So… all I can say about this concert is that it was… incredible. Way way better than the last time I saw them in Grand Rapids at the Deltaplex. That was a good show, too, but this was just amazing. They’re going to be at the Van Andel in Grand Rapids now, so I’m definitely going to that. Trent Reznor is amazing, the band he assembled is amazing (Allesandro Cortini is amazing) and whoever is behind the production design for the staging, lights, and multimedia certainly brought it to a new height. Actually I must say that this concert would not have been the same experience without the staging; it really made it a complete show full of all kinds of energy and great great music.
My darling. I’m waiting for you. How long is a the day in the dark? Or a week? The fire is gone, and I’m horribly cold. I really should drag myself outside but then there’d be the sun. I’m afraid I waste the light on the paintings, not writing these words. We die. We die rich with lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we’ve entered and swum up like rivers. Fears we’ve hidden in – like this wretched cave. I want all this marked on my body. We’re the real countries: not boundaries drawn on maps, with the names of powerful men. I know you’ll come carry me out to the Palace of Winds. That’s what I’ve wanted: to walk in such a place with you. With friends, on an earth without maps. The lamp has gone out and I’m writing in the darkness.
I finally got ahold of the new-ish Editors album, and it’s… great. Despite the reviews I thinks it’s a solid second album, though no better than their first. They get “best lyrics” for the month of August:
In the end all you can hope for
Is the love you felt to equal the pain you’ve gone through
Are your eyes showing off for mine?
Your face in my hands is everything that I need…”
And I just adore Tom Smith’s voice.
Easy on the eyes, too.
I’m really sick of hearing str8, divorced male assholes talk about “the unique status of marriage between and man and a woman” and how marriage should be “sacred” and “cherished.”
Were you cherishing your (first) marriage when you were fuckin’ Cindy while still married to Carol, Mr. McCain?
My RAZR is finally crapping out… I dropped it the other day and screwed up the external screen, and it’s gotten into this weird habit of rebooting if I snap it shut too hard, which used to be one of my favorite things to do! I’ll miss that *snap*. Josh had mentioned giving me his iPhone if he buys a new one, but in the meantime I felt it was time to get a new phone anyway. I got an LG Shine for $10.00 on upgrade from AT&T, so that was quite a steal. And if I don’t like it I’ve got my trusty RAZR to fall back on until I can find one I do like… but when it came down to it I’ve had the black RAZR since October of 2005 and after nearly three years with the same equipment it was plain old time to upgrade. Another factor was the sheer number of pictures I take with my phone(flickr has almost 1,000 images)&emdash;and while the 2 megapixel camera that comes on the Shine isn’t nearly as good as my 8.3 Fuji, I don’t carry that around with me everywhere and I love the immediacy of uploading photos as I take them. So Shine it was… I also had to renew my contract for 2 more years, but whatever… I would’ve had to do that when I got Josh’s iPhone anyway. I’m looking forward to taking higher-quality images. Of course what’s I’d really like is an SLR film camera and unlimited film & developing… but instead I’ll have to settle for digital. That is why I switched, after all, at the rate I was taking pictures before I got my first digital camera I was spending an extra $25-$100 a month on film & developing, not to mention the document footprint. Although I do miss the grain…
I have to deal with fuckin’ old people like this every. day.
Ohio man buys new truck with thousands of coins
CINCINNATI (AP) — An Ohio man who says he doesn’t trust paper money has delivered enough coins to cover half the price of a brand new pickup truck.
Employees at a dealership in the Cincinnati suburb of Springdale say 70-year-old James Jones plunked down 16 coffee cans full of coins Tuesday for a new Chevrolet Silverado.
Salesman David Crisswell says employees spent 90 minutes counting the collection of dimes, quarters, half-dollars and dollar coins, which covered half the $16,000 price of the pickup.
Jones and his wife, Betty, wrote a check for the other half of the cost.
Jones’ son says his dad has always preferred to pay with coins. Dennis Jones says he’s most amazed that his penny-pinching father decided to replace his 1981 pickup, which struck his father when its parking brake failed last year, putting him in a hospital.
The first time I saw Citizen Kane there was one little scene in it that I’ve liked the most ever since.
Now, a lot of people have never watched Citizen Kane. And a lot of people have and call it their “favorite film.” Those who have never seen it will most likely tell you that it’s because it’s old, it’s in black and white, it’s boring, &c, &c, &c. Those who have seen it and call it their “favorite film” likely call it that out of some needfelt reverence for such a classic; rightly so, but still. It does run a little long in the tooth sometimes. But it is a great film, and one of my many favorites. If you take the time to appreciate the history of it you’ll realize that Welles and the Mercury Players did so many pioneering things that we see in films today and take for granted. So it really is worth a watch—it’s as satisfying a mystery movie as anything that’s come out in the past twenty years, and is just a great all-around story. I appreciate it most on a technical level, knowing that there are several shots you see that had never been done before on film and it just makes them all that more interesting, important, and compelling.
But the one thing that I’ve remember and just loved about the film is a scene where the reporter who’s investigating Kane’s life story (to find out the meaning of “rosebud”) is talking with Mr Bernstein (Kane’s business manager) and Bernstein shares with us this story:
A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn’t think he’d remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn’t see me at all, but I’ll bet a month hasn’t gone by since that I haven’t thought of that girl.
What I like most is that’s how my mind seems to work sometimes. It’s true—there’s people I’ve spent even longer than a second with who I think of at least every month.
Apparently everyone thought these little guys were extinct.
I was on a quest a few minutes ago to find a rodent that “looks menacing. Like if it gets near you it’ll chew your eyeballs out. And yet small and furry.”
I found it:
Just think of the havoc you could create with a burlap sack full of rabid laotian rock rats. Hurl it into the library. Leave it in the corner of a courthouse. Or the lobby of a retirement home. Or just in the car of someone you don’t particularly like‡.
‡ don’t construe this to be a threat against anyone, I have no idea where I’d even get a burlap sack full of laotian rock rats. let alone a burlap sack. but just in case, don’t fuck with me.
I thought about this last year after I’d turned 28 but never posted it. Here are some people who died at the age of 27. Seems I’m doing pretty good to have made it so far.
About
This blog is a chronicle of my life for the past seven years, so at times it's pretty interesting to dig back on.
I don't have one particular focus here, it's not a blog specifically about anything in particular as my interests are fairly broad. I post a lot about space, books, progressive politics, and little tidbits of my life.
If you have a comment about something, send me a tweet @paulpellerito.
