... that's the sailor's way!

Just got back from the glorious San Francisco Bay Area yesterday. I headed back last Monday to spend a few days relaxing in Fremont at my parents' house (they were off in the U.K.), after which i attended a radiation therapy meeting at the Fairmont in SF. It was good to slow down a bit, although as always it could've been a little more relaxing. I drove up to SF the day after i got in to hang out with all my old friends from the MRSC. That was great, but after returning to Fremont the little yellow "Check Engine" light came on in my parents' Acura. Oh, great. I went to bed hoping everything would be right in the morning, but no dice. Plan A: walk to central Fremont to pick up a rental car, getting a deal from my friendly Avis employee Gary. I walked about 3 of the 4 miles there before Gary called, advising me to call the Avis 800 number. Lo and behold, the Fremont Avis has no cars. Plan B: take the Acura to my dad's mechanic. I was able to have him look at it that afternoon, but after dropping it off i had to walk the 2 miles home. I watched the second half of the excellent Real Madrid/Manchester United Champions League quarterfinal then took a serious nap before i got the call to pick up the car. Another 2 mile walk and an $88 bill to find out there was nothing wrong with car. Oh, did my poor legs kick and scream on hearing that. So there goes one of my three "off" days at home. The meeting in SF was good, although to get there at 8am i had to rise from my peaceful slumber in Fremont at 5:45am. Yeesk.

So i got back to beantown at 10 last night, and today drove Veronica to the airport for her trip to London and Glasgow. Sounds like it will be a blast for her, but for another week i'm all by my lonesome. I've got so much work to do though, i may not even notice. Two papers to write, a postdoc to hire, a lot more planning to do for Stanford, and god knows what multitude of delights waiting for me at the CMIR after my week off. Also got the movers coming tomorrow to give us a quote, and i've got to take my poor Honda into a body shop for an estimate on repairing the door. Damn Columbian restaurant.

Any interesting media i've indulged in recently? Hrm ... i picked up the last Spoon album Girls Can Tell at Amoeba, that is terrif. Also got the new Go-Betweens which hasn't really worked for me yet, and what i believe is the debut album by SF shoegazing outfit The Stratford 4, Love & Distortion. That one is quite good, featuring the producing talents of Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla. I downloaded the as yet unreleased Yeah Yeah Yeahs record, it's kickass. Haven't seen any movies since the infuriating Laurel Canyon. I watched some of Mr. Personality last night, and let me be the first to say there is a new king of TV trash. My reading lately has centered on an unintentional immortality kick, pushing through Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat and currently Queen of the Damned, as well as Tom Robbins's Jitterbug Perfume. The latter is an amusing philosophical epic chronicling the quest for immortality of a 10th century Bohemian king and an Indian widow. Oh yes, and the importance of smelling nice. It was developing into one of my more favorite Tom Robbins efforts (they're all excellent, but Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates still takes the taco), until the last twenty pages in which Robbins espouses his uninteresting and unfortunately climactic theories on floral consciousness.

when i was 22, i was a lot like you

when i was 23, it didn't matter to me

Spent my last weekend in Boston before my excursion to SF this week alternately out and about, then plopped in front of the television. Friday night Veronica and i headed to Kendall Square to check out Laurel Canyon. I didn't know a whole lot about the movie other than Lou Barlow and the rest of Folk Implosion (version 2.0) had parts in it. The film stars Christian Bale (ick ... didn't care for him in Swing Kids, and haven't liked him since) and Kate Beckinsale as an engaged couple moving from Boston to Los Angeles for Bale's psychiatry residency. Beckinsale apparently already has an M.D., but is wrapping up a Ph.D. in zoology or something similar. They are forced to stay with Bale's eccentric record producer mother, played by Frances McDormand in the only decent performance in the movie. The gist of the film is Bale's refusal to partake in the free-wheeling lifestyle of his mother, while his fiancee becomes more and more fascinated by this world to which she's never been exposed. The movie has some decent messages to convey, but they're delivered with all the subtlety of a hydrogen bomb. At no time during the film was i able to delude myself into believing that real people would ever act this way. Watching Lou and co. "acting like a rock band" is the most entertaining part of the movie. Oh yeah, and seeing Frances McDormand's boobs.

Saturday morning V took me to get a real, non-Supercuts haircut, pics coming soon. After that we headed to Newton to give Johnny's Luncheonette, a nice diner we found a few weeks ago, a second try. I had one the best Reubens i've consumed in recent memory. We drove home after that, all the way to our parking lot where the idiot delivery man who shares the lot backed into our driver's side door as we were pulling in. My poor Honda. The door now has a sizeable dent, although it still functions adequately. Now i get to go through the thrills of filing an insurance claim. We had a rather low key evening after that. Damn Boston drivers.

V and i took a walk on Sunday, over to New Balance and around Brighton. After we came home and V collapsed in bed, i tried watching the first installment of the new USA miniseries Helen Of Troy. Not good. As i recall, Helen was kidnapped (and raped, if memory serves) by Paris, prince of Troy. Her husband Menelaus then gathered the armies of Greece to sack Troy for Paris's acts. The USA version however wants us to believe that Helen and Paris were starcrossed lovers. Well, i guess it's more suitable for TV, but that doesn't make it right. So after 10 minutes i lost interest, and instead turned to Ben-Hur, the 1959 Charlton Heston epic. A movie like this makes the Laurel Canyons and Helen of Troys quiver in their mediocrity.

So now i'm at work, waiting for 4pm to roll around so i can hop on the T and head to the airport.

we fill up our days and nights
we fill up the gaps in our empty little lives
but we know we are doomed
the moment we walk out the room

Last night was a religious experience. Mark Gardener, former guitarist and singer for godlike British shoegazing pioneers Ride, made a stop in Cambridge. He's in the midst of a small acoustic tour through the U.S., playing a collection of his songs as well as a smattering of Ride classics. For someone primarily associated with a band famous for its epic, enormous sound, the idea of doing a worthwhile acoustic set may seem an impossibility. The set opened with "See What You Get", a folky jam that works fine with just Mark and an acoustic guitar. You can download this one as part of Excellent Online's Flirt compilation. The set evolved as alternations between Mark's solo material and Ride songs, and soon enough my doubts over representing the towering melodies and pounding drums of Ride with a voice and a twelve string guitar had vanished. In my opinion, Mark's voice has matured over the last ten years, so that he can carry with his vocals the emotion that was previously embodied in a wall of guitar effects and percussion. The highlights of Mark's performance were the twin masterpieces of Nowhere, "In A Different Place" and "Dreams Burn Down", "Chrome Waves" from Ride's pinnacle Going Blank Again, and his debut solo effort on Shifty Disco a few years back, "Magdalen Sky".

Making the night even better, opening for Mark were Junior Panthers, old friends from San Francisco. Their debut self-released album is terrific, and it felt great to go to a show and see familiar faces. They headed down to Providence with Rob and Roo after the show. I hope those two survived the drunken night that must've ensued.

Zwan, the new band of former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, is pretty good.

Not unbelievably good, but definitely a nice listen. The unbelievable part is that Corgan is still capable of producing this kind of music. This is being written by someone who, from 1993 through 1995, thought the Smashing Pumpkins were the be-all, end-all of music. Gish and Siamese Dream were the best albums ever made. I must've spent upwards of $500 on bootlegs, singles, t-shirts, posters, and whatnot. My roommate Ian was forced to sleep in a room where half of the wallspace was occuppied by Billy, James Iha, D'Arcy, and Jimmy Chamberlain. I spent months searching for the "I Am One" 10", and can still recall the day i found it in the Record Finder in Noe Valley, San Francisco. The song i was hunting for, "Bullet Train to Osaka", is still my favorite b-side of all time. That being said, i have hated everything they've done since the disastrous double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Their long awaited followup to Siamese Dream, having had only the great rarities compilation Pisces Iscariot to tide me over two years, just plain stunk. My friends tried to convince me it was okay, but i could smell the mediocrity from the opening bars of "Bullet With Butterfly Wings". I didn't even buy it. The years that followed saw a rich pageantry of Pumpkins crap, climaxing with the awful indulgent whining of Machina before the band dissolved. What was a fixation for me became a source of shame.

So when i heard about Corgan's reemergence with Zwan, my initial reaction was "whoop dee friggin doo". I caught them on SNL last weekend and was mildly surprised that i wasn't driven to change the channel immediately. So i downloaded their album Mary Star of the Sea today, and what do you know? This is the album the Pumpkins should've made eight years ago. It rocks where Adore beeped. It roars where Mellon Collie whined. Whether this is attributable to Corgan or the indie superstar lineup of Zwan, including Slint and Tortoise guitarist Dave Pajo and Chavez guitarist Matt Sweeney, is up for debate. But it's nice to have a reason to fondly remember my days as a Smashing Pumpkins freak.

we both know i need this too much only i know that it's got to stop but i can't keep my anger up "change it, it's your job change it, it's your job" i'm stuck she'll break some hearts when she grows she'll break some hearts if she owns up mine is one when she looks at me in that tone of voice she don't need to make a noise you can read her thoughts, in capital letters i've lost her since i've met her

turned the fan off and went for a walk by the lights down on shield street the birds in the trees open their wings he goes home again he dreams resistance, they talk commitment things change over long distance took the shirt off his back, the eyes from his head and left him for dead but I didn't know someone could be so lonesome didn't know a heart could be tied up and held for ransom until you take your shoes and go outside stride over stride walk to that tide because the door is open wide bye bye pride

Spent the afternoon perusing software for registering copyrights, as i've been advised to protect a program i've been writing for the last few years for displaying and analyzing images. A hundred bucks covers the software and filing fees, but unfortunately i have to fork it over myself. On the up side, it may kick down a few bucks to me in the future, so all is well. Before i do the actual filing however, i need to come up with a snappy name for the program. Veronica suggests i find an acronym that spells out TED. "Tool for Evaluation and Diagnosis"? "Totally Esoteric Drivel"? Or the succinct "Ted's Economic Developer"?

Has anybody else seen the Rainer Maria video for "Ears Ring", from Long Knives Drawn? I caught it on 120 Minutes on MTV2 last week, also featuring two hours of inane interviews between Folk Implosion and the idiot, "i have no idea what you're talking about, or what i'm talking about, but luckily MTV floats enough filler chatter my way to make me seem halfway indie-credible" host. The Rainer Maria video (back to the subject at hand) features the band members having late-night coffee and snacks in a diner, each at their own table, served by prototypical waitress Betty. When the second member entered the restaurant, i noticed he was carrying a copy of Jean Paul Sartre's play No Exit, in which four newly-dead people of varying backgrounds are put in a room in a hotel, told by the bellhop they're waiting for their assignment for eternity. Gradually, they realize this room, and these people, are their own personal hell for the rest of time. Great play, despite my lousy recap. Anyhoo, at the end of the video one of the diners tries to leave and finds the door locked. Then I realized that the whole video is a retelling of No Exit. Very cool. Not a bad song, either.

I did finally watch A.I., and i can adapt the acronym into my review: Atrociously Idiotic. The awfulness of Minority Report now comes into perspective. You start off watching A.I. earnestly, then dubiously, then go through an hour of "is this ever going to pick up?", then spend the last half hour asking yourself "is this some kind of sick joke?".

... well, maybe just sick and tired. Catchy song anyway. I'm at home, suffering along with the flu after a full weekend of entertaining my baby sis. In retrospect it didn't seem like we were all that busy, but we did manage to hit the New England Aquarium, Harvard, the site of the Boston Tea Party, a Bruins game, Coolidge Corner, a bunch of restaurants, and three movies into the four days she was here. No wonder i'm ill.

Only one movie was seen in a theater: Bend It Like Beckham, an English film about an Indian teen who wants to break from the regimented, traditional lifestyle dictated by her culture and play soccer. Very entertaining movie, one that handled the cultural issues intelligently without passing judgement on the East vs. West debate. Jess's conversations with her poster of David Beckham made me smile. Highly recommended, even given it's predisposition towards Manchester United. When's "Bend It Like Zola" going to come out?

The other two movies were videos we watched on Sunday night. My Big Fat Greek Wedding oddly dealt with many of the same cultural issues as Beckham. The Greek version was entertaining, but seemed a bit pasted together in parts. My Greek friend at work tells me the image of Greek culture presented in the film is one that went out with the 1950's. Our second video, Super Troopers from the comedy troupe Broken Lizard, cracked me up. A refreshingly pointless, belly-laugh, low budget zinger with male nudity and Afghanistanimation.

And the movies keep coming: i tivoed the Charlton Heston 70's apocalypse thriller, The Omega Man, and Spielberg's collaboration with the late Stanley Kubrick, A.I., last night. I can't help but watch Charlton Heston and expect him to bust out with "get your hands off me, you damn dirty ape!". That movie was alright ... funny that Hilary and i were discussing biblical references in films on our way to the airport (she claims The Matrix is a new testament allegory), and The Omega Man closes with Charlton Heston in a crucifix pose, having given the vital vaccine (made from his blood, no less) to the world. Haven't checked out A.I. yet, we'll see if it's any better than that catastrophe Minority Report.