I enjoy art.

Today instead of doing work when I was supposed to (give me a break, I was on a conference call until 12:30 AM) I searched for new things to waste my hard earned money on. Do you know what I found?

kurthalsey.com

For me, visual complexity is only necessary when you're not talented enough to get your point across in a few strokes. Enter Kurt Halsey, this absolutely great artist who doesn't mess around with extremely complicated imagery.

Now, because I'm awesome (and also because I shop at Urban Outfitters - I have his "All Fades" tryptich hanging up in my bedroom) I already knew about Mr. Halsey and his work. What I did not know was just how much of his stuff was available.

Coming soon to a cubicle near you (if your cubicle is near mine): The Kurt Halsey wall calendar and a print. If you're lucky, maybe you can come hang out near me and bask in their glory.


Honestly, how fun and pretty is this image?

Music Review Monday: Six Words or Less

I'm starting a new Monday blog tradition - the 6 word music review. This week? Yoko Ono's "Yes I'm a Witch".



Somebody get her some glow sticks.

...he sleeps later than I do!

This weekend I spent the night at Most Attentive Boy On the Planet's apartment and holy Jesus and all his bastard children can Most Attentive sleep.

Freal, ya'll, he's Most Attentive Boy On the Planet by day and Dead to the World by night. Nothing will wake this boy up. Not even my super chipper self bouncing around the bed and generally acting like a child because I'm bored and need someone to constantly entertain me.

It's a good thing there's a tv in that bedroom.
___________________

In other news, Super Best Friend is now engaged. CONGRATULATIONS SUPER BEST FRIEND! I can't wait to see you and fawn over your ring like the fucking sap that I am.


No more living in sin (or under a tyranasaurus rex) for these two. LOVE THEM BOTH.

Why in God's name would he fear his shadow?

Punxsutawney Phil was apparently not frightened off by the sight of his own shadow this year, promising an early spring to the morons who believe a groundhog can predict the future.


People like these guys. Clearly, technology is not necessary when you have a famous rodent. I know I routinely ask the rats on Bay State Road for their help and advice and they're always more than willing.

Poor Phil, I'm amazed that he didn't run far and run fast from fear this year --not from his shadow or the crazy crowd mind you, but from this guy and his INSANE handlebar moustache.



Seriously, all of this would be enough to make me burrow into the ground and not come out. Clearly, however, Phil is not scurry-scurry scurred of anything. That rodent strolled out of his burrow this year, took one peek at the chaos surrounding him and brushed his shoulders off.

If only everyone could be such a suave superstar.

An Email Trail

From: Chasing Ordinary
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 5:26 PM
To: Thursday Night Drinking Club
Subject: Toasting TBS. Very Funny.

Boston has been shut down and in shambles all day. Cops, FBI, bomb squads everywhere blowing up suspicious devices.

Why?

Because TBS planted a viral marketing campaign around Boston and 10 other cities to promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The campaign? Battery operated light brites with the Mooninites giving the finger.

In honor of this great Wednesday + the weekend almost being here + most everyone being back in town + our propensity to drink, we're heading over to Tavern on the Square at the usual time.

_______________________________________

From: Caracas
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 5:45 PM
To: Chasing Ordinary
Subject: RE: Toasting TBS. Very Funny.

THIS WAS TRUE?!?!?!?!

AWESOME.

____________________________________________

From: Seat Filler
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 10:13 AM
To: Thursday Night Drinking Club
Subject: RE: Toasting TBS. Very Funny.

No, no, this was a very bad thing. After all, our elected officials, who, of course, know what's best for us better than we do, say this was a very bad thing. The whole city was "on edge". People were "scared". "Relatives across the nation feared for their loved ones here in the City of Boston.".

And the media, who is, by the way, also smarter than we are, has made it a matter of record that "panic was the order of the day". After all, these were "sinister looking devices with wires and batteries." Wires AND batteries, people. I can't stress enough how serious that is.

Never mind that people had been posting pictures of these things on that newfangled Intertron for weeks. (I mean, really, who uses that anyway?) The MBTA official that started this all did the right thing in wasting a million dollars of police overtime all because he/she didn't recognize a roughly barely anthropromorphic character from a "failing show".

For shame, Chasing Ordinary. How dare you treat such a serious matter with glib lightheartedness. Why don't you move to New York, or Houston, or any of the other nine cities in which these ads were posted? There you can be with your own callous, over-educated, terrorist-loving kind.

Embarassed for all of us,

__________________________________________
From: Water Spitter
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 10:16 AM
To: Thursday Night Drinking Club
Subject: RE: Toasting TBS. Very Funny.

Chasing Ordinary is defending them because from what I understand she's in marketing. Sounds to me like she's trying to stick up for her own. The only logical conclusion that we can gather from her email is that Chasing Ordinary is a terrorist.

Also, I'll be out tonight.........

_____________________________________________
From: I heart Atlanta
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 10:23 AM
To: Thursday Night Drinking Club
Subject: RE: Toasting TBS. Very Funny.

Seat Filler for President!

Bost-OWNED

Yesterday, Boston was placed on high alert by BPD, the FBI, Homeland Security, and whatever other branch of government there is that doesn't know who Err the Mooninite is.

It was frightening at first - 9 Suspicious Packages found strategically placed on bridges and at hospitals? Packages that have the makings of explosives minus the actual explosive content? That's scary shit and that's all they would tell us. After 9/11, that's not a smart move, is it?

All day, we were shown no images of these suspicious devices. Terms like, "detonated the device" and "neutralized situation" were thrown around. We were given no more information past "potential threats to the city".

That is, until the blogosphere got a hold on some images of one of the devices and figured out what was going on in about 20 minutes.

Basically, the suspicious devices found all over the city were NOT circuit boards wired for bombs, they were advanced, battery operated light brites with a magnetic backing placed in strategic locations around the city... as part of an Adult Swim marketing campaign. Hell, there's even speculation that the Adult Swim logo was on them. Lord knows that as soon as anyone between the ages of 18 and 30 saw one, we knew that the threat to the city, was in fact, Err the Mooninite giving us all the finger.

Not only that, but according to Tuner Broadcasting, the parent company that will be held ultimately responsible for this "hoax", these devices have also been placed in 10 major cities including: New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc.

So hilarious I almost peed my pants laughing.

How stupid is this city and how blown out of proportion was this?!? It boggles my mind that most people are proud of the way the city reacted to this crisis and want to see Turner brought up on federal charges.

Me?

I want to see the people responsible for keeping our city safe really think about how they reacted yesterday.

Not enough was done to assuage the public fears; instead we were fed with Post 9/11 key words. Perhaps worse, they didn't fully examine the "devices" or the internet leads that were flooding in BEFORE the city was brought to a standstill.

Only in Boston could we mistake guerilla marketing for a terrorist threat and then blame the marketing company for installing them... 2 weeks ago.

Bost-OWNED indeed.

The Past Few Days: A Longwinded Recap

Sunday, January 28: 24, Finally!
This Sunday brought about a very lazy day spent quasi in-bed (on bed?) with the Most Attentive Boy On the Planet and Jack Bauer. Honestly, I don't know how the day could get better.

Oh wait, yes I do, give me Jack in HD and don't care (much) that I refuse to talk, look, or otherwise take my attention away from the TV while he's on. Fast forward through the majority of the commercials so that there's no TV down time.

Monday, January 29: Don't talk smack when your team sucks.
I dragged my sorry, sleepy ass into work about 30 minutes late and proceeded to have intermittent panic attacks throughout the day.

Yes, I can do 358495834 things in the afternoon. Breathe?Who needs to do that? Not this girl (apparently)*.

So, hellish day of work. This was offset by the promise of the Bruins/Rangers game at 7:00pm, prefaced by dinner at the restaurant of my vegetarian choosing. Well, my restaurant idea didn't work out so well and we ended up in Faneuil Hall eating from the food stands. Not bad... if you're not a vegetarian. Still, it's my own damn fault for not planning better and I'm just shocked that I wasn't hated for it.

After a very quick dinner, we headed back to the Fleetcenter** to watch the Boston Bruins get served by the New York Rangers.

Seriously.
Served.
6-1 in hockey is not a close game; hell, 6-1 in most sports isn't close.

While witnessing the massacre on ice I was also amused that our seats were located directly next to and in front a group of kids from Albany. Most amusing was the guy sitting directly next to me - hilarious, loud, and from NY? Yes, please, sit me near him.

After the game we headed back to the apartment to watch Jack Bauer kick some more ass and generally reprise lazy Sunday... all well and good except I didn't end up leaving Lazy Sunday: Part Deux until after 1:00am.

NOT COOL when I had to be at the office at 8:30am.

Tonight?

Well, tonight I will be spending some quality time with my bed and my space heater.

*maybe I should have been steadily doing work instead of reasearching coffins on Costco in the morning...

**yes the Fleetcenter. Not the Bank of America Center. Not the TD BankNorth Garden. It's the GD Fleetcenter, ok?!

Purchasing for the Afterlife... in bulk

In an attempt to avoid work more often than usual today I decided to check out the Costco website for any sales or promos that they might be having on bulk products such as hot chocolate, mayonaise, or toilet paper.

I have to say, Costco does have some pretty great deals on all of the above - that however, is not all that it carries - apparently in addition to bulk products, discount clothing, and affordable appliances Costco now sells coffins.

Yes, coffins.

Now everyone can be laid to rest in a fancy box without breaking the bank.

I'm not sure how I feel about this - it's a mixture of digust and peculiar approval.

Resolving resolutions like it's our job

So this year Super Best Friend and I decided that we were going to make our resolutions together to ensure they were seen through to completion.

For me, this meant that I needed to find and date a boy who was not a startlingly disgusting bag of douche. For Super Best Friend, this meant taking her first steps into the working world and beginning a career.

It is now January 26th.
I have successfully gone on a date with someone who is not an asshole.
Super Best Friend has landed herself a job.

I know - we resolved those things quick.

So quick in fact that we are currently coming up with Phase II of our New Year's Resolutions. If these are also completed in a month's time I'm going to start calling the phase's monthly aspirations vs. yearly resolutions.

PhiloNYE in Review

Not only did I not show my lovely lady bits to the genteel folk of Rittenhouse Square and the rest of Philadelphia I also did not do any of the following, a great improvement from BoNYE 2006:

Kiss random strangers or friends in a drunken stupor. I did kiss my fair share of GBFs and had my neck molested in an altogether fine fashion by my GH John. I'm certain that people thought we were madly in love; and we were --with our Grey Goose and cranberry.

Mysteriously vanish from the bar like a sketchball. This act was fast on its way to becoming a LindsoNYE tradition what with leaving Aer with that ridiculous guitar player in 2005 and running away after creating the most ridiculous signature move ever (hint: it involves a hand and it's gentle). I actually missed being Sketchy McSketcherson this year, but the activity was somewhat hindered by my lack of knowledge of the streets of Philadelphia. Sketchy McSketcherson is all fine and good until she turns up dead in the Schuylkill.

Bring a large bag of pepperoni and a Costco sized box of Ritz crackers. I knew this was a mistake from the minute I brought it to BoNYE because, much like the Gentle Hand, the tradition now lives on. Charlie and Asian Mike brought it this year and DAMN did it reek.

What did I do, you ask?

Got propositioned by our cab driver. Of course, this is after he tried to charge us a flat rate of $40.00 for our ride home when it really only costs $15.00 or so. Seriously? You already tried to screw me in one way buddy, attempting to do it in an altogether different manner is going to be met with similar results. And laughter.

Drank a bottle of champagne by 3:30pm. On it's own, not a grand feat for my bionic liver - couple it with the fact that the bottle was placed in my hand at 3:00 or so - after I'd already have a Pom martini - and you've got yourself a story.

Played Mafia. Lots of mafia. I must have been rusty because damned if I was just sucking the entire game.

Fought in Public. That's right kids, John and I got into a fight at the Bellevue hotel party. About my sex life. For those of you who couldn't make it out to this monumental event, I feel sorry for you. It was pretty amazing.

All in all, PhiloNYE went off without a hitch - I had fun, got wrecked, didn't show my unmentionables, and got into a very public screaming match in a very swish ballroom.