You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August, 2007.
yup, it’s that time again - time for the mn state fair.
one of two things will happen tomorrow when cb and i go to the fair. 1) i will leave feeling very full from eating the plethora of weird food on a stick options that make our state fair special. or 2) i will be in jail after going on a mass killing spree (crowds tend to make me cranky - well, crankier than usual i should say).
some fun facts:
- the fair is the largest in the nation (based on daily attendance numbers)
- the first state fair was held in 1859 and has been held every year since with the exception of 5 (due to war’s, polio outbreaks and the worlds fair in chicago)
- every year they sculpt a bust of “princess kay of the milky way” out of butter. yes, butter.
- vice president teddy roosevelt’s famous line “speak softly and carry a big stick” was first uttered at the fair on steptember 2, 1901. four day’s later, he became president after william mckinley was assassinated.
- at the fair you can get:
- alligator on a stick
- spaghetti and meatballs on a stick (very tasty, worth the long line if you ask me)
- deep fried candy bar’s on a stick
- black cherry flavored pickles on a stick
- macaroni and cheese on a stick
- deep fried chocolate chip cookies on a stick
- sloppy joes on a stick
- cheese on a stick
- oriental lemon chicken on a stick
- rocky road scones on a stick
- batter dipped fried fruit on a stick
- key lime pie dipped in chocolate on a stick
- lamb on a stick
- machinery hill (where the tractors are) rocks. where else can you play on big equipment like it’s a life-sized tonka truck?
- the haunted house is also one of my favorites - also worth the long line
hopefully i will make it out without killing anyone with some great pics - stay tuned.
i repeat, this is not porn. even tho’ it may have lot’s and lot’s of hunky guys playing with their balls.
hi all -
just hanging out in a ballroom at a hotel in atlanta for the 2nd of the five retail sales meetings i’m producing…
not much to report (other than there are no hot guys in this group! how discouraging).
more later…
so i’m home from boston with just the slightest beginning of a cold. ugg… this is so the wrong time for me to get sick
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boston went well. very well. so well in fact, we are changing things! boston was the first of 5 touring retail sales meetings for the management team from our stores. it seriously did go well, but in so many ways it was certainly a dress rehearsal (being the first)… lots of changes to the music, decor and presentation.
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very little down time in boston - was staying at the fairmont in copley place right across the street from trinity church. i did get a chance to do a bit of a walk-about last night. anxious to see if my pic’s turned out
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reason #8594 ipods rock. whilst on the plane today (comp upgrade to first class, can’t beat that) had my ipod ‘catch‘ on random and was reminded how much i love the album ‘things to make and do’ by the band moloko. i’ve always enjoyed that album, but it tends to not be in the forefront for me. when the track pure pleasure seeker came on, i immediately got a smile on face and restructured catch to play the whole album. i love moloko’s sense of play and whimsy. if your not familiar with them, they’re similar in a bunch of ways to goldfrapp, but much lighter. while the band is alas, no more - it was a great reminder how much i love them. roisin murphy’s (the singer) new solo album comes out in a couple months - very psyched about that.
here’s the video for the track ‘the time is now’ from the album:
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it’s cb’s birthday on sunday. i finaly figured out what to get him. it fuckin‘ rocks. can’t wait for him to see it. he’s gonna dig it sooooooo much. i love spoiling my friends. :-)
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i have another hair show this weekend in minneapolis and then leave for sales meeting number 2 in atlanta monday morning. as such, posts will continue to be sporadic for a bit.
i got the following email on my blackberry from my office earlier… one can only imagine the horror!
Employees,
Please be advised that an employee was bitten multiple times by a squirrel last evening near the south entrance to the manufacturing facility as she was walking on the sidewalk. The employee received a number of bites which required medical care at a hospital. Animal control was unable to capture the squirrel last night and the Facility and Security Teams are currently attempting to locate the squirrel so that it may be captured.
The squirrel was observed as behaving abnormally by a number of employees last night after the incident and showed no fear of people. Please be aware of any squirrels that you may come into contact with at the facility that approach you as the squirrel gave no warning. The Child’s Garden has been advised of the incident and children will not be playing on the playground today.
Additional information on the status of the squirrel will be issued to employees when it becomes available.
Thank you,
Mark
a question comes to mind… how would one know if a squirrel was behaving abnormally or not? another question. who are these employees who observed the offending squirrel? how much time do they have on their hands?
maybe the rocket launcher gave it away? watch out folk’s there’s a squirrel army on the rise!
wow - what a weekend… this past weekend saw the start of my busiest time of year (as if i was just twiddling my thumbs before - i know, but i’m about to get insanely busy).
this weekend i supported my team at a training for our educators that flew into minneapolis to learn our fall/winter collection and now i’m about to board a flight to boston where i’m producing a sales meeting….
following that:
thursday i fly home and promptly ramp up for a hair show next weekend in minneapolis.
monday, i fly to atlanta for another sales meeting.
then i’m home for a week - woo wee, time off.
the friday after labor day, i’m off to detroit for a hair show, then sunday after the show i’m off to baltimore for sales meeting #3.
home on thursday, then friday - cleveland for a hair show. directly after the show i’m off again to dallas for #4.
the following monday i’m off to san francisco for the final sales meeting. then home for a full two weeks before i’m back out on the road to cincinnati for a show…. home for two weeks (and hammer’s wedding), then the final show of the season - miami.
sshhees, i need a nap just typing that out.
in other news, cb moved to the twin cities last week. i haven’t had much time to hang with him, but did help him shop for a new tv on friday. always fun spending other people’s money.
and of course today is his first day at work at his new job in minneapolis, so if you have a minute, send him a note of encouragement here.
see ya’ll in boston!
p.s., i’m exceedingly disturbed that i like the new nickleback tune “rockstar”
after what proved to be an exceedingly long day at work (one of many for the next 6 weeks) and fighting completely crappy traffic in minneapolis since my primary route fell into the mississippi river - i finally got home and anxiously went to get the mail thinking this was the day i’d get the new entertainment weekly (aka my bible) - did i get the new ew? no. i most certainly did not.
i did however get a copy of the brand new undergear catalog!?
what.in.gay.hell?
how did i get on that mailing list i wonder?
seriously, if the guys at undergear could see me the would know most certainly i’m not their target audience. i mean, yea, i’m gay and everything - but i’m not one of those guys.
**warning - blatant stereotype ahead**
yes, i assume they make the magazine purely for euro-fags who live in boystown, the castro and chelsea* and have all the time in the world to go to the gym and then hit all the circuit parties.
i mean, seriously. look at this stuff:
this model kills me - i mean seriously how cheesy is this guy - all rico suave:
and i don’t even know where to begin with this one… oh the hours that must have been spent shaving/waxing/epilading…:
now, with all that done and said - undergear is not without its redeeming qualities… i mean, how hot is this:
it’s like undergear porn. if i were a 13 yr old with no access to the real thing (or the vhs equivilant), i’d so be all over this in a magazine!
*disclaimer; there are many many many hot guys in boystown, chelsea and the castro who wouldn’t be caught dead in that white number up above… thank god.
are you really living
or do you seek loving
are you happy being
or do you search for meaning
are you ever asking
questions they need answering
you’re not really hearing
you really need releasing
words by unkle
art by robert del naja
promotional pic for recoil’s (aka alan wilder) new disk subHuman
a) i love this new disk… to quote one review “the new album gives the term ‘electro-blues’ actual flesh and bones.
b) i’m really digging the first single prey. especially the ‘reduction’ mix from itunes.
c) i’ve always had a lil’ crush on alan wilder. ssshhh… don’t tell anyone.
d) if anyone’s interested in checking it out, and if your not familer with recoil’s work - just a word of warning… this isn’t easy/casual/breezy music. to say it’s a lil’ challenging is an understatement. but it’s beautiful just the same.
introducing atomic pop-ink!
your atomic pop! location for all things body modification! follow my journey down the tattoo path. additionally, it’s the place to go to find amazing tattoos - some of which are on my friends… some of which are on people i want to be my friend <hehehe>
check out some new blogs to my blog roll - these guys always get me going.
cubland - lot’s and lots of cub’s, oh my!
robocub - hmmm hot hairy guy + robots? what’s not to love?!
the sean show - hot tattooed music freak… is it about me? lol
by the bayou - cb turned me onto this site as he loves christopher moore almost as much as i do. but what keeps me coming back is the damn dog… so f’ing cute.
edited for television - ok, who doesn’t love siouxsie sioux? who doesn’t love blogs about her? ok, ok, i realize just me - but seriously check him out - great pop culture, great gay stuff, great blog.
jeff’s fancy blog - minneapolis boy? check! prince fan? check! gay guy? check!
superviviente - a really cool blog from a great guy named josh.
urswine addiction - another hot hunky guy; just happens to be witty as hell too.
dulce y peligroso - my current fav blog… this guy rocks.
black coffee & bourbon - this guy is wicked smart and has great perspective. love it.
last night i had the opportunity to see an advance screening of the new movie produced and narrated by leonardo dicaprio - ‘the 11th hour’. the company i work for is partnering with warner bros. independent the film’s distributor. hence scoring some free passes!
the film is a documentary about the environmental state of the world. not just about global warming, it also touches on pollution, water issues, population etc. normally this type of movie would be right up my tree-hugger nature but i can’t quite recommend it. at least not whole-heartedly.
there is no question that the movie has interviews with some of the most brilliant minds alive today and that it’s talking about something of vital importance. but my challenge comes with the complete lack of hope i was left with at the end of the film. it was just so terribly overwhelming. i’m knee-deep in the eco-world as it is and i read about many of these issues every day and i care deeply that we as a collective human tribe figure out how to get out of the mess we’ve made for ourselves (and soon!). i wonder how the causal viewer who doesn’t know much about the issues would fare? i walked out feeling dejected and without hope.
i don’t think that’s what the filmmakers were going after.
i will say that i was very impressed with the roster of speakers, including one of my favorite’s - david suzuki, who had this to say in the film (an interesting perspective):
“i realized we’ve framed the environmental problem the wrong way. there’s no environment “out there” for us to interact with. we are the environment, because we are the earth. for me, that began a whole shift in the way that i looked at the issues that confront us and the way we live on this planet.” - david suzuki
there are some great bits in the film and i do think people should see it. click on the poster above to be taken to the film’s website, or here’s the trailer, and keep you eye out for it in your neck of the woods - check it out if it sounds interesting.
i love love love “caption this” style posts in other blogs. so much so that i am blatantly stealing the concept because i’m sure that my readers pithy captions will rock. especially those of folks like cb, brian, ray, landry and the like. come on folk’s don’t let me down. submit your caption for the below foto in the comments section!
ok, so you may have read that i kinda like this minneapolis based singer named prince.
he’s ok i guess.. 
so prince has this new background singer named shelby j. she’s pretty much the shit. didn’t know much about her until i saw the target center and first ave shows last month and she really blew me away.
at the target center show prince turned the mic over to shelby for a tune or two and on one of the tracks, she tore the roof off of the place with her version of gnarls barkley’s “crazy”.
well, i may (or may not, just sayin’) have come into a bootlegged copy of shelby singing the very same tune one week later when prince & co. invaded the montreux jazz festival.
if i really did have that track, it would indeed be off-the-fucking-hook. that’s all i’m sayin’
damn girl can sing. (plus, the tune heavily features vocoder…. i.love.vocoder)
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unrelated… don’t you hate when your holding on to a feeling or an emotion about someone, and then that someone comes along and in a text message pretty much ruins the moment? shit, it’s time to move-the-fuck-on. damn i hate this.
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unrelated pt 2…. a blogger-friend of mine may have just convinced me to send him a rated r pic or two i have of myself. sometimes, a compliment can make all the difference. thank you.
while jesus may indeed “save”, apparently he doesn’t really advocate his followers to be detail oriented… has this guy never heard of a straight edge….? i particularly love the jaunty angle on “saves”
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saw the bridge today… the pictures and the tv coverage don’t begin to do it justice…
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spent the morning out in the “garden” with our president shooting a video message for a meeting i’m producing. picture it, french-guy president making jungle jokes, myself and cameraman up to our waist in our native plant’s garden with a dewpoint of 74º and humidity level of 94%. it’s positively tropical out there. was pretty cool tho’ ton’s of bumble bee’s doing their thing and a woodchuck roaming about. i love my job!
i’ve said it before (tho’ maybe not online), and with all due respect to the others on the list, i gotta say michelle pheiffer is walking talking feminine perfection and yes, virginia, if given the chance, i’d switch for her in a new york second.
just got done watching her on the latest installment of inside the actor’s studio (james lipton is a tool, but the show is good). she’s divine. radiant. stunning. and her acting chops are pretty damn good too (to this day, i cry every time i see frankie and johnny). lest you forget, she’s been nominated for 3 oscars, twice nominated (with one win) at the bafta’s, 6 golden globe nominations (with one win), a best actress nod at the berlin film festival as well as win’s in the best actress categories for the national board of review, national society for film critics and the new york film critic’s society. the woman has talent up the yin yang.
i’ve loved her ever since she strutted her stuff in grease 2 - had the shit scared out of me with her in dangerous liaisons - applauded her kitten with a whip catwoman. and i can’t wait for this weekend’s stardust.
seriously michelle… come rescue me from my boring life.
local boy does good! know’s his movie trivia.
by kyle, staff writer atomic pop! 8.5.07 - 8:34pm
renowed contest master, yours truly, received an overwhelming response (3, count ‘em 3) to the most recent atomic pop! contest, a name that movie reference featuring the line “if you have any poo, fling it now.”
with a simple, confident email at 9:24pm on saturday, august 4th jeff, from jeff’s fancy blog, came through in the end with “mason the chimpanzee in madagascar”.
ever the advocate of poo throwing, mason pictured here with a friend was sent off to an animal preserve in kenya
when reached for comment on his winning status, jeff (pictured below as a youth) had this to say: “i won!! feels good to be a winner.”
with responses coming in from such far-fetched local’s like portland, oregon and richmond, virginia, officials were shocked that the winner of said contest came from just around the block - somewhere in minneapolis, minnesota.
jeff, no doubt humbled and thrilled with his victory will be receive the highly coveted atomic pop! vol. 1 music compilation in the coming weeks.
hey, you there. yea you. cause i’m in a funk (blogging or otherwise) it’s time for contest no. 2.
see that line up above about poo…? first person to guess where it comes from receives a special prize: the debut compact disc atomic pop! vol. 1 a kick ass cd compilation from your’s truly
contest open to readers of atomic pop! who have not won a previous contest. of course, this means that jason from jasontt.com is inelegible from participating
and yes, jason, your prize - atomic pop! vol. 1, is almost done… will be done by the end of this weekend and then you have your precious.
5 confirmed dead. 8 confirmed missing (downgraded from 30).
we thought our company was safe from the tragedy (all corporate employees accounted for), but just today, i found out a student from our cosmetology school (our school is less than a mile away) died in the collapse.
take a moment to remember those that lost their lives:
julia blackhawk, 32 of savage, minnesota
patrick holmes, 36 of mounds view, minnesota
artemio trinidad-mena, 29 of minneapolis
sherry engebretsen, 60 or shoreview, minnesota
the name of the 5th person, a man, has not been released.
still missing - sadiya sahal, five months pregnant and toting 2-year-old daughter hanah mohamed.
recovery efforts are being hampered due to fast-moving currents mixed with rebar and concrete debris. according to local news; divers identified 5 submerged cars and searched 4 (no victims). the 5th car was crushed beneath another car and was unable to be searched.
by this morning, 98 patients had been examined at 11 area hospitals. 27 remain hospitalized with 10 of those still in critical condition.
i’ve not personally seen the site yet but think i’m going to take a trip down early tomorrow morning. i need to see the bridge. i can’t even begin to comprehend that i was on it 30 minutes before it fell.
words just really don’t come close. they really don’t
if today had a color, it’d be muck-brown.
i’ve been seriously quirked up the last couple of days. anxious. on edge. etc. this is ridiculous as i just finished one of the best shows of my life. that said, i have dropped the ball (granted, just mini-balls) twice yesterday and today on things at work so i’m doubting myself. i hate that. in reality neither of these issues should be causing me to doubt myself.
certainly the bridge incident may have something to do with it - but this feels deeper.
i’ve gotta figure out how to break this mood.
ugg.
ok, moving away from bridge related chaos (if only cause i need the mental break) i have splendid news regarding my favorite actress - parker posey.
parker is starring in the new fox show ‘the return of jezabel james’. in jezabel she teams with amy sherman-palladino, the writer/creater/producer of one of my favorite guilty pleasures; ‘the gilmore girls’. this news makes me seriously elated (combine that with the newsthat my-future-husband nathan fillion appearing on desperate housewives and i’m gonna need a serious moment!).
from the ny daily news:
Thursday, August 2nd 2007, 4:12 AM
“A lot of people who are funny are not so good at acting,” Palladino recently told members of the Television Critics Association. “A lot of people who can act ain’t that funny. So you had to really find very, very, very special individuals.
“Parker’s name has always sort of been out in the ether as like the ‘Yeah, good luck, go ahead and try that,’ because she just hasn’t made that leap into television,’” Palladino added.
So she flew to Albuquerque, where Posey was shooting the film “The Eye,” and pitched her the concept.
The meeting worked.
Posey stars in the Fox sitcom as Sarah Tompkins, a children’s book publisher with a polished life. Lauren Ambrose co-stars as her sister, Coco, who’s more of a free spirit.
When Sarah learns she can’t have children, she hires her sister to carry her fetus for her.
“I read it from start to finish and I laughed, and I actually got really touched at the end,” said Posey. “I had never seen ‘Gilmore Girls.’ I didn’t know the genius behind Amy Sherman-Palladino, and then we met. It was like this feels really right.”
Lauren Ambrose, last seen on the HBO drama “Six Feet Under,” said she’s scared of comedy, but added, “I like to do the things that scare me.”
Palladino, who with her husband, Daniel, produced “Gilmore Girls” until its penultimate season, has instilled similar touches in “Jezebel James.” Viewers can expect a “Gilmore”-like “chicks talking to each other” format, she said.
“I happen to be - I don’t know if you’ve noticed - a woman,” said Palladino. “I think that there’s not always the best parts on television for women. And I feel like, maybe if you can throw a couple of great woman parts out there, why not?”
updated - death toll reduced to 4 but expected to rise as bodies are recovered
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By Paul Levy, Star Tribune
Melissa Hughes clutches a child near the scene of the I-35W bridge collapse; Melissa was driving the red car in the background.
Jerry Holt , Star Tribune
Rescue workers prepared to search a submerged vehicle in the Mississippi River that had been on the Interstate 35W bridge when it collapsed just after 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Jeff Wheeler , Star Tribune
The wreckage on the west end of the bridge.
Jeff Wheeler , Star Tribune
Emergency crews are waiting for daylight to resume their recovery and clean up efforts at the scene of the Interstate 35W bridge that collapsed during rush hour Wednesday evening.
The 1,907-foot bridge fell into the Mississippi River and onto roadways below. The span was packed with rush hour traffic, and dozens of vehicles fell with the bridge leaving scores of dazed commuters scrambling for their lives.
Nine people were confirmed dead as of 4 a.m. today. Sixty were taken to hospitals and 20 people were still missing this morning. Authorities said they expected the death toll to rise.
Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek told the Associated Press at about 1 a.m. today that all search efforts had been called off for the night and that searchers did not expect to find any survivors.
“It’s dark, it’s not safe with the currents in the water and the concrete and rebar,” he said. “At this point it is a recovery effort.”
Officials will hold at least three news conferences this morning.
*Mayor R.T. Rybak was to meet with reporters at a news conference at 6 a.m.
*Police, fire and emergency officials will give updates at 7:15 a.m.
*A general media update will be held at 7:30 a.m.
Wednesday night, Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the bridge collapse “is a catastrophe of historic proportions for Minnesota.”
Between 50 and 60 vehicles were on the bridge when it went down shortly after 6 p.m., authorities said. Legions of rescue workers and volunteers swarmed to the scene and spent hours sifting through the wreckage in a frantic search for survivors.
By late in the evening, officials said efforts at the Mississippi had switched from rescue to recovery.
Jay Danz, 45, of St. Paul, was on his way to the Metrodome to watch the Twins play Kansas City and had driven under W. River Parkway, beneath the interstate bridge, seconds before it fell.
“I heard it creaking and making all sorts of noises it shouldn’t make,” Danz said. “And then the bridge just started to fall apart.”
In addition to the cars that went into the water, a school bus carrying about 60 Minneapolis children fell from the bridge, landing on all four of its tires and missing the water as it came to rest near the parkway.
Several of the children and at least two adults were treated for injuries after the group escaped through the back door of the bus.
“Some kids had blood on their faces, but thank God everybody could move,” Danz said.
The cause of the collapse wasn’t known in the hours afterward. It’s too soon to know what happened, said Catherine E. Wolfgram French, a civil engineering professor at the University of Minnesota.
“Things can happen with temperature, and with construction, or a lot of other confounding factors,” French said.
This was a 40-year-old truss bridge, and French did say that some early truss bridges don’t have as many structural redundancies — backups to carry the loads — as is now considered desirable.
Another engineer, Michael Ramerth, a principal at MBJ Consulting Structural Engineers in Minneapolis, said in the search for answers “I would start at the foundations.”
On a typical weekday, more than 100,000 cars use the bridge.
Berndt Toivonen, 51, of Minneapolis, was on his way home from a painting job when the bridge collapsed beneath his car.
“The bridge started to buckle,” Toivonen said. “It went up and came down. I thought I was going to die.”
Bumper-to-bumper traffic
What people in the area of the collapse experienced or saw at about 6:05 p.m. unfolded as motorists crawled bumper to bumper across I-35W toward the end of rush hour.
Those on the bridge felt buckling and swaying and heard a crunching.
Then came the unthinkable: The 40-year-old bridge collapsed, dumping vehicles into the water and onto land below. That was followed by scenes of frantic, bloodied motorists and rescuers who converged on the scene.
Many vehicles, including at least one semitrailer, were on fire. People were reported to be floundering in the river. Rescuers rushed to help people escape cars trapped in the V-shaped hollow where the bridge had caved in.
from mayor r.t. rybeck’s press conference:
at least 6 dead from the bridge collapse
i drive this bridge at least twice a day every day. word’s don’t really work right now….
from wcco:
I-35W Bridge Collapse Into Mississippi River(WCCO) Minneapolis The Interstate 35W Mississippi River bridge near University Avenue has collapsed into the river.
Both the northbound and southbound lanes of 35W are lying in the Mississippi River.
There are multiple cars in the river and a couple cars on fire. According to one witness, there was a school bus full of children on the bridge.
Cars are still on the bridge.
Tons of concrete have collapsed and people are injured. Survivors are being carried up the riverbank.
Some people are stranded on parts of the bridge that aren’t completely in the water.
A tractor-trailer is on fire at the collapse scene.
Some cars are still precariously perched on the bridge. Sections of the bridge are mangled, some are pointing up in the air and some are in the river.
“It is just horrific,” said witness Marilyn Franzen, who saw the bridge collapse. Franzen said she saw a school bus that managed to stop before the going over the edge of the bridge that she said was carrying 20-30 children.
According to witnesses, cars are crushed and mangled under the bridge where it collapsed onto the shore of the river. Street signs also crushed cars.
The road has been under construction since the beginning of the summer.
