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I haven’t been on LJ or DreamWidth for about two months. Um, did I miss anything?

I’m not sure if I’m coming back. I was basically forced off because my computer broke, but my computer has been working for a month now and… yeah. I’m really enjoying the free time that comes with not spending hours on journaling sites every day. I also think that removing myself from the obsessive lunacy of fandom has done wonders for my own sanity. :P

I miss you guys, though. I’m thinking of maybe trimming my reading list to just real people and checking in a couple times per week.

Part of it was post-Writercon burnout. Part is that I’m just kind of… done… with mainstream television. Canceling my cable TV was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life. I’m not even angry about the myriad ways TV sucks; I’m just not interested in spending time on it anymore.

I’ve been cooking every day, working on freelance projects, getting my finances in order, organizing my apartment, taking long walks around NYC, going to museums (the Neue Galerie is amazing), reading proper books (currently on The Power Broker about Robert Moses), and downloading lots of 1970s David Bowie goodies.

(Proof that I’ve drunk the Bowie Kool-Aid: the other day I found myself listening to the Young Americans album with unreserved adoration. I’ve also been watching a lot of interviews and was surprised to find that I really like David Bowie. When I got into his music, I really was not expecting to find him likable as a person. I respect his intelligence, hard work, self-awareness, and courage to take wild creative leaps.)

But part of the reason it’s foolish to post here is that you guys are not the appropriate audience for my thoughts on David Bowie. It is really starting to hit me that in my heart, I’m not a TV fan; I’m a music fan who happens to get into TV fandoms in the off periods when I can’t find music that engages me. I’m not sure what the appropriate venue is, though; music fandoms tend to center around message boards full of pedantic fanboys with whom I wouldn’t fit either. I think the best answer is probably just to go back to being a solitary fan.

( The main reason I'm posting is to tell Cindergal that I am still watching Farscape as promised )

So... what have you all been up to?

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* I came home from Writercon to find my computer dead. The motherboard is fried. I just spent $350 on replacement parts. (There goes my half-fantasized Labor Day beach vacation.) My brother is going to help me put it back together via phone, which… well, cross your fingers for me. I’m a software person, not a hardware person. He thinks there’s an 80% chance I’ll be able to get my old system working with the new hardware–otherwise I’ll have to buy a new hard drive, install a new operating system, reinstall all my programs, and copy over all my old files. Here’s hoping for that 80% chance.

( and the next day the fuse that powers my entire apartment blew and it was insanely stressful )

* And actual Writercon. Gah, I don't even know what to say. It was wonderful and stressful and my feelings are so mixed and complicated. I will say that it was good to reconnect with people (especially the other concom members who I adore but haven't seen in years) and to meet so many awesome new people.

I want to write more but I'm really still working out my feelings (mostly about how/whether I fit into the Writercon community and how/whether Writercon fits into my life). So I'll save that post for some future moment when I'm capable of being coherent about it.

( I finished the first season of True Blood and really didn't like it )

( I'm watching Farscape and enjoying it so far )

* I feel kind of bad about dissing John Hughes in a post the other day. Despite my reservations about a lot of his work, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my all-time favorite movies. I give Hughes major props for that if nothing else. (And, okay, The Breakfast Club is a total guilty pleasure, even though I want to scream and break things every time Ally Sheedy gets that horrible "makeover").

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I made some revisions and updates to my Ziggy Stardust essay. If anyone out there reads it, I would love to get feedback.

I checked in at the Song of Ice and Fire forum yesterday and was excited to see that casting sides and a pilot script for the HBO series have already leaked. And apparently they’re … decent. I am cautiously optimistic. I know a lot will have to be cut in order to turn such epic novels into a television series, but I’m pleased that they seem to be remaining faithful to the spirit of the text. (Of course anything could happen between now and the final airing, if it even airs…!) *crosses fingers*

Last weekend was busy. Friday night I went to the Feministing fifth anniversary party with my friend Anne. It was cool to be in a room full of feminists, but the location was so disappointing. It was the middle of nowhere (46th between 11th and 12th, surrounded by warehouses and cheesy clubs with lines to get in), the drinks were obscenely expensive, and the sound was atrocious. I can’t imagine why they didn’t have it in the LES or the Village.

Saturday I dragged myself out of bed with enough time to go to the Guggenheim, basically because 1) I’ve lived in NYC for nine years and have never been there and 2) if I can’t afford to travel, the least I can do is take advantage of the fact that I live in New York City. The building is gorgeous, of course, and the main exhibition on Frank Lloyd Wright was interesting. Some of his buildings are amazing, but I’m annoyed that he didn’t like cities and thought everyone should have cars. My favorite thing was the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the Thannhauser Collection. The museum is small enough that you can listen to every segment on the audio guide with time to spare, so I took full advantage of that.

Then I met up with jaydk and we headed back to my place (after a nightmare on the subway thanks to the stupid L shutdown on weekends) where I made her finish The Man Who Fell to Earth (she hated it, *sigh*) and she made me watch part of an anime series and then um a fan-subbed video of a live-action musical based on an anime about middle schoolers playing tennis. And she thinks I have weird taste? ;) Of course there was a lot of alcohol and food and it was fun even if our fannish interests are not quite converging at the moment. Oh! And we had a lot of fun watching Robin Hood episode nine hit cliche after cliche. It’s like that show is built for MST3K. And Richard Armitage is always there to look hot and provide a bit of actual entertainment value.

Then Sunday I went to see Moon followed by the Q&A by director Duncan Jones. I want to see it again before it goes out of theaters; it’s really such a good film.

Now I have to answer emails. I know, I’m horribly slow. Working on it now.

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* Um. There’s an Edward Cullen bedsheet set. This might be the most disturbing thing I have ever seen.

* I watched the two John Simm Netflix DVDs that have been lying around my house for the past six months. The first was a TV show called Cracker, in which adorable young Simm plays a deeply fucked up young killer who just wants to be loved. Awww. You kind of want to snuggle the poor darling… and then lock him up for life. It was fun to watch, but nothing new; pretty much the same thing he did in Chiller (which was more fun because of the gay subtext with his evil imaginary friend).

Then I watched Wonderland… or, I should say, the first half hour of Wonderland, before I couldn’t take it any more and had to fast forward to only the Simm parts. It’s apparently a movie about a bunch of incredibly boring, miserable people, who go about their boring lives being miserable. I guess it’s supposed to be “realistic,” but it was just pathetic. Admittedly I only got part way through… maybe it got better? Simm didn’t have much to do anyway; he played one of the many boring pathetic losers, basically Danny Kavanagh without the spark. I don’t understand why people make movies like this. Even if some peoples’ lives are this dull, who would want to watch a film about it?

Between Wonderland and The Devil’s Whore, I am beginning to doubt the conventional wisdom that John Simm has great taste in projects. At least we’ll always have Life on Mars and Doctor Who. And I still haven’t seen anything as bad as the crap I endured during my Sean Bean phase.

* I had a peculiar weekend.

( Saturday I got way too drunk at my friend Livi's holiday party )

Sunday I had to drag myself out of bed to go to the Museum of Modern Art, because I'd bought a ticket in advance. I got there at 3pm and it closes at 5:30pm; the world is just not made for night people. Or hungover people. >:( But thanks to coffee and tylenol, I managed to enjoy the Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night exhibit. I know it's a cliche, but it really is so much more incredible to see an actual painting in person. They had both of my favorites, Starry Night Over the Rhone and The Starry Night. Which I also know is also a cliche, but... they're really popular because they're really amazing! It's stunning how beautiful they are, and how vivid the colors are when you see them in person. The exhibit was actually pretty small--something like 40 paintings--with a focus on how Van Gogh captured the light and the "spiritual qualities" of night. It was definitely worth seeing; I'm glad I finally made it there. (If you're going, buy your museum ticket online in advance and you're guaranteed entrance to the Van Gogh exhibit; otherwise you have to get a timed entry ticket, which they might sell out of before you arrive.)

Then I went to the Looking at Music exhibit, which honestly just seemed to be a bunch of stuff from the 60s and 70s randomly thrown together based on what had been donated to MOMA. However, they did have Bowie's "Space Oddity" video running on constant repeat, and I watched it through a couple times because I couldn't get over the novelty of watching a music video I like at a big fancy art museum. I wish I had thought to the use the "It's ART!" justification when trying to convince my parents to let me watch MTV as a kid. :P Oh, and I rather optimistically bought two tickets for the Bowie music video screening on Friday night. I don't know what I was thinking; now I have to find someone to take the second ticket. But I'm really glad I got one for me. Even though it's just music videos, it's music videos on a big screen! At a museum! Sorry, I just find it really amusing, in a good way. :)

* I'm trying not to panic about the holidays. Trying being the operative word. There is nowhere in the world I'd less rather go than Southern Indiana, but I owe my parents for helping me move, so I'm going. Wasting time and money I really can't spare to go be miserable out in the middle of nowhere, while my cats are left alone with a catsitter I can't afford and I have nothing to do and no one to talk to and nothing to eat and... just... oh my god I don't want to go. *sigh*

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That was just… incredible. It was like New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July times ten.

( Read more... )

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SuperVegan’s having an election night party. If you’re in the NYC area and you want to celebrate/commiserate with a bunch of Obama-loving vegetarians, this would be the event for you. Here are the details:

***

Join SuperVegan in Fort Greene, Brooklyn for our Election Night Party as we keep a watchful eye on the results while downing discounted drink specials like Vegan White Russians, Chocolate Hawaiians, and Joe The Plumber Cocktails and munching on yummy vegan grub at Red Bamboo Brooklyn on Tue, November 4th from 8pm on.

If you are on Facebook, RSVP here.

To accommodate more peeps and after lessons learned from our awesome debate watch party, Red Bamboo Brooklyn’s first floor will serve dinner from 8pm through midnight and the second floor and patio will be cleared of tables for folks to drink and hang out until the wee hours. We’ll also have DJs on the second floor throughout the night!!!

***

This is where I’ll be tomorrow night, hopefully cheering instead of crying.

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* Vegan Drinks is tonight in the East Village. If you’re in NYC and want to get drunk with a bunch of vegans, here’s your chance.

* Den of Geek: 10 ways to make sure Pirates Of The Caribbean 4 gets it right. I like #9: “Cast Robert Downey Jr as something.” Have I mentioned recently how happy I am that he’s popular again? Plus, RDJ and Johnny Depp in the same movie would be the best thing ever.

* I’m thinking about the Master of Science in Internet Technology degree at Pace University. I could do it online and it doesn’t have any horrible prerequisites, and it would certainly be a good thing to have on my resume. I’m really annoyed that I can’t find any unbiased third-party information, reviews, or rankings about the program, though. Plus it’s expensive and I don’t know if I’ll have time for it next year between full-time work, SuperVegan, and Writercon. Hmm.

* Speaking of Writercon, we should have an announcement soon. Please cross your fingers!

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( I went to the Candle 79 5th anniversary party last night )

Other things I'm meaning to do sometime soon:

* Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night at MOMA

* Gothic: Dark Glamour exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology

Meanwhile, jaydk and I have booked our London hotel and are now planning the specifics of our trip (OMG! Less than a month!!!) and I think I've found a catsitter who is experienced and isn't going to charge me an arm and a leg to watch my cats (*fingers crossed*). There are no words for how much I'm looking forward to this London/Stratford trip; it's the one thing that's kept me going all year.

And... we booked a hotel and bought tickets for Gallifrey One, so I guess that means we're going. I remain wary, but I suppose it's worth trying it out once, and if it's awful I never have to go back. I did very much enjoy chatting with the new Who fen I managed to find at DragonCon, so let's hope it's worth it. Plus I really am curious to hear what the new Who writers have to say. :)

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I had kind of a crazy weekend.

I realized that, since I’ll be in Atlanta next weekend, this weekend was my last chance to do all the summery things that I’d been planning and putting off.

( Friday: Museum of Modern Art )

( Saturday: Coney Island )

( Sunday: Lunch with my sociopathic brother and my internet dies just in time for our first Writercon concom meeting )

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Tonight I got to see one of my favorite bands with two of my favorite people in the universe.

chenanceou and jaydk met up with me at Pukk, the yummy vegetarian Thai restaurant. Then we headed to The Living Room to see Common Rotation.

It was a good show, although way too short. The band members were in good moods; the stage banter was adorable and the songs were all entertaining. But it felt incomplete, because they didn’t play a single one of the staples I’ve gotten used to at Common Rotation shows; no “Everything Under the Sun” or “Gone Dyin’” or “Clear Channel” or “Party People” or “Indie Rockin.” Just, good, but I wanted another hour. Remember those living room shows, when they’d play and play? I got so spoiled back then…

I made chenanceou get their autographs afterward, because, dude, she’d come halfway across the world and timed her trip to see them. She was all adorable and shy. And of course the band was nice, as they always are. Adam Busch is the nicest “celebrity” I met in the entirety of Buffy fandom.

Amber Benson was there, and it always freaks me out to see her, because she is tiny. Like, ethereal. And when you remember that people complained about her being “fat” when she was on BtVS, you realize that Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alyson Hannigan must be, like, doll-sized, to look small next to her. It also made me feel like some kind of hulking giant. But anyway. She is also nice.

And tomorrow I’m going to Asbury Park. I’m going to lay on the beach and breathe salty air and read something light (maybe Harry Potter) and just be glad to be out of NYC. I can’t believe I haven’t gone anywhere in eight months. I’m not made to stay in one place for so long!

(Is it really annoying to choose three mood icons? I can’t decide if I’m more drunk, tired, or happy.)

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You know you’re exhausted when you can’t even motivate yourself to get out of your chair to pour a cup of coffee. :P

I’m so glad I went to see Bella Morte last night. They played at the Knitting Factory, opening for 16Volt. 10zlaine and I got there a bit late, after 9pm, just as they were starting. I think they’re getting better every time I see them. The first time (2001?) I left because they were boring; now, I think they own the stage with far more confidence, and their songs have gotten so much better. They’ve got these disparate influences–punk, metal, goth–and I like how they’re merging all of these into each song, rather than doing one “punk” song, then one “metal” song, and so on. (Plus, the shallow: Andy Deane’s growing his hair out and has dyed it black; he looks about a million times hotter than he did with that absurd orange mohawk.)

I wasn’t going to talk to them after, but I did go over to buy a CD, and Andy recognized me and gave me a hug. I apologized for not owning any of their CDs and asked for a recommendation; he said “Bleed the Grey Sky Black,” so I bought that. I swear, I wasn’t even trying to “meet the band”; I’m just like a natural rock groupie or something.

We stuck around for 16Volt, because Steve White from PIG is playing with them. He was amazing, and I’m so sad that I never got to see him play with PIG. I guess I must’ve seen him with KMFDM twice, but that’s not the same. He co-wrote some of my favorite PIG songs, actually. I don’t know anything about the technique of playing guitar, but I know the difference between “mediocre” and “decent” and “fucking awesome,” and he was definitely on the “fucking awesome” side.

I must’ve seen 16Volt years ago (didn’t they open for KMFDM or something?) but I didn’t know any of their songs. The vocals were annoying, but the music itself was great. I must’ve had a hell of a lot of frustration to work out, because even though I was exhausted, I ended up completely rocking out like I haven’t done in years, banging my head and jumping up and down like a lunatic. I was thinking about my old landlord and roommate; it’s really easy to feel aggressive when you’ve had a week like I’m having!

It was so, so good to go to a club show. It’s been way too long; I think last time was Chemlab in, um, November? I’ve been going to these arena shows lately, where the band are distant specks on a stage, and you’re surrounded by confused teenagers, and yuppies who leave before the encore, and frat boys who are just there to guzzle as much Budweiser as humanly possible during the space of three hours. This was a dark dingy club with about 50-75 people who genuinely care about the music, and the band is on a four-foot stage right in front of you, and they actually *do* feed off your energy and you feed off theirs and you interact, and you can go to the merch table and meet them afterwards if you want to. It’s just so much more gritty and honest and real.

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DAMMIT, SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!

Mustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclickmustnotclick…

I don’t know how long I can hold out! Now would be a really good time to go hibernate in a cave somewhere with no internet access.

Let’s talk about something completely unrelated to the SPOILERS THAT ARE CALLING ME. Hmm.

Oh! I chose some furniture.

( furniture and other random stuff )

More distractions; have some recs:

* selenak wrote a great post comparing "Midnight" and "Voyage of the Damned." (I could swear I read a good one somewhere comparing it to "42," also, but now I don't remember where it was.)

* lordshiva wrote the Doctor and Anya from Buffy! So much win.

* I adored the New York Times article about Russell T Davies. So far three people I know in real life have come up to me to chatter about it, too.

* I read this entire book about the 1977 blackout in NYC. I'm weird. I clicked on it while researching the history of Bushwick and ended up completely fascinated by the sociology, psychology, and history it explores. (Plus it's fascinating because I had a great time during the 2003 blackout--I got drunk in the gay bar across the street and bonded with my soon-to-be-friend Anne, who stayed at my place rather than walk home to Brooklyn.) It's amazing to compare how the various blackouts reflect the social conditions of their eras.

* I made this bread (substituting a mix of molasses and agave nectar for the honey) and it's delicious.

Do you have any recs for stuff that'll distract me from spoilers? Please share. :)

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SuperVegan was named one of the 21 best vegan blogs by VegNews Magazine. They called us “The Vegan Daily Show.” I am so proud!

Our incredibly-belated second birthday party also went off well. Tons of people showed up and devoured our giant cake at record-breaking speed. And I served free beer from a keg! Now I just need to get cracking on the hundred-million things on my to-do list…

But first, I need a vacation. I haven’t traveled anywhere for the entire year. (*sigh* I never found the time/money for Florida.) I’m going stir crazy. And it’s summer!

But I’m low on money and vacation days, so I posted here asking for advice. Several people told me to take a train to Asbury Park, swim, stay overnight, and take the train back the next day. So I booked a Saturday in July at the Empress (which is mostly a gay hotel but seems welcoming to everyone, has great reviews at TripAdvisor, is right on the beach, has a hotel bar, and looks very pretty).

My memories of Asbury Park are, um, grim (Uranium 235 played at the Stone Pony on Halloween 2000–I think that was the place where my friends had to switch hotels because the original hotel they’d booked wouldn’t let them in!), but apparently they’re remodeling the boardwalk and cleaning everything up, so it’s a good place to have a beach vacation while the prices are still fairly low. (At least, I hope so!) It’s heartbreaking how much is gone, though, and how such an amazing place could decline so badly.

It looks like I’m going alone–I’d rather have company, but it’s hard to find people I travel well with, and none of those I know I get along with can go. I’ll keep asking around, though, and I don’t really mind bringing a book and going on my own.

I also really want to go to Coney Island this year–I adore kitchy old amusement stuff, and I want to see what’s left before it all gets replaced by condos. :( Maybe I’ll go there for July 4? Not sure, it could be too crowded. Whatever, I’ll figure it out–I’m officially a Brooklynite now! (Although HopStop tells me the quickest way to get there is to go into Manhattan and transfer to the N at Union Square. :P)

Pretty much the entire past two weeks have been taken up by moving. I barely even had time to rant about Doctor Who! It’s getting better, though; my living space is starting to feel more like “home” and less like “empty space full of unpacked boxes.” So far I have:

( lots of talk about moving and organizing )

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My roommate was at home this morning.

The only time I EVER get to myself is that half hour in the mornings when she's gone.

*sigh*

(And I couldn't put on any makeup because she was in the shower. And it wouldn't be so bad if she didn't talk to herself loudly 24/7, and leave the TV on even louder in an attempt to cover it up. And she moves my stuff around! AAAAAGH *hates*)

When I win the lottery, the first thing I'm going to do is buy myself an East Village apartment with no fucking roommate.

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2210

I had a busy week.

( Macbeth with Patrick Stewart )

( The Quatermass Experiment )

( Common Rotation )

( the David Tennant/Phil Collinson/Helen Raynor drunken commentary on The Five Doctors )

( Love and Monsters )

( Fear Her )

( Afro-Cuban Jazz at Birdland )

I had a busy week.

( Macbeth with Patrick Stewart )

( The Quatermass Experiment )

( Common Rotation )

( the David Tennant/Phil Collinson/Helen Raynor drunken commentary on The Five Doctors )

( Love and Monsters )

( Fear Her )

( Afro-Cuban Jazz at Birdland )

[Cross-posted to InsaneJournal with a way cuter icon]

jaydk is the greatest friend in the history of the universe. I know this because she came over to my house last night with a huge DVD folder full of just about every publicly available thing in the history of David Tennant's career.

So we ordered take-out, drank raspberry beer, watched three episodes of Doctor Who (we're doing a rewatch), and then stayed up until 5am giggling over the cuteness of David Tennant. Interviews, various states of insane gravity-defying hair, award shows, cooking shows (!!!! if you're a DT fan and you haven't seen him and his dad on "Ready Steady Cook" you are totally missing out), some incredibly awful sitcom about cops on boats in which the only redeeming feature is a super young David Tennant... oh and then we watched the full Doctor Who Confidentials from the end of season three. The official DVDs leave so much out! You get multiple angles and takes of David sobbing over John Simm! And a whole retrospective about the Master! And did I mention all the footage of John Simm? Good lord, the two of them.

And then jaydk left and I checked my FL before going to bed, and there was a new chapter of versaphile's latest and OMG HOTNESS OVERLOAD.

***

The Veganomicon potluck on Saturday night was awesome, too. My friend Eva hosted it at her place in Brooklyn, and it was the perfect amount of people for a party, where you can all gather around and basically have one conversation, split into separate digressions, and then come together again as one throughout the night. And I knew everyone, all good people who I like seeing, and can somehow manage to carry on conversation with even though it's not about Doctor Who. Plus Eva's got great musical taste; lots and lots of the 1980s, with Depeche Mode recurring throughout the night.

We all cooked, so we had tons of good food--this artichoke garlic pesto pasta; baked pumpkin ziti; greens with cranberries and pine nuts; roasted eggplant, tomato, and red pepper stew with chickpeas; and awesome desserts: chocolate chip banana bread pudding (mine, it got devoured!), chocolate chocolate chip cookies, pecan rum cookies, banana wheat germ muffins.... And lots and lots of wine. Red wine, white wine, sparkling wine, dessert wine.... we all sprawled around in a circle around this little table, stuffing ourselves with food and drinking and talking until 2am.

***

And now: what better way to kill time on a holiday afternoon than sprawled out in front of your computer, cat snuggled in your lap, watching one of the worst shows in the history of television?

( Torchwood 1x05 - the best episode so far? )

10zlaine came to visit this weekend. ( my fun but exhausting weekend, seeing Chemlab, watching Doctor Who, and hanging out with fandom friends )

Three concerts this weekend.

( whining )

( My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult was... meh )

( Common Rotation was a bit better )

( Mudhoney was AWESOME )

Oh, and on Saturday, jaydk came over and we watched "Blackpool." I was a little disappointed by this. ( vaguely spoilerish )

I went to see Godhead unplugged last night (opening up for Jonathan Davis unplugged). Unfortunately I got there late and only caught their last two songs. Grrr. But they sounded awesome, so if you have a chance to see them, I recommend going.

Seeing Godhead gives me all kind of flashbacks to the olden days, following bands around with Steff and Chrissy and April and various others who came into and out of our circle. I had so much fun back then. I wish I could recapture the inherent thrill of SEEING LIVE MUSIC OMG!!! I mean, I still enjoy really good live music, but mostly I've gotten pretty cynical about everything else... the crappy opening bands and the gross venues and the annoying groupies....

Jonathan Davis was okay. I recognized the final three (non-cover) songs as Korn songs, and I'm pretty sure that the (fairly pathetic) reason I knew them was from watching Total Request Live back in the day. (Ah, Carson Daly, how I do not miss you.) Which is kind of depressing because I really liked the first Korn album, and kind of liked the second album, but then I decided that they were just repeating themselves in increasingly dull circles.

Um, the performance was good, though. Oh, and he played one of his songs from "Queen of the Damned" and bitched that the song was about stuff in the book that was cut from the movie, and how he doesn't understand movie producers. Dude, I don't think anyone who had the misfortune to see "Queen of the Damned" can claim to understand movie producers. Also it occurred to me that he was basically paid to write a bunch of Anne Rice filk for that movie--and his contribution was the most artistically sound aspect of the entire film (it certainly wasn't the writing, directing, or acting!).

And then these stupid frat boys decided to start a mosh pit during an ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE, so I had to duck out of the way and huddle over on the side--and still got slammed into! Today, my neck hurts. Ugh.

What else? Oh yeah, I read the book "Howl's Moving Castle" and then watched the movie. This is one of those rare occasions where I liked the movie better than the book! I think the movie started with some of the more interesting aspects of the book and then went completely off in its own direction with the anti-war themes and the Howl transforming into a bird thing. Plus the movie seemed less traditional and more morally ambiguous (like the Witch not being so bad), although I was a little annoyed that it left out the whole connection to the real world. Overall, the book was a decent read but I'll forget it next week; the movie will stick in my mind much longer. Plus Miyazaki's images are just so vivid and gorgeous.

Meanwhile I'm still re-reading "Queen's Play." Lymond just met the Dame de Doubtance, and the whole thing makes so much more sense now. It's really weird to read a story that you can't fully understand until you've read it already.

Oh, and um, the totally awesome jaydk (who *really* needs to update her LiveJournal) sent me tons of links to Doctor Who fanfiction. I never though I'd say this, but I spent a good amount of time today reading hot Doctor Who porn. I love fandom.

[Cross-posted to InsaneJournal]