Some Portraits

I was watching the Today show yesterday morning before heading off to work, as is my daily habit, and they had a short interview with President Obama's official photographer and the unveiling of his official Presidential portrait. Here it is, in case you haven't seen it yet:



It is a formality, sure, but they were listing the places where we will be seeing this particular picture in the coming years like government offices, schools, and every United States embassy in countries all over the world. That last one really hit me, really filled me with a sense of total pride. I remember going into the American Corner at the National Taichung Library and seeing President Bush's portrait there. As strange as it sounds, even seeing his photo when I was so far away from home was a little comforting, a nice reminder of my country. And I was so far past being proud of him by that point. So now I imagine going into that room next week and seeing this picture of President Obama hanging on the wall, and I feel this enormous swelling of pride and joy inside of me. He is our representative to the world now, he is the face that America is putting forward to the world, he is us. When these thoughts occurred to me I felt them so deeply, I was so moved, and I had to say, quietly and aloud, "Oh, thank God."

*************************************

Here's another portrait that I saw on the Today show that morning. Have you heard this bizarre story? He's a successful investment advisor and amateur pilot from Indiana. He was trying to escape from some poor business decisions and his life, I guess, so he set the auto-pilot on his plane and parachuted out somewhere over Birmingham where he had stashed a motorcycle in a storage facility. He tried to make a getaway, but the police caught up with him, and now he's in a bit of trouble. It is an interesting story, but I think this picture tells a much more interesting, much more ridiculous story:



Oh, where to begin? Posing with your plane? Your luxury car? Your trophy wife, in some sort of bizarre, quasi-sexy trophy pose? The whole thing makes me want to laugh and vomit simultaneously. Seriously, though, how screwed up in the head do you have to be to meticulously arrange your toys for an ultimate vanity portrait like this? I believe you might just be begging for it all to come crashing down around you.

*********************************

Speaking of vomit and in other news, I got that 24 hour flu thing that everyone has been getting on Tuesday. It was a rough day. I've harbored this little fantasy for a long time now, that someday I would take a sick day off of work and spend all day in bed watching my Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVDs straight through; that's like 12 hours of movie action, people. That would be a wonderful sick day! It didn't happen. I got about 2 hours in before I was feeling so sick that I couldn't even sit up in bed or focus my eyes on the screen. I had to just lay flat on my back and listen to music. I won't go into any other details of the day. You're welcome. Oh, but this: two days later and I still haven't really regained my appetite yet. And I am completely okay with that. Most of the time, eating is just one more thing for me to do that I would rather not bother with. And I don't do it very well; I'm such an unhealthy eater. Hand me those doughnuts!

Currently Watching:
The Today Show

(One of the 8x10s)

What a roller coaster of a day!


+2 I woke up,
+5 put a load of new (+3 Christmas present!) towels in the laundry downstairs,
+3 placed my Netflix disc in the mailbox on the street corner,
+3 and walked to McDonald's for breakfast.
-4 The lady sitting two seats down from me was slurping her coffee like it was the most delicious soup ever.
+1 I walked home, moved my towels into the dryer,
+6 and made the most awesome playlist of forgotten and neglected songs from my mp3 library.
-17 I went to the dryer to find that, after 75 minutes, my towels were all still entirely damp.
-5 I hung towels in front of my heater and all over my apartment,
+100 and then I received a phone call from my apartment landlords telling me that they have decided to credit me with $400 of rent for the 20 days that I went without heat this fall and winter. Wow! Best settlement ever. I mean, I asked for some credit, but I didn't expect that much.

+5 I cut out all of my coupons, bundled up, and headed for the grocery store.
+4 I found nearly everything that I wanted
-2 except hot dog relish for less than $2 and sliced cheese for less than $4.
-15 The cashier rang all of my coupons for 1 cent each, became flustered, had to get help, and took a good 10 minutes to complete my sale. Embarrassing!
+5 I successfully made light of the situation with the girl who was unfortunately in line behind me. I acknowledged ruining her life, and she agreed that I had, but forgave me.

+3 I left the grocery store a sweaty mess,
+5 but the train came right away!
+10 I picked up the mail on the way back inside, and received a lovely letter from an old friend and the 8x10 photo enlargements that I ordered last week.
+10 The photos look great!
+8 I ordered a humidifier
+9 in the shape of a penguin from Amazon.com in order to stop
-20 my nightly nosebleeds and
-10 itchy, dry winter skin.

+5 I packed my skates, bundled up again, and headed downtown for the evening.
+6 The train came right away again!
-5 But everyone on the train looked tired, haggard, angry, or smelly. No eye candy there.
-25 When I got to the skating rink, I found it, quite literally, crawling with pre-teens, suburban moms, and Asian tourists. The rink was so crowded, and everyone was skating so badly, tripping, falling, tearing up the ice, that I skated for less than 30 minutes before giving up in disgust.
-40 I realized that I am the grumpiest old 29 year old man in the world. "Darn kids..." etc.
+3 I headed towards State Street to check out the January sales at some of my favorite stores,
-75 and received a text message from my new friend that he is leaving Chicago tonight and won't be back for a long time.
+25 See, he actually lives in New York City,
+10 but works in Chicago all week, when we hang out,
-25 and goes home to New York for the weekends.
-50 And now his work is transferring him to a new project that is not in Chicago. Bye, new friend!

-12 I browsed a while but didn't find anything to buy,
+12 but I also didn't spend any money.
+5 The train came quickly! What a streak of luck!
+3 And there was a couple of cute guys inside.
+15 Looking out the train window, I saw a guy playing with his two large dogs in the snow, doing something that looked a lot like a jumping group hug with them. Fun!
+3 I got home,
+6 Amazon has shipped my humidifier,
+10 and my towels are finally dry.

Just returned to Netflix:
Scrubs, Season 7, Disc 1

Favorite Albums, 2008

Oh, it's my five favorite albums of 2008. How fun!

1. The Format, Interventions + Lullabies



In a year that was a roller-coaster of emotional lows and highs, no one spoke the words of my bleeding heart and screaming head like The Format. I've got to give mad props to Miss Laura Zempel for introducing me to this awesomely underrated and recently deep-sixed Arizona band. I could swear that the lyrics from this 2003 album were transcribed straight from diary entries that I never wrote, and the melodies are catchy and memorable as can be. I went back to this album again and again this year, and it never let me down.

2. Belle and Sebastian, The Life Pursuit



Bouncy, retro, Anglo-cool, familiar, fun. From this first listen, you feel like you've known every song for years. Recently voted "#76 Diversey Bus Commuter's Choice Album for Getting You to Work with a Smile on Your Face." Another prop is due here: Jeff Motter told the world two years ago on MySpace (remember when MySpace was the world?) to love this band and this album. As with all good advice, I filed it away in a dusty box and tripped over it long after I should have. "Dress Up in You" is a tragic, lovely story, and "The Blues Are Still Blue" is the best laundry metaphor song ever, I swear.

3. Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst



It's still Bright Eyes. It's still a bad pun, no matter how convincingly you sell it ("All souled out in heaven!). It's still road tripping music at its finest ("There's nothing that the road cannot heal"). He still sings the hell out of every song. "I Don't Want to Die (In the Hospital)" is made of the most honest song premise that I can imagine, and makes you chuckle at first with its Jerry Lee Lewis-in-the-saloon piano and rollicking chorus. But the song spirals and crescendos into palpable fear, panic and terror. "You've got to take me back outside! I don't want to die!" I'm pretty sure that's what every Conor Oberst song has ever been about anyway.

4. Lucinda Williams, Little Honey



This album contains multitudes. Of musical genres, that is. I swear, in 13 songs there's hard rock, pure country, Appalachian gospel, folk, something like pop, Mississippi delta blues, alt country, a couple of those slow, uncategorizable ballads, and then she caps off the album with an AC/DC song. When she growls, "I'll tell you folks, it's harder than it looks," you must believe her. There's something very difficult about approaching a new album from your favorite artist. Expectations can be so high, your existing relationship together has been so wonderful for so long, a new batch of songs can't possibly live up to your hopes. That is true here, too. But it is a very good album, with several highlights and my favorite lyric of the year: "If wishes were horses, I'd have a ranch. Come on and give me another chance."

5. Arcade Fire, Funeral



My list is kind of lame in that only 2/5ths of these five albums were actually released in 2008. What can I say? I'm a late bloomer, a slow poke, and totally behind the curve. The rest of the world discovered how awesome Arcade Fire is back in 2004 or 2005. The best way that I can describe their songs to the uninitiated is, I guess, atmospheric. Intricate, beautiful, involving, totally headphone and full attention-requiring. Fascinating. Funeral seems like the stronger of Arcade Fire's two albums to me, but Neon Bible has lots to recommend it also, like a couple of really cool songs about cars - "Keep the Car Running" and "No Cars Go."


Oh, other stuff:

Most Disappointing Album of the Year - Counting Crows, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings

Dear Adam Duritz, Tell me something that I don't know. Make me some poetry. Invent a new melody. I still respect you. Please keep trying. Love, Davie...


Most Played Song of 2008 on my Windows Media Player - "When You Come Back Down" by Nickel Creek


Guiltiest Guilty Pleasure - Soundtracks from High School Musicals 1, 2, and 3

Kelly and Amy's oldest and most faithful friend, their boxer dog Scooby, died today. They are very upset, of course. Kelly got Scooby a looong time ago, before they were married, and he's been a great companion. I remember the first time Amy brought Kelly home from Lynchburg for a visit, and they brought Scooby. He was so young and lean and handsome and energetic, zipping around the yard and chasing the neighbor kids. Sorry that Mom and Dad made you sleep outside with the scary raccoons, Scooby.

I'm usually pretty cold and uncaring when it comes to animals, among other things, but this has got me down a bit. Or maybe it is just early onset Seasonal Affective Disorder. Scooby, by the way, is the one with the prodigious protruding genitalia who is not being abused in the photo above.

Goodbye, Scooby. You are loved, and will always be remembered.

Currently Watching:
Milk

googlestalkblock

West Chelsea street art, New York, New York

Currently Watching:
Baby Mama