O HAI INTERNETS!
So, yes, here I am visiting my parents and borrowing my mother's laptop. (My hand keeps hurting whenever I make particular typing movements or grabbing, and it has for a few days and it's really kind of freaking me out, because, dude, I need that hand. Anyway.)
Okay, in chronological order since the last time I posted. Hmm. I saw The Golden Compass a few days ago, because lysimache had a free ticket for Enchanted and I decided I'd rather see some daemons. I actually liked it a fair amount, and I thought it was a really good adaptation of the book (I was a bit surprised by all the people around me claiming the book was SOOO MUCH BETTER OMG, but maybe one is required to to prove one has read the book), though there was a lot more Eeeevil Church than I remembered. And Lyra is kind of bratty. I still can't figure out how that works universe-wise with your daemon sort of determining your employment opportunities, though -- if you weren't lucky enough to get a wolf-daemon at puberty, you can't be a soldier? How sad. And I didn't see any of the gay characters. You know, the people with same-sex daemons that Phillip Pullman says he doesn't know what that means.
***
Next! For New Year's Eve we went to the most lesbianerrific concert ever. Erin McKeown and Melissa Ferrick played full sets, with Alix Olson opening. It doesn't get dykier than that (though there were, like, a couple guys there). Alix Olson's poetry is mostly a little bit too earnestly political for me, but her stories that weren't poetry were quite entertaining, like how she told us she had carpal tunnel ("Is it work related, they asked. Yep. I'm a lesbian.")
Both Melissa and Erin used most of the same band that they had when we saw them touring together last time, which included their ridiculously hot keyboard player. Woohoo. Plus they came and played during each other's sets -- Melissa on trumpet, Erin on guitar.
I think the audience was there more for Melissa than for Erin, which is sad, because Erin is really good. Her set was pretty much the same as it was when we saw her a couple months ago, but isn't "Blackbirds" always fun? She even brought out a burlesque dancer during "Rhode Island Is Famous For You" who produced many of the items mentioned in the song (peaches, glue, pencils) from her progressively scantier and scantier clothing, and then danced about so as to twirl the tassels on her pasties in time with the music. Yeah. I, uh, have no idea if the song was any good.
Melissa Ferrick played almost entirely songs from her new album, which I thought was an odd set choice given that the audience was die-hard fans -- with, of course, the exceptions of "Everything I Need" (yay! Our Song!), "Anything Anywhere," and of course "Drive" and "Welcome to My Life." At the end all of their special guest stars came out and they all played "Ring of Fire." Accompanied, of course, by the same dancer, whose outfit was now red flowy things. W00t. It looked like the band was kind of distracted too.
So it was generally awesome fun, and I think more musicians should consider touring with lesbian burlesque performers. Because yes.
***
And then yesterday, I flew out to San Francisco to see my family. Jen is totally awesome and drove me to the airport in the snow at great inconvenience to herself. Because she wuvs me. It was very nice of her and I think on the way back I ought to take the airport shuttle home. I'm here until the 12th if anyone wants to see me. I finally got in at, like, 11:15 pm, and then the luggage carousel jammed and I didn't get my bags until midnight. Kind of annoying.
Today I gave my family their leftover Christmas presents -- Hairspray and High School Musical for my brother, Eric Clapton DVD for my dad, and a book about the 1919 Boston molasses flood for my mother. I got a fold-up umbrella that won't unfold all the way and won't fold back up, and a pair of very cute handmade ceramic mugs with dragons (the handle is the neck on one, the tail on the other). Then we went to look at TVs (my brother's is broken), and to see if there's anywhere to play with the Asus eee PC in a store (not that we could find). At the video game store I splurged on the first Phoenix Wright game for Jen's DS (she says I can play it when she's not using it, which is very nice of her) and Digital Devil Saga for my PS2 (for $40). I don't usually buy the disc-only games, but this game (with box, anyway) goes for like $80 used on Ebay, and really the box isn't worth $40 to me. So that ought to be a fun game, and if it isn't I'm sure I can make the money back on Ebay, right? And it's not like I actually need the manual to play it. (Yes, I am in need of reassurance.)
And then I went to my dad's. He just got a rescued dog two weeks ago from the shelter, another rat terrier named Pia. And when I opened the door, Pia ran out. My dad took off after her, and I couldn't see where they went, and he had left his phone at home, so my brother and I spent about an hour tromping about the nearby streets asking if anyone had seen her, and me being all "oh crap I lost my dad's new dog." Turns out the dog got all the way to the beach -- maybe a mile, mile and a half -- before my dad and one of the neighbors caught up with her. This is apparently the second time the dog has done this. Poor dog's probably upset, I guess. I don't know.
Future plans for my visit include, apparently, a trip to a Moroccan restaurant. There will be bellydancers. w00t.
(I wish my parents would stop complaining about money. I know, they didn't tell me about it when I was a kid, but now I worry every time my dad tells me how he has no work. Sigh.)
Also, now all the freeway exits are numbered. What gives?
Okay, in chronological order since the last time I posted. Hmm. I saw The Golden Compass a few days ago, because lysimache had a free ticket for Enchanted and I decided I'd rather see some daemons. I actually liked it a fair amount, and I thought it was a really good adaptation of the book (I was a bit surprised by all the people around me claiming the book was SOOO MUCH BETTER OMG, but maybe one is required to to prove one has read the book), though there was a lot more Eeeevil Church than I remembered. And Lyra is kind of bratty. I still can't figure out how that works universe-wise with your daemon sort of determining your employment opportunities, though -- if you weren't lucky enough to get a wolf-daemon at puberty, you can't be a soldier? How sad. And I didn't see any of the gay characters. You know, the people with same-sex daemons that Phillip Pullman says he doesn't know what that means.
***
Next! For New Year's Eve we went to the most lesbianerrific concert ever. Erin McKeown and Melissa Ferrick played full sets, with Alix Olson opening. It doesn't get dykier than that (though there were, like, a couple guys there). Alix Olson's poetry is mostly a little bit too earnestly political for me, but her stories that weren't poetry were quite entertaining, like how she told us she had carpal tunnel ("Is it work related, they asked. Yep. I'm a lesbian.")
Both Melissa and Erin used most of the same band that they had when we saw them touring together last time, which included their ridiculously hot keyboard player. Woohoo. Plus they came and played during each other's sets -- Melissa on trumpet, Erin on guitar.
I think the audience was there more for Melissa than for Erin, which is sad, because Erin is really good. Her set was pretty much the same as it was when we saw her a couple months ago, but isn't "Blackbirds" always fun? She even brought out a burlesque dancer during "Rhode Island Is Famous For You" who produced many of the items mentioned in the song (peaches, glue, pencils) from her progressively scantier and scantier clothing, and then danced about so as to twirl the tassels on her pasties in time with the music. Yeah. I, uh, have no idea if the song was any good.
Melissa Ferrick played almost entirely songs from her new album, which I thought was an odd set choice given that the audience was die-hard fans -- with, of course, the exceptions of "Everything I Need" (yay! Our Song!), "Anything Anywhere," and of course "Drive" and "Welcome to My Life." At the end all of their special guest stars came out and they all played "Ring of Fire." Accompanied, of course, by the same dancer, whose outfit was now red flowy things. W00t. It looked like the band was kind of distracted too.
So it was generally awesome fun, and I think more musicians should consider touring with lesbian burlesque performers. Because yes.
***
And then yesterday, I flew out to San Francisco to see my family. Jen is totally awesome and drove me to the airport in the snow at great inconvenience to herself. Because she wuvs me. It was very nice of her and I think on the way back I ought to take the airport shuttle home. I'm here until the 12th if anyone wants to see me. I finally got in at, like, 11:15 pm, and then the luggage carousel jammed and I didn't get my bags until midnight. Kind of annoying.
Today I gave my family their leftover Christmas presents -- Hairspray and High School Musical for my brother, Eric Clapton DVD for my dad, and a book about the 1919 Boston molasses flood for my mother. I got a fold-up umbrella that won't unfold all the way and won't fold back up, and a pair of very cute handmade ceramic mugs with dragons (the handle is the neck on one, the tail on the other). Then we went to look at TVs (my brother's is broken), and to see if there's anywhere to play with the Asus eee PC in a store (not that we could find). At the video game store I splurged on the first Phoenix Wright game for Jen's DS (she says I can play it when she's not using it, which is very nice of her) and Digital Devil Saga for my PS2 (for $40). I don't usually buy the disc-only games, but this game (with box, anyway) goes for like $80 used on Ebay, and really the box isn't worth $40 to me. So that ought to be a fun game, and if it isn't I'm sure I can make the money back on Ebay, right? And it's not like I actually need the manual to play it. (Yes, I am in need of reassurance.)
And then I went to my dad's. He just got a rescued dog two weeks ago from the shelter, another rat terrier named Pia. And when I opened the door, Pia ran out. My dad took off after her, and I couldn't see where they went, and he had left his phone at home, so my brother and I spent about an hour tromping about the nearby streets asking if anyone had seen her, and me being all "oh crap I lost my dad's new dog." Turns out the dog got all the way to the beach -- maybe a mile, mile and a half -- before my dad and one of the neighbors caught up with her. This is apparently the second time the dog has done this. Poor dog's probably upset, I guess. I don't know.
Future plans for my visit include, apparently, a trip to a Moroccan restaurant. There will be bellydancers. w00t.
(I wish my parents would stop complaining about money. I know, they didn't tell me about it when I was a kid, but now I worry every time my dad tells me how he has no work. Sigh.)
Also, now all the freeway exits are numbered. What gives?