A few weeks ago, I was driving with some friends listening to Oh Astro‘s fantastic album, Champions of Wonder. None of the other dudes were into it at all. One of them asked me something to the effect of “What about this music is likeable?” As in, “This music is not likeable.” Needless to say, my friends don’t have the stellar taste I do. This music is obviously awesome. So is the video.
Oh Astro – Hello Fuji Boy from Oh Astro on Vimeo.
The Reader has a great article about that famous botanical this week, along with instructions on how to make your own wormwood liqueur. The article ocused on ways various bartenders have attempted to make legit Malort cocktails. Recipes are here. The Whistler was one of the featured bars- they make the Golden Eel, which somehow has become one of my favorite things to sip on.
Not on the list, my personal creation, the Malpagne:
Yes, it is what it appears to be. No, it’s not very good. This weekend I may have to go malort-cocktail bar hopping, see if I can find something better.
…What took me so long???
What else would it be?
My modelling career has begun. Finally.
First- Last summer, Steven Karl Metzer, a noted Chicagoan and portrait photographer, took some classy shots of Colin and I playing a fierce game of fireball pingpong in the back yard. You can see the image on Steve’s site. It is, as of today, the second photo in the Portraits section. It’s awesome. Steve does good work, and Colin and I are quite the photogenic fireballpingpongers.
Second- The Printed Blog is a new magazine/newspaper type thing. They’ve got a funny/weird idea- printing cool stuff from the ol’ internet like it’s a real magazine. They distribute copies of it in Chicago, LA, SF, and NYC. This is important because three of Steve’s images were chosen to be on the cover, and the photo of Colin and I is on the New York edition. I’m not sure how easy it is to find, plus I think the next issue is already out (I was on issue 8.) I don’t go downtown often in Chicago, so I’m not sure if that’s where it’s available or whatever, but if you’re in NYC and you happen to come across a physical copy, you should check it out. Or, you know, you could just download the pdfs from the site, but that’s not terribly cool.
- I’m totally gonna go to bars this weekend just to spot the tamale guy #
- My nephew burps really well. #
- Zipcar has Volvos!!! #
- Traffic+Operation Ivy+Nice Weather=Pretty Okay. I’m gonna take the dog for a long walk when I get home. #
- En route to Mozville. Then in search of the tamalebro. #
- The reason I only see bands at bars is all of them. #
- @tks_smith is jealous of my twittering awesomeness #
So last night I went to go see the Mozzinator. My first time. I was… underwhelmed? (That’s probably a word I shouldn’t use very often.)
I’m not what you’d consider a die-hard Morrissey fan, so it was probably inevitable that I wouldn’t love going to a crowded show with bad sound and expensive drinks. But still, it’s Morrissey! I thought it had to be at least half awesome, and I was.. not quite right. The problem essentially is mine. I like the Smiths as much as most people, perhaps a little bit more than most people, but only a little bit more. I only have one Morrissey solo album (Viva Hate) and beyond that I only know a handful of his more popular songs. Last night’s show featured three Smiths songs (“Ask”, “This Charming Man”, “How Soon Is Now?”) and no Morrissey songs that I even knew. (The Tribune has a review with a setlist here.) I was hoping to get something more. Still, you can’t deny that Morrissey is pretty awesome to watch, with crazy charisma and awesome stage presence, and it’s always fun to go see someone perform with crazy rabid fans. So it was pretty cool, but not the kind of thing that’s going to inspire me to sell my house and become a fulltime Moz-follower.
(That said, next time he comes to town, I think I’m going to plan a whole Smiths/Morrissey-themed day, including going to the Y(upsidedown-)WCA, meeting someone (preferably a shoplifting hooligan, either a child or just a short (ie half) person) at the cemetry gates and then finding the graves of pretty girls(?). Hopefully it will be a cold day so I can put my hand in a glove, and I’ll go visit 1430 N Wood. Ideally I’ll just be getting over a cold, so I’m feeling good, but still somewhat ill. The show will be fantastic- I’ll oscillate wildly while I’m there. He’ll play a lot of old songs, so I’ll get what I want (Lord knows, it will be the first time.) Of course, even if he doesn’t play those songs, what difference does it make? He doesn’t owe me anything. After the last song, I’ll know that it’s over and will remark about how the night opened up my eyes. Also, I’ll eat a plain pizza.)