nine inch nails & duran duran, a study in common melodies
July 27, 2008
Filed under life things, music
Tags: all the love in the world, conservation, duran duran, nine inch nails, so long suicide, water
first things first
“With Teeth” is a beautiful album. thank you Butt for making it available.
so i’m listening to the first song and am instantly hit with this compelling force of Duran. With Teeth came out in 2005 so if anybody borrowed anybody, NIN borrowed DD, ‘cos i knew the DD i was thinking of was from that late 90’s era of albums that didn’t get a lot of attention (for no good reason, by the way!! i’ve said this so many times, but Medazzaland, and arguably Pop Trash as well, were WAY ahead of their time. Medazzaland is hard in all the good ways but still duran, and both albums are just musically surprising. i feel like if people listened to either of them not knowing it’s duran duran, not comparing it to hungry like the wolf, … they both might have done better. i dunno. it’s like uberly 80’s bands are allowed ease into the 90’s with synthy updated pop but as soon as they try to branch it’s like …… omg what happened this is insane, this isn’t them, it’s no good, where’s the classic duran sound?! .. meanwhile people who might like this stuff have already written it off because … well it’s duran duran.).
but i digest.
listen to NIN: “All the Love in the World” (an insanely beautiful song… *sigh*) and DD: So Long Suicide… particularly at 3:04. there it is. this is what drove me nuts for like half an hour today.
being cooped in a room studying for the bar nonstop does not suit me… fortunately i’ve come up with a way to entertain myself…. finding new ways to trick the housekeepers into (1) letting me keep the soft newer towels instead of swapping them out for (what might be) the stiff crunchy ones and (2) not running the dishwasher.
i’m getting pretty good at the hotel-looking towel fold. then i mess up one of the crunchy ones.
i’ve also begun hiding the slightly dirty dishes in the dishwasher to wash by hand later. (ok don’t think i’m weird. i just don’t like the dishwasher ‘cos it uses a lot of water, and when i come back to my room while it’s running, it’s loud and keeps me from retaining the law. see? this makes sense).
does anybody else remember those presentations in elementary school when they hammered into our heads that wasting water was a cardinal sin? ‘cos it apparently worked really well on me. that, and how to read, were my two takeaways from that era. it’s actually kind of bad … if i see somebody at a sink letting water just flow unused into the drain, like, i FEEL the water wasting, and it feels no good. i have to shut it off. (at which point, of course, they suddenly need the water.)
hm. and i thought i wasn’t obsessive compulsive.
dude, you really have a flying hippo?!
ok here’s those links.
(but if you haven’t seen charlie the unicorn, watch it before 2, obvi).
Bloggy iphoning!
July 26, 2008 
Ooooh wordpressing from my iPhone!! This is the SHIT.
Apps are to the iPhone what apps were not to facebook.
I’ll just leave it at that.
Here is a picture of Little Man .. sleeping on a book. Aww. Goofy cat. I really want a parrot now. I saw one on tv this afternoon and it made me really want one. Then I talked about it with Nate and now I want one that says “hey dude. Whatcha workin on?”
Hm. I really wanna post some links now but I don’t know how. Maybe you can’t.
Ok but here’s the cat.
not homeless!
it’s official, i have an apartment! 
it’s basically wonderful and i’m happy, and after finalizing everything today i’m already picturing how i’m going to ruin it with my poor sense of interior decorating.
random thoughts about apartment hunting…
1. watch how the staff interacts with the people around them… someone who seems to be friends with everybody she runs into (maintenance, staff, residents) and is well liked makes me feel a lot less like she would just tape multiple eviction notices to my door and ignore my communications if there was ever any confusion about whether i’d paid my rent. (versus, someone who is friendly but seems removed from the community).
2. tell them you have a drum set, see if they freak out.
if they:
- freak out and start saying “no” to every subsequent sentence out of your mouth without listening to the actual words you’re saying: -10 points
- inform you that yes, your neighbors will hear it, and despite seeming a little “um” about it, gets you to fill out paperwork anyway: +3 points
- assure you that while neighbors will hear it, they’re sure you’ll be able to work something out, and then start telling you about how the head of maintenance plays drums in a band that has regular gigs downtown: +20 points
3. a place that is 10 years old should look newer than a place that is 20 years old. a model apartment that was “never lived in” in the 10 yr old complex should look newer than the place that is 20 years old.
riiiiiiidiculous
July 21, 2008
Filed under life things
Tags: extended stay hotels, game cube, shitty bartender
ridiculous awesome:
this extended stay hotel room that i just checked into for bar exam-hibernation. the #1 most ridiculous factor here is simply this. THERE’S GAMECUBE. i haven’t futzed with it enough to know for sure but i think you have to pay to use it. BUT STILL. i don’t know if i’m making myself quite clear. THERE’S GAMECUBE!!!!
*squeeee he hehehehe heheh hehe he*
i’ve never stayed at an extended stay place, so the mere fact that there are two tables instead of one (one for “office” one for “dining”) impresses me a lot. they coulda stopped there and i woulda been like “yeah all right this is nice.” oh but there’s more. a kitchen w/ full size fridge, and a microwave, and a dishwasher, and stoves, and SILVERWARE. i nearly lost it.
not to mention, the dining table is already set for two, w/ silverware laid out on napkin w/ plates, bowls and mugs, and a basket w/ water and POPCORN and a welcome note.
</shameless crowing about my current temporary circumstances>
ridiculous woah:
there’s also a note on the desk that says something to the effect of “we know it’s 105 degrees outside – these are typical memphis summer temperatures. please don’t push the AC down past 72 as this will cause the units to freeze and stop functioning.”
105 is typical memphis temperatures. this is 100billion % true. it’s 102 today. when i wandered outside to pick a rental car, i looked at the toyota avalons, stepped closer, foresaw my flesh cooking on the black leather seats, and ran away.
ridiculous wtf
“… and that’s why i stormed out of this nice little bar downtown.”
so last night nate and i were at this bar. we’d had a few drinks, had had about enough of the singer songwriter that was performing behind us, and were getting ready to go. so i ask Bartender for the check. so he goes to print it out .. and hands it to Nate. which was kinda like, … ok, a little weird, i mean, i asked him for it. if Nate wanted the check, wouldn’t he ask? … but i guess operating under typical societal standards, it’s a fair assumption that the dude would pay. ok.
so, nate hands it to me, i put my card over it and leave it on the counter in front of me. a few minutes pass… he walks by, looks at our check, turns around, starts doing something with napkins, and i’m like, .. ok, .. .. so i give the check a little *nudge nudge* ‘cos it was like, … if you’re not busy, and if you totally just saw the check .. i think i can give it a nudge ‘cos we’ve been waiting.
he’s like oh i’m sorry, takes it, swipes it, and puts it back down in front of NATE.
are you serious?! are you absolutely fucking serious?! oh i’m sorry, i forgot that i was just the girlfriend, pretending to ask the bartender for the check, and pretending to pay with my credit card. but really my boyfriend is the only one you should legitimately be dealing with here. so just go on and keep ignoring me, even as you acknowledge that i am speaking to you, you fuck. i mean, you have to be TRYING to be that ridiculous. when you’re at a restaurant, and someone has the check next to them w/ their credit card, you put it back down next to them, DON’T YOU? instead of being like “oh, it looks like you’re paying, but i’m going to override the appearance you’re putting on and assume that someone else has the money.
it’s such a little thing, but that’s all it takes. by the time he put my credit card back down in front of Nate i basically just reached over and grabbed it, and Bartender was like “oh, i’m sorry to assume.”
you’re fucking sorry to assume? how many times did i indicate to you that i’m speaking and acting for MYSELF? if i’m not speaking to you because >I< want something, what does that make me? the impatient bitchy girlfriend who’s rushing to dig into boyfriend’s plastic?
gross.
look at me! i’m so offensive!
trolling.
why?
i mean people have been doing this in person since forever but now that blogs and forums and stuff give douchebags the luxury of anonymity, you can’t even tell the sincerely bigoted douchebags from the trolls anymore. or are they essentially the same, except that one pleads “i’m just trying to offend you [and see how easily offended you are]” as a so-called defense.
so, i want to know. what is the social value of a troll? what delicious thought-provoking advances are made by intentionally provoking people with tired, offensive tripe?
i’m not talking about silly stuff where we try to make cute jokes based on stereotypes and what not that may or may not be offensive. i’m talking about writing into the school newspaper to say “i’m homophobic and proud, gay groups and other liberal groups don’t deserve funds” or saying that all members of a group are useless and misguided while sitting amongst a group of said members. or commenting on a blog about a new baby by saying that women need to shut the fuck up about how much childbirth hurts and “take it like a man.”
(i’m still laughing about the last one… gotta relish the moments when misogynist ignorant assclowns give you something so advanced in its idiot bigotry that you feel like your work is more than done).
so, you’ve got this genius who’s figured out how to piss you off and is parading around in it, who then will cry “why are you trying to impose your opinion on me, who are you to tell me how to think” when you (foolishly) take the bait. (conveniently ignoring that a lot of their messages usually have to do with “feminazis should shut up and get back in the kitchen,” “liberals shouldn’t be given money to advance their opinions,” “another statement that people who disagree with me are stupid and should be silenced”).
and then the really fantastic part is, whether or not they even believe what they’re saying, they manage to inspire others to believe that it’s awesome and acceptable to be sexist / homophobic / [etc] …. ‘cos, y’know, the society for spoiled children who’ve never had to suffer really needs more reinforcement and affirmation…
and that’s how society slips backwards.
loud ass people
have you ever noticed how proud loud people are of their unbearable loudness?
“HAHAHA YEAH ALL MY FRIENDS SAY I HAVE LIKE NO VOLUME CONTROL HAHA.”
… yeah you should hear what they say behind your back. but you can’t because you’re busy being loud somewhere else.
i’m not talking about people who naturally have voices that carry, or people who are ‘assertive’ in their ‘conversational presence.’ i’m talking about, literally, no volume control, the world is their padded room, nobody else’s voice matters, omg LOUD. or people who are singing a duet with you but dominate the mic so they’re all the audience hears. “haha yeah i eat the mic when i’m nervous, sorry.”
(yeah, i know it was high school, but I REMEMBER).
student govt is like the ideal (but not the only) breeding ground for monkey balls like this. imagine an unnecessary, several hour pow wow in a small enclosed space with some doucheclown screaming without end, interrupting everybody, opinionated about god knows what, making the same point over and over. about to lose your mind, you whirl on him and shout “STOP SHOUTING. SERIOUSLY.” right in his face.
then the whole room has that awkward pause that happens when the Quiet Person suddenly makes noise, and then the shouting resumes as before.
twitter. i like it. 
i wrote it off before as just the statusbar portion of myspace/fb (hereinafter myface) (which, it sort of is) .. but here you can see all of people’s past twitters too. so really, it’s a statusfeed where you can feel comfortable not status’ing in “eileen is” form – where “eileen Girls are like potatoes – the hotter, the harder to hold on to” might be an acceptable sentence.
my twitter is eileenspants. add me. we’ll talk about it.
she did WHAT?
ok i don’t have a lot of time, but i felt the need to squirt these random thoughts into cyberspace:
1. hannah montana is the US’s hello kitty.
2. WHY are random manufactured celebrities doing music!! paris hilton?!?! heidi montag?!??!?!! and then real actresses start doing the same overproduced crappy sounding “i’m a girl, listen to me ’sing’ about girl problems” songs over the same overly simple electronic drumbeats as the original clowns. (hayden panettiere?!?!??!)
my sources (aka alexa) says next up for heidi is a full length christian album of the same aforementioned genre.
gross.
i can(‘t?!?!) understand you!
contractions are all well and good but they’ve got to be the biggest joke on the english-hearing ear in the english language. it’s like, let’s take two compleeeeeetely opposite things and make them sound almost identical.
“n’t.” yeah, there’s an audible syllable. there aren’t even any vowels. which, some would argue, is the point of contractions in the first place. eliminating pesky clarity-giving syllables by smooshing all the consonants together.
so, for anyone who’s ever had to ask people to repeat themselves over and over because you couldn’t hear the difference between did and didn’t, or could and couldn’t, or can and can’t………….. i feel ya.
in other random thoughts, i have a massive woman-crush on michelle yeoh. amazing actor. and, dude, the woman does her own stunts (and has suffered many an injury from it). damn…
