Monthly Archive for July, 2004

Boardwalks, faces of porn and baked bean commercials

Published
by
Andy
on 7/8/2004
in Log and Observations
. 0 Comments

Look at this, only two days since my last post. I’m striving to be a much better blogger.

Before I continue, I want you to notice that to the list of links on the right I’ve added two more. One is november2.org, which I told you about already. The other, brenthirak.com, is a link to the Web site of a photographer friend of mine. Also known as the character Dope in my narrative, he’s now flown off to some other part of the world to continue his adventures. He’s a fine photographer and some of his projects are really worth a look. Check out especially his faces of porn project.

Things are going well out here in Jersey. Last night was a lot of fun with Roxy and J. We went to the Pt. Pleasant boardwalk and threw away some money on totally rigged games in an effort to win cheap prizes. But it was worth it. We also played skee ball and had a Philly cheese steak sandwich at a grill on the boardwalk. There was also this cool place selling hermit crabs in brightly colored shells. Hermit crabs are really cool. J nearly bought one. But we decided to keep walking around and get it later, and by the time we came back they were closing up. It was too bad we started so late, because everything closed within an hour or two of our arrival. What can I expect from a Wednesday night, though, right? We’ll just have to go back some other time. It was fun nonetheless, and could be a preview for coming attractions. (There is rumored to be a trip to Coney Island some time in my near future. Roxy says Coney Island is like Pt. Pleasant, “but on crack.” Cool.)

But that was Wednesday. I totally skipped over Tuesday. What did I do on Tuesday? Let me think… Oh, yeah, I did nothing. I did laundry, actually, so it wasn’t nothing. Also, MTV2 was showing White Stripes videos for about a half an hour. That was about all I could take of MTV2. I just can’t deal with it anymore. Between the crappy cookie-cutter music videos from crappy bands and the incessant, agonizingly stupid commercials, MTV2 sucks as much as it’s momma. There needs to be a better word for what bad commercials are. It’s not that I’m totally against advertising. Actually, there are some commercials I cherish. Others, I loath. Can you give me a word that perfectly describes how cheap and like a tool I feel after watching 90% of commercials on the air today? I would really appreciate it. Grrr. It’s got me mad just thinking about it.

< tangent >

What makes a really bad commercial? Let me tell you. Playing the Creed-clone-of-the-week song over young, sexy people enjoying whatever product you are trying to sell just pisses me right off. Any commercial that tries to sell an image and not a product pisses me off. I hate commercials for feminine hygiene products. Talk about inuendo and beating around the bush! They never come out and say anything! And razor blade commercials? They’re not saying “this blade works better than others.” It’s the same with any male-oriented product ad that uses women in a sexy way. What they’re really trying to say is “this woman will have sex with you if you by our *fill in the blank*.” It’s disgusting. What kind of commercials do I like? I really like commercials where the owner or founder actually talks to you. I loved Dave’s Wendy’s commercials. They just seemed honest, no pretense. Kind of like the Bush’s Baked Beans commercials. Sure, they’re cheesy, what with the talking dog and all, but again, they seem honest and without pretense. Those types of commercials actually make me want to buy the advertised product. Or remember those ABC Warehouse commercials? Those work, too. So for all you people out there making stupid, sell-out type commercials, take head, because I don’t think I’m alone in this.

< /tangent >

OK, that’s all I’ve got to say for today. Take care…

ON AIR: The Raveonettes - Beat City

I ate a peach for lunch

Published
by
Andy
on 7/6/2004
in Log and Observations
. 0 Comments

Hello, long time no see. You remember me, right? Having that moment where you can’t remember that guy’s name? Feeling like an ass, because he remembers yours? Don’t you hate that feeling?

OK, so my weekend was excellent. Last you heard, I was heading into the weekend of the Glorious 4th, and glorious is was, indeed.

Friday night was excellent as I was able to leave work early in order to dine with good friends Talula, Mouse, and J in honor of Mouse’s birthday. We dined at Osaka, a Japanese restaurant in Bradley Beach. It was good stuff. I had some noodles and spicy chicken. It was good. I also sampled some sushi. I’m usually pretty opposed to eating raw fish, but this particular raw fish was tasty. Plus it had wasabi. Calling wasabi spicy is kind of an understatement. It’s not really a spice. It’s more like a fire, especially if you happen to exhale a little through your nose. It’s excrutiatingly good stuff. I highly recommend it. To go with dinner, we bought some Sapporo, a Japanese beer. (Check out their Web site. You can download a neat sushi screensaver. Ha ha.) It’s pretty tasty. I can’t really say what was distinctly Japanese about it. It is interesting out here in Jersey, though, that many restaurants have a BYOB policy. They won’t sell you alcohol, but you’re allowed to bring in into the restaurant. In some ways it’s awesome because you can bring whatever you want, but in other ways it’s frustrating because you have to have it before you get there. (Unless there’s a liqour store 2 stores down, which was the case on Friday.) Anyway, the restaurant was good.

After that, we wanted to try to see this band play at a club called Crossroads in Asbury Park, but we ended up arriving too late, and the band had already played. So we went to the Stone Pony, instead. There was some kind of music festival going on, but it cost to get in so we just stood outside and looked through the fence. After that, we met Roxy at this tiki bar on the side of Convention Hall and had a few drinks. Not great drinks, but a really nice location. Maybe the drinks will improve. Our final destination for the night was Asbury Lanes, a bowling ally/hipster bar. It has apparently been renovated quite a bit since the girls had been there before, and I think it was pretty nice. Good music, nice atmosphere. The scene was a little pretentious for my taste, but I can deal with that. Everyone’s a little pretentious in their own little way. So that was my Friday.

Saturday was a pretty mellow day, which I was grateful for. I slept in late, so that always makes for a good day. Then Roxy and I did some yard work, including cutting the grass. The grass always looks so much better when it’s been cut.

After the chores were done, Roxy and I set out to find some film for an old Polaroid SX-70 she had in the house. We found some in Belmar. We also found some Italian ice and some ingredients for mixed beverages. Then we went to Bradley Beach and found some Foccaccia (Foccaccia is kind of like a pizza, but it’s just bread with cut up and dried vegetables on it. And it’s damn good) and also a beautiful cake with strawberry frosting.

Then the Bad Girl Posse (i.e. Roxy, Mouse, and J. (Talula bailed)) and I went to Red Bank to meet Dope and see some fireworks. That was nice. Afterward we went back to Roxy’s and enjoyed our cake and mixed drinks in honor of Talula’s upcoming birthday. She’s turning 29. It’s weird. Roxy just turned 29 a couple of weeks ago. Funny coincidence, huh? Those crazy girls…

Sunday was, of course, the Glorious 4th. The main thing on the agenda for that day was the block party in Roxy’s neighborhood. But before we could enjoy that, we had to prepare a dish to contribute to the potluck dinner. And in order to do that, Roxy and I had to go get some ingredients. She took me to this place in a nearby town. It was kind of like a farmer’s market, except a little more like a grocery store. All I know is they had great produce. (As a matter of fact, I just ate a peach we bought there. Damn good.) Roxy bought stuff to make mango salsa, which I’d never had before. It was also damn good. We took our groceries home and then added Roxy’s damn good mango salsa to a collection of other damn good foods. All in all, it was a damn good day for food. Also that day Dope had a photo shoot with Roxy and Mouse. He’s a portrait photographer, and the girls wanted to take advantage of him in that way. It was also sad, though, as it was Dope’s last day with us. He flew off in the night back to Arizona. It was good meeting you, Dope.

Monday was like a capstone to a very good weekend. Roxy and I went to a record store in Princeton. Yes, it’s that Princeton. The campus was fun to see. The record store was awesome. I bought 5 CDs. We also had fish and chips at a restaurant called Triumph. Damn good.

Well, you’re probably tired of reading about the adventures that you’re not having, so I’ll wrap this up. You might have noticed, if you scrolled to the bottom of the page, that there is now a banner that reads “November 2.” This is not an ad, really. It’s just a link to this Web site called november2.org. It’s just a voting awareness site, but it’s very cool. I suggest you check it out.

OK, until that day, take care…

ON AIR: Gang of Four - Better Him Than Me

Chris Noth and the Glorious 4th

Published
by
Andy
on 7/2/2004
in Log
. 0 Comments

So last night I went to pick up Roxy yet again from Newark, to go on yet again another weeknight adventure. This time it was to attempt entry into a swanky Manhattan nightclub called Bungalow 8. You see, I had received an invitation to a party there, but unfortunately Roxy and I arrived after the party was supposedly over, and we didn’t have a reservation, so we were not allowed to enter. Oh well. Better luck next time.

Instead, we went to this really spiffy diner down the street. It was neat. We sat at the counter and looked through a Village Voice to see if there was anything else of interest going on near us. We also had some snacks. I had some really good fries and Roxy had a salad. (Dope is in D.C. for a few days, so he missed out.) There was also a piano player in the corner. It was picturesque. Kind of reminded you of Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. OK, maybe not exactly like that. But closer to that than to Steak & Shake.

After the diner, we still hadn’t come up with anything to do, so we drove to a different part of town. We went to this bar called The Cutting Room, which is owned in part by actor Chris Noth. I was crossing my fingers that we’d catch him in there, but alas we didn’t. Roxy and I were of two minds on the subject. While she was most familiar with Noth as Mr. Big from Sex & the City, I was of course a much bigger fan of his Law & Order character, Det. Mike Logan. Either way it was pretty cool. It was pretty swank, too. And there was no guest list to deal with. I’d definitely go back. Go Chris.

So the 4th of July is coming on Sunday. Ah, the glorious 4th. When we all sit back and pat ourselves on the back for having such a great country. I wonder, what will Iraq’s celebration of independence be like a year from now? Isn’t it funny that their newly-established born-on date is so close to our own? I wonder if all those free Iraqis like fireworks? That’s a pretty dumb question. They love to blow stuff up!

On Monday I want all of you to go to news.google.com and search for “fireworks accident” and see how many hits you get. We Americans love us some fireworks. We loves to blow stuff up.

Anyway, so I’m going to be near Asbury Park on the 4th. That’s pretty cool. Hopefully there’ll be some good fireworks.

Paybacks rock the hüs

Published
by
Andy
on 7/1/2004
in Log
. 0 Comments

Last night was another great night. For the second time in two nights, I drove to Newark to pick up Roxy and Dope. Except this time we didn’t just go home. No, not even close. We drove to Hoboken (just across the river from the city) and saw a show. It was a band called The Paybacks and it rocked. They were playing this very small club called Maxwell’s. The band is from Detroit, and they definitely carried that garage-rock sound. If they come your way, make an effort to see them.

I even had the opportunity to talk to a couple of the band members, and ask one to come visit Muncie the next time he’s in the Midwest. He said sure. Maybe it’ll happen.

So it was a fun night. Go to their Web site. I think they have an mp3 you can download to get a taste of what I’m talking about.

After that, we really did go home. I was pretty tired, but it was worth it.

And I have big plans again for tonight, so stay tuned.

Take care…

(ha ha! a really short post!)