03/17/2005 Thursday morning, St. Patrick's Day (10:40 AM)

Ah, St. Patrick's... a day for most to feign what I do not have to: Irish heritage. So from the bowls of Lucky Charms placed in an Irish colleague's office this morning, to surprise punches to those not wearing the Green, this morning has been fun. Oh, yeah, my morning meeting with the uber-social wonk of the office was cancelled. Happy happy, joy joy!

I have seen two films in the past two days that will open in April: Sahara and Sin City. The pair represents a sort of Alpha to Omega of film fun. Sahara is fun, fast, and relatively lighthearted and loose. Sin City is dark, gritty, violent and dystrophic, yet so compelling. I wrote a small comment on Sin City for the IMDB. Depending on one's mood, you ought to find time to see both in a theatre soon.

Congrats to Baretta on beating the rap!

03/12/2005: The Woodsman Experience in FC (11:14 AM)

In the TMI Department today, I have the perverse pleasure of learning about a neighbor the wrong way. Sometimes you should be careful about what you want to know, because you might not like the truth. But here it goes: Meet Ronald, the downstairs neighbor!

Now, it's not like I am really worried myself, as the only child in residence in my place is Ranty, who wouldn't get any ped's eye by a longshot. Still, there are a few kids in the building, and yes, I am somewhat cautious there. I haven't seen the guy around, so it is possible he may have moved on and the record not updated. He may be well on his way of dealing with this. I do think it is an interesting thing to feel a conflicted moral dilemma once in while. For what it's worth, seeing Nicole Kassel's The Woodsman in Toronto does give one some perspective from the ped's fight within himself.

In other news, I tried a free bottle of Butter Pecan Ensure this morning. Not too bad, and no, it's not just for grandma!!! Don't belive me? F.U., buddy!

03/09/2005: From Osaka to Yorkshire by way of the Cat (2:28 PM)

Man oh man, what a whirlwind the last 36 hours have been! for the first time in my life I have attended two separate shows at the same venue (DC's Black Cat) on two sequential nights. On Monday night it was Osaka's famous and diminutive para Power Puff Girls, Shonen Knife! They were, in the words of second bill act Visqueen's lead singer Rachel Flotard, "... so cute. I want to eat them." (BTW, Visqueen was quite good, and worth checking out. No snyths, though). It was weird fun watching the trio go through stage antics usually reserved for metal bands with hair bigger than each of the three. The partially ethnically-partisan crowd were whipped into a bouncing fevor by songs like "Rubber Band" and "Hot Mustard". It was a wonderfully weird show.

Last night brought the return of Yorkshire's New Model Army, fully reformed together. They put on an absolutely great show, proving themselves as still one of the strongest acts of the post-punk era, more literate than most. The bulk of the set came from Thunder and Consolation, their most critically acclaimed release. A small cadre of suburban punk poseurs had a modestly energetic mosh going right in front of me, which made for clear viewing of the stage! They didn't perform "White Coats" but they did perform most of their other well known songs, like "51st State." I do recommend peeps checking out this tour if you can. Sadly, with the exception of the SXSW music festival (held right after the SXSW Film festival) NMA won't be playing in dates in the South. Sorry, no repeat of the Atlanta show, King Jelly!

03/07/2005: Monday morning, 11:25 AM

Well hey! Behold the pic below of myself with big time DC Italian chef/restraunteur Roberto Donna. Last night C-Towner and I went to his flagship space, Galileo, to join other foodies to cheer him on in his defeat to uber-Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto on Iron Chef America. Still, a good time was had, even when some older women took a liking to us, and bought us some Montevideo Reserva '98. One of them thought C-Towner was gay.

Me and Chef Roberto Donna 

The Anti-Flaming Bush 

it's like a late Christmas 

03/03/05: Thursday afternoon, 3:17 PM

It's being rather quiet over here in the office, with BOF about to get moved to another project, his corner has been on the QT. The Engine takes off by 3, so he is gone, and Double D is off somewhere else. So here I am, figuring out what is next in my chronicle. First off, I have made an appointment with a new dentist down in Woodbridge for 4/1. Sure, I could have found one closer to me, but I thought they did a good job selling themselves on their website, and hey, I don't mind supporting an all-women office. I'll have more to say about this new effort to improve myself!

For my friends down in the Sunshine State, are you taking any time to watch any Spring Training games? Of course, the local sports press up here are ga-ga over the Nationals nee suck-ass Expos winning their first training game. : Jim shakes his head in usual disbelief : At least I had the chance to see the Expos as Expos playing in Pittsburgh last summer. Got the chance to meet a couple of the players at a midweek day-night doubleheader, and to welcome them to the Land of Pinheads. Have you seen the Nats' (puke) caps? A weak, cursive 'W' that makes it too easy for the counterfeiters who man tables behind the office to knock off. Pretty damn good knock-offs, to be sure.

God bless Columbia House DVD Club. Give me a one day sale of 60% off, and I am a sucker! Horror was the theme today: The Exorcist version you've never seen, Exorcist the Beginning, Gothika SE, Shaun of the Dead, Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind CE, Thunderbirds (yes, the new one! Rarely is 'children's entertainment' so accessible to adults), and Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. All seven for just over $80 with free shipping. If you are a DVD fiend like moi, drop me a line and let me invite you into the club. It's really easy to make the commitment, and you can go online to kill the auto shipments. I have never returned a card to them.

Sorry, I forgot about the snow pics. Tonight, I promise!

03/01/05: Monday afternoon, 1:10 PM

Gee, the weekend came and went like a synaptic impulse! At least I survived going to Coyote Ugly (and please, all my friends, don't make the same mistake I did here) and Irish Channel with C-Towner and JY. Sorry, Priapus, for missing out on the Red Room and catching you. I'll be there this weekend!

The DCFS Oscars night was successful. I found myself running around almost constantly, as I got saddled with keeping our sound booth volunteers in line. Of course, the first volunteer was a fuck-up who lived up to that epithet. Between not remembering the simple controls he was shown mere minutes before, to abandoning the post during his shift, I found myself running stair laps all evening. Not my idea of fun. Luckily the other volunteers had their shit together and made things smoother during their times. Thanks, you guys!

Now, about them awards: I was a little surprised that Eastwood took best director/picture over Scorsese/Michael Mann. Mind you, I haven't seen The Aviator yet, but it seemed like the buzz was all over it. I guess Hollywood still loves its own first and foremost. Congrats to Million Dollar Baby. Most of the rest of it seemed pretty predictable, even with Sideways getting an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay (it always seems like the best films I like year to year clean up at the Independent Spirit Awards, but only get the screenplay writing bone from the Academy. I keep hoping more peeps watch the ISA's each year). I thought Chris Rock was very funny, and hope he comes back next year.

Ah, overdue here. As I promised, here is my online photo album from my trip to Europe in January. Some of the pics were too dark, but not too many. Feel free to ask me about any of them! Can't wait to go back there.

I took a few pics of the snow outside the apartment. I will put a couple up here tonight. Be happy if you are living in points south of moi!