1 more to go.

it’s 8:11pm as i write this.  day one of my event is complete and it was a smashing success.  now, why is this a big deal you ask?  sure i’ve produced other events solo - but this is by far the most high-profile event i’ve done solo.  virtually every vice president (not to mention the president) of my company as were some of the greatest minds in science as key note speakers were there.

so yay me. 

one more day to go…

in honor of my trip to berlin (i leave on wednesday), here’s nena’s ‘99 luftballons’. enjoy:

meanwhile… i loaded into a theater today for my show that is sunday & monday (rehearsal is tomorrow) - might be a bit sparse around here.

in a heartbeat.

from the studio briefing on imdb.com:

Australian media company Village Roadshow has disclosed that tickets for its deluxe Gold Star Cinemas will go for $35 apiece when the theaters open in the U.S. The Hollywood Reporter said today (Wednesday) that the company is planning to open 50 such theaters in this country over the next 5 years, with the first to open in suburban Chicago this year, featuring reserved seating (only 40 seats per theater), special parking, and “upscale” food service by waiters in the auditoriums. “It’s an absolutely different environment than anything else that exists,” Village Roadshow CEO Graham Burke told the trade paper. Village Roadshow has already opened some 100 Gold Class theaters in Australia, Singapore and Greece.

imagine, not rushing to the theater, not waiting in lines, not siting in a tight room like flying coach to singapore.  decent food - no lines - small crowds, i am so there!

i’ve not posted about the war for a long time.  frankly, it depresses me too much.  but this, this i just couldn’t pass up.

as i’m sure you know the united states passed a landmark this week - 4,000 dead american service men and women from the war in iraq.

voenix rising sum’s this up nicely and puts it all in perspective over on his blog - that’s the equivalent of a typical metropolitan high school.  4,000.  harrowing to think about no?

there is justifiable outrage at this latest milestone in the “war against terror”, but where is the outrage at the number of iraqi’s that have died?

40,940 - iraqi civilian casualties

to put that number in perspective - culver city, california has approx. 40,000 people in it.

for another perspective, and to put a face on the war in irag - click this to make it bigger (it’s a mosaic made up of the 4,000 dead).

click to make bigger

in other war news - king george had this to say about the milestone:

U.S. deaths in Iraq ‘laid foundations for peace’

ummm…. sorry, but war does not beget peace.   peace is a whole other concept.

this is very cool.  i have no idea who they are, or what they’re about - but i’m diggin the music.

ummm… i get bored easily.  so, yea, if i change my format - you’re just going to have to deal mofo. 

ok.  maybe it’s just cause i’m beyond exhausted… working  a lot… just got home and a friend sent me this - it’s incredible.  i had no idea so many gay men had no design sense whatsoever.

firstly, i present you with the brand new portishead tune ‘machine gun‘ - from their upcoming album third. (hat tip to timo over at edited for television for posting the video first).

it’s not at all what i was expecting - but i’m seriously digging this tune. fucking dark and hard mixed with that voice. that amazing, wonderful voice. ummm… beth, geoff & adrian, why oh why did you have to wait 11 years since your last album? this is perfection.

now the bad news. portishead is playing berlin on april 3. that’s the day i arrive and i even have the night off. yay, right? no.

the. fucking. show. is. sold. out.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. i need a ticket for this show. the chances of them playing minneapolis are nil. i can’t go to coachella (ed. note, this in and of itself sucks. not only is portishead playing, but so are goldfrapp, m.i.a., mark ronson, love & rockets, metric and the breeders. double grrrr.) this year either. so this is my only shot.

i’m praying to the musical gods of the internet. somebody, anybody - get me a ticket to this show!!!!!!

introducing the great tattoo experiment.  head over to atomicpopink.wordpress.com (click the gun) to find out more.

ok, it’s all the rage in the online world - literally, you can’t surf for porn* without running across this video -  the cutsy video of a 3 year old explaining the plot of star wars:

but for my money, this is far funnier:

atomic pop! braces self for cb’s never ending tirade about the shit lucas did to the original trilogy.

*yes, it’s true, the internet is truly just used for porn, after all every second 28,258 internet users are viewing porn

wow - is it flashback friday already…. sorry gang for the lack of posts.  of course, i was in atlanta last week for the tornado’s (i got some cool pics of the destruction - i should share those one of these days)… 

the truth of the matter is that i’m super busy at work - i have a major show next week and then i’m on a plane to berlin for a show the following week. 

so i guess what i’m saying here is, just chill for a bit - i’ll post when i can.

in the meantime, i was lookin’ for something on you tube and ran across this one… it’s a flashback from 1995 - holly cole doing tom waits ‘little boy blue’.  i do indeed love me some holly cole.  enjoy:

ok, i realize this isn’t as bad as some of you suv drivin’ folks (that’s your problem for buying a damn suv).  but still it’s a lot of money for my little mazda 3. 

what.

the.

fuck.

just a quick post before i jet off to atlanta for a show this weekend.  wish me luck, it could be a very interesting show… good talent, but one never knows until one gets through rehearsals etc.

in the meantime, here’s the flashback friday for today: 

in honor of my upcoming trip to prague here’s inxs’ ‘never tear us apart’ which was filmed on the charles bridge (and it’s surrounding streets) in prague.

+ it’s just a killer tune and video:

after taking last month off, welcome to the march installment of the 12 of 12 project started by chad darnell.

this may be one of the dullest looks into anyones life as today was an extraordinarily boring (albeit busy) day. not much interesting happened (least not that i had the camera ready for).

here goes:

01. 5:30am. i think parker’s exact thought at this point was “what the fuck are you doing up this early?”

02. 6:00am. me. pre-shower.

03. 7:08am. the stack of shit that’s been piling up on my desk. oh, if you look real close, you’ll see a pic of me and landry from like 5 or 6 years ago.

04. 10:30am. a road case that i loaned a guy in our creative department was returned. it just went to nepal for a photo shoot. it’s big enough that two small-ish children could fit inside if you wanted.

04a. 10:31am. just a close up of the handle. this babies been on a whirlwind international trip. all of those tags you see…. they’re from this one trip to nepal.

05. noon-ish. a friend from work loaned me these too impressive tome’s for some fun reading whilst on planes, trains and various other sundry forms of transportation. the first, diablo cody’s biography about her stripper career in minneapolis (she who wrote the kick ass movie “juno”) . the second, nikki sixx (of motley crue) biography “the heroine diaries”. ooh fun. sex, drugs and rock-n-roll!

06. 2:30ish. aaahhh pepsi. paraphrasing robert louis stevenson: “pepsi is bottled poetry”

07. 3:00pm. the pile has been dealt with, filed, recycled or otherwise organized.

08. 5:10pm. with our recent warm up - the roads are down-right messy. pit stop for some windshield wash.

09. 5:30pm. the view on the drive home. interstate 35w bridge re-construction.

10. 6:30pm. i use a lot of music from my personal music collection for shows - when my pc committed suicide last month i lost my entire uploaded itunes library. mother-fucker. now that i have my new fancy macbook pro, every night i spend a bit of time uploading more of my collection so that i have music at my disposal whilst on the road producing a show. this is tonight’s stack.

11. 7:00pm. i must admit i’m a complete and total sucker for the tv show “gilmore girls” (rip). so much so that the cable station abc family broadcasts a repeat everyday at 4:00 in minneapolis. everyday i dvr it. it’s become my standard tv show whilst eating dinner.

12. 7:40pm. the suitcase has come out (parker is not pleased). yup - another show. this one is this weekend in atlanta. i leave on friday.

“…don’t let this club membership change you john.  stay ornery, stay mean.  we need you to be pissed off, and restless, because no matter what they tell us - we know, this country is going to hell in a handcart.  this country’s been hijacked. you know it and i know it.  people are worried.  people are scared and people are angry.  people need to hear a voice like yours that’s out there to echo the discontent that’s out there in the heartland.  they need to hear stories about it.  they need to hear stories about frustration, alienation and desperation.  they need to know that somewhere out there somebody feels they way that they do.  in the small towns and in the big cities.  they need to hear it.  and it doesn’t matter if they hear it on a jukebox in the local gin mill, or in a goddamn truck commercial.  because they ain’t gonna hear it on the radio anymore.  they don’t care how they hear it, as long as they hear it good and loud and clear the way you’ve always been saying it all along.  you’re right john, this is still our country…”

- billy joel inducting john mellencamp into the rock n roll hall of fame.  3.10.08

a) nobody quite does tortured love songs like annie and dave

b) annie and dave do some interesting things on their own, but they’re fucking brilliant together.

from their 1999 tour - here’s a cool acoustic version of the 1984 classic.

i haven’t blogged much about this, but truth be told i hate where i live.  hate! 

the shortlist of reasons why:

• unresponsive management team
• loud (sexually generous) neighbor’s
• annoying neighbor’s who don’t understand if your going to live in a 100 year old apartment building you willhear your upstairs (me) neighbor’s tv
• bullshit response to vandalism by the management company
• maintenance company leaving my apartment unlocked for 5 days while i was out of town
• clothes/laundry detergent stolen from laundry room

now, true - most of these issues probably happen in most apartment buildings, but this has become such a horrible place to live - i can’t stand it.  add the list to the fact i’m in a neighborhood i don’t particularly love and you quickly figure out it’s time to move.  (plus my lease is up june 30).

besides, it’s all the rage, jason moved last year, cb moved last fall, alexander moved last month - i’m just keeping up!.

the shortlist of what i’m looking for:

• modern construction (the charm of 100 year old buildings only lasts so long - is it bad that i want a dishwasher?!?)
• (there are a couple of historic properties i would consider)
• loft or open floorplan would be nice.
• concrete floors (or really solid constuction for noise prevention)
• uptown minneapolis, downtown minneapolis (north loop included) or downtown st. paul
• underground parking
• laundry in unit
• no i’m not ready to buy. don’t remind me how screwed i am for not owning.

so let the great apartment hunt 2008 begin. 

i’m officially done with winter.  this was the scene this morning on my 50 minute commute to the office (normally 25 minutes max):

(note, 4 lanes of rush hour traffic + mergeing to two lanes = fun)

(note, that’s gonna hurt) 

oh nikolaj, i swear, your the one.  i mean it this time.  we’re meant to be together.  your sexy and smoldering and eyes that could melt a glacier.  you are equal parts nathan fillion and viggo mortenson.  things will be different with us.  i will give you something your wife never could.  and i’d learn danish in a heartbeat.  call me!

ok, in the back of my mind i’ve been keeping track of things i wanted to post, but of course, i can’t remember any of them.  ugg… getting older sucks - i’ve got to start writing things down.

so in the meantime - i had a pretty kick ass weekend….

on friday of course you know that cb and i saw the crap fest that was fool’s gold…

then on saturday i hung out with my friend stacey - we had a killer lunch and then went to northern sun.  if you don’t know about them - check them out.  they produce amazing bumper stickers and t-shirts and what not for the liberally minded folks out there.

saturday night james took me to azia for my birthday.  yum.  my favorite joint in minneapolis - i had shrimp crisprolls for starters and then my all time favorite  wasabi walleye.  yum.

sunday we just had a lazy day, the other boleyn girl movie, costco and dsw shopping.  followed by a chill night watching weeds… oh how i love my weeds.  check out my killer new chuck taylors, two shoes in one:

oh, and here’s my purchase from northern sun… a kick ass car sticker t-rex having a tasty fish dinner (hehehehe).   by the way his name is bocephus.  a bad ass t-rex, needs a bad ass name, don’t you think?  darwin would pleased.

 honor of james and i seeing “the other bolyn girl” featuring the hunky eric bana yesterday - i thought i would give ya’ll a slice of his hotness (i hate that word, but it works).  oh, and if your wondering - the movie is good… easily a renter tho’.  and natalie portman is such a conniving bitch in the flick; it’s fun!!

cb and i saw fool’s gold (the new matthew mcconaughey & kate hudson treasure hunt flick) last night. 

that’s 2 hours of my life i’ll never get back.