This is great! Howard "Minor Threat" Dean. Oi! Oi! Oi!



I also came across this funny "rhetoric" today. Superswell.com's "Guide to Indie Parlance...for Young Scenesters". Good advisement to young (any actually) scenesters not to take themselves too seriously. Big words are nice to know when you see them but really don't impress anyone but yourself unless you're teaching (or learning!) English. But we're all friends here, been to college (for the most part) and know we're all fucking brilliant so lose the big words and if I may add: references to Noam Chomsky, Sartre, Marx, etc.

I digress....

I pulled out my favorite album of a summer or two ago: Modest Mouse, The Moon and Antarctica. Such a great well rounded indie rock album. Just out of curiosity I checked their website to see if they might have a new record or tour at hand. Indeed, both actually. New record April 2004 and a preemptive tour. Excellent...and look see, two Irving Plaza shows early Feb but damn, both sold out. Although the last time I saw Modest Mouse there was a HUGE meathead contingent and their material had progressed beyond the live sensibility of just three guys, their guitars and drums. Oh well, y'all meatheads enjoy.

In other important news, the lily has died and I have been liberated. Much sorrow for the lily but congratufuckinlations to me!

Counter offers, as they go, can be rather interesting. This one included a left field offer to relocate me to Singapore. Wait, SINGAPORE????? Huh...London, Paris, Munich, Cannes maybe...Singapore, no thanks, no right now. (Not that there's anything wrong with Singapore...I'm sure it's a perfectly great place.)

In another extended lunch googling session I came across a website regarding my college fraternity. Yes it's true, frat boy I once was. Let there be no question though, my fraternity was for all intent and purpose the lambda lambda lambda of the university (just replace the geeks and freaks with farmers and drug dealing cops). So anyway, I recently heard that our house had been condemned and the chapter dissolved. No surprise really but I found the photos on this dude's website to be hilarious...

Before...



And after (evidently the house was not only condemned but torn down. the light green grass behind the letters shows the walkway that used to lead to the front porch)....



Perhaps you had to be there....sorry. In other news of enlightenment, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! Year 4700 something, the year of the monkey! I myself was born in the year of the cock. What's your chinese spirit animal?

In regard to the aforementioned San Diego pimp mobile, I got this email from one of the fag hags yesterday.
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Steve, you'd better flash the brights at least twice when you pull up to the Hyatt.


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Sunday, Sunday. Cheers to Shane and the crew at Sin-e and Jasper for another great Skycam show last night. Great club, great folks. And thanks to everyone who came out. Seems like a crazy thing to apologize for but sorry for such a packed house. That Clem Snide really packs them in! There are few exciting prospects for upcoming Skycam shows...stay tuned for details!

Yesterday I pulled out The Cure's Mixed Up and although I'm often mocked by my more hard core and indie rock mates for my affinity for The Cure, I don't care, THESE RE-MIXES ARE AMAZING! The copy I have is buried on a random mini disk so I don't have the liner notes but I think Flood must have had some hand in these mixes. Really great stuff. If you are even a slight fan of The Cure, pick this up (it's pretty old too, like 1990 or something). I'm listening to A Forest (Tree Mix) right now...so awesome. I also came across The Cure's official website. Quite DIY (credits note that Roger and Robert created and maintain the site) and slightly out of date but kind of fun if you're a fan. Lots of their own photos, etc.

Here's a little visual stim for you. Evidently the wife has her own nebula...who knew...courtesy of the Hubble telescope.

Back from the librarian fest. It was a nice time....Torrey Pines Hilton, Ford Explorer rental, good food, escape from the sub-freezing NYC weekend. I had some good bonding experiences with my work mates too. It turns out that two of my favorite office pals (women) are huge fans of the NYC gay nightclub scene. Lesbians? No, just into putting down the boogie with hot bare chested men who will not attempt to put the moves on. Evidently I'm "out of the loop, you boring old man" as this fag hag phenomena is otherwise well known. We were in San Diego so fuck it, I ordered the bitches into the pimp mobile and tracked for Hillcrest to prove I'm no phobe and down with the boys as much as anyone. One of the girl's brothers had joined us by this point and knew the perfect place, Hamburger Mary's. What a blast. For New Yorker's this place is the perfect combination of Jackson Hole and The Cock (so they say, I SWEAR I have never been to The Cock). Eat your beef (the burger was awesome) and then make your way to the dance floor. It was fun...a mild catfight between two of our crew over bummed smokes (silly girls...) didn't foil a perfectly fun queer evening.

Back in NYC, it's tundra style...1 degree last night when I got home.

SKYCAM, CLEM SNIDE, SIN-E TOMORROW (SATURDAY, 1/17) NIGHT....BE THERE!

See this plant?



When I started my current job it was delivered as a gift from a friend...a thriving peace lily. We all know that peace lilys are basically impossible to kill though mine is dying a slow painful (looks like it anyway) death. I think this plant and my current job have become one. I hate to will death on this poor piece of foliage but I'm afraid the this plant dies this job will end. Our days are clearly numbered. On a positive professional note, I'm off to San Diego for a few days. Sun, surf, old mates and....librarians...3 out of 4 ain't bad I guess. Apologies to any of you "information specialists" out there...it's nothing personal.

So have you heard of this website thiswebsitewillchangeyourlife.com and the companion book This Book Will Change Your Life? I picked it up in a B&N a few weeks ago and it's pretty twisted shit. Check it out. I like the one about "consuming an entire piece of furniture before you die". Evidently the dare is to shave a few sprinklings off a chair every day between now and 2040 or something. Then you can enjoy bragging to your grandchildren that you've eaten an entire piece of furniture. That is of course if you don't die or become sterile in the process. Check it out, there are 364 (one for every day) other twisted propositions in this book.

Happy New Year! I've noticed a lot of people posting their top ten lists of 2003. While 2003 surely had it's high points, the movie of the year remains the best movie of 1980 (Kubrick's The Shining) and the record of the year holds as the best record of 1996 (Idaho's Three Sheets to the Wind). Will they be unseeded in 2004? We shall see!

In other news, Skycam has booked another stellar show. January 17, at Sin-e with SpinART's Clem Snide and the fabulous Elk City. Hope y'all can make it!