Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so

In order to get started on the weight loss resolution I did get back into the exercise mode today by doing my twenty minutes of yoga. Two things of note. It is really sad when twenty minutes of yoga, which includes two minutes of just standing still and breathing deeply, leaves me completely out of breath. Also, I am extremely upset that the Warrior pose does not involve my grabbing the ring ropes and shaking them up and down repeatedly. Complete false advertising there by the yoga establishment if you ask me.

Strangest thing that I read all day: The Johnson and Johnson heiress who died at 30 yesterday was the fiancée of Tila Tequila. Now it is difficult enough to logically comprehend a sentence that includes heiress, fiancée and Tila Tequila. Then add in the fact that even though 90 percent of my life is pop culture even I didn’t know about this engagement, relationship or the fact that there was a Johnson and Johnson heir out there. Want to hear something even worse? Tila was twittering about this as she was dying. Because remember kids, heartfelt grief is best expressed in 140 characters or less.

A few more reality show notes to pass along. I did watch part of the premiere episode of this season of The Biggest Loser. The first episode is always kind of a mixed bag as I can feel happy that all the contestants are heavier than me while knowing that at least one hour of the show is going to be devoted to contestants crying about their weight. By the end of the show I have to watch contestants in better shape than I am while I cry about being a fat slob. Have to admit the show does have a very noticeable progression throughout the season. What still bothers me about the show is that every single person on the show needs to lose weight and within the first hour four people had been booted off the ranch. That is rather cruel. You go through this entire tryout period where you admit that you are obese and need help and once you finally get there you are sent home and given a pint of Ben and Jerry’s as a parting gift. No show is that cruel.

Well, except for the Bachelor though I did not watch that season premiere. Ooh, the bachelor is a pilot, which is great because that means he will never be home. Never got into this show though I am so hoping for a second season of More to Love. It is the perfect merger of the Bachelor and The Biggest Loser. (Oh, and Luke and Tali from More to Love are no longer together. What a surprise. I told him he should have chosen Mandy.)

12th Best Album of the Decade: The Frames “Burn the Maps” (2005): I don’t think I have to say anything more about my fandom of Glen Hansard and The Frames. It’s bombastic Irish rock in the best possible way. Even a song like Keepsake, which is about leaving your house, breaking the key in the lock, and setting the whole place on fire. The raw energy in these songs is just amazing. Probably my favorite band of the decade.

Ringing out the year

It is time to call it a year. For most people this year seems to have been a lost year or at least one of disappointments. It was a year of celebrity deaths (we'll never forget you Billy Mays) and celebrity infidelities (Tiger we hardly knew ye) and overall bad news (double digit unemployment, bad weather, Notre Dame underachieving, et al.) At least Susan Boyle had a good year if becoming famous for looking like someone who should not be famous is the criteria for a good year.

Typically my end of the year post is one of sarcasm and cynicism and at least a little bit of darkness. I never go out on New Year's Eve because it is amateur night and I am now a grizzled professional who is hanging on for one last season in the bigs just so he can claim a pension. That was my typical reason but it was never the real one. I never went out on New Year's because I was alone and there is no worse feeling in the world than to be the only single guy in a room full of happy couples. No number of shots in the world can make that feeling go away. That is why last year I ended up writing this post late at night in my apartment, wearing sweatpants and drinking a beer, and wondering if Chagall and the Frames could make my life worthwhile. How little did I know.

I didn't expect this year to turn out the way it did. I don't even think that if you asked me how this year would turn out I would never had described it in all its glory. This has truly been the most amazing year of my life. Kim and I fell in love, travelled the world and got engaged. She is everything I have ever dreamed of and I feel lucky every day I am with her. I am finally working in a field that I enjoy and where I think I can have a huge impact. Everyone in my family seems to be happy and though I lost my grandmother this year and miss her dearly I know that if there is anyone in this world or the next who is so happy at how my life has turned out it is her. I will never say that this year has been easy but it has been amazing.

So for once I am looking forward to the new year. As always there will be challenges to be met and disappointments to be had because that is just a feature of life. Nothing ever goes quite as well as you would like. But for the first time in, well, ever, I feel that I have everything in place. Now the real fun can begin.

I started the year with this song and I will end it with the same. The Swell Season bookends a wonderful year.

Pulling a ship over a mountain

Re: Aquaman. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Being able to talk to fish is not a superpower. So Aquaman can order bluegills to do his bidding. Please tell me when in the world that is a useful skill? And don’t pull that crap from the old Justice League cartoon in which he orders a swordfish to cut a hole in a submarine. Real fish don’t have skulls capable of breaking through reinforced steel. Aquaman can’t even get chicks with his lame superpower. “Hey baby, watch me swim” just doesn’t work. I mean, Hawkman’s only skill is his ability to fly but that might at least help him get laid if the beak doesn’t get in the way.



Just got back from The Swell Season show and it has quickly earned its place amongst one of my favorite concerts ever. Of course, Glen Hansard and The Frames make up a significant portion of my Top Ten in terms of concerts and tonight was no exception. First, I should probably describe who The Swell Season actually is. It’s not The Frames and it’s not Glen and Marketa Irglova (the two who won the Oscar for best song for what I just posted). It’s really The Frames playing slightly acoustic with Marketa on piano. I’m pretty sure for legal reasons this has to be referred to as a different band hence The Swell Season.

The show started with Glen taking the stage and standing on the edge and singing Say It To Me Now unamplified. That is an insanely daring way to start a show at a place as big as the Uptown. I’ve seen people do it before but it is typically at the end of a great set when you know that you will be able to get people to be quiet. To do it at the start, when you still have a bunch of drunks who don’t know how to act in a concert mulling about, is a rather daring move. It is also just an amazing moment.

They then played through pretty much the entire soundtrack to the movie Once, along with some Glen and Marketa songs that didn’t make the movie. She even sang a new song that was just stunning. I’m going to download the concert just to get a copy of that song. Glen was his usual joyful self on stage; telling stories and enjoying every single moment. He even talked about what it is like after winning the Oscar and how part of him kind of wishes that he could go back to what it was like before. He has spent 17 years with The Frames fighting for every gig and acclaim and now he is successful and trying to figure out how to deal with it. Luckily he is dealing with it by just being Glen; singing his heart out, playing great music and just making every person in the audience happy.

If that is the one thing I can say about his live shows is that you never leave a place feeling more joyous than when you see The Frames (in any name) perform. You leave feeling alive and wanting to experience the entire world. You can’t hear songs like Fitzcarraldo or Star, Star and not want to take on all comers. They truly are my favorite band in the world and have been for the past couple of years.

Someone asked me recently how I was reacting to the fact that my favorite band was now popular. How they can now sell out a theater when before I was one of maybe a couple of hundred people in a club watching them play. While I missed being able to stand next to the stage tonight I have nothing but great respect for Glen and Marketa and all the rest. They are the best musical story I have seen in ages. They have become popular and sold an unbelievable amount of records without changing a single aspect of who they are. It’s the same music and the same personas with no corporate tinkering. They’ve become successful while making art. It’s a wonder of the modern world.

Best nomination since Before Sunset

For once I get to be happy about Oscar nominations. Glen got nominated for an Oscar! It’s tough to explain how cool this is for me. I’ve been talking about how awesome the Frames are for nearly four years and now the lead singer just received an Oscar nod for a song he wrote. I’m just glad that the guy is finally getting the recognition that he deserves. He might actually win as well as his main competition are three songs from Enchanted. We can only hope for the best.

(Actually, what we can hope for is that there will be an actual Oscar ceremony and that Glen and Markeeta will be allowed to perform. That would be awesome.)

It’s going to be another quick post tonight as I am feeling better but still am not quite myself. Saw a doctor today and wasn’t given a complete clean bill of health but enough of one that I should probably be able to make it into the office tomorrow. Sadly, my weight and my drinking are now both subjects of interest for my doctor and I’ll have to address both. I can’t really argue with either of those. I am carrying too much weight for my frame, not a significant amount but definitely too much. As for the other one, let’s just say that I will be significantly cutting back in the near term. This weekend has proven to be quite a fright to me. One day I might explain why.

I did watch The Biggest Loser tonight, which might become a worthwhile obsession now. Let me state that for the record I am probably not fat. I’m six foot one and slightly over 200 pounds, which is over the 190 maximum that I am supposed to weigh. So it’s not like I’m pleasantly plump or anything. The biggest issue is that it’s not like I carry much muscle mass so I do have a bit of a tummy. I think the bigger concern is that if I just keep on putting on weight things will get very bad very quickly.

So I watch The Biggest Loser with interest as someone who wants to lose weight but also as a reality TV junkie. The TV junkie is the one that feels better. In a two hour episode I believe that the only weight loss advice I received was “eat a healthy breakfast” and “work out”. Oh and work on you core for balance. It’s not really an advice type of show. What it really is is a Survivor type elimination show where poor performers (or people viewed as threats) are sent home. That might be the most bizarre aspect of the show.

I mean, it’s a show about people who are significantly overweight getting a chance to completely change their lives. Except every week we tell some of them to go home, we don’t want you anymore. It might be the cruelest aspect of any show I’ve ever seen. You can be pissed for losing on Survivor or The Amazing Race but it doesn’t impact your overall well being. Here you’re asking contestants to risk other people’s health as part of a show. It’s kind of bizarre.

That said, glad the yellow team survived. For a divorced couple they are rather inspiring. They probably won’t win but they sure try their hardest.

The Past and Future of Music

So I’ve been given an offer to buy the farmland where they held Woodstock. Only 8 million and I think there is some potential here. I’ve got a pretty solid business plan. After salting the earth to insure that nothing could ever possibly grow there I plan on paving the entire thing over. Put up a couple of strip malls, maybe a nice industrial processing plant, or even one of those waste incinerator plants where they burn garbage to make electricity. I think high voltage lines and the fumes of rotting garbage piles would truly make the New Woodstock experience. For the music component, I envision loudspeakers constantly playing music written by computers about robots. All day, all night, just beeps and bloops and ballads to the awesomeness that is R2-D2.

I know what you’re all thinking. “But won’t all the hippies get mad?” Yeah, but what the hell are they going to do about it? Nothing, just like they always do. Most overrated, overhyped, non-influential generation in the history of the planet. Worst case scenario is that they try to organize a march and all I’ll have to do is tell them that Phish is playing a few towns over and the protest will break down much like their vans.

Yeah, as you can see I really don’t like hippies.

Switching gears, there is either something brand new and never before seen on the blog or this section is going to be rather meaningless. See, I’ve decided to launch a new feature to the blog and that is New Music Wednesdays. Because Tuesdays are just passé. Anyway, if this works I’ll have embedded an entire Frames concert thanks to my friends at fabchannel.com. If it doesn’t work, it’s probably Blogger/Google issues. The fact that I had to do a concert and not just a song like I planned is thanks to my friends at fabchannel being a little lazy with authorizing my login. The idea is each week I’ll post a different band or song to highlight what I’m listening to and just help to promote people who need more fans than they have.

(This might also mean some format changes to the blog in order to embed YouTube posts. Given that I’ve used the same default format for almost three years it is time for a change.)

The reason I’ve started with The Frames is due to an article in USA Today I read in the cafeteria at work yesterday. First of all, thanks to the kind soul who leaves the paper there as it does make lunch bearable for me. Anyway, the article was about the film Once and it talked about how Fox is now getting behind the film and is trying for a wider release. To me, that is awesome as it is one of my favorite films of the year and is just simple and sweet and happy and very seldom will you hear me promoting happy films. There are a whole lot of dark films by European directors in my collection, which has caused dates to look through my films and decide that staying in and watching a movie just isn’t a good idea.

But the main reason I’m happy for a wider release is that it will give more publicity to The Frames, who have probably been my favorite band for the past three years. Just great passionate music with a lot of style. Enjoy the music, unless the clip doesn’t embed. In that case it will be enjoy it next week after I work on debugging the code.