weird

This gave me a jolt (and thanks to C-Rodd for the heads-up), I got name-checked by my own paper! Or, at least this blog did. Yesterday's Forum section, p. E2 in the "Surfing USA" section. Maya did too.

I knew some people at work read this blog - but I'm not sure if the person who put that in there knows me.

Again, weird. Almost a little too meta for my liking....Of course, now I'm blogging about being mentioned for my blog.

I guess only I have the power to stop this madness.

Miami Vice, not so nice...

So, the Miami Vice movie, to put it delicately, sucked. It was such a cheesy mish-mash of sex and violence - and not at all in a good way. Very stylized but that quickly grew old and all the moody lighting and smart camera angles in the world can't make up for the fact that I loathe Colin Farrell and his bushy, asymmetrical eyebows. Also, why was Gong Li given more time than Jamie Foxx? She's pretty and kind of convincing and all but the poor actress doesn't even speak English and surely Foxx could've taken some of her lines and, thus, had more screen time. He was the only thing I even half-way liked about the film and he was really only on screen for about a third of the film.

Cory said he kept forgetting it was a Miami Vice film until, every so often, he'd hear a snippet of the theme song....I just kept thinking I'd wandered into a bad Paul Walker film.

In any case, the Jamie Foxx interview didn't happen - no surprise there, but I'm not sure if the off chance was really worth the price of sitting through that film....

I really need to see a good movie in the theater - it's been awhile. For some reason I don't count "An Inconvienent Truth." That was good, but it felt like a school film.

I want to see that "new film from the director of Match Point" - i.e. "Scoop" (How stupid is it that they're billing it that way?) and "Little Miss Sunshine."

But I think Cory & I may just stay in one night this weekend and watch "Cool Hand Luke" - I've never seen it and I promised Cory we could watch it if he went to the Miami Vice screening...last weekend we watched a "A Clockwork Orange" - I hadn't seen that in probably 15 years....such an amazing film and I just love Malcolm McDowell to pieces....

OK, so here's your heads-up because I know you have nothing better do to at 11:30 a.m. on a Monday: I'm reading as part of the:

Java City Anniversary Poetry Marathon

Here are the event details:

WHEN: Start Friday July 28th 12:00pm Ends Monday July 31st. 1:00pm Continuous 24 WHERE:Java City 18th. Street and Capitol ( mid-town Sacramento )
COST: Free - no charge

Poets include:
B.L. Kennedy, Ann Menebroker, Charlene Ungsted, Linda Thorell, William S. Gainer, Gene Bloom, Joyce Odam, Kathy Kieth, Tim Kahl, Bob Stanley, James Lee Jobe, Laverne and Carol Frith, Luke Breit, Barbara Noble, Ted Finn, frank andrick, Susan Kelly Dewitt, Malgwryn, Crawdad Nelson, Leslie Bailey, Mario Ellis Hill, Alan Satow, Carlos Alcala, Rachel Leibrock, Chi Cheng (Deftones), Dennis Schmitz, Victoria Dalkey, Supa Nova, Sam Jensen, Pat Grizzell, Michael Grosse, BL Kennedy and friends. And much more ...

So, once more with feeling, I'm reading Monday at 11:30 a.m. - yes, I'll be scurrying over from work and then rushing back because Mondays are always hell for deadlines. Hopefully I will not be too frazzled.

But before then: Tonight at the park show: The Groovie Ghoulies, Helper Monkeys, Secretions and Bobby Jordan. Then, at Old I: The Ghoulies, Chixdiggit!, Knockoffs and Copyrights....more punk rock than you can shake a stick at....

It's not you, it's me...

...I just have no desire to post. It's the heat. Hate it.

Instead, I just want to marry my air conditioning; although frankly it's not doing much of a job of helping me sleep better at night. This last week has been awful.

Then again, our friends in Queens were without power from last Tuesday until Sunday. So yeah, I'll shut up now...

Anyway, posting, maybe later...tonight we're going to see Miami Vice in the off chance that I may get a Jamie Foxx phone interview. Hopefully it (the movie and, well, Foxx) does not totally suck.

A sticky sizzle...

Good lord, if I wanted sticky triple digit temperatures, I would've stayed in Texas. At least there when you get the muggy you also, eventually, get the thunderstorms.

When it looks like rain, feels like rain and smells like rain - well then, it should rain.

Just sayin'.

...

I was at Old Ironsides when I found out about Erik Kleven's death on Saturday night. Awful, awful news but I was glad to be surrounded by good-hearted people.

And that, coupled with some other happenings this weekend, ultimately made me realize how grateful I need to be for my life, my world, my friends.

And, I am.

I have some wonderful memories of Erik to help me through the sadness.

I'm sure we all do. He will be missed.

A slow burn

For reasons I can't even remember now, I didn't like the new Calexico record when I first heard it.

Now I love it.

Speaking of slow burns, this weekend - because I have nothing better to do on a 100-degree-plus day - I'll be selling my crap at a friend's garage sale. The house is sort of behind the Tower Theatre parking lot...easy to find....cheap stuff (books, clothes, knick-knacks, dishes, some furniture). Update: Due to myriad reasons the garage sale's been postponed until Aug. 5. I am not at all sad about this because now I get to sleep in tomorrow.

Also, tonight: Pets CD release party at Old I. $5.

Plenty of other things going on this weekend (French Film Fest, in particular) so get out there and don't be a social recluse (unlike me)....

Also: Last night Cory & I walked over to St. Robert's to shoot hoops and it was a million degrees outside (really) but I love the sound of a basketball being smacked around on a nearly-empty playground court. I'm kind of sore today (upper right arm) but in a good way.

Also: Happy birthday Scott.

Whatevs, people, whatevs...

There's the to-be-expected SAMMIES suck debate going on over in the Heckasac comments section - come on people, give it a rest.

If you don't like the SAMMIES, fine, whatever...but your arguments against it are pretty tired and predictable at this point in the game. Yawn. As such, I think KLJ makes some good points....

SAMMIES....

SAMMIES

Well the SAMMIES were a lot more fun than I'd expected - last year's were so not fun that maybe anything would've seen like a hit but, seriously, last night's event seemed to recapture the Music Scene Office Party vibe from years past.

Having it at the Crest again really helps although I was a little torn about the two stage thing. In years past they've booked more bands to play and this year they reserved the second stage for the JAMMIES (the kids, as they say)....that meant there were fewer uh, grown-up bands to see.

And honestly the only bands I saw that I truly enjoyed were the Helper Monkeys, Daisy Spot and Alkalai Flats - and the Flats played in the lobby. More diversity in the bands would've helped. More bands, period would've been good. Then again, apparently I missed a set by Broken Home?

Aside from that quibble, we all had a lot of fun and it made me a little nostalgic for years passed - but in a totally good way (I still remember my first SAMMIES at the Community Center when I was an SN&R intern). I can't even remember half the bands who won awards last night, but that's never really the point, now is it?

Oh, and the critical achievement acceptance videos were pretty good - especially the one from that guy in Didley Squat. And I'm not even much of a fan of the band.

Anyway: Keith Lowell Jensen and Ben Miller were fun hosts. Those SAMMIES propoganda flyers were pretty fucking hilarious, Miller's wardrobe changes were pretty funny and KLJ nearly made me fall out of my seat with that Marc S. Allen crack. Or maybe that was the booze. (Or maybe it was just the Crest vibe - I think Jaz from the Helper Monkeys is still hurtnig today after his unintentional stage dive)....Which brings me to this: For the love of sweet baby jesus - I have to Remember.To.Eat.More.If.I'm.Going.To.Drink ....Two drinks and I felt a little uh, asymmetrical.

But in a totally good way - maybe that's why I had fun.

Dog, found...

It was a very short, very hot, brutally tiring weekend. But getting this in our mailbox made everything a million times better.

Because it's more than a little bit heartbreaking to open your door to a crying 10-year-old girl on the morning of the 4th of July ...

bumpy

I guess saying you look pregnant is the new saying you look fat.

Nice!

Once, in high school, I was wearing a loose, lavendar sundress. The scene: First period independent studies media class. The plot: Some girl who was in R.O.P. (is that what it was called? The independent work study thing?) came over to use our equipment and after a few minutes of wrangling with cameras and cables, looked over at me in my loose (lavendar - I'm not sure why this is important, but it is) dress and asked when I was due.

Yeah, didn't make me too happy.

Maybe she went on to work for Star magazine.