Friday, February 29, 2008

I have to confess,

i think i might go see the sex and the city movie.

Though i'm on the fence, the series finale on hbo was so good, and so ridiculously happy, that I don't want to wreck it by an unhappy movie. i dunno. I really enjoy that show, because it really is true to life- believe it or not. Those girls have in the past been self conscious, self-assured, happy, scared, sad, neurotic, self-destructive, cruel, hurtful, caring, nurturing, supportive and above all, sincere people. Each character is a well done exploration of how a single person can exhibit such a varied number of foibles, and qualities.

not just the women on that show, the significant man characters are explorations of these things as well. The stupid name of the show was actually quite a clever thing- people are drawn to it by the name, but then they stick around because the show is really quite good.

i'm on the fence.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

starbucks closing?

we can only hope. Actually, it's just for a little while. Too bad.

The thing I hate about starbucks is everything. The coffee is swill. It is just too strong. True, there is something singularly bad about weak coffee, but the solution isn't to make it so strong that you make that funny face like when your beer is skunked. That's essentially skunked coffee. Blech!

I can't stand the stupid names they give or the fact that you have to order in quasi italian. Ah for criminy sake. i don't want the biggest one you have, and i don't want the smallest one you have. i just want a medium coffee.

I cannot stand the people. The workers at starbucks are too often disinterested and disingenuous. They seldom have a knack for dealing with large queues of customers, and it's very evident. The queues themselves are another source of angst for me while i'm at starbucks. There are so many retail gee gaws and impulse item stands in the way that just waiting for your stupid drink is an exercise in irritation.

The worst thing about starbucks is that they have really ruined a fledgling cafe culture in the US, certainly the Northeast. when starbucks moved in, independents couldn't compete with the marketing machine. Other times, the horrible customer service standards set the bar so low for independents that even if they pull a good coffee, they are such assholes behind the counter.

I know, if i hate it so much why do i go? well, i don't actually I haven't been to starbucks for probably 8 months. But posting this makes me feel better anyway.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Woo hoo, the Foos!



So Colleen and I went to see the Foo Fighters at the Centrum on Monday. As noted in my Desert Island Discs yammer, I love the Foo Fighters. I just love them. I love that their lyrics are poetic, and crafty, and I love Dave Grohl's voice- it's a pretty wide range; and i just love the music. I simply love the way they put all the components together. It's hard for me to pick a favorite album- though I continually return to The Colour and the Shape. And it's even harder for me to select a favorite song- though I continually return to Doll/Monkeywrench. The fact of the matter is, there are very few current bands that I dig more than the Foos.

Against Me! were alright- a typical opener. Their sound is sort of like the Cult- which I dig, so I was moderately interested in hearing what they had to sing. The second band- Serj Tankian was really disappointing. I guess he's the guy from System of a Down. They had a bit of schtick- top hats and frilly tuxedos- but they were just unimpressive. His voice was too shrill to enjoy.

The foo fighters came on and rocked.

I think Dave Grohl is a better front man than Kurt Cobain was. There I've said it. He's very good with an audience- he's very personable on stage and the audience can really get the impression that he's actually speaking to them and interested in them. As a matter of fact- he actually engaged one guy in the audience about the Tee shirt he was wearing. "What's that shirt say? Wait, wait, Hold still, I can't read it"

They played lots of hits- they have a bunch of albums now- so they can't play everything, but they do play many of the favorites. I would rather they steer clear of the semi acoustic versions of things like everlong and things like that; I like it when they rock, but the rest of the crowd seemed to dig it so, ok.

It was a really long night, they played for a long time, in the middle of it, the whole band, plus a bunch of other musicians came down to the other end of the arena floor and they did a long set- half and hour or forty minutes or so. It was really cool- they were very close to the audience. It was a really good part of the tour, it made the show feel a bit like it feels at the Paradise. I wish more huge bands would do things like that.

We had a really good time- well worth the investment.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

This is priceless

you have got to go see this
hilarious film of spring training.

i would be so mad if my teammates did that to me! how cruel!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

I Heart Spring Training!


sweet georgia brown, i love spring training.

when I was in college, we went to orlando for softball spring games. So I totally know just how inherently great spring training is. It's like a secret society of all things good- a whole bunch of baseballers getting together to play ball. There is just something sublime about spring training. Spikes on concrete walkways, funny looking tan lines. There's a particular kind of hot in florida in february and march. it's not really hot an humid, but you still work up a sweat. The sun is just so welcome after a long hard, snowy winter. It's just fantastic. And there's nothing to worry about- you just need to play ball. The media isn't as fiendish, if you're in college, classes are miles away. It's just pure baseball or softball. At the end of the day, it's still sort of light out, and you can feel really good about working hard and playing a great game.

Red Sox pitchers and catchers are here- I SO wish i could be too.

Friday, February 08, 2008

sigh. i need new cleats

It became pretty evident on my first cut to the ball yesterday that my beloved Copas will not last too much longer. The cleat plate has become separated from the leather upper on my right heel. Around the entire heel. it was just one side of the heel, but after last night it's the entire thing. It's clear the white cloth tape used to repair everything in sports is no longer cuttin it.

the thing is, Copas are SO EXPENSIVE. when i was in college i wasn't too upset to make the investment, after all, they were a hundred bucks, and i was only a sophomore at the time; i had three seasons on tap. That was ten years ago. and I've used them in every rec league since then. I've gotten a good value from the investment. But now, I'm only going to be playing rec leagues. thats not a commentary on the level of soccer, it's more one on the actual amount of time. that seems like a big investment. I never ever pay more than $50 on shoes if i can help it. if they are more than that, i simply don;t buy them. Carrie Bradshaw I am not.

but i am a sucker for something that has the right image- and copas have the right image, they indicate soccer. nothing else, they aren't golden, they don't have the laces on the outside. (let me tell you if you strike the ball dead on, the laces aren't going to hinder the speed, direction or accuracy of the shot. any more than laces on the side will help correct a shank. if you've shanked it you've shanked it; unlucky) Copas are just hard working soccer. I'm a hardworking soccer player.

I'll probably get them online, big toe sports has the best prices i've seen anywhere. i hope i order the right size.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

TRUCK DAY!

Saturday is truck day.
hoo hoo hoo! if only i could do a cartwheel!

I think I posted about this once before. Truck Day is indeed a most important day in boston. Perhaps it's only meaningful to cold weather climates. Though I do wonder if the people in Chicago or detroit get in such a euphoria over their truck day.

The thing is, the winter is long in the northeast- it's long and kind of crummy there's rain, and snow and wind and yucky cold. By the time february rolls through, we are getting very tired indeed of wool coats. And even though truck day is sort of early in february, it's kind of like a beacon of spring. Certainly it's a time to reset ourselves with something to help us ignore the recent superbowl (for now, i'm trying to ignore the entire sport. It's as if the entire 2007 football season was never played. Curious, considering how frequently I posted about it)

But truck day! It means that pitchers and catchers are not far behind, and then position players. Just a few short weeks after- it will be opening day. hoo hoo hoo! Opening Day!

Opening Day means spring and summer! Spring and summer is my favorite time of year. So you see, truck day means so much more than just a load of catchers gear and pitching machines and buckets of David sunflower seeds. Truck Day means the end of winter is near!

Monday, February 04, 2008

This is what good teams do,

They win.
The trouble is, I didn't think the Giants were as good as the Patriots.

But it became evident as the first half ended, and the pocket around Brady just collapsed on every play that this was not going to end well. When we scored that second touch down i thought, well, that's good- now the Giants have to score a touchdown, a field goal isn't enough. And I really didn't think Eli Manning had the gumption to play clever football. I really thought he would fold like a lawn chair.
Silly really, given that he hadn't done so through a very demanding playoffs.

So in the end, it was a super bowl; a really great defensive game- certainly it must be one of the lowest scores in a long time. Certainly it was tremendously heart pounding football- we were all on the edge of our seats. After all, a blowout superbowl is kind of a snore (the only snore in this game was Tom Petty-zzzzz). It's just too bad the Giants won. It's too bad for me because I'm a Patriots fan; it's not too bad for the Giants. They played a very well thought out well executed football game. it's not personal; they weren't being mean to us yesterday; they just crushed our quarterback on every single drive, almost every single play.

well, to resurrect a phrase I thought I had retired in 2004- there's always next year. The patriots will be back next season, and we'll be a good team. Look out.

Not so superbowl hat



this is the hat i started at kickoff yesterday. I needed something to knit while I watched the game, and this is what i grabbed before I left the house. It's a good hat, nicely shaped. there are some math discrepancies on the decreases at the crown, but come on, the Patriots were losing the superbowl, cut me a break.

It's made of something called spirit, made by Twilleys of Stamford I purchased it in Derry, county Derry. It's nice yarn, quite predicable and knits up nice and even. I would like a self patterning yarn that allowed for wider stripes, rather than blotches, but i don't think it would deter me from buying the yarn again. I think the hat will be nice and warm. My friend debra will be the recipient of the hat, she said at kickoff, "I would like a pale purple hat, I don't have a pale purple hat." I don't think she expected me to give it up, but truthfully, i have too many hats, and not enough heads to put them on. So there you have it; The not so superbowl hat.