Robert Downey Jefferson

No one could possibly understand how excited I am about Tropic Thunder. It's just wrong how excited I am.



"Blank Slate"
The National

A Horrible Colloquialism

"I could care less."

People I love. People I respect. People I admire. Intelligent people. Grammatically conscious people. I, myself.

They all say it or have said it.

But think about it. Please. If you could care less, then you could very well care a great deal for whatever is being discussed. You dig?

It doesn't peeve me as much as "nucular" does. Jesus H. God in Everlasting Heaven that makes me angry. As long as you pronounce the word "nuclear" as the Maker fucking intended, then we're cool.

I think we should all try to overcome the bad colloquialism of "I could care less," though.



"Heart Shaped Box"
The Crest

Things to Remember: Lauren, Part One

What I would consider our first date, though this is certainly up for discussion, would be the night we spent in Dean the Saturday before that fateful Valentine's Day.

We took a short trip to Wal-Mart at about 1am to procure Pizza Rolls. I can actually feel how windy it was that night. It was a crisp night, but it wasn't cold.

In an effort to install Ms. Muirhead-esque symbolism grasping into my blog, I can tell you that the wind really meant something to me that night. I don't know. I just remember how "windy" (Jesus, what am I doing?) my life had been for a while up to that point, and how I felt like my life wasn't the windy thing; at least for one night.

A date had been something to freak out about, something to get obscenely nervous about, something to analyze as it happened, and in many ways something to dread. This was different. This was...organic, I guess. I think that's the best way to describe it.

A dimly-lit room, some (bad) movies, some junk food prepared in the basement of my dorm, and some discussion about personal tastes. There just wasn't anything outside that dorm room.

The evening gave me every reason to be confident enough to man up, so to speak.

And here we are.



"Ada"
The National

Entrepreneurs

Peter just posted a brief entry about how he entertains the idea of setting up a website where he can showcase his creative talent. I've always wanted to do something entrepreneurial, but I've never been quite sure what that would be. I'm not really good at the web comic thing. Any blog entries I write aren't super interesting or well-written.

I've been told I could have a knack for radio, but I think that's a nice way of telling me I'm ugly.

In all seriousness, I've entertained the idea of setting up a radio program over the internet (or a podcast, as the young people are calling them nowadays) but I wouldn't know where to start. I know who I'd like to work with if they'd have the time/want to, but that's only a small start. I know the content I'd like to present on the show, which is a slightly better start. I just don't know how expensive/lucrative/possible it would all be.

These ideas are flowing a little more freely this evening since I received the first of what I assume will be two rejection letters from the UT Austin Graduate Program this afternoon. I'm not even that down about the rejection since it hasn't broken my spirit when it comes to writing. It's not like the rejection makes me enjoy the process any less. Hey, maybe I'll be able to sell my shit without having to go through 2-3 years of graduate school.

In the meantime, I'll probably (read: certainly) need to get a job in Austin. I'm still pretty solid on moving down there for my first few years or so of married life. It seems like a nice place to start. I'd love to get a nine-to-five, come home to Lauren, write a little in the evening, and maybe do a radio show on the weekends. That would be marvelous. Marvelous, I say.



"Little Sister"
Queens of the Stone Age

The Hour Lost

Best emo band name ever?

The idea of losing an hour is so uncomplicated, but for some reason it just beats me half to death every year. It's times like these I wish we all lived in Arizona, where they don't even fuck with Daylight Savings Time. Or at least I think I'm remembering that right from when Mike lived there.

That doesn't seem right.

I'll look it up tomorrow to confirm.



"M79"
Vampire Weekend

What Made Dexter Freebish Famous

OK, so I love this Austin-based band called What Made Milwaukee Famous. I first heard them when they opened for Arcade Fire years ago at an ACL after show. You know, the one where Gweneth Paltrow sat on Lauren's jacket and Lauren glared at her before realizing that it was fucking Gweneth Paltrow. Anyway, they just released a new album and I like it a lot, but there is an unreal similarity between their new single entitled "Sultan" and Dexter Freebish's 2000 ditty from Life of Saturdays called "Deeper." I mean, I can remember hearing "Last Nite" by the Strokes and thinking it vaguely sounded like something I had heard from Tom Petty ("American Girl") but I usually don't dwell on songs from different bands that sound exactly the fucking same.

Of course, I exaggerate a bit, but it's just odd that they're both bands from Austin and write self-aware ballads and alternative songs that sound an awful lot like each other. It is a wonder to me why Dexter Freebish was never bigger than it was. I guess they probably should've come out with a much, much better follow-up to Life of Saturdays than they ultimately did.

Goodness, same with Lovedrug. What the fuck happened there?

I can remember listening to Pretend You're Alive and thinking, "If these guys aren't the biggest little indie band on the planet in three years I'll just fucking snap." I was so excited for their sophomore album, but it was probably the biggest musical disappointment I've ever experienced.

Actually, the fact that Third Eye Blind won't get their shit together and will probably never, ever release another album until the day they all die is my greatest musical disappointment. I was pretty optimistic after hearing a few of their new songs in concert, but Jenkins is just kind of a tool box. Judging by the minutes leading up to their show, he's way more interested in bolstering the career of Vanessa Carlton (even though I don't think they're dating anymore) than writing new material for 3eb. Before a band takes the stage, they usually pipe similar music through the speaker system to get people psyched for the show, but all we got were songs from Carlton's newest album. I don't really have a problem with Carlton, per se -- I've been known to rock way the fuck out for "White Houses" -- but Jesus with Out of the Vein it was all about Charlize fucking Theron and now it seems like he's all about this piano-playing, Jay Leno doppelganger who probably couldn't buy another hit if she sold her strong jaw to a desperate transsexual looking to find the missing piece that doesn't rhyme with "weenus."

I'm a man who's passionate about my 3eb. There isn't a world that can exist where people value new 3eb albums less than Vanessa Carlton's entire career.

I am serious, though, I love "White Houses." It's almost like Ste......oh wait he did co-write and produce that song. Well. Jimminy Shitmas.

Maybe Jenkins can just write a billion songs for Vanessa Carlton. I mean, it's better than nothing, I guess. JUST GIVE ME SOMETHING, STEPHEN JENKINS.

I guess we'll always have The National. I swear, Boxer has to be one of the better albums front to back that I've ever heard. I like most of their other stuff, too, but Boxer is just sublime through and through. I can't stress that point enough. You want me to do a little flow chart? I think you do. Here we go!

John's Amazing Albums Through the Years Flow Chart:
The Offspring Smash --> Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind --> Incubus Morning View --> Pete Yorn Musicforthemorningafter --> Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights --> The Killers Hot Fuss --> The National Boxer

It's something like that. I've probably forgotten something. Wow I'm tired. I have to get up at eight.



"Self-Destruct"
What Made Milwaukee Famous

Red Ring of Death

It only took six months for my Elite to fry. Hoo-ray.

I'm a little miffed, although I am really surprised they didn't ask me to send my entire hard drive with it. I don't know why they would ask for it, I just expected they would for some unknown, stupid reason.

What's even more frustrating is that it started to work after I called the problem in. I mean it's probably best to just send it in anyway, but it's still lame.

Peter alerted me to an article about a guy who had his 360 signed by a ton of Halo developers and sent it in to be worked on. He wrote them a really long letter about how he would prefer to fix the system instead of replacing it for obvious reasons. When he got his system back, it was totally blank with faint streaks on it resembling scrubbed-off permanent marker.

To my knowledge nothing has been proven, but it takes a special kind of dick to obey the request of a letter from a paying customer just to erase what made the request relevant in the first place.

Maybe I should forge Bill Gates' signature and see if they scrub it off.

Also:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cl90RGpB1EQ



"Lucky You"
The National