comics and non-plans

There's a stereotypical single leaf clinging to the tree outside my window. I say it's being stubborn and needs to get in line before it has an "accident".





Again, there are several parties available to me this New Year's evening and again, none of them seem worth going to. I'll probably end up at MILO. But I have to get to bed early because my week's long run is tomorrow morning.

And your aphasia strikes a bargain with the barter yard

Getting back into El Oso after much unwarranted neglect.

Mitch Hedberg's autopsy says cocaine & herion overdose.


via boingboing



This week in Landon: Spoon's Gimme Fiction and Shrimp Pad Thai.

This is for Kendra: Jonathan Coulton's awesome cover of Destiny's Child's Bills, Bills, Bills

opposite of apposite

I decided I can't make my best-of lists until I've seen all the movies and heard all the albums I need to to make my decision. So don't ask yet. Gay Cowboys, Mirrormask, and Squid and the Whale remain outstanding.



I bought a daily planner last week and already I don't know how I did without it.

guess who's back

Scared of Santa Photo Gallery

Cute Overload
I can't post a picture from this site: it's too cute. It's so cute I need to kill something with my bare hands after looking at it to restore balance.

>
Chinese fishermen throw fish into the sky during the celebration of a winter fishing festival at Chagan Lake in northeast China's Jilin province December 27, 2005. Some 360 people attended the traditional festival that runs from December 27, 2005 to February 6, 2006

make with the funny stuff

The funniest thing you'll read today:
Stories Ending With "Long Story Short" That Could Actually Use Some Elaboration.

conjunct is not a word!

I didn't finish my 2005 movie list yet. Soon.


Body of a Hindu pilgrim lies on the banks of Narmada river near Dharaji village, 200 km (125 miles) west of the central Indian city of Bhopal April 12, 2005.


A British soldier jumps from a burning tank which was set ablaze after a shooting incident in the southern Iraq city of Basra September 19, 2005.

dream a little dream

>
A gay marriage supporter parades with a placard as Grainne Close and Shannon Sickels (unseen) arrive at the Belfast City Hall in Belfast for their civil partnership ceremony December 19, 2005. Close and her American partner Sickels negotiated noisy crowds of protesters and supporters on Monday to become the first women in Britain to tie the knot under a new law for same-sex couples.

I had a dream that I signed up and paid for a marathon to ensure that I wouldn't chicken out at the last second. But it was too early and I flubbed it. It was a strange thing, like the race came too soon. As if dates are just like people and can come early or late.

Does anyone else make best-of lists? I know I do. I think I'll put together a best-of-2005 movie list at work tonight and post it here later. I know for sure some that will be on there, but there are a lot of details to work out.

Pedro the Lion is over

Pedro the Lion is broken up/indefinitely on hold. I am terribly distraught. It's now just David Bazan solo. Yeah, yeah: most PtL albums are 100% David Bazan playing all instruments. But I liked T.W. Walsh's involvement. It's the end of my favorite band as I know it. Of course I'll follow David but it seems like a signal he's going somewhere else musically.

Consider Mike Doughty/Soul Coughing, Jeremy Enigk/Sunny Day Real Estate, Ben Folds/Five, David Byrne/Talking Heads. A lead singer is not the whole band! I can like both (and in some cases, the solo artist even more) yet I am dejected to hear this news.

Console oneself with this new lossless live recording of Pedro the Lion in Seattle, 9-26-05 on Dimeadozen.org. John Copic was AT this show! I even bugged him to tape it for me and was bummed when he (inevitably) didn't. This is a mixed soundboard recording, far better than he could have gotten.

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Best Worst Band Names Kyle Ryan Encountered This Year

I Will Kill You Fucker
Let's Get Out Of This Terrible Sandwich Shop
The Asshole Two
When Rocky Beat The Russian

This Week In Landon

Global Warming Skeptics Bingo


insightful Spielberg interview about Munich HERE
via robotwisdom

Girl #1: So I said I'm not sure if I'm gonna take his last name; it seems really old-fashioned.
Girl #2: What'd he say?
Girl #1: He said an engagement ring is old-fashioned, but I took that.

--Rockefeller Center
Overheard In New York



This week in Landon: Bloc Party's Silent Alarm and venison stew.

Gog and Magog

Whatever else it may be, I think Forrest Gump is the greatest running movie of all time. I know intellectually that it's a piece of corporate nonsense artfully designed to tug on our heartstrings in order to make money. Nonetheless, the scenes of Forrest running are some of the most awe-inspiring and conscience-inducing in cinema for me, whatever their dubious origin.

hurry up the cakes

Hey there. I've been kicking it old school with my family back in Euclid since Sunday. I'm back, though. Don't worry.

R.I.P. Mudbone

Richard Pryor dies at 65



The self-appointed president-for-life of the American Subscript Society, David Foster Wallace, has a new collection of essays out. The Observer glowingly reviews Consider the Lobster HERE. A must for anyone who hasn't yet read him who enjoys language, literature and US society.

Caity and Steve are traversing West Virgina as I type, en route to Columbus to whisk me away from here.

incomplete

I'll probably be back in Euclid on Sunday. We'll see.



The Best Webcomics of 2005

2755 + 8455 + 11055 + 13355 = 14455

I think I've decided on my marathons in 2006. My first one will be Cincinnati's Flying Pig on May 7^th. My second will be Erie, PA's Presque Isle Marathon on September 10^th. I spoke with several people and consulted a lot of running logs to determine which would be right for me; I'm a first-timer, I like a large race apparatus (crowds, support, timing), and I would prefer local venues. It's curious how deciding something so far in the future can still get me excited and more motivated today.

Euler's Conjecture




German and French farmers block the Europabruecke (Bridge of Europe) between Kehl, in Germany, and Strasbourg, in France, with burning barricades on Wednesday. Called by France's main FNSEA and JA farm unions, the protests, also held outside the European Commission's offices in the French capital as well as near the German border in Strasbourg criticised the EU's latest offer to cut farm tariffs as going too far.

Ben Folds and banned words

I hope I'm not alone when I say that I much prefer Ben Folds Five to Ben Folds' solo career. Over the weekend I listened to the remastered BFF albums followed by the solo albums. Of course I'm not impugning Ben Folds himself or the, quite honestly, great work he's done since then.

It's just that the bass lines Robert Sledge laid down are unassailable beautifully crafted rock art. They stand out and challenge the piano for mastery of the songs. At the same time they wonderfully compliment the work without distraction. I can't say that about so many other instruments in so many other bands. Darren Jesse's drumming is incredibly more innovative than Ben's. It's sometimes subtle, but it's all over the place.

I enjoy the blending of styles much more than the uniformity of one vision, often even if that vision is a genius' like Ben's.

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Words I Would Rather Not Say As Much In the Future Due to Their Marginalizing or Vacuous Nature

0. totally
1. only
2. actually
3. even
4. like
5. just
6. very


South Korean protesters fight with riot police as they attempt to march towards the presidential Blue House in Seoul December 4, 2005. About 10,000 workers and farmers held a rally on Sunday to stop a labour bill, which they insist, discriminates against temporary workers and also to oppose more import of rice.

illuminating dusty corners of my mind with flashlights of distraction

From the Patton Oswalt interview:

I remember, one of the jokes I wanted to do, this woman [at standards and practices] said, “Yeah, I don’t [know] about that.” I said, “Can I not say that on television?” And she says, “Oh, I just think it’s gross.” I said, “Well, no offense -- I don’t want to get combative -- but I don’t care how you feel about it. Can I say it?” “Well you can say it, I just don’t know why you’d want to.” “Moving on.” I don’t know why we’re having this discussion. This is my one-hour special. It’s not called “Your Feelings.” If I do a show called “Your Feelings” then you can totally give me that note.



Do not click on the picture below if you wish to save 30 minutes of your time. 74 band names are depicted somewhere in the picture. Between the two of us, Matthew and I probably covered more than 60.

via Lisa

running of the mullets

I absolutely cannot believe this lineup at Largo over the next few days.
Monday: Sarah Silverman
Tuesday: Aimee Mann and Patton Oswalt
Wednesday: Pedro the Lion's David Bazan
Thursday: Jon Brion

Three of my absolute favorite artists in as many days headlining this club. I have to cry now.

regression innovation

Tribal members at the Lummi reservation watch the destruction of a house Thursday that had been used in drug dealing. "This is only the beginning of the trying to destroy what is wrecking our families," said Dorothy Charles, a spiritual leader.

Writers Wolfe, Vidal, Franzen, Chabon in an upcoming Simpsons episode HERE.

New Patton Oswalt interview.

moving toward a plan

Thanks everyone, for your suggestions and advice. More importantly, thanks for your support. It's nice to know people are willing to help out when things get rough. Though it may sound trite, that means a great deal to me.

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Hobo: Can you spare the love and help a brotha out? Even some change. I'll remember it...I'll remember you when I win the lottery. I'll come looking for you in my helicopter.
--115th & Broadway
via Overheard in New York

But ask any modern pregnant woman whether she'd let a dinosaur watch her baby and she'll freak out as if you've just said the most outlandish thing ever.
from I Don't Know What the Big Deal About Having a Baby Is
via McSweeney's


Two naked men are detained by police after being caught underground excavating a tunnel in an attempt to rob a bank in San Salvador, Tuesday Nov. 29, 2005.