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Peasprout
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Name: Greg
Country: United States
Gender: Male
Interests: absinthe, aquariums, art deco, basketball, beach, bookstores, boxing, Brit Pop, card games, Cary Grant, classic cars, cocktails, comics, cooking, crossword puzzles, DJ, film noir, food, Freitag, going to the zoo, guitar, investing, jazz, jigsaw puzzles, knitting, lounge, Moleskine, monkeys, museums, NPR, opera, peasprouts, phonograph, pie, poetry, reading, record stores, saxophone, Scrabble, shopping, ska, skratching, stargazing, stationery, thrift shops, tiki, turntablism, Victrola, vintage board games
Expertise: Driving heck of far, making two songs mix together real good like, being really well-organized, ignoring ambient noises in my vicinity, wearing pajamas, Scrabble, gin rummy, working crossword puzzles, knowing random facts about fruits and vegetables, prestidigitation
Occupation: Founder of the Super Double Se
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  Peasprout
Member Since:
1/15/2003
 True  Lifetime
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| Off to the Side |
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Index to Previous Posts
My Ever-Changing Book Blog
Taken Over
It was the best time of my life
Her bee stung lips,
Kisses sweeter than wine
The things she whispered
With breathless sighs
The summer air was soft and warm
Her eyes were making silent demands
As her hair came undone in my hands
Driving her home after midnight
I felt so good everything was alright
Her thoughts seemed lost in the night sky
I remember everything
I don't know why these things ever end
I sometimes wish it was that summer again
I still see her in my sleep
And hear the sighing of the summer wind
Still I don't regret one thing
It felt just like it was the start of forever...
Currently in Rotation in Itunes
The 10 Things I "Just Don't Get"
click one to read my opinion
1. dishonest people
2. stalkers
3. road rage
4. hipsters/ scenesters (I can't tell them apart)
5. boys with the "asian fetish"
6. reggaeton, and fans thereof
7. rude people
8. religious fundamentalists
9. political extremists/ activists
10. Racists
Must I dream and always see your face?
Why can't we overcome this wall?
Baby, maybe it's just because I didn't know you at all. |
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SubscriptionsSites I Read
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| Most of the older blogs here are gone. But not for long. One by one I am moving them from Xanga to their new home on peasprout.com/blog. That seems like a much better place for them.
It's a time-consuming process. The first part is easy-- copy and paste the blog text to the new site. After that it gets trickier, as I have to tag and categorize and title and add keywords and summaries, and then transfer the old comments. I am resisting the urge to change the posts themselves, though sometimes I cringe at the grammar and phrasing; some of them downright suck and ought to be deleted, but I'm keeping them all up.
If you'd like to take a trip down Peasprout memory lane, now is the time. You can even subscribe to the RSS feed, and be alerted when a new old blog shows up. You can do so here:
feed://peasprout.com/blog/?feed=rss2
Or just pop in now and then and see how far along I am. So far I've transferred the first 20 or so. | | |
| GOODBYE JOHN
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
I don't know if I have ever blogged merely to link to another blog, but that's sort of where today's post is going. I've been trying for six days now to think of what to write about John Hughes' death, but haven't been able to craft anything worth sharing. Then today I read this blog and I realized why John Hughes mattered to me. It wasn't merely that he created so many great films; he was a genuinely great guy.
I tend to ignore celebrity-related news and issues, and certainly don't blog about them. I can't bring myself to care. Michael Jackson's recent death felt like such a non-issue to me, and the resultant hysteria was mystifying and disappointing to me. But last week John Hughes died, and, like I suppose most Americans my age, I took notice. Here's an artist who actually contributed something lasting to our culture.
There is little I can offer that likely hasn't been said before. The Breakfast Club certainly presaged the era of reality television, and the first film I'm aware of that dealt with teen issues in such a starkly real way. It is also a rarity in that it cast actual teens as teens. Weird Science is on some level a starkly realistic insight into the psyche of the teen male, as well as a too-real depiction of life for two uncool guys.
Hughes' true masterpiece, however, as far as I'm concerned, is Ferris Beuller's Day Off. I'll spare you a long-winded exposition on why Generation X made the world a better place, despite the efforts of the Baby Boomers that came before them, and the OMG'ers that came after. Instead I'll offer Ferris as the Gen-X everyman. From his day off you can glean most everything you need to know about the topic. Consider-- he spent his day at a Cubs game, an art museum, (one of my favorite moments in all cinema), watching a parade, and eating lunch. Think about that for a while, then get back to me.
Finally, as a teen, and even still as an adult, I wondered-- did the popular kids, portrayed in such unflattering light in his films, also like John Hughes? How could they? How dare they? Those movies were made for Alison. And me. | | |
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Jarvis Cocker is putting out a new record! The U.S. release date for Further Complications is May 19th, a day after its U.K. release. Interestingly, it is produced by former Big Black guitarist Steve Albini. Jarvis insists that he hasn't "gone rock," rather he liked the results from a smaller recording session with Albini last year, not to mention that, according to Cocker, the recording session "was very cheap."
The track list has yet to be finalized, but Jarvis did offer up a list of songs that may make the final cut. Here they are, along with Cocker's commentary:
Slush - "I guess that slush will be the ultimate outcome of global warming"
Caucasian Blues - "an attempt to understand the pain of a man whose Honda Goldwing has run out of petrol"
I Never Said I Was Deep - "the phrase that I would like carved on my tombstone"
Apparently - "about how you can be in love with someone without realising it."
The Night They Let Me Out of the Home - "portrays the difficulties of using public transport whilst on crutches"
Homewrecker! - "an absolute racket featuring saxophone from Steve Mackey (he played on The Stooges' 'Funhouse', you know)"
That last one is a bit of humor (I think), confusing ex-Pulp bassist Steve Mackey with Stooges sax player Steve Mackay, but with Jarvis Cocker, you never really know. It may very well be a typo, and he actually does have Mackay blaring away on the saxophone. We'll know in about two months!
Other possible songs include: Pilchard, Hold Still, You're In My Eyes (Discosong), Further Complications, Girls Like it Too, Angela, Told You Twice, and Just a Fucking Song.
Of the bunch, I heard the following in New York last summer, all of which were quite good: Complications, Caucasian Blues, Girls Like it Too, Angela, Told You Twice, and Just a Fucking Song. I assume Complications and Further Complications are the same song, but with Jarvis, you never know.
I was admittedly skeptical before his previous, and first, solo LP was released, but it quickly became one of my favorite albums of all time. Whichever of the bunch make the final cut, I expect this to be a great album.
Finally, for those surprised by Jarvis' beard, he explains: "I grew it to keep my face warm in the Arctic and then I kind of got attached to it. The amount of grey in it horrified me at first but now I think it acts as a handy reminder of my own mortality." | | |
| SUPER BOWL XLIII NSFW
The big news story from the Super Bowl wasn't the come-from-behind victory by Pittsburgh Steelers. It wasn't the referees' questionable calls screwing Arizona Cardinals. It wasn't even The Boss' halftime show. No, the enduring tale of this year's big game centers around Evan Stone's big wiener.
It seems that viewers in Tucson, Arizona got quite a shock. Moments after Kurt Warner's go-ahead touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald, someone hacked into the Comcast feed and interrupted the game with a clip from a pornographic movie.
I've managed to acquire a recording of the feed as it went live, and saved it to my Xanga videos. I don't know how long it will stay up before higher powers delete it, but for the time being, enjoy the definitely NOT safe for work clip below:
Narrator: Tyler was a night person. While the rest of us were sleeping, he worked. He had one part time job in Tucson at Comcast.
Tyler Durden: And why would anyone want this shit job?
Narrator: Because it affords him other interesting opportunities.
Tyler Durden: Like splicing extended clips of pornography into major sporting events.
Narrator: So when the snooty steeler and the courageous cardinal with the celebrity voices meet for the first time in quarter four, that's when you'll catch a flash of Tyler's contribution to Super Bowl XLIII
Tyler Durden: A nice, big cock.
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| IN WHICH I MEET BOB NEW NEWHART
Yesterday I was walking about Westwood in search of a place to sit and read. As I walked past a dry cleaner's shop, out walked Bob Newhart, clean shirts in hand. I did a double-take, and stared for a moment. He had a "yeah, it's me," look on his face.
I didn't know what to say, so I said, "you're Bob Newhart."
"Yes, I am," was his reply. At which point he offered his hand. And I shook it.
I shook Bob Newhart's hand!
After that, I wasn't sure where else things could go, so I quickly informed him that I've only recently moved to Los Angeles, and he is the first celebrity I've truly met, and walked away. I had a huge smile on my face for at least five minutes.
I didn't mention my encounter with Tim Roth, during which I pretended to mistake him for a store clerk, or the time I randomly sat next to Alia Shawkat (Maebe Funke on Arrested Development) and Ellen Page (Juno in Juno) (who knew they were friends?) at a midnight showing of Harold and Maude, because I didn't really meet those folks.
Naturally, I texted all my friends immediately afterwards. The few replies I received were either "who is Bob Newhart?" or "isn't he dead?" So sad. True, he's before my time, and I only know him because he was one of my mother's favorite comedians, but come on. He's an icon! Recently, he played the daddy Elf in Elf, but in the '60s he was huge. His album of comedy won the 1961 Grammy for album of the year. That's some Michael Jackson / U2 type action there.
Which makes me realize-- no matter how famous you get, you can eventually be forgotten. I bet if I asked random passerby who Rutherford B. Hayes or Zack Taylor were, many of them wouldn't even know, and they are former leaders of the free world.
That's it. I'm starting up the Franklin Pierce Fan Club for reals.
Also, Bob Newhart is magical. I have some sort of infection in my right ear, and for a week now it has been swollen shut, but a moment after shaking Bob's hand, the ear popped open and stayed open for about an hour. It closed back up, but clearly the handshake did more for me than the drops my doctor gave me. I'm going to have to stake out that dry cleaner and hope Bob's a messy eater. | | |
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