I met Stephen Colbert! For real this time! Well, kind of...

He did a signing Monday night at the Columbus Circle Borders, so I rushed over there after work and stood in line for two and a half hours. Stephen was late because he was introducing Nancy Pelosi at the Glamour Awards, and when he finally showed up it was with most of his writing staff.

I'll have to go home and count the signatures... there was a HUGE table of people, with Stephen in the middle, all of them signing our books. (Incidentally? The Colbert Report writing staff looks exactly like mid-20s versions of the geeky boys I hung out with in high school.)

It went quickly and was a bit overwhelming; mostly I smiled and said "Good luck with the strike," which they seemed to appreciate. I didn't really have a chance to say anything to Stephen, although he said "Nice to meet you" and I grinned like an idiot and mumbled "You're awesome." jaydk asked one of the writers if they'd been out holding signs that day, and Stephen answered that they had been. (He seemed very supportive of the writers, obviously.)

So, I've got my copy of "I Am America" signed by the whole writing staff. Coolest collectible item EVER!

I met Joan Jett and I was most excited because:

a) she's a badass rock star
b) she's a badass lesbian icon
c) she's a badass animal rights advocate
d) she guest starred on "Highlander" that one time

...

...

If you guessed d), you know me disturbingly well!

(Anyway, here's a picture of Joan Jett and me.)

( photo: I'm such a dork )

In other news, jaydk and I had a (new) Doctor Who marathon on Saturday night. We started at 7pm and continued until 9:30am. That's fourteen hours of Doctor Who! (There was some food, alcohol, and conversation involved, too.) We watched all of season two (minus a couple of episodes that jaydk said were lame) and the final three episodes of season three. And really, I just have one thought:

David Tennant is so hot!!

I know I should have deep thoughts about themes and characters and moral issues and the loneliness of outliving your friends and the question of what makes us human and the arrogance of assuming godlike powers over others...

but, sorry, I'm still stuck on "David Tennant is so hot!!" and it's going to take me a while to absorb that before my brain can fit any deeper thoughts. Just, his character is a giant geek! So full of manic energy! And he uses it to cover up his deep inner pain!! He's so lonely! Yet so full of enthusiasm about new experiences and adventures!! I love it!

Anyway, jaydk is laughing her ass off at me, because after she left (and I slept for ten hours) I woke up and downloaded all of season three, and caught up so that I've seen every episode with the Tenth Doctor minus the ones we skipped from season two. (I haven't seen any of the first season or any of the old series and I'm still totally clueless about the canon of the show.) I can't help it. I'm a giant geek at heart, too. Plus, that guy is really hot.

I don't know what it is with the geek thing lately. Between him and Stephen Colbert (you have no idea how huge my crush is on Stephen Colbert) my perceptions of hotness are really changing. It used to be all scruff and black leather; now I'm squeeing over skinny dorks!

(And this is why I love fandom and don't want real life people reading my LJ. Because even if you fannish people are laughing at me, you totally know where I'm coming from. Real life people just get that blank-confused-don't-get-it stare, and you have to explain, and they still don't get it, and then you just stop talking about it because it's pointless... whereas here, even if you don't share my squee over this particular thing, you've all experienced fannish squee over something, and know exactly what I'm talking about.)

Oh, and last night I saw the new final cut of "Blade Runner" at the Ziegfeld with a bunch of friends. (The Ziegfeld is a beautiful theater with a HUGE screen.) It was an amazing experience--if you ever have a chance to see "Blade Runner" on a big screen, do. The new version was particularly stunning, so clear and gorgeous that it could've been made this year. I got all teary-eyed watching it; it's almost like a silent film, the way the dialogue is so minimal and so much of the emotion comes from visuals: the cinematography, the set design, and the faces of the actors. Rutger Hauer, in that final scene... just awe-inspiring.

( some random thoughts on the Lymond series )

What else? I haven't been posting much. Let's see...

I went to Las Vegas and ate vegan donuts. That was fun. Details and pictures are here.

And then there was this... which I don't even want to write about so I'm going to copy and paste from an email I wrote to 10zlaine:

I was kind of just going with it... enjoying the pool while ignoring the massively overpriced bad food and the leers of drunken frat boys... and my front row seat was perfect... the show was amazing... AIC played "No Excuses," which I hadn't heard yet... I cheered like an idiot when they announced Sean Kinney's name--he's the drummer, and my favorite member of any band ever, and I've adored him since I was 11 years old due to his combination of ass-kicking musical ability and genuinely funny and good-natured personality... and at the end, he came over and HANDED ME A DRUM STICK... I was in heaven... already imagining how I'd frame it in glass and make it the center-piece of my apartment... I carried it around with me for 40 minutes while waiting in line for a drink... I went back to my seat... put the drumstick in my bag, put my bag on the floor between my feet and the barrier... and SOME ASSHOLE REACHED INTO MY BAG AND STOLE THE DRUM STICK.

No matter how much I tell myself that it's just a THING, and the cool moment was when Sean handed it to me... I am so fucking pissed off and I seriously wish I could flay alive the person who stole it from me... and that pretty much ruined the vacation, and killed my ability to ignore the disgusting exploitative sleaze of Vegas...

So yeah. This time when I say "I am never going back to Las Vegas," I mean it.

At least the donuts were good.

On Tuesday I saw Ian McKellen in "King Lear" at BAM. It was SO GOOD. I am not a theater person at all, so I can't really comment technically, I can just say that I was completely riveted every time McKellen was speaking, and completely riveted during the entire last act. The seats were incredibly uncomfortable and the view was weird (so steep that we were nearly looking at the top of the actors' heads) but I didn't even notice for the last hour or so. I'd never seen or read "King Lear" so I was really into the story, too. (I know, stop laughing at my ignorance.) I'm SO glad that I got to see it. If you ever have a chance to see Ian McKellen in anything, definitely go.

Then last night jaydk and I saw her favorite soap opera actor, Tom Pelphrey from Guiding Light, in a play in this weird little office-building theater that seated about 40 people. We were literally sitting on the stage. Pelphrey was good, but the play was pretentious and terrible. Alas. I'm sure it also suffered in comparison to Lear! I did make jaydk stick around and get Pelphrey's autograph, though--it was totally worth it to see her happy fangirl expression. ;)

And this weekend I'm going to Austin to see Alice in Chains unplugged. Honestly I'd rather just stay home and sleep, but, plane tickets already booked....

*is exhausted*

( some random thoughts on the Lymond series )

What else? I haven't been posting much. Let's see...

I went to Las Vegas and ate vegan donuts. That was fun. Details and pictures are here.

And then there was this... which I don't even want to write about so I'm going to copy and paste from an email I wrote to 10zlaine:

I was kind of just going with it... enjoying the pool while ignoring the massively overpriced bad food and the leers of drunken frat boys... and my front row seat was perfect... the show was amazing... AIC played "No Excuses," which I hadn't heard yet... I cheered like an idiot when they announced Sean Kinney's name--he's the drummer, and my favorite member of any band ever, and I've adored him since I was 11 years old due to his combination of ass-kicking musical ability and genuinely funny and good-natured personality... and at the end, he came over and HANDED ME A DRUM STICK... I was in heaven... already imagining how I'd frame it in glass and make it the center-piece of my apartment... I carried it around with me for 40 minutes while waiting in line for a drink... I went back to my seat... put the drumstick in my bag, put my bag on the floor between my feet and the barrier... and SOME ASSHOLE REACHED INTO MY BAG AND STOLE THE DRUM STICK.

No matter how much I tell myself that it's just a THING, and the cool moment was when Sean handed it to me... I am so fucking pissed off and I seriously wish I could flay alive the person who stole it from me... and that pretty much ruined the vacation, and killed my ability to ignore the disgusting exploitative sleaze of Vegas...

So yeah. This time when I say "I am never going back to Las Vegas," I mean it.

At least the donuts were good.

On Tuesday I saw Ian McKellen in "King Lear" at BAM. It was SO GOOD. I am not a theater person at all, so I can't really comment technically, I can just say that I was completely riveted every time McKellen was speaking, and completely riveted during the entire last act. The seats were incredibly uncomfortable and the view was weird (so steep that we were nearly looking at the top of the actors' heads) but I didn't even notice for the last hour or so. I'd never seen or read "King Lear" so I was really into the story, too. (I know, stop laughing at my ignorance.) I'm SO glad that I got to see it. If you ever have a chance to see Ian McKellen in anything, definitely go.

Then last night jaydk and I saw her favorite soap opera actor, Tom Pelphrey from Guiding Light, in a play in this weird little office-building theater that seated about 40 people. We were literally sitting on the stage. Pelphrey was good, but the play was pretentious and terrible. Alas. I'm sure it also suffered in comparison to Lear! I did make jaydk stick around and get Pelphrey's autograph, though--it was totally worth it to see her happy fangirl expression. ;)

And this weekend I'm going to Austin to see Alice in Chains unplugged. Honestly I'd rather just stay home and sleep, but, plane tickets already booked....

*is exhausted*


[Cross-posted to my InsaneJournal]

I'm making InsaneJournal my main journal for now, but for the time-being, I'll also be cross-posting to my LiveJournal. (Eventually I will stop posting in LJ, but I'll give plenty of warning when that happens.)

I picked InsaneJournal because, compared to its rivals, the server is faster and the code seems more up to date. The account-creation process is easier than that of JournalFen and its dictator is more benevolent than that of GreatestJournal (which is no better than LJ in terms of random deletion of users). I am still awaiting a real non-profit alternative, though.

So, anyway, a couple of things about InsaneJournal, if you're also thinking of moving:

* It's ugly, but you can fix it! Go here to change the default site layout. Some of the options are still ugly, but the text-only version is as clean and simple as you can get. (This is not your journal style; it's the site style).

* You can change your journal style; InsaneJournal supports S1 and S2 styles. (Go here to do so if you already have an account.)

* You can still read your LJ friends via syndication. Instructions here.

* Free users could only have 100 friends. Well, they just changed it to 250. Yay!

* You can buy a permanent account for only $40. It comes with tons of features. I bought one.

* I'm trying to keep my FL at InsaneJournal up-to-date (ie, I'm trying to add anyone on my LJ friendslist who creates an InsaneJournal). I'm terribly haphazard about this, though, and have probably missed people. It's not intentional; just let me know if you want to be on my FL in any of the other places.

(Thanks to miggy for pointing some of this out.)

Other stuff:

* I loved fodian's post about why disturbing art should not be banned.

* elfgirl summed up the repulsiveness of Six Apart's stance on pro-anorexia communities. While frequently contradicting themselves, Six Apart has said that even if artwork depicting underaged characters engaging in sexual acts is legal, they think it's icky and don't want it on their servers. But they allow hate speech and groups that teach young women how to kill themselves, "because it's legal." Having already said that they'll delete legal stuff if it offends them, we can only assume that they're okay with racism and girls starving themselves?

(I'm not saying these disgusting communities should be deleted; I'm hugely in favor of free speech. But if you're going to selectively decide which "legal but icky" stuff you're going to delete, isn't actual people being hurt worse than fictional characters having sex?)

* "User Generated Content" & Ownership: The User as Citizen - a great post about the larger issues at stake here.

* We're on Slashdot.

And in real-life news:

* I went to see Juliette and the Licks (Juliette Lewis's band) play five acoustic songs at the Union Square Virgin Megastore the other day. They were really good. Juliette is a passionate singer and amazing performer, and the band was energetic and fun. Plus, the crowd was pretty small--you could just walk right up to the stage, and the band was just walking around interacting.

I bought their album, and it's okay, but the live performance was much better. If you get a chance to see them, I highly recommend it.

* jaydk and I went to see Harry Potter 5 in IMAX again last night. That's the fourth time I've seen the movie, and the second in IMAX. It's just so cool! (Still not Alfonso Cuaron cool, but what is?) Then we stayed out late having dinner and talking endlessly about Harry Potter. It's fun to share an obsession! (She loves Remus, I love Sirius, so we squee over the same moments but for totally different reasons.)

She keeps telling me that I *must* read a story called "Beyond the Veil" by Helene, but I can't find it anywhere. (All the Google results lead to broken links.) I don't suppose anyone out there knows where I could find it?

We're ridiculously excited about DragonCon; check out the YA Lit Track schedule. (I am totally going to check out at least one Cassandra Clare panel this year! And I'll totally be polite and sit in the back and not snicker.)

And the Goth Track schedule is looking pretty good, too, although I'm upset that they've scheduled what looks like the most interesting panel ("The Craft of Songwriting" with Andy Deane, Rick Joyce, Rogue, and Voltaire) on Monday at 2:30pm, when I'll already be gone. :( (Although the good news is that I'm going to Disney World for the Pirate Party on Monday night with jaydk and drujan--yes, drujan is finally coming to DragonCon!)

There are NO SPOILERS in this post. None at all. This is just my observations of the four Harry Potter parties I went to on Friday night. I'll post my book reaction in my next post.

Wow, so um, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I got started late because I went to four Harry Potter release parties. I mean, I figure, if you live in Manhattan and Manhattan gets taken over by Harry Potter mania, you ought to experience it. Once in a lifetime thing, you know?

( Union Square B&N )

( Scholastic's 'Harry Potter Alley' )

( McNally Robinson's 'Harry Potter for Adults' )

( And I finally get the book at the Lincoln Center B&N )

And my reaction is coming up, um, as soon as I write it....

John Oliver from the Daily Show is performing tonight at a bar near my apartment, and I can't find anyone to go with me.

How is it that one can live in the center of the cultural universe and yet feel completely alone?


*debates whether the coolness of seeing my favorite correspondent will be worth the awkwardness of being there alone*

Here's what I've been up to lately:

* I went to an art auction benefit for the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. It was fun, except that it was in a yoga studio and everyone had to wander around barefoot. But the art was cool, there was a TON of free food and free alcohol, I got to hang out with Livi, Jessica, Anne, Ariela, and Patrick, and I won a raffle prize!

It's a really cool raffle prize, too--about $200 worth of fancy vegan lotions, body wash, shampoo, toothpaste, razors, toner, toothbrushes... every kind of thing you can imagine. It was so huge and heavy I couldn't even carry it home by myself. So now I won't have to buy lotion or shampoo for the next couple of years! (It was from United Foods which I guess is the distributor).

This marks the second raffle that I've won recently. (I also won a Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival t-shirt when I was in Iowa.) And I never win things. How random is that? They say this stuff happens in threes, so *knock on wood*.

* I dyed my hair wacky colors. It's a brighter red, with red-orange-blond streaks. Not sure I'll keep it; it might be too bright for me. But it *is* kind of summery.

* I hung out with Livi a lot. We ate Indian food, we ate Cuban food, we drank pina coladas, we went to a gay bar... it's been fun.

* I saw Spiderman III. It actually wasn't as bad as I expected. There were four things I liked:

( very vague Spiderman III spoilers )

* Voltaire continues to stalk me. I saw him coming out of a bank in the East Village; he glared at me. Last time, I saw him at the post office. Why won't he leave me alone??!!

* Um, seriously though, I'm never putting my number on Craiglist again. I got a really creepy crank call from some crying woman at 6am. People suck. (And the number it said it came from was my own--how do they do that?)

* I did find a roommate, though. She seems a little... overly detail-oriented. But she was good with the cats, which is the important thing. Cross your fingers for me.

* I played Sam & Max Hit the Road. Awesome classic LucasArts adventure game. I loved it. It's hilarious, especially all the dirty things coming out of the cute little rabbit's mouth. I can't believe they got away with marketing these games to kids.... And, seriously, I loved how well designed it was, and how brilliantly scripted the humor was.

* Now I'm playing Grim Fandango. So far, it's astounding. I'll post more when I finish.

* I watched the entire BBC Robin Hood series. I'm totally in love with Guy of Gisborne now. (I already babbled about that here.)

* I had nightmares for three weeks straight. Seriously. Ugh. Which is part of why I wasn't posting. But last night I finally had a cool dream. I had been playing Grim Fandango and watching Robin Hood, so I dreamed that I was playing Robin Hood. Like it was a game that I could control. So naturally I was playing Guy...! (I can't really remember what happened, but it was definitely fun.)

So, um, I decided to stay in Manhattan.


When I originally decided to move to Brooklyn, it was with a roommate. The benefits were:

* Cheaper rent -- I was looking at sharing a place for between $1600-$1800, which is a huge rent reduction compared to what I pay now. That would allow me to save up for a few years and eventually buy something in Manhattan.

* More space -- Everything's bigger in Brooklyn, especially if we got a two bedroom and actually had a living room!

* A cool roommate -- After all these years of crazy strangers, I was looking forward to living with someone that I knew I'd get along with.

* The drawback, of course, is that I wouldn't be in Manhattan, which is my favorite place in the world.



But now that the roommate changed his mind:

* The rent wouldn't be cheaper. I've been looking at studios and one-bedrooms in areas of Brooklyn that I'd like, and the rent is basically the same as what I pay now, if not a little more.

* I wouldn't have more space. For a single person in my price range, I'd basically be looking at studios or tiny one-bedrooms.

* I would still be giving up Manhattan, which I really don't want to do.

* The benefit would be not having deal with a roommate. It's tempting; I'd love to live by myself.


But comparing everything, the choice is basically: live in Manhattan and deal with a roommate, or live in Brooklyn without having to deal with a roommate. The price and space issues would be the same. And I'd have to deal with the stress of moving, the stress of trying to figure out a new neighborhood, the fact that I spend most of my time in Manhattan and would have to commute... it's just not worth it. I'd rather be in Manhattan with a roommate than be in Brooklyn by myself.


I thought about other things:
* I could live in Brooklyn with a stranger. That would give me the benefit of space and cheaper rent, but dammit, if I'm going to have to live with a stranger then I'd rather just be in Manhattan.

* I could look for another place in Manhattan that's cheaper than this one, to live in with a stranger. Maybe something a bit more roommate-friendly, with actual doors. Chances are, I will try for this when my lease is up next year.


So, in the meantime, I need a roommate. For my current place. Know anyone who's looking?
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/roo/327534770.html



I don't know if this is the right choice. But I do know that I feel a HUGE sense of relief, knowing that I don't have to move to Brooklyn BY MYSELF this summer. I truly wish it had worked out to move to Brooklyn with the roommate that I got along with, but given how that's not going to happen, I think staying here is probably the best move for now.

jaydk and I went to see the most insanely funny movie Saturday night: "Hot Fuzz."

Somehow I'd managed to avoid even hearing about this movie, but luckily jaydk dragged me to it. It's been years since I've laughed so hard in a movie theater. It's from the same people behind "Shaun of the Dead," which is also a classic, but I liked "Hot Fuzz" better. It's basically a parody of the "buddy cop" genre, with an incredibly twisted sense of humor.

I do not want to spoil it, but I will point out some of the elements that were awesome, so that everyone who has missed it so far will be tempted to go see it:

( awesome things about Hot Fuzz, with minor spoilers )

Also, I got my ticket for "Pirates of the Caribbean 3"! It's coming out on Friday May 25, but for some reason they are showing it at 8pm on Thursday May 24. So we went across the street and bought our tickets in advance--I have them in my hand! "Pirates 3," here I come! I think we are also going to the midnight showing at the Ziegfeld immediately after. We need our "Pirates" fix! ;)

We threw an awesome party! We made a zillion decorations, lugged them plus a ton of donated food to the bar, sold raffle tickets and got people to sign up for our mailing list, wore party hats and stupid nametags, got incredibly drunk, and watched as several hundred people filed in over the course of the night to devour the free food.

I think the free food was the key (and holy crap! it went fast!) but still, we raised a lot of awareness about our website, and we had an awesome time. Also, we got a drink named after us. "The SuperVegan." Basically a White Russian made with soymilk, but it was ours! People were going to the bar and asking for SuperVegans! When I'm on my deathbed, I can tell my grand-nieces and grand-nephews that once upon a time, I had a drink named after a website I made.

Don't laugh at me. It was really cool. The weather was nasty and we were terrified that only twenty people would show up, so it was just so cool that people actually came.

Check out the awesome photos in our Flickr group!

( my first two party photos )


(I got home around 3am. I'm so tired. And I can barely speak. I can't wait to sleep all weekend.)

[For my friends in the NYC area...]

As you may be aware, a group of friends and I created the website SuperVegan.com. It's a vegan culture site, featuring a blog covering every newsworthy aspect of veganism, a New York City restaurant guide, and a huge web directory.

Amazingly enough, we have managed to keep the site going for an entire year, so we're celebrating! We're going to have a huge first birthday bash at the East Village bar No Malice Palace this Thursday, March 15, from 7:30-11pm.

We've gotten a bunch of local vegan restaurants to donate yummy appetizers, and we'll also have free cake and ice cream, and a raffle with a ton of cool prizes.

I'm really proud of how the site has turned out, so I would love for some of my friends to come celebrate its first birthday with me!

No Malice Palace is at 197 East 3rd Street (between Avenues A and B). Their website: http://www.nomalice.com Let me know if you need any more info.

Hope to see you there!!


Oh, and don't forget to friend superveganblog to keep up with SuperVegan on LiveJournal.

Oh my god, Albion actually closed!

But... but... that's the first Goth club I ever went to! I was 17, with Stefanie and Athena, and I totally didn't fit in, but that night I fell in love with the Depeche Mode song "Walking in My Shoes."

I got my fake ID for the main purpose of getting into that club. (It worked.) I saw Uranium 235 there, and Joe (who didn't have a fake ID) snuck in as a roadie, and the band hung out outside with us and the underage fans who couldn't get in, and Chrissy's hair got stuck in Shane's nipple ring, and I was trying to prevent drunken Margaret from falling over, even though I barely knew her.

Steff, Chrissy, Jitney, Shane, and I went there after Uranium 235 played the Bitter End, and we took these goofy pictures, and no one could believe that Jitney was only 13.

That same night I had my final confrontation with a psychotic lunatic of a former friend. We had a tearful screaming match on the second floor, where the coat check is now, and I never spoke to her again. One of the best decisions I've ever made, and it taught me how to recognize (and avoid) the psychic vampires and pathological narcissists I've encountered since.

I saw Godhead there with Stefanie and Lisa and Helyne, and we papered the bathroom with Uranium 235 fliers, and some dude calling himself "Voltaire" hit on Helyne, and I thought he was creepy. And then afterwards the girls came back to my dorm room and we drew goofy pictures of Chris Bride and did impressions of Jason Miller.

I saw The Cruxshadows there more times than I can count. I'm sure I spent at least one Halloween there, and I spent a New Years Eve with drujan seeing Voltaire and Melotron. I saw Bella Morte and Slick Idiot and dozens of other bands. I saw Chemlab there for the first time, and met Jared Louche there. I saw PIG there when they didn't play until 3am and the poor friends I'd dragged along went home, and then 10zlaine and I took Guenter Schulz out to breakfast at a diner on 9th Avenue. I've hung out there with nearly every friend I've ever had, including plenty who would never have entered a Goth club otherwise.

They can't be closed.

I hated the snooty atmosphere and the overly-loud speakers and the disgusting bathrooms and the awful, expensive drinks, but still, I have so many memories of that place. :(

The Swining discography is up! I've spent months working on the design and structure for this (all the content is stored in a database and entered through a content management system). I am also awed at the amount of data Filth (who does the actual content management) has put in. And more is coming soon. :)

My professor was on The Colbert Report last night! That was quite weird. Judith Stacey; I had her for something like "The Sociology of Gender." To be honest, it was kind of a lame class compared to some of the other gender courses I took, but she was nice enough.

I somehow forgot to mention that jaydk and I went to see The Cruxshadows last Thursday night. I can't believe I've been seeing them for seven years. I've kind of grown out of them; they're a little too sincere and well-meaning, but I have a lot of nostalgic affection for them anyway.

For some reason they played the Pyramid Club, which actually made me miss Albion. Pyramid is even smaller and more tightly packed, and I think they must let in a younger crowd, because the front section was full of those little kids who whine that people are pushing them. I don't know how many times I have to say this: if you don't want to get pushed, don't stand in the front of a mosh pit. Honestly. If I'm pushing into you, it's because someone is pushing me, and someone is pushing them, going all the way to the back of the club, and you whining isn't going to do anything but make the whole experience worse, since we're still going to be stuck standing next to each other regardless. The only good thing is that these annoying kids tend to get fed up and leave halfway through, so jaydk and I ended up right at the front.

I'm so proud of myself for corrupting jaydk. Now she's a bigger Cruxshadows fan than I ever was. She even knows their names, and knew the new songs better than I do. She was definitely not the type of person to go to a Goth club before she met me. ::evil grin::

I was a little disappointed with their set; too much emphasis on new songs. I would've swapped a couple of the newer ones for classics; I was really surprised that they didn't play "Citadel" or "Resist/R," at least. Not that the new ones were bad; the balance just seemed off.

It does kind of break my heart that this is the last time I'll ever see Rachel, though. She is just so freaking cool, and is probably my favorite thing about the band. How often do you see kids in a Goth club freaking out because the violin solo is so awesome? And she just does her thing, looking so serious, and doesn't show off, which makes her extra-cool. :( Glad I at least got to see her one last time.

And I'm really glad jaydk was there to share the experience. :)

CBGBs is gone. The Continental doesn't have live music anymore. Now they're turning Limelight into a mall.

Seriously, NYC, wtf?

Ed Helms is back!

Look for me and drujan in the audience of tonight's Daily Show. It was fucking freezing, and we just barely got in, after I waited outside for about two hours (and drujan joined me like three minutes before the cut-off time). But nonetheless, the show was awesome.

Also, the reason everyone is cracking up during the Jason Jones segment is that the first time they tried to film it, the technology screwed up and it displayed the teleprompter on the screen behind Jason's head. Jon started totally cracking up, laughing so hard that he curled up in giggles and then had to get out of his chair. Meanwhile poor Jason had no idea why everyone was laughing hysterically at him, which caused everyone to laugh harder. Finally Jon explained to him that the teleprompter was showing behind his head, thus ruining the illusion that everything that happens on the show is spontaneous.

So they filmed it again, and it wasn't that funny, but I'm sure you can hear the audience still giggling as it opens.

Ahhhh! What the hell is he doing in my neighborhood? Seriously, I could lean out my window and see him from here.

Last night I went to Night of Too Many Stars. This was super fun, for several reasons:

* I had a great view. First balcony, second row, center-right, three seats from an aisle. If you have a huge high resolution TV screen, you can probably see me in the audience shots. ;)

* Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, together and in the same room as me!

* Getting to see everyone scurrying around during the commercial breaks and discussing what comes next.

* Jon *completely* cracking up during one of the bits--I think it was Will Ferrell's--did they show his reactions on TV? He was laughing so hard he was jumping up and down, and then he fell to the floor, but he still managed to speak all his lines with a semi-straight face.

* Jon chatting with us beforehand and during the commercial breaks and telling us what a great audience we were. (He's so sweet!)

* Jimmy Fallon, who was apparently not content merely answering phones, and so spontaneously stood up and (yelling without a microphone) got whole audience to do the wave repeatedly during a commercial break. (They showed just a snippet of this on the broadcast.)

* Pretty boys making out! I'm apparently way out of touch with modern television, because I had no idea who they were, but they made out a lot longer than aired on the broadcast.

* Getting to see the whole Elvis Costello performance (which was cut off by a commercial during the broadcast).

* I got to see the guy behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. (Not that I really cared, but still, nifty.)

* I'm embarrassed that Moby is the apparent representative of veganism in popular culture, but at the same time glad that he is at least spreading awareness of its existence.

* Did I mention how adorably sincere Jon Stewart is?

What was weird:

* They didn't show us the David Letterman thing at all; that just seemed to be an extra-long commercial break.

* Being surrounded by such disturbingly rich people was just weird. Before the show started, they had a couple of auctions, including one for a walk-on part on Saturday Night Live which went for $20,000. I know, good cause, I just can't fathom those amounts of money.

* Also, it needed more Stephen Colbert. :P

Um, can we please not have planes crashing into buildings in NYC?

Very sad and scary. Strangely, everything looks normal here in Union Square; you wouldn't even know anything was going on uptown.