Day before yesterday: 2 mile run. Today: 2 mile run. 10 miles in the last week or so.

If you've spent any time at Zeitgeist, you've probably noticed a sticker that says something to the effect of:

"America: Motorcyclists are tired of being injured for your right to drive badly."

I'm thinking we also need one that says:

"Noe Valley: Runners are tired of being (nearly) run-over by your under-skilled Guatemalan nannies, executing your errands in your oversized SUVs."

Seriously, if you're running at 9am, this neighborhood turns into a kill-zone for matronly Hispanic ladies driving Lexus SUVs with apparently no idea how they're operated.

Steve

Yesterday: 2 mile run in Noe Valley. Today: 2 mile run in Noe Valley.

Apparently Duran Duran are not the concert draw they once were. (He said, stating the obvious.) I got an email this week offering "Two For One" tickets to their show at the Concord Pavilion. One has to wonder what sort of sales-catastrophe precipitated that decision. "Holy crap, Bob, the show is on Friday and we've only sold six tickets. Time for a fire sale!" While I feel for the aging synth-poppers, I hope "LiveNation" (aka "Clear Channel") lost a fortune.

Steve

2 mile run in Noe Valley. A couple of other runs here and there, as well as a couple softball practices for the two different teams I seem to have accidentally joined. Yes, I know, "softball is for lesbians". Oh, also, I ran across a street with Billfrog while he was here. :-)

Despite my protestations to the contrary, this summer seems to be the summer when I finally have to admit that I might kind of like heavy metal. A little bit. This would be a big step for me. See, when I was growing up, metalheads were the thick-necked stoners who beat up the punk rockers and the Cure fans. Metal was by and for meatheads, and was predominately about dungeons & dragons and partying on Sunset Strip. It didn't really speak to me in the way that, say, The Adolescents did.

Anyway, fast-forward a few years, and punk-rock has last all meaning, and metal has gone back underground, with lyrics about the environment, governmental oppression, and general blight. (I may have ranted about this before...) Having always preferred my music from the harder, edgier extremes, I'm starting to listen to a bit of heavy stuff.

As such, this is shaping up to be the Summer of Metal. I've already seen Meshuggah and Ministry, in a double-bill that was teste-warming in its brutal intensity. In the coming months I'm also seeing Iron Maiden*, as well as some festival with Mastodon, Machine Head, Disturbed (unfortunate, as Disturbed deeply suck), and the mighty Slipknot. Basically Slipknot put on one of the greatest live shows I've ever seen, and I want to see them again if I have a chance.

(*It would shame my youthful self to know that I've chosen to go to Concord to see Iron Maiden, a band I used to loathe, on the same night that The Cure are playing at the HP Pavilion. I've seen The Cure several times, though, whereas I've never seen Maiden, and they are supposed to be firing on all cylinders in their dotage.)

Whatever. I'm dipping my toes in the metal this summer. We'll see how it goes. If it helps, I saw The Verve last week, and it was shoe-gazeriffic.

Steve

2 mile run in Noe Valley.

Several of us are considering a jaunt to see Point Break Live.

Highlights:

"The stage adaptation of the ’91 FBI agent/bankrobber/surfer classic starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, and the late, great Gary Busey. In a shocking twist, the lead role's given to a lucky audience member, who after being chosen via "applause-o-meter", reads his (or her) lines from cue cards to capture the "rawness" Keanu brought to the role (as opposed to his nuanced tour de force in Johnny Mnemonic). From an audience perspective, the production is every bit as thrilling as on the big screen: expect to use your emergency poncho during surf scenes, watch the "Keanu Kam" when the actors travel outside the playhouse, and bare witness to a harness-and-cable aided recreation of the most seminal scene in bromance movie history (hint: it involves skydiving, and betrayal). "

Normally I'm opposed the the "legitimate" theater ripping off all their ideas from Hollywood. But this all sounds fantastically dumb, and I figure if enough of us go along, we can stack the deck and make sure somebody we know is in the hapless Keanu role. We're thinking of the 18th or 19th, when I guess minervasteel  is supposed to be in town.

Steve

Apparently the plan is to meet for drinks at Butter tonight at 8:30pm before ambling to the DNA for the show. 354 11th, across the street from the venue. Come on by. As mentioned, I'm on early.

Steve

2 mile run in Noe Valley.


I just got a text message that I'll be DJing tonight starting at 9:00 or 9:30pm.  Not sure how long I'll get to play, but I'm assuming I'm on before the first band.  (Vale.)  It looks to be a full night of entertainment if I don't start 'til 9:30 and there are three live bands and two DJs following me.

I've already informed my workplace that I'll be "tardy" tomorrow.

Hope to see some of you there.

Steve

Yesterday: 2 mile run in Noe Valley.

Tonight:


Steve

2 mile run in Noe Valley.

A gentle reminder.  No doubt one of many...



Thanks to bartel for the wallpaper.

Steve

Mon: 2 mile run.  Saturday:  2 mile run.

This is me wrecking at the Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race, 2008. (Photo ganked from jwz.) This is the actual moment where I shredded off my elbow.  Please note the tiny, tiny (girl's) Big Wheel I was riding.

Steve

As of today, I've been sick for 16 days. As such, I have completely fallen off the workout wagon. Which is annoying, because I'm off to Whistler for a week of snowboarding, starting tomorrow. I expect a terrible-to-pitiful performance, based on my total lack of cardio-enhancing body movement. It's going to suck, but a bad day snowboarding is blah blah blah...

In non-Whistler-related news, netzard and I got our tickets for this.  We're doing the "Battle Sail" in early March, which should make for nautically-geeky good times.  It's not cheap, but it's not that much more than I paid to see The Sisters of Mercy last time they toured, and we all know what a tremendous value that turned out to be...



Steve

Sunday: 2 mile run in Noe Valley.

Please forgive the commercial nature of this post, but something I worked on was (theoretically) watched by 93 million people this weekend.

www.truthinengineering.com

Disclaimer: Unlike some other spots I've cut which ran on the Superbowl*, this was just something for which I edited the animatic (a sort of video rough draft). And I had some consulting input on the final cut. I also edited the behind-the-scenes video for the piece. So I don't have enough 'ownership' to put it on my reel, but I've worked on this damn thing since its inception, whatever that means.

I dunno. 93 million people watched it. Some of them even got it. I worked on it. Your mom.

Steve

Wednesday: 6 hours of snowboarding at Kirkwood Ski Resort.



Also, i'd like to add that Livejournal's photo-manipulation tools suck the mammoth wang.

Steve

2 mile run in Noe Valley.

There are four or five different things competing for my social attention this evening, but I'm going to try to drop in on this if I'm in the neighborhood. Complete Fabrications (S.F. welding-shop/metal fabrication place, formerly owned by Anton) is having their annual girlie-calendar signing party at Dalva. Cute girls in welding gear:

------------------

The best calendars come to those who wait! It’s the end of January, Complete Fabrications, hottest Mamas in town, Calendar Signing Party!

Saturday, January 26, 7:30- 9:30pm
Dalva
3121 16th
St., SF, CA
Have a drink, get a calendar & all the ladies of 2008 will sign it just for you!

2 mile run in Noe Valley. For some reason (cold), it really frickin' sucked out there today.

Speaking of New Model Army, the lead singer (Justin Sullivan) is doing some kinda solo-acoustic show next weekend here in S.F. I don't imagine this would be of much interest if you're not a retardo New Model Army fan like me and bartel, but I will be going. Tickets limited to 50 attendees.


Justin and Joolz Sat Jan 26
Justin Sullivan (New Model Army), acoustic
plus
Joolz Denby, spoken word

Saturday, January 26, 8p.
at The Legion of Decency
2190 Folsom at 18th St
All Ages.
$12

Tickets available here.

Steve

Some kind of Death-Hike up one of the mountainous peaks around San Luis Obispo on Saturday morning. It was like hiking stairs for 45 minutes or an hour. Thanks, mayhem_chaos .

One of the organizers of Death Guild called me while I was down in SLO, and invited me to DJ in the main room at the DNA Lounge before the next New Model Army show. The show is still tentative, (probably April 3rd), depending on immigration issues. Last time NMA tried to tour America, they got shot down for work-visas due to idiotic new rules that require you to have had a hit in the States sometime in the last 'X' number of years. (Or something like that. Their vocal anti-Bush stance can't have helped.) This is apparently all straightened out, so they're trying again.

Anyway, if it happens, I'm apparently going to get to DJ between opening acts or some such. I'm pretty enthused.

Stev

2 mile run in Noe Valley. It's dark out there at 7am.

The Bottom of the Hill doesn't do a terribly impressive job of promoting itself, in my view. I mean, I'm a show-going sort, and I almost never hear about events there, unless it's by accident. This was the case with two back-to-back shows that I'll be seeing as part of this year's Noise Pop Festival.

February 29th - A Place to Bury Strangers. Recommended to me by Toddbert, with the following endorsement, "They sound so much like the Jesus & Mary Chain they should be paying them royalties." Which is largely true, although they also provide lashings of distortion a la My Bloody Valentine. (Apparently the guitar-dude makes his own effects pedals.) Anyway, I like the record enough that I sought out their tour dates, and lo and behold, they're playing at the Bottom of the Hill. And looking at that schedule led me to:

March 1st - British Sea Power. One of netzard's Top Two bands. I've always described them as sounding like David Bowie singing for Echo & The Bunnymen, but I think they're better than that description implies. Whatever the case, they're pretty good live, and both their earlier records grew on me over time to the point that I now think almost every song is classic.

So, yeah, that's what I'll be doing that weekend.

Steve

7am kickboxing class. Worked out with one of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu guys, and I just completely collapsed when it came to the "sit-ups" portion of the morning. That was, um, humbling.

For want of a proper entry, here are the last 10 items I bought from Amazon. (I've been on a little online bender lately...)

Zulu [DVD] (2003) - Michael Caine
Big Jake [DVD] (2003) - John Wayne
No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith [Live CD] - Motorhead
Shallow Grave [DVD] (2000) Christopher Eccleston; Ewan McGregor
Signal to Noise ["Graphic Novel"] - Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman
Global Frequency Vol. 2: Detonation Radio ["Graphic Novel"] - Warren Ellis
Trainspotting - Director's Cut [DVD] (2004) - Ewan McGregor
Closer (2CD Collector's Edition) [CD] - Joy Division
White Line Fever [Paperback] - Lemmy Kilmister (Autobiography)
Bites and Remission [CD] - Skinny Puppy

Perhaps this tells you something about my tastes. But probably not anything you didn't already know. (Just a little overview of what I'm watching, reading, and listening to these days.)

Steve

2 mile run in Noe Valley. It's not warm out there.

Much has been written about how the videogame "Rock Band" is undermining America's youthful artistic ambitions, by teaching people to play fake-guitar. As opposed, I guess, to the Youth of Today deciding to pick up real guitars and form bands. And it's true, some folks spend so long 'practicing' at the game that they become "Guitar Hero" virtuosos, which is a pretty useless skill to perfect.

But a different perspective on all that occurred to me today, while I was out plodding along on my run and listening to my iPod. What if the reverse is true? It seems quite possible (to me) that playing "Rock Band" could encourage Little Johnny to form his own real-life band and try this "rocking-out" thing for real. (Especially if he can actually sing...)  I know the first time I ever sang for Punk Rock Karaoke, fronting a screaming electric punk band in full-flight...well, it's just not something you forget. I think "Rock Band" provides a teaser for that sort of thing, and could in fact inspire our young folks to pursue the real experience. 

And that's my random thought for the day.

Steve

2 mile run in Noe Valley. It felt good to get moving.

Dear Online "Punk Rock" vendor,

If I'm coming to your site to buy a $12 CD, and I find your cheapest shipping option is $10 UPS two-day, you are going to lose a sale. If I can get the same damn disc from Amazon for $3 shipping, why would I ever use you? Your pricing is fair, but your minimalist shipping options are retarded. It's not like it's a frickin' emergency, and I need to hear this disc stat! (If it was, I'd go to iTunes. I can't see any practical reason anybody would need to "rush" an order for a Joe Strummer CD or a Crass hoodie.)

Please stop being retards,

Steve