Monday, January 29, 2007
Gotta Listen Kids
Check out Paolo Nutini. He has a four song EP on iTunes and it is completely worth the $3.49 or whatever they are charging for it. Last Request is a great song and the other three are just as enjoyable. His voice has this scratchy, soulful quality to it while at the same time being one of the smoothest I've heard in a long time. Oh yeah, did I mention he's only 19?
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Stomp
Friday night Cindy and I had a lady date. We met at my office at 5:45 (which proved to be a good decision! on my part because I would not have been able to get out of there before 8 otherwise) and headed over to dinner at La Tosca, a Spanish tapas restaurant. It was Restaurant Week in DC and we took advantage of what was usually their Wednesday night tapas special which is basically all the tapas you can eat plus a dessert for $30.05 a person. I didn't feel like making any decisions and Cindy was up for adventure so I asked the waiter to just bring us his favorite dishes and had him surprise us with glasses of a nice, spicy rioja. It was fabulous and delicious. During dinner we caught up on what's been going on in each other's lives and kept an eye out for her husband and two kids who were coming into the city for some thing at the MCI Center. We never did see them, but we did see Abby walking by who, wih her husband, hosted Heather's going away party that we threw last weekend (story to come very very soon).
After dinner we headed to the Warner Theater for Stomp. Our cab driver was IN SANE. We get into the cab and he cranks up the radio and says "great song, yeah?". We just started giggling and agreed. That song (Irreplaceable by Beyonce) ended and the next song was "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger which just got him more pumped, especially when Cindy said "I need a shot". It's true. Everytime that song comes on it seems wrong to not be throwing back a shot of JD. Maybe that's why I don't listen to it that often. Anyways, we had great seats and a wonderful time. I saw Stomp with my mom and Aunt Denise when it first made the rounds about 10 years ago in CA and really enjoyed it so when Cindy was looking for someone to go with I immediately said yes. These performers are incredible percussionists. They are able to make sounds with just about anything; brooms, sand, their hands, lighters, bags, etc. Anyone who doesn't leave that show wanting to be a drummer, I don't want to be friends with.
After dinner we headed to the Warner Theater for Stomp. Our cab driver was IN SANE. We get into the cab and he cranks up the radio and says "great song, yeah?". We just started giggling and agreed. That song (Irreplaceable by Beyonce) ended and the next song was "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger which just got him more pumped, especially when Cindy said "I need a shot". It's true. Everytime that song comes on it seems wrong to not be throwing back a shot of JD. Maybe that's why I don't listen to it that often. Anyways, we had great seats and a wonderful time. I saw Stomp with my mom and Aunt Denise when it first made the rounds about 10 years ago in CA and really enjoyed it so when Cindy was looking for someone to go with I immediately said yes. These performers are incredible percussionists. They are able to make sounds with just about anything; brooms, sand, their hands, lighters, bags, etc. Anyone who doesn't leave that show wanting to be a drummer, I don't want to be friends with.
Check This Chick Out
Rachael Yamagata. I've been listening to her album "Happenstance" off and on over the last couple months (even though it's been around since 2004) and it just keeps getting better. Absolutely fantastic voice, somewhat husky, vulnerable but strong. Her songs have been featured in The Last Kiss and my personal favorite comedy right now How I Met Your Mother (Wanna go to the mall today Mark?) I know I've raved about HIMYM before, but yet another reason to love the show is their music selection. Gotta love a show that features Bon Jovi, The Decemberists, Bloc Party, the Femmes and has The 88 playing a prom. Fantastic.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Band of the MLK Weekend
I've been working tons so far this year and I've been under the weather with a pretty bad cold. I'm going to be spending this weekend catching up on things like laundry, cleaning my house and seeing how many of my friends outside of DC are still alive (and still friends since i've been pretty MIA as of late). That said, I have been in need of some good old fashioned fun music and found it in Gym Class Heroes. Their album As Cruel As School Children is quite entertaining. More later - kisses.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Don't Forget The Robot
How I Met Your Mother is the new Arrested Development. A great, funny show that no one is watching and critcs love. Barney "The Barnacle" is quite possibly one of the funniest characters ever on television. A warning: This song will never, ever, ever leave your head. That said, throw on your rubber bracelets and grafitti coat and head to the mall....today.
Happy New Year Everyone
So The Year Of Good Decisions has begun leaving The Year That Kicked My Ass behind. There isn't a more excited girl in the world, let me tell you.
My long, holiday weekend has been pretty fun so far. Very quiet and relaxing. I've been going non-stop for awhile now and feel like I haven't been home for like a month. My apartment is a disaster, I've got tons of laundry to do and I've just been too tired to do any of it. So I intentionally went into this weekend with little to no set plans other than New Year's Eve.
The weekend started Thursday with pizza, beer and movies at Agie's. After some "I call bullshit" from Tim and Agie regarding the lack of loving between me and Bob Tuesday night (seriously, I turned him down - I'd tell you if I didn't), we may or may not have watched Borat which was funny stuff. Not as funny as the hype has been, but I usually don't enjoy watching nice people get made fun of. Other than those few parts the movie had some hilarious moments along with a very, very disturbing scene involving naked hairy men and wrestling. Seriously. My eyes will never be the same again. *shudder* After that we threw in The Comedians of Comedy. Fan-freaking-tastic. Three of the four comedians are hilarious. I've got to make sure I put the rest of the dvds in my Netflix lineup (even though I've had my three movies for about a month now).
Friday I left work at a decent hour, came home, made dinner, watched The Break Up (which was an entertaining flick - glad I didn't see it when it came out, but more glad that I watched it - some of the situations were a little too familiar to parts of early last year) and went to bed sometime around 11.
Saturday I ran a bunch of errands which included grocery shopping for the first time in about a month. I hate not having fresh vegetables and fruit in my house but I've been working so many hours during the week (and a lot of weekends) and traveling on the weekends I'm not working, it's been very difficult to go to the store. I really need to get better this year about making time to do things I really need to do (see: The Year of Good Decisions) especially with school starting in 3 weeks. I guess I can look at this withdrawal from society because of work as a test run for when school begins - at least this way I won't be stopping having a lot of fun cold turkey. I'm slowly weaning myself off the fun. Shoosh. Let me fool myself a little longer please. Anyways, after errands, I met Jim at Dupont for Babel which we've been trying to see for about two weeks now (see: working a lot of hours). It was a really good movie despite some problems (no need at all for the Japanese story line - it felt very contrived and really was only there to see a naked Asian girl). The fact that there were a couple times where you knew exactly what was going to happen, yet there was still a strong feeling of suspense was impressive. The acting was fantastic and the vignettes in Morrocco and Mexico were really true to life. After the movie we went to Raku for dinner which was really good. I love that place. Then we walked to Jim's so I could meet the new lady in his life Natalya (named after Borat's sister - the 4th best prostitute in Khazakstan). His friend works at the Humane Society here in DC. A couple weeks back they raided a house that had over 15 cats living (if you can call it that) in squalor that they took in which meant they needed to make room at the facility. Jim was kind enough to take one of the cats that had been there for two months. She is so cute and lively and driving Jim nuts with her energy. He's very cute with her though. Dotes on her like no one I've ever seen. That's why I send Charlotte to Chez Jim anytime I'm gone for an extended period of time. He treats her like she's on vacation too. Anyways, after the visit with Natalya, Jim drove me home and I again went to bed fairly early (around 1).
Sunday was more errands and a lot of lazing about between loads of laundry. I like to have tv on in the background while I do housework rather than music. With music I get too involved with what I want to listen to at any given moment and spend more time setting up a playlist or forwarding through songs to be really effective and get anything done efficiently. I've found that bad television works much better and is far less distracting. So, I settled on Ugly Betty and went to work tackling the mound of laundry in my closet. I totally got sucked in to an Ugly Betty marathon. Damn that show. It's really quite fun, even though it's incredibly predictable and she's just so darn cute you can't help but love her, huge, bushy eyebrows and braces be damned. I headed over to Heather's for champagne before what has now become our annual Logan Tavern New Year's Eve dinner. Sarah and her husband were there already and then we met Tori and her boyfriend at the restaurant. Such a great time at dinner. It's always incredibly good food and I couldn't have asked for better company. I'm not a huge fan of big, extravagant NYEs - I'd much rather have a nice evening with friends than get all dolled up and pay tons of money to hang out with a bunch of people I don't know whose sole goal of the evening is to find someone to kiss at midnight. Ugh. Anyways, after dinner we headed to New Vegas Lounge for great live music and dancing. My Year of Good Decisions decree was a hit with my friends who have all decided to have their own themes for 2007. Heather's is The Year of No International Incidents since she is moving to South Korea in a couple weeks, Britton took a liking to The Year of Good Decisions and has decided he will follow my lead, and Sarah has decided that 2007 for her will be The Year of The Banjo. Evidently she received a banjo as a gift from the gentleman who made it (I didn't get all the story - sorry, it was really really loud) and decided that she should probably learn to play it. We all headed home around 1 and it was looking like yet another early, quiet evening for Plan B. I ended up talking to a bunch of folks and got to bed around 4. Not too bad for NYE, although I do see a nap in my future.
My long, holiday weekend has been pretty fun so far. Very quiet and relaxing. I've been going non-stop for awhile now and feel like I haven't been home for like a month. My apartment is a disaster, I've got tons of laundry to do and I've just been too tired to do any of it. So I intentionally went into this weekend with little to no set plans other than New Year's Eve.
The weekend started Thursday with pizza, beer and movies at Agie's. After some "I call bullshit" from Tim and Agie regarding the lack of loving between me and Bob Tuesday night (seriously, I turned him down - I'd tell you if I didn't), we may or may not have watched Borat which was funny stuff. Not as funny as the hype has been, but I usually don't enjoy watching nice people get made fun of. Other than those few parts the movie had some hilarious moments along with a very, very disturbing scene involving naked hairy men and wrestling. Seriously. My eyes will never be the same again. *shudder* After that we threw in The Comedians of Comedy. Fan-freaking-tastic. Three of the four comedians are hilarious. I've got to make sure I put the rest of the dvds in my Netflix lineup (even though I've had my three movies for about a month now).
Friday I left work at a decent hour, came home, made dinner, watched The Break Up (which was an entertaining flick - glad I didn't see it when it came out, but more glad that I watched it - some of the situations were a little too familiar to parts of early last year) and went to bed sometime around 11.
Saturday I ran a bunch of errands which included grocery shopping for the first time in about a month. I hate not having fresh vegetables and fruit in my house but I've been working so many hours during the week (and a lot of weekends) and traveling on the weekends I'm not working, it's been very difficult to go to the store. I really need to get better this year about making time to do things I really need to do (see: The Year of Good Decisions) especially with school starting in 3 weeks. I guess I can look at this withdrawal from society because of work as a test run for when school begins - at least this way I won't be stopping having a lot of fun cold turkey. I'm slowly weaning myself off the fun. Shoosh. Let me fool myself a little longer please. Anyways, after errands, I met Jim at Dupont for Babel which we've been trying to see for about two weeks now (see: working a lot of hours). It was a really good movie despite some problems (no need at all for the Japanese story line - it felt very contrived and really was only there to see a naked Asian girl). The fact that there were a couple times where you knew exactly what was going to happen, yet there was still a strong feeling of suspense was impressive. The acting was fantastic and the vignettes in Morrocco and Mexico were really true to life. After the movie we went to Raku for dinner which was really good. I love that place. Then we walked to Jim's so I could meet the new lady in his life Natalya (named after Borat's sister - the 4th best prostitute in Khazakstan). His friend works at the Humane Society here in DC. A couple weeks back they raided a house that had over 15 cats living (if you can call it that) in squalor that they took in which meant they needed to make room at the facility. Jim was kind enough to take one of the cats that had been there for two months. She is so cute and lively and driving Jim nuts with her energy. He's very cute with her though. Dotes on her like no one I've ever seen. That's why I send Charlotte to Chez Jim anytime I'm gone for an extended period of time. He treats her like she's on vacation too. Anyways, after the visit with Natalya, Jim drove me home and I again went to bed fairly early (around 1).
Sunday was more errands and a lot of lazing about between loads of laundry. I like to have tv on in the background while I do housework rather than music. With music I get too involved with what I want to listen to at any given moment and spend more time setting up a playlist or forwarding through songs to be really effective and get anything done efficiently. I've found that bad television works much better and is far less distracting. So, I settled on Ugly Betty and went to work tackling the mound of laundry in my closet. I totally got sucked in to an Ugly Betty marathon. Damn that show. It's really quite fun, even though it's incredibly predictable and she's just so darn cute you can't help but love her, huge, bushy eyebrows and braces be damned. I headed over to Heather's for champagne before what has now become our annual Logan Tavern New Year's Eve dinner. Sarah and her husband were there already and then we met Tori and her boyfriend at the restaurant. Such a great time at dinner. It's always incredibly good food and I couldn't have asked for better company. I'm not a huge fan of big, extravagant NYEs - I'd much rather have a nice evening with friends than get all dolled up and pay tons of money to hang out with a bunch of people I don't know whose sole goal of the evening is to find someone to kiss at midnight. Ugh. Anyways, after dinner we headed to New Vegas Lounge for great live music and dancing. My Year of Good Decisions decree was a hit with my friends who have all decided to have their own themes for 2007. Heather's is The Year of No International Incidents since she is moving to South Korea in a couple weeks, Britton took a liking to The Year of Good Decisions and has decided he will follow my lead, and Sarah has decided that 2007 for her will be The Year of The Banjo. Evidently she received a banjo as a gift from the gentleman who made it (I didn't get all the story - sorry, it was really really loud) and decided that she should probably learn to play it. We all headed home around 1 and it was looking like yet another early, quiet evening for Plan B. I ended up talking to a bunch of folks and got to bed around 4. Not too bad for NYE, although I do see a nap in my future.
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