halloween

11:04 PM | |

vegoose baby, part 2!

I love you Jack!

That IS Jack Johnson with the fro bro! And tight 70s gear (literally tight)! I forced my way through the crowd to get within spitting distance for a decent shot and ended up dancing and singing there for about half of the show.

11:27 PM | |

vegoose baby!!!

The organizers for the Vegoose music festival deserve a huge pat on the back for a well organized first day - plenty of parking space, shuttle service from key hotels, 4 stages of great music with a fantastic lineup! Halloween weekend is usually the first really cool weather weekend in Las Vegas that signals a turn in the season and it really couldn't be a more perfect weekend for an outdoor music festival.

Yesterday we went in for The Decemberists, String Cheese Incident, Phil Lesh, a bit of The Shins (all dressed as nuns) and Beck's fantastic live performance with the entire crew dressed as Boy Scouts. They had a tent and roaring campfire on stage and of course, the giant boombox! Dave Matthews with special guests Trey Anastasio and Tim Reynolds closed out the evening with an excellent, excellent jam through their over 2-hour set. My camera sucks, so I've only got sucky pictures - everything looks so friggin far - further away than it is in real life. Hope to able to get some better ones today, even if I have to crowd swim. Moe, Flaming Lips, Jack Johnson and Widespread are on the list tonight.

6:59 AM | |

las vegas is the new hell

for bad drivers. Driving in this town is like driving in a fucking video game - swerve to miss the exploding car on the other side of the road, avoid colliding cars on any given corner on any given day, bypass the sidewalk where a deranged man plows into 14 tourists, and don't send out your kids walking to school lest an idiot runs them down on the crosswalk just like Amanda Aragon. And yes, the exploding car I saw and felt the heat of the flames slowly creeping up from the hot pavement into the soles of my shoes as I stepped on the clutch to slowly swerve away from it and the firetruck trying to douse its wildly spreading flames was real. Just a few days ago, I witnessed some crazed woman rear end a guy with a deafening crash as I waited at a stop light. Seriously, there isn't a day that goes by without a scene of an accident - I swear everyone's neck is growing rubbery from it. Las Vegas is great attraction for drivers who can't drive or they simply drive here to keep city population down.

6:16 AM | |

infernal machine

A friend at work just recently returned from a dreaded trip to New Orleans for the first time since fleeing from Katrina. He was in New Orleans for his grandmother's funeral before the storm hit and wound up stranded somewhere in Texas for the next three weeks thereafter. He and his family had only been allowed back to see what could be salvaged from the wreckage, and sadly, there really wasn't much but an abundance of random motifs in black and white - mold wildly strafing the walls, furnishings and things in general. His pictures told more of the story: his mother's house was upturned, disheveled and simply unrecognizable. Water lines were visible, perhaps four to five feet deep. His collection of music CDs - in the thousands, were damaged, along with his comics collection as were portfolios of illustrations, artwork and family photographs.

He had great difficulty describing the scene, the desolation, the destruction of Katrina's aftermath because he'd never seen or exprienced anything like it. He thought of it as something akin to a war torn village, yet worse, as the storm did not discriminate in the lives it claimed nor the objects of its destruction. It simply tore through and left just as quickly as it came and scathed the land with unthinkable results. There was a great silence in his old neighborhood where once there were sounds of children playing, cars passing, dogs barking and people puttering in their homes. And now, just emptiness and broken down homes that cannot be salvaged. When the family got there, they simply threw up their arms in defeat not knowing where to begin to pick up the pieces. I imagine they must have stood there a while to let it all sink in before they could even move, and above all, was the great fear of finding a dead body inside.

Sometimes, I wonder if there aren't two guys, somewhere with some infernal machine plotting storms and earthquakes to slowly diminsh the human population, a few thousand at a time, so as not to make it so noticeable that they plan to eradicate the entire human race. There's this guy operating the machine who absolutely loves his job and his itchy fingers want to obliterate the entire population of earth with a single massive explosion, but his boss tells him, "Patience dear boy! We must wait for the opportune moment! A good old 7.6 quake in Pakistan will do for the moment, perhaps a storm off Florida too." And the machine operator rubs his hands together with a smug look on his face.

6:36 PM | |

supporting the habit

Why is it in this day and age that writing is the habit that needs to
be supported by a "real" job? What happened to the Chekovian age when
medical degrees and vodka were the things that rather needed to be
supported instead by writing?

I suppose I've never often thought of telling stories as a business,
as something that was a commodity as much as a cup of instant noodle
soup. To think of something that can be published or not depending on
the numbers it would generate is so disparate from the story itself. I
suppose that comes from frequenting libraries rather than bookstores
and borrowing books rather than buying them - I don't get a sense of
money and publicity and the advetising engine that runs a publishing
house.

Back in the day, stories were simply sung, then told, then eventually
written and passed down through the family then the tribe. It didn't
cost a thing, but a memory block in your brain and a few minutes of
your time which you had more of then. You would just say, "Tell us
about the time..." and someone, usually older, who'd been around
longer and had seen enough to last two lifetimes would bring a hushed
silence to the group and the story would begin.

These days, before the story can even begin, you've got agents, you've
market research, you've got test groups, you've got one thing or
another to tell you your story isn't viable, isn't consumble, won't
sell like hotcakes off a spitting grill. It's sort of like telling
someone to not tell their story unless it's guaranteed to appeal to a
wide audience; forget the campfire crowd, it's the entire auditorium
or shut up.

On the otherhand, the storyteller now lives in blogs and links through
friends, through family, through the general populace at Friendster by
type and screen, at the cost of an internent connection and a few
minutes of your time. The oral tradition has traveled a long and
strange trip. Makes one wonder where and what the next stop is.

2:11 PM | |

no wires attached

Wahooey - testing out the Apple Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard and it seems to be working fine. Supposedly up to 10 meters away, but really, what are you going to type 10 meters away without seeing the monitor? All I ask is for it to work without lag or interrupted signals, and long battery life because it eats up 4 AAs. They really should consider a recharbable source that can simply charge via USB port as an alt when the thing is dying and you simply have no batteries lying around that are fully charged. I'll see how it goes, otherwise it's going back to Fry's.

2:45 PM | |

shelved

So much to read, so little time. If only I was a speed reader that could actually retain what I was reading, I'd be a happy camper. One of the reasons I miss public transpo is the fact that I could put away so many books during daily trips. I remember when I used to FX to Makati it was time well spent either reading or sleeping. These days, the minute I lie down to read a book, my body favors sleep over words. I'm in no position to fight against it, so sleep I go while gathering dust on various shelves at home are:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Well, now it's on the back burner because, guess what, I don't have to wait for the current book I'm reading because I found an eBook version online via my local library, which is to say I was on my local library's website where I got to borrow the book electronically. You know what? Soon nothing will exist except for in the virtual world and yet we still have to pay acutal money for it, although the money will be electronically debted from our accounts so you don't actually get to see/hold/smell it because it's not actually money, but rather a representation of it. More on this later because I feel a little dizzy all of a sudden.

Naked Pictures of Famous People. Ah, I love Jon Stewart, my favorite liberal after my own funnybone. I think he's one of the most intelligent comedians around, and, he reads - well - too. I've been sorely lacking on doses of The Daily Show lately - if only I could stay awake long enough to watch them on the eleventh hour, but my eyes simply don't let me see anything past 10pm. Ugh.

Into Thin Air. I started this book back in spring and started to really get into it as Krakauer began describing the entire cast of characters en route to base camp. Then I got distracted with a new job and all sorts of other things and husband took it to read on the plane then he sent it back to me and now, I can resume it as soon as I finish my electronic book.

But wait. There's more. Although I really should finish reading all four books at once which I always end up doing anyway, switching from book to book to book, depending on which one is at least an arm's length away. So. I should stop typing and get on with my reading instead.

7:47 PM | |

let's go spanish, or, i could eat tapas all night

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, a Chicago transplant, now has excellent tapas this side of the continent, yay! Haven't had Spanish food in sooo long, I salivated just thinking about it this evening before venturing into the resto's patio facing the Wynn Hotel across the street. Nice cozy seating inside and a good deal for Happy Hour at the bar - $3.00 tapas, half off sangria. The menu and wine list goes on for quite a bit, so it was hard to choose. We picked:

grilled squid in olive oil & garlic

beef skewer, horseradish cream, red onions

skewered chicken & chorizo sausage

shrimp toro brocheta

The beef skewer (so tender and juicy!) and grilled squid (fresh and savory!) were my favorites but I didn't have enough room for desert so I'll have to go back and pick through the $1.99 desert list, sample the paella, and sip the wines, with my husband next time, of course - because I'm not driving.

9:15 PM | |

listening to written words

I'm not sure about Marvel: 1602 winning the Quills award for Graphic Novel, given that it was up against the likes of Persepolis 2 and In the Shadow of No Towers - both of which I read cover to cover, and thought funny and engaging while I lost interest in 1602 early on, not bothering to buy the next installment beyond the second issue. Don't get me wrong, I'm not not a Gaiman fan, but he can't go around winning everything can he? And yet, I eagerly await my heavily discounted Anansi Boys in the mail and recently snapped up Now We Are Sick which has been out of print for ever so long. It doesn't really count since it was only edited by Neil and includes wonderful gruesome rhyme and nasty verse. Meanwhile, trying to finish up Chabon's Kavalier & Klay soon enough to make some reading room for Anansi which I feel I'm going to like much more than American Gods, and currently listening to a Neil interview podcast on NPR. Podcasts are like TiVo, but much more portable.

10:18 PM | |

nothing more deadly than a deadline

Nothing like pure pressure to get something done. Will try something, but doubt I'll finish anything coherent. It will be a great excercise in discipline and ideas on demand, and writing of course.

8:19 PM | |

it's the cheese

We're big Wallace and Gromit fans, so when the ads for The Curse of the Were-rabbit came out back in September, Dylan made me a deal that we had to watch it in the "movie theater" and he promised not to make any noise, want to go home, or go to the bathroom during the movie. After the long wait, we finally went to the movie theater to watch the fun with Wallace and Gromit. As always, great fun with lots of jokes for adults as well as kids. Both Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes were splendid with over the top voices. The first feature length adventure of W & G did not fail to keep Dylan occupied and there was not a bathroom break in its entirety, although I think I managed to be more entertained than Dylan. If only I had some cheese to nibble on during the film. Defintely another must have from Ardman Animations when it hits DVD!

11:14 PM | |

a piece of sidewalk

With Fall slowly creeping in, it was a perfectly breezy, sunny day for the Summerlin Art Festival. Amazing artists, young and old came out to the park to grace the sidewalks with vibrant pastels and to have a good time. Cultural affairs in Las Vegas are few and when we do get to have them, we always try to get out and make the event just as a measure in our own way to assure the organizers that people are interested and we do need more of these events that include children. It was nice to see a lot of high school students and younger kids all sprawled out on the sidewalk, chalked up to their elbows and partaking in visual art.

Dylan gets started.


Dylan gets his hands dirty.


Dylan surveys the masterpiece.


A Filipiñana scene.


High school kids doing their thing.


The outstanding Julie Kirk setting the scene.

5:25 PM | |

trilogy

I still weep over the loss of my The Cure: In Orange and Staring at the Sea VHS videos back in 1989 when I handed them willingly and stupidly over to a friend to borrow and saw neither hair nor hide of them since. So, I'm a little consoled with this release, though it's not the same experience. Back in the day they used to actually show concert features in movie theaters. That's where I first saw The Cure: In Orange - in a cinema at Davis Square in Massachusettes, back in the foggy depths of 1987. When it was released to VHS, I had to have it despite it's high price tag - if I remember, not less than $20 in 1988, and I gasp when I see how much more it goes for now that it's out of print, ARGH!

The Cure: In Orange was a beautiful little gem that I should have guarded with my life, that I should not have been so generous with. It was a perfect example of the sound and vision of a live Cure performance captured on film. Crisp clear sound and images. Theatrically, it was as mezmerizing as the live performance I caught in Los Angeles in 1988. Robert Smith's voice, the blue lights, the upbeat mood, swinging cameras, and pure Robert Smith silliness on stage (must have been the buzzed-off hair and trainers). I must have gotten my twenty bucks worth from the number of times I watched, rewound and watched that tape. I still wish I had it so that I could compare it to Trilogy - I'm sure it's better still, and not just nostalgically speaking - it's definitely more lively, a good set list, and the Cure/Rob Smith at the zenith of his musical career.

You might have to be a true Cure fan to sit through Triology, being three albums played straight through two nights in Berlin. I could sit through it several times I'm sure, as the sound is still fantastic, the visuals the same as I remember them in the 80s, and it would be great on the big screen. I'm satisfied for the meantime, but I'm still waiting for a digitally remastered The Cure: In Orange DVD release. You bet I'll be all over that the minute it's out.

8:54 PM | |

white out

In the still hot autumn of the desert, I long for the cool weather. Thus, the blog is in winter mode. There'll be more tinkering. This blog will be in and out of focus as things get re-arranged and re-designed.

11:05 PM | |