorrow. But Lifetime… oh, Lifetime and I. We had some good times this afternoon.
I’ll go to bed tonight watching the story of Anatole the cheese-tasting mouse, a DVD from 1964 that I got for a dollar in a mall.
Friday, March 17th, 2006
My iPod has been giving me some great surprise parties lately. It keeps telling me to listen to “Dirty Denim” by The Donnas and “Girl’s Room” by Liz Phair, which have come up on shuffle a lot lately. Also, lots of “Deceptacon.” And now “This Weather” by Patrick Wolf! My iPod loves me! This song is really one of my favorite songs ever recorded. I’ve met the gamut of my favorite musicians, from Mary Timony to Madonna, but I have yet to speak to Patrick Wolf. He’s one of the few that I’m still actively excited about seeing live. He just needs to pack his instruments and fly to New York already.
Gosh, you know the way that listening to an album all the way through can make you feel sometimes? One of those that you could listen to over and over again for the rest of your life and never get tired of it because it’s so good? Some of those, for me, are Patrick Wolf’s Wind in the Wires, Mary Timony’s The Golden Dove, Interpol’s Antics, and Some Girls’ Feel It. I think Jenny Lewis might be creeping up there. When I was in middle and high school, all of the albums I couldn’t live without were by solo women: Imogen Heap’s I Megaphone, Liz Phair’s Whitechocolatespaceegg, Tori Amos’ From the Choirgirl Hotel, Poe’s Hello, and Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club. Sometimes still when I need to lose a few years I play them by myself in my room.
Did I ever mention the time this woman talked to me for half an hour at a party, giving me life advice in a thick accent and telling me her favorite places she’d traveled to, and I discovered later that it was Nina Hagen?
Names of medical doctors that I know from firsthand experience actually exist: Dr. Organ, Dr. Blood, Dr. Killingback, Dr. Raper, Dr. Bodyfelt.
Bodyfelt, people.
Friday, March 17th, 2006
A magazine asked me for press photos of myself because there’s going to be a new article about me, which is still the weirdest thing that I ever find myself saying, and it totally makes me feel famous even though I’m not really, and I’m absolutely going to send copies of these magazines to everybody on the planet whose address I have on file.
But, so, I asked Kathy to take some new pictures. For working with a handheld digital camera and our kitchen wall, she certainly does some nice work. I have to send two, and here are some to choose from. Help me decide. I made my shirt and necklace.
I think it’s going to be the first and the third ones. I don’t like many pictures of myself. But who does? I have a dead person’s eyes. This all feels incredibly MySpace of me, and I feel dirtier and dirtier.
That last one is only there because I have a sense of humor. Though, you should see the one in which I posed like a kid on picture day where my hair is combed back and to the side and my hand is under my chin. Remember when Cartman crossed his legs and threw his head back and Glamour Shots!-ed it up for school pictures? That was me several hours ago. That may be me right now.
EDIT: I went with 1 & 3. Thank you!
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006
Every instant message window that pops up on my screen tonight has a small ad in the lower left corner that commands me to “Put Amanda Bynes on Your IMs.” But… I don’t want to.
If you care to read it, I got a little angry in my review of The Hills Have Eyes. And Kathy and I put up another podcast the other day.
Monday, March 13th, 2006
People in my office are so ridiculous sometimes. There was a big burgundy nylon kind of canvassy bag — looked like a golf bag, with zippers — sitting on the mailroom table. I assumed it was a bunch of big prints or posters, but since it was such a nice bag I was looking at the label to see where it was going. I never even got close enough to touch the thing. So, some German woman walked in and barked “HELLO???” all urgent and suspicious like I was going to steal a fucking golf bag full of posters that I don’t even have enough interest in to destroy, and I explained that “I was looking at it, I’ve never seen a mailer like this!” I smiled, and she ROLLED HER EYES and walked around me. Are you kidding? Everyone is insane. How rude. It looked like a GOLF BAG and I get ZERO THRILLS around here. Maybe I’m also insane. But come on.
I needed some new black sneakers, and I found a pair in the women’s section at Payless that were $17.99 and fantastic, so I bought them. I have Puma and Ben Sherman and Paul Frank and even Comme des Garcon, but they’re all crazy colors. Does it matter that these new ones are from Payless? No. Do I care that these new ones were made for female feet? No. Do I care that they have the giant “C” for Champion (the Payless brand) on the back? No. Are they just slightly too small for my feet because I had to settle for a women’s size 11 because even Payless is a bastard company that doesn’t sell anything nice above a size 9 and women should be outraged? Yes. Am I going to wear them every day? No. Why? Because I also got a pair of BLACK BRITISH KNIGHTS at K-MART for NINE DOLLARS. Men’s section, too. I am officially the happiest trash on the planet.
UPDATE: Here they are:
I am 100% Blood Killer. Totally Radd.
Monday, March 13th, 2006
At Goodwill yesterday I found the most amazing glass hippopotamus head cookie jar. I bought it, drove it home, filled it with Christmas lights, and took a picture of it where it now sits in the living room, on top of the Goodwill secret compartment table that I got in Ohio last month.
We also brought home a framed print (numbered 1 of 9) of a stone rubbing of an Irish Abbey tomb slab from the 13th Century, which is now hanging in the kitchen:
It’s pretty amazing. Click the picture above to see better detail, and below to read the full placard mounted on the back:
Also, Lenny!:
Friday, March 10th, 2006
Make way for the S-O-V!
Lady Sovereign is pretty much the greatest. Also, little Tempestt Bledsoe likes to eat dried apples:
