rusty_halo

My deepest sympathies to people are struggling because of Hurricane Sandy. I was very lucky:

* My power flickered but stayed on.

* My internet was only out for a day.

* My building is fine, although several buildings nearby had parts of their siding ripped off.

* My train (the L) still isn’t running, and my office was closed due to power outage all week, so I haven’t left my house for a week except to go to the local grocery store (which was missing a lot of stuff due to no deliveries, and is ridiculously expensive–like 30% costlier than Whole Foods–but it’s better than nothing).

* I worked from home all week.

* It’s amazing how much time and money you save when you don’t have to do your hair or makeup every day, or wear fancy clothes, or spend an hour on a train.

* My cats are very, very happy to have had mommy to themselves for a week.

* I’ve been eating well, losing weight, and saving money by cooking all my own food with no temptation to order from restaurants.

* I’ve been sleeping at least eight hours per night and exercising at least a half hour each day.

* I’ve kept my apartment ridiculously clean.

* I’ve been knocking off items that have been lingering on my to-do list for years, including digitizing old VHS tapes, listing stuff on ebay, and reading through old magazines so I can recycle them.

This luck will most likely run out tomorrow, as my office is finally open but the L isn’t running, so I’m going to try walking (25 minute walk) to the M train, which will undoubtedly be ridiculously crowded with everyone else who also would have been on the L train. I’m sure the miserable commute will also screw up all the healthy-lifestyle stuff I managed this week, but it was fun while it lasted.

Of course I’m still ridiculously lucky. My aunt and uncle in Scarsdale still don’t have power or hot water. My boss in midtown Manhattan had no power or any water at all for a week. My friend in Jersey City spent a week with no power, no internet, no cell service, and a 7pm daily curfew. Let alone all those people whose homes were destroyed, or who lost loved ones.

I don’t know how to explain how ridiculous this whole situation feels. New York City does not have tropical hurricanes. As if terrorism, crime, and massive inequality aren’t enough, now we have to worry about this, too? Hoping we’ll at least have some silver lining of politicians taking climate change more seriously, but I’m not holding my breath.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

Oh! One more thing about last night: before Sleep No More, I had dinner with coworkers at a West Village restaurant called Morandi, and Michael J. Fox was there. I didn’t take pictures, because I’m not an asshole, but being in the same room with Marty McFly was really freaking cool. :)

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

Apparently mother nature hates NYC? First massive winter storms, then a heatwave, then a freaking earthquake (okay, actually the earthquake was kind of fun), and now a hurricane???

I am in zone C, which is unlikely to require evacuation, and I’m on the third floor anyway, so I’m staying put. But if it does flood around here, it will be via one of the world’s most toxic bodies of water, the lovely Newtown Creek. Awesome.

The subways have already shut down, which makes me feel ridiculously isolated. I live in the middle of nowhere; the only way I get around is via the L train to Manhattan. I had to go grocery shopping last night to stock up on food, since I’ll be stuck here all weekend. WholeFoods was miserable–lots of bare shelves and no carts or baskets at all. Some guy took pity on me and actually gave me his basket, which was a live saver since the checkout line took at least 20 minutes.

So, I have stocked up on cat food, nonperishable human food, pitchers and pans full of water, turned my fridge and freezer to the coldest settings so things will last as long as possible if the power goes out, charged my MP3 player (it has an FM radio and the battery lasts around 40 hours), and bought batteries for my flashlight (thankfully it takes AA since every store in Manhattan seemed to be out of bigger batteries).

Meanwhile I am supposed to take Lucifer to the vet today at 2. It hasn’t even started raining yet, so cross your fingers that I can get a car service to the vet!

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

I wish I had more time to update this journal. I miss my fandom friends a lot.

So here’s a little update–film/theater/concerts I’ve seen recently:

( Pirates of the Caribbean 4 )

( John Leguizamo's Ghetto Klown )

( Derek Jacobi's King Lear )

( Scott Weiland )

( Sleep No More, again )

Aside from that, all I've been doing is working constantly and being tired and depressed. *sigh*

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

I was going to ask my flist if I should watch Stonehenge Apocalypse, but I realized the more appropriate question is “How much alcohol do I need to drink before I try to watch Stonehenge Apocalypse?” *sigh* The things I lower myself to in pursuit of pretty…

I’m also trying to watch Smallville season four. However. I’m five episodes in and I think I’ve discovered the limit of how far I’ll go to drool over pretty boys–nothing can make this dreck worth watching. So far all Jensen’s gotten to do is make googly eyes and kissy faces at Lana. And it’s a good thing I live alone because I’m pretty sure a roommate would be weirded out by me yelling “SHUT UP AND DIE!!!!” every time a member of the Kent family appears onscreen.* Also, the plots are insipid and the characters are uniformly stupid and I’m way too be old to be watching people in their mid-twenties pretend to be high school students and if Michael Rosenbaum couldn’t save this I don’t know why I thought Jensen Ackles might be able to. Alas.

* I have a huge problem with way the show idealizes rural white middle-USA patriarchal culture while totally refusing to acknowledge the sexism, racism, and homophobia that prop up its “family values” mythology. But that’s too long to shout at my TV and “DIE!!!!” is way more cathartic.

jaydk and I went to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson two weekends ago. It’s … like the ads say, an emo rock musical about Andrew Jackson, which I think you kind of have to see to understand. It was quite fun–we were in the front row, our tickets came with a free drink, and the lead guy was incredibly hot. Seriously, if you want an excuse to stare at pretty men wearing lots of smeared black eyeliner, this is the play for you. The play was mostly goofy (the guy playing Martin Van Buren was hilarious) but it was a pretty sharp political satire, too.

( a bit more about the play )

Afterward

jaydk and I wandered around the East Village and got really drunk, which I haven't done in a while and which was a lot of fun. And... possibly this was the alcohol, but she agreed to watch Supernatural with me as a birthday present. Clearly she is THE BEST FRIEND EVER. :) Now I am plotting which episodes to show... I'll have to choose the most sympathetic Dean-centric ones, of course, because I want her to see why he is so wonderful (and to stop looking at me like I've lost my mind).

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

* New White Collar promo. It’s mostly old footage but it sure does make the show look sexy. (Where’s Elizabeth, though?)

* I GOT A SECOND ROW TICKET TO SEE JOHN SIMM IN HAMLET! :)

Now I just have to figure out how the hell I’m going to make a detour to Sheffield on my way from NYC to Paris (for the Lymond thing). It’s looking like I can fly from JFK to Manchester and take a train to Sheffield, see the play, take a train to London and spend a day there, then take a train to Paris. Icelandair is currently showing round trips from JFK to Manchester with a return from Paris to JFK for about $700 total–that’s a better price than I expected, although I’m a little iffy about the stopover in Reykjavik.

(Does anyone out there have experience with any of this–is that a sane plan or would you recommend something else?)

* jaydk and I went to see Metropolis at Film Forum. The restored footage was way cool, but the image would’ve been better if we’d waited for the DVD. Movie theaters have pretty much lost their allure now that I have a giant television.

* We also got tickets to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which is um, a political satire in the form of an emo rock musical? I don’t know, but it looks fun.

* Stone Temple Pilots are touring, but they’re not playing NYC proper. I don’t want to go out to Jones Beach, but maybe I’ll go to the Borgata in Atlantic City. Apparently there’s now a train that goes there from NYC, and the Borgata is a good venue–it’s small and GA and half the crowd leaves in the middle to gamble, which means I can usually get right up front (I saw Depeche Mode standing in the third row there). But on the minus side it’s a long trip, it’s expensive, and they have a new album which means I’d have to stand through a bunch of new songs that I don’t care about. Hmmm.

* I did get a ticket to see “BlackDiamondSkye” at Madison Square Garden, which is Alice in Chains and the Deftones apparently? I dunno, I couldn’t resist seeing AIC at MSG, even though this is probably too much dude music for me, and I really don’t like the new AIC songs.

* rm has been posting interesting thoughts on season six of BtVS and, man, thinking about that era brought back all these unhappy emotions from seven years ago that I didn’t even know I still had. I reassert my vow never to become so negatively emotionally involved in a fandom again. (Note my complete lack of posts about Moffat’s Who.)

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

So um, in case anyone was wondering, Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay are real. I can confirm this because I just walked past them on the street.

I’m so embarrassed that I’m excited by this, because it’s just a TV show and they’re just actors and whatever, I know it doesn’t actually matter, but apparently I just can’t help being a fangirl at heart because OMG I JUST WALKED PAST MATT BOMER AND TIM DEKAY *SQUEE TIMES A MILLION*.

( Location spoiler, cut for the ultra spoilerphobic )

But then he continued tweeting pictures of them there today and I'M ONLY HUMAN OKAY. Specifically, I am a human fangirl. I get an hour lunch break--I could walk over there, see them filming, walk back, and still have time to get lunch. And it's a beautiful day. The temptation was too much.

So I walked over, thinking it would be cool to see them filming because when I see the episode I can look back and say "Hey, I saw them filming this." I love their location shoots, how beautiful they make NYC look. And okay I was hoping to maybe see Matt or Tim but, y'know, I don't like to get my hopes up.

Anyway, my timing was perfect. I walked over wondering if they were even still there and as soon as I got there I SAW THEM. I didn't have to lurk or anything--Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay were across the street from me, waiting for the same light I was waiting for. So I briefly contemplated waiting on the corner and watching them walk past, but that would be creepy, so when the light changed I walked with it and walked right past them. Matt was eating an apple, Tim had his jacket slung over his shoulder, they were both carrying script pages, they were talking to each other animatedly, and they both looked gorgeous. I walked right past and tried not to grin like an idiot.

Afterward I walked by where they'd been filming and then walked to the grocery store where I picked up some vegan food to take with me to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow (oh yeah, I'm going to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow!), and made it back to work within my allotted hour.

I did get a photo on my phone (hopefully without them noticing, I really didn't want to disturb them) since it took a long time for the light to change. This isn't interesting compared to Eastin's tweets, but take it as proof that I'm not randomly making shit up. Click to embiggen.

( Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay across the street from me )

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

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Last night we had a SuperVegan meeting at ’sNice Brooklyn, after which I walked to the Q train at Atlantic Avenue (what a hellhole–the Ratner-created megamall and the nightmare traffic, I mean, which mar an otherwise decent area).

( White Collar S2 location spoilers )

I love Jeff Eastin for tweeting these pics. It's ridiculously fun to figure out where they're filming today, knowing that in a few months I'll get to see how it all fits together in the completed episodes.

* Incidentally, if you're interested in living in the Williamsburg Savings Bank, there's currently a 366 square foot studio with a Brooklyn view on sale for, ahem, ~only~ $285,000.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

( long rambling thing about a week of wandering through nyc )

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

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?

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

* 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").

Current Mood: stressed emoticon

stressed & stressed emoticon

stressed

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

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*

Current Mood: blah emoticon

blah

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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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giddy

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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.

Current Mood: nervous emoticon

nervous

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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!

Current Mood: busy emoticon

busy

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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. :)

Current Mood: hopeful emoticon

hopeful

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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.)

Current Mood: drunk emoticon

drunk &

happy &

tired

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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.

Current Mood: exhausted emoticon

exhausted & satisfied emoticon

satisfied

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How I spent my hurricane-induced vacation…

geeks out

Stupid Hurricane. :(

Recent theater, film, & concerts

I think I’ve discovered the limit of how far I’ll go to drool over pretty boys

Linkspam & Random Updates

White Collar is filming a 20-minute walk away… I couldn’t resist!

I kind of love that my favorite TV show is filming in my favorite city

a week of wandering through nyc

Hi…

Writercon, Farscape, True Blood, and Real Life $!%#@

random

the weekend, Simm movies, and random thoughts

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

SuperVegan Election Night Party in Brooklyn

Random Update

Out and About

Another Sort-of “Staycation” Attempt

Good Friends + Good Music = Perfect Evening

Bella Morte and 16Volt at the Knitting Factory

rusty-halo.com

August 2018

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