Why Yes, I Am A Professional Model

Did you know that Barack (we're on a first name basis) and I go way back. I'll prove it; I'm friend 4,479 on his Flickr contact list. He pulled a few strings for me and got me in the papers. Can you spot me? I know it's tricky. Check it out:

The Kills

Saw The Kills on Friday night at Barbati's Pan. Heard them on the radio Thursday morning while taking a shower trying to wake up along with a description of "like the white stripes but sexier" and I was sold. I'm super paranoid about getting tickets before a show. Ever since I tried to see a THE HIVES concert in Boston and got laughed away at the door. So I'll pretty much always bend over and take it up the ass and pay ticket master their ridiculous fees. But sodomy aside we could have gotten tickets at the door just fine.

The venue was alright spacious, hot as hell, the sound system was total crap. The only lyrics I heard from the opening act was "danny glover" and "I want to fuck you in the face." The opening act was a band whose name I can't remember (mmm..rum and cokes...) had lead singer that really could have used a good snort of speed cup of coffee. I spent most of their set making friends with the bartender.

The Kills were what one would describe as Punk.pop. Depending on the song they veered from a good old fashioned punk throw down, through a twangy almost country song, a right at popyy sing-along-able catchy tune and landed in a euphoric dissonance filled lullaby. The stage presence was right on. Appropriate amounts of convulsions and stamping about energized the audience. Big plus for me is that they put some thought into their presentation. They had a projector showing random black and white video clips of cowboys, small children skipping rope, fire works and much more. Sometimes the images were confusing and I guess one could say gave it a modern art feel other times the video was right on in evoking emotion and atmosphere (fireworks!!). Have a listen.

I Swear To God This Isn't Me!!!!

Cops: Man forgets girlfriend's birthday so girlfriend bites him

Besides how could Matt forget? I write reminders in his calendar everyday a month in advance.

The Icing on the Cake

To top it all off, those Was (Not Was) tickets for tonight are gonna be free! The venue held a contest for two free passes, and I just heard that I won. This weekend is shaping up to be frickin' sweet.

first sunburn of the year

School is out for the summer and yesterday the sun finally decided to come out and make up for lost time. After months and months of seemingly endless cloud cover, yesterday was unseasonably warm and bright, and so I moseyed on down to the park to read the paper, take in the view (the park is on a bluff overlooking the river), and catch some rays. That last part is important because living in the Pacific Northwest has made me almost translucently pale. Of course, it's now only one day into the "bearable" season and I've already turned a sort of chafed-skin or salmon-pink hue. Curse you, damnable lack of melanin!

But today is another scorcher, with the mercury expected to climb into the high 90s (I feel like the DJ from Do the Right Thing as I type this), so it would be a massive waste if I did not enjoy at least a little more outdoor play time. This time, though, I will be sure to find some type of three-digit SPF to bathe in before leaving the house.

All week, Gaby and I will also be celebrating the beautiful weather with a dinner menu inspired by the cuisines of Sicily, Spain and Morocco. Last night's attempt (which I really liked but was not a big hit with Gaby, who ended up eating pizza instead) is apparently a Sicilian favorite: pasta con sarde. This is spaghetti in a complex sauce of sardines, onions, fennel bulb and seeds, pine nuts, raisins, chilies, lemon zest and juice, and topped with a little cheese and fennel tops. Yum yum. Oily-fishy and herby and spicy with little bursts of raisiny sweetness. Tonight we will be cooking up a Moorish-influenced Spanish dish: lemon chicken with ginger and pine nuts. It will have no fish and probably a lot less heat, so I expect Gaby will enjoy this dinner much more (i.e., she will actually eat it).

What a weekend we have planned for ourselves, by the way. Tonight Gaby really wants to see The Kills in concert, but that may change by the time she comes home from work (at which time she normally turns into a pumpkin). Tomorrow night Was (Not Was) (remember "Walk the Dinosaur" from 1987?) is coming to town for a show that promises to be a good time. And to wrap it all up, on Sunday we are going out to an Obama campaign rally. Who knows, we may even get to meet the man himself.

That's all from here for right now. More to come now that time is abundant and life is possible again.

Merry pranks for a sober age

Two of my favorite high-concept prankster-protester organizations just teamed up for a project on the Google campus, and got a video produced by BoingBoingTV (hosted by Xeni Jardin, who just makes me all weak-kneed and puddly). Due to some fortuitous timing, the installation happened to occur during a Google shareholder meeting, so the mainstream media was also on hand to record the madness.

Google's security staff, to its credit, seemed to behave with admirable restraint.

To learn more about the participating groups, you can find the official sites for the Billboard Liberation Front here, and for monochrom here.
They are providing the world with a valuable service, so support them!

I Would Like To Thank The Little People...

Hehe so I got entirely to excited that KMUN 91.9 Astoria a little NPR affiliate on Oregon's north coast chose one of my photos as their picture of the day for May 17th.

Art, Waffles, Beer

Continuing our attempt to visit restaurants in Portland that are NOT IKEA we decided to visit Jáce Gáce this morning. We were lured by an ad in the Mercury (the source of all fun in Portland) promising Art, Waffles, Beer. How could it go wrong?

Honestly that is an genius combination. You get the fun of beer, the attempt at cultural broadening with art, and warm nutritious waffles. The cultural broadening was particularly important for us as Saturday was spent ENTIRELY in bed watching two seasons of The Office on Netflix.

The inside of the restaurant was going for a minimalist feel with white sparse walls, a flame retardant mylar ceiling, bundles of sticks, and black metal patio furniture. It makes sense as it also a gallery but waffles are difficult to enjoy when your butt is cold.

I had the Three Bites $8.00 - waffle covered in honey and walnuts, served with prosciutto, apples, and Brie on the the side. It was delicious and filled my waffle craving needs. The presentation was clean and crisp though don't come to Jáce Gáce with a huge appetite. Though filling by the rest of the world's standards it is just one waffle and my American Super Size stomach had a hard time grasping the idea of correct portions.

Matt had th Piña Colada $7.00- waffle covered with bananas,fresh pineapple, brown sugar and topped with coconut whip cream. Matt's verdict: waffle = delicious.

Count us in as repeat brunchers.

By the sea, Mr. Green, that's the life I covet

So I hadn't logged into my flickr page for such a long time that I forgot my password and screen name. It took about 4 days of trying different combinations of commonly used passwords, screen names (security disclaimer; one should not HAVE commonly used passwords) and getting locked out for trying to brute force my password (hmm can I verbify "brute force?") before I could get in.

To commemorate I finally put up some pictures I took a few weeks ago when my coworker Jeff showed us around his nifty hometown of Seaside. A small beach town that until recently, due to some unfortunate riots, was a bustling spring break retreat. We were supposed to meet up with another coworker, Eric, from BC Canada and go around taking photo's together but Eric only made it as far as Seattle and so it was just us awkward three.

Take a look and enjoy!