I Thought You Were Like a Media Junkie or Something

I know, I know. Believe me: I've been watching and reading and seeing and loving all kinds of crap, I just haven't been posting.

I'm going to try and keep with the whole blog thing, but I have to confess: between Yelp and Facebook, all of my Internet itches have been getting scratched lately. And I've been writing, like, actual stuff for work and junk. I'm messing around with a TV pilot on my agent's advice, I'm part of The Vampire Cowboys' Saloon again this year (only this time I'm not a part of a team -- I gotta write all the episodes on my own!), and now I've been wondering if there's another play kicking around in there at all...

So blogging hasn't been my biggest priority. I did update my playtime picks for the first time in awhile, so here's a quick rundown of what I think of all that jazz.

Red Rover
Episode 1: Counting Up, Counting Down... to Murder

As mentioned, here's my attempt at a Saloon of my very own. You might remember that these are the episodic theatre pieces that get put up at Vampire Cowboy's Battle Ranch in Williamsburg the first Saturday of every month. They like genre-smashing, so my piece is a Children's Educational Program/Murder Mystery. You'll be in for some laughs and some gore and some contemplation of "nothingness." Check it out! Dominic D'Andrea is directing.

Heroes Webisodes

Interesting. I'm withholding judgment until Season 3 starts to air. Just look back at my posts, and you know that I HATED Heroes sophomore slump. It wasn't until those last 3 or 4 episodes that anything worth happening happened. I'm just hoping they learned their lesson; this Echo fellow at least seems interesting, right?

Hamlet 2

Fuck what you heard. I loved it. It doesn't bother with plot or meaning like so many comedies these days, it just says: LOOK AT ALL THIS FUNNY SHIT AND LAUGH. And so you do. Or I did. I think current comedy is trying to have relevance outside of its usual domain. This one doesn't, and it is a relief. That doesn't mean it means nothing -- it just doesn't try to be a drama or romance or anything but fun, get what I'm saying?

Yellow House by Grizzly Bear

Woozy, oozy, stylistically eclectic yumminess. Like The New Pornographers chilled out distant cousins.

X-Force / X-Statix

Peter Milligan is and will always be my favorite comic book writer. Anyone who could come up with Shade, the Changing Man deserves my everlasting praise. He's been doing lots of more mainstream stuff, but these books were a great mix of mainstream and madness. It reminded me of those later years of Shade with George in the coffee bean, Noel the magic step, and the heartless Mad, Mod, Poet God. Reading the run of Shade is a bit of a commitment I might undertake again soon, but right now it's super "heroes" I want.

Plus, I totally think it's worth bringing Vivisector back from the dead and seeing what a relationship between him and Northstar would be like. A pompous ass and a pompous prick... I imagine all kinds of sparks would fly.

Williamsburg Panda Riot

Yes, this really happened. Five pandas were arrested when all was said and done and numerous boom boxes destroyed.

Hey, Ashurbanipal!

Anything that can make me scream the above sentence, filled with joy is worth posting on the blog. And so -- even though I like the video in my brain more than the actual video -- here 'tis.



HEY, ASHURBANIPAL!

This Song is Ridiculous

I'm seeing James at Radio City on September 19. I'm trying to decide whether to make a trip earlier in the week to catch them at a smaller venue in Boston as well. But I think that might be a little too crazy teenage road trip for me... I can't decide.

Anyway, enjoy this ridiculousness. SO GOOD.

One-to-One is Sometimes None

Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and The Tangerine

This weekend we headed to Film Forum to catch this documentary. I've been a fan of Ms. Bourgeois for some time, and I took Alex to a show of hers at Cheim and Read in the early 2000s. He's been a fan ever since.

To be frank, though, despite our love of the subject, the doc left much to be desired. The filmmaker seemed more interested in creating a one-to-one correspondence between the work and narrative interpretations of it than she was in telling people about Ms. Bourgeois' actual life. Sure there would be snippets here and there, but never enough detail to be worthwhile. In the end, it felt like the filmmaker had no interest in providing the context so that you or I or whoever could decide what the relationship between Louise Bourgeois' life and her work was. Instead she just wanted to tell you the relationship.

Still, it was amazing to hear the artist speak at all. She said some amazing things about her own pieces and herself. I particularly liked when she spoke of one of her sculptures in the following way, "It's not a metaphor. It's a souvenir." It was an amazing way of looking at one's own work -- just look at what it is and the memory in it. Stop trying to think about what it might mean or should mean. Perhaps the filmmaker should have been listening to her subject.

Mmmmm... Freshly Squeezed Fish Juice (not from concentrate)

Alex and I are both primarily visual people, so it didn't faze me at all when he accidentally brought home Tropicana Heart Healthy O.J. with Omega-3s instead of the Tropicana Ruby Red. We differentiate Tropicana's by the colored stripe on the carton, and their two stripes are pretty damn similar in shade.

I drank some yesterday, and to be frank it tastes kind of gross. The juice can't cover up that they've added Omega-3s to it. But, whatever, we'll just finish the carton, right? Waste not, want not.

This morning, I started reading the carton (as one tends to do at breakfast), and listed under the ingredients are three types of FISH: anchovies, sardines, and tilapia. THIS ORANGE JUICE CONTAINS FISH.

"Fellas, don't drink that Tropicana. There was a fish, in the juicer!"

I don't think you should be allowed to do this. Look, I read every label with a list of ingredients, I honestly do, but who would think that you had to read the ingredients of orange juice? It should not be called orange juice if it contains more than oranges that have been juiced. It even says "100% Pure Orange Juice" on the label. SQUEEZED AND PROCESSED FISH IS NOT ORANGE JUICE. It should be called orange drink, hell, I'll even give you orange juice drink. I would much prefer however that they came right out and said:

TROPICANA ORANGE & FISH JUICE BLEND

I don't think anyone would buy it, but that's the point. They shouldn't. We shouldn't. Talk about food processing, there's something ookily disgusting about this. I shouldn't have to look at traditionally vegetarian foods to make sure they're still vegetarian.

I mean, fish? In my juice? Eugh. When are we going to stop this asinine food processing nonsense. First, the slow transformation of yogurt from real food to non-vegetarian foodstuffs, then Cinnamon-Frosted Pig Parts, and now Fish Juice?

I Feel Bloated

It's been a week of gourmet goodness at home and in restaurants, all to cure myself of the O'Neill's less than delicious cuisine (bagel for breakfast, salad and cake, salad and cake...). On top of my aforementioned golden beets and zucchini fritters (which I coated in a Guinness batter), Alex made garlic hummus; a delicious red potato, grape tomato, long green pepper, and purslane hash; and cinnamon raisin bread. Last night I made a pain au chou and served it up with some oven-roasted corn on the cob.

As for going out, tonight was mein fun followed by rice pudding. Previous nights have included an artichoke, fennel, and fontina panino; cookie monster from Emack & Bolio's; grilled veggie and oaxacan cheese empanadas, followed by enchiladas con queso in salsa verde; sev puri chat and gobi paratha; a cupcake from Podunk; and veggie pho from Lan Cafe.

I really need to slow it down. Yes, that's a week worth of food, but I've literally gone around the world and back in terms of cuisine (although I do need some North African in there -- mmmmm, eggs and labneh...).

Tomorrow I think I'll go back to some salad for a spell.

And cake.