Hodie

I finally saw this last night, and really really liked it. Best. Villain. Ever. I think the building of suspense in the second (? the one where the light in the hallway was turned out) motel room was the most masterful I've ever seen. I love that immediately after telling Moss's wife that "I came from the same place the coin did," that is, from randomness/fate, he gets slammed by randomness/fate. I think that was another nice subversion of our expectations -- the genre tells us the bad guy will get caught by the actions of the good guy, when in fact for all we know, a piano could fall

It beat the New Year's show by a factor of 253 million. Approximately. And I LIKED the New Year's show. I'm back home and still spent from the show in the very best possible way. Who needs Here We Go when you've got the rockingest Lennon medley of all time? Many thanks to my concert-going friends, both Chicago-based and otherwise. You all sure do know how to share a good time. Edit: my face is about to break from my grinning at this youtube:

Haha, yeah, yesterday did feel a little bit like we were on Pause.

With a day off between Jon Brion's New Year's Eve show and his no-longer-secret secret club show, we decided to go see Atonement today. I normally am a bit put off these days by epic costume dramas, especially if they have Keira Knightley in them, but the book was so magnificent, and the reviews so glowing, that I decided to give it a try. I could not have enjoyed it more. My favorite compliment for Ian McEwan is that he knows how to create an incident -- you really sink into his scenes and experience them profoundly, whether it's a bunch of skinheads ready to jump you, or a hot air ball

Oh, dearest, if that was a shoutout in my direction, thank you ever so kindly. Heehee. (I suppose there are songs I dislike more than Sentimental Lady, but when it's playing, I can't think of a one of 'em). zspaul, besides its being great to see you, thanks so much for the soundopinions link. I particularly liked the reality-check folks on p. 6 -- yeah, the singalongs were drunken, and there were lots of fools in the room, and it wasn't Largo, but it was a freakin' fantastic way to bring in the new year. I firmly believe that the best way to sing Auld Lang Syne is accompanied by Jon Br

The Ramsey Lewis Trio does a version of Here Comes Santa Claus that makes me love a song I normally don't (thanks, Martin), but otherwise I'm all about Christmas Time is Here.

I adore Oscar Peterson's playing and listen to Trio recordings all the time. I once tried to learn Night Train using his transcription. My pathetic skills meant it was hopelessly out of my reach, but it was worth trying anyway.

Uhmm, you know someone was going to call you on this, right? In 2007, Wilco played Chicago exactly...once. Even if the dates weren't determined by promoters (which they are), sometimes people love the cities they chose better than the ones they grew up in. I grew up in St. Louis, never in all my life felt at home there, and I DO feel at home in the city I live in now. Not a big deal, and not all that surprising.

They did fix that, btw: "WILCOWORLD Pre-Sale Wednesday, January 9, 2008. Public On Sale begins Thursday, January 10, 2008"

Awww. I won't take it at anything too dire, since I'm sure if things weren't still in flux it would've been posted on wilcoworld. But still, awwww.

Well yay to that!

[EDIT: watch hodie and gogo type at the same time! whee!] Brian is a friend of mine -- he's not on VC. I told him about the auction, and he won it. I'm pretty sure when I get a moment to do a search I could find a link to the thread about it. Thanks for the excellent description of the Basement Shows, gogo, that's just as I remember them I will say that the very first one was quite a bit more free-wheeling, due in part none of us having done it before and having no idea what to expect. It ended up with a ridiculous number of covers and huge singalongs. "What's the best concert y

I'm pretty sure all three groups have significant VC presence. In our group (and I imagine the same is true for the others) it's not divided evenly -- everyone gives as much as they can, which means some pay more and some pay less.

It took me 12,420 grains of rice, but I finally attained fifty. I can rest easy again.

Wheee, thanks for that info, I hit 49 last night. And immediately plummeted. But at least I glimpsed glory. And yes, I did notice the words getting more difficult, even as I saw the occasional repeat. I'm assuming people found the "Options" tab which saves your vocab level and rice amount even if you close the site?

It took me to 1800 grains, but I finally got myself up to a 47. This is insidiously addictive, huh?

I must admit I'm pretty good at these latinate roots. Even when I don't know the word, I can figure it out. I'm a big fat 45 with 400 grains o' rice. Kinda fun.

For the first time in a year and a half, I took a bike ride outside today. Some of you know I'm a freak for biking, but because of an injury and the subsequent two surgeries, biking has been impossible. But things are healed just fine, and it was a freakish 70 degrees out there, and so in addition to my amazing friends and wonderful family, today I'm very thankful for orthopaedic surgery, and for whoever thought to invent the bicycle.

I'm #3257, but we're moving up pretty smartly, apparently. My sister and I aren't doing anything in the realm of procreating, so it must be some distant cousins.

That in itself would've been enough to set your hair standing on end.

Whoa, Mart! What a show! And couldn't happen to a nicer concert-goer. I take it the crowd went somewhat wild with the Prince appearance? The whole thing sounds like something you'd dream of, assuming you were on REALLY good drugs at the time you were dreaming.

Happy happy birthday, and I'll see you in just 44 days! Wheeeeeee.

Yeah, I gotta say that from the evidence of time I've spent with him, Paul has quite an excellent life. Glad you got the shout-out, Paul, even though I'm sure it made you cringe.

I think it had to be the last one, it dragged on and on and on. I wanted to walk out of Titanic, which I hated completely. But I took a nap instead.

Exactly. This is a band that has no problem with sharing information when it can. They have always been upfront with fans before -- if they're not doing it now, there has to be a very good reason. Or at least I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. This band has been great to its fans for years. To assume that they've suddenly become cold-hearted bastards overnight is a bizarre leap.