Quodlibets

Greetings from Portland

Where everything, including Harry Potter sales, is two hours behind home.  It's been a long, tiring trip already, and we've only been here 18 hours or so.  With, of course, less than 24 left in the trip.

In an hour or so, S and I are going to leave the hotel room to try to find a copy of Harry Potter for me, as well as procure some sort of refreshment for our breakfast.  One that I hope is spelled: d--o--n--u--t.  That's right, the diet is going by the wayside for a weekend of eating fling.  Which actually makes me feel like when I get home, I can be strict and good again.  Anything for a donut, man.

S is driving our rental car (per the usual arrangement), which is a GIANT car of some sort of GM make.  It escapes my memory at this point.  Last night, we went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I would consider a very solid, good movie.  Johnny Depp was not nearly as creepy as I thought he'd be.  I'd even think about smoking pot again just to watch this movie stoned.  I think it would be THAT good, in that state.

S finished a book on the plane ride here, something that probably hasn't happened for I don't know, 10 years.  I'm so excited for him, I was trying to badger him into buying and reading another book.  I'm not sure that's the best way to get him to read.  No, the best way is to stick him on an 8-hour plane ride with a brand-new copy of the DaVinci Code in paperback.  But let's not make fun of his reading taste, okay?  Because you know what?  It doesn't matter what he's reading so long as he's doing it.  I think that the next time we board a plane (besides the flight home) he'll read Angels and Demons, which he has at home, but we didn't think to bring.

I'm pretty sure there's no way in hell I can convince him to read one of my romance novels.....

Things I learned from the new Blender:

First of all, Lollapalooza will be populated by screaming 15 year-olds who want Ben Gibbard or Brandon Flowers to sign their stomachs.  Being 15, they won't want the boys to sign their boobies.  I hope.

Also, R Kelly is scary as hell.

That is all.

New laws that are good

Cell phone laws.  Yes, I think that the laws that prohibit cell phone usage in cars, unless you are using it hands-free.  I'm sick and tired of dodging death, driving slow as molasses, and having to pay attention FOR other drivers.  I don't want to beep anymore because the person in front of me is having an engrossing conversation with their significant other and trying to groom themselves at the same time.  Enough is fucking enough.  Because frankly, certain people can't even walk and talk on a cell phone at the same time, and I really, really don't want to let that person get behind a wheel of a car if they can't keep track of left-right, left-right. 

I would say, too, that I do talk on the phone while driving, but only very occassionally.  Also, I have a headset, which I use if I think I will be on the phone for more than 2 seconds.  (Because of my cell phone woes, often the only place I get reception is while on the move.  But again, I bought an inexpensive hands-free set, so I wouldn't be so dangerously distracted, and driving with one hand.)  I just don't think it's safe anymore.  We've all seen the statistics anyway, and we know it's true.  Driving while holding a phone increases your chances of getting in a crash, and sometimes, it makes you as bad a driver as a drunk.  No one wants drunks on the road; we therefore should take steps (as Chicago has) to eliminate as much of the risk as we can.

I'm at the end of my rope.  I can only drive 15 under the speed limit so many times before I want to beat someone, and I don't want to keep braking fast to avoid people turning from the left lane right.  If that makes sense.  I know I'm just bitching, but goddammit, I can't take it anymore.

I've been pondering if this sort of thing is some sort of egregious trespass into personal rights, and so on, and I just don't think it is.  Because no one is banning cell phone usage, you see.  They're just mandating the purchase of a head-set, and making us all a little safer.  (I'm personally not convinced headsets are any safer, but whaaaaaaatever.)  And making the roads run right again, so that my normal 30-minute drive home doesn't take 45 minutes.

Well, Shit

Sometimes I sit down, write a post, and realize it's the most incoherent thing ever.  And that I'm wanting to argue against my own belief.

When that happens, as it just did, I erase the post, and try to pretend it never happened.  So, poof!  My post about smoking in public places, gone!

Now I wish I could use poof-power to poof a copy of Harry Potter VI right into my hands before the four-hour plane trip to Oregon on Friday.  Or my Burt's Bees from the kitchen counter into my hands on the couch.  I think I need to be a witch. 

Also, in my continuing addiction to the OC, there is the acquisition of three of the OC mix CDs.  Sad, right?  But it's actually good music.  I keep trying to justify the CDs, by telling myself that the OC is like, ten million times cooler than Beverly Hills, 90210 ever was.  (Though I have no shame in saying that if 90210 comes out on DVD anytime soon, I'll buy at least the first five seasons.  Oooooh, how I love that show.)  And it seems to me that musically, the shows are separated by chasms.  I think that 90210 had all the shitty, trendy bands from the 90's on the show.  Bands that didn't last, or hip-hop, because that David Silver was hip-hop crazy.  But the OC is having bands on that I'm thinking are slightly more important.  Or, rather, they're indie and credible.  For instance, on the last mix, Matt Pond PA covers Champagne Supernova.  Now, Matt Pond PA is a band that I really like.  Kate, S and I saw them open for Keane ages ago (if you check my archives, you might even find an entry about them, but I can't remember when the concert was), and though they're a bit creepy (the singer/guitarist and cellist (?) made fuck-me eyes at each other through the WHOLE show), their music is lovely. 

And Keane is on a disc, along with Death Cab, the Killers, and myriad other bands that I like, and lots of bands that I know I should like.  For instance, months ago, a girl that I worked with told me that she looooved Patrick Park.  Patrick Park is on an OC mix too, and the song is fan-fucking-tastic.  Why didn't I listen to TS ages ago?  She was right.

Or, is it possible that the OC mixes are in fact lame?  And that this is just proof that I like lame, lame music.

A Very Long Day

I want to be intelligent and say something worth saying, but I'm tired and I can't think straight.

I am reading a very interesting book that is so transparently about Miramax and the Weinstein brothers that it's sad.  I mean, it's not a bad book.  It's very well-written, and it's sort of like a very compelling train crash.  I feel like I can't look away, but I know I absolutely should.  Actually, S picked it up for me at work (The Twins of Tribeca) as an ARC, and I wasn't interested in it at all, but then I saw it on the EW Must-List, and thought it might be worth another look.  Now I'm reading it, but grumpily, because I don't think it's that good, but also, like the celebrity-gawker that I am, I think it's dishy-good.

What I do with words, he does with pictures

Every time I think that S can't get any better as a photographer, he goes and takes a picture like this.  I don't really know anything about photography, but I can tell that he's really, really talented.  I wish I could take photos like him--but only sometimes, because I'm pretty sure that if I could take photos like that I'd be living in a box on the side of the road, poor from having bought so much photography equipment.  Also, I doubt that S and I could be together if our life was a competition: who takes the best photos?  Also, can you imagine our vacations?  There would never be pictures of us together (not that there are all that many now), just lots of duelling pictures of him in front of a monument, and then me in front of a monument.  And returning from vacation would go like this:  "I shot the Pantheon better."  "No, I did."  "Yeah, well, I got a better shot of the forum."

I'm just that competitive and he's just too good.  Anyway, I don't think visually.  About that aforementioned photo, I said, "That cross standing out in the sky is striking."  To which he replied:  "There are three crosses in the photo."  Do you know how long it took me to see three crosses?  Long enough that you'd be embarrassed for me.  I just don't process information visually.  I used his camera the other night to take some photos, just as a joke, and you know what?  The photos were a joke.  I can't see, when I look through that little rectangle thing, the same things he does.  I'm in constant amazement. 

It's nice to live with someone who can take such amazing pictures.  It's nice to see myself the way he sees me.  And above all, it's damn nice not to have to carry a camera everywhere. 

Money Meme

And I will expose here my fucked-upped-ness towards money.  Via Bitch PhD.

1. How much money is in your wallet right now?

Honestly, none.  20 cents, maybe.  But that's only because I gave my last $100 to S to buy me stuff today at his work.  Then again, I only had that $100 because my dad is a very, very nice man.

2. How much money would you need in the bank to feel secure? Rich?

This is tricky.  I should feel secure based on my current bank balance, but don't.  I think I would need about 20,000 more dollars for security.  To feel rich?  Over a mil.  At least. 

3. If someone gave you $100, no strings attached, what would you do with it?

Well....Since that just happened, here is what the money is buying (theoretically, these items might cost more than $100 but it's a special employee discount weekend):  one book on CD for my road trip at the end of the month, four CDs (don't ask, they're lame), and three (?) books (one for my sister and two for me).

4. If someone gave you $1 Million, no strings attached, what would you do with it?

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Investigate the possibility of owning a home or apartment in Italy.  I'm not sure if a mil is enough to finance that dream, however.  I guess it depends on the job situation in Italy.  I would also splurge on a pair of very expensive shoes and a very expensive purse.  And I would buy S whatever very expensive lens he wanted for his camera.

5. How much does something have to cost before it starts counting as “real” money, as a purchase to be considered and evaluated, but below which you’ll buy without really thinking about it?

Is it awful to say that I don't have this kind of limit?  The only thing that S and I tend to plan very carefully are our expenditures on fine dining.  We can't allow ourselves to make a habit of eating meals that cost over $100, even though we might like to, because if we did we'd never stop.  In fact, I would say that when a meal breaks the $50 mark, we grimace a bit.  It seems so extravagant and unnecessary when we have boatloads of food at home.  It just also happens that we looooove eating out.  So we're careful.
But otherwise, I don't really have that limit.  I mean, I know I can't run out and buy a $500 purse every day, but I really don't want to, most days.  I guess the truth is that I don't think very hard about most of my purchases because I'm really good at keeping it under $20-$30 a pop.

Live 8 Redux

Now tell me again why VH1 and MTV couldn't have done today's version of Live 8 last week?  Because now I'm so thoroughly done with the whole thing that even though it's on, and even though it's better, I still feel hatred for the executives who hired the VJ's who talked through the performances which were cut off by commercials.

Argh.

Attention:

Do not listen to Death Cab for Cutie when you are sad.

That is all.

London

London is marvelous.

It's a sad day.