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Upperwest

I miss my sister.

Silent Star Wars

Actually, I think this would be an improvement if it was done for the first three movies...

Top Albums of 2006

How else to reaffirm my pop snobbiness then with an end of year favorites list?

Favorite Album of 2006
Band of Horses, Everything All the Time
Just when you thought Seattle was doomed to the likes of Deathcab and Modest Mouse, Band of Horses step in with some of the most significantly important music to come out of the area in years.

Favorite Seattle Band of 2006
The Divorce
I have no idea what half of their lyrics mean, but I still love 'em.

Favorite "new band" of 2006
1. Pela
2. Art Brut

The Seattle Seahawks award for biggest surprising dissapointment of 2006
Snow Patrol, Eyes Wide Open
Blasphemy, I know Sara. I was just expecting...more.

The Repeat Button award for most played album of 2006 (according to my ITunes)
We Are Scientists, With Love and Squalor
They are catchy, smart, and perfect music for walking the streets of NY. 

The Artic Monkeys award for most overhyped band
Winner: The Artic Monkeys
Six months ago these guys were the hottest ticket in town. Today? I'm not even being sarcastic, has anyone heard from these guys?
Runner-Up: The Decemberists
The Colbert report thing was funny, but really -  they're singing smart songs about being pirates.  

The Franz Ferdinand "I called it!" band of 2007
Pela

2007 Wishlist
1. Sufjan Stevens, Thom Yorke. Thom Yorke, Sufjan Stevens.
2. Wrens, Interpol - please release a new album

Gotta love the Yule

...in HD no less. I think though on a 42" Plasma, its more of a "Yule Hearth"

Merry Christmas from NY

I took a few hours tonight to walk down to midtown and get some photos of the Andy War-holidays display at Barney's. Then I just went where my feet took me. There was a mass of people at Rockefeller plaza, which was insane. Tourists + last minute shoppers = insanity. It took me about 20 minutes just to get through there, longer I'm sure courtesy of a block of impromtu "carolers". I'm growing more and more annoyed by tourists each day, which my friends here assure me is a sign that I am adjusting to life in NY.

Happy holidays!
Pics

The gift that keeps on giving

Upperwest

...and now for something compeletely different.

As part of my neverending quest to amuse myself, I can now ad to the list: badly drawn comic writer. About a month ago I started jotting down recent or remembered conversations that struck me as funny. Even if no one else finds it funny, just remember: Its my blog and I'll do what I want to.

I'm sorry you're retarded.

I got scoffed at the other night. Sitting over a glass of beer, bangs hanging low down to her eyes, she looked up at me and asked, "where do you live?"

"Manhattan"

Manhattan. One borough of five (Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Manhattan). You tell someone that you are from Queens or Harlem and that is that. Manhattan though, demands more explanation.

"Where in Manhattan?"

I hesitate - "Upper west."

"...oh..."

Eyes roll. Shoulders shrug. scoff. You know the look. Its the same one I would give when someone told me "Bellevue" or "Sammamish", followed by the same I'm-sorry-you're-retarded - "oh...".

As far as I've been able to tell, its better to live in another borough before living in the Upper west. A lack of clubs. Plenty of bars. Grocery stores - natural ones at that. Nicer, larger apartments. Overpriced. Lots of dogs. In other words, just like Seattle. Actually, because its the most gentrified part of the city, people assume that others living there are themselves gentrified (boring).  No one here lives in Times Square or Wall street, so generally speaking the "cool" places to live are in the South Manhattan area (SoHo, Little Italy, Chelsea, etc), followed by Upper East. Upper West really only comes in ahead of Jersey, a poor man's Kirkland.

Luckily, Jersey will always be Jersey.

I like it though. I like having 3 coffee shops within 3 blocks. Its not my fault they are starbucks. I don't miss having to step over piss like I do at night down in Chelsea. I'm happy my building has an elevator. It takes me 20 minutes to get anywhere in Manhattan for the "cool" and I get to sleep in my clean, safe apartment. I'll take that. Next time someone asks me though, I'm going to tell them chinatown.

Rainer Maria

It was probably 10:45pm at the time. Saturday night. I had just stepped out of the Bowery Ballrom, where Pela had finished just a mind-crushing set of music, accomplishing the task of warming up the crowd for Rainer Maria's second to last show of their existence. Two girls, who I hesitate to call cute if only for the fact that they were plastic and beyond that, there was nothing memorable about their looks, were having a heartfelt, drunk conversation which if I remember correctly, went something like this:

"Its just that - "
"I know, its just that to me - "
"I know, its just that you have to remember that its just that-"
"I know, but if he likes me then he should. Its just that-"
"it's just that he doesn't respect you. I know."
"....its just that..."

I have to say, if it weren't for the fact that the night only got better, it would have been the highlight of my night.

Prior to getting to the Bowery, I had just forked over $30 for a cab on a horrific traffic night. The worst part was that where I was dropped off had nothing in common with my desired location. I knew I was in China town somewhere. And for the first time in my three months here, I felt a little nervous about my surroundings. Not that I'm afraid of the Chinese, far from it. I love Chinese. Frankly, the best way to describe my feeling was "FINALLY!" Understand, this is coming from a guy who prepped for NY with repeated viewings of "The Warriors". NY cleaned up a little since then, so it was nice to see a little grime.

Show completed, I headed out to meet up with friends at a bar called Pravda. All the makings of a new york lounge: vodka bar, underground, and Ivana Trump. Seemed a little cliche though to have someone named "Ivana" hang out in a bar called "Pravda", but I held my tongue. She leaves and I focused my attention back to the table where I set about convincing a very drunk girl that I had moved to New York to take a VJ job at MTV3. I think I sealed it when she asked about Fuse (another video network) and I proceeded on a 5 minute profanity-laced diatribe about how Fuse was the worst network there was. Frankly, I hadn't even heard of it. I felt bad though, because by the end of the night I had taken a liking to this girl. There was no way I could ask her out though, the very basis of our relationship being a lie. She was drunk and I, was a music VJ.

Anyway, check out Rainer Maria. I had a blast and this is a band that everyone can love for the last time - slugging it out for 10 years under the radar, content to stay everyones favorite secret. Download 07_lost_dropped_and_cancelled.m4a

A Confluence of Events

I'm fascinated by coincidences. For some reason, things like discovering that you went to school with a friend who knows someone you know (mundane yes) still manage to get my gears turning a little bit. I mean, the reason you had that tune stuck in your head was because the radio station was playing it 24-7, so should it really be a bit surprise when you turn on the radio and voila, the song is playing? Not really, but for me they still matter.

Whats great about coincidences are all of the little things that have to happen at just the right moment in a chain of events that takes years to reach its conclusion. At any time, one misstep and the chain is broken. Its because of this that all life is coincidence. Think about it. The Big Bang. Sure, no one knows what caused it, but the words "random" are thrown in quite a bit in any discussion. Same goes for the organic goo from which all life arose - all a matter of coincidental happenstance.

A coincidence is a reminder that even though we will never meet 99.99% of the people in this world, we are still all very much related. The latest "noteworthy" coincidence for me occurred earlier in the week. B train, Ipod, and Nick Hornby's 31 Songs in hand. My Ipod was on random and I just turned to the chapter where Nick writes about the song, "Smoke" by Ben Folds. As soon as I  looked at the title that it clicked for me - the song, playing right into my ears at that very moment - yes, it was "Smoke" by Ben Folds.

It used to be that I would get goosebumps and chills all over when I realized that I was at the confluence of a seemingly meaningless coincidence. Now that I'm older though, the goosebumps fade and instead its replaced with a smile that lasts me the entire day. Instead of the chills from seeing fate at work, I smile at all of the minute, little things in this world that had to work just right for me to hear that song at that time. That book, which I purchased a year ago, sitting half-read on the bookshelf since my move to NY, being quickly selected for train-reading due to its thin and light nature. Nick Hornby, sitting down years earlier to pen an article about how pop songs can be relevant and serious and selecting that particular track. Me, pressing "play" on my Ipod as I closed my apartment door at the precise moment required to be playing when (and if) I started reading the book. The B train, running 5 minutes late that gave me the extra time to reach the chapter on "Smoke". And on..and on...

yes, its seemingly insignificant. But that's the thing about coincidences. No matter how small they are, you can never tell if this moment in and of itself is just part of a chain taking years to build up. For me, its just a reassurance that everything one does in life has a purpose. Its a reminder that no matter how insignificant your life is in the grand scheme of things, like the smallest of particles, you still exert a push and pull on the universe. You just never know.