For those keeping score, here's how things stand right now:
Introduction to Legal Philosophy: I turned in my last paper weeks ago and the class is nothing but a memory. Art Law: 24hr take home final to be taken sometime late next week Entertainment Law: Just have to change my contract to match the terms I negotiated in class and then it's all done. Professional Responsibility: Finished my final a few hours ago. No sweat. Privatization of Criminal Justice: This is the class where I'm writing the bounty hunter paper. Got my first draft back from professor. The Good News: He thinks the topic is good. The Bad News: Pretty much told me to rewrite it completely. So at least I won't be bored up until graduation.
My grandpa told me several times that the cell phone impressed him more than any other technological advance he had seen emerge in his lifetime. To a guy who had grown up when entire towns shared a phone line, or a single phone, (or something like that), to see teenagers standing on street corners, talking on their phones to whoever they wanted to in the world, it was just amazing.
I am only 28 (for a few more days, at least), but yesterday, via Keith's blog, I beheld the greatest technological advance of my lifetime, Pimpstar Rims.
What are Pimpstars? They're flashy rims with LED lights in them that create images as you drive. What am I talking about? Please, please, plase, for your own sake, you must click THIS LINK to see them in action.
If you didn't click that link, it must be because you hate to be amazed.
Can you believe that stuff? I can't wait for the Pimpstar 2.0's that'll probably let you play movies on your wheels as you drive. The accidents that these rims wind up causing will be absolutely amazing.
The McDonalds on 3rd street has a playground, and the playground has this Ronald McDonald mural. And it is creepy. Especially from a distance, when you're walking up the street. Also, especially from up close, when you're taking a picture of it. It's like an unsung NYC landmark.
So I was walking to school through Soho this afternoon and before I knew what was going on a flock of paparazzi appeared before me and began taking pictures like crazy. Not normal. Then I realized I was walking right behind Steven Spielberg, so that made a little more sense. I walked behind him for a good half block, so that means next week when US Weekly has their little section that's all "Celebrities are just like us . . . they take walks in Soho" there will be a picture of Mr. Spielberg holding his wife's hand and me right behind them talking to my mom on my phone. So keep an eye out for that.
Look how this lady is totally thinking, "Oh Steven, walking through Soho again?"
Also, while walking through Soho I saw the lead singer from the Bravery standing on a corner (I know, who cares), James Iha shopping at the Adidas store, and then tonight after school I saw Jay-Z. So it was a pretty busy day.
ps sorry about that milkshake line yesterday. I thought it was a clever turn of phrase, not something that was going to gross out everyone.
Norwegian black metal* band Darkthrone has records named "A Blaze in the Northern Sky", "Transilvanian Hunger", "Goatlord", "Hate Them", "Ravishing Grimness", and "Sardonic Wrath." If they didn't also have records called "Soulside Journey" and "Total Death", I'd say they might be the band with the most consistently best album titles.
Yes, you see, I consider "Ravishing Grimness" and "Sardonic Wrath" as falling under "cool" while "Soulside Journey" and "Total Death" are uncool. That's just how I see things.
*The Footnote: I'll give some sort of award to anyone who can explain (without using wikipedia because I looked there and it didn't really help) the difference between these metal subgenres: death, speed, doom, black, dark, and heavy. I can invent completely non-authoritative distinctions between them based on name alon, but I need someone to speak with authority!! Bonus award for telling me which is the scariest.
Listen. I've been fighting a research paper and a milkshake-thick cold for the past bunch of days. If you're looking for pictures and adventures, Steady Mobbin' is not the place.
I was preparing as best I could for Mad Max-style chaos to take over the John Adams, but the NYC doorman strike has been averted!! That was a close on! I almost had to use my arms this morning.
Also, It turns out that the Franz show I went to a week ago? Not cool and for kids, says Pitchfork, not cool and for kids, says Stereogum. I guess this means that I also am not cool, but for kids. No, in fact, I'll agree with the main points of these haters: Yes, tickets were easy to get. Yes, the crowd was young, I'm sorry that all your friends had to work and couldn't go to the show with you. My friends didn't have to work and went to the show and it was fun.
Also, This S.O.S. song by Rhianna? I might be slow, but it's fire. How could we get to 2006 before a rapper sampled "Tainted Love"?
Have you noticed that not only do I barely have anything to blog about, but almost no one else is updating their blogs either?
Also . . .
Something I've been wondering is "when are we going to start seeing Superman ads?" Isn't this movie coming out this summer? There's almost no buzz going on for it, especially compared to, I don't know, Mission Impossible III which has been all over TV since the Super Bowl. There hasn't even been a Superman trailer with fighting in it yet. I don't even know what sorts of awesomeness to expect from the movie (I anticipate flying and rescuing, but I could be wrong). It's coming out in 2006, right? Not 2007?
Also . . .
You know what I can't stop thinking about? The Spaghetti Factory, and how it's delicious, and how I'd eat there right now if I could. Just look at this menu! Don't tell me it doesn't sound like the most delicious bargain in the universe! And the said thing is, I probably haven't eaten at a Spaghetti Factory for exactly three years.
So we're all about to face the first full day where everyone is talking about the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes baby having been born, but I just want to take a moment to say that I think Mission Impossible III might be totally awesome. I'm just saying. I get a hunch. Mostly, I like what I see of Philip Seymour Hoffman in the trailers, he seems like an excellent villain, and I just have this feeling that things are going to blow up real nice in this movie. I just want to get this opinion out there, I just want to let it be known.
(Trailers abound at Apple if you need to do any research.)
There's an old Cherokee belief that you'll have an awesome afternoon if you see a chubby man zipping down the street in Chelsea on a Segway and I have to concede that I now believe there's some truth to Native American wisdom.
This picture hasn't got anything to do with the story I'm about to tell.
Neither does this one, except that the Empire State Building is down the street from the Hammerstein Ballroom.
All right. Here's the deal. Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie were in town to play two shows this week, right? I made getting tickets to the show a non-priority and it totally sold-out on me and I was like "Whatever, I can live with that."
BUT then on Thursday the Internet told me that Franz was going to be playing a Free! Secret! matinee on Friday, all you had to do was bring a myspace profile to the NoHo Tower Records and they'd give you a wristband and you could go to the show! As Tower Records is right by NYU I went over to see if they had any wristbands left that afternoon . . . and they did, so I got mine, and I went to the show. Just like that.
I shared spots in line with Erin, Richard, and Ty.
Every now and then Erin busts out with the stone cold model/actress look and there's nothing anyone can do about it!
Also found in line: The Unquestionable Queens of Archduke Admiration.
Mitch played a key role in the locating of my beloved Bad Sebastian shirt, so I was really glad that the two finally got to meet.
I was slow to understand, but Mitch wanted to recreate this picture. (Greg, you're next.)
Back at my spot in line Trish and Amber had shown up.
No way! Ashley was there too?! Was this going to be the best concert crowd ever invented?
Sometimes it can be hard to decide which picture to use.
Yeah, and then Karisa and Keri and their Mom and Dad showed up!! I had know idea Karisa's parents were on myspace!
Los Arboles Sagrados keep it real.
One of the most surprising things about the show was that the band took the stage about 25 minutes after we got into the theater. They kicked off their set of rarities and requests with "Michael."
Great, just what I need: Photoblogger competition from Karisa's mom.
(Everyone think about this for a second again: Mom and Dad Holyoak were at the Franz Ferdinand show on Friday. In the very front. What were your parents doing Friday afternoon? Better said, what were you doing Friday afternoon?)
This photo (and my one tooth that's trying to poke out) is dedicated to Jenna.
So caught taking my picture (I suppose Ashley could say the same).
Come on, Keri. Let's get serious here. This is rock n roll.
One of the last songs the band played was "Darts of Pleasure." As the band approached the end of the song Alex invited those in the audience who knew the song's closing refrain (As Alex said, "It's easy, you just say 'Ich heisse Superfantastisch! Ich trinke Schampus und Lachsfisch! Ich heisse Su-per-fan-tas-tisch!')--he certainly could've gotten people who were more expert on stage, but the kids were alright.
The show was pretty good, everything was going along nice and normal and fun--nothing spectacular, in fact, the show was remarkably friendly and nice, not necessarily the villainous Franz I met when I first saw them last year--but then Alex said something like "I'd like to have the lights turned off for the start of this next number" and so the stage lights were turned off and Alex is like "This song is called Evil and a Heathen" and everyone cheers and then (I hope you know the song) the drums and bass come in low and mean and then the guitar slithers in like an angry King Cobra followed by a pack of scorpions and the lights flash on, everything is an eerie yellow and the song is soooo mustache-twistingly sinister, it's like the band was a bunch of Draculas and I was like "Yeahhhh." So best.
As the band is inclined to do, they ended their set with 'Outsiders.' I absolutely love how they triple-team the drums on this number.
And here's an experiment, I've youtubed some short videos from the show, here's part of 'Outsiders':
And here's a bit of 'Do You Want To.' Youtube compressed my huge beautiful videos down to almost nothing, but the sound is still good.
And here's some of 'Evil and a Heathen.'
The Setlist Was: Michael, Auf Achse, I'm Your Villain, Van Tango, Tell Her Tonight, Do You Want To, L.Wells, Walk Away, Evil and a Heathen, Darts of Pleasure, and Outsiders.
When the show ended I was like, "Hey, how'd you like the rock?" and Erin's posse was like: "Yeah, pretty great rock, but we're going to go check out the flower show now."
But I was a little like, "Uhm, I don't want to leave yet?" And then, as everyone was filing out, I noticed Alex Kapranos (I read their contract at Sony and that is not his real last name) over in the corner saying "yo" to his fans, so I was like, "I know what I'm going to do, I'm going to take a picture of Alex."
But then I thought, Why stop there? Alex needs to know that I was the guy in the video that dressed up as Bob, right? And he was like, "Oh, that was you? That video was brilliant! We had a great laugh!" And so I was like, "Hey, want to take a blurry photo with me?" And he was like, "Absolutely."
And then I told him that a bunch of other people from the video were there too Alex said, "Well I should pop over and say hello to them." And let me tell you, it feels pretty cool to be bringing Alex Kapranos over to meet your friends (even if some of them had already met him 100 times before).
When he met Karisa, who played him in the video, he was like "Wow, you look just like me!" and then we took a picture that was a little dark instead of blurry.
And it was fun meeting Alex and everything, but eventually Mitch asked the question everyone was wondering: "Uhm, where's Bob?" Alex figured he was around somewhere, so we persisted in our not-leaving of the Hammerstein.
And you know how it is with good things and waiting. Here's Mitch catching up with Mr. Hardy and deciding who'd keep the portrait she painted of him (The answer: Bob)
And then, finally, I got to tell Bob the thing I had wanted to tell him for so long: "Hey, I was the guy in the wig!" He was very nice for someone who was meeting their doppleganger.
(If you forgot or never knew, this is what I look like when I'm Bob.)
Keri didn't know what to think of all the rockstar interaction.
And then Nick the Guitarist came over because he was jealous of all the attention everyone else had been getting. Also, he needed to catch up with Mitch, because they have lots of mutual friends. (If you don't know, that's not a joke)
This is right before Nick and Mr. Holyoak totally hit it off.
Finally, after all the friendliness and interaction, we took a group picture with Nick where he busted out with the total rock star pose. That's what we pay them for, after all.
Moral of the Story: When the internet says "free tickets", you say "Yes". And when rock stars are on the floor, you say "Hello".
ps very good article on the band from the Independent here. pps and here you can find new tracks and videos by the band, the L.Wells video is especially worth your time.
Hey, last night's SNL was pretty good. I especially liked the "Laser Cats" digital short, not because I thought it was particularly funny, but because it was a totally brilliant move to preempt SNL Digital Short backlash (something I felt a little bit with that Natalie Portman rap.)
I like ideas and thinking and talking and implementing.
Ridiculously ridiculous Franz post is on its way. . . pictures, words, videos, it'll be hot.
So maybe I (and many others) just had a pretty fun Friday afternoon? I'll tell you all about it on Monday, but let me leave you with this little preview:
If you've been reading Steady Mobbin' for months then maybe you remember that Mitch had a Franz Ferdinand-themed costume birthday party where we made our own version of the Do You Want To video? (Here's the Orginal Report on That)
And maybe you remember how Mitch gave the band a copy of the video in Utah and they invited her and her mom back to hang out with them and it turns out they really liked the video and admired my portrayal of Bob Hardy? (Here's the Original Report on That)
And then I got to see Franz at the Madison Square Garden theater and went to the afterparty, but nothing really happened besides that? (Once More, An Original Report)
Fast forward to today, fast forward to this:
Tune in Monday for the whole story, it's pretty good.
David Blaine is going to live in a "human aquarium" at Lincoln Center for a week starting May 1st? YES!! I was worried that I had missed my chance to see David Blaine doing one of his ridiculous stunts in New York when he froze himself into that block of ice at Times Square a while back. I wonder how a classy institution like Lincoln Center let itself get involved with a joker like Blaine? Also, will this stunt increase temple attendance that week?
So I got the new Streets album "The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living" (it comes out on the 25th . . . but you know how it is sometimes) and this is what I think: this record is a lot like the first two Streets records (those would be "Original Pirate Material" and "A Grand Don't Come for Free", if you forgot or didn't know) in that it require many listens to get into it, but then you're well into it. What am I talking about? Well, with each of the three Streets records my liking of them has followed this pattern:
First Listen: Listening to any of the streets records I'm thinking, "Okay, what exactly have we got here?" and I hear one or two good songs, but on the whole I'm left thinking: "What did I just spend my money on?"
Second Listen: Then I listen to the record all the way through for a second time and think "This record is definitely no good. Mike Skinner can hardly rap and certainly can't sing. And what's with the songs about feelings? And what's with the constant off-rhymes?" I wonder what I'm doing with these records at all.
Third Listenn: After taking a break, I listen to the record again. I remember lines that I liked from times before, everything seems a little catchier . . . I start to think "Hey, this record isn't so bad at all."
Fourth Listen: It's a done deal now. I'm sold and sorry I ever doubted anyone. I start checking the internet for tour dates . . . oh good, he'll be stopping by at the end of July. If I'm not too owned by the bar right then I'll make sure to show up.
There's a lot of animosity towards mimes, but I don't necessarily hate them myself. Sunday afternoon they were filming a commercial for Virgin Wireless in the park.
So the Mime is stuck in his box. . .
And this girl comes up to him and she says "Where's your stupid box now, mime?" and throws her milkshake on him!!
And then the poor mime walks away.
I saw this mime talking on a cell phone while he was in the tree.
I might not hate mimes, but I sure dislike these guys. All they ever do is talk and ask for more money, they take f o r e v e r to finally jump over the people, and then that's the whole show. In fact, now that I think of it, I don't know that I've ever stuck around long enough to see them jump, so maybe they don't even get around to doing it?
New York has been teasing us with on and off signs of spring.
On? Do you remember the old days, pigeon lady?
Off?
Not Pictured: Friday's snows. Rains all Saturday.
Anyway, moving on to semi-narrative:
Natalie came back to New York for a weekend. There was supposed to be a celebration at the dumpling house, but the rains drove us into larger places for noodles instead.
Let's give this picture a prize!
After two posts my new shirt already risks overexposure.
