General Tomfoolery: May 2007 Archives

Neil and I were up first thing yesterday morning, to start the packing effort. We managed to take apart his 'world's biggest goddamn wardrobe', before giving up and going over to Newbury Street for some shopping.

One of the things I've been looking forward to, is replacing my rather tired two year old shoes, with something that provides a bit more structural integrity. Unfortunately, the Puma store chose to do inventory during business hours, which meant that the store was closed until 1:30. The employees were kind enough to inform me that it would be "...only 15 more minutes, tops...", about five times. I chose to believe them and stayed outside the store for over three hours, passing the time by striking up conversation with someone from Mississippi (up for a catalogue convention!?), a person selling pseudo newspapers for spare change and a DHL deliveryman, taking an entirely-too-long break. Eventually when they did open, I managed to pick up a pair of shoes.

This is an interesting country, as you all know. You see the strangest things, that are in actuality perfectly normal for this area. On my way back to Harvard Square, I was riding the subway and happened to glance to my left, only to see an old black woman intently reading (and I shit you not) Guns n' Ammo.

We headed over to a friend of Neil's, to see the 24 finale. As with the rest of the season, it was a disappointment. I didn't get to see the Heroes finale, but luckily my PVR is busy humming away back home and I'll be able to catch it there.

So it was about 11:30 at night and all that dust from moving things around earlier kind of screwed up my ventilation system, because I had an asthma attack and had to jump through some shady hoops to get ventolin, A story which I won't go into.

All in all, a good day. Joey just got in from Vegas, so I'm going to go now.

It was a perfect day yesterday. 28 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, but also a nice breeze, so that it wasn't stiffling hot. Then, announced with a single bolt of lightning (which immediately knocked out the power), it was raining like no one's ever seen before. The water was as thick as fog. Then it was hailing golf ball sized hail.

The end of the world? Not quite, but almost, as I found myself swimming/running through the streets of Hamilton, in my bare feet. An excellent way to end the day, before heading off to the city to see the Arcade Fire play at Massey Hall.

After an amazing dinner at Salad King, it was off to see the concert. We got there right on time, as the band started within five minutes of our arrival. They entered against a backdrop of grainy black and white film of a female televangelist throwing down fire and brimstone from the pulpit. After a brief second, they launched right into Black Mirror and didn't let up for 90 minutes and two encores.

As usual, it was barely contained chaos, that energized the crowd even more. It was hard to tell, but from my vantage point, it looked like they went through about 20 string instruments, not to mention the array of keyboards organs and orphan drums that were also on stage.

Here are some pictures from the show, if you'd like to take a look.

So this Joost thing is here and whether or not you noticed, it looks set to do some interesting things. We'll see how it's going in 6 months, but I'd say these guys have a knack for getting it right, what with Kazaa and Skype in their back pockets. Newsweek's put up a fluff piece on MSNBC, if you're interested.

Did anyone catch Spiderman this weekend? I've heard a fair amount of grumbling from those who have seen it and the critics have raised a collective 'meh', while on the other hand it did break a few records.

Woe is me, who shall I side with? The elitist film critics of course. I'll be seeing this for 'free' when the DVD is released.

My housemates and I have caught Rome fever. If you haven't seen it, make some time to get addicted to a new series. Amazing how HBO never disappoints, isn't it?

I was recently at Rahul Sood's blog and he happened to mention that Fast Company has a decent article on Mark Zuckerberg, detailing his ascent from casual college kid to casual CEO. Definitely check it out, if you want a bit of the back story surrounding everyone's new favourite website.

Users of the FTP can check out a few new additions to the roster. I've gone into hipster overdrive and added Feist, as well as !!!, The Rapture and lesser-knowns (but no-less lovely) Swan Lake and Rock Plaza Central. If there's something you don't see that you kinda want me to post, just let me know.

As for how I'm getting my own personal hipster on, Joanna Newsom's YS, Grizzly Bear's Yellow House and Belle & Sebastian's Life Pursuit are in heavy rotation, as well as the ever present Peter, Bjorn and John, bringin' it with Writer's Block.

Lastly, to one A. Crawford... Dearest 'aec'. The Strokes' Room On Fire has been lovingly placed alongside the others, just waiting for you to enjoy it and ask yourself if this is it? I mean seriously... Is this Is This It?

Do you like to walk slowly? How about Uggs? Do you wear those?

Individually, I can cope with both.

However, do you walk slowly and wear Uggs? My God, walk slow and hide lest I harm you, because yesterday my 'fury' boiled over. I accidentally made one of your types walk into a bus shed, when I inadvertently brushed past you while boarding a bus. You looked back annoyed, distractedly talking on your cellphone, while proceeding to walk directly into a sheet of plexiglas and slowly bouncing off. To add insult to injury, as you lay on the ground recovering, I peered down from inside the bus and smiled with delight as it left the curb.

Let's review.

You, not waiting for the bus, decide to hold a phone conversation while moving slowly in circles. In front of an open bus door. While wearing Uggs.

Karma doesn't always kick in when we want it to, but you must have been long overdue. There's some kind of bitter justice in the above outcome, that I'm not ashamed to admit I revel in. I may not have intended it to happen, but don't think I won't look back on yesterday with anything but fondness.