Hey Conan, Where's Your Sowrd?

I was watching Conan on Inside the Actor's Studio the other night and reminiscing of how my BU roommates used to always tease me for having a crush on him 'cause he was the only famous person with red hair. Well, and Alexi Lalas.

Truth be told, I've been sort of off the Conan band wagon since Andy left the show years back, but I have high hopes for this June when Conan takes over the Tonight Show (and low, low hopes for Jay Leno's new gig - an embarrassingly public settle if there ever was one).

I always thought Conan and I looked a little separated at birth as kids, although I thought I might be more of a "If they Mated" of Conan + Andy (me left) since I'm much less Irish. But as was shown on Actor's Studio (above), I think Conan himself was the best "If They Mated" of Conan & Andy!

My cheeks are still bigger though.
: P

the girl effect

love this
http://www.girleffect.org/

music is back on

I just added my Pandora stations to the top right of the blog space so you can listen at work, if you are "allowed" to!
Ever since my work blacklisted Pandora, my stations have been suffering! There's probably some oddball artists that will come up in the stations (like I just had to thumbs-down Neil Young off the acoustic mix) but otherwise they should be good to go.

p.s. For those of you with a clothing weakness like me, the Obamicon web site just added a feature to order your custom Obama-merch as t-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, etc. It's too easy. Aghhhh!

oops...

sorry i only just now noticed that my mixwit gadget was broken. looks like they went out of biz due to copyright issues. maybe if you're really good, they'll be a mixmas next year!

pictured right is one of my ALL TIME favorite gifts, a new warm & fuzzy Bula hat with iPod earbuds built into the ears. rather than sticking any plugs in your ear canals, there's little soft speakers next to your ears. i wouldn't have guessed it to be unisex based on the Greta Gunther braids but it must be 'cause it's really big and stretchy, and we all know i already have a bigger than usual head (chorus of 'yups').

Friday morning i test drove the pod-hat on my train/bus trip to work, and the mini-ear speakers were so crisp, i tended to keep glancing around to see if anyone else could hear my Bel Biv Devoe blasting and was snickering at my expense. I really didn't want to be that guy. but it seems to be a solid cover! and really fantastic sound. next question - how can i wear one of these year round without looking like Sam in Garden State?

woof for change

It takes a lot to get my attention away from American Idol but this worked. I already loved Paste, but their new Obama-your-self tool is so much cooler than the tired old Elf Yourself thing, it's not even funny. It takes a little while since it's so popular but here's a couple I did already. What else would you expect from me? : )

Yay for Mutts!

I have so much admiration for Patrick McDonnell who has put Mutts on a mission this week to encourage the Obama family to adopt! Anyone who got my Christmas card this year knows I recently discovered Mutts stamps that benefit the Humane Society and I adorrrrrrrrrre them. Not sure I can go back to normal stamps again.

this is my song

Mixmas 2008 is brewing and almost ready to send. I'm a little early this year but I nearly had this year's entire mix done last year, and I threw it out and did a different one. Now I just have to lick the stamps and write some cards. This may be my last mix for a while; I'm trying to focus on real writing (as opposed to blogging) in the new year.

I know I've been a little quiet lately, but it's United Way Month in Denver so my marketing team and I are at maximum capacity until Thanksgiving's over. Our CEO has been on the local news channels nearly every other day for the past couple weeks. Matter of fact the photo I took at right (Speer Blvd) is our Christmas card this year.

If you or your families have decided not to make donations to charities this Christmas while cutting back on spending, just keep in mind the people living in poverty or who just lost their jobs need help more now than EVER. The shelters, churches and motels are going to be packed not just with the homeless, but with the new homeless -- middle class folks whose homes were foreclosed this year. If you can't give anything this season, at least consider giving a portion of your stimulus check when it comes next year. Or just buy 100 cans for 10 cents a piece to give to the Food Bank collections. One farmer in Colorado made an inspiring choice that I hope will be contagious.

Thanks for thinking about it.
Merry November!

talkin 'bout a revolution

talk about hallelujah. not only hallelujah that Obama won, but that it was all decided before 10pm my time. now i just have to wait up to hear about Al Franken. but what a relief that the senate is looking very blueish.

we had two really scary republicans in Colorado, Bob Schaeffer and Marilyn Musgrave (who was featured in Rolling Stone article "death of a red state" just last week!) who should be conceeding any second now. p.s. hallelujah if Rolling Stone stops putting Obama on their cover now and starts featuring relevant musicians again, not the washed up "classic rock" like AC/Dshit.

and hallelujah, normal commercials are back. never thought i'd miss them so much, especially when i usually zip through them with my tivo, but now i find myself watching them with glee. there's a new Scene It! Seinfeld edition?? sweet!

tricks or treats

Today for Halloween I was Mary Poppins which was a huge hit at work. Oddly, but not surprisingly, I was debating between being Courtney Love and Mary Poppins this year. I went with the first wig I found which happened to be a black mullet which works well as a granny hairdo in a bun, then just had to find a parrot - saw its head off (what) - saw off the end of an umbrella - and throw on some normal black and white work clothes. It wasn't much of a stretch for me, actually. I already have her shoes, scarf, jacket, hat and purse as a matter of course.

I was also initially drawn to a costume of "The Love Guru" just for its craziness but that was like $100.

A bilingual elementary school near our work always brings their kids in for trick or treating during the day which is really a brilliant idea, and is great for me since we don't EVER have trick or treaters at our apartment.

My favorite costume this year hands down was a seven year old Axl Rose. I immediately recognized him but had to ask just to confirm "Who are you?" and he said "Axl Rose" in an obvious tone like I should know better. BAD ASS.

seriously?

I just finished reading the amendments and referendum guide to voting in Colorado this year, and all I can say is, you know you live in Colorado when there's a referendum to legalize saloons (which have been banned since 1933 apparently)... a saloon being a bar which serves exclusively alcohol, does not serve food.

and by the way, for all of you who have suffered for 3 years from my bad reception and lack of returning your calls, I am finally getting a better phone this week - just bought it on ebay. I had a cool purple one for a while from T-Mobile this summer but the connection was not much better and I hated the delay time on the keypad, so I sold that on ebay and went back to a red Samsung after tons of research on CNET. I'm getting a new sim card too, so...wish me luck. seems like getting a new phone these days is equivalent in time and effort to moving apartments.

...

today i randomly came across an amazing sunset shot of the parking lot outside our apartment on flickr. I love punkdolphin's photography, especially the abstract city shots.

for some other fun, check out the new bunny short of No Country for Old Men (don't watch it if you haven't seen the movie).
my favorite is still A Christmas Story.

...
shit.
I just heard that Paul Newman died. He is one of my favorite people in the world. My kitchen pantry is full of Newman's Own everything - pasta sauce, lemonade, salad dressing, coffee. If you're looking for something to lift your spirits, his autobiographical book "shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good" is a fantastic and funny story of the Newman's Own brand and about their worldwide camps for kids.

history in the macon (get it?)

This weekend I took my seemingly random pilgrimage to Macon, Georgia with my platypus Lloyd for company. Even the locals kept asking me what I was doing visiting Macon! but I don't understand why.
Macon is really rich in history and scenery. There are more churches per capita than any other city in the U.S. and many of them date to the 1800's. There are 8 museums and more places on the state historical registry than any other city in Georgia! In fact there is a Native American national monument with evidence of civilizations living there 12,000 years ago.

As you can see, the sunset over the city was beautiful when I arrived. Lloyd and I immediately stopped by Otis' statue and a handful of marble-mouthed men walking along the train tracks started up a conversation with me, and tried to suggest where I should go for dinner in Macon, though it took some translation (what sounded like RHINES to me was actually two syllables - Ryan's). Never thought I'd need a translator in my own country but it truly is a different dialect in south central Georgia.

I couldn't find a single damn local restaurant open on Saturday evening when I arrived or all day Sunday so I was trapped between Chick Fil-A and McDonalds both days. I wish I had realized on Sunday the local theater (which I assumed was closed like everything else) had a "dinner and a movie" of Mary Poppins. How adorable.

The most famous local eating spot, Nu-Way Weiners, is a hot dog stand that's been there since 1912 and the kitchen really does look like it! Phew. It felt compulsory to have one, but I wondered as I took a bite whether I should have gotten updates on any vaccinations before I left on this trip. The dog was distinctly hot pink.

Sunday morning I went to a church service at Macon's First Baptist Church which amazingly was an integrated congregation years ahead of the Civil War, and founded in 1835.  Sadly, folks in the congregation told me that these days there's a "white First Baptist" just 2 blocks away and the "black First Baptist" which is the one I went to. It's not any kind of a requirement, it's more like voluntary preference for the church.  Nonetheless I was welcomed by everyone in the church and treated like a friend and neighbor.


What I really went to Macon for was the Georgia Music Hall of Fame's new exhibit on Otis Redding with tons of concert posters, rare vinyl singles, and photographs of his short career, on loan from his wife Zelma's personal collection. It was fascinating and I spent nearly four hours there.

I've always felt a close connection with Otis and can't explain why. I generally can tell when someone is one of my favorite people within a few seconds and he's one who I loved from the first time I heard These Arms of Mine. I've always felt Otis' talent was under-recognized by the American public, although certainly not by his musical peers - Wilson Pickett, Little Richard, James Brown, Booker T, and Percy Sledge all were present at his funeral and several tribute records were produced in mourning of Otis' death in 1967. He was only 26 when he died. He had had a monumental moment in his career just six months prior at the Monterey Pop Festival.

The right poster below is very rare - Otis was booked to play the Fillmore West on December 20-22 with the Grateful Dead opening for him the first night. His plane went down in a lake in Wisconsin on December 10th.
Here's one cool thing I just realized about the timing of my trip. Otis died in 1967, and he would have turned 67 years old the day that I flew back to Denver, September 9th, 2008.

I also took a verrrrrry long drive to try and see where my favorite writer, Alice Walker grew up in Eatonton, Georgia.

I couldn't find any info on her neighborhood ahead of time so I just had to go and find it for myself.
Turns out her road was super hard to find even with a map.

Many homes in Eatonton were impoverished and rotting as I would have imagined from the descriptions in The Color Purple, but the wide, emerald green farmland was really breathtaking. About an hour west from Eatonton, I also passed by Otis' estate where his family still lives and I'm sure he does too, known as the "Big O Ranch". Respectfully I didn't take pictures of it.

Driving through farm country in Georgia you see some amazing wild ivy growing on the trees (above) which I'm told is not natural to the landscape and quite a nuisance. And I noticed immediately that the bugs in Georgia are unlike anything I've ever seen or heard ~ the grasshoppers are huge, and at one point I saw a big, black thing that was like a scorpion without a tail, 6 inches long, sitting on a brick - still makes me shudder!!! *later note: turns out this is a flying cockroach - more shudder!!!*

On Monday, I took a drive to Athens, the famously funky college town that gave birth to the B-52's and R.E.M. It was extremely humid that day so I mostly enjoyed staying in my car, stopping for a bucket of peaches on the side of the road, shopping in an air conditioned used bookstore, and stopped into the famous Walker's Pub & Coffee for a cold beer. I walked the main streets and UGA campus for about an hour, but it was brutal. Georgians are crazy about their Greek-inspired architecture and crazy about their bulldogs.

My last night for dinner I headed to Decatur where another one of my favorite artists, the Indigo Girls, live and Emily has a farm to table new-ish restaurant, The Watershed.  It was delicious, kind of gourmet home-cooked soul food. And the most adorable buildings and shops surrounded the restaurant (below).

It turns out that REM's Out of Time truly is the perfect music to road trip through Georgia listening to. It almost sounds even better in the right atmosphere.

*P.S.* Lots of friends have commented to me personally about their own experiences in GA after reading this blog, and I have to say, it is consistently a one-of-a-kind place. I would love to visit more of the South, and if any of you go there, take a tip from my friend Doug - don't even think about ordering Pepsi in Georgia. There's no Pepsi, only Coke!!

and there's more

The visitors' bureau uploaded some really pretty photos of the DNC (not retouched at ALL) with the Pepsi Center, etc. In the stadium photos, I was seated just to the left of the left video screen.

I have been laughing to myself all day that McCain picked such an inexperienced, young and attractive running mate. My theory is that he secretly wants Obama to win and is sabotaging the Republican Party's chances. Thank you McCain!

Also I am starting to think my new haircut makes me look like this Peanuts character ~ anyone dare to disagree?

Obama-Rama and all the other cliches

turns out yesterday I DID spontaneously get to attend Invesco Field for Obama's acceptance speech and while I love love love the historic importance of the moment, it was a day of mixed emotions. for one thing, I was on the edge of my seat anxious the entire show that something bad might happen... there is a reason these events are never outside anymore, and we probably set a world record for the most people soiling their drawers simultaneously in one place when the canon fireworks went off at the end!

the closure of major entrances to Invesco and major roads and arteries did cause a pile up of thousands of people with tickets waiting to enter outside and most of us waited in 90 degree weather on a black top parking lot for 3 hours to get to the main gates. i only waited about 2 hours and escaped without sunburn despite the worst choice of color to wear ~ all black.

I made it inside just in the nick of time to catch Stevie Wonder though I missed Sheryl Crow, Jennifer Hudson, and unfortunately WAS there for Michael McDonald (un, un, un-fortunately) and of course Al Gore, Senator Biden, and then the man himself.

my colleague Kate and I (no relation) pinched ourselves the whole time in excitement even though our shoes were pinching even harder - i figure we covered about 6 miles walking between 3pm and 11pm, a full 3 miles to get back to our car from the south side of the stadium.

as many creative t-shirts and hats as there were, there were a lot of hideous offensive vendors such as the Obama doll that looks like a repurposed Bill Cosby, or the truck where you could take your picture with "Obama in a Bottle".

once inside, we had a great view of VIP's backstage, the media, the delegates, and Barack's teleprompter from our seats, but not much of a view of the podium itself. but that's what the jumbotron is for. at the end of the night, my friends and I were all devoutly INSPIRED and optimistic that a change is gonna come.

I was such a hot baby

I finally decided to try out my new HP Officejet Scanner tonight, and omg, it rocks. This could be a lot of fun.

Here's a favorite photo my sister always loved of me at Busch Gardens. I think she and my mom thought my fatty baby legs bared some resemblance to the giant fat lady on the circus mural behind me.

What mullet.

finally something to sing about

All year I have been hoping to get around to this but after a scorching hot summer slipped on by, I realized yesterday that I'd better hurry. The first weekend in September I am taking a pilgrimage to Georgia (of all places) to visit the hometowns of my heroes - namely Otis Redding who is from Macon, and has a temporary exhibit celebrating his life and career at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. While I'm there, might as well pass through Eatonton where my favorite writer, Alice Walker is from, and it's always been on my list to check out Athens, GA where R.E.M, The B-52's, and Indigo Girls all got their start.

It's not really easy to find a cheap flight to Macon, so big props to my dad for donating me his Delta miles. I already have a list of comfort food places to try, but if anyone has any other recommendations (specially for a church on sunday), post 'em here! Can't wait!

Here's part of the mix I'm taking along.

adieu estelle

I was so sad to hear Sophia (Miss Estelle Getty) passed today. Her remixed workout video will always be my favorite youtube of all time, seriously.

On another subject, I was thinking today how surprising it is that two bands who I had never heard of at the time, who I photographed posters of when in Europe (Stockholm and Milan respectively), have now become two of my favorite bands ever.

Kitt Lives

speakin of my favorite decade, I have my first Christmas Wish List item for the year. How can I get on a waiting list for this?!

viva la 80's

Chris and I went to an 80's party last night which was a lot of fun. We drank Shlitz, Orange Crush, jello shots, and some cheapo wine called Boone's which is gross but I guess it was the thing.

We were supposed to go by our porn star names (your first pet + your street name when you were growing up) so pictured are Chrissy Patterson (front), Reggie Maynard (left) in the AC/DC pants, and Shadow Miller (right) with Ronald Reagan.

sunset 07.02.08

There was an awesome sunset in my neighborhood tonight which can only mean one thing - big storm coming. More over in Picasa.