I really dunno why I'm so picture happy on my blog this week...

I am SO FUCKING jealous...

Go now and behold the most charming little romance unfold before your eyes...

What I'm listening to a LOT lately:

Sleep sure can make life look better...

My life has pretty much sucked for the last week or so. Work has been horrendous. I've been a total bitch to my coworkers. My work schedule has been grueling. I've had hardly any free time. I have bags under my eyes. I'm borderline depressed. The guy I was supposed to have a date with never called me back and when I finally did talk to him said he'd been sick and was gonna call me soon... uh huh...

But one more day and then I have six days off of work... it can't come soon enuff...

ok... so Jhames quit... i can understand why...

So, Blogwhore the Game has begun.

dunno bout you... but I'm rooting for Jhames...

a decent enuff day..

got up a little before 10 and went to brunch with a few friends at Feelings in the Marigny. Oysters, crabcakes and a whole bunch of mimosas.

Which led to a long nap with my doggie.

And then a romp in the dogpark, where I got to meet Iain, the spanking new son of my friends, Brian and Tracy. A total cutie.

And capped the nite off with my friend Steve watching Undercover Brother. Funny movie if you've seen lots of blacksploitation films of the 70s...

The date I was supposed to have this weekend never happened tho... typical... i'm terminally single...

I don't think I can stand the fact that this book isn't out until October... someone buy me an advance copy off of eBay...

Ok... what the heck happened at the Eiffel Tower involving the Osbournes? Over the past 24 hours, I've gotten 3 Google hits from "eiffel + tower + Osbournes"...

Obey the Monkey

Sometimes people just amaze me...

I went out a bit ago to walk my dog and drop a burned CD of Bran Van 3000 Discosis off to the guy who cuts my hair. It's a beautiful day out, warm and moist without being overly humid.

On the way back, I noticed a guy with a boxer puppy on the sidewalk, so I went into the street so my dog wouldn't snack on his. He looks over and smiles and says thanks. He's adorable.

My dog stops at the corner. His puppy runs closer. I compliment him on how goddamned cute it is. We talk about dogs for a second or two. We both start to walk away. And he calls out, "have a good day... and you take care of yourself." Which was so damned sweet.

I'm still smiling.

I was pondering the people in my life the other day...

My closest friends consist of...

a 20ish former barista and soon to be college student
a professor of neurobiology
a corporate attorney
his boyfriend, a nightclub manager
a voodoo priest

and me, a bookstore manager...

eclectic, no?

On the Batman action figure front...

I was shopping at Walmart for various sundries (heh, I just like saying that... "various sundries") and I came across the unexpected... three new Batman animated action figure two-packs.

Whoo hoo.

They were:
Batman & Two-Face
Batman & The Riddler
and
Batman & Robin

The last one is the important one... because it's the Tim Drake Robin (that's the younger one), but he's painted in the colors of the Dick Grayson Robin (that's the older one). Now see.. only a complete geek like me would even understand WHY that's cool...

Just trust me... it's cool...

So, last nite, I was safely wrapped in my covers in bed, when I happened to glance at the author photograph in the back of my copy of The Standing Dead and noticed an itty bitty web addy. So, leapt out of bed did I, speeding to trusty iMac.

That's right all you google drive-by people... Ricardo Pinto has a website.

I've added a link to it and two of my other favorite authors off to the side of the page.

I've also taken this opportunity to get rid of the Guestbook. Nobody ever used it. So, it's dead. Bye, Guestbook!

Yay... I just got through talking to Dave on Instant Messenger for the first time since he went to the Dominican Republic... then he had to go... cuz he had to shut down the center where he works... cuz it was Siesta Time...

Why don't we have this concept in the US????

I think the most reassuring thing to me about reading other people's blogs is that there are other people out there as obsessed and even more obsessed with music than I am...

Okay... i brought a new book home with me to read tonite, so no big update... but I did just add a link to a blog that I think is worth reading. One that was vastly improved when i went over to read it tonite over the last time I checked it out. The boy seems to have a new attitude.... and I like it!

So, I've been crawling around on different boy's blogs this morning... and it's amusing to me how I can be thinking "gee, this guy is really cute... really cool..." and then i get to the page where they list books or music or movies or general media likes and suddenly I'm, "blech!"...

I'm shallow...

Well, this was addictive for all of about five minutes... best i did was 510,000 and something...

I've never put in a link... and I don't think i've ever mentioned it, but my AOL Instant Messenger handle is...

zeddnola

So... say hi sometime...

I just took a shower... and...

I have sunburned armpits...

and the day gets BETTER!

Last nite, I left a spastic phone message for the guy from Sunday nite. And he called back tonite. And we had a nice little chat. And, after we both get thru the next few busy days, we're gonna hang...

yay...

And seriously... this is an AMAZING album.

I spent a GREAT day today just doing absolutely nothing but baking in the sun and listening to my iPod at The Country Club. A slim crowd made for a nice lowkey atmosphere, although I was one of the few non-naked guys there.

Today's listening consisted of Sigur Ros, Bran Van 3000, Sophie Ellis Bextor and the amazing new Dot Allison album. Visual entertainment was provided by the three cute and one ugly guy in a group grope in the pool...

Since I keep getting Google hits on " Ricardo Pinto "... if Ricardo Pinto happens to find this page, he should know I think he's awfully cute... and I'm wondering if he still has a boyfriend...

just FYI...

THE song of the moment is... Astounded by Bran Van 3000

Absolute required listening for this summer...

By the way... I just did a massive update on my Wishlist...

the Memorial Day weekend wrap-up... it was a $40 fast cash ATM kinda weekend...

This has been a BEAUTIFUL weekend! It all started with work on Friday. We've been prepping all week for a visit from our Regional Director and our new District Manager. And it went better than we ever could've hoped. They loved us. They loved our store. We really blew them away and it was obvious that we had. When the last thing the RD says to the store manager is, "Thanks, you just made my entire week", that's a very good thing.

Then I went to Toys R Us afterwards and found the new Marvel Legends action figures. I bought Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America and they're SWEET. Massively articulated and great sculpts. I'm looking at them across my living room right now. *waves at Iron Man*

Friday night, I went out with Jonathan to the Quarter. We started off with dinner at Angeli. Then we wandered over to Good Friends for a drink and the use of the ATM. Then we spent most of the rest of the evening just hanging out and drinking at Lafitte's. Ran into Beau for a brief moment and made plans with him for later in the weekend.

Saturday, I slept late and then salvaged a Weber grill that had been abandoned behind the apartment complex next door. A bit of scrubbing and it was good as new. Then I went to the New Orleans Wine and Food Expo at the Convention Center. I had a free pass to the $75 Grand Tasting and also got my friend Robert into it. A GREAT afternoon spent tasting dozens of wines and champagnes. Robert is a lot (LOT) more knowledgable about wines than me, so having along was a trip.

I've been trying to eat out more at finer restaurants of late and one thing I've discovered while doing so is that I really like nicer wines. So, the Expo was an opportunity for me to learn quite a bit and discover some wines that I might like. A really nice moment was having Robert tell me, "you're good at this" in reference to my attempts to describe the "experience" of each wine. He's not someone to give out untrue compliments. I think I may need to take some wine-tasting classes...

Anyways, after tasting a LOT of wine, here are a couple that I'll definitely be buying (and they're all pretty inexpensive - under $20):

Jacob Creek Chardonnay
Heathfield Ridge Sauvignon Blanc (very sweet, almost tastes like a Riesling)
Heathfield Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon (this wine blew everyone I knew at the Expo away - incredibly yummy)
J Lohr Cabernet Sauvignon
King Estate Pinot Gris (especially the Reserve, but this has been a recent favorite of mine anyway)

After the Expo, I came home and took a nice nap. Can't imagine why I'd need it after a Wine Expo... and then I used the new to me grill to make some burgers.

Then back out to the Quarter with Jonathan to meet up with Robert. Drinking at Lafitte's again and then dancing at Oz. Not normally one of my favorite bars, but since all the little tweaky fags that I hate (um... sorry, Jonno) were in Pensacola, it was pretty fun. Not so crowded that you couldn't actually dance on the dancefloor and lots of cute toursit boys. I did learn that I need to get over the paranoia that I sometimes have. Early in the nite, I saw this boy continually staring at me and talking to his friend and sort of laughing. I was convinced they were laughing at the way I dance. Later in the nite, the boy walks by me and strokes my arm. So the boy LIKED me, duh. Anyways, home around 4 am...

Sunday, bloody Sunday... Got up around noon and headed to Bywater Bar-B-Que to meet Beau for brunch. Very yummy and we sat in the courtyard (gotta love New Orleans). Then we went to The Country Club for the afternoon to lay out and catch some sun. First time I'd been there during they day and I loved it. Very casual atmosphere, 95% gay, of people just hanging out, swimming, catching rays, being naked if they choose to be so, and etc. A nicely mixed crowd of older, younger, hipper, not so hip and not many divas at all. I'll be back...

After a quick shower at Beau's we headed to the Quarter AGAIN, just in time for Tea Dance at the Bourbon Pub. We bounced from there to Oz to Lafittes over the course of the nite. Beau was on the prowl for a boy. I was pretty laid back.

And then...

I met someone very interesting. I was instantly attracted to a guy Beau introduced me to. Older than me by a couple years, but dressed exactly like I would want my future boyfriend to be dressed. (um... not that I'm getting ahead of myself... seriously) He was a goofy obnoxious guy who was singing along loudly to the 80s retro videos that Lafitte's was playing, and making up his own extremely funny lyrics half the time. He had a great green snake tattoo curled around his arm onto his back. His knowledge of semi-obscure 80s dance music rivals mine. He remixes records as a career (sorta unique for New Orleans). He lives uptown, not too far from me. He's damned cute.

And he interrupted his singing long enuff to tell me that I was cute.

And then he interrupted it long enuff to offer his phone number to me. Which I took.

And the last thing he said to me when we left was, "call me."

And I'm gonna...

Now... I still have two days off of work... what to do... what to do...

This has been long tedious week.

The conference that i went to in Dallas was long and boring and I was paired up in a hotel room with a guy that I absolutely can't stand. There was one really cute guy from the corporate offices there though. Not too sure if he likes girls or boys though...

The rest of the week has been consumed with preparation at work for a visit from our Regional Director and our new District Manager. And that happened today.

And it went beautifully. We blew them away.

Now I need a nap...

or a drink...

regardless, I have the next 4 days off work. This is a good thing.

OH MY GOD...

the season finale of Buffy...

the last scene....

OH MY GOD...

the fall tv season cannot start soon enuff...

I feel incredibly boring cuz I ain't said a damned word of interest, if a word at all, of late...

I'm off to Dallas for business meetings (that sounds SO mature) for the weekend. Not a fun trip, flight there one day, meetings meetings meetings, flight back. Feh. And I'm SOO procrastinating packing.

It is SO totally all about fischerspooner right now. Seriously. They are IT as far as I'm concerned.

I know that downloading music and having fast access is old hat to most of you.... but.... wow. I downloaded more songs off of Audio Galaxy in half an hour this afternoon than I have in the last five days.

And I find it really fascinating when I notice on gnutella that someone is uploading from me a song that I downloaded only a few minutes earlier. Craziness.

oh wow... downloading music is SOOO much faster when you're not using dial-up...

so, can someone explain to me exactly why CDs still cost almost $20 each? My incentive to buy them now is what???

At last... at long long last... DSL has come to my home...

The only good thing to happen today after getting too much sun yesterday and being sick as a dog all nite as a result...

I'll update in a bit... if i can get my ass off the sofa for that long...

Accordigng to recent reports both here and here, i'm no longer mysterious...

Wait... i was mysterious???

Not much has been going on around here besides work. Work work work. And downloading music. I just discovered (again with the blond issue) that AudioGalaxy does indeed work with Macs. God help me. GOD HELP ME!!!

Now if only Earthlink could get my damned DSL hooked up...

Looking back at old posts is dangerous... I just realized that I said that Dave was desperate for American music... so i'm going to send him the Hives... a Swedish band...

hey... i'm blond...

Ok... someone else did a much better job at setting up a website for Dave, the ex who joined the Peace Corps.

Go visit the site and be a real saint and take part in the tape contest he's conducting. You computer geeks out there can just burn a CD off your computer and then tape it on a cassette. Dave and his fellow volunteers are dying for some good old American music.

Dave's tastes run to Sonic Youth, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Yo La Tengo, etc etc... I'm sending him the whole Hives compilation CD. I know he's gonna dig that.

Seriously, folks, it doesn't matter that you don't know him. Dave would LOVE to get tapes from strangers. And throw a comic book in the box when you mail it.

Finally, a couple of days off of work...

I spent most of yesterday cleaning my apartment and the dog, after grabbing a quick lunch and CD-shopping trip with Jonathan. (I didn't buy anything!) And a lot of time downloadng music off of Limewire.

I'm starting to think that I'm NEVER going to have DSL. Earthlink and Bellsouth still haven't solved the problems. No DSL signal is getting to my house. Ugh. And Earthlink charged me for my first month of DSL service. Although, I do have to give them props for the fact that after I bitched nicely in an email to them about this, they credited back the entire month to me. Nice gesture. Now if only the tech support people would follow up with me like they keep saying they will.

I get really irritated at the people who decide to download music from me while I'm downloading music. I'm like, "hello, i'm on a modem... it's gonna take you for forever..." But, I let them do it...

I think i'm officially getting old now. This past Sunday's New York Times had a big article about the 80s revival and all the new electro bands that are just bubbling under on the music scene. They even had a side article about Fischerspooner. My second favorite band right now just from the one song I've heard.

My favorite is still The Hives. Even more so after seeing their video on MTV2 last nite. OMG. I want the lead singer. Badly. What a hottie. And he's all angry and screamy. Dreamy.

I also finally saw the video for We Are All Made of Stars last nite. What a cool video. Loved all the little cameos. And I still think that the song is the bomb-diggity.

Today's agenda includes a trip to Baton Rouge to shop at Target. Sad, huh? I can't wait for the New Orleans Targets to open already.

It sounds like the workmen who are rebuilding the balcony on the building next door are about to have a smackdown... so it's time for me to go watch through the window...

Karma...

So, all weekend... i get the "manager to cashwrap" or "manager to Info" calls over the intercom. And repeatedly get bitched out by insane people who are upset over stupid things. Not one single valid complaint.

So, tonite... i get one of those calls to cashwrap... and this crazy lady launches into a tirade about how upset she was that the bookseller walked her to a book and handed it to her after she asked about it. Evidently, we must think she's stupid and incapable of finding a book herself. *sigh* She bitches. And bitches. And bitches. Loudly. In front of a line of customers.

And then one of the customers, a man about her age, comes towards us. I'm thinking that her husband wants a piece of me too. And then the man turns to her and says, "maybe if you weren't so rude and loud, you'd get better service."

Heh. She was SO not happy about that. And then she leaves.

And every single customer in line apologizes to us for having to deal with such a rude person. It's as though they feel that they need to take up for us. The very next guy to come up even puts his hand out and makes me shake it and says, "you people are always really nice and really helpful and I appreciate it."

A very good end to an icky weekend at work...

I had about the crappiest nite possible at work tonite and I was about to write that i could really use a couple of nice emails or virtual hugs, and then I decided to quickly read a couple of my favorite blogs. The first one I hit was this one.

Sometimes someone or something out there is paying attention...

The virtual hugs are still welcome tho...

Ok... it's really really nothing to be excited about... but if you click on the Basic Drew link, you can see the first webpage that I did in a couple of hours this weekend. It's the first thing i've ever completely written and managed to FTP and everything...

I'm gonna get better real fast...

It's official... cuz I say so... Spiderman is the best comic book movie ever made.

And I have a pass to see Attack of the Clones before it starts.

It's gonna be an excellent summer at the movies.

Oh... and if that Hulk teaser before Spiderman was any sign... next summer's gonna be good as well.

Oh... there's an email link on the page with the article if anyone would like to respond to it. The author also has a personal link on his website.

This article infuriates me.

The sheer size of this man's ego is unbelievable.

It's not a good thing that he evidently was not treated with the respect and care that he deserved to have given him. But...

Being illiterate is the only qualification for getting a job at a chain bookstore in most places

Gee, I hope that made him feel big and safe in his superior intelligence. And I guess it's a good thing I have Spellcheck...

but in Baton Rouge they've added indolence and dim wits. It's not much of a reading town, so the locals seem content to get their Harry Potters and Idiot Guides there.

Gee, does the man realize that 99% of the people that he works with at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge are residents of Baton Rouge? As are most of the students he teaches? This should make him quite popular. I guess it's a good thing he commutes from New Orleans. Since he chooses to reside here, I would assume that we're a much smarter town.

I'm not personally a big fan of the Harry Potter books, but I do realize that they are children's literature. And generally the purchase of children's literature and the encouragement of children to read are a good thing. Those children grow up to be adults who purchase adult literature. I'm thinking that not many of them will grow up to want to purchase his literature though. Nor would they be his desired audience, I would suppose.

However, this is personal.

Oh really? Gee, I never would have guessed that it was personal. The rational and logical tone of the article disguise that ever so well.

My prediction: Barnes & Noble is going down. Sell your stock.

Gosh. The power of this man. Because staff members at one store in a chain that blankets the country have offended him, the entire chain will most likely be out of business soon. It might make good sense for the financially minded of you out there to pay close attention to the minutiae of this man's life. (Gee, that was a big word for an illiterate like me to have used, huh?)

The book not read by Andrei Codrescu at Barnes & Noble is Casanova in Bohemia, available at independent bookstores.

According to the author's website, hyperlinked at the top of the article, it's also available at Amazon.com. That small independent vendor of books on the Web... I would suggest however waiting six months or so. Most of his previous novels have been quickly available in remainder and bargain sections because the publisher has had to sell of the large volume of stock that they weren't able to sell to bookstores, chain or independent.

Mr Codrescu, writing in anger isn't a good idea... you'd think an essayist of your supposed stature would know this...

However, believe me when I say that i will celebrate the day that i find out that your agent isn't able to interest a major publisher in your next work of fiction because of the poor sales of your previous works.

Not a whole lot going on in my life about now... my doggie seems to be a bit sickly but we're going to the Vet tomorrow morning to see about that. She's sort of drooping and maybe limping a bit. And she ate a bunch of grass and then threw it up. Lovely. At least she threw it up outside.

I went, a bit late in the game, to see Blade 2 today. Ho hum. Pretty pictures, boring story. Why oh why didn't I go see Resident Evil before it went away.... grrrr...

It's new comic book day but I can't really get myself psyched up to go the comic book store. Even though Ultimates came out today... damned fine book...

I found the new Batman Animated 4-pack of action figures at Toys R Us a couple days ago. Very very cool. It has Ra's al Ghul in his proper suit, tie & cape outfit alongside a figure of his daughter, Talia. Oh, and Batman and Robin. Now I just have to wait the months before the other 4 packs with the Penguin and Scarface & the Ventriloquist come out... Yep... geek... i'm a geek...

I haven't been reading at ALL lately. And that's bad. But, Amazon.UK just emailed me to tell me that they've shipped a book I preordered. Whoo hoo. It's called The Standing Dead and it's by a Scottish guy, Ricardo Pinto. His first book The Chosen was one of my favorites a few years ago. He's one of those rare fantasy writers that I don't loathe. Usually, I'm quite adverse to the entire fantasy genre. Books with little magical people bore me.

ok.. this is annoying, I posted to my blog this morning and it never appeared on my blog... grrrr.... let's see if republishing helps...

I just finished up the best weekend I've had in ages and ages.

It started Thursday nite with the great dinner with Beau and his friend Dean. And continued into Friday nite, when I got a call from Beau, who was in the French Quarter, "you've got to come out, the moon is beautiful, the crowd is just right, it's a great nite, come out." So, I went out, convincing Jonathan to meet us out. I knew that it would be an interesting nite simply because Jonathan and Beau had each earlier expressed some interest in the other.

So, I take the streetcar to the Quarter, listening to my iPod along the way, the song "Weekend" by Black Eyed Peas and Esthero being my mantra for a fun nite. I meet Beau at Good Friends for a stoli cosmopolitan, which turns rapidly into two. He's in jeans, a tight striped tank top and some cute Jon Fluevog (sp???) shoes and he's bouncing off the walls. We meander to Lafitte's and Jonathan shows up a bit after that.

Quick side note... how did we ever manage to find our friends out in the Quarter before the mass use of cellphones?

So, an odd thing happens. They both sort of shut down around the other. Beau folds his hands under his arms and gets much quieter. Jonathan begins to studiously stare at the designs that the smoke from his cigarettes is making in the air. It was all a bit fun to watch actually. Even the really cute boys get intimidated and don't really know how to deal with liking or not liking someone. And a bit of both of these was going on.

Regardless, it was a fun evening for me. We drink a lot, run from bar to bar, dance a little, go home around 4 am.

Saturday, I wake up late, lay out in the yard and catch some sun. Beau calls from the Country Club, a bar in the Bywater, which has a pool. I think about going to meet him, but decide i'm much too lazy.

Robert, who I haven't seen in quite a while, calls and says he's gonna be in my neighborhood and would like to stop by and say hi. I say sure. In the meantime, Jonathan calls and we decide to head to the Quarter to walk around and shop. Now, Robert and Jonathan, the first nite I introduced them turned into the dancefloor makeout artists, spoke on the phone a couple times and nothing ever came of it. So, this could be interesting if they both stop by at the same time.

They do.

And Robert is all, "I need to apologize to him" right before Jonathan arrives. And I'm all, "yeah, you do, i'm not doing it for you."

So, the flirtation starts again pretty much immediately. And Robert winds up shopping with us. It's a mostly music shopping trip, with clothes and pralines thrown in on the side. I score a used copy of St. Etiennne's Japanese only CD The Continental for only $13.

We decide we're hungry and head to the newly hopping Frenchmen Street in the Marigny and eat at Old Dog, New Trick, a really yummy vegetarian restaurant. Then home again. Then out again.

I get home and want to do nothing but crash, but Jonathan calls and informs me that he's coming to pick me up and I'm going out. So, I go. And Jonathan's insane stepsister comes with us, informing me immediately that the nite is all about her.

Yay. Oh joy. We shall now refer to her as Moodswing Girl.

See Moodswing Girl be happy cuz she's meeting her sisters at a horrible Bourbon St straight bar. See Moodswing Girl turn dark and scary when her sisters (wisely) leave before she arrives. See Moodswing Girl's lights turn back on at the briefest of attention from gay boys. See Moodswing Girl stare down at us alone on the balcony above the dancefloor as we dance. See Moodswing Girl inform us that we're going home.

Between all of this, a lot of fun is had. Lafitte's plays some excellent music along with videos on their big flatscreen TVs. I flirt across the bar with a cute boy of indeterminate ethnic background. I have fun dancing at Oz! We stand on the street and laugh at the freaks and the sunburned Jazzfest people.

Nice nite.

Sunday, I get up late, get more sun and read comic books. Then i decide to go shopping on the Westbank. I wind up in Marerro, because they have a Toys R Us. Jonathan lives in Marerro, so I call him. And wind up visiting him at his family's house. Which was quite nice. Then dinner at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen. Artichoke ravioli. Yum.

A FUCKING great weekend. Friends are good things. And I seem to have a few good ones of late.

August 2
August 2
August 2

signs
signs
signs

screw Spiderman, screw Star Wars... it's ALL about signs...

I've been a BAD blogger.

The last couple of days have been a bit blurry. Working and playing. Last nite, I went to dinner with Beau and a friend of his whose name I've forgotten (sheesh) to commemorate the one year anniversary of Beau's 'divorce.' He figured it was better to be out with friends than stewing at home. We went to K-Paul's in the Quarter, Paul Prudhomme's restaurant. You know... the enormous celebrity chef... enormous in size, that is.

The food and atmosphere were both much better than i expected for what most locals regard as a high-end tourist stop. And the company sparkled as well. A really nice evening.

I've been ripping CDs like a madman... i think i'm up to 3 gig on my hardrive/iPod already, with more to go.

I'm off in a bit to spend some time in the Quarter again, with Beau and hopefully Jon Jon. Should be fun, Jazzfest attendees abounding and a big bright moon...

newly added links on the side will now take you to the blogs i'm reading...

Music I'd love to have copies of if someone wanted to burn it for me...

Goldfrapp
Dot Allison
Ladytron
Chicks on Speed
Saint Etienne "The Misadventures of Margaret" & fan club CDs

Music that I'm way into at the moment....

White Stripes
Fischerspooner
new Moby
Goldfrapp
N*E*R*D
timo maas
Zero 7
A Camp

Okey doke... after almost pushing myself off the edge of sanity by staying up for hours on end with the new computer, ripping CDs, downloading music, etc... i finally got some sleep last nite and made myself spend a great portion of my day off today away from the computer...

the result being a saner, happier, tanner Drew...

I got up a bit late today, downloaded a tune, updated the iPod a bit and then sensibly decided to head to the French Quarter for the afternoon. Listening to my iPod along the way changes everything. I can totally set the tempo and mood for my day by the music i listen to. And that's a good thing.

I spent a large portion of the afternoon at Tower and Virgin browsing CDs. I only bought one CD, a compilation called American Gigolo, which has some amazing electro singles on it. Oh, and a $6 used copy of the soundtrack to Velvet Goldmine at another place.

I ran into another Baton Rouge expatriot, Andy, at Tower while checking out. And wound up going back to Virgin with him to browse DVDs. And we spent almost two hours doing that. And it was a blast. Afterwards, I walked further into the Quarter with him and we had coffee at CC's. I owe Andy a huge debt because he totally knocked me out of the funk I've been in lately. I had a really terrific time hanging out with him.

Then I took a streetcar home and spent a little more time downloading Moby's new single, which I hadn't heard yet. I worry that his new CD may not be that popular. I don't know if this single will attract that many people. Before you rush to think that I don't like it... i think it's fucking brilliant. But, I don't know about everyone else.... it's reminds me of Bowie at his peak. Totally fucking brilliant. This is so gonna be my favorite song for a while.

Then my friend Jonathan called to see what was up in my world. I was going to go see a late show of Resident Evil, but he asked me to go to the Balcony Bar on Magazine with him instead. And I did. And it was fun. A medium sized group of his PJ's (coffee shop) coworkers were there. And they were quite fun. Prior to that, he came by my apartment and I felt quite proud of the way he was lusting after my computer. It's really quite the machine... I also gifted him with a CD that i burned at amazing speeds of some relatively obscure Bjork tracks...

Now, I'm back home and more content than I've been in days... Life is good. And I have the upcoming weekend off... and Jazzfest is coming...

much thanks to Andy and Jonathan...

i am so tired... promise to say something witty and insightful tomorrow....

must

rip

more

cdsbeforesleeping....

Holy Jellied Christ on a Cracker!!! All praise the mighty Apple for the amazing fucking invention that is the iPod. Could this device be easier to use??

although... I have enormous bags under my eyes from all the CD ripping i've been doing in the last 18 or so hours...

My DSL line still isn't active so that sucks, but dial-up is about 5 times faster on this computer than the old one, so I'll survive in the meantime.

I feel like I've been set free. I'm seeing the Internet how it's supposed to be seen for the first time in years. Wowzers...

Updating to a new computer after so many years has left me a bit perplexed as to how I can transfer data and files off of my old one to the new one. So, I've decided to make a clean break. Which means I have to build up my bookmarks and email addresses and such all over again.

so... Anyone and everyone that I even slightly know or might wanna know... drop me an email so I can put you back into my Address Book.

This post brought to you by an Apple iMac g4...

*dances wildly about the room*

Thanks to the kindness of a friend, I watched all of the episodes of the Osbournes that have aired so far earlier this evening. I'm SOOO hooked. What an unexpectedly fun show to watch. Now I understand why everyone has been talking about it.

The thing that stands out to me the most on the show is how much this odd foul-mouthed, nouveaux riche rockstar family all love one another. Kinda cool.

an hour spent walking the dog...

I step outside to a crescent moon and a scattering of bright stars against a deep indigo sky. Walking down my street, I pass houses a century old, some barely holding back against the years with their rotted gutters and uneven balconies, others brought back to the lustre of their younger days... apartments for rent for a couple hundred dollars, others a couple thousand.

Reaching St Charles Avenue, I pass a nightclub, seemingly out of place, a strange building supposedly built from disgarded parts of the Eiffel Tower. It's just beginning to fill with young noisy people, bass thumps out each time the door opens, strobe lights flash through the windows high above the street.

Turning on the Avenue, I pass hotels, some old and grand, others new and overly bright and shiny. Then there are restaurants and bars, people sitting drinking chatting loudly and happily at wrought iron tables right at the edge of the street.

Streetcars rumble down the neutral ground in both directions, adding a distinctive burnt scent to the damp night air. I see the occassional cute face staring out a window and wonder who they are, where they're going.

After a few blocks, I turn back into the Garden District. Immediately, the houses grow large and bold. I walk down brick sidewalks, careful to watch my step as many a brick is long gone and roots of trees protrude in the spaces between others.

There are fences all along the street. Wrought iron with finials of all shapes and sizes.. fleur de lis, spikes, cones; white picket wood; chicken wire and large concrete walls with foreboding metal doors.

The air is full of the sickly sweet funereal smell of lugustrum blooms. Soon this will fade, replaced by the sickly sweet smell of magnolia blossoms. Plants are everywhere and are of every type. Large stately oak and magnolia trees, hibiscus, palms, banana trees, lantana, roses, irises. They reach up and out and over everywhere, through the fences, up trellises. Once I'm not looking the right direction and a rose branch snaking its way through a wrought iron fence digs into my neck and my dog drags me onward, the thorn digging through my skin until it releases pulled back to the branch.

I reach Magazine Street and turn again. The mansions grow fewer. I pass a dilipadated funeral home, a Western Union office with cracked plate glass windows, faded carpet behind them. The next block turns into shops and stores of varying wares. Behind large glass windows meshed in steel coverings is pottery, paintings, fossils, flowers, chairs that came from faraway countries decades past. I pass the plastic tables outside Juans Flying Burrito, more drunk happy people cheeks flushed sipping on margaritas.

Back into my neighborhood, more of the strange mixture of gentrification and dilipation.

Home.

God, I love New Orleans...

We live in a culture in which we're so saturated with media and hype that it's a really rare moment to discover something truly unexpected, especially if you're talking about a film.

Tonight, I watched a movie that I knew nothing about, a movie that I'd never heard of before, I just thought it looked neat at the video store.

And I'm sitting here just totally blown away by it right now. Instantly one of my five favorite movies ever. I'm gonna buy it on DVD because I know I'll watch it again and again.

I'm not gonna tell you anything about it. It's called Donnie Darko. Go rent it.

If you like it, you're someone I'd like to know...

Yorkshire pudding is made from beef??????

(the perils of looking through your cookbooks)

Mono & Esthero...

Where the fuck are you??? I want fucking new albums by both the fuck of you fucking NOW.

(the perils of looking through your CD collection)

FYI... the order is placed, I just have to call tomorrow morning, once my paycheck has posted to my checking account, and supply my credit card number.

Then one iMac G4 Combo Drive (with half a gig of memory) and one iPod will arrive at my place of business on Saturday morning.

So, Saturday nite, instead of drinking myself into oblivion in the French Quarter, I will be in supergeek computer heaven, setting up my new system.

Hmmm... now may be the time to start borrowing ÇDs that I don't own from all of my friends...

It's a lovely sunny day outside, so I decided a bit ago that reading on a blanket in the backyard would be a great idea. So, a book, a blanket, the dog and I head for the yard. The dog is happy, she can run around. I'm happy, getting sun and enjoying a great book. I doze off for a second in the warm drowsy sun.

I wake up hearing the dog digging in the flowerbed. I'm about to call out to her when I realize she's chewing something. I go to investigate. As I cross the yard, she digs a little more and snuffles up something from the ground beneath the mulch. I arrive at the flowerbed. I see that my beloved sweetheart of a dog is eating.... catshit.

If she comes within ten feet of me for the rest of the day, I'm gonna scream.

Stupid Toys R Us doesn't have it yet... Stupid Toys R Us...

Oh my god.. Oh my god... there's a new ToysRUs exclusive 4 pack of animated Batman action figures!!! And it's got Ra's al Ghul in a suit in it!!!!!! And Talia!!!!!!!

Oh my god... Oh my god... *door slams* *sound of tires squeeling in street as blogger exits to nearest Toys R Us store*

Am I the only person on this planet who hasn't seen an episode of The Osbournes??? It's starting to feel that way...

"needs to smile more"

the (hidden) things you find when you start viewing the Page Source on other people's webpages...

Okey doke, Mr Jonno, I promise to make an effort...

I don't think I ever posted this link. It's a couple months ago. I hate it. But it's me. Just in case anyone was wondering...

Um... for the record... I have no personal firsthand knowledge of the New Orleans bar and/or gay scene in the 1970s!!!!

Book alert... there may be another great New Orleans novel out there now... Jim Grimsley has just published BOULEVARD. I've only read the first twelve pages of it, but it seems to capture the texture of 1970s New Orleans quite well from the first page.

Grimsley has several previous books, most all of them quite good. My favorite of them is DREAM BOY, a novel that has one the most indescribably beautiful but disturbing endings I've ever read. It stayed with me for days the first time I read it.

I'll be starting BOULEVARD shortly and have a report on it soon.

Also in bookstores yesterday, the latest novel from Dennis Cooper, first one in a while. And!!!!! the rerelease of one of Jonathan Carroll's out of print novels. That's the second one in the last year, on top of the trade paperback release of THE WOODEN SEA.

BONES OF THE MOON is a story about dreams. It's not Carroll's best book, IMO, but that's like saying a painting is a minor Picasso. Any Jonathan Carroll book is a delight that will have you stumbling through the world for days after looking at everything around you and every facet of your life wondering what lies behind it all.

I highly recommend any and all of his books. Every single person that I've ever suggested his books to has come back and thanked me later. Every one.

Ok... I'm not gonna start any more posts with "okay"...

Ok... person who attends Augustana College... introduce yourself... :)

Okay... now how the FUCK do I get the files that I wanna keep off of my old Power PC6500 and onto my new iMac once I get it???? The old one only has a floppy drive, the new one CD-RW and DVD.

There's some damned good porn on here that I don't wanna lose...

I must confess to the fact that I don't read many other blogs, outside of a few assorted other New Orleanians and one California boy. So, today, I jumped on a couple of the gay boy blog webrings.

And I found a couple of blogs I decided I had to bookmark. I really liked this one a lot.

It's kinda scary out there, the same guys seem to have all the other same guys bookmarked over and over again... this being a supposedly exploding hot new thing to do... where are all the other cute interesting boy bloggers??

My traffic has been relatively steady lately and I'm noticing lots of new ISP's passing through. And it seems that some of you are staying around and actually reading quite a bit... so...

why don't some of you introduce yourselves to me? email or the guestbook would do...

c'mon... i'm SOOO curious...

oh, and did I mention that the day I buy my iMac, I'm also buying an iPod... patience.. patience...

Yippee ki oh... UPS brought my DSL modem today and on Friday, i get the check that enables me to turn around and spend it all on my new iMac g4...

I will be patient... I will be patient... I will be patient...

Saturday night, I made JonJon go back to see Helle's Belles with me again. The good review in the Times Picayune's Lagniappe section coupled with word of mouth must've resulted in a lot more interest because the show was completely packed.

And the SRO crowd seemed to feed the energy of the cast and give them something more to play off of than they had at the previous show that I saw. The timing was a bit better and the cast obviously enjoyed playing off of the enthusiasm of the crowd. The result was that a funny show became much funnier. I laughed much harder the second time around.

New Orleans being the odd incestuous city that it is, I knew that fellow bloggers TJ and James were supposed to be there as well as my friend, Jinger. Jinger was going with her long-time friend Tiffany, who this past year discovered that Richard, the director of the play, was her long lost half-brother. Whew! Got all that??

Anyways, James didn't make it so I didn't meet him, and I had no clue what TJ looked like. I did see Jonno, who I discovered hasn't even glanced in my blog in so long that he has no clue of the changes I've made. *pout*

After the play, we stopped at the John, in the Marigny, for another drink. Ridiculously simple bar with gold painted toilets in the main room. Cheap drinks served in mason jars. Right down home... sort of...

Then we hit a couple of the gay bars, Lafitte's and Good Friends, as well as 735. Nothing too exciting happened. Oh yeah, and then I drug JonJon into the Phoenix on the way back to the car. *snort*

Whoo hoo....!! Angel's new tonight!!!

So, last night I had extremely vivid dreams. I don't usually remember my dreams, so this is a pretty rare moment.

I had what I term an 'epic dream', one of those that seemingly goes on for great length and involves a great adventure.

So, um... I dreamed that I was in an apocalyptic future. One in which man shared the remains of the ruined landscape with, um... intelligent dinosaurs. Don't ask me how the intelligent dinosaurs got into the future...

I was some great human leader who was trying to bring peace to the human and dinosaur communities. And I had finally achieved, along with a dinosaur leader, a community where dinosaur and man lived together in tenuous peace. And then a rogue human drove an Amtrak train through it and killed most everyone. And then I woke up.

I haven't a clue... I do remember the memorable line that one dinosaur said to another, "Your feet stink of humans!"

Like I said... not a clue...

Okay... blogging reaches a whole new level of cool when the author of a book that you read and really liked emails you and asks you for a further critique of it...

Neato keeno...

So, yesterday I watched Mulholland Drive on DVD. What a mindfuck. I love David Lynch movies. It was probably one of the best representations I've ever seen on film of dream logic. It's flow was entirely dreamlike throughout, at least what I remember of the dreams I have.

And I *think* I have some idea of what was going on... or at least what *I* think was going on...

Went to Lola's for dinner last night with my friend, Beau. Beau and I have been saying we were going for paella some nite for months on end. And we finally did it. And, my god, is Lola's amazing. I had meriscos, a seafood soup, tomato basil salad and seafood paella, and I had part of Beau's gazpacho. Amazng amazing amazing meal. I can't wait to go back. Although, I still smelled like garlic at work this morning.

Tonight, I may go see Y Mama... oh I forget.. that Mexican road film...

it means the spirit of the stairway, sort of... it's a French expression, and a very cool one, which refers to those clever comments you think of much too late for them to be of use to you.

L'esprit d'escalier...

To the person who came here by imploring Google "I want lil bow wow to be my boyfriend help me get to him", um... sorry, I'm afraid that I can't be of much help with that.

Ok... I promise to stop with the Google hits after this one. My last Google hit was for these keywords (and I swear to god I'm not making this up):

I + want + lil + bow + wow + to + be + my + boyfriend + help + me + get + to + him

FYI... i just went back and fixed a problem with an earlier post from today that you may have noticed not making sense... the one about Hell's Belles...

Spent a lovely day today... got up at 9:30ish for a 10:30 haircut at Stardust on Magazine. Followed it with a Chicken House Special Spinach Quesadilla at Juan's Flying Burrito. YUMMM.

Then i took a nice bikeride up to More Fun Comics on Oak Street and bought this week's new comics. Then my comics and I went to Audubon Park, where I sat on a bench and read them. Then back home on our oh so bumpy uptown streets. Stopped and picked up a DVD of Mulholland Drive for watching later.

After getting home, I cleaned my apartment from top to bottom, while listening to White Stripes, Timo Maas & Pete Yorn. Now me tired, but I have to work from 9 pm until... while painters stain wood in our store.

Feh. Nice day tho...

hmm... who is Jonathan Lewis... and why does he hate me???

(no, i'm not serious)

More Google hits! how odd...

jonathan + lewis + hates + drew
grapefruit + martini (oh the horrible memories...)

I'm SOO behind on reporting my life...

This past Sunday, I went with JonJon to see Hell's Belles at Cowpokes Bar in the Marigny.

I ran into Beau/Lance there as well as Charly, aka Blogstalker. Poor Charly evidently has no internet access currently, which explains the lack of updates in 4 months. I finally asked Beau/Lance whether he preferred to be a Beau or a Lance and exactly why some people call him Beau and some Lance. I'm keeping him as a Beau. It's what the people who've known him the longest call him and I like it best.

Hell's Belles is the newest Running With Scissors production. These are the guys who previously brought New Orleans productions of Hedwig, The Scooby Witch Project, Camille and Grenadine McGunkle's Doublewide Christmas. All of which were damned funny and extremely well done shows.

Belles is loosely based on the Clint Eastwood movie, The Beguiled, which has always held a special place in my heart. I wasn't terribly surprised to find out a year or so ago that Flynn had a similar love for it.

I liked Belles a lot, but I didn't find it to be as funny overall as the previous shows. But, that's not really a criticism. All of Running With Scissors shows have been amazingly good. Grenadine was about the funniest damned show I've ever seen in my life. So, that's a high mark to have to hit every time. Belles has some terrificly funny moments but I felt it just sort of dragged at moments. Brian Peterson was really great as the school's headmistress and Roy Haylock aka Bianca del Rio ate up the stage everytime he was on it.

I imagine that I'll go see the show again later in its run and I have a feeling that it'll have tightened up a bit.

Now I have to go feel guilty about not absolutely raving about it...

Wow. I got my first search engine hit today. Someone was looking on Google for Alastair Reynolds as a keyword. Neato.

Oops. On second view, it's quite a weird hit. It was from Google UK and the person searching spelled Alastair wrong and so had I once upon a time. LOL.

I mention my ex, Dave, a lot. It's sad that I call him 'my ex' still cuz we broke up like over 4 years ago.

Anyway... I just put Dave's mass emails from his first few days in the Peace Corps onto a blog, totally without his permission, natch.

Go read them, they're VERY funny.

Okay... that was really annoying... that Muppet Quiz html was totally fucked up... but the gratifying part of the annoyance is that I managed to clean it up myself.

I am SOOO smart sometimes.

And I suppose I should be glad that I'm not Miss Piggy...

*sigh* I don't wanna be Goooonzzoo.... *cry*

	You are Gonzo! You're a bit loopy, and many people have trouble figuring out exactly what you're supposed to be. You take pride in your eccentricity and originality.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

just an fyi...

my favorite song title of all time...

mmmm, skyskraper i love you by Underworld

I have to rant about something for a second.

I work retail. Retail Management. And I hear people bitch a lot about how hard it is to get good service. Well, guess what. It's hard to find a customer who delivers on their side of the deal as well.

I'm a smart guy. I work in a bookstore. Most of my employees are pretty smart people. People that want to work in bookstores tend to be a bit intelligent.

And 90% of the people who walk through the door of our stores treat us like we're either completely stupid or as if we're some sort of second class citizen. We try to walk people to books and put the book into their hands. And half the time you get no thanks or acknowledgement of any kind. You're left standing there finally having to ask, "um, did you need anything else?"

We encourage people to browse and spend time reading books, it's the culture of our store. That translates for many customers that they should remove 50 books from the shelf and them leave them in disorganized heaps on the floor for us to reshelve. If they do decide to reshelve them, it's usually on a wrong shelf, if not a completely wrong section. But then this same customer will get angry with us when we can't find a book that we're supposed to have on the shelf.

They also seem to think we use Cray supercomputers to do searches for books. "Um, hey dude... I'm looking for a book titled THE SHIP... i dunno who wrote it." "Gosh, sir, that's going to be really hard for me to find, do you have any more information?" "Just do the damned search on your computer" This happens fifty times a day.

The worst offenders are the passive/aggressive late shoppers. People who come into your store near the closing hour and think that because they got in the door before the closing announcement that they can shop as late as they want. They make huge piles of books and refuse to let you reshelve any of them early, despite you politely asking them. They don't start to even think about leaving until well after the third closing announcement that you make. And that's when they realize a pressing need to use the restroom, before they purchase 2 magazines. And, oh yeah, they also need fifty $5 gift cards. I'm not making this stuff up.

There's one woman who is pretty much the last person out the door every night. And every night she makes a big scene, after being the last person to check out and after leaving at least 20-40 books for us to reshelve, because she can't find her car keys. And then five minutes later she finds them in her purse. Sick fuck.

There are about ten people who are consinsently the last people out of our store almost every night. We hate them. We hate them with a passion. But we're nice to them. Because we have to be.

So, do me a favor. The next time you go to the grocery store, Walmart, the Gap or a bookstore, be extremely nice to the person helping you. Go out of your way to be clear in what you want or need, thank them and be sincere about it all. I can't even tell you how much it helps when a really nice person steps in front of you. It can change the whole day. Just remember that. Thanks.

I think I need to start planning a vacation....

Currently on rotation through my CD player:

Beth Orton - Central Reservation
N*E*R*D - In Search of...
Blade 2 Soundtrack (mostly for Eve & Fatboy Slim)
Kylie Minogue - Fever
A Camp - A Camp (Nina Perssons from Cardigans)
Robbie Williams - Swing When You're Winning
Chemical Brothers - Come with Me
Timo Maas - Loud
Zero 7- Simple Things
Pete Yorn - musicfothemorningafter
The Hives - Your New Favorite Band (absolutely my new favorite band)
White Stripes - White Blood Cells
rinocerose - music kills me

After a couple weeks of not being able to do this, it's sort of hard to get back into the groove.

I owe quite a few people email, this I know. Especially Dave, the ex, who has been writing me some extremely amusing tales of his first month or so of being a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. If you're reading this, Dave, know that you have no clue how much I (and the rest of your friends) miss you. I've wanted to pick up the phone about five kajillion times since you left to call you about some inconsequentially stupid thing that only you and I would think was funny. Grrrr. I promise ya to email you later today.

I've also been doing a bit of catching up on other people's blogs. And I was delighted to see that in my absence I picked up a link or two from other people's pages. Whoo hoo.

Let's see... the personal life... the older guy I was going on dates with, as promised to me by a mutual friend, lost interest in me. Evidently he has a history of this behavior. *shrug* I ran into another old momentary interest a couple weeks ago and did the whole "you stopped calling me, no YOU stopped calling me" dance. And this was while his date for the evening stood by watching. So, we've been talking again. But, our work schedules are virtually opposite. So, i dunno... He's also going through some personal crap. So, i dunno...

I totally owe MASSIVE EMAIL THANKS to the people who bought me birthday presents from Amazon. My computer monitor chose to die the day the boxes from Amazon came. I was gifted with a couple of Edward Gorey books, a Moulin Rouge DVD and the Zero 7 CD. All of it was completely fabulous. Major hugs to JonJon, Doug and George.

Okay... back to cleaning the apartment/pig sty....

oh my fucking god... finally... i'm back online!!!! the monitor, as promised, totally died on me, but thanks to the kindness of a friend, I have a loaner until I buy a whole new computer.

I have 634 email messages to deal with and a lot of webpages and newsgroups to read... back later with much commentary.... promise!