OK GO, Longwave in Northampton

Wednesday, March 11, 2009:

We re-discovered the town of Northampton, MA with dinner and drinks at the Toasted Owl and a concert at Pearl Street. What a great little town, buzzing with culture.

Oppenheimer and Longwave are the opening bands. We strolled in near the end of Oppenheimer's set, and Longwave took to the stage not too long afterwards.



I really enjoyed Longwave's set, and afterwards, the lead singer, Steve, walked by us, and he pointed at me saying, "Nice shirt." I was wearing my very worn-in Albert Hammond, Jr. shirt. After approaching him to ask if his merch table would still be out after the OK GO set (since I didn't have any cash on me), I soon found out that he actually toured with AHJ as one of the guitarists - which is why he said nice shirt. This was after I said something like, "Oh yeah, I saw them open for Bloc Party in Boston back in'07..." blah blah blah as if he was just a fan of AHJ's music. I was certainly taken aback and felt a bit silly. And what a coincidence, Longwave is opening for Bloc Party in Boston next week. I might just have to go see them again...

Also met Bobby, their lighting and merch guy.

And now, OK GO



Damian Kulash - the lead singer said that he has a cameo in the upcoming Ang Lee film Taking Woodstock and tried showing us a photo of his look in the movie through his iPhone, but their video camera for the big screen behind them wasn't working...yet. See below for enlarged shot


This was quite a delight.


("What to Do" - video from Williamsburg concert on March 8th, posted by ReSastra)





They were big fans of using their confetti cannon, showering the crowd during 4 different songs. It was a fun show overall, but they played a bunch of new material that hasn't been released yet, so even though the new songs have potential, I think the crowd felt a bit disconnected as there was a lack of enthusiasm during the new stuff.

Setlist:
New Song (Shoot the Moon)
Get Over It
A Million Ways
New Song (White Knuckles)
New Song (I Want You Here)
Oh Lately It’s So Quiet
New Song
Don’t Ask Me
Here It Goes Again
What To Do (hand bells)
New Song (Damien solo)
It’s A Disaster
New Song (When The Morning Comes)
Do What You Want

Encore:
New Song (I Couldn’t Breathe)
A Good Idea At The Time
Invisible

Slopes & Neighbors

After missing out on the last snowfall a couple weeks ago, we made it out today to Ski Butternut, where got a little more comfortable with our skills. Falls were had (unfortunately, Brian had one of those bone shaking ones and got a bit of whiplash), but overall, a successful venture. We decided that we will take a lesson since we're at a bit of a plateau. Luckily, on the chairlift, we met a former employee who highly recommends "Moose" for lessons.





Brian suggested we take a break, and what was just a little down time turned into, uh, we're done for the day. We did get a bit too comfortable in the lodge, eating some not-so-great clam chowder and granola bars. And I did make a rather obvious comment about, if you feel pain, you should probably stop (ie. Brian's whiplash).



We had taken a nice and quiet road up this time, where the division between town lines was clear via how well the road was plowed. It went from pretty well cleaned to feeling like we were entering Narnia. It was quite funny and beautiful.

This was taken on the trip back.


It seems our snowboarding excursions lead us to some sort of fast food joint - this time, it was Wendy's.

Oscar 2009 Results

It seemed like the format this year would lend itself to an overall shorter program, but it still took us past midnight - hard to tell with DVR. I liked the changes they made, such as past winners presenting their category, although the speeches could have been shorter, and one set of presenters presenting similar award categories, which they've had in the past, but it seemed to flow better this year. Also, clips of the past year's films based on genre was a nice touch - James Franco and Seth Rogen's "Comedies" was a definite highlight. Hugh Jackman was a natural - perfect energy, good fun and funny opening (loved his cracking up with his robotic The Reader bit). Well done.

Best Dressed: Natalie Portman
Worst Dressed: Tilda Swinton, Whoopi Goldberg

Most Spontaneous Moment: Philippe Petit onstage, balancing the Oscar on his chin
Most Gratifying Spontaneous Moment: Kate Winslet's dad whistling so she could find him in the audience
"Grab a Hanky" Moment: Heath Ledger's family accepting his award.
Most Irksome Moment: Wide shot of Queen Latifah and the stage during "In Memoriam", resulting in the inability to read people's names.
"Did You See That" Moment: Jennifer Aniston smiling at Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the front row, while presenting the Best Animation awards with Jack Black.

Finally - that piece of junk is GONE

Today, I was witness to the removal of our upstair neighbors' piece of junk car that's been sitting in the driveway for months - yes, months. All the while it's been snowing here and there, and it sits there as a barrier for our snowplowers, and they complain that the driveway hasn't been plowed properly. Well, now it could be...

Superbowl XLIII 2009

Our first Superbowl in CT

Eva and Martin invited us over for some football, food and fun. Did I mention food? They had the best spread at a Superbowl party we've attended in a while (actually, the past few years, we'd been hosting it, so not saying much about ours, I guess). Pulled pork, pasta, grilled chicken, veggies, chips, salsa, cheese and crackers, chili, chocolate truffle cake, muffins...yum! Chris spent a majority of the night saying how full she was, but like the rest of us, we couldn't help but munch on all the food.

Brian and I brought our usual Superbowl pool to the festivities, while Andy and Sheila brought over their poker tabletop. Now that's a new way to "watch" the game. Seems like poker is a quite a big thing at this household as most of them get together every so often to play.






Like most years, it's hard concentrating on everything broadcasted on the tube, so this year was even more challenging. The first tournament, which Gleason and I sat out on, went on through to near the end of the 3rd quarter. Brian had a good run, ending up in fourth place, but the winnings would only go to the first two, at $30 and $5 respectively. I joined in on the second tournament, where luckily there were winning for third place - whoo hoo! $5 for me. After dropping $10 on the pool, which Brian actually had a chance of winning some money - I wasn't even close, plus $5 buy-in per game ($5 x 3 = $15), it was good to get something back.

Here are the final results:

Tournament #1: hmm...I forgot but these were the top three
- Andy
- Martin
- Chris

Tournament #2:
1 - Chris $25
2 - Martin $10
3 - Ruby $5

1st Q: Pittsburgh 3 - Arizona 0 Mike $10
2nd Q: Pittsburgh 17 - Arizona 7 Chris $10
3rd Q: Pittsburgh 20 - Arizona 7 Martin $10
Final: Pittsburgh 27 - Arizona 23 Sheila $20

This game, the football game that is, had quite a number of memorable plays and certainly made the pool interesting - at least each quarter had a different winner.

Until next year...go Eagles!

---------------------
Highlights of the game:

***1st Quarter***
3-1 ARI1 (10:11) B.Roethlisberger scrambles right end for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN. Arizona challenged the runner broke the plane ruling, and the play was REVERSED. B.Roethlisberger scrambles right end to ARI 1 for no gain (D.Dockett).4-1 ARI1 (9:50) (Field Goal formation) Je.Reed 18 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-J.Retkofsky, Holder-M.Berger.
PITTSBURGH 3, ARIZONA 0

END QUARTER PITTSBURGH 3, ARIZONA 0

***2nd Quarter***
2-5 ARI5 (15:00) B.Roethlisberger pass short middle to H.Miller to ARI 1 for 4 yards (G.Hayes, K.Dansby).Timeout by PIT (first) at 14:09.3-1 ARI1 (14:09) G.Russell right guard for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN. ARI2 (Kick formation) Je.Reed extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Retkofsky, Holder-M.Berger.PITTSBURGH 10, ARIZONA 0

1-1 PIT1 (8:43) K.Warner pass short left to B.Patrick for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.PIT2 (Kick formation) N.Rackers extra point is GOOD, Center-N.Hodel, Holder-B.Graham.PITTSBURGH 10, ARIZONA 7

2-4 PIT22 (2:09) (No Huddle) B.Roethlisberger pass short middle intended for S.Holmes INTERCEPTED by K.Dansby (B.Robinson) at PIT 33. K.Dansby to PIT 34 for minus-1 yard (M.Moore).

1-1 PIT1 (:18) (Shotgun) K.Warner pass short middle intended for A.Boldin INTERCEPTED by J.Harrison at PIT 0. J.Harrison for 100 yards, TOUCHDOWN. Penalty on ARI-E.Brown, Face Mask (15 Yards), declined. The Replay Assistant challenged the runner broke the plane ruling, and the play was Upheld.ARI2 (Kick formation) Je.Reed extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Retkofsky, Holder-M.Berger.PITTSBURGH 17, ARIZONA 7

***3rd Quarter***
4-9 ARI9 (3:36) (Field Goal formation) Je.Reed 27 yard field goal is GOOD, NULLIFIED by Penalty, Center-J.Retkofsky, Holder-M.Berger. PENALTY on ARI-A.Wilson, Unnecessary Roughness, 5 yards, enforced at ARI 9 - No Play.

1-4 ARI4 (3:32) W.Parker right guard to ARI 2 for 2 yards (R.Hood, D.Dockett).2-2 ARI2 (2:55) B.Roethlisberger pass incomplete short right to H.Miller (C.Okeafor).3-2 ARI2 (2:49) (Shotgun) B.Roethlisberger up the middle to ARI 3 for minus-1 yard (G.Watson). 4-3 ARI3 (2:16) (Field Goal formation) Je.Reed 21 yard field goal is GOOD, Center-J.Retkofsky, Holder-M.Berger.PITTSBURGH 20, ARIZONA 7

***4th Quarter***
3-1 PIT1 (7:41) K.Warner pass short right to L.Fitzgerald for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.PIT2 (Kick formation) N.Rackers extra point is GOOD, Center-N.Hodel, Holder-B.Graham.PITTSBURGH 20, ARIZONA 14

3-10 PIT1 (3:04) (Shotgun) B.Roethlisberger pass deep right to S.Holmes to PIT 20 for 19 yards (D.Rodgers-Cromartie). PENALTY on PIT-J.Hartwig, Offensive Holding, 1 yard, enforced in End Zone, SAFETY - No Play.PITTSBURGH 20, ARIZONA 16

2-10 ARI36 (2:47) (Shotgun) K.Warner pass short middle to L.Fitzgerald for 64 yards, TOUCHDOWN.PIT2 (Kick formation) N.Rackers extra point is GOOD, Center-N.Hodel, Holder-B.Graham.ARIZONA 23, PITTSBURGH 20

1-10 50 (1:08) (No Huddle, Shotgun) B.Roethlisberger scrambles up the middle to ARI 46 for 4 yards (C.Okeafor, K.Dansby).Timeout PIT (second) at 01:02.2-6 ARI46 (1:02) (Shotgun) B.Roethlisberger pass short right to S.Holmes to ARI 6 for 40 yards (A.Francisco).Timeout PIT (third) at 00:49.1-6 ARI6 (:48) (Shotgun) B.Roethlisberger pass incomplete short left to S.Holmes.2-6 ARI6 (:42) (Shotgun) B.Roethlisberger pass short right to S.Holmes for 6 yards, TOUCHDOWN. The Replay Assistant challenged the pass completion ruling, and the play was Upheld.ARI2 (Kick formation) Je.Reed extra point is GOOD, Center-J.Retkofsky, Holder-M.Berger.PITTSBURGH 27, ARIZONA 23

Timeout ARI (third), 00:15.1-10 PIT44 (:15) (Shotgun) K.Warner sacked at PIT 49 for -5 yards (L.Woodley). FUMBLES (L.Woodley), RECOVERED by PIT-B.Keisel at PIT 43. B.Keisel to PIT 43 for no gain (L.Brown). PENALTY on PIT-L.Woodley, Unsportsmanlike Conduct, 14 yards, enforced at PIT 43.Pittsburgh at 00:05.1-10-PIT29 (:05) B.Roethlisberger kneels to PIT 28 for minus-1 yard.

***END GAME***

First run of 2009

After missing out on the last snowfall a couple weeks ago, we made it out today to Ski Butternut, where got a little more comfortable with our skills. Falls were had (unfortunately, Brian had one of those bone shaking ones and got a bit of whiplash), but overall, a successful venture. We decided that we will take a lesson since we're at a bit of a plateau. Luckily, on the chairlift, we met a former employee who highly recommends "Moose" for lessons.





Brian suggested we take a break, and what was just a little down time turned into, uh, we're done for the day. We did get a bit too comfortable in the lodge, eating some not-so-great clam chowder and granola bars. And I did make a rather obvious comment about, if you feel pain, you should probably stop (ie. Brian's whiplash).



We had taken a nice and quiet road up this time, where the division between town lines was clear via how well the road was plowed. It went from pretty well cleaned to feeling like we were entering Narnia. It was quite funny and beautiful.

This was taken on the trip back.


It seems our snowboarding excursions lead us to some sort of fast food joint - this time, it was Wendy's.

Exposed at Exposures

Thursday, January 29th 2009:

Tonight we attended the opening reception for the West Hartford Art League's 15th Annual Open Juried Photography Exhibit called "Exposures", which was juried by none other than Tod Papageorge, Director of Graduate Studies in Photography at Yale University's School of Art. His students have included Philip-Lorca diCorcia and Gregory Crewdson, both of whom have influenced my work, let alone the photos I submitted for this exhibit - "Stacey", "Heather", "Ed" and "Jimmy".

I hadn't even heard if my work had been accepted, so I was quite thrilled to get a message today that I won an award. Apparently there were 352 submissions, and Papageorge chose 56, even less than the director's requested 75 - and two of my photos were accepted! Yay! "Heather" and "Stacey" are currently hanging in the Clubhouse Gallery.



I came in 4th out of 7 award winners. During the award presentation, when asked which photo won, I actually pointed to the wrong one. Doh!! We hadn't gone through the whole exhibit yet, so it didn't occur to me to look for the label under the award-winners. So, I pointed to the one I had already seen - "Heather", the first photo in the exhibit, when "Stacey" which was placed in the back of the room won the award. I didn't realize it until Brian pointed it out, and there was a small window when I could have corrected myself, but I missed it. I felt pretty dumb afterwards.



We had the obligatory wine with cheese and crackers as we admired the art. A couple women mentioned William Eggleston, and Brian was happy that he knew who they were talking about. It was definitely a nice time, talking with other photographers and asking about their work. The woman who won Best in Show had a beautiful image using Ilford SFX film.

We'll have to make an effort to attend more opening receptions...

"Spaceman" on Fringe =)

We just watched yesterday's episode of Fringe called "No-Brainer", and the show opened with "Spaceman" by The Killers - whoo hoo! Great placement of the song as it worked well with the scene.

Yay Killers!

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Ox

Monday, January 26th 2009


Hill Tavern in Boston