the one redeeming thing about facebook

I'm at work. I'm at work and no one is here. It's a slow day. I'm awaiting the theater companies coming in for their rehearsals because until then I really will have nothing to do... And so what am I doing? Perusing Facebook (and procrastinating my life), satisfied that a 24-hour 'bout of melancholy,' as my lovely wife would say (wife being my nickname for my best friend), perfectly suffices for a day of lower than average spirits.

And so, it was in this time-wasting-way that I came across my lovely wife's Facebook page. I was content skimming what she'd listed as her favorite books and movies (counting which were truly her favorite and ones she wished were) when I came across her interests and saw this:

"spending time with thea - the love of my liiiiiiiife who counsels and consoles and makes me laugh until i cry"

AWW! Bout if melancholy over! And Facebook provided the medium!

And for this reason alone, I am no longer ashamed (as I normally would be) for wasting time on Facebook. The mini-feed may make stalking easy and the applications may suck up valuable time, but at least good ol' FB is good for something. ;)

you will DIE of laughter!

BLAST there only being three!!!







Simon, you and your cat are genius!

pride, envy, envious pride

My dear friend Steven got his "first real article" published in The Stranger this week and he got to spend and hour and a half talking to David Sedaris.

I'm so proud. And so jealous! Pride/envy, envy/pride? See my quandary?! :P

So I'm like 60% proud and 40% jealous, at least I'm supportive in the majority! (Kidding! It's really more like 90-10).

my fave new singer/songwriter/pianist – sara bareilles!

If you want to see the official video (and it's cute) here it is – "Bottle it up"

Then there's this one, which is sad, but really, really beautiful – "Gravity"

he went to how many countries?!?!?!

Possibly the greatest thing ever!!!

musical media overload!!!

OMG! I hate, let me repeat, HATE text talk. I've never been one to spout out "lol"s and "omg"s like they in any way resemble anything close to real words. (I especially hate, HATE, when people use text talk in actual, human to human conversations, like they actually SAY them, like a real word! And they don't just say L-O-L like any other acronym, oh no, they actually say "LOL" pronounced the way a child learning to read would, sounding out the consonants and vowels!). But, this particular subject may call for the kind of bafflingly overwhelming exclamation that only a well-deserved "OMG" could do justice for. (Everything in moderation my friend, because I guarantee who won't witness another "omg" out of my mouth, or in this case, text, for some time).

I have 49.26 gigabytes of music on my computer! ALMOST 50 GIGS! AM I INSANE???

My iTunes music folder easily takes up half of the memory on my laptop, if not more, and I'm not one of those nifty people who puts all their music on some ridiculously mac savvy 500 gigabyte wireless external hard drive, thus backing up all their files and freeing up space on their notebooks. Oh no, not me. I actually carry around all 49.26 gigs in my messenger bag with me.

And guess how much of that superfluous 49.26 gigs I've actually listened to? Perhaps, 18 gigs, maybe? MAAAAAAAYBE... and that's just an estimate. I keep having massive music trades with friends in an effort to stay informed, but I spend all my time collecting artists and listening to my few rotating favorites (the ones with a double, sometimes even triple-digit playcounts).

And so, in a gallant effort to make the little hard drive space I have left not such a useless waste, I shall spend my night going through the untouched music in my library and reading the piles of magazines I also collect, and rarely get to reading. :P

the aristocrats of my ipod playlist :D

Alright, it's time I introduce you to my favorite Brit band Aristocrats (never the Aristocrats).



One of the benefits of my six-month stint in London town was getting to make pals with their lead guitarist Neil (the one not looking at the camera in the middle). About a week before I left I got the lovely pleasure of tagging along to one of their practices and meeting the rest of the guys in Essex. From left to right they are James (drums), Danny (guitar/vocals), Neil (lead guitar), Jonny (bass) and Tommy (vocals).

I was worried when I first met Neil and he told me about the band that they would be terrible and I would forced into a friends' obligatory fan-ship. However, my lack of confidence, luckily, came back to mock me: I just happen to think they're amazing (phew!) and pretty darn good live (and by that I mean, they ain't one of those bands that sounds phenomenal on the album and suck-ass live. It just isn't so!)

See for yourself! They've just released their EP, which you can get on iTunes by the way, and you ALL should buy it! (It's only $4, and Neil tells me if enough people from one place buy the EP, their manager will arrange for the band to travel there to do a show :D)

Also, Danny and Neil were on a radio show promoting the band in the UK's Surface Unsigned Festival. So please, listen up! They've made it to the semi-finals out of thousands of bands, so if you happen to be in London around July 13th, you can go see them compete in the next round. Trust me, they're addictive.

Some parting pics (courtesy of the band) of the last show I went to of theirs, the last round of the competition at the Purple Turtle in Camden on May 13th. Enjoy!