did i imagine it would be like this?

the new bjork video for “wanderlust” is fanfuckingtastic.

the video was made by encyclopedia pictura, who also made that not quite as stunning but still really great grizzly bear video for “knife”.

why did i wait so long?

i finally went and saw bob mould. i have had many chances to see him, i just never made it a priority, which is strange because he had a huge influence on me as a teen. the music of bob mould, ian macaye and morrissey pretty much got me through my teens, they were my soundtrack. the music and songs mr. mould produced in his seminal bands husker du and sugar was raw and showed that emotion didn’t have to be soft. i cannot tell you how many copies of sugar’s copper blue i made and forced on people. i often feel that quoting songs takes the emotion and soul from them, i am so close to do that here. i will bypass that by not posting them but by linking them for you. husker du’s “the biggest lie”, “afraid of being wrong”, sugar’s “the act we act”, “changes”, and “hoover dam”, solo songs “heartbreak a stranger”, “and see a little light” have affected me in ways cannot describe.

so why have i waited so long to see mr. mould live?

i think i was just scared that he wouldn’t live up to what i wanted him to be like. i was too late to see husker du, sugar played connecticut a couple of times but i couldn’t make it. he played a bunch of solos show in new york but i never went. then after i moved to seattle it seemed like it was just too late, i really didn’t want to see a greatest hits tour. the first time he came to seattle was after the release of his electronic album modulate, which i just don’t get, so i avoided that. he played seattle a couple more times, but i never motivated and always regretted it. so i just couldn’t miss him again.

his show at doug fir on friday night was everything i could of wanted it to be. i got there in the middle of the incredibly forgettable opening act. so i wandered around the venue a bit, it was my first time at doug fir. i like the size and feel of the place, but it does have a fire trap feel and several poorly placed handrails.

mr. mould and band took the stage quietly then blasted the crowd away with one of the loudest sets i’ve heard in a long time. the set was made up of song from all his projects, except the electronic album. the crowd went crazy for the husker du and sugar songs, which is expected, his choice of “hits” to play were perfect. he does have a new album out right now, district line (which i have to say is his strongest in a while and will be reviewed soon), so there were a few songs off that. what made this show so satisfying was that mr. mould seemed so happy to be there playing for us. the crowd was feeding off his energy was whipped up into quite a tizzy, and got a little rough.

thank you bob mould for living up to everything i wanted you to be.

interfering with the past.

at a recent family dinner morgan’s aunt bridget found out i was a fan of the ender saga written by orson scott card. she immediately leapt up to find this. pastwatch: the redemption of christopher columbus, which is her favorite book by card, and she has read them all. in fact she has pretty much read every book ever written.

this tells the story of a future society that has the technology to watch the past. while watching they discover that an alternate future had sent a message back in time to columbus to alter the future, leading to the future that they live in. which they quickly point out is soon doomed to extiction. so they decide to send actual people back to shape another alternate future. after much study they determine that they must change columbus’s path again to lead to another more peaceful future.

orson scott card, along with octavia butler, really stands out in the world of sci-fi. their books bridge genres, in pastwatch: the redemption of christopher columbus card uses elements of historical fiction and drama. and he does it in a way that is not forced or awkward. card’s biggest talent lays in the details. by the end of the book we know all about columbus’s life and world. we also have a total grasp of the future society and the people trying to save it.

pastwatch: the redemption of christopher columbus is a total success, well written and plotted fantastically.

while looking for the links to insert in this post i read some disturbing facts on orson scott cards wikipedia page. let me list them for those too lazy to click on the link.
1. he was raised and still is a mormon
2. he has written several books based on the bible
3. he has been a vocal supporter of george w. bush, the patriot act and the iraq war
4. he often praises fox news
5. he considers himself a democrat despite the fact that he is pro gun and writes article supporting the republican party
6. he blames pre-marital sex for the rise in crime
7. he considers same-sex marriage to be a “potentially devastating social experiment”, and has a very wishy washy stand on homosexuality in general

so with all i know about him now, i don’t know if i can continue to read his books. i already borrowed three more from bridget, so i’ll read those. but now i faced with a dilemma, should i keep reading?

did you hold your newborn today?

this is a funny and disturbing commercial.

viewings from the queue #3

bring it on: in it to win it – i am a huge fan of the cheersploitation genre, it is by far my favorite sploitation. the original bring it on is a masterpeice in the genre, right up there with the swinging cheerleaders, revenge of the cheerleaders, and satan’s cheerleaders (which really didn’t have enough satan). b.i.o:iitwi is the forth in the bring it on series. the second one, bring it on again, is horribly forced and is for cheersploitation fans only. the third one, bring it on: all or nothing, is great. starring the cheerleader from heroes and beyonce’s younger sister, they really bring the cheersploitation. b.i.o:iitwi is very loosely base on west side story, the two rival squads are the strangely pale west coast sharks and the scarily tan east coast jets. they are competing at cheercamp to represent the u.s. in an international cheer tour. one of the girls from the sharks fall for one of the guys from the jets. they end up having a dramatic nighttime cheer-off, horribly trying for another west side story homage, where a few of the cheerleaders end up getting hurt leaving neither squad with enough members to compete. so they forgive their differences and join together (as “the shets”) to defeat the rival cheer camp for the spot on the cheer tour, riveting i know. this movie is full a bad “emotionally revealing” dialogue, and strangely had tons of product placement for the world wildlife foundation. while not as bad as bring it on again it is far from the original or all or nothing. i do hesitate to recommend this to anyone who isn’t a cheersploitation fan.

the tomorrow people – since i recently rediscovered the soundtrack to this old british show i added it and bumped it up. so far i have watched the first disc which had the slaves of jedikiah storyline. and it also introduced the concept of the next step in human evolution, which is a group of british teens now as homo-superiors, or the tomorrow people. they have the ability to communicate telepathically and they can teleport short distances. somehow they have access to a jelly powered supercomputer named tim. with tim’s help their powers are greatly enhanced. this show is full of great sci-fi dialogue and wonderfully bad special effects. this is highly recommended.

michael clayton – i am never one for the big hollywood drama, for some reason the trailer for michael clayton appealed to me. it was probably the presence of the marvolous tilda swinton. this movie didn’t work for me. it was full of overacting and falls into the category i call “heterosexual male fantasy”, basically george clooney is the kind of “guy” that “guys” want to be. there was none of the tension that the trailer promised and it wasn’t at all surprising or shocking. george clooney is kind of sexy and tilda swinton is really good in it, so if that is all you need then you may be satisfied.

h.m.s. pinafore/trial by jury – if you like watching stage productions, and are a fan of gilbert and sullivan then this is for you. this is a production of two g&s operettas by an austrialian compay, they are a solid cast with alright sets. definably for fans only.

i heart buffy!

no new projects………yet.

joss hints at a broadway musical!!!!

here is some inside scoop from the buffy reunion from last night.

thank you trent of pink is the new blog!

breakfast at the gallery.

on saturday morning audrey, erica, morgan and i went to jace gace for breakfast. i noticed their sandwich, with a big waffle on it, a while back. i am a big fan of waffle so i have been wondering about the place. last week someone at worked mentioned that she went and said it was good. she also said that they had a tiramisu waffle, it was then that i knew i had to go as soon as possible.

i should apologize for the pictures they are from my phone, and i still can’t figure out the proper way to crop them for the site.

audrey had “the trio” i think it was called. she was the only one of us to venture in the savory section.

erica had the “fruit and cream”, poached pears and fresh whipped cream.

morgan went for the “pina colada”, pineapple, bananas and coconut whipped cream.

i, of course, had the “tiramisu”. it was delicious, though sadly lacking in the espresso and the cocoa. and i enjoyed the poached pears, but what did they have to do with tiramisu?

all of which were amazing.

one night in wales.

audrey and her girlfriend erica came down to rainy chilly portland for the weekend. i think they wanted a break from rainy chilly seattle, also audrey was my guest for rufus wainwright’s solo performance at the newmark theater in downtown portland. they got to our place just in time for us to grab a quick slice of pizza, and get to the show.

the newmark is a very small theater in the portland center for the performing arts. we only had to wait about five minutes for rufus to come out and start the show. he said he was a little groggy from just waking up ten minutes before the show, and it showed a little. rufus is still an entertainer and he delivered a fantastic show. we got songs from all of his albums, including a few from is first, which is still my favorite. thankfully he didn’t focus to much on release the stars, and sadly we didn’t get any of his judy material. of course he also told amusing stories involving crack addled couples fighting, and scolded people for ripping him off on the internet. he knew this because many people already knew his newest song “zebulon”. the best part of the show for me was when he played rebel prince, which he said was writted about said crack couple having an argument in a hotel here in portland. but while he was fumbling through the unrehearsed song he had to apologize for changing it to los angeles. he put on a wonderful show that was unfortunately too short.

setlist.
Grey Gardens
Maker Makes
Beauty Mark (so nice)
Sanssoucie
In My Arms
California
Going to a Town
Matinee Idol
Nobody’s Off the Hook
Gay Messiah
Rebel Prince
Not Ready To Love
April Fools
Little Sister
Zebulon
Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk

encore
Art Teacher
Dinner At Eight

after the show audrey and i met up with erica who was hanging out with her cousin james. we met his wife, baby and friends. strangely spent a bit of time checking out sky mall and suprisingly conservative international male sites. not really what i would of expected to be doing if i ever met the lead singer of the shins, but hey, what can you do.

this is pretty awesome.

improve everywhere.

i might be blushing just a bit.

at work there is a box in our tiny break room for people to name a teacher that inspires them and why. someone wrote something about me.

“Joseph is the best!! He comes to work with a smile every day. He is one of the kindest people I have ever met. Every time I see him throughout the day, he puts a smile on my face. Plus he is an amazing chef!”

gosh, i don’t know what to say.

garfield minus garfield.