The Weekend

This will probably be yet another long weekend.
Tonight drinks and dinner with the 'rents and then birthday drinks (not my birthday, silly).
Tomorrow there is brunch and errands. And then at 10pm I'll be in Bad Data's Bad Date IV: The Book of Shadows at The Creek & The Cave (10-93 Jackson Ave Long Island City). I'll be in Buffy-prov playing The Host/Lorne. There will also be Law & Order-prov and X-Force-prov. It's free.
Sunday is yet another day o' improv. There is a System Error show at The Parkside Lounge with Thank You, Robot and LD & The Scientist and Ghostfight at 8pm on Sunday. It's also free. You should go. I can't because I'll be in class.
So very little posting will happen.

For dad

The My Little Pony Project

(via Eliza ala gChat status)

(Bonus points to Eliza for pointing out to Gov Palin, "You know Goose dies, right? Goose dies.")

Noir in the Blood

I love noir, specifically L.A. noir. I can't quite put a finger on why. There is something about Los Angeles in the 1930's through 1950's that became the epitome of the American Dream... and then it's destruction. The edge of the country, where Manifest Destiny reached its forced conclusion. A city build around the concept the the car, the manifestation of man's domination over nature and a declaration of total freedom to go anywhere at any moment at 60 miles per hour. The flourishing to defining American invention of the the 20th century (film and the industry that it birthed). Loci of the aircraft industry and the massive growth that World War II brought to the region. A bowl of dry sand forced into being by men of power. A land of artifice and truth.

I could go on and one.

Yes, noir is cartoony. It glamorizes the seedy underbelly. But it is also about the mad desire for redemption.

Without going into details, I found out that it is basically in my blood. My family history reads more convoluted (if less disturbing) than Chinatown. I am not sure if I am comforted or not by that fact.

What my mom sent me this morning

(by Mark Jackson)

Thanks, Mom!

B-Day Gifts: Art & the amazing Jen Wang

I have a birthday coming up. My parents, being super super thoughtful, gave me a bunch of artto hang on my bare walls.

Eight stills from Bashki's Lord of the Rings that MamaSix found in our old stuff. Pretty cool. I need to group them all together somewhere. I think the yellow room.

A bunch of PapaSix's photos. He's getting pretty darn good. Some amazing stuff. I have no idea where to put them or how to group them. I have hung on over the bed already.

But the most mind blowing piece they gave me has a bit of a back story... a back story very related to this blog. Months ago I made a post about the artist Jen Wang and how much I dug her work. In fact, I even said that if someone wanted to get me something super cool, I would love one of her originals. Well, Papasix contacted her and commissioned her to do something based on the ol' blog. He sent her links to some posts and she also took a gander around. And she settled on one from last February. Well, one sentence from that post:

Going out to dinner with 2 couples tonight. There will actually be 7 people at the table as both women are "with child." Ah, the world of bumps.

And here is the amazing piece she made for me.

(Sorry the picture isn't better. It is already very nicely framed.)

Isn't that just wonderful? I love how the two men are just shadows and how the "bumps" are little hearts... and how the whole composition approximates a heart. Now, I've haven't worn a sweater vest in probably 20 years, but I think it is a good look on me. And, anyway, the look on my face is priceless... and very very accurate.

Again, thank you Papa & MamaSix. And thank you, Jen Wang.

(I also got a Nabaztag/tag. I'm still trying to figure out what it is. It's cool... just weird... and, um, buggy.)

No more wining

Ah! A bad pun!

I had that tiny rant about the person who pulled a bottle of Showket off the rack and opened it at the pre-Idiotarod party. Part of the reason I was a bit miffed was that some house guests back in November (wonderful house guests that I love and adore and would deny nothing to), decided to have wine one night and pulled the same bottle off the rack. The one from the Idiotarod was a replacement.

PapaSix, it his infinite generosity, called the winery and found out they only had six bottles left. I assumed he was sending me one. Today I received all six bottles. There is something thrilling about getting the last six bottles from a winery.

In related news, there is still a bottle mystery out there. On the day after the pre-Idiotarod party, right after discovering the partially drunk bottle of Showket, I discovered a bottle of Prager port on the counter. Now what is weird about it is that there was a mini-controversy in my home not a week before involving a bottle a Prager port. There was a catered dinner party and PapaSix, again in his infinite generosity, gave the bottle of Prager he had brought to the caterer. Some people at the party (okay, just one person) took joking offense that PapaSix had given the bottle away.

So having a bottle appear on the counter was a bit odd. I though it might have been my house guest (the one who had been upset about it), perhaps as a "have a good race" gift. But when I finally got a chance to talk to her about it, she denied it.

That leaves me with three conclusions: (1) Team COBRA has some very generous kind people on it; (2) Team COBRA has some people with some very good taste; and (3) fate/coincidence is sometimes totally bizarre.

McDonald's 1972

Yes, I'm just posting random stuff at this point. Just some holiday love for you.

I am loving being in L.A., even if 69 degrees and sun skies is anathema to Christmas in my brain. But I love my family so incredible deeply. It often makes my sad that I am so far away from them most of the time. But I love New York, too. So is the choices we must make.

So I send out good thoughts to you and your families and friend. Go ahead. Eat to excess. Drink too much. Get into fights about some perceived slight committed in 1997.

And for a very special family tradition: Mail the hot dog

Two sisters mail a hot dog back and forth.

For 54 years.

The same hot dog.

It's heartwarming. And disgusting.

SixSider @ Papa Six

Here is my favorite. Papa Six taking photos! Here he is taking pictures of the the Jefferson Memorial while on a business conference call. Multi-tasking! Sweet!

(Note: all D.C. photos by Mama Six except for the Boy Scout one which was by Papa Six is Mama Six's camera.)

Damn house.

So the heater stopped working yesterday (I think it was yesterday... that's when I noticed). The pilot light had gone out and I can relight that. I am just that good. And just that. But the burners weren't lighting. No heat. So I called in the excellent folks who put it in. They have come over. It now appears that it night be the thermostat... or all of the electrical power to the damn thing... or a problem with the chimey... or something else. It does appear to be electrical and not mechanical or with the gas. But they are having a hard time tracking it down.

And I have my sister, her husband and their four lovely children coming to stay with me in just a few hours... and I have no heat. I may be runningto the store for space heaters and blankets. Lots of blankets.

Grrrr. I hate this stuff.

Picture of the Day: The Santorums

Caption this photo!

(thanks to KevlarG at the Improv Resource Center forums)

The Tivo Curse

Mamma SixSider wrote to me of one of the problems with Tivo. She took a bfreak from election converage to watch something she had Tivo'ed... only to be hit with more election ads that she thought she was down with! Luckily, it's Tivo so you can bloop'be'loop though them.

By the way, congratz SixSider 'rents! Glad to see you have been de-Santorum-ed. Yes, he was replaced with an anti-gin control, pro-life, possibly anti-gay adoption, maybe anti-same sex marriage Democrat. But, hey, it's not Santorum.

Extraordinary Machine

First off, I have the best most wonderful loving greatest parents EVER. Yes, ever. Bar none. I hardly ever say it (or probably realize it), but it is the absolute truth. I trully love them to the depth of my heart.

Now, on to business. My current song of power. Extraordinary Machine sung by Fioana Apple. Yes, Fiona Apple. You would have thunk it?

I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes
And I certainly haven't been spreading myself around
I still only travel by foot and by foot it's a slow climb
But I'm good at being uncomfortable
so I can't stop changing all the time

I noticed that my opponent is always on the go
And won't go slow so as not to focus and I notice
He'll hitch a ride with any guide as long as
they go fast from whence he came
But he's no good at being uncomfortable
so he can't stop staying exactly the same

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it
I'm an extraordinary machine

I seem to you to seek a new disaster every day
You deem me due to clean my view
and be at peace and lay
I mean to prove I mean to
move in my own way
And say I've been getting
along for long
before you came into the play

I am the baby of the family
It happens so everybody cares
And wears the sheeps clothes while they chaperone
Furious you're looking down your nose at me while you appease
Courteous to try and help but let me set your mind at ease

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it - I'm an extraordinary machine

Do I so worry you
No need to hurry to my side, it's very kind
But it's to no avail
I don't want the pill
I promise you everything will be just fine

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it - I'm an extraordinary machine

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it - I'm an extraordinary machine


On the other hand the singer I would give my heart and body to right now? Liz Phair. Man, am I ever a wuss.