Like It Was 1993 All Over Again

Saw Eric Bachmann last night at Southpaw. It was a great show - the best I've seen him put on in a number of years. He was in a great mood, took requests all night, and did a nice mix of songs from the entire Crooked Fingers catalog.

And then he busted out with this to start the encore. I missed the first few seconds of my recording opportunity because this might have been the LAST song I expected to hear last night and was not prepared to record it.

He followed this up with rousing versions of New Drink for the Old Drunk, Red Devil Dawn (the closest I've felt to feeling the old Archers energy from him in a long time) and closed it out with A Little Bleeding from the first Crooked Fingers LP which is now inexplicably eight years old!

The crowd was into it all night. It was a great show. One of the best ones I've seen in a long time. The crowd was definitely chockful of thirtysomethings growing older with Mr. Bachmann. At least on this night, growing older felt pretty damn good.

It wasn't all nostalgia though. He played a new song that he'll be recording next month for the new Crooked Fingers LP and it was really good. I look forward to the fall when his next offering is released.

I Cry Foul to Silly Modern Art

Over the winter break, SHR and I went to the Whitney for some culture. We were both quite disappointed in our visit for many reasons. We wanted to like the Kara Walker more than we did. We wanted more of the Jacob Lawrence Great Migration series instead of the few that were there.

Okay, no big deal on either of those fronts. But what got us was how lame this exhibit was. Maybe we just aren't artsy or smart enough to get it. Then again, I think we kind of did get it. And what we got was unimpressive. I wasn't even as annoyed by the whole thing as much as SHR was so I'll let her chime in in the comments section.

But what really sealed the deal for me was when I walked into the room pictured below.

I didn't look down since I was looking at what was on the walls. A security guard quickly came up to me to scold me to not stand on the art. Say what now? I looked down and saw that I was stepping on a splotch of pink paint. Hmmmm.... okay. You want to call that art, that is fine with me. Honestly. I'm smart enough to know that art is in the eye of the beholder and that I don't really know all that much about art in general to get too opinionated about it.

But come on! If you don't want me to step on your art, then block it off. Or let people stand on it and then as it gets dirty that becomes part of the art as the color of the paint changes.

It wasn't even that crowded on the day we were there. How do they police the spot on a crowded weekend day? Utterly silly.

I did very much enjoy the Ingo Maurer exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt though.

Was Today the Best Day Ever?

1. The Mets traded for Johan Santana, the best starting pitcher in baseball. Wow! I sincerely hope that the Mets adapt this great truck giveaway at some point during this upcoming season.

2. Goodbye Giuliani, goodbye.

3. And perhaps the most interesting news. Crash is going to be a TV show! Crash is going to be a TV show! Holy moly! As you all know, I'm a huge fan of this movie and can not wait to see what Paul Haggis has up his sleeves to fill up 13 hours more of his brilliant brilliant opus! I've never been happier to be a Starz subscriber.

A List from Listmaker

1. SHR is in Cannes and I miss her. She sent me an e-mail the other day that read:

Tried to take a quick cat nap at the hotel but the world bowls championship was on and I got hooked. Google that - it's like bocce and boules but not. Lots of cute little dogs but that also means lots of little poops everywhere.

I did check it out. Looks awesome but I couldn't find any video of it.

2. Slice sent this e-mail around on Friday.

On Slate today:

Dear Prudie,
I met a great guy at a board-game party, and we really hit it off. There was a lot of one-on-one interaction, joking, and flirtation between the two of us. When he knew the answers, he'd whisper them to me, when I knew, I'd whisper them to him, our knees and arms were touching most of the night, and he even grasped my hand at one point. My two girlfriends even noticed, and after we'd left, they said that the flirtation was completely mutual. The guy came with us to the door when we left, and asked if I had any plans for the rest of the weekend. I said I didn't. I was sure he was going to ask for my number or suggest plans for later, but he didn't (granted, the window of time was not enormous as I headed out the door), and I'm really disappointed. I'm 26, so I've had my share of dating experiences, and I've concluded I generally like for the guy to take the initiative in the beginning. Is this misguided? I just think I've gotten better results when the guy takes the lead (or at least thinks he does!). Is there any way to still salvage this initial spark?

—Wishing for a "Closer"

Hmmmm ... was this at Balgavy's board game party or are board game parties spreading all over this great city of ours?

3. I decided to give Breaking Bad another shot and now I'm hooked.

4. For all the haters out there, this is for you. Thanks for the link Josh.

5. Welcome Hot Tub Eric to the world of blogs and such.

6. Dick Cheney looks even scarier in HD than he does in standard definition. HD sure highlights the menacing.

7. A number of my students held a bakesale at a local farmer's market on Saturday and raised a little over 300 hundred dollars to donate to the Obama campaign. They were kicked out for not having the proper permit and were told by the person doing the kicking that he didn't support Obama anyway. This didn't stop my students from giving him a homemade Support Obama poster.

I Have a New Obsession

It is called Settlers of Catan.

I didn't do so well last night (Congratulations Jamie on your two victories) but I'm ready for more.

How many more days until I get to play this again?

Ticket to Ride Europe, have fun eating Settlers of Catan dust!

Sitcoms About Waitresses Have Influenced My Palate For Too Long!

This past weekend I was discussing grits with Mitch and he was surprised that I have never tried them. I don't think I've ever even had a bite. If I have, it didn't register. I think I might be ready to try them and give them a chance. Are they as gooey and mushy as they look?

I'll wait until the Clinton Hill Gastronome can take pictures of the attempt so she can report on the momentous occasion.  
I love the letters in this particular bowl of grits.  

Marlon Brando's Favorite Brand

Last night, SHR, Balgavy, and I went to the first class session of Adult Education at Union Hall. One of the presenters mentioned the Land O Lakes trick where you can turn a regular package into something a bit naughtier.

Snopes describes it thusly:

Folding common paper images such as currency and familiar product packaging to produce amusing (and often risqué) new images is a pastime with a long history. After all, several generations of kids have now learned that if you cut a few holes in a package of "Land O Lakes" butter and fold the portion with the pictured Native American girl's knees up just right, you can make it look like she's holding her breasts:

I started cracking up during the presentation, leaned over to SHR and told her that my grandfather used to do that trick. She couldn't believe it. "Grandpa?" she asked? "Really?"

The answer is yes. That man had many tricks up his sleeves and this was merely one of many. I've never seen anyone else do this trick but apparently it is pretty well known. All I know is that from the time I was a little kid, my grandfather loved to do this trick every now and again because it always made me laugh.

Learn to create your own here.

Two TV Thoughts

1. Why does HBO broadcast the "previously on" scenes of The Wire in widescreen when the show is shot and broadcast in standard format?

2. I've always thought that HBO aims to be a bit more cinematic with their shows than Showtime does. Showtime strives to make edgier TV while HBO strives to make filmlike series that happen to be on TV. Or something like that. Hence the "It's not TV, it's HBO" tagline.

So with that in mind, I'd say AMC's Mad Men would have fit well on HBO. The new Breaking Bad would fit well on Showtime. I will not be watching the second episode.

Taking Up Space on My DVR's Hard Drive

Someone who lives in my apartment is recording this movie right now.

And I'm pretty sure that it isn't me.

Lucky Number Slevin?

Really?

Is this a direct result of the writer's strike messing with the TV season?

Maybe I'll watch it.

A Big Week for Huey News!

Mitch told me about this a few weeks ago but I kept forgetting to google it until yesterday. Seth Rogen apparently has asked Huey to write a song for his upcoming stoner comedy for this summer. I don't think I've been as excited to see a movie since Back to the Future!

I stole this picture from somewhere but I'm too lazy to actually doublecheck where from. I just know it wasn't from Brooklyn Vegan.

This Happened in October But There Isn't Any Reason Why I Can't Post This Now

October is the month of Conkers. 2005 and 2006 saw Mr. Mondale and Mr. Boss Man face off against each other. In 2007, Mr. Mondale left the country (something about getting caught running a pyramid scheme) and it was left to me to fight the good fight against Mr. Boss Man.

Mr. Boss Man has had a lifetime to prepare for the battle. I had a few scattered skirmishes in '05 and that's about it. Mr. Boss Man supplied me with my conker.

We battled. I didn't do so well at first but then I got better. Then he became frustrated and switched his Conker mid battle to a huge proven King Conker. A bit shifty, don't you think?

Anyway, this video is a compilation of the highlights of the three years of battles. The first half is what I presented to the children assembled to watch the blood sport to pump them up and get them rooting for me. The second half is my recent creation culled from the footage that MacTechWitch shot.

To this day, I have a class of first graders obsessed with me because of this match. When I walk past their classroom, I hear them call out to each other "Mr. Listmaker just walked by. Mr. Listmaker just walked by!"

I Don't Quite Know What to Make of This

Garth Brooks And Huey Lewis "Working For A Livin"

On one hand, I'm happy for any Huey sighting. On the other hand, it is with Garth Brooks and the new lyrics and the whole Nascar stuff is a bit much.

I Was Tempted to Watch the Entire Movie So I Could Review It on My Movie Blog

Recently, Balgavy pronounced that he loved the movie Music and Lyrics. As he said, he enjoys watching romantic comedies while eating dinner.

This intrigued a few of us to watch it ourselves. Jim watched it last night and started an e-mail thread today.

Jim: OK, so I watched Music and Lyrics. And I kinda liked it! My favorite part was definitely the PoP video with Jason Street.

Me: i had to stop after 30 minutes. a terrible movie. did like the first 3 minutes though.

Mitch: I'm with Listmaker on this one- Drew is cute and I liked the video too but it was all downhill from there.

Jim: There were definitely some bad and even horrible aspects, but I thought Hugh Grant was funny. And I have always hated him (but I don't know if I've even seen any of his movies). Also, I admit I changed the channel a few times and I was cooking and doing other stuff around the house while watching it so I wasn't paying attention 100%. So that probably helped. But yeah, the 3-minute video was by far the best thing about it. And they played it again at the end credits, which maybe helped my favorable opinion. Honestly, it being a romantic comedy, all of which pretty much make me want to vomit, I only gave it a chance because Marc liked it. I'm just saying it was a little better than I would have expected from any movie like that. But now that you're making me feel crazy for being positive about it at all, I should probably deny that I ever said anything.

Me: oh my god jim, your writing here just convinced me that i liked the movie! shr watched the whole thing - fastforwarded though some of the boring parts. there was absolutely no chemistry between the 2 actors. you should see a good hugh grant vehicle and then compare it to this bad movie. maybe you just like hugh grant and were so pleasantly surprised by that fact that you overlooked how bad the movie was. drew barrymore's sister was hideous.

SHR: i normally poo-poo hugh grant (and french cuffs for that matter) as well, but found him utterly charming in this role. he's aged pretty well and can still shake it.

the amazonian lady from 3rd rock is really really scary. she looks like a crazy version of fergie and i think fergie is already crazy looking herself.

i ffwed through most of the singing parts, and like all of the crazy diapered diva mysticism too. instead of brad garrett as grant's manager, i would have liked to have seen willie garson!

Jim: Yeah that 3rd Rock From the Sun woman is horrible. She should not be in any movie. The "dark" lyricist or whatever was dumb. I liked that one of that girl's songs was called "Entering Bootytown." I think that went a long way for me. What else did I like about it besides that and the video? Honestly now that you are forcing me to think about it, yeah it was bad. But nothing else was on! I was trying to watch yet another Anthony Bourdain eating adventure but decided that I have reached my limit of that for now. I can't watch him eating anymore.

You'll notice in my first e-mail that I said I "kinda" liked it. Really I was just trying to say that Marc isn't totally crazy. But I guess I've failed at that now.

Me: still waiting for marc to chime in with a spirited defense!

Mitch: I'll shamelessly admit that I really like Hugh Grant, and I actually had reasonable expectations for this one. I've made no secret of my feelings about "The Remains of the Day," in which he has a small role, and I also am a sucker for "Four Weddings and a Funeral"whenever it's on USA or whatever channel - but that's also because I like the girl who plays his spunky roommate. OK, and even "Notting Hill" is a guilty pleasure. Maybe we should start a book club for cheesy HBO movies.

Marc: Listmaker - I will not be producing some "spirited defense." What's to defend? I have a weakness for romantic comedies (preferably, time-travel romantic comedies but I'm willing to overlook the lack of a sci-fi element in this film) and you only like them when there is "chemistry" between the leads. In the case of MUSIC AND LYRICS all the chemistry was between Drew and me.She is sensational. She lights up the screen and she's just a bit off, which allows viewers to imagine themselves as her friend - possibly out to save her from herself. I have no intention of ever watching this movie again. I will also note that I found the dialogue rather strong for this sort of movie but I can produce no concrete examples. I recall watching it thinking it is much better than most of the Lifetime For Women shit I normally watch. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I watched this one hungover on a weekend morning. It appealed to me in an "aww, isn't that cute" sort of way. I cannot help it if I have become a person I hate. It's not my fault I now like the cinematical equivalent of kittens dangling from branches posters that tell you to "hang in there."

Jim: You recommended seeing "a good Hugh Grant vehicle," what would you put in that category? Lair of the White Worm?

SHR: Mickey Blue Eyes?

Any other recommendations for Jim?

Another Brooklyn Donut Shop Bites the Dust

No word yet on whether or not this will also become a Dunkin' Donuts but I do know that you can probably buy the letters at the collectibles shop right across the street on 5th Ave. The guys who took the letters down promptly walked them across the street to the store.

I dug this place. But gentrification marches on so what can be done?

The Third Annual Board Game Party

My first game of the day was People. It was from 1984 so all the questions were quite dated. The oldest person at the table won, the second oldest finished in second, and the third oldest (yours truly) came in third. I'm pretty sure that places 4-6 were also in order of age. If I had answered Jimmy Connors rather than Borg near the very end, I would have won! And for the record, the two guys on the right didn't know anything about the show The Facts of Life. What?
My answer sheet for the game on the best notepad paper ever.
The height of the gaming action.
At the end of the night, we played a bit of Werewolf. I was one of the two werewolves. Woo hoo killing!
The end of the night saw a game of Ticket to Ride Europe and a two person Battle of the Sexes.
Next year, the first game I'll play will be The Yuppie Game.


It wouldn't be a recent Listmaker entry without some movies.

Tumblin Dice and Werewolf


Match Game


Card Sharks


I can't get enough Mitch as a game show host. For those who need even more Mitch action, check out two movies from last year's Family Feud.
Movie 1
Movie 2

Thanks again for Marc for some great gaming action! I can't wait for 2009. And thanks again for the iron on logo!

Building Up to 2008

12/27
Mitch's bowling birthday
Mitch loved his Family Feud board game gift. His brother Todd and sister-in-law Kelley were in town.

12/28
SHR and I went to Woodstock for the night.
12/29
On the way back to the city, we stopped at the FDR Presidential Library. We were both big fans of the LBJ Library on our visit there last summer. Hyde Park was a bit of a disappointment in comparison.
We arrived back in Brooklyn for Alex and Anne's 2nd annual It's not New Year's Party. DJ Larry was tuckered out by the end of the evening.
12/31
Waiting for the bus to Sidecar


Everyone's favorite host prepared for midnight.





Nothing says "Happy New Year" like a great piece of cake. Thanks for sharing Jim.







By the time I left, DJ Larry was doing much better than he was at the end of the previous party.

Did the Buddha Cry This Christmas?

2005
2006
2007

Not sure how to feel but determined not to cry. The Peanut is an old pro by now.
Who is this guy in the beard? Still determined not to cry but not really having much fun.
Trying to get as far away as possible. How many pictures are going to be taken?
She checks in to see how her sister is reacting to make sure that everything is okay.


The Buddha begs to be saved.
Trying to figure out just who the hell this character is.
Leave me alone, you freak!
His hand feels like a human hand ...

She spies an opening.
Almost free and the first smile.
Present Time



The Peanut and the Buddha watch themselves on their new DVD. We watched a few of the pre-Buddha movies first which prompted the Buddha to get jealous and leave the room in a huff.
Dinner Time

Watch a movie of a few of the day's highlights.