1-7-04 - The Wager
1-6-04 - New Year's in NOLA, Vol. 2
1-3-04 - New Year's in NOLA, Vol. 1
12-24-03 - Presents and Predictions
12-11-03 - Baytown Nights
10-3-03 - A Night in D.C.
10-2-03 - Thoughts
Archives
As you can probably tell from this column, Jeff and I constantly are trying to find new ways to embarrass each other. These attempts at one-upmanship are fairly common in the constant struggle for alpha-maledom. How did our particular rivalry begin, you may ask? I wish I could say that it had something to do with sports...or even with some old rivalry over a girl. Sadly, though, it all comes down to the shower we share. Well, we don't "share" the shower (too often), but it is in the bathroom that we split. You see, Jeff is one of those insensitive prigs who never turns the shower nob back to the bath setting after he is through showering. If you think that this crime is not particularly heinous, then you have never groggily turned on your shower in the morning only to be unsuspectingly blasted by freezing cold water. Since I have never actually mentioned this problem to him before now, does this take passive-aggresivism to a new level?
By the way, I should put it out there that this is a random thoughts column. just in case you missed that.
The Astros signed Roger Clemens today...never have I had such mixed emotions. I absolutely despise him...he is in a dead heat with Jason Kidd and Bill Romanowski for the title of my most hated athlete ever. That said, I have three dreams in life: 1) To write something good, 2) To live happily ever after with my family, and 3) To see the
1) "Clark Gable" - The Postal Service
2) "Sister Savior" - The Rapture
3) "Hearts of Oak"- Ted Leo
4) "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" - Rufus Wainwright
5) "Amateur" - Nada Surf
6) "Inertia Creeps- Massive Attack
7) "Dreaming" - Loudon Wainwright III
8) "Aveda" - Hot Hot Heat
9) "Say Yes" - Elliot Smith
10) "KC Accidental"- Broken Social Scene
THIRTEEN SONGS THAT I OVERPLAYED ON MY COMPUTER FROM 2003
13) Piazza, New York Catcher - Belle and Sebastian. The concept behind this song is just too funny to leave off of the list
12) Get in or Get Out - Hot Hot Heat. My favorite band of the moment had quite a few songs that could have qualified...this infectious ditty is the one I chose.
11) I Believe in a Thing Called Love- The Darkness. Whenever I play a song by The Darkness, it always get comments. Either "Is this Poison?" or knowing laughter. I would love, love, love to go see them in concert.
10) Hardest Button to Button - The White Stripes. Cool, tongue-in-cheek song...cooler video.
9) Are You Going to Be My Girl - Jet. Sure this song is featured on Madden 2004 and in an Ipod commercial. Sure the band is a knock-off of The Strokes, who themselves are knock-offs of The Velvet Underground and The Ramones. But that doesn't mean that this song rocks any less.
8) Saint Simon - The Shins. There is no reason why every critic's favorite band can't hit commercially too. If they could only be like Rooney and play on The O.C.
7) 12:51 - The Strokes. I like Reptilia a little more, but the sentiment behind this song hits a lot closer to home. Who hasn't sat around with their friends for hours trying to decide what to do, only to ultimately do nothing?
6) I Was Born (a Unicorn) - Unicorns. Ridiculous, sweetly addictive song that I want all of you to go download right now.
5) Hey Ya - Outkast. Stupid Dre making me fall for one of 2003's most overplayed songs...I'm a snob and I don't want to be in line with mainstream music.
4) Move Your Feet - Junior Senior. This song was everywhere in 2003, even if you don't know it by name. Check out the video...it makes me smile.
3) Where Have All the Rude Boys Gone - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I am a huge Ted Leo fan...a little punk, a little pop, a few obscure references, a lot of fun.
2) Clark Gable - The Postal Service. I became mildly obsessed with finding this song when I heard it in the trailer for the Sundance Film Festival. I searched unsuccessfully for it, only to later to discover that I had unkowingly downloaded it.
1) The Seed 2.0- The Roots and Cody Chestnutt. An infectious ode to knocking a girl up...despite the subject matter, works as both a party song and as a chill song.
I had never heard of Joe Delaney before this summer...that is quite a shame. Most of you know that I am sentimental and a bit of a sap, so you may take it with a grain of salt when I tell you that I cried after reading his story. Read it and judge for yourself.
Ask Blake to see the video he made of Jeff up in Dallas. Even though it is dark and blurry, it will definitely be worth your time.
A high proportion of smart, sarcastic young people will tell you that Confederacy of Dunces is the best book they have ever read. My friend Jeremy "lent" me the book three years ago, but I couldn't manage to ever really get into it. I picked it up again recently and absolutely loved it! I highly recommend it to anyone who has logged any time in New Orleans. Along with my two gambling books (Bringing Down the House, Positively Fifth Street) it was one of my favorites that I read last year.
Even though they are having some success, the Van Gundy Rockets are absolutely painful to watch. The style of play just doesn't fit the personnel.
Two new nicknames that are catching fire...Hari will subsequently be referred to as Pork Chop (He has come up with a slogan for himself--The Other White Meat). I have christened Mary-Margaret, Yoko. Let's hope I'm not prophetic.
I'm as happy right now as I have been in a long while...could it possibly be because I don't have to go to law school classes? What am I doing with my life?
Sorry for getting everyone sick over New Year's...the way we all hook-up with each other, I think I may have started a never-ending chain.
Happy Birthday Jon...when I turn 22, I hope I have things figured out as well as you do.
Random story that I don't think I have ever told in this forum...On the night of Rob's birthday last October, we met a few people at the Red Star bar. Randomly, on the same night, their happened to be a Baylor Med School gathering at the same place. Early in the night, I ran into Sun, and we agreed to catch up later. Later in the night, when I was talking to Meg (Blake's then girlfriend), I noticed Sun standing with his back to me just behind her. In a voice loud enough to be overheard, I said "Damn, what a fine ass that little Asian boy has." Sun turned around and made some similar comment about my round posterior, and we started right in on a conversation. After a few minutes talking about random issues (the Astros failure, what we'd been up to lately), I happened to notice that both Meaghan and Sun's friends were staring at us with their mouths wide open. It then occurred to me that they had no idea that we knew each other...to them, it looked like I was in the process of trying to pick Sun up....and having a good deal of success.