with over 5000 songs on my ipod and within the span of 1 hour, i have heard 2 separate covers of this charming man by the smiths.
if the original comes on any time soon, i think the world might end...
seriously, what are the odds on that?
update: apparently the answer is really simple (according to several q&a sheets for some WSOP press releases) the odds are 50/50, either it will play or it won't.
Q: what do you think your odds are of winning the WSOP?
A: 50/50, either i will or i won't
this answer came up more times than i care to describe...
6.28.2006
this charming man...
so much to say...
i do have a lot to catch up on. but have you ever noticed that the the longer you go without talking to someone or something (like this blog) it get's harder to update... it's just easier to talk to the person that you update on a daily basis than trying to catch up with the person you haven't spoken to in weeks.
usual conversation with that person...
"how's life, what've you been up to?"
"nothin, just the usual...sleep, work, eat, sleep, and then work more" (forced laughter)
"right on"
"yeah, nothing really big going on around here, just the same old"
"well, that's good"
awkward silence...
now, i'm not saying that it is better talking to the person you speak to on a daily basis, just easier. usual conversation with that person...
"what's up?'
"nothin', just hanging out"
"still recovering from last night?"
"yeah, but i had the best freakin' sandwich for lunch today"
"oh yeah, what was on it"
"it was a cuban and it had just the right mixture of pressed ham and cheese. it was perfect"
"nice, there's nothing like a good cuban"
"i know. hey, you playin' poker tonight?"
and so on...
it really boils down to feeling the need to talk about big, important things with the person you haven't spoken to in a while, whereas the minutiae in life is where the fun stuff normally happens....the obscure happenings that one experiences on a daily basis and that only get shared with the people you hang out with regularly. i become convinced that if i haven't spoken to you in a couple of weeks you don't want to hear about my awesome sandwich experience, that our conversation should be reserved for something deep and meaningful, when really it just needs to be....
it's sad and i don't like it, but i fall into that trap everytime. and then the communications get fewer and farther between because i'm not good at having a non-"important" conversation with my long-distance friends....and i feel like i sound stupid on the phone with nothing to say.
anyway, this blog is much the same. if i leave it for a few days, i feel like i need to come back with some spectacularly funny observation of a recent event, or a monstrously huge musical find, or an important breaking piece of news (does anyone read this for news? if so, i'm sorry). however, as with conversations with friends, i will try to not feel so burdened with my updates and just talk instead. most of the time people don't care what you have to say, just that you are talking to them or writing something for them to read during the horribly boring moments of their work day.
so, to all my friends...i will call you and i will tell you about my sandwich (which i did have yesterday and was f'in delicious) because i miss you all terribly and look back fondly on those days when you knew about my sandwiches.....or "we can make sandwiches".
and, to all of my readers (all 4 of you), you shall also know my sandwiches along with my musical finds and my humorous observations.
"and i knew you. the good and the bad. the days i recall being
wonderful. and i lost you. because i held it back. please tell me that
everything will work out fine. pictures taken fast. the proof that i've
known you. in albums stuck to bleach. but memories they'll keep."
- last days of april, the days i recall being wonderful
good god, i'm so freakin' emo sometimes...
songs that played:
christie front drive - about two days
maharahj - secret
phil collins - one more night
pedro the lion - to protect the family name
minus the bear - monkey!!!knife!!!fight!!!
jimmy eat world - for me this is heaven
braid - please drive faster (live)
my hotel year - key exchange
6.19.2006
and also...
one more additional weekend note.... nacho libre is hilarious, not in a laugh-'til-it-hurts-in-the-movie-theatre way, but in a napoleon dynamite/anchorman/zoolander see-it-several-more-times-and-quote-it-for-the-next-10-years-kind-of-way.
we went to the buckhead backlot theatre to see this movie because they serve you food and boozahol while you watch the film and we thought, "what a great idea! dinner and a movie all at the same time". not much you can do wrong with beer and wine (except urinate in it) but the food was terrible, so i would not suggest falling into the same "genius idea" trap that we did....if you live in atlanta and go to movies.
however, that night did begin our string of transvestite and aston martin spottings. 3 of each within 24 hours.
i would like some interesting thoughts on what the correlation could be between these two things....
this is your chance for redemption, let's get creative.
.beans.
songs that played:
old crow medicine show - i thought you could use a little southern comfort
spoon - small stakes
converge - dead
braid - bridge to canada
the weekend in review....
as most of you may have noticed, i do not post on the weekends... i fully believe in lazy saturdays and sundays but usually end up busy beyond my wildest dreams (or nightmares). unfortunately, this leaves me with the daunting task of trying to catch up with the happenings on a monday morning while also trying to catch up with my work... i know, i didn't believe it as i was writing it either.
anyway, football notes since my last post:
- england looked like they were finally putting all the pieces together at the end. rooney pulled attention away from the others which led to a score. however, pull attention away from him and he'll score, either way works for me.
- the us played badly and over-aggressively, the italians played worse, the refs were even worse than that.
- france is not good this year, too many individuals, no team.
- brazil is showing some cracks but may not run into a team that can exploit them before they patch them.
- australia looks pretty good, i'd like to see them in the next round.
- ghana over czech republic, czech republic over usa.... doesn't take an SAT prep course to figure out the logical winner of usa : ghana.
oh, and due to the complete and utter lack of suggestions for downloads i had to go and do my own research and came up with some winners. look for reviews coming up shortly.
songs that played on my ipod while writing this post:
my little dog china - the velvis carnival
alkaline trio - hell yes
sorry about dresden - the convenience of indecision
pedro the lion - a mind of her own
sunny day real estate - waffle
6.14.2006
wow, viva spain (i wrote spain because i couldn't figure out how to insert a tilde)...
spain 4: ukraine 0
now that is how you win a game. a very impressive display of football prowess by the spaniards, especially david villa and xabi alonso. anyone who knows me, knows of my soft spot for all things spanish, so i was very happy to see this victory. maybe this year will be the year that they finally put all that talent together.
since brazil only beat croatia 1-0 does that mean that spain is better than brazil.... because croatia and the ukraine are basically the same place, right?
there is no "brazil" in team...
i was incredibly underwhelmed by brazil's performance yesterday, 1 - nil over croatia is not an auspicious way to start a repeat victory campaign. yes, i understand that they got their 3 points and at least they didn't come from an own goal (like england's), but the expectations are much higher for this team. the question for brazil has always been whether they would would show up as a team or just a group of highly-talented individuals. yesterday, they looked more like the latter. some great individual flashes of brilliance but no real cohesive team playing. if they want to repeat and continue their string of world cup victories, then players like ronaldo, ronaldinho, and roberto carlos will have to start sublimating their own talents to the team ethos for the greater good. if not, they might just get rudely knocked off of the laurels on which they have been resting.
'"i know you can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed."...pause..."i think you can in Paris"'
5 points and gratuitous name placement on this widely read, much-linked, and infamous blog if you can guess the quote.
.beans.
6.13.2006
in summary...
well, i suppose that i asked for any number of smart ass answers if i ask such a broad question like "what music should i download"....
let's review the suggestions that I have received so far:
Dixie Chicks
Soul Asylum
Air Supply
now that's quite a range and the only band mentioned that I have ever listened to or owned anything of is soul asylum....and that was in 1994, but i really would like to listen to that again (black soldier, white fight/fill up the tank, let's go for a ride/sure like to feel some pride/but this place just makes me feel sad inside).
the dixie chicks suggestion just isn't very creative, and i think the fact that you remained "anonymous" shows that you know that, too....try harder next time.
however air supply is a brilliant pick as far as sarcastic answers go. old enough to be ironically funny and close enough to the mark to feel slightly uncomfortable, mainly because if an air supply song were to come on the radio, you would know every word or at least the chorus (even the nights are better/now that we're here together).... and by you, i mean me.
better answers:
rick astley - whenever you need somebody
tag team - whomp! (there it is)
now that's what i call music 10 (UK series) track listing (note: my parents bought me this to go with my first walkman, and includes the brilliant pogues' song fairytale of new york)
work harder people, this isn't a game.
i expect more.
smart-assedness is life.
if you're going to do it, do it right.
.beans.
"those are not spirit fingers....theeeeeeeeese are spirit fingers"
6.12.2006
any suggestions...?
my e-music account is about to reload with my next 40 downloads..... any suggestions on what i should look for?
this is a what is on my "saved for later" list, anything strike you guys as "must haves" or "don't waste your time"? also, possibly expect some reviews in the next few weeks, possibly not:
Her Space Holiday - The Young Machines
The Mercury Program - All the Suits Began to Fall off
The Mercury Program - From the Vapor of Gasoline
Dirty on Purpose - Hallelujah Sirens (this is a definite review, this should be super-good)
The Appleseed Cast - Peregrine
Alkaline Trio / Hot Water Music - Split EP
King For A Day - Before I Go
Elf Power - Walking With the Beggar Boys
Enon - High Society
The Get Up Kids - Live! At The Granada Theater
The Blood Brothers - Crimes
The 101 - Green Street
The 101 - The 101
Statistics - Leave Your Name
Pinback - Summer In Abaddon
My Hotel Year - The Curse
.beans.
we'll take it...
so, i know that england won by an own goal... but as the title of this post suggests, we'll take it. 3 points are 3 points no matter how you come across them. paraguay is not an easy team to play coming out of the gate. just need some fine tuning to the line-up and the game plan, and a little more fluidity between mid-field and the strikers and we're all the way to the final....plus it also gives rooney some more stress-free recovery time. if the game against trinidad and tobago goes as planned (although they were downright impressive one man down against sweden for the entire second half) and england can go into the game against sweden with 6 points, then rooney can just sit and recover until the round of 16 starts.
on top of all of that, turns out that the brewhouse (as i thought) is a brilliant place to watch the matches and i was joined by 6 of my good friends and 150 of my other closest friends at 8.45am. they put flat screens out on the patio and much fun was had by all.
seguing nicely from my mini soap-boax moment in the last post about indifference to "football" in the us, the boys over at wicked chops poker have written a much longer piece about said indifference and even included a hilarious and poignant e-mail rant that i received from FOB (friend of beans), crawford. go and check it out, if not for that reason then just the eye candy alone.
.beans.
6.09.2006
so close...
well, the opener of the world cup just concludeed and costa rica lost to germany 2:4. i was really hoping that costa rica could pull that win together, but germany played well. i was very impressed with the costa rica attack, wanchope showed himself to be a world-class striker.
anyway, the tourney really starts for me tomorrow. i will say that it is difficult being so excited about the world cup in a country that is so indifferent to this sport. all the begging and pleading won't get me out of work early on a friday (unless i take vacation time), but it will get the government and the rebels in the ivory coast to sign a one-month truce from one of the bloodiest conflicts in africa and pause presidential campaigning in latin american countries....sigh.
and apparently, getting up at 9am on a friday doesn't appeal to many of my friends, so it may just be me going solo.
go England!
6.08.2006
in the most unlikely of places...
apparently, i am so behind the curve on music nowadays that i had to go all the way to Costa Rica to learn about an album that i am really enjoying... thank you zach and carrie and the bumpy ride to playa avellana.
ac newman is also known as carl newman, the brilliant pop songsmith who fronts the new pornographers, but to me he is the guy whose album i found 2 years after it's release date and this causes me no end of shame. much has been said about his ability to craft pop gems as the singer of the afore-mentioned group, and this solo album, slow wonder, is no different.
you can stream or download clips of the whole album at his site and here are some full mp3's for your listening enjoyment:
::ac newman - miracle drug::
::ac newman - drink to me babe, then::
::ac newman - on the table:: (this is a clip of my favorite song on the album)
just for posterity's sake, here are some mp3's from the new pornographers
::the new pornographers - use it::
::the new pornographers - twin cinema::
6.07.2006
response to comments on prior post...
1. no, it is not cheating to cut and paste from an e-mail, if you wrote the original e-mail... it is still something that i wrote....your opinion is wrong.
2. thank you, we'll see if it's good to be back... being as how the critics were just waiting to pounce.
3. both ellipses and sarcasm are indeed back.
4. i am back to no caps, for some reason the auto-correct function worked for half of my last post....then stopped.
5. unfortunately, anonymous, in this case, does mean wife.... if you can't do it, criticize it. (buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurn).
the real question is: who is "not my wife"? and while the answer would be "everybody else", i am curious... i thought her and my mom were the only one's that read this.
6.06.2006
baby steps, just baby steps...
i'm going to try and work my way slowly back into updating. i'm making no promises but i'll give it a shot.
i've been on vacation/work trips for a couple of weeks but i do have a new pc at work so now i have for-profit speed at a non-profit job which equals free time to post.
i'm also using performancing for Firefox, so it makes it a little easier to just click a button and update instead of logging in and other stuff.
i'm also considering making this more of a life blog than a 100% music/poker focused blog. those things are both part of my life but i think i will start discussing other things as well, since i really don't have all that much time every day to research new poker/music stories and posts.
i might even start posting some pics of my random days.
btw, 3 days and counting to the start of the World Cup. I was in San Jose, CR 2 weekends ago for work and they are going nuts about the first game. They play Germany in the opening match of the World Cup and are convinced that they can win as the underdogs. I'd like to see it happen. One of the people i met gave me a costa rica world cup t-shirt, so if i can skip out early on friday, i might just wear it and watch the game.
concerning the world cup:
I was not satisfied with any of the printable schedules that were floating around, so I made my own...i'm a dork. I will be endeavouring to make it to the England games for definite and as I work for an international organization, I expect them to be super lenient about such an international world-changing event....in other words, I will be getting to some of these games through any number of fake doctor's appointments and general, "bye, i'm leaving, England's playing" attitude. There are other games that appeal to me and I might try to get to, time and schedule permitting.
For those of you who might be in ATL and want to hang out. The fun and games (actual games) will start at 9am this Saturday morning at the Brewhouse in L5P when England plays
Paraguay. Yes, they will be open, the games is listed on their match schedule and according to their site "all games are LIVE". The crowd, I imagine, will be excited, but probably not hooliganistic, so no trampling of fans or collapsing pubs.
maybe i will see you there...
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