Effed by the Wind

the big 100

1. EVER BEEN GIVEN A RING: A few times. My favorite was when an old, shitty boyfriend gave one to me and then said “I found it in the road and I thought maybe you’d want it.”

2. LONGEST RELATIONSHIP: 3 and a half years and counting.

3. LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED: A kitten magnet.

4. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU DROPPED YOUR CELL/MOBILE: My current one? A couple, but nothing that hurt it too bad. I’ve lost a few cell phones when dropped during precipitation, though.

5. WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT: Yesterday.

6. THING(S) YOU SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON?: A broken fucking digital camera on ebay.

7. LAST FOOD YOU ATE?: Leftover pizza.

8. FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX: Level of hairiness.

9. ONE FAVORITE SONG: “El Scorcho” Weezer.

10. WHERE DO YOU LIVE: Seattle

11. HIGH SCHOOL YOU ATTENDED: The Collegiate School

12. CELL/MOBILE PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER: T-Mobile

13. FAVORITE MALL STORE(S): It’s been a long time since I was in a Mall, but I liked the sales at Mariposa and Wet Seal.

14. LONGEST JOB HELD: This one. Don’t remind me.

15. DO YOU OWN A PAIR OF DICE: Just the ones in the board games.

16. DO YOU PRANK CALL PEOPLE: Not currently, no.

17. LAST WEDDING ATTENDED: A co-worker of Dom’s.

18. FIRST FRIEND YOU'D CALL IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY: Dom. Cos then we could make our movie worry free!

19. LAST TIME YOU WENT TO THE BATHROOM: Not that long ago.

20. FAVORITE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT: It was Taco Bell. But then somebody told me they put lard in their beans even though the restaurant denies it. So I can’t, in good conscience, eat there every again.

21. BIGGEST LIE YOU HAVE HEARD: “We’ll still be friends in the morning.”

23. WHERE'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT WITH FRIENDS: Currently: Kozak’s.

25. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR[s]: Red, black and purple.

26. BEST KISSER: I haven’t kissed everyone yet.

27. LAST TIME YOU CRIED: Yesterday morning. I was in a mood.

28. MOST DISLIKED FOOD: Meat, I suppose.

29. THING YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF: I pride myself on being a good friend.

30. THING YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF: My failing memory.

31. HUH?: Shut up.

32. LONGEST SHIFT YOU HAVE WORKED AT A JOB: Day job? 12 hours. Fun job: 16 hours. We probably have quite a few 16-hour days in our filming future.

33. FAVORITE MOVIE: Refuse to choose.

34. CAN YOU SING: No, but I do it anyway.

35. LAST CONCERT ATTENDED: The Tangents!

36. WTF?: Stop it.

37. LAST MOVIE RENTED: Intermission was the last Libraryflix movie I watched.

38. THINGS YOU NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT: Wallet, keys, cell phone, day planner, chap stick, medications.

39. FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Seattle.

40. DO YOU LIKE CHINESE FOOD: Much to the dismay of my waistline.

41. HOW BIG IS YOUR BED: Queen.

42. IS YOUR ROOM CLEAN: It’s dirt-free but extremely cluttered.

43. LAPTOP OR DESKTOP COMPUTER: Desktop.

44. FAVORITE COMEDIAN: Bill Hicks and Patton Oswalt.

45. DO YOU SMOKE: The occasional beer cigarette or cigar.

46. SLEEP WITH OR WITHOUT PJs: With. I get cold easily.

47. WHAT DO YOU SLEEP WITH EVERY NIGHT: A Dom.

48. DO LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS WORK: No.

49. HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BEEN PULLED OVER BY THE POLICE: Once in high school.

50. PANCAKES OR FRENCH TOAST: French toast. With hash browns.

51. DO YOU LIKE COFFEE: It’s a necessary evil sometimes.

52. HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR EGGS: Poached.

53. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY: No, but it’s weird how much my personality fits the Virgo description.

54. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE: Sherwood.

55. LAST PERSON ON YOUR MISSED CALL LIST: Ben.

56. WHAT WAS THE LAST TEXT MESSAGE YOU RECEIVED: “Have time 4 a round of mini golf today?”

57. MCDONALDS OR BURGER KING: BK.

58. NUMBER OF PILLOWS: Two.

59. WHAT ARE YOU HEARING RIGHT NOW: Radio commercials.

60. PICK A LYRIC, ANY LYRIC: I entered nothing/and nothing entered me/till you came with the key/and you did your best but/as I live and breath you have killed me/you have killed me.

61. WHAT KIND OF JELLY DO YOU LIKE ON YOUR PB & J SANDWICH: Raspberry.

62. CAN YOU PLAY POOL: I know how, but the balls don’t do what I want them to do.

63. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO SWIM: Yes.

64. FAVORITE ICE CREAM: Chocolate fudge brownie.

65. DO YOU LIKE MAPS: I love them.

66. TELL ME A RANDOM FACT ABOUT YOURSELF: I wasn't breast fed.

67. WHAT THE HELL: Indeed.

68. EVER ATTEND A THEME PARTY: Whenever possible.

69. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON: Summer

70. LAST IM: I honestly can’t remember.

71. HAVE YOU LAUGHED AT SOMETHING STUPID: Do you KNOW how many times I’ve see Out Cold?

71. WHAT TIME DID YOU WAKE UP THIS MORNING: 7.

72. BEST THING ABOUT WINTER: Schnapps.

73. LAST TIME A COP GAVE YOU A TICKET: Hasn’t happened.

75. NAME OF YOUR FIRST PET: Cinderella the cat. I was 4.

76. DO YOU THINK PIRATES ARE COOL OR OVERRATED: Extremely cool.

77. WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND: SXSW.

80. HOW OLD ARE YOUR PETS: Tobe will be 2 in April.

81. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BACKPACK: My satchel is army green.

82. ARE YOU SICK: Only mentally.

83. DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL: No.

84. IS THE BATHROOM OPEN: Is this a code?

85. ARE YOU ON A LAPTOP: I believe we’ve covered this.

86. ARE YOU WATCHING MTV: Are you running out of ideas?

88. DO YOU HAVE ON EYELINER: Always.

90. ARE YOU BLONDE: Never.

91. DO YOU HAVE A MYSPACE: Yes.

92. ARE YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL: No.

93. DO YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND?: Yes.

94. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NAME: Cunty McShitballs.

95. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BATHING SUIT: Black.

96. DOES YOUR SCHOOL START IN AUGUST: Boy, you really don’t listen, do you?

97. DID YOU GO ON VACATION LAST MONTH: No.

98. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A CRUISE: No.

99. DO YOU HAVE A SISTER: No.

100. ARE YOU UPSTAIRS: Sort of. I’m up 41 flights of stairs.

March 7, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, Meme Crazy . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

do sleep streamline

WEEKEND RECAP

FRIDAY

We gathered at the Canterbury for a celebration of Borg’s birthday. I drank one too many Greyhounds, but I got to chat to several people who I don’t see that often including krk and Rene. Fun stuff. They have a new door person at The Canterbury. He’s creepy.

SATURDAY

My day started with another birthday celebration. I went to Café Flora with Erin. I don’t recall ever having been there before, but Meep swears that she and I went with Erin a few years ago. I was probably just as hung over then as I was on Saturday morning. Ouch.

My sweet potato breakfast quesadilla hit the spot, however. We sat in the sun room and basked in the light, whilst serenaded by the fountain. Beautiful.

After breakfast, I had to rush back home so that Meep, Dom and I could meet Borg at the GadZook office for a marathon scheduling session. I think we got a lot accomplished. We discussed sets vs. location for a number of scenes. I think we will be able to re-use a lot of locations, so our production schedule isn’t as daunting as it appears.

When the meeting concluded, I set about gathering a posse for karaoke. I was largely unsuccessful. A lot of people were either too tired, or had other plans. But Brugos and Brad came through. We got to Kozak’s shortly after nine and confirmed that karaoke was indeed happening. The “stage” setup is a little weird; at the moment it’s just a plank set on top of a back booth. Dancing is at your own risk. But if this thing takes off, perhaps they will look into finding a more permanent performance area.

Anywho, as is typical at Kozak’s, there weren’t that many people there. Hopefully, this will change in the long run because I DO NOT want that place to close down. For now, however, it was advantageous. We got to sing 4 songs each throughout the night. The selection isn’t bad. It’s short on the indie stuff (but Brugos did get to sing a mean “Monkey Gone to Heaven). They do have an abundance of 80’s music, however. With the wireless mic, Brugos was also able to walk it back to our booth so that we could all join in on “Piano Man”. Brad sang a fun “Down Under”, and I tried my hand at Bobby Brown’s “Don’t Be Cruel”. The DJ is a little bit crazy. He kept trying to get us to commit to coming to his Tuesday “Monkey Spunk” nights. But overall, the night was a blast and I definitely want to go back.

At the next table over, there was a motley crew of friends, one of whom was definitely Brugos Style. Brugos defines his “type” of woman using the “doggy door” test. If a girl could get her entire torso through a doggy door, but then would get stuck, she qualifies as “Brugos Style”. This girl was absolutely Doggy Door material. Unfortunately, she spent most of the evening sucking face with a guy sporting dubious facial hair. (The old pencil-thin beard line). The only man in modern times who can get away with thin-lined facial hair is John Waters, and he was not this girl’s date. Doggy Doors credibility was further compromised when she sang some god-awful modern country song. However, her best assets were captured deftly on digital film by Brugos. I now have the perfect birthday gift in mind for Brugos: a poster-sized, laminate of Doggy Door’s badunk. Preview photo forthcoming.

We closed the place out, and Monkey Spunk allowed me to serenade the bartenders with “Come Sail Away” as they cleaned up.

SUNDAY

I had a busy day ahead of me. I woke up early and worked on Photoshopping a background for Doggy Door. Then I walked to a yoga class at the Mind and Body, where Kayobi and I have been going. I hadn’t yet been taught by this particular teacher, and, despite having gotten a good physical workout, I will not take a class from him again. He seemed a bit unstable, mentally, and he spent a lot of time “lecturing” and making negative comments. Yoga is supposed to be positive and relaxing so perhaps it’s not helpful to the students to hear about your excruciating knee surgery in detail. Furthermore, he took it upon himself to pay a lot of attention to my form in particular. I know that I need to work on my circular breathing, but this guy clearly thought he was doing me a favor my being hard on me in front of everyone. Tough love is great in moderation, but for a student who, for all he knew, had never done Hatha before, he was definitely rubbing me the wrong way. I’m going to stick with the Monday-Wednesday-Saturday classes at this place and stay clear of Mr. NegativePants.

After class, I walked to Safeway to buy ingredients for the Oscar party. I had a lot of fun picking out the fancy ingredients. I don’t usually buy stuff like goat cheese, sea salt and sun-dried tomatoes.

Once home and showered, I immediately set about cooking. I had a lot of work to do. Luckily, Meep came over and helped me out. I never would have finished in time without her. Thanks, Meep!

As some people were still observing the dress-to-the-nines approach, Dom put on his suit. He looks great in black and white.

Meep and I wore pretty much the same outfits we sported at the Goth party. That was entirely a co-incidence. I just got lazy and didn’t have any clean clothes. Borg looked great also. He and Meep both wore sweater-vests and he’d combed his hair to the side.

Ben and Emolee arrived, also dressed up. Poor Emolee’s sparkly skirt seemed to attract the attention of Tobe, who refused to stop using it as a toy.

Brian, Brad and Brugos were also in attendance. We set a few drinking game rules (drink every time you see Jack Nicholson, every time you see someone associated with Brokeback Mountain, and every time someone thanks their agent or the Lord). We also filled out our official ABC Oscar ballots to predict the winners. I didn’t too horribly, but, with only 7 predicted correctly, I was far from winning. In the end, Brugos won with a total of 14 correctly guessed. His impromptu prize was a paint-by-numbers of a clown that I did a few weeks ago, and one of the freebies that Dom got in Park City. The loser, at only 3 correct guesses, was Brad. At Ben’s suggestion, the Booby Prize was a kiss from me. Heh. Booby.

We were all shocked that Brokeback didn’t win Best Picture. Now that I think about it, it’s pretty disappointing. We had thought it was the Year of the Gay. But it turns out that people are still too afraid to give awards to that kind of film. Michelle Williams definitely should have won. I haven’t seen Crash, but after hearing the song and seeing the clips from the movie, it looks like some pretty heavy-handed pandering and I am in no hurry to sit through that. Maybe Brokeback is heavy-handed too (course, I haven’t seen that either), but even if it IS, it’s the kind of heavy-handed that we NEED right now. At the risk of soapboxing, gay rights are under a great deal of peril right now. I though that a film about gay cowboys would help assuage such things. But clearly it’s still all lip-service at the moment. As usual, fuck you, Academy.

I was also baffled by Charlize Theron’s dress. One can only hope that she was only uglying herself up for a movie role. A movie about a middle-schooler in 1991? Also, WHERE IS STEWIE? This is the second award-show she’s been to without him. I really hope they haven’t broken up because that guy really needs to Phillipe to her Witherspoon.

There were some great moments though. Ben Stiller and Tom Hanks returned to their brilliant comic form, and the smear-campaign ads for the nominees were hilarious. The Daily Show should be in charge of the Oscars every year.

After the awards, we popped in my favorite Oscar-nominated film, Back to the Future. Sherwood arrived just in time for that. Guess the Oscars aren’t his forte, even when bribed with free food. Ben, Brian, Emolee, Brugos and Brad took their leave before we went Back in Tyme. Shortly after that, I was sleeping soundly in a champagne and carb-induced coma.

NEXT TWO WEEKENDS: I will be heading to Austin for SXSW. Numerous adventure stories to follow, I’m sure.

March 6, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary . Tags: weekend recap . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

meliorate

Jessica creates a meme!

Through a unique combination of boredom and geektitude, my brain to ponder what certain comicbook characters might listen to. Here are my theories. If you’re game, I’d love to hear what others think. Also, feel free to add characters.

Make with the nerdiness!

1. Superman – Matchbox 20
2. Batman – Nine Inch Nails
3. Robin – Wham!
4. Hulk – Sepultura
5. Aquaman – Erasure
6. Wolverine – The Doors
7. Cyclops – Rush
8. Wonder Woman – Indigo Girls
9. Captain America – Toby Keith
10. Catwoman – Souxsie & The Banshees
11. Punisher – Social Distortion
12. Swamp Thing – Enya
13. Storm – Black Eyed Peas (old skool)
14. Gambit – Creedence Clearwater Revival
15. Daredevil – The Rolling Stones
16. Hellboy – Metallica
17. Magneto – Pet Shop Boys
18. Lex Luthor – Electric Light Orchestra
19. The Joker – Weird Al Yankovic
20. Dark Phoenix – Ani DiFranco

March 3, 2006
Categories: Meme Crazy, The Soundtrack . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

finally, a really fun meme

meme from

1. Cowboy or Indian?
I always ended up playing the indian when we played this game as kids. I'm sure that speaks volumes about my character.

2. Which Superhero did you want to be?
Either a transformer (NOT R.C.) or Selena Kyle.

3. Favorite afterschool cartoon?
Well, in elementary school, I was all about the Transformers/G.I. Joe double feature. But in middle-high school I definitely enjoyed the duck-themed series. And I also watched a lot of Mama's Family. It was on right at 5 every day.

4. Favorite Saturday morning cartoon?
I watched so many, it's hard to pick a favorite. But, and I know this is totally taboo in the comic world, but I really liked the X-Men cartoon.

5. Neighborhood bully or sidekick?
Which did I prefer, or which was I? If the former, I preferred the sidekick, for obvious reasons. I was once chased home from school by a bully with a knife who threatened to “rape” me (inasmuch as middle school boys know what that word means). But if the latter, I was neither. I was kind of a loner until late high school/college.

6. Earliest song you can remember really liking?
The song at the end of Darby O'Gill and the Little people.

7. First LP you bought with your own money?
Like Maura, by the time I was old enough to buy my own music, I was buying cassettes, but I saved up my allowance to buy “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper. I was convinced (and still am) that she was the more talented one in the Madonna vs. Cyndi debate.

8. First elementary kiss?
Didn't happen. I was a tomboy until puberty and then I was too awkward for boys until I turned 16.

9. In kindergarten did you make an ashtray, plate, mirror or picture frame?
Plate w/ handprint.

10. First elementary celebrity crush. (when you were 10 or younger)
Han Solo.

March 2, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, Meme Crazy . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

walleum original

We made it! For the second time, one of Elyse’s brilliant party ideas was written up by Party Crashers in the Stranger. I hate to admit it, but it’s kinda thrilling to read quotes (borderline anonymous as they were) from me and Faye, and especially to see our pictures in the elusive rag. Maybe some day our artistic projects will be equally embraced. Perhaps Elyse needs to take the helm of our PR department.

If nothing else, it has earned us a reputation as “black-hearted tarts” (as stated in the photo caption in the print edition), and that’s a label I can live with.

Party Crasher: When Being Depressed was Fun

by Paul Constant

With Valentine’s Day a bitter, empty memory, our hosts have thrown a post-/anti-VD party. The invitations were specific: It’s an ’80s (“Pre–Hot Topic and Marilyn Manson”) Goth Party. There are no dog collars, S&M latex, or painful-looking piercings to be found—just a lot of black lipstick and eye shadow and tons of the Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees. A woman hands partiers high-school-style folded notes, adding, “Not that it means anything,” before slouching away. One reads: “Hey, Valentine! Love is pain! Whatever.”

People get tips on how to goth dance: “It’s kind of the antihippie dancing. Hippies dance with their arms outstretched and goths are all self-contained and dancing inward.” But even with an impressive smoke machine, the Darkness is hard to maintain: People are continually shouting, “No smiling! Never smiling!” A sad schoolgirl bubbles, “I’m the happiest goth in the world!” and someone else explains, “When I hear Joy Division, I just get happy… it makes me wanna dance happily.”

The partiers all look so adorable in their Heathers-era gloom that it’s enough to make you regret that Trent Reznor ever came along and depressed the hell out of the scene. Some women decorate Party Crasher with black eyeliner and lipstick, and we start to feel a little bit melancholy. We explain that we’ve never done goth before. “Well,” someone says, “you’re not really goth, you’re kind of… Gap-goth.” We say that being called Gap-anything makes us want to hang ourselves, and she snarks: “No, see, if you hung yourself, you’d be a real goth.”

March 2, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

White Man In America!

Hey kids! Do you like to LAUGH? If you said yes, you might be one of the tens of people who would enjoy this music video that makes fun of pro-America Christian music.

And while you're at Storypipe, you should also watch Baxter/Hoerauf favorites “Love and 145 Watts” and “Terry” for the 40th time. Why? Because you LOOOOOVE us!

March 1, 2006
Categories: YooToob . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

swim or chaconne

One question for every year of my life…

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what did you think?
Must stop eating so much crap.

2. How much cash do you have on you?
$22 and a bunch of change.

3. What's a word that rhymes with “DOOR”?
Abhor.

4. Favorite planet?
Caprica.

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell?
My OBGYN’s office.

7. What shirt are you wearing?
Black lacy number.

8. Do you “label” yourself?
Only when said label describes a useful fact. (i.e. “vegetarian” or “gimp”).

9. Name the brand of your shoes you're currently wearing?
Predictions. (Payless brand).

10. Bright or Dark Room?
Bright fluorescent lights with the gloom from outside peeking in.

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey?
Nice lady!

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Tossing and turning.

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
“OK. I don’t have plans, really. I just don’t know if my leg will feel better 2 go up the hill.”

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
4 blocks south of my apartment.

16. What's a word that you say a lot?
Fuck.

17. Who told you they loved you last?
Dom? Maybe my mom.

18. Last furry thing you touched?
Dom’s face.

19. How many drugs have you done in the past seven days?
Just the one. Unless medications count.

20. How many roles of film do you need to get developed?
None. I have moved into the digital age. I do want to get some prints though.

21. Favorite age you have been so far?
I still like 19, but I have high hopes for 28.

22. Your worst enemy?
The Man.

23. What is your current desktop picture?
A little girl and a crazy kitten who are both missing their front teeth.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
Find out if we commissioned them for work. If we didn’t, then tell them we’re not interested. Thanks.

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly?
Ooh. I need the money, but if I could fly, maybe it would attract investors?

26. je ne sais pas?
Baguette.

27. Do you like someone?
I like many people.

March 1, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, Meme Crazy . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

contraband sabbatical

WEEKEND RECAP

FRIDAY

Faye and I needed a break from partying. And besides, a half-Cylon baby was being born on BSG, so we decided to have dinner at Kozak’s followed by a night in. A word to the wise about Kozak’s. I know everything on the menu looks really delicious and that might make you think you should order several different items. You shouldn’t. Each entrée and appetizer is enough food for 2-3 people in and of itself. Just make up your mind to come back many times to try everything on the menu and you’ll be better off.

Since Faye made me watch the “House of Wax” remake (which was a remake in name only) on Thursday, I made her watch “Cursed”. “Cursed” was worse than “House of Wax”. (By the way, Mark, we also watched “Dead Serious” on Thursday.). There were two pretty funny parts in “H o W”. There was nothing funny in “Cursed” except, perhaps, Michael Rosenbaum’s hair.

We finished “Cursed” in time for BSG to start. As Borgia is a relative newcomer to the BSG universe, he had many many questions. You don’t realize how much they DON’T dumb down the script for the audience (as they do on, say, Lost) until you watch it with a virgin. I chose a bottle of wine that, based on the packaging, led me to believe that Cylons might drink it. I know, I’m a dork. It was pretty good wine though, for $8.

I was a little disappointed that the Cylon baby looked totally human (unlike the hybrid baby on V). But maybe it will display some weird characteristics later. Like, maybe when it’s nursing, its spine will glow red. Or maybe it will accidentally hurt some other kid on the playground because it doesn’t know its own strength. Of course, since everything on BSG moves slowly, we won’t get to see this kid grow up. I don’t think the kid will grow up Species fast because it seemed like the gestation period was pretty normal. I’m sure all my speculations are fascinating.

SATURDAY

Having gone to bed pretty early the night before, I woke up bushytailed at 9am. Dom and I set about doing a bit of much needed tidying. Then I met Faye at the bus stop so that we could catch a matinee of “Nightwatch” with Andrew at the Neptune.

Andrew was running late and we were running early so we went into Zanadu to kill time, vowing not to buy ANYTHING. Miraculously, we succeeded in leaving empty handed. It wasn’t easy to say no to the Punisher Valentine’s Day issue. Did I mention I have a crush on the Punisher? I don’t know what it is about the hulking, half-crazy chap with a dubious set of morals, but when he’s written by Garth Ennis, he makes me all tingly. Not so much with the Tom Jayne though.

Anywho, Faye bought $20 worth of snacks for everybody and we settled in to watch “Nightwatch”. There was a Russian couple behind us who was very excited about seeing a Russian movie with English subtitles. I don’t blame them. I think there may have been much lost in the translation, because they laughed heartily at a few moments that came off as only mildly amusing to us Americans. They also laughed at the first appearance of the lead, one Konstantin Khabensky. I assume there is some stigma associated with this actor that made his lead role in a Russian Matrix-style trilogy hilarious. Kinda like Keanu is for us? All I know is that I found the guy kinda hot. I realized later that it’s because he reminded me a bit of Steve Coogan. The movie itself wasn’t that great, but I enjoyed it. Andrew really liked it and Faye hated it. We were like the three bears. I agree with Faye’s complaints about it, but they didn’t bother me as much as they bothered her. We were both extremely annoyed by the liberties they took with the subtitles though. Words turned red, were bolded for emphasis, or disappeared behind furniture. It was very distracting and heavy-handed. I’m not terribly motivated to seek out the other two. But I didn’t feel like it was a waste of time or anything.

After the movie, we planned to eat dinner at Araya, but it was still early. Instead, we wandered down to Bulldog news. It only killed a half an hour. So we decided to go into Flowers and do a round or two of shots. Faye and I started with chocolate cake shots, and Andrew, ever the manly man, got straight tequila. For our second round, Faye and I switched to angel food cake shots (which taste pretty similar to chocolate cake shots, but are lighter in color), and Andrew got another tequila. With a pretty good buzz blaring, we walked to Araya which still doesn’t have a liquor license. Last we heard they were applying for it. The waitress made it sound like a big drama transpired and now it was all hopeless. I knew this was bad news because once you start a buzz, it’s not a good idea to stop drinking, lest the sleepiness overtake you.

As per usual in all vegetarian restaurants, Faye and I freaked out a little bit. We’re not used to having EVERYTHING ON THE MENU at our disposal. We settled on 3 entrées and an appetizer to split. Everything was extremely delicious.

We then rushed to a new bar to salvage some of the buzz. Faye was supposed to meet Borg at Big Time, but I convinced everyone to hit Fin McCool’s first because I wasn’t ready to switch to beer. Continuing the evening’s tradition of drinking sorority girl drinks, Faye and I ordered chocolate martinis. I really liked mine, but it was impossible to drink fast. Andrew switched to coffee because he was driving.

Andrew took his leave of us, and Faye and I headed to Big Time. It was too late, however. We had messed up the process and were both tired. Borgia drove us home and I finished out my evening watching Aeon Flux (the cartoon, not the movie), and helping Dom put together a production book.

SUNDAY

Faye, Dom and I interviewed our new set designer for the movie. Then we watched Dom film a bunch of webisodes for his “production diary”. It’s kind of a cheesy motif. Dom is a “mogulsexual” telling people how to dress like a producer, by wearing functional stuff like hoodies and beards. Faye and I were forced to participate in two of the skits.

Then Faye and I headed back to the hill, leaving Dom to his giant pile of work. I stopped briefly at Faye’s to see if her neighbor was out, allowing us to DDR. No such luck. Instead, I went home and made biscuits and gravy, paid some bills, did some mending, and watched some episodes of “American Gothic”. A mellow end to a very mellow weekend. Oh well. It’s good to have those every once in a while. The weird thing is that I’m still just as exhausted today as I am every Monday.

February 27, 2006
Categories: Dear Diary, Filmpinions, Hug Your Television, I Made Movies . Tags: weekend recap . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

rel ax

I've spent the morning watching the adventures of Arj and Poopy. My favorites are “Long Distance Relationship” wherein Poopy drives a car and “Shpants” which contains several musical numbers. What will they do next?!

February 25, 2006
Categories: YooToob . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

This is most modern and safe way not to cover with shame

Last night I finally watched one of the movies that Mark lent me. It’s called “Threads” and it’s about the destruction of society after a nuclear war. I must admit that it did test my desensitization level. There were some pretty damned disturbing images in there. There was a sporadic narrator and a lot of text which at first made me feel like I was watching an educational video with a narrative thru-line. However, after the bomb dropped the use of stock footage and the quick splicing of images lent it a certain documentary feel. There was no music, just the screams of human agony and the sound of nuclear winter. It’s not often that a violent movie stays with me, but I have a feeling this one will for a while, despite the cheesy freeze-frame ending. Actually, I’m kind of grateful for the freeze-frame because it ushered me out of the horrible images and back into reality. Obviously, it’s not a happy-fun-time Sunday afternoon movie, but I recommend watching it. The realism in it could turn any war monger into a flower-sniffing pacifist. Thanks for sharing, Mark!

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February 22, 2006
Categories: Filmpinions . . Author: Baxter . Comments: Leave a comment

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