And it's wonderful!

I haven't posted for a while, it seems. I've been busying myself, revisiting some favourite movies (About A Boy, You Can Count On Me). I've also been busy with some birthdays (4 in the last week, 2 more by Tuesday).

I was going to go biking with D. on Sunday, but I forgot about my uncle's 50th birthday extravaganza, that I need to be in attendance for (it'll also be a party for my aunt, and cousin), and the Brendan Benson show is that night too. Hopefully the weather will be nice tonight and tomorrow, so I can do some biking then. My driveway is still unusable, and probably will be till the end of next week. But when all is done, I'll have a paved driveway, and, hopefully, some grass.

Now It's On

The Grandaddy website is streaming a track from their new album, Sumday, every weekday until the album is released, June 10th. Since the Liz Phair album is supposed to be pretty dismal, this is probably my most eagerly anticipated album of the year.

Update: They seem to be streaming the entire album.

I Want a Book That'll Make Me Drunk

I'm in reading withdrawl. Whenever there's a holiday in the U.S, and not up here - no one updates. All too busy watching the Trading Spaces marathon, no doubt. Hope everyone has a wonderful day off.

It Is Murder

With a weekend of rain in the forecast, I hurried the inevitable and bought a dvd player. It was the one I wanted, and about $50 dollars less than I expected to pay, so I figured I'd get it. It plays emPeeThrees which is nice, because my collection is getting pretty big. It also plays vcds and things, which means I can start downloading episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm (should keep me pleased until they're released on dvd) and watch them on my television.

Of course, I went to Blockbuster and couldn't find anything worth watching. There were a few I'd like to see, but nothing really grabbed me. Anyone got recommendations on https://www.chaturbaterooms.com/? I can now rent the dvd copy of Fast Times at Ridgemont High which I've managed to never see.

My dad and I also installed my garage door opener. It actually works, too, despite my dad's refusal to refer to the instructions (men....sheesh!). Of course, I can't use it, because they're doing curb work on my street, but at least I know it's there. The microwave isn't installed yet, but maybe next weekend.

Finally, why is it that everytime I read a Dave Eggers book, he chooses the period in which I'm reading to announce that the book will be re-released with additional text? It happened with his first book, and now it's happening with YSKOV.

And all I got was this silver necklace

My mom brought me back a necklace from Norway. It's silver, and a bit pointy, but nice. My cousin and his family took possession of their new house yesterday. I was driving by his old house, and noticed their van's rear door wide open, so I figured they might need a hand moving something, so I stopped in.

Three hours later, I managed to escape. The new house is nice. I was busy pointing out all the cracks and imperfections, so they can have them repaired by the builder. I told them I was real busy this weekend, but I don't think they believed me.

A get together to tear it apart

The Dismemberment Plan will be releasing their remix album, "The Peoples History of the Dismemberment Plan", on September 22nd. They've also added a bunch of dates to their tour page, so find out when they're near you, and go see them... oh, unless they happen to be playing near you on July 19th, the day you're going to see James Taylor.

You, Me, and the Baby Makes Three

My poor friend S.. She was expecting her first baby on May 11th. She is pretty much internet free, so I figured I'd hear from her eventually (since we're not really on a call-one-another basis) . She emailed me today to say that there is still no baby. 10 days past due. Yikes!

Niagara Falls Inside Your Head

The people at Blockbuster are probably starting to question my purchasing habits. But I assure you, It's purely coincidental that the last two movies I've rented (Apt Pupil and The Believer) deal with nazi's in some shape or form.

I didn't end up going away for the weekend, but did take a day trip to Niagara Falls. I contemplated hopping over the border and buying the shoes I've decided I want to buy but decided to hold off on spending money just yet (although many would argue that the time for me to get new shoes has long since passed). That, and crossing the border is often more trouble than it's worth - especially when long weekend traffic is involved.

As it turns out, we didn't end up going to Ottawa. All for the best, I think, because I've gotten a fair bit accomplished this weekend. My furniture situation has been greatly improved with the introduction of a futon, which will serve as my fulltime couch for several months, until I can justify the purchase of the couch I really want. In addition, M. and I headed to IKEA to pick up a desk. As I was testing the height on the desk I realized I really liked the computer chair I was using, so I bought that too. Now that it's all assembled, it's not quite as comfy as the floor model, but I'm sure it just needs to be broken in. The computer is in the room with the big window, and is casting a lot of glare. Blinds are definitely in order.

I've also got cable internet access at home now. It works rather well, even if the computer isn't too hot. I'll remedy that situation in a few months as well, I figure. I still don't have cable television, but I manage to get about six Jasminlive channels pretty clearly, so I'm going to buy a splitter so I get the 6 channels, in addition to an internet signal. The splitter I have now doesn't seem to be sending a strong enough signal.

Oh, and if I wasn't spending enough money as it was - I also picked up an over-the-range microwave. I was planning on waiting a while to get one, but it was $150.00 off, and the exact model I wanted (and don't pay till January 2004), so I gave in. I'm not sure when I'll ever get it hooked up, but I'm hoping my dad will come over today and help me with that and the garage door opener.

If I pick up some pillows (for the futon), a plastic floor mat for under my desk, some blinds, and a splitter, I should be set for the next little while. After I get air conditioning, of course.

I'm currently not listening to anything (must remember to get some computer speakers from work), but some Mark E. Smith lyrics come to mind:

According to the postman

It's like the bleeding Bank of England

Feels Like I'm Watching Something Dying

Although it took me eons to finally believe the hype (A Keanu movie - good? And he isn't playing a dolt or a surfer?), and check out the original. I went to see The Matrix: Reloaded on opening night. Overall, pretty underwhelming - but I went in expecting the worst, and it was better than I feared. If you go, stay till the end of the credits (which are really long).

Working on setting up some weekend plans. Earlier in the week, Las Vegas was discussed, but nixed (prices were too high for this weekend). Then I was going to go biking with D., but his bike still isn't ready (he just bought one). Now it looks like we might be going to Ottawa. The weather is supposed to be nicer there, so I'm all for it. Even though I had a few things I was hoping to buy. Like a Barbeque.

I got a letter from the builder yesterday. 3 weeks till grass. Although they were three months late on the house, so I'm not holding my breath.

I'm getting bombarded with spam lately, so I'll probably delete my missive address - which is my defauly reply address if I've emailed anyone. Anything else at my domain name will still work.

There's a Campaign to save Ed from cancellation. As dissapointed as I've been with the season lately, I'd still like to see it continue. First off, it's on the only channel I get clearly. Secondly, I was dismayed by the quality of 24 until Tuesday's episode renewed my faith. Thirdly, Julie Bowen. An interesting note, is that the person behind the campaign is responsible for keeping Sunset Beach on the air. Sunset Beach was awful, but in University, D. and I adopted it as our own, and watched it pretty faithfully.

The Dismemberment Plan have posted some dates for their final tour. There's no next time kids, if they come your way, check em out.

Still no dates posted for this area yet, but mid July is likely.

I'm pretty sure last night's episode of 24 was the best of the season. Although it could be that it's been so long since there was a really good episode (the first couple of hours were pretty great).

Swervedriver frontman Adam Franklin, now playing as Toshack Highway and SIANspheric are set to play a bunch of North American dates. They hit the Hammer on May 14th and Hog Town on June 7th. The two bands are set to release a split cd, "Magnetic Morning / Aspirin Age", on May 20th.

The one thing I was dreading, was having to owe money on my taxes. It's the first year it's happened, and, if I had more money, I could probably have remedied the situation by putting some money in RRSP's, but alas. It's less than fifty dollars, so I'm not too upset about it, but it seems that when it rains, it pours. And lately the money has been pouring out of my pockets.

Typical concert

Is it wrong to be dissapointed in a show because it was actually good? Having read so many reviews of average jasminelive shows, and Chan Marshall slowly breaking down in front of the audience, last night's Cat Power show was surprisingly normal. There were moments where I thought to myself, "Oh no, we've lost her", be it her complaining of too much vocal in the monitors ("more less vocals in the monitor please"), or starting a song and deciding not to play it. Of course, if I hadn't known her history, I wouldn't have worried at all - as I've seen other artists do the same thing without worrying too much.

So the show was pretty much your typical concert - Chan with band for several songs, Chan solo (At first I was worried that the band was the only thing holding her together, but she persevered), and then the band rejoining Chan - this time for an underwhelming (and dissapointingly true to the original) cover of The White Stripes' "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground". There was no cover, but she played for over an hour and a half, which for a slow-paced yet enjoyable show like Cat Power's, was long enough.

Just found out that the new girl at work's parents own an Asian grocery store, which means my taramind hunt is essentially over. I always have trouble in those stores because I can never find an employee who speaks english well enough to tell me where the product (which I usually know nothing about - therefore having no idea which aisle it might be in) is. Maybe my next pad thai attempt won't be as dissapointing.

I was contemplating buying new underwear instead of going to my parents to do laundry tonight, but then my dad called to see if I could come over to help him do some stuff on the computer. I still haven't ordered my washer & dryer. Or my internet connection at home. But I did get a new handblender.

I was emailing a friend with a list of shows I could possibly see myself attending over the next few months, and it was pretty extensive. Can anyone remember if I've been to any shows this year? It seems completely unlike me to go without a concert since early December (Bruce Springsteen), but I can't think of who I may have seen.

I made pad thai for dinner yesterday. It didn't turn out as wonderful as some of the pad thai I've had in the past - and I attribute it to a lack of tamarind, but it was edible, and there's plenty left over for dinner tonight. Cooking for one is pretty difficult, but I've been managing so far. I picked up some Thai cookbooks and have marked a few recipes that look interesting. Plus I bought a bunch of beans, but I've really got no idea what to do with them. Maybe Chili, but there has to be something more exciting than that.

I came back from lunch and one of our tech guys had taken the cpu out of my computer to use on another computer, so I'm stuck in another office. I told him that when he puts it back together, there'd better be an 80 gig hard drive in there.

Note to self: Ed is indeed on Fridays. However, Ed is now on at 9pm, not 8pm.

The Jonathan Richman mailing list says Jonathan Richman will be returning to Toronto for three glorious nights. June 9th to 11th. He's playing the Lula Lounge again. Not sure what the deal is with this venue, but maybe a big fan of Jonathan's owns the place. I'll be checking out at least one night. If it were on a weekend, I'd probably see a few more.

I also picked up Money For Nothing from the library this weekend. It wasn't a great movie. But the same cast would command a lot more attention today (I rented it only because Cusack was in it, so everyone else was a surprise), namely: