300

I just watched the 300 trailer - which I believe just came out today, though I could be mistaken.

In addition to being one of the most visually stimulating trailers that I've seen all year (second only to The Fountain and The Science of Sleep) - the graphic novel from which it is based is excellent as well. I love the use of color - which reminds me of a less comicbookesque Sin City.

More screengrabs below:

Celebrity Sighting #4

One of the things that attracted me to NYC wasn't the brutal winters, or paying excessive amounts of money in rent or even the opportunity to ride one of the world's dirtiest subways every day - it was the possibility of running into celebrities at the grocery store, on my way to work and, dare I say it, at the bar. I've had a number of sightings during the past several months:

#1

Who: Elijah Wood

Where: Sin-e
When: Sometime in mid-October

The Deets: It involved dancing, giggling, gawking and chatting w/ his very cute pixie haired girlfriend (??)

#2
Who: Big (AKA Chris Noth)
Where: Union Square, Filming of Law and Order
When: About two weeks ago
The Deets: Walking to the office, listening to Bela Fleck, through Union Square as usual. There was, however, an unusally large crowd behind a huge white screen - I had to stand on my tip toes and grab the shoulder of a stranger, but I managed to catch a glimpse. He is surprisingly much taller (and better looking) than on TV. Interestingly enough, I've just recently become obsessed with Law and Order - I'm making my way through SVU and then onto CI.

#3
Who: Michael Pitt (III)
Where: Cabanas
When: Friday, November 10th
The Deets: After very nice dinner at Spice Market (beautiful decor, decent service, so-so food), I went to Cabanas for post-meal apertif. While at the bar ordering drinks, I was alerted that Michael Pitt was no more than four feet away from me. Earlier in the night, we had just watched the very terrible, yet disturbingly sexy masterpiece, The Dreamers. Strange, but 100% true.

#4
Who: Chris Kattan
Where: In front of 900 Broadway
When: Wednesday, November 22nd
The Deets: While outside having a mid-morning cigarette, he was walking down the street. Alone. Kind of bobbing his head to imaginary music

God, I love New York.

At Least Now They're Doing Something about the Problem

Courtesy of Media Dish:

NYPD Captain Says Black Men Have No Reason to be in Park Slope

It looks like the NYPD is prepared to protect Park Slope's gentrification by any means necessary. Five NYPD cops have told the Daily News that they heard an NYPD captain give the order to "stop and frisk every black man" at the robbery plagued 7th Ave subway stop in Park Slope.

"The captain said the descriptions of the [suspects] vary a lot, so we were to stop all black males at the station, stop and frisk them because 'they have no reason being there,'" said one white officer who was outraged by the command.

Read more here

Scraps

I want one

Cool and Crazy Right Down the Street....

In the midst of running errands today, I managed to find time to pop into Cool and Crazy - a record store within relatively close proximity to my apartment. The store itself seems a bit out of place, but once you walk in, you're greeted by a musty yet pleasant atmosphere. Cool and Crazy, owned by Tim Warren - who many may know for his work in the 80's cult-garage genre - is exactly the type of store you expect to be in Brooklyn, offering a very diverse mix of several very specific genres. Tim, a master of so many genres of American music from decades past (50's and 60's primarily) helped me pick out some pretty stellar R&B collections. The guy's great, quirky and so very knowledgeable. Oh, and they have an open listening policy and really comfy couch.

Check it out: 72 Manhattan Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11206

Makes me want to listen to Nina Simone and watch Ray

Agora II

I've been seeing signs all over Willamsburg for Agora II - like most things New York, the fliers are obscure, intriguing and vague. Unfortunately, it's rained every Saturday for the past several weeks. I'm hoping to check it out (weather permitting) in the next week or so.


From the main site:
"Inspired by the "agora," the center of town or marketplace in ancient Greece, AGORA II investigates the role of public space in contemporary urban life. Performed beyond the theater walls, this work challenges the interactionss between public space, performance and audience. AGORA II is a continuation of the site-specific piece AGORA originally created and directed by Noémie Lafrance in 2005 in the abandoned McCarren Park pool in Brooklyn. It further explores treatments of the pool site combined with ideas of collectivity. Expressed as one large breath, AGORA II layers strokes of audience interactions around a core group of characters and cameo appearances by guest artists, creating a grand tableau - a city slice - a social experiment..."

Intrigued?? Check out this video.

So, Zune Me!

photo courtesy of stereogum

I'm not crazy about the name (read: I absolutely hate the name. Zune?? Whose idea was that?), but I'm willing to give Microsoft a shot.

Today, Microsoft unveiled the intimate details about their new MP3 player, Zune, which is expected to compete with Apple's iPod. I'm going to try to be an educated consumer and wait it out until I can actually use one, but thus far, while the Zune offers some pretty amazing features which Apple (and other MP3 producers) have failed to produce in the past. Personally, I'm drawn to the verticle/horizontal full color screen and Wireless Technology.

Stereogum gives us a great rundown of pros and cons.

Rumor has it that Zune will be released on November 14th of this year - just in time for the holiday rush. Oh, Microsoft, you're so predictable.

Updates Galore!

It’s been quite a while since my last update.

But now that I don’t have one of those gross fulltime jobs, I have plenty of time to devote to more interesting efforts, like blogging and music and staying out too late.

Since my last post, I have relocated to Brooklyn (that’s in New York City for you folks in the Midwest)

I am without a job, living off my savings and still don’t know how to get from my stop on the L train to my apartment once the sun sets.

…but…

fear not!

I’ll find a job, maybe some money and definitely a sense of direction.

Onward and upward!!

Though the mass of boxes that have been occupying my apartment (rent free) have been keeping me more than busy, my initial impressions of NYC have been overwhelmingly positive. I haven’t spent much time on the other side of the river, but thus far Brooklyn’s treated this girl like a real lady.

Though I can say that I’ve had a bit of homesickness – I can come up with at least 3 reasons why NYC >>> DC:

3. The Sheer Abundance of Fashionistas(os)
I’m unsure as to whether or not it has to do with keeping up with the celebrities that live here or the exorbitantly high rents that make people so well dressed. This year, I’m wearing nothing but skinny jeans and slouchy boots.

2. The New York City Subway System
Its on time, it runs 24 hours a day, its reliable. I can say none of those things about Metro.

1. New Shows (ahem, The Presets)

I was going to devote an entire post to this, but decided not to because its definitely old news at this point. Last week, L. and I went to Galapagos to see the reformation, reincarnation of a favorite band of ours (Elkland), rebranded as Goat Explosion. After just barely making it through the first band’s attempt at synthesized, alt-country, twee – Goat Explosion went on, only to play four songs. Apparently, the lead singer couldn’t hear the bass in his monitor, the sound guys couldn’t fix it, and he decided to coerce the rest of the band to walk of stage. Angry, but unwilling to surrender, L. and I waited 45 minutes while the Presets set up – and we were not disappointed. Mixing distorted vocals; synthesized, genuine beats and a lot of natural energy, these guys delivered a hell of a show.

Check out The Presets on MySpace

I’m sure that in the coming weeks, this list will exponentially grow from 3 to 300.

Stay tuned.

YUPSTER love

35 year-old men with babies are foxy!

Is it a sad truth of my life that a GRUP is what I aspire to be??

40 is totally the new 22.

Check out this great read by New York Magazine

Lights, Lights, Lights

Looking for something fun to do at 8 PM this Saturday?
Fireworks on the Mall!

THE DEETS:

National Cherry Blossom Festival Fireworks Show
Enjoy a spectacular fireworks show from the Washington Channel.
Date: April 01, 2006 - April 01, 2006
Time: 8:15 pm - 8:45 pm
Location: Southwest Waterfront Promenade - 700 Water Street, SW

Editors + Stellastarr* at 9:30

Last night, I went to see one of my favorite new bands, Editors and one of my favorite old bands, Stellastarr* perform at the 9:30 Club. I have seen Stellastarr* perform a number of times, most of which have been good, which is why I am forgiving them for delivering a subpar performance last night. I really do love you, Shawn Christensen, but I've never, ever seen you look so bored on stage before.

On the flipside, however, Editors rocked my socks off.

Great show, great eneregy. It was honest, and I liked it.

Check out Metro Distortion for pix and the set list.

oh, and buy Back Room as soon as humanly possible.

Björk in her full splendor

Last night, when I went to see Night Watch with a coworker/friend, we caught the preview for Bjork's new diggs, Drawing Restraing 9

I haven't been able to find a trailer online, which is kind if disappointing, because the film looks visually stunning.

Directed and produced by the game guy that did The Cremaster Cycle (Matthew Barney)

Bjork will also be doing the soundtrack

Stills:

SM <3s Two Gallants

I got Waves by Two Gallants in my iTunes the other day via Fred's Podcast

I love these guys.

Check out their official site
and myspace page

to give them a listen

Pretentious Street Art

I'm kind of sad that I missed Postsecret when it was in Georgetown (but, thank god, I have thier blog to keep me occupied in the meantime).

To replace Postsecret is WallSnatchers:

"Showcasing graffiti and street art from Boston, Florida, New York, and Washington DC. Curated by Kelly Towles. Featuring: Bask, Eon, Faile, fi5e, Mister Never, Nick Z, and Tes One."

Location: 3307 M Street, Georgetown
Washington, DC 20007

Test Icicles Are No Longer BFF

I have to admit that I'm a little sad about this news...the Test Icicles were one of my favorite new bands. Though, I guess with a name like that, what's one to expect?

Pitchfork has posted their official statement on their site.

RIP guys.

Google is French for Shameless

Google is French for Shameless

I thank my good friend Chris Abraham for turning me on to the overuse of the word shameless

SM in SD

SD highlights via my flickr page

Curlers are NOT athletes

I generally don't get that excited about the Olympics for a wide variety of very interesting reasons:

1) I rarely watch TV..and when I do, its usually at a friend's house. Keeping up with the Olympics entails hours upon hours of television watching...no thank you.

2) So many of the sports are so boring

3) Athletes generally bore me

4) Figure skating like cheerleading is not a sport.

In either case...somewhere b/w IAD and SD...I caught highlights from this past week's curling competition. These people that sportscasters like to call athletes didn't even break a sweat.

Is it fair to equate this:

with this?


or even this?

I think not.

Going to California (well, kinda)

There's something about California that makes me want to listen to

zeppelin while watching sunsets at seal beach

::sigh::