Getting the Call

6 Nov

My mind’s all made up about who I’m voting for tomorrow, but let me just say that the only thing that may make me change my mind is if the supporters of a certain Democratic gubernatorial candidate keep calling me before 9am.

Thursday, when I was on a day off from work, I was awakened at 8:30 with a reminder to vote.

I got another one when I was away over the weekend (thank you, caller ID), and this morning, in the worst offense yet, I got a recorded message from Chobee Hoy herself that shut off after 10 seconds and never finished. I can only assume that she was also calling to remind me to get out and vote.

It’s bad enough that I’m getting these calls so early — and I get it that they want to reach people before they leave for work — but getting a bulk, impersonal, recorded campaign phone call before 9am is just not cool.

A Town That Won’t Let You Down

6 Nov

Alright, I didn’t just put my blog on hiatus these past few days, I put myself on hiatus and headed out to visit my friend Andrew in Chicago. Suffice it to say, a good time was had by all.

It’s been two years since I was last in Chicago, and in that time much has changed. For example, whereas two years ago Andrew didn’t know much about the city, now he still doesn’t know much about Chicago — but he could fake it convincingly by giving me a whole dissertation about the grid system and how easy it is to navigate around. (ha ha) But more importantly, Andrew’s engaged, so one of the biggest reasons I went out there was to meet his fiancee, Rachel.

It was a packed weekend: I got in Thursday night and we went to dinner at Shine Morida; Friday I was on my own and walked all the way down Clark to Michigan Ave., where I went to the Hancock Observatory, did some shopping, and visited Millenium Park; at night we brought in dinner from Bacino’s and saw a show at Second City; Saturday, Andrew and I had brunch at Stella’s, then went to the Field Museum; at night we met up with some of Rachel and Andrew’s friends and had dinner at Las Tablas, then Andrew and I went to Rosa’s Lounge, a great blues club where Jimmy Johnson was performing; Sunday, we had brunch at Panes, and then I headed home.

That’s not really all we did, but something tells me you would be less than impressed if I told you we also watched five — yes, five — episodes of Grey’s Anatomy now that Andrew and Rachel are hooked on the show and are catching up with the season two DVD set. And you probably would have little sympathy for me if I told you I did a lot of walking around in the cold (40 degrees or so) since it was apparently just as cold back in Boston. And it’s a funny story, but the fact that we tried but could not get into Buddy Guy’s Legends doesn’t add much to the overall recap. I also figure you don’t care that Chicago’s WLIT was already playing Christmas music 24/7 and that it made me smile.

But all told, it was a great weekend. It was nice to see different parts of the city than those I saw last time, and it was nice to see that Andrew’s found himself a great fiancee. And of course, I took a lot more pictures than the ones you see here; if you want to see the rest, just follow this link.

Ah, Chicago. It’s my kind of town.

I’ve Got Nothing

2 Nov

I was going to write something about how Quizno’s sandwiches just aren’t as good as they used to be, and then I was going to lament how the fluctuations of the weather may be making me sick, and then I was going to celebrate how the end of Halloween marked the beginning of the Christmas season … but then I realized all these things were sorta lame.

As it turns out, I don’t have anything all that interesting to write about right now, and rather than continue with these short celeb-related items, I’m just going to go on a brief hiatus until Monday. Come back then, when I should have something really fun and worthwhile to say.

In the meantime, go see Borat.

Have a great weekend!

People … People Who Throw Sodas

1 Nov

Is there anything funnier than seeing someone throw a beverage at Barbra Streisand?

Perhaps the only thing would be seeing this person hit her with the soda.

Ha!

It’s the Circle of Life

30 Oct

I suppose it’s nature’s way that as one couple marries, another one should separate.

Poor Reese and Ryan.

There Goes the …

30 Oct

And then, at 2 a.m. Sunday morning, it was all over.

After 17 months of being engaged — and 15 years of not-dating dating, according to one toast — Mitzi and Jason are now married and the wedding is all over.

And I have to say, in spite of all my mockery and comments, it was actually really nice.

I mean, no expense was spared, but it was a classy affair, and just a really, really great night.

I was impressed and many of the folks there said they were too. Continue reading →

What Time Is It?

29 Oct

The nice thing about being lazy and not changing my clock in April is that when Daylight Savings Time comes around again in October, I’m all set.

I knew there was a reason I never got around to fixing the time in my car …

One Ounce Makes All the Difference

29 Oct

I learned a valuable lesson this weekend: four ounces of hair gel is just too much for one man to have.

Both times at the airport, of all the things I had in my bag — shaving cream, a razor, toothpaste, etc. — the only thing that got confiscated was my hair gel.

Apparently, three ounces is the limit, and God forbid you have one measly ounce more.

Thankfully there are drug stores in NY so I was able to get more, but I mean, can you just imagine how styled my head could have been with that one extra ounce of gel?

I could have been the best-coiffed guy on the plane!

Here Comes the …

27 Oct

Alright, fine: I’ll admit this blog post only exists because I thought it’d be funny to show a still from Corpse Bride on the eve of Mitzi’s wedding, especially since it’s also Halloween weekend.

But it also gives me a chance to say, publicly, how much I’m looking forward to the wedding — and I’m not just saying that because Mitzi reads this blog, or because I can already taste the pigs in blankets.

I’m lucky enough to have a close relationship with my sister — she is truly one of my best friends — and I’m really happy for her. Hopefully I’ll tell her as much in my toast tomorrow night, and hopefully I’ll convey how special she is to me, but considering the toast is still mostly in my head, who knows what I’ll actually say. Continue reading →

All These Things That They’ve Done

26 Oct

To put it most simply, the Killers totally rocked the Orpheum tonight … and then they didn’t. Despite two albums’ worth of great material, the band only played for about 70 minutes (including one and a half encores) and left the audience wanting more.

Which I hope doesn’t overshadow the fact that the Killers did put on a great show. Sure, the sound wasn’t clear enough for me to really hear Brandon Flowers singing or talking, but damn, the one-two punch of “When You Were Young” and “Somebody Told Me” truly got the crowd going, as did the band’s other hits “Mr. Brightside,” “Smile Like You Mean It,” and the new single “Bones” (which I totally love). And it was cool that they did “Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll” (off the re-issue of Hot Fuss), and that they closed with “All These Things That I’ve Done,” which left me on a real high. But I really wanted to hear “The River Is Wild” and “Andy, You’re a Star,” among others, so that was a bummer.

Some other thoughts: Flowers is a fun frontman to watch. He’s so straight-laced and earnest in his performance that you’re tempted to think he’s not enjoying himself, but then he does a variation on what Whitney called “the Dave Matthews jig” and it’s pretty fun. With his long sleeve shirt and vest, the guy had to be hot up there on the stage. Also, man, does the mezzanine of the Orpheum shake. We were in row B, and at various times during the show, I stopped bopping and still was vibrating. It’s pretty scary. Granted, the Orpheum has probably seen rowdier shows than the Killers, but damn … one of these days the mezzanine is going to come crashing down. I just hope I’m not there when it does.

So anyway, is it so wrong for a performer to leave its audience wanting more? I suppose that’s the mark of a good show, right? Still, I think in this case the concert would have been truly great had it been just 15 minutes and maybe three or four songs longer. Then the band would have truly, ahem, killed.

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