latest addiction

65daysofstatic's 2006 album, one time for all time, is really, really good.

Sasquatch 2008

Best music: R.E.M. - mixing songs from their latest album (which is great) and classic hits, they kept the crowd happy and fascinated, despite the cold rain and the wind. Memorable presentation.

Best performance: Flaming Lips. The amount of stuff these guys bring to the stage is unbelievable. This years' presentation included an UFO, a plastic transparent ball with Wayne Coyne in it, lots of teletubbies, four giant costumes (astronaut, alien, sun, butterfly), confetti cannons, hundreds of balls and a bunch of naked women.

Funniest moment: Flight of the Conchords. I heard a lot about these guys before, but I haven't seen their TV show. They are hilarious! Impossible not to laugh at lyrics such as "The Humans Are Dead"'s: "We used poisonous gasses / And we poisoned their asses"

Worst disappointment: The Cure. I remember telling a friend that I had to see them live before they die. Turns out I was wrong. These guys should have retired a long time ago. I don't like any of their new songs, and they even messed up with their hit songs. It's sad to see such a great band decline like this.

Worst music and performance: Mars Volta. The singer must have been high on cocaine or crack. The fucker was running around like crazy and threw a cymbal and a fan at the crowd. And their music is just extremely annoying.

Other cool stuff: Modest Mouse, The New Pornographers, Ozomatli, Death Cab for Cutie, 65daysofstatic, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The Hives.

Dream Theater

I saw them live last Monday. In one word: wow! They all seem to be playing effortlessly - the music just flows from their hands. And, yes, John Petrucci is one of the best guitar players ever.

cheese

Tonight, after dinner, I went to the market nearby my apartment to buy cheese. I like cheese in the grilled sandwiches that I sometimes make in the morning. While walking back home with a 12 slice pack of American cheese and nothing else in my hands, I smelled the after-rain air and felt that life is immensely simple.

Street Kings

Street Kings was a slightly above average cop movie - but just slightly.

Morning

Not yet awake, I read my girlfriend's message from half a world away. She says to hold on buying the airplane tickets, she doesn't know if she'll come in July. I let the cellphone go at the unpleasant thought and crawl back in bed. Another few minutes of blissful ignorance.

The alarm rings again. The efficiency of bitwise operations and doubts about why she's not coming stir my mind and I rise from bed. I wash my face - I usually like the warm water, but this time I'm too stressed out to enjoy it for more than a few seconds. That's not how anyone should start their day.

I think of having a cup of coffee and feel slightly better. I go to the kitchen and repeat the same mechanical procedure of every morning. Clean up the coffee machine, replace the filter and fill it with water and coffee. I like the smell of coffee. I turn the machine on and come back to my room.

I turn the computer on. While I wait for it to start, I wonder how one would find permanent happiness. Avoiding love doesn't seem to make me happy, but falling in love has its pitfalls too. I think about how I'm extremely sensitive to news concerning her. Can I find true peace of mind? I feel like talking about it with my good friend, but then she might be busy and oh well... We've had that talk before, and we both know that the Buddhists have a point. Desire and attachment may lead to suffering. So, there I have it. I knew it, I chose it.

I type in my password, wait for the numerous useless applications finish starting up. I try to call her, the line is busy, or so my VoIP application says. I feel frustrated, I see the gray sky outside. I grab my coffee and sit down to write.

I call her again. This time it works. She's at work, waiting for a late patient. She tells me her father isn't too happy about the long distance relationship, about his little girl coming to a foreign country to spend time with a stranger. Sort of understandable, I guess, but not ideal. What's ideal, anyways? She's a bit upset about the situation, but wants to come. We want to see each other. We need to see each other. She says she'll come. Life is good again.

A half drunk cup of coffee is left on my desk. No need to finish it, I'm fully awake now. The day has begun.

The Cribs, Ra Ra Riot

I went to see The Cribs last Monday here in Seattle. It turned out they were too stoned to perform well and I didn't enjoy their show.

However, the night wasn't a complete waste. One of the bands that opened for them surprised me quite a bit. Ra Ra Riot is just beginning, but they show a lot of potential. They added a violin and a cello to the usual vocals-guitar-bass-drums combination, and the result was pretty good. Keep an eye out for them - I predict they'll be big.

Coachella is off

Even our local, less celebrated music festival - Sasquatch - has a better line-up this year. I'm going there instead - it's just a few hours away from Seattle, cheaper and got better bands this time.

New Addiction

The Earthsea cycle, by Ursula K. Le Guin. After reading the first volume, the rest of the collection automatically made its way to the top of my reading queue. I'm on the 3rd book already and making fast progress. I'll write a review once I finish the series.

fit lyrics

"Over the hills and far away,
he swears he will return one day.
Far from the mountains and the seas,
back in her arms he swears he'll be."

Two Step

I planned to write something about how life is happening so fast that the whole universe is just a blur right now, but I need to catch my breath first. I'll borrow Dave Matthews' words for the moment:

Hey, my love, you came to me like wine comes to this mouth
Grown tired of water all the time
You quench my heart and you quench my mind

Celebrate we will
Because life is short but sweet for certain
We're climbing two by two
To be sure these days continue
These things we cannot change...

Brazil

I start my journey tonight. I'll be in São Paulo on the 17th, and in Pelotas from the 18th to the 21st. I hope to see some of you there during that time. The rest of my trip is half-planned and highly unpredictable. Yay!

Perl sucks

Seriously. Perl is utterly inelegant.

movies

Atonement was good. Maybe too sad, I haven't decided yet.

Rambo was perfectly cheesy. The 80's are all back in that movie. Excellent!

short movie reviews

I'll try to mention all the movies I watch on the theater this year here in this blog. Let's see how that goes.

Juno was really, really good. I - like a lot of my friends who saw it - wish life was witty like that.

There Will Be Blood was overrated. The acting is impressive and the music was well used, but... It was kinda long and made me feel bad about humanity.

I Am Legend was not nearly as good as it could've been. I have no idea how they managed to make his loneliness in a deserted NYC uninspiring, but it definitely was. I normally love those scenes, but it didn't work this time. Bummer.

Coachella's lineup is out

At a first glance, this year's lineup doesn't look very exciting. However, last year I discovered a number of good bands because of the festival so I'm just downloading everything to my Zune to see what I can find this time around. I'll give them scores and post it here, as follows.

0 - Horrible. Must stay away from their stage. They suck so much that you don't want to risk being photographed nearby.

1- Bad. You should rather go to the beer garden.

2 - Watchable. If it's not too crowded and the sun is not too hot, go sit on the grass around their stage.

3 - Enjoyable. Worth staying up for one hour - and you may find your feet and hands moving to the rhythm of their songs.

4 - Fun! This band is worth elbowing your way to a good spot, maybe even scheduling ahead to be there early enough.

5 - Must see. This takes precedence over all conflicting shows and would even make you watch a bad show before just to reserve your spot. If there are two 5's at the same time, murderous thoughts about the organizers are morally acceptable.

 

Friday (April 25th)

American Bang: 3 (good honest rock n' roll)

Modeselektor: 2 (not terribly exciting techno)

Rogue Wave: 2.5 (average indie band, 0.5 extra for their awesome "Zune ad song" - Lake Michigan)

Porter: 1.5 (I feel I could change my mind on this, but at the moment they annoy me)

The Bees: 2 (these guys remind of Wilco)

Professor Murder: 1 (they try to be different and fail)

Black Lips: 2

Cut Copy: 3 (good slow beat!)

Architecture in Helsinki: 2 (interesting music, bad show)

Dan Deacon: 1 (some could say original, I say annoying!)

Vampire Weekend: 3 (tap tap tap - yay for happy music!)

Jens Lekman: 1 (waaay tooo slooow)

Adam Freeland: 1 (undanceable techno)

Minus the Bear: 2

(I'll keep updating this post as I listen to them)

simplify, simplify!

There's great beauty and wisdom in simplicity.

I hate Sunday nights

heroes is going downhill

ATTENTION! SPOILERS AHEAD!

The second season was worse than the first. The final episode was disappointing - I can see the director saying "we must end the season NOW, let's DO it". The villain cliche at the end was a bit too much - "I'm back! Mwahahah!". And the use of Clair's or Adam's blood to resurrect people sadly reminds of aunt May's multiple fiascos. And Peter Petrelli is getting closer and closer of being the new Superman - he's ultra powerful and super dumb.

Shame, I really liked that show.

name needed

So it happens that I needed a bit more life in my living room, and for that effect I bought an orchid. She's doing well (yes, I know that a flower should be an it, but it's such a feminine thing that I'll transgress my grammar and call her a she), as you can see here.

I'm hoping for the best in our relationship - she not only survived the first two weeks, but she's also flourishing more - a believable demonstration of happiness.

The next step is to name her, and I could indeed use some suggestions. Can you think of any good names for my orchid?