nice weekend "home"

I had a great time back in Norman and Oklahoma City this weekend. I got in late Friday after wandering through the streets of OKC (I somehow spaced on J's address) and then found my way to the house. I found them all in the backyard by the pool. We drank, played games, and saw a girl potentially destroy her career. The night was going great and then took a quick turn downhill... It was crazy, I don't think I've ever seen anyone go from buzzed to incomprehensible drunk in such a short time. It was nuts.

Saturday was pretty quiet, which was fine with me. We had dinner at my favorite, Victoria's, and then caught a movie. We went to see Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix (yeah, again), still loved it. Driving through downtown OKC, there were a lot of new buildings/restaurants. I guess it has been a while since I'd spent some real time there.

Sunday began with pretty much a 2-3 hour "brunch" in the sweltering heat. It was decided that we had to train to be on VH1's World Series of Pop Culture next year. The grilled chicken sandwich was fantastic and everyone else enjoyed the unlimited mimosas (I abstained, champagne is not my friend)... One last mimosa turned into four or five, and before I knew it, it was 2:15. The baby shower was a lot of fun, the bar was stocked, and I got to see some old friends/friends' parents that I hadn't seen in about three years. Rob entertained me with some stories from Vegas. I'm so glad I put a ban on phone calls from them when they go on their Vegas trips.

A trip to Houston is in the cards for this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing some Texas friends this week...and a nap after work.

Random...

Anyone watching Mad Men on AMC? They aired the 2nd episode tonight, "Ladies Room." It's not like anything I've watched lately. I enjoy it. Here's the synopsis from AMC:

What you are, what you want, what you love doesn't matter. It's all about how you sell it. From AMC and the Emmy® Award-winning executive producer and writer of "The Sopranos" Matthew Weiner, comes MAD MEN, a provocative new primetime drama about how to sell the truth. Set in 1960 New York, the daring new series is about the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising, an ego-driven world where key players make an art of the sell while their private world gets sold.

It airs Thursdays at 9. I'm pretty sure they rerun it a few times during the week.

Completely unrelated, I've had a spasm affecting my left pinky the entire day. It's driving me crazy. I think it's due to a lack of sleep, since my right eye's also been twitching. I'll try to get to bed a little earlier tonight and hope it's still not affecting me tomorrow.

HP ruled my weekend...

I'm so set for a little time away this coming weekend. I'll be heading to OKC for a baby shower and to see some friends.

This past weekend was consumed by Harry Potter...movies and the book. I'm unable to switch off a Harry Potter movie, no matter the amount of times I've seen it before (that day, even). I think my sister, nieces, mom and dad all watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at least twice this weekend. I got the book early and have read it in small bits at a time. I'm still only half way through with the book, but am already aware of what's going to happen. It doesn't ruin anything for me, the picture painted by the words is what I enjoy.

I took a break from the Potter mania and watched a documentary recommended to me by a friend about a year ago, Jesus Camp. I have no words as to how dumbstruck I was left by this movie. I highly recommend it, regardless of your view on religion. I found the statements by some of the adults in the films abhorrent. One of them actually said children are so usable, (UGH) then later went on to state that they were building an army of Christian warriors. I may be in the minority, but that's creepy to me. Anyway, check out the documentary if you get the chance. My sisters got to live through the experience by receiving incredulous text messages from me while I watched the film. I still can't quite believe everything I saw.

I'm still watching John from Cincinnati and Flight of the Conchords. John from Cincinnati is foreshadowing the end for Shaun, and I'm not happy about that. FotC continues to make me laugh. Entourage was a little better this week, the story focused more on Ari and Lloyd, which I've been missing.

How early is too early to begin shopping for Christmas? I found these toys that I think my nieces would like, but then I'm left with where to store them until December... I've spent way too much time in the toy stores lately. I've been looking for gifts for baby showers/birthday parties.

___________________________

Bad news regarding that show at Woody's. Either I have a problem reading schedules or the dates have been changed, because now the calendar lists the date as September 7th. : ( It would have been so much easier if it were the 1st.

___________________________

Now I'm off to the law library for some last minute checks on procedure before submitting some things tomorrow morning...fun night ahead.

I was cleaning out some things from my room tonight, and came across an issue of Rolling Stone from December 11, 2003. It really is true that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Here's a sampling of some of the stories in the issue: Bush's assault on the environment; discussion of Dennis Kucinich; musicians seeking to oust Bush; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the top album of all time. There were a few things that made me laugh. Like the letters to the editor, for the most part. In the previous issue, RS had declared The Strokes as the next big thing/saviors of rock. I just wish I could contact the people who'd written those letters and see if they felt the same now...or even 6 months later. There was also an absence of things I've grown accustomed to, like emo and American Idol.

_________________________________________________________

If you're at all interested in the latest Harry Potter movie, go see it. My only problem with the movie was the diminished role of Ron Weasley. He's my favorite of the three main characters. The story dwells on isolation and the realization that it's okay rely on others. The movie is darker than the earlier films, but I think that's expected. Each story has grown progressively darker than the last.

There are no other movies being released this summer, other than Superbad, that I'm interested in seeing.

Suffering through a lack of shows in the area, I've turned to listening to some new music and old favorites. The Motorcars have been making the hours at the office fly. Jason Isbell's cd is quickly becoming a favorite. I've also started to love Wilco's Sky Blue Sky.

Spoon's new cd, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, came out yesterday. Texas Music magazine was pretty harsh in their review, so I was on the fence as to whether I'd buy it. Well, I just saw them perform on Letterman, and have decided that I'm going to have to get it. Their songs are definitely infectious...

Tomorrow night, I'll be watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I'm hoping to convince others that we must stop at Cafe J to see Charlie play. This is a different venue for him, so I'm interested in how the show/performance will go. Heads up, Fort Worth! Charlie will be playing at Woody's on September 1...

May 20, 1997...

This past weekend, I flipped back and forth between the performances from Live Earth on CNBC and Bravo. Highlights for me were John Mayer (Waiting On the World to Change), Lenny Kravitz, Beastie Boys, and my faves - Foo Fighters.

I was on their board the other day and read that it's the 10 year anniversary of the release of The Colour and the Shape. How can that be? It doesn't feel dated or passé, it's probably my favorite release from them. It sounds as good to me now as it did so many years ago. "Monkey Wrench," "Walking After You," "Hey, Johnny Park!", "My Hero," "See You," "February Stars," "Everlong," "New Way Home"...wow, I love this cd. They've released a re-mastered version of The Colour and the Shape with some extra tracks...I'll probably just grab them off itunes.

All this has me excited for the release of the new cd, Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace on September 25th.

After waking up to see Roger Federer win his 5th consecutive Wimbledon yesterday morning, I got to work on a brief that has been floating around the office for a while. I took a break around 3 or so and started watching Half Nelson.

I didn't catch it the whole two weeks it was running here, and have neglected it on the queue in Netflix. I'm always moving something else ahead of it...well, it was finally delivered to the house. I can't believe I waited so long. Ryan Gosling was pretty fantastic in the movie as the inner-city teacher, as was Shareeka Epps as Drey. It was pretty painful to watch at times. What I enjoyed most was its lack of the overly dramatic exchanges that you are always expecting in this type of movie.

all mixed up

This midweek holiday has me completely turned around. I keep forgetting that tomorrow is Friday. The office is like a ghost town.

The trip to Ft Worth was great. It was nice to see everyone. I really do love MMC. I can see them play for a large crowd or in a bar with 30 people and still enjoy the show. RRB mixed their show up a bit and I loved it. I'm still amazed at how their crowds have grown. These two are at the top of my favorites list...

The White Elephant was the perfect place to spend some time after the show. Although, last call came way too early.

__________________________________

This weekend I have no plans. I'll probably spend it reading and writing a brief...and watching John From Cincinnati, Entourage and Flight of the Conchords. I want to see 1408, but have heard mixed reviews. We'll see if I make it to the theater this weekend.

Kevin Smith's SMODCAST is not for the conservative, but some of the things he and Scott Mosier talk about are hilarious. By conservative, I don't mean political idealogy. I listened to a backlog on my ipod on the trip to and from Ft Worth. Listening to them discuss the Helen Keller story, the intellect of his dogs, the Canadian Prime Minister, making movies with a troubled actor and trips to the flea market might not seem like it'd be too entertaining. However, they made the trip fly by. Well, that and the fireworks I was able to watch from about 20+ miles away. It's no joke when people say it's flat out here. (For a second, I forgot it was the 4th...it took awhile for me to realize what exactly the flash was from.)

I'm sure we've all felt this way at some point...

If you haven't, I'm sorry.

I can't say that it was an artist on the level of Paul McCartney. I can't even imagine...but I know I've been in the midst of a show, thinking I never want it to come to an end.

This Lefsetz Letter sums up that feeling.

_____________________________________

Tomorrow night, I'll be at another show. I'm hoping that I'll enjoy it as much as the first, that it won't be like all the rest... The next day, I'm hoping to head North for OKC to see some more music. I'd almost talked myself out of making the trip, but McClure is there. He's absolutely one of those artists that makes you feel like you never want to leave.