Entries tagged with voltaire

Current Mood: optimistic

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DragonCon 2006 (I totally forgot I’d taken these photos!)

I (just a bit belatedly!) posted my photos from DragonCon 2006.

I’m generally a terrible photographer, but I get lucky sometimes. These ended up being some of my favorite photos that I’ve taken:

( The Method from Godhead and Sarah from the Cruxshadows )

There’s also photos of the Cruxshadows, Godhead, Voltaire, George Romero, Alan Tudyk, Summer Glau, Billy West, random pirates, the Snape trial, R2-D2, and lots of random convention stuff. If you’re interested.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. Please comment there.

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random stuff

Here's what I've been up to lately:

* I went to an art auction benefit for the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. It was fun, except that it was in a yoga studio and everyone had to wander around barefoot. But the art was cool, there was a TON of free food and free alcohol, I got to hang out with Livi, Jessica, Anne, Ariela, and Patrick, and I won a raffle prize!

It's a really cool raffle prize, too--about $200 worth of fancy vegan lotions, body wash, shampoo, toothpaste, razors, toner, toothbrushes... every kind of thing you can imagine. It was so huge and heavy I couldn't even carry it home by myself. So now I won't have to buy lotion or shampoo for the next couple of years! (It was from United Foods which I guess is the distributor).

This marks the second raffle that I've won recently. (I also won a Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival t-shirt when I was in Iowa.) And I never win things. How random is that? They say this stuff happens in threes, so *knock on wood*.

* I dyed my hair wacky colors. It's a brighter red, with red-orange-blond streaks. Not sure I'll keep it; it might be too bright for me. But it *is* kind of summery.

* I hung out with Livi a lot. We ate Indian food, we ate Cuban food, we drank pina coladas, we went to a gay bar... it's been fun.

* I saw Spiderman III. It actually wasn't as bad as I expected. There were four things I liked:

( very vague Spiderman III spoilers )

* Voltaire continues to stalk me. I saw him coming out of a bank in the East Village; he glared at me. Last time, I saw him at the post office. Why won't he leave me alone??!!

* Um, seriously though, I'm never putting my number on Craiglist again. I got a really creepy crank call from some crying woman at 6am. People suck. (And the number it said it came from was my own--how do they do that?)

* I did find a roommate, though. She seems a little... overly detail-oriented. But she was good with the cats, which is the important thing. Cross your fingers for me.

* I played Sam & Max Hit the Road. Awesome classic LucasArts adventure game. I loved it. It's hilarious, especially all the dirty things coming out of the cute little rabbit's mouth. I can't believe they got away with marketing these games to kids.... And, seriously, I loved how well designed it was, and how brilliantly scripted the humor was.

* Now I'm playing Grim Fandango. So far, it's astounding. I'll post more when I finish.

* I watched the entire BBC Robin Hood series. I'm totally in love with Guy of Gisborne now. (I already babbled about that here.)

* I had nightmares for three weeks straight. Seriously. Ugh. Which is part of why I wasn't posting. But last night I finally had a cool dream. I had been playing Grim Fandango and watching Robin Hood, so I dreamed that I was playing Robin Hood. Like it was a game that I could control. So naturally I was playing Guy...! (I can't really remember what happened, but it was definitely fun.)

Entry tags:

concerts,
voltaire

(no subject)

Good god. Voltaire quoted in the NY Times. Is it just me, or is that really surreal in a creepy way?

Hey, Black Sun Festival this weekend. Anyone else going?

Current Mood: busy

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(no subject)

I'm leaving tomorrow for New Orleans and Convergence. Eep! I really need to plan these things more in advance; I haven't even printed out a list of vegan-friendly restaurants yet, never mind choosing clothes and packing!

I'm going to the con with

drujan, so at least I'll have someone to hang out with. Assuming we don't kill each other. ;)

Strangely enough, there's no one there I really want to see. Rasputina should be interesting, but I don't love them, and I'm still annoyed at Bella Morte for not touring with PIG. Strangely enough the one I'm most looking forward to is Voltaire; at least he's funny.

Speaking of funny, did you guys see South Park last night? Totally awesome. More than made up for that lame-ass San Francisco episode. It had Bart Simpson! And Cartman's line about feeding the kid his dead parents! And "at least Family Guy's not all preachy and up it's own ass with messages" (paraphrased). Hee!!! And a really chilling message about censorship, too, for that matter. *loves*

Have you guys been reading Kevin Smith's blog? "Me and My Shadow" is brilliant. Thanks,

10zlaine, for pointing this out to me. Kevin Smith rocks.

Oh yeah, and now for some totally obvious self-promotion: Want to stay up to date with the latest in vegan news? Add

superveganblog to your list by clicking here. (I blog there! It's cool!)

Entry tags:

concerts,
voltaire

(no subject)

Voltaire last night was fun. He played about 2/3 of the show solo, then brought his new band The Oddz onstage for the last 1/3. They were quite catchy, kind of new wave.

Voltaire was very, very drunk (as befits a 39th birthday party, I suppose). He kept forgetting the lyrics and blaming it on alcohol and old age. Luckily there was a fairly large and rapt audience (seated all around this teeny packed room) who helped him by shouting out the lyrics.

I sat in the corner, alone (I almost managed to talk my roommate into coming, but he had to get up early for work--pffft, as if I didn't!), drinking a mai tai (it was a tiki bar). But grinning, because Voltaire is funny as hell. I left immediately afterward.

I love that Voltaire went into a 10 minute tangent talking about Star Wars (and getting every single geeky term correct--well, except when he accidentally called a blaster a phaser and then mocked himself for it). He filled in a hilarious "missing scene" from The Empire Strikes Back--what happened after "We would be honored if you would join us"? Vader, Lando, Han, Leia, and Threepio having a very awkward dinner, apparently--Voltaire did all their voices.

Then he sang his Star Wars cantina song, the one about Luke Skywalker having sex with all the various creatures in the Mos Eisley cantina. Even the badass goth crowd was gaping at that one. (I almost fell out of my chair laughing.)

Then the Oddz came on. They played a song they're doing for a Neil Gaiman tribute CD (at his request), played a song about selling out (very catchy and funny), and played one of my favorites, "Medicated Girls Brigade" (which I love for its message and its twistedly sweet sincerity).

Stangely enough, I'm not the hugest fan of Voltaire's actual music; it's his sense of humor that really appeals to me. He's sarcastic and clever and sings about Star Wars and the suckiness of New Jersey. And really, how many goth comedians are out there? I love that he can write a song parodying Rammstein's "Du Hast" that goes something like "You love this / But you don't know what I'm saying" and I totally get it, because I remember that year when everyone was singing along with "Du Hast" and no one could figure out what it meant.

Anyway. Fun show.

Entry tags:

concerts,
voltaire

(no subject)

Anyone want to go to this?

From Voltaire's MySpace page:

Voltaire

January, 24 2006 at Otto's Shrunken Head
538 E 14th street, NYC (between Aves A and B)
Cost: free I think.

BLACK CAT TUESDAYS
DJs PAT PERVERT (DEVIANT BEHAVIOR) spins punk, deathrock, new wave, old skool hip-hop, doo wop, surf and 70's Special live performances by local punk/HC bands!

PLUS! LATE NIGHT FREAKSHOW! Featuring players from the Coney Island Freakshow performing astounding feats!

age: 21 and up
cover: I'm pretty sure it's free.

If not it's damn close to it! This is my birthday party! I will be 39 at midnight! So you KNOW I am going to get plowed. I will be performing a solo acoustic set (to the best of my drunken ability!) Come and celebrate with me... don't bring presents.. save your money for booze. I will be HARD to keep up with. I should also point out that by this point, NYC will be completely tire of hearing me talk about bullshit and sing songs about zombies! Don't miss it! lol!

ETA: This is a quote from Voltaire. That's why it's indented and why it says at the top "From Voltaire's MySpace page:".

Good show, BTW. Too bad I was a gigantic LOSER standing in the corner ALONE.

Fucking "friends."

Grumbles.

*is drunk*

Current Mood: working
Current Music: pig - my sanctuary (spent sperm mix)

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East Village Adventures

I've been busy.

Wednesday I saw Tim Burton's Corpse Bride with

chenanceou,

jerrymcl89, and

drujan. I was ( minor spoilers )

Afterward I dragged Chen and Jerry to a vegetarian Thai place called Pukk. Chen was very skeptical, but as she soon discovered, the food there is delicious. :)

Afterward we ended up at this bar on St. Mark's that we've been at continually--the same place where we met the Irish guys and Chen had her first lemonade. We talked for a while, Jerry left, then we saw a rat so we left.... (Oh yeah, did I mention we found one of the Irish guys on google? Keith Keds. Alas, no info on his friend, though.)

Damn, these days are blurring together. I can't remember if we did anything after that or not.

On Thursday, we decided to go to Gobo, but it ended up being packed and having a half hour wait. So we went instead to Vegetarian's Paradise 2, which is also good. Chen couldn't believe that the Crispy Soul Chicken wasn't made from real chicken. Being a vegan in NYC is awesome. :)

After that we went to The Pyramid Club, because they have an 80s new wave night on Thursdays. We hung out there for a while--the music was good, and they were playing the Depeche Mode 86-98 video without its sound, and Chen danced for a bit. It was fun. We ended up leaving after a while, though--the crowd wasn't that great, lots of touristy types and young college kids.

Afterwards we ended up... where? We stopped by the bar on St. Mark's, and were told that they didn't have lemonade (despite Chen having it there like three days in a row beforehand). So we ended up back at the Mexican place on 3rd and 13th, where she had quesadillas, and I had rice and beans, and we both drank Negra Modelo.

Then we ended up back at my place, because Chen wanted to see some of my old Jon Stewart show tapes. I was more than happy to share the Jon Stewart love. So we watched the one with Marilyn Manson (the second-to-last episode) and cooed over how adorable Jon was. But Chen was very disturbed by Marilyn Manson, and insisted that she really dislikes him. I think the guy is smart, a talented artist with a lot to say, and at the worst, a dorky guy from Ohio wearing makeup and dealing with some inflated ego issues. Certainly nothing to get intimidated by.

So I showed her his book (which she started reading and quickly went out and bought). And I showed her his 1997 Politically Incorrect appearance with G. Gordon Liddy, Florence Henderson, and (some psychotic nut) Lakita Garth. That show is one of the most surreal and ridiculous things ever, but Manson is awesome on it. Chen went from cringing every time he appeared to listening, riveted, to his every word. Pretty cool. >:)

Anyway, so my roommate didn't really appreciate this (even though we had the volume as low as possible and were whispering to each other). So Chen eventually left (also, it was 4am).

I had Friday and Saturday to myself--I caught up on sleep, listed stuff on eBay, and finished The Goblet of Fire. *sigh* I love Sirius as much as ever, and am having a very hard time forcing myself to read The Order of the Phoenix. *sob*

Yesterday (Sunday) Chen was back. We went to see The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which was very funny, but strangely, not as funny as I expected given the massive praise it's received. ( spoilers )

Meh, but I'm being bitter. It was funny, and we were laughing our asses off during most of it. (Except when the assholes behind us started kicking Chen's chair and telling her to shut up. People really suck sometimes.)

Afterwards we went to Pukk again, which was as yummy as always. Oh, and on the way, as we were at Astor Place walking toward St. Mark's, guess who we passed. Seriously... think for a minute... who do I not know and yet see every weekend?

Yes, that's right, Voltaire! Poor guy must think he is being stalked. He was out with his son, and we were walking right past, so I smiled and Chen said hello, and we hurried by. I felt bad, even though, y'know, it's not my fault. We run in the same circles, or something. (I've never gone anywhere specifically to see him, yet we were both at ComicCon, that wacky Long Island con, Dragoncon, the Bella Morte show, the Neil Gaiman reading, and Astor Place last night. That was the fourth time I've seen him this month.)

Anyway, so after Pukk, Chen and I walked to TeaNY, which was delicious--we each had a pot of tea and shared tea sandwiches and a brownie. Later, I really wished I hadn't had a whole pot of tea, though--it took a very long time to fall asleep last night.

After TeaNY we headed back toward St. Mark's place, where the guy from the lemonade-and-Irish-guys bar saw us and invited us in. So we drank Negra Modelo and talked for quite a while, but left (relatively) early. I was home by 1:30am, since I had to work today.

It's been such fun--I live in such a wonderful neighborhood, and it's great to hang with someone who appreciates it and wants to explore it. And of course, Chen is awesome.

And now... back to work. :(

PS: How is "working" a mood? If I choose it, will it put me in the mood to get work done?

PPS: New Pig November 8!!!!!!!! :)

Current Mood: weird
Current Music: watts - kundalini

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Stalking Neil Gaiman

chenanceou is in town. Yay!

So last night I went with Chen and her friend

coraline to a Neil Gaiman reading at CBGB's. (I'm not really a Neil Gaiman fan--I read Neverwhere ages ago and disliked it--but it was a cool event.) Something like five people spoke before him, and most of them were painful to hear, but Gaiman himself was very good. He read a short story that I liked a lot. And he seemed really personable, and has an excellent reading-aloud voice.

I had brought Chen a gift from Dragoncon--a copy of Voltaire's Deady the Evil Teddy comic book, which features a story by Neil Gaiman, signed by Voltaire and personalized to Chen.

So it turns out that Voltaire was at the Neil Gaiman event last night (it's a bit strange that every time I go anywhere I see Voltaire--this is the third time I've seen him this month). I pointed him out to Chen and she decided that she wanted him to personalize the comic book to her real name in addition to her online handle. So we cornered Voltaire and had him sign her book.

And Voltaire happened to be standing near Neil Gaiman at the time, so he had Neil sign the comic book for her, too. And Neil recognized her and gave her a big hug (awwww).

Afterward we walked to St. Mark's Place and had dinner and drinks sitting outside. We ended up talking to two drunk Irish guys for quite a while. (Well, mostly Chen talked to them--she's a people-magnet). They seemed to like us; as we said our goodbyes, one guy shook my hand three times.

Then we went to my place, as it was close, so Chen could meet my kitties. The kitties were happy for the company, and we talked a bit more before they left. Overall it was a good night.

It seems I'm on a bit of a Neil Gaiman stalking extravaganza, as I'm seeing him at an event again tonight with Chen, and going to a signing tomorrow (as it's at the B&N right where I work). Fun activities, and I definitely want to see Chen while she's here.

I keep using this Cartman icon for no reason, because every time I see it, it makes me laugh.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: watts - situation

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Dragoncon 2005!

( DragonCon was awesome! )

I really don't have anything new to say regarding the hurricane... it's absolutely horrifying, and I can only hope that it'll be a wake-up call that this country seriously needs to change. Jon Stewart's monologue last night was perfect (you can watch it at this link), and this rant also rang very true to me.

Stuff that's going on with me:

( Read more... )