I walked the distance from my apartment to my house today without ever actually getting to my house. This is not a short walk: it basically spans the entire width of Center City and cuts north and south into more residential neighborhoods. It was sunny when i finally made it out of Drexel’s campus after multiple interruptions. Two blocks from picking up my last paycheck from the coffee shop i thought i saw a spot of rain on the pavement. When i left the shop it was drizzling. When i left the first music store i had on my itinerary it was drizzling, and by the time i crossed over Market street it was pouring. The whole time i shopped on South Street it was miserable and i was damp. I regretted that i had decided to walk all the way there and prepared to catch the subway back to Drexel.
As i left the last store on my shopping excursion, the rain halted as if someone hit an off-switch. For the entirety of my walk to Market street to catch the El i felt as though the sun was a follow-spotlight that was tracking me from block to block; everything around me was lit up brighter than it was across the street or further down the block, and my shadow was thrown huge against the sidewalk. The sun actually seemed to be pointing itself right at me. I was glowing.
Personal
Interestingly enough, i got the Patti Rothberg album the day i (sorta) started seeing Selina; it’s the day we use(d) as our anniversary. The fact that Freddie just emailed me today about something i wrote on that day is … ironic. Yeah, ironic… and i’m still a shithead.
Well, i was going to post a public apology, but then it got lost to a shuffle of copy and pastes, so here’s the condensed version.
I slagged the new Patti Rothberg record on the 11th of January. I didn’t like it. Since then, i’ve grown to like it, but it’s my stance that i don’t reccomend albums that i don’t like on my first listen to the general public (though i still have kind words for them to fans), so i never updated my review.
This week Mr. Freddie Katz, Patti’s current guitarist and songwriting pal, found my site via Google and read my scathing review and my indictment of him as the fault behind why i didn’t like the album. He emailed me and basically pegged me as the kind of fan who isn’t. It hurt. But, it was true, because what i said hurt him, and as a member of the general public i shouldn’t have that right.
Whoever knew someone mildly famous might randomly search down their name on my website? Certainly not i. Anyhow, i replied to Freddie and apologized, and informed him that i quite like the record now, which is true. I honestly would have rather heard Patti produce herself, or play every guitar on the record again, but she’s the artist and he claims the record met her artistic vision … which is enough for me.
Anyhow, my best wishes to Patti and Freddie in the future. I’ll still be listening. I dunno if either of them ever want to talk to me again, though. I think what this all proves is that i’m a shithead… yep. In case you hadn’t figured it out already.
In actual cool news, Kevin from SurvivorBlog and Fury.com won the award for Best Humor/Satire site of 2000 at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival (which i was hoping to attend; maybe next year?). He nabbed the award despite being an alternate finalist, which is especially cool, and he was also invited to speak on a panel about humor on the internet. He won for his highly amusing creation aoLiza, which is essentially an automated IM name that can endlessly prattle back and forth with you without really giving away that no one is actually listening. The humor can be found in the random people who IM Liza just for fun, and the conversations which ensue. Kevin offers a much better explanation on his site, so you ought to go read.
Isn’t it neat when i have award-winning friends and linkees? Now i’ve just got to ask Kevin who i have to fuck to get nominated for something next year :p
The aforementioned Biz Stone has a link to the movie site for Plan B, which happens to be the title of one of the most disarmingly entertaining books i’ve read in the past year. A cursory glance at the site would seem to indicate that it doesn’t have anything to do with the book, which sucks, because i was really hoping for a movie version of it! The book is essentially the story of five friends who are all about to turn 30 while still being totally miserable and unadult. One of them happens to be a movie star, and his cocaine addiction brings the five of them together for some arson, car accidents, fisticuffs in the middle of the road, and sex. Just pretend that Joey on Friends was slightly more intelligent and a much better actor, and then you might have an idea of the relationships all of the other characters have to each other. Anyhow, i was really excited for a second there. Also, Biz Stone seems to rock, so go read him.